by Dave Hazel
“Towbar is not the type to waste time and screw around is he?” Vick Daring asked as he and his cameraman Benjamin Milnar walked along with the group.
“Nah,” Roy Jr. laughed before Mykal could answer. Others laughed with him.
“I was just asking. He does seem to be pretty straight laced,” Vick commented and looked at all those who shared their amusement at his suggestion.
“He’s so straight laced,” Mathis answered to make a joke. “If he was any straighter his spine would snap.” Some laughed and some just looked at him because they didn’t get his quip.
“What the hell?” Mykal yelled when he saw his friend the giant embroiled in a life and death struggle.
Towbar was trying to break free from the coil of a giant anaconda that was wrapped tightly around his body. Towbar’s sword was on the ground and his left arm was pinned to his side. Towbar, fortunately, grabbed the giant snake by the neck behind the head to keep it from biting him. Towbar’s left shoulder and upper left arm was covered in blood where the creature had already sunk its fangs into him. Towbar could be heard trying to take breaths but the creature managed to constrict tighter and tighter which prevented him from taking any more breaths. His face was red as if he had been holding his breath for an extended period of time.
Mykal saw Towbar squeezing the life out of the creature by compressing the snake’s neck as hard as he could, but the long body was still wrapped tightly around his massive frame. Mykal guessed at first glance that the anaconda was about twenty feet long and nine to twelve inches in diameter. A couple of the Elves withdrew their swords and chopped at the lower part of the anaconda that was not touching Towbar’s body. Roy Jr. and a couple soldiers raised their rifles but they knew they ran the risk of shooting Towbar. Mykal joined the Elves and pulled his magic sword.
When Mykal swung his sword it ignited into a fiery red flame. He swung out of anger because of the danger his friend was in and was glad Towbar didn’t move. His sword took the anaconda’s head off just above Towbar’s grip. He touched his flaming sword against the body and caused the creature to wiggle and squirm in pain though it still maintained a tight hold on Towbar.
While Mykal continued to attack the creature he heard the screeching of the Hawkmen coming in from behind him. They must have picked up on what was taking place and joined in to help Towbar the giant, friend of the Elves. They flew and held their bodies over the struggle and ripped and tore at the anaconda with their massive talons. Within moments the four Hawkmen pulled the lifeless form of the snake away from the weak giant. They carried it to the open field where they dropped it. A noticeable thud could be heard as the gargantuan snake hit the ground. The body had to weigh several hundred pounds. Stretched out the giant anaconda looked to be closer to twenty-eight to thirty feet long. The Hawkmen continued to rip and tear at the creature. It no longer had a head so it couldn’t defend against the Elf bird attacks.
“What the hell are you doing Towbar?” Mykal yelled as he rushed to the giant’s side. “Are you okay?” He asked as many circled the slow moving goliath. Mykal was panicked. Towbar was close to being killed and he couldn’t bear to add the loss of Towbar with all the other friends he lost in this world.
“Yes my friend, I will be fine,” Towbar answered as he pulled himself to a kneeling position. He looked at the bloodied pain in his shoulder and arm but seemed relieved help came when it did. “My friend, that beast almost took my life,” he said and blew a sigh of relief. “I could not breathe my friend. I could not call out for help. I am grateful you came to me when you did,” he said and let out another long breath of relief. “I am truly indebted to you my friend.”
“No, we’re not keeping score,” Mykal replied to keep it light hearted. “I still owe much more. Oh man, I woulda never expected something to be wrong. Good thing someone asked where you were and I thought you were taking longer than normal to recover. What happened?” Mykal gasped and realized he could have lost his best friend.
“I was slowly recovering. I think I was still on my knees trying to regain my strength. I felt something strike my shoulder,” he explained and slapped his left shoulder where blood was smeared on his flesh. “Before I could see what caused the wound I felt as if I had been struck and I had been knocked to the ground. Before I realized what struck me, something wrapped tightly around me and began to squeeze the life out of me. I was being squeezed like I had never been squeezed in all my life. I could not get breath into my lungs. I must admit my friend that I was fearful. I honestly thought I was about to suffocate.
