by Dave Hazel
“After we hear from this four man team,” Diaz nodded to the four men checking out the remains of The Forty-Three we’ll move out until it gets dark and we’ll set up a camp. “I don’t have any desire to go all the way back to the city we’re being pushed to, because I can only imagine what size forces Ziggy will have waiting for us.”
“We’ll try using the green fog in the morning,” Mykal said. “I just can’t believe it didn’t work when you guys tried it. Ziggy is desperate to get his hands on our ‘special package’,” he said and felt bad that he referred to Doninka as a special package to protect from the ‘bad guys’ rather than the lovely person and princess that she was. He knew he had to keep his emotions out of his thinking and leadership position.
“Well, we’ve lost many men in the pursuit of this ‘special package’ so we’re going to protect it viciously,” Diaz said while he watched the four man team of Marines make their way back to them.
Sergeant Kalhoun turned his thumb down and shook his head. “Sir, dem boys is deader than a door nail. I don’ know what all the fuss was ‘bout dem boys being some big ass scary monsters,” he added with a laugh and a smirk. “But honestly Sir, dem boys ain’t shit.”
“Yes Sir,” Private First Class Ferria agreed. “I’ll tell you what though. After looking at them, I never want to come face to face with a .50 caliber machinegun pointing at me,” he laughed and shook his head. “Those damn fifties make a mess outta ya.”
“Sir, I would like to ask permission to go back there and put three or four horses out of their misery,” Marine Private First Class Hernandez requested. “There are three or four of them that are injured severely and I hate to see animals suffering.”
Suddenly Mykal’s heart was pricked with a saddened pain. He deliberately avoided looking back that way so as not to see the suffering animals. ‘What the friggin hell is happenin’ to me?’ He asked in thought. ‘Why am I getting’ so damned wimpy about this stuff with animals? I don’t get it.’
“You don’t think they will be able to survive on their own?” Captain Diaz asked and looked toward the area where the remains of The Forty-Three lay. He seemed to be debating with himself if he should even be concerned about it.
“Sir, it will only take a few moments,” Hernandez countered. “I know they are animals of the enemy, but they don’t know what side they’re on and I’m an animal lover. Horses are my favorite animal and I don’t want to leave here knowing that I left them there to suffer.”
“I’ll go with them Sir,” Roy Jr. offered. “I’ll use my Winchester and end it quickly.”
“We’ve grown up with horses our whole life Sir, and I’d like to help too,” Randy added after his brother spoke up.
“Sure, sure,” Diaz consented quickly. “Sergeant Kalhoun, would you mind taking them back that way. All four of you go back with the Dosch brothers just to be on the safe side. I don’t want to take any chances.”
Suddenly Mykal was filled with fear that something strange and bizarre was about to happen. He didn’t know why, but his breathing increased and he knew that since they were in Towbar’s world and on the other side of Towbar’s world and being chased by the forces of Zizmon-Tarl, something didn’t feel right. ‘Am I getting paranoid in my old age?’ He asked himself, but couldn’t shake the strange feeling that had come over him.
“We’ll make it quick,” Roy Jr. said and the six of them walked back to the remains of The Forty-Three.
‘What the hell is wrong with me?’ Mykal wondered and felt the bandage on his throat and wondered if he was still suffering the effects of the mind eater that had been injected into his neck.
“Are you okay Myk?” Captain Diaz asked while he watched the men walk back to where the injured horses were. “You look white as a ghost all of a sudden.
“Yeah, I’m alright,” he answered and felt his own forehead. His forehead was moist with sweat. “I think I just need to grab a bite to eat,” he said and walked away. Mykal wasn’t sure what was wrong, but he suddenly felt nauseous. Was it lack of food? Was it lasting effects from the attack by the Crymontox? While he walked to the rear of the vehicle to get something to eat he heard four individual rifle shots. ‘The horses were put outta their misery,’ he thought and wanted to go home. He wanted to be done with this side of Towbar’s world. But he had to admit they had a great victory since they obliterated The Forty-Three.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE 02/01/1984
1. Wednesday, February 1st 1984
0622 hours, Other side of Towbar’s World (25th Day)
Mykal pressed the button on his watch to illuminate the digital numbers of 3:45 and realized it was too early to be awake. ‘Why can’t I sleep? Why did I feel sick last night? Is it cuz of that thing that was shot into my neck? Damn, is it gonna be something I gotta worry about for the rest of my life?’ He wondered while he glanced over to see Doninka sleeping soundly.
