Actions

Work Header

The Aftermath of Ghosts

Chapter Text

Two Days Later

 

KEEGAN

As Cody, Gavin and I walk along the barren and empty streets, fingers hovering over the triggers of our guns, I glance back at them.

“So, Cody, what exactly do you guys look for during the day?” I ask, and Cody shrugs.

“Well, a couple times we have run into a few Federation stragglers, sweeping the area. But mostly we just look around for supplies, and keep the area clean.”

I raise my eyebrow.

“That's it? That seems a little….dull.” I say, underwhelmed.

Cody rolls his eyes.

“Look, I know you guys think that this place is deserted and that there's nothing to be careful about, but there are always risks. The animals may be active and dangerous at night, but that doesn't mean they aren't out now. A few still roam the streets, always hunting. So there is a very large risk that we face every time we even open that door to the hospital. Do you know the size of regular wolves? These are almost twice as big. If you see a wolf, you shoot it, and then run for your life.” He says, and I glance over at Gavin with wide eyes.

Gavin nods.

“Um...okay. Let's get the supplies, then head back.” He says with a bit of concern, and Cody nods.

Walking quicker, we reach the beaten up convenience store, the windows broken and debris littering the floor.

I look around, then see some food on the shelves.

I turn to Cody.

“Is any of the food still good?”

Cody shrugs.

“The food in the closed packaging should still be good. Grab some water from the freezer, too.” He says, pointing towards the back.

I nod and walk back there. Opening the freezer door, I'm surprised to find that a small bit of cold air still comes from the fridge.

Swinging my bag around to the front, I grab as many water bottles as can fit in my bag.

Once my bag is completely full, I close it and sling it over my shoulder.

Turning, I see Gavin filling his bag with food, and Cody is putting some supplies in his bag, including fuel and matches, more knives, lighter fluid and the like.

I walk back over, and tighten my pack, looking down at him.

“Are we ready to go?” I ask, and Cody stands up as Gavin walks to stand behind me.

He slings his pack onto his back.

“Yeah. Let's go.” He says as we load our guns.

Stepping out through the broken window, we look around, up and down the streets, to make sure it's clear.

“On me,” Cody says, and we run down the street, making our way back towards the hospital.

Suddenly a howling sound in front of us makes us stop.

I look at Cody, and his eyes widen.

“Oh, shit.”

Another howl to our left, then to our right, then behind us.

Out of the shadows of the road slink four huge wolves, snarling and glaring at us with insatiable hunger in their eyes, their unrelenting instinct circling us.

I raise my gun, and Gavin and Cody’s actions meet mine.

“Okay...now, unless you aim well, it takes a lot more shots than you'd think to take them down,” Cody says. I nod.

“Fine.” I pull off a shot, hitting the one to the left of me, and Cody shouts meets our eyes.

“Go!”

We start shooting, as the wolves howl and snarl.

One runs towards me, and I stare it down, holding down the trigger of my gun.

Eight shots hit it before it finally goes down, and I shake my head.

“Damn, you weren't kidding when you said it takes a lot!” I shout to Cody, and he scoffs.

“No shit!” He says back with emphasis, and Gavin joins in.

“Having to deal with this on a daily basis? Fuck that!” He shouts with a laugh.

Two of the wolves are down, and the other two howl, then again.

They then lower their heads, teeth bared, ears back.

Cody steps back a little, eyes wide.

“This isn't good.” He says, and Gavin turns his head towards Cody a little.

“Why?” He asks nervously.

“They just called to more of their pack. There's gonna be more wolves on us within two minutes.” He says, and my eyes widen.

“SHIT! Let's move!” I shout, and Cody nods.

“Fire and run!” He says, raising his gun again. He pulls off a few shots, then glances over at Gavin and I.

“RUN!” He yells, and we turn and sprint. The wolves behind us growl, then howl again.

I hear the sound of their claws on metal, and I look to the side to see one jumping over the broken cars on the road.

Looking forward, I can see the hospital at the end of the road.

We can make it… I think and narrow my eyes.

