Chapter 9: Ruins
Helmut woke up. He was trapped under debris. The tavern was destroyed. He saw two Soldiers. They were burning. Helmut saw that they were already dead, but returned as Zombies.
However they were both killed by B.J. “Over here!” Helmut called out.
“Don’t move I get you out,” B.J. used his pipe as a Crowbar to move the debris from Helmut. “Are you hurt?”
“No I am alright; let’s get out before this whole building collapses!”
As they stepped out, undead Civilians attacked them. Helmut had still his knife. After the zombies were defeated, Helmut saw the burning city. “My God. The whole city. What happened?”
“I don’t know. But I am sure that Helga is responsible for this. Kessler, come in! You read?” Only Static. “Goddammit. Can you swim?”
“Of course. I can only hope that Ruby and Heike are alright.”
“I promise Helmut, we will look after them. But for now we need to move.”
Both men walked to through the remains of the fountain to the Hospital. Green gas came from the ground. “I think the Gas has something to do with this undead people,” Helmut suspected. B.J. tried to move the debris with the pipe. Pippa, also known as Nurse Inga shot a zombie. But the deceased man in her bed attacked her.
“Pippa, behind you!” B.J. warned her put it was too late. The Zombie grabbed her and threw her in the burning bed. Enraged B.J. charged at the zombie and with a strong punch, the Head was gone. He was about to get his weapons, as Pippa reanimated.
“Oh no,” B.J. quickly grabbed his Handgun from the chest and shot Pippa in the Head. “You deserved a better fate then this, Pippa.” He collected his remaining Weapons. Helmut could tell that she was a good friend of B.J.
“It seems that the visions that the patients in Castle Wolfenstein had are true. They called the undead ‘Shamblers.’” A Regime Shambler came through the Door and fired at them with an Assault rifle. B.J. shot the Fire extinguisher causing it to explode and killing multiple Shamblers. Helmut grabbed the rifle of his former comrade.
They fought their way through the hospital, shooting undead civilians, Soldiers and even undead fighting dogs. Some Shamblers broke through the floor or used Assault rifles but were not very accurate.
“Blazkowicz, can you hear me?” Kessler asked via radio after he and Helmut exited the hospital.
“Kessler. Listen. Helga’s gone. Took the folder with her. She’s digging up something beneath the church ruins. Must’ve been what caused this Shitstorm. What’s your location?”
“I don’t know. Some kind of workshop. Close to the old town.”
“On my way, Kessler. Hang in there.”
“I know where the workshop is. I can you lead there.”
“Ok Helmut. But first, let’s go to the boathouse. That is where I have last seen Kessler and Annette.”
“Good idea. The Boathouse is close to my home. If we are fast enough, we can find Ruby too.”
At the boathouse B.J. found a double-barreled Shotgun. “Hello.” As he was about to saw it, a Shambler fell through the ceiling. Helmut’s rifle jammed.
B.J. sawed faster. Just when the Shambler reached him, he shot him with the now sawed off shotgun. “That was too close,” Helmut said as he had fixed his rifle.
Shamblers were falling from the sky. “Look at that. It’s raining Shamblers,” B.J. commented. Helmut couldn’t believe it. The whole city was burning. Even the zeppelins were on fire.
He heard and saw how a burning zeppelin crashed and exploded in a fireball.
“We’re almost there, come on,” Helmut said to B.J. who killed the last Shambler.
Ruby woke up after she was knocked out. She held her head in pain. That hurt. I hope Heike is alright. She thought after her vision was clear again. “Oh my…” She saw the burning city. Then she saw how a zeppelin crashed and exploded in a fireball.
“Heike? Are you there?” Ruby called out. But there was no answer. Parts of the building were destroyed and collapsed. Suddenly she heard a sound. It was the same sound Helmut, made in her dream.
Carefully Ruby followed the Source of the sound. At first she was glad to see Heike, but when she noticed how Heike was standing and that a wooden spike was jammed through her skull, Ruby knew instantly that Heike was dead, but reanimated as an undead. She had her back to Ruby. She slowly backed away but tripped. The sound alerted the now undead woman.
Heike’s torso was covered in blood. Two other Shamblers joined her. One was a Civilian in a suit with hat while the other was a Soldier. His torso was open, revealing his internal organs. Ruby crawled backwards until she was trapped in a corner.
She cried and covered her head. She didn’t want to “die” and end as a snack for the undead. She slowly uncovered her eyes when she heard gunshots.
Helmut and B.J. stormed in and killed the Shamblers. “So sorry, Mother. It wasn’t supposed to end like this,” Helmut said after he saw his former mother.
“Why do they hate me so much? A-All I wanted to do was help Roneo his present... I only wanted to help...” Ruby sobbed as she had a flashback of her death.
“Cause the brain got broke I recon.” B.J. looked over the dead bodies while Helmut comforted Ruby as best as he could.
“We can’t stay here. We need to move or we are dead.”
“You’re right, Helmut.”
“Stay by me and B.J. and we’ll keep you alive!”
