May 17, 1925
Jacqueshammer Hotel, Uniontown, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
United States of America
The final notes of the smooth, jazzy tunes of the saxophones echoed off of the acoustic walls and ceiling of the ballroom. The saxophone players rested their instruments and relaxed as the orchestra began to play Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries," an oddity for a high school prom.
In fact, every other musical selection at the prom was somewhat odd, compared to some of the bands that used synthesizers and electric guitars that had their music played at other schools' proms in the area.
Even so, I loved every minute of it.
Placing my right hand on my date's left shoulder and my left hand on her right hip, we attempted to do a slow dance. Neither of us knew how to dance, but it was fun, regardless.
Her long red hair, dazzling green eyes, and beautiful Oriental facial features made her stand out against all of the other girls at the prom, at least for me. The wine red open-back dress and long white gloves she wore really worked in her favor.
Crushing on your childhood friend? Come on, man...
She rested her head on my chest and sighed, the two of us still moving with the music. "When do you ship out?" she asked solemnly.
"Not until July," I replied, fighting the urge to rest my head on hers. That'd've been plain weird.
She looked up with a sad look. "Don't tell me you're only doing this to go to Europe."
I shrugged. "That's not the only reason... You know why."
She nodded and rested her head on my shoulder once more. "It's a damn shame, too... You couldn't even get a scholarship from Penn State?"
"I didn't try."
Her fist hit me in the chest, though the padding of the suit lessened the already weak blow. "Idiot..."
May 1, 1926
The Basic School, MCB Quantico, Commonwealth of Virginia
United States of America
It's been almost a year, but I'm finally done.
That thought carried me through most of the day. I had yet to ship out and I was probably going to be stationed in Cuba or Okinawa, but my superiors never said anything about my station. So, I walked around the base, grabbing food from the commissary and snacking, waiting to be informed.
It felt amazing to finally be done with all of the training. Not being able to pay for college left me with military service, so I ended up joining the Marines as an officer. The only other thing that led me to join the military were the rumors that went around when I was in high school about the military doing secret missions to Europe, Africa, and Asia. The Eurfrasia Missions — I liked to call them that — were something I wanted to participate in.
The biggest thing was my lack of funds for college, though.
I sat down on a bench in an open area and stretched my legs out. Chances were, I wouldn't be in any actual conflict. Having lost all contact with Europe, Asia, and Africa a century ago, bar the immigrants from the silent continents, America had nothing to worry about since the Mexican-American War seventy years ago and the Civil War in the '60s. Well, and the Australian-Union War in the early '70s, but that was just silly.
"I wonder what the technology of the Lost Continents, as they're sometimes called, is like," I said to myself. "It's actually quite amazing once you think about how rapid and staggeringly great the technological advancements are here in the States. Men traveled to the moon nearly thirty years ago, but seventy years ago, the thought of space travel was mere science fiction. Sixty, seventy years ago, horse and buggy was the best way to get from point A to point B, and now we have jet planes and sports cars. But what about Europe, Asia, and Africa? Maybe they actually achieved space flight earlier than we did and are flying to other stars or something. That'd be pretty cool..."
"But even with our technology, it's impossible to visit the continents," a familiar voice said. I looked up to see one of my fellow graduates standing in front of me. She had short red hair and green eyes, lacked in the bust department, and was my best friend. "Throughout the Americas, there are strict bans on going anywhere near Asia, Africa, or Europe, the sole exceptions being Iceland and Okinawa, though there have been those recent warnings on going to Okinawa and troop deployments there have been more frequent... No one really wants to go to Australia, anyway. Too many spiders... This seat taken?" She pointed next to me.
My head shook. "Not at all, Minami."
She punched my shoulder. "That's Lieutenant Hazuki to you, maggot."
I chuckled. "Sure thing, Lieutenant."
I bit into the hamburger in my hand as she sat down. The bread, beef, cheese, and ketchup mixture was simply amazing in my mouth, especially after roughly six months of mess hall food. Don't get me wrong, we weren't fed legitimate shit, but there were days in which we might as well have been eating shit, so the outside food was more than a blessing.
It was a gift from God, or the Buddha, or... the something.