Raising my gun, I shoot the wolf to the right, Gavin and Cody both shooting, all of us spread apart.

Glancing over to Gavin, I see a wolf behind him, hidden from his view. I raise my gun, and pull the trigger, taking it out before it can attack him.

Then a low growl behind me creates a pit in my stomach, and I spin around just in time to see the wolf jump from a car onto me.

I fall to the ground hard, the wolf pinning me down.

I push against its head, holding it back as it gnashes its teeth at me, the spit in its mouth dripping onto my face.

The wolf’s sharp claws dig into my leg, and I flinch.

I can see the Ghosts in the corner of my eye, and I call out.

“Gavin!” I shout with a tone of my voice demanding help.

He turns around, and his eyes widen.

“KEEGAN!!!” He yells as he puts down two more of the wolves.

The wolf on top of me slashes at me with its front claws, cutting through my jacket and into my side. I feel the blood almost immediately, and I grit my teeth from the pain.

I can hear more gunshots as the other two Ghosts continue to fight off the other wolves.

“Cody! Keegan needs help!” I hear Gavin yell, but the words exchanged next are drowned out by the intense growling and snarling of the wolf on top of me.

My arms start to tire from pushing against the immense strength of the vicious animal, which suddenly realizes my fault.

It plants its paw on my chest and growls ferociously, then pushes its head down towards me.

Unable to hold it away any more, my eyes widen, and as a last-ditch effort, I shove it to the side a bit, as its razor sharp teeth stab into my shoulder.

A scream escapes my lips as the wolf’s fangs sink deep into my shoulder, and blood quickly soaks my shirt. I can feel it dripping up my neck as the wolf pins me down, and I groan in pain.

Trying to still save myself, I hold it back again, managing to push it away enough from my shoulder.

But I can feel myself weakening. I won't hold out against this.

Suddenly a shot rings out, then a few more, and the wolf whimpers as it falls to the ground.

I close my eyes and let out a deep breath, pulling down my mask to breath easily, then slowly sit up, holding my hand to my shoulder, ignoring the gash in my side, not really visible through my jacket and vest.

Gavin runs over and kneels down next to me.

“Keegan!” He says anxiously, and I groan. Cody runs over and looks around nervously.

“We have to go. Now. There’ll be more. We were lucky this time.” He says, and Gavin spins to glare at him.

Lucky?! Keegan almost died!” He shouts, and I shake my head, ignoring the pain as I do so.

“Gavin, it's fine. Let it go.” I say with a bit of grit in my voice.

Cody nods his head towards me.

“Can you walk?” He asks, and I nod slowly.

“I think. Gavin, help me up.” I say as Cody grabs my gun.

Gavin takes my hand and lifts me to my feet as I grit my teeth through the agony in my side.

My shoulder bleeds profusely, and I hold my hand to it tightly, feeling the blood soaking my gloves.

Gavin lets me lean on his shoulder, and I look at Cody.

“Let's go,” I say.

We make our way down the road towards the hospital, and in about four minutes we're at the doors.

I blink back the blur that keeps creeping into my eyes, stumbling a little.

My head is spinning, but I won't let them know that.

Gavin looks down at me and at my shoulder and shakes his head.

“We need to get him inside, now. The wound in his shoulder is really bad, and he's losing a lot of blood.”

Cody looks over his shoulder.

“Calm down. We're here. We'll have him inside soon enough.” He says calmly, and Gavin grits his teeth, anger clear on his face.

“It may not be ‘soon enough’ for him…” He mutters quietly as he glances at me out of the corner of his eye.

He helps me into the elevator, and Cody hits the button.

“He’s gonna be okay, Gavin. Have a little faith.” He says roughly as the elevator nears the fourth floor.

The doors ding open, and I see the Ghosts at the end of the room.

“Spike!” Gavin shouts, and Merrick, Logan, Hesh, Spike, Match and Slate all turn around, their eyes widening when they see us.

“Keegan…,” Hesh says quietly, eyes scared.

Gavin starts to help me over.

“What happened?!” Spike shouts as he hurries down towards us.

Gavin shakes his head.

