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villainofmyownstory · 1 year ago

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Day Zero chapter 2

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pairing: Simon “Ghost” Riley x plus size fem!reader

summary: Ghost doesn't know what to do. He looks for Riley everywhere, with no results. He slowly loses his mind and does something he hasn't done for a long time… You wonder who and where Riley has been with all these years. How he found you? Why is he wearing that weird vest? And above all, where is the person who put it on him?

tags: AFAB reader, plus size reader, dog german shepherd, alcohol, weapon

author's note: I didn't expect so many comments, likes… everything… Thank you for this, it motivates me a lot. Unfortunately, what everyone probably expects doesn't happen in this chapter… or maybe it does?^^ I plan to add new chapter once a week. However, I have more free time this week, so I will add the next part in a few days.

Chapter 2: The one with(out) Riley

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Day 730

You & Riley

It had to be Riley.

Of all the things you dreamed of all those lonely nights. About family, friends. Everything you've been longing for. You missed him the most. For your beloved dog. I t wasn't like the other family members were important to you. You just knew and pretty quickly came to terms with the thought that you wouldn't see them again.

It was difficult, hard. However, the realization of the unpleasant truth and mourning in such strange and new lonely conditions passed. The loss of the dog was unexpected and sudden. And knowing from day one that many animals somehow survived. Somewhere deep in your heart you felt that Riley was just there. And eventually, one way or another, you will be together again. But you thought it would happen after you died.

Not now. And not like that.

The dog was so happy to see you that he jumped at you with his front paws, trying to put them on your shoulders, but he was so excited and exhausted that he hit you with full force, pushing you. You hit the ground with a loud thud, crushed by the mass of the dog who was now licking every inch of your body, clothed or not. It didn't matter to him at all.

"Oh my god Riley...stop it, oh fuck" as you try to get out of the weight you don't know if you're in pain or if you're happy or shocked.

You're going through a million emotions. Many thoughts are running through your head. You have so many questions. So much confusion.

"Riley, man, calm down... I know, I know..."

You're trying to say something and at the same time get rid of the dog that has gained a lot of weight after these two years. Not only was he handsome, but he looked like a decent dog. Adult, mature. After many attempts, you finally manage to sit down, the dog seems to let go for a moment, panting loudly and sticking out his tongue. You look at each other as if each of you wanted to express and tell you everything that happened and what you felt during these months of separation.

Riley still had that incredible wisdom in his eyes, something that made him seem so human. This was one of the features that made him easy to recognize. The second thing was the fact that, unfortunately, before he came to you, when he was a puppy he lost part of his left ear. That's why as soon as you saw an animal running towards you, in a split second you knew it was him.

It was something so incredible, even impossible.

And you remember your mother's words the day the puppy showed up at the door of your family home

"Fucking miracle"

Scratching Riley's ear, you shook your head in amusement and whispered, barely audible

"Yes Mommy, you were right… as always. He's a miracle."

Now you were just curious about the person who had kept Riley alive for so long and kept him in such great shape.

Slowly standing up, brushing off the dust from your clothes and wiping your cheeks, which were wet with dog saliva. You looked around the area, not seeing another living creature.

“Riley, who did you come with? Where is this person?”

You asked the companion next to you, grabbing your backpack and slowly walking in the direction the dog came from. However, the wounds on your feet from the long walk were so painful that you had to give up after walking a few steps.

“So, I guess we'll have to wait here for this mysterious Ghost?”

Walking towards a small building that was probably an energy building. Hoping that there will be a working power supply with electricity inside. which the tower still works and sends a signal, from time to time you looked with a smile at the dog which was glued to your leg and was following along with you.

For the first time in a long time, you smiled.

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Day 731

You & Riley

Nothing, silence, emptiness.

As if the arrival of the dog didn't change much. And it changed practically everything. The world took on new colors for you, you felt that it was a signal, a sign. Whatever. Something refreshing that restored meaning to your life after such hopeless and miserable, long and lonely months.

And somewhere deep inside you believed that someone would eventually show up. And after many hours of sitting in a dingy little building next to the tower, you lose hope again. Maybe Riley's arrival was everything you deserved in this new life.

When trying to get more comfortable on a concrete floor, you need to be careful with your dog. With every movement you make, even the smallest one, Riley raises his head and looks at you. He gets closer if you move your body away from his just the slightest. As if he was afraid that you would disappear from his sight again.

The night and half of the day passed. No one came at noon.

Like the mysterious Ghost, sleep never came.

“Darling, I'm so tired... everything hurts,” you say quietly, stroking the animal's fur with your hand.

“Riley, I think we should wait a little longer, maybe one more day?” You look towards your backpack. Unfortunately, all the supplies you had packed were slowly running out. Your water supply would last for another day. Maybe if you saved more for the next two days. You had food for two or three days. However, you didn't expect before that you would have to count all the food and water for two.

It wasn't a problem. At all.

“Oh boy… you don't know how glad I am that you're here with me,” you muttered, placing your hand on the dog's body, finally falling asleep.

And the last thought was that in two years you haven't said as many words as today.

And it wasn't a problem. At all.

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Day 730

Ghost

Ghost felt like he was slowly losing his mind. That he's about to go crazy. Since all this happened, this whole cataclysm, the apocalypse. The end of the world... Everyone could call it whatever they wanted. That damn Day Zero. The man was able to organize himself in all this chaos, pursue his goals, plan and live. From day one, everything made sense, meaning, some direction for him.

Planning, patterns, predictability. Sticking to the schedule, drill.

His years in the army prepared him for this. It was in his blood.

So now that there had been no sign of Riley for over 24 hours, the only living being for whom he got up and went to sleep every day, it all made no sense. His life had no meaning.

Yesterday when he left the fucking house with a pillow in his hand that he took for the dog. In terror, he ran around the area shouting the dog's name, hoping that it would appear soon. Ghost was under the illusion that Riley would run around the corner with some prey in his mouth. Wagging his tail happily.

Nothing like that happened.

Ghost, in his madness, destroyed several objects he encountered on his way. Screaming loudly and cursing. This couldn't be true. Something bad must have happened. The dog had been clinging to Ghost continuously for 2 years. Even when he taught him to hunt or search in new unknown locations, the dog was able to return to the man.

Why wasn't he there now?

Ghost finally went home after many hours of frantic searching. All the time he was wondering what else he should do to make his friend come back to him.

When he finally reached a safe place and parked the car, he looked around the area, hoping Riley had found his way home, and stuck his tongue out, wagging his tail. That the dog would be sitting outside the house, waiting for Ghost.

Unfortunately, to the man's horror, there was no sign of any presence.

Ghost felt under his skin that if he was left alone, he would lose ground. And his entire planned, arranged life will collapse day by day like a house of cards.

The house seemed unusually quiet and empty. Even though every space, every corner, cabinet, shelf and floor was filled with objects that the man had collected for two years. Supplies, clothes, items needed for survival. He was proud of how easily and quickly he adapted to the new challenge. How he was able to find himself alone, without other people.

This was another difficult and important mission for him.

I'm sitting in a chair at a large oak desk. He converted the room into an office where he kept maps, important documents and books. Ghost leaned back in the leather chair and closed his eyes.

He was afraid of this moment. Yes, he expected that one day he would be alone again. That he would have to say goodbye to his best companion. However, a German Shepherd should live up to 13 years. Maybe Riley would have lived another year or two in good health. Ghost was ready for this terrible situation. But that was to happen in the future. Someday, when they're both ready. In many years. In at least 9-10 years. That was the plan. That was the assumption.

And now Ghost was staring at the blank white ceiling, feeling like his world had collapsed once again.

The first was the death of his family.

The second time was when his teammate died.

Third… no, no, no. This couldn't happen again.

"No!" the man growled loudly, getting up from his chair and hurrying towards the room that was now the large pantry.

He must have had something strong to drink. Bloody hell. He had to drink that fucking brandy.

It's been a long 730 days since Ghost last dipped his lips in alcohol. Two years of sobriety.

And a drunk lieutenant meant something very dangerous.

Pure madness.

If someone showed up at Ghost's door now. The person should step back and leave without hesitation. And never come back. For your own safety. Your pathetic life.

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Day 732

Walking towards the city in the morning, with your dog by your side, you felt as if the world smiled at you and let you go back to your happy years. When you were younger and Riley was just a few months old puppy. This is exactly what your mornings looked like. You were walking along quiet streets somewhere on the outskirts of your city, enjoying the new, sunny day. You usually went to your favorite cafe and bakery, then went to the park with your dog. Lazy, ordinary mornings.

Unfortunately, now despite the idyllic landscape, peace and quiet, greening grasses and trees. Nothing else here was like back then.

Silence, deserted, ruined buildings.

Even though the world changed completely that day, the city looked remarkably good and clean, the main roads were passable, cars and other things on the road had been moved so that one lane was empty. You decided to go to the center and plan further walking there.

You entered several buildings and checked several vehicles.

Weird. All the more important and necessary things you could find in these places are gone. Medicines, canned goods. Batteries, clothes, shoes. The fuel from the car was drained, batteries, light bulbs and other things from the engine were removed.

