by Dave Hazel
“Harken the man’s words ladies,” Ratner barked while most of the men quietly acknowledged the lieutenant’s order. “On the surface, near the edges of the tree line it doesn’t look too foreboding. But,” he raised his voice and paused to make sure he had everyone’s attention. “Appearances can be deceiving. For those of you who were surviving members of the Lost Patrol you know what the hell I’m talking about. And I deliberately chose the words surviving members to indicate there were many who didn’t survive.”
“Noted,” Staff Sergeant Moreno barked his reply. “I’m talking from experience as one of those survivors. Don’t be playing games with the Forest of Death gentlemen. The Zee dude creates or curses all kinds of funky creatures to put in his forest.”
With Mykal’s increased hearing he heard some of the men joking quietly. “Shee-it, I ain’t afraid of some funky little critters,” Sergeant Jackson laughed quietly. “I’m a damn Green Beret but more important than that bro, I’m from the streets of Chicago. I’ve done dealt with bigger and meaner monsters in the concrete jungles of Chi-Town,” he laughed with his fellow black Army soldiers and high fived Staff Sergeant Flowers, Sergeant Sherman and Sergeant Freeman who had been part of the Lost Patrol. “If I could walk through the damn hoods of Chicago, and face down the thugs of Chi-Town, I could take a leisurely stroll through this damn forest,” he added and laughed with his friends.
Mykal knew Sergeant Jackson was joking and talking tough among his friends so he wasn’t about to interfere and rain on his parade. They planned to stay on the path used as a road so he didn’t care how tough any of the men wanted to talk because their words weren’t going to be put to the test by going off the road and through the Black Forest.
“You’re talkin’ stupid stuff bro,” Sergeant Freeman said and turned his head from his friend. It appeared Jackson’s cocky attitude got under Freeman’s skin.
“See bro, that old Zee-dawg ain’t never dealt with a city boy like me,” Jackson said with a cocky bravado. “I come from the mean streets,” he laughed again and high fived his friends. Only Freeman, of his three friends, didn’t high five Jackson this time around displaying that he didn’t accept his tough talk.
“You’re doing a lot of talkin’ bro,” Sergeant Freeman replied as if he had suddenly become annoyed by his friend’s banter. “Over on this side of Towbar’s world that talk is just empty shit, man.” Freeman shook his head and gave a sigh to demonstrate his disgust at the foolish talk. Freeman had actually walked through the dangers whereas Jackson only talked tough about it.
“See bro, you is just a country bumpkin,” Jackson laughed and hit back at his friend’s slight. “Whereas I done lived the hard life on the streets bro,” Jackson responded to Freeman. Now it didn’t sound as friendly as when it had started. “I’d rather rely on street wise smarts any day o’er your back woods, hick, background bro,” he added and sounded like he was challenging his friend Freeman.
“Well, you can talk all your stupid shit bro, cuz you weren’ there an’ don’t know,” Freeman fired back. “But as a true survivor of the Lost Patrol, I’ll tell ya what man, I was on point most of the time going through that damn Black Forest, also known as, the Forest of Death,” he added to emphasized the nickname the forest carried. “I’ve seen and dealt with the real freaky shit that makes the stuff on the mean streets of Chi-Town look like child’s play. So really bro, keep your silly shee-it to yourself until you go through the real shee-it of the Forest of Death, and then you would know what you is talkin’ ‘bout,” Freeman said angrily and his voice grew a little louder and disrupted Gunnery Sergeant Ratner’s briefing.
“Excuse me?” Ratner barked as if he had been interrupted. “Are you ladies trying to add to my briefing without my knowledge or my permission?” He glared at the four Army soldiers as if they angered him and his emphasis on the derogatory term ‘ladies’ was directed at the four who dared to anger him.
“It’s okay Gunny,” Mykal said as he stepped up behind the men. Mykal didn’t want the playful nonsense to turn into a fight between two friends because one wanted to run his mouth and talk trash without experience. “I was just telling them something,” Mykal lied and waved his hand to show it was under control. “I didn’t mean to interrupt Gunny,” he said to cover for the four and to keep them from trouble with Ratner.
“Noted,” Ratner responded because he would never dress down Mykal in front of others. “Let’s continue,” he added and continued with his pre-battle briefing.
