Sorry this took me a while. I've just been getting back into the swing of things since our week of snow days xD
While writing this chapter, I listened to these songs:
(Theme From) Red Dead Redemption by Bill E. and Woody J.
The Submarine by James Newton Howard
The City of Atlantis by James Newton Howard
Arrival to Earth by Steve Jablonsky
Gloriana by Corner Stone Cues
Ghost Love Score by Nightwish (check this song out, it's AMAZING)
Lux Aeterna by Clint Mansell
Question of the Chapter: Do you have anything you'd like to ask me? Is there something about this story that you've been curious about, and would like me to answer? Is there something bothering you that you just NEED to get an answer to? Please ask me anything :]
Thanks to Krystal 'Kitty' Katherine for being my 350th reviewer!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own ANY OF THE LYRICS IN THIS CHAPTER. At all. One belongs to Disney. The other belongs to The Lonely Island. I don't own the songs, the lyrics, the melodies, ANYTHING. Got it?
Read, review, and ENJOY!
-ecto1B
Chapter 36:
"So Close"
Day 7 – 19:56:51
Pfc. Mckinley 'Queen' Front
Task Force 141
Georgian-Russian Border
Encounter Base was gone.
The thought was slightly surreal to her. Negatively surreal, of course.
At first, Mckinley wondered if this was some sort of cosmic joke that Ghost was playing on her. There were so many men left back at the base. MacTavish had not wanted too many soldiers accompanying them. He'd left about half of the team back at Encounter. How could they all be dead? Half of the team? How was that possible?
But Ghost was not kidding. The severity in his voice proved it.
All of those letters from Joseph Allen that future Queen had collected had been burned to ashes alongside her tent and all of her belongings, such as her clothes, her cot, and her bag. Everything—from the mess hall to the barracks to the laundromat—was gone. The basketball courts, the rock-climbing wall, the infirmary… Mckinley fought the urge to wipe her eyes as everything fell into place. Even though she had only been there for a brief time, she knew that her future self would live there for a major portion of her military career. She would wake up there every morning, eat breakfast, train alongside the other men, run the course, and walk through its rows of buildings hundreds of times. She would memorize every corner, every hiding place, and the layout of every building. Her friends would live there, as well. Though they would be mostly isolated from the rest of the world, they would learn countless new things, obtain new ideas, and inspire others from the insides of Encounter Base.
Now, it was all gone. And all of its inhabitants with it.
As she tried to come to grip with reality, she barely noticed as Ghost gently dried her hair with a towel, dressed her in a fresh batch of clothes that they had brought along with them, changed himself into some new clothes, and led her back into the adjoining bedroom where she had first woken up. He sat her back down on the sleeping back lying in the middle of the room and kneeled behind her with a brush he had discovered in the bathroom closet. Steadily, he began to run the brush through her limp red hair like he promised.
"Queenie?" he said finally, after he had made mild progress in taming the red locks trickling down her back. "Are you… are you gonna be okay?"
Mckinley did not answer him. The image of fire sending itself slithering through the base—devouring buildings and spewing out smoke into the sky—was becoming heavily prominent inside her mind. And then her imagination spat out a ghastly picture: fire slinking its way through the inside of the barracks, setting the lifeless forms of the leftover soldiers aflame—
"No…" she managed to choke out, covering her eyes with her hands and leaning forwards a bit. If only shielding her eyes from the mental picture she received could do any good for her. Not even total darkness was soothing at this point. "No, you've gotta be wrong… Encounter Base… it can't be gone…"
Ghost set the brush down and wrapped his arms around her quivering figure. "Love, I bloody wish I was, but I'm not. Nikolai took his Pave Low and flew above the base yesterday. It was still smokin'. And 'Tavish tried contactin' some of the lads that were there, and there was no answer." His lips laid on the inner curve of her neck, and he sighed. "Shepherd meant what he said. He didn't want any loose ends. He didn't want word to get back to America that he'd caused the airport massacre." Mckinley cringed at his words, remembering Joseph Allen and how she would become close friends with him in the future. "He thought he could get away with it, too. He thought he could either wipe us out, or put our names on the most wanted list."
"So MacTavish and Price are wanted criminals." Mckinley paused to gulp, and then continued. "What does that make us? We're wanted, too, I'm assuming." She hoped—for her own sake—that was the case, because if it was not, she had no desire to hear the truth. Mckinley was smart enough to figure out the other option on her own.
