by Dave Hazel
Mykal’s heart sank nearing the mass of evil standing, cheering their war cries. Many took aim with their bows. Mykal knew one lucky bow shot or thrown weapon could prevent him from seeing his family. Fear of all the possibilities sickened him.
He wasn’t about to allow these blood thirsty maniacs to keep him from going home. He rode harder, more determined to make it at all costs. He didn’t believe he survived all he had been through just to be robbed from going home at the last minute. He believed the God in heaven Ski always talked about wouldn’t allow that. Would He? What about Kurt? Kurt died just yesterday after all he had gone through. Despite the urge to vomit, he knew riding through the gauntlet was the only way.
Death arrows filled the sky and dropped all around them. Mykal lowered his head closer to the horse’s neck and kept riding. Towbar’s soldiers rode past them to knock a hole in the first wall of Sosos. Other Sosos flocked to the point of impact.
“Do not go into the fog,” Towbar commanded his soldiers moving to engage the enemy. “You will not return!”
Towbar’s soldiers started to fall by the dozens. Death arrows were hitting their targets. “Stop,” Mykal yelled and jerked his horse to a halt.
“Whadda ya doing?” Rich yelled frantically.
“Shoot the archers. We gotta stop the archers before they kill us.” He fired his rifle one-handed.
“The fog is getting smaller,” Sam cried out.
“I got my eye on it,” Mykal responded between shots. Others began shooting making it easier for Towbar’s soldiers. “Those without rifles move your ass.”
Boris shot his rifle over the heads of the two terrified children. They cried but clung tightly to the neck of the horse. Boris tried to calm them while shooting but he’d never been around children before. His parenting skills weren’t the best. “It’s gonna be okay. It’s alright. Now shut the hell up! And sit still,” Boris yelled while he fired his rifle.
Visitors without weapons or ammo rode on with Towbar’s soldiers. Mykal saw some of his people get struck by death arrows. The first to get shot was John T. Scum Bum Samuelson. He took an arrow in the general area of his heart. He didn’t get to spend any of his wife’s money. Ironically with her terminal illness she out-lived him. He hit the ground and didn’t move.
While Mykal reloaded his rifle he watched the old man of their Crew, SSgt Doc Holiday, get hit in the thigh with a death arrow. Doc’s horse took two in the throat. It bucked Doc and threw him to the ground. A mob of Sosos swarmed Doc but they were being picked off one by one. Within moments four Sosos got to Doc Holiday and began hacking him to pieces with their swords and axes. The four were killed quickly thereafter.
Mykal watched the surviving Kraft family members and two of Light’s people; A1C Currie and A1C Martin all ride into the green fog and seemed to disappear. Mykal saw Sosos flooding past Towbar’s soldiers and move toward them.
“C’mon,” Mykal yelled. “Let’s go.”
“The shit’s gonna hit the fan,” Jake yelled. “Move it.”
The situation became dangerously hectic as Mykal rode into the crowd of Sosos who swung their weapons wildly at him and the people riding with him. He heard the wild war cries and blood curdling screams they emitted but he was numb to it. Mykal’s only desire was to join the Kraft family in the green fog.
Mykal continued to shoot with one hand while riding. When his rifle emptied he didn’t have time to stop to reload. He pulled his pistol to use only on the Sosos who were dangerously close. He fired all six shots quickly. After holstering the handgun he wrapped the sling of his rifle around his arm to use as a club on any Sosos who moved too close.
Towbar swung his glowing blue blade from high atop his horse. He chopped and cut Sosos into lifeless chunks. One of Light’s men, Airman Basic Brown took an arrow to the side of the head. He was thrown to the ground. Brown never knew what hit him.
A1C Vanadore got hit in the head with an axe. The axe stayed in his head and when he hit the ground a couple of Sosos pounced on him to ensure his death. One pulled the axe from his head and chopped into his head two more times to make sure he didn’t get up. The Soso screamed a blood curdling war while he chopped away on Vanadore.
