CHAPTER 2: Sango Learns About Rifles
-----------------------------------------------------
"Kagome, get out here," said Inuyasha, poking his head through the doorway of the house. "Someone's coming." Kagome picked up her bow and quiver as she stood, and walked onto the porch. Mirouku, Sango, Shippo and Kirara were already outside. Everyone in the village was looking toward the fields. Kagome turned to see where they were looking and saw the reason for their concern. Two columns of four people dressed in green approached, all of them carrying large green backpacks, and wearing green helmets, and carrying... rifles? Were they soldiers? From the Present? How did they get here?
"I don't sense any demonic aura coming from them," said Mirouku.
"I think they're warriors, or demon slayers," observed Sango. "But I don't recognize the armor."
"They are soldiers from my era!" Kagome realized aloud. "But what are they chanting?" Kagome asked.
"Shh! Listen!" said Inuyasha.
"....'Old King Cole'?" Shippo echoed, as the soldiers marched past them.
"A nursery rhyme?" Kagome wondered... And then she noticed the difference: because there is no beer in the original rhyme.
Yamato indicated a house where he said one of the village elders lived. I called the squad to halt and assume the parade rest position in front of the residence, just as the elder came outside. "Who is this?" he asked, rather surprised.
"My name is Mike," I replied. "My friends and I ask your permission to rest in your village for a few days, and then we will be on our way."
The elder narrowed his eyes, measuring each person in the formation. We must have looked like Martians to him, with our body armor, and smeared camouflage face paint. "You may stay with us," he said. "You can wash yourselves in the stream that flows through the orchard."
"Thank you very much," I said to the elder. "We appreciate your generosity.
I turned to the squad. "Fall out to the orchard over yonder and conduct hygiene. Bring your gear with you. Fall out!" The whole way to the orchard, we received dirty looks from the villagers, but they were quick to turn away when they thought we were looking. I wonder why.
Awhile later, we returned to the village, all paint and dirt washed off. I had forgotten how light my skin really was, after spending so many days without a shower or bath. The locals generously invited us to sleep in their homes, so we broke up into buddy-teams -- that is, groups of two people -- and moved our gear into the different houses. Jeter, Hutchinson and I moved in with the elder and his wife. We took off our boots and sat down, while the elder's wife prepared food for us. We were no longer wearing our body armor-- just our ACUs minus the boots and socks.
"So," said the elder. "Where have you travelled from?"
"We just arrived from the Swat Valley," I said. Surely we were still in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. How could they not know us?
"Swat Valley?" said the elder. "I have never heard of that place. What is it like there?"
So, maybe we had crossed into Pakistan or something... but surely they know of the valley? I glanced nervously at my team leaders. Jeter answered the question for me: "Well, it's a large canyon that follows the border. The Taliban are trying to ambush vehicles passing through, and failing miserably."
The elder only looked more confused after that. Something was definitely wrong. "You have travelled far, indeed," said the elder. "There are no canyons anywhere near here. And these Taliban sound like clumsy demons, much unlike the ones here. What are 'vehicles'?"
"They are carriages that move by themselves, and transport people and cargo."
"Vehicles sound incredible!" said the elder. "What do they look like? Where can you get them?"
I could already see where this conversation was going-- this old man thought he was clever enough to convince us to let him have trucks or something... but that couldn't be right because everyone could see we had not brought any with us... and what are these demons the natives like to talk about? "Vehicles are extremely rare," I said. "They come from distant lands. What are demons?"
Now, the elder looked positively shocked. Was it something I said? "WHAT ARE DEMONS?!" He asked incrdulously. "They are horrible monsters that attack people and destroy villages. They can look like anything, and they are EVIL!"
"Oh," I said thinking quickly. "We call them monsters where we come from. We had one that looked like a gigantic lizard, and it destroyed a city. There was also huge monkey that could climb large buildings." Yay Hollywood: you finally did something helpful... sort of. The elder looked less shocked now, but not comforted. "We killed them, of course," I said quickly. The elder just gave me a look that said "No really?"
I put my armor back on before I left the elder's house, and I realized that some of my trust may have been premature. Anyway, later in the day I ran into the girl with the modern school uniform. My instinct said she might be more helpful.
She had just left one of the houses with a couple other people, and they seemed to be leaving the village. "Hey!" I called after them. They stopped and turned around so I ran after them.
"Hi," I said. "I'm Mike. Can I ask you a few questions?"
"Ummm, sure," she replied. "I'm Kagome."
"I'm Sango," said the girl with the massive boomerang.
"I'm Shippo," said the vertically challenged redhead. And I mean seriously short-- he barely came up to my knees. Next to this Shippo character was a yellow fox-like creature (without a long snout) with large red eyes and two tails. The creature purred.
