Chloe was a redneck girl from Texas who joined the US air force to "Make a difference." That only means that she was made a desk pilot for a "Top Secret" computer based job that roughly translates to setting appointments and checking emails for a high ranking officer who didn't know his own ass from a hole in the ground. His greatest trait was an impressive lack of anything resembling common sense. After eight years of being little more then eye candy for him she got out, moved to the middle of Texas, and took up prepping. What better way to say "stop bothering me" like collecting a huge stockpile of guns, ammo, body armor, and other expensive gear nice enough to make a navy seal team blush. And an old slant back humvee, because why not? It's only five thousand dollars and is just a basic diesel engine and four speed automatic gearbox. Fix it up, fresh paint in black, and new tires and she had a new daily driver.

  See Chloe had five years to prep for any number of natural disasters. She was ready for every possible problem that could realistically happen. So long as the earth didn't vanish she would be fine. But prepping wasn't all she did as she was also a gamer, and often enjoyed online multi-player survival games. It's kinda what got her into prepping, just don't ask her how ark survival evolved leads to a girl having a closet full of guns. The answer won't make sense. But you'd learn that she likes the allosaur because it likes friends.

  She had a barn on her property that was converted into a garage and one day she was in there. She wasn't even being useful or productive honestly, just had the hood open on her humvee so she could stare at the engine. Or past it. Really she was only physically in the garage being useless, mentally she was a million miles away.

  "Where did the time go?" She asked the tool chest to her left. Said tool chest, as expected, didn't answer. Not that she expected it to, she wasn't crazy after all. Yet.

  After a moment of uncaring silence she would close the hood, kill the light, and lock up the barn before going inside to eat whatever leftovers she had. She received a text as she sat and looked, and her blood ran cold. It was a picture of her as she was sitting down. Then she realized something, the angle and timing, she should have seen someone or something in the corner the picture was taken from. Then she heard a voice coming from behind her, where the wall her chair was against resided.

  "Sorry for the fright, but I needed to get your attention and to wake you up fully." The voice said in a soft yet masculine tone, and it made her neck hair stand on end.

  "Who are you and how are we talking!" She demanded, her tone hard as she rose to her feet to look around not quite frantically. But she definitely was not eager to be jumped in her own home.

  "Call me the messenger. I have a proposal for you. A role I think you'd be perfect for. I want to send you to another world, one that is safe for you to breathe on specifically. I will not give you any information other then that there are locals. And you have 3 days to decide, and prepare if you plan to go. If you don't want to I will simply find someone else who does." The voice said in an almost rehearsed manner, almost as if they needed to have this conversation many times before.

  Chloe would look down at her meal of leftovers, lasagna specifically. Her life for the last five years was just the same routine. Wake up, spend government money on random gear, eat unhealthy food, and do too much pt. She fucking hated it.

  "Fine. In three days we will speak again. I gotta get my affairs in order." And with that silence remained as she grabbed her keys. She needed to go buy food grade water containers and a solar generator. And pick up her latest order at the local gun shop. She only had three days to prep.

  10 gallons of distilled water in two separate food grade water barrels, 30 days worth of food consisting of canned fruit, MREs, and beef jerky. She also made sure to get seeds for various fruits, veggies, but most importantly peppers. Seasoning, paper, alcohol, and a set of tools to reload some ammo. She also bought an old fuel trailer and filled it with diesel. It should last a year on that trailer.

  The back seats of the humvee came out in favor of space to put ammo boxes, a crate of food and water. The gunpowder in the bed with the solar generator, all electronics in the passenger seat. She was bringing a military grade touchscreen tablet, two laptops one for survival and one for gaming. She refused to go insane with boredom. The also had a blue sleeping bag, matching tent, a pillow, and a weighted blanket. She had multiple camo uniforms, one in green digital, two in black multicam, and one in tiger stripe. Four pairs of boots to match the clothes.

  She also had sunglasses, tinted goggles, three helmets, and plate carriers. Two of the helmets were mich 2000 and the third was a dev tac ronin. Again in green digital camo, tiger stripe, and this time solid black. All kitted with night vision, flashlights, pouches, and holsters. She also had an axe, a field shovel, a smaller hatchet, a compass, a camping mess kit, a fire starter, a gas mask, a couple first aid kits, binoculars, a rechargeable flashlight, and a few rolls of duct tape. For guns she chose five. An HK USP .45 with a suppressor. An HK G3 in .308 with an LPVO and bayonet. An HK33 in 5.56 with an ACOG, suppressor, and collapsing stock. A Mossberg 590A1 in 12 gage. And her new favorite toy, a PGN Hecate 2 in .50 bmg with a ten power scope. She just bought that beast and absolutely refused to not be able to shoot it.

  She also had plenty of oils and cleaning tools for those guns. She also brought a few hunting knives and a pair of black powder coat k-bars. She might have been a desk pilot but she knew what guns she liked and how to perform less then legal modifications to them. But she waited until day three to violate any gun laws, not like the ATF would find her in another world. And if she was crazy then she may as well have fun before her mind completely goes.

  In the end she chose to only make the HK33 into a machine gun. And as the hour drew nearer she packed everything up and sat in her humvees driver seat. Suddenly a semi familiar voice spoke up.

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  "Do You Honestly Believe All That Is Necessary? You know what. Have fun." He would say in a tone thick with attitude.

  Then everything went white, then black, then tie die. Then she woke up in her humvee, in the middle of a forest. That counted for something at least. She put on her sunglasses and checked her watch. 9:14 am. Nope, sun is too high. She reset her watch to noon and started driving slowly. Maybe she would find a clearing and then pick a direction from there.

