by Dave Hazel
Mykal continued shooting at the targets as he saw them. Two of the creatures flew into the air and threw down, what appeared to be large ceramic jugs of water. When the two ceramic looking jugs crashed, one on the ground and the other against one of the vehicles, their air was suddenly enveloped with a yellowish cloud and the few standing nearby were surrounded in the strange yellow plume of smoke. It looked like a smoke grenade had been tossed into the area. Mykal stopped shooting because he didn’t want to take a chance of shooting any of his men in the yellow cloud. Several men ran out of the cloud coughing, choking and gagging.
When the two creatures that dropped the yellow smoke bombs saw that the yellow cloud filled the air they flew away before they could be shot down. Mykal feared some sort of chemical agent was used against his people. Some of the men continued to shoot in the hopes of dropping them while they fled. A couple of the other creatures flew away but the men scrambled around looking for safety from their brutal attacks. Men rushed around to the injured to help in whatever way they could. Towbar ushered Doninka to her vehicle. Mykal was confident she would be safe since the flying bat creatures were either dead or gone.
“What is that smell?” Mykal yelled when he could detect an aroma coming from the yellow cloud.
“It reminds me of a stronger scent of, like, lemongrass,” Roy Jr. said and snapped his fingers when the scent came to him. “Maybe a little harsher than lemongrass,” he corrected himself as he sniffed the air.
Mykal watched the small group that seemed to be challenged by the yellow smoke. The first person Mykal saw come out of the yellow cloud was the cameraman Jeff ‘Lil Bit’ Bennett. He was the son of the reporter named Josh Collins. Lil Bit was on his hands and knees choking and coughing. His face looked almost blue from the lack of breathing. Others came out of the yellow cloud in the same area and looked just as devastated.
Lil Bit stood to his feet and stopped coughing. He brushed the dirt and grass from his clothing and wiped his eyes from the tears that formed from choking. He seemed to gather himself quickly and looked around to those near him. He nodded his head confidently as if there was upbeat music playing in his head that he was responding to. From the little group gathered that had been swallowed up in the yellow smoke, Jeff Lil Bit ducked inside the vehicle and returned with his boom box stereo and placed it on the hood of the vehicle he stood beside. He pressed play to get some music playing through the speakers and he cranked the volume up as loud as it would go. It was as if Jeff Lil Bit had no idea, or concern, that a battle had been raging around them. He was focused on the music in his head and now the music that was blaring from the speakers of his boom box.
Mykal recognized the cassette tape Lil Bit played. It was the group Re-Flex from 1983. The album was called The Politics of Dancing. It was a New Wave act and Mykal recognized the song since he also had the very same cassette tape. Lil Bit fast forwarded the tape to the song named after the album title. As soon as the song ‘The Politics of Dancing’ started to play, Mykal was surprised to see Jeff Lil Bit Bennett begin to dance as if he didn’t have a ‘care in the world’. He danced wildly to the music while some suffered and mourned over the dead and injured around them. Jeff stopped the song and moved the tape to the song called ‘Praying to the Beat’. He continued to dance like he didn’t have a ‘care in the world’.
Others, who had been shrouded in the yellow smoke, joined him in dancing around the boom box blasting the sounds of upbeat New Wave danceable music. At first Mykal thought there was some sort of prank taking place. Several men, Marines and Army personnel were dancing wildly to the song around the front of the vehicle. They stared at the portable cassette player that blasted the tunes and wouldn’t take their eyes from it while they danced to it. The absurdity of their actions was like looking at some 1960’s beach blanket party movies where singing and dancing would break out for no particular reason. But they were dancing while men were suffering and others had just died.
Mykal knew something was wrong because men just died in the attack and these men, these mighty warriors from Mykal’s world, dropped their weapons on the ground or leaned them against the vehicle to free themselves to dance like they didn’t have a ‘care in the world’. He got the impression the men believed they were out at a night club. Mykal thought it was one of the strangest things he had ever seen before.
