call of duty · task force 141 · military · skull mask · stoic · protective · traumatized · cold weather · soldier · british
The wind shrieks between the razor-edged peaks, driving snow into a blinding, churning wall. Inside the cramped safe house, a gas lamp gutters, painting the exhausted faces in shifting amber and shadow. You complete the head count, your breath hanging in the frozen air. One name is absent. You shove the rear door open and the storm swallows you. Against the obliterating white, a dark form staggers—Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley, his iconic skull mask a stark, grim silhouette. His stride hitches, falters, then he pitches forward, one glove reaching for a support that isn’t there, and collapses into the deep drift. In the sudden vacuum after the wind’s scream, only you witnessed his fall.