Mykal's Return to Towbar's World

by Dave Hazel

  Mykal and his friends went back to Lieutenant Kim and explained the plan. The remaining Koreans, Green Berets, Rangers and Marines returned to the tent with the freed prisoners. The Koreans had already disposed of the two guards. They pulled them around to the rear of the large tent. If any of the Sosos stepped outside the tent the dead bodies wouldn’t be seen.

  They hoped the Sosos would leave the tent one at a time so they could eliminate them individually and have the night end quietly, but the cries and moans, the pleading and begging that could be heard made it clear the Sosos inside were having too much of a “good time” for it to end. They waited patiently and watched every moment tick by on the watch. They were chomping at the bit to kill the tormenters. They heard at least one teenage boy crying and begging for his life from inside the tent while grown men, Sosos, cruelly laughed at his suffering.

  6.

  Mykal looked at his watch again. Three minutes to go before taking the tent. Hopefully they would be able to see and kill all the Sosos before a sound could be made. His thoughts turned to the strange conversation he had with Ski and panic began to stir. ‘What if this is the shit he was getting at?’ He wondered and feared Ski’s words even more. ‘Am I gonna die? Am I gonna be injured and taken prisoner by the Sosos?’ He shuddered at the thought. He had seen the results of falling into Soso hands. ‘With all the stuff Ski was saying, does God have it in for me?’ Out of selfish fear he was tempted to call off the attack and leave, but too many people were involved. Human lives were at stake and it sounded like teenagers, someone’s kids were being tortured. He couldn’t allow himself to take a coward’s way out.

  “Myk,” a voice whispered. “Myk,” Lieutenant Finley called softly again. “What’s wrong?”

  Mykal couldn’t hear his words but he could see the question in the man’s face. ‘Wait a minute,’ Mykal’s thoughts turned positive. ‘God doesn’t have it in for me. Ski was trying to warn me.’ The conversation inside his head just dropped the weight from his shoulders. ‘Ski could have said all that so that I’d be extra alert.’

  “Myk,” Finley called again and touched his arm to get his attention. “What’s wrong? It’s almost show time.”

  “Nothing,” he replied. His thoughts returned to the present. “Just thinking about something. I’m watching the time,” he whispered. “Under two minutes. Is everyone ready?”

  Finley gave two thumbs up. Kim, who knelt beside Finley, signaled to the men on the opposite side of the tent. The men approached the entrance to the tent. Some were armed with their deadly blades in the hopes of killing the Sosos silently. If there were too many of them, or if they couldn’t get to them quick enough, the others were ready with rifles.

  They all moved close to the opening. Mykal held his hand up as if he was ready to drop the flag to start a race. He watched the seconds tick by. He knew the Koreans and Green Berets had the plan of attack in place. He and his friends were going to follow in behind them for any support and back up. Mykal held his rifle in his left hand and held his .357 magnum in his right.

  “Alright, wait for it,” he whispered. “Five, four, three, two, one, now!” He whispered harshly.

  Suddenly the flap like doors to the tent were pulled open. They all forced their way in quickly. Mykal followed behind them and what he saw in an instant took him by surprise. It shocked him to disgust and unbelief that people could be as savage as the Sosos were capable of being.

  In the rear of the tent Mykal saw the chief Soso or at least the leader in the tent, lying on his back with his clothing off. He was a very large and extremely hairy brute of a man. His head looked large and the bone of his skull seemed to be thicker across his eyebrows, making him appear almost prehistoric. This had to be the same Neanderthal looking leader Danny Weller spoke of. The disturbing part of the scene was another Soso twisted the arm of a teenage boy. The boy had been forced to pleasure the disgusting looking leader.

  To the side of the tent another teenage boy was naked and tied down bent oven a wooden cart. The boy continued crying and moaning. There was a trickle of blood going down his thighs. An axe handle lay on the ground by his feet. Mykal could only imagine what the savages did for pleasure or entertainment.

  The third teenage body lay face up in a pool of blood, his face, a twisted distorted expression of pain. There could be no questioning the third boy died. His naked body had been nearly cut in half. His intestines flopped outside his body in the dirt.