All four black Army soldiers, Sergeant Jackson, Staff Sergeant Flowers, Sergeant Sherman and Sergeant Freeman all turned to quietly thank Mykal. They shared their appreciation that Mykal bailed them out from getting an ass chewing for interrupting and not paying attention to Gunnery Sergeant Ratner’s pre-battle briefing.
“Sorry Myk,” Freeman said as he followed Mykal away from the group.
“No problem Freeman,” Mykal snickered and understood Freeman’s frustration with his own friend.
“I know Jackson was talking trash,” Freeman said and rolled his eyes. “Hell, I’ve talked stupid stuff like that myself,” he admitted and scoffed with a laugh. “I don’t know why, but it just got on my nerves cuz I know that Black Forest is the serious stuff and I know he was just talking tough and joking around to sound cool to the others, but I went through that stuff in the forest and I lost some good friends in that damn forest. It just started to grate on me and rub me the wrong way. I just couldn’t keep my mouth shut.”
“I know what you mean Freeman,” Mykal laughed and held out his hand for the black Green Beret to slap it. “You have been with us every step of the way from the time we went into the Soso camp as the Silent Killers to rescue all those hostages and then we got sent here and we were trapped over here the first time. You have come back with us every time and you had pretty much been on point almost every step of the way so I got your back. I didn’t want you to catch grief from Gunny.”
“Thanks Myk. I really appreciate it,” Freeman said with a broad smile. “I don’t know, but all of a sudden it just irked the hell outta me and I couldn’t keep quiet.”
“Don’t worry about it. I do know what you mean though,” Mykal laughed because there have been many who talked ‘stupid stuff’ and got on Mykal’s nerves at times. “Don’t let it get to ya. You’re the real man who went through the real stuff. Until he proves himself, he’s a pretend warrior who is talking bigger than his actions have proved. He’ll get his chance though and then I’ll bet he has a change of attitude cuz he’ll have a different perspective. This forest is the real deal.”
“Roger that Myk. It was my fault cuz we’re close. We’re tight. Me an’ Jackson are really tight,” Freeman said and made a fist to show the close friendship he had with Sergeant Jackson. “I shoulda just let him talk his talk cuz that’s all it is. I shouldn’t have let it get to me.”
“No problem, but don’t worry about it. Can I give you a small piece of advice before we head out to attack those soldiers of Ziggy Stardust?”
“Yeah sure,” Freeman replied eagerly and would gladly except any advice from Mykal. “You have done proved yourself to me more than any other when it comes to combat and leadership.”
“If you think Jackson was in the least way offended or angered or thought you might have gotten angry with him,” Mykal said and paused so Freeman could think over all the possibilities. “Then go and apologize to him. Cuz sometimes we pass up that opportunity and then we never get the chance to say what is really on our hearts. I know it was no big blow up or anything like that, but you never know. If you know you were ticked off and he caught on to that, don’t let it develop into a rift into your friendship. Pride has a funny way of screwing up friendships. That my friend, I am clearly saying from experience,” he added with a twinge of regret. “I’ve blown opportunities to fix a small problem, to correct a wrong by making it right, and as much as I hate to admit it, I’ve blown chances to apologize for something where I was in the wro
ng. And then the chance never came again and it’s bogged me down with guilt and hurt cuz I didn’t take the chance when I had a clear opportunity.”
Freeman opened his mouth like he was going to say something and suddenly stopped. He hesitated like he was deep in thought. “You’re right. Damn Mykal, you’re right,” Freeman said and shook his head and laughed. He held out his hand for Mykal to shake. “You’re right,” he repeated and winked. “I’m gonna do that right now. Thanks. Really, I mean that. You’re a cool dude Myk.”
“I know, I know, but whadda ya expect, it’s me,” he joked and laughed. “I’m the coolest of the cool dudes.” He watched Freeman proceed to Jackson after they shook hands.
Mathis joined Mykal just as Freeman walked away from him. “Hey Mykal, do you mind if I walk with you when we move out?”
