37 Days In A Strange World

by Dave Hazel

  Mykal laughed to himself at Kurt’s term for a hot chick. “You know I wouldn’t do anything like that.”

  “I know, I know. She really is a looker though. You should see the babe I’m seeing.” Kurt winked. “A sweet little hammer and a barmaid. I got it made with her. And this girl can drink. That’s my kinda gal. A gal who can out-drink me, and then carry me home after I’ve had too much,” he laughed.

  “She’s not like that girl, in Minot, who almost tricked you into getting married, is she?” Mykal asked. “She was trouble cuz she desperately wanted any military guy to take her from Minot.”

  “Nah, she’s not like Dotty at all. This girl is kinda big, but she’s not near as big as Dotty was. Man, Dotty was a big ol’ gal, wasn’t she? I like big gals, but she was ridiculously big.”

  “Remember when Sam asked her, ‘Do you eat until you’re full or until you get tired?’ Whew, she got ticked,” Mykal laughed at the memory of the 5’1”, 350 pound woman chasing Sam through a parking lot of a restaurant. “That was a funny line Sam said.”

  “Yeah, she got pissed about that,” Kurt laughed with him. “Man, she could woof down some food though.”

  A thin, elderly man ran toward them. “Towbar! Towbar! Where is Towbar?” He called. “You are the one named Mykal, are you not?” The frail looking older man gasped when he stopped.

  “Yeah, I’m Mykal.”

  “I must find Towbar. Kotan and his men have just arrived. They are injured. Do you know where Towbar may be found?”

  “I don’t know, but he headed that way.” Mykal pointed.

  “Thank you.” The man ran off.

  Mykal and Kurt quickened their pace. They met what remained of Towbar’s small force led by Kotan. Some were injured and the others looked to be exhausted.

  Kotan tried to ride tall in the saddle, but kept slumping forward. Kotan had minor injuries to his head and body. His wounds were wrapped with rags. Dried blood covered most of his left side. His body fared better than his appearance indicated.

  “Mykal, where is Towbar?” Kotan rubbed his left elbow.

  “I don’t know,” Mykal answered. He and Kurt helped Kotan off the large horse. “Someone went to get him for you guys.”

  “I had been informed by your leader that Towbar is wasting his time in the mountains.” Kotan looked confused. “The one called Edwards told me this. He also spoke of your death.”

  “It’s a long story.” Mykal brushed it off with a friendly smile. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Let’s get your men some help. Where are the rest of your men?” He asked. Townspeople helped the dozen or so soldiers off their horses.

  “This is all that remains.” Kotan winced and moved aside to allow other wounded soldiers to be carried past him into the inn for immediate medical attention. Some dropped to their knees to quench their thirst with the water skins that were brought forth.

  Inside the inn, wounds were cleansed and wrapped. Broken bones were set and splinted. Strong drink was given for pain management. A hushed silence claimed the inn when Towbar entered and spoke to Kotan. “What has happened?”

  “The Sosos caught us by surprise, my Lord,” Kotan replied apologetically. “We few are fortunate to be alive.”

  Towbar gave a slight frown. “How many survived?”

  “This is all. Myself and thirteen men. We were completely surrounded. We fought through the circle of death. We lived only because our beasts outran them. We fought valiantly, my Lord. I only wish I could have killed more Sosos.”

  “You are here now. You lived to fight another day.”

  “When I encounter the Sosos the next time, they will pay. We stopped to inspect the two dead crafts Mykal left behind,” he said referring to the two vehicles that crashed. “They surrounded us. It is my fault.” His head lowered. “We were distracted admiring the number of dead Sosos near the crafts.”

  “Tell me about Soso forces outside the Pass,” Towbar said.

  “They have numbers to take the Pass, yet they wait. They build their force about a half day march away. They must not expect our strength rests with women, children and old men.”

  “This is good. We need more time,” Towbar replied. “If they knew our strength, they would attack now. The Soso numbers grow quickly. Our numbers trickle in from other towns and villages.”

  “What’s up, Towbar?” Kurt asked. “You looked perturbed.”

