Hidden Bonds: Ghost and the Hopeful

Chapter 2: The Return

Hereford, England.
3:12 P.M
TF141 Base; shooting range.

Ghost was waiting for his friend, Soap, to finish up with the recruits. They'd been at this for a few hours now and it was getting boring. Soap was scolding some of the recruits for holding the guns wrong and just messing around. Ghost sighed and spoke up, loud enough so they could hear him. "Why the hell did you join the army if your just gonna fuck around? Listen, damnit." The recruits quietly hushed down and listened for the rest of the lesson. Soap gave him a thumbs up and a nice little smirk, to which Ghost nodded along to.

Eventually the lesson ended and the recruits were all dismissed. Ghost walked over to Soap and asked, "The hell you commanding this for again?" Soap smirked at him. "Price said if I wanted to go up the ranks, I'd need to act more of... Something else I guess?" Ghost groaned and the two walked off.

They walked down the halls of the base and Ghost decided to speak up. "Remember that solo I did the other day?" Soap nodded. "What about it?" He asked. Ghost was silent and suddenly stopped walking. Soap looked at him with concern. "Something wrong, Lt.?" Ghost looked up at him and took a nice deep breath. "Let's talk in private."

They both walked to an empty office and walked inside. Soap sat down first and looked up at him. Ghost took a deep breath but... He couldn't figure out what to say or how to explain it. Soap stood back up and put a hand on his shoulder. "Simon, what is going on? What is it, lad?" Ghost perked up at his name but shrugged it off. He walked over to the window and sighed. "That solo mission... I saw something I don't think I should've... It was a girl but she was just a kid. But that kid... It didn't feel... It didn't look human- I mean it did look human but everything was so crazy."

Soap was confused. "So you saw a kid in a place that hasn't been working for over twenty years and you're saying she wasn't human? You're kidding right?" Soap let out a soft chuckle."I'm serious! Dead ass!" He shouted. "You've been watching too many horror movies with Gaz, Lt. Think it's time you stop for a while?" Clearly, Soap didn't take him seriously. I mean who would? I don't think so...

Later that day, Ghost was walking to the med Bay to get checked. Maybe it was all in his head? Maybe he was just being paranoid? 'Maybe' is an understatement. He was attacked, and he had proof. He went back to Soap and grabbed him by the hair which Soap groaned to. "If that shit was in my head, how the hell did this happen?" He lifted up his pant leg to show the bite marks but... It was gone? "What.." Ghost tried to feel his leg, felt the other leg. There was no part where the bite marks were. Soap groaned. "Just get, lad. You're freaking me out." At this point, no one would believe him. He needs proof, real proof. But... How would he do that? He thought for a moment and realized: pictures. But again, he would get proof it would actually look like the creature he believed. He thought again... His only solution was to bring the creature here. To the base. But he couldn't do it alone...

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Milwaukee, Wisconsin
11:28 P.M
Abandoned Lab?

"Do we really have to do this?" Roach complained. Ghost couldn't do it alone so, he brought the most people he could trust currently. At the moment it is Roach, Soap, Price, and Gaz. But... Gaz was busy and so was Soap. Price wasn't even at the base so it was just him and Roach. "Yes, now trust me this thing IS here. If it's not... I'll give you twenty bucks." Roach groaned. "Let's just get this over with.

They walked inside, back into that creepy looking lobby. Roach kept his finger on the trigger at all times. He kept shivering as they walked through the lab. Ghost listened for any sound that would signal for the creature being there but then Roach spoke up. "I don't see or hear anything... Can we just go?" Ghost groaned and spoke back. "No. Trust me it's close I can-" Suddenly he was cut off by a loud crash in another room. "Bingo..." He walked to the room with his rifle in hand, Roach following behind. He signaled for him to kick the door which he did. They entered the room quickly and there it was. The creature.

It looked just like Ghost remembered it. It's black eyes and it's funky looking hair, he knew it was it. It hissed and growled at them and Roach jumped. Roach nearly shot it before Ghost yelled at him. "Don't shoot it! We need it calm..." Ghost put his gun down and slowly came over to it, his hands up to show he wasn't a threat. Roach kept his gun up just in case. "Hey there... I ain't gonna hurt you... Just come with me and we can get you some food and water..." He tried reaching for its arm but the creature hissed and screamed. Roach shot at it and it ran out of the room. Ghost shot him a glare and ran after it to which Roach followed.

They ran through the corridor, looking for it. He heard another crash and a scream. He ran to it and saw that it was stuck in some fallen debris. "Keep your aim on it." Ghost slowly came over and crouched down next to it. "Calm down, it's gonna hurt worse if you keep moving." The creature slowly calmed down and just hissed at him. Ghost moved some of the debris out and away from the creature. He slowly reached out to the creature's face and thankfully it didn't attack him. It didn't move at first but it sniffed his hand. Just like a cat it started to rub against his hand and purr. It weirded Ghost out but not too much. Ghost put his head in the back of the creature's neck and hit the right place where it passed out. Ghost removed the debris completely and picked up the creature. Roach lowered his gun. "It's a kid..." Ghost just looked at it closely, feeling a bit of sympathy for the poor thing. "Let's head back, got some explaining to do." "What about my twenty bucks?" "We found it, you don't get anything."

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Hereford, England.
2:10 A.M
TF141 Base; barracks.

Ghost was leading Soap to his room in the barracks. Soap rubbed his eyes and groaned. "Why did you wake me up so early?" He asked, which Ghost didn't respond. "Is this about that creature you claimed was real? Because if it is I swear I'm gonna beat your arse." He said annoyed. Ghost chuckled and Soap groaned.

Ghost opened the door and led Soap into the room. "Had to fix some things around here." They walked over to Ghost's bed. Soap was confused. "A blanket? Really?" Soap was gonna leave when Ghost grabbed his arm again and pointed to the blanket. "What's under it?" Ghost slowly lifted up the blanket to show...

That creature. But to Soap, it was just a child. "Woah... Didn't know you dated minors." Ghost immediately punched his side and Soap grunted to it. "Why is there a kid in your bed?" Soap looked at it again and the creature started to yawn with its mouth but then... Its entire face opened up to show those razor sharp teeth. Soap walked back into the walk with shock. He tried to run but Ghost grabbed him and asked. "You believe me now?"

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(1314 words)