by Dave Hazel
The vehicle roared with laughter.
“Shut up liar. I have friends. But anyway Denny,” Franklin continued, trying to ignore the rude laughter. “My friends all said that the LT wasn’t giving them a break at all. They wished they could have come with us. There’s no one to relieve them.”
4.
They followed the tire tracks in the grass and after twenty miles or so they came to the foot of the hills. Around the hills there were trees to the north. A gap of flatland lay between the hills and the forest. The width between the tree line and the base of the hills spread about a half mile wide.
The tire marked trail wound along the flat land between the hills and the trees. Following the path made by the Marshal they started to have their communication problems with Lt Light. The farther they traveled the worse it got until they had no communications at all.
Rounding the next bend of hills they saw the US Marshal’s car parked near the trees. They called several times over the radio to make contact with the car, but no one answered. The tan colored Ford LTD had the police red lights on top. The trunk of the car had a large decal of a badge and the words United States Marshall, as well as on the driver’s door.
“You think this is where they saw some people?” Mykal broke the silence looking for signs of them or “the people” as they neared the car. “Being this close to Light and the convoy they shoulda been able to make contact.”
The situation suddenly seemed creepy. The car had been abandoned and the area seemed woefully quiet.
“They coulda returned a few times by now,” Boris said.
“I don’t know what to make of it,” Denny whispered.
“This is kinda freaky,” Larry said quietly. “Where the hell are they? Look, the passenger side door is open. This doesn’t look good.”
“If they went with people they found, why would they leave the car door open?” Boris asked, fumbling with cigarettes.
“Where the hell could they be?” Kurt asked pulling close to the Marshal’s car. “Do you think they went into the trees?”
“We oughta get out and see if we can find their foot prints in the grass,” Larry suggested as the station wagon pulled alongside them. “Well damn, look,” he said and pointed to the ground back behind them and up the hill. “It looks like a million people went that way.”
“Where are they at?” Roy asked when everyone got out of the vehicles and looked at the Ford LTD.
“We’re not sure,” Denny replied. “We’re going to see if we can see any sign of them in the trees cuz the vehicle is facing toward the trees.”
“I can tell you right now that there have been a large number of people in this area,” Roy Jr. said. “Notice how the grass is all flattened down? It points from the trees up to the hills,” he said pointing to the hills a half mile behind them.
“Oh yeah, it had to be a whole bunch of people,” Randy echoed. “I don’t see any hoof prints or other vehicle tracks,” he added while getting down closer to the ground.
“This doesn’t make any sense,” Nelson mumbled and they all agreed with him.
Mykal grabbed his rifle and moved closer to the open door of the LTD. The light breeze blowing through the open door made an eerie sound. Mykal saw the others followed his example and grabbed their weapons. Though no immediate danger could be seen Mykal felt more secure with his M-16 rifle in his hands.
“Well, let’s all look around and see if there’s anything we can find,” Denny requested and slung his rifle over his shoulder. He followed Mykal to the passenger side of the car.
Mykal saw the keys were still in the ignition. A navy blue SP beret lay on the dashboard and an M-16 rifle lay on the front seat passenger side. A1C Taylor left his weapon unsecured.
“Look Denny,” Kurt said, pointing from the driver’s side of the car. “He left his friggin M-16 in the vehicle.”
“That stupid idiot,” Boris called out. “His ass would burn big time if someone found out he left his weapon unattended.”
“Forget that,” Larry grumbled. “What I wanna know is where the hell are they? And why would he leave his rifle here?”
“I don’t think they’d go up the hill,” Denny said. “Let’s go toward the trees to see if we can find any clues to where they went.” They spread out to cover more ground.
“Oh no. No!” Franklin shrieked and suddenly backed away from the trees. He turned and doubled over like he was going to vomit, but gagged and fought through it.
They all ran to where Franklin doubled over and he pointed them to a large tree he drew near. He gagged and choked.