Mykal heard two men whispering. They were discussing their shift change for guard duty. They both stood up in the turret and talked as quietly as they could. They didn’t know his hearing was increased and he could hear them more than a normal man would be able to.
“No, nothing out of the ordinary,” Army transport team member Corporal Nelson whispered. “There was a brief disturbance when some animals rushed through our little camp, but we don’t know what was chasing them because they were running fast.”
“Nothing stopped to check us out?” Marine Private First Class Anka asked.
“No,” Nelson replied. “There was about fifteen seconds of a disturbance and then nothing for the rest of the night.”
“Well good. You have yourself a nice sleep,” Anka said. “Where is your partner?”
“Simmy, Sergeant Simmons is down walking in front of the vehicle. He wanted to make sure there was nothing out there before we called it a night.”
Mykal laid there and wondered why he was still on edge from the night before. Did Zizmon-Tarl have a plan to try to take Doninka away from him so he could fulfill his evil plan to trade her for her father, thus to take the kingdom from King Loankore’s hands. There was still about a week left to the deadline.
“Good. My partner will be coming up here shortly,” Anka whispered. “See ya in the daylight.”
“Whoa, what the hell is that?” Nelson yelled. Obviously something was wrong since the man was no longer whispering. “Simmy look out,” he yelled and suddenly the entire vehicle jerked as if it had been hit by a truck.
The vehicle jerked so hard that Mykal was knocked from his seat. Mykal felt confident the vehicle was struck by the rhinoceros looking Klardfurdam which was ridden by the tall skinny Crymontox. There was a sudden scream and moaning yell that Mykal believed was Sergeant Simmons being pinned to the front of the vehicle by the large bludgeoning head of the Klardfurdam.
Within moments that seemed to take longer for the expected reaction Mykal heard the yells of men being pushed into battle during the middle of the night when darkness covered everything like a blinding blanket. There were different kind of war cries and shouts that Mykal assumed to be the enemy coming to make their assault in an attempt to take the Princess Doninka from them.
Suddenly it felt like the large rhino like creature struck the side of the vehicle and Mykal feared the vehicle was going to tip over. Doninka was startled from her sleep and nearly jumped out of her seat. She looked at Mykal and wanted to scream. She knew they had come under attack again. Mykal felt woozy and felt like he was moving in slow motion. He feared he was still suffering the effects of the ‘mind eater’ that had been injected into his neck from the blowgun the Crymontox used on him.
Mykal clearly heard the rifle fire and a couple of explosions. He heard the difference in hand grenade and the explosion of the 40mm grenades of the M-203 grenade launcher. He wasn’t sure what they would be facing and with it still being dark he was afraid of accidently shooting his own men. His main focus was to protect Doninka.
The door of the vehicle opened and
the sight shocked and terrified Mykal. Captain William Roberts stood there with his arms flailing wildly like a marionette on strings. Mykal clearly saw the exit wounds in William’s face from where he shot him in the back of the head. There were dried crusty blood stains on the ‘dead’ man’s face. The scene horrified Mykal for a couple of reasons. First being that the dead man was clearly re-animated and put to use by the forces of Zizmon-Tarl to help capture the young princess. And second he was going to have to explain how William was so far away from the mountain where he claimed to have seen him killed by Goblins. Now clearly William suffered wounds from a military issue style weapon and not the primitive weapons of Goblins or even weapons from Zizmon-Tarl’s soldiers.
Though William looked like a bad puppet on invisible strings he didn’t seem to have complete control of his body. But the re-animated body of the dead Captain William Roberts focused on the pretty girl. The dead man made a mad dash to her. His flesh looked white and lifeless. His eyes looked dead and just as lifeless, but he zeroed in on her and was determined to take the girl away with him.