The city looked like someone had definitely lived there after Day Zero. For a long time.

However, after a few hours of walking around empty streets, you decided to enter the last building where you expected to find at least a few drops of water. Even fermented, rotten food. Whatever.

“Riley, come on, one more place and we're going back to the tower, maybe Ghost will show up tomorrow?”

you lightly pulled the dog's leash. The dog was still sitting on its hind legs, looking in the opposite direction from which you had come.

You didn't have time to react.

Focused on the dog, you leaned down to give him the command again to finally move.

You didn't have time to do anything else.

Shot.

And the whistle of the bullet.

That's all you heard...

You didn't have time to do anything else.

taglist: @leviathanleva @chocolate-noodles

#simon ghost riley x reader #simon ghost x reader #simon riley x you #cod #ghost #call of duty fanfic #cod au #cod x reader #dayzero💀

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villainofmyownstory · 1 year ago

Text

Day Zero chapter 3

masterlist | taglist | AO3

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pairing: Simon “Ghost” Riley x plus size fem!reader

summary: Meeting another person after 2 years of loneliness was not supposed to be like this.

tags: AFAB reader, plus size reader, dog german shepherd, alcohol, weapon

author's note: I don't know... I'm not satisfied with this chapter. I think I reread it and edited it too many times. From this chapter, what happens after days 730... will be in the present tense because, for example, in the next chapter we will return to day 64, of course it is described in the past tense, so it just seems logical to me. I'm not changing chapters 1 and 2, I hope you don't mind. I think I've been spending too much time on this story and I'm starting to think too much.

Thank you all for your positive feedback. You don't even know how much this means to me <3

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Chapter 3: The one when you met

Day 730

Ghost

There are plenty of things in this damn city that he will never run out of. When Ghost was left almost alone, with Riley by his side of course. Already in the first days, the man noticed that there were things here that would stay with him for the rest of his life. Even when he's gone, many of these items will remain in his warehouses for years to come.

Ironically, what he needed the least, alcohol and clothes.

He was never a demanding person. He didn't expect much from life. He was a rather simple man. A roof over his head, a supply of food, a place to train and peace of mind. So when he realized that this city was only his, he was very happy and satisfied. Not that he hated people. It was just better when they were as far away from him as possible. Somewhere in the background, preferably far from his sight and hearing. For many years he felt irritated by the closeness of another person. Of course, there were a few people who managed to get under the lieutenant's shell and understand his moods, behavior and motivations. However, there were few of them. That's right, they were.

In the army, he worked with several people. For many years he had no one outside of work. No family. No other relatives or friends. So when the captain sent him to a well-deserved rest after another long and hard mission. Ghost couldn't find his place for the first few days. He was simply irritated by mundane, everyday things. Going to the bank, store, clinic or even the gym. Too many people. Everywhere. Constant conversations, gesticulations. Noise.

Too much.

So he was grateful for the development of technology. When he could finally sit in front of his computer in the comfort of his own home and get things done in the office or via an app on his phone. The less contact with other people, the better. That's what he thought.

Now that Riley is missing, the soldier wonders about the meaning of his life. If the world had in some way done him a favor by removing other people from his surroundings, why did he have to take away the one being that made him feel alive. That his life has any meaning.

He wasn't a monster. Of course not. It wasn't like he was hoping for some kind of annihilation of humanity, that he would be the sole survivor on earth and be able to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. He just wanted some peace, on his terms.

However, he felt no sadness or regret as he patrolled the empty streets or checked another empty building.

He had lost too many loved ones in the past to grieve over nameless strangers now.

He shouldn't drink. He knows it perfectly well. Two years. 730 days of sobriety. He had promised himself that big day, he had promised Riley, that he would never feel that burning liquid in his throat again. So that he won't become such a madman when alcohol starts circulating in his system again.

So that he does not become his own father. He couldn't even think of this person as someone close to him. Disgusting creature. Reflective sadists. Sperm donor and that's it. Which should never have existed. He buried that monster a long time ago. Just like Ghost buried his own self.

Apart from losing Riley, this was the man's greatest fear in his life. That by drinking alcohol and getting closer to people, he would show them who he really was. That he was just like his twisted psychopathic father.

And he didn't want to be like that, he couldn't. He preferred to hide behind the façade of a domineering, boorish lieutenant in a mask. Pushing others away from himself. The further, the better. He didn't want to hurt anyone.

He preferred to be alone.

He wore a mask almost all the time. He hid his face from the world. He never showed his true self. He hid his identity and the man he was behind a piece of cloth.

Now that it was just him and the dog, he didn't have to cover his face.... And although sometimes in the morning he was looking for a black mask on the nightstand out of habit, he got used to the pleasant feeling of air on the skin of his face. If necessary, he placed a few masks here and there. Just in case someone, somehow showed up in his town.

Now, standing in the pantry with his heart pounding, he unhesitatingly reaches to the back of one of the shelves where he hid the alcohol.

He purposely hid the bottles in the back of the cabinets behind other things so that every time he looks here, he won't notice the colorful bottles at all.

So that nothing would tempt him.

Pulling out a bottle of bourbon, he moved the cans of food and didn't hesitate. He feels that if he does not immediately drown his sadness in a glass of amber drink, he will not be able to bear the pain of another loss. Looking at the label, he smiles to himself. Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve 15 years 107 proof*. Searching the homes of these rich people had some benefits. Rich motherfuckers who didn't know what to do with their money bought everything expensive. The more zeros in a line, the better.

When he returns to the office, he doesn't even look at the surveillance system.

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Day 731

Ghost

He lost himself. He drank himself unconscious. It was long after sunrise, it is even after noon.

“Dammit”

Ghost mutters, slowly getting up from the chair he fell asleep in a few hours earlier.

He should have been looking for the dog since dawn. He shouldn't give up. He shouldn't lose hope. However, when he lost sight of the dog, something inside him broke. It reminded him too much of the previous two times he'd lost loved ones. He lost control again. Something thwarted his plan. He lost his stability. Monotony, life according to plan.

Barely walking, tripping over his feet and knocking several things off the dresser, he reaches the bathroom. He doesn't care about anything anymore. Everything is the same to him.

When rinsing her face with water, he does not look at her reflection in the mirror. He can't look into his own eyes. Again, he directs his steps to the pantry. To get another bottle. Ghost has already lost count, another bottle to forget.

It didn't matter. It's just that nothing makes sense anymore.

Wobbling on his feet, he returns to the small room, sits in the chair at the desk and takes a few sips straight from the bottle. Regret - he finally feels it. Another sip. Drown, drown. And he only hopes that alcohol will soothe this feeling, that it will help him fill the void he feels after Riley's disappearance.

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Day 732

Ghost

Another day of drinking. Once he touched his lips and felt a sharp substance with his tongue. And he fell into a trance again. It was hard to break out of it. Constant drinking. Vicious circle. Another bottle and another. Let it burn, sting, hurt. Just to feel something. Physically.

Finally, as if something was calling to him, he struggled to get up from the chair and dragged the body to the kitchen, he decided he had to do something. Anything other than just sitting here. With a lot of thinking, wondering, blaming. He's not a victim, he's not. He has to look for the dog. Keep going. He can't show weakness. Even before himself. He felt a little embarrassed. That he gave up again. Too quick and easy. He looks at the mess he probably left behind the night he drunkenly tried to make himself something to eat.

“I'll deal with it later,” he muttered, heading towards the dressing room. Trying to keep his balance, he stops in the hall, next to the small surveillance room, and freezes.

One screen was active. Detected movement.

"Fuck..." Ghost is angry with himself, pissed off. That he hadn't thought about sitting in front of the screens and looking at the city earlier. But now wasn't the time to blame himself or dwell on the situation. He must finally take action.

Looking at the screen, the soldier can't believe his eyes. He not only sees his beloved dog on the screen. Who slowly walks through one of the streets. In the live footage, he sees a figure walking.

Person.

Alive.

Without thinking, he quickly runs to his room to change and grab his gun. It's definitely an ambush. No one in their right mind would wander in the middle of the street in a strange city in the middle of the day. With a dog by my side.

Bait.

Surely the rest of the group was waiting somewhere outside the city or on the roofs of buildings. He has to do something, he has to get Riley back. Adrenaline stimulates his body, his thoughts flow in one direction. Bring Riley home. Punish those who had the nerve to steal his dog.

He had never driven under the influence of alcohol, but he had no choice. It would take him too long to walk downtown, and he couldn't let the intruders get any closer to his house. Or worse, they'll leave town with his dog.

Besides, the only danger in driving a car in such an environment was himself. And he doesn't care about his own health and life.

Before leaving, he checks the camera again, the figure slowly approaches the City Hall building.

"Easy target" Ghost smiled, plenty of space to capture. He loads his gun and runs out the door as fast as he can, his fingers firmly wrapped around the sniper rifle.

While driving through the city streets, he tries to focus on driving straight, but at the same time he is constantly looking around for a potential threat. It definitely has to be a larger group, Ghost is expecting several people. To his surprise, however, he doesn't notice anything unusual.

Finally he stops and he leaves the car a few blocks from the town hall and starts walking towards it. He hopes he's not late. That the intruder and his dog hadn't moved too far.

