by Dave Hazel
The men began to shout when the numbers advancing up the hill were more than they thought there should be. But there was almost three thousand in the camp when the morning started. They had cut the numbers down considerably but many hundreds managed to advance against the attacking enemy. Mykal remembered Hidtotim said these were elite soldiers who had been selected to be moved on the borders with Elves. They would be tough, committed, fighters who would not give up as easily as the previous group had. Mykal also realized that the first group they wiped out so easily was bunched together. This group was spread over the country side.
Mykal used his rifle and aimed each shot. He knew he hit a target with every round fired and he knew his Marines and Army personnel were just as accurate. Mykal wondered what happened to the leader he framed to look like a murderer. He felt curious to know what happened to the two men who complained that they wouldn’t be used to travel to the other side of the world. But it didn’t matter, he was sure they would make sure every soldier from the camp would be killed making their complaint against Zizmon-Tarl null and void. They needed to silence every potential threat to their chances of rescuing Doninka.
The rifle shots and machine gun fire seemed to increase but the numbers climbing the small inclined continued to advance even with bodies dropping quickly. Mykal watched Towbar rush down into the enemy who neared their position. His glowing blue sword was taking heads and limbs as quickly as they approached him. Whether they thought they were good enough to take out the giant or it was their intense training that forced them to follow through they charged at the giant like he was any other man. These soldiers were determined to win this battle.
Some of the men kept shooting though they started to back up while firing their weapons. The enemy was looking to lock horns and battle where as Mykal’s soldiers needed space between them to shoot their weapons. While shooting at the enemy Mykal kept an eye on Towbar because he didn’t want his friend to get encircled. He grew concerned when twenty or more neared the giant and tried to get behind him. He aimed his rifle at those who were in Towbar’s blind spot. He couldn’t understand how this seemed to get out of hand. Instead of fleeing, the enemy was gaining confidence by charging in. Mykal wanted to yell for the vehicles to drive around and pick the men up so they could depart and come back to attack the stragglers, but who would hear him. The enemy’s numbers were dwindling, but not fast enough. They were becoming a serious and dangerous threat.
Mykal watched as one of the newest men to Mykal’s team, Army Corporal Reese from the 82nd Airborne picked up his M-60 machine gun to take it to one of the vehicles. The enemy was getting close enough to overrun his position and he needed to get away. Reese had been struck in the side of the head just under his helmet by an arrow shot by one of the enemy soldiers. He fell over dead. The arrow looked like it hit below his cheek bone and drove up into the center of his head.
Another man who manned the M-60 machine gun was killed when he tried to pick up his weapon and run. Marine Lance Corporal Hooperman who had been a part of all three trips to this side of Towbar’s world, was stabbed in the back and when he went down he was stabbed several more times. Sergeant McCary an Army Ranger was beside Hooperman and was going to shoot Hooperman’s killer but he had been stabbed by two different soldiers before he could save Hooperman. Hooperman thought McCary was going to be able to prevent his attacker from getting to him but didn’t know McCary had been killed. McCary was a replacement for Sergeant Rooney who had been killed during the last trip. McCary thought it would be a good adventure and something to write home about, but he never made it back.
Green Beret Staff Sergeant Adrian almost stayed back at the Pass the last time they were there. He was fearful something might happen to him if he returned to this side of Towbar’s world and just didn’t feel comfortable about going back to the ‘bad side’ of Towbar’s world. His close friend Sergeant Malone encouraged him, and then he begged him and jokingly coerced him to come along so he would have a close friend with him. Malone didn’t want to return to the ‘bad side’ of Towbar’s world without a close friend and partner to do battle with. Malone had plans of selling his story or getting a writer to help him write about his adventures in Towbar’s world.
