Phantom ~ [Simon Ghost Riley]

XXXIV. Two wheels

Ghost unlocks Soap's car with his spare key before opening the trunk of the car. I stand with my arms crossed in front of my chest, slightly confused as to why he has a spare key to begin with.

He leans forward to grab something out of the trunk and as he retrieves himself, I notice the black helmet in his hand. I simply look at him and it takes me a while to register what is happening.

It's when he throws me the helmet and a thick black jacket that I know where this is going.

"What..?"

"Put it on," he says before grabbing another helmet from the trunk.

"You have a motorcycle?"

"No... We're gonna go ride my horse. His name is Skully and he's right around the corner."

"-Shut up," I laugh. "How come you never told me?"

"It never came up."

"Am I gonna die if I get on the back?"

He chuckles low before turning around to exchange his mask for a balaclava. I try to take a peek, but he leans forward, causing me to see nothing.

"Are you scared?" he asks, amusement clear in his tone.

"-No," I say, my fingers digging into the fabric of the jacket. "I am not."

He nods slowly, clearly not believing my words. "Alright. Put it on then," he points towards the gear in my hands.

I bite the inside of my cheek for a couple of seconds before putting the helmet down in the still-opened trunk of Soap's car. I put my arms through the jacket sleeves and I can immediately tell I'll drown in it. Ghost steps closer to me and he helps me zip up the jacket, my own hand buried somewhere deep inside the sleeves.

"It's Soap's gear," he says, as he grabs my wrist.

"He has one too?" My eyes widen for a split second as I watch Ghost pull the hair tie off of my wrist.

"You know surprisingly little about us, sergeant," he says, his eyes remaining on mine. "Tie your hair up. You'll regret it if you don't," he says as he hands me my own hair tie.

I put the hair tie in my mouth as I make a quick braid. I look at him as he grabs his own helmet and slides it over his head. He flips the blacked-out visor up first so that I can still see him. My eyes remain on him, the hair tie still in my mouth, when he squints for a split second. A wave of nervousness washes through me from the intense eye contact.

And I know for a fact that he's doing it on purpose.

He hands me Soap's helmet when I finish my braid before he pushes my hair behind my shoulders. He flips open the visor when the helmet gets into place. He then ducks down a little, tipping my head up to secure the straps underneath my chin.

As I expected, his bike is fully black. A few of the parts have a shiny finish, though some of the parts are matte black. The combination of the two makes the bike look incredible.

"This is sick," I say a little louder than usual.

He says nods once. "Have you ever done this before?"

"One time. But it was a long time ago and I was a few centimeters shorter," I chuckle.

"Alright," he says as he leans forward. He fiddles with something on the side of Soap's helmet when I suddenly hear a startup sound. His voice then sounds through a device connected inside of the helmet. "You should be able to hear me now."

"Wow.. Yeah, I can. Can you hear me too?"

"Yeah," he says as he gets on the bike. The noise of the engine sounds like an animal growling as it wakes up from its sleep. Goosebumps form on my arms as I look at him sitting on his bike.