  “I gave warning to the King and his advisors that this would happen. Those in the Great Walled City told me this could never happen. Yet here we are. The army may not arrive in time to rescue us.” Towbar’s somber voice quickly changed to one of gratitude. “If it had not been for you, my friends, I would not have arrived in the Pass so soon. This great town, Gartolin, with all its strategic importance, would surely have been at great risk to fall. I thank you.”

  “We’re helping each other,” Mykal replied.

  “If they believe my army is here, when they feel their force is sufficient they will test our strength. Then they will attack with a heavy hand. If they defeat us and take the Pass before my soldiers arrive, the last of the free world will crumble. This must not happen. I will make my last stand here.”

  “That’s a pretty scary thought,” Kurt said.

  “How many soldiers are coming?” Mykal asked.

  “I personally dispatched seventy thousand battle hardened warriors on horseback, and ninety-five thousand foot soldiers. In addition to the cavalry there are fifteen thousand mounts carrying supplies. Greater numbers are to follow. Those great numbers will do us no good if they do not arrive. We must plan and prepare to fend off the Sosos for as long as possible.”

  “We need to go get our defenses set,” Mykal said to Kurt.

  “Kotan, I have a task for you.” Towbar turned to the battered and exhausted soldier. “Take your men and go through the town. Send every available person to the Pass entrance. Inform the new arrivals what you know. I want men and boys sixteen years and older. I will not turn away women or anyone twelve and older who are willing to fight the Sosos. We need all who can thrust a sword or swing a club.”

  “Yes, my Lord.” Kotan downed his drink and departed.

  The others followed Kotan, Kurt protested quietly. “Towbar, you can’t have women and children fight those savage bastards.”

  Towbar gave a faint appreciative smile. “Kurt, you are distressed for the welfare of children and women. I welcome your kind hearted worry. I have even greater concern. These are my people. I do not wish to have them fight Sosos. However, if the Sosos get past us we will not be able to protect my people. You witnessed how the Sosos abuse defenseless women and children. I would rather they die fighting Sosos than waiting to be raped and tortured. This will work to our advantage. The worst thing for a Soso warrior is to be killed by a woman or a child.”

  Kurt wanted to argue his point. “But that doesn’t--”

  “Kurt! There is nothing to discuss here.” Towbar raised his hand and his voice. His loud response caused the inn keeper to drop and break a ceramic mug on the hard wood floor.

  “Kurt, let it go.” Mykal reacted to Towbar’s annoyance.

  Towbar hurried over to pick up the broken mug before the inn keeper returned with his straw broom. Towbar apologized and gave the broken pieces to the older man.

  “Thank you, my Lord. Thank you.” He bowed and smiled.

  “Are you ready to defend your home and your livelihood?” Towbar looked intently into the eyes of the balding, older, inn keeper. Towbar’s soft and caring manner put the man at ease.

  “Yes, my Lord,” the man replied enthusiastically and darted around the counter to retrieve a heavy meat cleaver. “I am ready, Lord Towbar. When youth was on my side, I was a great warrior,” he declared confidently and raised his meat cleaver above his head. “I will make you proud, my Lord.”

  “I know you will.” Towbar nodded and smiled. “And I will be proud to stand by your side when we fight the Sosos.”

  �
��We should go to the Front,” Mykal suggested. “Kurt, how did you guys get up here?”

  “We drove Doc’s Suburban.”

  “Let me have the keys to it.”

  “I’m supposed to be up here getting food. Edwards is gonna flip out if we don’t come back with food.”

  “Don’t worry about him. We got more important things to worry about right now. We’ll make them understand the Sosos are about ready to attack. He’ll go into shake factor five and look for a hiding place. Gather the food and we’ll come back later.”

  “He told me not to screw around, Myk.”

  “What, are you afraid of him? I’ll protect you,” Mykal joked.

  “Hell no, I ain’t afraid of him,” Kurt retorted and tossed the keys to Mykal. “If he says anything to me I’ll slap him up side his Poindexter head,” he lied.

  “Good. Where’s my stuff?” He started to walk away.

  “Ask Boris, he knows where they are. Myk, I’m really glad you’re back. Stay safe. No more hero stuff.”

  3.

