by Dave Hazel
“Nah, don’t worry about it,” he said quietly knowing his words couldn’t possibly be heard. He waved his hand to let Towbar and the others know he was fine. He then pointed to his head to let them know he was thinking.
Mykal looked down at the ring on the middle finger of his right hand. Something inside him tugged on his heart to make himself invisible. He knew there wasn’t a need to. If Towbar happened to be correct and an evil power was associated with the ring then he wanted to limit his use of it. ‘There’s no way in hell that I’m giving this up,’ he argued at the thought of disposing of the ring.
With the pilots, there were twelve men to each chopper. Two of the helicopters had a reporter and cameraman to videotape the maneuvers. The stated plan was to fly around to locate the missing people. Mykal thought there were probably no survivors of those still missing after all this time. They had to have been killed by Sosos, or they would have wandered off to where they would have starved and died of thirst. There was no telling where the green fog would have deposited them, but there had been no signs of their remains. On the other hand Mykal wanted to stay in Towbar’s worlds to use his force of Towbar One in order to help Towbar in his war against the Sosos and the search of the missing was a legitimate reason to continue. Flying over the Sosos, they would look for any signs to indicate the preparation or launch of the big attack.
His helicopter lifted up off the ground and the strange sensation in the pit of his stomach reminded him how foolish he was to stick his head into the lion’s mouth again. He could have stayed behind in the safety of the Pass and allowed others to go on the mission. But Mykal didn’t feel he could send others to do something if he wasn’t willing to do it himself.
‘Besides, there might be an opportunity to use this ring,’ he deliberated mentally while he fingered the gold band. The urge to become invisible grew stronger. He wondered why, because it didn’t necessarily give him any pleasure. It wasn’t like sex, drugs or alcohol that would give temporary gratification when yielded to its call. But the craving inside was just as real and relentless as man’s desire for sex, drugs or alcohol.
‘Damn, I better watch this thing, but I can’t get rid of it,’ he pondered and knew he was arguing with himself. He looked at the others to see if they were watching his mental debate. ‘Am I losing my friggin mind over this thing?’ “Stop,” he said aloud to make the voices cease.
“What?” Jake turned to Mykal’s voice. “I couldn’t hear you,” he added and pointed to his ear.
“Nothing,” Mykal said and shook his head. He saw Towbar eyeing him. He waved his hand at the giant to let his friend know he was okay.
They flew to the east searching for any signs of those supposedly still missing. Mykal felt bad wasting resources, but he had to keep the story going. He had to keep the reporters interested in continuing the mission. He had to “play the game” and put on the show so he could use his little army to help Towbar and his people.
They turned north over hills. They flew over the area where two little villages, Jamison and Wussic, had been destroyed and the people horribly annihilated by Sosos back in June during Mykal’s first visit. For a split second he wanted to turn to Boris. He, Boris, Kurt and Roy Jr. drove into the villages with Towbar on a short mission to warn Towbar’s people of the pending doom. It struck Mykal hard his friend was really gone. He wished he would have killed William Roberts for murdering his friend. He re-lived the hurt and wished the pain would stop. It seemed extremely difficult to hide the grief he bore. Mentally he chuckled at the thought of Boris and Kurt riffing on each other over anything and everything. He missed their playful bickering but more importantly he missed their friendship. He could always count on them no matter what the situation. The reality was they were real people who were gone forever. But to Mykal they were real people gone forever who could never be replaced. New friends would never be able to fill their shoes.
Mykal grabbed his face and rubbed hard. ‘Am I losing my mind over this?’ He wondered. ‘It just never stops.’
“What troubles you my friend?” Towbar asked.
“Remembering that,” he said and pointed. He looked to the Dosch brothers because their baby brother died somewhere below them. He felt bad for them as they relived their loss, but he still clearly visualized some of the murdered children the Sosos left behind. He wondered if he would ever be normal again or had the Sosos screwed him up for the rest of his life?