Mykal rode toward the fog and noticed a particular Soso looked directly at him and charged at his horse. Mykal swung his rifle to club him but to Mykal’s surprise the Soso jumped up and caught the rifle between his side and his arm. The Soso latched onto the rifle and with the rifle sling wrapped around Mykal’s arm to keep from dropping it, the weight of the Soso easily pulled Mykal from the horse. They both fell, where the Soso managed to hit Mykal in the head with his club. The awkward position rendered it a glancing blow though it cut his flesh. His head hit the ground harder from the fall.
If it hadn’t been for Towbar being near the Soso would have easily over powered Mykal and killed him. Towbar jumped from his horse and tackled the Soso before he could strike Mykal again. Towbar pulled the ice pick like dagger from the Soso’s belt and pounded it into the Soso’s back to the hilt. The blade protruded from the Soso’s chest. Blood spat from the Soso’s mouth and he died. Towbar’s wicked punch broke the Soso’s spine.
Another Soso attacked the giant while Towbar was still on his knees. Towbar yanked the dagger from his dead victim and dodged the shouting Soso’s poorly swung attack. Towbar jumped forward swinging the ice pick upward under the Soso’s chin. He drove the nail like blade through the Soso’s skull into the brain killing him instantly. The blow lifted the Soso three feet off the ground. Towbar left the dagger buried under the dead Soso’s chin when he crumpled to the ground.
Both Mykal and Towbar’s horses fled and ran into the green fog. Mykal’s horse had his possessions and one of his pet Quecktarbs. Dazed, Mykal reached for the horse as if the animal still stood there.
Towbar helped Mykal to his feet while he scanned the area for the nearest threat. Several of Towbar’s soldiers and even more Sosos littered the ground. Towbar’s soldiers fought the Sosos so Mykal’s people could make their way to the green fog. Some of the Visitors were locked in combat and more Sosos charged to the area of battle which put a dividing wall between some of the Visitors and the green fog.
Mykal saw some of his people trying to make it to the green fog on foot. Looking at his close friends struggling, Mykal wobbled as if drunk, and fell over.
“The fog,” Mykal moaned weakly and tried to rise to his feet while reaching as if the fog was just out of reach. His head throbbed. He saw the green fog shrinking smaller and though he could still see the fog he felt the sensations in his hand getting weaker. He knew it would disappear and he would remain stuck in Towbar’s world. “Noooo,” he moaned weakly.
*******
Towbar saw the condition of his friend and reached down and picked him up like a little child. He laid Mykal over his large shoulder like a sack of potatoes. With his massive glowing blue sword in his right hand and his left wrapped over Mykal’s body to hold him in place the giant ran toward the green fog. Towbar believed those who hadn’t entered the fog had very little time left. He planned to keep his promise to help him get home, even if it meant tossing him into the green fog. Sosos who tried to get near got chopped to pieces with his whirring blue blade. He was on a mission.
*******
Mykal looked down over Towbar’s back as the giant ran. Towbar’s every step reverberated through his body. Mykal sensed he was in great danger. He felt blood trickling down the left side of his forehead. His M-16 was still wrapped around his arm by the rifle sling. He thought it looked funny just dangling from his arm. Towbar ran further and Mykal saw the body of A1C Wolfe, another southern boy who was close friends with Rich. Wolfe was the wounded airman Mykal found who hand been holding his intestines in his hands after the big battle on the 4th of July. He wondered if he would cross the bodies of Jake, Larry, Boris, Sam or Rich in this strange mode of transportation.
Oddly, Mykal’s thoughts were of Nidious. He wondered if they shouldn’t have
waited a few more days…
“Sosos,” Mykal yelled just as a swinging sword missed his head by inches. He tried to raise his rifle but he couldn’t.
Towbar turned and swung his sword killing two of the five Sosos who closed in. Towbar walked backward to fend off the threat. The three pressed their attack followed by four more. They desperately wanted to eliminate their nemesis. Towbar tried to keep them from circling him to strike Mykal. When he neared the edge of the green fog and pulled his arm back to strike, his sword and arm touched the cool wetness of the cloud and it seemed to suck him inside. Towbar tried to remain upright and fight the pull but he couldn’t. The seven Sosos rushed in after him not knowing what they were entering.
