Mykal's Second Deadly Journey

by Dave Hazel

  “I do not understand what zombies are. If they are dead, I do not understand why they would cause such fear that your men seemed to have for them,” Towbar said while they walked quickly to catch up to the others.

  “It’s just something Hollywood created for horror movies, like stories. Do you remember when we were back in my world, and you hated watching the television?” He waited until the giant nodded. “Well people who make movies, tell visual stories, they make a lot of movies about zombies that we watched all our lives and they’re scary. Zombies are dead people who eat the flesh of others and if you get bit by a zombie then you will die and turn into a zombie. When you turn into a zombie you come back to life and try to eat and kill those who aren’t zombies,” he laughed as he explained it to the giant. He realized how crazy it sounded as he informed Towbar. “There have been movies to show the whole world being consumed by zombies just killing everyone. That’s why some of the guys got a little freaked out when they thought we were dealing with real zombies, but I don’t really understand how that could have happened.”

  “Those are strange tales indeed my friend,” Towbar said with a slight scoff of disbelief. “I do not understand why your people would desire to be entertained in such a fashion,” the giant added and shook his head to go along with his disbelief.

  “It is strange indeed and I don’t have a clue why we like to be entertained like that,” Mykal laughed quietly. “Now back to whether they’re really dead or not, I’m not into the religious stuff like Diaz and Ski, but I don’t think it is people brought back from the dead, so I don’t believe it’s that zombie stuff these guys are talking about. I don’t know what the hell it could be, but I just can’t believe that once you die you come back to life to eat other people,” Mykal chuckled. “But it surely makes interesting stories.”

  “Yes. I agree with you my friend.”

  “But then again big guy, we’re in your world and we’re on the other side of your world where stuff really gets freaky,” he joked since they were away from the potential ‘zombie’ danger.

  2.

  “Are the men about done eating?” Mykal asked Mathis. He knew Mathis would call Diaz on the radio to find out if their lunch break was finished so they could continue. He wanted to get out from under the mountain as soon as possible to breathe fresh air but more importantly to get out from under the crushing sense of claustrophobia he felt was starting to overwhelm him.

  “Lieutenant Finley answered,” Mathis replied. “He said the men are all done eating and they were just getting ready to check with you to see if we’re ready.”

  “Stop,” Towbar nearly shouted and raised his hand to silence all the men around him. He twisted his head as if straining his ears.

  “What’s going on?” One of the men asked.

  “Shhh, shhh,” Mykal whispered harshly and held his hand up also. He heard the noise Towbar picked up that the others couldn’t hear yet. Mykal strained his ears and he clearly heard the small rolling thunder of a large group of people or herd of animals running. “It’s getting louder and it’s getting closer,” Mykal whispered to Towbar.

  “Yes my friend,” Towbar said and for the first time the giant looked concerned.

  “We got company,” Mykal yelled. “Move it, move it,” he yelled again and waved his arm forward for the men to start running. “Haul ass people,” he yelled.

  “What is it Myk?” One of the men asked.

  “Go, get outta here,” he yelled at the man to show his urgency. “Wait,” he halted Mathis and grabbed the radio handset. “Diaz, Finley we got company. We have a large herd of animals or a big group of people running toward us,” he shouted into the radio. “Get the men moving until we can find a place to take cover and fight from. It sounds big and angry.”

  “Do we know what it is?” Diaz asked quickly.

  “No, but have Lanorear fly back and see if he can find out what they are while we get the hell outta here. Damn I can hear them even more clearly,” he added and looked at Mathis who nodded wildly and pointed to his own ear to show he could hear the stampede as well.

  “We’ll slow slightly to give you guys a chance to tighten the formation with us,” Diaz explained. “I don’t want us all spread out.”

  “Alright, we’re coming,” Mykal said and gave the hand set to Mathis. “You two,” Mykal shouted to the last two Marines and pointed hard at them. “Help Mathis with his gear. This radio and his stuff will weigh him down like a beached whale,” he said and winked at Mathis playing on Mathis’s own words when he said he would run like a beached whale down the beach.

  “Thanks Myk,” Mathis said and handed off some of his equipment.