Staff Sergeant Adrian’s rifle jammed while several soldiers charged his position. Adrian had been shot with an arrow while he tried to free his jammed round. When Adrian tried to get off the ground two soldiers attacked the wounded, weaponless Green Beret and they stabbed him several times. Malone watched his close friend die and couldn’t prevent it while he fought off the soldiers who neared him. Malone comforted himself that he did kill the two who killed his close friend. He pushed the thought out of his mind that he forced his friend, Adrian, to return to this side of Towbar’s world when he didn’t want to.
Two of the army transport soldiers in a vehicle near Mykal’s vehicle were rushing to get their Mk 19 loaded onto the vehicle. Sergeant Miner and Private First Class Howe had their backs to the approaching enemy to load the seventy-eight pound weapon into the vehicle. Several arrows were shot at the pair. Miner had been struck in the back of his right arm and a second arrow stuck into his right shoulder blade. The force of the arrows and the intense pain knocked him to the ground. At the same time Howe took an arrow to the back of his neck which penetrated through the front of his throat and his second arrow stuck in the center of his back. He died by the time he hit the ground.
Marine medic Sergeant Moss who was wounded during the last trip to this side of the world refused to stay behind because he wanted to be with his Marine buddies and do what he could to help keep them safe. While Moss tried to help Private First Class Taylor who was one of the original survivors of the Lost Patrol, the first to be on this side of the world, Moss died when he tried to protect and save Taylor. The sword that slashed into Moss’s neck nearly severed his head from his shoulders.
Private First Class Taylor was stabbed in his thigh. The blade went through the other side of Taylor’s thigh and Taylor shot the soldier who stabbed him. Taylor was being treated by Moss when Moss was killed. He was able to kill the soldier who nearly decapitated Moss to keep from being killed by the same soldier.
Two other injuries were Sergeant Pollard an Army Green Beret. He was stabbed severely in the stomach but was able to keep fighting and kill many of the soldiers who came near his position. Sergeant Nikopolous was stabbed in the hip but the wound barely did any damage and he fought on as if nothing had happened to him.
A total of six men were killed and four were injured. Sergeant Pollard’s was the most severe injury. Private First Class Taylor’s injury was severe though it was to his thigh. Sergeant Nikopolous’s injury was minor and he didn’t want to bring it up but others saw the blood on his uniform.
Mykal heard a number of his men yelling that they needed to pull back to get positioning on the advancing soldiers. The enemy soldiers didn’t seem to be deterred by the fact their numbers were being chopped away to almost nothing. For the most part the soldiers looked to be fighting to the death. Mykal looked out over the field and realized it was very few that fled to get away. Many of those who turned to run away had turned around to get back into the battle to join their fellow soldiers in battle. Mykal was grateful to see the Hawkmen flying down on those who fled to keep them from getting away. Some used their bow and arrow from the air and the others dove down swinging their swords on those who fled for their lives.
“Damn it,” Mykal shouted and raised his rifle to shoot those going after Towbar. He shot three when he heard someone frantically yell his name. He turned to see a soldier swinging down on him with a sword. Mykal moved and raised his rifle to block the sword and when he did a second swordsmen stabbed him in the side of his belly running him through the other side of his body. The sword entered his right side and exited the left. The sudden sucking crush of pain took his breath away. Before he could yell his pain, the blade was ripped back out. Mentally and internally Mykal groaned a painful moan.
Mykal dropped his rifle to grab the two ends of pain that seemed to invade from both sides. He glanced up to see the sword in the air ready to start downward to lob his head off, but watched as a sudden fit of wild dancing overtook the swordsman. The swordsman soldier flopped to the ground after being riddle with multiple gunshots from an M-60 machinegun.
Another soldier swung a spiked club and it struck Mykal in the chest and lower right side of his ribs. Not only did he feel the crushing blow of the club, but he felt another five or six deep puncture wounds. The spiked club wielder dropped to the ground after doing the same wild dance as had the swordsman.
Mykal heard the rat a tat tat of machinegun fire that took down the two soldiers who stood over him to finish him off. Mykal tasted blood in his mouth and he felt blood leaving his body quickly. He could tell his own blood splashed up into his face. He knew he was bleeding from many different wounds. When he tried to rise, he quickly dropped face first on the ground gasping for air where he just lay there. Green grass was in his mouth and he felt blood drooling from his lips onto the grass. He didn’t understand why, but his left foot felt completely numb.
