by Dave Hazel
“I’m not thinking about anything like that at all,” Mykal snickered. They turned another corner in the long corridor. “I have some other things in mind,” he added while thinking about some secrets he had from his strange experience.
“Look Myk,” William said and slowed as they neared the final door they would have to enter. “We’re friends and I don’t have a problem with you calling me by my first name. But I had an ass chewing from Colonel Parker for fraternization. I guess some lieutenant heard you call me Willy and he ran straight to the Colonel. Colonel Parker made it very clear that despite the fact we have to spend so much time together, I am an officer and you are just a lowly enlisted person,” he chuckled to get his dig in. “I really don’t care what you call me, but when people are around go through the motions and call me Sir or Captain and show all due respect. I don’t want to be replaced.”
“No sweat Willy, I won’t let anyone know that I’ve stooped so low as to have an officer for a friend,” he whispered so others couldn’t hear him. “Yes Sir, I understand Sir,” he said loudly. “I will follow all proper protocol.”
When they approached the door to the auditorium Colonel Parker stepped out, anger clearly etched into his aging face. Two aids shadowed Parker. Their facial expressions seemed to be extensions of Parker’s fury. “You’re late!” Parker hissed between clenched teeth. “Get in here quick.” Parker pointed an angry finger at Captain Roberts. “Where the hell have you two been?”
“It was my fault Sir,” Mykal lied before William answered. He wanted to save William from another verbal reprimand. Mykal waited for Parker to say something to him but Parker pushed them to the two open doors guarded by security personnel who were posted there to keep out the uninvited. Parker said nothing more and they all entered the small auditorium as if all was fine.
Mykal and Captain Roberts were led to a table in the center of the room. The eight foot table had been draped with a white cloth and the only items on the table were a pitcher of water with three empty glasses. Many chairs faced the table where all the guests and curious were seated. Glancing to the audience Mykal saw there were more than fifty people present. More than half had not been present for previous presentations.
“Yikes,” Mykal whispered without moving his lips when he saw the angry faces of a couple of Generals in the front row. They had been kept waiting for more than fifteen minutes and they were not happy about it. Inside Mykal wanted to laugh out loud knowing they never had to wait on an enlisted person before.
“Are we squared away here?” Lieutenant General Solley asked displaying a strong irritation in his tone.
Mykal quickly snapped to attention and looked directly at the three star General. “Sir, I wished to apologize, Sir. We are running behind because of me Sir. I got sick and had to use the rest room. I know it is no excuse, but I still am not used to speaking before people, especially important people such as yourself,” he lied to protect William. “I can’t believe after all these briefings that I still get this nervous, and have to vomit,” he added and slightly placed his hand on his stomach.
“Are you okay now, son?” Lieutenant General Solley asked in a kinder, more concerned voice.
“Yes Sir. Thank you Sir.”
“Take a seat Sergeant Graves,” Solley said and turned to address those behind him. “We are going to approach this briefing a little differently today,” he explained, pressing his fingertips together to keep his hands from moving while he spoke. Solley’s authoritative voice sounded strong and commanding, matching his muscular build that masked his age. His white crew cut, his chiseled clean shaven face projected him as a proven leader.
“It appears some of you have been in attendance for previous briefings,” Lieutenant General Solley continued. “For those here for the first time, disregard all rumors and gossip. You are going to be briefed with a first-hand account of what actually occurred June 23rd of this year.”
“Sir, if I may interrupt,” a civilian with pen and pad in hand stood to his feet. “I do not intend to come across as ignorant, but I have not a clue to what you are referring to. I don’t have any knowledge of June 23rd. I had to sign an agreement not to share any information and I am totally in the dark. We,” he pointed to three others seated with him, “were rushed here from other locations around the world and told under strict orders not to ask questions and that I would not be allowed to release information until granted permission. Could you please elaborate, what is the nature of this event? This is a complete mystery to us.”
