by Dave Hazel
“I’m sighted on him Mykal,” Barry shouted back after moving back to the .50 caliber machinegun. “I figured they’re getting ready to attack.”
“Watch for them to throw those damn spears again,” Ratner yelled from beside a vehicle. “They are very good at throwing those damn things.”
“What are we waiting for?” Marine Sergeant Kalhoun shouted while he aimed his M-203 toward the tree line. The black Marine was part of the original Lost Patrol. He was the one who created the names of AFA and UBAH to the strange creatures under the mountain a couple of weeks ago. “They already attacked us once damn it,” he bellowed.
“I agree,” Lieutenant Finley shouted. “I think we should take the initiative before they launch their assault.”
“Wait a minute,” Diaz shouted. “Silence. They’re trying to communicate with us,” he yelled when the albino gorilla started to make grunting and hooting noises.
The white gorilla held a wooden staff in his hands. It raised the staff over its head and continued to make noises that gave the impression he was trying to communicate with them. Clearly other gorillas were moving around as if to get into a better position to attack.
Mykal thought the albino gorilla was stalling them and wasting their time to give his gorillas more time to get in position to attack. He sighted his rifle on the head of a gorilla that was armed with a sword. He waited for Captain Diaz to give the word and he planned to shoot the great ape in the head as many times as he could before the beast fell to the ground.
“We’re gettin’ set up,” Roy Jr. shouted.
Sergeant Barry decided not to wait and opened fire with his .50 caliber machine gun. Several bursts of blood appeared on the albino gorilla’s white fur. It flopped to the ground and kicked its legs wildly.
The other gorillas responded immediately when they saw the albino gorilla lying stretched out and blood pouring from its open wounds. The mass of movement seemed to be synced together though not a sound had been uttered. From the tree line rushed out over forty gorillas, most of which were armed with a weapon. They all stood over six feet tall and seem to be five hundred to six hundred pounds each.
All six .50 caliber machine guns opened fire. Men with M-203 grenade launchers lobbed their 40mm high explosive rounds into the groups. Many of the vocal threats of the charging apes were stopped and beat down. One of the gorillas threw his spear at the nearest transport vehicle striking Corporal Bakker of Echo fire team in the chest just below his neck. It seemed like a miracle throw as the spear arched downward and just managed to miss his large .50 caliber machine gun.
Corporal Bakker gave out a gulping moan and collapsed into the vehicle dead. The angered gorilla ran and jumped onto the transport vehicle just as Bakker’s assistant Private First Class Kaczmarek quickly climbed up into the turret to take over the duties of firing the machine gun. Before Kaczmarek could grab the weapon to open fire, the monstrous beast grabbed Kaczmarek by his shirt and yanked him out of the vehicle up through the turret as if Kaczmarek was a child’s toy. Kaczmarek yelled in fright, but when the angry beast bit into his face he howled in pain. Kaczmarek tried to fight off the giant ape but he was no match for the creature. He was like an infant trying to fend off an attack of an alcohol fueled adult. He didn’t stand a chance.
The massive head of the ape head butted Kaczmarek and nearly knocked him out cold. The ape chomped onto Kaczmarek’s face a second time and ripped off the right side of his face including his cheek bone. Kaczmarek weakly tried to push his hands up to fend off the beast and lost three fingers and half his hand when the teeth of the creature chomped on to his right hand.
The large gorilla picked up Kaczmarek and slammed him down against the vehicle as if Kaczmarek was a rag doll. It slammed him several times to stop him from fighting back. During one of the four or five times Kaczmarek had been thumped against the vehicle his life ceased. Kaczmarek was killed by the great ape, but the great ape continue to abuse his lifeless body as if it was trying to get it’s frustrations out. It dragged the lifeless corpse with it when it moved toward the next vehicle.