Mykal put a headset on so he could speak to the pilots. “Hey guys, you’re doing a great job, but I want to end the search now and attack some Sosos. From our location let’s travel straight west and when we come across them we’ll hit them. I don’t want to hit them from the front, the south, cuz I don’t want to spook them into assaulting the Pass and instigating the final attack. Know what I mean?”
“Got it boss,” the co-pilot replied playfully. The noise in the head phones was loud, but both ends of the conversation could be heard. Mykal would be happy to kill a couple of Sosos or a couple of thousand Sosos. ‘All the bastards got it coming to ‘em!’
Mykal could only imagine the stories that would spread like wild-fire throughout the Soso camp; ‘Strange flying creatures hovering overhead spitting death and destruction. Strange flying creatures birthing odd men with powerful weapons, trading out more death and destruction. Then the strange flying beasts swallowing up the odd men to fly away before the Sosos could counter-attack. I’d love to see the look on their faces.’
“Lieutenant Griffin, pass it on to the mortar teams that we will be attacking soon. They should be in position and after we are in the air again, they can open fire with mortars.”
“Message passed on, Myk. They are a ‘go’. Just waiting our command to let loose,” the pilot called back after a brief pause. “I would suggest that clearing to our one o’clock Myk,” the pilot pointed out his large windshield. “The only negative to that location is we could be completely surrounded rather quickly. Can you see it?”
“Yeah, get us down there. We’ll be down there only briefly.”
The eight helicopters landed at almost the same time and within moments the untested men were out of the aircrafts and set up a 360 degree perimeter. Sosos were startled and confused but it only took moments for the brute men to attack the unknown metal creatures. The attack started from the west and soon after Sosos came from all directions. If it wasn’t for the helicopters the tiny group of men, in comparison, would have been swallowed up quickly despite their far superior firepower.
Mykal stood over some of the nervous men who had never tasted combat. He smiled because he was now the experienced veteran he always thought was the crazy man in old war movies. “Don’t allow the archers to shoot those death arrows. I repeat, do not allow the death arrows in the air,” he yelled and other leaders around the perimeter shouted the same command.
Mykal saw Sosos or their allies in all directions but clearly they were denser to the west. He raised his rifle and waited until he thought the nearest Soso was within 75 yards. He knew all these men trained by shooting at man sized targets at a 100 meter distance. “Make every shot count. Fire!” He yelled and squeezed off his first round.
The rapid fire of weapons nearly grew louder than the chopping of the helicopter blades. Most of the machine gunners mounted on the helicopters were able to open fire, but some were hindered because the other helicopters were in the line of fire. The explosions of the M-203 40mm grenades terrified the Sosos who weren’t killed or injured by the blasts They were more frightened of the noise than they were of the actual death and misery thrust upon them. Some Sosos turned and ran in the opposite direction. Mykal knew that was unheard of.
Sosos dropped in all directions. The men were quickly acclimated to the situation and fired comfortably achieving almost 100% accuracy. Mykal watched and easily determined where rifle fire took place as Sosos dropped one at a time. Where the machine gun fire struck Sosos they dropped more violently and faster like dominos. The 40mm hig
h explosive grenades burst creating a sudden jolt and those within ten meters of the blast were killed or injured. Bodies were thrown in all directions.
Mykal saw the 7.62mm rounds of the M-60 machine guns were not only killing or crippling their targets but easily passing through their bodies and ripping into those behind them. The roar of the enemy yells was deafening. Though they were doing tremendous damage to the Sosos their numbers were overwhelming and they kept getting closer.
Mykal swung his hand over head, the normal hand signal for “rally around me”, but they all knew it to be the signal to get back on board the helicopters. M-60s boarded first due to their weight and cumbersomeness. The rest quickly followed behind. In less than sixty seconds all the men were aboard the choppers and they started upward.
