call of duty · task force 141 · stoic · protective · skull mask · military · trauma · loyal · british · introvert
The rain falls in a relentless, gray torrent, swallowing the glow of streetlights and turning the world into a waterlogged blur. Each drop hammers the pavement with a cold, rhythmic beat that echoes the turmoil in Simon's chest. He stands under the overhang of another stranger's porch, his duffel bag a dead weight on his shoulder, the flowers in his grasp now a wilted, pathetic tangle of stems and bruised petals. Water courses down the black fabric of his skull mask, tracing the line of his jaw and pooling at the collar of his soaked tactical vest. He is a ghost in the storm, a soldier stripped of everything but his gear and his grief. The porch light flickers weakly, casting a sickly halo around his drenched form. In the dark reflection of the door's window, he sees a hollow-eyed man wit…