  “…In my language the name means ‘Waterless River through Mountains’. Legend has it a river flowed through the Pass ages ago. You can see it has long since been free of water,” Towbar said in response to Mykal’s question about the Pass name.

  The drive from Gartolin to the opening of the Pass neared three miles. It reminded Mykal of the Niagara Gorge minus the rapids of the Niagara River. The canyon walls rose much higher than Niagara’s 200 to 300 feet. The width also dwarfed the width of Niagara’s gorge. Though it reminded him of ‘back home’, his heart longed for Minot, North Dakota.

  “This is beautiful,” Mykal said. “I wonder how big it is.”

  “While you were healing your people measured the Pass with their crafts. From Gartolin to the opening of the Pass is what you call 3.2 miles. They also said the width varies from 1.25 miles to 1.5 miles,” Towbar answered. “Based on the measurements your people gave I estimate the entire length of the Pass to be fifty to sixty of your miles.”

  “That was a big ass river at one time,” Mykal said while admiring the height of the rock walls that were nearly straight up and down. “Are there trees and shrubs all along the base of the rock walls through the entire Pass?”

  “For the most part, yes.” Towbar gazed past the opening of the Pass and sighed, changing the subject. “We can not match Soso numbers if my army does not arrive. We will be overrun.”

  “It won’t be so easy for them. You haven’t seen what our weapons can do yet,” Mykal replied while he looked beyond the Pass to the wide open green flatland that stretched to the horizon. The gradual incline limited the view to three miles beyond the Pass. “You only saw a handful of rifles and pistols in action. We’ll make some changes and we’ll make this work till your soldiers get here. One change I wanna make is to have your people use the horses to transport the food and whatever else we need. I wanna use our vehicles only as a last resort. Our fuel is really low.”

  “I will arrange that.”

  “Oh wow, this is really narrow here,” Mykal commented on the rock formation from the right that cut the width down to what he guessed to be about a half of mile. “Does it narrow like this anywhere else? This may be important.”

  “No. When the gods formed it I would have asked to close it completely. Thus Sosos would never have access to our land.”

  Approaching the Front, Mykal saw his people were split into four smaller camps across the inside of the Pass at the opening. He named each group based on the personnel in those camps.

  Near the east wall of the Pass were his close friends. Denny, Boris, Larry and others including most of the civilians from their world. Towbar placed several townspeople in all four groups to wait on them and do their bidding. “These are the cool people. They’d say we’re troublemakers,” he chuckled.

  Near the middle of the Pass sat the next group. Lt Light and his convoy made up the largest of the four mini-camps. Light put all his vehicles side by side as if in inspection order. “They’re definitely the gung-ho military, Army wanna-be group.”

  Not far from Light’s camp, but distant from Edwards, were Jake and all those Mykal considered neutral. “I’d call those people with Jake the wishy-washy or spineless group.”

  When the rumor spread that Mykal died, some of the ‘neutrals’ moved closer to Edwards’s group. The more Edwards pressed the lie that Mykal died, the closer they moved to Edwards’s group to give the appearance of allegiance.

  Edwards and Mansfield’s group set up close to the rock wall opposite Mykal’s camp. “As Kurt would say those people ‘suck up to Edwards.’ They earned the label brownnosers and ass-kissers.”

  “Your friends will be happy to see you, my friend.”

  “Look, they must be expecting Kurt cuz they’re not even interested I’m pulling up. I’m glad I get to surprise them.”

  *******

  Edwards stood with Light and Flemour discussing upcoming changes he planned to implement. Edwards couldn’t believe his eyes when he watched the vehicle roll into Denny’s area of camp. He huffed and fumed with anger. “I’ll be damned! I gave Airman Jones a direct order to report to me immediately upon returning, before doing anything else! I wanted to inspect the supplies to ensure Jones wouldn’t try to smuggle contraband, again!”

  “Deliberately disobeying orders?” Flemour shook his head.

  “Those people are problematic where alcohol is concerned. Respecting authority is another downfall. But I will have the last laugh.” Edwards backhanded his open palm. “This time I’ve caught them red-handed. Soon, I will have my day in court.”

  “Sir, would you like us to go with you?” Flemour asked.

  “No. I will deal with this personally. But, I need you to go to my camp and make Mansfield aware of what has taken place.”

