by Dave Hazel
‘No!’ Mykal argued with his thoughts as he watched the two men look in all directions in stunned amazement. ‘Home is with Pam and the boys.’
“Where are we Myk?” Percy asked while rubbing the hand that was confined by the metal bracelet.
“We’re in Towbar’s world,” he said and laughed at their distraught faces. “I’m not even gonna hold the gun on you anymore, because there is no way you’re getting back without me. I was going to say now we play by my rules, but the reality is, now we live by my rules.”
“Why did you bring us here?” Ronny asked.
“Did you bring us here to retrieve the Package?” Percy asked with hopeful anticipation.
“No. I brought you here to prove a point. I’m going to show you guys something in the meantime. But my point that I want to show you, Percy, is that we can have a truce so to speak. All I want is to be left alone, and live my life with my family. I don’t mean you guys any harm, meaning the President and all Them people. Get in, I’m driving,” he said as he got behind the wheel. “I would never hurt the President. I like this President. I would protect this President with my life,” he lied. “I need you to make it clear to him that he doesn’t need me dead or I’ll wage a war on this administration the likes that nobody has ever seen.”
“Mykal, you made you point loud and clear back at the Ramada Inn,” Percy conceded. “There’s nothing else you need to do.”
“Oh, yes I do.” Mykal gave a wry smile. “You’ll see.”
“Are you taking us to the Pass?” Ronny asked. “I’ve heard a lot about the Pass.”
“Isn’t that where Towbar One is?” Percy asked.
“Yes it is. First we’re going to get his hand healed with magic,” Mykal lied. “It’s the same type of magic that I learned that has given me the ability to turn myself invisible,” he lied again to keep them guessing.
“Are we near the Pass?” Percy asked. “Did you say magic?” He asked when Mykal’s words registered.
They were nowhere near the Pass. He planted them near a Soso outpost farther north and east of the Pass. “No, we’re not near the Pass. Yes, I said magic,” he continued lying as he saw a camp of Sosos in the near distance. “These people have unbelievable powers, they’re the ones who saved me from this,” he said and fumbled to pull up his shirt to show the scar from a death arrow. Towbar was the one who actually healed him. “I should be dead right now, but they did some strange stuff and here I am. Now, as we approach them we have to walk. They are very superstitious. But I’ll tell you Ronny, they’ll have you back to normal in no time,” Mykal lied with a snap of his fingers. “Ten minutes after we meet them, you won’t feel the pain in your hand anymore.”
“Great, because I’m in so much damn pain,” Ronny gave a weak smile. “I’m afraid infection is setting in.”
“Percy, stay here in the Jeep, we’re going to walk over to them,” Mykal said as he stopped the Jeep and took the keys from the ignition. “Whatever you do Ronny, don’t act scared.”
“Are you sure this is safe?” Ronny asked as they stood beside the Jeep.
“Yeah, come on,” Mykal said and started to walk toward the Soso camp about fifty yards away. There were at least two hundred just starting to wake up and move about. “Come on we gotta hurry,” Mykal said and the entire time he was eyeing for any archers. “Start calling for help,” Mykal said and he slowed down to where he walked just behind Ronny. “Hold out your hand and call for help. Come on.”
“Help. Help me,” Ronny yelled and held out his injured hand.
Mykal wanted to laugh when he saw dozens become alerted and draw weapons. The ragged bunch were armed with swords, axes, spears, spiked clubs and plain clubs. He was glad they didn’t try to use their bow and arrows. “Tell ‘em what you need.”
“Help, I need help for my hand. My hand is broken,” he said as they neared the first of many. “Mykal,” Ronny screamed in terror when he looked to his side and Mykal was no longer there. “Where are you? Mykal, help me,” Ronny shrieked in a panic when a mob of the Soso warriors charged out to him.
“I’m right here beside you,” he lied. Mykal stood there and wanted to laugh since the Sosos couldn’t see him due to his invisibility. His cruelty felt stronger when the ring was active and in use. He recognized the ring had a strange power over him, but he didn’t care as he listened to Ronny scream and cry out for Mykal to help him.