  “If they get too close I will carry his equipment,” Towbar said while they started to run.

  Buy the noise it was clear the pursuers, whether they were men or animals, were gaining on their position. As the noise grew louder confirming the distance was getting smaller Mykal clearly heard grunts and yells. There was an occasional high pitched shriek that was startling for those who heard it. The greatest fear Mykal had was the unknown. He didn’t know what was coming for them, but whatever or whoever it was, it was clear they were on a mission. If the pursuers weren’t necessarily after them they were directly in the path and would be swept up. There was no place to hide or to turn.

  They ran for a good fifteen minutes when the rushing column stopped. “What the friggin hell is going on?” Mykal yelled out of frustration to the increasing sound of danger creeping behind them. Mykal knew Diaz wouldn’t stop unless there was good reason. He watched the Hawkmen fly overhead a couple of times in both directions. “Why’d we stop?” He shouted while looking behind them.

  “Go see what the delay is my friend,” Towbar said and swung his sword a couple of times to warm up in case Mykal didn’t returned quickly or if they had to face the pursuers before Mykal returned.

  Mykal rushed past all the men lined along the path under the mountain and caught up to the main group of leaders. Diaz, Finley and Ratner stood with Nordad and Norg of the Dwarven people. Starling and Egoneal pointed to the path ahead and spoke between the two of them. Mykal couldn’t believe his eyes. If they would have been outside in the open he would gladly accepted what was before them. Before them was a mountain path up the side of a mountain inside and under the mountain they were under. The road looked wide enough for one or two people and in some places it could handle three abreast. The main problem before Mykal was off the path or road was a straight drop off into complete darkness. There was no telling how deep or how far down the darkness went to.

  “Hey Myk,” Diaz hailed him and the stress on his expression showed the extreme pressure he seemed to bare. “I have Leeno, Blair and Winnie going up the trail with two of Norg’s Dwarves, Klonk and Trankle, to check out the way ahead to see if it’s passible and if there are any dangers before I have everyone rushing blindly around the mountain path.”

  “Ah damn it,” Mykal hissed and shook his head. “We’re being chased by an army and they sound pissed off. I don’t know if they’re coming after us or who, but they sound in a hurry and they sound like there is a lot of them. We gotta do something.”

  “Myk, I don’t want to run blindly because there is no safety net over the side of the road,” Diaz said and for the first time he sounded frustrated with Mykal. “If anyone goes over the side I do not believe we will be able to recover them.”

  “Screw it. We gotta set up a defensive position and stop them,” Mykal barked. He knew Diaz wasn’t upset with him but rather upset with the threatening situation that suddenly came upon them. “Can you hear them?” Mykal asked. His increased sense of hearing heard more than most of them and he knew the Elves could hear what he heard.

  “Oh damn, I can hear them,” Finley said.

  “Okay, let’s get back there and stand our ground,” Mykal yelled and turned to run back to Towbar. “Get the men down there,” he said and pointed back to where he was going.

 
After a brief delay Mykal heard the rest of the group hurry to join him with Towbar “We’re going to fight whatever this is and we have to stand our ground. So make every shot count if they don’t back off cuz it sounds like a shit load of them,” he yelled when the sound of thundering footsteps seemed to increase. There were very few places to hide or to set up cover. The men lined both sides of the large corridor or cavern in the hopes those following would just run by and go up the mountain path.

  The galloping of horror approached the darkened area amid yells, grunts and shrieks. As the people came into view they looked like the people who stood motionless in the one cavern that Winfield thought were zombies. These ‘zombies’ were running very fast and looked like they had a purpose and were following a plan. They were not the slow walking, leg dragging, zombies they had always seen in Hollywood movies. Some were armed with weapons but they all looked evil with large eyes that bugged out of their heads. They all seemed to snarl and growl and look hungry for enemies.

  “Take aim and make every shot count,” Mykal yelled. “I don’t know how many are coming – you gotta be friggin kiddin me,” Mykal gasped when he saw Sergeant Azarski running with the mob of evil creatures toward their location. In his right hand he carried his Rosary beads wrapped tightly around his hand. The crucifix swung wildly below his fist while he snarled with the rest of the so called ‘dead’ charging their position. Sergeant Azarski, the dead Marine, looked just as mindless as the leaderless mob he ran beside.

