Location Unknown
Approximately 1700 hours
Day before first contact

The group had been traveling for about an hour now without a stop. Ordinarily, they would have had a small rest by now, but each and every one of them wanted to forge onward and find out just what the hell was going on.

Finally, Vasilyev stopped the group for a break in a small clearing. Most of them just plopped down on the ground and set down their things packs, still keeping a tight grip on their weapons. Since the attack by the strange wooden creatures, they had been on edge, and the total absence of wildlife so far had been concerning.

"Lieutenant," Petrov asked as he sat down. "Should we activate our 'Net' systems?"

"Probably." Vasilyev admitted. "It hadn't entered my mind until this point, but it would be best of we did."

"Why have them if we don't use them?" Petrov rhetorically asked, taking off his pack in order to find his.

The ‘Net Systems’ were a development after the success of the American ‘Land Warrior’ project of 2004-2014, the objective being to integrate electronic systems with a soldier, to create a state-of-the-art network that could relay information between soldiers, update guidance information, and provide real-time tactical assistance. It had become standard-issue within the American forces, but had only recently caught on in Russia, where it was restricted to pilots, Special Forces, or vehicle crews. All the soldiers in the group had the headgear stored, but they had simply forgotten to remove and activate them after the crash. The system consumed very little power, and the batteries could last for well over a week.

Vasilyev reached into his pack and grabbed the system. It consisted of a pair of what looked like wrap-around sunglasses, but where actually transparent and polarized screens that could project any information on them in real-time. The glasses were connected to a clip that was connected to the side of his helmet. It consisted of a camera and several sensors, along with the battery and a wireless transmitter. Finally, a plastic prong stretched out in front of his mouth, in actuality a microphone that was connected to the system on his helmet, along with the glasses, with several small but tough wires. He activated it, the HUD switching on and displaying the locations of the others in his squad as they switched theirs on.

Out of curiosity, Vasilyev tried the satellite connection, but quickly found that he couldn't acquire a signal.

"Shit, not getting a sat connection." Petrov grumbled.

"Neither am I, Sergeant." Vasilyev replied. "I suppose it's a bug in the software."

"It had better be..." Petrov said. "Now, how the hell do we get out of this forest?"

"There's a hill about four hundred meters to the... North." Vasilyev said as he checked his HUD. "We should get moving."

"Right." Sokolov muttered as he finished strapping his 'Net' gear on.

The group quickly put their things back on and started trekking. Vasilyev found that the uneasy feeling he had about the forest had not abated, and had instead grown stronger as they went. Before too long had passed, they were nearly to the top of the small rise that could pass for a hill.

“Why are we hiking up here, anyway?” Sokolov asked as the grouped weaved between trees.

“To scout the surrounding terrain. It's higher than anything else I can see, which should give us good visibility.” Vasilyev stated.

The group saw that the top of the hill was near, and hurried forward. The group quickly reached the clearing, running up the remaining distance to the top. They raced over the edge, eager to see if anything was there.

A large stretch of forest broke in front of them for about six kilometers, and at the edge of it was a massive clearing. In the center of it stood the distant, blocky shapes of buildings. In the far distance, maybe fifty kilometers, several massive mountains rose up. Vasilyev quickly grabbed his binoculars out of his pack and rose them to his eyes.

“Small buildings, thatched roofs.” He said. “Looks big enough for a population of around eight hundred people. Brightly colored shapes moving around, probably the locals.”

“What are we waiting for, Lieutenant!” Novikov said eagerly. “Let’s meet the locals of wherever we are.”

“Agreed.” Vasilyev said. “The edge of the clearing is about a kilometer from the town. From it, we should be able to observe the people, and possible find out where we are."

The rest of the team checked their equipment, acknowledgment lights blinking one by one as they confirmed they were ready. Meanwhile, the small device in his pack was fully warmed up.

“Headset, select SVZ-5A.” He said. “Device, scan radius set five hundred meters, feed results to squad members 1-2 to 1-6, chart path on bearing North twenty East.”

The HUD quickly displayed the quickest route through the woods towards the town, the small radar unit focusing a narrow beam that reached through the forest, charting the path they would need to take. With that, the group set out, walking along the designated path, with Vasilyev in the lead. They covered most of the distance very quickly. Time seemed to fly by as they moved as a group towards the edge of the woods.

When they were within a hundred meters of the edge of the woods, Vasilyev held up a hand, silently ordering them to slow. They slowed down to a walk, and then, twenty meters away, to a near crawl. Vasilyev motion for Petrov to go forward with the sniper, and alone, he walked to the edge, lay down, and aimed at the town. He stared through the scope, looking around the town.

It was about two o’ clock in the afternoon, so there should be plenty of people… No, wait. That couldn’t be right. That can’t be right! Petrov’s eyes widened, and his heartbeat increased dramatically.

Vasilyev stared worriedly at the team readouts. Petrov’s heartbeat has just surpassed 120 bpm, and was steady there. Suddenly, his voice came through the short-range radio.

“Men, I’m patching my feed through. God knows how you’ll react to this.”

His HUD was suddenly overlapped with the image that Petrov was seeing through the scope. So far as he could tell, everything was fine. The houses looked in good shape; the sun was out, the people wandering the stre-… His train of thought suddenly went silent at what he was seeing.

In front of him, two kilometers away, the streets were not filled with people.

Suddenly, it all made sense. Their collective blackout, how they awoke in the forest, the wooden wolves, even why there were no satellites that he could find.

A town of ponies, unicorns, and pegasi stood below them, creatures thought myth for hundreds of years.

And, for once in his career, Vasilyev had no answer.

Check here for a recent blog post I did on the 'Net' gear.

Author's Note

Rewrite finished on 7/15/2014.