In an instant Mykal felt the odd dizzying sensation he longed for from the first experience with the green fog. It suddenly woke him from his dazed stupor. He felt as if he had been slapped with something wet and slimy. He knew he entered the green fog. Silence surrounded him like a sound proof booth. He heard his own breathing and the thumping of his heartbeat. He hoped and prayed he returned to his world or this was for nothing.
“Put me down,” Mykal yelled to Towbar but his own voice felt distant. Towbar set him down and he quickly put another magazine in the weapon. He knew the fog would disappear and if Sosos were near they would be confused giving him a slight advantage. He saw Towbar drop to his knees and grab his head. He knew Towbar experienced the dizzying effect.
“I can not stand,” Towbar said but sounded far away.
“It will pass,” he yelled back and felt his head where the blood came from. His flesh was split open. “I wonder if others made it,” he mumbled and felt comfortable in the green cloud.
“I saw some who did not make it in yet.”
“Who?” Mykal yelled. Mykal felt the green fog was about to vanish. He hoped the others would hurry before time ran out. He wished he could see through the fog to see who had made it through but the thick swirling cloud of changing textures kept him from seeing others.
“Sam, Larry and Jake were not on their horses and they turned the other direction. They were being helped by my soldiers. They were alive,” Towbar explained and continued to hold his head as if it was going to spin off his shoulders.
“Oh no,” he moaned and took tiny steps. He kicked a body and when he stooped down he could see Mark Dickerson with an axe blade buried in his back between his shoulder blades.
Without warning the green fog disappeared. The green slime wasn’t there. There were many people spread out over a large area. They covered an area of two to three football fields. Some were on horseback others were on foot.
There were at least one hundred and twenty Sosos scattered all around them. They seemed totally confused but once they saw the enemy they resumed their assault. The Sosos didn’t know they had been transported somewhere other than where they began, all they knew is they had an enemy at hand to kill. Their blood lust was so strong they didn’t realize the change.
“Here they come,” Mykal yelled and took aim with his rifle. He started to pick them off before they could get too close.
Boris and Lopez came running to his side. Both were holding the hands of little Ricky and Debbie Holen. Boris dropped the hand of Ricky to start shooting. Lopez didn’t have a weapon. He pulled the two children close to his body and dropped to the ground to protect them.
Rich, Roy Jr. and Terry Burns all rushed to their side. They all began to shoot but the mass of Sosos closed in on them quickly. The Sosos were easy targets. Towbar used his sword and they seemed to avoid rushing in toward the giant swinging the glowing blue blade.
Mykal noticed the ground felt different. He knew they were not on the ground where they departed from. At first he wasn’t sure where they were but to his right his eye caught a familiar sight. It was the old abandoned radar site, Minot Air Force Station, approximately sixteen miles south of Minot, North Dakota.
“We’re home,” Mykal yelled gleefully and an avalanche of positive emotions hit him.
When they realized they were back in North Dakota a joyful celebration erupted. They started to hug each other and slap each other on the back. The war in another time and place was over, they made it home. They weren’t in Towbar’s world any more. Towbar looked to be the only one not celebrating. Towbar was the one trapped in another world just when his people needed him the most.
A sudden yelp and a cry brought them back to reality that they were not out of danger. Rich fell to the ground with a hand hurled axe slammed into the left side of his face. The force of the hit caused his left eye to bulge out of the eye socket and broke his jaw so his mouth was twisted open in an odd way. Rich lost consciousness and died quickly.
No one had to be told but they all began shooting and killed off the remaining Sosos. They were spread out over a large distance but once the Sosos had been killed they all rushed to where Mykal and Towbar were.
A couple of cars on Highway 23 pulled over to watch the one-sided shootout. They believed they were watching a movie in the making. Cameras or the camera crews were nowhere to be seen.
A1C Spencer had armed himself with one of the battle axes one of his new Dwarven friends had given him. He stood closest to the cars stopped along the highway. He ran wildly yelling and screaming for help. He didn’t realize that his face had been covered in the blood of a Soso and one of Towbar’s soldiers. They had clashed and killed each other splashing each other’s blood on Spencer just before he ran into the green fog. All the people idling on Highway 23 saw Spencer as a wild man wielding an axe and they sped off. They were not going to take any chances, movie or not.