The mounted machine guns ripped into those charging into the area they held just moments ago and a couple of men tried to shoot their rifles from the open sides of the crafts but it was very difficult to hit moving targets from a moving vehicle that was lifting into the air. Death arrows fired into the air missed the helicopters, but one managed to strike one of the windshields. It bounced off and did no damage.
From straight up Mykal looked down and the ground looked like a massive bomb went off. The circular pattern of dead and squirming bodies was like nothing he had ever seen before. It looked like something out of Hollywood but they did it in just minutes. The blood and death was real. The numbers compared to the overall picture were miniscule.
Mykal chuckled when he saw some of the men took it upon themselves to drop hand grenades to the Sosos below. “Cool, some are trying to get a few more extra kills. Too bad we can’t get a true body count,” he said to Towbar with a laugh, but the giant couldn’t hear him. Mykal realized that he was humored by death and misery. ‘Damn, what has this place done to me?’
One of the machine gunners tapped Mykal’s arm and pointed to his headset. “Myk, is it okay for the mortar teams to open fire?” The pilot asked once his headset was in place. “We’re clear of the target location.”
“Yes, yes. Go ahead and take us back to the Pass.”
Flying back to the Pass they watched the damage the mortars did in the distance. Blast after blast ripped into the mass of unsuspecting Sosos. “I wouldn’t like to be there,” Jake yelled and pointed to where puffs of smoke rose into the air.
“Can you imagine it?” Mykal laughed out though no one heard him. “They can’t see where the blasts are coming from, but the sky is just raining down death. And the noise,” he said while shaking his head. “It’s gotta be scaring the crap outta those ruthless butchers. You know some are running from one spot to another and explosions are dropping everywhere.”
“Can you imagine what this would be like at night?” Jake asked and gave an exaggerated expression of terror.
Mykal thought back to old war documentary footage that showed the pockmarked earth after air bombings. The ground where the mortars struck would look the same. He could picture dead and broken bodies everywhere. He wondered how many of the “crazy, afraid of nothing Sosos,” were broken in fear because of the unseen source of power and force. He knew many would be killed, but what about those who laid there with limbs blown off, injuries extremely severe, and injuries that were minor, all just trying to determine how could such a deadly attack rain from the sky with no enemy in sight?
Mykal watched the ground and it reminded him of his childhood when he kicked up an ant nest. The chaos on the ground was like that of a forest fire with animals fleeing for their lives in all directions.
Towbar looked amazed. He had never seen so many Sosos flee in panic before. Mykal waved to get his attention. “I’m going to see about getting bigger and stronger, more powerful weapons,” he yelled into the giant’s face.
“I am impressed my friend,” he spoke loudly into Mykal’s ear. “Though death is falling from above, they are determined this time.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE 12/21/1983
1. Wednesday, December 21st 1983
0721 hours, The Pass, Inside the Military Mess Tent
“So do you have a bunch of volunteers for me?” Mykal asked Major Chick when he approached him at the chow hall. Mykal liked it that Major Chick made it a point for him and all his leaders to eat their meals at the mess tent with the men and not to hide away in order to eat their meals in private or as a small clique of officers. Mykal knew Major Chick, the Battalion Commanders and the Company Commanders could have had special meals set aside for themselves but they chose to join everyone from the lowest rank to the highest rank to eat the same meals that were provided for all the military personnel.
“Sure do Myk, we never have a shortage of volunteers,” Major Chick answered and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Have a seat with us.” Major Chick sat across from two privates in the Marine Corps.
“I’m not interrupting, am I?” Mykal asked with a metal tray that contained eggs, bacon, toast and orange juice.
“Oh no. Private Hornby and Private Berger and I were just sharing facts about back home.”
“Thank you for the time Sir,” Berger said while he and Hornby rose to their feet at the same time. “We have to get back to our detail.”
“It was a pleasure Sir, to share breakfast with you Sir,” Hornby acknowledged.
