by Dave Hazel
Mykal reloaded his revolver and watched the men finish ensuring the dead were dead, or the undead were now dead. It baffled him that Sergeant Azarski was a part of the horde that attacked. He thought through the theory that Winnie and others pushed that they were zombies. Zombies killed to eat thus turning their victims into new zombies. He wouldn’t have even entertained such an idea but he watched the deceased Azarski attack his own closest friend without hesitation and without any recognition.
‘Somethin’ is just not right,’ he pondered. ‘Oh no. What the hell does that mean for Jourard and Klein?’ He wondered and looked at the two men being treated. ‘Oh damn, Sergeant Overman was bitten yesterday when Azarski was attacked. I wonder how he is doing?’
“What are you doing my friend?” Towbar asked when he joined him.
“I just been doing some thinking. First of all, have you ever seen anything like that before?”
“No my friend. Never. Those creatures are the strangest things I have laid my eyes on. The really odd thing is there were so many of them. We killed seven here and the others said we killed seventeen yesterday. That tells me there must be more.”
“Yeah, I agree there’s probably gonna be more,” Mykal said with a defeated sigh and looked around at the carnage of twice dead bodies spurred on by the AFAs.
“It is stranger yet that they seemed to have some kind of control over those who had been killed.”
“Not just killed,” Mykal corrected him. “Cuz Staff Sergeant Garcia and Sergeant Rooney were killed by them, but their heads had been crushed. Azarski, on the other hand, was bitten by one of those things and he died from the injuries inflicted by the bites. Azarski was the only one of the three who rose and joined the attack. Obviously it was the real Sergeant Azarski cuz his close friend Jourard thought it was him,” Mykal turned and pointed to the wounded man being treated. “When Jourard tried to get his attention Azarski attacked him and attacked him bad.”
“This really is strange my friend. I have never heard of such happenings.”
“But what has got me worried is,” Mykal started quietly, almost as a whisper and paused to think through what he was about to say. “If it is true that the bite of those things turns you into one of them things, that is, you get turned into a zombie, well then we have to worry about three people. Jourard, Klein and Sergeant Overman from yesterday,” he said and counted off his fingers as he mentioned their names. “If they die and if they’re gonna turn into those things, it means they are going to come after us.”
“Hmmm,” Towbar replied and stared intently into the distance as if in deep thought. “My friend, how are we going to handle that? I have not given that any thought.”
“I don’t know. I’m not sure what we can do, cuz what if we’re wrong? By we, I mean the people who brought up this zombie stuff to begin with, cuz if it is true then everyone of us could get killed by our own people. That’s why, until I know for sure, we’re not gonna take any of these people back to the Pass. If it is true and there truly is a zombie virus, or a zombie germ, or a zombie something that causes others to become zombies once they’re bitten I’m not gonna risk taking it back to the Pass and to your side of the world. Can you imagine if I woulda taken Azarski back earlier and left him there without any idea about this zombie shit? He could have gone on the attack and caused others to become zombies and then the next time we woulda went back to the Pass everyone could be dead or close to it. Oh my goodness,” he gasped and sighed. “I don’t even wanna think about that crap.”
“Oh my,” Towbar said and gave a deep sigh as he thought of the possible implications of one of the zombies being released on his side of the world.
“I know, it could be devastating.” Mykal paused again and tried to think what the ramifications could be. “Now if we could pull it off, I’d like to take a couple of them and drop them off in the Soso countries,” he said and laughed playfully which caused Towbar’s eyes to brighten at the suggestion. “They would definitely wipe out the Soso nations for good. But then one day they would come down to your land. Believe me, as tempting as that all sounds, it wouldn’t be worth it.”
“Yes, I see.”
“Hey Mykal,” Lieutenant Finley interrupted their discussion. “I want to brief you and Towbar on the injuries.”
“Sure, whadda ya got?”
“Well as you know Private First Class Jourard was injured pretty badly. I think he might have to be taken back to the Pass. He sustained several horrific bites that removed large chunks of flesh and muscle.”