Mykal watched from a distance. He didn’t want to get involved because he didn’t understand what was taking place. Obviously the ceramic bomb that created the yellow smoke had something to do with the strange behavior of these men. Mykal watched Sergeant First Class Lemon approach a group of men who were dancing wildly to the music blasting from the boom box atop the hood of the vehicle. Mykal counted eight men including Jeff Lil Bit Bennett who were the ones who seemed to be in the party mode.
Sergeant First Class Lemon, one of the senior Army NCOs, was giving orders to the men but the men weren’t listening to Lemon. When Sergeant Lemon spoke louder to the dancing men they ignored him and continued to shake their bodies in rhythmic fashion to the tunes blasting out at them. Lemon grabbed the arm of Corporal Younger of the transport team to turn him around. When Younger turned to look at Lemon he snarled viciously, wound up and cold cocked Lemon. Younger hit the older man squarely in the face with his fist. Lemon would never have expected a soldier under his leadership to strike out at him.
Sergeant Lemon had been completely caught off guard. He flew backward to the ground and just laid there as if he had been knocked unconscious by the punch to his face. He looked as if he was dead. Younger turned back to the music and continued to dance with the rest of the men who were under the spell of dance. Younger didn’t looked back to see if he caused serious damage to the older Sergeant First Class Lemon.
Mykal was shocked by what he witness and saw a couple of men rush to the aid of Lemon. Gunnery Sergeant Ratner was about to rush into the area but Captain Diaz stopped him. Mykal saw that many of the ‘normal’ soldiers were watching the strange ‘dancing’ soldiers from a distance and waited for orders before they took any actions. Something out of the ordinary was happening and it affected several soldiers. Captain Diaz didn’t want to put any more men at risk. It seemed clear he feared the ‘dancing’ men might escalate their response to being interrupted and with their weapons nearby Diaz wanted the situation to cool off first.
Mykal eyed the group to know who was all affected by the yellow smoke that made the men more concerned with dancing than following orders. The entire four man transport team of that vehicle had been reduced to dancers. Sergeant Hackett, Corporal Younger who struck Lemon, Corporal Derringer and Private E2 Yelchin from that one transport vehicle were all in a different world mentally along with Lil Bit Bennett, 82nd Airborne Corporal Harris, Green Beret Staff Sergeant Carrie and Army Ranger Corporal Hall from the original Lost Patrol. A ninth person, Marine Corporal Rivers joined them and started to dance with them. Mykal didn’t know where he came from, but believed he just came from within the vehicle that had been struck by the ceramic bomb that created the yellow smoke. Rivers joined them and started to dance with the eight who were expressing themselves with wild gyrations and movements.
Mykal wasn’t sure what they should do. The nine dancers either didn’t see the rest of the men or they believed everyone was of the same mind to ‘get their groove on’. He believed the men were all infected by whatever caused the strange effects from the yellow smoke bomb. The nine men who appeared to have been affected by the yellow smoke were still dancing to the loud music blaring from the top of the vehicle hood. The next song that shot through the speakers was another New Wave style song called Computer Games by the Australian group called Mi-Sex. Mykal felt more confused since the men seemed to be in a world of their own and had no knowledge or care that others had just died from the enemy’s most recent attack.
A couple of men tended to Sergeant Lemon who began to stir while lying flat on his back. Once they had Lemon in a seated position he worked his jaw as if
he thought it was broken. Sergeant Lemon looked shocked. When they relayed to him what happened he responded as if he couldn’t believe a younger Army soldier would strike him in the manner he had. The older sergeant suddenly looked like an old man who had been devastated that something like that would happen to him. It was as if the system, the rank structure system, had failed him. He should never have been disrespected like that.
Mykal and a hand full of men approached the group that seemed reminiscent of a Soul Train or American Bandstand TV show. Mykal walked beside Lil Bit’s father Josh Collins to see if they could get him to turn off the music. Several other men also approached their friends to either get them to stop dancing or to find out what the problem was.
