Rescue Or Recovery

by Dave Hazel

  “What’s up Mykal?” Randy asked when they settled down and Doninka resigned to the fact she needed to rest.

  “I know I brought this up before, and I was kinda half joking,” he said quietly and looked to see if anyone else was listening. “But I wanna see what you guys think. I wanna turn around and go back to the mountain and see if we can’t capture a couple of the zombies created by the AFAs, the Area Fifty-one Aliens,” he said and paused.

  “Or UBAHs, the Ugly Big Ass Heads,” Mathis said without missing a beat which caused Mykal to chuckle.

  “Enough. I’m being serious. I really wanna see if we can catch a couple of the zombies.”

  “Why the hell would you wanna do that?” Roy Jr. asked.

  “Well it sounds like Ziggy Stardust made it so we can’t use the green fog anymore,” Mykal answered and looked into all their faces. “If that’s true, then we’re stuck here. And if we’re stuck here it seems like Ziggy is trying to push us into a head on collision with his army to finish us off. Eventually we’re gonna be outta gas and we’re gonna get destroyed. But if we were to capture some of those zombies and let them loose in his back yard to where they attack his people and overwhelm and overrun his people with a zombie apocalypse, he would have to stop his mad plan of trying to take over the other side of the world.”

  “Damn Myk,” Roy Jr. chuckled nervously. “That sounds like the plot of a bad horror movie.”

  “I know but if we don’t have any way of getting back to the other side of the world, we might as well go out with a bang. With a big friggin bang,” Mykal said with a smirk and wasn’t sure what the blank expressions on their faces meant. “I just wanted to see what you guys thought before I bring it up with Diaz and Finley. I know Diaz is gonna have a hard time with us doing that cuz he’s a Christian and he’s gonna bring up the argument, like you did,” he turned to Mathis, “he’ll say ‘what about the children’? I say screw the friggin children. In five to twenty years all these friggin children will be blood thirsty killers for Ziggy Stardust. I say let’s nip ‘em in the bud,” he added and started to laugh. He felt odd since he was the only one laughing. “Besides, I would rather try to capture one or a couple of those things and release them in his back yard than having a one on one face off with him, which is what I think his little henchmen are trying to push us toward.”

  “Wow Myk, that’s a mouthful to take in,” Randy said and he looked to the others to gauge how they were taking his proposal.

  “Okay, think this through,” Mykal said and used his hands more than he normally would. “If we really can’t get outta here, we’re gonna end up getting killed. Every single one of us are gonna get killed or we’re gonna get captured and who the hell knows what will happen to those who are unfortunate enough to get caught by these bad guys. We saw how well that worked out for Jackson and Thornton,” he added though it wasn’t confirmed they had been captured by Zizmon-Tarl’s soldiers. “So if it’s true, that we’re finished here and there’s no getting back to the Pass, thus there’s no getting back to the real world, why not drop a bomb on his ass?”

  “If we were able to pull that off it would be like dropping a nuke right down on Main Street of Ziggy Central,” Roy Jr. said and started to laugh.

  “Well, it would be more like dropping a slow exploding nuke right down on Main Street of Ziggy Central,” Mykal snickered his minor correction.

  “Damn Myk,” Roy Jr. gasped with a sigh. “I just don’t know if I wanna be responsible for all the little kids and women who are gonna get ate up and changed by the zombies.”

  “Okay, I’ll tell ya what we’ll do,” Mykal said and paused to ensure they were focused on him. “Just before we let the zombies go in downtown of one of his cities we’ll tell the zombies to not go after the women and children. How’s that?”

  They all started to laugh because Mykal’s proposal sounded sincere and his tone was serious, but he was obviously being flippant.

  “Mykal, I just don’t know,” Mathis moaned. “If it was too work, then all those women and children would suffer because of us. I don’t know if I can live with that.”

  “Okay, I understand where your hearts are at on this, but if we don’t you’re sentencing the children and women of Towbar’s land to the same fate, cuz they’re gonna get wiped out by the bad guys. And you guys have seen what happens when Sosos are involved in killing innocent people.”