Mykal looked to the other side of the tree. The find jerked him to gasp in disbelieving fright. From the description Lt Light gave, Mykal knew they found the remains of the US Marshal Adam Sommer. He looked as if he had been stabbed a hundred times. His head and limbs had been chopped off and were nowhere to be seen. Dried blood darkened the grass all around the trunk of the body. Flies dispersed in all directions at their approach. Insects of all shapes and sizes busily ran over the opened wounds of Sommer’s carcass.
Mykal gawked in sickened horror. “Who would do this?”
No one answered. They all backed away cautiously, watching the trees for any signs of movement.
“What’s that over there?” Nelson called out. He pointed to an area deeper in the trees to the right of Sommer’s remains.
They all rushed closer to see another body mutilated like Adam Sommer. It had to be the Security Policeman A1C Taylor. The carcass wore camouflage BDUs, and a web belt around the waist with ammo pouches for M-16 magazines. If it had been A1C Coon the uniform would have been the old plain olive drab material. His weapon would have been a holstered .38 revolver.
Nearing Taylor’s corpse Mykal saw Taylor’s stomach and chest had been ripped opened. Most of his internal organs had been pulled out and were spread over his body and on the ground around him. Taylor’s insides dried under the hot sun slicing through the trees. Taylor provided meals for the army of various insects traversing what remained of him.
“Damn it, this can’t be real,” Denny yelled as he backed away covering his mouth. His hand trembled uncontrollably. “We better get outta here.”
“What about the third one?” Nelson asked. His face lost color. “What if he’s still alive?”
“Forget him,” Larry barked. “That’s his problem now. We gotta get the hell outta here before those people come back,” he said and turned to the hills a half mile away.
“By looking at those two, I doubt the other one is still alive,” Boris suggested after kneeling and taking deep breaths. “I think I’m gonna throw up.”
“Come on, everyone back to the vehicle,” Denny ordered. “We gotta figure out what to do. Franklin, try to get Light on the radio. If you do, don’t say anything. Get me. I’ll talk to him.”
“Okay,” Franklin answered weakly. He wiped his face with his shirt to hide the fact he started to cry.
“Who the hell would do something like that?” Kurt asked as they all clustered around Denny. “Even as a volunteer fireman, I never saw anything that bad at accident scenes.”
“Where the hell are their damned heads?” Larry gawked. He kept eyeing the hills. “They might be right on the other side.”
“Do you think we gotta start worrying about friggin head hunters?” Mykal asked and kept looking in all directions.
“I don’t think so,” Nelson replied. “We don’t have head hunters in North Dakota.”
“Who the hell says we’re in North Dakota, you friggin dumb ass?” Larry yelled. Nelson or Franklin would be easy targets to release his pent up rage.
“Who said we’re not in North Dakota?” Nelson argued, though his argument sounded weak. He lacked evidence to support his stance. “Kurt said we never left the state. I have to assume--”
“You’re really a stupid moron,” Larry lashed out, cutting Nelson off. “If you can’t see we’re not in North Dakota anymore then you’re a bigger dipshit
than I thought.” Larry moved closer to Nelson. He looked ready for a fight.
“Listen Sergeant Weston,” Nelson pointed his finger at Larry while taking a step back. “I don’t have to take this abuse from you or any of you. I’m not going to take it anymore.”
“Whadda ya gonna do?” Mykal jumped in, siding with Larry. “You wanna start something?” Mykal raised his voice. His fear and anger had got the best of him as well.
“Alright, that’s enough from all of you, damn it,” Denny yelled louder than all of them as he stepped into the middle. “It stops now!” He forced his way into the three way stare down. “We got more important things to worry about right now.”
“Screw him,” Mykal scoffed and turned away. Immediately, he felt bad. Nelson wasn’t his source of frustration. The strange situation caused his frustration. Nelson happened to be an easy target to attack.
“I’ll kick his goofy ass,” Larry threatened loudly and followed Mykal. They joined Franklin on the other side of the vehicle. “Did you get anyone yet?”
“No, nothing,” Franklin shook his head.
“Go ahead and stop,” Mykal said. “We’re not gonna get them from here.” Mykal looked to the east. “Trees to our left and hills to our right. Nothing behind from where we came and who the hell knows what’s out there?” He commented looking forward. “How the hell could all this happen? It don’t make any sense.”
