Rise of the Undead 1943 Read Free

he’s gone, and we ain’t getting him back. I got a letter from him. He’s in
England and . . . well they couldn’t save his leg, so he won’t be back. This
here is Lieutenant Harris, our new platoon leader.”
    All eyes turn to Harris. He looks the band of boys over with
obvious disdain, “I’m only going to say this once; I run a tight platoon, and I
run it by the book. I don’t like what I’m seeing already. I don’t like the
whining, I don’t like the grumbling, and I don’t like the lack of discipline.
It will stop. Weapons inspection in fifteen. We move out in thirty.”
    Monte steps forward, “You heard him, girls! Strip ‘em and
clean ‘em!”
    Despite the passionate speech by Harris, the men grumble.

Chapter 3
    Smith, on point, leads the men through the canyon where the
Germans were ambushed the day before. Dead bodies lay bloating under the desert
sun, and equipment is scattered along the route. Pender and Monte follow close
behind Smith, talking quietly.
    “Guess they don’t take prisoners,” Monte says pointing to a
German body lying on the ground with a telltale execution shot to the back of
the head.
    Pender shrugs, “More replacements and some additional non-coms
should be along in a few days.”
    “We need ‘em,” Monte says looking around the small group of
men, “Half strength and half of them ain’t even got their boots broke in.”
    Pender looks back to Harris who struggles to get his back
pack comfortable, “And that kid don’t know his ass from a hole in the ground.”
    “West Point?”
    Pender nods, “Daddy is a state senator in Virginia.”
    “Oh, from a proper family then,” Monte says with a smile.
    “Yes, which means we gotta try and keep the little
pecker-head alive,” Pender says turning to Monte with a stern expression.
    The smile drops from his face and he nods in agreement. Yusif
passes them and moves ahead of Smith, taking the point.
    “Hey! Where you going?” Pender calls out. Yusif continues
with a wave of dismissal.
    Pender starts to object when Camir steps from a group of
rocks. Smith stops, shocked that he was so close. Yusif greets him in Arabic. Pender
holds up his hand and the platoon comes to a halt. Pender slaps Smith on the
back, “Nice spotting there, Hawkeye.”
    “But ain’t he on our side?” Smith protests.
    “We can put that on your tombstone,” Pender tells him and
moves forward to Yusif and Camir. He sees the abandoned archeological camp in
the distance.
    Pilch and Oddball inspect the German corpse with the head
wound. Pilch looks at the soldier’s insignia, “Third mechanized,” and then
roughly searches through the pockets.
    “They the ones that chewed us up at Kasserine, right?”
    Pilch nods, taking the wallet from the corpse and standing,
“Can’t say I’m sorry to see ‘em rotting here dead.”
    Oddball looks at the wallet and shakes his head in
disapproval. Pilch shrugs and pockets it then, checking that Monte or Pender
aren’t looking, he unzips his trousers and urinates on the dead man’s face.
    Yusif and Camir talk in hushed tones. They look up as Pender
approaches.
    “What’s the hold up?”
    Yusif waves him silent.
    “Alright, I’ll just hold on then,” he says irked and looks
back to check on the men and sees Pilch urinating on the dead German, “God damn
Pilch,” he mutters to himself.
    Monte moves up shaking his head, “I don’t know which is
worse,’ he says looking at Pilch, “him or him,” and he nods toward Harris.
    Pender follows his gaze to Harris. The young officers is on
one knee, map in hand, compass around his neck, binoculars up to his eyes,
trying to look the part of a West Point war hero. Pender shakes his head,
“Jesus Christ, does he think there’s a photographer someplace getting a picture
of this?”
    Pilch zips up, looks around to the top of the canyon and un-slings
his rifle, “Shouldn’t be sitting here,” he says as he slips back a few feet and
behind a rock for cover, “I