by Dave Hazel
In a split second Mykal put the puzzle pieces together. He knew the three rifle shots came from William’s rifle into Boris’s back and his head. Then the .44 magnum shots were to the back of Boris’s head to either ensure his death or to get William’s anger out. The shock was so hard and fast that Mykal stood there in stunned disbelief. Could this be a joke they were playing? No, this was no joke. He wasn’t looking at fake blood. Boris, his friend, lay dead, brutally murdered.
“What the hell happened!?” Mykal shouted. The words flew out before reality registered.
“Don’t move Myk,” William threatened and the .44 magnum was pointed to his head. William stood about thirty feet from Mykal but it would be an easy shot at such a short range. “I swear I’ll kill you if you try anything funny,” he threatened over the three to five round bursts into an empty corridor.
“Why? Why?” Mykal asked and he wanted to cry over his loss. Boris had been his closest friend from back in the real world. Boris was like family and though he had done many horrible things he couldn’t bear to lose him.
“Close the door,” William said while Mykal dropped his rifle to the floor and slid down the wall to a slumped sitting position. “Keep shooting,” he yelled at Wickey.
“I’m starting to run low on ammo Sir. I’m afraid they may try to attack while I’m reloading,” his voice cracked. Wickey sounded like he was in total panic mode.
“Why Will?” Mykal’s voiced begged to know. His breathing increased and he felt he would break down. “Was it really that bad between the two of you?” He asked only because he was trying to make sense of William’s brutality to his close friend.
William made his way over to Mykal, crouched down and swung out in anger. The barrel of the revolver cracked against Mykal’s left cheek and clipped his nose knocking Mykal’s head against the wall. “That’s for all the bullshit I’ve had to take from you,” William snarled with the weapon pointed in Mykal’s face as if he dared Mykal to retaliate.
Mykal’s left eye closed as it filled with tears. The whack to the tip of his nose involuntarily brought tears to his eyes. He felt the swelling begin on his left cheek. The throbbing grew and inside Mykal knew he was in serious danger, but this just didn’t make sense. ‘Did William suddenly go nuts?’
“Sir, I’m getting real low on ammo.”
“Keep shooting that damn weapon Private,” William yelled without looking back. “You don’t have any idea how easy you’ve made this for me by returning here.”
“But why?” Mykal asked as he felt the damaged flesh on his cheek. The skin was broken and the throbbing intensified.
The machine gun fire ceased and the noise gave away that Wickey was rising to his feet to turn the machinegun on William. Mykal panicked because he knew wild machine gun fire would kill him too. In a flash William turned and fired the .44 magnum blasting Wickey in the side of the head. The kid died before he hit the floor. He fell on top of his machine gun. Blood from the open wound in his head ran down his face onto his weapon and formed a pool under him.
Mykal reached for his .357 magnum at his side, but the monstrous bore of the .44 pointed back into his face. “Don’t!” William warned. He took a couple of steps back before Mykal could try to kick his legs out from under him.
“What the hell’s going on Will? Why’d you kill that kid? Why’d you kill Boris?” Mykal asked and noticed the door was still open. Goblins could enter the room since the shooting stopped.
“Look, you know Boris was never allowed to go back to the world. Part of my job was to make sure that didn’t happen.”
“What?” Mykal was totally shocked.
“If word ever got back that Boris was still alive or if he ever returned to the world it would be an extreme embarrassment. This was the best opportunity I had to ensure he would never return. Since Towbar came here, I realized I would have a much more difficult time trying to kill Boris back at the Pass. I know how close the two of you were, so I’m sorry about that.”
“What the hell is going on?” Mykal squirmed. “He was never going back. He didn’t even wanna go back and I’d never let him go back anyway.”
“Would you like to know why I’m going to kill you?” William asked with a smug superior smirk.
“What? Kill me? Seriously, what the hell’s going on?”
