Chapter 24
Tarzan's reunion with his son Korak was a jovial encounter that eventually leveled out to field coffee and mild conversation. The savage lord's eye drifted up to the twilight sky where he felt a strange drawing sensation when the distant and dim twinkle of the red planet met his gaze.
"That's Mars." Said Korak. "The God of War."
An ominous feeling came over Tarzan when he heard that. He had just gulped down the last of his coffee when the first shell hit. The sudden sound was deafening; the centrifugal force sent both father and son flying out of their seats in different directions.
The ape-man's back hit the trench wall, then his belly landed on the earth floor. He got up to look around for Korak but disturbed dirt filled the air and a shrill ringing in his ears prevented any hearing. Other shells were striking in the vicinity; these would send whoosh after whoosh of dirt into his face, up his nose, into his eyes and mouth. Both seeing and breathing became difficult.
A shell hit the trench floor nearby. Tarzan felt the earth lift under his feet and hurl him out onto the open ground above. The air was even thicker with dirt here. His shocked limbs worked sluggishly to wipe his eyes clear as he spitted frenziedly to expel the earth from his mouth.
Another shell thundered down nearby; it not only sent a big whoosh of dirt his way but also a shower of solid objects, Tarzan picked one up for close examination only to find it was a boot with a severed foot inside. Throwing it away brought his attention to a bloodied arm lying nearby, torn from a shoulder joint.
Tarzan rolled onto his stomach to crawl back towards the trench. Through the shrill ringing in his ears he could faintly make out screams and pleas of soldiers wounded by the attack. A soldier appeared on the lip of the trench astride a ladder; he motioned the struggling man to continue his crawl into the entrenchment. A nearby shell impact sent the motioning figure backwards with his ladder. Tarzan was knocked five feet to the left with heat and soil grazing his back. Fingers still clung to the ladder, but that was all; the upper half of the unfortunate soldier had been blown back minus his hands.
Screams and shouting inside the trench intensified. Another shell thundered near the trench lips. Twenty meters of entrenchment closed as the explosion forced the walls together. All screams and shouts ceased, everyone in that stretch of trench was now buried.
Tarzan turned around to seek alternative cover; he managed to begin a little scurry until a flying sandbag, propelled by another blast, knocked him to the ground. Which wasn't there; he tumbled down a slope till he reached the bottom of what was a deep impact crater. The mangled bodies of the dead and dying were with him.
Further shelling resulted in more dirt showers which blurred visibilty. When the pounding stopped the dirt began to settle and clear the air. A lighter thunder sound began, Tarzan realised this was allied artillery returning fire. The impacts were towards the enemy lines.
Tarzan tore off the remains of his shirt and wiped his eyes to see a charnel site of bloodied and broken figures that were once soldiers. All had either limbs, heads or internal organs ripped from their bodies by the shelling. Those that were not dead soon will be, there was little he could do to help them, he could only hope that they succumb to their mortal wounds before coming out of the numbing shock.
Korak could not be seen among the mangled figures but the jungle Lord did recognise one person. It was Captain Ulysses Paxton, his legs had been blown away. He was barely alive and fixated on the darkened twilight sky. Mars, the God of War; that planet was the celestial body that dominated the firmament. Tarzan felt the life leave Paxton's body.
"I hope you fare better up there than here." Said Tarzan to the Captain's lifeless husk.
When the allied barrage ceased, the jungle Lord sensed new vibrations in the ground: it was not more artillery but a multitude of approaching presences, and they were not human. He climbed the top of the crater to see them; his hearing was still bad due to the continued ringing, but a guttural growling was soon made out.
The first growling presence jumped out of the darkness. It was hideous: a horrid visage of twisted facial organs, including sharp teeth; pale deathly white skin with a few patches of hair; and an ape like gait that carried it to the crater's edge. A snarl coupled with a threatening stance was its greeting. Monstrous claws were raised to strike. Tarzan had no time to get out his knife, his shocked body was still not ready for combat.
A pounce by the creature was just barely dodged, Tarzan managed to land a kick on it that did nothing; the creature rushed him and this time the dodge failed. The monstrous arm scored a glancing blow that sprawled the jungle lord to the ground. Its sinews were tough, its claws barbed and the teeth were sharp and horrible; the envy of any bull ape. This monstrosity was about to tear and rend the near helpless victim.
Two gunshots gatecrashed the terrifying moment, they hit the homunculus as did the following shots. The creature's attention was turned to the two soldiers and rushed them . They were Ned Trimble and Aron Trask, each put five shots into the attacking fury before a shot in the shoulder hit a mis-positioned crucial organ, the creature slumped to the ground.
