-TASK FORCE 141- *ghost x y/n*

-careless-

Approaching the end of this story... kinda sad, but I'm also gonna be starting a new one soon, so... (guess which character from a video game it's gonna be teeheehee)

also blame the person in my comments on the last chapter asking for angst, i couldn't put a whole lot in here but i will be later mwahahaha

Word count: 1,214

Me and Ghost walked through out the little town a bit, looking at the people, the soldiers, the buildings, the shops... anything we could find, honestly, that wasn't each other. Eventually, Ghost stopped at a sewer cap. "This is the one Gaz was talking about..." He grumbled unhappily as he pried it open.

I climbed down first. I looked back at the ladder for one last time, before Ghost pulled the lid down and shut us in. My eyes immediately had to adjust to the darkness. My fingers reached for the flashlight on my rifle, but Ghost instantly reached over to nudge them away. "You have night vision for a reason," he grumbled in my ear. His hand reached up to my helmet and pushed them down against my eyes. 

"Thanks..." I mumbled, adjusting them a bit.

The empty sewer stretched out like a forgotten vein beneath the city. Its damp, weathered walls were lined with slick stones that were laden with grime and seemed to absorb the faintest echoes of the town above. The air was heavy with humidity, mingling with the faint scent of sewage and stale water.

The tunnel, large enough for a person to walk upright, descended deeper into the earth, the floor uneven with remnants of crumbling concrete and scattered debris. Puddles of murky water collected right at the bottom against the stone.

As the tunnel progressed, the sounds of the city faded, replaced by the distant echo of dripping water and the occasional skitter of rats and bugs.

There wasn't much to look at for a long while. Just bits of dirt, the constant faint stench of the sewage that was once filling this place, and Ghost's footsteps behind me. Finally, after a few minutes of silence and walking, we came across another ladder that looked identical to the one we had just come out of. Ghost paid it nearly no mind, but I set my foot on the bottom rail and pushed it up a bit. A bit of dim lighting flooded my eyes, and I pulled my night vision goggles back in their upright position to see better. 

"What are you doing?" Ghost hissed. 

"Just looking." I took another step up the ladder before pushing the sewer lid up completely and climbing up.

What I was in was nothing but a humid, hot, concrete box with a dim light hanging from the ceiling and a door on one wall and another one on the side across from it. There was no windows, but there was- of course- dirt and sand piled up on the floor.

"Ghost, come up," I called down to him. I heard him sigh deeply, then begin climbing... then the sound of something hitting the stone bottom of the sewer.

Then a bunch of cusses.

"What happened?" I said, still looking around the rather plain building.

"Dropped the fuckin' radio. I think the screen broke." Ghost huffed, climbing back down to retrieve the pieces.

When he finally came back up, I was already pushing open a door. 

"Shite, Dice." He grumbled as I stepped inside.

It was another dimly lit room, this time with desks and chairs facing the wall. Each had some papers, some trash, and a few coats hung on the back of some of the chairs. A bulletin board was on the wall, with some notes written in Arabic alongside photos of soldiers from all different countries. 

Ghost picked up a paper. "It's a list." 

"Of what?" I asked, sifting through some other papers.

"Supplies," he replied. "It's in English. Ammunition was crossed out."

I met his eyes. "They know about the shipment, whoever they are."

"And they more than likely know Al-Sami." He responded as he read the rest of the paper. "Find anything else?"

"Uhm..." My eyes scanned more of the prints. "Oh, look. This is in Arabic, but there's a photo..." I showed it to him. The photo was of an American convoy. I assumed it was the very one that was meant to be sent to the troops Laswell told us about.

"Take all of them, we'll get them back to the squad." He began picking up some papers and placing them in a creased folder that was left on the desk. "If you can't fit it in your pack, we'll come back later for the rest."

Luckily,  I was able to fit most of them in my pack, and shoved the leftovers into Ghost's. Once we had all of that sorted, we went back into the main room.

"Now for this one." I said, looking over the other door. Light was seeping out from the bottom. "Wonder what's inside..."

I reached for the handle, but Ghost's gloved hand grabbed mine. "Don't," he muttered. "We can't just run in, there might be someone inside. We need to get the squad, and-"

"But there could be something important!" I whisper-shouted. "What if there's something going on in there now, but not when we come back?"

"You need to be patient."

"Just let me-" 

"Be quiet, Dice."

"We have to get in-"

"Dice, shut the hell up."

He reached out to grab my armor plate, but I dodged and pushed the door open... and was immediately greeted with a red dot on my forehead.

✧༺♧༻✧

"Are you seriously blaming me?" I shouted, glaring at him. We were now currently in the dingy basement of some house that Al-Sami's men had dragged us to. There was one small barred window, a shitty cot, and enough dust to keep my nostrils clogged for a year.

"Of course I am," he spat. "You've been an issue ever since you came here. You do stupid shit, you're reckless, you're a fucking threat to everyone's safety. I have done nothing but things that are meant to be your job. I shouldn't have to check my six every two seconds when I'm on a mission with you, but I do, because I don't trust you to do that job for me."

I stared at him for a second, unable to think of anything to say. But it didn't matter, because he kept going.

"I've tried to put up with your stupid ass because Price thinks you're great and Soap thinks you're sweet, but honestly?" He stepped closer to me, looking down at me with narrowed eyes. "I'd rather just be on my own then with you. It's no wonder your squad wanted to dump you with us so bad, who would want someone as careless as you in their work?"

Before I could even try to defend myself, he had shoved past me to go sit on the almost-broken cot. The metal beams creaked under his weight as he tugged his broken radio out and tried to fiddle with it. Of course, his M1 Abrams tank-sized body took over the entire thing, so it's not like there was any room for me to rest. Not that I'd want to be near the prick anyways.

I looked away, and leaned against the wall, letting myself slide down into a crouched position as I tried to think of a way to get us out of this.