by Dave Hazel
Mykal felt grateful that Captain Diaz wasn’t going to try and tackle this situation based on his understanding as a Marine Corps officer, the leader of these men. But he was going to handle this as a Christian and turn to his God for help and guidance.
“I did some research on Vlad the Impaler who was known as Dracula,” he added as a reference that Diaz may recognize. “He supposedly impaled thousands,” he added when he couldn’t remember all the details of his research for a high school project that seemed to be a life time ago. “And if people were impaled the right way they could have suffered for days.”
“Dear God in heaven, please LORD, help me to face this,” Diaz continued to pray quietly. “Jesus, I need you to give me strength by the power of the Holy Spirit,” he continued to pray silently and seemed like he had been traumatized. “Give me wisdom dear God to deal with this in a proper and Godly way. In my strength and in my wisdom I can’t face this. I need You LORD God my Protector, my Shield and my mighty Fortress,” he prayed audibly and sounded like he was on the verge of tears.
“What’s going on Mykal?” Gunnery Sergeant Ratner asked when he joined him. His ashen face exposed how he felt over the discovery.
“Well first it looks like our two guys were added here at the last minute and they’re set right out here in the middle of the road to block our path so we’d have to find them,” Mykal answered and studied the scene before him. “The others look like they were here before our guys were placed here. The really screwed up part is I think some of them are still alive.”
“What? Are you joking with me?” Ratner asked and looked at Mykal as if he couldn’t believe Mykal could joke with him at a time like this.
“No. I heard some moaning and groaning, so we’re gonna have to see if they are alive and figure out what we’re gonna do. I don’t think we can take them with us if they are alive,” he added and looked at some of those who were skewered like a shish kabob. He couldn’t even imagine trying to remove someone from one of the long poles that was intended to be a stake of death.
“Are you saying you want us to put them out of their misery?” Ratner asked and the little bit of color that was left in his face seemed to drain from him.
Mykal hesitated. He knew Ratner wouldn’t have a problem performing a humane mercy killing, but he knew Ratner wanted to be told to perform such an act so no one could later say that he killed these poor people in cold blood. “Ask Captain Diaz what he wants to do cuz I don’t wanna leave them there like that and walk away from their suffering. If they are alive, how dare we leave them like that?” He added to imply mercy killing would have to be a task they would have to partake in.
“Who the friggin hell would do something like this?” Ratner barked. “The men are watching from all directions to ensure we don’t get any surprises,” he added as a side note to take his focus from the madness before them.
Mykal and Ratner turned to the disturbance of Lieutenant Finley losing his composure with Captain Diaz. “I don’t care. I just don’t give a shit,” he yelled at Diaz. “I want them down. We’re not going to leave them there like this,” he yelled which verged on the edge of a scream. The tears in his eyes were real.
Several men rushed to Finley’s outburst. They must have feared he would take his anger out on the commanding officer. Hidtotim, Nomorek and Soonme rushed to the front with the Elves and Dwarves. None of those present had ever seen such a display of cruelty. The Elves made it clear that they heard some of those suspended in the air were still alive.
Mykal watched as they talked about how to take down Jackson and Thornton. The base of the pole was implanted pretty deep. It would be very difficult to attempt to pull it out of the ground while their bodies were still attached. Towbar took his massive magical sword and told the men to be prepared to catch the falling pole. With a mighty swing of his sword he struck the bottom of the wooden stake. His glowing blue blade cut through the standing pole which caused the body covered stake to fall like a felled tree. Mykal was grateful for his giant friend’s colossal strength and magic sword. He couldn’t imagine trying to pull the bodies from the impaling stakes. Those who caught the felled pole seemed sickened by the dead men falling into their catch.
Mykal was saddened to see Lieutenant Finley try to hide the fact that he was sobbing for the two men who had been missing for a couple of days. He was sure Finley held out hope that his two missing men would turn up alive somewhere, but this was the opposite of what Finley expected. Mykal wanted to say something to him but he knew his words would never comfort him and would probably sound meaningless at such a time.
