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callsign-bunnie · 1 year

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First Meeting - Chapter 3 - Soap’s POV [Teeth and Skin]

Rodolfo scared the shit out of Soap, he wouldn’t lie. Not because Rodolfo was too particularly intimidating, more just because Soap didn’t feel like he could predict anything the man would do!

Like, that morning, when Ghost had asked if Rodolfo wanted to explore the nearby buildings and grab supplies. Soap had almost laughed, expecting Rodolfo to say no. But, Rodolfo had said yes. To be fair, Rodolfo had looked just as shocked by his statement as Soap had no doubt everyone felt. Alejandro had looked pleased but… Soap had only felt worry.

“How did you say it broke again?” Soap asked Alejandro, referring to the radio.

Alejandro looked up at him, blinking a few times. He appeared to be doing slightly better, but Soap could tell his fever was slowing his brain process. Soap had very very briefly considered just putting the poor man out of his misery and shooting him but… He knew that wouldn’t be smart. Maybe Alejandro would appreciate it, but… Ghost was right.

Rodolfo was too big of a potential threat for Soap to risk that. Soap wasn’t sure he wanted to find out exactly what would happen. So, he kept Alejandro alive, occasionally checking on him.

Alejandro closed his eyes and then shook his head before answering. “Right. Uh…” But then he was right back to blank staring.

Soap frowned and moved over to him, feeling his forehead. Fuck. It felt like a hot stove. He pulled his hand away and shook his head.

Finally Alejandro shook it completely off. “It didn’t. It just… stopped working.”

“Ah.” Soap nodded, sighing. “I see.” He went back to the desk and continued to mess with the radio, finally managing to pop it open. “These are fucking old.”

“Have to be.” Alejandro groaned and Soap glanced at him, seeing that he was settling down into a laying position. “You don’t need me for a bit, do you?”

“No, not really.” Soap sighed, deciding to let him sleep. “Sleep well.”

“I’ll try.” Alejandro chuckled before turning his head to the side and closing his eyes.

Soap shook his head and turned back to the radio, starting to examine over it. He didn’t want to fully take it apart since he didn’t have a manual. He wondered why the radios had to be old. He assumed it had to do with towers and electricity. Older radios wouldn’t require much but they also didn’t get the same range…

Soap shook his head and continued to look over the radio. As he examined over it with his eyes, he found his mind wandering to Ghost. He wondered how Ghost was doing with Rodolfo.

Rodolfo scared the shit out of Soap, he wouldn’t lie. Not because Rodolfo was too particularly intimidating, more just because Soap didn’t feel like he could predict anything the man would do!

He didn’t like how unpredictable Rodolfo was. In another life, Soap was sure they would have been friends but… not in this one. Soap wanted to help these two, but… that was it. He wasn’t going to put his back to either of them.

He wished he could get Ghost to understand that. This wasn’t a blind trust thing, it was an empathy thing. It was a “I would hope they’d do the same for us thing”. And… Soap was sure Alejandro would, at least. Maybe not Rodolfo, but Soap didn’t take that one personally.

Whatever Rodolfo had gone through had hardened him to everyone else. It had made him unable to trust kindness or have a want to help anyone but Alejandro. Ghost was the same. Maybe that was why Ghost seemed to almost empathize with him, even if he didn’t seem willing to admit it.

Soap shook off all of these thoughts and turned back to the radio, deciding to just take the plunge and pop the back off of it. It was broken, anyway, so it wasn’t like it could really hurt anything. Once he got the back off of it, he started to poke around. He really wished he had another to compare it to, but… He rolled with it, just looking for anything that seemed… wrong.

Well, actually, he found it rather quickly. A pin looked to be bent out of shape, likely just from wear and tear. He chuckled, now nervous of the reaction he was going to get when he revealed that to Rodolfo.

Regardless, he went out into the rest of the store, getting a strong pair of tweezers from the medical section. He did stop at the book section, finding a comic book that was printed in English. Huh. He grabbed it, not recognizing the superhero on it. But, he did recognize the company as a smaller one that appeared to be trying to get off the ground. Or… had been.

Soap tucked the comic book under his arm and found some food. For the first time since they’d arrived, he found himself thinking about the zombies on the front of the building. He needed to ask Rodolfo about those. Did he put them there or were they already there when they got there?

He had a feeling Rodolfo put them there and it honestly just added to Soap’s healthy fear of the man. He wondered if Alejandro knew about them. But… fuck if it wasn’t brilliant. Even now, the biters completely ignored the doors, just wandering past.

Soap went right up to the windows and none of them even acknowledged him. He looked across the street, seeing Rodolfo and Ghost were on the top of a building. Rodolfo looked pissed, gesturing as he walked away from Ghost and then he was dropping. Soap assumed it was down a roof hatch.

Soap furrowed his brows. God, Ghost really just couldn’t keep his mouth shut, could he? He shook his head and finally went back to the manager’s office, sitting back down on the seat and using the tweezers to set the pin back. Immediately, the radio started to crackle and Soap grinned, putting the back on and securing it.

Hell yeah. He turned it to a random radio station, landing on 141. “This is John Price, reaching out about a distress signal sent 14 days ago. We are-”

“Hold on,” Soap immediately spoke into the radio. “Are you the John Price??” He asked, recognizing the name. That was the man who’d passed him for the SAS. Fuck, that was… five years ago!

“The one and only.”

“Sweet steaming jesus! You probably don’t remember me,” Soap got excited, perking up. “My name is Johnny Mactavish. You passed me for the SAS!”

“Bloody hell. It’s a small world. What the hell are you doing in Mexico, Soap?”

Soap’s chest poked out at the immediate use of his nickname. “I was on Vacation when all of this shit happened. What about you, sir?”

“My sergeant-” “Hello.” “-and I were investigating a mexican cartel, ran by a man named Roba.”

“Wait.” Soap frowned. Ghost had mumbled that name several times in his sleep. “Did you say Roba?”

“I did.”

“Odd.” Soap frowned, not responding over the radio. He glanced to make sure Alejandro was still asleep. “Anyway, you said you were responding to a distress call. It doesn’t happen to be for a Rodolfo Parra, right?”

“It does.”

“Fuck. Well, you’re a little late, Captain.”

“Damn. We’re still gonna come by, anyway. See if we can offer aid.”

“You got medical supplies, sir? Also, um… just a warning, Sergeant Major Rodolfo Parra is um… a bit unhinged.” Soap chuckled. “Thought I’d let you know, just in case.”

“Thanks for the warning. And, yes, we do. Not much, though.”

Soap sighed, doubting they had anything better than they did. Oh well. “That’s alright. About how many hours away would you say you are, sir?”

“Three, if I had to guess.”

“Alright.” Soap nodded. “I await your arrival.”

There was no response, but Soap hadn’t particularly been expecting one. He just shook his head and turned the radio on, glad that he’d managed to fix it. He was quite proud of himself, honestly. He was going to be riding that dopamine high for a while.

So, in order to reward himself for being a good boy and fixing the radio, he opened his comic book, sat back, and started to read.

He was startled, a bit later, by Rodolfo just bursting into the office. He didn’t even greet Soap, just went straight to Alejandro and checked on him. Soap couldn’t find it in himself to be offended, though, since he’d figured out Rodolfo’s priorities by then.

Instead, Soap got up and went over to Ghost, asking if they found anything important. He tilted his head when Ghost held out a box of chocolate bars, before smiling a little. “You got these for me?”

“You mentioned liking chocolate, once. From what little Spanish I’ve picked up… I think some have coffee in them.” Ghost nodded. “It looks like others have caramel and some have nuts.”

Soap shook his head. Ghost was a giant fucking softie under his scary get up. He didn’t know how anyone found him too particularly intimidating. Sure, could he probably kill Soap with one punch? Yeah. But, here he was, sheepishly offering Soap sweets because Soap mentioned liking them. “You get me anything else?” He joked.

“No… Did you want something else??” Ghost looked almost panicked and Soap quickly reassured him that he had not, smiling when Ghost relaxed.

Soap looked over when he saw Rodolfo stand and turn to him. “Has he been awake at all today?”

Soap frowned. “He was awake and aware just hours ago…” He answered, remembering Alejandro and his very brief conversation about the radio. “Why?”

“Roach needs to hurry the fuck up.” Rodolfo muttered. “He’s progressing. He needs actual fucking medicine. Not someone else’s fucking penicillin prescription.” He turned back to Alejandro, crouching again and touching over him.

Soap shared a glance with Ghost. “Roach should be here, soon… But, I mean, what else can you really give him besides penicillin?” He couldn’t think of anything else Rodolfo could do. As far as Soap was aware, he was doing everything he could.

“Penicillin just fights the infection, but it can only do so much! He needs hydration, food… Real food, not this prepackaged shit.” Rodolfo suddenly stood and then he rounded on Soap, who quickly backed up. “His body needs to be strong, everywhere else, in order to be able to fight the infection. I can get him the strongest fucking dose out there, but it’s not going to do shit if he’s already half fucking dead!” His voice rose as he got up close to Soap.

Soap had hit the wall and he had nowhere else to go and for the briefest moment, he genuinely feared that Rodolfo was about to snap. However, a moment later, Ghost was between them, placing his hand on Rodolfo’s chest and pushing him back.

Soap watched, barely breathing, as Rodolfo glared up at Ghost, defiance in his eyes. But, then Rodolfo was moving away from them. “I can do other things, too,” he muttered and Soap let out a breath. “I can keep it properly clean, too. He got an infection because I can’t keep the wound sterile here. So… the penicillin is just… fighting multiple rounds of the same threat over and over again. Also, I plan on giving him something way stronger than penicillin. There are stronger antibiotics.”

Soap hesitated and then sighed, starting to see Rodolfo for how deeply terrified he was. “I… I didn’t know that.” He admitted, trying to keep his tone peaceful. Calm. “The few times I’ve had an infected wound, I was… Unconscious. So, I didn’t really get to see the process.”

Ghost hadn’t moved, just watching Rodolfo. Soap did touch his arm to reassure him that he was fine.

Rodolfo looked away from them, sighing. “I get it. But, my chances of any of this even being worth it are shortening by the fucking minute.”

“Could you… temporarily sterilize the wound?” Ghost spoke up. “It won’t last, obviously, but…”

“I mean, yes. That’s what I do every time I clean it. How… how are both of you alive??” Rodolfo looked between them.

Soap blinked, surprised. Oh, he just assumed sterilizing the wound and cleaning it were different. “Um… I mean, I just kind of do what I learned in training.” He looked over, seeing Ghost looked just as embarrassed as Soap felt.

“Clean wound, stitch deep ones, it’s sort of… I don’t know, you don’t really need to know the specifics, just… the steps.” Ghost gestured, wincing. “Splint broken bones.”

Rodolfo just blinked at them and then he was pinching the bridge of his nose. “Do you know why you splint bones?” His tone said that he already knew the answer to that.

Soap laughed, nervously. “I think they explained it in training, but I didn’t pay attention.” He’d admit to that. He paid attention to everything but the medical part. He could patch up wounds and that was enough.

“I think they explained it in training, but I didn’t pay attention.” Soap shrugged.

Rodolfo sighed. “Soap’s arm is splinted because it sets the bone back in place. You need the bone to be sort of straight for it to heal properly. Have you also noticed it hurts less when you use it?”

Soap blinked and looked at his arm, realizing it actually did hurt a lot less. So much less, in fact, that he honestly barely noticed it. “Yeah, actually, it does!

Rodolfo stared at him and then he shook his head. “The splint basically acts as a fill in support while the bone heals as well. Neither of you paid attention when that was explained?”

Soap shook his head, wincing again. Rodolfo’s eyes moved to the ceiling, where they remained until Rodolfo just sighed and turned around, going back to Alejandro. Then, Soap watched as he just moved and sat on the ground, putting his head back against the wall.

Soap kind of felt bad, now. Rodolfo looked… so exhausted. Soap went to the desk, hoping the news might make it slightly better. “I um… I fixed the radio.” He said, grabbing it and then going and holding it out to Rodolfo. “There was a pin out of place.”

Rodolfo blinked and then stared at the radio. “That's it?!” He practically snatched the radio, gripping it between his hands.

Soap cringed and winced back. Ah, so the news had not made it better. He watched Rodolfo close his eyes and take deep breaths, and then all three were perking up as they heard a truck approach.

Soap wondered if it would be John Price or Roach… Well, he supposed they just had to go and find out. So, he turned and followed Rodolfo and Ghost out. Sure enough, it wasn’t a military truck, instead it was a jeep.

And then John Price, in the flesh, was getting out of it, along with another young man around Soap’s age. Soap couldn’t help glancing to Rodolfo, making sure he wasn’t going to blow up, but then he realized he couldn’t find Rodolfo.

He’d just disappeared.

#Rodolfo Parra #Rodolfo COD #Alejandro Vargas #Alejandro COD #John Soap Mactavish #Soap COD #Simon Ghost Riley #Ghost COD #Gary Roach Sanderson #Roach COD #Call of Duty #Call of Duty Modern Warfare II #Teeth and Skin: a zombie COD AU #First Meeting Storyline #Aledolfo #Alejandro x Rodolfo #Ghostsoaproach #Ghost x Soap x Roach

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callsign-bunnie · 1 year

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First Meeting (Rodolfo’s POV)

The zombie apocalypse went by rather quickly. Those who were immune survived, most of the rest died, in only a couple years. Now, everyone is either “immune” or unknown. Of course, the only way to find out is to be bitten. Society will rebuild itself. Someday.

This is the first meeting where Soap and Ghost meet Rodolfo and Alejandro. Rodolfo is apprehensive about the newcomers.

It was meant to be a simple supply run. So Alejandro and Rodolfo had gone alone. The plan was to go into the next town over and find any medicine and non-food supplies they could.

It’d been a disaster. Granted, they’d managed to gather the supplies but their truck ended up getting surrounded by a horde. In the process of escaping, Alejandro got impaled, and so they’d ended up stranded in a convenience store. It was certainly convenient since it had all of the medication Rodolfo needed to keep Alejandro alive.

But, Rodolfo’s radio had gotten broken while escaping, so he’d only been able to barely send out a distress signal that he wasn’t even sure was on the right channel for their Vaqueros to hear or Valeria.

And of course, Alejandro kept trying to convince Rodolfo to leave him behind. This would all be fine if it wasn’t fucking November. Look, he knew it didn’t get that cold during winter in Mexico but being stranded in a convenience store that had no power because the backup generators had already burned off all of their fuel and no ability to make a fire for fear of the building catching…

Rodolfo feared Alejandro would not survive if he couldn’t get them out of there. But he couldn’t carry Alejandro. Alejandro was a solid 3 inches taller than him and 100 pounds heavier, if he had to guess.

Alejandro had always done weight based training, which was helpful with his fighting style. But Rodolfo preferred evasion. So, he had kept to a training routine that kept him fast, able to move his body around. He had no doubt Alejandro could pick him up and throw him over his shoulder but Rodolfo just couldn’t do the same.

“Rudy. I’m not getting out of this.” Alejandro tried, again. Rodolfo rolled his eyes, not even entertaining this anymore. “Don’t- Rodolfo.” Alejandro said, sternly.

Rodolfo sighed and sat down beside the pallet he’d made for Alejandro to rest on. “I’m not having this conversation again. We’re both going back or neither of us are.” He checked Alejandro’s bandages, frowning at just how dark the blood was.

“The Vaqueros need one of us. You are a perfectly capable leader. One of us needs to return.” Alejandro pleaded, coughing a little.

