"Maps that lead to you…"

Day: 16, 3:25 p.m.

Gary "Roach" Sanderson

Task Force 1-4-1

Unknown

Ryan was a mess. He wasn't a messy person, but he was so disorganized. All of his things were never were they should have been, and he was always searching last minute for things that should have been put away.

Ryan, who preferred to be called Wings, shifted around aimlessly trying to find his uniform shirt. It was a simple white shirt, but he had misplaced all of his other ones.

"Hey carrot have you seen my shirt?" He asked me as he came out of our shared closet.

He was shirtless with nothing one but his pants, which weren't even buttoned. His hair was wild from his short power nap, and his eyes looked a little sleepy. He looked… good.

I looked up from my book, and scanned over him trying to keep my face from turning red. "No I haven't."

He sighed scratching the back of his head. "What a pain? I sure wish my things would stop disappearing like this." He said turning around to look back in the closet.

I glanced at him while his back was to me. He had a pair of wings tattooed on his back. It was huge, and the wings stretched all the way to the small of his back. It was hard not to look at the wings, but I forced myself to look away.

It would have been rude of me to keep staring at him. Not matter how much I wanted to look. It could make him uncomfortable, even though I found it hard to believe that Wings could be uncomfortable. This guy would walk around naked if it wasn't frowned upon.

"You could barrow one of my shirts." I said softly, and he turned to look at me with wide eyes. "I have plenty."

"Hmm. Okay. Sorry about this Carrot." He said pulling a shirt of the hanger.

"It's Gary. Just call me Gary. Please?" I said setting my book on my lap putting a finger in my place.

Wings smiled sliding the shirt over his head. "Alright. Gary. That's a nice name." he said before tucking his shirt in and heading for the door.

"Button your pants." I said and he laughed at himself.

"Right sorry!" He said buttoning the pants in place before running out the door.

I sighed after he left. He was kind of a lot to handle at times.

After a minute or two of silence, I realized I need some sort of comfort. I stood up with my book in hand and made my way to Ghost's room.

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Ghost's room was the easiest to find. Ever since we moved from our old headquarters into the almost finished building, his door was the only one that didn't look bright white. It was covered in old caution tape, and a sign that read on one side 'Enter at your Own Risk'. On the other it read 'Fuck off'.

When I stood in front of Ghost's room, I took notice that he had put his sleeping sign up. I hesitated at first, pausing my hand over the door. I felt kind of guilty for waking him, but I knocked anyway. I used our inside knock; which consisted of me knocking once, and then pausing for a second before knocking twice.

Ghost opened the door a few seconds later, and grabbed my shirt pulling me into his room. He shut the door swiftly, and locked it behind us.

I couldn't see a thing, I imagined Ghost had covered his windows in thick black tape, or possible paint. He shuffled around his room leaving me by the door. He switched his beside lamp on, and reveled his trashed room. His computer desk was flipped over, and his laptop was tossed aside currently off. The computer desk chair was tossed near his closet, and the door had a dent in it.

He looked a little disgruntled at my sudden appearance, and picked up his computer chair taking a seat. He rubbed his grey eyes with the palm of his hand, and gave a little yawn. His brown hair looked messy and tossed about, but he didn't seem to mind.

He was in rare form today. Most people have never seen this side of Ghost, and if they have they've never live to tell.

Ghost blinked tired grey eyes up at me. "What's up, Bug?" He asked me softly before offering his bed to me.

"Nothing. I just needed some quiet. I'm trying to read this book you gave me, but I can't get past the first chapter." I said shifting over to him, feeling a little bit guilty for bothering him. "I can't get through it. My attention span is too short.."

He pondered what I said, as if trying to remember what book he'd given to me. He motioned for me to come over, and sit on his bed. "Shut up bug. Give me the book."

He took the book from me as I sat down, and he leaned back in his chair, looking over the book. His eyes gave nothing away, but I knew that it was one of his favorites. After all he gave it to me.

I began to twitch nervously on his bed, and he sighed at me.

"Stop beings so nervous bug. I'm fine." He opened the book and smiled a little. "East of Eden. I love this book."

"Yeah... I don't understand it. It has taken me at least four days, and I'm only on chapter one." I said huffing as I flopped back on his bed.

His bed was warm, and maybe it was because it was Ghost's bed, but it felt so safe. I peeked at him from the corner of my eye, and he looked up at me.

I blushed, but he didn't seem to notice. "You just have a hard time focusing." Ghost said rolling his chair closer to the bed. He smiled at me. "Where are you again?"

"Chapter one, page 2." I said softly as I rested my head on his pillow, inhaling the scent of Ghost.

He opened the book, and began reading from it with a small smile.

Ghost was always this way. He was always soft towards me, and I felt privileged that he was willing to share this with me.

He looked up at me for a split second, and I looked away. Closing my eyes I listened to him read, until I eventually fell asleep.

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When I opened my eyes, the room was dark again. I sat up startled and I gasped really loudly. If you'd asked me then I wouldn't have been able to tell you what I'd dreamt about. Now however, I could recall the nightmare as if I was living it now. I sort of am in a way.

Ghost flipped around to look at me. He had pulled his mask on, and now sat over by his laptop. He was probably trying to find more Intel instead of sleeping. I did take his bed after all.

He gave me a startled look, and used his feet to roll his chair over to me. "You okay, Bug? Bad dream?"

I took a deep breath, and looked over at him feeling a little bit glad that the lights were off as I felt my face heat up. "It's nothing. I-I honestly can't even remember what it was about." I said, and I thought I saw Ghost's face twitch up in a smile.

"Well… It's okay now. I'm right here, bug." He said and patted my leg before he began walking his chair back to his desk.

"Ghost… do you ever have nightmares? I mean… I just…" I trailed off feeling slightly embarrassed, but Ghost just turned around smiling at me.

"Yeah… I think everyone here does. If they say they don't they are a liar." He said with a nod of his head.

I pressed a finger to my chin and thought about what he had said. I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand and asked him. "How do you deal with them? You know, in case I start remembering them."

Ghost who was back at his laptop paused in thought. He ran his fingers over his keys rather softly before saying. "I think of all the people I… uh need. Like you and Eve. I think about you guys, and it makes it okay."

I flopped back down on his bed, and yawned rather loudly before asking. "You need me?"

Ghost turned around as he pulled his mask up to itch his chin. He reveled a soft smile as he said. "Yeah bug. I need you."

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