Mykal looked to see if there was anyone behind him and he clearly heard a great deal of commotion going on outside the vehicle around him. There were plenty of creatures and soldiers of Zizmon-Tarl fighting with Mykal’s people. He heard his men yelling and fighting viciously. By some of the yells he picked up on he knew some of his people had been killed or injured.
Mykal didn’t want to shoot William with his rifle and pulled out his .357 magnum. His first round hit William in the head and threw him backward. Mykal rushed over to make sure Doninka was not injured. Inside the vehicle he felt something whiz by his head and knew someone or something took a swing at him. He turned and leveled his revolver just as the soldier swung his sword again. He shot the attacking soldier twice in the chest which knocked him backward out of the vehicle. Mykal clearly saw that the soldier fell into the arms of his fellow fighters who were also trying to get inside the vehicle to get the prized object, the Princess Doninka.
Doninka screamed, which made Mykal aware that she had at least woken from her medicated aided sleep. Two more of the enemy’s soldiers rushed in and Mykal quickly shot them dead. The first one he shot in the head which caused the man to fall in the miniscule space between seats. The second one he shot in the chest and head which knocked the man back out the door into the arms of his comrades. A third rushed in and charged at Mykal snarling evilly. Mykal squeezed the trigger but nothing happened. He had fired off all six rounds.
‘Where the hell is everyone?’ He yelled in his head but he could hear the weapons fire and the yells of his men in combat. A large blubbery enemy charged at Mykal and tackled him onto the seats. It didn’t seem like this large flabby warrior’s goal was to kill or hurt Mykal but to hold him back and keep Mykal out of the way from interfering. While Mykal struggled to get free from under the large rolls of fat, he saw beyond the rotund brute that the re-animated body of William, with open wounds in his head, flailed his way to the nearly unconscious princess.
Mykal thought it odd that William’s arms jerked and twitched like a puppet on a string, but the dead man was unable to speak. William’s actions were as if he wasn’t capable of making his own decisions. Despite the appearances of being unable to do anything on his own, William was able to lunge at the girl and grab hold of her. A couple other soldiers followed in behind him and helped the twitching dead marionette take custody of the princess who now began to scream.
Mykal’s arms were pinned under him between some of the seats. He yelled frantically for his men to help. “Anka, Anka, help me,” he hollered because he knew Anka was one of the men up in the turret. “I can’t get her,” he bellowed and the man on top of him began to laugh. The man was laughing at Mykal’s immovable plight. Mykal was glad the soldier wasn’t trying to kill him or even trying to harm him, but it was angering him to no end that the overweight man was laughing at him and preventing him from moving to help her.
Mykal saw the two men were pulling Doninka free from her seat for William, who despite his dead appearance and twitching movements seemed to be leading their actions without directing them. It nearly broke Mykal’s heart when he heard Doninka scream his name to help her. He was stuck. He tried to think of the best option. If he turned invisible the large brute was still on top of him and holding him in place. If he could reach into his pocket he would pull his figurines and employ them, but would that cause them harm since they were so large and he was stuck in such a small confined space? He tried but couldn’t reach his Glock 17, but then he would have to cock it. His ice pick like dagger was too far to his left side in his waist band.
“You friggin lard ass,” he snarled at the large brute who rested on top of him, but continued to laugh that Mykal was helpless to get free and useless to rescue the girl. Mykal couldn’t believe his luck when his right hand reached the handle of the magic dagger he once had given to Jake and Jake returned to him. With a flick of his wrist he managed to stab back at the man’s belly. “Laugh at that you friggin mutt,” he snarled and felt the blade dig into the large man. He felt the blade dig deeper into his enemy by its own magic ability.
The large man grunted and groaned. He held tight to Mykal and squeezed tighter not to let him go. His laughter ceased and the large grown man began to cry. He moaned as if he knew he was going to die, but he had a job to do and that was to keep Mykal from interfering with the kidnapping of the Princess Doninka. The man sobbed like a child and asked Mykal to help him.