“Alejandro. I’m not having this conversation.” Rodolfo repeated. “I made one promise when I joined the military. I was not here to serve my country, I was here to keep you alive. I haven’t broken that promise, yet, and I’m not going to, now.”

Alejandro sighed but finally gave up and Rodolfo relaxed. He knew Alejandro would try again, later, but Rodolfo would just continue to ignore it. “Thank you.” Rodolfo relaxed. He frowned, hearing a noise. It was night time, so a lot more of the Zombies would be out. But… none of them made noise.

Rodolfo knew in most pieces of media, they called Zombies something unique but… they were rotten, they ate people, they were zombies. That’s just what they were. Granted, they had names for the different types of zombie, which depended on what strain of the virus you’d gotten, but over all? They were just zombies.

Alejandro seemed to hear the noise as well and Rodolfo reached, grabbing his gun, slowly and quietly. “I’m going to check it out.” He murmured to Alejandro, who nodded a little. Rodolfo kicked Alejandro’s gun away from him as he stood. He didn’t plan to go far enough that Alejandro needed it and he knew Alejandro would do something stupid if he didn’t.

Alejandro glared at him but just crossed his arms. So he was planning to do something stupid. Rodolfo shook his head and carefully left, staying crouched. He heard speaking but… it was in English.

Odd.

“Jesus fucking christ, what weirdo did we stumble on?” The accent was odd. Rodolfo couldn’t place it. It sounded… similar to British but rougher. A little harder to understand. He crouched behind one of the aisles he’d used to block the door to the manager’s office, which he kept Alejandro in. He could see two figures in the dark. One was larger, shoving the door to the convenience store shut.

The other was bigger than Rodolfo, but not taller. The shorter one had white skin and was cradling his arm, limping. But the bigger one had his face and all of his skin covered. “Shut up, they might still be here.” His accent was definitely british. Rodolfo recognized it from the british media he’d seen.

“Doubtful.” The other one laughed.

Rodolfo finally stepped out from the shadows, aiming at the shorter one’s neck. “Don’t fucking move.”

Both tensed, immediately. The taller one pointed a gun at Rodolfo, but didn’t shoot. The shorter one, whose back was to Rodolfo, put one hand up, but the other stayed close to his chest. “We don’t want any trouble.”

Rodolfo narrowed his eyes. “Then leave.”

“We can’t do that.” The taller one spoke. He seemed to frown, looking at Rodolfo’s vest. “You’re Mexican special forces?”

“Was.” Rodolfo shrugged. They’d abandoned the military titles a while ago. The military had never bailed them out or sent help, so they didn’t care anymore. He returned his focus to the shorter one, who had seemed to falter. “Don’t move!”

“I’m not!” The shorter one quickly said. “Look, we’re British Special forces. Kind of. I’m retired.”

“What the fuck is British Special Forces doing in Mexico??” Rodolfo frowned, deeply. It was the apocalypse.

“It’s a long story, just put your gun down, Ghost will do the same-”

“Ghost?” Rodolfo frowned. He’d heard of a man named Ghost from other encampments. They treated him like the apparition. This was… it? Just a large man in a balaclava? “I expected more.”

“They all do.” Ghost sighed, but he started to lower his weapon.

Rodolfo didn’t lower his. The shorter one started to slowly turn around. “We’re not here for trouble. We can help each other.”

“Yeah, in my experience, Gringos don’t help shit.” Rodolfo glared at him.

“Rodolfo!” Rodolfo closed his eyes as he heard Alejandro call his name. He sighed. “Let them in.”

“They could kill us.” Rodolfo called back, still refusing to lower his weapon.

The shorter one frowned. “There’s another?” He stepped forward and Rodolfo turned his aim laser on to show the gun was pointed at Soap’s neck.

“If you take one more step…” Rodolfo warned.

“Look, Rodolfo, right? We’re not here to hurt you, we just want to help. Is the other one injured?” The shorter one’s tone seemed to be trying to soothe. Rodolfo hated it.

“Rodolfo!” Alejandro called again and Rodolfo grred in frustration.

“Fine!” He finally lowered his weapon, cursing.

Both of the others finally relaxed. The shorter one smiled. “I’m Soap.”

“Soap?” Rodolfo couldn’t help but laugh.

Soap grinned. “Yeah, it’s a ridiculous name. But… it’s mine.”

Rodolfo still didn’t trust them, but Alejandro seemed to want to try. “Leave your weapons on a shelf.” He told them, pointing to an empty one.

They seemed to hesitate but Rodolfo had made it clear they really didn’t have a choice. When they’d finally done so, Rodolfo gestured for them to follow him, ducking into the area. He worried Ghost might not fit, but that was alleviated when he saw him almost expertly slide in.

“What’s wrong with your arm?” Rodolfo asked Soap, who winced.

“I smashed it in a door.” Soap sighed. “Was trying to get from some biters.”

Biters. Basic zombies. Mostly deadly in hordes but avoidable on their own. “I can get it fixed up.” Rodolfo sighed. He heaved open the manager’s door. It was meant to be electrical, so without power, it was heavy. “Gringos. One is injured. Broken arm.” He told Alejandro as they came in.

Alejandro nodded a little, sitting up. “Please forgive my second in command, he’s… high strung. I’m Alejandro Vargas.”

Rodolfo glared at him for the comment. He crouched down so he could return to redressing Alejandro’s wound. Alejandro moved so he could.

“Fuck, what happened to you?” Soap asked.

Alejandro chuckled. “I fell, landed right on a spike, probably meant for the zombies. Went all the way through. Barely survived. Well, more like surviving. It’s probably the end of the line.”

“Don’t start.” Rodolfo glared at him. “He’s fine, I just… can’t carry him.” He stopped, seeing a stomach churning yellow puss starting to form. His heart sank. Infection. No, he’d been so careful-

Alejandro met his eyes, seeming to understand. He sighed and leaned his head back, cursing as Rodolfo continued to clean it as normal. He could handle this. He could.

“Why not leave him and go get help?” Ghost asked.

Rodolfo would have been mad but it was an understandable question. “Because he’ll kill himself.” He said, simply, glaring at Alejandro.

Alejandro shrugged. “I’m dead weight at this point.”

Rodolfo had half a mind to hit him, but just rebandaged him, standing again. “Leaving him behind isn’t an option.” He said as he turned back to Ghost and Soap. “He’s the leader of the Los Vaqueros. We provide aid to the nearby survivor encampments and gather and disperse supplies. We were on a supply run when this happened.”

Soap nodded in understanding. “You have medical knowledge?”

“Everything but a license to practice.” Rodolfo sighed. “Had to learn. Where is your arm broken?” He pulled the desk chair from the desk, gesturing for Soap to sit.

Soap did so, gesturing to the middle of his forearm.

Rodolfo felt over it, finding where the break was and comparing it to Soap’s good arm. “It’s clean, likely just a snap.” He murmured. He turned to Ghost. “There should be ace bandaging and a sling in the Pharmacy. I have everything else I need, here.” He turned to the desk.

Ghost nodded in understanding and left the room again. Rodolfo turned back to Soap. He splinted the arm with a pencil and then wrapped it with the gauze he kept in the room, wrapping it as tight as possible. Soap, impressively, was silent the entire time, barely flinching.

When Ghost returned with what Rodolfo had requested, he wrapped it and then helped Soap into the sling.

“Was pretty lucky you found a convenience store.” Ghost commented.

“We thought the same.” Alejandro nodded.

“I have a sniper’s nest on the roof.” Rodolfo said, turning to Ghost. “We have a way out, but… again, I cannot carry Alejandro.”

Ghost shrugged. “How heavy are you?”

“Fuck, I don’t know. Definitely less than you.” Alejandro shrugged.

Ghost looked at Rodolfo. “How good is your aim?”

“I could show you in the morning.” Rodolfo offered. “Easier than explaining.”

Ghost sighed. “Soap, can I talk to you, outside?”

Soap frowned but nodded and left. Rodolfo went to the door, listing carefully.

“Vargas will not survive us dragging him back to their base.” Ghost was stating to Soap.

Rodolfo tensed. He knew they shouldn’t have trusted them. He glanced to Alejandro, who had gone kind of pale, likely getting a fever. Fuck.

“Ghost. They need help. We have to go through Las Almas, anyway, to reach your friend. It puts maybe a week in our plans.”

“This is dangerous. And stupid. Maybe if we could convince Rodolfo to leave Vargas behind, but he’s made it clear he won’t.”

“Ghost, please. They need help.” Soap was pleading. Rodolfo made a face. They didn’t need their help. They needed time and a radio.

“Fucking hell, Johnny. Fine. We’ll stay and help them.”

Rodolfo jerked back from the door as they came back in. He glared at them both, but didn’t say anything. Soap grinned. “Alright, we’re gonna help you. Ghost can carry Alejandro and I can help Rodolfo cover them.”

“No.” Rodolfo shook his head.

“Rodolfo.” Alejandro sighed, clearly exhausted. But Rodolfo wasn’t listening.

“No, we don’t need your help.” He shook his head. “Your arm is broken. How the fuck are you going to be able to fight anything?” He turned to Soap.

“I can shoot a gun, still. It’ll be more difficult but if we get in a bind, I can shoot.” Soap frowned. “You clearly need help and I don’t think you’re in a position to turn it down.”

Rodolfo shook his head. “No.”

“Rodolfo!” Alejandro ordered, stern. “They’re offering help. We’re taking it.”

Rodolfo continued to glare at them. He cursed and grabbed his gun off the table, storming past them. He ignored Alejandro calling his name and went to the roof access hatch, slinging his gun on his back before climbing up to the roof. He pulled the mouth cover on his hoodie up over his face so the cold air wouldn’t bite at his skin.

This was stupid. But they really didn’t have any choice. He cursed again, careful to be quiet so he didn’t draw unwanted attention. He kicked a chimney and cursed again. His boots were steel toed so it didn’t hurt, but he was still frustrated.

He sat down near his sniper’s nest, finally, glaring at the zombies trudging around on the street. No doubt Alejandro was down there convincing them to convince Rodolfo to leave him behind. He’d fucking kill them if they tried it.

He jerked, standing again when he heard footsteps on the rooftop and whipping around to point his gun at them.

“Woah.” Soap raised his hand. “You’re jumpy.”

Rodolfo frowned. “Jumpy?” He lowered his gun.

Soap raised an eyebrow. “Easy to startle.”

“Oh.” Rodolfo sighed, relaxing a little. He shrugged. “What do you want?”

Soap winced. “Ghost thinks its best if we stay here for just a few more days. Gather more supplies. He’s going to scout the town a little, see if a vehicle is an option. If not, we’ll proceed with the original plan.”

Rodolfo sighed. “Fine.” Alejandro had made it clear they were working with them. So… any plan was a good plan at this rate. It was better than they’d had before. “But, if either one of you put a foot out of line, I will kill you. I won’t feel bad, either. If I unfocus my eyes, you’ll look just like them.” He pointed down at the zombies.

Soap blinked. He didn’t look scared just… apprehensive. “Understood.” He nodded.

Rodolfo relaxed and then took a deep breath. These were going to be the longest few days of his life.

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callsign-bunnie · 1 year

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Teeth and Skin Character details (Teeth and Skin is the name of the Zombie AU Now)

Soap:

Was an orphan, joined the military at 18, served until he was 24 when he was discharged for an injury that made him unable to serve.

Soap was vacationing in Mexico when the apocalypse

Survived alone for 2 years before he got stranded on the roof of a house and rescued

Ghost:

Same backstory as before but instead when he dug himself out of the grave, the apocalypse had already started.

Experiences fairly extreme psychosis from it and is half convinced he’s not alive

Found Soap on the roof of the house, considered leaving him behind, but Soap grabbed his arm and it was the first time he felt alive in 2 years

Is now obsessed with Soap, no one is allowed to touch him

Rodolfo:

Same backstory as before, he was best friends with Alejandro, followed him into the military

Was still actively running the Las Almas base when the apocalypse happened

Doesn’t trust anyone because everyone they’ve met that they didn’t know before was evil

He and Alejandro are stranded in a convenience store after a supply run gone wrong

Alejandro:

Joined the military at 18, was given title of Colonel way too young, does his best to keep the base active, even if they’ve abandoned the military title

Works with Valeria so both the cartel and the Vaqueros stay alive

Is injured during a supply run and gets them stranded in a convenience store

Price:

Boring ass white man backstory

He and Gaz were in Mexico when the apocalypse happened, trying to find out what happened to Ghost’s unit

Is unsure about locating Rodolfo because he knows about the Las Almas cartel

Gaz:

Was an orphan, joined the military once he was out of the foster system

Was with Price on a mission. He had uncovered the cartel at the time the apocalypse had happened and they discovered it was ravaged by zombies

Hears Rodolfo’s distress message on the radio system and sets out with Price to find them to help

Graves:

Was on break from missions when it happened, gathers the shadows afterwards.

Semi-antagonist until he joins the crew

Valeria:

Was pressured to join the military by her family

Left to become El Sin Nombre

When everything happened, she and Alejandro agreed to put their differences aside to ensure survival for both groups

Is found by Roach and travels with him to rescue Alejandro and Rodolfo

Farah:

Generic backstory

When the apocalypse was happening, she was called in for a favor by Laswell to track down Price and Gaz when they went missing, met with Alex in Washington state when it all went to shit and got stranded, has spent the last two years trying to find Laswell,

locates her 2 months before current events and now they’re trying to get to Mexico because she found evidence Price and Gaz are alive

Alex:

Orphan

Was receiving Farah when the apocalypse happened, didn’t talk about it but was freaked out when Price and Gaz went MIA, now they’re trying to find them

Is basically glorified body guard for Laswell and Farah on the journey to Mexico

Laswell:

Basic white woman backstory

When the apocalypse happens, her wife is killed by Zombies and she goes MIA while dealing with it, eventually locates Alex and Farah and guides them to her location when she finds evidence Price and Gaz are alive

Now is trying to get back to them

Roach:

Same backstory I normally use, mom died in childbirth, dad abandoned him.

Successfully lied about age due to this and signed up for the military at 16 but left at 20 and became a mercenary. Was in Mexico on a job dealing with Roba’s cartel when the apocalypse happened, found Ghost shortly after and they struck a deal working with each other.

Got separated from Ghost and ends up locating them so they send him to the Vaqueros to get them to send a truck, accidentally finds Valeria, instead, who travels back with him and a few of her men and rescues them

#teeth and skin: a zombie cod AU #Johnny Soap Mactavish #Simon Ghost Riley #Rodolfo Parra #Alejandro Vargas #John Price #Kyle Gaz Garrick #Phillip Graves #Valeria Garza #Farah Karim #Alex COD #Kate Laswell #Call Of Duty Modern Warfare II #Call of Duty #Gary Roach Sanderson

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callsign-bunnie · 1 year

Note

A few prompts for angst night! Any colour will do ^^

Al x Rudy, mutual unrequited feelings, feeling like they'll never be good enough for the other and coping poorly

Ghost x Soap, communications go down under a doomed mission, they try to survive and worry about the other (one or both of them probably having sustained very bad injuries)

Zombie Apocalypse AU (Inspired by yours, but not sure if it will fit your canon) (any character/ship) First bite, unknown if they're immune or not

Hope any of these are to your liking, regardless good luck with writing :D

I think the first prompt matches my fic Why Can't I Be More? if you're interested. But, I love my Zombie AU and I'm gonna do Alejandro's bite. Anyway, Angst Night! (TW Suicide mention)

Rodolfo had taken out the zombie attacking Alejandro easily. But, he'd been too late. Alejandro held his shoulder, sitting up. He looked at Rodolfo with wide eyes.