“We’ll talk about that after,” Mykal said so Finley could continue.
“Sergeant Klein, one of the medics was bit in the lower leg, and it did draw blood. As a matter of fact the thing ripped a chunk of flesh and muscle away but he says he’s doing fine right now. So if we’re going back to the Pass he obviously needs to be treated. We did lose three people,” he said and paused and turned toward Towbar. “One was one of your new men Towbar. The one name Mulloat was killed by those things and so was Trankle one of the Dwarves.”
“How were they killed?” Mykal asked.
“I think they were killed because they were ripped to pieces,” Finley replied. “They should have stayed behind our men with our weapons.”
“Were they bit?”
“I’m sure they were,” Finley scoffed as if ‘what could it matter?’ “Those people were clawing, punching and biting so I’m assuming they were.”
“Do you believe any of this zombie shit some of the guys have been talking about?”
“Myk,” Finley paused and sighed while looking up to the rock ceiling as if searching for guidance. “I honestly don’t know what I believe. I know I saw Marine Azarski dead and I know I saw him in the attack. I shot him in the head when he attacked his best friend Jory Jourard. I know he was dead when we left him behind and I was the one to shoot him in his head to stop him from killing Jourard. I don’t know what the hell I believe.”
“What happened to the third who was killed?”
“Sergeant Waxman was struck by friendly fire,” Finley said and looked away to hide his guilt. “I think he was hit with a round that ricocheted. It hit him in the head and he’s…gone.”
“Oh damn. Well we need to be thankful that more weren’t hurt or killed by friendly fire as crazy as it got around here.”
“I agree with you Myk, but one is far too many. What should we do about taking the men back to the Pass to get treated for their injuries?”
“Well, I don’t wanna start a panic, but if these guys talking about zombies have something to what they’re saying, then we can’t take these injured guys back to the Pass.”
“What? What the hell are you saying?” Finley asked and stared out into the distance to think through his thoughts.
“Cuz if these guys are gonna come back as zombies, then, damn it,” Mykal paused as if he couldn’t believe what he was going to say. “I don’t know what the hell to believe about this stuff either. But we have three men who have been bit by them and not only do we need to protect us, but we need to protect everyone else back at the Pass. First thing, I think we need to play it safe and put a bullet in the heads of the two dead men who were killed by the people slash ‘zombies’ that attacked. We don’t want them getting up and coming after us after we’ve departed.”
“Oh my goodness,” Finley sighed heavily and almost moaned. “Towbar what do you think about that? Will you look at it that we are disrespecting your dead warrior?”
“No. I will not. They are dead and if this is a precautionary measure it will not hurt them, thus I will not be troubled.”
“Quietly tell Captain Diaz what we think and tell him we’re going to have to watch the three who are bitten and see what happens. Cuz I don’t wanna take a chance of taking them to the Pass.”
“I will and I will go take care of Mulloat and Trankle,” Finley said and pulled his 9mm pistol from his holster. Suddenly there was a big disturbance.
The three
of them turned to the small commotion. Mykal heard the voices of the men struggling and fighting to keep Jourard alive. It was clear he passed away. “Jourard’s dead,” Mykal said. He looked at Finley’s black 9mm pistol.
“They’re gonna hate me,” Finley said but turned away.
“This is screwed up Towbar.”
“We need to get out from under this mountain my friend.”
“I agree,” Mykal replied and suddenly there was a single gunshot.
“What the hell are you doing Sir?” One of the men yelled.
“He’s dead,” Finley yelled back followed by several others yelling in the confusion. Finley rushed over to the bodies of Mulloat and Trankle and fired off two more rounds into their heads. The yells of objection and cries of questions filled the air.
Captain Diaz rushed over to Finley but Mykal stopped him.
“He’s got to do it man,” Winfield shouted. “If they is zombies like we seen with Ay-zee Azarski, then they will come back and come after us.”