There were rather low buildings near the town hall, so a block earlier he turned left and headed to one of the skyscrapers, from where he would have a better view. A better place to attack. However, there is no time to enter it. He freezes in place because he hears Riley barking and then a human voice. A woman's voice.

“Shit…”

He muttered through his teeth. Of course he might have expected a group of travellers to send a woman or a child out to scout. To stir up sympathy only to have someone lose their guard.

He has to play it differently. He looks around the street and decides to enter the restaurant on the corner, remembering that there is a passage inside and he will have a perfect view of the street where the town hall was located. As he walks through the abandoned building, he mentally curses himself for drinking so much. Adrenaline helps him focus and stay upright, but he fears what will happen if he ends up having to aim his gun. When he reaches the storefront overlooking City Hall, he freezes.

Woman pets Riley tenderly and happily says something to him.

Dog seemed to sense his presence because it sits on its hind legs and looks towards the building where the soldier is.

Without thinking, Ghost raises his gun and takes aim.

He must get the dog back and show the strange travelers that they cannot take what is his. That he is in charge.

Fractions of seconds. Ghost pulls the trigger, shoots. The woman falls forward. Without even realizing the threat standing in the dark building in front of her. She falls, but not from the shot. There is not a single drop of blood. No screaming in pain.

It was Riley who pulled her over. He saved her. He protected her from the bullet.

Assessing the situation, Ghost quickly leaves the building and continues to aim his gun at the lying woman.

He didn't expect this development, of all the possible scenarios that went through his head. He did not foresee, despite years spent on the battlefield, reading thousands of training materials.

That the dog would be against him and protect some random stranger.

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Day 732

You

Everything happens so fast that it is impossible to rationally connect the facts: the shot, Riley pulling the leash and the fall. So much, in a split second.

But the only thing that is echoing in your head right now is whether or not Riley is okay.

So you don't notice the massive, tall and masked figure slowly walking towards you... The first thing you should do is check the condition of the dog. Riley. That's all that matters to you. You sit on your lap and look closely at the dog.

“Riley, oh boy, are you okay? Show yourself".

You check the dog, and after making sure that the dog is alright, you find no trace of blood or the slightest injury. Relieved, you slowly get back to your feet. Straightening up, you finally see with horror the figure standing in front of you who wanted to shoot you a moment ago. And now it's starting to dawn on you what just happened. What is really happening and that you are in great danger. You open your mouth and then close it, repeating this action several times, you want to say something. But what can you say at a time like this? No words come out of your throat.

“Stand where you're standing and let go of the leash”

The masked man growls lowly, slowly turning his gaze from you to the dog, slowly stepping closer to the two of you.

“Raise your hands above your head and don't move.”

You shiver with fear, chills running through your body. The sound of a man's low voice, any human voice other than yours after many months. Weird feeling. Irrational.

After a while, you finally recover and slowly raise your hands.

“Let go of damn leash!”

You look at the man with fear. It occurs to you that this must be the same man who left the letter on the tower. Anyone else could be masked and not call themselves Ghost. He was tall, well built. He was dressed in tactical gear, a bulletproof vest and... a mask. This was no ordinary balaclava. A skull was attached to the material. The front part, with a fragment of the upper jaw, eye sockets, and forehead. It must have been a human skull. You involuntarily shiver harder in fear, trying to take a deeper breath. This was not what meeting another human being was supposed to be like. This wasn't what you expected.

Ghost will raise his gun higher, still pointing it at you.

“Riley. Heel.., come here"

He calls to the dog, breaking the terrible, prolonged silence. The confused dog stands up and takes one step towards the soldier. But he doesn't go any further.

“This… this dog is mine”

The words finally fall out of you, you muster up your courage and whisper, keeping your eyes on the man

“Don't take him away from me. Not again.”

“Your dog? I think you've got something wrong"

Ghost growled, clearly annoyed. His arm muscles visibly tense, this entire exchange makes no sense to him. Waste of time.

"Y-yes, he's mine..."

You start to say, trying to control the emotions you're feeling. You slowly lower your hands.

“I can prove it. Just let me”

Regardless of the fact that the gun is constantly pointed at you, you have to prove it to him and keep the dog with you. No matter what, at any cost. You want to reach into your backpack and take out that old worn-out photo that you still carry with you to this day. One of the few souvenirs you have kept from your past life.

“Hands up, damn it, I'm not playing any games. Give the dog back and leave town."

Ghost shouts, you can see that he is becoming more and more irritated by your behavior.

“You can take everything you find and leave my city. Riley stays where he belongs - with me."

You shake your head negatively, swallowing the lump in your throat, trying not to cry

“No, the dog is mine.”

“Oh, damn it, I don't have all day for unnecessary discussions. Tell your people not to come back here again. Or at least have the courage to show up in person and not send a woman. Pathetic".

As he says this, he finally lowers the gun and pats his thigh, trying to get the dog's attention.

“Riley! Heel!”

Thinking little, or probably not thinking at all, you reached into your backpack and opened the zipper, looking for a photo.

“Dammit, kid, you don't understand what I'm telling you. Leave the dog and fuck off."

You don't care anymore, if you were to leave this city without your dog, you'd rather die here. Now, at this moment.

You take out the photo, which you have carefully secured to prevent any further damage. You raise your hand, holding the photo, and try to stop it from shaking. Despite your emotions, you calmly say to masked man

"Look, this is my dog. Mine. Look, Riley's missing a piece of his ear. You see? Dog in this photo doesn't have it either…”

The man hesitates for a moment, but decides to approach and take a closer look at the photo in your hand.

“That doesn't prove anything,” Ghost starts to say, but you interrupt him

"What do you mean? How many dogs of this breed have such a wound? How many have a black collar with an engraving on the back, with the exact name and phone number?"

As you say this, you state what is written on his collar

“You could take this off him and read it.”

"How do I know there's something written inside?"

There was silence. Another long, tiring one. You looked at each other without saying a word.

The man was taller than you and towered over you, his broad frame creating a shadow above you, his dark eyes narrowing as he looked at you. As if he was trying to read what was going on in your head.

You feel a little dizzy. The whole situation was so strange, so surreal. This wasn't what my first conversation with another human being in two years was supposed to look like. This wasn't how the first meeting was supposed to go. At least it wasn't what you imagined.

There's something wrong with the man across from you. Weird, dark, terrifying. His attitude irritates you and something inside you finally breaks. You explode.

“Ghost, listen…”

You started, raising your voice slightly

“I don't know what your intentions are, why you're so defensive about this town and this dog. But I came here alone! ALONE! I haven't seen a living person in two fucking years. I don't understand what kind of travelers you're talking about and why you don't want to admit that this dog is mine. But... but I don't want to leave, not after finding Riley."

When you say this, you look at the dog that sat between you and the soldier. Riley lay down, as if he was also tired of all the strange interaction between two people he knew, through which he was confused.

Ghost remains silent, never taking his eyes off you, as if wondering what to do. Pros and cons.

Finally, the sound of the watch interrupts his persistent gaze, and the man sighs loudly, as if resigned, and says

“Let's just say… I believe you. Temporarily”

The man secures the gun and hangs it on his shoulder. Seeing this, an involuntary smile appears on your face.

“Come on, kid, it's late. We have to go”

Ghost points to the sun, which is slowly starting to hide behind the buildings

"We'll finish this conversation somewhere else. Come on, both of you."

He waves his hand and points in the direction to go.

“Go ahead, I'll watch your back.”

The walk to the car doesn't take long, and you're glad that you won't have to walk another distance on your still scarred and aching legs.

"No way!"

You scream in shock when you see a large, dark pickup truck parked in the cul-de-sac.

“You have a working car! I couldn't find..."

Standing at the passenger door, a man interrupts you, stands next to the trunk and you open the hatch

“Riley, get in. You sit in the back too”

He points to the trunk of the pickup truck

"What? Are you kidding me?"

This man was behaving absurdly. You guess that years of loneliness made him unable to behave socially. He forgot what it was like to interact with another living person.

“Just. Get. In. And don't whine unless you want to walk to the tower. You know the way.”

The man looked at you without blinking.

“To the tower? Why are we going to the tower?”

You say in disbelief, letting go of another exchange of words, slowly climbing into the trunk and sitting down next to the dog. Ghost closes the trunk, making sure the dog is safe, and gets behind the wheel.

“We need to visit your companions. Since they're not in town, they're probably waiting for you there. You know my name, so you must have read the letter.”

As the car starts moving, you start to wonder if you did the right thing by getting into the trunk. Letting a stranger take you away, God knows where. There was something wrong with this man. He thought Riley was his and that you weren't coming to town on your own. Maybe he too, like you, has been living alone all these months. And he clearly couldn't cope with it. You hug the dog, just hoping that when you reach the tower, the man will finally believe you and let you stay.

Nevertheless, you did not want to be left on your own again. Only now did you feel how much you missed another living person. How much you needed to feel someone's presence. To know that you were not meant to live in isolation. You felt that the burden that had stuck with you through those many sleepless, weeping nights had finally fallen from your shoulders.