Rodolfo tensed, watching him. "I... I..." Oh god, this was the worst case scenario. Rodolfo could drag him from the edge of death if he really tried but he couldn't stop a zombie bite.

Maybe if it was in a limb or something, he could cut it off, but Alejandro's shoulder? Rodolfo was in a waiting game, now. There was nothing he could do about it.

Alejandro shook his head. "It's unlikely I'm immune like you. You need to leave me behind."

"Oh fuck off." Rodolfo's panic subsided just a little for annoyance. He took Alejandro's hand and dragged him up.

"Rodolfo." Alejandro winced, still holding his shoulder. "You need to leave."

Rodolfo took a deep breath. "You need medical attention." He dragged Alejandro to the truck and forced him to get in, even though he was trying to say he didn't want to.

Alejandro sat in the back and Rodolfo shut the doors so nothing could get in. He was in medical care more, which was easier because he'd panic less.

"What are you going to do if I turn?" Alejandro sighed.

Rodolfo shrugged. "Shoot myself after I shoot you." He jumped when his wrist was grabbed, suddenly.

"No." Alejandro stared at him, intensely. "You absolutely will not."

Rodolfo glared at him, defiantly. "You won't be able to stop me, will you?"

Alejandro made a distressed sound and slammed back against the seat, no longer letting Rodolfo bandage the bite. "Why?? All I ask is that you care about your life beyond mine?! Why can't you do that?!"

"Because I have no life beyond yours, Alejandro!" Rodolfo exclaimed. "I have none! So, sit still, shut up, and let me bandage you."

Alejandro knocked his hand away. "I'm going to turn. There's no point. Just get out of the truck and go back to the base. Or, better yet-" He went to leave the truck.

Rodolfo stopped Alejandro and didn't even think, wrenching Alejandro's arm to a pole and cuffing him to it.

Alejandro stared at him. "What the fuck."

Rodolfo only glared back. "Now, will you fucking stay still so I can bandage you??"

Alejandro went still and looked away from him, but moved a little, giving Rodolfo a better access to his shoulder. "I just... want you to be more careful with your own life."

"I am careful with it as long as you are alive. Why can't you be more careful with yours?" Rodolfo shook his head. "You don't want me to die, fine. Then stay alive."

Alejandro was quiet and shook his head. "Please don't kill yourself if I turn."

"Don't turn." Rodolfo shrugged. He relaxed when Alejandro was bandaged and then sat back on his legs. He could feel the anxiety returning.

There was a fifty fifty shot and Rodolfo hated that. He hated not knowing. He wanted to be able to just nod and know that Alejandro was going to live.

Hell, nodding and knowing Alejandro was going to die would even be better. Then, Rodolfo could figure out what to do between Alejandro's death and his own.

But, no. Rodolfo had no way of knowing until it happened. 48 hours. That was how long it would take.

Already, Alejandro was shivering as the virus fought through his body. Rodolfo watched him, taking deep breaths. Alejandro glanced at him and seemed to pick up on the fear in his eyes. "Rudy, I-"

"Don't. You were so insistent it's not going to be okay. Don't change on me, now." Rodolfo mumbled, looking away.

Alejandro was quiet for a moment before Rodolfo felt his wrist being touched. "Please don't kill yourself when I die."

"If." Rodolfo mumbled. "If you die."

"Rudy, please." Alejandro took deep breaths. Rodolfo could feel the struggle in his voice. "The Los Vaqueros will need a leader. That needs to be you."

"I'm not a leader, Alejandro." Rodolfo shook his head. "I never wanted to be one and I never will. I have never wanted anything but to keep you alive."

Alejandro shook his head and put Rodolfo's hand to his forehead. "Rudy, please... I am begging you... please..."

Rodolfo watched him and then sighed, relenting. He could lie for Alejandro. Just in case. He didn't want Alejandro to spend his last moments terrified Rodolfo was going to off himself. "Alright, Ale..." He mumbled. "I will... I will live after this."

Alejandro relaxed, immediately, and nodded. "Thank you, Rudy. That's all I can ask."

Rodolfo knew Alejandro knew he was lying. But, he also knew Alejandro would pretend, anyway. Alejandro would delude himself if it meant keeping the idea that Rodolfo would stay alive.

Rodolfo knew that one day they'd need to address whatever was between them. But... even with the threat of Alejandro dying... Rodolfo just couldn't. It was more than a fear of rejection. Alejandro still didn't know what had happened to him.

Would Alejandro want him if he found out?

Rodolfo frowned when he felt Alejandro pulling him over, frowning. He went to pull back but Alejandro looked defeated. "Rudy, I'm dying. Please don't deny me this."

Rodolfo winced and relented, feeling bad. He hesitated before moving over and laying against Alejandro, closing his eyes. One day, they'd need to talk about it.

But, not today. Rodolfo couldn't handle today. If Alejandro survived, maybe then. But... not today.

Rodolfo closed his eyes as he felt Alejandro pull him close, his arms going around his waist.

"Do you... do you remember that stuffed blue bear I got you for your birthday?" Alejandro asked, after a moment.

Rodolfo smiled, remembering well. "The one that you got to smell like wildflowers that I ended up being horribly allergic to?" He'd told Alejandro he'd thrown it away, at Alejandro's request. But he hadn't. He'd kept it and would occasionally hug it and just accept the reaction.

Alejandro sighed, a little. "I know you kept it. I figured it out when I saw a rash peeking out of your sleeves."

Rodolfo flushed and went quiet. "Oh." He mumbled, after a moment.

Alejandro shook his head. "Don't let me be that bear. Don't hold onto me even when I hurt you, just because you're terrified of losing me. If I turn... let me go."

Rodolfo grasped at Alejandro's shirt as the full weight of the idea of Alejandro dying crashed into him. He couldn't breathe. He didn't want Alejandro to die. Even if he knew he would be shortly following, it was still the worst idea in the world.

Alejandro didn't say anything else, thankfully. He went back to shivering and Rodolfo felt his forehead, wincing at the fever. Anything else and he'd try to give Alejandro medication to break it. But... he wasn't sure if that'd help here or not.

Rodolfo wasn't sure about anything. He wished he was, because then it would eb so much easier to just fix the problem but he wasn't and that was the worst feeling in the entire world.

All they could do was wait.

So that's what they did.

#bunnie's angst night #purple #Alejandro Vargas #Rodolfo Parra #Alejandro x Rodolfo #Aledolfo #Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare II #Call Of Duty #teeth and skin: a zombie cod au

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callsign-bunnie · 1 year

Text

Migration - Chapter 3 - Teeth and Skin

Gaz woke up genuinely feeling like he was dead. For a moment, he worried he might be. The world had a weird purple tint over it, but only in the right side of his vision, which was obnoxiously disorienting. His skin burned, but again only on the right side of his body, the sensation covering his right arm and the right side of his face.

“Pri-” He stopped, coughing, and reached to hold his throat, frowning at the new scarring on his arm. Now, he was vaguely aware he was moving. Or… well was because now he felt they were stopping. More of his surroundings came to him and he recognized the inside of the jeep. “Price… Fuck…” he finally managed to get out, lifting up.

“You’re awake, thank fuck.” Price climbed into the back, examining over Gaz. “It looks a lot better than it did.” He sighed. Gaz frowned and touched his face, feeling rough skin.

“What… What happened?” He rubbed at his face. “I just remember purple and then…” He groaned, holding his head. Talking was giving him a migraine. Or, rather, making the one he currently had worse. “I don’t remember anything else.”

“Well…” Price seemed to hesitate and then he carefully grabbed a circular ball from nearby, which appeared to have some sort of purple liquid in it. “I managed to lift this off of a truck.” He explained. “One of them dropped on your head. Thanks to the gas mask, I was uneffected… I managed to get you into the jeep and away before the damage could get too bad.”

Gaz furrowed his brows and examined the orb, being very ginger with it as he took it from Price, since he could feel it was made of glass. “It looks almost like a glass balloon…” He murmured, pointing to a cinching point on the orb. “So this is what they were dropping on the towns? The explosions looked much larger than this should have caused…”

“Well, this is a small version. The truck had them labelled as “grenades” so I’m assuming this is meant to be a much smaller one. The one that dropped on your head was much much larger.” Price explained, gesturing as he spoke.

Gaz reached up, feeling his head and where a large healing wound was. Ouch. “So… the gas inside… It kills zombies.”

“Well, and humans from the looks of it.” Price sighed. “At the very least, it does some serious damage. Can you breathe?”

Gaz breathed in and then back out. It was… a bit of a struggle, but not inconvenient. “Yeah. I can feel a difference but it’s survivable.”

Price nodded and he looked away from Gaz. Gaz internally groaned. “Please tell me you’re not going to take all of the guilt for this onto yourself as well, sir?”

“You are under my watch. I am supposed to take care of you and make sure you stay alive-”

“I am alive!” Gaz exclaimed. “I am talking and breathing. That feels pretty fucking alive to me. So what, I have some extra scarring on my face… Oh well. It’s the zombie fucking apocalypse, I think there are more important things to be worrying about. It’s not as if I’m going to be entering any beauty pageants.”

Price half glared at him. “It’s not just scarring. Your eye is clearly damaged, kid.”

“Actually it sees just fine… just everything is fucking purple.” Gaz covered his good eye, irritated at the purple tint over everything. “Captain, it’s been two fucking years. I’m going to get injured. One day, I’m going to die. If you keep blaming yourself for every scrape and bruise, you’re going to get distracted.”

Price fully glared at Gaz, that time, but Gaz just glared back. Price relented after a moment. “It actually looks… pretty cool, Garrick.”

Gaz snorted and climbed into the front seat as best as he could, looking in the small mirror and examining over his face. Price was right, it actually did look fairly cool. His iris was uneffected, if not darker, but the rest of his eye was slightly lilac colored with purple veins.

His face was not as scarred as he was expecting, save for a splotch of it which covered his cheek and some of his jaw. The primary scarring seemed to be on his arm and his neck, but he could live with that. He looked over, seeing some scarring on Price’s hand.

“Let’s not stop until we get to our destination, eh?” Gaz joked, earning another glare. “Just taking the piss, sir.”

“Always, Garrick.”

Sleeping was difficult. Though the skin was mostly scarred, it still burned slightly, so laying on it was almost unbearable. Unfortunately, he preferred sleeping on his right side because sleeping on his left meant sleeping facing Price and that was… awkward to say the least.

But, Kyle made do, just laying down and closing his eyes. Thankfully, he heard Price roll over, so if Gaz opened his eyes, he’d be looking at Price’s back.

Then, he fell into restless sleep. Waking up, again, was hell, but they appeared to be closer and closer to their destination so Gaz was just holding on as long as he could. And, thankfully, the purple had faded in his vision, leaving a very light lilac tint to everything. This was much easier to ignore.

And ignore it, he did. Price asked about it, occasionally, but Gaz would just give a little “eh, it’s getting better” in response and that would seem to satisfy Price. Which, it was getting better. Not by much, definitely not at the speed Price would probably want it to be, but it was getting better.

Finally, on the last day of their trip, Gaz’s pain was fully gone and his eye was just a barely there purple tint, though the whites of his eye was still almost violet. Thankfully, Price had a random pair of sunglasses that Gaz decided to wear when they finally made it to the location of the distress call.

He did not want to freak out whoever was in distress.

“Alright, look.” Price said when they were projected to be a few hours from their destination. “Let me do all of the talking.”

“Yes, sir.” Gaz nodded, content to sit back and just help how he was needed.

Price nodded and then went silent for a moment before sighing. “After this… what say we find somewhere to just… settle for a bit?”

Gaz raised an eyebrow. “Settle? What happened to helping people?”

“I don’t know. I’m 37, I’m… Old.”

“37 isn’t old, Price.” Gaz laughed. “You’re in peak health.”

“I’m tired.” Price corrected, furrowing his brows. “I think I’m ready to retire.”

“It’s the apocalypse. I don’t think retiring is a thing, anymore.” Gaz sighed and looked out the window, shaking his head. “Whatever you want to do, sir.”

“Kyle, I’m not-”

Gaz shook his head. He knew exactly what this was about. “Price. This isn’t about getting tired. This is about you finding every reason in the world to blame yourself for what happens to me and I’m getting sick of it. I’m 26. I am a big boy, I can take care of myself. At the very least, you are not to blame for every time I get hurt.”

“You are my responsibility!” Price snapped. “It is my fault! It is my job to make sure that you stay alive and I’ve been doing a piss poor fucking job of it, lately! Especially since you’ve changed due to what happened!”

“Oh my fucking god! It was your responsibility! We don’t have titles or command or superiority anymore! Maybe I’ve changed because every five motherfucking seconds, you are finding some fucking way to remind me of it! I just want to move on and forget but every five fucking minutes you are trying to apologize and just-” Gaz stopped, sighing when he saw how white knuckled Price was as he gripped the steering wheel. “If you really need it that bad- I forgive you. I do.”

Price was deadly silent, just appearing to stare out the windshield. Then, Gaz watched his shoulders dropped and he just relaxed. “I did. I did need that.”

Gaz shrugged. “Then I forgive you. I really do. You did all you could and you were doing everything in your power to get me out. I forgive you.”

Price appeared to relax fully. “Thank you.”

“You don’t have to.” Gaz shrugged and leaned against the door. “I mean it. You don’t have to.”

Price shook his head. “I want to.”

“Then… you’re welcome.” Gaz relaxed, glad this was getting cleared up. Finally. “So, how long do we have till we get there?”

“Supposedly two hours, but it should be less than that.” Price nodded. “I think we’ll make it in less than that.”

Gaz relaxed and nodded. “Alright. Good.”

#migration storyline #Teeth and Skin: a zombie cod au #Kyle Gaz Garrick #John Price #Call of Duty #Price COD #Gaz COD #Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

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callsign-bunnie · 1 year

Text

First Meeting (Soap’s POV)

The zombie apocalypse went by rather quickly. Those who were immune survived, most of the rest died, in only a couple of months. Now, two years later, everyone is either “immune” or unknown. Of course, the only way to find out is to be bitten. Society will rebuild itself. Someday.

The same meeting but this time from Soap’s perspective.

Ghost had told Soap about a friend he needed to meet up with. He’d seemed to reluctantly drag Soap along, but Soap was grateful. He’d managed to survive just fine before but Ghost seemed multitudes more capable than Soap and Soap was grateful to have someone to cover his back.

That was, until they’d been rushing to escape a building and in the process, a door with a broken hinge slammed on his arm, breaking it. It’d taken out his non-dominant arm, thankfully, but it still made it harder to shoot.

So, now, they were looking for somewhere to find supplies and rest so Soap could get his arm fixed. They’d planned to stop in the next town, but it’d reached night time and this town was packed with zombies. So, they’d made a proactive decision to stop here.

Soap stayed close behind Ghost, making sure no zombies attacked them. They raced to the closest building. Soap was a little taken back upon the sight of the building. On the doors were four still moving zombies, biters from the looks of it. They were duct taped to the doors, and their arms were ripped off.

Soap gagged a little, wondering what kind of crazy bastard had done this. It must have been efficient, though. Ghost wrenched open the door to the building. It looked like a convenience store, similar to a Walgreens.

Soap ran through the door, first. They weren’t at any real risk, most of the zombies seemed to ignore the building, likely due to the four biters on the door. “Jesus Christ, what weirdo did we find??” He asked once Ghost was in the door.

“Shut up. They could still be in here.” Ghost hissed, shutting the door.

