Rescue Or Recovery

by Dave Hazel

  **********

  “I want a head count,” Ratner shouted. “Secure our position and make sure our people are okay. If not, I want to know about it immediately.”

  “What about those not dead?” Private First Class Anka shouted. He stood over a wounded soldier who bled copiously from the gash in his throat. The injured man tried to hold his throat together but his blood covered hands shook violently, revealing the terror he felt as he begged for help.

  “We can’t leave them here especially if we’re going to be setting up a camp soon,” Lieutenant Finley shouted. “Don’t waste ammo, but they need to be dispatched in the most humane way possible.”

  “What if I feel bad about this guy?” Anka shouted which seemed to suddenly cause a silence of shock.

  “Feel bad about that guy?” Army Ranger Sergeant McPherson shouted as if he couldn’t’ believe Anka was getting wishy-washy over the bad guys. “I see he is crying while holding his throat, but he is the enemy, son,” McPherson added in a derogatory manner to get a dig in at a Marine. Despite the fact McPherson was an older Ranger and Anka was a younger Marine, the word ‘son’ was meant as a verbal slap.

  Mykal looked over to see if the hard-ass young Marine was having a change of heart. He clearly saw the blood covered trembling hand reach up as if to beg for mercy and Mykal confirmed the injured man had tears rolling down the side of his head. Mykal could understand if Anka struggled with being brutally cold hearted since he understood his struggle with his own emotions. Mykal’s emotional battles stemmed from the magic ring that seemed to manipulate and dominate his feelings. He wouldn’t hold it against the young Marine if he didn’t have it in him to finish off the wounded soldier.

  “You ain’t turning into a girlie-man, are you?” The tough hardened Army Ranger McPherson shouted back.

  “Oh hell no Sarge,” Anka shouted as if offended by the question. “I feel bad that I don’t have a blade and I have to waste a damn round on his ugly ass,” Anka laughed and fired a round into the begging soldier’s forehead. The young Marine showed he could be just as cruel and heartless as the soldiers of Zizmon-Tarl.

  “Don’t waste any more damn ammo,” Ratner yelled angrily as if Anka had just disobeyed his orders. “If you don’t have the means to finish them off without shooting them then have others finish them off. We may need the ammunition at a later time. I will say it again; don’t waste any damn ammo if we don’t need to!”

  “Aye aye Gunny,” Anka quickly yelled and snapped to attention. “Sorry ‘bout that Gunny, but I just had to prove to that old Dawg face Ranger that I’m not turning into a girlie-man. I just don’t have a blade to use.”

  “Good to hear you’re not turning girlie-man on us Anka,” McPherson laughed loudly and gladly accepted the ‘old Dawg face’ comment. “I thought you were turning wimpy on us. I was gonna have to tell you the Air Force has some openings,” he chuckled and looked at Mykal. “Ooops, sorry Mykal. You know I’m only kidding. Besides you Air Force dudes who had been here first proved yourselves above and beyond,” McPherson said and gave a mock salute. McPherson looked like he was playfully trying not to offend Mykal though physically he was a big brute of a man who would probably beat Mykal in a hand to hand confrontation if it came down to it.

  “McPherson, I’m not in the Air Force anymore, but I know where Army Dawgs have to go to get their meals,” Mykal shouted to show he was playful and in a good mood.

  “Hooah,” McPherson shouted and gave Mykal another two finger salute and then a thumbs up.

  “Silent Killers,” Ratner shouted for those who had experience during the raid on the Soso camp just about two months ago. “Towbar’s soldiers, Elves, Dwarves and all of you people from Towbar’s world. I need your assistance. The sooner we finish this mess, the sooner we can take a meal break and then move out to camp for the night.”

  Mykal almost laughed when Ratner said that, but he tried to hold his laughter in. It sounded like Gunny Ratner was talking about cleaning up after a party so they could eat and camp down for the night, but he was talking about killing all the wounded before they could move on. All the wounded left lying on the ground were only trash to be carried out and not humans with feelings, concerns and families waiting for them back where they came from.

