Hotel Six: A Call of Duty Fanfiction

Chapter 3: Fresh Faces

"Boot camp is just a head game; once you realize that, you're life becomes that much easier." ~ Unknown

She normally wasn't late to formation. But since the funeral, Soap noticed every day she seemed to be less engaged, later than usual, and not keeping up like she should. Finally came the day she didn't show up at all.

He sighed and tossed the butt of his cigar to the ground, stamping it under a heavy foot. "Damn it, Gal..."

"What are you muttering about, Soap?" Price lit a cigar of his own as he stepped out of the armory and let a thin ribbon of silver smoke curl from his lips.

"Jess isn't here yet; she's usually here by now."

The Captain shook his head. "I know. She's not herself lately."

"You don't think it's because of the promotions, do you?" His hand stroked over the new patch on his arm, resisting the urge to pick at the rough end of an untrimmed thread. "She's got more responsibilities now; I wonder if she jumped ship and ran."

"She's not a fool, I don't think she running, Lieutenant."

Soap nodded slowly. "If you say so, sir." He looked once more down the path where she should have been coming from and walked into the armory.

Gal skidded to a halt at Price's feet with a limp, sandy grey rabbit clamped in her jaws. She folded her ears back when his expression seemed less than pleased and put her kill down. "Before you speak, I'm aware that I'm running a little behind."

"A little?" echoed Price. "You should have been here an hour ago."

"For breakfast, yeah, but PT starts in five, doesn't it?"

"It starts in two." Soap released the bolt on his rifle, loudly loading a bullet into the chamber. "Everyone's already here except you."

She sighed heavily and shifted, stumbling as she grabbed the hare. "Guess I'll be eating later."

Price made a disturbed frown. "Thank God, I wouldn't want to watch you gulp that nasty thing down."

"Rabbit isn't nasty..?" She held it closer to her chest, flinching when she felt a dribble of blood down her knuckles and she shook it off. "Alright, maybe this is a little nasty, but..." Price's judgemental stare didn't change and she begrudgingly hung it by its heels as she dropped it into a bin by the armory door. "Now look what you made me do. I wasted a whole rabbit."

A chuckle rippled in the Captain's chest. "You didn't have to throw it away."

"Well I'm not eating it now that it's been in the trash..."

"I can't believe you; you'll eat a raw, stringy rabbit you found God knows where, but you won't eat the same rabbit out of a rubbish bin?" Soap scoffed, swinging his rifle over his shoulder. "You're a bloody mystery, Gal. Get a G3 from the armory, we're startin' with target practice today."

She nodded quietly and went inside, rolling her eyes once she was out of sight. "Should have just swallowed that rabbit when I had the chance..." Jessica rounded the corner and was about to ask the corporal at the desk for a weapon when she noticed two men already standing there; two men she had never seen before.