“My hand was trapped and I had dropped my sword. The beast struck my upper arm,” Towbar added and looked at the bloody wound. “That was when I grabbed the creature before it could sink its fangs into me again. “I tried to crush the life out of it, however it had greater strength than I,” he added with a slight chuckle. “I did not care about the beast sinking its fangs into me when I realized I could not catch my breath. I honestly thought today would be the day that I would die. I am grateful that you returned to check on me. I could not yell out,” he added with a slight chuckle. He had picked up his slight humor from being around Mykal and his people.
“Are you alright buddy?” Mykal asked and looked like he lost a close friend. Mykal realized Towbar could have died and he would have been added to his list of long lost friends in Towbar’s world such as Boris, Kurt and Denny. He couldn’t bear to lose Towbar after all the loss he suffered in this world. He tried to make light of it so those who gathered closer wouldn’t see his emotions. “See, I can’t leave you alone for a moment,” he said with a laugh to hide the terror that struck him. “Now it’s me saving you so I hope you appreciate that and remember that, my friend,” he added humorously as a friendly dig to his best friend now the terror was passed. Mykal eyed the mighty muscular form of his giant friend and realized his inattentiveness could have caused his friend’s demise. “Man, thankfully someone asked what was taking so long,” he sighed.
“I do appreciate that my friend and I will remember that,” he replied and actually gave a friendly chuckle. “What happened to the beast that nearly killed me?”
“Them Hawkmen dudes tore it up,” Roy Jr. said and pointed out behind him where they could be seen still ripping it to pieces.
“Oh yeah,” Mathis jumped in when he looked back. “They had to get involved. Munch munch,” he whispered and caused Mykal to burst out with laughter.
“You’re a funny dude,” Mykal laughed at the comment of his favorite Marine. Mykal wasn’t sure what it was about Mathis. Mathis could make him laugh like his friends who were gone and that had to be the reason why he liked Mathis so much.
“I am sorry that I had been caught off guard and caused such a distraction,” Towbar said. He stood and stretched, flexed all his muscles to insure everything worked fine. Most watched the giant Adonis enviously as if he put on a demonstration to show off his perfect body. Towbar was the last person to flaunt his body. He only wanted to ensure everything worked properly.
“Alright, let’s get back to where all the others are and complete our plan of attack to rescue Doninka,” Mykal said and the words struck him with an overwhelming happiness. He couldn’t believe it. They were as close to rescuing Doninka as they had ever been.
When everyone gathered around the vehicles Towbar was the first to speak. “I would like to thank everyone who helped me and I would like to apologize for falling prey to such a creature which forced everyone to come to my rescue,” Towbar said with a humility that touched everyone’s heart.
“No buddy,” Mykal spoke first and shook his head. “It was our pleasure. You have done so much for so many of us that we are grateful and thankful we had the opportunity to help you for once.”
“Once again, I would like to say I thank each and every one of you,” he repeated and slightly dipped his head. Then he looked at his open wounds.
“Hey, can we get a medic here to clean out his wounds?” Mykal asked and all the medics r
ushed to Towbar with their medical kits. Suddenly the thought of Lieutenant Kim, the Korean officer who died after a giant spider bite as part of the original Lost Patrol popped into his head. He didn’t want to wake up tomorrow morning to find out that Towbar died from poison injected into his body by the large snake. Mykal wanted to ask if anyone knew if the snake could be poisonous, but he kept his paranoid thoughts to himself. “Make sure there is no poison in his wounds,” he added to the medics who eagerly rushed to help the giant Towbar.
“Alright, let’s talk about what we’re going to do,” Gunnery Sergeant Ratner said. “Should we all go with you Mykal?”
“As I’ve given it a little thought,” Mykal said after a brief pause he hated to admit he was wrong, but he knew ‘they’ were right. “It wouldn’t make sense for me to go there by myself,” he admitted. “Cuz I know I’ll need the help of you guys. We’ll all go there. There is a place a little ways away from the castle where she is at,” he added and thought of the pond he saw from her room. “It would be far enough out of the way that we shouldn’t be detected. I’ll leave you guys there and I’ll sneak to her and grab her from her room. If I can do it, great I’ll grab her and come back to you guys and we’ll get the hell outta there. But if I can’t do it, I’ll use you guys to create a distraction and then I’ll get her and then me and her will take off in a different way cuz then they’ll be chasing you guys. That way I’ll take her to the Jeep we have hidden here and then we’ll meet up with you guys somewhere. If I can get to her and get back to you guys then we’ll take off from there and everyone lives happily ever after,” he said and gave a fake laugh.
