by Dave Hazel
“Thanks. Let me talk to him,” Mykal said and continued to shake his green hand to try and put some feeling in his trembling green paw. He had to open and close his fist because the numbing was stronger than before. “Myk here.”
“I take it you clearly know the green fog is appearing somewhere in the near vicinity, right?” Captain Diaz asked.
“Yes Sir,” he replied and shook his hand. “I think they’re probably gonna try to keep putting forces all around us.”
“That’s what I believe as well. I just had Lanorear on my vehicle and we spoke briefly. He believes the enemy is dropping forces all around us. From above he has seen the green fog appear in various places, but then he gave me some disturbing news.”
“What’s that?” Mykal asked and feared there would be more surprises they would have to contend with.
“Two of his Hawkmen were cornered by some of the bat like creatures and taken to one of the army leaders. It was supposed to be a simple questioning to see what they knew of our forces. The one who escaped said they were having a normal conversation and then suddenly they were pounced on and accused of aiding and assisting us. They tried to deny it and one was beheaded on the spot and the other broke free and fought to get away. He flew away and was able to make good his escape. He managed to catch up to Lanorear and the other Hawkman. The Yellow one was the one who had been beheaded. Now they are down to three of them.”
“Awh damn,” Mykal sighed and shook his head. “So are they splitting from us and taking off to stay away from us?”
“No. Lanorear told me they are doomed. If they are ever caught they will be executed. If they are seen they will be attacked and they will be killed as traitors. Lanorear said he will stay with us and would like to take you up on your offer to go to the Pass with us. If Towbar’s friend can turn them back into Elves that would be great and if not they will gladly live on that side of the world as Hawkmen since they are now forever fugitives.”
“Great. Oh damn,” Mykal huffed again. “I just felt the green fog being used once again. “Captain Diaz, tell the men to make sure we keep men up in the turrets and to be watching in all directions. They’re coming after us. And I don’t think they’re gonna stop until they take Doninka from us,” he said and realized Doninka was listening to him. She looked scared. “We’re not gonna let them get close to us,” he said for her benefit. “But as soon as things calm down and if we can get a little distance from them I’m gonna try to get us outta here. Let’s not say anything over the radio,” he quickly added and suddenly felt paranoid. “I don’t know if our radio waves can be picked up or not, but I’m not gonna say what I was thinking. I know that sounds crazy, but I don’t wanna take any chances. But, we’re still heading to the city to capture a girl to be a decoy princess,” he added should there be the slightest chance their radio waves and voices were being heard by enemy forces somewhere. That would hopefully take the enemy on a false trail.
“I think I hear what, oh I agree,” Diaz said as if he was playing along once he caught on.
“Just let me know when it looks like we have some room where we can stop for about ten to twenty minutes,” Mykal said. He wanted to have uninterrupted time to attempt creating the green fog.
2.
They drove for the next hour and a half and the vehicles had to weave in and out of conflicts by avoiding groups of soldiers and strange creatures that were put before them like a scary gauntlet. They were careful not to be careless and drive too fast doing mostly thirty to thirty-five miles per hour most of the time. On a couple of occasions they were nearly hit by large rocks dropped from above. The large bat faced looking creatures, the Tah-kahseebowns, tried to dive bomb them with small boulders, but none of the rocks hit their targets. Only a couple times did the men in the turrets open fire on the flying rock dive bombers but they didn’t hit any of them. After releasing their payload of boulders they were very elusive.
Mykal didn’t want to scare Doninka any more than she was, but he knew the enemy was making an all-out attempt to capture her. With the little bit of radio chatter he picked up on, and the talk of the men in the turrets of what was proceeding around them, he believed the enemy was sent on a do or die mission to get her back into their hands. Mykal was also amazed at how close the enemy had remained close to them during the entire time of their getaway. Every time Zizmon-Tarl, or his designated green fog creator, used the green fog, it seemed to be very close to where they were or where they were heading to. It was almost as if Zizmon-Tarl had eyes in the sky.