"It feels good to be done, doesn't it?" Minami asked, leaning back in the bench.
"Feels great," I agreed. "Where're you headed? Since we probably won't see each other again for a while and all, y'know."
"Pfft." Minami cocked her eyebrows, but quickly adopted a cute face. "Are you actually worried about me? That's so sweet." She sighed and looked down the path. "To be honest, I don't know. I wasn't told."
"Neither was I." My eyes shot to her and a grin spread across my lips. "Maybe we'll be sent to the same place. Maybe Havana, Sydney, or, hell, Oki. See you in a bikini again. Not like there's much to see anyway, though."
She grabbed my arm and twisted, causing me to yelp in pain. "Idiot! Keep dreaming. That's not going to-"
The loud sound of air thumping repeatedly suddenly reached my ears, cutting Minami off and making her relax, while my eyes shot upward to see what it was. A helicopter, one of the Raven models, landed just under a hundred feet away from us. That's odd...
A high-ranking marine stepped out from the cargo bay of the helicopter. He began strolling over to us and I, thinking with my stomach first, freed my arm, shoved the rest of the burger in my mouth, chewed it up real fast, swallowed, and hopped up just in time to salute the... General? A General?! Minami followed suit.
"At ease, marines," he said, waving us off. I lowered my hand and relaxed, as did Minami. "I know who you two are, but do either of you know who I am?"
Blonde hair, blue eyes, chiseled features, a five o'clock shadow... None of it struck any bells. "No, sir."
"Can't say I know, either, sir," Minami said.
He pointed toward himself. "I'm your commanding officer now, Lieutenants. I'm General Dempsey. Get used to my face, kids. You're gonna be seeing a lot of it here soon." He spun around and walked back toward the helicopter, motioning for us to follow.
I looked at Minami, who was looking at me, and we both shrugged. With no other options presented, the two of us followed the General and got into the cargo bay of the helicopter. Two seabags of stuff, which I assumed belonged to us, were on the side of the helo to our right as we took our seats. The General shut the door and took a seat opposite us.
The helo rose off of the ground and we began to fly. For twenty minutes, it was silent in the helicopter; however, my curiosity killed the silence, much like it did the cat.
"Permission to speak, sir?" I asked, remembering to keep it formal.
"Jesus, kid," the General said. "I thought you were never gonna ask. Go right ahead."
Well, he seems more laid-back than some... "Why are we here?"
"Hmm... It's one of life's great mysteries, isn't it? 'Why are we here?' I mean, are we the product of some cosmic coincidence, or is there really a God watching everything? You know, with a plan for us and stuff. I don't know, marine, but it keeps me up at night."
I stared blankly at the General for a good minute before deciding to actually respond. "I meant why are we here, in the helicopter? We definitely weren't the top of our class."
The General suddenly looked dumbstruck. "Oh, shit... That may be true, but you're here because you two are the most qualified."
"For what?" Minami asked, leaning forward.
"You'll find out..." The General glared at us. "That's all you're getting out of me, so I'd advise you to not press any further."
Yet another sigh escaped me as I leaned back. This doesn't seem like standard procedure... Hell, what am I thinking? It ain't standard at all. No matter, I may as well just go with it.
Parris Island, South Carolina, United States of America
After a stop for refueling, we landed on Parris Island, otherwise known as Hell. Minami ended up falling asleep in the helo, but I kept awake and tried talking to the General. He was defensive about his service, especially when I asked how he could look so young and be a general.
"Lieutenant," he had said. "That information is on a need-to-know basis, and, quite frankly, you don't need to know."
The three of us walked out of the helicopter, which landed on the runway, Minami stumbling out since she was just waking up. I put both seabags on my back since she would've probably fallen over. She was a deep sleeper and if she woke up early, she wouldn't be able to do most things for several minutes.
The General turned his neck to face us, but kept walking forward. "Welcome to Hell, marines." He resumed looking forward. "I don't think you've been here, but we aren't going to stay long. Hell, our ride's right there." He pointed to the S-260 plane about fifty yards away.
"How come, sir?" I asked, glancing at Minami to make sure she did fall back asleep on the ground. She was in the clear.
"We have elsewhere to go, marine. This is just a layover, if you will."