It sounded silly since Ruby was already dead. But she didn’t know if she would “die” here, if she would live again or would be dead forever. When she died at home, she woke up in the forest again.
The pump house was destroyed again. “I guess they were right. It’s really hunted. 31 years ago it was destroyed and now again. Looks like we need to swim. I can carry you on my back Ruby. It’s no problem.”
Ruby hugged him tightly when they entered the water. But she didn’t drown as she feared. “Herr Kessler, I have to find her.”
“How can you be sure that she is still here?”
“I don’t know. Just a feeling, I guess.”
“Does she mean a lot to you?”
“I think about her. All the time.”
“Then I will pray for her. That she will find you once again.”
Ruby and the young man heard everything since B.J.’s radio was loud enough. “I hope that Julian and Laura are still alive and not one of those… undead.”
“Ruby, I’m sure they’re safe and sound. We got to have faith.” Helmut knew that the kids wouldn’t have a chance against the Shamblers.
They spotted Annette and Kessler. “They in trouble. Gotta find a way to get to them.”
“B.J. you help Annette, I help Kessler, I know the way through the workshop. Ruby, you help B.J. through the bathhouse, since I showed you it before.”
“Alright, Helmut. Just be careful.”
“I will.”
B.J. looked at Ruby. “Trust me, Ruby. I protect you from these undead Monsters.” He smiled before they entered the bathhouse and the Workshop.
Helmut saw some other Soldiers who tried to defend themselves from the undead.
However, they were quickly outnumbered since every killed Soldier turned into a Shambler. Only a Heavy Soldier was left. “Helmut! Thank God, you’re alive!” He was glad to see him. It was the same Soldier he had met earlier.
“I am here to help a friend in need!” He responded while killing some Shamblers.
“Then go! I will keep them busy!” The Heavy Soldier said. But before he or Helmut could react, a Shambler with an Assault rifle shot as his Tank, causing it to explode.
All Shamblers were killed by it. Helmut was quick enough to go to cover.
“You did your duty, Soldier,” He said before he continued to go for Kessler.
He found him surrounded by Shamblers. He shot all of them before they could harm Kessler.
You okay, Kessler?”
“Who are you?”
“A friend of B.J. He’s helping Annette.”
“Annette is gone. She wanted to find her friend. Stubborn as mule, that child.” Kessler got up.
“I will take these flyers and cast them out over Berlin. Just like my wife did. Maybe it’s like pissing in the ocean. But every drop spreads ripples across the water, no? If you choose to do nothing because you feel insignificant in the grand scheme of things you might as well be an ant. And if I die, I know I will have deserved to meet her again.”
“I heard about your wife. My condolences.”
“It’s alright. It’s best if I go alone. First, help me open a way through the blocked doorway.”
Helmut lifted the beam up. “Thank you. I will be fine.”
After he helped Kessler, he saw how Ruby and B.J. helped Annette.
Bathhouse a few minutes earlier
Ruby and B.J. entered the bathhouse. Soldiers were fighting Shamblers. The Soldiers were killed only to be reanimated as Shamblers. B.J. took care of them before they could harm him or Ruby.
As they went the Stairs up, a Heavy Soldier fired at B.J. but he killed him with a headshot.
Annette was surrounded by Shamblers. B.J. killed a Shambler with his Rifle while Ruby gave another Shambler a strong buck with her hind legs causing him to stumble. B.J. gave him the rest with a headshot.
“Why do they hate us so much?”
“Cause their brains got broken I recon.”
“I killed one of them. Did you see that, Mr. B.J.?”
“Good on you, kid.” Annette stood up and looked around.
“I have been here before. The week after weihnachten. My friend she made me, sneak in here so we could look for the bath house ghosts. The heating was off because of the bombs. And there was ice in the pool. We danced to gramophone records in Herr Obermann’s office and I remember laughing and freezing and being afraid someone would catch us and take me away from her. I made a promise.
Whatever happened to me I would find a way back to her.”
“You can’t go by yourself. Not with them monsters out here.”
"If I do not go I might as well let the monsters rip my insides out." Annette looked up.
“I will go up through that hole. And you will help me. I know you will, Mr. B.J.”
“Here. Listen. I can come with you.”
“No, silly soldier man. You will stop Helga. I will be careful.”
Before Annette climbed up, Ruby spoke to her, “See you later… Friend.” She reminded Ruby of Apple Bloom.
“You too. You’re reminding me of my friend.” Ruby blushed.
Ruby and B.J. looked over to the other Side. Helmut was also successful. “With the Laderoboter, we should make it to the old church ruins!” He called out.
Then, he jumped into the water. B.J. gently picked Ruby up and did the same. Before they reached the Laderoboter, Ruby and Helmut heard B.J mumbling, “I was a kid; we had a monster in our basement. My father said if I done wrong it’d creep out at night and come for me. I tried to do no wrong. But the monster came all the same.”
B.J. putted Ruby in the Laderoboter and started it. “I will follow you on foot.” Helmut checked his weapon before they made their way through the old town.