One In The Chamber - Chapter 12

{“Done!”} The sweet voice chirped. The rotors roared to life and I felt the G-forces shift again and I could hear cheering run through the cabin before it was drowned in the sweet, sweet, chorus of beating propellers. The radios came to life as the rest of the birds checked in. Everyone with us.

[“System rebooted. Warning, cannot connect to Battlenet. System switching to localized mode.”] And the joy was killed again. All the cheers died away as I was sure we all got the same warning. While our team were the only ones with OTADs, regular marines had a cheaper and simplified version that just helped with communications, calculations, and tracking. All of them were connected to the Battlenet. If none of us could connect to the largest and most advanced network in the world… We may not be in our world anymore.

“Hey, you there?” I asked. No one responded. “The one who was just humming.”

{“Ah, me. Yes, sorry. Thought you were talking to someone else.”} She giggled. {“How can I help you? Its been a while since I last talked to someone since…. Nevermind. What can I do you for?”}

I had a bad feeling about this, but…

“Could you tell me where I am?” I asked.

{“Don’t know. The land changed while I’d been asleep.”} She said just as chirpy.

“I mean, am I on Earth?” I asked as I turned to the bay door just in time to see the sea began to shrink as it was replaced by sandy beaches and grasslands.

{“Oh! You’re from Earth?! So – Wait, no. Question first.”} She laughed. I felt whatever this voice was, it may not have been a stable one. {“You’re not on Earth. You’re on my world now. The names for it change a lot, so just think of it as ‘Not-Earth’. Kay? Kay.”} The voice chuckled before the humming returned.

“So-” I was about to ask another question before she stopped.

{“Oh, and you guys just disturbed a dragon. Annnnd-“} I didn’t get to hear the rest as a large roar filled the air as the osprey banked. Warnings blared from the c.o.c.kpit and as a large wall of bright red scales crossed the open bay. The pilots cursed loud and finally, the marines spurred themselves into action. Each put them rifles to the ready and the gunner on the ramp opened up on the HMG at whatever that was.

Another roar sounded. Fire burned across the rear and the gunner was gone. The pilots cursed even louder as the osprey shuddered. There was a loud explosion. The bird rocked and shuddered before it I felt the G-forces shift again.

“Hey, can you help us?!” I screamed.

{“No.”} She replied soft, but not with the mirth she had before. {“Not for free that is. The first time was to fix someone else’s f.u.c.k up.”}

“Fine!” I roared. “I’ll give you whatever or do whatever! Get us on the ground alive!”

{“Deal accepted~!”} She sang. {“But just know you already have a lot of dead. The dragon just took out two of your fancy helicopters.”} Accompanied with that heads up were explosions and the pilots calling out the loss of our gunship, and the MV by it.

I could only see the starry night out the back and turned my eyes to the c.o.c.kpit where I could slightly see the incoming trees. The quickly incoming trees. I began to curse myself for putting my hopes on a voice inside my head just as the helicopter angled upward slightly and we hit the ground.

I felt my stomach go through my asshole as metal screamed and the whole world jerked downward. Then it rolled as the metal of the hull protested as I saw the metal ripped away. I didn’t have the ability to see what was going on as I held onto my rifle and the harness as my body was being flung around within its grasp. I saw bark, bits of grass, but most of all; light. While the world was a blur, I was together enough to notice that dim light was all around us.

After what seemed like an eternity, the osprey finally rolled to a stop on its belly. My vision was still blurred and I felt like I was still swaying. I was about to throw up when I felt a warm sensation wash over me and everything returned to normal.

{“Done! Two fancy military helicopters landed, all souls onboard and not harvested by an angry dragon.”} She laughed before adding. {“And I dealt with your bodily states while I was at it. Because I don’t like seeing people throw up. That’s disgusting. Consider it a free service.”}

Now that my vision was back, I could see the framework of the osprey bent and beaten. It was intact without most of its outer plates and its wings, but it was intact. I looked up and down, saw all the soldiers alive. Hell, even the door gunner stood frozen as he clutched onto his HMG on the, strangely, untouched ramp.

{“I’ll leave you alone for a few.”} The voice returned. {Things to do and things to seriously clean. Ciao.”}

I got out of my harness and seat and checked on the pilots. They were fine. Scared as hell, but they were unharmed. I checked on everyone else, and sure enough, they were all unharmed. I helped the gunner sit down and unhook himself from the safety cords. We filed out of the wreckage. I turned to look at the mangled Osprey…

It all felt so surreal and… casual? I knew I had been in danger but I felt disconnected from it all. It was only now that I was feeling weak in my knees. I clutched my rifle and turned away with a deep, shuddering, breath. This was a lot. I probably did snap.

“You okay?” I heard my dad. I turned around to see him looking at me with concern.

“Yeah, why?” I felt that may have been downplaying the fact we just crash landed on a world that wasn’t Earth, after being attacked by a “dragon” but what the hell. It was the truth.

“Same.” He nodded. “And that’s exactly the problem here.” He turned to look at the wreckage as he stood next to me. “We should have died. That was not a survivable crash landing. We all should have died.” He pointed to the long scars that cut across a long field. It was then that I noticed that the other osprey had crashed not three hundred meters away.

“And you were talking to yourself.” He turned to me. “What happened? While I’d normally say you went crazy, but something did happen after you spoke. So, you going to fill me in?”

His eyes weren’t hard, nor angry. If anything, they looked fearful. I feel him on that. This definitely was f.u.c.k.i.n.g crazy on all accounts.

“I may have sold my soul to the devil.” I sighed as I rolled my shoulders. All the emotions that had been suppressed in the air began to seep in. “I… Don’t know how to say it so give me some time, but… I think she’s the one who saved us.” I looked at him, pleading not to ask. We just survived a crash that, in any scenario, would have left us in pieces.

“Okay.” He nodded. I noticed he was also slightly shaking. “Let me know when you want to talk about it.” He walked away, fidgeting with his uniform as he spoke with the other soldiers. The pilots had fainted after they were pulled from their seats so they were laid out on the grass.

I looked around. On the left and right were tall mountains that made up a valley with tall pine trees covering their faces. We crashed in a valley. Plains basked in the moonlight, but the night visibility was limited because of it. A better assessment would have to come on first light. I heard the rustling of gear and saw the other group jogging towards us with their gear. A quick headcount told me the voice had been right when she said all lives were saved. I felt stupid for not trusting the voice, then stupid for believing I should have believed what I thought was a figment of my imagination.

I felt thoughts twist slightly and shook the thoughts away. It was going to be a long night.