Colder Welcome

Finally introducing some anime characters in...no flaming me about the fact that it doesn't fit into any story line you know of...Michelle's arrival is 'upsetting' the normal events...so the story line is obviously altered...therefore creating a new dimension.

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The morning came to find Michelle and her horse several miles out of town. Michelle surveyed the country side as the mare plodded along the road. She had decided to head away from the mountain range, and now they seemed to be headed towards a larger town that looked to be in slightly better shape.

Boo spooked as loud plane like machines flew over-head and Michelle scrambled to stay on and not be thrown. "Easy girl, calm down..." she petted the mare on the neck and calmed her down, "Lets hurry on to the city up there...maybe we can find someone who can explain what is going on to us..." She nudged the mare into a canter and they hurried down the road.

Awhile later, they road up into the town only to find it virtually a ghost town. "Hello?" Michelle called out as Boo plodded along. "Anyone here?" They were greeted by silence. Michelle frowned, "Great...this is just great...how am I supposed to figure out where we are if there is no one to ask?"

Boo just snorted in response and picked up to a trot, smelling water.

"Eep!" Michelle wobbled and clung to the horse's neck as she sped up to the water. "Gees..." Michelle waited till the mare stopped, then slid off while the horse drank. "Hmmmm..." Michelle knelt down by the water and looked at some footprints in the damp dirt. "Looks like this is a popular spot, Boo...maybe we can find someone to tell us where we are."

*click*

Michelle froze feeling cold metal against her neck. Boo raised her head and looked back at the person behind Michelle, twitched her ears and snorted.

"Stand up...slowly...and keep your hands where I can see them..." The voice was male and, to Michelle, sounded young.

She did as she was told, but didn't turn, since he didn't specify that. "Aaahhh!!!" Boo took the moment of Michelle's instability to move towards a large patch of grass...dragging Michelle, who was on the other end of the lead rope, along with her. "Whoa! Boo! No!!!!!" Boo's ears were pinned back as the she plunged forward to the grass, "Stupid...horse....Stop!" Michelle yanked hard on the lead rope, forcing the animal to stop. Michelle panted hard and turned slowly to look at the young man who had a gun pointed at her.

Brown hair covered one eye as he watched her fight slightly with her horse, the gun never wavering from its target. A less than pleasant look on his face.

Michelle's face was flushed from embarrassment and from fighting with the horse. 'Oi...this was not the type of help I wanted...' she thought to herself.

He motioned the gun towards a building, "Walk..." She nodded and lead Boo into the building quietly. He followed her in and closed the door. The building was large and particularly dark except for the few stray rays of light that were able to make their way through the painted over windows. "You can let the horse go...she can't go anywhere and there is nothing in here she can hurt herself on..."

Michelle blinked and nodded, removing the lead rope from the halter, 'well...at least he knows enough about horses to know her gender...' she silently comforted herself. She turned to look back at him as Boo wandered off in hopes of finding food.

"Sit..." He motioned to a chair with his gun. She nodded and did as she was told. He sat down in a chair across from her, having put away the gun and crossing his arms. "Name?"

"Michelle..." She looked at him nervously, taking momentary glances around room they were in.

"Rank?" He just eyed her coldly.

She blinked and looked back at him, "Rank?"

He saw the baffled look on her face and took a moment in silence to assess the situation. "What are you doing here?"

Michelle looked at him, then in hopes that he might be able to help her, she blurted everything out quickly, "That's kinda what I want to know...see...I don't even know where here is...or how I got here either...one minute Boo and I were headed to the round pen then there was this sudden flash of light and then we were in the field filled with metal and..." she continued on with her relatively short story till the point where he met up with her. He just blinked as she finished. "Its true!!!" she whined.

"That is the lamest story a spy has ever come up with..." his one visible eye seemed to harden and grow cold as he looked at her.

She blinked and grew angry, "And if I were a spy, wouldn't you think I could come up with a better story than that? I don't even know if this is the year 2002 anymore!!!!"

He blinked as she stated the date, "What year did you say its supposed to be?"

"The year 2002!" She blinked and calmed down a little.

"Ok...so maybe you are telling the truth then..." He stood up, "...too bad you had to be here..."

She blinked and turned to look at him as he walked off, "What do you mean? Where is...here?"

"Doesn't matter where 'here' is for you...this whole planet is in a war..." His back was turned to her as he opened a laptop computer and started typing on it.

She jumped up and walked over to him, "Well...what...what am I supposed to do? How do I get back home? Huh?" Her voice gave away her panic and nervousness.

He scowled lightly and angled the laptop so she couldn't' see the screen though it didn't matter because she was looking at him instead of the computer. "Let me contact someone, they may know how to help you..."

"Ok..." she bit her lip and turned looking for Boo, "I'm...just going to go find my horse...while you talk..." She walked off in the direction she thought the mare had gone.

He watched her walk off, then resumed working on the laptop.

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(08/15/02)

Author's notes: Worth pursuing? Please let me know...