A.N.: Hey guys, what's up? So here it is, Loose Ends. I hope that you guys won't hate me for the decisions that I've made, but I feel that the characters that I'm killing in this chapter should die because although I included them into the story, I don't focus much on them, so rather than just have them sit in the background and be neglected, they'll become martyrs for the Task Force survivors to fight for. But enough of that, on with the story. So, R+R, PM, and enjoy. Until next time, OPKILLERFROST, out.
Tracking… Found
SSgt. Elizabeth "Desert" Stratton
Task Force 141
Georgian- Russian Border
We were all waiting on a hill for Archer to give us the all clear that our sniper support was read to, well, support us. I looked around at everybody here. Caveman was standing with a group of other guys at the bottom of the hill while the rest of us were on the hill itself. After a couple of minutes, we were given the 'go ahead'.
"Snipers in position." Archer said
"Strike team go. Engage Makarov on sight." Ghost said
I checked my Commando one more time before we started to move down the hill. Caveman and his group started to move closer to the house, but we ran into a problem. As we reached the bottom of the hill, we found an unseen threat. Bouncing Betties. I dropped to the ground, but the guys in front of us weren't so lucky. The mines exploded, killing them instantly. I heard Griggs vaguely screaming something about a guy named Paul. After I was sure that there weren't going to be any more explosions, I got up and started to return fire at the Ultranationalists that were coming out of the treeline ahead of us. The bloody bastards were popping smoke so we could barely see them. Then, to make matters worse, mortar fire started to rain down on us.
"They've got this area presighted for mortar fire!" Scarecrow yelled
"Counterattack into the smoke! Push, push, push!" Ghost yelled
We started to run into the smoke, but I saw Griggs wasn't with us. I looked back and saw him kneeling over Caveman's dead body, almost as if he's paying his respects. I'm guessing that those two were closer than just being teammates. We continued to push into the smoke, shooting anything that popped out at us. As I ran behind the rest, I was tackled into a tree. I tried to push the ultranationalist off of me, but he was starting to land blow after blow into my stomach. After a couple punches, one of them knocked the wind out of me. It wasn't possible for to breathe, let alone fight back. Once he saw that I wasn't fighting back, he started to shift his punches to my face. This was it. This was how I was going to die- wait a second. Suddenly, the guy's weight was taken off of me. I looked to my right to see Roach on the guy, landing punch after punch before finally taking his knife and stabbing him in the throat. He got up and ran back over to me, putting his hands on my face, talking a mile a minute.
"Are you okay? Ah, geez, he didn't hurt you? Did he? He deserved more than just a knife in the throat."
"Roach… Roach…. Roach! I'm fine. You wanna get off me so we can start shooting bad guys?" I said
"Oh- oh- okay."
He helped me up and I kissed him on the cheek before grabbing my gun. I wanted to do more than just give him a kiss on the cheek, but we were getting shot at right now, so I had to make do with what I had. We regrouped with Ghost and the rest at the solar panels near the house.
"We got two trucks leaving the target building." Archer said
"Don't let those trucks get away!" Ghost yelled
"Roger! Firing Javelin, danger close!"
"Javelin, danger close! Get back from the road!"
We all got away from the driveway leading to the house as two armored jeeps drove past. We tried to shoot through the windows, but they were bulletproof. All our bullets were doing was making pretty cracks. After a few seconds, two missiles slammed into the trucks. They exploded with the sound of crunching metal and shattering glass, sending a metal piece over near us. It sparked off of the base for a solar panel and skittered off into the woods.
"Moving vehicles have been neutralized. Be advised, we have not, I repeat, we have not spotted Makarov, and no one else has left the house. Those trucks may have been decoys. Over." Archer said
"Roger that, we're advancing on the house now!" Ghost said
We started moving up the driveway towards the house, getting shot at the whole way there. Once up at the top of the driveway, we were able to shoot back at the bad guys. We killed them and started to make our way over to the house's three entry points. Hazard, Ghost, Boxer, and Jester took the front door, Scarecrow, Ozone, and Griggs took the kitchen, and Roach, Bear, and I took the basement. We breached through the door, and found two hostiles in the hallway in front of us. Roach took one while I took the other. There were two doors on the hall, just asking to be breached. Roach and I took one while Bear took the other. When we breached through, we found two hostiles carrying a third between them. We quickly shot all of them as we heard a shout from the other room. Bear was on the ground holding his arm, staring at the dead body in front of him.
