Gummy Bears, to the Rescue!

Blake and Marvin continued to watch as the girl and the man lumbered onward towards their destination, alongside the six body guards.

As promised, an hour into the trek, Luis Olson touched Blake's mind.

"Blake. I managed to communicate with the old nun here. She's super concerned about you, but she said to hang in there and she will find a way to rescue you soon."

"No need, Brother. Me and Marvin figured out a way to escape the jar. We're above the group right now, watching over Jazzie. She's not doing well."

"Hmmm. Okay. I'll tell that to the old nun. Hang on a sec."

Luis was back within the space of a few heartbeats.

"Okay. Change of plans. She's going to board a plane in an hour and will be there in the morning."

"How is that possible?" Blake gasped. "It's halfway across the world!"

"There is also 13 hour difference between LAX and SGN. We are gaining an entire day of traveling. Anyway, I'm going to travel with her just in case there's trouble. I can't do much, but at least we can communicate and share info."

"Okay. We're out of that jar, so we're going to lay low. I'm not going to interfere in anything unless Jasmine's life is in danger."

"Yeah. The old nun said to follow Jasmine and just keep an eye out for her granddaughter. She also said something else too, which I'm not sure I understand."

"What?"

"She said, 'Forgive him'."

Blake sighed. It was so obvious that she was talking about Marvin, he didn't know how Luis could not figure it out.

"Yeah. I get it. I'll touch base with you if anything happens on our end."

They ended the conversation just as Jasmine's body spasmed as she projectile vomited to the side of the trail, almost vaulting from Anh Hai's loose grasp.

Blake tensed, ready to leap out and save her from hitting the ground, but Anh Hai caught her at the last moment and kept her from injuring herself.

The party stopped for a brief moment to allow Jasmine to recover and then they were back on the road.

Although Blake knew the reason for their haste in traversing the rough jungle terrain, his heart bled for Jasmine.

She had gone from the healthy vibrant woman who danced on the stage and belted out song after song as she fronted their band, to this half dead tiny little bird who could barely keep from passing out.

The rain continued to pelt down on the travelers. Blake had never seen rain of this magnitude.

The drops were huge, almost golfball sized, and they were not dropping in a fairy mist. Oh no. They pounded down upon a person until that person was beaten to a pulp.

The only thing that made it bearable was that it wasn't incessant. The beatings would only last for a short while and a lighter rain would follow.

Sometimes, there would even be a blessed pause as the storm retreated for a bit and the clouds lightened up. But then the darkness would return and the heavy load would drive down upon their heads once again.

It was in this torrential rain that Anh Hai and the group paused for a lunch break. It didn't look like the humans needed to eat anything but the animals who were carrying the humans needed a break and to feed.

Blake watched with concern as Anh Hai spread a tarp out and held up a plastic sheet to give Jasmine a bit of rest time without the rain pounding on her weak body.

He wanted to help them in some way but he knew that it was better to not distract Anh Hai at this moment since the Overlord still had no idea he had escaped the ginger jar.

"Uh oh. Looks like we got ourselves a tailgater." Marvin chanted in his sing-song manner. "They're licking their chops at that little woman of yours, Boss. She's so weak, it's not gonna take much to drive her out of her body and take over."

Blake looked up from his fixed gaze at Jasmine. Five ghouls of varying shades of nasty were hovering above the tree line. They were a rag tag bunch, looking like left-over losers from a war that happened almost a hundred years ago.

"Man." Marvin chuffed. "I can't tell if they're American or Vietnamese soldiers, but they are wearing that ragged camo stuff from that era. Not like we can't see them."

"I don't want them bothering Jasmine. She needs her rest."

"Then let's get rid of them, shall we, Boss?"

"What's your plan?"

"If you want it short and sweet, we can just tackle them right here right now. But I'm guessing you don't want to make too much of a ruckus that will alert the Overlord, right?"

Blake nodded.

"In that case, let's draw them away from here."

