A Ghost Encounter: My Time with Simon "Ghost" Riley

Part Forty-Eight: Are You Ready?

"Do you think that means-" Before I can finish my sentence Soap cuts me off.

"100 percent," Soap deadpans.

"W-what do we do when we see him? Is this a dead or alive type thing?" I ask, overwhelmed by the thought of potentially having to eliminate our General.

If there's one thing I know about Shepherd it's that he's a seasoned veteran with a whole lot of power. He's more dangerous than any opponent we've faced so far.

"Capture or kill," Laswell says over the comms.

"Yes, ma'am," Soap replies.

Kill Commander Shepherd? Are we skilled enough to do that? Am I skilled enough?

"We need to take out these Shadows," Soap states, his tone serious.

"Right." I nod. "There are four shadows in that room. I'll take the two on the right. You can manage the other two on the left, yeah?"

"Of course, darlin'," Soap chuckles as if my questioning his abilities was the silliest thing he's ever heard.

But it is silly. Soap has far more experience than me despite us being the same rank. If anyone can complete this mission it's him.

He could probably do it without me...

Annoyingly so, no matter what the task ahead, my insecurities always find a way to creep into my mind and take up an unnecessary amount of space.

But I'm guilty of allowing it too.

"Focus, Sergeant." A deep, raspy British accent cuts through the comms.

Ghost.

He can probably tell I'm nervous over the comms, and to Simon, my silence speaks a thousand words.

"R-right, Lieutenant," I reply to him.

"Let's take 'em out then, yeah?" Soap smiles at me.

"Yeah." I smile back, trying my best to mask my anxiety and insecurities.

I've made it this far—I killed a notorious terrorist—I can do this.

I have to do this.

"Now!" Soap starts shooting at the Shadows on our left.

I follow in his lead, head-shooting the Shadows on our right.

Damn, this is tricky to do when you're repelling upside down.

"Let's keep going," Soap tells me after we finish shooting down the Shadows.

Soap and I continue to rappel down the tower, inching closer to the server room. We cross over the 62nd floor.

Almost there now.

We hear Gaz come in over the comms. "We've made it to the 21st floor. Fuck ton of Shadows," Gaz sighs.

"Good work, team. Keep pushing," Captain Price says over the comms, attempting to keep our spirits up.

"Any luck with the last missile?" Ghost asks.

"Not yet," Laswell sighs deeply, hinting at her frustration and disappointment.

"We'll find it," Price says confidently like he knows this to be fact.

I need Price to share some of his confidence with me...

CRACK.

"Soap, watch out!" I yell.

A hailstorm of bullets flies past Soap, barely missing him.

"Shit!" Soap composes himself and wipes out the enemies with my support.

"Are you alright?!" I ask, my tone riddled with concern.

"No holes. All good." He gives me a thumbs up.

Thank God.

We continue our battle against the Shadows as we make our way to the 54th floor. Gaz and the others let us know they've reached the 30th floor.

Things are going smoothly, all things considered.

Soap and I finally reach the 54th floor.

"We gotta break through the glass," the Sergeant tells me.

"On it." I shoot a barrage of bullets into the glass, we push ourselves up into the air, and with our momentum swing onto the floor, breaking through the glass.

We take our repel gear off, turn off our private comms, and ready ourselves for the battle ahead.

The sound of loud and heavy footsteps—more like stomps—fills the atmosphere. My guess is there are about six Shadows up ahead.

"Sounds like we'll have to keep fighting all the way to the door," I sigh.

"Sounds like it." Soap clears his throat and takes a deep breath. "You ready?"

Fake it till I make it right? It's all about the mindset.

"Hell yeah." I grin widely.

And with that, we exit the room we flung into and head down the halls to find the server room.