  She counted herself lucky that the massive redwood like trees were spread far enough apart that she could reliably drive through them without slamming into them constantly, however she still occasionally ran over a large root and bounced slightly from the drops and bumps. As she drove it occurred to her that the only noise she had to listen to was the rumble of her engine and the crunch of dirt and sticks under the tires, so she stopped, grabbed a laptop that had games, movies, and music on it and started blasting some music to pass the time. 80s rock should do nicely as she drove along, occasionally checking her compass so she didn't drive in circles.

  After a couple hours she found herself parked at the edge of a field, engine off as she stood on top of the humvee and looking over the area with her binoculars. She couldn't see any signs of life other then a few small birds that took flight when she first arrived, and a couple deer a couple hundred yards away. Or at least they resembled deer, but with tiger like stripes in their fur. And we're a bit more squat and muscular. Definitely looks like a good source of meat if she needs. But it was getting late in the afternoon and she needed lunch. So with her mind made she opened an mre, and took the snack bread and peanut butter and ate the most bland lunch she had in most of her life.

  Meanwhile back in the forest the hunting party of greyscale keep had just crossed the stranges pair of tracks they ever seen. Not because they were completely alien, no. Carts do exist and were common on the countryside. No, these were strange because they far more then the width of their own hands, almost double in fact, and a cart wheel was closer to a couple fingers in width. And was not accompanied by animal tracks unlike any other cart.

  Dakotas ears twitched as they swiveled atop his head, listening for any draft animals nearby, in case the cart these tracks belonged to got separated and kept rolling along, but none were heard.

  He would then look at his hunting partner, Hunter, and sigh.

  "Well I think we have a runaway wagon from a neighboring village. Let's follow the tracks and find this thing, maybe we'll get some rewards for bringing it back to whoever lost it." And he stood up and slung his longbow on his back, Hunter following his lead as they started to walk.

  "It's pretty messed up that your first thought is let's get a reward for returning what might be essential supplies. But oh well. Let's go see what it is." Hunter said, scolding his childhood friend as they walked. The others were still out hunting and would be for the next couple hours at least.

  As they walked they noticed the tracks went over some large roots, surely it would have snagged and stop without something pulling it. The forest was devoid of the sounds of the usual wildlife, almost as if they were ran off. Then they heard it. It was music, but not any they ever heard.

  Chloe would have her driver's side door open as she blasted music and washed down the peanut butter with some warm water. Then she noticed something move in the mirror and she leaned out to look. What she saw caused her to freeze in place, two people, or at least she assumed they were some kind of people. They looked like a mix between a human and a cat. They stood upright like a human, had five fingers, boots roughly shaped like her own, and flat ish faces. But she also noticed the tails, cat like ears, and stripped pattern on their arms. They had a lithe build similar to her own, and wore light colors, white and green mostly. They both froze when they saw her.

  Well it was definitely a wagon of some kind, and Dakota even saw the owner. He and hunter froze qhen they seen her, poor thing lost her ears and tail at some point. And her face was even somewhat malformed, the nose was all wrong. More like an ape then their own. She wore dark colors, black specifically. So she wasn't a very proud one if she preferred to hide herself.

  Hunter would speak first. "Oh gods. Are you okay ma'am? Oh. Right. She can't hear me. No ears..." He would say in a saddened tone. Then suddenly she spoke in a very melodic and soothing voice. But it was incomprehensible barks and grunts. Probably a result of her loss of hearing with her ears gone.

  Dakota would step closer to her, offering her his hand as he gave her that winning smile of his. She would step out of her cart but maintain a weary expression it seemed.

  So they have bows, blades, and aren't armored. Probably out hunting then. Not some kind of soldiers at least so that's good. One way even walking up with what looked like a smile. Their language was of course complete gibberish. A few meows and hisses at least. But that did no good here. Chloe stepped out and smiled back, waving politely as one approached. She even cut off her music for them. Not that it helped them talk. But if they were hunting then she had an idea. She wouldn't give up any precious mres but beef jerky was another story. She opened a pouch and offered some to the individual who walked up after eating a piece for herself to show it was good. He if course hesitated before taking some himself.

  Trail jerky? An odd gift but okay. Dakota would accept the offered jerky and eat it. By the gods it was glorious. It was so full of flavor, and before he knew it Dakota ate nearly half the pouch. He looked at the woman, ashamed of himself, but she just smiled and pushed the pouch into his hands insistently.

  "Hunter you need to try this. It's the best trail jerky I've ever tasted." And with that Hunter walked up and ate, and then devoured the remaining jerky.

  "You were right! That was amazing! I wonder if she could teach us to make ours like that."

  Chloe would have a smile on her face as the two excited cat people chattered with each other. It was obvious the jerky was a hit. Then they both looked at her while pointing eagerly in a specific direction.

  "If I had to bet, they are pointing towards a town. Good." And with that Chloe checks her compass and writes down a note of the direction on a notebook she brought. Then they try to pull her along in that direction. However Chloe was not about to leave everything behind.

  In a swift motion she was freed from the mans grasp and had climbed into the driver seat of her humvee and started the engine.

  Dakota looked stunned as she pulled away, only for her to jump into her wagon and it start making a frightening noise. Then it moved.

  "It moves on its own. Of course look at it. It's obviously enchanted like some of the carts nobility rides around in in the big cities. Hunter go gather the others and start heading home, I'll guide her and meet you there." And Dakota ran to the other side to join her inside. Thankfully the woman seemed to understand his intentions and let him in as hunter ran into the woods. She almost followed hunter before Dakota pointed towards their village. If this was like the enchanted carts he knew of this would take at least an hour, but it was a two and a half hour journey on foot.

  Then Dakota yelped in fear as the cart lurched forward and kept gaining speed as it grew louder.

  "By the gods its so fast!" He exclaimed, his tone going from fear to excitement. They would be back in no time.