37 Days In A Strange World

by Dave Hazel

  “Sir, excuse me Sir.” Airman Basic Brown’s hand shot into the air. Being the newest airmen from basic training, he still hadn’t earned his first stripe. His Air Force service began just five months ago. “My assistant gunner, A1C Buckley, was killed in the car accident. I don’t have an assistant gunner, Sir.”

  “Follow protocol,” Jake replied. “Your fire team leader should fill that position if your assistant is not available.”

  “That’s SSgt Bradford, Sir.” Brown fretfully gulped.

  “Excuse me, TSgt Irwin,” Bradford spoke politely but glared at the ‘slick-sleeve’ AB Brown for broaching the issue. “I’m a fire team leader and the ranking SP of the convoy,” he said in a condescending tone with his finger pointed in the air. “I’m not a machine gunner’s assistant.”

  Mykal saw Bradford’s tone rubbed Jake the wrong way. It brought Mykal joy. Jake’s no nonsense attitude was about to be unleashed. Mykal despised Bradford because of issues from back home and hoped to see Jake lay into Bradford.

  “Lt Light is too busy to reassign everyone’s positions on fire teams because you don’t wanna do your damn job!” Jake snapped.

  “I’m the ranking fire-team leader,” Bradford said timidly.

  “Your M-203 man can’t give up his responsibility and be the assistant gunner because of your bullshit pride!” Jake retorted.

  “I’m the convoy’s ranking Security Policeman, not a--”

  “Then do your damn job!” Jake barked with his hands on his hips, his eyes pierced into Bradford’s startled face. Lt Light’s silence bolstered Jake’s stance. “Oh wait a minute. If you would like to push your responsibility off to a younger airman, then maybe you can give him your rank too, Staff Sergeant Bradford!”

  “No Sir. I’m good, Sir.” For Bradford to argue would create more problems for him. To admit he was wrong would be to accept a crushing blow in front of all the younger airmen.

  Mykal made sure Bradford saw his exaggerated smirk.

  “Brown, I want to know if you sense any retribution.”

  “Yes Sir, Tech Sergeant Irwin,” Airman Basic Brown replied to Jake.

  “When do we pull back Sir?” Another of Light’s men asked.

  “No one pulls back until myself, or Lt Edwards gives the order,” Light answered sharply. “Then we will all pull back as a unit. We are one. No one gets left behind.”

  Mykal left to find Towbar. It surprised Mykal to catch the giant arguing with the servant girl, Doninka. This same girl who told Mykal she’d been terrified of what Towbar might do to her for leaving his side when he lay dying, now argued with Towbar. She wasn’t backing down from the leader of their people.

  Mykal’s enhanced hearing clearly heard Towbar’s stern whisper. “Doninka, do not put up a fuss. I wish for you to go back to Gartolin and wait there until this is over. It will be too hectic here for me to watch over you.”

  “That is not what I desire to do,” she argued sharply. “You do not have to watch over me.” When she caught sight of Mykal approaching, suddenly her tone and demeanor changed. “Please my Lord, I want so much to be a help during the battle,” she begged and bowed her head in a show of submission.

  “Your father has entrusted me--”

  Doninka cleared her throat and nodded toward Mykal.

  “--with your safety.” Towbar turned to Mykal and continued to speak to the girl. “I do not wish to be the bearer of ill news should you be killed. You should not be here.” She cleared her throat a second time. “No, I will not hide the truth from my friend. Mykal can be trusted. I promised your father and your mother that I would guard your life but I can not do that while I am battling Sosos. There is far too much danger. Please, I beseech you, go back to Gartolin.”

  Mykal couldn’t believe his ears. Towbar begged the servant girl as opposed to ordering her. Something didn’t add up.

  “Towbar, I can take care of myself,” she said stubbornly. “I will stay and fight the Sosos.”

  Towbar gave a frustrated sigh. “Doninka, you know what the Sosos will do to you if they catch you. I promised your father I would take you from harm’s way. Please, obey my wishes.”

