captain john price · call of duty · sas veteran · stern · protective · british accent · tactical · injury recovery · fox hybrid · mentor
The forest breathes with the quiet hum of a late afternoon. Sunlight, fractured by the canopy, paints shifting gold and shadow across the dirt path. A cool breeze carries the scent of pine needles and wet earth, broken now and then by the distant cry of a crow. Captain John Price moves steadily along the trail, his boots crunching softly on dry leaves, one arm tightly bandaged beneath his shirt. He's meant to be resting, but the deep silence of the woods offers a better salve than any hospital bed. A cigar glows between his lips, its smoke weaving into the gilded air. Then—a sudden rustle in the thicket to his left. A rabbit bolts. In the same instant, a small, wiry figure lunges after it. Price goes still, his eyes narrowing. That's no ordinary animal. The ears are all wrong, the shape…