by Dave Hazel
The tall skinny rider came back into view and was clearly bleeding from his two chest wounds, but the blood looked more like a dark orange color than red. The rider was screeching angrily and seemed to be groaning or moaning as if in tremendous pain. The tall skinny creature breathed heavily and seemed to be wheezing with its breaths. It slumped forward and placed something to its mouth that Mykal thought was a straw, but was actually a blowgun. Mykal raised his .357 magnum and just as he fired off two more rounds toward the strange creature’s head, the rider made a blowing sound. Unexpectedly Mykal felt something strike the side of his neck. As he felt something sink into his neck from the blowgun, he watched the long black locks of hair fly forward when his .357 magnum rounds slammed into the creature’s face.
“Ah damn it,” Mykal yelled and grabbed at the slender dart stuck into the side of his neck. He tugged but he couldn’t pull it out. He wasn’t sure if it was just fear that there were barbs attached to the head and it would rip his neck open or if it was just the fact that he couldn’t mentally take it out of his own body.
It reminded him of a time when he was ten years old. He and another ten year old friend were in the yard throwing darts from a dart board at each other. They used garbage can lids to block the flying pointed missiles intended to stick each other. Neither gave thought to the possibility of blinding their opponent or doing serious damage to each other. They were just having fun with darts. Mykal bent over to pick up one of the little arrows that he had blocked with the garbage can lid. His friend threw another dart that stuck Mykal right behind his left ear. It actually stuck in his head and he couldn’t pull it out until he got his mother to take it out. The beating he received from his mother for throwing darts at each other was worse than the dart sticking in his head. He chuckled when he thought of the similar childhood experience, but he couldn’t pull the slender dart from his neck.
“I gotta kill this sonovabitch,” he snarled and slammed his .357 magnum back into the holster. He knew there was only one round left and he didn’t have time to reload. He grabbed his rifle with his left hand and his sword with his right. Mykal wasn’t sure if it was his overactive imagination or if he really felt it, but he sensed a couple of tiny worm like creatures wiggling in his neck where the dart stuck him. “Oh damn it, are they gonna go to my brain?” He yelled and stumbled out of the vehicle door. Was he super sensitive to the ‘worms’ due to Towbar’s blood infusion when the giant saved his life from a death arrow, or was it just his over active imagination? ‘No, we’re on the other side of Towbar’s world,’ He scoffed at himself.
Near the back of the vehicle Mykal found the rider who attacked him. The long skinny brown creature lay on his back gasping for air. There were clearly two holes in its nipple less chest. It made Mykal chuckle again. The two other rounds struck the creature’s head. One penetrated just under the large bulging eye on the left side. The eye was swelled shut. The second shot to the head looked like it struck the rider in the mouth because many of the long pointy teeth were broken. Orangey blood drooled from the chest, under the left eye and from the mouth.
The rider had to be twelve to thirteen feet tall. He confirmed that by looking at the long lanky frame on the ground. It was getting weaker, but it still tried to raise its spear, but in its weakened state it couldn’t hold the spear up. The rhino like creature stood at his side and continued to graze on the grass while it waited for the rider to get to his feet. The rhino beast foraged despite blood drooling down its long wide snout. Mykal was surprised a .357 magnum to the head of the rhino like creature didn’t prevent it from feeding.
Suddenly Mykal was filled with hateful rage when he realized the long skinny creature lying on the ground wanted to kill him and Doninka. “You screwed with the wrong person dipshit,” Mykal yelled and swung his sword which ignited into a bright red flame. He sliced down and chopped into the weakened creature’s chest. He easily cut the rider in half at the chest. The rider gave a grunting moan and was dead. As soon as the skinny creature died the rhino like beast reared up as if it was trying to get up on its two back feet, but it was too big to hold itself in that position. It snorted and pawed the ground a couple of times and snorted like it was getting ready to attack.