“There were….the wolves…they just attacked…..” He stutters, trying to find words.

Slate’s eyes widen.

“Oh, shit.”

My vision blurs to the point of everything becoming unidentifiable, and I take a shaky breath.

“..Spike…” I whisper, blood dripping from the corner of my mouth.

Then I trip a little, holding my side in pain.

Gavin’s eyes widen as Spike grabs me.

“Keegan, you got slashed in the side, too?!” He says with concern, seeing the gash for the first time.

I look up, and I can see what kind of looks like Hesh running over.

My head spins as I stumble again, then collapse to the ground.

“Keegan!” Spike shouts, his hand on my shoulder.

I can feel my blood pooling around me, then another person is next to me.

“Keegan, just hang on!”

Hesh….

I reach my hand out to Hesh, and he takes it.

“Come on, Keegan…...” He says with fear, his voice fading out.

I can just barely make him out, my eyes meeting his before my hand falls from him as I drop into darkness.


HESH

My eyes widen, and I feel my chest tighten.

“Keegan?” I say quietly.

“Hesh…” Logan walks up behind me as Gavin lifts Keegan up.

Staring at him, an emptiness forms in my stomach.

“Keegan!” I go to stand up, but Logan holds me back as Spike and Gavin hurriedly carry Keegan into one of the med rooms, with Merrick following Match.

“Logan, let me go!” I shout, struggling against him. But his strong hold makes me sit back on the floor, and I sigh.

I stare after them, as Logan holds my shoulders.

“Hesh…” Logan says softly as I stare at the blood on the floor.

“David!” He says, concerned, and I snap my head up.

Turning to look at him, I feel tears sting my cheeks as I stare into his deep blue eyes.

“Logan, he was actually happy for the first time...and we were actually friends again….now he's….”

I stop myself, and Logan shakes his head.

“Hesh, he's not gone. The Hawks are taking care of him.” He says, and I close my eyes, taking a deep breath.

I stand up, and walk over to the window, looking down to the streets.

The clouds darken the ground in spots and turn the air cool, the sky a light grey.

I clench my fist, then spin around.

“YOU.” I glare at Cody, and he and Slate look at me with raised eyebrows.

“What?” He says curiously, and I stalk up to him.

“You saw the wolves! You ran! But you didn't keep an eye on your men! Keegan was attacked by a goddamn wolf, and you did nothing!!” I shout, and Slate steps forward.

“Calm down, kid…” He starts, but I turn to glare at him.

“NO! My friend is dying because a member of the so-called Elite squad couldn't do his fucking job!” I shout angrily, and Slate’s eyes widen, then narrow intensely.

“Walker, I would seriously reconsider the path you are going down right now.” He warns, and I clench my fist.

“Why? Are you gonna throw me to the wolves, too?” I shoot back.

Logan grabs my arm.

“Hesh, cool it!” He says, but I shove him away.

“No, Logan!” I turn my head to look at Cody, then bring my fist up to punch him. He stumbles back, and Logan and Slate fall silent.

Cody rubs his jaw, then looks up at me with narrowed eyes. Standing up, he spins around me, pulling me into a chokehold, then flips me to the ground.

I gasp for breath, and he glares at me.

“Listen, David. Yes, Keegan was getting attacked, but I was trying to fight off the other eight wolves that surrounded us. Better only one of us gets hurt than all of us die.” He says harshly, and my eyes widen.

I shove him off of me, then turn.

“Well, the way I work is that no one is better off hurt. When I lead my men, I fight for my life to make sure that they stay safe. Can you say the same, you ass?! Keegan is dying!!” I shout.

Standing up, I grab Keegan’s sniper rifle off of the table, and sling it over my shoulder.

Logan steps towards me.

“Hesh, what are you doing?” He asks with concern, and I stare him down, my eyes cold and harsh.

He steps back a little, eyes wide.

I glare over my shoulder at Slate and Cody, then walk down the hall, and up the stairs to the roof.

Slamming the door shut behind me, I make my way over to the edge of the roof.

I sit down on the half wall, and pull Keegan’s gun off of my back.