  Mykal looked on one of the last four security personnel who were missing. His hands were tied behind his back and he had been be-headed. His severed head sat in the lap of a secret service man sitting beside him. The pained expression etched in the bodiless face looked up into the living man’s closed eyes. The Sosos positioned the severed head on the man’s lap to look up into the terrified man’s face, though he refused to open his eyes.

  Another secret service member, forced to sit beside the man with the head in his lap, kept his head turned away. He wouldn’t look at the head or rather his former friend’s face. He held his eyes shut tightly. Everywhere Mykal looked seemed to be death or blood and cruelty. Mykal could only imagine what awaited all of them.

  The fourth secret service agent appeared to be dead. His hands had been tied behind his back and a dark sack had been tied over his head so he couldn’t see what the Sosos were going to do to him. He had been stabbed over sixty times. Most of the stab wounds appeared minor, just nicks and pricks to his arms and legs. Mykal guessed the Sosos intended to make him suffer and to die a slow painful death. In the end, with his head covered and with his arms secured behind him, the man had been unable to stop the wound that would be fatal. They stabbed the defenseless man in the belly. He bled to death after six hours.

  Mykal observed all this in a split second. There were more than a dozen Sosos spread throughout the leader’s mammoth tent. Too many Sosos spread too far to eliminate in silence.

  *******

  The Sosos were surprised by the intrusion and all turned to see what manner of stranger dared entered the leader’s tent and interrupt his entertainment. He had been expecting superiors from the north, but not for the next two or three days. These creatures seemed to be larger than the Goblins he met two days earlier.

  The leader propped himself up on his elbows, his prehistoric looking features displayed anger and his hairy single brow arched with his surprise. One Soso turned to face the intrusion and showed that he had bloody grey matter in his hands and blood around his mouth. Some Sosos believed eating the brains of an opponent would give them additional strength by absorbing the soul of the dead enemy into their own soul. For a brief moment those in the tent had been stunned to stillness.

  *******

  Mykal wanted to yell and curse but words couldn’t leave his mouth since his teeth were clenched so tight. He never experienced such hatred before. With a quick squeeze of his trigger his .357 magnum exploded shattering the quiet night. The noise jolted everyone, both good and bad. The round slammed into the caveman looking face where the nose and the left eye met. The large brute never recovered from the explosion inside his head. His head snapped back and his naked hairy form never moved again. Mykal would have to admit it was a very lucky shot since he didn’t aim but just raised the revolver and pointed. He would have loved to shoot the Neanderthal looking pervert in his private parts but then he would have run the risk of hitting the teenage prisoner.

  Mykal rushed forward and fired off his second shot while several others opened up with M-16s eliminating the enemy in seconds. Mykal’s second round drilled into the side of the head of the Soso twisting the teenage boy’s arm. The dead Soso released the crying boy’s arm and he crumpled harmlessly to the ground. The teen fell to the ground covering his head. He had no idea he was being rescued. All seventeen Sosos in the huge tent were dead in a matter of seconds. The noise, though loud and alarming, was sudden and efficient.

  All Mykal’s men rushed inside the tent unsure if Sosos would storm the
shelter. They guarded the entrance. Several Green Berets and Koreans took their blades and slit openings on all sides of the tent to see if Sosos would come to their location in response to the noise.

  “Everyone quiet,” Lieutenant Finley ordered. “We’re here to rescue you,” he said for the stunned survivors who appeared shocked.

  Just as Finley’s words stopped they heard the sounds of groups One and Two attacking the western side of the camp. Machinegun fire rattled wildly. Every few seconds they could hear the great explosions of the 81mm mortars bursting inside the Soso camp on the west and toward the center of the massive Soso camp. As hoped, the Sosos were dazed and confused by the unprecedented night assault. They had never been attacked so deep in their own territory and never been attacked in the dark. They had also never been attacked with such weapons of magic. The mass of Sosos stirred by the strange noise responded to the western side of the camp. A roar of yells and screams filled the night air.

