When Eric came to, he first noticed the lack of pain. "What the..." He says as he looks around. "Wasn't there a large explosion?" He remarked with his eyebrows arched. The last thing he remembered was the bright light and calling out his ex-lover's name. Moving past his first concerns, he checks on the status of his team and equipment. There were no injuries present, and all the vehicles seemed to be undamaged. Suddenly, Eric heard maniacal laughing. He turns around to see one of his youngest soldiers, Rodriguez, laughing his ass off. "Sarn't, can't you see? That guy was the messenger from a God. We are in another world now!" The soldier, PFC Ramirez, is one of the oddest soldiers Eric had ever met. Ramirez is a tall Hispanic man built like a linebacker. The most atypical part about the man, though, is that he has a soft voice that does not match his body. Such a typically calm-natured man is now laughing like the villain of a novel. It was then that Eric looked around him at the setting the platoon had found themselves in.
After a few seconds, Eric could tell this was not Earth. It was mid-day, as evidenced by the two suns currently at peak height in the sky. The two suns look like they will cross each others paths as they set. "so where is East, and where is West?" Eric says as he looks at the sun. It was apparent they could not use normal Earth logic here. Coupled with the two suns, blue trees surrounded the soldiers in every direction. The forest was teeming with life; four-winged birds flew in the sky, and the sky was orange. "What... The... Fuck..." is all Eric can say as he looks around.
Eric collects himself before gathering his thoughts. He turns to Rodriguez, the face of a respected SFC taking the place of confusion. "Rodriguez, get out of the HUMVWW and check on the other vehicles. Once we get a count of everyone, report back to me if anyone is missing." Rodriguez gave Eric a smirk as he looked at him. "Fuck off, you decreipt old man." The soldier says as he makes eye contact with Eric.
"We are in another world now; I don't need to listen to you anymore. I also don't need to carry around this armor or follow orders from some punk-ass cherry LT who doesn't know how to wipe his ass. You almost got us all killed. Why should any of us respect or listen to you? Look, old man. I appreciated you until you turned our vehicle around. Fuck you." Eric waits calmly until the soldier vents his frustrations. "Are you done?" Eric replies calmly.
Rodriguez laughs as he looks at the older man. "What are you going to do to me old man? We're in another world! Your incompetence leads us here."
Once Rodriguez was done venting, Eric leaned in closely. "once we get back to Earth, I will personally make it my mission to send you to Leavenworth, kid. Do you want to go AWOL? By all means, go ahead. I will not stop you. Go out, have fun. Enjoy life. When we get back to Earth, I will tow you there myself. You will be fucked. In every way possible. If you leave, you will be considered a traitor. I could execute you on the spot. I won't do that though. I will let you have your fun until we get back."
Rodriguez once more laughs, this time a cold, cruel look takes the place of his regular calm demeanor. "I will not let that happen. No one will know it was me that killed you, so this is my answer." Raising his M4 at the Sergeant First Class, Rodriguez mocks him one more time before pulling the trigger. "goodbye, old man."
Rodriguez and Eric had expected a bloody mess to occur after the trigger pull. What happened next, though, went against everything anyone knew about gunshots. The bullet hit Eric in the chest, and then fell to the floor. It was a flattened and garbled shell as it hit the floorboard. Eric looks at the surface of the shell, picks it up, and looks back at Rodriguez. "Weird," Eric says as Rodriguez looks up at Eric in horror. "What...?" Rodriguez Says as Eric smirks. "night," Eric says as he knocks Rodriguez out with a blow to the soldier's temple.
As Eric had expected, the gunshot had woken the other soldiers in the vehicle. He heard a sensual moan from the female soldier to his right, and the husky moan of his LT. Deciding to ignore the moan from the female, he takes charge. "Rochelle." He addresses the female soldier. "Tie Rodriguez up with paracord and put duct tape on his mouth. After that, round up all the soldiers and have them form up. I am going to talk with the LT to formulate a plan." "Roger Sarn't." The corporal responds as she gets to following the order.
Once the soldiers had formed up, Eric split them into two sections. One section comprised 10 soldiers. These soldiers scouted out the vicinity in every direction up to 1000 yards. The other section followed Eric's direction to arrange the vehicles in a circular formation.
Eric and the LT had decided that, for now, this was the best plan. They had a gun truck pointing in each direction, with AT-4s ready to remove armored threats. The platoon also had one Javelin system on standby. Eric and the LT were set up in the middle. The pairing was discussing potential courses of action while waiting for the recon to come back.
One by one, the recon teams came back. They all reported the same thing. For as far out as they could see, the soldiers only saw forestry. There was no presence of humans or intelligent life other than the soldiers.
As night fell, fire watch positions were given to each guard. Eric and the LT stayed up late into the night. After much deliberation, they decided to advance slowly while mapping the terrain. Every three days, the platoon would move forward a mile.
While Eric and the LT were talking, the rest of the platoon did what soldiers do best in high-stress situations: making jokes and banter. "Ayo Smitty, what do you think? We finna find some cat girls in this place?" one soldier asks. Smitty laughs as he looks at the guy next to him. "You can go for your cat girls Jennkins. I wanna find me a good elf. Flat is justice, ya know?" another soldier chimes in with mockery. "Nah you fucking numbskulls, its all about the Witch girls. Them high heels and skirts are the thing of Gods."