1944
Skull Island, the South Atlantic
Their incursion into the island had begun two hours earlier, and each of them were suitably prepared for whatever lay ahead of them. Priest lead the way, brandishing a Thompson machine gun and wearing a skin-tight black mask that was rolled up at the moment, Orlando followed ten feet behind, carrying a Bren gun and had some ancient sheathed sword strapped to his back, then there was Vasili Zsitsev who carried a Thompson and a sniper rifle slung over his shoulder, and at the rear was the sniper's young wife, who carried her radio equipment and other supplies.
"Captain…" whispered the Russian.
"Yes?" answered Orlando, not slowing for a single moment.
"The American? Do you know him from previous?"
"Can't say that I do." Said Orlando, "He comes highly commended, though. He'll pull his weight, I'm sure"
"It's not that… There's just something about him. How is it that he is able to lead us through an island he's never been to in complete darkness? And why is it does he wear that mask?"
"I don't know why about the first, but he's doing a jolly good job of it."
"There's a foot and a half drop here…" said Priest, "Watch your step."
"See?" said Orlando, "As for the second, well, we all do have our peculiarities."
"Like carrying a sword to a gunfight?"
"Exactly." Said Orlando, almost tripping at the drop that Priest indicated. Priest paused in his tracks.
"What is it?"
"There's something a couple hundred meters away." Said Priest, "More than one something, actually. And they're all dead."
"Lets head for it."
"You sure?"
"Wherever there are the dead, there are usually killers."
"But-"
"That's an order, Sar'nt."
"Oh, yessir, Captain, sir. Heading for the piles of rotting dead, right now."
"You said that your navy has monitored this position…" said Zsitsev; "Knowing there is a Nazi base located on it?" asked Irina, "Why not just attack it?"
"They weren't hurting anyone…" said Orlando, "And it is useful to know a place where the enemy comes and goes."
For the next few minutes, the four made their way through the jungle, not saying another word to one another. Then suddenly, a stench began to fill their nostrils, increasing with every step they took.
In time, the trees grew farther from each other, and the jungle ended, so they merged out to a clearing where an odd sight met them.
"In the words of John the Baptist," said Priest nervously as he instinctively trained a finger of the trigger of his submachine gun, "What a big fucking lizard."
The great carcass of some prehistoric beast lay before the four. Long dead and rotting by the look of it.
"So its not piles of rotting bodies, but rather one very big rotten body." Said Orlando, "And more importantly…A bridge."
Indeed, a small distance away from the beast was a cliff, and the remnants of a rope ladder that stretched to the opposing cliff, some hundred feet away.
"Is…Is that a dinosaur?" asked Irina.
"Look even farther." Said Priest as he pointed, "Up there?"
Orlando took a look with his binoculars.
"Guard tower." He noted as he passed the binoculars to Vasili, "Nicely spotted. He can't see us, but if we move toward the bridge, he will."
"I'll go ahead." Said Priest, "Scout a bit, take out any sentries."
"He'll see one as easy as he'll see four."
"He won't see me. I'm not going over the bridge."
"Alright. Corporal?"
"Yes?" Said Irina.
"Shortwave."
Irina pulled out a shortwave radio out of her pack and handed it to Orlando, who handed it to Priest.
"If you can't take them all quietly, report back and I'll take out who I can."
"Alright." Said Priest, dropping his Thompson and securing the radio to his jacket as he moved away from the three along the edge of the jungle, and disappeared where it began to meet the cliff.
A suspenseful couple of minutes followed as Orlando kept watch with his binoculars, until Priest climbed onto the opposing cliff, appearing from beneath the rope ladder and advancing stealthily on his belly.
"Well, I'm officially impressed."
It was another thirty seconds before Irina's radio crackled to life and Priest's voice came through.
"Karlof to Excalibur, come in."
"This is Excalibur." Said Orlando, "What's the situation, Karlof?"
"There were just two sentries and the man in the tower. They've been taken of. The route is secure. I'm waiting. Over."
"Acknowledged, await us. Over and out."
"These men are SS." Said Vasili as he stripped a sentry's body of his uniform, "SS on an island in the south pacific with dead dinosaurs."
"Never a dull moment, eh?" said Orlando as he donned one of the retrieved uniforms himself. Vasili did the same, and then the three went to work pulling the dead bodies toward the cliff and pushing them over the side.
"Alright. There are bottles of drink in the watchtower, and the bodies are gone." Said Orlando, "They'll assume they got sozzled and went goose-stepping over the edge. That pit's so deep they won't ever go down there to check, so they won't notice the bodies are so modestly dressed."
"That being said, we're fully authorized to break cover if necessary."
Priest came walking back, dressed in an SS uniform of his own.
"Anything, Sergeant?"
"There's a fixed position a few hundred meters away, guarding what I think is the entrance to a bunker. It's well lit, so not even I can take it out quietly, not even with the uniform."
"Very well." Said Orlando, "Myself, the lieutenant and the sergeant will advance to the position. Corporal, you remain here. One of us'll check in every ten minutes, if fifteen go by with no contact, you make a call back to Commander Gray. He'll send in the cavalry for a full on-assault."
"But I can be of more use with you!" said Irina.
"Captain, perhaps-" started Vasili, but was interrupted when Orlando said,
"That's the plan, comrades. Let us go hunting."
Orlando laughed with glee as he plunged the tip of his sword into a footman's gut, then pulled it out and swung it at a wounded officer who had raised a luger in an attempt at reprisal. A muffled shot was heard in the distance, and another footman who was in the process of sneaking up on the captain had his brains splattered onto the earth.
"He's going for the phone!" called out Vasili, as he spied the sole the brutal assault reach for it.
Priest hurriedly punched out the sentry he'd been dealing with, then bolted forward, leaping ten feet till he caught the survivor, shoving him into the equipment and knocking it over. Priest rose first, and seized the footman by the shoulders, nearing his teeth to the man's neck.
"What are you doing?" the frightened German asked.
"Aw, nuts. Forgot myself for a second, there." Said Priest and then snapped his neck.
"That was fantastic." Said Orlando, wiping the blood from his sword on a dead soldier's back, "I say, did either of you remember to keep one of the Jerries alive for interrogation?"
"I thought that was supposed to be your job." Said Priest.
"I believe that man is alive." Said Vasili as he approached from the tree-line, pointing at the officer with the luger.
"Smashing." Said Orlando.
The officer was bleeding from two wounds on his flank, and had lost the strength to raise his luger or do anything. His vision was blurred, but it cleared momentarily for him to see the three men in SS uniforms whom he had never seen before.
"Who are you?"
"Enemy operatives." Said Orlando, "We were wondering if you'd answer a few questions."
R&R.