  “Wait a minute,” Randy spoke up and actually raised his hand to stop all the chatter to get their attention on him. “When we dropped the two A-bombs on Japan in 1945, what was the purpose?”

  “It was to end the war,” Mathis answered.

  “Were innocent women and children killed and hurt by it?”

  “Yes. Of course,” Mathis replied and shook his head.

  “Great point Randy,” Mykal said and nodded with a smile. “Did it end the war?” Mykal asked. None of them replied. “Did it end the damn war or not?”

  “Yes it did,” Mathis answered as if he was forced to answer.

  “This will do the same thing,” Mykal replied confidently. “If this war doesn’t stop, then Ziggy with the help of the Sosos are gonna torture and butcher all of Towbar’s people. That includes the women and children. At least show the same damn concern for Towbar’s women and children that you’re showing for Ziggy’s women and children. Those women and children of Ziggy’s, by the way, would turn on us in a heartbeat, I might add.”

  “Okay, you made your point,” Mathis conceded. “Let’s say for the sake of argument that Captain Diaz is even willing to attempt such a horrible thing, how would we even pull that off? What would be the risk to us trying to capture those zombies that tried to rip us apart while we were under the mountain? I’ll never forget the screams of Private First Class Jourard who was attacked by his best friend Ay-zee, Azarski or whatever that dude’s name was and a couple other zombies.”

  “I don’t know how we would pull it off,” Mykal admitted. “I just wanted to get the discussion going to see if it would even be possible. If Towbar can’t get the green fog to appear, we’re really in a world of shit out here.”

  “Myk, weren’t you guys in a similar situation the very first time you guys got sent over here?” Roy Jr. asked. “I’m talking about when you guys became the Lost Patrol.”

  “Yeah, we were totally in the dark and didn’t have a clue where we were,” Mykal answered and patted his bandage again. “We got attacked by the baby people who turned into werewolves,” he said and snickered at how strange it sounded and how far away the situation was though it had only been about two months ago. “I had gotten clobbered and when I came to, Boris came up with the idea of trying to go to the castle of Ziggy Stardust with the idea to attempt to take him out for Towbar’s people. We thought for sure we would never make it back to the Pass,” he said and gave a sad smile over the loss of his close friend Boris.

  Boris never made it back. Boris happened to be rotting away under the mountain unless the Goblins, or creatures belonging to the Goblins feasted on his dead carcass. The thought of such a thing silently tortured Mykal. He flip flopped and had no regrets for shooting William Roberts in the back of the head and slowly grinded his teeth with hatred. ‘I hate this friggin ring,’ he thought while he tortured himself with wild ideas of how Boris’s body could possibly have been treated in death.

  “But you did make it back,” Mathis said and gave a bright smile. “There has to be a way for us to get back without us having to wipe out an entire nation of people.”

  “If we can’t use the green fog, we’re done,” Mykal argued. “We need to come up with a plan to make the most of the time we have left.”

  “You have to remember too Myk,” Mathis said and paused. He seemed unsure if he should say what he was about to speak. “Captain Diaz truly believes God will get us out of here. I’m not a believer like him, but I know God has done some amazing things in my life and in the lives of those around me.”

  When Mathis said
that it brought back to memory all the things Diaz and Ski had pointed out as miracles in Mykal’s own life. Mykal had to agree God was real and had done some really amazing things in his life since he had been in Towbar’s world.

  “Alright, we’ll talk about it later,” Mykal said and sat back to close his eyes. “Just think about it. Please, do me the favor and think about it, cuz it’s not about what we’re gonna do to the women and children of this side of the world, but rather, it’s about what we’re gonna do to keep the women and children of Towbar’s side of the world safe. And besides, our tails are on the line here too. Let’s not forget that.”

  3.

  “Hey Mykal,” Mathis called to him and interrupted his near nap state. “Hey Myk. Lieutenant Finley is calling and wants to know if you’re okay with stopping to give the men a break to have a lunch?”

  “Yeah sure. What’s Diaz say?”