“At least untie their damn hands from behind them,” Finley yelled as the two poles were laid on the ground. Jackson’s face laid right into the dirt whereas Thornton’s face was on his side. He conceded that they were not going to take the stakes out of their lifeless bodies. “We’re disrespecting them by laying their faces in the damn dirt,” he shouted.
It was clear some wanted to respond that the two men were dead and wouldn’t know the difference. Though the intent was to comfort Finley, no one had the nerve or the ‘guts’ to broach the subject with the distraught lieutenant. The men moved quickly to ensure the faces of Thornton and Jackson didn’t rest in the ground that countless soldiers had trampled over through the years.
Mykal turned away from the front and went back to his vehicle and stood with Mathis and the Dosch brothers who stood in silence. He couldn’t imagine what Finley must be feeling and didn’t want to look at him. Mykal saw both reporter teams canvassing the area and anxiously filmed the horrors before them. Mykal was stunned and though these people, these brutally abused men had nothing to do with Doninka it made him fearful for what may become of the girl. In his mind he had to fight the urge to declare his love for the princess because he would never betray his love for his wife, but the girl was special to him. Doninka the princess, the daughter of King Loankore was more than just a friend to him.
“Man, who the hell would do something like this?” Roy Jr. finally broke the silence with the same question that had been asked by all the men.
“I don’t have a clue but let me tell you something,” Mykal said and paused. He wasn’t sure if he should reveal what he discovered. He saw their rapt attention waiting to hear what he was going to say. “Some of those people are still alive.”
“What?” Randy asked and gasped as if he didn’t believe it.
“Can’t be,” Roy Jr. argued with him.
“Go over there and check it out, cuz I heard some of them moaning.”
“Our two guys aren’t alive, are they?” Mathis asked.
“No. Thornton had one of those stakes go through the back of his neck. Jackson’s went up through his mouth and he musta still been alive,” Mykal said and paused again. “They cut his private parts off and stabbed him with a knife up under his ribs. And the sick bastards also pounded some nails into his head. He’s dead,” he added with a disgusted sigh and shook his head. “They, whoever ‘they’ are, wanted to make a statement and wanted to make sure we found them, but they are both dead. We just need to figure out who would do this to our guys and find out why?”
“What sick bastard would come up with something like this?” Randy gasped and winced while shaking his head.
“How in the world do they get those big ol’ sticks in them like that?” Roy Jr. asked and stared at the dead from where they were. “I couldn’t even come up with such a sick idea if I’da been forced to.” He blew a sigh of disgust. “And believe me dudes, I can be a sick bastard sometimes, but this here takes the cake.”
“Let me tell ya something,” Mykal replied. “When I was in high school, I had to do a report and I picked Vlad the Impaler. This Vlad was alive from 1431 to 1476 and he was one sick crazy sonovabitch. He loved to torture people but the one thing he love to do was to impale people. I always thought they would stick you through the stomach or back and prop you up and sometimes they did. Just like some of those out there,”
he said and pointed to the few who had been impaled in that fashion. “But most of the time they would grease the end of the pole and stick it up their ass and push it through till it came out their mouth and then they would just hang there. People have been known to live for days like that. As long as they didn’t hit any vital organs you could live like that for up to five and six days.”
“No, it can’t be,” Roy Jr. gasped and argued vehemently. He didn’t want to think something like that was possible.
“It’s true. I’m not kiddin’ and I heard some of those people moaning so I believe there are some still alive.”
“How the hell could someone even think of such a thing?” Mathis gasped and suddenly his complexion looked a little paler. He looked down at his feet to avoid the gruesome scene before him.
“Just make sure you don’t get captured by the bad guys here,” Mykal said with a sarcastic smirk, though he meant it. “But sometimes the stick would go through their chest or their stomach and pierce vital organs which would kill them pretty quick. I’ve read that this Vlad dude would also take some of the people who have been impaled and then he would roast them alive. There is a long story as to how Dracula, you know the old black and white movies about vampires, actually came from him, but that’s neither here nor there right now.”