Sergeant Babbitt, the fire team leader of Echo team, the leader of both Bakker and Kaczmarek made a mad dash to get into the turret to man the .50 caliber machine gun despite the fact two of his men died while manning that post. Babbitt grabbed the machine gun just as the gorilla knocked Kaczmarek into the vehicle for the final time and turned to drag off his kill with him. Kaczmarek’s lifeless body left a trail of blood in the dirt. Babbitt opened fire and put at least twenty-five .50 caliber rounds into the back of the fleeing animal which literally cut the creature in half. The lifeless body of Kaczmarek had been struck by a couple of rounds as well, but he had already passed away from the abuse of being slammed against the metal of the vehicle several times.
One of the great apes armed with a sword made it past the machine gun and rifle fire to come upon a small group that included the wizard Nordad, Codlon and Agnor who were with two of Towbar’s men Rogal and Bleemar. The ape chopped down at Agnor with his sword. Agnor blocked the blade by holding his battle axe by the handle with two hands. The ape’s blade cracked through the thick hard wood and knocked Agnor to the ground. His long hair and beard flew into his face blinding him. He couldn’t see the certain death that was upon him.
Agnor’s close friend Codlon and Towbar’s two soldiers rushed into the mix to distract the beast so it wouldn’t attack the defenseless Agnor who had been knocked down. They swung their swords at the ape, but they kept their distance so as to not get too close. They weren’t trying to fight the monster as much as they were trying to keep it from going after their friend. The ape yelled and swung wildly but missed those that swung at it.
Nordad took a stance and held his hands as if performing a feat of magic. He shouted his command words in a strange language and suddenly a bolt of power blasted the great ape and knocked it to the ground. It wasn’t clear if the creature had been struck with a lightning bolt or just a blast of magical energy but it had been stunned and knocked to the ground. The beast’s large feet flew upward as if the creature was trying to do a backward handstand and then it fell flat.
The three men hesitated to rush in to attack the temporarily disabled ape. Agnor jumped to his feet and showed that his hard wood handle of his battle axe had been shattered and was rendered useless. Towbar saw that they waited and rushed into the scene just as the ape stirred and tried to get to its feet. Towbar wasn’t about to give the creature a fighting chance and swung his glowing blue blade. The giant gorilla’s head flew about twenty feet from its body and the heavy body collapsed in a heap. The gorilla’s legs kicked out as if it was trying to rise, but being headless it didn’t get anywhere. It ceased all movement indicating it was dead.
The others continued to shoot at the gorillas that were nearest them. One of the biggest gorillas howled loudly and charged at one of the vehicles that cut down six of the massive apes. A group of seven men stood beside the vehicle of Sergeant Hackett. Private E2 Yelchin was having trouble reloading his .50 caliber machine gun even with the help of Corporal Derringer who had been a replacement for Private First Class Howe who had been killed during that last few moments of the last trip to this side of Towbar’s world.
The group of seven men continued to shoot at the great ape without the help of the .50 caliber machine gun. The rifle fire was obviously hurting the beast as shown by the expressions displayed by the monster. It continued to charge with a large axe in hand. It jumped at least five feet into the air and came down with the axe first but missed the men and drove the axe blade into the dirt of the road. With its left paw it swiped at and struck Army Ranger Malone in the head with such a force that it broke Malone’s neck. Malone hit the ground and died before help got to his body. A lump pushed at his neck to show where the bone stopped just shy of breaking through his skin.
Despite being riddled with multiple gun shots, the ape pulled the battle axe from the ground and lunged at those nearest it. Marine Corpo
ral Strong couldn’t swing his M-60 machine gun around fast enough to open fire on the ape that was nearly on top of him. Strong turned and yelled out like a child while he tried to run from the creature. He dropped his M-60 to flee but the ape slammed the axe blade into Strong’s back and struck almost the entire length of Strong’s spinal column with the large blade of the axe head. When Strong fell the ape pounced on him and pulled the axe to chop into Strong’s thigh to sever his leg. Before the creature could strike again the beast was immobilized by all the rifle fire. It collapsed on top of Corporal Strong who had been killed by the battle axe attack.
