We all looked around to see the barricades being torn down around us. The undead had descended upon the room as their screams of agony echoed against the concrete walls. The sounds sent shivers up my spine as I tried to stop my teeth chattering in my mouth. Every hair seemed to stand in end as I tried to ignore their visceral cries and regain my composure.
"Quick! Zhe next shtep!" Richtofen announced as we all regained our focus.
"Ve must all get to zhe rocket room now!" He commanded knowingly whilst pointing in the general direction with one of his imposing long arms.
The barricades continued to break down around us as we continued to try to ignore the ear-piercingly shrieks of the undead. Their bellowing wails reverberated through our very being - rocking me to my core. Primis stood close to me as he tried to calm me down. He then bent down towards my ear.
"Try to ignore it. Zhey are no longer human", His voice directly projecting into my ear against the noise around us.
"They are no longer human..."
But they were once human, I thought to myself. Primis' words had been intended to put me at ease yet it had backfired and only set my mind on a collision course of overthinking and overanalysing.
The group began to assemble and make their way after Richtofen who had started off in the direction towards the juggernog machine. It was the quickest way to reach the rocket yet my mind anticipated the claustrophobicly narrow corridors with dread. Primis and I ran side by side after them before my legs began slowing in their pace.
As my mind began to tick over uncontrollably, I made the mistake of locking eyes with an undead soldier on the other side of the nearby barricade to my right. His glowing amber eyes narrowed at me in seething malice. The hate and loathing which coursed through his veins seemed to only add to his strength. With ease, he ripped one of the heavy wood planks leaving the thick iron nails standing upright - still impaled in the wall.
But as I stood there within the mesmerising hold of the trance - I felt something in the pit of my stomach. A deep welling sadness which threatened to spill over at any second. The undead had been remarkably absent so far since I arrived in this universe but with the ever closer proximity and frequency of their presence it finally began to hit me about the whole sorry state of affairs.
These men, Richtofen, Dr Maxis, all these scientists had brought such a truly horrific fate upon the world.
They had set aside any semblance of morality they once had just to create something monstrous - "in the name of science". There had been no thought or consideration for the impact or effects their projects would have. It made me think of Oppenheimer, Einstein and all the scientists who could only ever feel regret for their actions after seeing the destruction their efforts had inflicted upon humanity - like the atomic bomb.
Their fervent petitions to President Franklin D Roosevelt, the impassioned speeches and letters all making the case that such a cause was noble and the only way to beat Hitler. Despite all their knowledge of science; they failed to see that such weaponry was destructive regardless of which side was using it. In fact, the Allies were no better than the Axis powers as they became the first to create such devastating weaponry. They were the ones to build it and use it creating the same devastation they claimed they wanted to prevent.
This concerning lack of common sense by such supposedly intelligent minds had echoed the feelings I had when I was a student. But it was only now that I found myself doubting Richtofen, his lack of common sense and the true hopelessness of it all as we now tried to escape yet another horde. What on earth could I actually say or do to stop him? How could I even begin to correct this mess? And most importantly, how could I make Richtofen see sense?
The suffocating spectre of doubt had finally crept up on me as we neared the end of our time at the cosmodrome. Our impending departure was close at hand and we would be pushing on to the next stage of the timeline. Up until this point, I had merely tried to buy us all some time in the hope that a solution would finally present itself. But now, the reality of the situation was finally sinking in.
The undead soldier was beginning to climb across the barricade towards me before I felt myself being scooped up by a large muscular arm. In a daze, I found myself being swept off of my feet as I tried to see who it was. I was swiftly slung over a shoulder and carried off as I watched the undead soldier chasing behind us in the distance. I looked down to see Dempsey's grass green shirt in my hands which I had been gripping tightly. I watched the chaotic scene behind as he ran through the large double doors and continued running towards the stairs with me as cargo. Then, I finally heard his voice as he spoke.
"What the hell are you doin?" His gravelly voice bellowed over the sounds of the undead.