  “Alright,” Mykal whispered and shook a triumphant fist. “Good, give those bastards hell,” he snarled while the explosions shattered the night and the machineguns ripped into the dark indiscriminately killing Sosos. “Okay, we don’t have much time. Let’s get these people together and let’s get the hell outta here.”

  “It’s gotta be a friggin mad house out there,” Boris laughed. “You know they’re gonna be pissed off when they realize their prisoners are gone.”

  All the prisoners were untied and the naked boys were given clothing to wear. The man who had the severed head sitting in his lap stared blankly and remained unresponsive. “Whadda we gonna do with him?” Larry asked. “He’s outta it.”

  “If he can’t walk we’ll carry him. See if you can talk him into walking.” Mykal’s concern focused on the teenage boys. Not only had they been violated, abused sexually and physically, but they witnessed their close friend killed before their eyes.

  “I, I can’t believe it,” one of the teens sobbed while he dressed himself with the clothes Boris handed him. They had taken the clothes from one of the dead men.

  “Thanks Boris,” Mykal said and nodded his appreciation. “I know you guys have been through a lot. I can’t imagine what you guys have gone through, but we’re gonna get you outta here. I need you guys to focus and forget about all that happened for the next half hour. Okay?”

  “Okay,” one replied and wiped his face. “But they cut Stosh right in half,” he started to cry. “Stosh wouldn’t do what they said,” he quickly looked down, because he did give into what the Sosos demanded to spare his life. “And that dude cut him in half with a sword,” he sobbed knowing if he would have refused the leader, he would ended up dead like his friend.

  “Listen, you’re alive and no one has to know what happened here,” Mykal said and gave a weak smile. He wasn’t sure what to say or do. “But we need to keep our heads on straight or we’re all gonna end up dead.”

  “Because we have longer hair, that asshole said we look like pretty girls,” the other teen said. He walked bow legged due to the axe handle that was used on him. “I just want to go home,” he said with a quivering lip like a young child.

  “We’re gonna get you there, you just gotta do what we say,” Mykal turned to see both Larry and Jake talking to the man who gave a vacant stare.

  “Come on buddy, you gotta try to snap outta it,” Jake said and gently shook the man. “We’re going home.”

  “He’s gone Myk,” Larry pointed to his own head. “He’s not up there.”

  Suddenly the man’s face wrinkled up as if he was going to start crying like a child. “They cut his damn head off,” he whimpered. “They cut his damn head off,” he repeated a little louder and started to sob. “They put his head on my lap.”

  “Shhh, buddy you gotta quiet down,” Jake said in an attempt to calm him.

  “If he doesn’t stop, knock him out,” Finley ordered. “I’m not going to risk my men because someone is freaking out.”

  “Man, they cut his damn head off,” he looked at Jake as if he had known Jake for years. “They’re gonna kill us. Don’t you get it, man? They’re gonna kill all of us.”

  “No, they’re not. We’re gonna be alright. Help’s arrived,” Jake continued to calm the man while the battle of explosions and gun fire rattled off in the distance.

  “Get ready,” a Green Beret called out in a hushed warning. “They’re running all over the place.”

  “Everyone, just sit tight unless they try to come in here,” Finley ordered in a calm, but commanding tone.

  They remained silent and listened to the distant sound of explosions and rattling of several machine guns. War cries, yells and screams of angry and confused Sosos filled the night. All the Sosos swarmed to the west side of the camp where the noise and activity disrupted the encampment.

  “They’re moving away,” the Green Beret announced. “They didn’t even seem to notice any of the dead bodies.”

  “Alright, come on,” Mykal spoke up. “We gotta get outta here. The men in groups One and Two won’t be able to hold their attention for very long. They’re taking all the heat and we’re screwing around just waiting.”

  Without another word spoken Lieutenant Kim pointed to one of his men. The man took point and started out the tent. Three Koreans with three Green Berets took turns leap frogging each other to get to a position where they could kneel and scan all directions. The others followed in crouched single file. Some of the injured civilians had to be carried along.