Soap rolled his eyes. He was confident they’d be dead already if they were. “Doubtful.” He sighed. But, he wanted to eat his words when he saw Ghost suddenly tense and point his gun behind Soap.

“Don’t fucking move.” He heard from behind him. He frowned, the voice did not match the words. It was softer, a bit small. The accent was unsurprising. Mexican, they were in Mexico. Probably was speaking English since they’d heard Ghost and Soap speak.

“We don’t want any trouble.” Soap offered, since he knew Ghost wouldn’t.

“Then leave.”

“We can’t do that.” Ghost sighed, tensing just a little more. Soap closed his eyes, having a feeling the gun was pointed at him. Ghost would have just shot whoever it was, otherwise. “You’re Mexican Special Forces?”

Soap frowned and opened his eyes. Mexican Special Forces? They still existed? The military had all but dissolved, they had thought.

“Was.” The voice seemed nonchalant.

Soap frowned more and went to turn, stopping immediately when the voice ordered, “don’t move!”

“I’m not!” Soap reassured, even though he definitely was. “Look, we’re British Special Forces. Kind of. I’m retired.” He explained, hoping maybe they’d calm down if they saw they were similar.

“What the fuck is British Special Forces doing in Mexico??”

Ghost seemed to tense again. Fuck, they really needed to get whoever this was to calm down. “It’s a long story. Just… put your gun down, Ghost will do the same-”

He was cut off by the voice. “Ghost? …I expected more.”

Ghost sighed. Soap frowned, confused how they had heard of him. “They all do.” Ghost started to lower his weapon so Soap turned around, finally, assuming it was safe.

He blinked at the sight he was met with. The voice definitely matched the person, which wasn’t common in Soap’s experience. The man couldn’t be much shorter than Soap but he had soft features, though they were hardened towards them. They were slim but not thin. They could clearly use force if they needed it, though Soap doubted they could move nearly the same weight Ghost could. And their gun was pointed right at Soap.

Soap took a breath. “We’re not here for trouble. We can help each other.”

“Yeah, in my experience, Gringos don’t help shit.” The man glared at them.

Soap went to retort but another voice came from behind the man. “Rodolfo! Dejarlos entrar.” This voice was a lot deeper, rougher. It sounded strained.

“¡Ellos podrían matarnos!” The man, or Rodolfo, called back to the voice, not faltering or lowering his weapon.

Soap frowned, deeply. No wonder he seemed so tense, there must have been a second person, and from the sound of their voice, they were likely injured. “There’s another?” Soap asked, taking a step forward without thinking, though he quickly stopped when he saw the gun’s laser turn on.

The angle of it implied that Soap was going to be talking out of his neck if he wasn’t careful.

“If you take one more step…” Rodolfo warned.

“Look, Rodolfo, right?” Soap tried to make his voice soothing, figuring they were probably stressed. “We’re not here to hurt you, we just want to help. Is the other one injured?”

Rodolfo’s expression hardened completely, however, just as Soap was starting to think maybe a soothing tone was the worst idea, the voice in the back called again. “Rodolfo!”

“¡Mierda!” Rodolfo growled. Or… it sounded like he tried to since his voice just did not have the capability for that. However, Soap recognized that word. “Fine!” He finally lowered his weapon.

Soap relaxed, glancing to Ghost who also seemed relieved. “I’m Soap.”

Rodolfo laughed and Soap managed to relax completely. Laughing was good. “Soap??”

“Yeah,” Soap grinned, “it’s a ridiculous name, but it’s mine.”

Rodolfo shook his head. “Leave your weapons on a shelf.” Rodolfo pointed to a shelf that was empty.

Soap shared a glance with Ghost, who looked irritated. But, they both did as told. Soap really didn’t want to risk getting shot. And Rodolfo’s tone said they didn’t have a choice. Once they were relieved of their weapons, they followed Rodolfo to the back.

Rodolfo slid between two shelves and Soap followed him. One was broken, creating a narrow triangle that left a small angle for zombies to try to get through if they managed to make it inside. Smart.

Of course, it left no exit point.

“What’s wrong with your arm?” Rodolfo asked Soap, while Ghost slid between the triangle.

Soap winced. “I smashed it in a door. Was trying to get away from some biters.”

“I can get it fixed up.” Rodolfo offered as he heaved open the door to what looked like a manager’s office. It looked heavy but Soap didn’t want to risk offending him by offering help. From the way Ghost didn’t move, he likely had the same idea.

“Gringos. Uno está herido. Brazo roto.” Rodolfo told, whoever was in the room.

Soap followed him in, frowning at the sight they were greeted with. The other voice belonged to a man who, in other circumstances, Soap was sure looked commanding. But now… he was clearly severely injured. Discarded military gear rested near what looked like a makeshift cot, and he was propped up against the wall, holding his arm over his stomach.

He had just a white tanktop on, and it had a giant dried blood stain on it.

However, he was smiling, however strained it was. “Please forgive my second in command. He’s… high strung.” Soap did not miss the glare Rodolfo gave the man. It didn’t have the same coldness that Rodolfo had given them, though. “I’m Alejandro Vargas.”

Rodolfo crouched, moving Alejandro’s shirt.

“Fuck.” Soap winced, taking in the sight of the very grizzly looking wound, even though it was still bandaged. When Rodolfo unwrapped it, Soap felt like gagging. It was awful looking. “What happened to you?”

Alejandro chuckled, though it was clearly pained. “I fell, landed right on a spike. Probably meant for the zombies. It went all the way through. Barely survived. Well, more like surviving, it’s probably the end of the line.”

“No empieces. He’s fine, I just… can’t carry him.” Rodolfo sighed. Soap picked up the much softer tone Rodolfo used with Alejandro. He frowned as Rodolfo and Alejandro seemed to share a glance before Rodolfo continued to quickly clean the wound.

Soap shared his own glance with Ghost, who seemed grave. “Why not just leave him and go get help?”

Soap stared at Ghost before lightly hitting his arm. That was beyond stupid to ask! Thankfully, though, Rodolfo didn’t seem offended. “Because he’ll kill himself.” He glared at Alejandro again.

“I’m dead weight at this point.” Alejandro shrugged, not seeming fazed. This seemed to be a recurring argument.

Rodolfo finished rebandaging Alejandro, who relaxed, and then he stood, turning to face Soap and Ghost again, “leaving him isn’t an option.” Rodolfo sighed. “He’s the leader of the Los Vaqueros. We provide aid to the nearby survivor encampments and gather and disperse supplies. We were… on a supply run when this happened.”

Soap nodded in understanding. “And you have medical knowledge?” It was less a question, more of a statement of fact, since it was clear Rodolfo knew what he was doing.

“Everything but a license to practice.” Rodolfo nodded. “Had to learn. Where is your arm broken?” He asked as he pulled a chair out from the desk on the other side of the room.

Soap sat in it, gesturing to where the most pain was. He tried not to wince as Rodolfo felt over it, unsure of the consequences of startling the man. He didn’t have his gun, but Soap could make out several knives on him, so he decided the smartest option was to be as still as possible.

“It’s clean, likely just a snap.” Rodolfo murmured, seeming to relax. Soap did relax, that was good. Rodolfo turned to Ghost. “There should be ace bandaging and a sling in the pharmacy. I have everything else I need here.”

Soap was impressed by the ability Rodolfo had to make orders without directly making an order. Ghost did what was told, immediately. Soap frowned. Rodolfo must have had a lot of practice having to sound gentle while firm.

Rodolfo was silent while he splinted and wrapped Soap’s arm, which Soap was glad for because then he could focus on being as silent and still as possible, really not wanting to startle him. Thankfully, he finished before Ghost returned and Soap finally relaxed.

Ghost handed Rodolfo the things he had grabbed and Rodolfo quickly finished. Soap was grateful for the help getting into the sling since it was kind of painful. He’d had a lot of experience wearing those.

“Was pretty lucky you found a convenience store.” Ghost commented. Soap nodded in agreement.

“We thought the same,” Alejandro answered. Soap frowned. He looked kind of pale, exhausted. There was no way he was surviving this, and that worried Soap. Rodolfo seemed a little unstable.

They needed to help them. Maybe if they managed to get them back to their base, they might be willing to give them some supplies so they could make it to Ghost’s friend.

“I have a Sniper’s nest on the roof.” Rodolfo said, turning to Ghost. Soap took the opportunity to cringe with pain, biting his good fist. “We have a way out but… again, I cannot carry Alejandro.”

“How heavy are you?” Ghost was probably addressing Alejandro.

“Fuck, I don’t know. Definitely less than you.” Well, Alejandro answered all the same.

“How good is your aim?” Ghost asked. Soap finally paid attention, noting that Ghost was looking at Rodolfo.

“I could show you in the morning. It’s easier than explaining.” Rodolfo shrugged.

Ghost sighed. “Soap, can I talk to you, outside?”

Soap winced and then sighed, getting up and following him out. They slipped through the triangle again and Ghost sighed, turning to him. “Vargas will not survive us dragging him back to their base.”

Soap sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. “Ghost, they need help. We have to go through Las Almas, anyway, to reach your friend. It puts maybe a week in our plans.” He knew they’d need supplies again. Maybe they’d be willing to even let them take a truck.

“This is dangerous. And stupid.” Ghost’s voice was low, dark. Soap had to admit it intimidated him. “Maybe if we could convince Rodolfo to leave Vargas behind, but he’s made it clear he won’t.”

Soap still wanted to try. “Ghost, please… They need help.”

Ghost stared at him for a moment before sighing loudly. “Fuckin Hell, Johnny. Fine. We’ll stay and help them.”

Soap grinned and immediately went to the back again. “Alright, we’re gonna help you. Ghost can carry Alejandro, and I can help Rodolfo cover them both.”

“No.” Soap frowned as Rodolfo immediately shook his head.

“Rodolfo…” Alejandro sighed. He shifted a little, now considerably more pale than before.

“No.” Rodolfo reiterated. “We don’t need your help. Your arm is broken, how the fuck are you gonna be able to fight anything?” He asked Soap, who frowned.

“I can shoot a gun, still. It’ll be more difficult, but if we get in a bind, I can shoot.” He wasn’t gonna be that great of a shot, but biters were easy targets and that seemed to be a majority of the crowd in this town. But, he tried a different angle, even though it was clear Rodolfo didn’t call the shots. “You clearly need help. And I don’t think you’re in a position to turn it down.”

But, Rodolfo only shook his head again. “No.”

“Rodolfo!” Alejandro almost barked. He sounded fed up. “Están ofreciendo ayuda. Lo estamos tomando.”

Whatever he said pissed Rodolfo off, because he was grabbing his gun, almost slamming into them as he left the room, despite Alejandro calling for him again.

Soap looked kind of awkwardly at Alejandro, who just sighed, leaning his head back against the wall. “Please forgive him. He wasn’t always like this.”

“He doesn’t trust us.” Ghost said, simply. “I don’t blame him. The feeling is mutual.”

Soap glared at Ghost. He really needed to stop saying such inflammatory things.

Alejandro laughed, though, and Soap relaxed. “No, he doesn’t trust you. He doesn’t trust anyone but me and our men. Even there, it’s limited. The beginning of this was… hard on us all. Him especially.”

Soap snorted. “Hard is an understatement.” He went back to the desk chair, exhausted. “This place seems relatively untouched.” He commented.

Ghost sat on the floor against the wall. Soap knew, even though he was clearly trying to hide it, that Ghost was likely just as exhausted. They had been going for nearly 24 hours, if he had to guess. Both were practically dead on their feet.

Alejandro nodded. “Yes, this town was one of the first places to get hit. It’s a smallish, practically unknown, town, so no one but us comes here. It’s too dangerous unless you have the proper gear, as you’ve seen. I guess… we got cocky.”

Ghost seemed to snort and nod. “Cocky.” Soap tensed again.

Alejandro chuckled and Soap relaxed. “I got cocky. Rodolfo was apprehensive from the start. Probably another reason he’s so irritated with me.”

“How long have you known each other?” Soap asked, guessing it had to be a while. They talked to each other like more than co-officers.

Alejandro sighed. “Hang on, I have to count.” He used his fingers. “26 years.”

Soap whistled, not expecting that high of a number. “Wow.”

Alejandro chuckled. “Yep. We’ve been childhood friends. Met each other when we were 6 years old.”

“You’re only 32??” Soap frowned, surprised. Alejandro didn’t look old but if he was leader of the Los Vaqueros, an old military unit, Soap knew he'd have to at least be Colonel.

“Yes, I was… gifted the Los Vaqueros young. 26 years old.” Alejandro sighed, looking exhausted. Soap shared a glance with Ghost, who just shrugged, not looking surprised. “I was the only one willing to take the job. Actually, it was offered to Rodolfo first but… He wouldn’t even be in the military if not for me. So he turned it down. And they offered it to me instead.”

“You were second choice?” Ghost asked. Soap was going to kill Ghost, himself.

“Yes, essentially.” Alejandro smiled. “Rodolfo is much better with the more official side of things. When he has to be. Or had to be. We don’t really do any of that, now. We just help where we can, now.”

Soap nodded. “It’s honorable.”

“It’s duty.” Alejandro shrugged. “The people of Las Almas need us. We cannot abandon them.”

Soap smiled. It sounded like Alejandro cared about Las Almas. “Well, you need us. And we’re not going to abandon you, either.”

“No. Rodolfo needs you. I’m not getting out of this.” Alejandro sat up a little more. “I was hoping you might help me with that. Look, he’s not going to leave me here without being convinced. If one of you could convince him-”

Ghost started to laugh. Soap frowned and turned to him. He’d never heard Ghost laugh before. “Look, Vargas? That’s not happening.” Ghost shook his head, also sitting up. “Maybe you’re blind to how unstable your second in command is, but he’s clearly two steps from snapping. I am confident your death covers 5, at least. Now, I’m not afraid of him, but I’m smart enough to know that letting you die, or leaving you behind, is a one way ticket to his shit list. A list I think I’d like to avoid being on.”

Alejandro seemed almost surprised before sighing, shaking his head. “You’re right.” He muttered.

Soap sighed. “We’re getting you both out of here.” He assured.

“We need a plan.” Alejandro conceded.

Ghost seemed to consider. “Tomorrow, I’ll scout through town. I can travel across rooftops. I’ll look for a vehicle. But, we’ll all stay here a few days, regardless, give you a chance to recover more. If I can’t find a vehicle, I’ll carry you, Soap and Rodolfo will cover us.”

Alejandro nodded. “Alright. That sounds solid.”

“Just curious,” Soap spoke up, “why haven’t you called for help from your men?”

“When I fell… I fell on Rodolfo as well. Smashed his radio with my gear. Almost broke his ribs, too. My radio hasn’t functioned for months now.”

Soap considered. “Could I see it?”

Alejandro shrugged, gesturing to his gear to the side. Soap took the radio off the vest and inspected it. He couldn’t see what was wrong with it right off the bat. “Tomorrow, I’ll take it apart, see if I can fix it.” He put it back on the vest.

Alejandro nodded. He sighed. “Someone needs to inform Rodolfo.”

Soap shrugged. “I will.” He did not trust Ghost to not say something stupid. He got up and went to where he assumed was the roof hatch, remembering Rodolfo mentioned a sniper’s nest. He found the ladder up, realizing he may have been too cocky.

But, he wasn’t backing down. He hoisted himself up, one armed. Fuck, he regretted trying to maintain his strength over the last two years. His arm protested being the only one doing any work but he ignored it, dragging himself fully onto the roof.