“No. I don’t want you to cuz I want you to get inside--”
“Everyone, listen up,” Gunnery Sergeant Ratner barked out as the men started to disperse from the pre-battle briefing. “All the men with M-60 machine guns, all the men with the large heavy radios, and all those from Towbar’s world, who don’t have bow and arrows, get inside the vehicles per Captain Diaz and Lieutenant Finley. For those of you in Towbar’s world if you don’t want to get inside the vehicles and if you would prefer to chance getting into hand to hand combat, that’s fine but stay behind our men and the vehicles until the gun fire is over. We don’t want you to get hurt and we don’t want you to get in our way to keep us from putting the hurt on the enemy. But if you do want to put a hurting on the enemy,” Ratner said and looked directly at Soonme as if he expected the ex-Zizmon-Tarl soldier to want revenge for what happened to his childhood friend Pladold. “Then by all means, have at it, only don’t get in our way so that you won’t get hurt,” he repeated as if they didn’t understand the danger they would face if they jumped in front of live weapons fire. “Allow our men to do what they do best first and then you can jump in there and do whatever you have to do.”
“That’s why,” Mykal said to Mathis. “You guys carrying they heavier stuff like the radios and M-60s will be inside the vehicles. Alright?”
“Yeah sure. I’ll be inside the vehicle,” Mathis said and turned away.
“Is everyone ready?” Ratner asked after talking with Diaz and Finley.
Mykal looked to see that two men were standing in each of the turrets. One on the .50 caliber machine gun and the other was ready to use the Mk 19 belt fed 40mm grenade launcher. Based on what Sergeant Barry had told Mykal before, they wouldn’t shoot both weapons at the same time. It would be one or the other.
‘Cool,’ Mykal thought when he saw a couple of the M-60 machine gunners step around the vehicle with their weapon strapped over their shoulder so they could use their machine gun during the advance on the group setting up camp for the night. ‘These men are dedicated and want to help. I love these guys of Towbar One.’
Ratner stood out in front of all the men and looked to make sure all the men appeared to be ready. He circled his hand over his head and turned to point in the direction they were to walk and started to move forward. Ratner slowed so that he would blend in behind the line of men. The men with rifles and a handful of the M-60 men walked ahead on the beaten path. They were staggered and about two deep.
The six Elves were mixed into the group and all were armed with their bow and arrows. Norg and Nuckhorn were the only two Dwarves to join them because they were the only two of the four Dwarves to be armed with a crossbow. All five of Towbar’s men stood behind Mykal’s men. If the opportunity presented itself they would join the battle and demonstrate to Towbar, their great war leader, they were capable warriors and they wanted to make him proud. Nordad the wizard and his two men Codlon and Agnor elected to stay inside the vehicle so they wouldn’t get in the way. They knew they couldn’t compete with the weapons of Mykal’s world. Hidtotim and his three men joined Nordad and his men to stay out of the way though Soonme wanted to take part to get revenge.
Mykal watched the Hawkmen and was surprised at how high in the sky they were. They kept circling and appeared to be carrying their bow with an arrow ready. He assumed they would swoop down after the action started. He believed they didn’t want to draw attention to themselves before they needed to. Both reporter teams sat atop two vehicles to videotape the action. Vick Daring held one of his two 9mm pistols just in case the enemy got too close.
The group moved down the path and slowly rounded the bend in the path to confront the small army in the midst of setting up their camp for the night. Mykal looked at the sky and realized if it would have been another forty-five minutes or so they would have had to put it off until the morning. While walking Mykal raised his rifle and as he looked through the scope he zeroed in on a soldier who stood there looking at their approach. The entire army ceased all action. They stood there and looked like they were trying to determine who the people were and what the creatures behind them could be.
“Get ready men,” Ratner shouted out. “When you have a target, take it out. When in doubt take it out,” he shouted.
Mykal looked at the thin red cross in his scope. He had it positioned between the unsuspecting man’s eyes. With a squeeze of the trigger there was a sudden explosion and the man in his cross hairs dropped like a lead weight. Was he the one who beheaded the three men? Did he hang all or any of the nineteen men who were left swinging from the tree branches? Probably not. But it didn’t matter. They were all guilty of it and they were all going to pay. More than that, they were the enemy. They were soldiers of Zizmon-Tarl.
