Mythical

by William Petersen

  Chapter 12

  Even the tough, stoic guards looked unnerved by the preceding spectacle. Marcus and Maddie were in stunned silence; they were rudely sat back in their chairs, though not tied to them this time. Marcus let out a long groan, followed by heavy breathing. Maddie noticed the red stain on his shoulder had grown, filling out around the darker red with brighter, newer red.

  “This is my world now...” Sterling said, as he grabbed Marcus' arm and plunged his finger into the hole left by the whale's horn.

  The electricity and pain were there, but not the white light or floating sensations. He's not trying to tell you anything... he's looking for what you know, Marcus thought. As if in response to his thought the white lights came, and he was floating again, this time over a destroyed city. Smoke and fires were everywhere, the streets were choked with bodies and vehicles, both of which were horribly mangled. Pools of blood and blood stains were everywhere, even streaking down the sides of the buildings, emanating from the windows on high-rises.

  There was a river, the first five feet of which was dark red, so red in fact, he could clearly see the distinction between it and the muddy brown water, even at his present distance. Once again, he was very glad these little trips didn't come with smell-a-vision.

  He was pulling back and the view was blurring, but as his view retreated he spotted something very distinct near the river, not realizing it for what it was, at first. A large U-shaped structure was lying on its side, looking rather precarious where it sat. The jagged remains of one leg still stuck out of the foundation. It was shining in the sun, as light rays glinted off the individual sections of what looked like stainless-steel plates combined into what was, a giant monument.

  It was the riverfront of St. Louis, Missouri. The St. Louis Arch was on its side. Blue Eyes had shown him what his home town would look like in the very near future. This was the future that awaited everyone. His view turned to all white, and then he was back in reality.

  He knew, even before being shown, what this man's intentions were. Marcus had heard it repeatedly mentioned in books and within movies. This man was evil. Real evil personified, cultured and nurtured over countless generations. He was thousands of years of misdeeds, murder and trickery, and as far as Marcus and Maddie were concerned, he might as well be The Devil.

  He smiled at Marcus again, then at Maddie. Maddie did not even hesitate, like she knew the outcome at this point. “Don't even think about touching me,” she spat at Sterling, almost making Marcus laugh.

  Sterling was taken aback but not for long. “My dear girl, I bet you would claw my eyes out if I untied you...”

  Again, without so much as a heartbeat in between: “ I don't want you blind... I want you dead,” she said, looking him right in the eyes as she did.

  Marcus could tell he wasn't used to that, especially from someone whose look and inner fire told him she was telling the truth. Sterling looked at Marcus, then did an about face and walked out without another word. Marcus and Maddie looked at each other, no expression on either of their faces.

  The sniper followed in Sterling's wake, also not saying a word to them or the guards. They both knew, however, that Maddie had just shortened whatever time they had left to live. Neither cared that much, it was worth it to both of them to see the smug look wiped off of his face for the first time.

  During the exchange, Marcus had been taking advantage of the fact that his left arm, the severely wounded arm, had been secured loose and high, compared to the other. While it was very painful to move, he was slowly working his hand up near the zip-tie. His grunting and exhalations did not alert the guards, as he was grunting in pain nearly the whole time up to that point. He was shot in the chest, so it really did hurt just to breathe. There was a shout outside, and one of the guards walked out, returning in seconds to call the other out with him.

  Marcus acted quickly, pulling his hand through the hole as fast he could stand to, without having to scream out in pain. Once out, he freed the other arm using his teeth and got his knife from its leg-mounted sheath, which had remained unnoticed under his layers of clothes. Maddie thought he was coming to cut her restraints, but he put the knife blade up to his mouth, making the universal 'shhhh' sign, and crept to the side of the inner door.

  Marcus suspected the two guards were getting the order to kill them, so it was now or never. He heard the outer door open and close. As he flexed his grip on the knife handle, Maddie noticed the blood dripping through the bandages on his injured hand. It was dripping in erratic pulses: five to six drops in succession, then a slower pace, repeating over and over again.

  The footsteps were getting closer, and each one thundered in Maddie's ears. The first guard was close now. He could see Maddie, and she could see him. He immediately noticed Marcus' chair empty and waved to his comrade as he started to run. As his face crossed the threshold of the door, Marcus swung the knife directly into his throat, just under the Adam's apple, then ripped it out, stepped back and rammed another stab home. This one went up from the front, under his chin, through the roof of his mouth and into his brain.