  “Are you okay Mykal?” Roy Jr. asked when he saw Mykal quietly hold his laughter in.

  “Oh yeah. I’m just trying not to be heard laughing,” he answered when the Dosch brothers and Mathis came to him. “It just hit me,” he added when he saw the scared look on Mathis’s face. “When this is all said and done, and we go home and put all this stuff behind us, are we gonna be normal? Are we ever gonna be normal again? What the friggin hell just happened? I thought it was gonna be a couple of hundred. There’s gotta be a thousand if there are any here.”

  “Yep, we almost got screwed here,” Roy Jr. said and laughed. “But we got it handled. I don’t think we had any injuries, did we?”

  “I haven’t heard of any yet,” Mykal sighed and shook his head. “Look at all these bodies,” Mykal started to laugh and took his helmet off to scratch his head. It was a forced laugh with a sickening sad sigh. He felt the sadness taking hold and he knew it was due to the magic of his special ring. At the moment he would rather it be sadness than murderous rage. He watched the men walking around ensuring the dead were dead, and ensuring the injured became dead. He wasn’t sure what he felt about watching men drive swords and daggers into the bodies of those who had been wounded by his men and their gunfire.

  In a moment of quiet Mykal stared at all the bodies sprawled out in all different poses and positions, but they were all dead. His emotions were getting to him and considered the fact that they were all individuals and they all had their own stories, their own backgrounds and history that ended here, at this time. He was sure some were hardened experienced soldiers who probably brutalized those less fortunate enough to come under their rule and so they probably had this death coming to them. Then he was sure there were some who were on their first mission out and were just obeying orders. He wondered if they had plans and dreams, ambitions and goals to strive for after their time in the army. But it all ended here because they came in contact with ‘Mykal’s Marauders’. (See Book 3 for the name).

  ‘I don’t wanna feel bad,’ Mykal thought before his feelings got the best of him. ‘They woulda killed us like those twenty-two poor saps back down the road.’

  “Ooh-wee, look at ol’ boy Soonme go,” Roy Jr. laughed out and broke Mykal’s focus on the dead.

  “That Soonme is getting a kick outta this,” Randy said and pointed to the four ex-soldiers of Zizmon-Tarl who were taking great joy in finishing off the soldiers who took part in the execution of the twenty-two ex-soldiers they found earlier. “Well these guys will get it done even if it was just the four of them who had to finish off this group of wounded butchers,” he added and chortled.

  “I agree, Soonme was pretty bummed out and ticked off that his childhood friend was one of the twenty-two executed,” Mykal said. “Soonme said his childhood friend would never have done anything wrong to deserve that.”

  “Yeah, I don’t mean this to sound cruel,” Roy Jr. said and looked to make sure Soonme couldn’t hear him. “But the way Soonme explained it, I gots the impression his childhood buddy Playdoh, or Pladold or whatever the hell his name was, but I gots the impression his little buddy was a little slow in the head,” Roy Jr. giggled and swirled his finger around the side of his head to imply he wasn’t fully developed mentally.

  “Yeah, I got that idea too,” Randy agreed with his brother. “If that’s true, that poor kid shoulda never been forced into the military service just cuz he couldn’t pay his taxes.”

  “I too agree,” Mykal replied. “Soonme said Pladold’s father wanted to go in his place but they wouldn’t take him. Obviously we don’t know the kid or the entire situation, but once again, based on what Soonme said, I don’t think his friend would have done anything wrong that would des
erve him to be executed by hanging.”

  “Oh yeah, I was joking when I called his friend Playdoh,” Roy Jr. said. “But truth be told, it saddens the daylights outta me to think that this simple minded, mentally slow kid, got whipped and then got hanged for who knows what?”

  “The poor kid, who may have been mentally retarded, might not have even known what he was being punished for,” Randy said and agreed with his brother. “He might not have even done anything wrong, but he was an easy patsy.”

