Rescue Or Recovery

by Dave Hazel

  “Get inside the vehicle,” Mykal shouted to Doninka while he quickly reloaded. “Get in the front,” he yelled when she hesitated at the passenger door that had a massive arrow sticking into it. “William, get up. We gotta go.”

  William stayed on his knees and continued to cry out as if in tremendous pain. “Help me,” he bawled loudly and held his head tightly. “They’re coming to get me,” he yelled as if he expected such an attack. William didn’t act like he was surprised by the assault. His eyes seemed like slits in his face which gave his appearance a serpent like look. Mykal didn’t know if that was caused due to the intense pain he complained about or if there was some sort of mind control taking place by the enemy. As the pain would seem to increase he would slap his balding head and shake his head violently.

  “William, c’mon, we gotta go. Get up,” he yelled and raised his rifle to shoot at one of the two sword carrying creatures. He struck the beast in the chest and it stumbled back in the air and screeched in pain. One of the two with the double sided axe flew toward Mykal swinging the axe in a circular S fashion to try to hit him with any of the four axe heads. “Screw you,” he hollered and fired off six rounds into the axe wielder. Mykal knew for sure he struck it three times in the chest and once in one leg but couldn’t tell if the fifth or sixth rounds hit due to the jerky flying movements.

  “Mykal, help me. Please help me,” William cried desperately and fell face first onto the grass. “They’re coming for me. They say they’re going to take me back. Please help me Mykal,” he cried out in a panic but he refused to move from where he flopped down on the grass.

  “Get up,” Mykal yelled and saw the same axe wielder fly in a circle to come back at Mykal. Mykal wasn’t sure if he actually saw the face clearly or just projected what he would imagine, but the creature looked to be angered and snarled angrily as it soared toward him. The flying thing was drooling and snapping its jaws. He clearly heard the cracks of the jaws snapping together. Almost by instinct Mykal pulled one of the hand grenades off his harness and tossed it at the axe wielder after he pulled the pin.

  The creature displayed great dexterity and caught the ‘small rock’ with one of its hands and quickly threw it down. Just as the hand grenade had been released and reached its curled claws at the end of its legs the grenade exploded. One of the claws and part of the leg was blown off. Shrapnel ripped into the other leg and most of the body which forced the monster to be thrown to the ground. The monster convulsed and thrashed while screeching loudly. The other three flew high into the air as if to re-assess the situation.

  “Damn, no one is gonna believe that,” he laughed at the explosive damage his grenade did. “That damn thing caught it and blew its own leg off with it,” he snickered to Doninka, but she didn’t see his humor.

  In a rage Mykal pulled his magic sword and ran to the flopping body missing a leg. When he started to slice with his fiery red blade the creature screeched even louder and snapped at him with its large beak studded with rows of teeth. Despite the evil look the strange creature had, it gave off a desperate glare as if it knew it was in danger.

  Mykal chopped it to pieces and finally killed it. He looked up to see the three were still watching him. He ran to the first he shot down and though the creature was on the ground with multiple gunshots to the head it was still alive. With his fiery flaming sword he chopped and slashed insuring he killed it also.

  “William, get your ass up. We gotta go,” Mykal yelled and took a defensive stance as the second with a double sided, twin headed, battle axe flew down toward him. His anger took hold and he wanted the other two flying monsters to come near him as well because he planned to kill all three of them. With this side of his emotions in play he wasn’t about to back down from anything and longed for the creatures to come at him.

  The creature landed and the tall skinny thing stood about nine and a half feet tall. Its legs didn’t seem to be made for walking. It approached Mykal with choppy steps while swinging the long odd looking battle axe in circles and moved it in an S pattern to block anything Mykal would try to attack with. It continued to flap its wings. Mykal wasn’t sure if it was to help keep its balance while it tried to move near him, or if it was a tactic to distract him.