Mykal was getting concerned that they couldn’t gain any distance on them in order to escape for Mykal to try using the green fog. He began to fear that if he couldn’t use the green fog, as Towbar had been denied, then he believed they were at serious risk to all of them being killed and Doninka being taken prisoner again. Mykal listened to the conversation between Staff Sergeant Barry the driver and Private E2 Wilde his assistant who was to watch and point out any dangers. They argued a couple of times when Wilde told Barry to turn certain directions only to find the enemy there or almost there. The entire group was running into near misses and speeding to avoid conflicts. Emotions and tensions were riding high between all the men.
“Hey Mykal, can I ask you a serious question?” Mathis whispered in an attempt to keep others from listening to their conversation.
“Sure, what’s up,” Mykal answered and the vehicles suddenly slowed to almost a stop and changed directions. He was paying more attention to the bickering going on between Barry and Wilde and the yells of Simmons and Nelson up in the turret. It seemed as if the enemy was at every turn and on the other side of every rise in the land.
“If they do get us completely surrounded, how are we going to protect her?” Mathis asked. “If we have to die, I understand that. When I join the Corps, I understood that I might have to die for my country. I’m not so worried about that, but I am worried about us not completing our mission. I don’t want to go out as a failure when it comes to this or any mission. Even if I should die by myself I want to make sure we succeed in our mission,” he said and looked at Mykal’s focused glare into his face. “Don’t take me wrong Myk, I don’t want to die, but I don’t want to be a failure even more,” he declared and his hands fidgeted as if he was nervous.
Mykal looked hard at Mathis. He knew Mathis was somewhat fearful, but he believed his words. Even though Mathis was afraid and didn’t want to die, Mathis was mightily concerned with them dropping the ball and not protecting Doninka from the hands of the enemy. Mathis didn’t want to die a failure. Mykal was truly proud of his Marine Corps friend.
The situation forced Mykal to consider what he would do if their group should be over run and all his men were killed? He felt somewhat guilty that he would be able to hide due to his ring that enabled him to turn himself invisible. But then that meant all his friends, Towbar, Roy Jr., Randy, Mathis and all the others would be killed. That would also mean Doninka would either be killed or taken captive.
‘I could give her my ring and allow her to turn invisible,’ he thought. But then just as suddenly he pulled his ring hand to his chest and knew he would never allow the ring out of his possession. ‘This is what would make me be able to get home and be with Pam and the boys,’ he thought selfishly and looked at the gold band. ‘Oh damn, I really love Doninka and I care about her, but I can’t give her this ring. What a friggin selfish bastard I’m turning into over this damn ring.’ Mykal realized his selfishness wasn’t just an act of selfishness but rather a response to his addiction. He needed the ring like a dope addict junkie needed the last bag of ‘junk’ that someone else was asking for. He knew he couldn’t do it and really hoped it wouldn’t come down to that. ‘I need to get help after all this stuff is over. When the war is all said and done I’ll have to admit that I need help,’ he thought and nodded as if he was listening to the words that were coming out of the mouth of Mathis.
Mathis continued to speak but Mykal didn’t hear his word
s.
Mykal was focused on his own selfish thoughts while he glanced down at the ring. ‘I say I love her. Do I really love her if I wouldn’t give her my secret ring, my secret power to help her escape, even if it means my own death? But then if I allow her to live and me to die, then I’ll never be able to be with Pam and my two little buddies back home.’
“What do you think Mykal?” Mathis asked again.
Mykal wasn’t sure what the entire question was. “We have to do all we can to keep the enemy from getting their hands on her,” he said firmly and felt anger in his mind over his own secret position to selfishly protect his interests before it came to her. ‘No, I’d never do that,’ he scoffed at himself mentally and wished the subject would change.
“So do you think we should try that then?” Mathis asked again.
“What? I’m sorry, I’m listening to fifty different things going on around us,” he replied and seemed to bark at Mathis. It wasn’t Mathis who grated on his nerves. He was frustrated with his own selfish, self-centered, position on the situation at hand.