  Some of the men began to shout when they saw the camouflaged clad Sergeant Azarski running with the rest of those who looked as if they had been raised from the dead after being buried for a little while. Men began shooting and as per the orders given. They all aimed for the heads just in case these were ‘zombies’ that could only be stopped by putting a bullet in the brain.

  “Ay-zee, Ay-zee, over here, over here,” Private First Class Jourard yelled and stepped out to wave at his friend Sergeant Azarski. “Ay-zee, Ay-zee,” Jourard continued to yell and waved more frantically for his close friend while the throng neared them. “It’s me Jory.”

  Mykal watched Jourard from the corner of his eye while he shot at the fast moving ‘undead’. He didn’t comprehend that Jourard was trying to rescue his friend from being a part of a terrorizing pack. Azarski and two others ran toward Jourard and pounced on him. The three hit Jory hard like an unprotected quarterback on a ‘busted play’. They took Jourard to the ground and began to bite any part of his body they could sink their teeth into. Jourard’s screams of betrayal rang out louder than the rifle shots that echoed inside the small enclosed area. Azarski, or what had once been Azarski, didn’t notice Jourard to be any different and didn’t look at Jourard any differently than any of his pack mates who needed to fill their hunger with flesh.

  Several men stepped out and began to swing their rifles at the three attacking ‘zombies’ latched onto the screaming Marine. Jourard kept yelling Azarski’s nickname as if he would wake up from his trance and realize he was his closest friend.

  Mykal worried about the numbers rushing into their area and focused his rifle on those pouring in. Mykal wasn’t sure where all these ‘people’ came from because this number of attackers was much larger than those Mykal witnessed standing in a circle in one of the caverns. But then he remembered they lined the pathway out the rear of the cavern.

  Towbar jumped into the mass of energized lifeless bodies and swung his glowing blue blade viciously. Towbar swung with bad intentions to sever heads and to split entire bodies in half with every movement he made.

  Amid all the yells and threats, Jourard’s high pitched screams revealed Ay-zee’s double-cross and flesh eating treachery. The personal treason could be heard in each of Jory’s flesh ripping shrieks of pain that had been heard above all the other noises.

  Two men shot two of the three in the head to get them off of Jourard. Jourard held his bloody hands up into Azarski’s chest to keep his best friend from biting him in the face. Azarski bit and chomped at Jourard like a vicious dog. Jourard recognized and tried to reason with his best friend. Azarski didn’t recognize his best friend and tried to eat him.

  “Ay-zee it’s me Jory. It’s me Jory,” Jourard cried out. “Ay-zee it’s meeeee,” Jourard screamed as Azarski bit into Jourard’s cheek and jaw bone and twisted violently like a pit bull latched onto a foe. Ay-zee seemed blind to his best friend’s face, deaf to his best friend’s cries, and dead to his best friend’s emotions.

  Lieutenant Finley knew Azarski was not the Marine they left lying on the dirt floor earlier in the morning and placed his 9mm pistol to Azarski’s head and shot him twice. Azarski fell limp though his teeth were still clamped into the face of his former best friend. Jourard pushed his best friend’s mouth away and began to panic when he saw all his own blood and open gashes on his hands and arms.

  Finley saw the open gash in Jourard’s face and believed the ‘thing’ in Azarski’s mouth to be a part of Jourard’s cheek and the flesh along his jaw line. “Medic! Medic!” Finley yelled and raised his rifle.

  Mykal feared Towbar put himself at risk, though the giant easily swung his glowing blue blade for all he had and easily cut the strange creatures in half. Mykal couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw half bodies continuing to scuttle forward in an attempt to attack. He pulled his sword and rushed to his friend’s side before any of the half ‘zombies’ could turn and bite Towbar’s legs or ankles. The giant kept his focus on the full sized bodies and not the bodies he halved with his mighty sword. The half sized bodies crawled on the dirt floor seeking flesh. Some of the halved torsos dragged intestines and other internal organs behind them, but they didn’t stop moving forward. With his fiery red glowing blade Mykal sliced and chopped into the heads of those creeping along to gain a meal.