He panted but carefully approached Rodolfo, jumping back when Rodolfo was up, immediately, his gun pointed at him. It was very very good he hadn’t started Rodolfo before, he decided. “Woah.” He said, hoping to calm him, and putting his hand up to show he wasn’t a threat. “You’re jumpy.” He internally winced, questioning why he said that.

“Jumpy?” Rodolfo frowned, clearly not understanding. But… he lowered his gun and Soap relaxed.

“Easy to startle.”

“Oh.” Rodolfo sighed. “What do you want?”

Soap winced, but he’d expected some hostility. “Ghost thinks its best if we stay here for just a few more days. Gather more supplies. He’s going to scout the town a little, see if a vehicle is an option. If not, we’ll proceed with the original plan.”

“Fine.” Rodolfo nodded before stepping forward a little, his voice going low. “But, if either one of you put a foot out of line, I will kill you. I won’t feel bad, either. If I unfocus my eyes, you’ll look just like them.” Rodolfo pointed down at some biters that were stumbling around, likely searching for food.

Soap tensed. He could see it in Rodolfo’s eyes. He meant it. “Understood.”

He was going to have to tread very very carefully around Rodolfo

Hey, want to get added to a tag list for this ship or AU? Reply to this with "add me to the tag list for [ship/au]" and I will tag you in everything I post for whichever you choose. If you want to be added to a different tag list, send me an ask or dm. Tag List: @i-miss-balthazar

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callsign-bunnie · 1 year

Text

First Meeting PT3 Rodolfo’s POV (Teeth and Skin)

Rodolfo wasn’t sure why he’d even agreed to this. Soap was back at the convenience store with Alejandro and Rodolfo was following Ghost around, making sure they had every supply they’d need. They should have been waiting for Roach to arrive back with their men so they could leave.

Ghost glanced back at him. “You’re an interesting character. I’m shocked you just let Soap stay with Alejandro.”

“Yeah, me too.” Rodolfo mumbled. “He did say he was going to fix Alejandro’s radio. So… I guess I decided he needed time to do that.”

“Soap won’t hurt him.” Ghost nodded.

Rodolfo snorted, not fully sure he trusted that. “I’ve heard similar phrases.” He muttered.

“Yeah, well, I mean this one.” Ghost finally managed to wrench the door that he was attempting to open. “Soap is… He’s not able to hurt people. I don’t think so, anyway. Good people, anyway.”

Rodolfo sighed. Admittedly, that was why he’d left him there. He kind of considered Soap to be harmless. He’d fought so hard for them to stay and he couldn’t think of a good reason for it besides genuinely wanting to help.

They went into the building and Ghost closed the door behind them. Rodolfo was not going to make the same mistake twice so they both went around, making sure it was clear. There were a few stray biters that they took care of quickly, and then Rodolfo immediately started to fill a bag with what they needed.

It was mostly just water and small things they couldn’t find in the convenience store. Rodolfo paused, seeing some fishing line. He shrugged and took it, comparing it to the wire on his garrote. It was much thinner… He stuffed it in the bag.

He realized that he hadn’t heard Ghost move in a bit and so he stood, looking for him. He frowned, seeing him standing over something and messing with it. He went over, hesitantly.

Getting closer revealed it to be a package of knives. Rodolfo relaxed and sighed, getting his own out. “Here. So you don’t have to keep yanking at it.”

“I have a knife.” Ghost huffed but took it, anyway, cutting the package. “They made these so damn hard to open.”

Rodolfo nodded in agreement and put his knife back. “They should have thought ahead to the apocalypse, eh?” He joked, lightly, but immediately regretted it when Ghost stared at him in shock.

“Did you just make a joke?”

“Yeah.”

“I didn’t know you could do that.”

“I’m a man of many surprises.” Rodolfo muttered and turned away. He saw Ghost about to speak in the corner of his eye and just sighed, cutting him off before he could. “I think we have enough supplies from here. Do you want to go up onto the roof and scope out before we continue on?”

“Sure.” Ghost sighed and Rodolfo led him to a roof hatch. He started to climb up there, shoving open the hatch and almost immediately getting grabbed by a biter. Rodolfo was unfazed, though, and just shoved it down, fully climbing up and stabbing his knife into its skull.

There was just one. It had a shirt on for the store and he decided it was probably an employee that came up here to escape the zombies and either was bitten or got bitten. Then it got stuck. He went over to the edge of the roof, looking over it and sighing. He backed away quickly when Ghost came over. He didn’t think he’d shove him over the edge but… he wanted to be safe.

“I came here to discuss something with you.” Ghost sighed. “That’s why I had us go out instead of Soap and I.”

Rodolfo raised an eyebrow. “Alright.” He frowned. “Here I thought it was because of my scavenging skill.” He mumbled, again attempting a joke. Though, he wasn’t sure why. He decided to sit down, sitting crisscrossed when he was on the roof.

Ghost seemed to hesitate before doing the same. “Soap said we would come back to base. I don’t want that. You don’t want that.”

Rodolfo frowned a little, confused why Ghost was coming to him with this. “Yeah, I guess.” He looked up at Ghost, mildly annoyed that even sitting, he had to look up at him.

“Could you convince Alejandro that we’re not trustworthy so he rescinds his invite? I want to get out of here. I want to take Roach and Soap and leave.” Ghost sighed.

Rodolfo frowned and watched Ghost speak. His mannerisms were interesting. Even with the mask covering his entire face, Rodolfo could still make out most of his movements. When he was irritated he opened his mouth wide as he spoke, his eyes would shift around. When he was… hesitant like he was now, his words were spoken with a smaller mouth shape, his eyes would avoid whoever he was talking to. He was trying to make himself smaller, less imposing.

Ghost was interesting. Rodolfo knew he was sort of manipulating them with every movement but he had the idea that it wasn’t on purpose for Ghost. Ghost had simply picked up tactics and he was using them. Rodolfo knew because Ghost was barely trying to manipulate Rodolfo right then. He could see that Ghost genuinely thought he was being earnest.

“Why not leave Soap with us?” Rodolfo offered, though he had the feeling this may get him snapped at. Indeed, he watched Ghost’s eyes flash with irritation. They widened slightly and then narrowed before he tore them away from Rodolfo’s face and took a deep breath.

“I’m not leaving Soap behind.” Ghost muttered. “No matter what anyone would like.” Rodolfo heard the unspoken “even him”.

“Why?” Rodolfo again watched his expression. Ghost’s didn’t change. He just kept his eyes away and he went silent. For a moment, Rodolfo wondered if he’d get an answer at all.

But, Ghost did eventually take a breath in to respond. “If I tell you, will you do it?”

“Depends if I like the answer or not.” Rodolfo shrugged, answering honestly. “I may not trust you guys but if this is some weird sex thing- Or sex slavery thing, I’m not going to stand for that.”

“It’s not.” Ghost snapped and Rodolfo looked at him, raising an eyebrow. “It’s not.” Ghost insisted. He was now staring at Rodolfo, his eyes burning right into Rodolfo.

“Have you had sex?” Rodolfo hummed.

Ghost looked away and again went silent. Rodolfo wasn’t sure how he was supposed to be intimidating. Ghost seemed to be similar to Rodolfo. Deeply broken and using anger and intimidation to protect himself.

Yes, Rodolfo would be willing to admit that that is what he was doing. He didn’t want anyone to get near and they didn’t if he was angry and surly and mean. The only two people that stayed close to him were Valeria and Alejandro. Valeria because she was also angry and surly and mean. Alejandro… cared about him. That’s why he stayed.

Rodolfo sighed softly. “I just want to understand.”

Ghost looked at him again. “Yes. We’ve had sex.”

“Did Soap consent?” Rodolfo tilted his head. He had no problem killing Ghost if the answer to this question was no. He wouldn’t even think about it.

“Of course!” Ghost snapped. Rodolfo watched him, realizing he’d hit a sensitive spot. Hmm. “I told you, it’s not some sex slave thing.”

“Then why won’t you split off from Soap?” Rodolfo sighed, now getting irritated, himself. He wanted Ghost to give him a straight answer.

Ghost glared at him before his eyes softened. “I don’t know. But I won’t. I refuse to.”

Rodolfo hesitated before shrugging. He’d accept that answer. “Fine. But, no. I won’t be able to convince Alejandro. Trust me, I’d love to but Alejandro doesn’t listen to me.” At all.

“Damnit.” Ghost glared at the rooftop.

Rodolfo snorted and leaned back on his hands. He was exhausted. He’d barely slept the last few weeks and he’d gotten thrown around quite a few times already. “How much have you slept?” Ghost asked, suddenly.

Rodolfo shrugged. “Not much.”

“Why not? Surely Alejandro could have watched the door while you slept.”

“And shot himself in the head when I was preoccupied.” Rodolfo mumbled and looked at Ghost. “It wasn’t smart.” He shrugged again.

“He seems suicidal.”

“He’s self-sacrificial.” Rodolfo corrected and sighed softly. “He’s always been like this. Since we were young kids.”

“How long have you two known each other?” Ghost asked.

“God almost… 26-27 years I think. We met in kindergarten. Our moms were best friends.” Rodolfo wasn’t sure why he was telling Ghost this but… well, it likely wouldn’t hurt him if they knew. “We were quick friends.”

“You both joined the military together?”

Rodolfo laughed, though it was more sarcastic than amused. “Join… together is a strong term. We both joined, yes. I only joined because I knew Alejandro would get himself killed if I wasn’t there to help him.”

“Do you regret following him?”

“No, not at all.” Rodolfo meant it. He’d follow Alejandro again and again and again. “It did… get me disowned by my family, but… I was on that track, anyway.” He was not willing to share that particular story with Ghost.

“I see.” Ghost went silent and stared over the side of the roof, instead. “So, you followed him into the military? And you stayed?”

“Yeah. I’d do it again, too.” Rodolfo nodded and stared into the distance. He thought about when he’d joined the military. He’d been so young and stupid but… He’d been so desperate, too. Alejandro had came to him in the middle of the night, had thrown rocks at his window, and he’d taken Rodolfo in his dad’s truck to a spot in the mountains that they hung out in.

He’d then just turned to Rodolfo and laid it all out. ‘I enlisted in the army.’

Rodolfo remembered just exploding. ‘Alejandro, are you stupid?! Why would you do that? We were going to leave, to have a life together!’ It wasn’t going to be a romantic life, but it would still be a life, nonetheless. Rodolfo had wanted it to be romantic but he knew that wasn’t going to happen.

‘I know, Rudy, I’m sorry but… I need to do this.’

‘Why?! Why do you need to do this?!’

‘To prove that I can. To show my family that I’m not worthless.’

‘You’re fucking doing this to prove to your family- Alejandro, they’re never going to accept that! They’re horrible people-’

‘Rudy, please.’

Rodolfo had went silent after that. He’d refused to speak the whole rest of the evening. Even when Alejandro begged him. The next morning, he’d gotten out of bed and went and enlisted. They ended up in the same unit.

Alejandro had tried to yell at him for it but how could he, really? All Rodolfo had responded was ‘where you go, I go.’ And Alejandro had went dead silent.

Now here they were. In a zombie apocalypse. Funny how life turns out, hmm?

Ghost had been watching him. “Alejandro said something happened to you-”

“Don’t.” Rodolfo snapped. He stood and went to the hatch to get back down into the store. He was not having this conversation with Alejandro. He was not having this conversation with Valeria. He was not having this conversation with Ghost. He slid down the ladder, landing expertly, and grabbed their supply bags.

“Rodolfo, wait.” Ghost slid down the ladder, landing with a significant thud. “I wasn’t going to ask about it. I don’t want to fucking hear about it. I was just going to say-”

Rodolfo still didn’t want to have this conversation. “Don’t say anything.” He snapped and whipped towards Ghost. “I’ve heard it all.”

Ghost paused and stared at him for a moment before his eyes hardened and he nodded a little. “Right. We’re not friends, that’s my bad.”

“We’re not.” Rodolfo agreed and turned around. He threw the supply bag over his shoulder and went to the door they’d used to come in, going out.

Ghost grabbed his jacket, immediately, right as a biter lunged at him. He wanted to be mad, but really, he should have seen that coming. He’d been so irritated, the only thought in his mind was getting out of there.

Ghost stabbed the biter in the head. They really weren’t threats when there was one of them and you were prepared to deal with them. It was the multiples that got to be problems. The groups.

Rodolfo led them to another store.

“So… your base is a twelve hour drive away. How did you guys get here?” Ghost asked, though it sounded like he didn’t want to. Why he was was… beyond Rodolfo.

Rodolfo sighed. “We had a truck. But… it broke down. And then got swarmed.”

Ghost winced. “Sounds like this whole expedition was cursed.”

“You have no idea. Don’t… say that stuff around Alejandro. He’s superstitious.” Rodolfo explained. “He will definitely start to believe that it was a curse that caused all of this to happen.”

Ghost chuckled. “I will not say those things.”

Rodolfo relaxed. “Thank you. I am not superstitious. Ghosts… monsters… even Zombies until two years ago… I don’t really believe in stuff like that. I tried. But… even God… I just- never did.”

Admittedly, before the apocalypse, his thought process was on finding beauty in the real world. Why did everyone else find it so horrible they couldn’t find beauty and mysticism in the world around them… Granted, he loved fantasy and he’d often daydreamed about being in those worlds but… he didn’t understand making up those things for their world.

Now… the world just sucked. You didn’t need to blame any of that on mystical forces. He knew he was a pessimist. He’d already admitted to being angry all of the time to keep people away. He didn’t mean to be so angry at the world but… He had just been trying to be helpful and it had scorned him.

“Stop thinking about it.” He muttered to himself, glaring at the ground.

“What did you say?” Ghost asked.

Rodolfo shook his head. “I didn’t speak.” He lied. They finally made it to a general store. Rodolfo had to pause and question what the difference between a general store and a convenience store were. Especially since, as they broke in and went inside… they looked to have exactly the same items in them. “I don’t think this store is going to be very helpful.”

Ghost nodded in agreement. But, even still… neither of them moved to leave. They looked through the shelves. Rodolfo glanced over them, seeing if there was anything he thought may be helpful. He didn’t see much, but he still glanced around.

He did pick up the first aid kits he found, since there was a decent amount of them on the shelves. He found a kind of big one that was meant to clip onto the waist, so he emptied several of the smaller ones into it, packing it as full as he could, before attaching it to the waist under his hoodie.

Ghost came over. “Hey, you might want to see this.”

Rodolfo frowned. “What are you talking about?” But, he followed him to the back room of the store, almost jerking back at the sheer amount of biters behind the chain link wall thing. His eyes fell on the chain that was there and he frowned deeply. “What the fuck…”

Almost all of the biters had employee vests for the store on them. Rodolfo furrowed his brows, confused. He touched the chain, careful not to touch any of the biters desperately shoving their hands through the links at them. It had been… welded closed. No chain.

“La hostia…” Rodolfo whispered as he touched the chain and then glanced at Ghost, who was watching the horde of biters almost in awe.

“Look at the doors.” Ghost pointed. They were hard to see through the crowd for Rodolfo, so Ghost crouched down so Rodolfo could climb him to see over the crowd. They had a similar chain on them and Rodolfo could make out that they were welded shut as well.

“This had to be a choice…” Rodolfo sighed as he was let back down. “Who would do something like that?”

Ghost looked around the horde again and then he was walking to the outside of the store. Rodolfo followed him to another entrance to the back.

Where they discovered a rotting body which was practically stuck to the chain link. A couple biters were stuck holding onto it, though a few arms littered the ground around the body. Rodolfo felt like he was going to be sick. The bloated rotting flesh of the body had ballooned around the chain link fence so it looked like his body had melted onto it.