Maybe it was destiny. This was your fate.

So, you accept it already.

Even if from now on, you will have to live with this strange, mysterious man in a mask.

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@leviathanleva @chocolate-noodles @vmaxis @poohkie90 @ghostlythots @nobodys-coffee @famouscattale @youdontneedtoknow1226 @pimpinsins @justguessfan @novasilvae @pausbirudanlumbalumba @ella2497

#simon ghost riley x reader #simon ghost x reader #simon riley x you #cod #ghost #call of duty fanfic #cod au #ghost x reader #dayzero💀

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villainofmyownstory · 1 year ago

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Day Zero

chapter 1: The First One

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pairing: Simon “Ghost” Riley x plus size fem!reader

summary: Ghost and his dog Riley regularly patrol the city. A man has his own routine, every day, for almost 2 years, has to look the same. The man knows that he cannot change his behavior because deep down he still feels that someone will answer his radio signal. He doesn't lose hope. However, exactly 730 days after "Day Zero", no one shows up at the transmitter mast. Just when you finally get there. You've been trying to get here for weeks, seeing a tower in the distance. You needed electricity, and the tower had a source of light every night. And so each of you, individually, still thinks that you are the only one alive.

Chapter 1: The First One

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Day 729

Ghost & Riley

5:43 a.m., the black Gamin watch on the man's right hand started ringing. In exactly 25 minutes, the sun will rise and Ghost will be able to leave the safety of his home and begin his daily routine.

This morning is definitely warmer than the previous ones. Getting out of bed, the man decides that in the evening he will cover some of the solar panels, so that excess energy for heating will no longer be needed. He preferred to keep some panels unused in case others failed. He couldn't find any more panels in the city, so unfortunately he had to settle for the few he found in recent months.

Riley ran to the man's leg, growling quietly, he had been extremely excited since the morning.

“What's up Riley?” Ghost stroked the dog behind the ear and spoke softly to him.

This dog had been the only living thing he could talk to for almost two years. It was actually a monologue, but Ghost knew that his beloved dog understood him and even though they didn't speak the same language, they understood each other perfectly.

The man also knew that he had to try to remain civilized, speaking, listening and behaving as he had before Day Zero. After years in the army, he remembered what soldiers released after years of captivity looked like. Who were locked in isolation for long months in small, dark cells. They were quickly losing their minds.

And he had to remain human. Despite everything.

Every day, after getting up and taking a quick bathroom break, Ghost would do some exercises to wake up. And be in good shape all the time. Unfortunately, his supplies of black tea were slowly running out and surprisingly there were few tea lovers in this damn city. He never drank coffee, so physical activity had to be enough for him to overcome sleepiness.

Once he put on his old military clothes and took his gun from the safe, he headed to the kitchen, taking a few military biscuits that he used to eat during his morning routine.

"Riley come on, it's time for patrol" the dog wagged his tail and ran to his master, waiting for Ghost to put a tactical harnesses and leash on him.

On his way out, Ghost checked the surveillance cameras he had installed around the house. The area looked like any other day. Intact. For a split second he felt disappointed, he was under the illusion that he was not the only one alive in this world.

Getting into the black Ford Ranger pickup truck, he checked the gas level in the canisters in the back and the air in the tires. Everything was in order. When Riley jumped on the back trunk and Ghost checked if the dog was safe, he got into the car and slowly drove away, looking around the surrounding area. Today he was going to the eastern part of the city, there were a few houses on the outskirts that he didn't check. As the days were getting longer, he could afford to travel further and plunder new abandoned houses.

When he reached one of his checkpoints, Riley on the trunk started barking and wanted to jump down to the ground. The man, concerned about the dog's behavior, quickly stopped at one of the dead ends. The dog barked and wagged his tail, staring as if in a trance, his attention focused towards the west.

“Riley calm down, Riley!”

Ghost quickly jumped onto the trunk and grabbed the dog by the collar, trying to calm animal down and direct its attention to himself. The dog barked louder and louder and suddenly growled in a way he had never heard before. Ghost froze, he had never seen such aggression from his dog before.

“Riley, sit down. Riley!”

man's voice trembled with growing fear, despite this he tried to pronounce the commands in a loud and decisive tone. Ghost was afraid that the dog might have gotten sick, maybe he had been bitten by some sick animal during one of the patrols in a new area and the wound was so small that Ghost he missed it. Even though he checked Riley every day after every patrol. He couldn't lose his only family member. Only friend.

Suddenly the dog calms down. He sat on his hind legs and, panting slightly, looked at his owner with peace in his eyes

“Bloody hell Riley, what the fuck was that?”

Ghost shook his head disapprovingly, looking up at the dog, patting it on the belly and stroking it for a while. After making sure that the dog had calmed down, the man returned to the car and drove again, glancing at the dog in the rear-view mirror from time to time. Fortunately, the rest of the journey passed peacefully, without any strange incidents.

Ghost drove in silence with the car windows open, looking around the suburbs. The eastern part of the city was mainly inhabited by elites, wealthier people from the upper classes.

Was.

Ghost, remembering his old life, felt that he didn't miss it. Money, power, fame. He never aspired to it and didn't need it, but in connection with his work he often had contact with rich people and it was difficult for him to come to terms with them. He could never get along with them. So now, after so many days since Day Zero, looking at the empty large villas, he smiled to himself. People had so much in the past, they were concerned with getting rich, making more and more money. And what did they need it for? Now they were all dead. And large houses and expensive cars stood empty, deteriorating under the influence of the seasons.

When the former soldier reached the house he had last checked, he parked close to a large tree so that the car was hidden in the shade. He opened the trunk lid for Riley to jump down and search the front and back of the house first. Nothing really bad ever happened, no evil awaited them during the day.

But Ghost wanted his four-legged friend to feel important and appreciated. If only his life would be no different from the one before Day Zero. Even though the man was not sure whether the dog had previously served in the army, from the first day they met the man checked and was happy to find that Riley was well trained. Its previous owner must have taken care of it. Ghost was very grateful to this person.

Whoever that person was.

When the dog returned happily wagging his tail and meekly stood next to the man's right leg, it was a signal that the area was checked and safe. Ghost took a bag of raw meat from his tactical vest pocket and gave a piece of it to the dog as a reward

“Good boy” as he said this he patted the dog affectionately on the head and added

“Watch the door Riley, I'll be right back.”

Ghost easily entered the white house, which was small compared to other houses in the area. Knowing that the owners would not come back to it anyway, he simply broke the glass in the door and turned the lock from the inside.

It took him less than 10 minutes to search the house, and as he thought, unfortunately for him, he found nothing important. It was one of those houses where wealthy owners come for a few days a year when they had to do something in the city. Ghost found some bandages, batteries, two cans of beans and a package of pasta. He packed everything into a backpack and took a large pillow from the couch.

Something for Riley.

Leaving the villa, he looked around the area, the sun was shining more and more strongly and Ghost basked in the sun for a few seconds, closing his eyes for a moment. Waiting for Riley to run up to him. However, none of this happened.

"Riley, come on..."

Ghost said calmly, patting his thigh to encourage the dog to come to him.

Silence. No movement.

“Oh, come on boy, I've got something for you..” the soldier opened his eyes and stepped off the porch, looking around the front lawn.

For the first time in over 700 days, Ghost felt panic rising.

Riley was nowhere to be found.

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Day 730

You

The next day of walking was so tiring that you took each step slowly with a grimace on your face. Your feet are so injured that your white Converse shoes are not only dirty with dust and brown soil, but also have red stains on them.

You don't have the strength to walk anymore. You wipe the sweat from your forehead, straightening the old t-shirt that serves as a makeshift head cover. The days are getting hotter and the journey during the day is torture.

“Maybe I'll finally lose weight”

you mutter under your breath, standing in the shadow for a moment. The large billboard that stands in the western part of the city is slightly damaged. The advertisement for the movie, which premiered over two years ago, is slightly faded and torn.

You fan your face with your hand, hoping it will bring you some relief.

Even though almost two years have passed since Day Zero, you have not lost the excess weight, and walking in full sun was a real horror for you. Dropping your backpack at your feet, you take out a half-full bottle of water and take a few sips. Even the water in the bottle is warm.

You sigh and look around. Nevertheless, despite all the horror that took place so many days ago, the outskirts of this city do not look damaged or well-kept. Even in your previous life - as you call it - you had never been to this area. Maybe it would be worth looking around a bit, maybe you will find a working car. Or at least a bicycle.

The tingling and stinging in your feet constantly reminded you how hurt and bloody your feet were. But you had to get to the transmission tower. You had seen it for so many days and you knew there was electricity there. Even on a rainy night, the lights from the tower were visible from many miles away. You were hoping that you would be able to charge the electronics you collected two years ago and maybe you would finally hear a human voice. Some signal of life.

You couldn't be the only survivor on this earth.

After a moment of rest, you moved further west, the sun was shining stronger and higher. It must have been close to twelve o'clock. You wanted to reach the tower before sunset, hoping that apart from metal bars and many cables, there would be a technical building where you could spend the night and charge your equipment.