Ned and Aron barely had time to catch their breath when another of the growling monstrosities came out of the dust cloud and rushed them. Instantly the two fired their rifles at the attacker but this time the bullets did not stop it. The creature pounced, knocking Aron aside, Ned tried to club it with his rifle butt, to no avail; it seized his arm and, with a single jerk broke it in several places. Ned screamed as the claws mangled his limb then bit into it. Aron fired a few more rounds into his friend's tormentor; one in the back of the head finished it.
Two more of the misshapen fiends approaching gave Aron no time to comfort Ned, he primed a grenade and tossed it their way. The explosion tore both limbs and chunks of the two targets, but continued growling and slow dragging actions showed they were both alive with their killer savagery intact.
Many more of the foul figures emerged from the receding dust cloud with the sound of a monster army close behind. Aron apprised himself of a box of grenades and primed each one. He did not throw any; the horrors were rushing him fast and furious. Tarzan looked into his face and read an apathy born of hatred for himself and a home he did not want to return to. The grenades went off the instant before at least six of the monsters were on him, all were, along with Aron Trask, splattered to the four winds.
A couple of homonculi steered away from Aron;s trap and moved on the crippled Ned Trimble. The brave soldier tried desperatly to use his rifle with one arm: he managed a to score a couple of hits; but these didn't even slow down the synthetic horrors. They were on him like rabid dogs ravaging the rest of his body. It was all over fast for Ned Trimble.
Tarzan managed a little movement but this was sluggish. The two troglodytes noticed him and gave a roaring growl which was interrupted by the rapid firing of a M1918 Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR). The ballistic assault tore the monster's torso to shreds killing it near instantly. Multiple Springfield rifle shots hit the other horror. One must have hit a crucial organ because it dropped after a few seconds of punishment. Tarzan recognised Eddie Bartlett as one of the riflemen moving on the area.
Lt, James Gatz was the officer with the BAR; he evaluated the situation and ordered his men to form a battle line here. When Tarzan was noticed, the Lieutenant went over to him and offered his hand.
"Enough lying in the dirt." He said in a jovial tone. "Come with me Old Sport."
Tarzan felt his hand get grasped by the young officer. When he was pulled to his feet he felt his strength and faculties return. Gatz's strange positivity seemed infectious.
"The sun will shine for us again." Gatz said while patting the jungle lord on the arm.
More homunculi emerged from the dust cloud. All soldiers fired at the strange attackers; many were brought down with multiple bullet wounds but some did manage, despite several hits, to reach the doughboys and exact a savage reprisal.
A platoon of Harlem Hellfighters placed themselves on the left of the battleline; they were the closest combatants to the dust wall. Many homonculi burst out of the opaque cloud and rushed them. Several shots were hurriedly fired with all but two of the monsters brought down. These each set upon an unfortunate soldier with fierce growls and gory molestation. Before the fiends were brought down they had, in a matter of seconds, torn chunks of flesh off their victims and mangulated any part of the body their claws or teeth touched.
This was too much for two of the soldiers, they began to flee the platoon for their lives. Tarzan saw Vernon Waters turn around and shoot both retreaters in the back. If NCO Quirt noticed this he looked the other way. The enemy attacking was clearly the priority. The attacks came thick and fast, there were no more individual retreats; the platoon remained steadfast despite further horrific mutilations.
Other units had men turn tail and run at sight of the abominable attacks but Lt Gatz aired his feeling of positivity throughout the battle line and convinced many, but not all, to remain at their posts. A quick trip down several foxholes had him driving out many shivering shirkers to join the battleline. A few mounted Hotchkiss machine guns were set up evenly along the line.
A Harlem Hellfighter was set upon by one of the beasts; Tarzan saw him dodge the claws and split the monster open with a Bolo knife. The blade must have hit a crucial organ because the fiend collapsed dead on the spot. Mark, Vernon and the other black soldiers yelled a brisk jubilation.
Tarzan's use of the Springfield rifle was good only in that it hit the approaching target; he felt the frustration many soldiers had in seeing the monsters continue to attack after being hit. Some homunculi dropped after only five hits, others still advanced after receiving fifteen bullets and tear at least one of their shooters apart before succumbing. One such attacker got close to Tarzan and Eddie Bartlett; the latter's gun jammed. Tarzan remembered the Bolo knife defence; dropped his rifle and pulled out his own knife. The homunculi raised his arms and bore his fangs, Tarzan lunged forward and drive the blade into a point just below its throat; it dropped dead instantly.
