His first thoughts after waking up were scrambled, a mess. Partly because what he was looking at was confusing him, partly because of the massive headache, and partly because he didn’t know what the hell was going on. The first thought he remembered was:
“Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas any more.” Which was both impressive and embarrassing to him.
He wasn’t from Kansas, but right now Kansas would probably feel as much as home as anything. He was surrounded by green. Lush, vibrant, all-encompassing green. Vegetation the likes and amounts of which he had never seen before. Now, in and of itself this was fine, really. The problem was, a moment ago it had all been a desert.
There were other things missing. Some houses, to start with. A train of Humvees and a squad of soldiers too. And of course the insurgents, the explosions, the gunfire, the shouting and screaming.
Maybe he was still on edge because he had just been in the middle of a firefight, or maybe he was on edge because he was no longer in that firefight and he didn’t know why, but when he heard someone move behind him, he instantly turned and raised his rifle.
“Colburn, dude… Trent. You alright, man?”
The man walking towards him was his Team Leader. He looked pretty beat up, but otherwise fine. He was removing his helmet as he approached, revealing his blonde hair, which was wet with sweat and strands of which were clinging to his forehead. Trent lowered his rifle again.
“What happened?”
“Dunno, man,” the Team Leader replied. He was looking at his helmet. It was black on one side, as was his face. Explosion. “Last thing I remember was Buck screaming ‘get down’.”
“Yeah, me too.”
Trent looked around again. The green was still there. No sign of any sand. The grass they were standing in was almost waist-high. Trent ran his hand through it, half expecting it to simply pass through the blades of grass, like in a dream. He was probably still knocked out cold from that explosion. Or dead.
Suddenly they heard cries of help. The voice sounded familiar. They couldn’t see anyone, the grass was so high, but they headed towards where the voice was coming from.
“Buck? Buckley?” the Team Leader shouted.
“Over here!” a hand was reaching up through the grass, waving back and forth. It was right by them – if he hadn’t made any sound, they’d probably have walked right past. Trent and his leader headed for it.
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