Call of Duty Ghosts: The Young Soldier

Chapter 2

As Axel sat next to Trent in the back of the transport truck, Clark bandaging his side and wiping the blood from his head, he glanced to the side at Ryan. 

"So, where are we going?" He asked, and Ryan leaned over towards him. 

"We're headed out of the city. We're meeting up with the other Ghosts at the base." He told, and Axel's eyes widened. 

"The other Ghosts? I thought they were across the country!" He said, and Ryan shook his head. 

"Typically, yes. But we sometimes meet up to switch out. Y'know, so the other Ghosts don't have to be on one side of the country for too long. Only a few at a time, though. But this means that you'll be able to meet the other Ghosts." He explained, and Axel's hands clenched around the fabric of his shorts. 

"Meet them all...." He muttered, and Trent turned his head. 

"Axel, are you okay?" He asked, and the boy nodded. 

"I'm fine," He answered quickly. Trent raised his eyebrow, then sat back. Axel sighed, looking out the side of the truck at the passing scenery. He had never been outside of Los Angeles, but he seemed to recognize where they were going. But a few moments later, everything became unidentifiable, and his comfort melted away. 

Axel leaned his head back, closing his eyes with a long sigh. Suddenly he jolted, his eyes shooting open. 

Trent's eyes widened. "Axel! Are you okay?!" He asked, Ryan also watching him in concern. 

Axel bit his lip, his chest tight. "It's just...whenever I close my eyes, I see my parents, and the blood..." He stopped, hanging his head. "I try to forget it, but I can't." He said, and Trent put his arm around Axel's shoulder.

"Hey. We all have our demons. I mean, I..." He stopped, glancing up at Ryan, who raised his eyebrow, then shook his head. Trent bit his lip, then sighed. "Anyway, we all have things that sometimes hold us back. But we have to overcome that, Axel. It may take a while. But you're strong." He told him, and Axel smiled. 

'Trent's right,' he thought. 'I need to do this...for them.' 

The truck then started to slow, and Axel looked up to see a huge wall, crumbling and cracked but still standing. The truck stopped at a large entrance, then Clark hopped out, running over to a panel on the wall. He typed in a code, then the doors began to open. He ran back to the truck, jumped in, and the transport passed the gate, the door closing as soon as they were past.

Axel looked at the broken city around them, no idea where they were. After all, he hadn't exactly been paying attention when they were driving here. He just kept looking around, thinking about how this city had been destroyed by the same forces that ripped apart his family. At that thought, his fist clenched, but he took a deep breath and calmed himself. 

Then the truck turned down another road, driving past a blockade with barbed wire fencing. Axel's eyes widened when he saw the military compound, and the destruction it had long ago received. Wrecked jeeps, trucks and tanks scattered the beachfront, the ocean edge teeming with the metal. Craters from shells riddled the ground, and the trenches dug in the beach were stained with blood.

Axel's eyes were wide, his breath shaky. "Where...where are we?" He asked quietly as he turned his head to Trent. His eyebrow raised when he saw the soldier looking out at the beach with a set jaw, blank face, and pained eyes. 

"Trent?" Axel asked again, and Trent shook himself, then glanced at Axel. 

"Fort Santa Monica. The original American Military base on the West Coast. Where the Ghosts started. But three years ago it was completely destroyed in an attack from the Federation. We lost hundreds of soldiers, and that's when I was-"