“What the hell?” Mykal scoffed. He couldn’t believe his eyes when the Sosos didn’t chop Ronny to pieces. They were taking him as a prisoner. “That’s right,” he said as he remembered they wanted to take prisoners when it involved the strange people. “Oh hell no,” Mykal shook his head. “This isn’t gonna happen like this,” he added and stepped closer.
“Mykal please help me. Get me out of here,” Ronny shouted as some of the Soso started to push him back and forth. The roar of the Sosos grew. They were like an angry mob whose favorite sports team had just been cheated out of a championship win and Ronny wore the colors of the opposing team.
One of the Sosos acting as leader of the group grabbed Ronny by the hair and slapped him in the face. “You scream like woman,” he yelled and shook Ronny’s head by the hair. “You weak like woman piss.”
Mykal aimed his Glock 17 at the leader’s head and fired off two shots. The other side of the Soso’s head exploded, but there was no noise. The Sosos obviously assumed Ronny killed their leader. They would assume Ronny killed the leader with magic since he didn’t appear to be armed with any weapons.
Mykal continued shooting into the crowd until the clip was empty. He was able to kill six more Sosos, and reloaded as fast as he could, but that was all that was needed. The crowd erupted and tore Ronny apart. Dozens of Sosos used various weapons on Ronny and didn’t stop even after he was dead.
“Now that’s the Sosos I know,” he chuckled and turned and started back to the Jeep. He saw the panicked expression on Percy’s face through the glass. Mykal knew he gave Percy a lot to think about. “Damn it,” Mykal said when he grasped he may have made a mistake by playing this sick game. He looked back and saw they had stopped mutilating Ronny and were pointing to the Jeep.
“Why do I always gotta friggin screw around?” He scolded himself as he ran to the Jeep. He was still invisible, but he didn’t want Percy to be killed. He wanted to send a strong terrifying message to Percy, thus to the President, but if he couldn’t get back to the Jeep before the Sosos do and they kill Percy, then all this production and show would have been for nothing.
Mykal allowed four Sosos to run by him. One armed with a spear, two with swords and one with an axe. One of the two with a sword wore a chainmail like armor. Mykal couldn’t remember the last time he saw a Soso wearing armor heavier than padded leather. Mykal wanted to laugh out loud when Percy ducked below the dash board and kept peaking up to see where they were. Mykal wanted Percy to whimper so he could laugh at him later. Percy’s normally menacing black eyes looked terrified.
Mykal wished he had a hand held video cassette recorder. He would love to record this comical scene on tape and show Percy later. He heard Percy calling for help. Percy begged for the Sosos to leave him alone.
The Soso with the axe stepped up to the front of the Jeep cautiously and it was obvious he wasn’t sure what it was, but must have thought it was some type of strange animal. He growled at it, and stomped his foot. He made sudden movements to get a response, but the Jeep didn’t respond.
The Soso with the axe touched the hood of the Jeep and pulled his hand back. He spoke in his native language, but Mykal couldn’t understand it. He touched one of the headlights and Percy kept popping his head up and ducking down. Mykal laughed at the thought of what would happen if Jill/Percy would sound the horn while the skittish Sosos were cautiously touching the vehicle.
Mykal reached into his pocket and pulled out the two little figurines he acquired when he gathered all his other magic weapons. He had been waiting for an opportune time to try this
magic item. If it didn’t work the way he had pictured in his mind he would just shoot the Sosos and leave.
He gave a quick glance at the silver statuettes. They were a horse like creatures with what looked like the head of a lion and the feet had claws like that of a bear, and the creatures had large wings on its back. He tossed the two metal pieces to the ground and spoke out, “Furundy.”
Mykal was startled and took a step back. Almost instantly the two figurines were transformed into giant living creatures. The bodies were tall and broad. The shoulders were easily six feet off the ground, and their heads were massive.
The heads were like that of a male lion, with a full mane. But the snouts seemed larger and the teeth were like daggers of six to eight inches. The creatures breathed heavy and started to slobber like a Saint Bernard. The growl of the creatures could be felt through the ground. The eyes were piercing and gave the impression that they were intelligent, thinking beasts.