"What the hell happened?" I asked
"Bastard played dead. I was on my way out when he shot me." He said
"Roach, let's get him upstairs with the others."
I grabbed Bear's good arm and with Roach's help, we hauled him to his feet. We carried him up the stairs, all the way to where Ghost was standing in the middle of the entrance hall.
"What the bloody hell happened to him?" Ghost asked
"What does it look like? I took a bullet to the arm. Wanker caught me off guard." Bear said
"Leave him in the office until we clear the rest of the house."
We set him down and raised our guns to clear the top floor. Boxer and Jester went upstairs to clear it out while the rest of us made sure that nobody was trying to come in through the front of the house. A few minutes later, and we heard a shout. We rushed up the stairs to find what had happened, and we found Boxer kneeling next to Jester. He was propped up against a wall, holding his chest.
"Get this thing off of me, I can't breathe." He said
Boxer helped pull off Boxer's plate carrier, and he sucked in a deep breath before he groaned in pain. I saw a bullet sitting on the right side of the carrier. It caught the edge of the plate, but only just. I could see the tear where the bullet had barely grazed it, but there was no scorch mark. If it had been his normal Army uniform, there would've been a scorch mark due to how hot the bullet would've been and how hot cotton and nylon have to be to catch fire. But because he was wearing a Task Force 141 combat uniform, he had our flame retardant jackets. It's kind of like a firefighter's turnout coat. It could withstand temperatures up to four hundred and forty degrees Fahrenheit. It isn't bulletproof, but it'll prevent you from dying by flame.
"Another one?" Ghost asked
"Sorry, man. I didn't see the guy until after he shot me." Dunn said
I guess these Russians were good at hiding to hit two of our men without them seeing them first. Yet again, they managed to hide while we walked into an ambush that killed at least five of our men. These guys were crafty, but they were stupid once their plan was put into action.
"Alright, Roach, go get Bear and get him up here. Boxer, you will stay up here with them and defend this position If we're not enough to keep them out. Scarecrow, photographs." Ghost said, pointing towards the blueprints and pictures hanging on the walls "Shepherd, this is Ghost. No sign of Makarov, I repeat, no sign of Makarov. Captain Price, any luck in Afghanistan?"
"Plenty… at least fifty hired guns here, but no sign of Makarov. Perhaps our intel was off." Price said
"Well, the quality of the intel's about to change. This safehouse is a bloody goldmine."
"Copy that. Ghost, have your team collect everything you can for an operations playbook. Names, dates, places, everything." Shepherd said
"We're already on it, sir. Makarov will have nowhere to run." Ghost said
"That's the idea. I'm bringing up the extraction force, E.T.A. five minutes. Get that intel. Shepherd, out."
"Roach, get on Makarov's computer and start the transfer. Ozone, you're on rear security. I've got the front. Go."
So we sprang into action, getting ready to defend this house. I knew that there would be more Ultranationalists would be coming for us any second, and we had to get ready for them.
"Task Force, this is Price. More of Makarov's men just arrived at the boneyard… Soap, cover me. I'm gonna slot that guy over there and use his radio to tap into their comms. Ghost, we're going silent for a few minutes. Good luck up there in Russia. Price out."
"Roach, there's an armory in the basement. Better stock up while you can." Ozone said
Wait, what? There's an armory down there? Roach and I looked at each other and sprinted down the stairs to the room where we found Bear. Turns out, there was another room off of that one, and it was full of guns. I saw one that looked like they were trying to hide under a crate. I pulled it out and smiled. A Galil. Damn. What kind of luck did I have to have to be able to find two guns that weren't made anymore? I swear, these Russians were just giving me an early Christmas. I turned around and saw the Roach had grabbed the Vector from the wall. I raised an eyebrow.
"What? It's a good gun and MacTavish hasn't gotten any in the armory." He said
"I'm not judging, I just always thought of you as the big gun, explosive using kind of guy."
"Nah, I've got a soft spot for small guns like these that pack a punch."
