by Dave Hazel
The helicopters hovered over the rotting and decaying forms. The grisly sight brought shock and fascination, but Mykal, Boris and Roy Jr. weren’t affected by the gruesome show of death stacked like cordwood. They helped put those carcasses there. For Towbar such scenes became a part of everyday life.
Mykal understood their curiosity to view the carnage, and didn’t complain about the midair stalling. But he was anxious to get to the Pass. They were only moments away from the opening of the only passage through the mountains. He wanted desperately to see his friends alive and safe. A dream come true would be to see the missing people from Washington D.C., primarily Mister X, all waiting to go home. Then they could turn around and return home tomorrow and his ties to the military and to Jill would be forever ended.
Mykal spoke into the tiny mouth piece. “Hey Captain Barstow, to let you know how real this is, I have a number of friends in that pile. There are Americans in that mess.”
“Oh wow, I’m sorry to hear that Myk,” Barstow said and pulled up from their voyeuristic float.
“That’s fine. We’re here,” he said and pointed to the opening of the Pass.
“Are these the good guys?” Lieutenant Lewis, the co-pilot asked.
“Yes! This is great,” Mykal nearly laughed and moved his body closer to the window to try to focus in on particular people. The people were still lounging around. Some were seated, some lying down, but most got to their feet at the strange sound. A few bodies reacted strangely to the sound by running wildly and flailing their arms, waving shirts or anything to get attention. The sound of helicopters meant that help had come after all.
Most of the people on the ground reacted as if the strange sound and the sight of flying creatures were beasts in search of food. Some of the people fled in all directions unsure what to make of the sounds and sight of the strange beasts. They didn’t want to become a meal.
As the helicopter lowered closer to the ground, Mykal saw the people from his world trying to comfort Towbar’s people who ran wildly in a panic. A number of Towbar’s soldiers were shaking weapons at the flying beasts. Not that they wanted to fight such creatures, but rather they tried to scare or shoo them away.
“Do you think the natives will attack?” Barstow asked. “They look agitated and it seems like they may become hostile toward us.”
“Towbar, they’re worried your people will attack.”
“I do not know how my people will respond to these flying crafts,” Towbar answered while peering at the start of chaos below.
Mykal saw people from his world trying to stop the panic, but the chaos spread wildly. “Towbar, try to stick your body out so they can see you,” Mykal yelled in hopes the giant could bring some normalcy to the frightened warriors.
“Look, there’s my dad and my brother,” Roy Jr. shouted with relief. “They’re alive!” Roy Jr. wanted to jump out of the helicopter even at this dangerous height to wrap his arms around his family and tell them how much he missed and loved them. Tears filled his eyes and he wasn’t ashamed to show his emotions. He had feared they died when they didn’t return.
“Look,” Boris yelled with animated enthusiasm. “There’s Jake, Larry and Sam. I thought they all got killed.”
The helicopters landed and all the fire team members quickly disembarked and took up defensive positions just in case the “good guys” attacked out of fear. The pilots shut down the motors as soon as possible to ease the fright the noise created.
Towbar, Mykal, Boris and Roy Jr. rushed out front to be seen by the people. When Towbar came into view it had an immediate calming effect on the natives and the Dwarven people. The strange beasts delivered their leader. Their most important and most valuable warrior had returned. This was a great day. The gods had smiled upon them amid the threat of Soso hordes waiting to unleash their fury upon those who stood in the Pass. Towbar returned!
The hugs, the laughs, the tearful reunions were numerous. The pilots, the Marines and the Army personnel were welcomed as openly as the four who returned. Sam looked like his wounds healed. Wounds that were inflicted by Lieutenant Edwards back in July. Sam appeared stiff and lacked full range of motion of his left arm.
Roy Jr. and his family cried openly and refused to let go of each other. The pilots, the gunners and all the fire team members couldn’t help but share in the joy expressed going all around the Pass. The contagion of joy and happiness spread like super virus. Word spread quickly of Towbar’s homecoming. The people advanced by tens and then by hundreds and thousands as word spread like wild fire in dry season that their leader had returned. The people feared Towbar died or became lost forever when he entered the green fog.
