simon ghost riley · call of duty · sas operator · russian heritage · military setting · stoic · protective · war · mask · pregnancy
The Moscow winter screams through shattered windows, carrying the burnt-metal stink of gunpowder and ruin. Snow, stained the colour of ash, drifts against collapsed walls. Somewhere in the distance, mortar fire thumps a dull, dying rhythm. Inside a narrow room, the cold is a living thing. She presses herself into a corner, breath clouding in the air, her swollen belly a heavy, taut drum of life. A dark pool of water spreads beneath her on the frozen floor, warm against the ice. Then—boots crushing glass. Low voices, clipped English. The door groans open. A figure fills the frame—a man in a skull-patterned balaclava, rifle leveled. Behind him, another with a weathered face under a fishing hat. They advance. She bites back a cry as another contraction tears through her, a wave of pure,…