by Dave Hazel
“I don’t wanna get anyone in trouble,” Mykal said before Ratner turned away. “But I wanna know who left the MRE packages out there to be found. They have to be made to understand we can’t do something like that again. That laziness, sloppiness or lack of concentration on what they’re doing could have cost us some lives. I know we all know, but we have to clean up after ourselves so we don’t leave anything for potential enemies to find.”
“The men should always police the area whenever we eat or bed down for the night,” Finley said. “We’ll talk to the men together about that Gunny, okay?”
“Yes Sir. I would like it if you, myself and your Green Beret Sergeant First Class Lemon would address the men together on that. This way the ranking Marine and ranking Army NCO will be putting our foot down together.”
“Since you both are E-7s who outranks who?” Finley asked.
“I have a year and three months more time in grade than Lemon Sir. He seems like a sharp NCO. He’s solid and really seems to have his shit together. I like Sergeant Lemon despite the fact that he’s a Green Beret,” Ratner chuckled and backed away before Finley could reply.
CHAPTER SIX 01/09/1984
1. Monday, January 9th 1984
0417 hours, Unknown Place Other Side of Towbar’s World (2nd Day)
Mykal woke suddenly and looked around in the dark. It wasn’t something outside that woke him, but something inside. He had a dream that startled him. It wasn’t the nightmares he usually had that involved terror, death, chasing and running for his life. This was a slow moving, quiet, soft peaceful dream, but it startled him tremendously. Mykal pressed the button on his watch to illuminate the numbers in the dark to see the time.
The dream left him cold and empty. Though it wasn’t the heart pounding terror he usually experienced every night he felt more fearful now that he was awake. In his dream he saw himself as an old man eighty to ninety years old sitting in a large chair. His skin was wrinkly and soft. He clearly saw little brown liver spots on his head and hands that he associated with old age. The little of his hair was white. He seemed to have shrunk in size and that helped him to sink into the large soft chair. He assumed he was in an ‘old folk’s home’ because it wasn’t his house.
People were busily talking around him, talking about him as if he was just a piece of the furnishings. Children were playing and laughing as if he didn’t exist. Were they his grandchildren or great grandchildren? Were they any relation at all? They didn’t care about his old withered self, but why would they? They were children full of life and filled with energy to burn at play time. Why would they be concerned with an old prune of a man who just sat in a chair and thought about the past? They couldn’t possibly know all the things inside his soft, wrinkly, white covered, balding dome.
‘Where are Pam and my boys?’ He wondered. ‘Was Pam gone?’ He contemplated and it brought up questions as to did she pass away before him or was she living a different path without him? Since the boys weren’t there, did they just not have a need for their father? Either way, sitting all alone in the big chair around a number of strangers made him realize his life amounted to nothing, and more importantly he felt so alone. All the fame, money, thrills and everything he experienced in 1983 and 1984 didn’t matter to those living life around his existence in the big chair. ‘But I would still have my memories,’ Mykal thought against the vision of his older self while he lay on the ground in the dark.
‘But what memories? All my friends are dead. I don’t know what’s happened with Pam and my little boys,’ he groaned mentally. Mykal felt a genuine sadness sweep through his entire being. ‘Those people don’t know what I’ve done and what I’ve been through. I’ve amounted to nothing,’ he moaned in thought and felt the ring on his middle finger. “I’m nothin’,” he whispered to himself. “I’ve become nothing,” he added as almost a regretful moan.
“What was that my friend?” Towbar asked. The giant was sleeping a few feet from him.
“Nothing,” he whispered when he realized he spoke out loud. ‘Wait a minute,’ he gasped in thought. ‘It was only a friggin dream. I’m not an old man. My family isn’t gone.’
“Are you sure there is nothing wrong my friend?” Towbar whispered as he rolled over.
“No, it was nothing. I was just having another bad dream. But I guess I should be glad we did bring the two reporter teams with us to film a lot of stuff on this side of your world.”
“Why do you say that my friend?” Towbar whispered in the dark.
“Cuz whatever strange stuff we come across out here, they will have it on video tape and when we finally get to the Big Zee’s palace they can video tape that as well. And I’m especially glad they didn’t video tape us eliminating our problem yesterday.”
“I agree with you my friend,” the giant said as if he didn’t understand why they were talking about this so early in the morning. “It is good they came with us.”
Mykal started to laugh when he realized Towbar was just humoring him.
“I am going to depart for a brief time my friend,” Towbar whispered. “I want to try to make contact with Doninka through Mind Talk. Yesterday I had no success. I will continue every day in the hopes we can locate her and remove her the same way I found you when you were trapped under the mountain just last month.”
“Do you think you can find her?” Mykal asked excitedly. “I do not know my friend. I had no hopes when I tried to Mind Talk with you before. However, I did make contact with you and we are together now because of it.”
“Well, let me know if there is anything you need me to do.”
“I will,” the giant said and walked off to be by himself.
2.
