Portal to a New World

One Creepy Television

I popped a Mt. Dew can open and lied down, sighing. "Okay, I just got this game ya might wanna see."

Jordan, Mandy, Heather, KaTrena, Rachel, Craig, and Dia all sat themselves in my living room. It only had a couch with an oversized chair. In the corner was a cage for our snake, Eve. The walls were a gloomy, dark wood, with gray carpeting, and on the wall was a deer, which had a creepy smile...

It was a typical styled room for a man who loved hunting. My mom's boyfriend was into all of that stuff. I took a large drink of the Mt. Dew and looked over to Mandy. "Hey, Mandy! Can you please turn the PS3 on for me?"

"Tonya said please?" Dia gasped in mock-surprised.

I scowled at her. "Fuck you!"

KaTrena and Heather both sighed, Jordan and Rachel snickered, Craig rolled his eyes, and Mandy continued to sit, seeming uncertain what to do. "Umm…"

"Just turn the game on, Mandy," Heather advised, shaking her head.

Mandy nodded and crawled over to the PS3, flipping the switch in the back and lightly tapping the power button. I changed the TV's input and the screen was static. We blinked and Heather tilted her head to the side. "Do you have it on the right one?"

I nodded. "Yeah, video two... ugh..."

I set the Mt. Dew on the floor and walked up to the TV, and smacked the side of it. A bright light flashed from the TV, and in an instant, we were all gone...

Chapter 1

Raiden

"War... has changed.

It's no longer about nations, ideologies, or ethnicity.

It's an endless series of proxy wars.

Fought by mercenaries and machines.

War, and its consumption of life, has become a well oiled machine.

War... has changed.

ID tagged soldiers carry ID tagged weapons and use ID tagged gear.

Nano machines in their bodies enhance their abilities and bodies.

Genetic control, information control, emotion control, battlefield control.

Everything is monitored.

And kept under control.

War... has changed.

The age of deterrence has become the age of control.

All in the name of converting catastrophe, weapons of mass destruction.

He who controls the battlefield controls history

War... has changed.

When the battlefield is under total control.

War has become a routine."

I stirred and woke up, hearing a voice. "Hey, are you alright?"

It was a low voice of a man, deep and a bit husky. I cracked my left eye open and then opened both fully, blinking rapidly. "Huh?"

I stared at a man that was kneeling down by my side. He had black scopes over his eyes with three red lights forming a triangle, a slightly lavender helmet that covered only the forehead, and white hair showing underneath it that came down to his jaw. His outfit was all white and showed his muscles, and he wore a black trench that came down to his ankles. About his jaw... around it was a steel black imitation of it...

He repeated himself. "I said, are you alright?"

I sat up and rubbed my head, thinking, 'Is... is that... Raiden?!' I nodded, "Yeah, I'm good..."

He nodded once, "Alright, I'm going to get you and your friend out of here."

He stood up and began to walk away, but I grabbed onto his wrist. "Wait!" He turned to look at me. "Where am I?! And... What friend are you talking about?"

"Quite simply, you're in the middle of a battlefield, as for your friend? I don't know, she has red hair."

I blinked. "Jordan?"

I stood up slowly and Raiden stared at me in confusion. "Isn't Jordan a male name?"

I laughed a bit and stood up fully. "Sorta, but I suggest you don't say that to her face... she'll go ballistic."

He turned around to Jordan and I walked over to her. "Jordan. …Hey! Red head! ...Carrot top!"

Her head snapped up. "I AM NOT A CARROT, BLONDIE!"

I backed up with my hands in the air. "Hey, hold on! I'm just trying ta wake ya up!"

Jordan groaned as she got to her feet. "Ugh...where am I?"

I shifted my attention to Raiden. "Definitely not where I remember last being..."

"What's the last thing you remember?" he asked.

Jordan began to open her mouth, looked Raiden over fully for the first time, and then went utterly off subject. "Uh, no offence, but...you look sorta..."

He glared at her. "I know."

"Jordan, be nice!" I huffed.

"I am nice! Not always, but I can be!"

"Then why do you always insult people?" I asked, referring to Raiden.

He sighed harshly. "It doesn't matter! We have to get away from here before any Gekko find us!"

Jordan blinked. "Huh? What're Gekko?"

I laughed a bit. "They're sorta like cyborg cows!"

We laughed together, but were cut off by a loud moo far off in the distance. "Aw shit!"

We all scanned our surroundings. We were in a desert city, well, what was left of it, anyway. The buildings made of stone were torn to rubble, only a few still intact, and the roads were completely dirt. The sky was a pure blue, the sun beating down hard, and without any clouds for shade. The breeze caught sand up and it felt hot when it hit my arms. Suddenly, three Gekkos jumped high up and landed only a few feet from us.

It was about three to four stories high. It's large, black legs, which were the only things that looked bio on the thing, were bulging with muscle and were black, three toes similar to a humans. At the top was a rectangular head, a machine with guns next to the eyes on top of it's head. Apparently the eyes resembled something like a screw...

Raiden growled and drew his sword. "Run!" he yelled at us.

We didn't even need to hear him say it before we were already sprinting. We both ran behind the wall of a shambled building and peaked out. Jordan's head a bit above mine.

"What the hell are those things?" Jordan whispered to me in horror.

"Those are Gekkos," I whispered back.

"But, Tonya, I though that you said Gekkos where cyborg cows!"

"I said they were like cyborg cows, not that they were!"

"Same difference!"

"Just shut up!"

