Mettle's Forge

Drill Sergeant Rachel Doss thought her army life and career was pretty exciting, but the excitement had barely begun. One of her soldiers—Mark Windle—turns out to have an extraordinary past involving a parallel dimension. After a freak accident, he draws thirteen Texan citizens—including Rachel—into an alien wilderness with no way home.

The thirteen refugees include Cindy, a teenage girl with an abusive past and her young sister Charlie; Jamal, a quiet nerd with a streak of genius, Dennis, an aging Vietnam vet and the environmentalist fanatic Martina.

The disparate group faces magical hazards, giant predators, hostile natives, and even a demon! Their biggest challenge, though, is to cooperate long enough to reach civilization—and somehow keep their humanity.

As they struggle to survive, everyone's secrets unfold and they discover that perhaps the group isn't as ordinary as they thought—and perhaps more than survival awaits them.