Mykal rattled off round after round and dropped a figure with every shot. The many rifles shots and the rat-a-tat-tats of the handful of M-60s were devastating. Mykal knew M-203s were fired because he heard the individual explosions of 40mm high explosive grenades. Then one of the Mk19s opened up and the rapid fire explosion of 40mm grenades bursting at a much faster rate was heart pounding. Mykal caught sight of the Elves stepping forward to shoot the arrows from their bows. He also caught sight of the Hawkmen swooping down and shooting their bows while in flight. Egoneal was shooting off arrows twice as fast as the other Elves and was just as deadly as the men with rifles.
Mykal was surprised. Whoever said there were three to four hundred was wrong. The enemy seemed to be coming out of the woodwork. Like trained soldiers, once they realized they were under attack, they immediately counter attacked.
**********
The soldiers were surprised by the sudden death and destruction that was thrust upon them. Based on their training they quickly regrouped and suddenly counter attacked despite the devastating blows the odd looking enemy was delivering. It could only be ‘magic’ that was being used against them, but despite that horror, their response was fierce and forceful. Those armed with bows returned fire from where they stood. There were easily two to three hundred who charged at the enemy with the strange uniforms, strange weapons and strange creatures following behind them. Despite the four or five hundred that lay on the ground dead or wounded, they led the retaliatory counter assault.
**********
Mykal guessed there was eight hundred, nine hundred or maybe a thousand. There seemed to be no end to them. Mykal was getting angry because if they would have known there were that many, their approach and tactics would have been much different. They would have allowed Staff Sergeant Barry and his men to do most of the heavy work with the Mk19s and the .50 calibers before they allowed the foot soldiers to get involved. Mykal knew it was too late to complain and he realized to yell his anger would be counterproductive while it seemed his people were suddenly being put on defense.
“Get those damn machine guns spitting,” Ratner yelled as dozens of the soldiers pushed their way near their line. The Elves, Dwarves and Towbar’s soldiers as well as Towbar himself rushed into the attacking mob to clash with their swords and axes. The repeated thump, thump, thump of the .50 caliber machine guns made the M-16s sound like little toys. The vicious power of the .50 cali
bers ripped men apart and threw them in all directions.
Mykal heard men yell for those inside the vehicle to get out and help. While Mykal continued to shoot with his rifle he saw from the corner of his eyes that men on the ends of the line were scattering. Some ran back behind the vehicles to get a better position to shoot while others allowed the sword bearers to get involved. Mykal clearly saw where Towbar cut a path through the soldiers with his glowing blue blade. Soldiers ran from the giant because all those who stood before him had been cut down and cut in half.
While Mykal reloaded his rifle he caught sight of Hidtotim and Soonme right in front of him. They advance on a couple of soldiers and the two soldiers looked stunned that Hidtotim and Soonme were wearing the same uniform. So many questions probably hit the two soldiers besides the weapons that struck them. When the two soldiers blocked the attack of Hidtotim and Soonme someone from another angle shot them dead.
“That is for Pladold,” Soonme shouted when he drove his blade into the chest of the man who fell before him.
Mykal heard a few smaller explosions that sounded like the shooting of a handgun. He was sure it was a 9mm pistol which was one of his best friends, Kurt’s, favorite weapon. Kurt died shooting the last rounds of his 9mm into Sosos to protect two little children back during the last few days of his thirty-seven day stay of the first visit to Towbar’s world. Without looking Mykal was sure it was Vick Daring who used the 9mm from atop one of the vehicles while Benny filmed the battle. “I like that guy,” he said with a smirk while he held his rifle up, ready to shoot more of the enemy.
Suddenly the majority of rifle shots, machine gun fire and explosions ceased. There were a few rounds fired off here and there but the enemy had been stopped.
**********
Many of the enemy moaned and called out for help. Several writhed on the ground while bleeding out from the strange magic that killed with tremendous noise. The blood, open wounds, broken bodies and countless lifeless forms confirmed the ‘magic’ noise did in fact kill and maim. Men were mutilated and disfigured without ever coming in contact with a blade, an axe or a spear. For those writhing on the ground it didn’t make sense. Was it possible the Supreme Ruler was lashing out at them for an unexplained reason? Were the gods angry with them or the Supreme Ruler and unleashing their mighty, magical, wrath against the Supreme Ruler’s forces? It no longer mattered. It had been done.
