Mykal's Second Deadly Journey

by Dave Hazel

  The idea that they were actually getting closer to possibly rescuing Doninka brought joy to Mykal’s being. But then the reality started to set in. ‘What if she’s dead and they’re just jerking everyone around about a swap concerning her for her father?’ He hated thinking those thoughts because it always made his mood dark and filled with emotional pain. ‘It would be foolish on their part to kill her when they really wanted the prize of getting the King so maybe they wouldn’t kill her, but what have they been doing to her? Have they been torturing her? Have they been abusing her sexually, mentally, emotionally?’

  All those thoughts drove him insane with hatred mixed with emotional anguish. ‘Damn, what if they’re actually treating her great and slowly brain washing her so she would attack and kill her father if she gets the chance. Oh man, this is all my friggin fault,’ he blamed himself in thought for the umpteenth time, but now with an added twist of terror should they or ‘he – the evil bad guy’ brainwash her. ‘I coulda taken her back with me on New Year’s Eve and none of this would be happening. Damn it. I hate myself for this.’

  He tried to doze off so he would stop torturing himself with horrible thoughts of things that he couldn’t control. He wished he could snap his fingers and be there with her to take her from the hell hole she was in and take her back to the safety of the Pass... He wished he could snap his fingers and go back in time to New Year’s Eve and put her in his vehicle to take her back to the real world for a couple of days… He wished he could snap his fingers…

  4.

  “Hey Mykal, you may wanna wake up,” Roy Jr. said as the vehicle slowed to a halt.

  “What’s up? What’s up?” He asked and rubbed his face. He slept harder than he realized. He dozed through the last stop when the group took a quick rest break to refuel all the vehicles and give the men brief stretch of their legs. The men then ate their meal while the vehicles drove on.

  “The driver, Sergeant Barry, wants to talk to you.”

  “What’s going on Sergeant Barry?”

  “I think we have your bad guys in sight,” Barry answered after he stopped the vehicle. Sergeant Barry moved from the driver’s seat to the rear with them men. “Here Mykal, stand up in the turret with me. These turrets have been modified so two men can stand up and fight from within at the same time. It used to be only the machinegun was up here. Either the M-60 or the .50 caliber. But we were able to make some adjustments and we have both the .50 caliber and the Mark 19. We don’t recommend firing both big weapons at the same time but they could be fired simultaneously if there was a real need.”

  When Mykal stepped up through the turret and looked out before them he could see a large force slowly moving along with their backs to him. They seemed to be about six hundred to seven hundred yards away which was well within the maximum effective range of both weapons. Mykal looked over to the other vehicles and saw everyone getting ready to watch what was going to take place.

  “Do you want to try firing the Mk 19?” Barry asked.

  “Sure. Yeah. I would also like to get Hidtotim up here to fire a couple of rounds at them so we can say he participated,” Mykal said and winked. It was part of his plan to make Hidtotim an accomplice and guilty of murdering his own people so if he ever had to blackmail him, Hidtotim would have no excuse.

  “Let me just run through the instructions to operate quickly just to show you. But I’ll actually be firing the weapon once we get it going. Hey Nelson, give me the radio,” Barry said to the person in the passenger seat. “Listen up guys,” Barry spoke into the radio. Get ready on the Mark 19. I’m going to show Mykal how to fire it and I’m going to let him open up and then we’re going to let Hidtotim fire the weapon. But what we will do since there is well over a thousand bad guys out there, and just to be clear, they think there should be as many as eighteen hundred bad guys out there. So we will unload about two or three cans of 40 mike mike ammo each. Make sure to have the ammo ready to reload quickly before they disperse. Once we hit them pretty hard with the Mark 19 we will drive down there and rip them to pieces with the .50 calibers.”

  “What is our goal Sarge?” One of the voices came back through the speakers.