  “Towbar, you may have me dragged away. However, after I get free, and I will, I will return here to do my part to keep our land free from the terror of the Sosos. If I must give up my life, then I will give up my life. My people need help.”

  “Your beauty is acquired from your mother. This stubborn bullheadedness is from your father. Mykal, please help me to make the King’s daughter understand the danger we face.”

  “What? The King’s daughter?” He gawked. “As in a Princess?”

  “Yes. I have a responsibility to guard her with my life. This one is a stubborn one. I know I can keep her identity a secret with you, my friend. I must ask that you assist me in keeping her safe while we keep her true identity hidden.”

  Mykal eyed the servant girl who served him water on the work line the previous day. The revelation of her true identity bemused him. He’d never been in the presence of royalty before.

  With the charade over she spoke with authority. “Towbar, my dear friend,” she said and placed her petite hand on his massive forearm. “I love this land, and I love these people as much as you. If I depart and leave these precious people behind when they are in need of help I will never forgive myself. If the gods so will it that I am to die on the field of battle with our people, then so be it. I am not afraid. Please do not deny me this opportunity to show my love for this people and to help.” She begged for his approval with her big brown eyes breaking down his tough, stone like, exterior. “I am going to stay. I only wish you will be supportive of me, not against me.”

  Before his eyes Mykal witnessed the transformation of a young servant girl to a mature, dignified woman.

  “I could never be against you, child,” the giant gave in gently. “I only wish I had not mentioned the Sosos were coming until I had you taken from here. How will you defend yourself, brave one?” He asked sarcastically. “I will not be able to watch over you. Yet I will be troubled for your protection.”

  “I have been schooled in fighting,” she replied confidently though she sounded naively foolish. “I can defend myself.”

  “Dear Doninka, I love your heart. Please reconsider. For me, please reconsider,” Towbar begged.

  “Towbar, I will not be foolish. I do understand the risk involved. I will not step into harm’s way.”

  “Well done. You have defeated me,” Towbar sighed. “I have one request. Please do not deny me this request. I ask that you stay in the company of my trusted friend Mykal and his people. I will have less to worry over and I know he will keep you safe.”

  Mykal wanted to yell. He didn’t sign up to be a babysitter. He didn’t want the burden of protecting a Princess, while war would be raging around them. He wasn’t sure how he’d handle himself let alone having to protect Doninka, a VIP.

  “Very well, I will stay with Mykal if he does not object,” she eagerly agreed and turned to him. “Do you object?”

  “Wha-huh? What?”

  “Do you object to protecting me and keeping me safe so Towbar will not be hindered while he leads my people in battle?”

  “What the hell do I say to that?” Though miffed, he clearly saw her desire for him. “I don’t know the King from jack-shi--” he caught himself. “I don’t know the King from anybody, so I could say no. But I’d do anything for Towbar. I’ll protect you, but you’re gonna listen to me and do as I say or else I’ll slap my handcuffs on you so fast and--” he stopped when they both gave him a puzzled look. “Yes, if you agree not to be difficult, I would like nothing more than to protect the King’s daughter,” he said in a mocking tone.

  “Agreed then. I must go prepare for battle.” She gave a gleeful victorious smile. “I will join you in a short time, Mykal,” she said as if going to prepare for a date.

  “What the friggin hell just happened?” Mykal barked.

  “My friend,
I am sorry to have laid this on you without discussing it beforehand. I must keep her identity a secret while keeping her safe. I only ask this of you for one reason. Should the battle go bad or if my soldiers do not arrive, you can put her in one of your fast moving crafts and whisk her away.”

  “Damn it!” Mykal huffed. “It’s fine I guess, as long as she listens to me. I understand your concern. It’d be like if our President’s daughter was here. That’d be some serious stuff.”

  “She agreed only because she is fond of you my friend. I could see it in her eyes.”

  “Oh no, don’t give me that stuff. I’m happily married.”

  “I appreciate that, my friend. Let us get through the day.”

  “You gotta admit,” Mykal chuckled when he realized how they had been taken over by a ‘servant girl’, “she’s got spunk.”