Staring at it, I run my fingers over the light engraving on it.

Russ, Two-Three, 2019.

I sigh, and close my eyes, grip tightening around the gun.

I swear, if Keegan dies, I'll kill Cody.

He didn't even do anything.

I thought the Elite squad was supposed to be this great group of Ghosts. So far I've been extremely underwhelmed and felt that they don't care.

We're all Ghosts.

We do anything to protect each other.

But apparently, the Shadows don't.

Gritting my teeth, I hear a howl down on the street, and I open my eyes to look down.

In the dull light of the now darkened day, I can see about five wolves prowling in the street, jumping on the cars to tilt their heads in the air, letting out long wild howls.

I raise Keegan’s gun to look through the sight, zoomed way in from the scope.

I can now clearly see one of the wolves, and I sweep along them. I look around, seeing the few dead wolves, then I see one near a car, limping with a blood spot on its haunch. I can see red staining around its mouth, and its bared teeth drip with blood, matching its claws.

My eyes widen and my chest tightens.

Keegan…..This is the wolf that attacked him. They must not have actually killed it.

My finger hovering over the trigger, I grit my teeth.

Closing in on it a bit more, I find the wolf’s head in my sight.

I pull the trigger, and I feel a satisfaction wash over me as it yelps then falls to the ground, dead.

As I take my eye away from the scope, I hear the door open.

I glance over my shoulder to see Logan standing near the stairs, staring at me.

I groan, and turn back to look down down at the street again.

“David. Please don't ignore me.” Logan says as he walks over.

I sigh heavily, my chest rising and falling.

“Logan, I just saw my friend get dragged into a broken down hospital, covered in blood and almost dead. He stared into my eyes before he went out, and I could see the fear. He's dying, Logan. Keegan is dying.”

I grip the gun tightly again, clenching my jaw.

“And the fucking Shadows aren't doing anything!” I shout grimly.

Logan sits down next to me.

“David, I get it. You and Keegan have a tight bond now. I think that's good, for both of you. But you can't just act out like this-”

“Like what?! Speaking my mind?! Logan, I’m tired of the people I love getting hurt. Most of the time it's from my mistakes. But the one time it isn't, the one time where I might actually be able to help, there isn't anything I can do, and the people who can help aren't doing jack shit! Everything always happens to me, Logan! I watched Rorke kill dad! I watched him shoot you! I had to lay helpless on that fucking beach while Rorke dragged you away! I was alone for seven months, with nothing to live for. And now, since you've been back, Rorke's stabbed you and almost killed you, then I almost killed you, and I shot Kick. I killed another Ghost. Now my best friend is dying, attacked by a ferocious wild animal. I think I should be allowed to let off a little steam!!” I yell, and Logan leans back a bit, eyes wide.

I whip my head away.

“Just….GO! Leave me alone!” I shout, then I slightly turn my head towards Logan.

“Help Keegan. At least I know you care about him.” I say with a bite, and Logan stares at me for a moment with wide eyes, then spins around to walk over to the stairs, opening the door, then slamming it shut behind him.

I let out a deep sigh, and drop my gaze down to the gun again.

I find myself staring at Keegan’s name etched into it, and my throat closes up as a tear rolls down the bridge of my nose.

Why does everyone I care about get hurt?

What did I ever do to deserve this?


LOGAN

I slowly walk down the stairs, then stop, looking back up at the door.

I sigh, and turn back down.

Hesh is really on edge. He still isn't the same.

Honestly, he hasn't been the same since I got back.

Then whatever Rorke did to him just made it worse.

Now, with what happened to Keegan, I’m so worried as to what he might do.

Walking down the hall, I look out the window, at the darkening sky, turning to a charcoal grey. Opening the door to the main room, I step in and close it behind me.

Slate turns around, and looks at me.

“Your brother cool off yet?” He says with a tone, crossing his arms, and I shake my head.

“No. He's up on the roof. He just…”

I look to the side at Cody.