Only four of the gorillas turned and fled into the forest to get away. All the others had been killed. Two of the apes on the ground appeared to be injured and tried to crawl away. Those near the beasts were not having any of it and opened fire on the severely wounded apes. Both wounded creatures were shot at least one hundred times.
“Cease fire, cease fire,” Ratner yelled as loud as he could. “Quit wasting your damn ammunition,” he barked because he knew they were responding in anger. “You men are damn professionals. Make sure the filthy ugly beast is dead and then stop.”
“We need to vacate this area,” Captain Diaz shouted. “I want us to be moving in a minute.”
“Gather the dead and wounded and we’ll pull back,” Lieutenant Finley shouted at those nearest him. “Spread the word we need to depart.”
“Towbar, do you have the stuff ready?” Mykal shouted in reference to the powder to create the green fog.
Towbar held his sword ready to see if any more gorillas would attack. He didn’t look back at Mykal but he patted the leather pouch at his side. He didn’t realize it but blood dripped from his massive sword.
Mykal looked around at the battle field and was amazed at the sight of over fifty gorillas lying all over the road they were traveling on. He was shocked by all the casualties they suffered at the hands of such a brutal foe. Not counting Jackson and Thornton who had been impaled by the monstrous apes they lost eleven men and one of the Hawkmen.
“What the hell happened?” Mykal asked himself while he watched the men scramble to get the dead inside the vehicles so they could depart. Jackson and Thornton were left behind because the poles were still inserted through their bodies. “Damn it. How the hell did this go so horribly wrong?”
“Come on Myk,” Mathis yelled to him as he filed into Sergeant Barry’s vehicle.
“What do you want us to do Myk?” Staff Sergeant Barry asked as all the vehicles turned and went back the way they came.
“We need to just go a couple of miles away and then we’re gonna go back to the Pass,” Mykal answered. “We have to treat the wounded and we have to get replacements and come back right away,” he barked. It made him sound cold hearted toward their losses, but he knew time was becoming a bigger problem than he wanted it to be. “Towbar, make sure we get away and talk after we get back to the Pass,” he said to the giant while the drive proceeded in silence. “I need to talk to you,” he mouthed his words for the giant to understand he had a specific message for him.
They acted as if they had been defeated though they just had a great victory. Their sense of loss came from the largest loss of men during one battle on this side of Towbar’s world. Their loss hurt that this group of men who would never get to see their families again. The thought of men not returning to their families, be it their wives and children or parents and brothers and sisters troubled Mykal greatly. He looked at the golden band on the middle finger of his right hand and knew his emotions were being swayed by the magic he desperately needed. He feared he had too many enemies back in the real world to dispose of the magic ring.
The current drive seemed to take forever and Mykal desperately wanted to find Doninka. He loved her, but he knew he couldn’t have her. He wouldn’t allow anything or anyone to interfere with the love of his life Pam. Pam patiently waited for him to come home and didn’t question anything about his life in Towbar’s world so he would not betray that trust he had with her.
‘But how the hell do I square that with the way I really feel about Doninka?’ He asked himself in thought. ‘But wait, I’ve never laid a finger on the girl. Hell, I never even kissed her. I can’t do that to Pam.’
“What troubles you my friend?” Towbar asked when he saw the mental confusion Mykal seemed to be displaying on his face.
“Nothing,” he lied. “Really, it’s nothing. Let’s get back to the Pass.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO 01/29/1984
1. Sunday, January 29th 1984
0545 hours, In the Pass Waiting to Depart (22nd Day)
“Hey Towbar, let’s try to Mind Talk with Doninka again before we leave,” Mykal asked. He was disappointed that the previous night they had no success after they returned to the Pass.
“Do you think that we should try my friend?”
