by Dave Hazel
“You guys were some cruel sonsabitches,” Jake laughed.
“What’s going on?” Diaz asked when he and Finley joined them.
“Nothing really Sir,” Mykal said but couldn’t keep from laughing. “We’re just talking about some pranks we used to pull when we were Security Policemen back on Minot Air Force Base. “We’re trying to keep our mind off this strangling feeling of the mountains.”
“Remember that one with Kurt?” Boris asked and started to laugh.
“No, don’t say that,” Mykal whispered and shook his head. He knew which joke Boris was going to bring up but he didn’t want Boris to use Kurt’s crude language in front of Mister Christian, Captain Diaz.
“Please tell us,” Finley said. “I could use a good laugh.”
“As you know Sir, we have to be very careful when relaying messages and speaking over the radio,” Boris said.
“Yes. That’s military wide,” Diaz said and looked curious.
Mykal winced and wished Boris wouldn’t tell them this story.
“Well when we are out at our sites it gets kinda boring so sometimes guys come up with things to do to break the boredom,” Boris said. “Well me and Kurt were working day shift and at ten o’clock we’re usually in bed. But me and Kurt snuck the keys to one of the vehicles and went to the garage. Everyone thought we were sleeping. The big thing was, we had Inspector Generals on our base doing a base wide IG inspection,” Boris paused because of his laughter. “Anyway Kurt gets on channel one, there were four channels, three for the three different squadron areas, and then channel one is the common channel for everyone base wide. Anyway, Kurt gets on channel one and moans ‘help me, help me’ and someone replied with who is this. ‘Help me cuz I’m going f’ing crazy’ he moaned,” Boris said instead of cursing before Captain Diaz. ‘Help me I’m going f’ing crazy’ he moaned a couple more times on channel one and people are starting to freak out cuz he’s actually swearing over channel one while we have IG on the base,” Boris continued to laugh and continued to tell what happened. “He waited a couple of minutes and then Kurt starts again, ‘please help me. I’m going f’ing crazy.’ And then WSC, Wing Security Control is desperately trying to find him and everyone is freaking out because of the big inspection. ‘Help me I’m going f’ing crazy,’ he moaned again. ‘Tell us where you are at and we’ll send help for you,’ WSC called to him and then Kurt said, ‘I’m going f’ing crazy but I’m not that f’ing crazy,’” Boris laughed and Jake and Mykal nearly fell over with laughter.
“Me, Denny and Jake were all sitting in the office listening to this over the radio,” Mykal said and had to wipe his eyes. “We had no idea it was Kurt and that he was right in our garage. They told me about it, but were afraid to tell Jake and Denny until a couple of weeks later. The base went nuts over that. But it was funny.”
Diaz tried to keep a straight face but his lips kept twitching.
“That’s the kind of shit I had to put up with almost every day,” Jake laughed. “But even though they pulled pranks on people all the time, they were great at doing the job.”
“And around that same time,” Boris continued to laugh. “We had a Staff Sergeant Black who thought he was Mister Joe military and he was a real jerk. Everyone hated him. Well one night during the IG inspection, we were all on pins and needles expecting the inspectors to come out to the field. There are a total of Fifteen flight areas in the entire missile field so they could have gone anywhere at any time. But this one night all the supervisors were spending the night at that one site and about two o’clock, maybe two thirty in the morning, Kurt got on the radio and called Sergeant Black’s site and announced himself with the Inspector General’s call sign and said he had an ETA of five minutes to his site. Then Kurt said a sentence with the exercise duress word.”
“That was you? You rotten bastards,” Jake nearly yelled. “I was there and got woken up.”