The momentary confusion had everyone looking to everyone and then as if on cue all the men turned to Sergeant Overman who was bitten the day before and Sergeant Klein who had been attacked during the melee with the ‘undead’.
“What, what-what?” Sergeant Overman shouted. “Are you going to shoot me?” He cried out. “I’m fine! I’m fine! Really, I’m okay,” he shouted with violently trembling hands though he did look sickly compare to the previous day.
“Nobody is going to shoot anyone,” Diaz shouted. “Now, tell me what in the world is going on?” Captain Diaz yelled at Lieutenant Finley.
“It’s just a precaution Sir,” Finley replied and holstered his 9mm after he put it on safe. “If it is true that once they are dead they come back to eat others,” he added and paused at how crazy it sounded. “They’re dead and it’s not going to make a difference.”
“Me and Towbar told him to do it just to be safe,” Mykal admitted.
Captain Diaz said nothing but his face bore his painful expression. Tears filled his eyes though he said nothing. “We need to get out of this area,” he said just as the squawking of the two Hawkmen came into their hearing.
“Where have they been?” Mykal asked and his voice displayed his annoyance. He was still unsure where the Hawkmen stood as far as their true loyalties, but it was more of the loss they suffered that caused his fractious attitude.
“Lanorear and the other flew the path we would have traveled up the mountain side,” Nordad said and stroked his beard. “They wanted to be sure we would not run into a trap or run into further trouble,” the elderly wizard said as if he was defending the two flying oddities.
“I’m just frustrated,” Mykal said as an excuse if his annoyance was evident to all those present.
“Let’s move out,” Captain Diaz said firmly and loudly. “You men are professionals,” he added.
Mykal assumed Diaz’s comments were because of the two injured men. Their body language and facial expressions gave the appearance that others looked at them like they were lepers. Mykal felt bad for the two, but he clearly saw Overman didn’t look as healthy as he did the day before. He hoped they were wrong about the ‘zombie stuff’ that Winfield and others mentioned.
The column started up the mountain path and when Mykal walked it he had to stay close to the mountain wall. The closer he got to the edge of the road that looked over into the deep black abyss of nothing the more light headed and dizzy he became. “I’m so damn glad we didn’t try to run up this damn road,” Mykal mumbled.
“Man, I hear that,” Mathis said and neared the rock wall as well.
3.
The trek up the side of the mountain under the mountain was long and tiring despite the fact they followed a clearly defined path. To Mykal’s surprise the path didn’t completely encircle the little mountain under the mountain, rather it traversed back and forth upward like ribbon candy. When they reached the top the men stopped because they were faced with crossing a large stone bridge or turning back.
Mykal joined Diaz, Finley and Ratner to inspect the shape of the old bridge. It looked solid but it had been worn by age and possible abuse. Apparent damage to the surface of the sturdy stone overpass signified battles could have been fought on or near the crossing. They waited for Norg, Klonk and Nuckhorn, the three Dwarves, who were experts in dealing with stone creations and mountain complexes to complete their inspection before they continued.
“Bridge safe,” Norg declared and pointed to the crossing that covered more than one hundred feet to the other side. The width seemed to be twenty-five to thirty feet. “Bridge old. Bridge used many times. Bridge safe.”
“Do we know how far down the drop is?” Mykal asked.
“Not know,” Norg answered.
“Yes, it is unknown,” Starling also replied while several men peered over the side into the deep black darkness. Cool air seemed to blow up from the bottom where ever the bottom was.
“Can one of the Hawkmen fly down there to get an idea?” Jeff ‘Lil Bit’ Bennett asked. He set his heavy camera down and looked to his reporter father to make sure he didn’t ask a dumb question.
“It is interesting that you should ask that,” Starling said.
“We had asked that very question,” Blair said as if continuing Starling’s train of thought.
Leeno continued the answer. “Lanorear said it would be far too dangerous to fly down into the depths of the deep without knowledge of what could possibly inhabit the lower surroundings.”
“Does he really believe something lives down there?” Captain Diaz asked.
