Juggernauts

CHAPTER 14: Attack of the Dead Man

The team circled up and began planning their attack. "I saw t least 30 down there. I vote we go in stealthy." Johnson said.

"Guns blazing." Alex interjected.

"Both." Ella said.

Tom nodded and agreed. "We will take out several of them stealthily and then ambush them. Besides, they don't seem to have modern weapons, just stuff from the second World War. I'll go down there first, Ella and Alex will take the far side. Benson and Johnson will take the left. Sanchez and Luis will take the right." 

Everyone agreed and took up their positions. 

Tom slid down a short dirt slope and pulled out his combat knife. A 5 inch serrated blade on a short leather wrapped handle. He approached the first hostile from behind, grabbing his mouth and pushing the blade into the man's lung from behind. "Shh shh shh." Tom said as he lowered the body into the shadows.

He made his way forward to a small wooden hut and hid beneath it as a patrol passed him. His eyes darted up to the floorboards above him. He took out a small block of C-4 explosives and placed it in the center of the structure and pressed it into place.

After a moment passed, he peered out from under the building and crept over to the next one. A young soldier, no more than 20, turned the corner and stared into the darkness of Tom's armor. Tom looked back as his mind worked a mile a minute to keep this kid from giving away his position. The young boy looked down into his hands at his rifle, and then back up to Tom. "Don't you fucking do it kid." Tom said to himself.

The kid pointed the rifle at Tom and pulled the trigger, there was only a click. The realization that the safety was on swarmed the boy's face and was soon followed by panic and regret. Tom lunged at him and tackled him into a bush as he began strangling the boy. His metallic hands wrapped around the throat of the soldier as he flailed his arms in desperation. Tom could see tears form in the boy's eyes, so he re-positioned his hands to one behind the head and one on the chin. With a brief and swift motion, he broke the neck of the soldier.

Quickly, he stood back up and peeked inside the window of the hut. He could recognize the face of the soldier from the news report, despite having his face covered. Tom knelt and radioed his team. "I found my gear and the guy from the T.V. Prepare to go loud."

"Copy that boss." Johnson said. "Moving in now."

Tom took a small canister from his pouch and read the label. "WARNING!!! Flammable gas. Keep out of reach of children. 2 second fuse." He pulled the pin off of it and rolled it through the front door. A quiet hissing and thin gas filled the room as Tom walked inside with only his knife in his hand.

The soldiers in the room knew was the gas was and knew that trying to shoot the approaching metal beast would be the death of themselves. "You have something that belongs to me." Tom announced. 

A soldier at the end of the room took the cloth off his face and held out the badly burned and damaged helmet Tom and his team had left behind. "You want it Captain? Come and take it. I killed you once before, I can kill you again."

The hissing of the gas grew louder as Tom reached into his pocket and pulled out a small metal rectangle. He looked down at it before looking back up to the German. "Don't you know who I am?" He asked.

The soldier laughed for a second and replied. "Der Eisendrache. The bringer of death. A dead man."

Tom flicked the top of the rectangle open to expose a wick and a striker, making it obvious he had a lighter in a room full of flammable gas. He laughed and raised the lighter before himself, placed his thumb on the striker and said. "I'm The Juggernaut, bitch."

With a quick flick of his thumb, the room was engulfed in flames as the walls blew off the hut. the building next door exploded as well from the trap Tom had left. Wood shrapnel and fire flew in every direction as other soldiers scrambled in a panic to see what had happened.

The rest of his team swept through the village and quickly disposed of any hostiles. They turned their attention to the flaming building to see several Germans trying to escape the flames as a large silhouette followed behind them. They tried to crawl off the deck of the hut, but several gunshots rang out as red mist exploded from their backs.

Still on fire, Tom hopped down off what was left of the hut's platform. 

"Equipment destroyed. Mission complete." He said almost sarcastically. "I can't even feel the flames in this suit."

Ella hurried over to him and laughed. "Now you're just showing off Tom."

Alex chimed in. "I think we better get going. I have the feeling that there will be more troops headed this way."

"Copy that. Burn this place down. I don't want them to salvage anything from here." Tom commanded. 

The Team did as instructed and placed explosives and the flame gas in the rest of the buildings. When they were at a safe distance, they leveled the village.