“There was a fairly new guy on the desk so we knew he would freak out,” Boris laughed. “Sergeant Jones was on the desk and--”
“Jones nearly freaked out and sounded the alarm getting everyone up and outside in preparation to confront the inspectors using the exercise duress word,” Jake explained and shook his head. “It was freezing out that night and some of the guys were outside in their underwear and t-shirts with only their boots, helmets and flack vests on. We waited and waited in the freezing cold. Lieutenant Edwards was so pissed off when no one showed up. They sent the on duty response team to go looking for them. When they finally realized it was a prank Edwards and Mansfield were fuming and cussing up a storm. No one got back to bed till almost five in the morning. They were pissed but they could never pin it on anyone,” Jake said and started to laugh. “Edwards stormed back and forth inside the office saying, ‘who would do something like that?’ as if he had just been double crossed,” he added and continued to laugh. “Then he would say, ‘what kind of a mind would think up such a thing?’”
Mykal couldn’t stop laughing and had to continually wipe the joyful tears away.
“Did he ever get caught and get in trouble for that?” Lieutenant Finley asked and laughed with them.
Suddenly the laughter of Mykal, Boris and Jake ceased.
“Kurt was my best friend,” Boris said sadly. “He was killed here about six months ago. So was our supervisor Denny. That Staff Sergeant Black and Sergeant Jones, Lieutenant Edwards and Tech Sergeant Mansfield were all killed here during our first visit.”
“As goofy as some of that stuff sounded,” Mykal said to justify their pranks. “It broke the boredom. Three days out in the field was a long time so we had to come up with stuff to entertain ourselves,” Mykal chuckled sadly.
“Most people played cards or watched television,” Jake said. “But these guys pulled pranks on everyone. I could tell you stories that would make you shake your head and…”
Every few hundred yards or so, they would pass large heavy wooden doors on either side of the corridor. Mykal detected something magical at almost every set of doors. They all looked the same. They were big heavy doors reinforced with iron bands. They were old and covered in dust and cobwebs.
Out of curiosity Mykal touched one of the doors to get a feel for the magic involved. He wasn’t sure but his best guess concluded the doors were hidden magically from the other side. He believed the entrance or exit remained invisible to the naked eye from the opposite side. Anyone who would try to exit from the other side would never find the secret door.
2.
After a few hours they stopped to have a brief lunch. They wanted to stop for the shortest time possible. Everyone grew anxious to get to the other side of the mountain. Almost all of Mykal’s people and all of Nordad’s men suffered some degree of the strangling effects of claustrophobia. The Elves either put on a good show or weren’t hampered mentally by the squeezing pressure of the mountain like tomb.
Despite the quiet and the lack of contact with others, Diaz wanted guards posted. “We’re not going to take any chances.”
“The first four to get done eating, replace the guards at either end so they can eat,” Finley directed. “We would like to continue moving as soon as possible to get to fresh air.”
“It will only be a few more hours,” Starling offered and the other Elves agreed with him.
“Good,” Jake said. “I think I’d lose my mind if we had to stay in here much longer. “Oh damn,” he gasped. Suddenly Jake began choking and coughing. A white smoke appeared out of nowhere and enveloped them all. “What the hell is this?”
“Did someone toss a smoke grenade?” Boris whispered.
Captain Diaz and Lieutenant Finley rushed around asking all the military personnel if they intentionally or unintentionally discharged smoke. The white cloud seemed similar to the smoke of an M-18 Smoke Grenade, though not as dense. After a brief investigation they concluded the white smoke came from within the walls of the mountain. The longer the cloud remained the stronger the pungent smell similar t
o burning plastic grew.
Not all the men were affected equally by the acrid odor. Most of the men began to cough and choke. Jake and many of those coughing and choking began to panic. Jake feared he would die of smoke inhalation. Others like Mykal, Boris, Diaz, Finley, the three Elves and a few others were not bothered by it. They saw the smoke but hardly picked up on the strong odor. They weren’t affected in their breathing in any way.
“What the hell is this?” Boris asked Mykal. “It’s not bothering me in the least, but some of these guys look like they’re dying,” he exaggerated.
“On your feet,” Diaz raised his voice. “Move out,” he ordered with a sense of urgency when he saw two of his Marines rolling on the floor holding their throats as if they were being strangled. “Help me get these men out of here.”