Mykal couldn’t take a chance by going easy on the rhino beast. He believed the big creature was going to get revenge for its fallen rider. As a defensive measure Mykal went on a wild offensive and attacked the rhino like creature’s head repeatedly with his flaming red sword before it charged him. The rhino backed up and shook its damaged head violently, throwing blood, saliva and thick armor like flesh pieces in all directions. The beast continued to step back but Mykal followed and viciously attacked it so as not to give it an opportunity to charge at him. It stopped and planted its legs as if it was going to charge forward despite the lasagna looking mess Mykal created with the creature’s massive head. The creature screeched loudly which clearly expressed its pain.
Mykal jumped to the side and chopped down as hard as he could and completely severed the large beast’s head from its humongous body. It toppled over and fell on its side where its four large legs stuck out like a plastic toy. He heard a sudden hissing sound and smelled a very strong bitter sent of urine. The strange rhino looking creature’s bladder released its contents in death. Knowing that he went on the offensive, he didn’t give the rhino like beast an opportunity to attack. He didn’t have to respond in a defensive manner. He felt victorious over the pair of strange beasts.
In the distance Mykal heard the sound of shrieks. He looked to see five more of the same teams of rhino like beast and riders charging toward him. They witnessed what he did to the lone rider and beast. They were going to take him out as a group.
“Damn it. I gotta save Doninka,” he mumbled and started to stumble around as if he was drunk. When he made it to the front of the Jeep he actually fell and struck the front of the vehicle with his body. He managed to pull himself up and knew he was running out of time. Those things were going to be on him rather quickly. He didn’t know if he was stumbling and clumsy from being knocked around inside the vehicle that rolled or from the effects of the thing that had been injected into his neck. He was feeling weak and woozy, but he had to protect the girl.
“What am I gonna do?” He asked as he staggered to her door. He looked in her window and was sure the poor girl was dead. He stared closely at her bent neck and feared her neck was broken. Blood continued to flow down from the top of her head onto her face and down her chest. He was getting wobbly and weak. His mind began to twist and distort things. He was sure it had to be whatever was injected into his neck was some sort of mind altering chemical. “It might as well be, those friggin things are gonna kill me,” he moaned as he looked over the top of the vehicle to see the five rhino like beasts with tall skinny riders charging toward him.
“I’m sorry,” he moaned to Doninka. “I tried, I really tried to protect you,” he mumbled in his attempt to say goodbye to the dead girl. ‘And I thought I could sneak into your quarters by myself,’ he scoffed at himself as a rebuke. ‘The others were right.’
Out of the blue she coughed, but didn’t stir from her unconscious state. She looked dead, but she coughed. “She’s alive,” he yelled. “I gotta protect her,” he shouted and stumbled back around the front of the vehicle. He wanted the five beasts to see him and ignore her. He was going to draw them to him and away from her. He tried to steady his rifle toward them, but felt as wobbly as a wet noodle.
“Come on you ugly bastards,” he yelled and swung his flaming sword wildly to get their attention. His mind felt like it was weaving in and out of focus, causing everything he looked at to oscillate from large to small, far to close, blurry to clear, fast to slow and everything in-between. The galloping suddenly sounded louder. ‘I’ll take as many of them down with me as I can,’ he thought. ‘I’ll turn invisible and I’ll use my two little figurines,’ he pondered and patted the side pocket that contained the two little statuettes that wou
ld turn into ferocious monsters. Mykal side stepped farther out into the open to draw the attacking beasts toward him and away from the beat up vehicle to keep them away from the injured girl.
Suddenly he heard the familiar sound of a .50 caliber machinegun from behind him. It then occurred to him that the increased galloping wasn’t really the increased galloping of the strange beasts, but the explosions of the Mark 19s being fired from the vehicles behind him. He stood still and focused on the attacking enemy and saw clouds of smoke from the explosions. Three of the large beasts were down on the ground and the other two appeared to be spinning in circles. The machine guns opened fire and ripped the remaining two beasts and skinny creatures apart. His men arrived just in time and were behind him.
