GHOST - No Man's Land

/CHAPTER 11

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[Rebecca]

The next mornings consisted of much of the same. So did the rest of the days. As though I was stuck in an incessant timeloop, with every day feeling stretched longer and drearier while my body was wearing thin. 

I hadn't seen the sunlight since Soap and Gaz had taken me outside. 

Every morning consisted of two hours of intense training with Ghost. The same, every day. Blocking his punches as he pretended to fight me, almost insultingly slow. He'd made it very clear the first day just how much he was holding back. 

The worst part was, it was working. I was feeling my reactions quicken with each session, and saw the intensity and speed with which he threw his punches increase with my improvement. 

The afternoons consisted of pouring over the countless of frames I'd gathered and presented to Price. Meetings, long fucking meetings with the Captain to determine just which groups were in which location and for how long. 

It was tedious, and more often than not left me with a headache rivalling the intensity of my migraine attacks years ago. 

The fact that it felt as though we were making no progress wasn't helping. 

I walked through the long dwindling halls of the base whenever my brain felt like it would split in two if I didn't stop looking at a screen. Discovering new crooks and corners, deactivated rooms, and remnants of barracks that once surely were inhabited. 

The air was harder to breathe here, as the ventilation system hadn't been turned on through the entirety of the base. 

The further I walked, the higher my chances were of evading Ghost's prowling rounds around the base. 

Price had explained it after Ghost had forced me towards the briefing room. 

''I've assigned Lieutenant Ghost to you. He's gonna be personally responsible for your safety.''

I looked at the table, eyes tracing the cracks and chips marring the smooth metal surface. Mind still reeling with the avalanche of information Price had fed me just moments ago. 

I was mortified. And frankly, indignant. 

I pushed the feelings down and looked up. ''Why him?''

Price was leaning on the table across from me. He pondered for a moment before answering. 

''Because if there's one thing I know for certain about Ghost, it's that he gets his mission done. No matter what.''

That 'no matter what' now resulted in me being shadowed nearly every time I dared to step foot outside of my bedroom. It had been unnerving the first day, but like every aspect of daily life I'd had to adjust to in the past week, that too became part of every-day. 

''Evening, Lieutenant,'' I greeted as I turned the corner, stretching my arms out above me. He was leaning against the wall opposite of the briefing room, again. 

Sometimes I wondered if he was just as bored as I was in the confines of these walls. 

He only grunted in response to my question. My meeting with Price had gone on for way longer than planned, and my stomach grumbled something awful. I stopped beside Ghost, who was looking at me intently, before dropping my arms and shooting him a questioning look. 

''Have you eaten?'' 

I rolled my eyes. ''Don't pretend to care now, Lieutenant. I was just heading to the mess hall, actually.''