by Dave Hazel
“Everyone is A-OK. Not even a scratch,” the co-pilot Lewis said. “I’m being asked why you want to continue north? Some of the civilians, the reporters, were rattled by their first Soso encounter.”
“Tell them that really was nothing. Tell them wait until we get into some real hairy situations,” he joked. “We have every advantage except in the area of numbers. We have to continue to look for the people who are missing so we’ll keep going north. But hey, I want you to pass on to Captain Diaz that he did a real good job and his men did fantastic. The first battle is the toughest, but now they got that under their belt they’ll do great. I promise.”
“Myk, if the people we found were all dead, it doesn’t bode well for the rest of them,” Lewis said after relaying the message to Diaz.
“That’s true, but if you will have noticed, the people we just found were facing south. We were told others were farther north and they headed north. I don’t think these dead people were a part of the same group. They could have been caught up in the same green fog, but they were not a part of the same group.”
“How could that be?” Lieutenant Lewis asked.
“We don’t know for sure, but everyone who enters the green fog will end up in different places as far as distance depending on how much time separates their entry. Did you notice how scattered our group was? And we all drove into the green fog one right after the other, but we were still spread out over miles. We still don’t know or understand how that works.”
“Do you think the others could be alive after what we just came across?” Lieutenant Lewis asked.
“I’m not sure. But we got word from Towbar’s people that the Sosos were trying to capture prisoners. Towbar’s soldiers saw black vehicles go north. My hope is they’re still alive.”
“Why didn’t they take those people back there prisoner?” Lewis asked.
“Your guess is as good as mine. Maybe these Sosos around here didn’t get the message to take prisoners. I really don’t know.”
“Well I hope you’re right Myk,” Lewis replied. “I feel like we’re walking a tightrope over a pool of flames.”
They continued north over scattered bands of Sosos. The bands consisted of groups of several thousand strong. They came upon a river that flowed from the north and turned to the east for several miles and emptied to a large lake which was to their right. Mykal wasn’t sure if it was the same body of water where he met Towbar and his warriors for the first time. This water looked dark and murky whereas the lake he met Towbar at was clear and clean looking.
“The vehicles would never be able to travel across the river or the lake,” Mykal called into his mouth piece to the pilot. “Tell the other pilots to split up. Three will come with us to the west along the river and the other four will go to the east along the river. Tell them not to go very far, but far enough to do a reasonable search.”
“We have less than two hours flying time before we’ll have to think about heading back Myk,” Barstow informed him.
“No problem.”
Within fifteen minutes Mykal’s group came upon a group of vehicles parked at the edge of the water. They hovered over the vehicles to draw attention, but no response. They guessed the nearest Sosos were approximately twenty minutes away.
“It doesn’t seem like there is anyone with the vehicles Myk. Do you want us to land to check it out?”
“Yes. Please do that,” Mykal said. In his mind a battle of thoughts raged, selfish vs. hopeful. If the people were dead he would cut Mister X’s hand off take the case from Mister X and his mission would be complete. If alive and wandering around, or captured he would have to track them down and rescue them.
Mykal put himself in their place and hoped they were alive and wandering around lost rather than prisoners of Sosos. ‘I got a job to do and it’s gonna get done. This Mister X dude is the key to being done with Jill, the President and anything having to do with the military.’
The helicopters landed a safe distance from the vehicles. The Marines swiftly set up a defensive perimeter. They were sure the Sosos would respond to their position out of curiosity if nothing else. Mykal took his close friends and two of the reporters to inspect the vehicles.
There were five black vehicles; all were 1983 Cadillac Fleetwood Limousines that must have been part of the motorcade Mykal was searching for. Mykal had been informed there were six such vehicles, all had one VIP and two or three secret service type guards for each. Mykal sighed when he realized Mister X could be in the sixth vehicle. ‘And who the hell knows where that vehicle is,’ he thought and tried to remain positive. ‘But there is more chance he was in this group.’
