Phantom ~ [Simon Ghost Riley]

XXXVI. Lost grounds

I let out a content sigh as I get out of the helicopter. We're back at the same training location we've been at before. The area in which I did my first 141 training ever.

The area in which Ghost had played me by luring me into his grip exactly like he wanted.

I remember that day like it was yesterday. The day that I met him for the very first time.

Now, a couple of months later, we're back for a training session to prepare for our final mission regarding Kahdemi and his weapons. We had taken him and his weapons out, but there was still a threat with Spike company up and running.

Price hadn't explained much about their plans regarding Spike, though by his remarks about it, he surely wasn't done with them. He hadn't specifically said this training was to prepare for mission Spike, but it wasn't a particularly hard guess.

"You might remember this area. Came here some time ago," Price says, his voice loud and heavy as he tries to get everyone's attention. "Back again for some training, but this time it will be different," he crosses his arms in front of his chest. "I'll be making duos.. I'll explain your target in a minute, but first... A group of new recruits will be arriving shortly. They will be given a different target."

"Recruits?" Soap looks to the side, his eyes widened a bit.

"Yes, Soap. Recruits.." Price responds.

"Better watch your backs. Might end up with a knife in your eye.." Soap jokes.

"You were a recruit at some point, weren't you?" Gaz chimes in, a playful smile appearing on his face.

"-Yeah, but.." Soap tries to save himself. "That's different."

Price scrapes his throat and catches all of our attention with it. "These recruits will be told to hunt for you... Your target is to deliver 'secret' objects to certain locations on this terrain."

"Secret objects?" Ghost asks, his sudden loud voice startling me the slightest bit.

"Affirm... The object itself is not of importance. It's about the location it should be delivered to. You will find ten objects with blue reflective stickers on them throughout the forest. There's a code on there. Enter it into your trackers and take it to wherever it leads you."

I look around the group and notice Gaz's confused face. It's clear that they've never done something like this before.

"And what if we're caught by the recruits?" I ask.

"The recruits are allowed any weapons. You, however, are just allowed a handgun. If you're captured, you're out and the team will have to do without you. I expect you to get all objects to the location. No exceptions."

~

The cold metal of my gun rests in the palm of my hand. It's cold out, which causes my gun to maintain its freezing temperature. The sun has started to set and it casts an orange glow over the blanket of trees. They hang low like last time, blocking out most of the last rays of the sun.

Keegan walks behind me, his steps fast but soundless as always. Price had put us together when he picked out the duo's and I wasn't particularly mad about it. Keegan knew how to be stealthy, I have to give him that.

"Where on earth are we," I mutter as the thick forest makes everything just a bit harder to see.

"Wait," Keegan says as he appears beside me. He turns me to him, his hands hooked into the loops of my military vest. One of his hands slides into a pocket of it and he pulls out a compass. It's clear that he knew exactly where it was.