Ghost stepped into his tent and paused in front of his mirror. His eyes gazed at the long scar that ran down his face and neck and a dark feeling instantly came over him like it always did when he gazed at the disfigurement. Perhaps he had taken too long of a vacation from his mask. Ghost lifted the balaclava and slid it over his face. He watched in the mirror as the length of the scar disappeared as the mask covered his face. Ghost then grabbed his sunglasses and slid them on and stepped back outside. It was quite warm out and since there was nothing that needed doing, he figured a walk would be good to clear his mind of the recent events. Ghost made his way over to the basketball court where a group of Task Force members where playing. He leaned against a chain link fence and watched them with interest. It was Worm, Chemo, and Redcell versus Reaper, Toad, and Rocket. Worm by far was the best of the bunch and Toad was by far the worst seeing as every time he got a hold of the ball he lost it in less than two seconds. Ghost turned his head to the left as he heard someone approach. It was Roach.

"Aye mate." Ghost said.

Roach nodded to him and leaned against the fence beside his Lieutenant.

"I wonder what's happening to Neon right now." Roach said.

"Nothing good I'm sure." Ghost replied as he continued to watch the game.

Roach nodded in agreement then shifted his position so the he was leaning on his side and facing the Lieutenant.

"Before I forget, there was a message from General Shephard. Something about the intel we retrieved. Anyway Captain McTavish asked me to let you know if I saw you. I guess we actually got something good this time."

Ghost turned to face him.

"Sounds like it. I'll talk to Soap about it later."

"Quick question." Roach said suddenly.

"Shoot."

"Why do you call the Captain Soap?"

Ghost smirked. Out of the entire Task Force he was the only one that referred to Captain John McTavish by his nickname. When he first had met McTavish in the SAS that was the only name he had. Ghost wasn't able to get to know McTavish or work much with him because of the fact the he was transferred out to a new spec ops team only a couple of weeks after Ghost arrived. The two had barley said a word to one another then, but when Ghost had transferred to the Task Force 141 after only four months of being a member of the SAS, he was reunited with Soap and they became close within a short period of time. Soap had remembered Ghost by his strange skull balaclava he always wore. When he received word that a Simon Riley was to join his Task Force as McTavish's new Lieutenant, the name sounded vaguely familiar, and when Ghost, clad in his mask and sunglasses, stepped out of the helicopter and approached his new Captain, Soap instantly recognized him. Ghost's skills were stunning and his leadership skills earned him upmost respect from the other men. It didn't take long for Soap to warm up to his Lieutenant and the two became more than just friends, they became brothers.

"I've known him for a while now, when I first met him in the SAS that's what he was called before he became a Captain. That name just kind of stuck."

"Heads up!" a voice called.

Before Ghost could react to the warning, the basketball slammed into his injured side. White hot sparks of pain dominated every nerve in his body and he doubled over in agony fighting the light headedness and dots that clouded his vision. Roach grabbed his shoulder to hold him up.

"Ghost are you alright?!"

Ghost tried to respond but the pain wasn't wavering and the breath had been knocked out of him. He could feel warmth spreading across his side and he figured the wound must have reopened. Ghost heard several footsteps running towards him and he managed to straighten himself and leaned backwards heavily on the fence.

"Sir I'm so sorry!" Toad said frantically, "I was trying to pass the ball to-"

"It's alright, calm down," Ghost gasped.

He clutched his side as another wave of pain worked its way through his body.

"I guess now's as good a time as any to go get this checked out eh?" Ghost said humorously to Roach.

Roach shook his head unable to hold back the smile.

"Come on mate, I'll go with you."

Ghost nodded and the two slowly made their way to the medical tent. Toad and the others tried to follow but Ghost waved them off.

"It's no big deal. You muppets are acting like I'm going to die. I don't think a ball is gonna take me out, now go back to your game."

As he continued to walk along with Roach, Ghost pulled his hand away from his side and to his dismay saw it covered with blood.

"Bloody wonderful." He mumbled to himself.

Roach looked down at Ghost's blood covered hand and winced.

"This could be a bit more serious than you thought."

Ghost shook his head.

"It'll be fine, the stitches just reopened is all."

"Well it was bound to happen anyway I guess," Roach responded, "you were ordered to get some rest and the next thing I know you're out walking about, and you even hit up the training course yesterday, which is shocking seeing as how you were nearly dead less than a week ago."

Ghost smiled.

"What can I say? I'm a badass mate!"

Roach chuckled.

"McTavish won't think you're too badass when he sees your wound is worse now instead of better."

Ghost grunted as the pain faded to uncomfortable throbbing.

"Do me a favor Roach. Don't tell McTavish about this. I really don't want to hear him nagging at me all over again."

Roach chuckled.

"All over again? When did he stop the first time?"

"Ha! Too right mate."

When they finally reached the medical tent Ghost's side was soaked with blood and two men- Roach figured they were the doctors- ceased their conversation and rushed over to assist Ghost. Roach followed them into the large tent, stood at a distance and watched as the two doctors cut open Ghost's shirt and slowly removed the bandages. Roach cringed as the wound was revealed. Blood was oozing out of the cut from where the stitches had been ripped open, and the skin around the injury was a purplish black color. The RPG had burned the skin off Ghost's side and the shrapnel had cause large gashes on top of the burn to make an already bad situation worse. Ghost covered his face with his hands in an effort to block out the pain as the doctors poked and probed at the open wound. Finally, one of them slid a needle into Ghost's arm and the pain instantly dulled. Ghost sighed and turned his head to Roach.

"How bad does it look?"

Roach shook his head.

"Pretty damn bad. Just looking at it is making me hurt."

Ghost didn't want to look at it. He didn't want to see the damage that had been done to him and more importantly, he didn't want Soap to see it either. The last thing he needed was to be stuck at the camp unable to do anything. That would only make him more vulnerable to the hallucinations and nightmares. No. He needed to be up and about as soon as possible.

"How long is this gonna take?" he asked the doctors.

One of them turned to him.

"You left too early last time sir, the stitches were slowly coming apart and it looks like you did something that strained them just enough so they would reopen. It won't take us too long to restitch the wound, but I have to ask that you stay in bed for a few days to make sure this doesn't happen again."

"Bloody 'ell." Ghost sighed.

"So much for McTavish not finding out eh?" Roach said.

Ghost let his arms hang off the bed and he sighed irritably again.

"Yea…that's my luck for ya." Ghost replied.

The thought of being stuck in a bed again made Ghost feel sick. And especially when Shephard had something he needed to tell them about the intel. He was probably going to be left behind again and he hated having to face that fact. Ghost wanted and needed to heal up fast, he sensed some serious shit was on the way and he wanted to be ready for it.