“Same here General,” a second civilian said with a raised finger to confirm the words of the first. He sat beside the first. Two other civilians with them nodded in agreement.
Lieutenant General Solley raised his hand to halt them and then turned to Mykal. “These four people are reporters who have been hand selected Sergeant Graves,” Solley explained. “All four were overseas on different assignments on June 23rd. All four have not been corrupted by rumors and as Dale Rowe stated, they are totally in the dark.” Solley smiled at his play on words. Solley had a long standing dislike and distrust of reporters.
“Reporters, Sir?” Mykal asked.
“Yes. You’re going to explain to them what happened.”
“Reporters, Sir?” Mykal asked again as if he couldn’t believe what he heard.
“Yes. They are being briefed for the first time. Carry on Sergeant Graves, and be candid about everything.”
“Ah, excuse me Sir,” William stood and stopped Mykal from saying anything. “With your permission Sir,” he looked to Solley for the okay to proceed.
“Carry on Captain Roberts,” Solley nodded and turned to talk with two other Generals.
“Before I allow Sergeant Graves to share his story, I must ensure everyone understands all information discussed in this room is classified SCI, that is one step above Top Secret,” William said and looked to make sure everyone paid attention to him. “Outside of this room you will not discuss any information brought to light. I understand the temptation will be there to discuss the unbelievable and farfetched topics that will be brought to light, but everyone in this room signed accountability agreements before entering this briefing. I must expound, the fine print is extremely clear that violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” William waited until he was sure everyone understood his warning. “You may carry on Sergeant Graves.” William sat down.
“Please bear with me,” Mykal paused to look around the room to determine how many faces he had seen before. “I still get so nervous talking to a group of people. You’d think I’d be used to it by now,” he chuckled. Clearly, the officers in the room were superiors and not his friends.
Mykal turned and looked to the four reporters. “Well, I am Sergeant Mykal Graves. My name is spelled M-y-k-a-l, but pronounced Michael. Everyone gets it wrong. Okay, I’m just going to start from the beginning. We left the base for work on June 23rd to go into the missile field to do a normal three day tour of guard duty at our LCF, that’s Launch Control Facility. It’s the site where we stay for our three day tour in the missile field. There were seven people in our vehicle. Our entire Crew had forty people.
“There was another security team delivering a Minuteman III missile to the field that day and they had left the base before we did. That missile team had twenty-eight members plus one U.S. Marshal. To make a long story short, they, the missile convoy, and then our Crew, drove into a strange green fog and we all disappeared. A total of eighty-five people, military and civilians, drove into this green fog and we all disappeared,” he repeated for emphasis.
“When you say ‘disappeared,’ do you mean like, everyone just vanished?” Dale Rowe asked.
“Yes. We disappeared from the face of the earth. If you will look at the map of the area that should be at the top of your stack, we had traveled south down Highway 83 and we just turned west onto North Dakota Highway 23. All of us traveled into a strange green fog, and all of us disappeared immediately and
we re-appeared in another world. We left June 23rd and some of us returned July 29th. Yes, we were gone for a little more than a month. 37 days to be exact. On July 29th, only sixteen of eighty-five people came back.
“I’ll try to explain what happened to us in chronological order and then when I’m done if you would like to ask me questions I’ll do my best to answer them. First of all we don’t have a clue what the green fog was, so please don’t waste time by asking me repeatedly what it was. I don’t know and neither do all the scientists who have been studying me. When we drove into the green fog everyone experienced a strong dizziness. It was--”
“Ah excuse me Sergeant Graves,” one of the reporters shot his hand into the air and began speaking before he was acknowledged. “Was the security detail large enough for transporting a nuclear missile across the country side?”