The sudden thought of never going home made Mykal want to lash out even more. The only certainty was they didn’t know where they were. Now they had to be afraid of an unknown enemy that wanted to kill them and cut them to little pieces.
“Did he make you mad?” Franklin asked.
“Hell yeah,” Larry quickly replied.
“Damn it,” Mykal sighed. He felt guilty. Hostility among each other would be the last thing they needed. “I’ll be back,” he said and started to walk away.
“Where ya going?” Larry asked.
“To apologize to Nelson. We can’t be fighting each other with this craziness going on around us,” Mykal said. When Larry said nothing Mykal knew Larry didn’t want to humble himself and admit being wrong.
“Look Nelson,” Mykal paused when he joined him and Denny. “I don’t know why I blew up like that, but I wanna apologize. I was never mad at you. Alright? No hard feelings?”
“Yes, sure, no hard feelings,” Nelson said and smiled with his hand out to Mykal. “I don’t want to be at odds with anyone. Our predicament is much too precarious.”
Mykal felt bad for him because he knew Nelson felt like an outcast and he helped Nelson to feel that way. “And do me a favor, don’t hold anything against Larry. He really didn’t mean anything by it. I guess we’re all feeling the stress of these strange happenings around here.”
“Agreed,” Nelson said. “We need to be interdependent on one another if we’re going to successfully endure this situation.”
‘Man, he makes it so damn easy to pick on him,’ Mykal thought and stopped. “Denny, do you think we should see if we can find some ID on those two guys?”
“That wouldn’t be a bad idea, but who’s gonna get it? I know I sure as hell don’t wanna go digging through that stuff. I don’t even wanna look at them again cuz I almost threw up the first time.”
“I’ll do it,” Mykal volunteered. He had a personal reason he wanted to go back to the corpses. “I wanna get Taylor’s ammo. If there’s Crazies running around out here who wanna take our heads, then I wanna have as much ammo as I can get. I’ll be back in a couple of minutes. Hey Boris, come on with me to get some ID from those guys.”
“Alright,” Boris lit another cigarette. “This one, I need.”
Mykal and Boris reached the remains of Adam Sommer. They both shared deeply twisted, disgusted expressions when they neared the mess of flesh. Mykal used his foot to turn the body over so he could get into the man’s back pocket and retrieve his wallet. Mykal’s face twisted tightly. His jaws tightened just like the first time he changed a dirty diaper. It wasn’t a messy diaper that grossed him out, but the insides of a man.
All around the body were chunks of bloody meat and organs that once belonged inside his body. A couple of feet away Mykal saw part of the man’s left hand that had been cut off at the wrist. The index finger and thumb were missing. It saddened Mykal to see a white band of flesh on his ring finger where a ring had been. “Probably married and he might have kids,” he whispered to Boris. “Looks like whoever butchered him took his ring.” Now Mykal eyed what he really came back for, a holstered pistol. “They must have been surprised.”
“Why do you say that?” Boris whispered.
“Because his pistol is still in the holster and look over there,” he pointed to the man’s cowboy hat some twenty feet from the body. “Do you see how the cowboy hat is caved in from the back? He probably got clobbered from behind. Hey, I’m taking his pistol,” he said as he rolled the remains back over so he could undo the belt buckle. He pulled the blood caked holster from under the dead man. “I may need this,” he said and tossed it over his shoulder. “I’ll clean it later,” he said in response to the funny look Boris gave. “Let’s go to the other guy.”
“Me or Kurt could give you a pistol if you think you’re gonna need it,” Boris said as they tip-toed to Taylor. “Thank goodness we brought out some of our pistols to go ker-plunkin?” ‘Ker-plunkin’ was the code word Boris and Kurt used when they illegally brought their private firearms to the missile field to do target practice.
“Yeah, but this will be one more weapon in our hands.”
Boris suddenly turned his head.
“What is it?” Mykal whispered to Boris’s wide eyed fright.