“Mykal, if some of those people are still alive, are we gonna just leave them there like that?” Randy asked.
“Yeah, that’s a good question,” Mathis joined him. “Even if they deserved to die for their crimes, no one deserves to die like this. We oughta see if we can save them or put them outta their misery.”
“Save them?” Roy Jr. scoffed. “Let’s say we pull them off one of them poles, you know them dudes are gonna be whistling when they walk. Whew, whew, whew,” he added and imitated someone walking with an extreme case of bow-leggedness.
Mykal suddenly burst out with laughter and couldn’t stop. That would have been the type of sick dark humor that Kurt or Boris or even himself would have said in the recent past.
Randy started to laugh but Mathis didn’t seem to get it and gave a questioning look.
“Cuz their ass is so wide open that when they walk it would be like air blowing through a tunnel, whew, whew, whew,” Roy Jr. repeated and laughed. And they all laughed with him including the queasy Mathis.
“You know you’re a sick bastard, right?” Mykal asked and couldn’t keep from laughing while he shook his head.
“Yeah, but you laughed too bro,” Roy Jr. said and raised his hand for Mykal to high five him. “Honestly Myk, if I don’t laugh about it I’ll end up crying about it.”
“I hear ya bro,” Mykal replied to Roy Jr.’s first expression of seriousness and compassion for others he had seen in a long time. “Now seriously though, the one thing I’m concerned with,” Mykal said and turned to face the gruesome path. “Those along the road looked like they were there or planned to be there. But look what they did with our two guys. They put them right in the middle of the road so we would have to see them. Someone wanted us to find them before we go any further.”
“Do you think it’s Ziggy?” Mathis asked.
“I don’t know,” Mykal answered and shook his head. “I would assume if it had been Ziggy he would have attacked us back there where the two men disappeared. But if it’s not Ziggy, then it’s gotta be people working for Ziggy.”
“His surrogates,” Mathis agreed. “Damn, now I’m gonna start having even more nightmares,” Mathis joked and shook his head. “I couldn’t dream this shit up if I was paid to,” he scoffed with a sickened expression of disgust. “I know, I know. Just don’t get caught by these sick sonsabitches.”
“Hey Mykal,” Green Beret Sergeant Freeman spoke up when he approached them. “You saw what they done to Jackson, right?”
“Yeah,” Mykal replied and shook his head sadly.
“Do you think they done treated him worser cuz all that stupid stuff he was talkin’ ‘bout before he gots caught? Ya ‘member? He was talkin’ his tough shit ‘bout bein’ from the mean streets of Chicago, an ol’ Ziggy ain’ts never messed wit’ someone like him. You think they done did him dirty cuz he was talkin’ smack.”
“Oh yeah. Damn,” Mykal sighed and wondered if it was possible. Mykal wondered if Freeman was deliberately trying to sound like someone from the streets because he normally had more of a southern drawl. “So, you’re thinking they abused him even more cuz of his stupid tough guy talk?” Mykal put his hand to his mouth as if shocked by the idea. He wondered what that meant. That would have to mean the enemy was closer to them and had an idea of the things they were doing and planning.
“I dunno,” Freeman answered slowly and looked down. “But he was messed up way more than Thornton was. Damn man, all the people was messed up real bad an’ Jackson was whacked out worser than almost all them dudes.”
“Dang, I really don’t know what to tell you,” Mykal replied and started to worry. “If that’s true, then that means Ziggy’s people or Ziggy himself is close enough to hear us and they singled him out,” he added to voice his thoughts with a sigh.
“Oh damn Myk,” Freeman gawked and quickly looked all around to see if they were being watched.
“Honestly though, I don’t think that’s the case,” Mykal replied and looked to the trees with Freeman. He said that to ease Freeman’s mind, but more importantly to put his own mind at ease. “If they were close enough to hear us I think they woulda surprised us with a sneak attack and hurt us when we were unprepared or maybe they woulda tried to capture more men.”