My head bobbed in a nod. Then where the hell are we going? Cuba? Wait, he won't tell us anything... Maybe... "Are we going to Europe, sir?"
The General stopped and made an about-face. His expression was blank and unreadable. "I was wondering how long it would have taken you to figure it out." He did another one-eighty. "I'll explain it more once we're on the plane."
I nodded, though it went unseen. While I followed, the weight on my back suddenly felt much lighter. I looked behind me to see Minami sling a bag over her shoulder.
"You good?" I asked.
"Never better," she replied, blinking a couple times. "Did he say we're going to Europe?"
I nodded, but didn't say anything. At least two dozen marines were standing outside of the plane, a superior officer barking at them. Looking past the USMC-marked S-260, I spotted another plane with Army Air Force markings. The USAAF is in on this, too?
Minami and I joined the ranks of the marines loitering outside of the plane, a couple whispered comments about Minami going around. General Dempsey took over for the other man, stepping in front of him. "Hughes, go handle your men. These marines are obviously unfazed by your army bullshit."
The Army General, at least that's what I assumed he was, nodded and walked to the other plane, starting his tirade all over again while a marine with a toothbrush mustache and short black hair walked up next to the General. Like the General, he had noticeable stubble, but unlike the General, he was wearing his BDUs. His shoulder patch indicated he was a major and his name patch read HITLER.
"Attention!" the General boomed, silencing the whispers. Everyone stood stoic, looking straight toward our superior. "You were brought here today because you are all the most qualified candidates for this mission. Some of you are fresh-faced recruits, enlisted or officers..." He looked in our direction. "Some of you are veterans, and a select few of you were with me in Brazil ten years ago." What's he talking about? "We have a bigger problem now, and it's in Europe."
Throughout the group, hushed whispers of "Europe?" spread like wildfire. I locked my eyes onto the Major, who drew his M1911 and aimed upward at an angle, squeezing the trigger. A deafening shot rang out and the Major shouted, "SCHLAFEN!"
The General nodded to his subordinate. "Thank you, Adolf." The Major replied with a nod and holstered his sidearm. "As I was saying, Europe, Germany to be exact, is our destination. This will not - I repeat, NOT - be an easy assignment. Were it so easy, we'd have the fucking Coast Guard here." The General began to pace. "Once you board this plane, nothing is to be said to the public. If you wish to back out now, you may, but you'll still have to sign papers ensuring you keep your shiteating mouths shut or you'll be charged with treason. Any takers?" No one moved. "Good. Board the plane, marines."
The engines started and the crowd moved forward, Minami and I closely behind. Wow! Going to Europe this early? Hell, it's a dream come true!
Minami and I boarded the plane second-to-last, ahead of the Major. We took our seats near the end of the cargo bay, the Major sitting across from us. The cargo bay door closed and I felt the plane begin to move, a feeling only felt by me a few times before, most notably when I went to Los Angeles International from Pittsburgh International and, from LAX, to Naha International.
After the plane took off and we were in the air for half an hour, I turned to the Major. "Permission to speak, sir?" I asked the question despite all of the talking going on around me, including my earlier conversations with Minami.
The Major, his face dimly illuminated by the cargo bay lights, raised an eyebrow. "What's the point in asking for permission if you're gonna do it anyway?" He sighed. "What is it, Lieutenant?"
"Are we heading straight to Europe, or...?"
He shook his head. "We're stopping in Iceland for refueling, then landing on the U.S.S. Roosevelt. An advance team is being sent out to gather intel before we deploy any more troops."
"Also, sir..."
"What?" He looked slightly irritated.
"What exactly did you shout on the airstrip? That wasn't English."
"It was German for 'be quiet,' though I guess you figured that much out... Any other questions?"
I shook my head. "No, sir."
"Good. Now, if you'll excuse me..." Major Hitler grabbed two objects off of the seat next to him, a pencil and a sketch book, and began to draw.
My eyes wandered around the cargo bay. Everyone was either chatting or sleeping. Once jetlag set in, it'd be even worse.
"Hey," Minami said, punching my arm lightly. "You're bound to be excited."
I looked at her with a wide grin. "You bet your ass I am. We're going, Minami."
To Europe.