“I’m not sure. I thought I saw some movement farther back in the trees,” he whispered. They both stopped and stared at the trees. “Maybe it was nothing,” Boris said after about fifteen seconds. “Myk, I’m not trying to scare you, but I swear, I thought I just saw something move back there, again. This is the second time I thought I saw something move. I’m serious,” he said nervously sucking deeply on his cigarette and holding his M-16 tighter. “It coulda been the trees. I guess I’m getting a little jumpy.”
They both froze and stared intently into the forest. They waited for a few moments. Nothing moved. “Do you wanna go back?” Mykal whispered. He was happy with getting the Marshal’s hand gun. “All I want is Taylor’s web belt for the ammo.”
“Alright, let’s hurry,” Boris whispered and continued his gaze into the trees. “But I’m chambering a round,” he said and quickly pulled the charging handle back. With a quick press of the release button the bolt slammed forward sliding the first 5.56mm round into the chamber. His M-16 was ready to be fired.
Mykal looked back to see the others jumped into action in response to Boris chambering a round. They all crouched around the vehicles with their weapons held at the ready.
“Keep your eyes open,” Mykal whispered and eyed the remains of Taylor. Mykal’s concern didn’t match Boris. He didn’t think the murderers would linger near the scene of the crime.
Mykal glanced at the darkened stain that was once a human neck. The scene seemed surreal. Taylor, like Sommer, like the six people of the crashed helicopter, had all been living human beings. Mykal felt like a grave robber. He felt dirty since his motives were self-serving.
He couldn’t see the metal dog tags. “I’m not digging under his collar,” he whispered gazing at the bloodied collar. “I just want the ammo.” He had to use both hands to unlatch the metal clasp of the web belt. It gagged him when the back of his hand touched lifeless tissue. He desperately rubbed the back of his hand against his own thigh until his flesh warmed.
Once he had one end of the web belt in hand, he used his foot to roll the stump of the young man over, to pull the web belt from under the dead weight. As suspected, Taylor’s billfold padded his rear pocket. Mykal took it out and gave it to Boris.
“Come on, let’s get outta here,” Mykal whispered. They
both walked backward to keep their eyes on the trees.
“I really did think I saw something move, but I could’ve just imagined it,” Boris admitted. “I’m a little freaked out.”
“No problem, let’s go,” Mykal said and they ran back to the others. “Who wants an extra magazine?” He asked when he opened the ammo pouches. “I’ll give each of you a magazine and you can fight over the other two, but I’m keeping the Marshal’s pistol,” he declared, and handed the web belt to Larry to divide the ammo. Mykal presented himself as generous, but he still had eight magazines he had taken from Kaiser’s body the day before.
“Whadda ya got Myk?” Kurt asked referring to the handgun.
Mykal turned to Kurt and Boris, the “gun experts” to show off his find. He pulled the .357 magnum from its blood covered holster and held it up. To Mykal it felt rather heavy, but it fit his hand nicely. The six inch stainless steel barrel looked great and made him feel more confident.
“Look at this,” he boasted. “It’s loaded and the cartridge belt is fully loaded with thirty-six rounds. Reminds me of the holsters cowboys wore in those old western movies.”
“Hey, that looks like mine,” Kurt said and smiled. “But listen Sarge, mine has an eight inch barrel,” he boastfully one upped Mykal. “Mine has the blued finish which means mine is prettier.”
“Oh yeah,” Mykal snapped his fingers. “The last Marshal that came to our site had an Uzi. Remember? He said US Marshals can carry any weapon they want. So maybe this guy has some other stuff in his trunk. Let’s check it out.”
Both Kurt and Boris lit up like children let loose in a candy store. “I’ve always wanted an Uzi,” Kurt laughed and clapped his hands together. “I got dibs if there’s an Uzi.”
“Dibs my ass,” Boris replied. “Let’s wait and see what he’s got. We’ll share it.”
“How the hell are we gonna share it?” Kurt asked as Mykal opened the trunk.
“I’ll shoot it and you can watch me shoot it,” Boris said and laughed.
“Yeah right, tubby.”