  “C’mon you ugly little bastard,” Mykal snarled though the creature towered over him. It had to be about twelve feet tall. Angrily, Mykal swung his sword which burst into red flames over the length of the blade. The creature screeched and swung the axe at his sword to block it. Mykal quickly put the sword in his left hand and pulled his .357 magnum. The slow moving monster took jittery steps toward him and he fired off all six rounds rapidly. The quick explosions caught the attention of the other two. They seemed stunned that the axe wielding creature began to stumble backward and fell to the ground when it got off balance.

  Mykal rushed in for the kill while he holstered his revolver and chopped away with his flaming blade. Black blood flew in all directions. The creature screeched a couple of times, but ceased when Mykal cut it into many pieces like the other three. “C’mon you friggin mutt,” he yelled while chopping viciously as if he had a hateful grudge against the lifeless beast. “Come at me you ugly piece of shit,” he yelled and waved his bloody sword at the other two who hovered in flight over the death scene.

  “Nooooo,” William yelled and jumped to his feet as if he had been yanked up by an invisible force. William’s arms jerked out to his side and his chin stuck to his chest. It looked like William was ready to be crucified. “Nooooooo,” he yelled again. “Help me, help me Myk,” he cried out and stood there frozen as if he wasn’t in control of his own body.

  “Whatta ya doing? We gotta go,” Mykal yelled but William remained standing still with his arms stretched out and his chin glued to his chest. Mykal knew something out of the ordinary was taking place because he clearly saw it was an unseen force that jerked William up to his feet. “C’mon let’s go.”

  “Help me Myk, they’re going to get me,” William shouted but he couldn’t look up. “Please help me,” he begged and his chin remained affixed to his chest and his arms remained rigid and unbending.

  Mykal ran to the vehicle driver’s side and got inside to start the ignition. He wanted the vehicle running so they could get in and go. While he was starting the vehicle the last two creatures flew down toward William. With their curled claws they each grabbed one of his extended arms as if his arms were a wooden perch for a parrot’s swing in a bird cage.

  “Mykal, help me, help me,” William yelled but in his stiffened state he couldn’t look at Mykal.

  “What the friggin hell is happenin’?” Mykal gasped as he exited the vehicle to see the two creatures had started to rise, taking William with them. Mykal used the top of the Jeep to help support his arms. He placed his crosshairs on the back of William’s head as the three flew higher. ‘I can’t let them take William back to Ziggy,’ he thought. The hesitation started when he had the thought of killing William. “I’m sorry,” he said and squeezed off three rounds.

  Mykal knew all three rounds exploded through William’s head. He saw William’s head jerk violently with each squeeze of the trigger. Though he couldn’t confirm it by checking William’s pulse, he knew William was dead. As much as he had hated William in the past few weeks and wanted to kill him, this brought him no joy. He killed William to keep him from being taken back to the forces of Zizmon-Tarl. He was actually saddened that he killed his one-time friend, turned one-time enemy, turned one-time possible friend with a relationship on the mends.

  “Damn it, the whole friggin army is coming after us,” Mykal yelled after looking back toward the six Things and the rest of the army with them. The entire army was getting dangerously close.

  “Did those things take William away?” Doninka asked when Mykal got behind the steering wheel.

  “Yeah. I killed him,” he blurted and felt bad. He couldn’t understand why he felt bad because he planned to murder William if he ever saw the man again. “Bu
t we gotta get outta here,” he said while he looked back at the force approaching them.

  “Do you think they will capture us?” Doninka asked and she genuinely sounded frightened. “I do not wish to be captured by them again.”

  “Na, don’t worry about it,” he chuckled and started to drive. “I will get us outta here. Even if I gotta stop and use the green fog, I’ll get us outta here. And if worse comes to worst I still have one hand grenade, that we can hold between us while we hug good-bye,” he joked. “And we can tell this world to kiss our ass as I blow us away,” he chuckled.

  “I do not understand.”

  “I’m joking. Don’t worry about it,” he said with a smirk. He didn’t have the time to explain the grenade would be used to have them commit suicide by blowing themselves up in order to keep the ‘bad guys’ from capturing them.

