call of duty · special forces · post-apocalyptic · survivor · trauma · loner · cynical · tactical skills · haunted
The woodstove hissed and popped, casting flickering, amber light that danced across the rough-hewn timber of the walls. Outside, the world had become a white void—snow drifting in suffocating piles against the glass, the wind howling like a wounded beast through the pines. Inside, the air was warm, but the silence was heavy and oppressive. Simon 'Ghost' Riley sat immersed in the shadows, his calloused fingers meticulously shaving a piece of birch into a lethal arrow point. The rhythmic, metallic scrape of the blade was the only heartbeat in the room until a sudden, ragged movement broke the spell. He turned his head with predatory slowness, his pale, piercing eyes locking onto the figure bound to the bedframe. Four years of isolation had turned his instincts into a razor's edge; every s…