Hey everyone! OMG I know! It's Thursday and I have a chapter up! ^_^ This chapter is from Ghostie's point of view... and OOOOOOOOOO you get to find out a bit about the real Queen!
Oh, as a heads up: I might have to change the rating of this story to M soon... yeah... In truth, my friend Kimi 4 Vocaloids gave me an idea for a part coming up... yeah... it'll be my very first time writing something like it, so I don't know... hmm... don't worry, I'll warn you guys ahead of time before it comes up.
So... what else do I need to say... hmm... uh... expect the next chapter, The Gulag Pt. 3, some time this weekend...
OMG if you need another dose of MW2, check out Emily 'Gadget' Robins's story called "Where It All Begins." It's soooooo amazing! I love it to death and 100000 x100 recommend it.
PLEASE READ, ENJOY AND THEN REVIEW! ^.^
ecto1B
Chapter 13:
Rumors
Lt. Ghost
Without my skull balaclava concealing my face, I was nothing.
Lieutenant Simon Riley had endured years of pain, agony, horror, torture, and trauma. Barely able to speak or walk after suffering so much and witnessing utter terror, Riley was transformed into a pale, walking corpse that dreamed of blood and grew mentally unstable with each passing day. The creature he became wasn't human at all. Lost in a psychopathic labyrinth of hate, Riley was consumed by the evils of his past and became what he is today. Ghost. Or, in this case, me.
What Queen's existence did for me was staggering. I'd met her about three months after leaving the SAS and joining Task Force 141. She and I didn't get really communicate much, aside from occasionally deliberating about the mission at hand. I was responsible for most of her training at the 141's base, but still, we didn't seem to get along. She hung out with Archer, Meat, Worm… that group of men were more suited for her personality than I. But as the number of missions we had together grew rapidly, we became friendlier towards each other. We came to realize that we actually shared some of the same ideals about life, and we had very similar dispositions. Our family lives were both rather difficult, but we did our best to look past all the hardships that tried to envelop our lives. And then, as more similarities between her and I came into view, the two of us acted more like friends than comrades. She even invited Captain MacTavish and I to sit with her and the others during meals in the mess hall. Because of all she did to unite us, Task Force 141 became more like a family than a military company.
I somewhat can recall the first day I met Queen.
It had been a very humid day at the 141's base. MacTavish and I had just returned the previous evening from a rather strenuous mission, so the two of us were very tired. I tried sleeping in, but that was hard for one to do when Captain MacTavish is your friend. He woke me earlier than I'd intended to wake up, but with very important news. The brand new recruit had arrived.
I got up, got dressed, and slid my skull balaclava and my glasses on. Then, I followed my captain to the mess hall to meet the new soldier. As we walked outside towards the mess, I'd begun contemplating about the new arrival. A back-talker? Loud-mouthed? Arrogant? I sighed. We didn't need any more stubborn men in the 141. We had too much already.
But as MacTavish and I stepped inside the doors of the mess hall, my eyes grew wide behind my tinted shades. I felt my jaw drop and my heart pound away behind my ribs like a maniac. Instead of a burly unshaven man sitting at one of the tables, there was a lean, nice-looking woman with blood-red hair and wide grey eyes being overwhelmed by all of the 141 soldiers. She wore a cameo t-shirt, fading cargo pants and a pair of dirty brown combat boots. I was shocked at her presence; at first thinking she was a local who'd sweet-talked her way into the base to flirt with the men. But before I could approach the woman and interrogate her, MacTavish stopped me with a firm hand on my shoulder.
"That's her," he said calmly, grinning. "Our newest addition to the team."
I was lucky to be wearing my skull mask. My jaw hadn't moved back into its normal position yet.
"Sir, a female soldier in the 141?" I asked, still watching as the woman chatted with the men surrounding her. Her face gleamed with happiness, shining brightly on her pearly white teeth. "What experience does she have?"
"Sniping, mainly," MacTavish replied. "Very good at stealth, versatile in weapons choice, and proficient in carrying out tasks…"
I pressed my lips together into a tight line. "Faults?"
"Hydrophobia is one," he said. "And during multiple training exercises, she's been known to fail because she refused to leave a fallen comrade's side." He smirked. "Even on her exit exam, she came close to last because she was helping another soldier who'd broken his ankle on the course finish the exam." He paused for a moment to let his words sink in, then he cleared his throat. "The judging committee was ready to fail her."
I glanced sideways at my captain. "So why didn't they? She failed the test."
With a chuckle, MacTavish answered my question. "The head of the training camp believed that she fit the definition of the true, ideal soldier. She'd sacrificed a 'passing time' for the chance to help a friend. Apparently he admired that about her. So, she ran through the final course once more and—"
"Again?" I was stunned. Memories flooded back to me of the rough, inhumanely pressing course I'd completed to qualify for the SAS. Doing that sort of thing twice? I shuddered.
"Yes, she was required to. But this time, she ran it alone so she wouldn't feel obliged to help other soldiers."
"She passed this time?"
"With flying colors."
I sucked in a breath. "How'd she end up with us?"
"She was part of the U.S. Army Rangers for a short period of time. Taught the new recruits how to snipe correctly."
"Why was she brought here to us?"
"Shepherd was opting to bring a few Rangers into our company. At first, she wasn't considered or even looked upon." MacTavish itched his scalp. "Then the Rangers suddenly handed her over to us, like she was a bomb or something. They wanted her gone."
"Why?"
"Some rare incident occurred." He smiled knowingly. "Well, rumors of an incident, that is."
"An incident?"
"Rumors circled that she and one of the Rangers—named Allen, I think—had an affair while doing some undercover work."
"Proven rumors?" I winced at the thought of some unpredictable, manipulating woman taking control of the soldiers. That wasn't acceptable. I'd rip off her head before I caught her snogging any of my men.
"Allen confessed to being heavily attracted to her, but both denied any sort of affair between them. However, the Rangers weren't liking the bad publicity, so they quickly offered her to the 141. Shepherd wasn't concerned with the woman's background, and he accepted her into the team."
I motioned towards the woman with my head, noticing that every single one of the men had his eyes locked on her. "I think Shepherd should have considered the rumors after all."
MacTavish shook his head vigorously. "No, she's just talking with them." When I didn't say anything, he added, "Trust me, Ghost. I was just over there listening in to their conversation. She's telling them about that exit exam I told you about." He flashed me a knowing look. "Ghost, please try to accept her. I know you have trouble trusting new people. But she's one of us now."
Pursing my lips, I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned my shoulders back in a relaxed position. By then, I'd figured in my head that it would take me a while to get used to her presence—and then a while longer to learn to trust her. But frankly, from the moment I saw her, I knew that I had to be on my guard at all times. Women—in general—had never been my forte. And this woman, with her tumbling red hair and mysterious background, was surely dangerous.
If you'd told me then that now, here inside a damp, dark gulag on the coast of Russia, that I'd be willing to take a bullet for that woman at any second of the day, I would've said you were crazy.