September 5, 2020

Kabul Province, Afghanistan

The desert...

The empty hot desert of Central Asia.

The graveyard of empires. The city of Kabul was out in the distance, but around it was nothing. Sand, mountains, bush, and the sun. The desert of Afghanistan. Even out here, there was life. In the graveyard of Empires where everybody from the Mongols and the Persians, to the British and Soviets, everyone has failed to conquer this land. The Afghan people had a history of repelling invasions, and they were destined to continue this culture until the end of days.

The year is 2020. The Fall of 2020. Washington DC failed to produce peace in the nation. Taliban insurgents were still active, even if they were on the decline in terms of power. ISIS had been defeated for the most part in the Middle East and Central Asia, but it had packed its bags for North Africa. Now anti-establishment rebels and the leftovers of a few extremist groups were all that was left in the nation. But the relative calm in Afghanistan masked the truth of the conflict. The war was still going on, and soldiers were still dying left and right. It was nowhere close to true peace, but it was as close as America and Afghanistan have gotten in a long time.

What a time to be alive. President Rowland D. Carter had just won the presidency, and he was shaking things up. He was incredibly popular in the United States as a man who would bring America through this new age with his progressive reforms and ideals. He had reaffirmed the NATO alliance and sought to closer integrate the US with her allies. The war in Korea was still being fought and for now, the American-South Korean alliance seemed to be winning. Allied forces were just a few miles from Pyongyang and it was only a few weeks until the Kim dynasty would surrender. Almost everybody was glad, almost…

Carter was glad that the war was being won, but was scared that the coming four years of his presidency would contain something completely out of his league that he wouldn't be able to lead the nation through. China, Russia, Iran, all of them looked close to forming an alliance to counter US expansion. Some called it the second Cold War, others feared it would be a direct conflict. He, amongst the other leaders of the NATO Alliance, would have to brace for the new age. A new dawn.

But for now, the world was focused on the here and now.

A convoy of trucks drove along the desert floor, tan paint jobs, guns on them, US flags. US forces were still in Afghanistan, but hopefully not for long.

"Hot as fuck out here, man," Flint said through his black sunglasses. He sat in the gunner's seat on the Humvee.

"Welcome to Afghanistan, Flint. It has been like this ever since we came here and only now you wanna go complain about it?" Hezekiah asked.

"It's only now getting on my nerves."

"Everything gets on your nerves!"

"Fuck you man!"

"Hey! You'd better watch your fucking mouth, I'm Staff Sergeant now and I demand a bit more respect!"

"Staff Sergeant my ass," Flint muttered to himself.

"What was that, Corporal?"

"Nothing, sir. Just enjoying the ride!" Flint smiled half-heartedly.

Flint Hendricks

Age:24

Nationality: American

Race: Caucasian

Occupation: Corporal in the United States Marine Corps

Hezekiah Brooks

Age: 25

Nationality: American

Race: African-American

Occupation: Staff Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps

The two Marines were commandeering a Humvee, in an escort formation with other trucks that drove across the Desert surface towards Kabul. A Bradley, three other Humvees, and a group of logistical trucks made up the rest of the unit.

Flint was a white guy with short sandy hair, no facial hair at all. Blue eyes, about five foot nine. His Staff Sergeant, Hezekiah was basically the opposite. Black dude, a partial goatee, brown eyes and stood tall at six foot two. The two looked alike about as much as they acted alike. Their personalities were a stark contrast, Flint was the life of the party (Or at least thought he was). Booze, money, and women were his passions. Hezekiah, on the other hand, was a lot more reserved, not necessarily introverted but tended to enjoy the company of himself. Flint had a tendency to be abrasive and rush into things headlong while Hezekiah tended to overthink and panic about little details no matter how abstract. The two became friends by circumstance rather than by any real action on their part. Both joined the Marines after graduating High School, Flint did so he had something to do with his life, and Hezekiah so he could pay for college. They happened to be assigned to the same unit and as circumstances dictated, they looked out for each other. Even if they pissed each other off on a daily basis.

For now, they were by themselves. The rest of their Squadron was kept on base to receive the convoy while those two were sent as escorts to the convoy. They had been here in the desert for about six months now. Both were waiting to go home, Hezekiah had a mother and father who were impatiently waiting on him (barraging him with letters and phone calls damn near every week), and Flint had…

He had his own things to worry about at home.

The Afghan desert was less of a desert like those in Syria and more of dry and arid grassland. Steppe stretched all the way to the hilly countryside and then the mountains of the north. There was a little vegetation. Mostly shrubs and a few rogue trees, resembling more a steppe than the stereotype would convey.

Flashes of light came from the hills towards the west, everyone in the escort knew what that meant.

[Bandit] "Bandit six to all elements, we've got contact to the North West, evasive maneuvers, and return fire."

The trucks began to swerve like clockwork. A missile that had launched from the hills exploded not too far away from the Humvee. It rocked the lightweight Humvee, but it kept on going, mustering through it.

"Flint, you heard the man!"

"Yep," Flint manned the turret and returned fire. The gun lit up, and the tracers zipped towards the mountains, illuminating themselves in the air whilst it made its way to the target. The Bradley in front of them had launched a TOW towards the mountains, exploding just right where the fire was coming from. Within minutes, the gunshots ceased.

[Bandit] "Target eliminated, Shark-five and his chopper team will take care of the leftovers."

The sound of whirring came from the horizon, Flint and Hezekiah looked up and above them, a squadron of Cobras arrived. Rockets erupted from their pods like miniature satellite launches and exploded on contact with the ground in great balls of fire and earth. If anyone was still left alive, they were long gone now.

The convoy passed through the desert without trouble until they got back to the base camp in Kabul.