It took Ghost a good minute to reply. Obviously he was trying to round everything up in his head to make his answer as harmless as possible. It would be unsuccessful, however, because Mckinley knew if it was not 'WIA,' it was something else…
"Well, besides 'Tavish and Price, all the members of the Task Force have been declared KIA," Ghost told her slowly. "Apparently Shepherd didn't believe you and I survived the Javelin impact. Archer and Toad hid, so none of Shadow Company found them, and Chemo, Doc, Rocket and Taco remained at the temporary base until I contacted them with the news. Shepherd seemed to get a bit sloppy with his report, though, 'cause he never said we died war criminals." The faint trace of a smile perched on Ghost's lips. "We died heroes, before Task Force 141 became 'corrupt,' as he said."
Though a smile—however weak it was—remained on Ghost's handsome face, Mckinley refused to let any bit of happiness engulf her.
She was KIA.
That hit her hard.
Cupping her hands over her mouth and doing her very best to remain calm, Mckinley allowed realization to hit her like a speeding train, and agony to flood her veins like river rapids. Here she was, seventeen years old, declared dead to her country and family. They probably had gotten no clear details as to how she had departed, only the news that she was officially expired from the earth.
There was another part that seemed to bother her to no end.
The majority of Task Force 141 was legally 'dead.'
Besides all of the poor men who had lost their lives so appallingly at Encounter Base, a handful of the Task Force was still alive. Chemo, Rocket, Taco, Ghost, Toad, and Archer were there at the estate. Ozone was hanging precariously by life's thread, according to Ghost. And MacTavish and Price were alive, though they were now wanted men to the U.S. government.
This entire thing is my future. This macabre mayhem is what I'll have to go through again when I return to my own time. I'll have to solve this thing, one step at a time.
Just then, Mckinley remembered something.
Wow. ADD much, Mckinley?
"Ghost? What happened to the DSM?" She knew her inquiry was random and unrelated to the topic they had been discussing, but she wanted to know. In the video game, Shepherd had shot Roach and Ghost and then taken the DSM from Roach's jacket. But here, as she 'played' the game, Shepherd was too wrapped up in killing them that he had forgotten about the DSM… or had he?
"Oh! Right!" Ghost chuckled. "Thanks to you, Shepherd didn't get it. It's downstairs. Archer and Taco are analyzin' the intel as we speak." Mckinley opened her mouth to respond, but Ghost practically read her mind, "And I know what you're thinkin', love. We were thinkin' the same thing earlier. It could have something in it that could clear everyone's names. That's why we've started going through the files, searchin'." He exhaled and bit his lip. "Nothin' significant has turned up, yet. Nothin' that could help us prove Shepherd was a bloody arsehole."
Mckinley sighed and nodded. "There's bound to be something, though. They can't give up just yet."
"I know, love. They're doing their best. I've had to help them crack a few things, but they're handling everything jus' fine."
Promptly after Ghost finished speaking, a loud knocking came at the door.
"Ghost?"
Planting a chaste kiss at Mckinley's temple, Ghost unhooked his arms from around her shoulders and stood to answer the door.
"What's wrong, Archer?"
The sniper specialist managed to open the door before Ghost could reach it. His green eyes were frantic, thrilled, with a childlike enthusiasm tracing his pale face. Each breath he took was brief, giving the impression that he had raced up the stairs to find Ghost. Was it because there was good news? Or bad?
"Ghost…" Archer's chest heaved, and he slammed a hand atop it to slow the beating of his heart. His Adam's apple bobbed when he gulped. "Ghost… we… we think we found s-somethin'…"
If Ghost were a cat or something, Mckinley would have sworn his ears would have perked straight up at the news. From behind, she could almost see his entire body reawaken with a burst of energy; his shoulders pulled back, his neck raised, and his arms practically slammed against his sides. One hand dove inside his pants pocket and extracted his balaclava and sunglasses, while the other swiftly put them on.
"All right, let's go see what you've found." Ghost nodded to Archer, and then turned around to face Mckinley. "Love, I'll be right back. I promise. This is very important."
She was reluctant in letting him go—the fear of being alone had presented itself to her the moment Archer announced a crucial find. But the DSM was much more important than she was at the moment. And they needed Ghost downstairs to verify their discovery.
"Okay. I'll be here."
Ghost pointed at a nearby shelf in the room that Mckinley had not noticed before. "Your iPod Touch is over there, if you want it. Doc salvaged it from your blood-covered jacket and cleaned the screen up." He pulled the shades down to the tip of his nose, and his azure eyes appeared. "I'll be right back," he assured her.
With that, Archer and Ghost hastened downstairs—door shutting as they departed—leaving Mckinley by herself once again.
A few minutes passed before Mckinley decided she would go and examine her iPod. According to what Ghost said, it had gotten dirty with her own blood, and she wanted to make sure it still worked before she had a heart attack.
My freaking iPod better work… or I'm gonna lose it.
She brought the iPod back to her place on the sleeping bag, sitting criss-cross and leaning her elbows on her knees. With the iPod in her hands, she scanned across its scraped silver-and-black body with extreme vigilance. So far, it looked fine. Her finger tapped on the power button at its top and the screen flashed on to her screensaver—much to her delight.