  “Please hurry,” she begged when she looked behind them and saw the force that was coming at them.

  “I’m going, I’m going, but get your friggin seat belt on,” he said and snickered at her fear and pressed heavy on the gas. He quickly put distance between them and the slowly approaching threat. “Damn, I wish you knew how to drive,” he said and laughed because he knew he was going to tire out fairly quickly due to not having much sleep.

  “I do not understand what you just said.”

  “Don’t worry about it.”

  Mykal drove for about an hour when the darkness over took them. He knew he was going to get drowsy. He made a decision to park for the night. He told Doninka to stay awake as long as she could and then she was to wake him so he would keep watch. They would switch on and off for the next few hours so they could both get some sleep, even if in small increments while not exposing themselves to complete vulnerability if they both slept. He wasn’t sure if their pursuers were going to track them during the darkness of night, but he didn’t want to drive with the headlights on and make them visible from long distances.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR 01/31/1984

  1. Tuesday, January 31st 1984

  0418 hours, Other side of Towbar’s World (24th Day)

  “Doninka,” Mykal whispered. “Doninka,” he whispered and gently shook the sleeping princess who was supposed to be standing guard while he napped for an hour or so. Mykal heard some noise and woke to find her sleeping in the passenger seat, but he understood what it was like to fight staying awake alone in the dark from his days guarding missiles when he was in the Air Force.

  He couldn’t be angry with her though her lack of concentration to stay awake could have resulted in their deaths or worse. He had been guilty of the same crime at times when he was ‘a committed security policeman’ and he was forced to stand guard outside of hardened underground missile silos in the middle of the wheat fields of North Dakota, or snow covered underground missile silos in the middle of winter. He and his partner would work in pairs and agree to stay awake while the other nodded off for a specified period of time and then switch off. He wasn’t angry with her weakness to keep watch for them.

  Mykal looked around, but it was still dark out. Suddenly there was the noise again. It was a sniffing sound and a grunt. He then felt the vehicle rock as if it had been shaken by pranksters. Mykal knew his people were nowhere near them so there wouldn’t be anyone pulling a prank on him. He pulled his .357 revolver and the vehicle rocked again. Something of considerable size pushed or bumped into the vehicle harder than the first time. His main concern was that it not be one of the six Things that stood over thirty feet tall.

  Mykal desperately looked all around the vehicle, but couldn’t see anything. Whatever it was it didn’t know what his vehicle was. To his side, the driver’s side, and to the rear he heard more grunting and snorting like heavy breathing. He forced himself to keep from panicking and tried to think of what the best option would be. ‘Should I turn on the vehicle and get the hell outta here? Should I turn on the lights and blast the horn?’ He waited and desperately looked around while trying his best not to move much to help keep from being seen. He hoped that if he remained quiet and still the creature would lose its curiosity and move on.

  He slapped Doninka’s shoulder to wake her and she finally stirred. “Doninka,” he whispered harshly when the vehicle rocked again followed by several grunts and sniffing sounds.

  “Yes Mykal,” she said and bolted upright and was obviously unaware of what was taking place.

  “Shhhh,” he hissed harshly and placed his hand over her mouth. “There’s something outside of us.”

  “What is it?” She whispered when he removed his hand from her mouth.

  “I don’t know, but it or they are big enough to knock our Jeep around,” he whispered and looked in all directions to get a glimpse of the creature or creatures pushing into the vehicle.

  “What should we do?” She asked and sounded terrified.

  The vehicle was rocked again. “Hell with this,” he yelled and turned the vehicle on. He turned the head lights on while pressing the horn with a steady blast. He heard the noises of a couple of screeches and squeals that sounded like pigs and he drove off. He caught sight of three animals that reminded him of extremely large warthogs but the creatures had to be 300 to 400 pounds each. All three of them had long dangerous looking tusks. They seemed to be startled by the noise of the horn and the sudden lights. The three beasts scattered quickly.

