Authors note:
I’d like the thank Warrensable32 for helping me out with the details and editing.
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Alex slowly opened his eyes and looked around. Everything was black. All he could see was black.
Am I dead?
He panicked and reached for something, anything. In his panic he slammed his head on something hard. Reaching out to touch what he hit, his hands felt a familiar surface. It was the hatch of the cupola. Fumbling with the handle for a minute, he tried to open his escape route. He finally succeeded and slowly swung the hatch open. He jumped out, eager to escape his metal prison.
Wait. Why am I falling?
He hit the ground headfirst, feeling a sickening snap.
"Fuck!" Alex yelled as he felt a sharp pain in his hand.
He looked up to see his right hand bent back at an odd angle. Taking a few breaths he grabbed it and snapped it back into place, causing another loud cry of pain. The swelling was already starting. Looking away from his hand he saw the Retribution II laying vertically against a large slab of rock.
How the hell...?
Trying not to use his injured hand he slowly stood up, swaying slightly as he regained his balance. Walking cautiously over to his tank, he grabbed a med-kit that was dangling off the cargo rack. It was then, he looked around and froze; he wasn't in the deserts of Afghanistan any more. He was in a forest.
How the fuck did I get in a forest?!
Instinctively, he reached for his grandfathers sidearm with his right hand, stopping himself as a jolt of pain shot through his arm. Instead, he unholstered the pistol with his left hand. He held it unsteadily. He'd never fired a weapon with his left hand before. Looking down at his feet he saw he was standing in... sand?
If I'm in a forest, shouldn't I be standing on dirt?
He took another good look around, making sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him.
Nope I'm definitely in a forest, I can smell the trees, the grass and flowers... oh shit!
His attention was drawn to a Humvee laying upside-down few metres from him, he wouldn't of noticed it if it wasn't for the pulsing blue light of the E.A.S.T.. He looked at his watch, apparently it was 0500. The sun should be coming up soon. With that, he headed over towards the flipped Humvee and peered inside, where he saw the driver hanging upside-down and still strapped into his seat. Alex went to open the armoured door and was stopped by a small white rabbit looking at him.
"Well hey there little guy," He said as he knelt next to it. "You probably shouldn't be here."
He couldn't help but notice that the rabbit seemed a bit... strange. Before he could say anything else it quickly hopped away. Shrugging, Alex went back and opened the Humvee door. He cringed as he saw the drivers neck twisted at an angle, knowing instantly that the unfortunate driver was dead with a broken neck. With a muffled thump, he slammed his fist on the Humvees underside. Alex couldn't do anything for the man now. Sitting down and resting against the Humvees back door he thought. He thought about how the hell he'd gotten here, what had happened to make them appear in a forest. Had they accidentally discovered chrono tech? His thoughts were halted by the sound of a stick snapping. He quickly stood up, aiming his M1911 towards the disturbance.
"This is Captain Noah of the United States Marine Corps, come out slowly with your hands in the air and identify yourself." He flicked the safety off, expecting the worst.
"Private Gem," An Australian voice called back. "Royal Australian Armoured Corps. Don't shoot me ok?"
Alex gave a sigh of relief and lowered his pistol. Just an Australian. The Private wandered over towards the Captain, his own sidearm drawn.
"Permission to speak freely, sir?" Pvt. Gem asked as he sat down next to the Captain.
"Go ahead."
"What the hell happened?" PTE. Gem asked, laying his pistol on the ground and cracking his knuckles. "Last thing I remember was some sort of storm, some lightning, thunder, and a ton of rain."
"That about sums it up Private," Alex replied. "Except we're here in the middle of a damn forest. Anyhow the sun should be up soon, then we can check the surrounding area for any indications of where we are."
"Captain, why don't you just check the GPS on your tank?"
Alex looked at the Private with a surprised look on his face.
Why didn’t I think of that?
"Good thinking Private, there's only one problem with that."
"What's the problem?"
Alex pointed to the Retribution II sitting almost vertically against the rock.
"That."
He then pointed at his hand.
“And this.”
"Ah." The Private said, rubbing his chin. "Captain are your men still inside?"
He did a double take at that. He'd forgotten about his crew. Leaping up, he ran towards the Retribution II and tried to climb back in.However his injured right hand prevented him from doing so. Sighing, he formed a plan in his head.
"Private, where's your crew?" He called over to the Australian crewman.
"Still in the Kangaroo unconscious, sir." The Private replied.
"Alright Private, I want you to head over and see if you can wake up your crew. When and if they do, I want them to drive over here and help me move my tank and flip the Humvee. You got that?"
"Aye, sir." He saluted and quickly darted off.
Alex returned his attention back to the Humvee and gave it a quick look over. Nothing seemed to be broken or damaged, it was just upside down. Looking up at the dark blue sky, he saw light slowly pouring over the forest.
Finally, daylight!
He opened the Humvee door once again, this time to move the dead drivers body out. Carefully unclipping the seatbelt he caught the Marine as he fell and slowly pulled him outside. He laid him in the middle of the clearing and closed his eyes pulling the dog tags off the fallen Marine.
Staff Sergeant John van Decc. Poor Bastard.
The sky was now lined with orange and the first rays of sunlight were shining through the canopy. Birds were chirping merrily away. Alex even saw a few rabbits hop past. In the sunlight he could see his immediate surroundings. What he saw stopped him in his tracks. Everything looked abnormally brighter. The brown of the trees was too bright and the moss hanging off of it was too green. It just didn’t look right. The roar of an engine cranking brought his senses back.