While he laid there Mykal realized now, that the dream he had wasn’t a warning that one of his close friends were going to die today, it was he who was going to die this day. The gut feeling warning he received was about himself. He knew he should have heeded his forewarning. “I hurt,” he moaned weakly. ‘Diaz was right about wasting my last chance,’ he sighed in thought.
The feelings in his weakening body were like nothing he ever experienced before. This seemed worse than when he took a Soso death arrow and would have died if Towbar didn’t save him. In some ways this felt worse than when he was attacked by the baby-people who turned into wolves. He nearly died that time also, but he was unconscious for most of it and in some ways he thought this attack hurt more. They cracked his head open and slashed his face violently, ‘But yeah, this too feels much worse than that,’ he moaned in thought.
By the gasping in his shallow breaths, Mykal believed one of his lungs had been punctured by the spiked club. The pain going through his body was indescribable. The sword penetrated through his entire body. He felt his life draining from him and suddenly his entire being shook. He had the shakes and couldn’t stop. The cold that covered him felt like death.
He heard yells and cries. He heard men shouting his name and all he wanted to do was to close his eyes and go to sleep. He wanted to go home and be with Pam and the boys. He just wanted to see them one more time before he closed his eyes forever.
‘Doninka,’ he thought weakly. ‘Gotta save Doninka,’ he thought and wanted to raise his hand to get the attention of his men, but he couldn’t raise his hand that trembled uncontrollably. He needed to hold the two open wounds in the sides of his body to keep his precious blood from spilling all over the green grass in the middle of nowhere on the other side of Towbar’s world. He didn’t think he was being successful in keeping his blood from oozing out. His hands were wet and sticky with his own blood. He wished he could stop his own blood loss because he felt himself getting weaker and weaker. It didn’t seem like the blood would stop seeping from within.
The battle must have stopped. Mykal couldn’t hear any more shooting. He heard distant yells and shouts and he believed he heard shouts getting closer to him. He felt someone roll him over but he couldn’t open his eyes. He wanted to speak to whoever rolled him over but he couldn’t muster the words. ‘They should know what to do,’ he thought with a moan.
“Damn it,” someone shouted, but the voice wasn’t one of his close friends. “I don’t feel a pulse. Help me damn it. I think he’s dead. Mykal’s dead damn it.”
“My friend, do not leave us,” Towbar shouted but he sounded so far away. “Do you hear me my friend?” Towbar yelled and now he sounded so much closer.
Mykal opened his eyes to see Towbar’s face through the blur of blood in one of his own eyes. ‘I don’t think I’m dead,’ Mykal thought while he focused on the intense pain. His lower jaw shivered quickly as if he had been eating ice cream on a cold day. ‘I can hear all of them, so I can’t be dead. Right? I should still be alive, right?’
With Towbar’s words and the feel of being weightless he was sure the giant picked him up to carry him. ‘I don’t know. I don’t wanna keep my eyes open. Or maybe I’m sleeping right now.’ A slight smile formed on Mykal’s bloodied face when he heard the strange and haunting sound of ‘Weird’ by Harry Lubin in his mind. It was the stirring and ‘spooky’ music from the 1960s supernatural TV show One Step Beyond. The tune was always played during the supernatural scenes or when the supernatural reveal occurred. (author’s note: look it up on youtube).
Mykal couldn’t hear all that was going on. He faded in and out. He did hear something about the vehicles, and something about the green fog. He heard a couple of times that he had no pulse and he was dead. He heard his giant friend Towbar argue that he would not give up on his best friend and that he would do all that he could to save Mykal’s life. Mykal waited for someone to wake him but… his mind… faded to black.