  “Well that’s good Soonme is finishing off some of these rotten bastards,” Roy Jr. said while watching around them. “Now he gets to lash out and exact his revenge for his dimwit friend Playdoh,” he added to cover his sadness by laughing during the cruel reality of Towbar’s world.

  “We have a problem Mykal,” Ratner said when he approached them.

  “What kind of a problem?”

  “We have one dead that we know of. It was one of Towbar’s soldiers the one named Malidon,” Ratner said and paused to let that sink in.

  “Oh no,” Mykal moaned. “He’s the brother of one of Towbar’s generals. General Dalisid is his brother. What happened?”

  “It looked like he took two arrows right in the chest,” Gunny replied and shook his head sadly. “It looks like both of the arrows hit him in the heart, but I could be wrong. The fact is he’s dead. I think we’re lucky cuz there should have been more killed with the numbers we faced. And we will find out how that got screwed up and the numbers were skewed.”

  “Does Towbar know yet?” Mykal asked.

  “Yes. He was made aware and obviously he was saddened by the news,” Ratner said and nodded slowly.

  “Which one was he Myk?” Mathis asked.

  “Remember the general who was with me when I taunted the Sosos and made them attack us on New Year’s Eve?”

  “Oh yeah, I remember,” Mathis replied. “He was the one who looked like he could be a movie star, right?”

  “Yeah, he could go back to our world and be a male model,” Mykal replied. “His brother was the one killed. Both Malidon and his brother, General Dalisid, had model and movie star good looks.”

  “We also have another problem Myk,” Ratner cut into their chitchat about the dead man. “I think it is a bigger problem.”

  “Well, what is it?” Mykal asked and gave a frustrated look as if to ask why he was dragging out the information.

  “We have two men missing.”

  “Missing? Whadda ya mean, missing?” Mykal asked and looked shocked and more frustrated.

  “We have two men missing,” Ratner repeated. “They can’t be found.”

  “What the hell do you mean they can’t be found? Where the hell can they be? I mean if they’re dead they gotta be somewhere.”

  “We can’t find them Myk,” Ratner said and rolled his eyes. “Everyone is looking for them.”

  “Are they screwing around and hiding?”

  “We can’t find them Myk,” Ratner replied and tried not to give an opinion one way or the other. “All the enemy have been killed. None of them escaped or tried to get away so it’s not like they got taken by the enemy. They’re all dead,” he declared to express his frustration.

  “What the hell Ratner? How they hell can two men be missing? Who’s missing?”

  “Green Beret Sergeant Jackson and Green Beret Sergeant Thornton. Thornton’s a medic,” Ratner said. “We’re trying to piece it all together to figure out where the hell they are. They are both Green Berets, they’re both sergeants, they’re both black dudes. One is a medic and from what everyone is saying they’re both good dudes so no one thinks they would have run off or anything like that.”

  “Run off? Where the hell would they run off too? What the friggin hell Gunny? Are you serious?”

  “Mykal, I wouldn’t screw around about this? I’m as serious as a heart attack.”

  “Well we gotta have everyone look for them,” Mykal said and was stumped. He wasn’t sure what to make of the fact that two men were missing.

  “We’re on it, but I just wanted to let you know so you know all the casualties,” Ratner said with a sigh.

  “I know you are doing your best but have everyone look inside the vehicles and look under the vehicles,” Mykal said and looked over the road that had what looked like countless bodies strewn everywhere. “Have our guys go through all their dead over there,” he nodded to the mass of dead bodies before them. “I know none of our men went into the middle of their formation, but this doesn’t make any sense,” Mykal snarled angrily. His suggestions sounded like forceful demands. “Have the men look under piles of bodies and--”

  “We are Myk,” Ratner cut him off and looked just as frustrated as Mykal.

  “I’m sorry, I’m not coming down on you Gunny,” Mykal said and shook his head. He felt bad that he came across as chewing out Ratner who was a career Marine and much older than he. “I’m just baffled. We gotta find them cuz once we leave here, if we haven’t found them, they’re lost,” Mykal said with a gasp that was surprising to himself.

