Faith (Based on Call of Duty: Ghosts)

Chapter 2- A New Family

"Hello, Hailey," the voice sounded American and I started to lunge for the emergency exit.

More Federation soldiers rappelled down from outside the glass in front of me. I widened my eyes and knew I was doomed. Sliding to a stop, I heard the other soldier behind me pull out a gun. My heart stopped and I slowly turned to face him.

This was my end. It was barely my beginning and it was already done for. Had I fulfilled my life? Were there any regrets? Plenty. I hadn't pleased my family by making it to the Ghosts.

"H-how do you know my name?" I asked, my voice shaking, trying to stall.

I prayed for a way out of the situation. There was a very unlikely chance of someone coming to rescue me, but the scissors on the table behind my attacker looked useful. I eyed the tool carefully.

Before the Federation soldier could reply or try to stop me from charging the scissors, a sniper bullet zinged past my head to hit him square in the shoulder. I let out a gasp of relief.

Clenching his teeth and running away from me, the soldier retreated. I heard him stumble down the stairs. Not moving, I thought of the savior sniper behind me. It could very well have been another attacker that betrayed the others or it could be rescuers.

Trust your instinct. I told myself bravely, narrowing my gaze.

"Don't move!" a deep and slightly soft voice said close behind me, making me jump in a weird delight.

I heard three other people land behind him from the rappel ropes that already hung in the blasted glass. So they had been the ones rappelling down from the roof. What had taken them so long to reach me?

Tensing, I closed my eyes and winced as a cloth came around my eyes. I waited for my senses to become out of whack. It wasn't scented or anything, just a normal cloth; I realized that after a few seconds of wearing it. The person behind me tapped on my shoulder to lead me back.

"Stay with us Hailey and we'll get you out of here alive," the same voice that had spoken earlier was leading me back to where they had entered. "I promise."

How did these people know my name? What did the hell did they mean by "get me out alive?" Who were these strange people anyways?

The person tied something around my waist and then suddenly grabbed me from my side. His arm was muscular and my first thought was that he was a soldier of some type. Even though I couldn't see, I felt myself clinging onto them and resting my head against their shoulder. Some part of me felt safe with them already, especially since they'd saved my life. As the air pushed on my head, I knew we were going up.

"Don't have such a death-grip on me, Jesus girl," the person I was holding onto whispered darkly and I tried to not let out a giggle.

"Kick, we need to get her out of here now!" a different and very stern voice said into a radio.

The wind of a chopper's wings blew my hair out from the way of my face and I released the person I had been holding very tightly. My shoulder was pushed towards the loud chopper to be loaded up. I felt like a special package that was being loaded into a chopper, but the real thing was, was that I was actually being a "special" package- or at least it seemed like it.

"W-who are you? Why have you come for me?" I tried to sound brave, but my voice cracked- making me sound like a little baby.

"Take the mask off, Hesh," the stern voice said.

When the cloth was taken away from my eyes, I blinked twice to adjust to the light. In front of me, a short brown haired man looked curiously into my green eyes. His pine green eyes sparkled in the sunlight and I started to get tantalized by them. His hand rested on my knee, as if silently comforting me.

"I'm Hesh," the man was young and seemed less scary than the other three men sitting in the helicopter with me. "That person over there is Logan, my younger brother. Merrick is the man sitting next to him and Keegan is the man next to Merrick. We won't hurt you Hailey."

Gazing around at the others, I saw that each one of them had a black mask that only showed their eyes. The masks had some sort of white painted ghostly figure on it. I saw Merrick smile lightly, pulling his half-faced mask down. His brown eyes were kind and wise with age.

Keegan gazed at me not only cautiously, but curiously. His icy blue gaze made me want to shiver with surprise. He looked rough and nothing close to gentle. I wanted to avoid him as much as possible.

"You never answered my question," I looked back down to face Hesh.

"That's 'cause I can't answer it, Hailey," Hesh replied softly and quickly.

"You've been chosen to help us. We know everything about you and you will know about us soon enough. We'll talk about this more at base," Merrick explained quickly.

Sighing, I realized I couldn't break these men to tell me anything about them. Hesh slowly stood up and sat down next to me. He was stocky, but had big, strong muscle under his all-black uniform. More admiration went through me.

"Fine," I paused looking across to Merrick, "if you won't tell me the details until we get to the base, then can you at least tell me who you are?"

Chuckling with amusement, Merrick dipped his head. Logan and Keegan gazed at me carefully, as if to see my reaction to Merrick's response.

"We're the Ghosts."