“I think it’s much better than you going by yourself and leaving us to try to meet up with you there later, Rambo,” Roy Jr. said to take another friendly shot at Mykal’s stubborn position. “But I still think this whole nonsense of you going in the building by yerself is still too damn risky."
“Yes, I would agree with that too,” Captain Diaz added. “But if we do decide to allow you to go in there on your own, at least we’ll be there for you if you actually need us.”
“Mykal, let me propose an option,” Lieutenant Finley said after raising his hand. “It will be getting dark not long from now. You said there were many soldiers that had been moved near to her location. Is that correct?”
“Yes. Easily several thousand from what I saw.”
“Should we wait just a little longer and get there so we could sneak to her while it is dark?” Lieutenant Finley asked. “They might not expect a night time operation and then we could pull off a stunt like we pulled off with the Silent Killers when we rescued all our people from that other group,” he said and deliberately didn’t say Sosos. He, like most of the men, believed Hidtotim, Nomorek and Soonme still believed they were a part of the Soso nation. Being this close to completing their mission and so far behind enemy lines Lieutenant Finley didn’t want to give them anything that would cause the ex-soldiers of Zizmon-Tarl to turn on them.
Mykal saw what Lieutenant Finley did but he wasn’t concerned about Hidtotim so much since Hidtotim had killed many of his own people to help Mykal. Hidtotim and his men were committed to moving to the Pass and spending the rest of their lives on the other side of the world. But he wasn’t about to take a chance and tip over the ‘apple cart’ this close to collecting their prize and rescuing the Princess Doninka.
Mykal gave Finley’s plan some thought and agreed it may be better to rescue Doninka while it was dark. “That might not be a bad idea. The only negative is we really don’t know where we are going, but then again, in the daylight we wouldn’t know where we are going either. The positive is the enemy would have less chance of seeing us. Yes,” he said and looked to those in leadership to see if they would disagree. “I think we should do that. Great idea Lieutenant Finley. I was so wrapped up in hurrying up to get there to rescue the princess that I didn’t think it through. Let’s chill out for about two hours and we’ll go there while darkness is just starting. I have the place in mind and it will be about a half a mile to a mile from where she is being kept.”
“Gunny, would you and Sergeant Lemon make sure the men get a couple hours rest?” Captain Diaz said and looked around to see where most of the men were. “Make sure we have a strong presence as far as guards who are alert.”
“Aye aye Sir. We will do that right now,” Ratner replied and nudged Lemon’s arm with his elbow.
“Starling, Leeno and Blair,” Diaz called out to three of the Elves. The other three Elves were having a separate conversation with the wizard Nordad, his men and the Dwarves.
“Yes Captain Diaz?” Starling replied for the three.
“Would you three please approach the Hawkmen after they’re done,” he said and paused to look back at the Hawkmen who were still ripping apart the anaconda.
“Munch munch,” Mathis said for Mykal and got the desired and expected laugh. He said it much louder than he realized and everyone turned to him to see what he said that Mykal found so humorous.
“Mathis?” Diaz said and looked perturbed that Mathis would interrupt his conversation.
“I’m sorry Sir,” Mathis said and snapped to attention.
“It’s my fault,” Mykal lied to keep Mathis from getting into trouble. “I said something to him and he replied and I laughed. I’m sorry Sir,” Mykal said and continued to laugh. “It was nothing. It was nothing,” he added and saw others like the Dosch brothers were starting to laugh. “Please Sir, carry on with what you were going to ask the Elves.”
Diaz looked at Mathis who looked very scared and looked as if he wished he wouldn’t have said anything. “Anyway,” Diaz said and bore into Mathis as if to make his point. He turned to the three Elves. “When the Hawkmen are finished,” he paused and everyone seemed to look at Mathis which caused Mykal to continue with a new fit of laughter.