I just smirked and we left the room. We got upstairs, and that's when Roach plugged the DSM in. I took position in the kitchen, Roach in the main room next to the computer, Ozone was standing near windows at the back of the house, and Scarecrow was near Roach. We were all set up to defend this house, and we were going to do just that.
"Makarov's men are going to do whatever it takes to keep us from leaving with this intel. We need to protect the DSM until the transfer's done. Use the weapons caches and set up your claymores if you've got any left. Defensive positions, let's go!" Ghost said
As we made our final preparations, we all heard a big boom. That couldn't be good.
"What the hell was that?" Scarecrow asked
"Be advised, you have a large concentration of hostiles moving in from the southeast, they've just breached the perimeter! I'll try to thin 'em out before they get too close. Recommend you switch to scoped weapons, over." Archer said
Shit. I didn't have a scoped weapon. They were just going to have to get close before I shot them. I moved closer to the doorway that Ozone and Scarecrow came through earlier and started taking shots t anybody that was coming towards the house. If I could thin them out before they got close, then we would have an easier time defending the house when they got close. Before long, they were too close for me to continue shooting from the doorway. I backed up farther into the kitchen and took a defensive position where I could watch both the doorway and the stairs. At one point, I thought that I heard voices in the basement, but nobody was coming up. Then, all of a sudden, there was a bright flash and I was blinded.
Signal Lost…
Tracking… Found
Sgt. Gary "Roach" Sanderson
Task Force 141
Georgian- Russian Border
I heard Desert yell in pain, and ran into the kitchen to check on her. I saw her on the ground with her hand over her eyes, and angry Russians coming up the stairs. I shot them with my new Vector before helping Desert to her feet.
"Thanks." She said
"No problem."
I headed back out to the DSM and found Scarecrow on the ground, bleeding from a wound in his side. When the hell had that happened?
"Scarecrow is down!" I yelled
Within a second, Ozone was next to us, grabbing Scarecrow by the hand. Damn, that was quick. I'm guessing that they had something going between them, and I wasn't going to get in the way of their final moments together. I knew Scarecrow wasn't going to make it. I know that I shouldn't, but I couldn't help but listening in.
"Dammit, Sean. Why did you have to go and get yourself shot? Why couldn't you just stay at base like I told you to?" Ozone asked
"And let you get killed instead of me?" He coughed "Not happening."
"But now you're going to die, and I'm going to be left alone."
"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. But you need to be strong and stay alive. There's plenty of other guys out there. Don't get caught up on little old me. Alright? Promise me… promise me."
That was Scarecrow's- or Sean's- last words. I tried to keep Ozone safe, but there were just too many of them. He ended up catching a bullet in the head, killing him instantly. Motherfucker. At least him and Scarecrow would be together now. At this rate, we were all going to join them soon. I grabbed both of their tags and put them in an empty ammo pouch. This wasn't looking good for us. That was, until the DSM transfer was complete.
"Roach, the transfer's complete! I'll cover the main approach while you get the DSM! Move!" Ghost yelled
"What about the rest of us?" Desert asked
"Roach and I will cause a diversion with us running for the evac point! You get upstairs and help Boxer defend that room!"
So while she ran up the stairs and into the room, I grabbed the DSM and we ran outside. I could feel the bullets whiz around me as we ran for the evac point southeast of the hose. If we didn't get there soon, we were going to die and this mission would've been for nothing. We managed to dodge all the bullets, but as we started getting close, mortar rounds started to rain down on us. It was my misfortune that I happened to be right next to one as it hit the ground. I woke up with Ghost pulling me closer to the extraction point, a Little Bird overhead to cover us. I was covering him with my gun, but I felt myself start to black out. Next time I woke up, he was pulling me to my feet as a Pave Low landed about twenty yards ahead of us. As we got closer, I saw Shepherd get off of it. I started to look around a bit, and saw at least half a dozen Little Birds dropping off some of his Shadow Company soldiers. Why the hell was there so many Shadow Company soldiers and no guys from the Task Force. Something wasn't right.
"Do you have the DSM?" Shepherd asked
"We got it, sir!" Ghost yelled
"Good. That's one less loose end."