“Should we just split up into five different directions?” Mathis asked. “This way the enemy wouldn’t know what vehicle she is in and they would have to split their forces.”
“I don’t like that idea at all. What if they know what vehicle she’s in and they all just stay focused on this vehicle? Then we have the whole damn army after us and our forces are scattered. There’s safety in strength and more power in our numbers if we stay together. Besides, if I get the chance to do the green fog, they would all miss out. I’m sure that wouldn’t go over too good with everyone else who wants to go home with us,” he chuckled.
They could all feel the vehicle making a sharper than normal turn. If they couldn’t get away from the immediate threat, it was obvious it was going to be a very long three days. Mykal knew they couldn’t avoid the enemy for three days if they couldn’t get any distance from the multiple forces chasing them.
“Mykal, Mykal,” Mathis called loudly while at the same time Sergeant Barry shouted his name. “Captain Diaz wants you,” Mathis shouted while handing him his radio handset.
“Myk here.”
“Mykal, I’m going to take a bold chance,” Diaz spoke and then covered his handset while he spoke something to someone else. “If we go to our left there is an enormous army of just foot soldiers and if we go to our right and straight ahead there are smaller groups but they include a great gathering of Who’s Who of Ziggy’s collection of freaks and monsters,” Diaz declared.
Mykal wanted to laugh because Captain Diaz sounded like him for a moment. “Do you have any contact with Lanorear and his Hawkmen?”
“Yes, they are flying beside us,” Captain Diaz answered. “I told them to stay very near us.”
“Good, cuz as soon as we get a few minutes I’m gonna try the green fog and we’re not gonna have time for them to try to catch up to us. So make sure they stay with us no matter what happens.”
“Will do. They understand we’re preparing to vacate the area if everything works out. Back to our present situation, I think the enemy would prefer that we try to go in between the two smaller groups of large monsters so they can converge on us, but my thinking is we can plow through the large group of foot soldiers and cut them down with our weapons. We may even stop and really lay a beating on them, thus we should be able to get on the other side of them and give you five to ten minutes to do what you have to do.”
Mykal chuckled at Diaz’s commanding voice. “I said I needed ten to twenty minutes,” he replied to be funny.
“I said you’re getting five to ten minutes and that’s if we can get away with knocking the bad guys down for a short spell,” Diaz responded and didn’t sound like he was being humorous.
“You got it Sir,” Mykal said and laughed. “I better shut up cuz every time we talk my time is getting shorter and shorter.”
“Everyone listen up and listen closely,” Diaz called out over the radio. “We’re going to make a choice the enemy wouldn’t expect us to. We’re going to attack the much larger force of foot soldiers. There appears to be at least ten or fifteen thousand in the group. It seems like only the leaders are on horseback. Not only are we going to punch them in the face, but then we’re going to kick them while they’re down and we’re going to give Mykal his three to five minutes time he needs to do what he can to get us out of here.”
“Three to five minutes?” Mykal gasped in a joking manner to those sitting with him. “I better really shut up cuz every time we discuss it my time gets shorter and shorter,” he repeated again for Diaz to hear.
“Any words from you Mykal?” Diaz asked.
Sergeant Barry handed Mykal his radio microphone so all the vehicles would hear him. “Yeah, once we get on the other side of the bad guys I’m gonna try to make the green fog appear. If I’m successful make sure you get your asses in there and don’t miss it. I’m going to deliberately make it last a short time so the bad guys don’t follow us in there. I’m not worried about them coming through to our side cuz our guys will kick their ass, but I don’t want a war to start and to have the Sosos get confused. Cuz then they would have a reason to start an all-out assault. Just take down as many of the bad guys as you can and I’ll try to make it happen fast. If it doesn’t work then make sure you follow our vehicle and get the hell outta there cuz the bad guys with all the freaks and monsters are gonna be coming after us. And while I’m making the green fog appear please take out any of the bad guys who are coming near us. We don’t want any of them to get into our green fog.”