Army transport team member Private E2 Voinovich approached his very close friend Private E2 Yelchin to see if he could get his close friend to stop dancing just as Mykal and Josh approached Lil Bit. Mykal watched Voinovich from the corner of his eye because Voinovich had to yell at his friend to get his attention and Yelchin still wouldn’t turn to face him. They had been close friends for three years and he believed he could get Yelchin to stop. Voinovich grabbed Yelchin’s arm to turn him around and was surprised when Yelchin turned on him and lunged at him with a long dagger in his hand. Yelchin pulled the long dagger from his web belt. The straight dagger was a weapon he had picked up from a dead enemy. Yelchin stabbed Voinovich in the gut and when he fell to the ground holding his wound Yelchin dove on top of him in an attempt to stab him repeatedly.
Stunned with horror, Mykal turned to watch the attack and before he could do anything to step in, Lil Bit punched Mykal in the face after winding up with a vicious haymaker. Mykal was dazed and knocked to the ground. He was almost knocked unconscious, but his focus was on the one Army soldier stabbing his close friend and fellow Army soldier. Mykal didn’t even think of the possibility that Lil Bit would continue his attack with or without a weapon. He instinctively raised his hands to block any possible on-coming punches.
Josh Collins and Marine Private First Class Anka dove on top of Jeff Lil Bit Bennett before he could strike anyone else. They tackled him to the ground despite his yells and cries that he had to control the music they were dancing to. Lil Bit didn’t act as if he had done anything wrong. He was desperately concerned about controlling the music the men were listening to.
Mykal blocked his face with his arms like a boxer in a defensive position to prevent other punches hitting him. He heard other scuffles breaking out among the men. Yells and curses filled the air and the yells rose above the music that blasted from the speakers of the boom box. Suddenly three pistol shots ripped through the air rising above any noise the yells or the music made. Mykal turned his head to see Lieutenant Finley standing in a combat stance with his 9mm pistol in his hands. He pointed at the immobile figure of Private E2 Yelchin who had stabbed his close friend a second time and was prepared to stab him repeatedly and tried to stab those who attempted to disarm him.
Mykal turned his gaze to see the lifeless expression of Yelchin with his head tilted back and his mouth wide open. He looked to be dead. Yelchin took three 9mm rounds to the chest. He still clutched the bloody dagger in his tightly wrapped fist. The moment was surreal as he eyed one of his men laying there bleeding out with the sounds of upbeat music blaring in the background. Mykal couldn’t believe one of his men had been killed by one of his top leaders. He knew something strange occurred and he knew Lieutenant Finley wouldn’t carelessly shoot one of his own men. Yelchin had to have posed a serious and deadly threat to others. This was the second 9mm pistol of Finley’s that had killed a fellow soldier. The first was Sergeant Klein who shot himself in the head with Finley’s handgun when he feared becoming a zombie just two weeks prior. Finley gave the pistol away.
Mykal tried to get to his feet but he seemed wobbly and felt his legs weren’t completely under him so he took his time. He could hear the rest of the men had control over the eight who were acting oddly due to the yellow smoke. He heard the fighting, scuffling, cursing and yelling of those involved with the hand to hand combat. It became even louder when one of the men turned off the boom box and stopped the music. Mykal heard Lil Bit cuss out his own father when the music ceased. Lil Bit sounded like he was on the verge of crying when he tried to explain that the music was his life. He accused his father of attempting to kill him by allowing the sounds to stop pouring out of the speakers.
When all eight were subdued, they had to be restrained to keep them from fighting. They recognized their friends and they knew who they were, but they couldn’t make themselves stop attacking the others. When questioned about the dancing to the music and fighting once the music stopped, none of the eight had an answer. Some said they didn’t understand the questioning and wanted to know why they were being confined.
Mykal watched medics work on Yelchin, but there was no saving him. He was dead. Finley seemed distraught over shooting and killing one of their own, but he truly believed Voinovich and others may have lost their lives if he hadn’t intervened.
Mykal rested against one of the vehicles. He rubbed his jaw when Captain Diaz and Josh Collins approached him. Mykal’s head and the inside of his mouth hurt where his teeth cut through the inside of his mouth. He felt a little dazed by everything that just unfolded. He couldn’t believe the enemy had been successful in getting his men to attack each other.
