A battle-worn man stomped forward. Jacob immediately recognized him as the captain from the ship. Now wearing green body armor and sporting a large cut across his forehead, he moved out of the crowd. He carried a pistol slack in his right arm as he grabbed Murphy with his left hand, pulling him close. The captain turned and pointed to a position far to the south, away from the reinforced line on the other side of the Castle grounds. Murphy nodded, looked back, and waved a hand at the remnants of his squad to bring them in.
Captain Nelson looked at the weary bunch. “You men! Follow me; we have to support the far flank,” he ordered.
“Lead the way, sir!” Sergeant Cass shouted back, answering for the group.
Incoming rounds smacked the sandbag barriers behind them as they moved on. When the roar of the mobs began again, Jacob turned. From the overlook, he could see thousands of charging people moving at the elevated line. Machine guns opened up from the left and right while soldiers launched grenades into the swarm. A mortar crew fell into position and quickly set up their tubes before lobbing high explosive rounds into the mass. Muzzle flashes revealed the positions of the enemy in the far-off tree lines, bushes, and gardens. The enemy shooters were supporting the charging mob with surprisingly accurate fire. Jacob was mesmerized by the chaos of the scene and he stood like a spectator in awe watching the battle.
“Jacob!” Murphy yelled.
Jacob spun around; the rest of the squad was moving out to the south and following the captain. He looked back one more time at the murderous mob, and then turned to follow his squad leader.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Captain Nelson moved them away from the sandbag defensive wall to farther south on the shoreline and into what could be described as the backyard of the museum. Jacob saw the dead scattered over the grounds; many were dressed in uniform, but several were the dried, shriveled bodies that he knew were the Others. Looking to the right as he followed the squad, he could see the back face of the museum; to his left was a sort of park with small snack bars and the aquarium. The captain led them through the destruction and to another walled barrier that marked the end of the museum grounds. As on the near side, this side was also fortified with bunkers—many that now stood empty.
Jacob could see the beginnings of the famous museum running parallel to the defensive line. The steps were covered in strands of concertina wire; bodies were twisted and tangled in the jumbled coils of wire, piled in excess of ten feet. Looking beyond the far side of the museum building, he saw a tall, battered sandbag and plywood position standing watch over a once grassy approach to the museum grounds. In the distance, Jacob could also see Soldier Field, a large football stadium; the approach was now pockmarked with craters and burnt swaths of grass as scorched bodies lay over what was once a parking lot. A road that led visitors to the museum park was now filled with blackened skeletons of vehicles.
Hundreds of meters out, an explosion flashed, filling the darkened field with a glimmer of light.
“Anti-personnel mines,” a man said from up above.
Jacob looked up at the bunker in front of them. Facing south, the nearly twenty feet long structure guarded the rear and flank of the museum grounds. Made from intertwined double sandbagged walls, it was elevated and built on top of HESCO barriers. Comprised of large wire-reinforced bags filled with gravel, the HESCO barriers were stacked side by side until they formed a foundation for the defensive position built directly on top of it. In order to gain access, a soldier from above dropped down a handmade wooden ladder to the group.
Captain Nelson put a hand on Murphy’s shoulder to pull him in. “It’s been quiet on this side of the Castle since the beach assault started, but we know the black-eyes will be back. We have to hold the flank while the survivors are airlifted out, and then we’ll withdraw from the beach.”
Murphy nodded his reply.
Captain Nelson pulled him closer. “Sergeant Murphy, I don’t know how to emphasize this. It is imperative that we hold. If we lose this position and get surrounded, we will never leave this park. Everything we fought for tonight will be lost—”
More mines exploded in the distance in ones and twos, then several in rapid succession.
Captain Nelson turned and looked over his shoulder at the blasts in the approach. “We were able to convince the Air Force to scatter AP mines all along this area after we abandoned the stadium. It has slowed them down some, but it hasn’t stopped them—”
More explosions, followed by heavy machine gunfire from their rear at the reinforced line, caught the captain’s attention; he took a deep breath and looked at Murphy. “Sergeant hold the flank… nothing gets through.”
“How long, sir?” Murphy asked.
Nelson looked at the men around the bunker with a somber expression. “Good luck, Sergeant; take care of your men,” he said, turning away.
More AP mines exploded, closer now, and the soldier at the top of the ladder shouted, “You guys need to get up here!”
Sergeant Cass stepped ahead and quickly climbed the rungs. Jacob followed him to the top where they discovered that only four men manned the bunker. Of the four, one had