Even Ghost had a disgusted expression. “Let’s get the rest of our supplies and get the fuck out of here…” He muttered and Rodolfo nodded in agreement.

So, they went back to the store, grabbed whatever they could think of and then went to leave. “Do we tell Soap and Vargas about that?” Ghost stopped him right before they went to leave.

Rodolfo was surprised Ghost was asking. But, he shook his head. “It has no bearing on our current mission. Why would they even want to know?”

Ghost seemed to consider before shrugging and agreeing. “You’re right. It’s not important.”

Rodolfo nodded and then they finally left, making their way back to the convenience store. It was getting late, so Rodolfo knew Roach and their men should be back soon.

When he and Ghost got back to the store, Rodolfo went right back to the manager’s office, where Soap was reading a comic book. Likely from the small section the convenience store had had. He ignored Soap, going over to Alejandro, who was asleep. He felt his forehead, almost having to yank it away from how hot the skin was. “Has he been awake at all today?” He turned to Soap, who frowned.

“He was awake and aware just hours ago… Why?”

Rodolfo took a deep breath. That was good. “Roach needs to hurry the fuck up.” He murmured. “He’s progressing. He needs actual fucking medicine. Not someone else’s fucking penicillin prescription.” He made a sound of frustration.

“He should be here, soon.” Soap spoke up. “I mean, what else can you really give him besides penicillin?”

“Penicillin just fights the infection, but it can only do so much. He needs hydration, food… Real food not this prepackaged shit. His body needs to be strong everywhere else in order to be able to fight the infection. Yeah, I can get him the strongest fucking dose out there, but it’s not going to do shit if he’s already half fucking dead.” Rodolfo snapped, rounding on Soap as he talked.

Soap backed up a little, clearly surprised, and Rodolfo wasn’t shocked when Ghost was putting his hand on Rodolfo’s chest and firmly shoving him back. Ghost didn’t say anything, but it was clear it was a threat more than a warning.

Rodolfo glared at him before taking a deep breath. “I can do other things, too.” He decided, reluctantly, that being angry wasn’t really getting him anywhere, here. “I can keep it properly clean, too. He got an infection because I can’t keep the wound sterile here. So… the penicillin is just… fighting multiple rounds of the same threat over and over again. Also, I plan on giving him something way stronger than penicillin. There are stronger antibiotics.”

Soap considered and then relaxed. “I didn’t… know that. The few times I’ve had an infected wound, I was unconscious. So… I didn’t really get to see the process.”

Rodolfo nodded a little. “I get it.” He said, though he was still rather irritated at Soap for the question. “But, my chances of any of this even being worth it are shortening by the fucking minute.”

“Could you… temporarily sterilize the wound?” Ghost spoke up. “It won’t last, obviously, but…”

“I mean, yes. That’s what I do every time I clean it. How… how are both of you alive??” Rodolfo looked between them. There was no way they’d survived with how little medical knowledge they seemed to have.

Rather than either look offended, like Rodolfo was expecting, they both looked… well, incredibly embarrassed. “Um…” Soap winced. “I mean, I just kind of did what I learned in training.”

“Clean wound, stitch deep ones, it’s sort of… I don’t know, you don’t really need to know the specifics, just… the steps.” Ghost gestured, wincing. “Splint broken bones.”

Rodolfo blinked and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose after a moment. “Do you know… why you splint bones?”

“I think they explained it in training, but I didn’t pay attention.” Soap shrugged.

Soap looked at him. “Yeah, actually, it does!”

“I-” Rodolfo shook his head. “The splint basically acts as a fill in support while the bone heals as well. Neither of you paid attention when that was explained?”

Both shook their heads. Rodolfo stared at the ceiling before turning and going back to Alejandro, checking his wound and then just sitting with his back against the wall. He was frustrated and, he didn’t want to admit it, he was burnt out. Waiting even a few hours felt like too much at this point.

“I um… fixed the radio.” Soap spoke up, bringing over Alejandro’s radio. “There was a pin that had moved out of place.”

“That’s it?!” Rodolfo exclaimed. That… that was the last straw. The radio had been broken for so long and now Soap was saying it was a single fucking pin that had rendered it fucking useless. He decided to take deep breaths and when he heard a truck approach, he stood, immediately and went out to it.

He heard Ghost follow him, knowing from the lighter footsteps, and just ignored him. He expected to be greeted with a military truck, but he was instead greeted by a jeep.

And two men he didn’t recognize stepping out.

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callsign-bunnie · 8 months

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Hey guys, I know this is horrible but with my workload, and I want to move on to being able to do other things, if a fic goes without comments for two chapters, I'm not going to keep posting it. I am actively posting so many fics and I feel like I have no time for anything else without neglecting something so if it goes two chapters without a comment, it's no longer getting updated until I finish something else and can come back to it.

Therefore, on the chopping block: -Teacher's Pet -Teeth and Skin

However, this doesn't mean I will be regularly updating fics that everyone is commenting on. I know Slasher Fieldtrip and Slasher Party are wanted, but neither are easy to write so they will continue to be updated when I have the mental capacity/time.

I need to stress that I am not "holding fics hostage" for comments. I am desperately fighting to lower my workload so I have time for non-fic related hobbies.

Also, posting on Tumblr will be iffy for a while since my engagement gets lower and lower every day

#bunny speaks #teacher's pet cod fic #teeth and skin: a zombie cod AU

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callsign-bunnie · 1 year

Note

Hey don’t know if this falls into the game but… how do you think Zombie Rudy would react to Regency Rudy? Especially finding out about the marriage and that Rudy didn’t even want it!

I'm answering this as if you mean Teeth and Skin Rudy but if you meant actual Zombie Rudy, I do have an answer for that one.

Okay, this one made me have to like really think and for a bit, the answer was genuinely "I don't know."

But, but, this isn't really for a lack of thinking on how the Rudys would react to each other because I have thought about that before. Ironically, I've thought a lot about how Zombie Rudy would react to the others.

I never really thought to include Regency Rudy because... I dunno. Omegaverse just kind of plays by different rules, I just never included it in my brain.

For instance, Zombie Rudy would really look down on Final Girl Rudy because he's not necessarily promiscuous but he's definitely a little less reserved. He'd also judge Final Girl Rudy for ultimately staying with the source of his biggest trauma.

Zombie Rudy also puts a lot of emphasis on his trauma being his turning point, as does Final Girl Rudy, and I just think he'd judge him for, instead of using his trauma to harden and distance himself so he can't get hurt again, and cutting off the thing that caused it, turning to it and ultimately getting closer to and "binding" himself to the thing that caused it. (IE, marrying Alejandro). Even if this source is Alejandro.

Zombie Rudy also wouldn't necessarily look down on Psychotic Rudy from the Stalkerverse and they'd be the most likely to get along, though that isn't saying much. Psychotic Rudy followed a similar path where his trauma hardened him and he does his best to protect himself from ever ending up in that place, again. However, he does ultimately hurt Alejandro and Zombie Rudy may find himself being unable to entertain trusting his Alejandro around Psychotic Rudy.

College AU Rudy kind of just gets ignored by the others, because he doesn't really have the same level of problems. He and Alejandro are doing fantastic and yeah, for the good part of five years, he thought his sister was dead, but he thought she was dead from something mundane (tragic, but ultimately mundane) like lung cancer. His problems are very... normal? Like normal people could have these problems, there's no real way for him to be able to understand the rest of his iterations and their problems. Like, yes, Alejandro has killed in the College AU, but he wasn't killing because he liked it, he was killing to, in his mind, protect his friend. Even Mary was killed because of a fear of what she might do to Ghost if she was to find out that he went to their school. Zombie Rudy would likely just look down on him and not see his problems as worth even thinking about, since College AU Rudy is not really dealing with a literal apocalypse, he's living a normal life. I do think he'd be slightly jealous that College AU Rudy is getting a normal mundane life. The White Picket Fence dream, so to speak.

However, all of this kind of sinks into the drain with Regency Rudy, because... Regency Rudy's problems do outweigh Zombie Rudy's. Zombie Rudy, at the end of the day, isn't a Queen/King. He's SIC for Los Vaqueros, and that holds a lot of responsibility that he doesn't necessarily want, but it doesn't hold nearly the same weight as being Queen of an entire country.

Yes, there's a literal apocalypse going on, but if you boil it down to its core, they're kind of working with the same environment, balance-wise. Regency Rudy is living in a time period similar to Medieval times, with no modern technology, but he has magic. Zombie Rudy is living in a similar time period because of regression due to an apocalypse, but he has modern technology to help.

Getting it out of the way, though, Zombie Rudy would have to have a lot of explaining as to what the fuck an Omega is.

Regency Rudy has to play what Chess was literally based on, every damn day. He has to hold himself correctly at court, he has to be careful about everything he does. Zombie Rudy is mean and surly and rude and... as a man, he kind of has that privilege? Like, no one is really gonna get on his ass.

But... Regency Rudy doesn't really get that privilege as an omega? As Queen, he has to be seen as pleasant. Strong, but not stronger than his mate/Alpha Alejandro. Soft, but not so soft that he's making Alejandro weak. He has to be beautiful, but not vain, sweet, but not easy to take advantage of, and careful, but not skeptical.

The most Zombie Rudy has to do is keep Alejandro alive. That's his main goal, not to let Alejandro die.

I'm not saying he'd have a lot of respect for Regency Rudy, but I do think Regency Rudy is the one iteration that Zombie Rudy might take a step back and go "Alright, maybe there are bigger problems."

And, bringing up the point you made, Regency Rudy is having to make the best in a marriage he got no choice in. He loves Alejandro and maybe if they had both met under different circumstances, they'd still end up together, but at the end of the day, he didn't get a choice in the marriage. Alejandro did. Rodolfo was a bargaining chip to pull together an Empire.

I think Zombie Rudy might have to take a bit to accept that. I think he'd also not really be able to understand why Regency Rudy is complacent with that. Why he still loves Alejandro and does his best to make the most out of his marriage. In his mind, being married against his will should be Regency Rudy's main trauma. He didn't grow up in a world where that was common, he wouldn't really get it.

I don't think it'd necessarily be the same as with Final Girl Rudy, because I think Zombie Rudy could genuinely see the difference between the two situations, but... it'd be a bit for him to wrap his head around and I do not think he'd trust Regency Alejandro at all.

Man, now I'm considering all of this through the lens of the other Rudys and how they might react to their other iterations.

#rodolfo parra #rodolfo cod #teeth and skin: a zombie cod au #psychotic rodolfo #final girl rodolfo #regency au cod

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callsign-bunnie · 1 year

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Migration PT2 (Teeth and Skin)

Gaz and Price are back on the rode. Back on a mission. So far, it’s been boring as hell. So far.

Gaz took it back. He could not keep listening to Price’s music. He was slowly losing his mind. At least it wasn’t Britney Spears but it was the same three albums from three separate artists. “Fuck it, we’re going to find a music store to raid.”

“Fine with me.” Price shrugged and chuckled softly. “But, I’m also fine with this music.”

“We’ve been driving for days and we’ve listened to the same damn tracks over and over and over again. I am now seriously concerned for your brain chemistry, sir.” Gaz rolled his eyes and glanced over to Price.

Gaz had taken over driving when Price needed to sleep but for the most part, Price drove. He claimed it kept him sharp but Gaz knew the truth; Price liked driving. It gave him this idea of control over an uncontrollable situation. They all had to cope, somehow. He knew that. Gaz coped by just not thinking about it, most of the time.

Price coped by trying to keep control, even when it was clear he didn’t have it. Gaz let him have that control. He trusted the older man with his life.

In the last two years, he’d stopped trying to hide that he saw Price as a father. Not a father figure, just his father. Price had pretty much stopped hiding that he saw him as a son.

Price laughed softly. “If we find new tapes, I will use them. What would you prefer to listen to?”

“God, anything new. Anything but this.” Gaz turned to the radio instead, going through the transmissions. He stopped at an old station, frowning a little as he heard English being spoken over it.

Both had picked up Spanish. They had to, in order to survive. So, it was surprising to hear English. American English no less. Price seemed to pick up on it as well, glancing at the radio.

The transmission was faint, likely due to distance. Gaz could barely make out the words, but it seemed to be detailing some event happening in a city they had to go around. They knew of the city, as it was very overrun with zombies and was generally seen as something to avoid.

Well, whatever it was, they planned to avoid that city, anyway. So they’d likely miss whatever it was. “You know, I’d kill for pizza right now.”

Price laughed. “I don’t think even killing would get you one of those.” He joked. “Two more hours and we’ll stop. Set up camp.”

“Good.” Gaz nodded, since the sun was going down. They hadn’t stopped since they’d started going, save for a quick supply gather in a town, and it would be good for both of them to get a full night, or full for them anyway, of sleep and for the truck to be off for a few hours.

As promised, Price found a place to stop. They didn’t dare camp out of the truck, since they were in a heavier zombie populated area. Granted, they were not actively in a spot where that was a risk but, it was better to be safe than sorry. Zombies didn’t have rules.

Yeah, they had patterns and it was usually pretty easy to tell when groups of them would do something, but at the end of the day, they went where the food was. That was it. There was nothing beyond that. No feeding patterns, nothing.

Just pure hunger. Gaz and Price, or anyone else, hadn’t really tried to dig into why they ate, either. Gaz could remember a time they’d seen a zombie with half of its intestines gone, still tearing into a body. It clearly wasn’t to survive. They didn’t need to survive, they were already dead.

Gaz did have a notebook where he took down information they learned about the zombies but.. It was hard to get anything when the only time they were actively interacting with them was running for their lives.

When Price found a good place to stop, Gaz hopped out and went to the back of the jeep, setting up their stuff. Price used to offer to do it, but Gaz was way better at getting them set up in a speedy manner than Price was.

Price just did some maintenance on the jeep while Gaz did so. Both were very tired, though, so Gaz wouldn’t be shocked if Price just came to the back, climbed in, and crashed. Gaz definitely planned to.

In fact, as soon as he was done, he climbed in and immediately laid down. As expected, Price followed a few minutes later, and he was shutting the door, locking it. However, instead of laying down, he stayed sitting up, frowning.

Gaz sat up a little. “Sir?”

“Shh… Do you hear that?” Price started to reach for his shotgun, which they kept in the back. Gaz listened and then he did hear it. Clicking. He furrowed his brows. As far as he was aware, there were only four types of zombies. And none of them clicked. Bleeders hissed, Heavies growled, Sprinters screeched, and biters groaned. None of them really… clicked.

A soft booming noise came from their right. Gaz immediately moved to the window of the back door, ducking a little as he saw jets flying overhead. “What the fuck?”

Price came over and frowned, having to lean over Gaz, who scrunched up to give him room. “What the hell?”

Gaz looked at a jet, seeing an American flag. “Either some fucking survivor group got their hands on a few jets or…”

“The Americans are trying to reinstate themselves.” Price grred and shook his head. “This will not be good.”

“No kidding.” Gaz snorted and ducked again, watching odd colored explosions hit a city in the distance from the jets. Thankfully nowhere close to them but… great. This was just another element of bullshit that they’d have to look out for. “What do we do about this, sir?”

“Can we do anything?” Price went to his spot and laid down. “Avoid them. If they start to threaten survivor settlements, we’ll do what we can to help but…”

Gaz understood. They were two people. They couldn’t exactly take down an entire military, even if he’d like to try. They helped people, now. They didn’t really run missions. Even if he’d like to frame what they were doing now as one, it really wasn’t. It was them going a longer distance to help someone. Again.