“Why do you think they messed up Jackson worser than Thornton then?”
“I’m only guessing, but I think maybe Jackson put up a fight. It could be he tried to fight them and they mighta made things worse for him cuz a that,” Mykal said and hoped he was right.
“True. Jackson sure had it in him to be difficult,” Freeman said with a said snicker. “Thanks Myk. And hey Mykal, I just gots to tell you,” Sergeant Freeman paused and looked down at his feet. It was clear he had to get something off his chest. “I really need to thank you that you told me to make things right with Jackson. Now that I see for sure that he died, it woulda done messed me up for a long time if I woulda known he died and I didn’t make things right with him before he disappeared. This shit has gots me so messed up.”
“I know what you’re talking about Freeman, but you did make things right so don’t let that eat you up,” he replied and watched Freeman walk away.
Mykal watched while Mathis and the brothers talked. Captain Diaz seemed to put a small group together led by Gunnery Sergeant Ratner and six others. They proceeded to walk down the path and looked to the bodies suspended on the poles along the road. Occasionally one of the men would raise his rifle and shoot someone in the head. The first rifle shot startled everyone. Mykal was grateful that Captain Diaz made the decision to perform the mercy killings because he couldn’t possibly imagine what type of suffering these poor souls had to endure.
“We have to move forward,” Staff Sergeant Barry said from inside the vehicle.
Mykal saw that the Mercy Squad reached the point where they would have gone out of sight and Mykal didn’t want there to be any separation between any of the men. The people who committed these horrible acts could possibly be in the area and he didn’t want the smaller group up front to come under attack from an ambush.
The vehicles drove slowly and most of the men remained outside of the vehicles to walk along while they made their way through the flag poles of death. Mykal waved Hidtotim and his men to him while they walked.
“Hey guys, is this a normal type of torture or punishment for Ziggy Stardust?” Mykal asked and they knew he meant Zizmon-Tarl.
“I have never seen this before Mykal,” Hidtotim replied.
“Nor I,” Nomorek added.
“We had just briefly discussed this Mykal,” Soonme said. “We had never heard of such methods of torture or punishments. Thus we do not know where this
originated from.”
“We do not think the One, the Zigler or whatever strange name you have given him, has initiated this mass execution,” Hidtotim said as he eyed the bodies they neared with sympathetic fear. “We have witnessed the results of cruel torture and known those who had survived cruel sufferings. Yet, we have never come across anything like this.”
“When Lanorear spoke to the Elves,” Nomorek added his tidbit of information and pointed to the Hawkmen flying overhead. “Lanorear also said they had never witnessed such tortures,” he added and another rifle shot exploded taking them by surprise though it ended the suffering of a poor soul hoisted up into the air to rot away and suffer a slow miserable death.
When they reached the bend in the road they were able to see the end of their horrors. There were well over two hundred who had been impaled. Gunnery Sergeant Ratner and the men under him made sure those poor souls who had been impaled were dead or their job was to put them out of their misery as quickly and painlessly as possible.
“Damn Mykal, you know this shit is going to scar me for the rest of my life,” Mathis said as a joke but his facial expression showed he was concerned for what it was going to do to his mental faculties.
“Everything in this damn world of Towbar’s is gonna screw with us,” Roy Jr. said and shook his head when he looked at the unfortunate people hanging before them. “It makes you wonder where the hell these people come from and it also makes you wonder if there is gonna be anyone who is gonna miss them. Ya know what I mean? But to be honest we gots to say this is on the other side of Towbar’s world,” he said and gave a slight chuckle as if not to tarnish Towbar’s side of the world.
“Yeah,” Mykal agreed and sighed. “Hidtotim, do you know anything about these people? Are they soldiers who are being punished or are they a bunch of criminals and that ‘they’ decided to just clean out the prisons and get rid of these people?”
“I do not know Mykal,” Hidtotim replied. “I do not recognize any of them as soldiers. However, I must be honest and say that I have not been looking at them closely to eye each of them.”