"I'm Mirouku," said the monk. "It is a pleasure to meet you, sir." I noticed his right hand was wrapped in a cloth.
"I'm Inuyasha," said the boy with the longest white hair I had ever seen. I noticed he carried a sword, and his yellow eyes reminded me of Brent Spiner from Star Trek.
"Kagome you said? Can we talk now?"
"Okay...?" she replied.
"How did you get here?" I asked. "You look completely out of place here."
She told me a long winded story that began with falling down a well, and I had to ask her to explain everything at least twice. At the end of her story, I only understood two things: we were officially out of Afghanistan, and the only way back and forth was through a well. I swear I read this almost verbatim in a Lewis Carroll story way back when I was in grade school.
"Can we follow you back to the well where your story began?" I asked.
"Well," Kagome began, and her friends gave me strange looks. "We aren't going directly back there. You see, we're trying to find the rest of the Shikon Jewel shards. Besides, how did you get here?" She asked.
"You already know about the War Against Terrorism, right?" I asked. Kagome nodded, but I had to explain it to her friends. "So we were chasing terrorists into a cave. We did not find the terrorists, but suddenly the cave collapsed. We could not move the debris, so we tried to find another way out. And that's how we got here."
"So, you're like demon slayers from Kagome's time?" The girl named Sango suggested.
"Uhhhhh sure... what are these demons everybody is calling us, anyway?" I asked.
I could not understand half of her answer, but it seemed to come down to large creatures vaguely resembling real animals, except bigger, generally more violent and utilizing magical abilities. Hmmm... And to think that the creatures we encountered two nights ago did not sound entirely human... oh snap! We had been luckier than I realized at the time. At least they were more patient and understanding than the elder had been.
"What kind of weapons do you use?" she asked.
"All kinds of weapons," I answered. "Our standard weapons are Colt M4 assault rifles with 5.56 milimeter bullets."
Sango blinked twice, and looked at me like I had sprouted another head. Kagome also picked up on this, and tried to explain: "A rifle is a hollow stick loaded with pellets. When you pull the trigger, the rifle goes 'BOOM!' and the pellets fly out and kill whoever is standing in front of it."
"Can I see one of these rifles?" Sango asked.
At that moment, PFC Johnson wandered into the conversation. "Hey guys," he said. "What's up?"
I seized the opportunity. "Private, unsling your weapon." Johnson handed me his rifle, with an expression of the utmost confusion on his face. Holding it in the below-ready position, I pulled back the charging handle and locked it in place to inspect the chamber. I raised the barrel in the air, and a bullet fell out of the chamber. I glanced at Private Johnson, and he had a look of terror and shock on his face. I released the bolt, which moved forward with a loud "SLAM!" and I picked up the bullet. "Private, what is this?" I did not wait for his answer. "Put your face in the dirt and don't stop pushing until I tell you to."
"Yes, Sergeant." He dropped where he was standing and assumed the front-leaning rest position. He would be doing push-ups for awhile. Turning back to Kagome and her friends, I explained: "Leaving ammunition in a rifle is one of the most dangerous things you can do, because an accidental discharge could kill somebody. See this?" I held up the bullet. When one of these is in the rifle and the rifle is discharged, this piece of metal flies out, and punches a hole in whoever or whatever happens to be in front of it. If the weapon is accidentally fired, then you could hurt or kill a friend. And that's bad."
"So what happens when you run out of those things?" Sango asked. "Aren't you helpless then?"
"That's why each of us carries three hundred bullets, and the machine gunners carry two thousand. By the way, how long do you intend to stay here at this village?"
"We'll be staying here a few days," said Mirouku. "There's a demon that preys on the villagers here."
"I see," I said. Meaning he might as well have been speaking Swahili. But if they stayed a few days, then we could get some R&R while we waited with them "Private, you can stop pushing now," I told PFC Johnson. I turned to Sango and said "Is that really a massive boomerang you're carrying around?"
"Yes," she replied. "It's made of demon bones, and it's my weapon of choice when I fight demons."
"Does it actually work?" Johnson asked. "I mean, I've never seen one that big."
Sango took it off her back, spun it around her head, and threw it. I did not think it would ever get off the ground, but it was amazing to watch in action. It flew gracefully and returned to Sango, who retrieved it with seemingly no effort. I bet it took her years to master that trick.
My squad and I kept busy for the rest of the day-- cleaning our weapons, comparing notes with Sango and her friends, meeting the villagers... I spent some time helping them in their work-- some of the houses looked like meteors had hit them, and the villagers were rebuilding. I learned that the damage had been done by demons, which scared me a little bit.
At nightfall, we retired back to the houses for sleep.
-------------------------------------
A/N: This chapter was more about establishing the plot and saying what needed to be said. The story should improve from this point forward.