Mykal gave an incredulous expression. “Look, this briefing has nothing to do with the security requirements for the transportation of nukes. This is about eighty-five people disappearing off the face of the earth for more than a month. But to answer your question, yes. They had four, four-man mobile fire teams and one airborne fire team. Each team was armed with three M-16 rifles, one M-203 grenade launcher and one M-60 machine-gun. Our crew of forty people was armed with another forty M-16 rifles and we happened to be headed to the same squadron area. Plus the BAF, a Backup Alert Force, is on duty at all times on the base.”
“I’m sorry I interrupted you,” the reporter commented when Mykal didn’t hide his exasperation from the question.
“I’m here to explain what happened to us. Write down all your questions and we’ll answer them after I’m done. But things dealing with the normal day to day operations aren’t in question because everything was fine.”
“Thank you Sergeant Graves,” Dale Rowe replied. “But before you start let me just ask one more question off your topic. When the four of us were selected for this secret conference, two of us were briefly let on that a missile and a warhead had been transported that day,” he explained and pointed to one of the other reporters while he shuffled some of his papers in front of him. “We were not told of any disappearance. But I have to ask, if the missile and the warhead are never transported together, why were the rules changed, or broken, on this one particular day? The only day the rules were ever changed and the strangest event in the history of mankind occurs and it involves a missile with a nuclear warhead attached to it. Doesn’t that seem odd? If we’re going to declare that it was just a coincidence, wouldn’t the odds of that taking place be astronomical?” He asked in an accusatory tone.
Mykal paused for a moment. “How the hell am I supposed to know? Seriously, how the friggin hell am I supposed to know? Are you saying it was all a hoax?”
“Well it does sound too strange to be--”
“Screw you dipshit!” Mykal snarled with a growl and slammed his hand on the table knocking over one of the empty glasses. Shock and surprise enveloped the small auditorium. “I was almost killed several times. I watched friends die and I’ve held dead friends in my own arms. I was scared shitless I don’t know how many times. It wasn’t a friggin hoax! You don’t have a damn clue what we’ve been through,” he snarled again and slammed his fist into his palm. “Now it sounds like you’re calling me a liar.”
Lieutenant General Solley held his hand up to stop William from ending Mykal’s tirade. The room crashed into gasped silence. All eyes were glued to Mykal who glared at Dale Rowe. This response had never been seen during the countless meetings prior.
“Sorry, I wasn’t accusing you of complicity,” Rowe said while scribbling on his notepad.
“You don’t have a damn clue what happened. Out of the eighty-five who disappeared more than fifty are dead! It’s not a damn hoax. Deaths were not faked! I’ve had to go through this over and over for weeks and now I’ve gotta prove to you that it’s not a lie.”
“Mykal, do you need to take a break?” A thin balding man stepped forward with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel on his collar. “I don’t want you to get yourself overly excited,” he said as a suggestion
Mykal took a deep breath. “No Sir. I don’t need a break,” he replied softly and looked down. “Thanks Doc. For those who don’t know, this is Doc Cannon. He’s my shrink. Whoops,” he playfully put his hand to his mouth getting a muffled laugh from the crowd. “I mean he’s my psychiatrist. I don’t think I need him, but since we’ve been back everybody and their brother has been trying to pick my brain apart and now they seem to think I need him around.”
“I would like everyone to be aware that if I feel this briefing is going to put my patient under too much stress I will put an end to it,” Dr. Cannon warned and looked directly at the Generals. “Sergeant Graves, and the others, have been through a tremendous ordeal. They are all suffering mild effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Sergeant Graves is not under medication and has been doing fine. However, if stress levels are pushed I will end this briefing,” Cannon said as a threat. “Sir,” he turned and spoke directly to the three star General Solley. “I would like to have a one on one with you when this briefing has concluded.”
“I’m sorry for my outburst,” Mykal spoke to Dale Rowe. “Doc Cannon seems to think I have some anger issues and a bunch of guilt problems since we came back,” he added with a shrug and tried to laugh it off. “It’s just that after I lived through this and had to explain it for the umpteenth time, I get a little frustrated when I feel someone new is challenging me.”