Life before Day Zero was kind and happy for you. However, after that day it was a fight for survival. You were suddenly alone, without family or friends. You were on your own for the first time in your life. And you weren't the survival type. You lived comfortably all your life and could count on family members. Walking towards the mast, you had time for further thoughts. After all, what else are you left with? You haven't seen a human in 2 years.

Alive, to be more precise.

You were having conversations in your head, speaking quietly to yourself every few days as if you were afraid that your vocal cords would grow together or that you would simply forget what it's like to be human. The silence of the desolate world scared you at first, sleepless nights and fear during the day accompanied you in the first year. It was only when you found a bigger city and nice, undamaged houses and moved into one of them, collecting found food and useful items, that you finally started to calm down and sleep through the nights.

However, when the batteries in the device ran out, the water in the tap stopped flowing, and the winter at home became so cold that you might as well have slept outside, because the temperature difference was practically negligible, you decided to head west.

One night, when a snowstorm and strong wind opened one window in the attic and you went to close it at least temporarily and secure it to prevent snow from entering the house, you noticed a flashing light on the horizon in the distance.

At first you thought it was just a hallucination. Maybe you didn't eat enough or ate some spoiled food and your eyesight is playing tricks on you. But as you stood there and looked out the open window. To the west, a small light kept flickering in the distance. And the next day and the next. And finally the next week too.

When more than a month had passed and the weather had finally normalized, you decided to pack the most necessary items and go in that direction.

It had to be some kind of sign.

Some miracle.

During those nights when you were waiting for the weather to allow you to travel on foot, you imagined many scenarios. You felt excited and happy. Hope. Maybe you weren't the only living person in this world, maybe there were other people that close. This thought kept you alive.

Thanks to this thought, after so many days of traveling with injured legs, you were finally close to your destination. You had to get there and see with your own eyes that you weren't crazy after all and that the red and white tower was a signpost that someone maintained to let you know that he was also here, that he was alive.

When you finally reached the fence, you didn't even notice that your emotions and tiredness had won and tears were rolling down your cheeks.

You were so very happy. So close to the goal.

The gate to the tower was padlocked.

“Fuck!”

you screamed, struggling against the metal fence. You stood there sobbing, not knowing how to get to the other side. It was impossible to climb the fence. Firstly, it was too high, secondly, there was barbed wire at the top and thirdly, you physically couldn't do it. You were too fat to pull your body up over the fence.

When you finally calmed down and wiped your tears, you walked away from the fence and noticed that next to one of the fence posts there was a piece of paper attached with a red material.

You froze.

You quickly pulled a piece of paper from behind the ribbon and unwrapped the paper with trembling hands:

“If anyone is reading this, it means I'm not alone here. You survived just like me.

My name is Ghost.

I have shelter, food and other necessary items to survive. If you are looking for help, wait here. I come to the towers every day, every day of the year. Right at noon and I've been waiting for an hour..."

You quickly looked at your watch and froze… 12:23…. No, it's impossible, you've been here for a long time, you must have seen someone, you wanted to cry again. It can't be true that the only living thing, ironically calling itself Ghost, didn't show up today. Just when you came here. Maybe you missed each other? Maybe you were here for a few minutes after all. There was hope. You were supposed to spend the night here anyway, so if by some miracle you two missed each other, there was a chance to meet the owner of this letter tomorrow.

You looked at the piece of paper again:

“...and I've been waiting for an hour.

However, if you have no good intentions and are counting on your own survival, I have to worry you. In my previous life I killed more people than you can count, now, apart from things to survive, I have a weapon with me and I know how to use it quickly.

Wait here, and until I appear, don't be afraid, because you will hear and see my dog…Riley.”

With your heart beating strongly, you finished reading the letter.

Your mind didn't even have time to fully read the content of the letter when a large German shepherd ran out from the west wing of the fence, barking loudly.

This couldn't be true.

When you turned towards the dog, you froze.

“Oh my God…Riley…boy”

It was your dog. Who disappeared on Day Zero.

And now, after 730 days, he was running towards you.

Your beloved dog has been found.

#simon ghost riley x reader #simon ghost x reader #simon riley x you #cod #ghost #call of duty fanfic #cod au #dayzero💀

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villainofmyownstory · 10 months ago

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Day Zero chapter 7

masterlist | taglist | AO3

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pairing: Simon “Ghost” Riley x plus size fem!reader

summary: When you enter a dark building, you don't expect that you will face an enemy you haven't seen for a long time. One of them.

tags: AFAB reader, plus size reader, dog german shepherd, zombies/monsters, blood, gory

author's note: Finally! I'm back with a new chapter, I hope someone is still waiting for the next parts ^^ because I'm going to keep writing it anyway. Thank you for your comments, likes and reblogs. It means a lot to me.

And English is not my first language, so probably many things are poorly described and the vocabulary is very simple. If you see any mistakes - let me know!

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Chapter 7: The one with the Jaws

Day 738

You moved nervously in your seat, looking out of the car window towards the building that Ghost and Riley had entered some time ago. Time passed slowly, you seemed to have sat locked in the car for a good few hours. However, the still high-hanging sun made, if not reaffirmed, the belief that you hadn't spent much time waiting for the return of the two, now, closest living beings to you. You don't know yourself anymore who you were more worried about. Biting your lip nervously and still plucking at the already ragged fabric of your gloves, you continue to stare into the dark entrance of the building. You still can't see any light or movement in it. Nothing. Darkness. Ghost has told you to sit in the car. Of course, on the one hand, you perfectly understand his behaviour towards you. Seeing how insecurely you hold your gun, generally how clumsy you are and practically know nothing. And most importantly, he still simply didn't trust you - because he didn't know you. You understood this and sat there, stuck in the car, even simply for your own safety, but perhaps more so to make Ghost's job easier. At least he didn't have to stay busy and watch out for you. He could concentrate on keeping an eye on Riley and, more importantly, dealing with whatever was lurking ahead of you in the dark corridors of this building. But on the other hand, you felt frustrated because you felt that you were no longer who you used to be. You've re-learned how to live in these bizarre conditions, and you want to feel that you can be of some use, that your presence here is somehow important. Needed.

But at some point, it is a kind of relief that you don't have to worry about another day, about yourself. That you don't have to fall asleep praying for at least one quiet night and passing at least one hour, not waking up suddenly for any reason, any slightest unknown sound.

Now, the thought comes to you that you are already worried about yourself. Somehow, after all you've been through, all that has happened to you over the past months. You finally feel the sense and desire to somehow take care of and surround someone else with care. With that, you catch yourself staring at an empty open door, not just worried, just about your dog. But for someone who was just as much alive as you were.

Well, you're sure the dog will do just fine. Whatever he had to deal with there in that dark space. Whatever could stand hostile , against Riley. It certainly won't come out defensively in a clash with your dog. You've seen it, from the day you saw him, after those two years, there at the tower . Not only has he grown, he has matured because of his age. But he was simply well-trained. This was not only your small contribution because since he came to your house you took great care of his development and training.

But the dog's behavior around Ghost, how obediently it obeyed commands, how faithfully it guarded you and the man, how docilely it wandered past your or the man's leg, and with what aggression and persistence it tried to reach whatever was in the basement. This only reinforced your belief that the dog was being properly looked after. Ironically, the only winner in this new reality, in this new world, is Riley. Well cared for, fed, trained.

And most importantly, surrounded by respect and -

love.

With each passing minute, you slowly pull and tug harder and more vigorously at the already badly damaged glove material. Your lower lip is bitten so hard that it begins to bleed. Finally you admit to yourself that all this nervousness is due to such a trivial reason.

You are worried about that damn drunk.

About the man who wanted to kill you without even exchanging a word with you. But ultimately you are worried about Ghost. About the one who, despite everything, welcomed you into his home and let you stay.

Shaking your head, you try to get rid of these thoughts. It's so stupid. To worry about someone who probably, if he saw your cold, emotionless and lifeless body. He wouldn't even spend a second thinking about who you were. Without any thought or pity for you. He probably wouldn't even look. He would just move on, as was his habit. Somewhere to a designated destination, a defined place.

Or maybe it was just a façade, maybe somewhere under that bizarre mask was a real, feeling person. Silly you, you hoped so. But that's what you shouldn't bother with, and most importantly, that's not what's most important in all this.

Survival. That's what matters.

Survival instinct. Primal, natural, just plain animalistic.

So as you slam the door behind you and try to bravely and vigorously walk to the building, you repeat one thought in your head. Your continued survival depends on this man, you must hold on to him. You can't let him die. Or worse, turn into one of them. With this thought, of simply surviving, you marched to the entrance of the building.

Because if Ghost were no longer there, any hope for any future was virtually nil. Rather, the pool of dumb luck you've had for the past two years has definitely run out. You won't be able to survive another dark and cold winter alone. You won't even be able to survive another month alone.

That's what you were sure of. You were never a strong and courageous person. And living in constant fear, with your heart rate perpetually racing, with adrenaline constantly high was not something you were used to. You didn't feel the motivation, the will to survive, the fight for each new day. Quite the opposite. All this, each successive sleepless night, the constant search for food, medicine, safe shelter made you feel immense resignation, chronic fatigue and, above all, a sense of the meaninglessness of your existence. Because it's hard to call life what you've been doing these past 24 months. Vegetation. Like a little calf left without its mother. No idea how to survive, how to live.

