Nightmare

A generic room on the second floor of a two-story house which screamed that a teenage girl lives in it. Cute posters on the wall, a study table, a cupboard with hello kitty stickers stuck to it, etc.

In the middle of the room, teen Naomi was sleeping peacefully in a futon. Her face was of a child who was living a carefree, happy life.

Suddenly, a loud noise came from the downstairs living room. The loud noise woke Naomi up. She frantically got up and looked around, trying to find the source of the sound.

As she realised the sound came from downstairs, she slowly got up and got out of her room. She slowly tiptoed her way down the stairs. As she reached the end of the stairs, she found rustling sounds coming from the living room. The door to the living room was just slightly open.

Naomi started to slowly tiptoe towards the living room as she called out in a low voice, "Otousan, Okaasan, soko in iru no? Okaasan? (Mom, Dad, are you there? Mom?)"

She got to the living room door and slowly pushed it open. She went inside, and her face distorted from fear as he saw the silhouette of a man crouching a few meters away in front of him. He was holding some sort of silenced pistol in his right hand.

Naomi stuttered as she asked, "Who? .... Who are you?"

The man didn't notice Naomi was there before Naomi had asked the question, as he was looking for something. As he heard the voice, he got up and turned around. He looked at Naomi and said, "You didn't need to see this, Mimi."

Naomi started slowly coming forward as she asked, "See? See what?"

But she couldn't step further as she suddenly felt something wet and slimy under her feet. She looked down and screamed at the top of her lungs as she saw the horrifying scene.

A Japanese man and a woman were lying on the ground with bullet holes in both of their foreheads. The man was holding a glock.

Naomi quickly crawled to the man and started shaking the lifeless body as she said, "Otousan... Otousan... Otuosan, okite kudasai. (Dad, Dad, Dad, please get up.)"

The man said, "I'm sorry, Mimi."

Before Naomi could say anything, the man jumps out the garden door and jumps over the wall.

Naomi only got a glance of the face of that man in the moonlight. It was his brother. Naoki. He was holding a file in his right hand with an NWO logo on it.

06th March, 2032

00:48

Artemis Briefing Room, Over International Waters

"... Sa… Medusa… Medusa, wake up."

Naomi slowly opened her eyes and saw Mitali leaning over her and looking at her with a tense look on her face. 

Name gave a small smile and asked, "What happened?"

Mitali said, her voice mixed with a sense of reprimand and relief, "Don't what happened to me now. You were groaning in your sleep like you were in pain. We were worried, you know. What happened?"

Naomi was sleeping, leaning on the chair. She sat up and said with a soft smile, "Nothing really. Just had a nightmare."

Jacob joked, "The one who gives people nightmares is having a nightmare herself. Huh, the irony."

Annabelle entered the room at that moment and said, "Shut up, Blast. We're too tired for your jokes."

Jacob said in a sarcastic tone, "No one asked you."

Sohel chuckled and said, "Both of you, don't be so harsh with each other. You're friends, right?"

Annabelle and Jacob both said in sync, "Who'd be friends with this idiot?"

Sohel, Mitali and Naomi chuckled as Sohel said, "See? You're already in sync."

Mitali was changing the bandage on Sohel's forehead. 

She scolded Sohel, "Stay still. I can't change your bandage if you keep moving like this."

Sohel said, "OK. Sorry."

As Mitali finished bandaging Sohel, Sohel asked, "How's the Delta squad?"

Mitali said, "Oh. They're in the medbay. Lt. Maverick and Lt. Fixer will be alright but...

Mitali's face turned dark. 

"Lt. Mad-dog….. He's in pretty bad shape. I can't say anything for sure right now. He needs ER attention."

Sohel asked, "What about the dead ones?"

Annabelle said, "The clean-up crew will carry their bodies to New Eden, where their funeral will be held, before sending their bodies to their families."

Suddenly ARIA spoke, "New message from New Eden for the Bravo Squad."

Naomi jumped at the sudden voice and said, "Freak. I'm never gonna get accustomed to this creepy AI." 

ARIA said in a hurt tone, "I'm sorry, lieutenant, that you find me creepy. I'll try not to...

Annabelle interrupted ARIA and said, "It's okay, ARIA. You're not creepy. It's Mitali, who's a weirdo."

Sohel said, "ARIA, read the message."

ARIA replied, "Yes, Captain."

After a brief moment of silence, ARIA started to speak.

"Congratulations, Brovo Squad, on completing the mission at the Suchitra Island with minimum casualties. All of you did a really good job. Get back to New Eden and await your next mission. I've issued a two-week rest period for you."

ARIA ended the message. Everyone were silently listening to the message. The moment the message ended, all of them started cheering.

Sohel leaned back in his chair and took out his phone as he let out a sigh of relief.

But his relief didn't last even 10 seconds as he saw there was a message from Uncle Rahat in his private channel.

He questioned what could make Uncle Rahat send a message to him privately. He reluctantly opened the message.

"Come and see me the moment you land in New Eden. Don't tell anyone else. I have a mission for you. Remember, don't tell anyone else, especially Medusa. Major Shadow has gone rogue."

Sohel was left bewildered by this message, but he managed to keep a poker face as to not let anyone know about the message.

Sohel said, "I'm gonna go rest in my bunk. Come get me when we land." and left without giving anyone any opportunity to say anything. He spent the rest of the trip thinking about the message.