1205 June 19th, 2020 CE

Modesto Junior College West Campus (currently a refugee camp), Modesto, California

It took a bit of time but Andrew finally found them. “Come here you two.”

Both of them shouted in happiness when they noticed his voice. “Dad!”

They ran up to him and embraced him in a deep hug. Andrew smiled as they hugged him. His son was the first to speak up.“Dad, you smell awful.”
Andrew chuckled. “Yeah, my clothing has seen better days.”

A woman approached him. “Sir, these are your children?”

“Yeah. I’m Andrew Molanos, part of the SFPD. I was helping with the evacuations and I was separated from them”

The woman nodded. “Thank you for your service, sir.”

“I was just doing my job. The entire police force was there alongside me.”

The woman who was probably part of the team helping at the refugee camp nodded again. “I’m Sarah, a volunteer helping parents find missing children and also taking care of the children that were evacuated without their parents. We just need you to fill out a form to confirm that these children have found their guardian. Follow me, sir.”

“Sure. Do we have any news on the situation?”

“I think I heard that the military is taking back the city.”

Andrew gave a sigh of relief. “That’s great news.”

 

Island in the Pacific

The sixteen men of the SEAL team platoon slowly inched towards the center of the island. Black gas masks obscured their faces and they were all wearing heavy CBRN gear. The entire island had been flattened and only a couple pieces of rubble was present here and there. In front of the sixteen men was a mass of swirling green air. It was extraordinarily tall and wide. To the sides of the portal were pieces of what looked to have been a frame. One of the soldiers spoke. “I think that’s the portal.”

Another soldier nodded. “Move up slowly. We are dealing with the unknown here. I’m gonna contact Command.”

<<< “We have confirmed visual of the portal. A small part of what we believe was the frame of the gate is still there. The portal looks like some sort of swirling green mass”

 “Can you confirm that the island is clear?”

“As far as we can see, the island is empty other than the portal. It has been basically flattened by the nuclear blast.”

“Copy that. Set up positions around the portal. Go ahead with what was planned. Stay cautious.”

“Understood.”>>>

 

The three men set down each of their heavy rectangular objects on the ground and started setting them up. They ensured that the electronics on each were still working. “All ready to go.”

The squad leader, a Chief Petty Officer, nodded. “Send the first one in.”

The heavy rectangular objects were TALONs, a small unmanned ground vehicle capable of multiple missions. These specific TALONs were special operations types which meant they were outfitted with cameras and listening devices. 

 

The first TALON’s caterpillar tracks spun the vehicle forward and into the portal. As they were situated on the edge of the portal, It was a strange sight for the SEAL team. One half of the unmanned ground vehicle was into the portal so if you looked on the other side of the portal, it wasn’t there.

 

1510 June 19th, 2020 CE

Washington D.C.

Three screens around the Situation Room came to life as a videofeed was broadcasted from each of the TALON’s cameras directly to the White House. Ronell commented whilst staring at the screens. “It definitely looks like a portal.”

On another screen, Commander Orville, the liaison officer for this mission and the commanding officer of the SEAL Team that the platoon conducting the mission was part of, spoke up. “They are sending it in now, Mr. President.”

 

Island in the Pacific

One of the SEALs was flipping switches on what seemed to be a computer in a metal storage box which was the Operator Control Unit for the TALON. The operator of the first TALON spoke. “First one is in. Visuals are working. The connection and controls are fine. Mobility is good.”

The lieutenant gave further commands. “Everything seems to work. Send the rest in.”

???
The TALON’s tracks spurred up dust behind it as it moved on the dusty ground. A mechanical zooming noise could be heard as its camera adjusted by moving up and down. Two of the other TALONs entered from the portal and split off in other directions to the left and right.

 

Washington D.C.

Cralson spoke out loud to himself. “This is definitely another world.”

Each video showed a red sky devoid of any celestial elements. Not a single vegetation could be seen. It seemed like a desert if not for the fact that it was clearly red dust.

Ronell nodded. “It looks just like Mars. Now where did these monsters come from? It seems completely empty.”

Commander Orville replied. “We will have the operators start moving them further and seeing what they can find.”

10 minutes later

“That’s a city… isn’t it…”

There was a bit of doubt in Ronell’s voice as he viewed the video feed.

Cralson nodded. “I suppose so…”

One of the TALONs was perched on what seemed to be the edge of a cliff. It was the only one with something other than a dusty red desert in front it. The video from this specific unmanned ground vehicle showed what seemed to be a black mass of objects. Some of the objects seemed to have the appearance of skyscrapers whilst most looked like spires. It was hard to distinguish the exact features. It looked like a city but it felt off to everyone in the room.

“How close do you think we can get?”

Commander Orville replied. “Mr. President, none of the TALONs have run into any of the creatures yet so I think we can get quite close.”

“Then get it as close as possible without it being seen.”

 

To the people sitting in the Situation Room, it was surprising that these monsters even had a city seeing how mindless the invading horde was. On screen, as the camera from the ground drone zoomed in, they could make out some of the beings that were outside of the city. It all but confirmed that the city was occupied by the same creatures that had landed in San Francisco.

 

The camera zoomed back out as they took in the view of the city. Spirals made out of some dark material could be seen reaching the skies. The entire city was made of some sort of dark material. The connection to the video feed suddenly ceased. Ronell looked concerned. “Huh, what happened?”

The video then came on again. Cralson responded. “Probably a connection issue. It is being broadcasted back from a portal.”

Commander Orville’s words interrupted Cralson. “Mr. President, the SEAL team is reporting that the portal is flickering.”

“Flickering? Is it about to close?”

“We are uncertain… it seemed to have stopped flickering now.”

“Does this mean it could close at any second? We have no idea how to maintain the portal do we?”

The Commander shook his head. “As we don’t have much information on portals and how they exactly work, we can’t really assume anything.”

Ronell nodded. “Well… we found something. What do we do now?”