  “I know Mykal, and I’m freaking out over this,” Gunnery Sergeant Ratner said with a look of confusion. “I’m responsible for these men. It would be one thing if they were laid out dead before me because then I’d have closure on the situation, but if they’re missing and if they’re right around the corner needing our help, that would eat me up for the rest of my life. Believe me Myk, I’m riding the men hard. They gotta find them.”

  “Alright we’ll help look too,” Mykal replied and waved Ratner off to go take control of the search party. “Come on guys, we gotta find the two who are missing.”

  “Damn, this is screwed up big time,” Roy Jr. said as they moved toward the middle of the men scrambling around searching for the two missing men.

  “How the hell do two grown men just disappear?” Randy asked.

  Mykal looked at his right hand and was assured the green fog didn’t appear to take those two men away. It would have taken more than just two away if it had. ‘What the hell? This doesn’t make any sense,’ he thought. ‘Man, I don’t wanna make the decision to move out if we haven’t found them, but we can’t sit here when we need to move forward to find Doninka,’ he thought and sighed heavily. ‘How the hell can this be happening?’

  Mykal approached Lieutenant Finley and the pale fearful expression on Finley’s face spoke volumes. “Do we know who spoke to them last?” Mykal asked Finley who looked like he wanted to break down.

  “I don’t know yet Myk,” Finley said and breathed deeply and tried to control his anxiousness over his missing troops. “We have to find these men.”

  Mykal knew Finley showed a little favoritism toward the Army personnel especially where Green Berets were concerned and both were Green Berets. Finley would deny having more affection toward Green Berets but Mykal discerned it on several occasions. Mykal felt bad for Finley since Finley told Mykal previously that all the men, especially the Green Berets, were like his own children as far as his concern for them. Finley looked to be trembling slightly.

  “Have the men looked inside the vehicles and under the vehicles?”

  “Yes Myk. A couple of times,” Finley replied as if Mykal ask a rudimentary question for the umpteenth time.

  “Why don’t you have two of the vehicles back track about a couple of miles just to make sure? And you know for a fact they were here when we opened up on the bad guys?”

  “Yes they were. I know they were,” Finley almost snapped. “But yes, that’s a good idea. I’ll have a couple of the vehicles travel back down the road just to make sure. I know the enemy didn’t get behind us so they couldn’t have been captured and taken that direction,” he added and looked behind them. “None of our men wend out into the main body of the enemy, but we have men looking among their dead. Oh, this is driving me nuts Myk, because it just doesn’t make any sense.”

  “I know, but we have to do something cuz darkness is almost upon us. We gotta figure out what the hell
we’re gonna do,” Mykal said and blew a heavy sigh. “I wanted to get the hell away from all these bodies before we camped for the night, but if they’re missing we’ll have to camp here to see if they show up. Damn it, if we camp out here tonight we’re gonna have to have triple guard duty. Can you imagine how many men are gonna freak out during the night with all the dead bodies around us?” Mykal asked and sighed again because of how difficult their situation suddenly became.

  “I can’t imagine right now,” Finley said with a frown and he looked like he verged on a break down whether it be a grief-stricken breakdown or a violent rage filled breakdown. “I don’t understand what the hell happened.”

  “Sergeant Jackson and Sergeant Thornton,” a voice called out over a vehicle public address system. “Sergeant Jackson and Sergeant Thornton we need you to report to the vehicles immediately,” the voice crackled through the speaker. The same message had been repeated several times. “It is important to get our attention if you are injured and need help. Please reply to our calls for you to announce your location.”

  “This is screwed up?” Mykal agreed. “Do we know who talked to them last or who saw them last?”

  “Everyone, everyone,” one of the men shouted and waved his arm to get the attention of all those in the immediate area. “Come here, come here.”

  They rushed to the edge of the road near the heavy concentration of trees. “Look, look,” Green Beret Staff Sergeant Campbell of the original Lost Patrol shouted. He pointed to the ground and didn’t want to touch anything as if he was going to contaminate evidence at a crime scene. “Look what we found.”