I regained consciousness with my eyes still closed. I felt water on my foot and the heat of the sun on my skin. A light breeze frizz of hair was tickling my forehead.
What had happened? Had I passed out during the barbed wire crawl?
I popped one eye open, then the other. I immediately squinted in the bright sunlight. Bright sunlight? What happened to the chilly, misty rain from the morning? How long had I been out? Why was it so warm?
I pulled my head up, the rest of my body still resting on the… sand? I looked ahead to see white sand beaches, brilliant blue water and rising hills of green. I was warm, sweating in the baking heat of the sun. This didn’t look like the grey, chilly Puget Sound bordered by cedar and fir forests that I was so accustomed to this time of year! It looked and felt more like Hawaii than the Pacific northwest…
What the hell was going on?
I sat upright, and watched a gentle wave roll in, the water lapping at my foot again. I swiveled my head to take in the rest of my surroundings, and saw Aaron splayed out on the sand by the water as I was.
That roused me to action—I needed to see whether he was okay!
I stumbled to my feet and ran over to where Aaron lay. I put my ear to his mouth and felt warm breath against it. He was breathing. Good!
I put my hand on his shoulder and shook. He moaned, then cracked open his eyes, squinting against the bright light of the sun, as I had. I let out bated breath in relief.
“Aaron? You okay?”
“Yeah, I guess so. What happened? I was right behind you in the barbed wire crawl, when I suddenly felt like I was falling… Wait! Why is it so warm out? And the sun?” Aaron shot upright, and his jaw dropped. “Where are we?”
“Good question. I’m thinking we’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto!” I replied, looking around again, now that I knew Aaron was fine.
I heard a cry in the distance.
“Over there!”
I looked in the direction of the sound, and my eyes widened in surprise. There was a group of about a dozen men with spears running toward us. Their bronze helmets and breastplates glimmered in the sun, crimson cloaks flowing behind them as they ran.
“Who the hell are those guys?” Aaron asked, voicing the question that was at the forefront of mind as well.
“I have a feeling we’re about to find out…” I replied.
As they approached, I saw sweat glimmering on their huge, muscled arms and legs. They were very tan with dark hair. They wore open-armed linen shirts under their breastplates that ran to lower thigh, almost like a dress, with a leather skirt, apparently to protect their upper legs. They wore open-toed leather boots and bronze armor over their shins. They looked like they belonged to some sort of classical era army. Was this some sort of anachronistic battle reenactment?
They surrounded us, spears pointed toward us and ready. If they were reenacting some sort of battle, they were taking their acting pretty seriously!
“Who are you?” said one of them in some other language that I somehow understood.
“I’m Kate, and this is Aaron,” I replied in the same language, that I could somehow speak. “Nice to meet you!”
“Come with us,” the leader of the soldier said, cryptically.
What the hell was going on here? How was I understanding and speaking some other language? Who were these guys? Where was I?
I wanted to ask all of these questions, but the expression on their leader’s face had me thinking twice. I decided to wait until we arrived at… wherever he was taking us.
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