“Are you alright Mykal?” Diaz asked.
“Yeah. I’m fine. My jaw just hurts. I was watching something else and didn’t see Lil Bit wind up to nail me.”
“I’m so sorry about that Mykal,” Josh said and nearly bowed over as if begging for forgiveness for his son. “I don’t know what that was all about. That was the strangest thing I ever saw. I’ve never heard of Lil Bit ever getting into a fight before. I don’t know what had come over him,” he explained in the hopes of having leniency shown for his son.
“I’m not worried about your son,” Mykal said and waved away his pleading. “It was something those flying rat faced looking things threw down. Whatever those men inhaled made them a little crazy. I don’t blame your son,” Mykal said while he continued to rub his jaw. “It was that yellow smoke that made them all go crazy.”
“Thank you Mykal,” Josh said and bowed his head a couple times and repeated his thanks.
“Finley is just devastated that he used deadly force on one of our own men,” Diaz declared. “He’s taking it rough, but like he explained to me, if he wouldn’t’ have stopped Yelchin, Yelchin looked like he was going to attack everyone near him. He didn’t look normal. The man he stabbed, Private Voinovich was Yelchin’s very close friend. Finley’s shooting was clearly self-defense so I’m not going to take his weapons from him.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to,” Mykal replied and continued to rub the ache in his jaw. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times to work the joint. “Just make sure the men are watching all around us, especially from straight up.”
“I already brought that to the men. We didn’t know we were being attacked until we were hit and they were right on top of us.”
“Sir,” Josh said and looked to both Mykal and Captain Diaz. “Do either of you know how long the men are going to be confined. My son was asking me--”
“When they stop acting the fool,” Mykal said and rubbed his jaw again. “They seem normal but they’re not. I watched them just try to untie one of them a few minutes ago and the Army guy went nuts and wanted to fight them. I don’t know what those things hit us with but it clearly messed up their heads.”
“Well, we need to get moving,” Diaz said to end the subject. “We have the army that is still in pursuit of us. We can re-evaluate our situation the next time we stop. Hopefully, and I’ll personally add, prayerfully, time will purge that strange stuff from their system.”
“I agree,” Mykal replied and looked toward those who had been affected. “It’s bad enough we gotta fight the enemy out there. We don’t wanna be fighting among us cuz of the
ir strange chemical weapon they hit us with. Let’s go.”
4.
Mykal knew he was dreaming. His body was spinning wildly out of control but he couldn’t grab onto anything as he spun in a downward spiral like water down a sink drain. Everything was moving so fast. He watched himself continue to spin downward. Though he was watching his body as if watching a movie, he couldn’t reach out and grab hold of something to help himself. He saw his hand reach out to grab his shrinking self but he couldn’t grab hold. He heard his dizzying self yell for help, but he couldn’t do anything. He wondered where he was falling to. “Is anyone gonna friggin help me?” He yelled.
“Mykal, Mykal, wake up,” Mathis said though he sounded like he was in a tunnel. “You’re having a bad dream. It’s okay. Just wake up. You always have bad dreams,” he scoffed.
Mykal felt the gentle shake of his shoulder and he bolted upright. His eyes felt so heavy and his head seemed to be numbed with dizziness. He immediately reached for the bandage on his neck. Though Mykal knew the medics said they cut out the two ‘worms’ or rather ‘centipede like creatures’ from his neck, he was sure he felt movement under the surface of his throat. He felt like he was moving in slow motion due to the flu like symptoms that had control of his being.
“Are you okay Myk?” Mathis asked. His smile turned to an expression of concern when Mykal looked at him.
“I feel like crap,” he groaned. “This is the worse I ever felt. I know I have a high temp, my head is pounding and I have body aches.”
“Do you think you have the flu or do you--” Mathis stopped as if he didn’t want to say the next words.
“Or what?” Mykal asked and sounded like he was stuffed up with sinus problems.
“Nothing,” Mathis replied and turned away.
“What? What were you gonna say?” Mykal pressed him. While Mykal looked at Mathis it seemed like the entire inside of the vehicle was spinning out of control.