Holding a pistol in one hand, taken from the glove compartment of the car, and holding a small hand-held flashlight in the other. Slowly, being careful with every step you take, you enter the building. As soon as you cross the threshold, you are overwhelmed by darkness. It's not good. Shivers run through your body. Step by step you try to walk silently into the depths of the narrow corridor. On each side, left as well as right, there are doors.

Although it's daytime you can only see the places you illuminate with your flashlight, and in places through gaps in the door or some open doors, single rays of sunlight reach you. The building is also silent. It's definitely not good.

It's too quiet.

You can't hear the barking of a dog or the quick and heavy footsteps of a man. You slowly and steadily check each room, but only those to which an open or half-open door leads. There aren't many on the first floor. The rooms you check are usually empty, or there are isolated objects like a chair, a cabinet or a desk. Everything is covered in a thick layer of dust and usually carelessly placed somewhere in disarray in the room.

Apparently, the building stood empty long before Day Zero. Maybe that's not so bad after all. Placing your feet carefully on the dusty and dirty floor, advancing to the last open door on this floor you finally hear something. Stopping at the ajar door and holding your breath, you try to focus on the sounds reaching you.

Adrenaline and a rapid heartbeat make it difficult to hear exactly what is happening in the distance.

But you can definitely hear something.

Like the shifting of something on the ground, the steady and long clatter of something heavy on a dirty floor. As if someone was pulling something, moving something. Maybe some furniture was moved, or maybe it was-

What if someone gets hurt? Directing the small light of your flashlight at your feet, you walk towards the narrow stairs at the end of the hall. What if you wait too long in the car and something terrible happens?

As you hurry every two steps, you don't worry about them hearing you. Your ears are ringing more and more often. Your increased pace, not only caused by your sudden mounting fear but also by the effort of climbing the stairs at a fast pace, causes you to hear nothing but your own tired body for a moment. You stop for a moment between floors. Listening. If you hear this rustling, it means someone is there. There definitely has to be someone here. Alive.

What if someone attacks and Ghost gets hurt or the dog needs help? There is such a possibility. No. You hope not. It definitely couldn't be Riley. You quickly push away that terrible thought and climb the stairs again, skipping some steps to get higher faster. You finally reach the penultimate floor, and here the sound finally becomes louder, more audible.

Now you can hear it clearly.

Trying to calm down a bit and control your tiredness, you stop on the last step, trying to breathe through your nose, but your poor state causes the exhaled air to come out of your mouth, much too loudly. Despite your sincere intentions, you cannot remain unnoticed. The shuffling stops suddenly. As with breathing, the air remains in your lungs and your slightly parted mouth closes quickly. You hesitantly direct the light of your flashlight towards the corridor and-

It's been months since you last saw one of them. And that was from quite a distance. Long months allowing you to erase that monstrous image in your mind. At least wipe out a little of the horror that was your daily life in the first weeks. With each passing day, the number of infected - or perhaps already-dead, multiplied with each sunset. More and more.

Their screams, the inhuman sounds they made of themselves, it was something that not only caused a nervous shaking of your whole body. And so simply did not let you fall asleep, did not allow you to close your eyes at least for a few minutes.

Terror, mixed with fear. That was your everyday life then.

After that day, when you decided to end this agony, your miserable life - and what you failed.

Their horrifying screams stopped. At least for you.

And even today, you remember the first time you met them. The first contact with those things. It was something so terrifying, inhuman and unreal. That it stuck in your memory, permanently blurred in your brain, and the image stayed in your mind, probably accompanying you and will always be there. That recollection lasted with you, even though you tried so hard to forget it. Pretend it was a nightmare or a scene from a movie.

Day 10

You

It was one of the first days when you were left completely alone at home. No TV, no internet, and not even a phone. You couldn't communicate with anyone or get any information - everything stopped working. Suddenly, in one day. And the chaos outside only intensified, increasing with each passing day. You were so panicked and paralyzed with fear that for the first few days you didn't even leave the house, didn't even look out the window.

Until one late afternoon, when it seemed that the commotion outside the window was slowly calming down. When the sun had already hidden behind the horizon, and you were preparing to take up shelter again in the basement, in one quiet and seemingly safe place. Unexpectedly, you heard someone's familiar voice in the distance, somewhere in the yard behind the house. Distorted, not quite human. But nevertheless still recognizable and familiar.

It was Rose. It had to be her.

She called out to you, you clearly heard your name. Without waiting a moment, you dashed to the back door by the kitchen. With no hesitation, you turned the locks and grabbed the handle. You quickly opened the old wooden door.

Immediately after opening the door and crossing the threshold, you regretted your decision. On the terrace steps, stood Rose. Or something that tried to imitate her. In stained, dirty and frayed clothes stood a pale, hunched figure. In her hair, there was no sign of her signature-amulet, a red pin with a rose, from which she took her nickname. The lush, long and dark hair on her head was gone. She was almost bald, her pale skull surrounded by a thin light shell, her skin almost translucent, through which, a web of dark veins could be seen. Twisted, in a strange way, the figure slowly walked towards you. It clumsily took steps, and a low, penetrating screech could be heard through its open mouth, from which a bizarre, dark liquid flowed. Long, bright claws protruded from behind cracked, scarred lips. Which with each passing second seemed to extend even further. As if sensing your silhouette, they became bigger, sharper.

Maybe it was just an illusion, maybe the monster in front of you just opened its jaw even wider. A strange grimace merged with a murky liquid - resembling old, dirty blood. Dark maroon drops ran down his angular jaw, staining the light-colored cloth and dripping onto the wooden floorboards of the terrace. Frozen with terror, you stand motionless, not knowing what the hell to do. How to act properly. Run away, attack, scream, cry.

Anything. Something.

Millions of thoughts run through your head. No action seems logical or wise. With no time for further deliberation, when seemingly Rose has already approached you at arm's length. Stumbling over the threshold of the door, you retreat a few steps into the depths of the house. Holding the door, you try not to fall over and close it. Cutting yourself off this way and being as far as possible from the strange figure in front of you. The monster is already close to the threshold, shouting louder, the sound rumbling in your ears, reaching so deep that you wince at the unimaginable pain the horrible high-pitched sound causes.

You feel as if something is tearing apart your eardrums, as if it is trying to reach the farthest recesses of your brain, slowly tearing it apart. With a last effort to suppress the pain, at least for a moment, you try to slam the door.

Rose, however, is quick enough to push its head between the door and the doorframe, driving its sharp teeth into you. The dark liquid splashes not only around her, but single drops fall on you as well.

You push the door with your whole body to prevent it from opening wider and the strange figure from entering the depths of your home. Which until now seemed to be the only safe place. With one leg you block the door so that it doesn't move towards you and let Rose in. With the other leg, you lean against the wooden floor to stop the incredible force with which the monster is trying to force its entry into the house.

For some reason, there is a brief moment when Rose stops attacking, and at that exact second, with all your strength and power, you push the door in its direction, trying to close it. The monster's neck lands between the door and the doorframe, so you cut off its air supply. Rose stops screaming and after a few moments you feel its resistance weakening. However, seeing the monstrous figure in front of you, it is with what fury, madness in hungry eyes she looked at you. And she definitely wanted to attack and bite you - and thus probably kill you. Your anger grew.

Seeing that the inhuman figure has lost consciousness and is hanging inertly by the door. You fall into a fury unknown to you since that moment. You start opening and closing the door. The figure falls helplessly between a small space on the ground. And you, with unimaginable and unfamiliar fury and force, close and open the door so that the monster's neck and head are struck by the wooden door and, bouncing off it, hit the edge of the door frame.

Full of anger, you scream louder and louder, feeling a burning pain in your throat. Blood mixes with a strange jelly-like liquid. Forming a bizarre mixture at your feet. Hearing a loud crunch and already feeling less resistance, you nevertheless continue to bang the door against the lying figure with vigorous power.

Finally you stop and, sobbing, sit down on the floor. Terrified, you wipe your face and, seeing the terrifying image in front of you, you crawl backwards into the farthest corner of the room. To be as far away as possible. Not to smell the horrible stench emitted by the inert body. To be as far away as possible and not see the pool of blood mixed with a viscous gelatinous liquid, infected pieces of brain and shreds of skull bones. You cower against the wall covering your eyes, trying to hold back loud sobs and fear.

That day you killed for the very first time. Unfortunately, it was not the last time. It was just the beginning.

Day 738

With your shaking hand you direct the stream of light from a small flashlight to the direction you thought strange sounds were coming from just a moment ago. Now, hearing nothing but your own breathing and heartbeat, you wonder if this sound was not a creation of your imagination.

Unfortunately, it wasn't.

A pale, bony figure lurking behind one of the doors, now irritated by the small light from the flashlight, moves toward you. It rushes at you with a wide-open mouth in which long bright fangs shimmer, stained with the dark liquid you already know. You don't have a chance to do anything, it's happening so fast that you don't even think of pulling the trigger of the gun you hold in your hand.