Gaz wished it was different. He wished this had never happened. He wished they could be back in England, running missions, going home for Christmas or leave. Price had let him move in with him when he lost his apartment. Watching football on the television, eating shitty tv dinners or takeout because neither of them felt like cooking.

Hell, he missed Farah and Alex. He’d go back to Urzikstan if he could, just to see them. Alex had stayed with Farah… Change the subject. Now. “Hey, sir. Remember that heavy we took down?”

Price raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t settled in yet, fucking with a map. “Yeah. It was a pain in the arse.”

“Piss off, you weren’t the one being chased by it, having to narrowly dodge bullets. Your aim is dogshit.” Gaz laughed. Price had managed to get up on a roof and had yelled for Gaz to run from the thing. To be fair, Gaz was a hell of a lot faster than Price. He could outrun it, Price likely couldn’t have. However, the problem was, Price planned to take the fucking thing down.

So Gaz had had to run in circles while dodging the occasional stray bullet. Price’s aim was pretty good, but it’d been a high stress situation.

“My aim is bloody fantastic. The damn thing kept dodging.” Price grumbled. “Why did you bring it up?”

Gaz shrugged. “I was thinking about it.” He lied. He’d wanted to distract himself. It hadn’t fully worked, but hey, he wasn’t about to go down that rabbit hole of hurt. He decided he was tired enough to sleep and laid down, pulling the blanket he had over himself.

It didn’t get that cold at night, but it was cold enough he needed a blanket or he’d freeze.

He heard Price eventually settle in behind him and he relaxed, closing his eyes.

Gaz took deep breaths, trying not to freak out. He knew the room around him, well, and he hated being there again. He did not want to be there. He would rather be anywhere else but… No. He was here, again.

“Shoot him.”

“No.” Gaz shook his head, trying to drop the gun in his hand. It was glued to his hand with a thick layer of blood, though, so he couldn’t. “Please, I don’t want to.”

“Shoot him.”

“I can’t. He’s barely 18. Barely a kid.” Gaz stared at the fresh faced soldier, tied up in a chair in front of him. He was sobbing, clearly not wanting to die. Why he was there, Gaz didn’t know. He didn’t know anything about him, just that he was 18.

“Shoot him.”

“Please, I can’t-”

“Shoot him.”

“No, I won’t-”

“Shoot him.”

“Please-”

“Shoot him.”

Gaz let out a breath, his whole body shaking. The kid was begging. “I don’t want to die. Please. I want to live. I want to see my mama again. I… I miss my mama, please. I miss her so much. I don’t want to die.”

Gaz couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t do this at all. He wanted to leave, he wanted to spare this kid. He didn’t deserve to die. He didn’t.

The kid continued to beg for his life. “Please, sir. My name is James. I have three siblings, they’ll miss me. They hang onto my letters. My mama will be lost without me, please… She was so upset I left… She said I’d get myself killed. Please don’t let her be right.” He wasn’t begging Gaz, he was begging whoever had put them there.

“Shoot him.”

“I can’t!” Gaz snapped. His entire body felt icy cold. How was he supposed to shoot this poor kid?

That’s not what happened, though, was it?

Gaz stopped and his whole body shook. No. No! He couldn’t kill this kid.

But you did.

Gaz squeezed his eyes shut.

“Shoot him! Shoot him! SHOOT HIM!”

Gaz took aim and shot the kid. Right between the eyes. He watched his head jerk back and Gaz tried not to scream. What had he done?! NO! He wasn’t supposed to do this!

Then the head slowly rose back up straight. Gaz stared into yellow eyes. Skin rotted right off the bone. The kid became slim and gangly.

The gun disappeared. Gaz wished it hadn’t. He wished it’d stayed. He would need it. He watched the kid open its mouth and start to screech. High… so high… It hurt his ears. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t breathe-

It attacked. Gaz backed up as it lunged forward, biting right into his shoulder. He felt the pain everywhere. He shoved and kicked at it but it just kept biting and screeching and biting and screeching and-

Gaz woke up with a start to Price shaking him rather hard. “Kid! Kid wake up!” He looked at Price, shaking.

“Wha-” He started before stopping as his throat burned. He’d been screaming again. Oh. The nightmare was already fleeing his mind. He checked outside, seeing the sun was already fairly high in the sky. Getting up, he decided not to acknowledge anything. It was better. Smarter. “Ready to get on the road?”

“I’ve already eaten.” Price mumbled. Gaz had been doing this for so long, he probably knew not to bother. “You should eat on the road.”

“Yes, sir.”

Gaz groaned as they climbed out of the truck, finally. They were stopping for a supply run and Gaz was incredibly grateful. He wanted out of the jeep. He liked it, don’t get him wrong, but… It was stuffy when you rode in it for a couple days straight. They’d only been on the road for a week but… it was a long fucking week.

Price checked their stuff and shook his head. “We need more food.” He groaned and shook his head. “A lot more food.”

Gaz frowned and went over, checking their food supply. He was shocked to find they would barely have two days. Four or Five if they really stretched it. But… They would have to barely eat. “We’ll see what we can find.” He shrugged. They were stopping for supplies, anyway. Surely they would be able to find something.

Price didn’t seem too sure but nodded, anyway. Gaz knew he was just worried. He was always worried about this stuff. Even if they had plenty of food, he’d still be worried. That was just how Price was.

So, Gaz shrugged off his concern and got his rifle out of the back of the truck. “What else do we need?”

“Ammo, medical supplies. Water.”

None of the water was really safe to drink unless it was from big water sources. Granted, if you were immune, bites wouldn’t turn you, but it could still cause infection to get any sort of fluid from those rotting bastards.

Not to mention, both heavies and Bleeders posed significant threats. Bleeder blood was literally acid so it could burn a hole through your stomach. Whatever caused Heavies to bloat like that was potent and you were pretty much guaranteed to get violently ill if not die.

Gaz had done the math from everyone he’d asked about it and the odds for violent illness was 90% and death was like 64%. Granted, his numbers weren’t precise but… he trusted them enough to know he would rather not take the risk.

One could filter the water, if they had a filter. Gaz and Price were not so privileged, though. They’d tried to find one, but there were always higher priorities. Food, medical aid, supplies. Etc etc.

“Might try to find you some new boots, eh sir?” Gaz offered, since he’d noticed Price’s were wearing down.

“If we find any.” Price nodded, getting his own gear out. Despite the heat, both wore jackets. They were loose, which helped since it was a dry heat, but it was significantly harder to get bitten or scraped in a jacket than it was without one.

Gaz decided to keep an eye out for his own boots. “Oh yeah, and the music store.”

Price full on laughed at that one. “Alright, kid.” He gave a thumbs up and then they headed to the first store. Price had to break into it, which was hopeful. That meant they might have decent luck with their supply run.

Price took down a biter that jumped out at them as soon as they walked in with ease. They were most common for a few reasons. One, they were named for what they do. Which was Bite. Yeah, they generally did feast if they were in multiples, but one tended to get bored pretty quickly on its own.

Still, if you were alone in a room with no way to defend yourself and it just so happened to decide it was hungry enough (close to a 50/50 chance if Gaz’s math was correct) then you were likely just stuck and fucked and would probably die.

The second most common were Sprinters, which were functionally biters but something caused them to lose all excess mass so they were just speed machines. Terrifying speed machines. Gaz had had the misfortune of watching five of them go after the same human and they had torn them to shreds. Gaz wasn’t even sure they had any time to react to whatever was happening to them before they were dead. But, they still bit and it was fairly easy to get away from them in close contact, since they were light and easy to knock away. Gaz… knew that first hand.

Bleeders were third most common, though only just so. Their common attack didn’t really allow for them to bite until the victim was already dead, though Gaz had heard of those unlucky enough to get bitten by one. Or who would swallow blood and survive. Hell, he’d heard of a cartel leader who’d done it on purpose. He’d gotten lucky and was immune but… the idea of that had been horrific to Gaz. He’d apparently done it because one of his men had gotten bitten and it was revealed his blood was now acidic, though not to the same degree as a regular bleeder’s was.

Gaz wasn’t sure he believed this story, but hey, people were just crazy enough.

Funnily enough, Gaz didn’t know much about Heavies. Price and him had only had the misfortune of dealing with one and Gaz planned to keep it that way. He supposed now was certainly a time when only knowing a little about these things, unless you had regular contact with other survivors, was a good thing.

At least, Gaz certainly saw it as one.

They were greeted with a large stock in the store. Gaz chuckled and nodded. “Awesome.” He searched for the main things they needed. Medical supplies took priority for now, since they could stretch food, but they couldn’t stretch most medical supplies.

However, Price seemed to have food covered, so Gaz wasn’t too worried. “Hey, sir? Should I just grab all of the bandaging?”

“We can come back for more stuff. As long as it fits in the jeep, I don’t care. So just take as much as you deem necessary.” Price nodded, glancing at him. Gaz shrugged and turned back to the aisle, knocking all of the basic first aid into his bag.

Sadly, ammo would not be found at this place, since it was a dollar store, but canned foods, pre-prepared meals, and water would be in excess. Along with medical supplies.

Gaz did take most of the socks in their size. Even the apocalypse didn’t stop them from losing socks. Well, they were useful as hell. The long ones could be made into quick weapons with a rock. And, once Price had sliced his arm open, elbow to wrist. It wasn’t deep enough to need stitches, but it was an infection risk. So, Gaz had wrapped it up and then they’d cut off the toes of a knee high sock and rolled it up over the bandaging to keep it secure so Price could move easily.

Gaz still felt pretty smart for that one. Price had said it was smart thinking, since they moved a lot in their day to day. The sleeve had given him freedom of movement.

So, Gaz had no problem wasting space to grab them. Hell, like Price said, they could always come back to get more. They hadn’t seen many biters through the town and they’d parked close enough that running to the jeep and running back shouldn’t be an issue.

Gaz stopped in the craft aisle. He usually would grab the blades for the precision knives, and the handles, that they had there. Plus the shitty super glue. It wouldn’t hold too much, but it held just enough to be useful. He grabbed all of those things and then made a decision to grab some more pens and a small notebook. He had the space.

He paused in front of the activity book section. He’d loved doing the random activities in them when he was a kid. His foster mom had had a ton of them for mental enrichment. Glancing back at Price, he saw he was preoccupied looking at the labels on some cans of what Gaz was assuming was ravioli. That or some kind of bean. Likely some kind of ravioli or canned pasta. Gaz actually didn’t mind those. Especially since they would pop the tops off of them with a can opener and stick them in the fire to heat them up.

They had a few pans but they were reserved for when either one of them couldn’t stand pre-made meals anymore and would throw a bunch of shit in it and make some form of cooking happen. They didn’t want to bother having to clean them up.

Then, they’d keep the cans, which were good for making bombs if they felt like it.

Which, they rarely did. But, they collected them all the same as many survivor settlements would trade for them. They’d trade a decent amount of items for them, too. Food, medicine, ammo. Apparently aluminum and tin was really good if you knew what to do with it.

Gaz shrugged and grabbed a few books. Again, he had the space. His bag was huge and could fit a fair amount in it, since it was only the bag they’d use for grabbing supplies. When he was finally done grabbing things (oh and another pack of plastic silverware, which they kept when it broke since there were plenty willing to trade for that, too. None were really willing to say for what, though…) he grabbed a random set of men’s reading glasses and held them out to Price, laughing at the withering glare he received.

“Goddamnit, Garrick! I don’t need those.” He huffed and shoved the cans in his own pack.

Gaz laughed louder and shook his head, setting them on a nearby shelf. “Don’t squint so hard at words, then.” He shrugged and turned back to Price. “Old man.” He added, just to rib at Price, though he was only 37.

Price rolled his eyes. “I’m in my thirties, kid.” He shook his head and grabbed more food. “You grab everything you think is necessary?”

“Yeah.”

“Fantastic. Let’s go stock the truck and then we’ll look for a store that will hopefully have ammo.” Price nodded.

Gaz agreed and they both left. Gaz followed close behind Price. Since Gaz was much faster than Price, he stayed behind him to make sure neither got left behind. It was easy for Gaz to get caught up in his own thoughts and then Price was several feet behind him.

Once they got to the jeep, Price helped Gaz get out their boxes and look through them, organizing everything into where it went.

“Fuck, you think you grabbed enough socks?” Price raised an eyebrow as Gaz emptied them into a bin labeled the “sock bin”.

Gaz raised an eyebrow. “Do you want to have to try to run through towns on blistered feet? Do you want to try to wrap a fuck ton of bandaging on big wounds? Or should we save that for our torsos?”

Price raised his hands in concession and then stopped, frowning. “That clicking noise again.”

Reasonably, there was no reason to believe that they were in immediate danger, but… dread still flooded Gaz’s veins, regardless. He quieted and listened. It was much louder this time.

Then they saw them. All black fighter jets with the American flag on them.

“Fuck!” Price cursed.

In the distance, they could make out trucks rolling up. Military trucks. Gaz should have taken this as a good sign, but no. No, things were never that easy. They rolled up in the distance and stopped and the angle meant that Price and Gaz could see them, but they likely couldn’t be seen. They’d done this on purpose so they wouldn’t have to deal with the various groups of shitbags around.

Gaz went to go around to the truck, but then a piercing shriek sounded through the air. Not a sprinter shriek, no. An electric shriek. Gaz’s eyes went wide as he saw groups of biters flood from their buildings. No, not just biters. Sprinters, bleeders. He covered his ears and quickly went around the truck with Price, getting in and locking the doors. Price had thankfully slammed the back of the jeep shut.

“What do we do, sir?”

“Get the fuck-”

Price was cut off by the first explosion. Gaz expected a bomb, but… no. Something large and round had dropped down on a group of biters and exploded in a purple cloud of gas. Gaz knew it was gas from the way it hung in the air, spreading out rather than up like smoke.

Gaz stared at the group, watching them all drop like flies. “How is that possible?”

“I don’t fucking know, but I’m not sure I want to find out what it does to humans.” Price growled and put the jeep in drive.

“Sir, how are we going to get through this town? Do we keep driving through?” Gaz knew from the map that going back would mean adding two more days of travel. From Price’s frustrated expression, he was thinking the same. “We could hide somewhere, wait them out?”

“No.” Price shook his head. “That’s too risky.”

Gaz sighed, since it was. Plus, what happened when it drove the hoards out of the town? They would be stuck. “Can you travel the backroads?”

“Let me see that map.”

Gaz got it out and handed it to Price, keeping an eye on the biters and the approaching military men. He wondered why they were there.

Well, that question got answered quickly because no sooner had he thought it then a group of three survivors were coming out of a building nearby. They started to choke and grasp at their throat. “Price-” Gaz started, before jerking away as something slammed against the door of the jeep.

A soldier in a gas mask was at their door. Where did he come from?? He was yelling at them in shit spanish to get out of the jeep. Price looked up, alarmed, but nodded at Gaz to comply. Gaz hesitated before carefully getting out of the truck. He looked around and saw the three survivors were now on the ground, two soldiers standing over them.

One of them was convulsing and he could hear the other two screaming. It was… a horrible scene. Gaz’s stomach churned from it. The soldier kicked his knee in so he was forced to kneel and he put his hands behind his head immediately. Price did as told as well, being made to step out of the jeep. Gaz was made to go around to his side.

“Can we leave?” Price tried, doing a convincing American accent. If Gaz said so.

“No. Orders are to neutralize all survivors in this town.” The soldier put his gun to Price’s head.