Good work, Private.
The roar of another engine made him stop again. How many other vehicles had been teleported with him? This one, however, didn't sound like an Abrams starting up. Alex guessed it was probably an LAV.
"Captain?" A weak voice called from the Retribution II.
Alex recognised it as Sam's voice. He rushed back over to his tank and pulled himself high up just enough to see into her.
"You ok in there Corporal?" Alex asked, his concern evident.
"Just a few bruises, sir. Roger and David are starting to come around now."
"That's good to hear, when they come around I'll need you to hop out. Careful though, she's at an almost vertical rest on this rock."
"I noticed, sir."
Alex heard some grunting and shuffling followed by a gasp of pain.
“Captain, Roger has a deep gash along his left arm. Could you pass up a med-kit, sir?”
“Right.”
He bent over and grabbed the med-kit from where he left it.
“Here it comes.” He said as he tossed it in.
“Thanks Captain.” Sam said. “Roger, hold your arm still, I’m going to patch you up.”
Alex slowly turned away from the tank and studied his surroundings again. The trees were still there. As the sun rose even higher, he could see that some of the trees had... faces? Rubbing his eyes, he walked towards a “faced” tree and stared at it for a moment.
Looks like a halloween pumpkin face, but on a tree.
Looking away from the “faced” tree, he saw his crew carefully hopping out of the tank. Their faces looking somewhere between confused and scared.
Well this is going to be fun to explain.
As Alex opened his mouth to explain, he abruptly stopped at the sound of falling trees behind him. His confused crew pulled out their sidearms and pointed them towards the sounds.
“Lower your weapons.” he ordered. “It’s just the Australian tank.”
At least it should be.
Hesitant at first, they finally lowered their sidearms as another tree fell down, revealing the Kangaroo and her LAV companion. They broke into smiles, relieved to see familiar vehicles and crewmen. The cupola of the Kangaroo opened and Sgt. Adam revealed himself as the Kangaroo slowly drove forward and parked on the edge of the clearing; her main gun facing towards the depths of the brightly coloured forest. The LAV parked up beside her; its 25mm gun sweeping the area.
“Captain, where are we, sir?” Roger asked as he walked up beside Alex.
“I don’t know.” Alex replied. “But it definitely isn’t Afghanistan. Shit, I don’t even know if we’re on the same planet.”
The engines of the LAV and tank both came to a shuddering stop; the last puffs of their exhaust disappearing into the trees. The rest of his crew came up from behind them, lugging their M4s and a small ammunition box.
“Sir, we pulled out the M4s and the ammo box.” Sam said as he dropped the box next to Alex.
“I can see that, Corporal.” Alex said as he grabbed his M4. “But I don’t-”
“Captain?”
Alex turned around to see Sgt. Adam and a USMC Staff Sergeant standing at attention.
“Sergeant Adam reporting as ordered, sir.”
“Staff Sergeant Dasel, reporting, sir.”
“At ease.” Alex said as he returned the salute.
“One thing if I may, sir?” Sgt. Adam asked.
“Go ahead, Sergeant.”
“On our way over we spotted what appeared to be wolves, sir.”
“Wolves, Sergeant? Are you sure?”
“Positive, sir. I recommend pulling out the-” The Sergeant looked at the M4 in Alex's hands.
“Seems you’re one step ahead, sir.”
“It seems so, Sergeant.” He said inspecting his M4. “Did you spot any other vehicles along the way?”
“No, sir.” The sergeant said shaking his head.
“Alright. Sergeant I want you to move your tank in front of mine and hook up a towing cable. I then want you to slowly tow my tank off the rock over there.” He pointed to the Retribution II and her rock. “It shouldn’t take too long, I’ll guide you through it in a moment.”
“Yes, sir.” Sgt. Adam said as he briskly walked back to his tank.
“Staff Sergeant Daseal, I want you and your crew to set up a camp and guard the clearing while we move my tank off that rock, take whatever equipment that you may need off my tank or the Australian tank.”
“Yes, sir.” SSgt. Daseal said as he rushed back to inform his crew.
“You two,” Alex pointed at Sam and David. “I want you to assist SSgt. Daseal with the unpacking, after loading up on ammo. The Sergeant said there were wolves about and I don’t want my crew eaten by them.”
“Yes, sir.” Sam and David said in usion.
Inspecting their M4s, they loaded up with extra ammunition. When they were fully loaded they headed off the help the SSgt. unpack. Alex looked at his watch.
0700 already?
He looked up at the sky once again but this time he saw the most colourful thing he’d seen in his entire life. Alex had seen them before (of course) but he’d never once seen one as bright and as colourful as this one.
It was a Rainbow.
He must of been staring at it for a while because the voice of Sgt. Adam brought him back down the Earth.
“...Captain? Are you ok, sir?” He said as he waved a hand in front of Alex’s face.
Alex shook his head several times and rubbed his face.
“Sir, we’ve hooked up The Retribution II to the Kangaroo. We’re ready to begin on your go, sir.”
“Good work, Sergeant.” Alex said as he walked towards his tank. “We’ll get this underway as soon as-”
“Captain! We’ve got movement over here!” A crewman called.
The distinct bang of a discharging M9 echoed through the forest.