It may have been a second. It may have been a day. But when Caity opened her eyes again, she found herself staring at a whole new world.
Across the horizon, there was nothing but open field. Caity raised her binoculars and looked into a distance. The expedition knew almost nothing about what was in this world other than the fact that anyone that crossed wouldn't be obliterated instantly by overwhelming heat or lack of oxygen. Other than that, as far as Caity knew, they could be five hundred years back into the past.
She could see nothing worth noting.
"Maintain our current course. Keep track of our path so we know the way back." Hemley's orders echoed through the radio. "Keep your eyes open. If you see anything abnormal, inform me at once!"
"Humvee 1, copy that."
"Humvee 3, copy that."
The convoy kept on going at full speed. After a few minutes, Caity suddenly saw something from her binoculars. "Captain Hemley," She spoke in the radio. "12 o'clock. There seems to be something up ahead! It's...I think it's a road!"
That's good news. Roads meant there were human on this planet, and they could talk to humans. Captain Hemley gave the order to keep advancing until all three Humvees were right next to the road.
This was when Caity saw something she couldn't see from the binoculars.
Across the road, dozens of cars were scattered across the four lanes. All of them were in ruins. Some looked like they have collided with each other. Others were simply abandoned. Caity turned to the radio as she waited for an order, which didn't take long to arrive.
"Firing team, secure the perimeter. Gunners and drivers remain at your positions. The rest of you, dismount and join me to investigate!"
Caity took a deep breath before pushing the car door open and jumping out. From the squad of 15, aside from the 4 members of the fire team and the 6 who had to stay with the cars, there were Hemley, Ryan, Caity, and two other infantry on the ground.
As Caity's feet hit the ground, she felt a strange sense of relief. All of a sudden, everything seemed so real and so solid. Yes, she was in another world. No, she wasn't ambushed on arrival by aliens or monsters. Before she came, her parents reacted as if she was walking into certain death! She was alive now, was she not? Ultimately, it seemed like she and her parents were overstressed for nothing.
These cars though...she wondered what happened to them.
The five Phasewalkers fanned out. The first two cars Caity went through were fine. They were empty, that was it. It was when she saw a pair of skeletons in the third car that she froze.
"Captain, there are two bodies here!" She turned and yelled. "They look like they have been dead for a long time!"
"There are a few corpses here too!" Another infantry also called out not far away.
Captain Hemley walked over to Caity and glanced at the bodies. There was a red light on the camera he attached to his helmet, showing it was recording. Caity clearly saw Hemley biting his lips as he knelt down beside the skeleton and examined it.
On the side, Ryan walked over. His sniper rifle strapped to his back.
"I'd say they have been dead for at least a year, maybe more."
"I agree," Hemley replied quietly as he stood back up. "but the only way this many bodies are left here unattended to is if the local human civilization, or at least the government, is destroyed."
"Shall we bring the news back to our world?" One infantry asked hopefully.
"No." Hemley shook his head. There was no way he was settling for this little. "We follow this road and keep moving. We need more information before reporting back. With any luck, if we keep going down the road, we can find more data on what happened here."
The Phasewalkers started to return back to the Humvees, but Caity has been looking at one of the cars with a body inside. It was nearly impossible to tell what the cause of death was from just the bones, but Caity did notice a few scratches on the metal car door.
"Caity!" One infantry yelled at her.
"Coming!" Caity replied, deciding to keep this observation to herself. A lot of things could've been responsible for those scratches. Like Hemley said, they needed more information.
The convoy kept on going. The common idea was that roads lead to cities, and there were people in the cities. Almost every second, the Humvees would come by a handful of abandoned cars, if not more. Sometimes, the convoy even had to drive on the side of the road to avoid the congestion.
"If only we could drive like this back home," The driver in Humvee 1 joked. Caity couldn't help but grin as well. This was a stressful time for everyone involved. Well, maybe not everyone, but still most people.
There were indeed quite a few exits to the speedway, but the convoy stayed to the main road. They had no map of the surroundings. If they deviated from the most obvious path, they risk getting lost in this seemingly abandoned world. Something told Caity anyone lost here wouldn't last very long.
The Phasewalkers marched on.
---
It was at least as large as a dozen Humvees put together. Its wheels alone were as tall as Caity, and there were sixteen of them lined up in two rolls. It had four gun turrets mounted across its structure, but it was the giant cannon on its back that was the real source of menace.
Ten minutes after seeing the first wave of wreckage, the convoy found itself staring at a giant armored vehicle that just sat there in the middle of the road. It was obvious the vehicle has been involved in some sort of firefight, and judging from the fact that almost all of its turrets were destroyed, chances were the vehicle was on the side that lost.
On the side, Caity watched as Ryan grabbed onto some cables on the vehicle and hopped above with ease. She bit her lips, took a deep breath, and followed his example. She was just a bit slower. By the time she was up there standing beside Ryan, the man was already staring into a distance with his binoculars.
"Something is wrong." He said quietly.
"What?"
Ryan glanced at her before finally speaking up. "Look at this," he pointed at the vehicle. "there are no bullet holes anywhere on this tank. Whoever took this vehicle down swarmed in against a wave of machine guns and took out the gunners in melee." He hopped onto one of the turrets. "I think there are still bullets here. How the hell did someone do this?"
"Wait." Caity jumped over as well, but her eyes quickly landed on a ton of carvings. They were everywhere. On the outside of the vehicle. On the machine guns. Even in the driver's seat, where pieces of bones sat. It wasn't enough bones to be the entire skeleton of a human being. She suddenly looked up at Ryan with concern in her eyes. "I don't think whoever did this was human."