  “Let’s get the hell outta here,” he yelled while he sped away. He kept looking in the rear view mirror to see if they were being chased, but it was too dark to see anything.

  “What was it Mykal?” She asked and looked back over her shoulder?

  “I don’t have a friggin clue,” he laughed slightly now that they were away from danger. “But if someone wouldn’t have fallen asleep while I was resting we wouldn’t have been caught off guard. I wonder who that was?” He asked and playfully shot an accusing glare at her.

  “I am so sorry Mykal. I did not realize I went to sleep,” she apologized and looked down. “I thought I was awake or maybe I dreamt that I was awake. I did not know that I was sleeping. I thought I saw myself as being awake, which could mean that I was sleeping. However, I was sure I was not sleeping, yet you woke me and proved to me that I had been sleeping. I am so confused.”

  “Don’t worry about it. We’re okay,” he snickered at her concern. “We’ll keep driving until it’s light out so we can see what is going on around us.”

  “I did not intend to endanger us. I thought I was wide awake. I did not think I--”

  “Don’t worry about it,” he said loudly with a laugh to cut her off. “Believe me I know what it’s like having to stay awake all night after a long day. I’m not blaming you. Honest. I’m just teasing you and giving you a hard time.”

  “Why would you do that?” She asked.

  “Cuz I like you. When I like someone, I tease them and joke around with them,” he admitted and kept his eyes straight ahead. “If I don’t like someone, I just keep to myself and don’t really say anything.”

  “I do not understand that way of expressing how you like someone,” she replied with a perplexed expression. “Would not it be easier to just state the fact that you like another person?”

  “Yeah, I guess it would be easier,” he answered and seemed to squirm uncomfortably in his seat. “That’s just how we are where I’m from,” he chortled. He wished some of his friends were here so he could show how they express their friendship.

  “That confuses me,” she retorted with a more confounded look. “Why would you not just tell someone that you like them, if you do in fact like them?” She repeated because it did not make ‘logical’ sense.

  “Cuz that’s so friggin boring,” he laughed and felt like he was being cornered and put on the spot.

  “I do not understand that way of thinking. If you like someone or love someone, you should tell that person so they will know that. Then they are not wondering what the other person’s feelings are,” she said as if she was getting irritable.


  “Alright, for crying out loud. I like you. I like you,” he laughed and wondered if that was what she was getting at. “I mean for crying out loud, I just risked my life to rescue you. You can’t tell that I like you?”

  “Well yes. However, you blamed me for sleeping and blamed me that we could have been killed.”

  “I did not,” he said and laughed as if he was arguing with his wife. “I was teasing you cuz everything worked out alright. Don’t put this on me cuz you fell asleep and almost got us killed,” he laughed playfully to put it back on her.

  “I did not mean to sleep. I thought I was awake--”

  “Stop,” he barked playfully to cut her off. “I’m not blaming you. I’m playing with you cuz I do like you. Believe me, if I thought you were at fault I would put your ass outside this vehicle and make you walk for nearly killing us.”

  “You would do that?” She asked and looked concerned.

  “No,” he laughed again. “No. Not at all. I’m joking with you. I care about you. That’s why I put my ass on the line to take you from the bad guys. I would never do anything to hurt you,” he said in a normal sincere tone. He had to catch himself because he was almost trapped into saying that he loved her. He knew he did love her but he would never do anything to jeopardize his marriage with Pam. He knew he could never allow those words to be heard by Doninka since he knew there could never be anything serious between them. He felt like he had to walk a fine line because he wasn’t going to be like others who would take advantage of the girl since his wife would never know. ‘But I would know,’ he thought as a rebuke.

  2.

  “Are you done eating?” Mykal asked as he finished his MRE.

  “Yes. It is a strange food. Yet it is very smart the way it is packaged for taking on long trips,” Doninka replied. “And it is very tasty. I really enjoy how there are many choices to choose from. Your men must be very grateful for the food they have to take on their long journeys.”