Sometime in 1995

It wasn't the hot steaming jungle air that roused her from the black out. Nor was it the feeling of tiny insect legs as the foreign bugs skittered over her sweaty exposed skin. Or even the splitting headache that was currently making her head throb.

It was the scream.

Yulia's eyes flew open and shot wildly around her, scanning for the source of the noise that had pulled her violently out of her sleep. She noticed immediately that she was lying on damp ground. Using her arms, she tried to push herself up, but when she felt a sudden rushing of blood from her head, she decided that was a bad idea and slumped to the ground again. She landed sharply on the hilt of her bowie knife, which was strapped to her left hip, causing her to wince. Her eyes continued to dart around her, even through her disorientation and the tiny sparks of light dancing across her field of vision. She noticed that she had difficulty breathing, and assumed it was because of the fact that it was over 100 degrees; the air hot and close. She was drenched with sweat, hair sticking to her face and noticed a few large insects crawling over her belly. She looked at them with a grimace, for they were bugs she had never seen before, and brushed them away with her right hand. Pulling her left hand up to meet her right, she frisked herself, as if taking account the gear she had strapped to her body. Mentally taking note of what she had, she felt the Velcro strap upon her left wrist which housed her digital watch and compass, her vest still held about 7 or 8 magazines for her MK3 pistol, which was still strapped to her right leg. At her left shoulder was a tiny radio. A Power Bar or two she could feel in the cargo pocket of her khaki pants, but no water. Her eyes still darted around frantically.

Where was she? And how did she get there?

Around her, there was no parachute, though she was certain that the last thing she remembered was jumping out of the plane. She sure as hell wasn't supposed to land in the rainforest. Her mission was taking her to Guatemala, yes, but the drop was supposed to be on the coastline, miles away from the forest. She must have jumped too early, her chute caught up in a tree before she fell and was knocked unconscious.

Damned civil war.

After a few more minutes of gathering herself together, she managed to pull herself to her feet. Quite suddenly, another scream echoed throughout the forest again. Yulia crouched suddenly like a cat, whipping out her pistol. Her head shot up, looking for the source of the scream. She had nearly forgotten about the blood-curdling noise that shook the ground beneath her. It wasn't the scream of a local...it didn't even sound human. It was a throaty, guttural shriek that seemed to tighten her skin and made her blood run cold. Whoever it was seemed to be in a lot of pain...

After the shrieks died again, she heard the rushing of water. Remembering her dire thirst, she broke into a run towards the sound. All around her, the branches whipped her face. She barreled through the brush, unaware that she was smearing drops of blood seeping from a shoulder wound onto nearby tree branches...

When she came to the tree line, she smiled slightly at the sight of water rushing over smooth stones. The brook looked clean enough...she didn't have any purification tablets anyways; she had no choice. She knelt down on the bank and plunged her lips into the water, and took a few deeps gulps of the cold liquid. When she had her fill, she slumped onto her backside, crunching into the gravel with the treads of her boots. She squinted her eyes shut as she removed her outer shirt, wincing at the pain she felt in her right shoulder. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that she was bleeding profusely. She tore a bit of her outer shirt into a strip and fashioned a bandage, wrapping her cut up tightly. She cleaned herself up as best she could, then reached for her radio, which she had laid upon the bank of the river. Bringing it to her mouth, she depressed the receiver, then spoke, looking at the watch strapped to her wrist:

'May Day, May Day. Piper Nine, this is Aurora Three. My position is...my position...is..."

Her voice trailed off as she noticed that the GPS coordinate numbers on her watch were cycling frantically, as if they were confused as to where they were. Normally, the watch merely flashed an error message when it wasn't working properly, but she had never seen it do this before. Frustrated, she tossed the radio and looked up into the sky.

Then she got her answer.

Floating above her head wasn't the regular sun and sliver of moon that would have been in the sky at this time...rather, it was of a large reddish planet, dangling very close to the atmosphere, another brilliantly illuminated planet behind it.

Her jaw dropped. Her eyes widened. She broke into a cold sweat.

So much for evac.