More Than Human

Chapter 7: To Satiate a Beast

Soap followed Ghost into their room, close behind him. Ghost had been worried Valeria's comment might scare him off, but it hadn't seemed to. And he had pressed closer to him even still when he was nervous. He wasn't sure if Soap was just that loyal or simply stupid.

They both settled in their respective beds after Soap's nightly shower and rolled over to face away from each other. Ghost, as had become his habit, listened and waited for Soap to fall asleep. However, the man's heart kept up its slightly quicker than average pace. His breathing the same.

"Soap."

"Hm?"

"Why are you still awake?"

He rolled over to face Soap and found that the man was facing him in turn. His cheeks were flushed in embarrassment at being caught.

"Sorry LT. It's just..." He suddenly shook his head and moved to roll back to the wall, "Nevermind. Just forget it."

Ghost sat up and swung his legs around so that his feet were flat on the floor, shaking his head, "No. What did you want to ask, Sergeant?"

Soap paused his turning and looked up at Ghost from his slightly lower position.

"I... well I was just wondering. I mean after today and all. Are you hungry?"

Ghost narrowed his eyes at him, "Why? You scared?"

"Of you?" Soap asked as if it wasn't obvious, "No. No never of you, Ghost."

And to Ghost's surprise, it was true. His breathing didn't stutter, his heartbeat didn't jump, he held Ghost's gaze in earnest. Soap was being one hundred percent honest with him. He wasn't scared.

He didn't know what Ghost was, though. Once he knew he would be. Ghost was sure of it. It made him want to tell him less.

Soap continued, "Anyway, I was just wonderin' if I could go find somethin' for ya. I mean, if you tell me what you need I could probably find it. I'm good at finding things."

That was a tempting offer. Because Ghost was hungry. Famished even. He had been holding out longer than normal because there wasn't a good time to get away and hunt for a deer or something to fill him. He'd managed to tide himself over with some of the blood bags he had snagged from the med bay, but it wasn't enough. It barely helped. It didn't come directly from the source. It wasn't being moved. Not being pumped. It wasn't actively giving life, so it only got him through the day.

It was even harder with Soap there. The man just smelled so good. He hadn't been this tempted by anything in a long time. Maybe even ever. He was hardly ever apart from Soap for longer than half an hour at a time. So he was constantly being assaulted with his scent.

With the need to feed.

"Don't worry about me, MacTavish. I'll be fine." He answered, going against his base urges.

Soap's brow furrowed and his nose scrunched up.

"I need him to stop being cute or I may lose my mind."

"Respectfully sir," Soap replied, "that wasnae my question. I asked if you were hungry."

What a bold little thing that lay in front of him.

"Tell me what you need and I'll go get it. I don't care how weird it is, sir." Soap was practically begging him.

How strange.

"Fine." Ghost finally said. If only to get Soap away from him for a bit to compose himself. "You wanna get me something? Something small, a rabbit or a squirrel. Around that size. Alive preferably."

It wasn't enough to truly feed him. He would be hungry again in a few hours, but it would at least take his mind off of it ever so slightly. So he could sleep easier. They had a big mission tomorrow after all. And Soap was so eager to help, it would give him something to do.

He had barely gotten the words out before Soap was scrambling out of bed and heading for the door. He was gone before Ghost could even ask what he was going to do. He left in his pajama shirt and sweats. He didn't even put on his boots, they were still sitting at the door.

Ghost shook his head. He had practically sent Soap on a wild goose chase. Managing to track down and catch an animal in an unknown forest. He was in his pajamas even. He hoped he would be back soon or he wouldn't be very rested for tomorrow.

Ghost felt a strange and sudden urge to get up and drag the Scot back to bed. Make sure he got enough sleep. Was properly cared for. He shook that off as quickly as possible.

He wouldn't be falling asleep until his sergeant returned, successfully or unsuccessfully, so he returned to reading his book. Two and a half hours later, he was starting to get that familiar prickle of worry at the back of his neck. He tossed his book to the side and stood up to go slip his boots on and go looking for him. Just as he bent down to grab his boots the door swung open.

Soap stepped in, looking slightly haggard and extremely tired. His clothes were a mess, and it looked like his grey t-shirt was on backwards and inside out. He fell to his knees in front of Ghost, holding out his prize. A brown rabbit. It looked dead, but based on the rapid breathing and heartbeat Ghost could hear, it was merely paralyzed. The rabbit lay across Soap's raised palms like an offering to a king. To a god.

"I got it. I got it for you. Just like you asked." Soap's words were a little slurred, as if he was slightly dizzy.

The sight before him made Ghost's mouth water and he felt his teeth slide downward. It wasn't the rabbit though. Soap's flushed cheeks and slightly panted breath. Mohawk disheveled On his knees and seemingly eager to please. Ghost would accept the rabbit instead to calm himself, but first he wanted to get Soap into bed.

He crouched down in front of him and ran a hand through his hair. Sucking in a little breath of his own when Soap leaned into the touch.

"Good work, sergeant. Very impressive catch." And it was. Ghost wasn't lying. The rabbit sported only a few tiny puncture wounds around the back of its neck. Expertly caught.

Soap held it up a little higher then, and Ghost carefully accepted it, setting it on the ground and to the side. He would eat in a moment. He carefully pulled Soap to his feet, the man's knees a little wobbly, and walked him back over to his bed. He helped him lay down, adjusting the blanket a bit. He was unable to resist the urge to stroke his hair again, smoothing it back down.

"Get some sleep, Soap. There's a good lad."

And Soap let out a strange sound. A deep rumble, pleased. But then his eyes drifted closed and he was asleep.

"Fuckin' hell." Ghost breathed.

He quickly stepped back before he accidentally fed on the wrong thing and scooped the rabbit back up. He locked himself in the bathroom and crouched down in the tub. He didn't leave much preamble, ripping his balaclava off and tossing it to the side. He sunk his teeth into its jugular and pulled.

Warmth flooding his senses at the fresh blood. Fresh blood that had been caught for him. That had been presented to him as if it were the finest ambrosia rather than a scrawny rabbit from the woods surrounding the base. The care that had gone into this feeding made it so much more enjoyable, and he was unable to suppress the moan that worked its way up his throat as his stomach was filled.

In the morning he would be hungry again. But for now, the beast was satiated.

And more than that, it was pleased.