Redemption [| PHILLIP GRAVES |]

CHAPTER XXX: New Hurdles

Graves immediately started the engine as he drives impulsively out of the abandoned town – back to his base. The sheer panic and question ran through his mind and body. What did Nikolais mean?

The intense rhythm of breathing as he carefully steers the wheel while accelerating the jeep, Graves was really at the brink of passing out due to the panic. He needed to get back to the team, because he doesn't know what Gryffin could do, given on how he had only been introduced to them in such short notice by Laswell.

Speaking of which, Laswell did not contact Graves at all ever since the short disconnection at the desert. That added more to this list of things to overthink about. What happened to her as well?

He shook it off as he kept driving – trying his best to get back as soon as possible to the team, because he cares for them and it would only be useless if he doesn't help them at all. Panic immediately turning into a sense of tranquility, finally calming down as he sets those emotions aside and actually focus on the rural roads with a touch of dirt.

Yet, he couldn't help but think –

What actually happened to Nikolais?

—-

Graves had just arrived back at base, only to be met with an absolute ghost town with no recruit to be found anywhere. That was when he was still on the jeep when he arrived. When he when out – the immediate horror on his face forming as he sees the countless dead bodies on the ground, almost still fresh considering the blood was still light and damp.

What Nikolais said was actually true. Gryffin had punctured the whole base, killing almost every recruit that he had seen the last time he was still here. What a disaster.

He ran inside immediately, running through the endless corpses of dead bodies which makes his senses go icky as he felt like vomiting just seeing all the blasted-out soldiers, and some also had pierced heads – brains blasted. Absolutely brutal, but he just kept running in order to find his friends. Especially the ones he was close with – Soap.

Graves was for sure very worried now, the surge of panic just running through him as he oh-so desperately finds his team mates. Due to how there's dead bodies everywhere, it only felt like he was the only one alive – the only one left standing of the Ghost Team. That thought had horrified him, because he doesn't want to live off another string of trauma again.

The goldmines of fortune may only be a false sense of hope that had already deceived him a couple of times, leading to now this. Everything was lining up way too perfectly, it only makes sense for something bad to happen now. He thinks that Nikolais had also something to do with this, considering he knew about Gryffin's sudden attack and also the vast knowledge that he gained once he was promoted as a commander.

Graves was inside a deep rabbit hole as he was in between the antagonistic force of his own thoughts and- Nikolais. Old friends come and go, but they for sure never give a second chance... that's what he thought. False.

He continued pursuing his goal, and went over to the table where they hosted meetings for the whole team – from there, he had saw the arsenal of tanks that were surprisingly not touched and most of the supplies and guns were stolen. It seems that Gryffin had a squadron with him, because it's impossible for one man to carry many weapons at once.