Chapter 1

It started like any other day, hot and full of paperwork. Then the first call came in. “Kaughman, get your ass in gear! We got a Hostage out at the airport,” called the watch commander. I jumped out of my chair and ran for the SWAT van. The rest of the team would meet me at the site to gear up and get intel for the rescue. I checked my phone as I drove down the freeway and caught the date August 18, 2007, my 25^th birthday. Memories flashed through my head, blood, gunshots, explosions, and the screams of the dying. It had been three years since my discharge.

Six years ago,

“Shaun!” a voice yelled behind me. I turned to look and saw my baby sister Isis running towards me. I was at the airport shipping off to Parris Island to start boot camp to become a U.S. Marine. “You were seriously gonna leave without saying goodbye?” she asked. I could see the tears in her eyes as I saw our parents behind her.

“You were crying in your room when I left,” I countered.

“Asshole!” she started to hit my chest.

“I’m gonna miss you too, brat,” I replied, wrapping her in a hug and kissing the top of her head. Our parents came up and wrapped us both in their arms for what none of us knew was the last time.

“All right, I have to go, or I’ll miss my flight!” I laughed. “I’ll write every week and see you guys at graduation!” I called after excavating myself from the group hug. I waved as I disappeared down terminal security.

On the morning of graduation, my Senior Drill Instructor called me into the Instructor’s Hut. “Lance Corporal Kaughman, I have the unfortunate duty to tell you your family was killed driving here for the ceremony.” I was in shock and did not know what to say. Unbidden, tears started to pour down my face. “Shaun, I can give you five minutes by yourself, but after that, I need you to lock it up till after the ceremony. That’s an order, Marine.” He said as he left the hut.

After the ceremony, I requested to speak to someone who could change my orders. I was led to the Battalion Commander for my platoon. He had already been briefed on my situation and had an idea of what I wanted. I left his office with new orders. Instead of the usual two weeks’ leave after boot camp, I went straight to the School of Infantry at Camp Lejeune, NC.

I threw myself into the training. Learning everything I could and then some. I graduated at the top of my class with a recommendation to join Marine Force Recon. I went to Bravo Company, 1^st Battalion, 3rd Regiment out at MCB Kaneohe Bay, Hi. We were prepping to go on a MEU float when our world was lit on fire.

While I was at boot camp and SOI, things in South America were deteriorating. Venezuela, Columbia, Panama, and most of Central America found themselves in a new country under the most significant drug cartel the world had ever seen. And they had set their sights north. As I was heading to my duty station in the fleet, they invaded southern Mexico. I spent two years fighting there as we pushed them back into Panama.

August 18, 2003

It was my 21^st birthday and tied for the worst day of my life. My unit rolled into a village near the southern border, searching for more of the Cartels goons and mercenaries. Somehow, they found out we were coming and were waiting for us. My Recon team and I walked right into their trap. Our team leader and I were the only survivors. He died a year later another op; I was medically discharged after the shrapnel I took protecting him was pulled from my back.

Present Day

The memories ran through my head as I tried to force my way through LA traffic on this unremarkable Saturday morning. An earthquake warning came over the radio just as I arrived at a stretch of empty freeway. Seconds later, the overpass started to shake and crack. I slammed on the breaks and prayed the bridge I was on would hold. It did not. As the van began to fall forward into the empty space used to be asphalt, I saw the brand spanking new canyon I was now plummeting into. As I fell, I prayed to whoever was listening, “Please let me see my family again.” After I finished that thought, all I knew was black.

I awoke with a blindingly bright sun shining on my face. As I sat in my seat, groaning in pain, I started to look around. I began to wonder if I had hit my head hard enough to start hallucinating. The first thing I did was stupid; I slapped myself. The pain in my head and slapping arm was excruciating. Fortunately, nothing felt broken, just sore and bruised.

I started to assess my situation as I had been taught in SERE school. Starting with myself, I was slightly injured bruises and a few shallow cuts that had already stopped bleeding. I was still sitting in the driver’s seat of the SWAT van, so of course, I tried to start it, nothing. I opened the door and stepped out. I was in a small field surrounded on three sides with trees and a dirt road running parallel to how the van was facing.

When I turned to open the van’s hood, I realized why it would not start and never would again. The front was smashed like it had been dropped grill first into the field. The wheels were flat, and the axels themselves appeared busted. The van was not moving unless I could get a crane and a flatbed here to pick it up.

As I reached to get my phone from the floor where I had dropped it, I remembered the van falling. “Where the fuck am I,” slipped out of my mouth. My brain shut down from the impossibility of what was going on. I have no idea how long I stood there before the scream of horses in pain pierced the air.

Then I heard shouting and the clashing of metal coming from the road’s direction and behind me. Instinctively, my hand dropped to the pistol in a drop-leg holster on my right side. I took off, running towards the sounds.

I froze when I saw the unbelievable sight in front of me. I was looking at six hulking green-skinned humanoids with long tusks attacking an ornate carriage drawn by four horses. The driver and two men wearing now ruined armor laid dead as three others tried to fight them off. I pulled my pistol as I ran forward to help.

When I got within 20 yards of them, I started to angle myself, so none of my shots would hit the carriage even if I missed. As I aimed at the first monster, the humans spotted me and yelled. Two of the orcs turned and started heading towards me with their blood-stained clubs. I switched my target as my heart pounded in my ears. When I fired my first shot, everyone froze and looked my way. The orc behind my first target stared in shock as blood and brains from its friend dripped from his face. I was already moving on. The second orc fell next to his friend, his brian spread across the grass behind him. My pistol barked four more times, sounding the death knell for the last of the orcs as they charged towards me.