Towbar couldn’t move, surrounded by people hundreds deep who wanted to touch him and tell of their love and appreciation that he arrived. Any normal person would have been crushed by such a demonstration of adulation and loyalty. Towbar had much to do, but he wouldn’t deny his people the joy of expressing themselves by touching him and greeting him.
Looking at the reaction and surprise Mykal guessed Nidious didn’t mention anything of Towbar’s possible return. ‘Probably didn’t want to get their hopes up in case it didn’t work.’
Mykal pulled away from the people and joined his pilot. He was grateful Chick put a reporter and cameraman on one of the helicopters to capture Towbar’s reunion on videotape. It stunned Mykal by the overwhelming show of affection Towbar’s people showered him with. Most of Towbar’s soldiers and many townspeople dropped to the ground and touched his feet, which was a local custom to express that one was missed very much. They seemed to go out of their way to drop down to touch Towbar’s feet.
“How the hell did you do it?” Jake yelled with laughter after he ran to Mykal and hugged him. Jake’s 6’6” frame still looked about 155 pounds. “When are we leaving?”
Mykal was glad Jake didn’t appear to lose any weight. His body couldn’t afford it. “Jake, hold on,” Mykal couldn’t keep from laughing nervously. He didn’t want to be the one to break the news to his former supervisor and longtime friend. “We can’t go just yet.”
“Why the hell not?” Jake’s laughter ceased.
“Walk with me,” Mykal waved his hand and pulled away from the crowd. “There’s a lot that has gone on. Let me keep this brief. I’m actually here on a mission. This doesn’t go any further,” Mykal said and had the full confidence that Jake would never violate any trust.
“I give you my word,” Jake threw up his hand in a mock swearing in. “I just wanna know when we’re going home. How the hell did you get here?” He exaggerated a gasp of surprise.
“Long story short. Some people disappeared through the green fog from Washington D.C. and some of these people are VIPs. The President himself came to me and said we need to get these people back. It just so happens that during this time Towbar had been communicating through thoughts with Nidious.”
“That crazy old man?” Jake laughed and snapped his fingers.
“Yeah, they have this thing they call Mind Talk where they can communicate through thoughts and it does work. But any way Nidious explained to Towbar how to make the green fog appear. And that’s how we got here. He just recently figured it out.”
Jake shrunk back in embarrassment. “I owe that old guy an apology. He was here and said that he had been talking to Towbar and I laughed at him. Then he heard us talking and Sam said he was a crazy old man. From that point on he had been avoiding us. He can be one cranky old dude.”
“Oh yeah,” Mykal chuckled and thought back to his first meeting with Nidious. “He scares the hell outta me,” he joked.
“So he really was communicating with Towbar?” Jake asked. “Damn, I really need to apologize to him.”
“Yes. We have an army here with us, about fifteen hundred. We have Marines, Army, Navy SEALs, and we even have forces from all over the world.”
“Whoa, what the hell? I’m confused,” Jake said and looked stunned.
“When we went back you wou
ldn’t believe all the crap we went through. The investigations and all the reports we had to do. We were pretty much on lockdown for about two months. Then ‘They’, I call them the ‘Crowns’, meaning the friggin big shots of the Air Force wanted us to go public. Me and Towbar have been treated like superstars and we have been traveling all over the place,” Mykal said and lowered his head and felt embarrassed to share that. “I was in Washington DC to receive an award from the President,” he paused and wasn’t sure if he should continue. “Something bad happened.”
“What? What could have happened?”
“Boris flipped out. He got a hold of an M-60 and shot up building 631. He wiped out Crew 2. He killed Colonel Parker and a few other people. He killed almost forty people Jake. He’s supposed to be dead so if people start asking questions, that’s not Boris, or rather Robert Traginsky. He has fake ID on him his name is Robert Jones, but I’ll give you all the details on that stuff after.”