  “Obliteration! Complete annihilation,” Barry said firmly and without hesitation to get the point across. “Mykal said we are to eliminate all of them as they are a threat to the overall mission if even one should return to their home base. No survivors. They are just like Sosos,” Sergeant Barry whispered into the radio microphone while he turned his head to keep Hidtotim and his men from hearing him say the last sentence.

  Mykal had previously told Commander Ingledoss that he and his people came from the other side of the world from within the Soso nations. He gave Sergeant Barry thumbs up and an approving wink. “Good job,” he whispered.

  “Hooah, hooah,” all the Army personnel barked at the same time. Some could be heard outside the vehicle.

  “When we get close we’ll tear them up with our .50 calibers and we will stop and let the men get out and take down whatever they can with their own weapons,” Barry said to Mykal while speaking into his radio microphone. “As far as we are concerned these are another form of our main bad guys. So they must be annihilated.”

  Most of the men laughed and hooted and hollered.

  Mykal walked through the steps to load and charge the weapon in preparation to fire it. He aimed as Sergeant Barry told him to. With both hands he gripped the double handled handgrips and placed both thumbs on the butterfly trigger. He waited anxiously but as soon as Barry gave the command he was going to open fire with the rapid fire 40mm explosives. Mykal wasn’t sure how accurate he would be since he never fired the weapon before, but he knew the other five shooters would be spot on. Mykal snickered when he looked down the turret to see Hidtotim eagerly ready to step up into his place to help stop the ‘bad guys’. Mykal’s true goal was to have Hidtotim participate so he could in essence blackmail him to help them if it came down to it. But it seemed Hidtotim and the other three were ready to turn on their countrymen and leave the country for good.

  “Let her rip,” Barry spoke into the radio and double patted Mykal’s shoulder.

  Mykal pressed the trigger and held it down. The rapid fire shooting sounded like someone pounding on his front door. He kept firing four, five, four and five round bursts until he finished the belt of 40mm ammunition. The kick in his hands felt great as he watched in anticipation for the explosions to occur. He couldn’t see the exact damage at the distance they were from the enemy but he clearly saw the puffs of smoke where the explosions occurred. With six weapons firing there were many explosions.

  *******

  The soldiers were hit from behind and it seemed to take a long time for them to realize they were being attacked by an enemy. There were no forces in front of them to inflict such damage. Once they realized something ‘bad’ was happening to them they scattered in all directions, though they clearly didn’t know who or what could be attacking them. Terror struck when they thought the Supreme Ruler, Zizmon-Tarl, could be punishing them with magic for not stopping the enemy when they had them in their midst. If it wasn’t Zizmon-Tarl, some feared it could be the gods punishing them for various crimes.

  *******

  Mykal finished the entire can of thirty-two rounds and quickly got out of the way while one of Barry’s team members reloaded the weapon. “Get up there,” Mykal said to Hidtotim, “and Sergeant Barry will show you what to do. It’s easy.”

  “How was it?” Mathis asked.

  “Aw man it’s cool,” Mykal laughed excitedly just as he did the very first time he was able to shoot the M-60 machine gun. “Man, I would love to have one of those when we’re at the pass and the ‘bad guys’ come at us again,” Mykal continued to laugh and was careful not to mention the Sosos as being the enemy. “Get on the radio and tell Diaz and Finley to tell the men to get ready cuz once they’re done with shooting the Mk 19s we’re gonna drive closer and we’re gonna finish these bastards off
for good.”

  Mykal got out of the vehicle and watched explosion after explosion produce white clouds of smoke and chaos among the ranks of the soldiers. The soldiers couldn’t tell where the attack came from which forced them to scatter. They ran back and forth as explosions, death and destruction seemed to occur in whichever direction they turned. There were many killed but many more had been injured. Sergeant Barry had explained to Mykal that the 40mm grenades weren’t as powerful as Hollywood always made them appear in movies. They do have a kill radius of five meters and with many 40mm grenades being fired all at once it would have a greater impact but he assured Mykal there would be far more injured than killed. Mykal understood that and had witnessed it when the Sosos attacked the Pass. The Sosos great numbers compressed into a small area made the M-203 grenade launchers much more effective when they were used in the assaults on the Pass.