“Myk, I’m not who you think I am. You can say I’ve been a plant since day one when I met you. I’m not really a captain in the Air Force. I--”
“So this has all been a big act? I don’t understand.”
“No, I really didn’t want to be here, but my mission was to stay with you and when Boris had been allowed to come along for you my job was to ensure he’d be eliminated. Now that the special package has been recovered you’re no longer needed and there would be too much risk that you might slip up and let the cat out of the bag. That would prove to be a grave embarrassment as well.”
“Back the hell up, are you saying that you were sent here to kill me after we recovered the package? Why? I’ve done every friggin thing they wanted. I just wanted to be alone with my family. I don’t care about all the political bullshit you’re talking about.”
“That all sounds great on paper Myk, but the truth is, reality usually sets in and someone often gets bit in the ass. I can’t allow that. Too many people would get hurt and we just can’t take the chance.”
“Will, what about my wife and kids? You’ve been with them. You’ve had dinner at our house. You’d do this to my family after all I’ve done for you? I’ve done everything the people pulling the strings asked me to do.”
“I’m sorry Myk, it’s not personal. This is business. I really do like you although you did piss me off by taking sides with Boris. But I have a job to do.”
“Wait a minute,” Mykal slammed his hand on the cold floor. “This is like a bad friggin dream. This just don’t make any sense. Okay, I get it about taking out Boris. I understand. But I don’t understand what I’ve done to show that I’m not loyal. Ever since I’ve been mixed up with this crazy damn world all I’ve wanted was to get home and be with my family. I don’t want anything else. I don’t even want the friggin reward the President offered me. I just wanna be left alone.”
“Sorry Myk. I really feel bad about that, but--”
“Wait a minute,” Mykal continued talking. He stalled in hopes to think of a plan to get out of this situation. “You’re telling me from day one when I met you, when they assigned you as my attorney, that you knew you were going to kill me?”
“No. No, that was never in the cards. At that time, the package had not disappeared. There was never a plan to travel here to this world. I was assigned to get close for National Security reasons. The facts were not clear about the nuke that had gone missing and we weren’t sure what side of the fence you were on so I was brought in then to become your friend and find out all I could. Times changed and my orders changed.”
“What can I do to prove myself Will? All I care about is my family. All I care about is being left alone and minding my own business and not having anything to do with anyone,” he stalled and caught sight of a Goblin peeking through the opening of the door. Mykal hoped to keep William talking. “I’m not gonna bother anyone. I’m not gonna turn on them and hurt anyone,” he begged and watched the door.
“I’m sorry Myk. I can’t help you. There is just too much risk.”
“Whatta ya gonna say to the others?”
William cocked the hammer back. “I’ll just tell them we came under attack and--”
Mykal thought of himself being invisible and quickly rolled out of the way.
“Heyyyy!!!” William yelled as if his life had just been ruined. Mykal couldn’t have possibly disappeared. After a brief delay William fired two shots from the mini-cannon into the wall where Mykal sat. Since he used all the rounds to the .44 magnum he threw the handgun on the floor and quickly un-slung the GAU. “Where the hell are you?” He screamed desperately. “I should have just shot you. I�
�m a professional, damn it,” he said as if scolding himself. “Show yourself you bastard! Myk, show yourself,” he commanded as if Mykal would follow his orders.
Mykal quietly got to his feet and gently moved past the ranting William. He quietly stepped over the lifeless body of Wickey. Mykal hoped the Goblins didn’t have some ability that enabled them to see him while he remained invisible. He withdrew his .357 magnum and waved his hand in front of the opening of the door. The Goblins didn’t notice him.
William threw a couple of chairs against the secret door so if Mykal tried to get through the hidden passage he would detect it and shoot Mykal. “I don’t know how you did it, but I’m going to find you. You can’t trick me like this.”
Mykal’s heart raced while he slowly opened the door allowing the Goblins to see inside the room. Mykal ducked back into the small corner created by the door and the wall and hoped they wouldn’t be able to detect his presence. Mykal knew he had to wait it out and remain invisible.