  Gun shots continued to blast loudly, men continued to shout. The numbers slowed but the viciousness was just as strong from those that advanced into the area. One medic, 82nd Airborne, Army Sergeant Klein didn’t wait until the battle was over to help Jourard who had been viciously mauled. Klein did his best to patch up the savage wounds Jourard suffered. Jourard slowed and seemed to go into a panicky shock and cried deliriously. Ranger Sergeant Waxman jumped to Klein’s side to assist with the wounded Jourard. Klein did his best to calm him while he administered first aid. Waxman spoke comforting words while Klein worked feverishly to patch up their battered and bleeding subject who trembled violently.

  Sergeant Klein didn’t see the half body creep to his backside and since he knelt to help, the half zombie-creature grabbed hold of Klein and bit into the back of his calf and lower leg right above his leather combat boot. The thing latched on and wouldn’t let go while it tried to suck the blood from Klein’s calf. Had the creature bitten just a little lower on Klein’s leg it would have struck the leather of his military footwear and wouldn’t have been able to penetrate Klein’s flesh. Klein yelled while holding onto Jourard. He tried to kick the monster free but it wouldn’t let go.

  When Sergeant Waxman saw what had happened he turned to assist in stopping the zombie from feasting on Klein’s leg.

  “You sonovabitch,” Finley shouted and fired four rounds into the half thing’s head. Finley desperately wanted to rescue his fellow Army soldier and had no intentions of doing anyone else any harm. One of the four rounds exited the half creature, hit a rock and ricocheted into Waxman’s head. Sergeant Waxman dropped over dead almost as suddenly as Finley fired the four rounds. Waxman fell face first to the dirt ground and his arms went limp beside him. The Army Ranger never knew what hit him. His legs trembled violently though his arms didn’t move. His eyes froze open though they seemed to stare into dirt.

  When Klein saw that Waxman had been killed he dropped to a prone position for fear that he would be shot. He held the pain in his leg, unsure what to expect next, but felt cloth of his trousers and flesh from his leg had been ripped away.

  When Finley saw Waxman fall over he ran over to aid both th
e Army personnel and was shocked to see Waxman had been shot in the head. Finley yelled for help to assist him while the others battled the remaining ‘monsters’.

  After the last of the attacking mob had been stopped everyone could see seven of the AFAs standing behind the attacking horde as if they were the ones to have led them into battle from behind the group. The strange ‘Area 51 Alien’ looking creatures eyed the battle from a distance. Their strange four arms, large head with bugged out eyes were clearly visible. Suddenly two or three of the AFAs cried out with the same banshee scream that had been screeched during the first attack the previous day.

  “Kill them friggin bastards,” Mykal yelled and pulled his .357 magnum. He fired off all six rounds rapidly. He shot the first with three rounds and then three rounds into the second. Mykal holstered his handgun to use his rifle, but the rapid explosion of many more weapons opened fire on the creatures. M-60 machine guns opened fire and a couple of 40mm High Explosive grenades were lobbed into their midst. All seven of the strange creatures had been ripped apart before they could turn and retreat or charge forward to counter attack.

  “Check on all the men,” Captain Diaz shouted. “Don’t let your guard down,” he yelled to be heard over Jourard’s yells and cries of pain.

  “Check all the dead,” Winfield shouted as he walked around to shoot all the dead in the head just to be sure. “Make sure you puts a damn bullet in their frickin heads. I done told you we be messing with some heebee jeebee shit. Man, these are zombies,” he bellowed while he fired off a few more rounds into the heads of the undead that had just been killed.

  Without being told by the higher ranking leaders most of the men walked around to put a bullet in the head of what they thought to be zombies. No one wanted to take any more chances after all that happened. The noise died down except for Jourard’s moaning and cries of pain. Chaos seemed to grow amongst the ranks. Jourard’s cries eased after he had been given a double dose of morphine for the pain he suffered.