It was a sheer moment of panic. Gaz had the gun away from the soldier within five seconds. Clearly they weren’t expecting someone trained in this shit. He shot them in the chest and yanked their gas mask off their face as they fell, tossing it to Price, who quickly slipped it on.

Gaz shot another soldier that approached, whipping around and immediately shooting another. Price yanked open the door to the jeep, ducking behind it as gunfire sprayed near them. Gaz practically sprinted around it after yanking another gun off one of the soldiers he shot.

He put his hand on the door handle when he was suddenly being yanked back. He was met with the yellow eyes of a sprinter. The gunfire was so loud he hadn’t even heard it screech. He didn’t waste time to shoot it through its head and he was lifting up again.

“Get the fuck in!” Price ordered.

The group of soldiers in the distance were now being surrounded by biters. Even with the gas taking them out, they were still quickly swarming them. “This is clearly not going to plan for them!” Gaz called and Price just shook his head.

Gaz started, again, to get into the jeep, but then his vision was flooded with purple.

Then black.

@i-miss-balthazar @transneurodivergentmess @hayleymaltman

#migration storyline #Kyle Gaz Garrick #Gaz COD #John Price #Price COD #Teeth and Skin: a zombie cod au #Call of Duty #Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

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callsign-bunnie · 1 year

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Kate Laswell Character Card (Teeth and Skin)

@i-miss-balthazar @transneurodivergentmess @hayleymaltman

#Kate Laswell #Laswell COD #Call of Duty #Call of Duty Modern Warfare #Teeth and Skin: a zombie cod AU #Red Widow storyline

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callsign-bunnie · 1 year

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First Meeting PT2 (Soap’s POV)

Soap is desperately trying to get along with Rodolfo and Alejandro. He doesn’t want Rodolfo to snap and kill them. Ghost seems to think this is inevitable and not avoidable, though.

When Rodolfo came back, Soap was half concerned he was going to just shoot them both. He looked pissed as hell, still. But, all he had said when he came in was, “I’ll take watch.”

Soap relaxed, since he was exhausted. He had no problem with that. “Fine with me.” He snorted and plopped down on the pallet he’d gathered. It wasn’t super comfortable but it was better than the dirt he was used to.

“I’ll take second watch.” Ghost sighed.

“I didn’t say first watch. I said watch.” Rodolfo shook his head and Soap frowned before sighing.

“Alright.” Ghost nodded. Great, Ghost would not be sleeping, now.

“This alright with you, Colonel?” Rodolfo turned to Alejandro before his expression dropped. Soap frowned, watching him go to Alejandro, frantically checking his skin and bandages. “Fuck!”

“What?” Soap sat up, now concerned.

But Rodolfo didn’t answer, just practically ran out of the room. Soap shared a glance with Ghost, now incredibly concerned. He stayed sitting up, unsure what to do. Rodolfo didn’t take long to come back, immediately pointing at Ghost. “You. Big guy. Come here. I hope you hit as hard as you look.”

Soap frowned when Ghost didn’t hesitate to stand and follow him out. Reluctantly, Soap went over to Alejandro. “Are you okay?” He asked, carefully.

“I’m fine…” Alejandro sighed, though he looked like he could barely keep his head up. “Can you hand me the water bottle?”

Soap nodded and opened it. He considered offering to help but he knew that would likely be uncomfortable for both of them, so he just gave the waterbottle to Alejandro, instead. Soap flinched at the sound of breaking glass and frowned deeply.

But he stayed with Alejandro. No more noise came and he hesitantly relaxed. “How long have you guys been here?”

“4 weeks.” Alejandro sighed. “If I can remember correctly.”

“And your men aren’t searching for you?” Soap frowned.

Alejandro chuckled. “They probably are but… we came here on a whim. Stupid decision, I know now. A mistake I am severely paying for.”

Soap sighed and sat down again. “That’s about how long Ghost and I have traveled together.”

“You’re an odd pair.” Alejandro nodded a little and Soap couldn’t help but laugh.

“Yeah, he constantly says that whole ‘I work alone’ bullshit but…” Soap hesitated, unsure how Alejandro would take this. “The truth is, I tried to escape. Well, escape is a harsh word. I didn’t honestly know that’s what I would have to do. But… I said thanks for saving me and tried to leave. He tracked me down and informed me that that would not be happening again.”

“You’re his captive?” Alejandro frowned, seeming concerned.

“No, no!” Soap quickly assured. “Captive implies I do not want to be traveling with him. I don’t mind, honestly. He’s kept us both alive fairly well.”

Alejandro didn’t look like he fully believed Soap but he dropped it. He seemed to try to get comfortable and Soap fell silent.

Ghost had been so… grumpy, almost, about Soap tagging along. So, Soap had just tried to leave. He said “damn, sorry I’m bugging you” and left. He’d made it about two hours of travel before Ghost caught him again. He hadn’t threatened him, just politely, almost, informed him that he would not be leaving again.

Soap wasn’t sure he wanted to chance trying to leave, so he’d stayed. Ghost wasn’t so bad to be around once they had gotten used to each other. Yeah, he was a little… crazy. But they were in the middle of the apocalypse. Everyone was crazy.

Plus, he got the feeling Ghost was hiding something. When Soap informed him of the date everything went to shit, he’d seemed almost shocked. Like he’d been somewhere else when the world was ending.

Soap frowned, suddenly, when he heard noise coming from the main part of the store. It sounded like yelling but it was muffled. He looked at Alejandro, who seemed equally concerned. “I’m going to go check it out.”

Alejandro nodded. “Take my gun. Just in case.”

Soap chuckled. “I have a scope rifle in the weapons pile Rodolfo had us make. I’d rather use that.”

“Fair.” Alejandro nodded and smiled. “Alright.” He pat his arm, wincing. Soap went out and grabbed the rifle off the shelf, able to hear yelling a lot more.

“Ghost!” He heard Rodolfo yell and then an almost sickening thud combined with several crunches sounded. Soap half peeked out of the triangle gap, able to see straight across to the pharmacy where Ghost appeared to be trying to fight off zombies which were trying to get through.

Rodolfo was on the floor, clearly recovering from something. Soap immediately looked down the scope, shooting whatever zombies he got a clear shot at without shooting Ghost. Thankfully, Ghost seemed to notice and quickly ducked out of the way of any problematic zombies and Soap took them out.

When Ghost managed to slam the door shut, Soap turned his attention to the window, picking them off as they tried to climb through. He ignored Ghost and Rodolfo, now attempting to shove a shelving unit in front of the door until he could no longer shoot through the little window. Luckily, too, since he’d almost run out of bullets.

He quickly reloaded just in case and then ran over, sliding to a stop in front of them. “Are you guys okay??” He asked, frowning. Rodolfo was hunched over, panting, and Ghost looked pissed. “What the fuck happened?”

“The fucking drive through window had been smashed out.” Ghost huffed, gesturing to where the door should be.

“So fucking stupid!” Rodolfo exclaimed, kicking the shelf. “I should have fucking checked!” He cursed in Spanish for a moment before suddenly going past them, going to the manager’s office, again.

Soap turned to Ghost, who just shook his head. Soap sighed. “So he wanted you to help him get medication? Odd. I’m shocked he asked for help at all.”

“He didn’t seem like he wanted to.” Ghost sighed, looking at the shelf. “We both should have checked. That was reckless.”

“I don’t think I would have thought about it.” Soap admitted, wincing. “Alejandro does not look good.”

“I can imagine.” Ghost seemed to be thinking over something. “He’s not going to survive much longer.”

Soap winced. “Do you want to leave?”

“No. Abandoning them would be the stupidest decision, now. We should have done that when they offered. If we abandon them and Vargas dies, I have no doubts Rodolfo will hunt us to the end of the earth. I do not think he can kill me. But.. I think he could kill you. And having to evade him will be… inconvenient.”

“But if Alejandro dies when we’re here…” Soap winced. “What if it drives Rodolfo to insanity?”

“We kill him the moment Vargas takes his last breath. I don’t think Rodolfo will oppose that too much.” Ghost shrugged.

Soap winced. “I mind that. It’s not Rodolfo’s fault that his best friend is dying. Alejandro… implied he’d been through something. I don’t think he wants to be this way.” He felt bad for Rodolfo. Rodolfo clearly was just trying to survive.

Ghost looked at him. “Soap, this is survival. I don’t care what he wants to be. It’s kill or be killed.”

Soap shook his head, not liking that. “Some people are good. If we could…”

“Soap. Look at him.” Ghost pointed towards the office. “He was so hell bent on finding medication, he almost died. He’s not sane. If Vargas dies, mark my words, either Rodolfo will be next, or we will.”

Soap stared at Ghost, blinking. “What a cruel way of looking at someone. What if it was your best friend? Roach, do you call him?”

“Why do you think I know?” Ghost shrugged. “I’d be the exact same way. For Roach, or you. I am not saying this out of some lack of regard for Rodolfo’s mental state. I say it because I know.”

Soap was a little surprised at hearing himself included in the sentiment. He went quiet. “So what do we do?” He asked, after a moment.

“We are going to go forward with the same plan. I am going to search for a vehicle, tomorrow, and then we’re going to get the fuck out of here, regardless of what happens.” Ghost sighed.

Soap hesitated before agreeing. “Alright.” He followed Ghost back to the office and then inside it.

“If Vargas is going to make it back to your base, we need to leave as soon as those doses are up.” Ghost sighed. Soap watched Rodolfo’s reaction, carefully.

Rodolfo calmly nodded, helping Alejandro take some medication. “I agree.”

Soap relaxed, unsure what he’d expected. This was a reasonable thing to suggest.

Rodolfo helped Alejandro lay down before standing. “I’ll take first watch. You can take second, Ghost.”

Soap shared a surprised glance with Ghost, but before either had a chance to speak, Rodolfo was already outside and sitting down.

Soap shrugged. He was exhausted. He laid down and told himself to sleep, knocking out like he usually did.

Soap woke up to yet another thud. He groaned, wondering what mess Rodolfo and Ghost had found themself in, now. He knew Ghost had to be involved because Ghost was not in the room.

He sat up, noticing Alejandro seemed to be awake. He actually seemed to already be doing better, a lot more alert. Soap considered checking but… it was right outside the door. If it was a biter, or worse, opening the door was not the best idea.

He glanced to Alejandro, who put a finger over his lips. Soap relaxed, glad he seemed to be thinking the same. Both reached for their guns before Rodolfo was suddenly storming back in, going straight to Alejandro. “There’s a third one.” He muttered.

Soap perked up, immediately assuming it had to be Ghost’s friend, Roach. Sure enough, Ghost stepped in, a much smaller man following him. Soap stood, offering a hand to shake as Ghost introduced him. “This is Roach, he can’t speak.”

Roach shook his hand, though both of their attention was taken by Alejandro speaking. “I’m Alejandro Vargas.”

“I’m Soap.” Soap smiled, dropping his hand. “I’m a little surprised to see you. We were on our way to find you.” He was curious how Roach managed to find them, first.

Roach lifted his hands and started to sign. Ghost had warned him that Roach exclusively spoke sign. Ghost furrowed his brows and then signed back. Roach sighed and responded. “Fuck!” Ghost exclaimed.

“What?” Soap frowned, now concerned.

“The bunker got taken over by fucking bleeders.” Ghost sighed and shook his head. “Fuck.”

Soap winced, since he knew they’d been heading to the bunker that Ghost and Roach had taken over and used as a sort of base camp. He hesitated, realizing something. “Well… since Roach is here… do you have a vehicle?” He turned to Roach, who nodded.

“Awesome, what is it?”

“It’s a motorcycle.” Ghost answered, for him. “We found it during a supply run.”

Soap whistled. “How fast are you on it?”

Roach made a so-so motion, seeming to frown. Soap nodded. “Alejandro is injured. We’ve promised aid… I guess you couldn’t take him back to the base… but maybe you could go get his men?” He looked to Ghost, who just shrugged.

Roach seemed to consider before signing to Ghost. “I don’t know how far it is. But, Soap could ask.”

Soap didn’t waste time, turning around and going to Alejandro and Rodolfo, crouching down so he wouldn’t startle Rodolfo. “Hey, how far away is your base?”

“Only 12 hours by truck.” Alejandro frowned.

“So, 12 by motorcycle, then?” Soap grinned, perking up. 12 hours wasn’t a lot but he could see why his men hadn’t come to find them, yet. He was assuming the 12 hours included the road hazards. Traveling on the roads had become an affair twice as long as it normally would be.

“Yeah, if we had one.” Alejandro laughed. Rodolfo looked at Soap, frowning.

“Well… I have fantastic news.” Soap grinned and gestured to Roach and Ghost. “Roach has a bike. He’s offered to go to the base if you give him your coordinates to get a retrieval team.”

Soap was glad when Rodolfo seemed almost relieved, turning to Alejandro and murmuring something.

“Will he be able to get there?” Alejandro relaxed.

Soap shrugged. “Ghost has no doubts. And I’ve seen that man doubt a lot.” He knew if Ghost had concerns, he would have stopped Soap.

“Alright, send him. Get me a pen-” Alejandro was cut off by Rodolfo getting up.

“I’ll give them.” Rodolfo said and started to scribble on a note. He handed it to Roach when he was done.

“We’ll need to cover him while he leaves.” Ghost spoke up.

“I can show you my aim.” Rodolfo nodded, almost smiling if Soap didn’t know better.

Ghost signed to Roach and Soap waved bye, knowing this was important to get done, immediately. Then, all three left, leaving Soap and Alejandro alone again. “Rodolfo seems happy.” Soap commented.

“He’s relieved.” Alejandro agreed. “I’m shocked he trusted Roach enough to go.”

“I am confident he will do it.” Soap nodded. “If Ghost trusts him, I do. Ghost doesn’t trust anyone.”

“Well, for a lack of options, I will also trust him.” Alejandro smiled and Soap plopped down by him.

When Ghost came back, with Rodolfo, he immediately gestured for Soap to come with him. Soap frowned but got up and followed him.

“When Roach and the retrieval team comes back, we’re going to leave.” Ghost stated.

“You just said abandoning them is a stupid idea!” Soap frowned, not liking that idea at all. They were just gonna pass Alejandro and Rodolfo off to someone else? Not even find out if they were gonna be okay?

“We need to get a move on.” Ghost shrugged.

Soap made a face. “To go where? Roach is here now, and your bunker has been taken over.”

Ghost watched him for a long moment. Soap almost backed off but no. He was fine with Ghost dragging him around but he was going to start getting a say on exactly where he got dragged to.

“We’re leaving when Roach gets back. That’s final.” Ghost stated.

“You can leave when Roach gets back. But I’m staying. That’s final.” Soap huffed.

Ghost got in his face. “Do not be difficult.”

“I am not a child!” Soap exclaimed. He took a deep breath since yelling when being treated like a child always made one look like a child. “Look. I am staying. Do whatever you want.” He then turned around and went back to the office with Ghost.

Ghost started to speak before Soap could and Soap glared at him. “We’re going to stay until Roach returns with your men, after that-”

Alejandro spoke up. “You are welcome to return back to the base with us. Until you can figure out where to go. Unless you have somewhere in mind, already?”

“No-”

Soap cut Ghost off. “That’ll be awesome, we’ll do that, thanks.” He threw a glare at Ghost. Ghost, however, didn’t stop him.

Alejandro relaxed. “Of course. Consider it a thanks for what you two are doing.”

Ghost leaned close. “We will discuss this, later.” Soap snorted. He really didn’t think they would.

@i-miss-balthazar @transneurodivergentmess @hayleymaltman

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