The End of Book 4
PERSONNEL TO SEARCH FOR DONINKA
First trip to other side Towbar’s World Chapters 5- 9
*- Original Lost Patrol Survivors
*- Mykal Graves
Towbar
Roy Jr. Dosch Civilian
Randy Dosch Civilian
*- Captain Diaz C.O. Marine
*- Lieutenant Finley Platoon Leader Green Beret
*- Starling Elf
*- Leeno Elf
*- Blair Elf
*- Nordad Wizard
*- Codlon Warrior
*- Agnor Warrior
Egoneal Elf
Uminair Elf
Gwellon Elf
Rogal Towbar’s soldier
Malidon Towbar’s soldier
Wellsson Towbar’s soldier
Shayup Towbar’s soldier
Jenelan Towbar’s soldier
Norg Dwarf
Klonk Dwarf
Trankle Dwarf
Grimace Dwarf
Squad 1 – US Marines:
*- Gunnery Sergeant Ratner
*- Staff Sergeant Fuller
*- Sergeant McTaggert
*- Private First Class Taylor
Sergeant Baines
Sergeant Fields
*- Corporal ‘Winnie’ Winfield
Sergeant Moss (medic)
Sergeant Mathis (radio)
Private First Class Anka
Private First Class Whorton
*- Private First Class Flesch
Squad 2 – US Marines:
*- Staff Sergeant Moreno
*- Sergeant Kalhoun
*- Sergeant Azarski
*- Private First Class Chandler
*- Private First Class Ferria
*- Private First Class Jourard
*- Corporal Adkins
Lance Corporal Little Thunder
Corporal Renner (medic)
Lance Corporal Cremona (radio)
Lance Corporal Hooperman
Private First Class Jenkins
Squad 3 – US Army:
Sergeant First Class Lemon (GB)
Staff Sergeant Clinton (GB)
Sergeant Rogers (GB)
Sergeant Fish (GB)
*- Staff Sergeant Campbell (GB)
*- Sergeant Freeman (GB)
Sergeant Toloson (medic) (GB)
*- Sergeant Thompson (GB)
Corporal Vega (radio) (Ranger)
*- Sergeant McPherson (Ranger)
Sergeant Latif (Ranger)
*- Corporal Hall (Ranger)
Squad 4 – US Army:
Staff Sergeant Valante (82nd)
Staff Sergeant Schmidt (82nd)
Staff Sergeant Garcia (Ranger)
Corporal Brock (82nd)
Sergeant Kinn (Ranger)
Sergeant Montana (82nd)
Sergeant Overman (GB)
&nbs
p; Sergeant Sherman (radio) (Ranger)
Sergeant Nikopolous (GB)
Sergeant Klein (medic) (82nd)
Corporal Davidson (82nd)
Corporal Bekker (82nd)
Media:
Vick Daring
Benjamin Milnar (camera)
Josh Collins
Jeff ‘Lil Bit’ Bennett (camera)
KIA - Killed In Action during First trip
Wellsson Towbar’s soldier
Jenelan Towbar’s soldier
Grimace Dwarf
Sergeant Fields
Private First Class Whorton
Private First Class Jenkins
Sergeant Rogers (GB)
Sergeant Toloson (medic) (GB)
Staff Sergeant Schmidt (82nd)
Sergeant Kinn (Ranger)
Sergeant Montana (82nd)
Corporal Bekker (82nd)
Second trip to other side Towbar’s World Chapters 10-14
*- Original Lost Patrol Survivors
## - Replacements
*- Mykal Graves
Towbar
Roy Jr. Dosch Civilian
Randy Dosch Civilian
*- Captain Diaz C.O. Marine
*- Lieutenant Finley Platoon Leader Green Beret
*- Starling Elf
*- Leeno Elf
*- Blair Elf
*- Nordad Wizard
*- Codlon Warrior
*- Agnor Warrior
Egoneal Elf
Uminair Elf
Gwellon Elf
Rogal Towbar’s soldier
Malidon Towbar’s soldier
##- Bleemar Towbar’s soldier