Jake gasped and looked even more confused. “Are you kidding me?” He asked and looked over at Boris laughing with Larry and Sam.
“I wish I was. He can never go back. When we go back home, he’s staying here for the rest of his life.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, this is too friggin weird. How the hell--?”
“I’ll explain all that stuff after. Just so you know we’re here to rescue those people that disappeared from Washington DC. My ass is on the line. We can’t go back until we get them.” Mykal pointed to his sleeve where his sergeant stripes would have been. “I’m a civilian. I’m no longer in the military and I’m actually in charge of this operation. Well me and Towbar and Major Chick who is back with our big ass convoy. They made me a civilian because it just wouldn’t look right if a Sergeant Graves was running this regimental size operation. This rescue mission has a name,” he laughed. “It’s called Operation: Towbar’s Sword. Our regiment is called Towbar One.”
“Damn Myk, I’m stunned.” Jake shrugged. “I’m really baffled. You can never do something simple, can ya?” He smirked and shook his head. “So when does it look like we’ll be able to leave?”
“I have to get the VIPs and I’m hoping they’re around here somewhere. I was hoping they woulda dropped right into your lap and then we could go home first thing in the morning.”
“Wow, that’s pretty bizarre cuz we heard some strange stuff about a week ago. Towbar’s soldiers have been patrolling the area out there on horseback,” he pointed out past the opening of the Pass. “We wanted to keep an eye on the Sosos. Every day we thought the big attack was coming, but it never happened. Every once in a while they would send just handfuls of warriors to come and try to capture prisoners.”
“Prisoners? Sosos taking prisoners?” Mykal asked.
“I know, bizarre, right?”
“Sosos don’t take prisoners.”
“I know, but the only thing we could figure out is after we had kicked their ass so many times with so few in number they wanted to know how we were doing it. Towbar’s generals also think they are waiting for a bigger build up, which could be. Nidious, the crazy old man, thinks they are getting more forces from around the world and that is why they’re waiting so long. Nidious did talk some strange shit saying that if they are getting help from around the world that we can expect to be fighting Goblins, and Trolls or Orcs or some of that hocus pocus crazy ass shit he talks. Ya know what I mean?”
“That’s interesting,” Mykal mumbled and wondered if there truly were forces from the other side of the world to come and aid them in taking the Pass. “That means when the shit hits the fan it’s gonna be worse than it ever has been.”
“But anyway, Myk, one of Towbar’s soldiers was actually grabbed by Sosos and they were dragging him away. They didn’t kill him but they were taking him back to the camp. He thought they were going to torture him, so he struggled and got away. They chased him but they wouldn’t shoot him with their bow and arrows. He said other Sosos in the group chasing him were yelling that they needed him alive. He made it back to where other soldiers rushed out there to save him and the Sosos fled. They actually wanted prisoners. They gotta want to find out what we’re fighting with.”
“Towbar will be surprised when they tell him that,” Mykal said.
“Anyways,” Jake snapped his fingers. “What I started to say was, about a week ago, some of Towbar’s soldiers went out patrolling the area to the north east to go around the Sosos to get a feel of how big they are getting, and to keep an eye on the Sosos to see if they could pick up any information. They came back and said they saw ‘strange creatures like our beasts’ and pointed to some of our vehicles. They said the things they saw, the vehicles, went right into the Soso camp. They said the Sosos didn’t attack but did swarm all over them. We were thinking they had to be mistaken. The Sosos would have attacked if they were vehicles and why the hell would vehicles drive into a Soso camp?”
“Well, damn,” Mykal said excitedly. “If they went into the Soso camp looking for help, they’re in serious trouble. But if the Sosos have been looking for prisoners, maybe they’re still alive,” Mykal said. He had been contemplating retrieving the special case from a dead Mister X.
