by Dave Hazel
“I do not know my friend. The things they speak of their God is foreign to me. I have never known a man who claims to have the ability to speak personally or face to face with their God. It amazes me. I would fear making some of the gods jealous, thus sparking a battle between the gods and then where would the gods be? Ah, I do not know,” Towbar answered his own question with a heavy sigh as if he couldn’t figure it out.
“Yeah, I know what you mean. I can’t figure it out either. Whoa stop,” Mykal whispered and raised his fist to signal to those behind him that the column stopped and everyone dropped to one knee. “Mathis, Mathis,” he whispered harshly. “See if you can get Diaz on the radio and tell me what’s going on.”
“Mykal, he’s already calling for you,” Mathis said while extending his radio handset.
“Myk here, what’s going on?” Mykal asked after he dropped to one knee and looked to the front of the formation. The formation wound around a bend in the rock wall so he couldn’t see those in the very front.
“Mykal, I need you and Towbar to come up here to take a look at what we came across and see how you want to handle this.”
“We’ll be right there,” he whispered into the radio. “Everyone sit tight and we’ll be back in a minute. Obviously keep your eyes peeled. I don’t know what we’re up against. He wants us up there Towbar,” he added and shrugged to show he didn’t know what it could be.
They rushed past the men quietly but quickly. They made it to the front of the column where Diaz, Finley and Ratner knelt and spoke with Freeman, Winfield, Starling, Leeno and Blair who were all the current point men. Mykal didn’t see Lanorear or the other Hawkman but with his increased hearing he heard the flapping of their wings in the distance.
“What’s going on?” Mykal whispered.
“As you can see Mykal we stopped because we have an obstacle to overcome,” Diaz answered and used his hands to show the way to the left and right. “I want you and Towbar to sneak forward and tell me what you think. To the right is where we need to travel. Our path continues around to the right. But,” he stopped and emphasized the word to get his attention. “We may have a problem getting by. To the left is a cavern with another path to travel in the rear, but we will definitely avoid going that direction as you will see. I need you two to sneak a peek inside the cavern because I don’t even know how to explain it. Don’t worry about it, for the time being it seems safe, but that’s why I want you two to take a look at it.”
“What? I don’t understand at all what you’re trying to say,” Mykal whispered. He sounded as concerned as he sounded confused.
“Please Mykal, I want you two to take a look and tell me what you think.” Diaz said with a pressing urgency.
“Let us go my friend,” Towbar said when Mykal hesitated.
“What the hell?” He whispered while the two of them moved forward. He didn’t like this and wanted to know what they were moving toward. He tried to take in everything possible to help him understand what they were moving closer to. The rock wall was cold and jagged and the floor was covered with loose stones and dirt. Something in the air was foul as if there had been something decaying for a while. He expected to find dead bodies.
“If it comes down to it Towbar, I can turn myself invisible and check it out,” he whispered and suddenly regretted his offer since he had no idea what they were creeping up to.
“Yes my friend,” Towbar replied with a cold steeliness as he gripped his sword tighter. The giant realized Diaz would not put them into harm’s way so he wasn’t afraid to inspect the unknown.
Mykal snuck his head around the corner to peek into the cavern and couldn’t believe his eyes. Some twenty to thirty feet away were a large number of people standing in a large circle. He looked closer and realized most of the people were dressed like the soldiers of Zizmon-Tarl they fought along the gorge river a few days back. They were dressed in their uniform and all looked to be ‘dead or injured’, though they stood there breathing rapidly. There were a few who were dressed different in that they didn’t wear the military uniform of the soldiers. All the people stood in a circle and breathed heavily. Most seemed to grunt and heave with each breath. They all bore wounds, serious and minor wounds, and had dried blood on various parts of their bodies. Their faces lacked color other than darkened circles around their eyes and some had cuts and gouges on their faces.