The black paint had a mirror like shine except for the dents, scratches and many gouges caused by Soso attacks. Each Cadillac had been modified with bulletproof glass and their sizes were adjusted in height and length for their special use. Mykal saw a seal on the back door for each black vehicle that he assumed to be a Presidential Seal. Two of the vehicles still had the U.S. flags protruding from the front of their hoods. The other flags that had been removed were destroyed. The standards lay beside their autos ripped and torn.
With the five black shining crafts of protective luxury, there were eight police motorcycles lying on their sides and four civilian cars. All the vehicles had been neatly grouped together. The other cars and motorcycles had minor damage in similar fashion as the black motorcade vehicles. After a quick search they discovered there were no bodies in any of the vehicles. Mykal watched Larry break off one of the undamaged mini Stars and Stripes from one of the Limousines.
“Proof you found them,” Larry said to Mykal and rolled the little flag to put in his pocket
Mykal walked around the vehicles and looked closely as if searching for something which caught the attention of the others. He didn’t want to miss it if Mister X had taken the brief case off his wrist to protect it from the Sosos. He looked under the cars and inside the back seat of the five special limos.
“Whadda ya doing Myk?” Larry asked with amazement. “There’s no one here. Are you looking for something?”
“Yeah, look,” he pointed to the police motorcycles to defer away from his true object. “There were at least eight policemen and there had to be some secret service. They were all alive at least until this point or the vehicles would never have gotten this far. There’s no blood in or around the vehicles so I don’t think anyone was killed. But look around. There are no signs of their weapons at all. They dropped their winter coats and gloves, but no weapons. And even though their coats have been slashed there is no blood on or near them. So they either all lost their weapons somewhere else or they still have ‘em with them. Maybe they played it smart and didn’t start flashing their weapons around,” he added with a puzzled look.
“So what do we do now?” One of the reporters asked. His cameraman was videotaping the conversation.
“We gotta keep looking for them, but before we go I wanna see if any of the vehicles have the keys in them and I wanna see how much gas they have left.
All the vehicles except for one civilian vehicle had their keys in the ignition. The motorcade vehicles had more than half a gas tank. Two civilian vehicles had just about three fourths of a tank, the third civilian vehicle was almost empty and the last civilian vehicle didn’t have the keys so they couldn’t read the gas gauge. The driver must have taken his keys with him.
“That’s good to know, cuz if we’re ever out here those vehicles could come in handy,” he turned to Boris and Jake.
“Why the hell would they make these motorcycle cops ride their cycles in the friggin winter time?” Jake asked. “It musta been cold as hell for them.”
“Actually, it was really nice in D.C. that night,” Mykal replied. “Me and Towbar were there and I think it was about high forties or low fifties. It wasn’t that bad out. Great observation though Jake. Being stuck in Towbar’s world hasn’t wasted your brain,” he chuckled.
“He is old though,” Boris joke
d just like the old days.
Mykal saw Jake was ready to come back with a cutting remark, but suddenly stopped. Mykal guessed Jake feared saying anything to make Boris angry after learning about the Minot A.F.B. Massacre. Mykal thought it odd, in their stressful situation; he realized he felt bad for his friend Boris. Boris ruined his life forever; even his “close” friends were leery of him. Since the first visit to Towbar’s world nothing could ever be like it was before June 23rd.
“Look, here come the other helicopters,” Jake pointed toward the western sky.
“Well let’s check out near the water and see if we can find anything before we leave,” Mykal suggested. He hoped Mister X threw the brief case away so the Sosos wouldn’t get their hands on it. “Hey Towbar, how do the Sosos cross the water? They obviously don’t swim.” Mykal eyed the dark murky water and had a sudden fear of what could be living in the ugly river.
“They use flat boats. They use very large flat boats.”
“You mean like rafts?” Boris asked as he joined them walking toward the water.
“Yes, like rafts, though very large. Those who fear the river will not travel by water. They will walk months out of their way to avoid the water. They fear the water. That is why they have never built ships and tried to travel the ocean to bypass the mountains.”