  “Let’s go, let’s go,” Sergeant Barry yelled to the men outside of the vehicles. He had the men stop shooting when they finished their third can of 40mm ammo. Barry got behind the wheel of the vehicle while one of his team members climbed into the turret to man the .50 caliber machine gun. “Fire at will when you are comfortable,” he said into the radio while they drove off in pursuit of the confused and fleeing enemy.

  The vehicles fanned out to cover more ground and give the machine gunners wider fields of fire without overlapping each other. The machine gunners were shooting slower due to shooting at moving targets from a moving vehicle. The pattern of six to nine round bursts was heard from each of the six .50 caliber machine guns. After two belts of one hundred rounds of ammunition had been completed the shooter reloaded with a third belt of ammo while his partner changed the barrel to give the barrel time to cool off. Each vehicle had two spare barrels to keep rotating so the .50 caliber machinegun wouldn’t overheat.

  Mykal watched through the windshield by peeking over Sergeant Barry’s shoulder. The soldiers were running in all directions and looked terrified as if being chased by strange monstrous beasts. The soldiers tried to stay together as they ran wild but the larger groups just made it easier to target and attack. All the vehicles stopped at the same time which led Mykal to believe a command was given. It made it easier for the machine gunners to target the primitive soldiers.

  All the men exited their vehicles and found they were at the spot where the soldiers were first hit with multiple 40mm explosions. Many were dead because they were struck by a direct hit and their bodies were blown apart. Many died from the shrapnel inside the kill radius. There were many who had been injured and they ran, limped or crawled away and many wounded lay incapacitated where they fell, unable to move on.

  Mykal watched the machine gunners continue to fire at the fleeing soldiers. He was shocked to see two dead soldiers in front of him who had fallen on their own swords rather than be left behind to face the brutally effective enemy. Mykal gasped in shock and couldn’t imagine allowing his own body to fall down on a sword to end his own life. There were cries of pain and cries for help. There were moans and groans of those who couldn’t move.

  “Let’s finish these guys off quickly and as painlessly as possible,” Lieutenant Finley shouted.

  “We’re going to kill all the wounded?” Josh Collins shouted at Finley. This was the first time the reporter seemed to have objected to any of the military’s actions. His son Lil Bit Bennett filmed the battlefield and kept his eyes down field.

  “We have to,” Finley shouted back. “They are all a threat to our mission if they get back.”

  “I don’t think we should be so cruel,” Josh replied but his conviction didn’t sound as strong.

  “Would you rather we just let them rot out here and suffer with no medical help?” Marine Gunnery Sergeant Ratner came to the Green Beret lieutenant’s side for assistance. “I would think that would be a far greater sin.”

  Josh Collins paused. When his son Lil Bit turned to him he waved his son away. “You’re right. Jeff,” he yelled to his son. “I don’t want you to film this. Go ahead and film the battlefield, but don’t film the mercy killings.”

  “Whatever you want dad,” he replied and returned to film the fleeing soldiers dropping from machine gun fire.

  Mykal noticed several hundred managed to get over the other side of a slight slope in the land so they couldn’t be seen. “We’re gonna have to hurry this up so we can go after those guys,” he yelled for whoever could hear him. He looked to Hidtotim and his three men. They looked sickened by what they witnessed. “Hidtotim, what are you thinking?”

  “I am glad I did not turn on you. Your weapons are amazingly powerful.”

  “Well, you don’t have to worry about any of them saying that you helped do this,” Mykal said as a reminder that Hidtotim’s hand was involved.

  “I helped?”