Mykal couldn’t stop thinking about the dream he had after he woke up. He joined the men for breakfast and acted like everything was normal though he couldn’t stop thinking of the dream. The nightmares always passed and he never gave them another thought. But this dream, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. There was something about being old with no one there to care and support him that terrified him worse than all the creatures and bad guys and armies he faced over the past few months. He worried that the dream gave a look into his future. If that was so where were Pam and his sons? He didn’t think he looked happy sitting in the large soft chair, staring into space while others around him lived out their lives as if he didn’t exist. ‘Does it mean I’ll blow it with Pam and throw everything away with her and the boys?’ He thought and let out a sigh.
“Is something troubling you Myk?” Captain Diaz asked while he finished his breakfast MRE.
“Nah, not really.”
“I’m not one to complain, but the breakfast MREs are the worst,” Diaz said and rolled his eyes. “Nevertheless I’m thankful I have something to eat as opposed to having nothing to feast on,” he added and rolled his eyes again. “I don’t want the men to hear me complain. It would set a bad example. Yet they are terrible,” he whispered.
“Well we got some of the food we took from those dead guys,” Mykal offered.
“I’ll take the breakfast MREs before I eat the food we took as a last resort,” Diaz said. “So what’s troubling you Mykal. You said nothing but I can see in your face there is something different. Is it the fact that we killed all those soldiers yesterday?”
“No, not really. That was something that was needed to be done to keep our guys safe and I would do that one hundred times out of one hundred times. I don’t wanna put our guys at any unnecessary risk.”
“As a Christian I don’t want to kill just for the sake of killing because that would be wrong. Killing to protect others is like self-defense.”
“I think during our first visit to Towbar’s world someone questioned Ski about that cuz they were trying to say he was a hypocrite. They said the Bible says ‘Thou shalt not kill’ and he came back and said the meaning in the original language means not to murder. Murder and killing were two different things. I don’t know why, but that has stuck with m
e.”
“You’re right Myk,” Diaz said with a broad smile. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew and the original language does mean ‘Thou shalt not murder’ as opposed to killing. Killing innocent people would be murder. Killing people in combat is war, thus self-defense. I agree with that one hundred percent. I’ve prayed about it for years and I don’t have a problem with it because God has showed me I’m out here trying to protect my boys. Boys,” he pooh-poohed and snickered. “These guys aren’t boys, these are grown men, and I want to protect them and keep them safe and if I get the opportunity I want to share the truth about salvation with each and every one of them. That’s why I’m here. But back to you, what’s troubling you Mykal?”
“Really it’s nothing, but I had a bad dream. Ski told me one time before that God can speak to people through their dreams. Is that right?”
“Oh yes, God can speak to people through their dreams because He can do anything He desires. It’s Biblical also. I mean there are instances of God speaking to people through their dreams in the Bible. Why do you feel like God spoke to you through your dream?”
“I don’t know. My dream was sad I guess, so I don’t know if God was trying to say anything to me through my dream or not. I was an old man sitting all alone around a bunch of people who knew nothing about me and didn’t have any idea of all the things I had been through and it was all like I had just become an old man who was only in the way of all these people. I guess God was saying that I’ll amount to nothing. I think I’m kinda fearful of being forgotten or amounting to nothing.”
“I wouldn’t even begin to pretend to say that God is trying to tell you this or that by your dream because it would only be my opinion and I wouldn’t have any Scripture to back that up with. If you are questioning your existence, questioning your worth, or what you will amount to, that could be a way of God tugging on your heart to make you start thinking about your life and what’s the meaning of life and all those type of things. Once again, let me be clear, because I have not heard God speak to me about this, meaning your dream or your situation, I said it could be God is tugging on your heart that way. And then again it might not be. It could have been a bad pizza the night before,” Diaz said to be humorous since all they had to eat was MREs and the food they took from the dead strangers. “But it is good if you are questioning your existence and what will be the end of your life,” Captain Diaz said with a smile though his expression was serious.
“Well, what is the purpose of life?” Mykal asked and almost scoffed. “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t view myself as being some superstar or big shot hero, but in the last year I’ve done a lot to get me fame and money and pull so to speak, but that dream I just had made me realize I ended up as a little old man who had nothing. Even my family wasn’t there which, to me, is the most important thing in my life.”
“You bring up a very good point Mykal,” Diaz said with a smile and nodded his head confidently. “Money, power, fame, thrills and pleasure are all so fleeting. They don’t last forever. You may have all those things for years, decades even and maybe till the very end of your life but when you die, then what? The purpose of our existence is to be in fellowship with Almighty God who created you. He created you, you Mykal Graves, for fellowship with Him. And see the problem is, because God is a holy God, He can’t have fellowship with us because of our sin. Sin separates us from God because He can not allow sin into His presence. And because He loved us so much and wanted that fellowship with us, He created a way to make that possible. He allowed his only begotten Son Jesus Christ to come into the world to be a sacrifice in our place. Jesus never sinned and because He is holy and pure He was able to be the atoning sacrificial lamb in our place. If we accept the gift that God offers, in believing that Jesus took our place and died for us on the cross, then we will be accepted by God.”