Raiden took his stance and the Gekkos ran at him. Before the first could even kick him, Raiden spun to gain momentum and slashed through the leg. The leg flew off and it fell to the desert sand. Another Gekko ran up and stomped its foot down. Raiden jumped off to the side and avoided, he jumped up and landed on its head. He stabbed his sword into it and jumped off. The third fired its guns at him. Raiden ran at the Gekko and evaded the bullets. Accept for one that skimmed his left cheek. He leap into the air and slashed right through the head of the Gekko. The two halves fell to the ground and he put his sword back in its sheathe and we ran to him.

Jordan stared in amazement. "That was awesome! How did you do that?! And...," She looked at the cut on his cheek, a small stream of white leaking out. "Why is your blood white...?"

Raiden put his hand over the cut and turned away. "That doesn't matter, are you two alright?"

Before we could answer, more Gekko came down from the sky. He growled and drew his sword. Jordan and I screamed and ran. She made it inside of a building, but I, being the idiot I am, tripped...I fell face first into the hot sand and hissed. "Sss-ow!"

The Gekko extended a wire from its head and it shot at me. The wire wrapped around my ankle and began to drag me toward it. I screamed louder than before and flipped onto my back, trying to kick the wire off. Raiden growled. "Dammit!"

The Gekko fired at me. The bullets drew closer until I was hit twice in the left forearm, and once just below the collar bone on my left shoulder. I screamed in pain and Raiden cut the wire. He ran to the Gekko and cut both legs in half. It fell backwards and Raiden stabbed his sword into the bottom of its head. He put his sword away as he came to my side. "Hold on, I'll get you some help!"

Jordan ran to me as well. "OH MY GOD! ARE YOU OKAY?!"

I screamed through my teeth and rolled onto my right side. "Hell no! I just got...AHHH!"

The pain enveloped my entire left side like a raging fire. My legs kicked in frustration and Raiden pushed me onto my back. He slipped his arms under me and picked me up. He spoke to Jordan. "How fast can you run?" he asked.

She looked at him, her face plastered with worry. "Uh, I'm decent. But probably not as fast as you are..." she replied, moisture gathering in her eyes as she glanced back at me.

He nodded and turned his back to her, kneeling down, "Alright then, get on my back."

She flinched, "Wh-what?! But-"

"We don't have any time!"

She nodded and wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist, "Uh... I'm not comfortable with this... I don't even know you!"

"My name is Raiden; there, now you know me."

He stood up and ran quickly. She gasped at the speed. Running down the streets of the desert city they came up to a group of soldiers, all holding AK-74s. Some pointed at us and fired. Raiden swerved off to the side and jumped up onto the top of a wall without a roof, then onto a building with a roof. He continued to sprint without paying any mind to the PMC troops.

Jordan was at loss to how he could carry almost two hundred pounds at such speed, let alone jump. (Jordan: Keep in mind that that's both Tonya's weight and mine combined! The way she wrote it, it seems like it's only referring to me. .;) The wind hitting her face and the ground moving quickly underneath them gave her a strong feeling of nausea in her stomach and head. Regaining her grip around Raiden's neck, she swallowed hard. It seemed to go on for hours. The intense sun beating down on them, the wind blowing her hair back, the constant groans and screams from me, the acceleration of the man's legs beneath her, and the feeling of slipping to a fall.

Sighing in relief as they slowed and stopped, she got off from his back and stumbled, "That... was fast..."

Shifting her attention to the building they stopped at, she scowled. "Huh? It looks abandoned..."

Raiden nodded, "It is. But that doesn't mean it doesn't have the supplies we need."

They walked inside of the broken building and Jordan caught eye on his shoes. Like his outfit, they were white, but...

"Why are you wearing heels?"

He ignored her and they walked into a room. It was fairly small. The floor was white with shattered glass spread across it, making it glisten in the sunlight that leaked out from the broken window. There were some cabinets with doors broken off and some handing. The walls were white with plaster peeling off, and there were two beds without blankets or pillows.

He set me on the bed and walked over to one of the cabinets. Jordan sat down on the other bed and stared at his heels.

As he walked back over to me with bandages and ointment, she scowled at him for a moment, probably miffed at being ignored. However, a sudden spark lit her eye. "Y'know what I was told once?... That only a hooker knows how to run in heels."

His head snapped in her direction and he glared. She snickered and looked away. "Sorry, sorry! Please, continue on."

He began to take my shirt off and her eyes widened. "W-whoa, whoa, whoa!" She grabbed his wrist "Don't take her shirt off! That's rude!"

He sighed harshly…again. "If I'm going to treat the wound on her shoulder, I need to take her shirt off," he said slowly, as though speaking to an idiot.

She gave him a look and slowly backed away, sitting back down on the bed. Under different circumstances, she would have said something back. But right now…well, she decided that it could wait.

He took my shirt off and set it down next to me. He applied the disinfectant to all three bullet wounds, and lifted me up so he could get my back, too. Apparently the bullets had passed all the way through my body. After cleaning them, he wrapped the bandages around them and carefully slid my shirt back on.

He sighed tiredly and turned away, the scopes on his eyes receded, as did the helmet. I grunted and opened my eye a crack. "H-hey..."

He turned around to look at me and I gasped. His eyes were such a blue, they were almost white, just like his hair. I continued. "Uh...I... my name...it's Tonya."

He nodded. "You should rest, Tonya."

I laid my head back down and fell asleep quickly, exhausted.

Jordan yawned and stretched, but didn't notice Raiden standing in front of her. Without warning, he punched her in the face, knocking her out. "Don't ever call me a hooker..."