AN: This is my take on the popular "Humans in the Pridelands" idea. Might be more rough than others, as it is about war, and not some person getting lost in the Pridelands.

Disclaimer: The Lion King is owned by Disney. More notes at the bottom.

You Don't Exist

"Something has come up in south-eastern Somalia. But it is unconfirmed"

"Where in Somalia? That place is already in a bad enough shape, and the pirates don't help it."

"Right on the border with Kenya and Ethiopia. I don't see anything special about it, except for the fact that that's where the three nations meet."

"How reliable is the source Is it even worthwhile for looking into?"

"Shaky at best. I was thinking of sending a small team over there, bring them back if nothing pops up after a month."

"You know we can't just send in people in to wherever and whenever we want. We don't have enough special forces to do so. And the logistics will be unimaginable. Not to mention impossible to hide."

"Which is why we won't send in special forces. A five man team of regular, but good soldiers. Minimal support, not even military. My idea is that if they get caught, they are just tourists on vacation."

"And how are you planing to pull it off?"

"You will find a memo on your desk. I expect an answer, say, tomorrow? No need to wait for a long time."

Sergeant Dave Seaver sat in a bunker in the mountainous hills of Afghanistan, killing time while remaining on alert. He casually noted his CO walking towards him. Some minor assignment, probably.

"Seaver, pack up you're being shipped elsewhere." said his officer after a short while.

"Wait, what? No patrol? Where am I being shipped off too? Asked Seaver.

"It doesn't say. It just says to grab the fastest flight to Fort Irwin in California. Guess it has something to do with that little stunt you pulled off after that ambush on this outpost." The commanding officer didn't sound that happy to lose one of his soldiers. The little outpost needed the few quality men it had.

Seaver got up. "So it's good bye then? Might email you afterwards, if I get the chance."

The officer laughed. "Always a real boy scout, aren't you, Seaver?"

Seaver went down the hill and started packing up his duffel bag. An hour later, he was manning the machine gun of a Humveeheading towards the nearest airport...

General MacBain looked at the group of five men standing in attention in front off him, fresh off the cargo plane, heating up in the hot California sun. As far as any onlooker was concerned, it was just a meeting between a few soldiers.

"I am asking you to undertake a mission that is potentially very dangerous. You will have barely any support, you will be on you own, and if you accept it, you will cease to exist for the duration of the operation. Apart from this, I can only tell you that I am to encourage you not to undertake this operation. At the same time, I need the best I can get my hands on. You might die if you accept."

General MacBain paused for effect. "If you are prepared to accept the risks, step forwards."

As one, the five assembled soldiers stepped forwards without hesitation. Macbain smiled at them. "I knew that I can count on you. This mission dictates that as of now, you don't exist. You are not American soldiers, but civilians on vacation."

"Vacation, where?" one of the soldiers, Sergeant Russel, asked.

General MacBain looked at him grimly. "East Africa. Right on the border of Somalia. You hear the news. It's not a good place to be in."

The General produced five envelopes. "Your orders, gentlemen. Study them well and destroy them. Leave no evidence. This mission is based off very shaky evidence. Hell, there might not even be anything, but be prepared for the worst."

He motioned at the crates that crews were starting to load onto the cargo plane. "You will have some gear. Mostly weapons and food, but it is still very limited. I have taken the liberty of 'burrowing' a Humvee and an UH-1, but other than that, it's on foot. Banks, I believe you are qualified to fly that helicopter."

Banks looked startled at being addressed suddenly. "Ah, yes sir, yes. I am qualified to fly that."

"Your vehicles are being disguised to look like civilian versions, but they are in fact, standard military issue. One more thing. You will be around lots of wildlife, and my superiors will be all over me if a few people start complaining about dead animals, so please try to avoid killing wildlife."

Getting some sort of signal from the loaders of the cargo plane, MacBain finally said. "This is it, gentlemen. Get aboard that plane and good luck. Remember, you don't exist."

The five soldiers boarded the cargo plane that will take them all the way to Africa.

Seaver watched the plane take off again from the pitiful strip of ground that served as a runway. They just got off the cargo plane, and he was already lost. At least Afghanistan had some roads.

"Some kind of disguising they did. Even a five year old can tell this isn't legit." Banks was examining the Humvee and UH-1. "Lets see, a yellow Humvee and a white Huey. The Humvee is barely changed, but at least the Huey doesn't look like it came from Vietnam."