  The east side of the encampment seemed absent of all Sosos. They picked up their pace and moved quickly to join the rest of the group that was waiting for them. They looked back to see the night illuminated by flairs slowly floating to the ground. Thousands upon thousands of angry and confused Sosos ran in all directions to the west. Clearly it was a one sided battle. Sosos were being blown apart by the 81mm mortars and the many M-60 machine guns ripped their numbers down considerably, but many, many more quickly filled in and continued the attack.

  “I know they are terrified,” Towbar said to Mykal. “They believe if they die in battle at night their soul will be lost and wander aimlessly for eternity. I am amazed at what a small number of your people are capable of doing against these savages. You people have amazed me again, my friend.”

  “Look at all those tracers,” Larry whispered while he continued to look back at the streaming orange and red glows zigzagging through the Soso forces.

  “With the M-60 machinegun every fifth round is a tracer,” Boris replied more for the two teenage boys than for Larry. The tracers, the explosions and flares slowly drifting downward put on a tremendous light show

  They followed the men leading the way. They all crouched low and walked in single file. They were fearful that Sosos would appear at any moment. “This is like a friggin horror movie,” Larry whispered. “It’s like waiting for the monsters to jump out at you, cuz you always know something is going to jump out at you and scare you shitless.”

  “Yeah but the difference is we’re all armed with automatic weapons,” Boris chuckled. “We can stop anything that jumps out at us so let them jump.”

  “We can’t stop the whole damned army,” Larry countered.

  Looking back they saw again the night sky illuminated by the flares slowly descending under small parachutes. The strange sight of the light floating downward took Sosos by surprise, which resulted in the loss of many Sosos. Staring skyward they were mowed down by the several machine guns. Between all the advanced weapons the Sosos took a lopsided beating.

  “Wow, look it that,” Larry gawked quietly. Small streams of flame could be seen shooting into the Soso lines in the distance, torching many Sosos. Those lit on fire ran wildly for a few moments until they dropped to the ground. Many burned to a crisp which forced their comrades to run away in fear. “I wonder what the hell the Sosos are thinking of those flame throwers. Them damn Sosos are running all over the place,” his Boston accent showed humor despite the civilians who were sufferi
ng in their fear and pain.

  “The dragon men are making the Sosos run in fear,” Towbar said softly as he watched. He stood there with his arms folded across his chest. “This is truly an amazing sight.” Towbar smiled at the sight of the Sosos breaking into a panic.

  “Dragon men?” Larry asked Towbar.

  “He means the flamethrowers,” Mykal replied.

  “Damn, get a load of that,” Jake chuckled with them. “The poor things, being killed at night time,” he said sarcastically.

  Sosos were falling in all directions, especially those who tried to charge at groups One and Two. Mortar rounds exploded with a tremendously loud noise and ripped bodies apart and threw those parts in all directions from the blast. Suddenly one of the Korean soldiers yelped in pain and spun violently as he fell to the ground. Mykal’s first thought was a Soso hit him with a death arrow. He was sure they had just come under attack. “Hit the ground,” he yelled as he dove to the grass. They would have to fight off the attack because fleeing would invite the archers an open target on their backs.

  Everyone followed Mykal’s orders and example of hitting the ground to go prone. They waited to see where the attack came from and watched for the assault in all directions. Nothing happened. There were no attacks. There were no Sosos.

  “Kim, check him out and see what’s wrong with him,” Mykal whispered once it became clear there were no immediate threats from any direction.

  “He’s been shot,” Kim whispered after his quick assessment of the wound. “He’s alive, but he’s hurt badly.”

  “He’s been shot?” Larry asked. “I didn’t hear any shots.”

  “He’s probably been hit by a stray bullet from over there,” Boris suggested and pointed to the battle raging on the other side of the camp.

  “I agree. It had to be a stray round,” Kim said. “I would suspect it’s a 7.62mm round. I think he may have a collapsed lung. Myk, I think he’s finished.” Kim shook his head sadly for his fellow countryman. “We must leave.”