  “Yeah. When you were shooting the weapon inside the vehicle, it did this,” Mykal pointed to the nearest body that had been blown apart from a direct hit. The soldier’s head was mostly gone and so was part of his shoulder and neck.

  “I did that?” Hidtotim asked and looked like he felt guilty.

  “Yes you did, but don’t worry about it. We’re in this together. As far as I’m concerned, you’re one of my men and I’ll support you and I’ll back you and I’ll defend you all the way. Ask my men, I’m as loyal as they come. As long as you don’t turn on me, I’ll never turn on you. Once we finish these guys off you and your guys will never have to worry about any of them saying anything to the Supreme Ruler.”

  “Thank you Mykal,” Hidtotim said and lowered his head. If he had any second thoughts it was too late now.

  “And when we get ready to leave here, I give you my word, if you guys wanna come back with us I will gladly take you with us,” he explained while the machine gun fire died down. Individual rifle shots rang out. Chopping and stabbing could be heard by those not armed with fire arms. “As a matter of fact Ziggy won’t mind if I take you with me, and if you don’t want him to know I won’t even mention it to him,” Mykal said to play up that he and Zizmon-Tarl were friends and partners.

  “Thank you Mykal. We would prefer that the One does not know we will be leaving with you. I fear for family members if…” he stopped as if he felt guilty for doing something wrong

  “No problem,” Mykal said with a friendly smile. “Consider it done.” Mykal noticed the Hawkmen flying into view they were holding their bows which meant they probably shot down soldiers who fled from view. They took it upon themselves to follow the soldiers over the incline to spy on them. They flew to Diaz and Finley’s area. “Well, if there is anything you guys want from the dead go ahead and take it. I don’t consider it robbing the dead because they are soldiers and if there is anything you need from them, such as weapons, equipment or whatever, just go ahead and get it because once we leave here we probably won’t be coming back this way.”

  “Thank you Mykal,” Hidtotim said and the three gave their thanks also.

  Mykal walked away and they didn’t know his hearing was increased. He heard them speak to each other quietly.

  “Do you understand this could have been us?” Hidtotim asked his three friends.

  “I am so grateful you chose to side with them,” one of the three said.

  “Yes, it is amazing that such a small number can inflict such pain and death in such a devastating manner,” another said.

  “And so quickly,” the last added.”

  “I would like the tax master to come here and try to collect the taxes at this moment,” one of them said and all four laughed.

  “Not being able to pay my tax was the reason I was forced to become a soldier,” Hidtotim said. “Either that or be forced off to the torturers.”

  “Same here my brother,” one of them said. “It is good we were forced to be soldiers. Now we will be free.”

  Mykal wondered if he would be able to get more information from them. Clearly they couldn’t pay taxes so they were forced to join the military or go to p
rison where they would be tortured and abused. ‘Good to know,’ Mykal thought and snickered at the new information. He tried not to think of all the wounded soldiers who were being killed, but he knew if they had the chance they would kill him and his men and stop them from their mission to rescue Doninka.

  His thoughts suddenly changed after hearing Hidtotim and his men. ‘I wonder how many of these soldiers are only here because they have to be here or else? Damn,’ he thought and suddenly his emotions took a nose dive. Deep inside part of him wanted to start crying. He looked around to make sure none of the men could see his weakness. He looked down at his ring and knew the emotions were being pulled one way and then another because of the magic of the damn ring.

  ‘How many of these guys are someone’s kids, or they have kids and they’re only here cuz they’re forced to or else? And now I’m taking their life, I’m striking them down as Towbar would say, out of convenience,’ he thought and let out a heavy sigh. ‘Damn, I’m not trying to be a rotten bastard,’ he thought and tried to justify what they were doing. ‘If they got back to Zizmon-Tarl and let him know what we’re doing then he would kill or hurt Doninka or move her away and then he’d send his whole friggin army after us. I can’t let this get to me. This is war and we have to stop the enemy,’ he thought and truly wanted to break down to sob over the helpless men being killed.