As a group they were no longer concerned about maintaining noise discipline. They gathered their belongings, and moved away from the smoke as quickly as they could. The men worked in pairs to help those too weak to move. They ran until they were a couple hundred yards away from the smoke cloud that lingered in the corridor. They slowed for another hundred yards then stopped.
“Are you okay Jake?” Mykal asked his tall skinny friend who doubled over and leaned against the wall for support. Jake’s eyes watered and his face looked red.
“Yeah, I’m okay now,” he choked out his words. “My throat and eyes are burning, but I’m alright. It was that smoke that bothered me. At first it felt like I swallowed some food wrong and it felt like it was clogged in my throat. I really felt like I was choking. It didn’t bother you two at all?” He looked at Mykal and Boris and continually tried to clear his throat.
“No, not at all,” Mykal answered.
“It had no effect on me either,” Boris answered. “It seems like most of the men are hit like you are.”
“Oh man, my stomach is hurting,” Jake dropped down to his knees and grabbed his belly. “Damn, it’s always one thing after another around this friggin place. I mean Towbar’s world.”
“Do you think you’ll be alright to walk?” Mykal asked. He looked to see most of the men were suffering like Jake. “I wonder why some of us haven’t been affected at all?”
Boris shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“You couldn’t feel it, not even a little bit?” Jake coughed. “It was like sand paper was shoved down my throat and now my lungs and my stomach feel like it’s on fire,” he continued to cough as other men coughed. “The really strange part,” he forced himself to hold his cough so he could laugh. “The whole time I could taste black cherry ice cream.”
“Black cherry ice cream?” Boris retorted. “All I could smell was like, like,” he snapped his fingers. “It smelled like burning plastic, so I don’t know how the hell you could taste black cherry ice cream.”
“I know that’s strange, but it tasted good and I felt like I needed it,” Jake explained while wiping his eyes.
Captain Diaz joined them. “Hey Myk, I really think we need to move out. We’ve made plenty of noise and one of the Elves, Starling, seems to think the smoke was created by some sort of magic. To be honest, I’m not sure if I believe that, but I don’t want to take any chances.”
After a short time of walking, the men who had been overcome by the white smoke seemed to have recovered and they were all back to normal as if nothing had happened.
“The burning in my lungs and stomach has eased away,” Jake explained. “And the rough irritation against my throat has disappeared. I can still sense the flavor of black cherry ice cream, and now I really want some.”
“That’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever heard,” Mykal snickered as they passed more sets of old wooden doors. He saw the faint golden glow around them like many of the previous doors they passed. He knew magic must be involved in keeping the doors secured from the other side.
When they passed by this set of doors everyone nearing the door heard a faint hum. The hum was a soft, low tone that sounded just like an old machine run by electricity, but there were no machines in sight. The audible sound seemed to come from the other side of the old wooden doors.
They maintained their silent discipline, but they all looked to each other with questioning gazes to see if the other knew the source of the low pitched hum. Not even the three Elves, with their highly sensitive hearing, could detect where the noise emitted from. Mykal’s main concern was not knowing whether the producer of the distraction to be friend or foe.
“What do you think it could be?” Jake whispered to Mykal as they cautiously moved forward.
“I don’t know,” Mykal answered and shook his head in confusion. “But it’s gotta be on the other side of these walls. I wish we’d either get the hell outta here or find out what in the world it is. Jake, are you alright?” Mykal asked when Jake stopped walking.
Jake stood motionless. His jaw went slack and his mouth dropped open. Jake’s face suddenly drained of color and he looked lifeless. His eyes looked empty and dull. Jake’s head lowered slowly. It seemed like he fell asleep standing up with his eyes open.
“Jake, what’s wrong? Jake. Are you okay?”
“What is it Myk?” Boris asked when Jake didn’t respond to Mykal. “Oh no, look Myk,” Boris pointed to several other men who just stood in place like Jake. “What the hell is going on with those guys?”
Mykal looked around and was stunned to see Jake wasn’t the only one in a standing comatose state. Lieutenant Finley shook one of the men but got no response. Mykal waved his arm to get the attention of Diaz and Finley. “What’s going on?” He mouthed the words. They both shrugged and shook their heads.