  The guard reflexively jumped back, slamming into the second, knocking them both to the floor. Marcus moved with terrifying speed, jumping on top of both men and in one fluid motion, he pinned the doomed man under the combined weight of himself and the man's dead comrade. He switched the position of the knife to point down and stabbed hard. He stabbed three more times, and Maddie saw the blood flying and the tissue dangling from the knife when he stood. She was stunned.

  He limped over to her and cut her loose from her restraints. Trying to move toward the door again and looking very unsteady, he dropped the knife and put his good hand on his knee. Marcus needed a moment to get his breath. He had lost a lot of blood, and all the activity was quickly weakening him.

  Maddie had no idea what to do at this point. Marcus sat down and instructed her. “Get their guns,” he told her, “Don't look at them. Back up to the bodies, and just feel up the side until you find the gun.”

  She helped him to his feet, and he told her to take him to the maintenance building. “It's gone...” she said.

  “Yes, but not all of what was in there is gone yet. I have an idea,” he was grinning, and his grin was just a little bit evil. They fired two shots with one of the assault rifles to mimic their execution and moved as fast as Marcus could toward the maintenance building.

  They navigated to where the maintenance area joined with the main building through an open walkway; it smelled like smoke, burnt plastic and fuel. Maddie kicked the door open, and the winter winds hit them in the face. The two walls facing towards the front and far right of the camp were essentially gone. The explosion was clearly defined with a debris pattern and blackened snow.

  Upon closer inspection, they noticed a lump of snow-covered debris right where the corner used to be. Then they made out the blackened bones of a human foot. There were flares everywhere, the flares they used in the rare event that anyone had to go out at night or during dark, winter days with little or no sun.

  “Looks like someone made a final stand here, igniting the box of flares, causing an explosion that set off the fuel stores for the generators,” Maddie surmised.

  “Good for you,” Marcus slurred to the charred remains, “Hope you took a few of them with you.”

  Marcus turned to the opposite corner, and right there, just where the whale had shown him, was a five-gallon bucket of sulfuric acid. The acid was used to recharge lead-acid batteries all over the camp. It was the natural ingredient in the batteries, and while it was possible to add water to a dead battery as a temporary fix, that was not an option in the Arctic.

  “What are we going to do with that?” Maddie wanted to know.

  “Give them a taste of their own medicine,” he replied.

  Marcus' plan was simple; Sterling and his team had blocked the channel to keep the whales from escaping to the open ocean or to another breathing hole, so they were only headed one
place: the breathing hole. The whale had shown him this, the images of the dead whale carcasses being hauled onto the ice and their horns cut out, some still flopping around, not quite dead yet.

  Marcus wasn't having any of that. He was no tree-hugger, but he couldn't stand by and let this happen, not now. He told Maddie to get to the top of the trench. He managed to get down into it, and just as the whales had shown, no one was there as of yet. He told Maddie to leave her guns and gear on top, while he had carried two small shovels and she carried the bucket of acid.

  They dug out the trench wall at the bottom, just enough to make it precariously unstable. Then Maddie got back up on top of the trench and into position, flat on her belly, looking straight at the ground and waiting to hear the men walk by. She didn't know exactly what Marcus was up to, but he was clear that she was to fire a few shots and then get down and not move or look up until he called out to her. She suspected it would be nasty, as he had told her to dig a little bowl out of the snow and keep her face in it, just in case.

  Marcus painfully dragged the bucket into place, kicking snow over it and packing it down until it could only be seen from his perspective. He arranged the loose snow from their digging to look as normal as possible, then retreated to where the trench opened up to the breathing hole. He sighted in on the bucket and waited, wondering how long he could wait. Little floaters were dancing in greater numbers throughout his vision, and he was feeling very weak and light-headed. He was bleeding out, and he knew it. He had felt the sensation before.

  Maddie heard the clatter of metal and the clinking of gear, the crunching of boots on ice and hard-packed snow. They were coming. She was shaking. It was cold, and she was terrified. She didn't have to kill anyone personally, and didn't know if Marcus would, though she could see no alternative way out of this. They were below her now, still crunching and clattering, though not talking at all. Marcus couldn't see them yet, but he would see them soon enough.