Without waiting for Blake's response, Marvin rushed up to where the five ghouls were and flew right through them, scattering their ephemeral forms into the atmosphere. They began to chase him, moving away from the travelers.

As Blake followed, he realized they were American soldiers by the way they moved. Their marching formation was still apparent, as well as their ragtag clothing with the forward facing blue field on the American Flag.

It also helped that a couple of them had very dirty blond hair still clinging to their skulls.

"Damn. They're so low on energy, they can barely hold their forms together." Marvin cackled as he prepared to fly at them once again.

"This is gonna be a piece of cake—Ooooh!!!" He choked as one of the ghouls hit him with something that looked like a seed pod.

"Damn. Careful of those pod things, Blake!" He choked and coughed for a moment.

Blake rose up into the air and threw a gummy bear at the lead ghoul. He caught it with surprise, looking at it this way and that.

"Eat it. It's just a bit of gelatin with sugar."

The lead ghoul threw it in his mouth and chewed. "I know what a gummy bear is. I ate these when I was a kid."

Blake raised an eyebrow and threw one gummy bear to each of the ghouls behind the first one. They caught it and ate greedily.

"I didn't know these things were around back then." Blake murmured.

"Back then? What are you talking about? Me and my men, we're still fighting, even in ghoul form."

Marvin shook his head.

"The war ended a long time ago man. You guys need to leave this place."

The lead ghoul stared at Marvin.

"How? We've been trying, but we're lost within this jungle."

"You guys died in here?"

The ghouls looked at each other and nodded.

"Nobody found your bodies did they?" Blake eyed them with sadness.

"This is the hot wet jungles of Nam. Everything disintegrates quickly. After awhile, not even bones survive." The lead ghoul admitted with some pain.

"Work your way out." Marvin waved his hand at Blake. "Boss here can get you a one-way ticket outta here but you have to follow his directions."

The lead ghoul turned to Blake.

"You know the way out of this hellhole?"

Blake stared at the ghoul who was once a proud American soldier.

"Yeah. I do. I'm trying to get out myself. I don't mind showing you the way, but I'm not gonna force you to do anything. Just trying to find my path out is all."

"Help us. We will follow you." The ghoul insisted. His men clamored their agreement.

"It's not gonna be easy, man." Marvin growled. "We ain't got no time to babysit you guys. We got important stuff to do."

"Man, you have no idea what hardship is till you become a soldier." The lead guy gave a look that made Marvin quake in his boots.

"You're not gonna need to babysit anybody. We just need a little guidance to get unstuck and un-lost. That's all."

Blake stared at the lead ghoul.

"What are your names?"

The ghoul narrowed his eyes.

"It's been awhile. Let me remember."

One of the ghouls behind him laughed.

"Sorry, Sir. Our Sergeant is getting kinda old, but his name is Sergeant Tom Hinkley."

Blake nodded and made a note of the old Sergeant's name in his system notes.

"What about the rest of you?"

"I'm Bob Moorehouse. That's Johnny Ingles. Guy next to him is Ralph Woodard. And the baby of the group is Will Black."

"William Black. Sir." The youngest ghoul corrected.

Blake took down all the names and threw them a few more gummy bears which they grabbed eagerly and ate with relish.

"Just to inform you. This is not something that can be undone. Once you are part of the system, we all need to help each other to find a way to escape this hell. No defection allowed."

"Oh no!" Bob Moorehouse insisted. "We never defected. We're still following the Sarge around all this time."

Blake nodded. Well, here went nothing.

"System, give Sergeant Tom Hinkley, Bob Moorehouse, Johnny Ingles, Ralph Woodard, and William Black the download codes to Demon System."

For a moment, there was silence. The Demon System was not even responding to him. Maybe he should have broken it down into five different commands for the five individuals.

But then system came to life.

«Initiating Demon System download for Sergeant Tom Hinkley, Bob Moorehouse, Johnny Ingles, Ralph Woodard, and William Black. Starting in five, four, three, two, one.»