If what he said wasn't an indication that we were about to be screwed over, the gunshot I received to my stomach was. I fell to the ground as Ghost tried to shoot Shepherd, but the General saw it coming. He pulled up his gun and shot Ghost in the shoulder. I could see it was just above the heart, so he should be okay. For now. I saw Shepherd grab the DSM from me and waved over two Shadow Company guys. They picked me up, brought me to a ditch, and threw me in. They did the same for Ghost, and I had to watch in horror as they poured gasoline over us. I vaguely heard Price yelling in my ear to not trust Shepherd, and that they were under attack by Shadow Company. I guess it was a little too late for that warning now, isn't it? After a few seconds of looking down on us, Shepherd flicked his cigar onto us, igniting the gas. I knew these jackets were flame retardant, but gas burns at four hundred and ninety-five degrees Fahrenheit, and these jackets only protect us from something that was fifty degrees less than that. Even now, I could feel the flames burning my skin. The jacket was catching fire, and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it. I just hoped that Liz got away with the others.
Signal Lost…
Tracking… Found
SSgt. Elizabeth "Desert" Stratton
Task Force 141
Georgian- Russian Border
Archer and Toad showed up in the doorway of the room right after Ghost and Roach left. We damn near shot them, but they were panting something.
"We need to get out of here. The Russians aren't going to keep coming up the stairs forever. We need to get to the top of the hill and make an extraction team come to us."
After that, we all got up and started following the two of them out of the house. As we got out of the front door, we heard a loud bang, and looked to where the evac point was supposed to be. It wasn't hard to see what was happening. Shepherd was standing over one person as he shot another. Those guys were wearing grey jackets, not the random assed outfits that the Ultranationalists were wearing. Shepherd just killed Roach and Ghost. We had to get out of here before he killed us to. We took off at a sprint for the hill we started at. If we could get away from the house, then they will think that we're either dead, or we were captured. Either one worked better for me at this point. We started to move through the woods surrounding the house, trying to put as much ground between us and Shepherd as possible. Once we were about half a click away, I had a thought.
"Wait! We can't just leave Ghost and Roach there to die!" I said
"Desert, in case you hadn't noticed, Shepherd put a round from his revolver into both of them from less than two feet away. They're dead. There's nothing we can do for them now." Hazard said
"Archer, if that was Toad back there, would you just leave him behind?" I asked him
After looking at Toad, Archer shook his head. I knew that I was right, and that we needed to head back. If we were gone for long enough, Shepherd was probably just going to leave Roach and Ghost to bleed out. And so we started the trek back to the house. When we got there, I could see smoke rising from the field. That wasn't good. I let my gun hang from the strap and I sprinted for the field. When I got there, all that was left was Roach and Ghost wearing their burnt and smoking uniforms. If those jackets were burnt, how hot was the fire they were burnt with? I dove next to Roach and started to remove the balaclava from his face, or what was left of it. I felt his neck for a pulse and found a very weak one. Thank god. In Shepherd's attempt to get rid of the evidence, the fire cauterized the wounds. Now all we needed was a way to get the hell out of here. If we didn't get it, then they were going to die out here.
"Anybody got an idea on how to get the hell out of here?" Toad asked
"I got one. If the bloody wanker is actually in the mood to help. I haven't seen him in five years." Bear said "Anybody got a sat phone?"
It turns out that Hazard had one. Said she never left base without one. It was a good thing because whoever Bear talked to on the phone, they got here within half an hour. I don't know who they were, but they were a Russian Loyalist that Bear trusted. We all got on his helicopter and he got us into the air.
"Kamarov, you still in contact with Nikolai?" Bear asked
"Yes. I've actually just finished. He is busy extracting Captain Price and his men. He told me to take you to a village in India. We're en route now." The Russian said
So that's where we're going. Price and some of the men that he took with him survived. If we weren't able to go back to base, then what the hell was going on back at base?
Signal Lost…
Tracking… Found
Corporal Josh "Gator" Sandler
Task Force 141
Colorado, U.S.A.
Status- K.I.A.
Signal Lost…
Tracking… Found
Sergeant Lyndsey "Angel" Griggs
Task Force 141
Colorado, U.S.A.
Status- K.I.A.
Tracking…
Failed…