"I--I-- ", I stuttered whilst being jostled around.
"You can't go freezing up on us like that. We're countin on ya!" Dempsey continued.
"We're countin on ya"...
Those words rang like the sound of a bell echoing in my mind. They really were counting on me. Richtofen had only been able to keep up his rouse by keeping the others in the dark. But now I had evened the playing field. How could I have let myself become so paralysed with doubt?
"I'm so sorry Dempsey; it's all just finally hitting me now..." I whispered tearfully - half hoping he could not hear it for all the noise around us.
As we caught up with the group, Dempsey never said another word about my mental freeze. I awkwardly shifted on his shoulder and tried to look around at the others to see to their reactions. Takeo and Nikolai just gave me a frown of confusion before turning back to continue holding off the hordes. Primis, of course, gave me a stern look as I imagined his reaction when he realised I had no longer been running beside him. Richtofen, however, was too busy to notice what had happened as he was on the front lines relishing the action.
"Ahhhhh! ZHE BLOOD! ZHE GLORIOUS BLOOD!" Richtofen squealed with delight.
Dempsey then put me back down onto my feet and gave me a small smile and his signature wink. He had heard what I said. We all began to make our way up the stairs past the juggernog machine towards our destination. Once we made our way up them we ran through the ground floor building and out into the open. The waves of undead piled out of the windows as they began to chase after us.
I quickly readied my famas as everyone kept me in the middle of the group. As usual, Richtofen continued to lead the way whilst he forged a clear path with his ray gun. Nikolai and Takeo stayed close to me as I tried to help them pick off any undead that came too close. Primis stayed behind and covered our rear.
We ran past the camp fire which was now reduced to a small pile of smouldering embers. As we made our way through the next doorway Richtofen waited for everyone to pass the threshold before setting off the nearby trap. Roaring flames emerged from the ground which incinerated the undead behind us. Takeo kept an eye on the stairway beside us and picked off any undead which emerged.
"Quick!" Richtofen cried as we followed him down to the rocket room.
We traversed the loose gravelly path as the small stones shifted beneath our feet. Behind us, Primis activated the turret gun as he passed it. The gun began to swing around spewing out a flurry of erratic gunfire which managed to thin out some of the horde.
Once we got to the rocket room I kept my eyes focused on the clock as I remembered that it was part of this step. The whole time we had been at the facility the hands never left the seven o'clock position. Whenever I was down there, I used to look through at the large shutters to see it hanging lifelessly on the wall. But once Primis caught up and we were all assembled on top of the central platform; the hands suddenly came back to life as they began to tick away.
We all stood watching them in amazement before we realised the undead were clamouring through the windows in the room. I was kept in the middle as Primis and Takeo took them out. Richtofen took out the ones which came through from the adjoining pack-a-punch room as Nikolai stayed close to me.
"Do not worry leetil woman. Nikolai keep you safe", he smiled as the stench of alcohol nearly knocked me out.
We all stayed together on the platform as the hands continued to tick away. It felt like an eternity as we waited for this step to be over. More and more undead were amassing and we wondered how much more we could take of the onslaught. Then, we finally heard an announcement.
"Third node activated", the tannoy announced.
"About time, we gotta get outta here!" Dempsey warned as the undead were steadily increasing in numbers.
"Up to the lander at PhD Flopper it's a good place to ride out the round!" I explained as we all ran back out of the rocket room.
Our group sent out hails of bullets as we tried desperately to survive. The unrelenting hordes were wearing us out by now and I quickly found myself running out of ammo. As we climbed the steep hill back up to the doorway with the fire trap; Richtofen realised that it had not recharged yet.
"Oh scheisse!" Richtofen growled through clenched teeth as he ushered us all to push through and follow behind.
Everyone's ammunition was slowly dwindling - even Richtofen was feeling the pinch despite having three guns.
I felt my heart sink as I watched the undead pouring out of every barricade and doorway...
End of part fourty-eight...