“How would we get them outta there?” Jake shook his head. “There’s gotta be a million Sosos out there,” he exaggerated. “That day when you guys went home and we just missed the green fog, we were surrounded by Sosos everywhere. I thought for sure all of us left behind were going to be killed before we could make it back to the Pass,” Jake explained and seemed to stare in space as he remembered back to that terrifying experience. “You could see their whole damn army swarming in on us. Luckily for us, when Towbar’s soldiers saw what was going on they came to our rescue. Them and all the Dwarven people too. They still could have wiped us out but for some reason they withdrew. They pulled back, but if they knew what the hell they were doing they could have wiped us out and they probably could have taken the Pass if they woulda pressed it. They have the damn numbers on their side. But, just outta the blue, they stopped and returned. That was the last real conflict we had with them.”
“Why do you think they stopped?”
“I don’t know, but you could hear horns being blown giving them a signal to return,” Jake sighed. “You don’t know how much we were thanking our lucky stars. And you know Ski was saying God answered his prayers and spared us. I’m not gonna argue because something strange did happen. If it was God, I’ll gladly thank God. All I know is I’m alive right now and I should be dead.”
“Well after the rest of Towbar One gets here tomorrow, we’re going on a mission to see if we can find those people. I hope that was really the people we’re looking for. We could wrap this up in no time and be home before Christmas and never have to deal with this stuff again.”
“What if they’re dead?” Jake asked.
“It doesn’t matter. I gotta find them,” he said. Only he knew his specific mission involved one special case, and everyone else was secondary. “And if they’re dead then that’s that.”
Sam and Larry came running to them with Boris. Sam’s injuries were evident. Though the actual wounds have healed his left arm dangled lifelessly. He could barely use it. When they first arrived in Towbar’s world Larry’s head was shaved. Now his hair was grown in and he also had a full beard on his face. They both had lost weight over the months but Larry appeared to have lost more weight since he had always been heavier.
“I told them about me,” Boris said to Mykal. “Jake, I don’t know if Myk told you yet, but I can never leave here.”
“Yeah, Myk told me. What the hell happened buddy?” Jake looked saddened. Jake knew after they all leave Towbar’s world it would be like leaving Boris on a deserted island all alone. The horror of the murders committed didn’t register as reality. The thought of leaving a friend behind seemed cruel. Jake had already been left behind once and wouldn’t want that to happen to anyone.
“I can’t make excuses. I screwed up. Being drunk didn’t help an
d I let their taunting get to me. I kept getting pushed into garbage jobs and made fun of. I felt like I got pushed way past my limit. If it wasn’t for Myk, I’d be…”
7.
“…so if you’re here to rescue just a handful of people, why the hell did you bring an army back with you?” Larry asked.
“Not just an army,” Boris snickered. “Mykal filled me in on who he brought. We have elite fighters from all over the world.”
“Well that’s even more confusing to understand,” Larry scoffed.
“Like I said earlier, some of the people we’re here to rescue are VIPs. The President asked me to come here and get them. I told him I would only do it if I could bring an army to help cuz of what we’re facing out here. I wanted the army more to help Towbar in his war, plus we get the VIPs and you guys. So to make a long story short, they thought it would be a great PR move to get other countries from around the world involved to explore this unknown that we obviously know is real.”
“Still, doesn’t it seem odd to put in all that money and resources to rescue a handful of people,” Larry scoffed again.
“That’s fine Larry,” Mykal played with him. “You don’t have to go back. Besides, you always said you wanted to stay.”
“No, no, no. I didn’t mean it like that,” he said and they all laughed. “Believe me,” he chortled. “I’ve had a change of heart.”
“When I put this force together, I was thinking of you guys,” Mykal joked. “I wanted you guys to have a nice little escort to go home with. Seriously though, what I wanna do,” Mykal said to change direction. “If those people are in the Soso camp and if we can find them from the air I’m gonna go in and get them. If everything goes as planned, then just before we get outta here, I’m gonna have Towbar One open up on the Sosos and put an ass beatin’ on them before we leave. I know the Marines would like that,” he said and thought of Anka’s enthusiasm. “I don’t want this trip to turn out to be a dud for them.”