Hotel Six: A Call of Duty Fanfiction

Chapter 48: Wraith

"Fucking Shepherd..." she growled, swiping at her head. Galaxy was still shaking out her ears to numb the sharp pain spreading through her skull. "I knew it! I knew he was a goddamn snake! I should have ripped out his entrails when I had the chance... I should have..." 

She stopped when she looked up. Around her, it was pitch black, as it usually was in the Realms when she lost a life, except this time, there was a pale, white glow before her in a circle on the ground, and standing on it was a female wolf. As she stepped closer she saw that the wolf had eyes made of solid azure, no pupils to be seen.

"... Hello?" she asked.

The other wolf said nothing and slowly tilted its head. 

"Who are you?" she asked, voice firmer. "... Sasha is that you?"

Still, no response, and she turned away, glancing back over her shoulder at Galaxy.

Gal tilted an ear back, the side of her muzzle wrinkled with irritation. "Nah, couldn't be Sasha. You don't annoy me as much." She watched the wolf walking away, and carefully strode after her. "Do you talk at all?"

No response and the wolf turned, motioning her to stop with an outstretched tail. Before them, there was a hazy, grey landscape fading out into the darkness. It somehow felt familiar.

Her ears pricked forward. "That's the Battle at the Bridge..." she mused. Galaxy tucked her ears back as Zakhaev put his gun to Gaz's head, the scene fading away just as the bullet was fired. "... I still wish I could have done something different..."

The other wolf dipped her head and started away again, motioning Galaxy to follow her. This time, they came to a stop at a scene marked golden with sand. Gal furrowed her brows at the sight of Abdul in his mother's arms as she wailed for her son. 

"He never deserved that... Stupid kid should have stayed in the village with the other refugees. Maybe he'd still be alive..." She looked at the other wolf. "How old would he be now? 13? 14?" There was no response and she looked down at her feet. "Forgot, you don't speak..."

With a nod, the other wolf lead her onward, arriving at another scene where she sat down, gazing down at a compound, a helicopter resting just outside of it. Price was kneeling at the tail, motioning for the team to get inside. Soap was reaching out for him, a desperate scream piercing the foggy veil around the memory. As the door closed as the bird took off, Price was knocked backward by a shot and soon swarmed by enemy soldiers.

Gal tilted her head. "No, you're wrong about this one. Price didn't die," she said. "I know he isn't, because we just got him out of a Gulag, and now he's in Afghanistan with Soap..." She pricked her ears. "Unless..?"

The other wolf shook her head and stood, looking deeply into her eyes. Something about it felt calm, yet deeply disturbing.

"Where are we going next?" she asked.

The other wolf jerked her head and walked onward, this time very slowly. She came to rest at another scene, blurry and just barely visible against the dark. This time, Gal didn't recognize this place. It was pale grey, a city street somewhere she'd never been. She couldn't tell if it was Russian or German. Maybe Polish? She tilted her ears in quiet thought.

A church.

Gal leaned in closer.

The ringing of a bell.

An Explosion.

Soap rolled down the side of a church tower, landing heavily on the ground with debris all around him. Price picked him up and ran through the streets until they were inside another building, and Soap was laid on a table. He said something to the Captain, but whatever it was, was muffled and incoherent. Soap weakly dropped his head back and fell dead to the table.