  Marcus could hear them coming too, and he steadied his rifle on the middle of his forearm, the cold making every movement that much more painful. There were shadows on the wall of the trench; they were almost in view. As they began to round the corner, they were walking two-by-two, each with an AK-47 assault rifle slung over his shoulder.

  There were seven pairs, the last of which had two larger, hunting-style rifles, most likely .50 caliber models to punch through thick blubber and bone. He knew Sterling would not be among them, he also knew that the sniper would. He was following behind, walking alone and oddly enough, not carrying any visible weapon.

  Marcus heard Maddie's shots as she opened up with a burst from the assault rifle commandeered from the dead guards, and he let his shot go as soon as the first one looked up in her direction. Maddie had shot the top of the trench, and the impact and concussion of sound waves caused it to collapse where they had undermined the wall.

  It flowed down fast and hard, Maddie immediately did a belly flop to get out of sight, but the avalanche was too big and brought her down on top of the trap she had just sprung, right in plain view of her enemies. She heard the shot from Marcus and rolled down the other side of the huge drift that she had just made, out of sight. She stayed there, face-down, waiting for something to tell her what had happened.

  She heard the men on the other side yelling, it sounded like they were saying, “Run, run!” but the voices were already changing pitch, turning into a tone of panic. Then screaming... lots of screaming. She could hear coughing and the distinct sounds of choking, gasping for air, and jumpsuits sliding on ice and snow. Then it was quiet.

  Marcus shot the bucket of sulfuric acid straight through the middle, and the bullet went right out the back side, spraying acid and releasing a thick gas that just kept coming. It was yellow and came out of the bucket remains like a smoke bomb. The men were engulfed as the steep walls, lack of wind and cold temperatures kept the fumes inside with them, as the avalanche was intended to do. The only way out was toward him.

  He kept the rifle trained, but the recoil had sent white-hot pain through his arm and hand. After few moments, he realized that no one was running out. Moving in a little closer, he could see them. They were crawling around inside the yellow cloud, in no real direction though, some grabbing their throats and rolling over onto their backs.

  He called to Maddie, and she responded. Telling her to come around from the other side, he started to walk toward the breathing hole. He was very unsteady and was trying to decide on just the right spot to fall down and rest, until Maddie got around to him.

  A deafening crash rang out, and Marcus felt, more than heard, a ringing in his ears. He felt like he was floating again, but there was no bright light this time, only a dull, grayish light, as if he were underwater. Then he knew that he was underwater, and he could see the trails of blood drifting upward but, he noticed right away, no bubbles. Not a good sign... he thought sarcastically.

  He wasn't cold, and he had stopped drifting downward, though a lot of blood was still streaming up. He glanced down to see a large hole in the left side of his coat, just below his previous chest wound. However, this one was much worse, it was spewing out blood in a thick and steady stream. His vision was fading, growing darker from the outer edges in, and he was vaguely aware of getting closer to the surface. He could hear screaming and the pops of gunfire. He hoped it wasn't Maddie.

  Marcus saw the familiar spiral horns around him in the water and realized that the whales were bringing him to the surface. The closer he got, the more the black border on his vision closed in, and he could now only see faint light piercing the water through a view the size of a porthole on a ship. Marcus caught a glimpse of the familiar, strawberry-blond wisp of hair through the water. He smiled and was gone before his body broke the surface.

  Maddie had heard a shot, a very loud shot, much louder than the guns she and Marcus were carrying, so she quickened her step. She rounded the backside of the drift that was sloped out onto the ice, making a somewhat easy path to the breathing hole. She stepped out to see Sterling standing over the edge of the hole, Marcus' .50 caliber revolver still smoking in his hand. There was a ripple and bubbles distributing across the surface of the water.

  Maddie let out a scream that could have curdled milk, then took off running toward Sterling and squeezing the trigger of her rifle as fast as she could. Sterling turned when Maddie started screaming. He never had a chance though, her aim was erratic from running, sending the first round wild, but the second two bullets tore in to Sterling's stomach. He fell to his knees and curled over to rest his head on the ice, resembling a vertical fetal position.