“I apologize,” Dale Rowe replied. “We will hold our questions to the end.”
“Let me just say one thing before I continue. When I’m done here you will know it’s not a hoax,” Mykal said and pointed to the four journalists. “When I’m done, you’ll see there wasn’t any way the government coulda been involved. Whether anyone thinks it was planned or a mistake or it was some kind of trick, the government wasn’t involved. It happened,” he declared confidently.
“That’s fine. We’ll hold our questions to the end.”
“Carry on Sergeant Graves,” Lieutenant General Solley said and nodded.
“When we drove into the green fog we all became very dizzy and it felt like the vehicle was spinning in circles. When we stopped I rolled down the window and I stuck my hand into the green stuff. It was really strange because it looked like a cloud, but when my flesh went into it my hand got covered with this wet slimy gunk. It stuck to my flesh and turned my skin green. I was scared cuz we didn’t know what it was. It turned out to be a good thing, though we didn’t know it at the time. Cuz every time the green fog appeared my hand would turn green. It was because of that, we were able to come home when we did.”
“So the green fog appeared more than once?”
“Yes. It appeared a few times. Now this is going to be even stranger. Try to follow me on this. When we drove into the green fog we appeared in one place. Others, who drove into the fog after us, like fifteen minutes or so ended up many, many miles away from us. I mean like over a hundred miles away from us. I don’t have a clue as to how or why so I can’t answer that one.
“Anyway, we tried to get away from the green stuff as quick as possible. What we didn’t know was, if we woulda turned around, and drove right back into the green fog it woulda probably brought us back. We were in the middle of a wide open field and thought we must have just slid off the road, because like I said, we all got very dizzy and felt like we were spinning. The land around us was similar to the flatland of North Dakota. We drove around trying to find the road and we finally back tracked following our tire tracks in the grass and they just stopped. It was as if we had been picked up and placed in the middle of this large field. I know that sounds crazy,” he said and smiled at their stunned faces. “But that’s what happened to us.
“We drove around looking for any kind of help and eventually we found a crashed helicopter. It was the airborne fire team of the missile Convoy. All of them were dead except for one kid, a young airman.
But he ended up dying shortly after from his injuries. While we were trying to figure out what to do, four civilians, the Dosch family found us. Roy Dosch and his three sons, Roy Jr. who is locked up right now, Randy and Baby Ray. They decided to stay with us because they were just as lost as we were. They went through the green fog and appeared in the middle of nowhere. The good thing for us was they were on their way to Montana to visit a relative. They were out on a hunting trip and had six rifles with them and a car loaded with food and ammunition.
“We had no idea how important our weapons were going to be for survival. We didn’t know it but we were caught in the middle of a war between two different countries with two different life styles. One was good and one was evil. Pure evil, but I’ll get to that in a little bit.”
“What do you mean by evil?” One of the reporters asked.
“Just what I said. They were evil,” he replied.
“Do you mean like Germany when they were ruled by Hitler or do you mean like Uganda when they were ruled by Idi Amin?”
“Much worse,” Mykal answered. “The evil people are called Sosos. They make Hitler and Idi Amin look like little girl scouts. I’ll get to them in a little bit.”
William leaned over and whispered to Mykal that he had to step out of the room while he pointed to his watch.
“Once we joined together with the Dosch family we traveled around trying to find help. The next day we came across Lieutenant Light’s convoy with the missile. The truck with the missile was tipped over so they set up their NDA, National Defense Area, to protect their resource. They were stuck there. They couldn’t leave the missile especially since it actually had a live warhead.
“See, what had happened the day before, Lieutenant Light sent the U.S. Marshal and two of Light’s airmen to find help. They never came back and Lieutenant Light was worried about his men. The previous day the Marshal had called back on the radio later saying they had found some people. But that was the last time Lieutenant Light heard from them. So we went off looking for them to see where they were. We followed their route of travel by following their tracks in the grass.