THE LAST SEARCH PARTY: By Jeremy Herman
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011German Panzer Commander Neumann folded back the set of wooden doors that covered the cellar. One of the infantry behind him handed him a torch. He had already been briefed that this was likely a location where the French resistance detained soldiers for questioning. As Neumann descended the stone stairs into the darkness he kept a sharp eye to provide any clues as to where their missing soldiers may be. Two weeks ago all radio contact with this farming village had ended. When an armored tank unit was sent to investigate,they disappeared as well. Neumann was part of the third investigation unit.
Straining his eyes Neumann could see rows and rows of finewine stretching off into the darkness. This was to be expected. The majority of the farmhouses in the village had expansive wine collections. There was something else though. Before he went in Infantryman Keller had pointed to the far wall of the cellar. This was likely where captured German troops were being held.
Commander Neumann slid his hand along the wooden shelving tohelp guide him to the far wall. The whole cellar seemed to get darker thefurther in he went. It was as if it absorbed light just like the limestone around him absorbed water. As Neumann reached the far wall he began to trace it toward the back, staring intently for a flash of metal. He knew what he was looking for. There! Thick chains imbedded into rock. They were as thick as a child’s arm and yet they were broken in several places. His unit had been sent to investigate the disappearance of the previous units but this just raisedmore questions. The French could not have been using this as a holding area with just one set of broken chains. For that matter, how had these chains been broken? The break was clean.
The two Infantrymen that originally discovered the chainscalled down to him to see if he needed help. He assured them it was under control. He needed to investigate this area on his own. The men above had found nothing else but that meant little. Stalking through the cellar Neumann broke it down into sectors. This made it easy to keep track of the areas that he had already been through. Minutes passed in silence as he lifted bottles and brushed away stone with gloved hands.
Then the silence was broken. The Commander could hear breathing. Quietly he slid his feet across the floor. A soft whimper from behind the shelving acted as a beacon. Neumann peered among the bottles and saw completely opaque eyes stare back at him. My god. It was a nude man! The black eyes faded into the dark. The commander could hear the man limping away. “Halt. Stop immediately!” There was no response. Was this one of the captured men they were looking for?
Neumann pulled the shelving to the ground, shattering several bottles. It revealed an aqueduct. Neumann had heard of the catacombs used by the resistance but henever thought they would start here in the country. Raising his torch Neumannfelt his legs churning to catch up to the man. It didn’t take long. The man had begun to crawl in pain. Neumann circled around in front of him. Blood was flowing from his mouth. The man cried out as fangs began to puncture his lips. A sickening amalgamation was being born. What Neumann originally thought were dark shadows were actually tufts of dark fur. The grizzly change was coming on more quickly.The fur spread and wolf like ears snapped up through his skull. The beast started toward him. Trembling, his torch fell to the floor.
Suddenly the empty village and ambushed units made sense. A snarl swept through the underground maze. Neumann fell to his knees. His torch flickered inches from a trail of water. He prayed it would go out.
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©2011 Jeremy Andrew Herman
Jeremy Andrew Herman has been published on the website 365tomorrows.com and currently is submitting stories to flash fiction websites. He would like to dedicate this story it to his dog Skippy who only has a short time left due to cancer.