Mykal collapsed to his knees and didn’t have the strength to look back to see his cavalry had come to his rescue. From his knees he continued to swing his flaming sword. He heard the sound of men, familiar voices, shouting and many of them were shouting his name. He heard a rush of noise that made him want to leap and cry out with joy. “Help Doninka,” he shouted as loud as his voice would allow. “Help Doninka,” he yelled and collapsed face first into the grass. “Get this from me,” he shouted and pointed to the ten to twelve inch dart in his neck, but he wasn’t sure if any of them saw him, let alone heard him. If they looked at him, they would clearly see the slender piece of wood protruding from his neck.
Though Mykal’s eyes closed and he gave off the impression he was shut out from the rest of the world, he seemed to have millions of bits of information pumping into his brain. He couldn’t stop the kaleidoscope of colors, sounds, images, scents and tastes that hit him like wave after wave on the beach. He felt weightless and at the same time he felt buried under a ton of bricks. He sensed his body to be floating into a spiral to the center of the universe but he didn’t know where he was going or why.
He could tell men were working on him and he heard others yelling about working on Doninka. He felt the pull of the dart in his neck. He wanted to open his eyes and shout that it hurt and he knew something from inside the dart was going into his neck and moving toward his brain, but his mouth wouldn’t open. He imagined little tiny creatures armed with little tiny weapons marching toward his brain. He knew that once they made it to his brain they would be able to attack and do him permanent mental damage.
Mykal heard someone quietly counting in the background. He heard the numbers start at ten and slowly count down. Suddenly his mind was filled with the David Bowie song called Space Oddity. ‘Tell my wife I love her very much,’ he thought just as the song sang before Major Tom started to have his problems in outer space. He too felt like he was past one hundred thousand miles. He heard someone near say they were having problems and just like the song he thought he was having problems. He expected to hear them say, “Can you hear me Major Tom? Can you hear me Major Tom?” ‘But I’m not Major Tom,’ he thought even though his body seemed to be pushed and pulled by a couple different people while they worked on him. In his mind he heard the bizarre music fade out and he believed he was going to die like Major Tom.
“No,” he shouted loudly and startled the men working on him. “I’m not him,” he yelled and didn’t open his eyes. Suddenly, like an outsider looking in, Mykal saw his body flying through the sky at 100 miles per hour without a plane, without wings, without a jet pack, and without a parachute. It was just his body flying through the air and flying through the air backward so he couldn’t see what was happening or where he was going. “I’m gonna crash,” he cried aloud and held his hands out as if he needed to hold onto something. “I’m gonna crassssssshh,” he yelled and sounded terrified. His eyes wouldn’t open.
“What the hell is wrong with him?” Ratner asked but he sounded so far away.
“There must have been something in the dart we removed from his neck,” one of the medics answered and he too sounded so far away. “I don’t know what it could be. It could be a poison, or a chemical or a virus, but I don’t know what the hell it is.”
“Look at his eyes,” another voice said and he too sounded so far away. “He’s experiencing R E M sleep. Rapid Eye Movement. I wonder what in the world he is seeing right now.”
Mykal wanted to yell for the person to come inside his head and find out but he couldn’t operate his mouth. Mykal wasn’t sure when the flying at 100 miles per hour ceased, but he was on the ground away from everyone and he knew he had to find Doninka so he could save her. “It’s all my fault,” he mumbled and realized all his weapons were gone. He was alone in the middle of nowhere and unarmed. He wondered if he should give up on the girl because he didn’t have his weapons to help save her.
‘No, I don’t need no friggin weapons to rescue her,’ he thought and started to climb a rocky mountain and realized he still had the magic ring on his hand. Something inside his head told him to turn invisible. ‘It will make the climb easier. No it won’t,’ he argued with himself. ‘You just want me to be invisible,’ he accused the part of him that was addicted to using the magic ring. ‘I have a real addiction,’ he admitted in thought. ‘This is like drugs. I’m a friggin junky.’