The monster with high force hits you and causes you to fall on your back on the half-floor. The force of the impact is so great that all the air escapes from your lungs. Despite the loss of breath and the monstrous bou in the back of your body. Perhaps due to adrenaline triggered by fear, you try to fight back. With your hands you try to push the undead away. You hit it with your hands trying to at least push its distorted face away from you. You curl up on the floor, tilting your head from side to side. As you fall, a gun falls out of your hands and a flashlight, which also illuminates some stairs, dropped a few feet away from you.

Just so it doesn't bite you. If only its fangs dig into your skin, you're dead. It'll be end of you.

The monster opens its mouth wide, exposing fangs that have clearly been dipped into a living thing more than once. They're filthy, with pinkish bits of flesh visible in between. The dark substance lands on you. The undead spits blood at you and whatever the brown liquid coming out of it is. The stinky sticky substance is practically everywhere. On your cheeks, forehead, in your hair, on the fresh clothes you wore this morning. Writhing under this murderous form, you try to catch at least one breath of clean air, you try to move your legs to throw off your opponent.

All in vain.

You feel that you have less and less strength and soon you won't be able to push that overly contorted, monstrous face away. At one time it must have been a human being. But now, aside from its general physical features, it did not resemble a man, at least not a living one. It definitely hadn't been one for a long time. In torn clothes, without hair, with dark eye holes in place of eyes, with long and sharp fangs. With pale white, almost transparent skin, from under which dark veins could easily be seen. With each passing day, the thing that infected the human body transformed it more and more into a strange creature that only seemingly resembled a human. It looked as if the evolution of these creatures, instead of taking hundreds of years, had accelerated many times over. It was even difficult to recognize whether it was once a young man or an older woman. Maybe a teenager.

You can already feel your hands failing, losing energy and strength with each passing second. By the time the monster's face was close to your cheek, its breath could be clearly felt on your skin, and the penetrating odor prevented you from taking another much-needed breath. You stretch out your neck and tilt your head as much as you can to catch it, trying to make sure the figure above you doesn't bite you.

You close your eyes and pray in your mind to whomever, whatever god, that if at this moment, you'll end your life. That it would at least take place quickly and relatively painlessly. You expect this bite to really hurt, maybe more than-.

To your surprise and confusion. You feel a thump, a push. A jerk and a sudden relief. The pressure of the body is no longer over you, your hands do not resist, you can move your legs freely.

You slowly turn your face away and carefully open your clenched eyelids. Somewhere nearby you hear muffled gasps and stifled squeaks. Ragging, tugging, tearing at fabric, some banging. However, the flashlight lies too far away to reach out and grab it. The building is too dark to see anything, whatever is happening further than a step away from you. Momentarily, all sounds stop. All you hear is your own heartbeat and rapid breathing, gasping. Not just your own.

Now that there's no adrenaline in your body, you slowly start to feel more and more pain in your body from falling down the stairs and hitting the ground. However, you don't have time to pick yourself up, to think about what hurts the most, if any bone was broken, and most importantly, if at some point the monster didn't bite you.

Before you have time to make any move to try to get up from the cold floor. Once again you feel the pressure on your body. However, this time it is softer. More human-

"Don't move."

It's Ghost.

"Are you broken?"

Asking this question, you feel him gently checking if your limbs are broken. Although you are still in shock you feel how efficiently and yet gently he touches first one hand then the other, gently squeezes and moves your arm, elbow checking if the joints are in place too. When you feel a gentle pressure on your right thigh you grimace gently, but try not to show any discomfort. When your legs are checked by him you feel him change positions and another sentence comes from his mouth.

"Now I'm going to touch your upper body, check your ribs and hips, okay?"

Without thinking, you nod.

Ghost grunts.

"Lucky me to have night vision. But don't pretend to be tough, kid, that fall must have cost you a lot. Tell me if something hurts you. I'll help you."

"O-okay, I'll tell you."

Fortunately, you don't feel any pain in your chest or hips. As Ghost checks your pupils and asks if you felt a bite and asks a few more questions about your wellbeing you feel yourself shaking with terror. The involuntary trembling of your arms, as well as the rest of your body, is out of control. Tears appear in your eyes.

"It's okay. Whoa, it's alright. I'll get you out of here and we'll go home. Hang in there a little longer. You did a good job."

Hearing these words you want to say something back but you're unable to, every sound trapped in your throat. All you can do is once again shake your head pathetically in confirmation. Ghost lifts you off the ground, doing it very gently and slowly. As if he is afraid that by any careless movement, you will break into millions of pieces. Despite your weight, he lifts you easily off the ground and without a word starts to walk down the stairs.

You sink your face into the hard material of his tactical gear, trying to control a sob. To your surprise, despite having you in his arms, the man walks with a quick and steady stride.

And extremely quietly. The rhythm you hear is a slightly accelerated pulse. His.

When he finally reaches the ground floor, he stops for a moment. Now that the corridor is lit up thanks to the open exit door, you notice Riley stopping by Ghost's leg. This puts you at ease. They both look fine and healthy.

"How are you feeling?"

Ghost's voice snaps you out of your reverie. He's different than before. Like he's more concerned, more nervous. Something is not quite right. Before you have time to answer anything, the man is almost running towards the exit of the building. Once you are outside, you squint your eyes, even though the events inside seemed to go on forever, it must have been a relatively short time, an hour at maximum, since you crossed the threshold and entered the darkness. It is very warm and bright outside, and the sun is still high in the sky. You involuntarily close your eyelids, the daylight makes you ache.

Ghost runs to the car at a very fast pace, and when he opens the car door he practically throws you into the passenger seat. He shouts to the dog, giving him a brief command to get into the back and, without waiting for the dog to react, he quickly makes his way to the car, getting behind the wheel.

Finally, as the car starts and pulls away, you open your eyes. Your eyesight has finally become adjusted to the day's prevailing brightness. Still, tears and something else prevent your eyes from fully and sharply observing the world around you. You feel that something wrong is happening. Something is definitely not right. So you try to find some clean cloth to wipe your misty eyes. Correct your vision to look at the man next to you in peace and figure out what's going on. Why he is acting so nervously and hurriedly.

But before you do, the answer to your questions you simply see.

You are covered in dirty brown blood.

Despite the blurry and blurry image from your tears, you look at the dark stains on your skin of your forearms and on the gray fabric of your clothes. In a panic, you start wiping your soiled skin against the fabric of your clothes trying to clean what has already dried on your body.

"Hey hey, take it easy, don't move. Try not to spread it, so it doesn't get into your eyes or into some wound on your skin."

Ghost grabs your arm with one hand and holds you down.

"Everything is fine as long as you're not hurt and nothing bites you - it's fine. Just stay calm. At home you will change and clean yourself up."

The rest of the way back you don't exchange a single word. You feel that Ghost looks at you every now and then but you don't have the courage to raise your head and look at the man sitting next to you. You stare at your hands placed on your knees which you clench nervously.

You try not to panic even more. However, you no longer know if you have been infected and the faster heartbeat, the slight nervous twitching and trembling of your limbs or jaw, are not due to the fact that you are already in transition. Or was it simply panic, fear and fatigue of the body after the horror you encountered in the building.

The way from the car to the house, and then how you found yourself in the bathroom, washed and changed into fresh new clothes. It was all like a blur. It's like you're not doing it yourself. Throughout this process, you are accompanied by Ghost's calm, subdued voice. It's how he reassures you, reiterates that everything is fine and that you should be careful to just wash the dried blood away and try not to smear it into your eyes or somehow into your mouth. Even when you are locked in the bathroom and slowly rinsing off the remnants of your recent struggle for life, the man's voice can still be heard from behind the closed door.

It's because of him that you don't panic even more. You don't do something stupid. Just calmly, like a robot that performs the actions programmed to it. You just simply do it.

As you now sit in the kitchen and warm food lands on a plate in front of you and hot tea steams in a mug next to you, you slowly return to reality. Beside your meal you notice a few pills.

Finally you lift your gaze and look at Ghost, who is leaning against the kitchen counter with his arms crossed over his chest and watching you closely.

"Thank you."

This is the only thing you can think of at this point. Grabbing a spoon you scoop up a large portion of food and without waiting for any response from the man you begin to eat, at the same time you take the pills left next to it.

The meal goes on in silence, Riley sits next to Ghost and, as if copying his behavior, with his head slightly bowed, does not take his eyes off you. It's as if they are both waiting to see if you are about to fall to the floor in pain, screaming loudly and eventually turning into one of them. Nothing like that happens so far. However, this thought, doesn't allow you to calmly finish your meal. What if your heart is about to stop beating, what if the poison was already slowly in your bloodstream and is systematically turning your blood cells into sticky dead brown clots. What if-

"Come on, it's time to rest. It's been a long and fucked up day."

Ghost walks slowly toward the hallway expectantly looking at you. Drinking the last sip of tea, you get up from your chair and move slowly toward your room.

And so the three of you, you, Ghost and Riley find yourselves in a small space, your cramped and small bedroom.

"Lie down and try to sleep-"

Ghost interrupts his speech, because Riley nudges him in the leg with his head, clearly signaling to him that he's not the only one here.