He couldn’t understand what he saw. There had to be at least sixty or seventy people he saw that just stood there in a circle. There were more that lined the pathway in the rear of the cavern, so he wasn’t sure how many were possibly just standing in a comatose state, breathing rapidly. Mykal knew there were many he couldn’t see. Those he saw just stood in place and breathed rapidly as if panting like a dog on a hot day. None spoke or communicated, but they seemed to be in unity in remaining in place and waiting, for who knows what. Some held weapons in their hands, but the weapons appeared to be of no importance. As he studied them, Mykal noticed, while they stood in place they panted, grunted and groaned. Most of them rocked back and forth slightly while they stood in place, focused on whatever was in the center of their circle.
“Do you understand what this is all about?” Mykal whispered into Towbar’s ear.
“I do not know my friend. I would assume they are dead though they appear to still be alive. That makes no sense,” the giant whispered back to Mykal. “They all looked to have suffered death yet they are standing on their feet. I know not what this means. Their numbers looked to be greater in size than our numbers. We do not know how many more are around that corner that we can not see from here,” Towbar whispered and pointed to the back of the cavern that looked to expand into a larger area.
“Let’s go back and see what we’re gonna do.”
They rushed back to the leadership waiting for their report. “So whadda ya think Myk?” Ratner asked.
“I don’t have a damn clue. What the hell are they or what are they doing?” Mykal asked.
“They remind me of zombies,” Winfield whispered and right away looked all around them as if he was terrified.
“Zombies? Why do you say that Winnie?” Diaz asked.
“Sir, I loves zombie movies. Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, City of the Living Dead, Hell of the Living Dead, The Beyond and so on and these people looks just like the zombies in all them crazy ass movies.” Winfield answered and rubbed his hand over his face as if he was trying to make sure he was awake and not dreaming. “Like I said Sir, I loves all them crazy ass movies and I always watches them movies for the fun of it, but this shit is scaring the hell outta me Sir.”
“Zombies?” Finley asked as if he couldn’t believe what he just heard. “But,” he stopped when he realized he saw the same thing they saw. “Okay, so if those things are zombies, the living dead, are they going to try to kill us?”
“Damn Sir, don’t you know your zombie stories?” Winfield answered with incredulity. “They ain’ts gonna just try to kill us, they is gonna eats us if they gets their cold dead hands on us. And if they bites us then we’ll die and turn into them damn zombie ass things,” the black Marine explained and looked sincerely terrified. “An if’n we gets bit and turns into some of them zombie ass things, then we’ll go ‘round tryin’ to eats up everyone else too. It never ends till all the zombie ass people are dead and gone Sir.”
“Yeah, but that’s all Hollywood horror nonsense,” Finley protested. “We’re in Towbar’s world not in a Hollywood back lot.”
“I’m just telling you whats I knows from whats I sees Sir,” Winfield said with a sigh and a confident look on his face that he knew what he was talking about.
“Okay, just for the sake of argument,” Finley grumbled with a heavy outbreath and rolled his eyes. “Let’s say these are zombies,” he added with heavy exaggerated air quotes to express his frustration. “If they are already dead and they come after us, how do we kill them or rather re-kill them?”
“The brain Sir. You gots t
a kill the brain,” Winfield said. “Don’t shoot ‘em in the chest. You gots ta pop ‘em in the damn head Sir.”
“This has gotta be a friggin joke or rather a damn nightmare,” Mykal sighed and shook his head. “But how the hell did they get like this?”
“Who the hell knows,” Ratner said “Maybe it’s the damn water they drink,” he scoffed to make a joke.
“Yeah, but seriously, it hadda start somewhere,” Mykal said. “Well, are we gonna go past them or what?”
“Yes, we have to,” Diaz answered. “Freeman and Winnie, go tell the men to be extra careful as we walk by them. We don’t want to get their attention. Be sure to tell them if they come after us that they must shoot them in the head,” he added based on the advice of Corporal Winfield, ‘horror film and zombie aficionado’, thus the only expert available to turn to.