Mykal opened his eyes and quickly looked around him. He saw a few of his soldiers working on him and realized if he turned invisible they wouldn’t be able to see him in order to treat him and then once he returned they would all know of his ability to turn himself invisible. “I can’t do it,” he said and closed his eyes again to sleep. Though his body seemed to sleep his mind seemed to be going 100 miles per hour.
“Can’t do what Mykal?” The medic asked.
‘Am I losing my damn mind? Am I gonna have to be put in a nut house cuz of all this shit?’ In the background he heard Captain Diaz talking with the men. ‘Captain Diaz would say all I need is God. All I need is God. I don’t need this magic stuff,’ he thought and laughed as if he made an amazing discovery.
“God, it’s all about God,” he said aloud without opening his eyes and got everyone around him to stop to see what he had to say. “But I don’t understand it,” he said as if he was having a conversation with someone. “Save the girl God, please. Save the girl and save me and I will commit my life to You after we get outta this crazy stuff.”
Mykal thought he heard men mumbling, but he couldn’t tell who it was.
“Just like a drunk, he’s trying to make a deal with God. You don’t make deals with God,” the voice laughed to his friend.
“This is because of the religious captain and his strange beliefs,” the other said in a whisper that seemed to have an evil ring to the tone.
“If God was real, what would God want with a washed up old has been like Mykal?” The first asked and they both started to laugh. “The best thing we could do for the world is to let him die right here and now, especially for all the things he did to other people. Why in the world would God want someone like him?”
“Noooooo,” Mykal shouted but he couldn’t open his eyes. He wanted to see who they were so he could confront them and find out what they knew. ‘Maybe God truly doesn’t want anything to do with me despite the things Captain Diaz and Ski say. Maybe those two guys know more than Captain Diaz does. Who are they? I need to talk to them,’ he shouted in his thoughts. The more he tried to discover who the voices were the more he grasped he never heard their voices before today. Then it suddenly occurred to him that argument came from inside his own head.
‘Why would God want anything to do with me is right? I’m nothing but trouble,’ he believed. ‘Why would God try to get me when my other friends would have been better for God as far as people for God to go after,’ he thought from his negative point of view. It seemed that his inner voice moaned and took a downward spin. ‘What about Boris? What about Kurt? What about Denny? What about John Carris? What about Franklin Perry? Why didn’t God try to get them before they died? I miss all them guys,’ he brooded over them and felt the sadness well up in his eyes and choke in this throat. ‘I’ll never get a chance to say anything to
those guys. Damn it, I didn’t even get to say good-bye to any of them. Help me God, cuz I really miss those friends of mine.’
“Wait!” Mykal shouted but still couldn’t open his eyes. He realized he was still on the rocky mountainside that he had started to climb. In his mind he looked back over his shoulder and was surprised and concerned with how high he climbed. ‘Maybe God is taking me to the top of the mountain to find Boris, Kurt, Denny, John and Franklin and give them a chance to get their shit – Ooops, I mean stuff together,’ he considered and looked at the ground far below his feet. ‘That’s gotta be why God has me on this mountain to find them and tell them to get their life right with God. Why else would I be flying to here and why else would I be climbing this, this, this mountain to the heavens? God must have me climbing to find them to give them a second chance,’ he thought and laughed happily. He looked up to the top of the mountains and saw only four of them standing there looking down at him while he climbed upward. Denny, Kurt, Boris and Franklin Perry all stood there and looked down at him. They neither encouraged nor discouraged his attempt to join them.
“Hey guys,” Mykal shouted with an ecstatic laugh at the sight of his deceased friends looking down at him. “I’m coming.”
“Who is Mykal talking too?” A distant voice asked.
‘But wait a minute, if they’re in the heavens now, why would I have to climb there to tell them to get right with God?’ He wondered while he continued to climb higher and higher. ‘Wait a minute. Diaz said once you die it’s over. Ski told me that before also. You don’t get no second chances,’ he thought and realized he thought in a double negative. ‘If they’re doomed for all eternity, then they’re doomed for all eternity. When I almost died on the 22nd of January Diaz said that I would have blown it for good and that I better not waste my second chance that I had been given.’