“Please make it stop,” he begged. “I did not harm you. I tried my best not to hurt you,” he continued to beg and sobbed like a child who was in trouble for the first time. “I only did what I was supposed to do,” he confessed but wouldn’t get his large body off Mykal. “I would never hurt you,” he cried and came across as a simpleton.
Mykal suddenly felt terrible. He knew his emotions were going where they shouldn’t. It was true, the large heavyweight warrior didn’t try to harm him, but only held him down. Mykal felt like he violated a trust and broke an agreement the two had, but he knew that was just his emotions on his wild roller-coaster of a ride. He wanted to tell the man he was very sorry. “No!” He shouted at the man. “I have to rescue Doninka and you’re stopping me. Get off me,” he yelled.
“You hurt me. You hurt me bad and I did not try to harm you, not one time,” the large beefy warrior said and cried. “I am bleeding badly. I need help,” he moaned and wiped his tears that dripped down on to his thick shaggy beard. Mykal could tell his knife, the magic dagger, continued to plunge deeper and deeper inside the man.
Mykal knew the only way he was going to be able to get his magic dagger out of the man would be to cut the man open and find it inside him. He was thinking about using his sword once this was all over because he didn’t want to lose the magic dagger. “Wait a minute, I can command it out of him like Jake commanded it out of the tree,” he remembered to a friendlier time with his friends. “Nooooo,” Mykal yelled when he watched the bad guys drag the screaming girl out of the vehicle amid the loud gunshots and sounds of warfare taking place outside the vehicle.
“No, you must help me,” the man said and sobbed when he grabbed hold of Mykal’s shirt sleeve. “I kept my part of our agreement. I did not hurt you and I could have easily killed you. Please help me,” he begged and suddenly he screamed and it sounded like a woman’s scream.
For a moment Mykal was stunned. ‘Did I have an agreement with this guy? It’s true he didn’t try to hurt me, but he friggin pissed me off when he laughed at me, and laid his fat lard ass body on top of me,’ he hissed in thought. ‘Now Doninka is outside the vehicle,’ he argued and could hear her putting up a fight in resisting their attempt to drag her away.
“Why won’t you help me?” The man begged and held out his hands to show his hands were covered in his own blood.
“I’ll help you, I’ll help you, but I need to get up,” Mykal replied.
The large weakening body of
flab flopped over on his side to enable Mykal to get up.
Mykal rushed to the door to help Doninka before her screams were gone and revealed to him they had taken her away. ‘What the friggin hell is everyone doing?’ He yelled in thought despite the cries of the bleeding man. But Mykal heard the battle rage outside his vehicle. ‘Why do I gotta do this by myself?’ He yelled mentally and wanted his people to stop everything they were doing and come to his assistance.
“Help me,” the bleeding man begged and held out his blood covered hands. “I did not hurt you. You owe me that,” he moaned and grabbed a large fold of blubber and shook it as if it would help the dagger to exit his folds of skin.
“Screw you tubby,” Mykal yelled in anger because he was the one who prevented him from stopping Doninka’s abduction. He then rushed out of the vehicle with his rifle ready to start shooting any ‘bad guys’ that wanted to get in his way. When he jumped out of the vehicle he saw dead bodies everywhere and most of them seemed to be his people. The sunlight enabled him to see clearly and there was no doubt about it, his people suffered greatly. He stood beside the vehicle to look at the devastation and realized the enemy suffered heavy losses also, but it didn’t matter since he could no longer hear the screams of Doninka. They either gagged her to shut her up, or took her far enough away so as not to be heard or they hurt her, or maybe they killed her. Mykal knew the clock was ticking if he was going to get her back before the deadline.
He wanted to drop to his knees and yell out his frustration. He believed he failed again. He stood beside the vehicle that blocked his view. Suddenly a bird flew by the front of the vehicle quickly. Just as suddenly three more birds zipped by him passing in front of the vehicle like they were in a big hurry. Almost as quickly, a couple dozen birds flew by just as hurriedly. Immediately after that, scores of birds flew by the vehicle right past the side of his face which told him they were being chased or they were flying away in fright. But he was fearful to peek around the front of the vehicle.