“An’ tell them nots to get bit Sir,” Winfield added. “Cuz you gets bit then yo ass is go’n ta turn inta one of them damn things.”
“Yeah, tell all the men not to get bit too,” Finley added and chortled. “Winnie, are you sure your mind isn’t just a little over active from all the zombie movies you watched?” He asked and emphasized his point with air quotes.
“I know you don’t wants ta believe it Sir,” Winfield scoffed and shook his head. “But this shit is about to get real.”
“I don’t know if I really believe they are dead,” Diaz said after Winfield and Freeman departed. “In my Bible it says ‘It is appointed unto man to die once and then the judgment.’ Once we die our soul either goes to heaven or hell. We don’t linger around as ghosts or zombies, and there’s not even a sleep state or a waiting period.”
“But Sir, could it just be their bodies and not their souls?” Ratner asked. “From my limited religious learning, and I mean limited Sir, I think I remember that when one dies, the soul leaves the body. And if that is right, then if they really are dead, then their bodies would be just soulless zombies. Am I right Sir?” Ratner asked and sounded somewhat fearful that he would be corrected for not having complete or accurate knowledge on the subject. “Could that be possible?” He asked again when Diaz didn’t answer right away.
“You are exactly right, spot on and factual that the spirit and the soul depart the body upon death. So I suppose,” Diaz replied and slowed to a pause with a frustrated sigh. This was the first time Diaz didn’t have an answer to something regarding spiritual matters and it seemed to aggravate him. “That could be the case, but I just don’t understand how the actual physical body would be animated. My goodness,” he huffed at himself. “I really want to find out the truth of this,” he said while some of the men started to move toward their position. “When we get back with Lanorear, we need to see if he knows anything about these supposed ‘living dead people’ who are standing in front of us,” he said to Finley.
“Yes Sir. Oh wait a minute,” Finley said with a pretend snap of his fingers so as not to make any noise. “Remember the Elves translated the name of the AFAs in the Elf language to mean ‘Bring To Life’ or ‘Bring Back To Life’ or something like that. Right?”
“Yes, something like that was said. We will confer when we get past this. Let’s just get the men out of here,” Diaz said with an annoyed sigh. “I just don’t understand. If they are dead, then how are the bodies being animated?”
“Okay men,” Finley turned to those who just joined them. “We’re going to continue through here, but I want everyone to stay to the right. The bad guys are to the left and we don’t want to draw their attention to us. So we’re going to try to sneak by them and if we have to make contact with them, I guess, shoot them in the head only,” he added reluctantly.
“And don’t get bit,” Winfield added with conviction.
“Yes, don’t get bit,” Finley snickered and rolled his eyes. “You can get stabbed and chopped up, but just don’t get bit,” he added and continued to laugh.
Mykal heard others murmuring about the possibility of zombies being around the corner. “Me and Towbar will stay here until the last man passes by. You’ll stay with me, right?”
“Yes my friend,” Towbar said and gave a rare broad smile. “I would have it no other way.”
“We’ll stay with you Mykal,” offered Ranger Sergeant McPherson and he pointed to one of his close buddies Green Beret Sergeant Thompson. Both of them had been a part of the original Lost Patrol and had been through the previous mountain during the first trip to this side of Towbar’s world.
“Good. I want you two to make sure the men don’t lollygag around and just get through as quick as possible,” Mykal said and gave thumbs up to show he appreciated their selfless act to volunteer to stay behind. “Like Winnie said, if we do run into problems with them make sure you shoot them in the head, cuz if they are like zombies from friggin Hollywood movies,” he added with a hint of sarcastic disbelief, “Winnie said that’s the only way to stop them.” He added to push the blame onto the Marine sergeant who admitted to being a horror movie and zombie expert.
Mykal and Towbar moved toward the center of the opening but remained close to the far wall. McPherson and Thompson went on either side of them. McPherson stayed closer to the group to guide and direct them where as Thompson would meet them on the far side to push them on if they delayed.
