Chapter Text
Ghost was a mess.
It had been 10 days since Soap’s death, and Ghost had fallen into a pit of vengeance. The only thing on his mind was killing Graves. It didn’t matter how, Graves had to die.
The name Simon Riley was long gone.
It had died right along side Johnny.
These days, Ghost spent every minute of every day alone in his barrack. Any weapons or clothing that he had the day Soap died was gone. It was destroyed. The last memory of Soap that was left alive were his dog tags. The small piece of metal hung around Ghost’s neck, right next to his own dog tags.
There had been a funeral for Soap. Price had made sure that happened.
Ghost didn’t attend. He went to Soap’s grave after the ceremony had ended. The last people there had been Ghost, Price, and Gaz.
Ghost knew he wasn’t the only suffering because of Soap. All of 141 were.
Price and Gaz had been to Ghost’s barrack to make sure he was alive only a couple of times in the past ten days. A lot of what they saw was blood covered bandages from Ghost’s injuries that he had changed himself. That, along with disassembled guns and dulled knives. The only thing left untouched was a hoodie that had been left by Soap before he and Ghost left for the mission. Not interested in talking, Ghost said he was well enough to be left alone.
If only that was true.
The morning after the funeral, 11 days after Soap’s death, Ghost emerged from his barrack. He dragged his feet to the mess hall for food, and food only. Ghost was not interested in talking to anyone.
After grabbing his food, he sat down silently next to Gaz. Ghost almost wished he didn’t.
Ghost knew he hadn’t been the best at taking care of his team after Johnny had gone. Gaz looked like shit. His eyes were red and tired, his hair hadn’t been cut in a while and looked a mess, and his clothes were haphazardly put on.
Gaz glanced up at him, sent him a small smile, and put his head back down toward his food. They sat in silence for a several minutes, Ghost only picking at his food instead of eating it. The sudden touch of a hand on his shoulder made Ghost lurch upward and violently remove the hand from his body. He turned around only to see Price behind him.
“Captain, I shouldn’t have-” Ghost cut himself off, “sorry, sir.”
Price probably looked in the best shape out of all of them. He had bothered to eat everyday and shower when he could.
“Riley, good to see up and about, and it’s nice to see you eat something,” Price gestured towards Ghost’s plate of food. Ghost nodded.
“As much as I hate to cut your meal short,” Price continued, “I need your account of what happened on your last mission.”
Ghost’s stomach churned. He didn’t want to think about what happened, let alone talk about it.
“Price, I don’t think I’m able to recount those…events quite yet.” Ghost replied, trying to sound as professional as possible.
“That’s not a request, Lieutenant, it’s an order.” Price turned and walked out of the mess hall.
Ghost turned to look at Gaz, hoping for a supportive word from him. Unfortunately, all he got was a blank stare.
“It’s not like he can ask anyone else” Gaz said in monotone. He then stood, grabbed his plate from the table and left.
Not bothering to eat the rest of his food, Ghost turned and followed Price out of the mess hall.