Eventually, Mckinley determined that it worked. Plugging her headphones into it and putting the earbuds into her ears, the autotuned beat of "I'm on a Boat" by the Lonely Island blared through as clearly as ever.
I'm on a boat motherfucker, take a look at me!
Straight flowing on a boat on the deep blue sea!
Busting five knots, wind whipping out my coat!
You can't stop me motherfucker, 'cause I'm on a boat!
The lyrics were too catchy for Mckinley to resist lip-syncing along. She entertained herself for a while with multiple songs by the Lonely Island, and then decided that she would reacquaint herself with the rest of her songs by setting her iPod to shuffle. Ghost was probably becoming engrossed in what Archer and the others had found on the DSM, so she had a while before he would come back and tell her the news.
The very first song that popped onto her iPod's screen was one that she had not listen to in years. It was from a wonderful Disney movie called Enchanted that she had loved and watched constantly when it came out. The song that she had from the movie was called "So Close" by Jon McLaughlin, and Mckinley felt herself smiling at the familiar lyrics and pace the song wafted at.
You're in my arms
And all the world is calm.
The music playing on
For only two.
So close together
And when I'm with you,
So close to feeling alive.
Frowning, Mckinley stopped mouthing the lyrics and, instead, focused on comprehending their oddly familiar message. Why was she suddenly so taken by what Jon McLaughlin was saying? Something about what he was saying made her stop and think.
A life goes by,
Romantic dreams must die.
So I bid mine goodbye
And never knew
So close was waiting,
Waiting here with you.
And now, forever, I know
All that I want is to hold you
So close…
The blood circulating through her veins grew torrid and searing hot as she understood what had been bothering her about the lyrics. They reminded her of the relationship she was having with Ghost… how the two of them were so close, and yet so far away from each other. He was part of her future, the future she was so anxious to enter. They were not supposed to be together until she relived the game—again. So close to having a normal relationship, and yet, they would have to wait a bit longer.
So close to reaching
That famous happy ending.
Almost believing
This one's not pretend.
Now you're beside me
And look how far we've come!
So far
We are
So close...
The singer was right; their happy ending was an arms length away. It was like a precious jewel locked away in a glass display case—they could see it, they could hold its container and admire the jewel's magnificence, but they were not allowed to hold it until they received the key. And that key was something she—in all honesty—did not want to wait for, but had to. The key was her going back to her own time. Going back and graduating high school, joining the U.S. Army Rangers, becoming recruited by the Task Force 141, living the game all over… that was the only key to her happy ending with Ghost.
Oh, how could I face these faceless days
If I should lose you now?
Ghost would have to let go of her for now, and her him. It was not their time to be in love. In their future, they would surely experience the same love again. She was extremely attracted to him, and she could tell by how he acted that he felt the same. Their relationship would have no problem forming again. It would just take some time and patience. Ghost would have to accept that.
We're so close to reaching
That famous happy ending.
Almost believing
This one's not pretend.
Let's go on dreaming
Though we know we are
So close,
So close, and still
So far...
The song slowly came to a lulling end, leaving Mckinley speechless. Before the next song began, she shut her iPod off and extracted the earbuds from her ears. Her brain was begging for a bit of serenity to pull everything together.
The song was everything about her and Ghost. It told their story from beginning to end. It also seemed to throw in references to the Task Force, how they were united, and so close to clearing their names and becoming the heroes they were destined to be.
She would have to tell them the truth. Price was absolutely right. Once she confessed everything, she could return home with a clean slate. Sure, the guys might be a little angry with her, but at least she would not have to feel so guilty about bottling it all up.
She came to the decision that when Ghost came back to tell her the news, she would request that she go downstairs to see the rest of the guys. And while she was down there, she would tell the truth.
I was so close… and yet, so far.
Mckinley glanced down at the iPod in her hand.
Thanks for telling me, Jon McLaughlin.
Dunn: So she's gonna tell them?
ecto1B: (nods) Yes, she has to, Dunn. It's the right thing.
Dunn: (frowns) And THEN she goes back to her time?
ecto1B: I can't tell you that, yet. That part will be coming soon.
Dunn: Damn, I want to know! Hang on, I've got an idea...
(In loud, booming announcer voice)
{WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO MCKINLEY? WILL SHE RETURN TO HER TIME AND HER NORMAL LIFE? OR WILL SHE STAY WITH THE TASK FORCE? TUNE IN SOON FOR THE NEXT INSTALLMENT OF 'THE GHOST THAT HAUNTED ME!'}
ecto1B: (taps foot impatiently) And then...?
Dunn: (sighs) Fine. {DUNN DUNN DUNN}