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My worst nightmare
Kali

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“Entry points secured,” Atlas reported.
   “Bishop, Stallion, it’s a go,” I whispered.
   We had eliminated all the men guarding Craden’s sprawling estate, but I wasn’t about to take any unnecessary risks with a paranoid terrorist. I’d rather be safe than sorry.
   “Cobra, prepare for a quick exit,” I ordered.
   “Sure thing, Top.”
   “Target acquired.” Bishop’s voice rang clear through my earpiece.
   “Target terminated,” Stallion stated. His tone was somber, his usual mirth gone.
   “All right, let’s get out of here, boys,” I said as I retreated to our vehicle.
   In less than five seconds, Cobra had the JLTV’s wheels spinning, throwing sand and gravel behind us.
   “That was eas—”
   “Don’t jinx it, Stallion,” Atlas grumbled as an SUV passed us from the opposite direction.
   My gut had been churning since we got assigned this mission on the posh side of Afghanistan. But these were our orders, and we were one of the best black ops teams out there.
   My eyes remained glued to the mirror. Fuck. It was heading straight to the mansion we’d just evacuated. “We’re going to have company. Cobra, take us to base, yesterday.”
   Sooner than I’d anticipated, we had five open-top vehicles on our tail. Our Joint Light Tactical Vehicle was fast, but not fast enough. They were gaining on us, but at least with suicide armored doors, and a cabin wrapped in an armored shell, we could take fire and still make it out alive.
   “Bishop track their positions; Atlas, get on the M2; Stallion, blow up those shitheads; Cobra, floor it.” I barked orders, and the men jumped into action.
   The vibrations from the machine-gun fire went straight through me; adrenaline-fueled electricity stimulated every muscle in my body. Turning the laptop my way, I sent out a distress signal and accessed the satellite feed. Surveying the surrounding areas, I searched for the least compromising route.
   I needed to get my brothers in arms out of there safely. I’d never failed to protect them before and I wasn’t planning to do so now.
   “Take that moth—” The loud explosion of one of our pursuers’ cars muffled Stallion’s voice.
   “Incoming vehicles on our east and west side,” I yelled to our driver, “they’re trying to surround us.”
   He shifted gears and pushed the JLTV to its limits. He was hoping to outrun them.
   “Three remaining,” Bishop reported as he took another jeep out.
   “Shit! Four o’clock—they got RPGs,” Atlas spun the M2 and released rapid-fire on the hostiles.
   Cobra swerved left.
   “Incoming,” Stallion yelled.
   For a second, time stood still as our vehicle was lifted off the ground.
   My breath caught in my throat, and my heart stopped beating. I’d failed.
   I saw Cobra’s surprise, regret, and fear in that millisecond our eyes met, for as protective as I was of them, they were equally of me.
   Then a tremendous blow rocked us—BOOSH! The awful sound of the blast drowned all others. An immense weight was thrown on me as the JLTV flipped forward and I was ejected out the windshield.
   The impact forced my breath out of my lungs. Dust filled the air and slowly settled over and around me as I lay on the ground, too shocked to move.
   Sand should be soft, not hard like concrete…I’m a hundred percent sure that I should be hurting right now, yet I don’t feel any pain…where am I…?
   Voices speaking Dari caught my attention, but for some reason I couldn’t turn my head to look at them.
   Why couldn’t I turn my head, and why was the sun so bright?
   Exhaustion threatened to pull me under, but I knew I was forgetting something important. My ears were ringing so loud that I heard nothing else. I closed my eyes, hoping to jog my memory. A few moments later my eyelids became too heavy, but I managed to open them again when I heard an animal’s soft growls.
   Oooh, what a beautiful kitty…
   Was it hungry? I doubted I was tasty, but it kept prowling my way.
   Oooh, what big teeth it has…
   What I initially thought was a small kitten, turned out to be an enormous sabertooth who decided sitting on me was its best idea. Strangely, it didn’t add to the weight pressing on my chest and leg, and the fact this species was extinct was of no importance at that moment.
   No longer having the strength to keep my eyes open, I shut them. Everything went black one moment, and the next, sounds registered.
   Chop-chop-chop—
   The noise the helicopter blades made was growing louder when someone whispered, “Don’t you travel to the Vaults of No Return! Hold on for us, we need you.” His deep, raspy timbre breached the walls that safeguarded my heart and reached my soul.
   “I’m not going anywhere,” I said, but it came out as gurgles.
   I wanted to look at him. To see who this stranger was, whose voice—so alien, yet so familiar—had touched my heart. Alas, exhaustion reared its ugly head, forcing me into a dark abyss.