  “I do not know that term, yet I think I know what you mean. I am proud of her. She could have demanded to be taken away from here. As you witnessed she is willing to die for her people.”

  “If she’s the King’s daughter, what’s she doing here? Whose stupid idea was it to send her here?”

  “It was my idea.”

  “Oh-I, I didn’t mean stupid idea,” Mykal snickered to cover his embarrassment.

  “There were rumors the enemy planned to take our country from within since the Sosos have not been able to take our land by force. I learned of several plots afoot to assassinate the King, his family members and all families of power. The King wanted his children sent to secret locations. The three younger children were sent away while the two older sons decided they would stay by the King’s side. Doninka wanted to come here to stay with a family that lives in Gartolin. I believed the Sosos would not attack again for a few more years. I thought what better place to send her than right under the nose of the enemy. Never would they expect she would be here and be in danger--”

  Towbar’s words were interrupted when hundreds of people started to shout. The Sosos topped the incline in the distance. They were in sight and approaching. The warning rippled through the people as if a plane crashed into a still pond. In a few hours Sosos could be raining down on them with a heavy hand.

  “Well, it looks like this is for real, huh?” Mykal smiled calmly but his insides did flip flops. He redirected his fear to anger. “They wanna keep me from seeing my family. Hell no! I don’t care how big they are,” he said while he watched the distant green turn dark. The black cloud they fled from a week ago had finally caught up to them.

  Like hundreds of others, Mykal looked to the rear of the Pass to see if Towbar’s army had arrived yet. Mykal knew Lopez would have radioed the news if he’d made contact with the army.

  “They will come,” Towbar said. “They must come.”

  “Towbar, where are you going to be fighting at?”

  “Where ever I am needed the most. I will be at the edge of the pit with my people. I only ask that you do your best to protect Doninka. If our situation deteriorates, please, take her from danger. That is my dying wish to you, my friend.”

  “I’ll protect her like she’s my own, my own…kid.”

  “If we survive this battle I am going to change the name of this place of strategic importance to be named after you. After this war this place will be known as Mykal’s Pass.”

  “Really?” He couldn’t keep from smiling. Should he die his name would live on and he would always be remembered. He would be remembered by a people who don’t know anything about him while his people back home would never learn of his demise.

  “In the future when our children’s children, and all those after them, come to visit this area, I want all to see where our greatest battle had been fought by so few people.”

  “Or they could come and see the new Alamo,” Mykal chuckled. “I know you don’t know what the Alamo is. Don’t worry about it.”

  “I only ask that you watch over her.”

  “I give you my word I’ll do my best to protect her,” he replied. They clasped forearms to shake and went separate ways.

  Mykal rushed to find his close friends nervously discussing their situation and what their plans were as a small group inside the large group. The four Peacekeepers were spread evenly through the half mile width of the Pass. Kurt continued trying to convince Airman Jackson to give up his M-60 machinegun.

  “Listen to me guys,” Denny gathered his people including the civilians who decided to camp with them. “Like Jake said earlier, we don’t know how things are gonna shake out, but my number one concern is for all of you to stay safe. If we need to, we’ll take off outta here.”

  “Stay close and watch each other’s back,” Larry added. “We’ve faced these idiots before.”

  “On a slightly smaller scale,” Kurt replied comically. Kurt began to yell vulgar obscenities at the Sosos and others joined him to see who could out slur the Sosos. “I’m just trying to lighten the mood,” Kurt said to Denny when the townspeople eyed them for their odd behavior. Not only would the locals never taunt the enemy, but they enemy couldn’t possibly hear them from such a distance.

  Stinky Feet Smith ran through the Pass to Denny’s area. He yelled with great excitement. “Mykal, Denny, everyone! Everyone listen! Lopez called saying they seen Towbar’s army. The army’s coming!” Smith yelled joyfully. He jumped up and down to express his exuberant pleasure. “Towbar’s army’s coming.” The good news reverberated through the Pass.

  “How far are they?” Larry asked, clapping his hands.