  *******

  “What, I don’t get a hello or anything?” Mykal laughed as he jumped out of the driver’s side of the vehicle catching Boris and Larry by surprise. “You unsocial low-life slackers.”

  “Oh wow! You’re alive!” Boris jumped up with jaw-dropping excitement. “I can’t believe it.” Like a child picked up from the first day of daycare, Boris ran and hugged him.

  “Is this real?” Larry looked at Towbar. “Myk, you look better than ever. Dipshit Edwards kept saying you died.”

  “Last time I saw you, you were this close to being dead.” Boris pinched his fingers together while Larry greeted Mykal with a hug. “Now look at you. You really look great.”

  Denny and others turned to the stir of excitement. Their little camp of more than thirty people responded with happiness and joy as they swarmed Mykal.

  “Jones! Airman Jones!” Edwards pushed through the happy throng. “I gave a direct order--” his barking ceased when he saw Sgt Mykal Graves standing in the center, shirtless and the picture of health. The giant moved closer giving a menacing glare.

  Mykal’s face bore a big smile. Edwards’s face stretched to wide-eyed shock. “Sir, Kurt’s back in town getting food and supplies with the others.” Mykal couldn’t keep from laughing at the welcoming of his friends. The look on Edwards’ face made his day. “He’s getting drunk right now, too.” Mykal winked at Denny knowing it would irk Edwards. “Just kiddin’, just kiddin’.”

  “I-um-I, I th-thought…” Edwards stammered, lost for words.

  Instantly Mykal’s attitude changed. “And just so you know, Sir, I’m not dead!” He found it hard to keep venom from his lips. “Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m very much alive.”

  “I wasn’t hoping…I um, I…I’m glad to see that you’re doing well, Sgt Graves.” Edwards sounded as disingenuous as he looked. His eyes darted among the men as if suddenly fearful for his own safety. He turned and went back to the other side of the camp.

  “How in the world did you survive that poison?” Roy asked.

  “Just lucky I guess,” Mykal said. He shook the older man’s hand and wished he would have thought before allowing the
words to roll off his lips. He felt bad, his insensitivity unintended. He knew Roy still hurt and grieved over his loss of Baby Ray.

  Larry broke the awkward silence. “Ski and the rest of the religious nuts will say you survived because they’ve been praying for you. Ski’s saying, ‘God told him, you will come back because God’s hand is on you and only God performs miracles like that’. He’s been praying nonstop for you, Myk.”

  “It had to be God then,” Mykal conveniently agreed. “It’s definitely a miracle I’m here. But we got bigger things to deal with right now. Did anyone talk to Kotan?”

  “No,” Denny answered. “They entered the Pass on that side so Edwards and Mansfield spoke to them briefly. They were in a hurry to find Towbar. They went straight to the town.”

  “Kotan told Towbar the Sosos are about a half a day away. They’re waiting, building their forces,” Mykal said. “We need to get ready. Roy, I need you to come with me and Denny if you would. We gotta talk with Edwards to put a plan in place.”

  “You need me?” Roy asked. He looked honored.

  “You represent the civilians. Besides you were in Vietnam.”

  “Nice choice, Myk,” Denny said. “Roy has some great ideas.”

  “Great. Larry, go get Lt Light and Jake, then meet us over at Edwards’s area.” Mykal noticed some stared at his scar. Self-consciously, he tried to cover the disfigurement with his arm. “I shoulda grabbed a shirt,” he mumbled.

  “Don’t worry, Myk,” Denny said. “It gives you character. Everyone will know you can take a lickin’ and keep on tickin’. Remember the old Timex watch commercials?”

  Moving across the Pass all activity ceased. Everyone eyed Mykal. He had been ‘raised from the dead’ and walked among them. Near Edwards’s side those loyal to Edwards gave the impression they were unhappy that Mykal was still breathing.

  After all the squad leaders had been assembled, Towbar explained the situation. Towbar spoke, but all eyes stared at Mykal. “The Sosos are half a day to the north. They must believe my army is here or they would have attacked.”

  “I think we should send a couple of guys in a Peacekeeper to go keep an eye on them and report any movement,” Mykal said.