“Mykal, where the hell are you?” William yelled while putting more chairs in front of the unseen door. In his panic he didn’t realize Mykal could easily have attacked him from behind. “Don’t make this hard on yourself. I’ll make a deal with you Myk. Reveal yourself, show me how to disappear and I’ll forget my mission.”
Mykal knew he couldn’t trust William and was tempted to shoot William dead, if for no other reason than for shooting Boris in the back. Mykal feared giving himself away and would only shoot if the Goblins could detect his presence. He made sure he could still see where he dropped his rifle just in case he had to make a mad dash for the M-16. His heart nearly stopped when he watched a couple of the Goblins creep into the open door.
“Ahhhhhh! Noooo,” William yelled and spun around as two crossbow bolts drilled into his right thigh. He dropped his weapon and fell to his left knee, holding his injured leg out. “No, no please,” he begged and threw his hands into the air as the room flooded with angry Goblins.
Goblins rushed to William and some began to punch and kick him while three pointed their crossbows at him. One yelled in his foreign language at William but he covered his head and face to keep from being punched and kicked. Other Goblins rushed around the room looking for the people who vanished. They unstopped the barricades and opened the other doors allowing more Goblins into the room. Mykal felt odd watching them argue unable to understand them, but he was so grateful they couldn’t’ see him. He looked at the special ring on his finger and was tempted to kiss it.
Mykal watched several Goblins point at the four bodies in the room and he got the impression the different parties accused each other of allowing the strangers to escape.
“Mykal please help me,” William cried out as they continued to kick him. “I know you’re here. Help me.”
One of the larger Goblins yelled a string of sounds and all the Goblins ceased what they were doing. Suddenly four Goblins forcibly rolled William over and began to tie his hands behind his back with leather straps.
“Mykal, please, please help me. Don’t let them take me,” he screamed and caused the ruckus to start again. William squirmed and fought until one Goblin kicked his thigh with the crossbow bolts protruding from it. He stopped fighting and they subdued him.
The growling, howling and cheering came in response to their victory at capturing one of the strangers. Some of the Goblins inspected the dead bodies of Boris and Wickey, and the others inspected the bodies of Bak Kwon and Sergeant Verzani who were laid out on the other side of the room. They tugged on their strange clothing. They pushed and prodded their lifeless bodies. Mykal fought back tears watching his friend’s lifeless form being kicked and goaded. Boris really was gone.
“Mykal, please kill me. Kill me! Please!” William screamed as the group of Goblins picked him up to carry him away.
“Screw you,” Mykal growled. He tried to blend in with the noises the Goblins made. He knew it to be risky but he had to get his last dig in at William. He wanted William to know he allowed the Goblins to take him away. He panicked when some of the Goblins looked in his invisible direction. Then they turned away.
“Noooo, please Mykal, please. Don’t let them take me away,” he cried out. William sounded remorseful and moaned pitifully as he was lifted and carried from the room. “I heard you, Myk. I know you’re here. Please kill me. Please! Myk, my death and suffering will be on your head,” his voice trailed off into the distance amid the howls and yells of Goblins.
Mykal started to feel bad for William, because William had been a friend. He looked at Boris and reality crushed the sad feelings that started. ‘Friggin low life,’ he snarled. ‘Die bitch, cuz you were gonna kill me,’ he thought hatefully.
He wished he would have killed William, not to put him out of his misery, but to get revenge. Boris’s friendship meant the world to him and William killed him. He should have allowed Boris to kill William when he wanted to. ‘It’s too late now. William’s gonna get what he deserves.’ He wished he could watch what they planned to do to William.
Mykal slowly and quietly lowered himself to a sitting position and got comfortable. Sitting there he stared at Boris’ bloody body and openly cried over his friend. No one could see him cry, and he cried silently so the Goblins wouldn’t hear it.
