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Ghost blew out a breath, shifting on the frost covered ground in an attempt to get blood flowing through his extremities. His gaze never left the scope, though, remaining on the warehouses in the valley below. There hadn’t been any movement in the past thirty or forty minutes, most of the guards dead from clean shots to the head. The rest were hiding somewhere inside the warehouses, but it didn’t matter how good Ghost was, he still couldn’t see through walls to take them out – that was a job for the rest of the guys.
As if on a cue, the comms crackled to life.
“Ghost, sitrep.” Price didn’t sound breathless, nor distressed, which Ghost took as a good sign.
“All quiet over here, Cap,” Ghost murmured in response, keeping his voice low. There were no signs of enemy movement anywhere outside, and he had carefully chosen his spot as it provided the most cover for him, but he would rather not make too much noise and attract more attention than he absolutely had to. “Just freezing my ass off.”
“Good, maintain your position,” Price told him, and this time Ghost could hear gunshots in the background. Tension crept in his shoulders, but he forced it out. The team could take care of themselves, even Gaz who was the greenest of them all. He still found himself adjusting the scope so that his eyes were on the warehouse they were currently in.
“We’re moving onto the last warehouse now,” Price added. “Keep your eyes open.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Through the scope, he could see the team exiting the building in tight formation with Soap in the lead. There were no visible injuries that he could see, which made his muscles loosen further, even though he knew they would have contacted him if one of them had gotten hurt. It never hurt to confirm it with his own eyes, he personally knew the temptation of hiding injuries from the team to keep them from worrying. For a bunch of gruff, trained soldiers they could be such mother hens.
He covered them, taking out the single guard that ventured outside the last warehouse before they could even raise their weapons. He smirked behind the mask when Gaz’s head whipped in his general direction in a sloppy salute before being ushered forward by Price.
Then they slipped inside the warehouse, and Ghost was once more left alone in silence. He didn’t mind it, since in the end it meant things were going according to the plan. The boredom was a negative side effect, but not even that was too bad. He might have been an adrenaline junkie just like his teammates, but the break from the constant and intense shootouts was sometimes necessary and even nice.
The sound of gunshots reached him a moment later and Ghost’s lips briefly twitched into something resembling a smile. A few stragglers fled from the building, but they were easy enough for Ghost to dispatch. He would have to remember to tease Soap and Gaz over it later, letting easy targets like that slip away from them.
The situation continued like that for a moment or two longer, but then a new sound drew Ghost’s attention. It was coming from right behind him – the sound of frost covered grass crunching under footsteps.
Ghost shoved away from his rifle, onto his back to throw a knife at the unknown assailant. His momentum carried him further, and he pushed himself up to his knees and from there onto his feet, reaching for his pistol, but the assailant slammed into him and took him down. Ghost snarled and punched the assailant across the face, simultaneously bridging his hips up and to the side, reversing their positions.
The assailant managed to pull their legs back and kick Ghost off him, and he winced as he landed on top of his rifle. He drew out another throwing knife, but the assailant moved faster and sunk a blade of their own in his calf. Ghost bit back the cry of pain and swiped at the assailant, grazing their arm.
“Ghost, we’re heading out, package is secure,” Price’s familiar voice crackled through the comms. “Meet us at the rendezvous point.”
“I’m a little busy here, Cap!” Ghost hissed in response and slashed out again, forcing the assailant to retreat. He staggered back to his feet with a muffled groan, black spots dancing in his vision. His injured leg nearly gave out beneath him, but he stayed upright to block the assailant's next attack.
“Ghost?” Soap – because of course Soap couldn’t stay out of it – asked sharply. “Ghost, what’s happening?”
Ghost swore when he heard an additional pair, maybe even two. of footsteps somewhere nearby. He threw his knife and it sunk into the assailant’s throat. “Got snuck up on, multiple assailants.”
He surged forward, ignoring the white hot flame of pain that traveled up his leg and yanked his knife from the now-dead assailant. In the moonlight he caught a glimpse of a gun pointed at him, and swore once again, wrenching the assailant’s body up as a shield right as a barrage of bullets was unleashed. The added weight and the force of the bullets caused him to stagger back and he nearly lost his balance, forced into a steeper part of the hill.
He unholstered his pistol, thumbing the safety off before shooting in the general direction of the new assailants. He heard a sharp cry of pain and one of them stopped shooting, causing a bout of vicious satisfaction to flood over him. Fucking served them right.
The other assailant got in a lucky shot just then, as a bullet ripped through Ghost’s uniform and grazed an unprotected part of his side. He faltered at the burst of pain and this time did lose his balance. He shoved the dead body off him, caging in the pained noise that threatened to escape when he hit the ground. He could hear his teammates talking, one of them sounding nearly frantic, but the words were lost on him as he kept his gun trained in the direction of the remaining assailant.
The angle sucked, and the darkness certainly didn’t help. He couldn’t see where the fucker was, couldn’t hear their footsteps either over the comms and the sound of his blood rushing in his ears. His leg and side were throbbing along to his heart beat, but he did his best to push the pain aside. The wounds didn’t matter, not right now. They could be taken care of once he was no longer in danger of being killed.
There was movement to his right, and Ghost twisted in the direction, shooting three bullets in quick succession.
The assailant went down.
Ghost didn’t relax, though. He had taken down the three he had heard and seen, but that didn’t mean there weren't more of them around, just waiting for him to lift his head up. He could feel his hands start to tremble, whether that was from the cold, pain, or the adrenaline, he wasn’t sure.
That’s when he caught the glint of a scope reflecting in the moonlight. He swore and went to adjust his aim but the glint was coming from the opposite direction and he knew he didn’t have enough time–
The assailant behind the scope jerked back, crumbling to the ground with the rifle, a gunshot echoing across the valley.
Ghost couldn’t do much more than stare at the fallen form in breathless confusion. Who–
“Ghost, talk to me!”
That was Price, and the distress his voice had lacked earlier was there now. One side of Ghost’s lips twitched into a smirk.
“I’m here, Cap,” he told him, his voice coming out more exhausted than he had aimed for. “‘twas a nice shot. Yours?”
“That was all Soap, the fucker snatched a sniper rifle from one of the guys you took down,” Price huffed, and Ghost could hear the amusement in his voice.
“Quick thinking,” Ghost muttered. He should probably check his wounds now, but the thought of moving wasn’t all that appealing. “Thanks.”
“How bad are you hurt?”
Ghost rolled his eyes but couldn’t entirely stop the fond smile from forming. “I’ll be fine.”
“Good enough to make it down to the rendezvous point in one piece?” Price pressed on. Honestly, Ghost was surprised that Gaz and Soap hadn’t yet joined the motherhenning.
Ghost shrugged, well aware the man couldn’t actually see it. “Debatable. Might’ve gotten stabbed in the leg – hurts like a motherfucker.”
“Stab wounds tend to do that.” Ghost could hear the smirk in Price’s voice. “Stand by, I’ll send Soap to you – he seems to have rigged a four wheeler. Didn’t know he was a goddamn delinquent on top of everything else.”
“Copy that.” Ghost nodded, gingerly pushing himself into a sitting position. “He better not crash it, I’ve seen him off-roading before.”
There was a snort on the other end of the line. “Patch yourself back up if you can, Soap will be there soon.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“And Ghost?” Price added a few moments later. Ghost acknowledged him with a hum. “Good job out there.”