Dimensional Travels: World at War-Chapter 61: III Corps

One month after the battle, the battalion had stabilized their fighting positions. Milano and Eric had been working in conjunction with Riemskin to man the encampments.

Eric sat down at the table, tired after another long day of running back and forth from Esponia to Hood hill. "Ya know, that drive takes about one hour without a slow ass convoy in the way. Today I got stuck behind Echo again, and it took two fucking hours!" He grumbled.

Mia laughed while handing him a beer. "Relax love. It will be done soon."

The two went silent as she leaned her head on his. He kissed the baby bump, holding her stomach up gently. "I can’t wait to meet you, Aliza."

Mia turned to face him. "You know the baby is going to be a boy, right?" Eric shook his head. "Absolutely not. It will be Aliza." Mia chuckled and held his hand as Jessica walked into the room. "Hey Eric, can I borrow some money?"

Eric and Mia shared a look, eyebrows arching together.

"And why do you need to borrow money?"

The girl looked down shyly. "Liam wanted to go to the town square. I wanted to go with him."

Eric blinked. Mia sighed.

"You can go, but I ain’t giving you money."

After Jessica left, Eric grumbled. "I oughtta..."

Mia laughed as she stroked his hair. "You’ve really become a father figure for her, you know that right?" Eric pulled her into his lap. "I see my old self in her." He looked up as his eyes become distant. "I shut down after my first major battle too. We were surrounded, and I had just watched my best friend die in my arms. I’m glad she has friends, but...

goddamnit why did it have to be that rascal?"

Jessica wasn’t home for dinner, causing Eric to get worried. He called her, and it went straight to voice mail. Mia sat on the couch reading and looking up at him while he paced. She looked outside and smirked, seeing Jessica and Liam making out.

"Hey, hun? Since you are so worried, why not go to town square?"

Eric sighed as he grabbed his pistol. "I like that kid, if something happened to her..." Mia played it cool, hugging him from behind. "I’m sure she’s okay. She is still a hero after all. She may be young, but she can handle herself. Now, go get her. If it is just that she stayed out too late you can talk to her about that."

Eric holstered his weapon and walked outside. And...

He saw it. Liam pressed against Jessica as they exchanged tongues. Eric crossed his arms, looking at the two young soldiers with his foot tapping. Having enough of waiting, he cleared his throat. "Having fun?"

They broke apart and Liam looked at him with eyes wide "uh.. sarn’t... its just... I.. uh."

Eric rubbed his face. "Look. I don’t care what ya’ll do, just let me know if you’re going to be late for dinner. You had Mia worried sick." Mia’s voice yelled from the house "Eric was the one worried sick!"

Eric ignored his wife. "We have cell phone reception now. Use it. And everyone in the platoon has known for two months that ya’ll like each other. Congratulations on having the stones to actually ask her out Liam."

Eric left to go back to his house, unloading the gun. "I still wanna shoot him." He said while Mia laughed.

Suddenly, the Earth shook violently. Eric looked up at the sky. "What now?" He said, growling as he caught a lamp that was threatening to fall over. The earthquakes were becoming more common, and each one signified something crossing over. Small tremors were indicative of small merges. Large shaking? Something big was coming. The last large earthquake had brought a massive airport. That had been a headache for Eric to situate. Eric got up and kissed Mia on the forehead as he grabbed his pistol again. "Jessica, Liam. With me." He commanded as they walked to his Humvee.

Before he could step into his vehicle, he noticed soldiers scrambling to their own. The short break in shifts seemed to be canceled as soldiers that were supposed to be on rest scrambled to their positions. "What the fuck?"

Then, he saw it.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me."

On the other side of the Esponia mountains, the III corps flag stood. It was right next to the crater from the B2 munitions drop.

"Thats in empire territory."

Eric called Milano.

"Sir, I won’t be at the office." He began speeding through the roads towards the Esponia foothills. "The III corps headquarters just dropped on the other side of the mountains. "

Milano paused for a second, thinking he didn’t hear Eric properly. "Did you just say... the III corps headquarters?"

"Yes sir."

Milano leaned back in his chair, looking up at the ceiling. "Alright. I will send two apaches."

"Copy that." Eric hung up.

General Miher sat at his desk as he read through stacks of reports. His face was plastered with a frown that seemed to deepen with each word. "So you’re saying this battalion was on a mission in 2025, and then they and their equipment were just ...

Vaporized?" He looked up at the colonel with disbelief. "And now that very same battalion is shown all over the internet shooting down some house sized wolves?"

The colonel shrieked inwardly but nodded to the General. "Yes sir. From what we could gather the battalion was mobilizing during the Iraq-" His words cut off as the building started to rumble. The roof tumbled in on itself while the ground opened up. Miher held onto the desk, looking down at the gaping hole. On the other side, he saw purple trees and green grass.

"What the-"

He too, was swallowed by the sink hole.

The road became underbrush and large "thunks" on the undercarriage. Eric ignored everything as he made his way up the hills. Jessica got on the turret, shooting any creatures that got close while Liam grabbed the M4.

"Hey! Stop firing that thing!" Eric called while the vehicle bottomed out. It scraped across a ledge as he continued their now downwards descent. "We don’t know what’s at the bottom of the hill, so save ammo!"

Their journey to the bottom was more sliding than driving as the steep slope caused Eric to struggle steering. He growled with effort, his arms flexing as he kept them upright. When the hill finally evened out, he floored it, reaching the entrance in minutes. Armed soldiers waited patiently at the bottom of the hill as he drove up. Forty soldiers in all stood outside the perimeter as Eric stepped out of the vehicle.

"HALT! Name yourself!" A Staff Sergeant called out to Eric. They ignored his rank, focusing on aiming their weapons and being ready.

"Master Sergeant Eric Dryer. First cav division, third brigade armored combat team. I am with six-eight battalion."

The Staff Sergeant looked at Dryer with eyes wide, but he maintained his posture. "Master Sergeant, come with me. We will have to detain you and verify."

Eric nodded, putting his Arms up. "Private Liam and Jessica, step forward and prepare for apprehension." He yelled clearly as his arms were handcuffed behind him. He heard a pouting voice behind him. "I better get ice cream tonight."

Eric shook his head as they were taken to seperate rooms. He was uncuffed as he sat down, and then...

A general sat down in front of him.

Eric knew this man well. He had done countless briefs in theater and at NTC for this man. He sighed as he sat back in his chair as he observed the General. "You finally made it here too, sir?"

General Miher had a vein popping through on the front of his bald head. He sighed as he pulled out a report. "Whats the status of the battalion?"

Eric leaned forward. "Five hundred thirty-two combat effectives, sir. Thirty FMC bradleys, with Twenty FMC Abrams. Twelve FMC paladins, six apaches, one B-2, and I am unsure of the rest. Colonel Milano can fill you in on the rest of our equipment."

Miher’s eyebrows arched as he looked through another document. This time it was a still image of the tik tok. "And the enemy?"

Eric sighed and looked up. "Sir, before I answer that, you must know that we are in another world.

The enemy controls ninety percent of it."

Miher paused. His calm demeanor vanished as he spilled his coffee.

Regaining control of his thoughts, he sighed and set the now empty cup down. "Very well. Take me to Lieutenant Colonel Milano. I’d like to discuss with him the situation."

"Roger."

The ground then vibrated as the building rattled, Miher looked at Eric with confusion. He knew that sound. Apaches.

"What is going on?" He said with his arms crossed.

"That’s your ride, sir." Eric responded with a chuckle.