He stared at the lifeless form of his friend and it deeply saddened him to see the two exit holes in Boris’s face. The blood formed a large pool under his head. It sickened Mykal to see one of Boris’s eyes had been ripped out of the socket. Boris’s glasses had been knocked a few feet from his head. His lower jaw had been twisted and almost ripped off. It tormented him to think Boris suffered pain, though only briefly. ‘I shoulda never let Boris stay behind. I shoulda let him kill that bastard when he wanted to.’
In his sorrow and self-pity at the loss of his close friend Mykal wanted to reach out and touch him to comfort him. He knew it wouldn’t do any good, but he was trying to ease his own pain. Boris had been a great friend and had saved his life on a couple of occasions. Over the years they had shared many laughs and good times together. Despite Boris’s fiendish and horrendous crime in the Minot Massacre, murdering innocent people, Mykal wasn’t going to deny his friendship. Boris was like family.
New Goblins entered the room. Mayhem and chaos followed. Mykal rose to his feet and watched as the Goblins acted like a wild bunch of teenagers at a party in the house of a stranger. They tore the place apart. Mykal got the impression they were laughing and having a good time. Goblins were coming and going from the three open doors. Three separate occasions Goblins got close enough to touch him, but he quietly side-stepped and remained undetected.
Mykal wished he held his rifle or the M-60 machine gun in his hand rather than his revolver. With his magic sword at his side he knew he could slash and chop his way to his rifle if the situation forced him. It was disconcerting having only six rounds at the ready with so many Goblins coming and going.
His thoughts started to get the best of him and his brain seemed to be on overload. He didn’t know if there was a time limit to how long the ring would keep him invisible. He wasn’t sure if his friends would break their agreement and try to enter the room to rescue him which would be disastrous. He wondered if he could unwittingly think himself visible, so he continued to think himself invisible. Would the others think he died and just return to the Pass before he could catch up to them?
He blew a sigh of relief and almost snapped his fingers with excitement when he remembered Towbar gave him the leather pouch containing the magic powder. ‘They can’t leave without me. Uh oh, if I get captured, then they’re really stuck here.’
He had to come up with an exit strategy since it appeared the foul creatures were taking up residence in the large room. Some laid their meager belongings and supplies on the floor and sat themselves down as if they were going to remain awhile.
For now he would have to wait it out. After the commotion settled and the Goblins calmed down, he counted the goblins in the room that s
eemed to be staying. There were twenty-eight of the ugly little dark green creatures. Their faces looked similar to a hairless bulldog, and they all had severe under bites. Most had long fangs that rested on their upper lips.
To see twenty-eight rested in the room was disheartening. He had no idea how many were in the three adjoining corridors. Mykal didn’t think he could successfully kill all in the room without an alarm being sounded to alert others nearby.
He wanted to laugh when he watched the Goblins. They reminded him of humans he had worked with in the past. It seemed they were being stationed in the room and put on guard duty. After the leader departed they relaxed and lounged around. Some went to sleep. Some went off to one side of the room and appeared to play a game of some sort. It brought back times when he and his friends would play cards. He guessed they were gambling due to the intensity of the participants who nearly came to blows.
Mykal toyed with the idea of going around the room striking some Goblins with the weapons of other Goblins. It’d certainly create chaos and mayhem among them, but it might draw others into the room. He decided to wait and see what would happen first. He didn’t know how long he’d have to be stuck in his invisible prison cell.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN 12/16/1983
1. Friday, December 16th 1983
0157 hours, Inside a Mountain, Trapped with Goblins
Mykal woke a few hours later. It startled him to realize he fell asleep. He believed he remained invisible, since the Goblins didn’t notice his presence. He blew a sigh of relief but then a vacuum of dread and loneliness sucked him in. Still trapped, still alienated from his men, and Boris still dead. He regretted allowing Boris to volunteer to stay behind.