“You men have a nice day,” Chick said and smiled as the two privates walked off. “I’ll tell you Myk, I love these men of Towbar One like a father or a big brother. All these men volunteered for this mission and they really don’t know how important they are to the survival and protection of Towbar’s people and the freedom of Towbar’s people.”
“You’re right Sir. But I really like the fact that the men really respect and look up to you,” Mykal said and started on his food. “I’m glad you spend time with them when you don’t have to.”
Mykal immediately thought of an incident relayed to him in passing. Two Army soldiers were carrying some heavy equipment on their shoulders and happened to be passing Major Chick. They admitted they were fearful because they were half dressed, so they were out of uniform. Both the men had their hands full with the heavy load of weight on their shoulders. Major Chick shouted “Stop! Hold it right there.” They waited and expected a verbal lashing but Major Chick dropped down to his knees to tie the boot laces of the man in front. “I don’t want to see you boys get hurt,” Chick said after tying the boot and cinching up the extra boot lace into the top of the boot. “Carry on gentleman,” Chick said and let them go their way with their heavy load. They thought for sure with Major Chick being a Marine and they were Army that he would have ripped into them for being out of uniform, but he showed that he cared for them.
“Just so you know Myk, it’s genuine. I’m not doing it for show or for attention,” Chick said and looked around the mess tent at all the men eating their breakfast. “I really care about these boys. And I understand they are grown men and they have responsibilities. But, yes I do have a group of men eager to cause mayhem on the Soso hordes.”
“Good. I would like to get as many as possible to have a taste of battle before they bring on the big attack,” Mykal said. “I’m not sure if our attacks will keep them off balance enough to keep them from attacking, but I would think it would help.”
“Are you sure you wouldn’t rather just sit back in camp and allow others to carry out these attack missions?” Chick asked and drank from his coffee cup.
“No. Right now I’m up to it so I’ll participate in both attacks today and when I get tired I’ll slow down.”
“You have been through a great deal Mykal. Don’t burn yourself out.”
“I won’t.”
“So what is your plan for today?” Major Chick asked.
“Today we will fly the eight helicopters to the west. After we get to the west side of them we’ll assault them and then get back in the air and land at another position from the west and hit them a couple of times. I want them to feel the burn from the west cuz tonight we’re going to sneak
into camp from the east and wreak havoc with the Silent Killers. We’ll hit ‘em and run, hit ‘em and run and then come back and rest up for the night attack. I wanna put a big enough hurt on them to make the news spread they’re being hit from all over. I’ll be sure to keep the men from any real danger.”
“I know you will,” Chick answered and finished his coffee. One of the food services personnel started his way with a fresh coffee pot but Chick waved him away.
“Then after we come back and chow down, rest up and get ourselves together, I’m going to fly another bunch of guys to the east and when night fall covers the land we’re going to sneak into the camp and do some horrible things to them to make sure they know they’re not the only monsters on the playground. And then in the morning when they wake up and see what we did during the night, it’ll screw with their heads cuz of their superstitious beliefs. With their superstitious mumbo jumbo it’ll freak them out that their warriors were killed at night and I plan to leave them some freaky calling cards to find in the day light,” Mykal laughed quietly. Deep inside he knew it would be a great opportunity to use his magic ring.
“This will be a brutal display of psychological warfare Are you sure you’re not having…” Chick paused for the right words.
“Problems?” Mykal laughed. “No, I’m not having mental problems I just wanna fight fire with fire. Give them a taste of what them sick bastards are gonna get for messing with us. If we don’t deal with them hard, we’re gonna have problems. We are way out numbered and there could be--”
“Myk,” Chick cut him off with a raised hand. “You don’t have to explain to me. But you’re not planning on taking any reporters with you, are you? I don’t want them to see what you’re gonna do to the Sosos during the night attack. After thinking through yesterday’s briefing, I regret telling the media some of the things we planned to do, as far as the night raids,” Chick said and shook his head. “But hell with ‘em,” he laughed.