“You have to understand that he and Keegan have a really strong bond now. Honestly, they used to hate each other. But now, it's like they've known each other for years. Also, Hesh is…..broken.” It pains me to say it.

Slate raises his eyebrow.

“What do you mean, ‘broken’?” He asks, and I lean against the table as I sigh heavily.

“Hesh….He and I were the ones who took on Rorke when we regained control of the Federation’s ODIN. After giving the order to hit the train we were all on, Hesh took on Rorke. Then I shot them both when Hesh held him. I barely got him out of there. When we were on the beach, we thought Rorke had died. Then he just appeared and attacked us. He broke my arm, kicked down Hesh, then had me pinned. He grabbed my leg and started to drag me off. Hesh tried to grab me, but he couldn't move after Rorke and I had both shot him. Rorke took me away from him.”

I clench my fingers on the edge of the table.

Slate and Cody look at me with wide eyes.

“Wait a minute…. you were the one that Rorke took?!” Slate says incredulously, and I slowly nod.

“Hesh had to live for seven months without me. Then when I finally came back, I was on the opposite side. Then so many things happened, and he just...broke down. Rorke used that to his advantage. He took both Hesh and I, trying to turn us. Hesh he managed to break, because his mind was just suffering so much from what happened. After he turned, Rorke captured the Ghosts, and had Hesh shoot one of them. Kick Clien. Then Hesh attacked me.” I say, and Cody's eyes widen.

"Kick's dead?...." He utters softly, and I slowly nod. Slate raises his eyebrow. 

"Your brother attacked you?!" He says disbelievingly, and I frown with a nod of my head. Slate stares at me with intense eyes as I hesitate. Taking a deep breath, I continue.

“He almost killed me, then he realized what had happened. He flipped back and was my brother again. He got us out of there. Keegan blamed him for Kick’s death, and they were at each other’s throats for a good two days. Hesh blames himself so much for what happened. Then he and Keegan talked, and now they have a strong relationship. But now that Keegan’s….well…. Hesh is just blaming himself again. He blames himself for dad’s death, too. But the rage that’s built up inside him since he was taken by Rorke worries me. He's getting more irrational, and I think that any little thing could set it off. This might have been a breaking point.” I say, and Slate takes a deep breath, turning his head slightly to look at Cody, who frowns.

“I didn't …I…..dammit…..” Cody mutters, hanging his head.

“He's right.” Cody looks up at Slate and shakes his head.

“Hesh is right. We're Ghosts. I should have kept a better eye on Keegan. We know this area a hell of a lot better than they do. And Hesh is also right about another thing. We don't put other people at risk.” He frowns.

“He's the real Ghost if you ask me.” He says quietly, and my eyes widen.

“Cody, you don't-” I start, but Slate holds up his hand, stopping me.

“Logan, I have to apologize. We put your friend at risk. We're supposed to be the Elite squad of Ghosts, but so far we've just threatened you when you first landed and almost killed one of your friends. So I’m sorry.” He says.

My eyes widen in surprise, then I nod.

“Thank you.”

Cody glances down the hall towards the door to the roof, and sighs.

“I’m gonna go talk to him.” He says, but I shake my head.

“Uh, that may not be the best idea right now. He's more than angry, he's hurt. And that makes it all the worse. Just….. give him time. I'll have Merrick go up and talk to him. Because, no offense, I think he’d probably try to kill you.” I say flatly, and Cody raises his eyebrow, then smirks.

“I don't blame him.”

He walks into the other room, and I glance to the side at Slate.

“Logan, your brother may be hurt and seem broken, but as I hear from Merrick, he's the strongest man he's ever known aside from Keegan. Been through hell and still standing. So take care of him.” He says, and I nod, turning back towards the benches.

I sit down and close my eyes, leaning my head back against the wall, sighing.

I open my eyes, and tilt my head forward a little, opening one of the pockets on my jacket.

I pull out the pair of dog tags, and I raise them up to see them clearly.

Elias T. Walker.

I hold them tightly, closing my eyes as I lean my head on my hand holding the tags.

Dad, I wish you were here now.

Keegan needs you.

Hesh needs you.

I need you.