Mykal and Towbar didn’t need a light source to be able to see into the cavern. It looked like something from a Halloween haunted house party. All the bodies stood and faced the center of what would be their circle, but Mykal couldn’t tell what their focus was on. Some of the men were shirtless which exposed their wounds. Mykal thought they were breathing but it seemed to be more of a heavy panting and groaning. It sounded like many were having a fitful sleep. The moaning and groaning was like that of a person having a bad dream who couldn’t wake from it.
As the men started to file by he used his finger to his lips to tell them to proceed in silence. The men rushed by quietly but every one of them had the curiosity of a driver being ushered by an accident scene. They all wanted to ‘see the gory aftermath of the crash without the desire to know what happened.’
Mykal wasn’t sure if it was the added noise of the men filing by, but he heard the restlessness had increased inside the cavern. In the distance he heard the screeching cry of Lanorear which meant he had returned. The Elves in the front waved frantically to get the attention of the two Hawkmen to keep their silence. When the screech pierced the silence, one of the M-60 machine gunners stumbled with his heavy weapon. Together, the two noises created a frightening response.
Suddenly three of the people on the outside of the circle closest to them snapped their heads toward the noise that was the group making their way past the entrance. Their eyes were large white orbs with little black dots in the center. With snarls of their lips and furrow of their brows they looked like pure evil. They snarled and growled exposing teeth. One of the three who shot a glare at them had teeth that were long and pointy similar to the AFAs they encountered just hours before. The sight made Mykal wonder if they were slowly being changed into the creatures that killed them. How else would one of the three have long pointy teeth like the AFAs?
The three hissed and snarled and snapped their jaws several times as if they gave a warning about disrupting their communal trance time. The grunting and growling, the hissing and snapping of jaws created a startled apprehension Mykal hadn’t experienced in some time. Though the three looked in their general direction Mykal didn’t think they could see Mykal and his intruders. The three didn’t move. They remained in their rigid formation assembled around whatever was in the center of their circle. The three persisted with all the others of their comatose like gathering. The three continued with their rapid panting and didn’t move from their position in the group. Though Mykal knew his people had far superior weapons, and he even had mighty magic weapons, but truthfully, he was paralyzed with fear at the sight of the heavy breathing undead.
When the three didn’t make any moves toward them, Myk
al rushed the men with his waved hand. As the last of the men neared it sounded like the grunting and groaning grew louder. Mykal didn’t know if that would lead to an attack. He also wondered if his ring of invisibility would help him should they attack.
When the last Marine strode past Mykal pointed to Sergeant McPherson and waved for him to hurry. Mykal was sure something bad was going to happen to the man who volunteered to stay behind to help the others. He believed, just like a horror movie, one of these things would reach out and grab him to make a meal of him. Every step that McPherson quickly took increased Mykal’s anxiety until McPherson rushed past him.
“I’m tempted to throw a couple of hand grenades in there,” Mykal whispered to Towbar while they backed away.
“I do not think that would be a good thing to do my friend.”
“I know, I know,” Mykal laughed nervously. “I’m only joking cuz I think it would turn bad for us. I would only do that if I had something big enough to blow the hell outta them freaky bastards. I don’t wanna stir them up cuz those three that looked at us looked scary as hell,” he admitted.
When they distanced themselves from the cavern and saw none of the evil looking ‘zombies’ had left their abode they turned and ran to catch up to the rear of the column.
“Why would the black man named Winfield think those people are dead though they clearly stood on their feet and readily looked prepared to attack us?” Towbar asked.
“I don’t get it,” Mykal sighed and shook his head. “Just between you and me I don’t think those things were what we call zombies back in my world. They didn’t really seem like the dead who had been brought back to life. True they were screwed up, but they didn’t look dead to me. We’ll talk about it later,” he said when they closed in on the others.