Priority One

Chapter 11: Consequences

2 JULY 2020 1450

Simon "Ghost" Riley

Task Force 141 with Shadow Company

Verdansk, Kastovia

The charges exploded along Bunker 10's doors, making an opening for Task Force 141 and Shadow Company to enter. Ghost entered first, his CM16 ready to fire on any hostiles nearby. They entered the control center for the missile silo, finding nothing but a pool of blood and an open door on the right side of the room leading to the Metro tunnels. Price, Gaz, Alex, Lerch and Velikan entered the room as Ghost knelt down before the blood, dipping his finger into the small pool.

"It's fresh." Ghost told his fellow Operators, following the blood with his eyes, finding a trail leading back out of the room and into the computer area.

"Zakhaev's gone. Rogue too." Alex observed. "What now?"

"Now… we call in some backup." Price said, looking at Lerch and silence enveloped the group for a few seconds.

"How much?" Lerch asked.

Alex checked his watch, bored out of his mind. They're late. He thought, reading the time. 2:08 PM. Alex scratched his neck under his balaclava. The green tint of his goggles added more color to the white and grey Metro station outside. He glanced at Price, the only one accompanying him, who was holding his mobile phone, but he placed it in his pocket when the gate into the Metro was lifted by Nikolai and Farah. They stepped through the gate and approached the duo, stopping in front of them.

"Price!" Nikolai said cheerfully, raising both arms into the air before dropping one arm and holding out his other arm, palm facing towards himself.

"Nikolai." Price replied, taking Nikolai's hand in some form of secret handshake. "I thought you weren't coming."

"That doesn't matter." Nikolai said, releasing Price's hand. "What matters is that we are her now."

Alex glanced at Farah, and Farah glanced back at him, and Alex removed the sniper rifle, Hadir's Sniper Rifle, slung around his shoulder and presented it to Farah, the rifle's rightful owner.

"Thank you, Alex." Farah said, taking the rifle.

Alex chuckled before a car horn honked at the top of the ramp. The driver of the jeep held up his arm and pointed at his watch, telling them to hurry. Alex, Farah, Nikolai and Price hurried to the jeep, entering it and causing the driver to drive out of the ramp, rounding a corner twice and crossing over a bridge over the ramp, giving the occupants a view of the damaged Verdansk Stadium.

"After the attempted nuclear launch orchestrated by Victor Zakhaev and the disappearance of Rurik Harvey two months ago, Verdansk has been reoccupied by some of its residents, having them occupy areas under the supervision of Marines, such as Tavorsk District and Krovnik Farmland." Price told the occupants of the jeep. "With the ruins of the Stadium as our base of operations, we've been uniting as many factions as possible to hunt down Zakhaev, such as the Marines, Demon Dogs, Shadow Company, Serbian Special Forces, and the remnants of Armistice."

The jeep parked in front of the Verdansk Stadium's main gates. Griggs approached the vehicle as the occupants exited.

"Welcome to Verdansk!" Griggs announced as the jeep drove away. "Commander Karim, I'm Sergeant Gri-"

"I know who you are." Farah said, cutting Griggs off.

"Come on in, I'll give you the tour."

Griggs, Price, Nikolai, Alex and Farah ascended the stairs to the doors, which Griggs pushed open, revealing how the Stadium had been turned into a fortress. Concession stands had been turned into ration providers, booths turned into ammunition vendors, gift shops into armories. A squad of marines played poker at a pool table, a small crowd gathering around them.

"All in." One marine said, pushing his chips into the middle of the table.

"That's when I said, do I want a cup of liquor? Lick her, I barely know her!" A soldier at a bar said, causing a small uproar of laughter from his friends, all of them obviously drunk.

Farah and Nikolai flicked on the safeties of their weapons as they walked deeper into the Stadium. Price, Griggs, Farah, Alex and Nikolai entered the field seating area, overlooking Blackhawk helicopters landing and lifting off of helipads constructed on the field, unloading supplies for the city.

"Your barracks are right this way." Griggs said, gesturing to his left after turning around towards the group.

Griggs led Price, Alex, Nikolai and Farah to the right of the spectating area and through a pathway will wall on all sides but down and up(which was occupied by a floor or ceiling), leading to a hallway with doors at the ends, unusual for the first floor of a stadium. Griggs opened the door closest to the entrance for the group to enter, which they did. The room had two rows of three bunk beds, each labeled for their intended user. On the right wall, there was a chart showing who went where. Farah's bed was in the bottom bed in the back-left corner while Nikolai's bed was on the top of the bunk in front of Farah's.

"Welcome home." Griggs said, leaving them.

Alex flopped down onto the bottom bunk in the back-middle labeled 'Burns'. He leaned his M4A1 on the side of his bunk and rolled onto his back and removed a deck of cards from his pocket and began to shuffle them. Roach entered the room and approached the pair of beds where Alex was sitting, the top bunk labeled 'Sanderson'. He placed his custom ACR named the 'Sandbar' on the side of the ladder opposite of Alex's M4.

"You ready?" Roach asked Alex, handing him and M4 Carbine.

"Always." Alex answered, taking the weapon.

Alex and Roach returned three hours later. Farah observed that their arms were dotted with bruises, but they were still chuckling nonetheless. Alex returned the M4 to Roach, who took it and the two returned to their bunks.

"Good game, Roach." Alex said, still chuckling.

"Likewise." Roach said, putting the M4s under Alex's bunk.

Farah grabbed her journal and documented this as Alex laid down on his bed and began to shuffle his deck of cards once more. Price entered the room with Gaz, Nikto and Ghost, who wore a balaclava with a skull painted on, a pair of orange lensed sunglasses, a grey shirt and multicam pants. He sat down on the bottom bunk of the front-middle bunk beds, grumbling.

"Lights out in two hours." Price announced before turning to Nikto. "We'll continue the search tomorrow, just get some rest in the meantime."

"Fine." Nikto growled, walking to the bunk bed in the back-left corner of the room and climbing up the ladder to the top bunk.

"Simon, I know that you're grieving, but we need all hands firmly on deck for this hunt." Price said, approaching Ghost. "The more focused that we are, the more likely we are to find Zakhaev."

"I'll consider it." Ghost replied, causing Price to leave him.

Price lit his cigar once more in the dark stadium field, the burning tip illuminating the stone around him. Alex pulled off his balaclava as he exited the hallway behind Price and entered the field's viewing area.

"Getting some fresh air, aren't we, Alex?" Price asked, letting out a puff of smoke..

"I guess so." Alex replied, stopping next to Price. "It's hard to breathe in there."

"Try being stuck in a ghillie suit for days on end in Pripyat." Price commented. "It's quite the experience."

"Alright, let's not try and out-dick each other." Alex said, holding his hands up in surrender. "We both know you'd win."

"I don't know, you've accomplished quite a bit in a short time frame, so I was planning on giving you an edge." Price said, puffing out a small cloud of smoke.

Alex chuckled and silence enveloped the two for minutes on end.

"Beautiful view, isn't it?" Price asked, gazing up at the night sky, stars glowing from the Earth's atmosphere.

"It ain't that bad." Alex answered, gazing into the sky as well.

"You should get some rest." Price advised Alex after lighting his cigar again. "Big day tomorrow."

"Aye aye, captain." Alex said, smirking as he slipped on his balaclava and walked back towards the hallway.