Don't fear the reaper - Captain John Price

XXXVII

The lonely light was escaping out of the window of the dining room. The quiet voices were passing from one edge of the room to another, hiding from the curious ears of the neighbors who had been long time asleep in the warm beds with no worries inside their dreams. The glasses were filled up with the liquor helping the team stay focused, and bringing some note of relaxation into their minds. There are wounds that can be healed with blisters and stitches on their bodies, but the ones bleeding and hurting even worse were hiding inside, somewhere hidden under the layers of clothes on the windy winter night. Drowning the pain in alcohol never helped anyone in solving their problems, but it did numb the pain just for a while. And sometimes, the time of peace as the thick layer of fog from the bitter taste of alcohol takes over the brain and mind of the people, is the only thing the team needs in the hard times. The second on the list was seeing their enemies dead on the cold ground, finally getting the retribution for everyone fallen to the arms of the reaper earlier.

"We have three goals this time," Price stood up from the creaky wooden chair, bringing everyone's attention to the papers that were chaotically spread along the wooden table. The captain pointed to the pictures of the three men on the table, before looking at his teammates, as he was explaining their roles in the future mission. "I and Laswell will take care of Shepherd. Ghost and Gaz, you will be on Graves. And then we bury this fucker into the ground."

"Wait, Shepherd is the US general, John. It won't be left unnoticed," Amelia was holding a glass of whiskey in her hand, watching the man on the other side of the table to her. The question escaped her lips just as fast as it appeared in her head. A brunette knew that Price would think over his decision a thousand times, and if it was on paper, the captain was sure of his decision more than anyone else in the room. But they were in a desperate state of loss after Soap's death, and sometimes the decisions taken in a hurry can lead to fatal mistakes.

"After the trial, it won't be an issue. He was the problem, I'll take care of it," Price let their eyes meet in contact for a split moment, as he gave his explanation to an officer. Everyone in the room knew that he never owed anyone an explanation, but that even it wasn't a meeting in his office with the official papers. It was the preparation, and everything could turn out differently at any moment of the mission.

"Should've called for an air strike when we had a chance to kill them both," Ghost's voice was calm, as he placed the empty glass on the empty space on the dining table. His eye ran over the photographs of Graves and Shephered, remembering everything the team had to go through in Las Almas. Even though the gaze of his eyes was emotionless, there was a rage inside of the man's heart wishing to see both of them dying in pain.

"Can't agree more with you, Ghost," Amelia knew about the missions in Las Almas from the late-night stories Johnny used to share with her despite having the label of confidentially on them. A woman had never even seen the two men in her life but shared the anger with the rest of the team towards them.

"Together as one, what a joke," Kyle couldn't help but remember when Graves tried to shake his hand on their last mission in Urzikistan with Shadows and ULF. A soft chuckle from the sergeant echoed in the room, right before another sip of the liquor disappeared in his lips.

"Graves will betray his own men if he needs to," Price sat back down on the chair, emptying his glass of whiskey but feeling how powerless the alcohol was with all the things that were running around in his head. The captain rubbed his eyes, bringing the concentration back to his mind, feeling the well-known and full of warmth the gaze of brown eyes on his face. "He betrayed us, and betrayed Shepherd at the courtroom."

"When do we start?" Simon looked at everyone at the dining table before his eyes fixed on John. They all knew Ghost was ready to hunt down Graves in the very next minute if it would bring them closer to Makarov and to the accomplishment of the mission that was going on for way too long.

"As soon as Laswell comes to the base with all the intel," The gaze of the man's eyes fell on the bright display on his phone. January was ending already. The time was running way too fast, and Price felt as if they hopelessly tried to catch it but were left empty-handed every time as the marathon seemed to be over.

"Finally I'll have an opportunity to meet the woman whose voice was in my headset, " Knight let the empty glass seat on the table next to her. Even after the evacuation from the base, an officer didn't have the chance to meet with Kate. Johnny's stories mixed with the personal encounter through the com in the headset or the calls during the mission painted the picture of who Laswell was. A seed of excitement was planted in Amelia's mind, as she finally found the strength to look at the future with different feelings other than fear.

"Pretty sure Kate will accept the wedding invitation," Gaz took one sip of the drink after another, as if he didn't drink anything for a couple of days and was going insane in thirst. The gaze of the woman's eyes traveled from his face to the captain, as the understanding that their secret wasn't hidden from anyone hit the two like the train in the dark tunnels. They all were grown-up adults, no one needed an explanation from her or the captain. It happens, unwillingly we become the prisoners of love in hopes of it being mutual at least once.

"You better enjoy a couple of the next days of rest," Price let his fingers twist in the lock, as his hands landed on the cold surface of the hardwood table. He wasn't sure about what was waiting for them in the near future, but that night the captain was surrounded by the people he cared most about in the large, but lonely world of ours.  "We need to be ready for hell."

"Ready, sir," Simon's voice echoed in the room, as he was refilling everyone's glasses with another dose of alcohol, just to keep their demons drowned in it instead of freely rooming around in countless thoughts each of them had every single moment of the long days outside of the base.

"Anytime, captain," Garrick grabbed his glass, before looking back at Price with all the possible readiness inside of his eyes. It wasn't the alcohol that was keeping him energized in the early hour of the morning, but the desire to see Makarov in the pool of his own blood as the horrific pictures of Soap's death were hunting him every single day.

"Let's do it. For Soap," Price offered another glass to Amelia, as Ghost was filling up the last glass that belonged to him.

The cold fingers of a brunette touched the rough skin of the captain's hands, feeling the electricity running between them just as it was the first time their lips met in a kiss. Knight felt the storm of emotions in her chest, as the man looked back at her with the soft smile on his face. A woman was never sure about what John felt towards her. Price was the man of his job. Neither the man's face nor his eyes ever screamed about the emotions that were hiding inside of his chest. But John's actions spoke louder than any words in English could ever. The last few weeks of emptiness and pain made her jump to the conclusion that an officer was doing everything right. How deeply she wished that Price was the one.

And maybe, the bright future was not so far away from all of them as it seemed to be. However, every single one of them sitting at the dining table was doomed to be stuck in the endless war. As the taste of the gunpowder and the battleground comes into the life of the soldier once, it leaves only with red blood on the cold ground next to their lifeless body.

"For Soap," The four voices became the one as the glasses were raised in the air for the fallen teammate.

Alcohol tasted great that night, but nothing tastes better than the sweet revenge.