The missing ends || Simon "Ghost" Riley

CHAPTER 1: THE STRANGERS

Government helicopters were never a good sign, and the sounds of one so close to home were even worse.

As soon as the sounds of the helicopter had faded away, paranoid eyes spared no time searching to see why they were there. The soft crunching of the woods beneath him blended in with the other sounds of nature. It couldn't have been more than 20 minutes before he had found exactly what he was looking for. What the helicopters had left behind. A fire, two bodies, and more than enough annoyance of time wasted. Putting out the fire was Doc's priority. After dousing the fire with wet dirt and soil, he cleaned his hands off his jacket. Doc began to assess the situation: government helicopters, a double execution, a staged fire. It was all too common in his life. Stalking around the bodies revealed very little about who they were or what they were doing there. Both men wore camouflage with English flags on the chest and had holsters for weapons covering them, although a hunting knife was the only weapon found on both of them.

It was supposed to be a simple grab-and-go. Douse the fire, find any valuables that the foreign government left behind, and return to the safe house he had set up nearby. However, the universe seemed to have different plans for him. As Doc looked closer at the bodies before him, he noticed something alarming. One of the bodies, the larger one with a mask on, was still breathing. He was still alive.

Almost immediately, Doc sprung into action, checking the pulses of both men, but only finding one pulse. While mentally kicking himself for leaving his travel medical supplies at home, Doc worked to study the wounds as best he could.

The soldier was.... Less than optimal, but not completely unsavable. "if I can just get him back to my house... " Doc spoke to himself. While he couldn't explain why Doc knew that he had to help this man. Something burned deep inside of him. Something that guided his hands as he picked the almost dead man up and placed him on a wheelbarrow, it was almost lucky that he lived so close by. Something that kept the man alive while Doc transported him as best he could.

After getting back to his house, Doc quickly rushed the man inside and laid him down in his bathtub. Carefully cutting off his clothing and tossing them into a pile so he could study the man's wounds.

Days passed as the doctor worked on nursing the stranger back to health, and as time passed, Doc decided to lend his bedroom to the stranger. Leaving him there to rest while Doc dedicated the next sleepless week to working on finding or making the necessary medical supplies needed to help fully recover his new guest.

It took a week before Doc's Guest finally regained consciousness, but the numbing pain that filled his body constantly stopped him from moving around too much. A small groan was the first noise to escape his body after he had been shot, the noise surprising his doctor.

"Calm down- " Doc started, the stranger quickly getting defensive and attempting to move. However, the most movement his body could muster was a small, extremely agonizing huff. "Look- I'm not here to hurt you." Doc started, he thought his patient couldn't respond quite yet, he had just barely gained consciousness after presumably being shot by his government. "Just- try not to move-" Doc was cut off by the raspy voice of the soldier. "Quiet," the doctor stated quite suddenly when noticing that Ghost was trying to speak, "don't talk, you'll damage your skin more than it already is," Doc demanded this time. The doctor stood beside his patient's bed, "I'm trying to help you, please try not to move, you were in critical condition when I found you." Doc's tone softened, he knew that the soldier was just confused and scared, and from just the look in his eyes, Doc knew that something deeper than what he could understand was behind the soldier's fear.

Ghost tried to speak again, opening his mouth was more painful than the last time, but despite his doctor's annoyance and his burned lips, he managed to speak, "where is my mask."