The apha's

   I had just got finished with the briefing and I was walking over to where my crew was, it was a beautiful morning and the sun was just peeking over the horizon. My crew was getting our tank, the "iron titan" ready for the next mission. My crew consisted of seth, mike, Louis, and me.

   "Form up!"

   Seth and mike jumped up and stood in front of the tank, but Louis was missing.

   I looked over to seth.

   "Where is Louis?"

   Seth pointed to a lawn chair a few feet away, Louis was sleeping in the chair, mouth open and a faint soring could be heard. A sudden funny idea popped into my head. I looked back to seth with a smile.

   "Hey seth."

   He looked over with the same evil smile.

   "I already know what you're gonna say."

   He jumped on the tank and climbed inside. Some shuffling and a few moments later seth popped out of the cupola and tossed me the airhorn I found in an abandoned store a few missions ago. I walked over to Louis and raised the airhorn to his ear. I told the others to cover their ears. They put their hands to their ears and gave a thumbs up. I squeezed the top. The loud noise blasted into his ears. Louis jumped up and started swinging wildly. We started laughing uncontrollably. He heard us laughing and immediately opened his eyes.

   "FUCKING HELL GUYS YOU SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF ME!"

   He was red in the face and I shit you not I saw steam coming out of his ears. We finally stopped laughing and I walked up to him.

   "Don't fall asleep during briefing." I said with a grin.

   He said something under his breath and got in line.

   "Now, we have been briefed with going on a search and rescue mission." I said.

   "We are looking for team beta, our sister squadron."

   "sir, beta has been MIA for two months now, why are they just now sending a search party out?" Mike asked with confusion.

   "They say they couldn't because the enemy is getting more violent, so free tanks are rare at this time, but the enemy has backed off, giving us a break in time for us to search for them."

   They seemed to believe it.

   "Now, we are told to leave immediately, Seth, is she ready to go?"

   "Yes sir." He said. I smiled.

   "Alright, lets get to work."

   Everyone rushed into the tank, getting in their proper places. I climbed on top and took one look around before climbing inside and shutting the cupola. I put on my headset and turned on the radio.

   "This is alpha 1 to alpha 2, are all other units ready?" Their was a moment of silence and then I heard the familiar click of another radio.

   "Alpha 2 to alpha 1, all units ready to move out."

   "Okay. get into line behind me and well roll out." I switched to crew frequency.

   "Alright, mike, pull her forward and get in to leading position."

   "Roger." I heard from the other end. I felt the tank jerk and move forward. I felt it turn and stop. I opened the hatch and pulled my upper half out. I looked behind and saw that all tanks were in place. I switched frequencies.

   "Alright, all crews ready?" There again was a silence and then clicking.

   "Alpha 2 ready."

   "alpha 3 ready."

   "Alpha 4 ready."

   "Alright, all crews move forward, slow speed."  I told my crew and the tank once again lurched forward at a slow pace. We neared the gate and I lowered my upper half back into the cupola and closed the hatch.

   ~Ten minutes later~

   By now we were at full speed going over tiny dunes, the sand kicked up as we drove. I was thinking about new pranks when I heard the radio crack.

   "sir, we are arriving at team beta's last location." I opened the hatch and poked my head out. I saw a small town. The buildings were close together and some were falling apart. As we neared the town I switched to where everyone could hear.

   "Alright, all crews, slow down and keep your eyes peeled. load HEAT and be ready." I clicked off. I could hear the familiar clank of a round being loaded. We finally moved into the town. There were few people and it looked abandoned. A few minutes passed and nothing happened. We finally stopped on a main street when Louis said this was the last known location. I pulled myself out of the hatch and looked around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. It was too quiet. My thoughts were cut short as a big explosion threw me back into my seat. I closed the hatch and turned on the radio.

   "ALPHA 2 TO APHA 1, ALPHA 3 WAS DESTROYED! TWO CONTACTS! ONE TO YOUR RIGHT AND LEFT!" I didn't hesitate to reply as another explosion directly behind me, I already knew alpha 2 was gone.

   "ALPHA 4 TAKE RIGHT ILL TAKE LEFT!" There wasn't hesitation as the radio immediately cracked to life.

   "ALPHA 1 I READ, TAKING RIGHT!" I quickly told seth to turn the turret 30 degrees left.

   "HOSTILE IS IN MY RETICLE SIR!" Seth Shouted. I didn't think twice as I shouted a reply.

   "FIRE!" I heard two bangs and felt my tank rock back. I held my breath for a few seconds.

   "Both targets destroyed sir." I breathed a sigh of relief, we sat there for a few minutes until I saw a purple aura around me and I saw everyone else did, even my tank did. I turned on the radio.

   "Alpha 1 to alpha 4, you seeing this?" There was a pause and then a crack.

   "alpha 4 to alpha 1, yeah, I see it." I felt myself getting tired and my eyes began to forcefully close. I looked around and saw my crew was already passed out. That was all I saw before I passed out.

   ~1 hour later~

   I woke up with a sharp pain in my head. I looked around and saw that my crew was in the same shape I was. another wave of pain jolted through my skull.

   "Fuck." I said quietly.

   "seth, are we okay?" Seth slowly turned around and was wincing.

   "E-everything looks good sir." He said slowly. I opened the cupola and light flowed outward. The light made my headache worse, but I ignored it as best as I could. As I pushed myself out I was blinded for a few seconds, a slight ringing in my ears. My eyes adjusted to the light I finally got to take a look at my surroundings. I couldn't believe what I saw. I turned around and saw alpha 4's hatch was still closed. I ducked back in and told seth to make sure the boys stay put. He nodded slightly. I pulled myself out of the cupola and jumped off the tank. hit the ground hard. Again, a wave of pain rolled through my head, making me wince. I ran over to alpha 4, which was a few yards away. I finally jumped onto the tank and flipped open the hatch. I saw ace, alpha 4's commander sitting in his seat, obviously dazed. There was a large gash on his forehead and blood oozed out. I grabbed him and pulled him out of the tank. laying him down I jumped into his tank. after fumbling for a few minutes I found bandages. I jumped back out of the tank and picked up his head. I wrapped the bandage around his head. He began to stir after a few minutes, his eyes opened and he looked at me.

   "What happened?" He said.

   "You hit your head hard, and you have a big gash on your head, I bandaged it as best I could." I said, I don't tell this much, but I think of ace as a brother, we were friends all through school. So I was worried for him.

   "Umm, I need you to sit up and see this." He looked at me with an eyebrow raised.

   "I'm fine." He sat up, wincing  little as he did. His eyes immediately went wide.

   "What the fuck?" He said.

   What once was a desert was now a meadow. with trees loosely spread about, we were beside a dirt rod that looked like it had only been walked on. It was peaceful.

  "Where the hell are we?"

   I answered his question a few minutes later.

   "I don't know, but wherever we are, we sure aren't in Kansas anymore."