Business as usual. Ambushes were normal, everyone acted calmly. It had become life, or something more than that. Something so passive, so normal, like a tree in the middle of a park. Like a blade of grass. Violence was the norm, in fact, the absence of violence was off-putting and enough to incite fear and paranoia by the soldiers and higher-ups. It had been this way for well over twenty years now, and nobody knew how much longer it'd drag on. For the soldiers though, it was just business. Business as usual.

"…With UN forces just twenty miles south of Pyongyang, the North Korean government has begun putting everything it could into defending its provinces from total collapse. The situation is uncertain for sure but world leaders are confident the conflict will be over in a matter of days as the United States moves its own nuclear arsenal to readiness…" The radio inside of the shelter blared a woman's voice, the news. Soldiers gathered around to hear, the boys in Korea were putting up the best damn fight the world had ever seen.

North Korea had invaded the south a little over a year ago, but within months the element of surprise had worn off and Allied forces pushed them back up North by a landslide. North Korea attempted to launch nuclear missiles at the advancing soldiers, but their nuclear weapons were disabled by airstrikes. Russia even supported the South Korean, Japanese, and American forces. They had begun assaults on the territory from their northern border, distracting and splitting the North Korean army to fight on two fronts. But the south saw the heaviest fighting. China itself refused to involve itself at all, allowing the war to happen outside of its borders.

American and Southern forces had managed to counter the North-Korean offensive and quickly chased them back over the DMZ into the North, closing around Pyongyang. The days of the regime were limited, to say the least.

"Shit is really hitting the fan," said one of the soldiers in the tent.

"Glad I wasn't deployed there, a meatgrinder out there," Said another.

Hezekiah was in the midst of it all listening to the radio. He had been on edge for the entire day, with no idea why. The ambush out in the mountains hadn't caused it either, it was for some reason he couldn't put his finger on. His hands were shaking, lips dry, knees felt weak.

"Ay, Hez… bro you good?" Hezekiah looked up. Flint was standing over him looking at him in the face.

"Yeah man, I'm just feeling out of it, that's all," Hezekiah said wiping some sweat off his forehead.

"I understand, listen man don't even trip, I got a couple bottles of water for us. It's probably just the heat. Damn near ninety degrees out here," Flint said handing Hezekiah the plastic bottle which he gleefully took.

After taking a sip Hezekiah resumed speaking, "Yeah, maybe… I don't know man. Probably just tired, I didn't get that much sleep last night."

"Yeah, we got the fucking ANSF to thank for that. Dumbasses just let a bunch of baddies into the area without checking them first, lit up the whole place." Flint took a seat next to him sighing.

"…On unrelated news, back in America, a very strange building has appeared in the Everglades National Park, just to the West of Fort Lauderdale. Park Rangers have described the structure as having been constructed many centuries ago yet authorities are baffled as this building has never been seen before…"

"Yo, Mike, turn the radio up!" One of the officers called out to a Marine who nodded and twisted a dial.

"The building appears to contain an entrance but it seems to have been locked. Again, no word on what this building is or who placed it there, for now, the National Parks Service and Florida Police are cooperating to find out who placed this building here and why…"

"That sounds bad," Hezekiah said.

"Why?" Asked Flint.

"I don't know, it just does."

"Aight," Flint said as he let his head fall back to rest.

Footsteps could be heard in the room and the chatter inside the encampment came to a close. Hezekiah and Flint looked up and saw the commander of all the troops. Lieutenant Buffy, and a new figure.

"Hezekiah Brooks, Flint Hendricks?" Buffy called out.

"Right here sir!" Hezekiah raised his hand and stood up, along with Flint.

"I'm gonna need you to come with me, something just came up," Buffy said leading the two towards his office.

Hezekiah looked at Flint who just shrugged his shoulders, both of them trying to figure out the cause of all of this. They followed.

2 Days Prior

Everglades National Park, Florida

Just to the west of Fort Lauderdale.

Police and Park Rangers had swarmed the area immediately around the new building. It had become clear that this building was not the work of some extravagant artist looking to prove a point as had been previously suspected, but something more. Something much more.

Lights from the police vehicles flashed red and blue, a strange sight to see in the middle of the human-free lands of the Florida marshes. A few Police officers and Rangers had gathered around the entrance to the building. A few held an ax and a sledgehammer, they were given the order to figure out what was inside. A cop held the ax high in the air, and with a swing of his arms, a few of the wooden planks that boarded the entrance came loose. The sledgehammers got to work, and the entire blockage was soon destroyed. A large set of two wooden doors, seemingly taken right out of medieval Europe, just stood there. Towering over the troopers. The police were ordered to open it up and figure out who was behind all of this. The park was Federal property, and if this truly is the work of some crazy artist (which the Feds highly doubted) there would be a severe penalty to pay.

The doors came open, and the troopers looked inside. Their jaws quite literally dropping to the floor. It was…amazing.

"President Carter?"

"That's my name, who is it I'm speaking to."

"General Isaac Greene of the Defense Department, sir!"

"Ah, General Greene. What news do you have for me?"

"The portal..."

"Has it been stabilized?"

"The Florida National Guard has secured the area sir."

"Good."

"What are your plans for the Portal?"

"Not a single word about it goes out. I'm making sure we keep this thing under our complete control. Mobilize our forces to go through the portal for a preliminary sweep of the area and lock it down."

"Wouldn't the military buildup in a National Park cause suspicion?"

"Tell them that it's just a training drill. I don't know... tell them that the Cubans launched a satellite overhead or something. They'll fall for it."

"Understood. And what of the involved staff?"

"Not. A. Single. Word. Gets. Out. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir..."

"Good. I expect an update on the situation sooner or later. Godspeed General."

"Same to you..."