Mykal knew Mathis wanted to say ‘munch munch’ so bad, but also knew Mathis didn’t want to get into trouble with Diaz. “Munch munch,” Mykal blurted out loud and everyone started to laugh including Captain Diaz. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry I couldn’t resist,” he added and turned to Mathis who had to look down and tried to hide the fact that he was laughing.
“You’re gonna get me killed,” Mathis whispered and tried not to move his lips. “Sir, I didn’t say anything,” Mathis said when he assumed Diaz was staring daggers at him, but Diaz was fighting his own battle of trying to hide his laughter.
Towbar looked at what was taking place and actually cracked a smile.
“I do not understand,” Starling said.
“Is there something we did to make everyone laugh?” Leeno asked when he looked at all those laughing.
“Did we say something in a wrong manner?” Blair asked.
“No no. No you guys didn’t do anything,” Mykal laughed and felt silly as the giggles hit him and he didn’t know why. It wasn’t even very funny, but he couldn’t stop laughing and was caught up in the comical giggle fit everyone seemed to be caught in, besides the Elves who clearly lacked a sense of ‘human’ humor.
“They say snake tastes like chicken,” Mathis said normally as if it was an expected part of the conversation. It caused everyone to continue their silliness of laughter. His comment came so far out from left field that Mykal had to turn and walk away a couple of steps. He couldn’t stop laughing and tears filled his eyes.
“What they hell is everyone laughing at?” Roy Jr. growled but he too was also laughing. “I don’t know what the hell is so funny, do you?” He asked and turned to his brother who also was laughing and held his midsection due to his laughing fits.
“Is there something you would like me to ask Lanorear?” Starling asked to help Captain Diaz continue.
“Ask him if he wants some ketchup,” Mathis uttered amid the silliness and laughed which caused Mykal and others to continue their nonstop laughing fits. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I couldn’t help it.” He couldn’t resist trying to get a laugh, but feared this time he mig
ht have stepped over the line and got himself into trouble with Diaz.
The confused looks on the Elves was priceless. The Elves were totally confused as if the humans were speaking in a foreign language and yet all the humans found something very humorous and laughed continually.
Mathis looked at Diaz who put his hand over his mouth to cover the fact he was laughing. Diaz looked angry at Mathis. He focused his glare at Mathis as if he dared him to speak another word.
“Is there anything you would like us to ask Lanorear?” Starling asked again though Diaz was focused on Mathis.
“Yes, ask them if they need some crackers,” Diaz said and burst out with his own laughter while he pretended to be angry with Mathis. Everyone except the three Elves burst out with more laughter. Even Towbar laughed out loud. “I’m sorry. I’m joking. I’m just kidding because my men are being silly,” he said and laughed harder when Mykal dropped down to his knees and slapped his thigh.
“We do not understand,” Leeno said with true sincerity and looked more confused by the actions of the humans.
“I was just going to ask if you would see if they would come with us to the castle and see if they would assist us when we rescue the missing princess,” Diaz said and wiped his eyes.
6.
When the green fog disappeared Captain Diaz called for the squad leaders to do a head count to ensure all the men were present and accounted for. Mykal believed he placed them about a mile from the pond he saw outside of Doninka’s palatial prison. Mykal felt confident they wouldn’t be seen as long as they didn’t turn the lights of the vehicle on. It was dark enough not to be seen, but not too dark for them to slowly move closer to their objective.
After all the men were accounted for they moved forward at a walk to reach the pond Mykal mentioned. They moved as quickly as possible, on foot, so they could set up a small camp to enable the men to get rested before they attempted to extract the princess from her confines. They needed to remain out of sight and kept the vehicle head lights off, flashlights and cigarettes were banned for the few men who were smokers. No one was allowed to light up. Mykal, Towbar, the Dwarves and the Elves all led the way on foot. Most of the men walked with them and all the vehicles followed them at their walking pace. The drivers had to keep their eyes on the men walking in front of them because they couldn’t see where they were going in the dark.