The main body was like that of a stout horse. The coat was smooth and their colors were different. One was an off white and the other was tan. The heads were dark brown and their manes were a mix of browns. The other end of the animal had a tail like that of a horse.
The legs were thick and strong like a bear. Noticeable were threatening claws at the end of each leg. On the back of each animal were its wings. Both beasts opened their wings and flapped as if stretching for the first time in a long time. The wing span of each spread over ten feet.
The two creatures looked to Mykal as if to acknowledge they were his and they were there to protect him. It surprised Mykal they saw him, or gave the impression they saw him, because he was still invisible. They let out a growl and attacked like gigantic pit bulls.
He found the wings were not for flying but to support the beast when it hopped up on its hind quarters and swatted with its massive, deadly paws. The wings flapped and held the creature up on the back legs while holding its prey in the front paws so they could chomp with the daggers of its mouth.
“Damn!” Mykal gawked as he watched the two creatures dispatch the four Sosos in a matter of seconds. He looked and saw others Sosos had started toward the Jeep, but when the monsters appeared out of nowhere and killed the four, they all stopped and looked at each other. “Must be too early in the morning,” he tittered looking at the pieces of the four Sosos scattered in all directions. Mykal knew the Sosos didn’t fear man, but magic, was a different story. This was ‘crazy’ and even the Sosos know ‘you don’t mess with crazy’.
Without a command, without hesitation, all the Sosos turned and fled from the monstrous nightmare that appeared out of nowhere. Those at the main camp left their belongings and they all ran away shouting something in their native language.
Mykal turned himself visible and stood among the two giant creatures of horror. They nodded their monstrous heads toward him in a gentle, almost loving way. It was clear, Mykal was their master and that was just what Mykal wanted Percy to see. Mykal pet them both on the side and when the beasts lowered their heads he pet the heads. “I will spend more time with you guys later,” he said and wasn’t sure if they heard him let alone understood what he tried to communicate in front of the terrified government killer.
“Furundai,” Mykal commanded. He wasn’t sure why, but that word appeared in his mind. When he spoke the word the two creatures disappeared, and actually returned to the little figurines and fell to the ground. He rushed to retrieve them. “These are gonna be awesome,” he said and laughed out loud. Mykal turned himself invisible again.
Percy seemed to be having a stressful panic attack. The look on his face clearly showed he questioned his own sanity. The windshield on the passenger side was smeared with blood. On the hood of the Jeep was part of a shoulder of the axe wielder. The Soso with the chainmail armor didn’t fare any better. The chainmail was ripped to shreds as if made of wet tissue. Mykal picked up a severed Soso head that had severe gashes in the face and after grabbing the head by the hair he tossed it on the hood of the vehicle so the face stopped right in front of Percy
“Ahhhh,” Percy screeched at the head that had just been tossed at him. He screeched again when the driver’s door opened but there was no one there.
“It’s me,” Mykal responded and made himself visible to the cowering man. “You oughta see your face. I wish I had a camera,” he laughed and started the Jeep. “Oh boy, here they come,” Mykal laughed again. The Sosos must have looked back to see the two monsters disappeared. “But don’t worry, they’ll never catch up.”
Percy sunk back in his seat speechless. He slumped forward and held his head in his hands. His face looked pale. “What the hell?” he gasped to himself. “I thought I was going to die back there. What in the hell is going on? Why did you do all this?”
“Ah, you just wanna get straight to the point,” Mykal replied and it sounded like he was having a good time.
“Why did you kill Ronny? He was a good friend of mine.”
“Honestly, I didn’t kill Ronny, the Sosos did,” he answered in a jocular manner. “Okay, let’s get serious,” Mykal said when Percy rolled his head back and looked to the roof of the Jeep. “Consider that, we’re even now. You killed my close friend Boris and I killed your friend Ronny.”
“But you also killed William, Dominick, Skipper, Pepe and the rest of my Untouchables.”