Eddie Bartlett was retracting his rifle bolt to expel the jammed round. "How did you do with a knife what we couldn't do with a gun?"
"Tarzan can sense where heart is. I can see it beating when close." He replied.
A second homunculus lashed its claws for the jungle lord; Tarzan, with great agility, dodged the grope and jumped on the fiends back. The knife split its side open. Eddie saw the severed aorta and heart spill out of the wound, he had to roll aside to avoid the now dead monstrosity falling on top of him.
Tarzan felt a savage bloodlust awake in him coupled with a sense of triumph over an antagonist, he began to beat his bear chest with both fists and yell out a vocal siren of primal affirmation. Both homunculi and humans ceased combat to observe the one man spectacle.
He stepped forward wearing only his loincloth and knife belt; having since dispensed with his loose, tattered safari trousers. The nearest homunculus took a swipe at him that was cut short when Tarzan lunged forward and drive his blade into the beastly groin. Death suddenly took the creature before his dodged swipe was half finished.
Tarzan moved on the next target. His upbringing and lifestyle of always seeing apes' bare torsos and making out beating hearts allowed him to locate the randomly placed organ. A knife slash at a homunculus belly ended his heartbeat before his attack started.
Savage growls told the jungle lord that future antagonists were not going to wait for his approach. The first attacker raised his arms; revealing the location of his beating heart just below his armpit. Tarzan made an agile side dodge of the descending claws then, as the creature raised his arms again, slashed the crucial area with his knife. The snarling fiend slumped instantly.
Another attacker was dealt with by a knife thrown into his solar plexus. Tarzan moved fast to retrieve his blade from the dead foe. He extracted the blade just in time to slash open the side of his next charging antagonist. Several other homunculi moved towards the lone warrior. Tarzan had no time for drawn out combat or individual gestured challenges. Each antagonist had to be dealt with quickly with one slash or stab.
All the present soldiers, when they were not dealing with their own attackers, observed the jungle lord dish out a prompt death to all homunculi who approached him. If they ever advanced in pairs Tarzan would spirit himself away and attack a loner. The pair would pursue him but as individuals, allowing Greystoke to strike each down in quick succession.
Captain Flagg arrived at the scene with a company of marines, he ordered Lt Gatz to get the loin clothed fighter back over the lines. A dense new wave of grunting homunculi appeared in the distance. Many doughboys yelled at Tarzan to get back, but they had to compete with the gunfire, growling, snarling and blood lust. The latter had Greystoke jump on a homunculus back and stab his blade into the fiends neck; an odd location for the heart. The dead foe lurched forward sending his piggyback rider rolling to the soldiers' lines.
Eddie Bartlett seized him and threw him back behind the battle line. Multiple organised gunfire from the marines finished the remains of the current attack wave; it was the new oncoming wave that had soldiers crossing their hearts, kissing their cross pendants and saying final prayers. Captain Flagg set up extra mounted machine guns and ordered his men to stand firm.
All guns mounted fired into the oncoming wave of horrors. Many in the front row were cut down some copping as many as fifty bullets in them. Subsequent rows copped less, a few bullet ridden fiends got close to the battle line. As all guns fired one shot after another smoke came out of their firing chambers but no-one dared to stop.
This attack wave did not seem to have any end as each row of growling horrors got closer to the battle line. Then inevitably it happened several bullet ridden monsters tore through the line and reap savage atrocity on any soldier near it. Captain Flagg ordered all combatants to keep their fire on those still approaching and to hold the line. Those creatures who had breached the line were mostly brought down by either pistols, knifes and loose bayonets.
Further breaches were about to happen as many Homunculi got close to the battle line, when suddenly they all stopped, turned around and ambulated back to No Mans Land. Captain Flagg ordered a volley of grenades to hurled at the retreaters; all able soldiers complied and many homunculi were torn apart by the explosions.
Any homunculi who had breached the line and was not yet brought down desisted their savage work on the soldiers and moved to join the retreating mass. One such was near Eddie Bartlett; the doughboy fired his rifle into the beast's torso. This shot like several others had not found the heart or any other crucial organ. Tarzan could sense the necessary strike point was just under the throat, he lashed out with his knife but his attack was cut short by a backhand blow to the head.
His consciousness was fading; he saw the homunculus turn to exact a brief savage mutilation of both Eddie Bartlett and himself before trying to join his comrades. Tarzan was helpless, with his last fading vision he saw someone jump on the snarling monster's back and run a bolo knife into its misshaped eye socket, killing it. His rescuer was his son Korak.