Sergeant Evans examined the helicopter. "It looks like they simply ran it through an industrial painter. Look, the fuel cap is blocked by paint. And the rotors are white." He took out a knife and carved out the outline of the cap. "Much better. Good thing they protected the axles."

The last soldier, Mardindale, was already packing the gear up. "I just realized something," he said. "All of us here are sergeants, except for Banks, whose a, what was it, Technical Sergeant? That makes him effectively the leader."

Banks blushed. "Gee, I am so honored. No. If we are to be civilians, we need to act like civilians, we need to act like them. We are Americans, we use democracy, not top-down leadership. That's the military."

Mardindale laughed. "See? He even talks like a leader. By the way, what about the president? He is American, and a leader."

"That's not my point." Banks nearly shouted. "What I'm saying is that we need to not act like soldiers. Got it?"

"Yes, I got it. I was just saying..." Mardindale finished. "Hey, Seaver, what are you looking at?"

Seaver was examining the weapons. "Some of the ammo is made of tranquilizers. Same with guns."

"Well, that means that we are not completely defenseless against animals with sharp teeth," commented Banks. "But I won't have that problem, so here you go, guys." He dropped off a box of tranquilizers at Evans' feet.

Evans smiled an evil smile. "Nice try, but I have the power to ground you." He motioned at the Humvee and helicopter. "As the mechanic here, I know more about these than all of you combined. Annoy me, and it's walking time."

"Annoy me and you will not be fit to walk." Mardindale replied back. "I'm the medic and a qualified doctor, so watch out."

"Aren't we just one happy family?" Asked Seaver.

"Where did your sense of humor come from?" Mardindale eyed Seaver.

Nightfall set upon the five soldiers, inside two tents in the middle of the African savanna. Except that rest would not come easy for the soldiers.

Banks, suffering from jet lag, swore he heard a voice in the distance. He waited, straining to hear. He swore it was his imagination, but he couldn't tell.

"- if it wasn't for that lousy Mufasa, we would be ruling this joint. It's not funny, Ed. He kicked us out of the best eating all around."

Banks prodded Evans awake, and the mechanic sat up grumpily. "Why did you have to wake me up? I was-"

Banks cut him off. "Do you hear that?" he whispered to Evans.

Evans listened. "So? It's just people. Now lemme go back to sleep."

Banks again found himself prodding Evans awake again. "What are people doing in the middle of nowhere, speaking English. In Africa?"

Evans was wide awake at this. "Yeah, you're right. Let's go find out what it is. We are curious civilians, after all."

Hiding a pistol in his pant pocket, Banks followed Evans out of the tent. They found Seaver already outside, also.

"Feeling jumpy." Was Seaver's explanation.

The three men cautiously walked towards the talking voices. Seaver turned on a bright flashlight in spirit of civilian night trekking, instantly giving away their position.

As the light turned on, the voice grew in volume and number.

"Hey, Shenzi, what is that?"

"I don't know, Benzai. Let's go check it out."

The three humans walked forwards just in time to stumble onto a trio of Hyenas. One oh the animals looked up at the humans and got a nice beam of light in its eyes.

"Hey, watch it! On a second thought, let's get out of here, guys." With that, the three Hyenas turned and ran.

Seaver was dumbstruck. "Did that Hyena just speak English?"

Behind him, Mardindale and Russel came up. "That will be the least of your problems," said Russel. "Turn around. Slowly. Don't run."

The other three humans turned around, and saw a pack of lions, teeth bared and growling. Even the light didn't visibly effect them. One of the lions came forwards, and also started speaking.

"What are you doing here?" It asked the humans in a deep basso, male voice.

A/N: This is a Lion King story written as an experiment. I saw many good TLK fics that included humans, but they all dealt with civilians. One I read had a human who was in some sci-fi world with space ships and guns. This made me realize that I did not see the issue of having to deal with the darker side of humanity: warfare and pure weapons of death. I want to create a story that compares the idealized world of the Pridelands under Mufasa before and during the events of the first movie, with the world of humans, open warfare, and the military. The darker side of humanity that has the potential to bring out the best of us.

I did see one titled "Marine in the pride-lands" (something like that), and decided that my take won't be too extreme.

Chapter edited to fix a few minor mistakes. Primarily, Macbain is changed to MacBain.