I will keep your soul alive

1

The man in front of me was wearing a black balaclava with a white skull, and (although his eyes were hidden behind black sunglasses) I was able to see they were fair, probably blue. The truth was that the Lieutenant scared me: a 190 cm tall, muscular man with his arms crossed on his chest, looking at me like I was a piece of disgusting shit; he didn't say anything yet but something in his expression –even if I wasn't actually able to see it- was terrifying.

His name was "Ghost" ; but I had to call him "Lieutenant Riley", of course, and even if I knew that "ghost" wasn't actually a real name, it wouldn't be a clever decision asking him for an explanation. –Also captain MacTavish, who I had met the morning before, said me not to dare asking him anything about his life or his past and that only his superiors knew his real name-.

As I said , I never saw him before, but everyone who was interested in joining the task force 141 had to know he was a bloody bastard. We didn't know his story, we didn't know why the hell he used to wear that balaclava, we didn't know a two penny about him; but we knew he had gone through a lot of shit: you could have guessed it just looking at his face.

However, I was really excited: He was the best there in the 141 and he would have made me like him: skilled, shrewd and artful. As Captain MacTavish said the morning before, being trained by him was the best honor a soldier could have asked for. Therefore, I was sincerely grateful for this blessing "honor" … before I had met him.

Riley looked at me for some minutes before saying anything: his voice was deep and low, the deepest I had ever heard before, and it was also strange, like it came from a place far away, somewhere deep in the ground: I could swear it wasn't a human voice.

When he decided talking to me, he pronounced words I had heard many times before joining that task force: he told me he didn't like women, he didn't want me to distract his men but he knew I would have done it. Personally I didn't' care: I'm used to that kind of talk: since I joined the army everyone told me I would have been a distraction for male soldiers and that I should have been home cocking the dinner. Nevertheless, I did not care because I knew I was skilled, and being in the 141 confirmed it. However, Lieutenant Riley was different from the other soldiers who tried kicking me out the army: The man standing in front of me was the most terrifying person I had ever met.