“That was just to prove my point. I’m not going to settle with just getting even. I’m not gonna play that pansy tit for tat shit. I’m going to obliterate my enemy. You screwed me over,” he snarled showing his true anger. “Then you friggin lied to me and that’s exactly what I just did to you. I just lied to you and made you think everything was okay. So in reality, I didn’t kill Ronny or the rest of your Untouchables. You did,” he snarled his accusation viciously. “I brought you here for a couple of reasons. One, when I left the Ramada Inn to go get the Package, I heard your people laughing how you were still going to kill me after we made an agreement.”
“Myk, I really didn’t want to. That came from above me.”
“I don’t wanna hear any friggin excuses,” Mykal barked and changed his tone. “Bottom line is, you started a war with me and I went ballistic on your ass. As you can see, if I have to, I don’t have a problem with killing anyone and everyone. I can be your best friend or I can be your worst friggin nightmare, and I do mean your worst friggin nightmare. After all I’ve been through, killing and making people suffer doesn’t bother me.”
“Myk, I don’t wanna be your enemy,” he said and held up his hands as if to say he surrendered. He looked exhausted. “Being scared shitless took everything out of me.”
“Yeah, I’ve been there. It sucks, but hey, toughen up. We’re safe now,” he added and slowed the Jeep while looking in the rear view mirror to ensure the Sosos were long gone. “The second reason why I brought you here and went through all the trouble to kill Ronny the way I did was to show you what I’m capable of doing. I never wanted to be enemies with you guys. I was never going to threaten or blackmail the President. I was never going to say anything other than what you guys wanted me to say. I just wanted to be left alone when this was over.”
“I understand and I apologize,” Percy said but couldn’t bring himself to look Mykal eye to eye.
“Well let’s get some other things straight right now. I’m going to take you back to the real world and I want you to go have a little talk with the President and whoever else you need to speak to. Let them know what happened, and be sure to let them know you really haven’t seen anything yet.”
“What about the Package?”
“Oh, I’m holding onto the Package until I come back. It’s in a safe spot and it will stay in a safe spot till I know you people can be trusted. And let me tell you, you can take this as a threat or a warning, but if anything happens to my family. If they happen to have an accident, a strange illness, if my kids scrape their damn knees on the cement,” he added to exaggerate his point. “I’m coming after you bastards li
ke I have nothing left to live for. What you just saw today is child’s play compared to what I’m capable of. And just think I don’t even have to be involved, be it I’m invisible, or the green fog just suddenly appears and sends a whole group of people to a Soso camp like Ronny just experienced,” he said with a chuckle. “You will never be prepared for the hell I will unleash on you and--”
“You don’t have to say that Myk. Nothing is going to happen to your family,” he assured him while sitting up.
“You’ve lied to me a couple of times already so you better make damn sure, cuz if something does happen to them I’m only gonna have a one-track mind. I haven’t even scratched the surface of my friggin anger. Or my tricks for that matter. The choice is yours and theirs. I could be your best friend who is loyal to the nth degree or if you screw me I’ll become a monster nightmare that never ends.”
“You’ve proved your point to me,” Percy said while dipping his head and raising his hands as if he surrendered. “Myk, why don’t you let me take the Package and I’ll smooth things over with--”
“No! Screw you,” Mykal yelled. “Why don’t you take one of the phony packages, and all the heads of your special team and smooth things out that way? You blew it. You’re not calling the shots, I am. You better get that shit straight right now. And since I’m calling the shots, I’m now gonna start making some requests. I want Towbar’s people to win this war. I may want some more troops and more weapons sent here.”
“Myk, you can’t do that.”
“You wanna bet? I was never gonna even accept the President’s personal offer of a reward. I was gonna complete my mission cuz I’m a patriot and I wanted my freedom from the military. That was all I truly wanted. But you friggin scumbags screwed that up when you tried to screw me over twice. So you better have a good heart to heart with the President, cuz now I am demanding a price. My price is to help Towbar win his war. That and the fact that I’m not going to destroy his government and everyone he holds dear. Don’t take me wrong. I’m as patriotic as they come. I love my country, but some of the cockroaches in this government, on both sides of the aisle, need to be stomped out.”