  The rounds continued to pummel into his back, shoulders and head. The last two shots impacted the top of his skull and one erupted from the base of his neck, spraying blood and tissue in a 'V' pattern out behind him over a distance of nearly four feet.

  She kept running and kicked the bleeding hulk with a force that would have made an NFL special teams coach proud. The kick at a full run tripped her, and she slid forward on her belly, until one hand was over the edge of the hole and in the water. She looked down and saw the whales holding Marcus in a raft made of horns.

  They were bringing him back up, and a wave of hope came, then faded just as quickly when she saw the blood, the hole in his chest, and upon nearing the surface, the lifeless eyes. They brought him up to the edge, where she reached out sobbing, then the whales moved and gently let him drift down out of sight. Maddie felt a sorrow that was beyond description and considered following him.

  She sat by the hole for a moment, as the whales watched silently. She got up, walked over and retrieved Marcus' pistol from Sterling's body. She headed toward the opening of the trench where she could see wisps of what looked like yellow smoke coming out. She turned the corner and had to put her goggles back on and pull her head wrap up over her mouth and nose. The fumes burned like oven cleaner.

  She was navigating her way through the tangled mess of bodies where everything was covered
with a light yellow dusting, except where bright red blood trails led back to the faces and mouths. She tried to feel sympathetic but could not bring herself to do it. As she stepped over and around the dead, she noticed the last one in the string was not dead yet. She froze in place.

  Not really knowing what to do, Maddie just stared. He was trying to crawl, dragging himself along with his arms. His head was down, and a thick red trail stretched out behind him. He pulled himself along, stopping and gurgling blood out of his nose and mouth. She could see his eyes were being corroded away, developing a milky coating that was very disturbing to watch. He wasn't blind, yet, and as he reached out in her direction, she saw his face clearly. Even covered in blood and yellow poison, she recognized him: the sniper.

  Maddie walked up to him until she was just beyond the reach of his outstretched arm. She cocked the .50 caliber revolver's hammer back and pointed it at his forehead. “You know you deserve this...” she said, then pulled the trigger.

  Chapter 13

  Maddie looked for a place to climb over the drift she had made, when she heard the sound of crunching ice and snow behind her. She wasn't alarmed, realizing it must be another one of the men not quite expired yet. Turning to ensure that she was not within reach, the gun in her hand hit the ground and she sucked in a huge breath.

  Marcus stood about ten feet away, dripping and soaked, but not bleeding from his chest wound at all. The previous wounds seemed to still be there, but they weren't bleeding either, and he actually looked warm to her. “What..?” she tried to ask but wasn't able to get any more out.

  “I don't know...” he said and grinned, “They... they brought me back,” he finished.

  Tears flowed down her face, and she ran to him, first hugging him tightly and then pushing him away to inspect where the fatal wound had been. She probed front and back with her fingers into the holes in the fabric. There was nothing but the previous shot's damage, no large hole, no sign of it at all.

  They embraced again, and Maddie could see the heads of the whales and their horns lightly breaking the surface of the water. “We have to protect them,” Marcus said as he too, turned to look at the whales.

  “I know...but how?” Maddie replied.

  “We'll figure it out as we go, and I'm sure they'll help,” he said, nodding toward the breathing hole. He took her hand in his, and they started walking toward the hole in the ice as more and more whale heads and horns broke the surface.

  “A long time ago, there were people who looked after and guarded these animals,” Marcus stated.

  Maddie thought for a moment, then squeezed his hand just as two of the massive horns rubbed passed one another in the water, like two medieval swords crossing, only the horns breaking the surface.

  “And there will be again...” she said.

  The End

  *****

  “I write because I'm terribly unhappy if I don't...” - W.P.

  Visit William Online At:

  Facebook: Author William Petersen

  Twitter: @WideWorldOfWill

  Blog: TheInwardSpiral.Wordpress.com

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  A very special thanks to Piers Anthony for his invaluable advice and direction, and a very special thanks to Steve Williams for his editing, production and narration of the audiobook.

  ***

  For more information on real narwhals and the real people researching, tracking and protecting them, like Kristin Westdal and the PEW Environment Group's Oceans North Project, please visit the resources that follow:

  Kristin Westdal

  Oceans North: Protecting Life in the Arctic

  Marine Biologist, Canadian Arctic Program

  https://www.OceansNorth.org

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  Thank you for reading! -William