  “He’s good with it,” Mathis replied and spoke into his handset.

  “Do we know how much distance we put between us and the army with the Things that is following us?” Mykal asked.

  “Captain Diaz said that the Hawkmen are going back and forth to make sure the army is a good distance from us.”

  “Alright, just tell everyone not to be lax on guard duty while we eat.”

  The vehicles formed a circle and the men all exited the vehicles to stretch and to make with their meal. Two men stayed in the turrets of each vehicle to ensure all directions were observed so they wouldn’t be caught off guard. Mykal and Corporal Renner helped Doninka out of the vehicle so she could move around and get some fresh air. Mykal, Doninka and Towbar strolled away from the vehicles for a short distance to give her some brief exercise by walking.

  “How are you feeling?” Mykal asked her. They stopped about fifty yards from the nearest vehicle and stared out into the open plains.

  “I feel much better than I felt earlier,” she replied and touched the thick bandage on her head. It almost looked like a camouflaged turban. “This feels strange on my head,” she said with a shy smile.

  “Consider it a crown for a princess,” Mykal said to be funny.

  Towbar actually broke out with loud laughter. A rarity. “That is an odd crown,” the giant responded.

  “If only your parents could see you now,” Mykal said and smiled. Her face was bruised but she couldn’t see it.

  “I would not like them to see her face at this time,” Towbar said.

  “Why not?” She asked and turned to the giant.

  Mykal stood behind Doninka and tried to wave him away from speaking the truth, but Towbar didn’t understand what Mykal’s frantic waving meant or he didn’t care.

  “Because your face looks as if you have been trampled by a herd of beasts,” the giant declared bluntly.

  “It does?” She gasped and reached up to feel her flesh. “My face?”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Mykal said and couldn’t keep from laughing. “You look okay. You are still very pretty.”

  “What do you mean? Why do you say such things? Why do you say ‘still’ very pretty?” She gawked. “Am I hideous?”

  “No,” Mykal said and sighed. He looked to Towbar to express his disappointment for starting this.

  “I only spoke the truth my friend,” the giant replied to Mykal’s unhappy glare.

  “I know but,” he sighed again and turned to her. “When we rolled in the vehicle, your face got bruised up a little. It’s no big deal. You’ll be okay. It’s like getting a black eye when you get into a fight. It’ll go away. It’s nothing. Honest.”

  She stared at him and moved her hand to her mouth. “Does everyone think I look terrible?”

  “No. No, no, seriously. They know you were in a car accident and--”

  “So something bad is wrong with me? My face is hideous? Is it not?”

  “No,” Mykal groaned his exasperation. “See what the hell you started?” He turned to the giant.

  “My friend, I only answered her question by speaking the truth,” Towbar replied defensively.

  “Yeah, but look at how she is.”

  “What do you mean by that?” She gasped in horror.

  Mykal started to laugh because now he was trapped in a no win situation. Anything he said she would take differently than he would intend. “I meant look at how are in the sense of how you are acting,” he replied and couldn’t keep from laughing in frustration due to the difficult, no win situation Towbar put him in.

  “No,” she gasped again and frowned. “I am hideous and I am just learning of this,” she added and continued to feel for any deformities on her face.

  “Stop and listen to me. You are the prettiest girl out here. You have a little bruising that will go away. It’s not a big deal.”

  “Is that supposed to make me feel better? I am the only girl out here.”

  “Oh my goodness. I can’t friggin win,” Mykal groaned with a laugh and looked heavenward. “Are you ready to get something to eat? I wanna go back cuz the more I talk, the deeper into trouble I seem to be digging myself.”

  “Will the men look at me like I am some sort of deformed hideous freak creature?” She asked and folded her arms across her chest.

  “No! They will not. Now stop. They haven’t said anything up to this point so why would they?” Mykal replied.

  “So you admit that I am hideous to behold?”

  “I’m gonna shut up cuz I can’t win,” Mykal said and threw his hands up in defeat. “Let’s go get something to eat.”