Pain…excruciating pain brought me back to consciousness. I blinked repeatedly, trying to get something, anything, to focus. The sound of whirling rotors and the relatively smooth ride meant I was on the helicopter I’d heard earlier, but all was not well.
   My thigh was on fire…
   Fingers probed my leg…
   Needles pierced my oversensitive skin…
   Yellow-gold eyes focused solely on me…
   The sight of a red-skinned man—no, not man, he was something else…
   Was I dead?
   “You will live.”
   His words were foreign to me, yet I understood their meaning.
   Had he just decreed I’d live?
   I wanted to laugh, but as he placed his huge hands on my chest, electricity zinged from his palms to my body. Searing heat emanated from his fingers, taking my breath and consciousness away.
 

Aliens didn’t exist, yet the creatures running around me weren’t human, and I was no longer on familiar ground.
   Was my team playing a prank on me? I swear if this is Stallion’s doing, I’m killing him this time!
   I slapped my cheek. There was no feeling.
   Nope, Stallion’s safe. I’m hallucinating. There was no other explanation.
   The craft we were in lurched sideways, throwing one of the beings on me. An involuntary scream escaped when the huge soldier passed through me.
   Enemies didn’t scare me easily, but having an alien—at least two feet taller than me—heading my way had me jumping out of my bones.
   Okay, Kali, relax. You’re dreaming, probably after watching one of your favorite sci-fi movies. You’re safe. You can explore and look for the guys, just in case.
   My pep talk worked. My breathing slowed, and my heart, only moments from escaping my chest, settled.
   A purple-skinned soldier with emerald eyes caught my attention. He was barking orders to everyone else.
   Mmm, sexy.
   Where the hell had that come from? I needed to find a way to wake up, not lust after an alien. With limbs heavier than stones, I left the commotion—and the very alluring being—to go exploring.
   You never know when you will need to navigate a spaceship. I snickered.
   I was in a happy bubble, a tourist on vacation ambling around, when a ton of images flooded my mind’s eye, bringing me to my knees.
   Mere physical pain, I could endure. Emotional, though, was a whole other beast. I curled up into the fetal position, shivering, moaning, and sobbing as the knowledge of failing to protect my team returned to the forefront.
   Why was I here? I needed to be with my men.
   Suddenly, I was pulled from the spaceship and my wish was granted.

Someone threw ice-cold water on me. Or so I’d thought. I was back on Earth, but when I looked down I was dry, and…semitransparent, and…floating.
   What the heck?
   I whipped my head around. My body was on an operating table, two surgeons working in tandem, with five nurses helping them. The one removing a sizable piece of glass from my thigh was blond, whereas the other removing an equally big piece from my chest had hair the color of a raven’s wings.
   Great. More scars to add to my extensive collection. I floated closer.
   I’ve never seen doctors operating on people. Oh…is that my heart? Gross!
   I averted my eyes, but the truth was undeniable. They had blood and fluids going into my body and a tube through my mouth providing oxygen. I was in terrible shape.
   Maybe it was time I let go; I felt tired, and I had no one to get back to anyway.
   Your father, a voice whispered, and I hushed it.
   There’s a man for you out there, the voice insisted.
   “Well, now there goes my chance of snatching a boyfriend,” I replied, then mumbled, “as if the General—who shall not be named—hadn’t ruined me already.”
   The voice quieted, and my eyes reverted to the sight in front of me. The doctors were doing everything in their power to save my life.
   What was the point? I had been fighting for my country since I came of age, and I felt drained and empty. One of my worst nightmares had become reality. I’d failed to protect my team—my family by choice, the brothers I never had—and it might have cost them their lives. They were all I had, but maybe they’d be better off without me.
   Having decided, I spun around, ready to leave the living behind. Tingling morphed into pins and needles, and then into sharp stabbing pains all over me, stealing my breath. The doctor working on my leg looked at the HRM, cursing.
   The machine emitted a shrill sound when my heart started skipping beats.
   “Hunter, her blood pressure is falling radically, we’re losing her,” the blond doc told his colleague.
   “Let me die,” I yelled, but no one heard me.
   “Damn, the left coronary artery just ruptured,” Dr. Hunter replied.
   I didn’t want to hear anything else. I could see the semitransparent figures waiting for me—outlined by a white light in the distance. My gut, which had never steered me wrong, insisted that in a little bit, there’d be no more pain. All I had to do was persevere until I reached the light.
   Time to join them, I guess.
   The moment the thought crossed my mind, I heard a guttural growl and words I couldn’t understand coming from behind me.
   The deep timbre of the owner intrigued me, and I turned toward the theater once again. What I saw made me gasp, and my body convulsed on the table. The doctors were yelling things at me, or maybe at the nurses—I didn’t know.
   No one seemed to notice the enormous purple alien approaching. Didn’t they see the seven-foot-plus male?
   His presence engulfed the room, but no one was paying attention to him. How could that be? His face was shrouded in mist, and I couldn’t see his features clearly, but the rest of him was in high definition, and honestly…hard to miss.
   But he was bleeding. Was he hurt? The thought alone caused my heart to constrict.
   He headed straight toward my body; would he finish me off? Was he there to take me to the afterlife?
As if a whisper from a dream, I heard a doctor yell, We’re losing her! Then the heart rate monitor’s alarm went off. A flat line decorated the screen, and the sound propelled everyone into a frenzy.
   The male, though, was calm. I saw his lips moving, but couldn’t hear the words. When he placed his hand on my forehead, which was the only place on me that was not bloody or torn, it tickled.
   I giggled, and my body convulsed once again.
   At that exact moment, he spun his head and looked straight at me.
   You’re not dying on me, Colonel! You hear me? the raven-haired doc shouted.
   So enthralled by the alien, I paid the doctor no mind.
   “Come back now!” His voice carried the authority of someone who was used to being obeyed. I didn’t understand his language, but I sensed he was furious with me for contemplating giving up.
   When he realized I wasn’t responding, he bent and kissed my forehead.
   The sensation started as a light tingling, but then darkness abruptly engulfed me. The immense pain returned. All I heard before I lost consciousness was his sigh, and the steady beep-beep the HRM emitted.

