Doing It All For Love (Ghost x reader)

Chapter Sixteen

SOTD- Paper Planes by M.I.A

The dusty terrain was a serene view. If this were a movie you'd expect a tumbleweed to come rolling in at any minute. "You were right," I said. I shield my eyes from the harsh sun rays. "This place hasn't changed... Aside from the rubble being picked up."

The building was destroyed, leaving only a small fraction of it standing. The bricks were cracked and looked as if one small blow would knock it to the dusty ground.

I stepped along the dirt ground, my feet leaving footprints in the dirt. I walked along the back with the rest of the guys behind me. "There it is." Ghost spoke up and pointed to the door Soap crawled out of. I moved some of the dirt from the wooden door with my foot and it revealed a latch. "Hey, Tony. You got a flashlight?" I asked as I shifted my gaze to him.

He grabbed a flashlight from the vest that he always wore. "Here ya go." He handed me the flashlight and the metal felt cold against my palm. Ghost lifted the wooden door, allowing it to fall to the side with a heavy thud.

"I'll go in first," Ghost offered as he took the flashlight from me. It was a somewhat deep drop and I could hear the heavy thud of his feet landing on the ground. Next, I hoisted myself down, feeling Ghost's firm grip around my waist as he helped me down.

I started coughing, feeling the dusty air fill my lungs. "Yeah, it's incredibly dusty down here," Ghost chuckled softly as he clicked on the flashlight.

"It's a tunnel?" My statement sounded more like a question than I had intended it to be. "Stay on guard, anything could be down here." It felt as if we were back on the field. The way Ghost's voice sounded orderly. I pulled my gun from the waistline of my pants and kept it drawn. Ghost had pulled out his gun also and shone the flashlight.

The light only went so far, revealing what a person would expect from an old tunnel. Dusty and creepy. Cobwebs were sewn in the corners and the silky webs shone through the flashlight's reflection.

I could hear a faint dripping sound and it added to the eerie effect. "Stay behind me," Ghost told me. "Sir yes sir," I grumbled. The sarcasm in my tone came off a little too strong as Ghost turned to look at me with an unamused expression.

"What? Go on." I showed him forward. "Anything down there?!" Landon's voice echoed through the tunnel and I turned back to see his large head peering down through the opening. "No!" I called back before turning the opposite direction of Landon and continued following Ghost.

The tunnel was slightly long and there were a few empty crates. We eventually hit a dead end and Ghost shone the light above us- revealing another door.

"So that's where he slipped through," I chuckled to myself. "Soap was always quick to think," Ghost added.

"The blast... it barely made an effect." Ghost ran his gloved fingers along the cracked walls. "So this just leaves one question."

Ghost turned his attention to me. He turned his flashlight to me, awaiting what I had to say. "Where the hell is Soap?" I asked.

We made our way back to the trio and set up camp. Once we finished, the sun had already begun to set. The golden glow casted down onto our campsite and Gaz had made a fire to fend off the cold air that the nighttime would bring.

I sat down beside Ghost and leaned against him. The sky darkened and the bright flames burned beautifully into the dark sky. I watched as the embers rose into the air, the red and orange colors blending in perfectly in the dark. The way the bright flames flickered so greatly, the way the warmth of the fire settled on my skin- I felt at peace.

"Do you think Soap went off the radar?" Gaz asked. Ghost let out a deep sigh and I could feel his chest rise and fall. "Maybe."

"Why do you think the soldiers cared so much about the drone data?" Landon asked. "Probably don't want their information stolen." Antonio had the same guess as all of us. "Did we ever look at all of the footage?" I questioned.

I shifted my gaze to Landon. His bushy eyebrows were furrowed and his glasses had fell to the tip of his nose.

"I don't think so."

I moved away from Ghost as I sat up straight. I was deep in thought. "What if Soap never made it out on his own?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" Ghost questioned as he too sat up straighter. "Everyone left as soon as the building blew up," Gaz added. "Yeah, but... what if they took Soap? Maybe that's why they didn't want their data stolen."

"Before they thought we were dead they probably thought we were still part of the Task Force," Ghost added. "And they feared we would've sent an army to their base to retrieve Soap!" Gaz put the last piece of the puzzle together.

Landon quickly pulled out his laptop and we all gathered close to him. He clicked past each drone- each view changing to the next. The final drone we watch Soap stagger to safety. The screen was cracked and static overpowered the sound so we couldn't hear anything besides static.

After a few short moments a soldier had wrestled Soap to the ground. Soap tried fighting against him as they rolled around in the dirt. Another soldier came and helped pin Soap down.

From there, they knocked him out and dragged him along with them.

Silence fell upon us. We were each too stunned to speak up. "How are we gonna locate them? I don't have the resources to do that." Landon spoke up, breaking us free of the silence. "Maybe you don't, but Price does," Gaz said.

I stood from my crouched position. My hands were on my hips as I looked down at them. "And either way," I began. "If we want to get Soap back. We're gonna need a bigger army."