  “We don’t know,” Smith admitted. “His radio transmission kept breaking up. Probably cuz of the mountain walls. But he did call in saying they done seen ‘em.”

  “Hey Jackson,” Kurt yelled to the machine gunner in the Peacekeeper. “Turn your radio up and let us know what you hear.”

  “Phew, that’s great,” Denny sighed. “Maybe we’ll never have to fire a shot.”

  All the military people were laughing and shouting and giving each other high-fives over the broken radio message that had been received. Though most of the locals couldn’t comprehend how the Visitors could possibly know the army to be near, they eagerly joined in the celebratory atmosphere.

  “Mister Kraft, would you like your wife and daughters to go back to the town and wait it out there?” Denny asked.

  “No, I want them to stay here. If we have to leave, I don’t want to take a chance of being separated.”

  “Same here,” Harvey Nordwall said with his arm wrapped tightly around his new bride’s waist. “I don’t want to be separated for anything and Lil agrees with me, don’cha honey?”

  “Yes, he’s all I have here, Denny.” Lillian kissed him.

  “My wife feels the same way,” William Kraft added. “I’ll move them a little farther back, but there’s nothing like a crisis to pull a family together.” He nodded while he looked affectionately to the five members of his family.

  “I just want you guys to know it could get a little rough,” Mykal advised. “Towbar’s soldiers aren’t here yet.”

  “Daddy, I’m scared,” Lisa Kraft whimpered.

  “It’ll be alright sweetie,” Karen hugged her younger daughter.

  “Brian, I want you to stay back behind the dirt walls with you mother and sisters,” William instructed the twelve year old.

  “But Daa-aad,” the boy moaned his displeasure. “You guys might need me up front.”

  “You heard me! Your mother and sisters might need you if the Sosos get past our defenses.”

  “Yes Sir,” he pouted and stormed off.

  “Hey Brian.” Kurt tried to catch him. “Most everyone is going to be fighting from back there. It’s okay, really.”

  “Hey Myk, do you think them jerks are gonna do anything when the Sosos come?” Larry nodded toward the Jesus Freaks.

  “Do anything like what?” Mykal asked and watched them pray.

  Ski Winczewski, Mark Dickerson, Short Shit Palmer who detests his nick name, and Black Jones, stood in a circle holding
hands with their heads bowed praying. Mykal knew their prayers were over the pending doom approaching and for everyone’s salvation and safety. Ski previously asked Mykal for specific prayer requests but could only think of everyone’s safety and safe return home.

  “Isn’t it against their religion to kill? Besides,” Larry mocked, “Lookit how them sissies are holding hands.”

  Mykal couldn’t help but snicker at Larry’s hostile observation. “When I was talking to Ski, he said it’s against their religion to murder, but this will be self-defense and the defense of others. He also told me that he’s here to be obedient to God. Even if it means laying down his life. For now he said their goal as Christians is to help all of us to find God, even Mousy Black who hates them. But if I was them, I’d hafta tell Mousy Black to get lost,” he chuckled.

  “Those Jesus Freaks really freak me out,” Larry scoffed.

  “Only thing I can say, if they don’t kill Sosos, they’ll probably end up dead.” Mykal shrugged.

  “Hopefully they won’t kill and then they will end up dead.” Larry smirked. “Then there’ll be more ammo for us. Hey, how do you think the rest of our idiots are gonna do?”

  Mykal shook his head. “I don’t know. I hope they do well. We need everyone to hang tough and fight hard.”

  “You guys know I read a lot of military stuff,” Boris said. “There was a Major General in the Civil War who made a great quote. His name was Joshua L. Chamberlain, he said, and I quote, ‘Combat makes bad men worse and good men better.’ I wonder how that’s gonna apply to our guys?”

  “What side was he on?” Rich’s southern accent popped in.

  “Union of course,” Boris laughed. “You know the south is just a bunch of dumb rednecks.”

  “Burn!” Kurt laughed with the others and high-fived Boris. “Boris just burned your dumb hillbilly ass.”

  “Oh no you din’int jus’ say dat,” Rich laughed with them. “Boris, I thought wez waz best buds.”