The first week in the hospital after the operation passed by in a blur. Days ran into nights; time meant nothing, and I often found myself drifting away from reality. The times I was awake, I was either too numb, or drowning in guilt.
   The nurses had told me that the members of my team were patients here. They were all recovering, although Atlas had lost part of his leg from the knee down, and Bishop had a spinal injury that kept him temporarily in a wheelchair.
   I had cried at hearing the news because even though they might not all be whole, they were alive, and I was grateful for small blessings.
   The nurses had also said that both them and my father visited often. Blurry images of the somber faces of my brothers swirled behind my eyes, but I didn’t remember seeing him.
   Today, though, was my lucky day. Yay me. I can’t wait to find out what he thinks about me now.
   A soft knock announced his arrival. A larger-than-life figure entered my room.
   “Kalista, the nurses told me you’re better today.”
   “Yes, General,” I replied as he approached me, squeezed my hand, and let go to sit down on the chair next to the window.
   Hell would freeze over before General Konnor Foster showed emotion.
   Awkward silence ensued when neither of us initiated small talk.
   Who’d break first?
   I had all the time in the world. He’d have to return to his office at some point.
   He gazed outside at the fountain that decorated the hospital’s yard, before he turned his steely gaze on me.
   Here we go… The discussion I was dreading all week was about to take place.
   “You and your team took a big hit. I know how much it hurts,” he said.
   I doubted my father, General Foster with the nearly perfect record knew the feeling, but I remained silent.
   “Nonetheless, your mission was successful, and you were all awarded Purple Hearts. You’ll receive yours once you return to duty.”
   “Purple Hearts,” I echoed, stunned. My teammates were out of commission, and what did they get for it? A freaking medal. As if that’d be any consolation.
   “I was also informed,” he continued.
   Oh great. What else is there?
   “That you are getting promoted to Brigadier General. You will serve as a Deputy Commander to the commanding General of the First Armored Division.” He smiled proudly.
   My throat suddenly felt swollen, making breathing impossible. Sweat beaded all over my body.
   My father jumped from the chair and came to my side. “Should I call the nurse, Kalista?” he asked, at the same time said nurse burst into the room.
   “Honey, what’s wrong? Your readings skyrocketed. Are you in pain?” She talked while pressing buttons, measuring my temperature, and checking the tubes connected to my body.
   General Foster furrowed his brows.
   I was certain he was annoyed with her for coddling me. I managed to swallow and take a deep breath.
   “I’m okay. Just got some exciting news, that’s all. No pain,” I croaked.
   “Congratulations, hon. Call me if you need anything,” she said, and left the room.
   Getting a promotion was what I had been working so hard for. Working under Lieutenant General Jonas Spencer—the one who should not be named—would be like opening a Pandora’s box tailor-made for me. But I was no longer the naive and helpless girl I’d once been.
   I could deal with whatever he threw at me.
   I would.

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