After all the Sosos were dead they all gathered together. Many had tears in their eyes for various reasons. Tears of happiness to be home. Tears of sorrow for the fallen for those left behind. Those left behind will probably never make it home. Emotions among the small group ran the gamut.
Towbar called out a command known to his soldiers but only the horses responded to his command. While everyone laughed and rejoiced, Mykal gathered up his belongings including the sack full of raw diamonds and his three Quecktarbs. Sam’s horse made it through, but not Sam or his small sack of personal treasure he gathered. Authorities were going to be called. He needed to hide his stuff or it would get confiscated.
Roy Jr. sat on the ground and cried openly. He knew for sure his little brother Baby Ray would never return but didn’t know the fate of his father and his brother Randy. He thought they went through the green fog right behind him.
The returning survivors looked to Mykal and Towbar after the joyful celebration died down. “Whadda we do now?” Boris asked as he took the hands of Ricky and Debbie Holen. He had tears in his eyes because he finished what his best friend Kurt died trying to do. He returned these two little children to the civilized world. He felt bad for holding a jealous grudge against the two little innocent children.
“I guess we go to the radar base and see if they have a phone we can use,” Mykal gave a sad laugh. “Who the hell is gonna believe us? They’re gonna probably lock us all up.”
“Oh damn,” Airman Big Jeff Cann shook his head and placed a comforting arm around the shoulder of Karen Kraft. “All them people saw us shooting the Sosos. We’re gonna be in a big deal of trouble.”
“Oh no you’re not,” Karen Kraft broke her sobbing and looked up from hugging her children. “We know the truth and when the truth gets out to what kind of animals those Sosos are you should get a medal for what you did today.”
“Has anyone seen my father or my brother?” Roy Jr. asked after wiping his eyes. “I don’t see them anywhere.”
“I’m sorry Roy,” Mykal shook his head. “Towbar, I don’t know how I can thank you. If it wasn’t for you,” he turned his head for fear of breaking down.
“My people desperately need me my friend. I do not know what to do,” Towbar said with sadness in his words no one had ever heard expressed before.
“Myk, where’s Jake, Sam and Larry?” Boris
asked.
“Towbar said they turned and went the other way. They were off their horses. I don’t know if they’re alive or dead.”
“I think we should leave here,” Karen Kraft suggested.
Mykal counted to see who all returned. Besides Towbar there were sixteen who made it back to the world. He counted Boris with the two children Ricky and Debbie Holen, Karen Kraft and two of her children Ted and Annette, A1C Gabriel Lopez, Sr. Airman Baby Hulk Jordan, Airman Big Jeff Cann, Sr. Airman Airman Terry Burns, Roy Jr. Four people under Lt Light made it back, Sr. Airman Douglas, A1C Spencer, A1C Currie and A1C Martin.
Mykal wasn’t sure what happened to the rest of the people but he assumed there were about thirteen people they would have to label as Missing In Action. Those MIA would be TSgt Eugene Jake Irwin, Sgt Larry Weston, Sr. Airman Sam Washington, SSgt Stanley Ski Winczewski, A1C Bill Towner, A1C Shelton, Airman Casey Knox, Roy Dosch and his son Randy. The MIAs under Lt Light’s people were Sgt Monk, A1C Newman, A1C DeMars, and A1C Krenshaw.
It saddened Mykal that Towbar came to his world, but he couldn’t hide his happiness to be home. He knew sorrow and guilt would hit him over the next couple of days, but he wasn’t sure what the military would do about everything that had happened. There would be an investigation of the likes he could never imagine because there were deaths, people missing and a missing nuclear missile. ‘All in due time.’ The ordeal was over as far as he was concerned. Now it was time to get home to be with the family.
“Boris and Towbar come with me. Let’s see if we can find a phone,” Mykal said and started walking. “Everyone sit tight so people don’t come and disturb the scene. There’s gonna be a big investigation starting here.” His goal was to actually hide his possessions. He didn’t want the military to confiscate what he felt he earned. “It’s over!” Mykal yelled and the others cheered with him. Little did Mykal know, this was only the beginning of his ordeal. His life would be forever changed. Goodbye normalcy.