War For The World

CHAPTER TWELVE

"We're Staying"

"Like fucking hell we are"

That had been the summation of arguments that had occurred in Hersch Manor over the last day.
Jones was eager to leave. They had been stuck in this one location for far too long and he was eager to return to the front lines and serve his country where he belonged. Now with the added complication that tripods were being summoned to the town nearby for a Nazi experiment, escape seemed like the obvious choice for him

Michaels had made up his mind however. He knew they needed to stay. Their duty stretched far wider than simply being that of for the war effort. They fought for mankind, and that meant offering their services to whoever was in trouble.

"These people are dead anyway, lets hightail outta here before we get caught in with the lot of 'em. This whole plan is fucked. You're fucked and we're fucked"

The four of them were in the large library. The manor hadn't been visited by officials since their last visit two days ago which meant they had become comfortable enough to return to lounging around the place. They were stationed around a large table, at the centre of which sat a well worn map detailing the inner workings of Abigails town of Yöpil. She had drawn the map herself. She had a passion for the town that Michaels found highly admirable, she knew all of its secrets. It was her home.
Secret tunnels, hidey holes and easy vantage points were stencilled overtop of a birds eye viewpoint of the town. They'd had to recount their survival supplies, removing most of the bullets from their getaway bags in preparation for the offensive they were soon to embark on.

This had angered Jones. The final straw in what to him seemed to be a monumental fuck up. He'd complained and raised his voice but Michaels was adamant and Benson was staying abnormally quiet.
"Without us you'll have nowhere to go Jones. This plan at least secures us safe transport outside the city. Plus, we get to blow some Nazi heads clean off. Isn't that what you're always fucking going on about"

An outburst from Michaels that heralded no response. He felt momentarily embarrassed, but when he glanced over at Abigail he noticed a small smile on her face as her cheeks flushed. Jones muttered something under his breath that went unnoticed by the rest of the group as Abigail went over the plan for the fifth time.

The idea at its heart consisted of two teams concerned with different objectives. Benson and Jones were to get rid of the occupying forces. Michaels had argued for this in saying that Jones was their best bet to overwhelm Braltr and Jones had an eagle eye when it came to callouts.
What this entailed was Jones sneaking through the town removing enemy soldiers quickly and quietly, any attention drawn to them would spell doom for the rest of the plan. Benson for his side would be stationed atop one of the many vantage points with the map in his hands, calling out incoming soldiers and where to go next in order to stay undetected.
This would be possible thanks to the portable radios Abigail had acquired alongside the map. She'd tweaked them slightly too, amping up their frequency so as to remain undetected by jammers or Nazi radios of the same kind.

Much to Michaels own annoyance his lack of a left hand meant he was relegated to evacuation duty. Though he took some comfort in knowing this meant he'd be the one looking after Abigail and personally ensuring her safety.
The two of them would sneak in together and alert the citizens, urging them to leave discretely. If all went to plan, they hoped the Nazis would be taken care of well before they were even able to summon the tripods to the town.

Michaels wasn't confident in the plan, but Abigail's smile when he'd told her they'd stay and help told him all he needed to know. This was the right thing to do.

With a grunt from Jones and some thanks from Abigail the others left. Soon, it was just Benson and Michaels left standing by the table.

Michaels turned to leave when Benson finally piped up, the first time hed spoken since planning had started.