“Where do they keep these flat boats?” William asked when there were none to be seen.
“They would be on the opposite bank. The Sosos will return to the north bank after Sosos disembark on this bank,” Towbar explained. “As more Sosos arrive they will be ready to transport them across the river.”
“Alright then, let’s go and check out what’s on the other side of this river before we head back,” Mykal suggested.
The helicopters flew north over the river. “What the hell are those?” Jake yelled as they neared the opposite side of the river. There were a number of the flat boats on the water heading south. “Those ain’t Sosos. What the hell are they?”
“I am not sure,” Towbar said as he stared at the strange people, or rather creatures, he had never encountered before. “This is my greatest fear realized. Sosos are bringing allies from around the world. Sosos are being joined by forces of other humanoid types. That could explain the long wait for the final attack to take the Pass. They are strengthening their forces with outside armies.”
“I wanna go have a closer look,” Mykal spoke to the pilot. “We’ve never seen anything like them before.”
The helicopters slowed and hovered close to one of nine large flat boats. Mykal relayed to the cameramen via the pilot to capture as much footage of the strange sight on videotape so they could examine the material back at camp. The large flat boat could easily hold hundreds of men. But rafts weren’t transporting humans who were being ferried across the river.
“What the hell are they?” Boris asked. “They’re smaller than us, but they’re dark green, almost black, aren’t they? Or are my eyes screwed up?”
“Yeah, that’s a dark shade of green,” Jake agreed.
“What are they Towbar?” Mykal asked while watching the strange beings eye them hovering in the air.
“They stand the same height as Dwarves. Clearly that is the only similarity. They are not Dwarves,” Towbar said with certainty. “The only thing that comes to my mind is Goblins. My memory is vague of elders speaking of Goblins many, many years ago. They must be Goblins though I have never laid eyes on Goblins before.”
“Goblins?” Larry gasped. “I thought you said before that Goblins and all that weird shit like that only live on the other side of your world. And you said that was if they existed at all. Isn’t that what you said?”
“Yes my friend, I did tell you that. Now I am frightened for my people,” Towbar said. His face formed a frown of deep concern. “This is why the Sosos have not attacked. They truly have been waiting for other evil forces from around the world to assist in their evil plan to take over my country and to take over the entire world. This could only mean that Zizmon-Tarl himself will travel here to oversee the war to end all wars. I can assure you that if these foreign creatures have traveled here there will be other foreign forces en route to join in the final battle. That is if they are not already in the different Soso countries.”
“Alright, we’ll talk about this stuff later,” Mykal said and gave an aggressive sneer. “We’re gonna give these little creeps a taste of what they’re gonna get if they come screwing with us,” Mykal yelled as he moved the army soldier away from his mounted machine gun. “Get us a little lower and put my side level with the green little Martian looking bastards,” Mykal spoke to Barstow. “Tell the others to get ready to open fire and follow my lead.”
“Do you think this is a correct option to take Myk?” Lieutenant Lewis the co-pilot asked while the pilot followed his orders. “Do you think it is wise to go on the offensive unprovoked?”
“You do your damn job and I’ll do mine,” Mykal snapped back. Nothing else was said.
*******
The greenish humanoid creatures stood on the flatboat and eyed the helicopters, unsure what the strange creature could be. They didn’t know if the flying creature would be friend or foe. The noise of the whirling blades seemed to disturb them. It most assuredly disturbed the water under its wingless flight.
The face of the creature didn’t appear to have teeth or wings and it didn’t appear to have any feathers. These flying creatures looked odd indeed. The Sosos mentioned nothing of these beasts. The Goblin army wasn’t sure what they were looking at. They had seen dragons back in their home land, but dragons were much larger with large wings, ferocious heads with rows of destructive teeth and deadly talons. These were not dragons.