The two Special Forces Phasewalker jumped back down and shared their thoughts with Hemley.
"I checked the machine guns." Ryan added. Caity was surprised to see an intruiged look has made it to his face. A foreign sight. "I don't think they're of the same design as ours. I'm no scientist, but they seem much more advanced. If these attackers can take out that," He pointed at the giant vehicle that looked like a titan in front of the Humvees.
A Humvee was less than 2 meters tall, while the tank was at least 10 meters in height.
"Then we will be defenseless against them." Caity finished. "We should take what we've got and report back. Maybe remove a few of the mounted machine guns and bring them back to show the higher-ups. This is more than enough to justify the trip."
Hemley nodded. Indeed. For a squad of teenagers, they have done a lot, but deep down, he doubted if this would be enough to justify all the expectations General Kennedy and the others had on them.
He remembered what his parents told him before he left.
Mission first. Safety second.
But as Hemley's eyes landed on the hopeful gazes around him, he felt his heart speeding up. As the leader, he had the fate of those entrusted to him in his hands. If he decided to trade his lives for his career, then he would live out the rest of his life knowing that there were the blood of comrades on his hand.
For a moment, he was faced with a dilemma. Thankfully, that dilemma was quickly solved for him.
"Captain, we've got incoming!"
The warning of the sentry brought the Phasewalkers' attention back to the front of the road. Now that they were listening, they could hear the distinct sound of engines closing in "Take up defensive positions!" Hemley reacted quickly with a string of orders. "Drivers, bring the Humvees to the front! We've got incoming!"
Caity and Ryan quickly climbed back to the top of the abandoned tank. As soon as Caity got on, she glanced down the road, realized the engines were still a distance away, and turned back to help Hemley and the other infantry up. The tank has lost all its firepower, but it still provided a high-ground advantage and some cover.
Engines roared from behind as the three Humvees bypassed the tank and positioned themselves in a line in front of the tank. Gunners turned the Miniguns to face down the road while the fire team and the infantry drew their weapons and moved behind their vehicles. Even Ava raised her M4A1. On the field of battle, the enemies would rarely spare you if you were a medic. If anything, the enemies would target the medics first.
"Captain," Caity turned back to Hemley, who was kneeling down beside her. "if this is the enemy that took out this tank...I fear for our chances."
Hemley bit his lips, but he knew he couldn't just order a retreat right now without even seeing the enemies. "Hold the ground," He whispered. "that is an order."
He was talking to himself as much as he was talking to Caity.
Caity nodded and raised her sniper rifle. Through the sight mounted on the weapon, she could see dust closing in from a distance away. Gradually, the dust cleared, revealing three motorcycles. Each motorcycle had a man on top. Caity's eyes lingered on something that looked like weapons strapped to the handles on the motorcycles.
"Three men." She relayed the information. "All armed."
"We can dismount them unharmed and question them later." Ryan suddenly said. His hands gripped tightly onto his weapon. "This is the perfect time. I have a clear shot and they will never see it coming."
"Wait. Hold your fire." Hemley shook his head. Going straight to the way of the gun was certainly straightforward, but they were in a mysterious world with next to no information. Starting a firefight for no necessary reason at all was hardly ideal.
Ryan nodded. He was simply offering the option. He wouldn't have preferred it either way. In fact, this was exactly the reason why he refused to lead this expedition: leading meant making decisions, and making decisions meant responsibilities.
The three motorcycles came to a screeching stop a safe distance away in front of the barricade. The drivers had to be fools to not see the 15 weapons pointed at them.
"We mean you no harm!" One of the driver yelled as he parked his motorcycle behind the cover of an abandoned car wreckage. Caity still had a clear line of sight to half his body, but, ah well, she was fine with giving the driver a false sense of security. "We are survivors of Kaneton! Where are you from?"
"Survivors?" Caity frowned before turning to Hemley, waiting for what he had to say, as did half of the Phasewalkers. At first, she didn't think anything about it. Only when she distinctively saw Ryan continuing to keep an eye on the three men did she realize her small but potentially critical mistake. She quickly snapped back around and put the driver's behind her sight once again.
Captain Hemley's decision-making was impeccable. "We are not from around here!" He shouted in return. "We are just passing through! We also mean you no harm!"
"Hmmm…" Caity could see the man on the other side turn back and say something to his two comrades before turning back. "Listen! It's getting dark! How about this? We can take you to our settlement! You can stay there for the night and leave by the morning! You know how dangerous it is to go out at night!"
Hemley didn't know, but the entire purpose of this trip was to gather information from the locals, and now, there was a local right here, inviting him and his men to go over for a stay. It would be despicable to say no. "Fine! We are coming down!"
He turned to walk down from the back of the tank, but Caity grabbed onto his arm. "Even back on Earth I wouldn't let someone I just met into my house, much less 15 armed men. This has gotta be a trap."
Hemley turned and grinned. "I know, that's why I want everyone to be careful. If anyone sees any sign of hostility from the locals, I want you to open fire and neutralize any opposition with utter efficiency. Of course, do try to leave a few survivors to question."
Caity was slightly taken back by the answer. As Hemley left, Ryan was the second one down. Before he went over the edge, he turned to Caity. "I was about to warn him the same thing. You beat me to it."
For some reason, in a land with countless unknown threats, Caity suddenly found a smile on her face.