“Do you think the humming noise is having a strange effect on their brain?” Diaz asked quietly.
“Myk, it looks like it’s all the men who had a problem with the white smoke,” Boris whispered.
“Ah, damn it, we gotta get them outta here,” Mykal groaned fearing they were in danger.
“Look, none of them dropped their weapons or ammo,” Boris pointed to a couple of men carrying cans of M-60 machine gun ammunition. “It’s like they took a nap on their feet.”
“Alright, let’s go,” Mykal said as he took Jake by the arm and led him forward. Jake’s zombie like body complied. Mykal counted nineteen of their thirty-five had become mindless zombies as well as two of Nordad’s men, Jumbdex and Altoff.
“Look at this.” Boris smirked seeing that William became one of the mindless sleepers having to be led by the hand. “We oughta leave him here just like this,” he mumbled.
Mykal ignored the comment. He worried over getting everyone to the entrance of the mountain. “Hopefully they’ll all be fine once we get outside into fresh air and away from the strange noise,” he said more for his own peace of mind.
Suddenly all of the men being led by the hand stopped in their tracks and reached for their heads as if in great pain. Their faces all gave the same pained expression, but not one of them uttered a sound. Those carrying items still held onto their items despite the fact they reached for the pain in their heads.
“Jake. Jake, are you okay?” Mykal asked when it looked like Jake wanted to yell and cry out in pain, but Jake stared blankly ahead of him. “Jake. Hey Jake, it’s me,” Mykal said and grabbed Jake’s shoulder.
Jake shook Mykal’s hand off of his body and glared at him with an angry expression while baring his teeth. The hostile expression startled Mykal and he feared Jake would become violent. If that was the case then it stood to reason that it was possible for all twenty-one zombies to snap into a hostile mode.
Mykal took a couple of steps back just in case his friend tried to lash out at him. Jake stared at Mykal but it seemed Jake didn’t know him. “Hey, are you okay buddy?”
“What’s going on Myk?” Boris asked and circled around Jake.
“I don’t know. Oh no,” Mykal gawked when all twenty-one men under the trance turned to the rear at the same time as if they had been given a command to turn around. All of them started to
walk back the way they came.
“I don’t understand what’s going on Myk,” Boris gasped.
“Me neither. Did you see how Jake was when I touched him?”
“What should we do Myk?” Finley asked when he joined them.
“I don’t wanna go all the way back,” Boris announced. “And I think we better be very careful if we try to stop them again.”
“I don’t wanna go all the way back either, but we gotta see what they’re doing,” Mykal replied. He turned to follow Jake and the others.
“Oh no, look what they’re doing, Sir,” Corporal Adkins yelled. “They’re opening the doors we were told not to touch,” he yelled despite the previous orders of maintaining silence.
“What?” Mykal and the others ran to the commotion. “No. You guys gotta stop,” he yelled to get their attention. The zombified men ignored their calls to cease.
“What’s gonna happen?” Boris turned to the three Elves. “Are they gonna let something bad outta there?”
“I do not know?” Leeno answered and the concern in his voice was the first time he conveyed any emotion. He strung his bow and pointed at the door. He waited to see if anything or anyone was to be released from the other side.
“Jake, no,” Mykal yelled louder. “All of you stop!” Mykal raised his voice. He hoped to penetrate the trance they were under. “Jake, snap outta it,” he hollered while the mindless soldiers worked frantically to open the door. Mykal feared forcing them to cease due to the uncertainty of their response.
“Hey, stop it you friggin morons,” Boris yelled. “Everyone yell at them. Maybe they’ll wake up.”
Those not under the hypnotic trance yelled obscenities and commands for them to cease their attempt to force open the door. Those in the zombie like state ignored them as if deaf and they forced the door open allowing a blast of musty foul air to swoosh past them. The automaton men filed into the dark opening without any hesitation. Their determination showed they were on a single focused mission.