  “The female mind is a funny thing,” Towbar said and folded his massive arms across his chest. “Females desire us to be honest and tell them the truth, yet when you speak the truth they become upset.”

  Mykal was afraid to reply. He wanted to bring up that there are just some things you want to answer carefully. If a woman asked Towbar his opinion on whether certain articles of clothing made her looked fat or not, Mykal knew Towbar would tell the truth. He knew the giant would answer truthfully not tactfully, not to be cruel or harsh, but to be honest and give the woman the answer to the question she asked.

  “Let’s go get something to eat,” Mykal repeated and chuckled. He turned toward the vehicles to avoid taking the conversation any deeper than it had gone. “What the hell is that?” Mykal nearly yelled.

  The flying creatures with the bat like faces that attacked him and Doninka the day before, the Tah-kahseebown creatures, were diving down on their meal time camp. There had to be about a dozen of the Tah-kahseebowns, the bat faced flying creatures and they were diving straight down from above. He didn’t think he would have noticed them had he not stepped away from the circle formation of vehicles because they were attacking from directly above. The flying bat-faced monsters dropped boulders, fired a couple of spear like arrows and dropped other items that Mykal couldn’t tell what they were. The Tah-kahseebowns always seemed to have something to drop from above.

  Mykal began to yell as soon as he saw the attack streaming down from high above. He raised his rifle and began shooting wildly. He wasn’t aiming as much as he was shooting to draw the attention of the others and to loudly sound the alarm. His men began to scramble and take defensive positions. Most were responding to his attack and then the effects of the attack started to strike the little camp. Some of the boulders missed the camp completely, but some hit their mark.

  Sergeant Hillberg of the 82nd Airborne grabbed one of the M-60 machineguns and pointed it upward to start raking the flying creatures with 7.62mm rounds. Corporal Donaldson, an Army Ranger took it upon himself to grab the belt of ammunition to help feed the ammo for Hillberg. Both of them were struck with the same boulder and crushed to death. At the same time Marine Private First Class Chandler was running beside them when they were hit with the boulder. The boulder killed the two men and bounced into Chandler. The force slammed him into the vehicle which broke a couple of his ribs and twisted his knee. He heard a loud pop in his knee when his body twisted roughly. Chandler was part of the or
iginal Lost Patrol.

  Weapons fire continued to pick up once the men understood they were under attack. Mykal started to take better aim and sighted in on the heads of the Tah-kahseebowns. He targeted directly into the faces or heads of the bat looking monsters. The Elves were quick to take their stance and start shooting arrows. Together as a group of six they took down two of the flying beasts and prevented them from dropping their boulders. Together they injured a third flying creature which flopped to the ground and struggled to get airborne. The Dwarves rushed to the injured creature and hacked it to pieces with their axes.

  Once they saw the injured creature wouldn’t be a threat, Hidtotim and his two men joined the Dwarves and helped waylaid the large injured bat looking creature. One of the flying creatures that dropped its boulder to no affect landed on the ground beside the injured bat creature to help defend it. It was armed with a long sword. The four Dwarves, Hidtotim, Nomorek, Soonme and the five soldiers of Towbar’s army all attacked the creature and easily overcame it in its attempt to protect its comrade. It screeched loudly and tried to fight back, but it’s movements on the ground were jerky and slow. It should have remained in the air and it would have had a better chance of survival.

  One of the flying bat looking creatures floated in air and took aim with its bow. It fired the spear like arrow at a group of men who ran to get into better positions. The spear like arrow struck Army transport team member Private First Class Fields in the back. The large arrow head burst through Field’s chest and dropped him to the ground face first. He never looked up. Fields was dead when he hit the ground. The arrow shaft looked like a flag pole sticking up from his back. Fields was part of the Bravo transport team.

  A couple of the arrows that were larger than a normal man’s spear missed their targets and stuck into the ground. The three Tah-kahseebowns, the bat like creatures that joined the battle on the ground were outnumbered and out matched in weapons and were easily defeated. Their screeching seemed almost as loud as the weapons fire that brought them down.