“Lanorear was not sure,” Blair answered.
“Shouldn’t we try to find out?” Sergeant Nikopolous asked revealing the curiosity bug had bitten him just like most of the men. “I’d really like to have an idea how far down it goes. Maybe it goes down into the center of your world,” he joked with the giant.
“How would one determine how deep the bottom is?” Towbar asked. “No one would be foolish enough to climb the depths.”
“We could throw a torch down there,” Sergeant Freeman suggested.
“That would probably blow out before it hit bottom,” Lieutenant Finley disagreed.
“Or we could drop one of our flashlights,” Sergeant Nikopolous offered. “We took supplies off those who died so we do have extra flashlights. I’d really like to get an idea how deep this baby is.”
Several men agreed with Nikopolous.
Mykal couldn’t understand why the curiosity seemed so strong among the men. He was just as curious only because they were about to cross the bridge and he had no idea what could be below. He wondered if it compared to the Rainbow Bridge in his hometown of Niagara Falls, New York that crossed the gorge over the Niagara River into Niagara Falls, Ontario Canada.
He remembered crossing that bridge on foot as a kid and looking over the side many times. He knew the bridge was more than two hundred feet above the water. The length of the bridge was nine hundred and fifty feet across where as this one was less than one hundred and fifty feet. He was sure they climbed up more than two hundred feet going up the side of the mountain. His curiosity was being itched the more he thought and compared it to the bridge of his childhood. He remembered tossing items over the side to watch them drop into the river though they had always been cautioned against doing so.
The child in him wanted them to throw something over the bridge so they could see how far down the bottom was. He didn’t want to come across like an over eager child so he kept his thoughts to himself.
“What do you think Mykal?” Sergeant Nikopolous asked.
Mykal was taken by surprise. “I don’t care,” he answered casually though he wanted to join the others in voting to toss a flashlight into the deep dark blackness. “Just make sure I’m on the other side first,” he kidded.
“Well, let’s get moving,” Diaz said.
“What do you think Sir?” Nikopolous asked Captain Diaz.
“I don�
��t care if you drop a flashlight over the side,” Diaz replied to Nikopolous’s question. “I would be curious as well, to see how far the depths could be. But seriously, make sure everyone has crossed over to the other side first.”
“Yes Sir. Thank you Sir,” Nikopolous replied amid several laughs and high fives from a group of men. Nikopolous and his close friend Army Ranger Sergeant Dirkson waited until everyone was across the bridge. They took two of the military flashlights and used medical tape to tape them together side by side but top to bottom so all the weight wouldn’t be at one end and it would fall evenly. The light bulbs burned from both ends after they were taped together. From the middle of the bridge Nikopolous and Dirkson were laughing like school kids when they dropped the double flashlight over the side of the bridge into the dark abyss.
Everyone watched from the side of the mountain as the dueling lights spun and twirled downward faster and faster. There was complete silence when the lights disappeared but there was no sound that the flashlight struck bottom. Most of the men, like young boys, started to laugh as if they had done something they weren’t supposed to. It generated many questions; ‘Where did it go?’ ‘Did it hit land or water?’ ‘Will someone ever find it?’
“Oh well,” Nikopolous finally broke the silence. He and Dirkson came off the stone bridge and to everyone’s amazement a low shriek rose from the depths of the abyss that sounded like a screeching roar from a Japanese monster movie.
“What the frickin hell was that?” Gunnery Sergeant Ratner gasped and looked back to the black gorge.
“Oh damn, what the hell did we wake up?” Nikopolous asked and suddenly looked fearful and filled with regret.
Everyone looked at each other not to finger point, because they all wanted to drop the flashlight into the abyss to see where it would stop, but they all looked at each other questioningly. There wasn’t one person who spoke against it, not even the more sensible Elves. No one seemed to have any answers. Another two screeching roars like Godzilla rose from the void.
“We better get a move on,” Ratner said with a wide eyed expression and waved his hand for the men to hurry.