Ghosts of the Past (A Call Of Duty: Ghosts Fanfiction)

Chapter Thirty

When I woke up Keegan wasn't next to me. For a split second I started to panic and think all of it had been a dream, but when I heard two people in the main space of the outpost I sighed in relief. I sat up, noticing how Keegan had been kind enough to prepare some spare clothes out of the main closet. They looked like they belonged to the workers who may have once rotated out in these mountains and the uniform looked smaller, made for a tiny male or a woman. 

    Slipping the black pants and slim navy jacket over my long, base layer underwear, I tenderly pulled my hair out of my face. Making sure everything was picked up, including my scavenged rifle, I glided to the door and opened it. 

    Keegan and Logan were sitting near the heater, both drinking steaming liquid from cups. Riley's tail thumping greeted me and alerted them of my presence. Logan didn't look at me as Keegan's eyes—his skull-painted balaclava was securely on again—examined me once. I found the steaming liquid to be coffee, heated at the mini kitchen.

    As much as I wanted some, I knew my empty stomach would hate me. I dug into the fridge and the freezer, trying to find something to eat. A big dead end.

    "He was already on it this morning," Keegan said gruffly and I turned to face them again.

    Logan waved the stick with a small, skinned body on it. "Using the heater to finish it. It's rabbit." 

    "Better than nothing," I muttered. 

    As Logan finished the small rabbit he broke up the carcass into three parts, sending more of the scraps down to Riley. We each quietly chewed on the meat, taking what we could for the time being; Keegan had cautiously shoved up his balaclava to indulge as well. I didn't care for the bland flavor nor the imagining of the fluffy animal we were eating, but food was food. 

    "We need to get out of this valley," Logan was the first to break the silence, his voice rough. "Rorke will find us soon."

    Keegan dipped his head in agreement. "If we travel east there's an Army base I've already been in contact with. They'll be expecting us."

    Going back to war, more of the reality of the situation, made the rabbit suddenly taste sour. Despite all of the tension with Rorke and the retrieval of Logan, there was a war taking off. It had been only four years since the last one and I knew no one was truly ready. Thinking of how to even begin to resolve it all was overwhelming. 

    "We'll walk most of the way there." 

    "Driving would be more efficient," Logan countered Keegan.

    I felt the air grow stiff, the silent distrust between the two of them becoming heavier. Keegan finished his meal and then adjusted his mask. "Driving will be more obvious."

    "They'll catch us too easily if we walk. We don't have the time," Logan also made decent points. 

    "Three on foot won't be hard to keep hidden." 

    "It will take too long."

    I could feel the temperature rise in the room, the tension suffocating. That blurred line between Logan and Carter was getting more difficult to track. A piece of me wondered if it had been a good idea to bring him back. Maybe he was too far gone. Maybe Keegan was right to be tense and full of distrust.

    "Why not do both?" I suggested timidly and both of their hostile glares were redirected toward me. I sucked in a nervous breath. "We start off on foot, avoiding any of Rorke's patrols better. Then once we reach a town or something we can snatch a car to go the rest of the way."

    "We're more likely to hit either roadblock—Rorke's or ours. If it's the former..." Keegan trailed off. "Well, we wouldn't be able to make it through one of their roadblocks." 

    Logan snorted, catching the directed tone. "I'm here with you, don't be pinning anything like that on me or—"

    "Or what?" Keegan's temper flared as the two of them stood in sync. 

    "Both of you knock it off," I grumbled and pushed myself up off a wooden chair. 

    Stepping between them, I shoved both of their stiff chests away from each other. Their eyes didn't stray from each other as they slowly listened to my demand. I looked between the two of them. 

    "You both know fighting between ourselves isn't helpful. Get a grip!"

    Keegan's blue gaze snapped to me, icy and guarded. I pressed into him with my green eyes and shook my head subtly. With a scoff, Keegan spun to leave the outpost, picking up his rifle on the way out. 

    "We leave in two."

    Logan looked after him in doubt, jaw clenched. I forced myself to step in front of his gaze, hoping he'd back down. Logan only kept the same demeanor and shifted it onto me. 

    "I don't take orders from you."

    "I didn't say you had to," I flared, narrowing my eyes. "You probably don't remember it, but that soldier out there was very close to you. He's having to...navigate all this too." 

    Logan huffed, picking up the rifle he'd swiped the night before. "This is why you don't belong here. Too much emotion. Bottle that shit up before it gets all of us killed."

    Leaving me to fume alone in the outpost, Logan slammed the door behind him. I groaned and then rushed to slip on my boots and grab my weapon. If emotion was what Logan thought was going on, blinding my decisions, he was wrong. 

    "Asshole," I grunted as I looked expectantly at Riley.

    I would give him no emotion; I'd show him what he wanted. I forced myself to regain the careful, cunning attitude I'd had as a prisoner. I purposefully thought of the soldiers I'd killed just to get my mind in the darker place it needed to be. 

    Keegan locked up the place as Riley and I exited. Logan stood a ways off, surveying the open area, with his rifle across his arms. He'd pulled up his neck part of his stolen jacket in the cold wind of the morning. I adjusted my warmer outfit a bit too, appreciating the gear. 

    The two men exchanged stiff, irritated glances and then Keegan trudged through the calf-deep snow first. Logan didn't bother to wait for me as he followed. Riley looked up at where I stared after them. 

    "This is going to be a long hike, bud."