*******
The helicopter hovered closer and went lower to be almost level with the slow rafting flat boats. Mykal clearly saw the lines etched in the faces of the Goblins who stood in the forward position. Their facial structure reminded him of a French bulldog, but their faces were hairless and dark green in color. They all seemed to have prominent under bites.
Knowing they could see him standing inside the open door, Mykal gave a friendly wave and a broad smile. A few of the green creatures waved back revealing their hands were at least three times the size of a man’s hand in proportion to their smaller bodies. Their feet were just as large and out of proportion. Most seemed skimpily dressed, wearing only a loin cloth or short like pants. Mykal thought they looked fit and wiry; their smaller bodies were tight and muscular.
“They think we’re friends,” Boris scoffed.
Suddenly Mykal opened fire with the M-60 machine gun. The noise shocked those who didn’t know Mykal was going to attack the little creatures. The M-60 cut the greenish colored humanoid beings to pieces. They were packed tightly on the flat boat enabling each of the 7.62mm rounds to easily rip through several Goblins at once. Each piece of burning lead cut through three to five little bodies.
The strange greenish flesh flew in all directions. Body parts ripped away, resulting in chaos to explode on the decks of the open flat boats. Appearance wise Mykal thought these foul, evil little creatures made Sosos look like boy scouts in comparison. They looked like they had a vile hatred for life. Whether it was true or not, they were in league with the Sosos so as far as Mykal was concerned they deserved to die.
Mykal saw weapons and possessions flying in all directions. The half-naked bodies of Goblins flew and fell all over the large flat boat. Those that fell on the flat boat spilled their blood quickly. Their blood seemed very dark, almost like chocolate syrup in color. Following Mykal’s lead other machine guns opened fire on other flat boats creating the same destructive damage to the unsuspecting Goblins.
*******
The Goblins believed the strange flying creatures to be monsters of the water since they had never seen or heard of such beings. Goblins rarely spend time near water. This being their first time on this part of the world they were sure the monsters must be angry that they were cro
ssing the water without paying tribute or offering a sacrifice of young virgins. All their gods back home require sacrifices of young virgins.
Goblin bodies were easily being ripped apart without any way to defend or retaliate. With the sudden destruction wrought upon them many Goblins feared dying such a horrible death and they jumped into the deep water. Fear was an emotion the Goblins rarely experience. Dragons instill fear. Fire brings about fear. And now these flying creature implanted fear just as the flying dragon that terrorizes a certain section of their mountain regions in their home country. The Goblins who jumped into the water had more chance of dying than surviving since Goblins never swam in their lives.
*******
The Goblin shouts of anger, cries of fear, squeals of terror, and threats of violence couldn’t be heard over the roar the machineguns belted out. A few Goblins tried to hurl their weapons at the flying menace but all weapons fell far short. In a matter of moments hundreds of the little green humanoids were dead and hundreds more dying. Many dropped prone in hopes the flying monster would pass them by since they had no means of combatting such a foe.
An odd thought struck Mykal while he spat out death from above. Mykal realized that he did, in fact, miss and long for Towbar’s world just as Boris said that he missed Towbar’s world. Did he miss the battles and killing? Was it the strong camaraderie forged in battle with like-minded warriors? He didn’t know for sure, but he knew, standing behind the machinegun chopping down the enemy, made him feel like he returned ‘home’.
“Yeah, yeah,” Boris yelled and pumped his fist. Others also chorused Boris’s encouragement. “Thunder from hell baby!”
“Mykal,” the Army soldier who was supposed to be manning the machine gun placed his hand on his shoulder to get his attention. “We may need the ammo later.”
Mykal ceased shooting and watched the chaos below. Many who tried to escape by jumping into the deep dark waters drowned when they went under and never surfaced. Goblins on the flat boats began fighting each other in order to position themselves behind each other. Though the gunfire stopped, mass pandemonium ensued. Bloodied and broken bodies were strewn along the top of the large rafts. Chunks of wood had been broken free under the mighty power of the 7.62mm rounds.