“Okay, I believe that Jesus died for us,” Mykal said as if that didn’t really help his feelings. “I think I’ve heard that all my life. I know my grandfather pounded it into our heads when we were kids.”
“That’s not the same thing Myk. You acknowledge he died for our sins but you haven’t put your faith in God which is what that belief means. It’s like when people say they know God. No, they know about God but they don’t know God. When you accept that free gift of salvation that God offers, then in turn, you want to be committed to God and live your life for Him and not for yourself. When you truly realize what God has rescued you from, you would, out of sincere gratitude, want to drop everything and do everything you can to please God by growing in a one on one relationship with God. It’s not about ‘doing’ good deeds and being a good person, but all that will happen as a natural outflow of growing in that relationship with God.”
“I don’t understand how we as humans can have a relationship with God. I’m not trying to be funny, but He’s invisible and we can’t see Him.”
“That’s because we’re flesh creatures and He is a Spirit being. He created us with a body, soul and spirit so we could have fellowship with Him. Your physical body is the temple or the temporary vehicle we’re trapped in while we go through this journey of life. Your soul is who you actually are. Your soul is the heart of your being. It’s your thoughts, emotions and everything that makes you who you are that is different from everyone else. Your soul is really who you are if you didn’t have this physical body. But the spirit in us is what God created so that we could have fellowship with Him as a Spirit Being. So when we do come to know Him we are then enabled to have communion or fellowship with God even though we can’t ‘see Him’ as you said. And just so you know Myk, when we have that relationship with God, we grow in the love relationship with God just like we would any normal person.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“Your relationship with your wife, is it exactly the same as it was the day you first met?”
“No, not at all. We’ve grown closer and grew in our love for each other.”
“How? By just doing things for each other?” Diaz asked as if he knew the answer.
“No. We grew closer by spending time together and getting to know each other more and more and understanding who each other is.”
“Exactly,” Diaz said with a smile and snapped his fingers with excitement. “And that is how it is with God. When we establish the relationship with God then we grow in the relationship by spending time in the Bible to understand who He is and what He’s all about. And then we spend time in prayer which is really just talking to God. Our relationship with God is not just about doing good things and not doing bad things, though that comes with it. But as you start to understand the heart of God, you will want to please God by being more of what He is like. I’ve heard you talk many times with the guys Myk, so why don’t you cheat on your wife?”
“Because I love her and I wouldn’t want to hurt her for all that she has done for me.”
“Are there other things you do for her or don’t do because you understand who she is and you know that would hurt her also?”
“Well yes, and she’s the same way with me,” Mykal answered.
“That’s how it becomes when we grow in our relationship with Almighty God. We want to please Him for all that He has done for us. It’s not that we’re walking around terrified, afraid that He’s going to squish us because we’ve done wrong. We’re constantly trying to grow closer to understand the mind and the heart of God to be more like His Son.
“Well, that gives me something to think about,” Mykal said to stop Captain Diaz as a number of the men approached them. He didn’t want the men to hear that he was listening to ‘religious talk’.
“Can we interrupt you two Sir?” Gunnery Sergeant Ratner asked. Lieutenant Finley and the three other squad leaders were with him, Sergeant First Class Lemon, Marine Staff Sergeant Moreno and Army 82nd Airborne Staff Sergeant Valante. Ratner and Moreno were both a part of the original Lost Patrol. Lemon and Valante were from the original Towbar One 1983.
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p; “Sure, what’s up Gunny?” Mykal answered for Diaz. Mykal felt uncomfortable because he feared Diaz was going to try to get him to make some kind of religious commitment to God the way he felt Ski tried in gentle approaches in the past. Mykal felt he had too much on his mind to get wrapped up in ‘religious stuff’ at this time. He appreciated Christians like Ski and Captain Diaz and deep down inside he wanted to know the Truth for later, when he gets a little older, but right now, ‘things are just too crazy,’ he thought while looking at the four squad leaders.
“Well Sir,” Ratner said and looked back and forth to Diaz and Mykal. “We’ve been speaking with the Elves and all six say at some point we’re going to have to cross through that dreaded forest,” he said and thrust his thumb behind him to the trees. “They say we could shave two or three days off our time by going through the forest now instead of waiting until we have to go through the forest later.”
There was a pause. “Yes Gunny?” Diaz asked. “And what is your point?”
“We were just thinking maybe we should start cutting through the forest now,” Moreno said and looked to the others just as Towbar and the Dosch brothers joined the top leadership of their group.
“Are you serious?” Mykal gasped. “You two were there the last time we went through the Forest of Death,” he deliberately enunciated the nickname slowly. “And you two, Lemon and Valante, I don’t think you really understand how bad it was for us in there. I was almost killed in there by these kids that turned into freaking wolves.”
“Lycanthropes,” Finley announced. “Then there were the giant spiders and all the other monsters we had to encounter, besides the things we didn’t see. Do you remember the size of that giant snake skin we found? And what about the remains of some giant cat like creature. May I ask why there is such an interest to enter the forest this early?”