Origins: The Reich Read Free

wouldn’t happen to have any more immediate assistance available now would you?”
    “The MSS has put the military on high alert already, but any serious mobilization will take time.  The nearby military base has dispatched what was immediately available.  They’re assembling outside to contain the situation,” came a somewhat winded response.
    The group was nearing a doorway that would lead them out of the soldier pit atrium and into the wide-open expanse of the museum’s entrance and reception area.  With twenty feet to go, a bone jarring impact announced the landing of a clay warrior directly in their path to the exit.  It was as if the massive creature dropped out of the sky.
    Frank looked back in time to see another clay soldier step onto the clasped hand of its companion and launch into the air to land on the other side of the fleeing group, rendering them trapped.
    Chin unloaded his pistol into the figure blocking their path as if he expected the result to be any different than before.  It was not.
    “How about we try something different,” Frank huffed while looking side to side for options.  He spotted a ten-foot tall, glass enclosed case displaying an assorted collection of medieval weapons and made up his mind.  He crashed shoulder first through the transparent barrier to a chorus of glass shards shattering on the tiled floor.  Without pause, he yanked a rack holding a dozen pole mounted spears and axes away from the cabinet’s back wall, spilling them out onto the floor with a deafening clatter.
    Frank wrapped his hands around a particularly menacing looking halberd.  He then swung the axe mounted atop an eight-foot pole with all his might toward one of the two clay warriors blocking their path.  The sideways blow caught it just under the armpit at an upward angle.  With the weight of the weapon combined with sharpness of the blade and velocity of the swing, Frank managed to cleave off the creature’s left arm and most of its head.
    The mighty blow threw Frank hopelessly off balance and sent him stumbling toward the deformed target and its companion.  He would have met his end right then and there were it not for the quick actions of Chin and his security guard.  Both had followed Frank’s example and armed themselves with weaponry from the case.  With the swing of a double-edged axe, Chin rendered the first clay soldier an armless stump while his companion brought down a long-handled war hammer to the sternum of the second clay soldier.
    The clay warrior’s chest cavity caved in an instant before the entire body was sent crashing to the tiled floor.  The wet clay form seemed to harden back into petrified clay on its way to the floor and shattered on impact.  Where the warrior once stood, a bright flowing red flame hovered for a moment before dissipating into the thin air almost before the mind could process what it saw.
    With their escape path now unimpeded, Frank expected to feel four bodies rush past him for the exit, but he only detected two; Chin and his man.  He looked back to find Professor Russell and Alex standing motionless.
    “You waitin’ for a marching band to show you the way?  Run, you idiots,” Frank commanded as he gave them both a good yank in the right direction.
    Frank stole one last look behind and noticed the blue flashes had stopped, piquing his curiosity.  Why, did they run out of statues to animate already?  He paid the observation little mind as he had far more pressing issues to deal with at the moment.
    The retreating group did not stop to admire the artifacts and close up view of the clay figures on display in the museum’s grand entryway; they had already been privy that particular experience.  The small group burst out of the building to find the open-air courtyard a virtual parking lot bristling with military hardware.  Mengshi off-road vehicles, the Chinese equivalent of a Humvee, with roof mounted fifty-caliber machine guns, troop transport