“Is everyone clear on what is about to take place?” Captain Diaz called out over the radio. After the vehicles all replied Diaz gave the order for the vehicles to stop and suddenly change direction.
The five vehicles turned and spread out to attack the massive group of foot soldiers in a straight line. The .50 caliber machine guns opened fire and began to tear their numbers up. The vehicles all stopped when they got to within about fifty yards and all the men filed out of the vehicle with their weapons. The M-60s with the .50 caliber machine guns did the most damage, but all the men with M-203 grenade launchers left their mark as well. All the rifle men took down as many as they could in the short amount of time they had.
From behind the large mob of foot soldiers there rose three of the Tah-kahseebown creatures. The tall bat faced monsters that were known for dropping boulders, though they didn’t have the best accuracy. They flew into the midst of the battle and dove in to help as much as they could. Two of them were armed with large bows and one had a long spear. The one with the spear landed on the ground in front of the men shooting their weapons at the advancing soldiers. The Tah-kahseebown with his spear lunged at Sergeant First Class Lemon since he appeared to be leading the assault because he was directing weapons fire. The Tah-kahseebown drove the spear into the chest of Sergeant Lemon three times rapidly before he fell to the ground. Lemon dropped dead, and the tall creature drove its spear into the lifeless body of Lemon a final time. The spear wielding Tah-kahseebown was shot to pieces by several rifles and M-60 machine guns.
Marine Private First Class Rangel was shooting his M-60 effectively at the enemy and suddenly stopped when a large arrow almost the size of a spear struck him in the chest right under his neck. The bat creature was destroyed for taking out the Marine. The third bat faced creature flew away and left the soldiers to fight the mighty force on their own.
Mykal was shooting soldiers as fast as he could put them in his sights. He was tempted to pull out his two little figurines but he didn’t want to take the chance of having to leave them behind and decided against pulling out his magic monsters that would have ripped apart any of the soldiers that came within their range.
A considerable sized hole was knocked down in the wall of soldiers. As the enemy force of men advanced on foot, most of the soldiers turned and ran despite their ‘do or die’ orders to capture the princess at all costs. Mykal believed they probably fig
ured they could regroup when the other forces gathered around them. They hadn’t expected such a smaller foe to be so mighty to dish out so much death and destruction so quickly and without the enemy getting close enough to make contact.
Mykal jumped into the vehicle and yelled to Barry. “Get me on the other side. Hurry, hurry,” Mykal yelled and yelled for his close friends to get in the vehicle so they wouldn’t have to run through the field of dead and wounded. “Then tell everyone to get their asses over there,” Mykal shouted more out of excitement that he was going to have an opportunity to try creating the green fog and possibly get everyone out of the deadly situation they were embroiled in, especially the Princess Doninka.
Mykal jumped out of the vehicle as it stopped and ran about twenty feet in front of the vehicle. Before him lay wide open plains so he knew there was no immediate threat in front of him, but behind him was a different story. The forces they avoided to attack when they plowed through the large group of foot soldiers were on the move and coming after them. Mykal knew he had to hurry before they got there. The other groups that included monsters and freaks of Zizmon-Tarl, as well as thousands of foot soldiers, would do much more damage to them than the group of just foot soldiers. He was thankful that they just obliterated the large force comprised of foot soldiers, but now the other groups were advancing toward them to get into the battle.
Mykal told Doninka to stay inside the vehicle but she kept peeking to see what he was doing. Towbar rushed to Mykal’s side and stood there with his six foot sword in hand daring any to go near his friend, but the entire group of enemy forces in the immediate area was dead, dying or running away. Mykal looked back to see what was coming their way and caught sight of captain Diaz on his knees. At first he thought Diaz was injured but then he realized Diaz was on his knees praying to God that Mykal would have success. Mykal was using magic to get them out of their dangerous situation and Diaz was praying for him to have success which goes against what Diaz believed about the use of magic.