“Yes, when we were on the other side of the world, Captain Diaz told me I needed to talk to you. He said that when I kept thinking about using Mind Talk with Doninka, but I kept getting interrupted by others or other things kept happening so I didn’t bother you. I let everything get in the way of me asking you, but then Captain Diaz told me his God told him to tell me to talk to you, so I assumed it had to be about doing a three way Mind Talk.”
“I will do whatever you ask my friend.”
“Good. Then what I’d like to do, come on and let’s walk. But what I’d like to do is go where you took me when you first tried Mind Talk for me when you helped me make contact with Pam during my first trip here. Do you remember where that place was?”
“Yes I do. It was along the wall of the pass in the trees not very far from where the original pit was dug.”
“Yeah, that’s right,” Mykal laughed and snapped his fingers and remembered the incident clearly. On July 2nd, two days before the big attack of the Sosos to take the Pass Towbar took Mykal to attempt to make contact with Pam through Mind Talk for his peace of mind. It was successful and it enabled him to let Pam know he was alive and well, though lost. He chuckled at the fearful look the next door neighbor, Norma, gave when Pam spoke to Mykal who wasn’t there physically.
Mykal knew the location of where they performed the Mind Talk wasn’t important. What was important was making contact with her. ‘But damn, what if they’ve already killed her?’ He wondered and feared she could be dead already. “You don’t think they would have killed her, do you?”
Towbar took a moment to think it through while they walked. “Obviously I hope they have not killed her,” the giant answered. “I do not know how the supreme evil ruler thinks. However, since they made an agreement to swap King Loankore for his daughter, I would believe she is alive. If she is not present when the day of the deadline is here then there would be no reason for the King to give himself up for her. I would have to believe they would have to present her to verify she is alive. That is even if they plan to kill her they would still show her alive and well.”
“Proof of life. We gotta get proof of life,” Mykal replied.
“Excuse me my friend?”
“Proof of life. It’s a term I heard before, back home in the news. Like if someone had been kidnapped and they are demanding a ransom, those being hit up for the money want proof that the kidnapped person is still alive. So what they would do is have the kidnapped person stand there with the front page of a newspaper that would show the date and the headline so it would be proved at least up until that moment the person was still alive. If a person was killed two weeks ago you couldn’t show them with today’s newspaper cuz they wouldn’t be able to predict the future to make a bogus newspaper.”
“That is a good demand. We must demand such a proof of life before we allow the King to go anywhere near the opening of the Pass on that day,” Towbar said.
“That’s if we don’t rescue her first,” Mykal said and smirked. “If it comes down to it, and if we are face with that situation where we have to trade the King for Doninka, one thing we could do i
s demand proof of life and we’ll send a little old lady or someone that wouldn’t pose a threat to go out there to verify that she is still alive. Obviously we would have to find someone who would be willing to risk their life to go into the jaws of the enemy, but what no one other than me and you will know is I will go with that person while I’m invisible. Hopefully I’ll be able to take her from the hands of the enemy and that’s providing they don’t have someone there who can detect magic or see through my ability to be invisible.”
“Yes, we must think carefully and dwell hard on that option my friend.”
“Yeah, cuz that would really suck if I get over there all fat dumb and happy thinking everything is gonna be alright only to find out someone or something over there can see me plain as day. Then I’d be up shit’s creek without a paddle,” he added with a laugh at himself.
“I’m sorry my friend, I do not understand the phrase you just used.”
“Don’t worry about it big guy. I’m just kinda joking around. But listen, I know I’m probably making a bigger deal about this than what I should, but the real reason why I was delaying asking you to use me in the Mind Talk for Doninka is when we were on the other side of the world I had a dream. I know it was only a dream and I know it means nothing. But in my dream I had made contact with Doninka and William was there. He knew what it was cuz he was there when you made contact with me when we were the Lost Patrol. But anyway, in my dream he was there and he killed her. He chopped her head off with a sword,” Mykal explained and noticed Towbar’s facial expression changed.