"You little bastard."

Patting Riley on the back, the man finishes his interrupted comment

"Of course, me and Riley will be here all night. We'll be watching to see if anything bad happens to you. Are you okay with that?"

"'Y-yes, I think so."

You answer and slowly lie down on the bed, as soon as your head touches the pillow you feel your eyes slowly closing.

"You really have nothing to worry about, if you were to transform it would have happened long ago, it never takes that much time."

Ghost's voice gets quieter and softer, everything seems to slow down. Your breathing becomes more steady. Your eyelids are heavy that you no longer have the strength to open them. Besides, the bed is so soft and comfortable that you don't even want to change it. With your last effort, before sleep has completely overtaken you, you add barely audibly.

"I know, it should be painful. It hurt so damn much back then. Now it feels good. I just- I was just scared. I didn't want to die yet."

You don't hear Ghost's answer anymore, as you fall into a deep sleep.

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villainofmyownstory · 1 year ago

Text

Day Zero chapter 5

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pairing: Simon “Ghost” Riley x plus size fem!reader

summary: It is hard to convince a man that you are telling the truth. You want him to finally trust you and let you stay. If he wasn't so stubborn and… drunk.

tags: AFAB reader, plus size reader, dog german shepherd, alcohol

author's note: I had a lot of trouble writing this chapter. I'm not proud of it, but I think that finally the story becomes more interesting and you will like it.

💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀

Chapter 5: The one where everything is still difficult

Day 732

Sounds coming from the kitchen get your attention. No. Smells. You involuntarily feel yourself drooling. The burping in your stomach intensifies.

Your mind is in high gear and all you can think about now is food, hunger. Thirst.

You have eaten so little for days. You have tried to ration and preserve as long as possible the rations you took on the trip. You had no luck and didn't find much fresh food along the way. You only found a few cans. Not to mention a warm, home-cooked meal. It's probably been months since you last managed to heat something up. Not to mention cooking. And you used to love spending time in the kitchen, buying and trying new ingredients, testing brand new dishes.

“Thank you for the possibility to take a bath.... And for the rest of the things.”

You stand on the threshold of the kitchen, speaking uncertainly. You step from foot to foot. The man stands with his back turned to you, clearly preoccupied with something. He just waves his hand, indicating with his finger for you to sit down on a stool by the kitchen island.

As you sit down, you notice Riley standing against the wall, greedily eating what Ghost has put into a large silver bowl. The dog doesn't even stop eating for a moment to look at you.

You look around the kitchen, which, like the hallway and bathroom, is dimly lit, with only the light above the countertops. Only where Ghost is standing is it bright enough. The rest of the room is plunged into semi-darkness. While waiting for any interaction with the man, you curiously look around the room. As in the adjacent room you were in shortly after you arrived, there are all sorts of things arranged in towers on each shelf. Mainly food. Cans, jars, packages of dry food. Everything evenly and neatly stacked.

“I made tea.”

The man breaks the silence, puts a mug of hot brew in front of you

“T-tea?"

You exhale something like a squeak, you did not want to sound like this, however, you are very surprised. But God, warm tea? You had already forgotten that such a thing existed. Since you had a hard time finding drinkable water, you did nothing but simply sip to quench your thirst.

You immediately grab the ear of the cup, put it to your lips and drink, it's nothing that the hot drink steams your mouth, tongue, esophagus. Out of greed and thirst, you quickly drink the entire contents of the cup. You wipe your wet mouth with your hand.

“Thank you.”

Sighing loudly, you set the cup down on the countertop, looking at the man again. Another long moment of silence passes. The man still stands with his back turned to you. Unwittingly, your gaze falls on him. You admire how he moves with graceful and delicate movements in a tight space of the kitchen.

It's a rather peculiar sight, considering his physique. He is a tall and broad, well-built man. Now you can get a better look at him, although he still wears a dingy balaclava on his head, covering his face, hair and neck. He is not wearing a full uniform. His broad shoulders and muscular arms lightly cling to a long-sleeved black cotton shirt. To you, even without all the military equipment, Ghost's silhouette is intimidating. It causes an unpleasant squeezing in your stomach and a quickened pulse. You still don't know what to expect from him. According to you, he is unpredictable.

A pleasant smell that spreads more and more in the kitchen catches your attention, some spices, think rosemary, pepper, sour tomatoes, maybe mushrooms. and yes, you definitely smell fried blood meat.

It's just too much.

You close your eyes for a moment, hoping that you're about to smell the food that creates such an unusual and delicious aroma. The burbling in your stomach intensifies, probably the tea you drank has awakened your empty digestive system from lethargy.

“Eat.”

A large, deep plate filled to the brim with food lands in front of you.

Stew.

Potatoes and meat. You shake your head in disbelief.

Have you made it to heaven? Is this some kind of reward for two years of uneven and hard struggle with yourself to survive?

“Thank you... Ghost.. for everything.”

You swallow your saliva loudly.

This is probably the best meal you've ever had. The meat is tender, the vegetables are slightly firm, the whole thing is lightly seasoned, the sauce is delicate, so you can feel every flavor and texture.

“It's just food.”

Ghost burbles, sitting down across from you, and begins to eat.

“After dinner, we need to talk.”

You don't think you've eaten a meal this fast in your entire life. If the man wanted to convince you with this or apologize for his behavior. Then you don't mind if he rewards you every night for his behavior toward you in this way.

The house is big, really huge. One that could house a multi-generational family. After a meal, or rather after eating two portions, Ghost led you to another room on the other side of the house. A small one in which most of the space is taken up by a large desk. The man takes one of the maps stacked on one of the bookcases against the wall and places it on the desk. He sits down on the other side of the desk facing you.

With another mug of tea in your hand, you sit more comfortably in the chair, looking at the map with some interest.

“Do you know where we are?”

Ghost asks the question, without taking his eyes off the map.

“I didn't see a sign with the name of the city when I came here, but I more or less know that I've been heading in the direction of the tower all along, which is west.”

You lean over the desk and point with your hand to the area you think you are more or less in. A possible location of where you are now.

“Not quite.”

Ghost points his finger at the map, a decidedly more distant point on the map than the one you just showed

“We are here.”

You stare intently at the map, not convinced it's possible for you to have walked that far. You nod your head negatively. Not believing that you've made it this far. The distance you traveled seemed too far.

“I walked for a long time, but I was sure that I hadn't come such a long way.”

“How long?”

The man finally takes his eyes off the map and leans back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest. He looks at you closely.

“Actually, I don't know. It's been a long time since I stopped counting days.”

You sigh, clasping your hands nervously, your gloves still damp.

After a moment's thought, you add

“I think I've been walking for three or four weeks.”

Taking another sip of tea, you look at the map again

“I don't even know how long it's been since.... since...”

“Day Zero.”

He interrupts you, saying the words in a low, slow tone.

“Oh, it's... is that what you prefer to call it?”

“Yes. This day has been so named.”

Ghost moves closer, placing his elbows on the edge of the desk. Not giving you a chance to ask another nagging question.

“So how did you manage to survive for two years?”

He asks another question, looking at you more carefully, squinting his eyes.

You snort in slight nervousness.

“Honestly, I don't know, somehow.... I got lucky.”

You tell the truth, yet you nervously squeeze the fabric of your gloves, you always try to soothe your nerves this way in such stressful situations. Focusing your mind on something else.

“Who were you with?”

“Alone.”

You answer quickly and finally lift your gaze. You look into a man's dark eyes.

“Yes, definitely. And I was at the Manchester City game yesterday.”

Ghost tilts his head to the side. Despite the mask on, you can see that the man is not smiling. Quite the opposite. He's tense, not looking away from you for even a second.

“I don't know how to prove it to you. All this time, damn it, all this time I've been alone. Alone. I haven't seen a LIVING person since that day!”.

You raise your voice.

Riley, most likely hearing your raised voices, runs out of the kitchen and stands next to the desk. He looks either at the man or at you. As if he is concerned about the situation.

More questions, one after another. Why, how, when, how much, really? And so on, and so on. The questions multiply. The same, but asked in a different way.

Not sure how long it lasts, a few minutes, maybe more than an hour? It all blends into one. However, long enough to feel the growing fatigue. This tiring and tedious interrogation is probably aimed at catching you in a lie, question after question. After another answer, you hear his next question again, monotonous slowly spoken words. And so on and so forth. After each of your answers, without changing his tone, he asks you another. Word against word.

He has certainly done this more than once in the past. You can see the experience in him, the confidence, the composure. He will be the one to break you before you break him. He'll keep asking you until you're finally jaded and tired, agitated by his behavior and dreaming of one brief moment of peace and quiet. Eventually you will give in and say what he wants to hear.

Finally, you rub your eyes with resignation and say in the hope that he will agree to your suggestion.

"Can we end this interrogation?"

"Interrogation? Hm... We're just talking to each other. We're chatting."

The man rolls up the map, putting it back in its place on the shelf with other papers, and slowly gets up

"But fine, we'll finish tomorrow. Follow me."

The room where you will spend the night is very small, with bright, bland walls. Almost like the storage room under the stairs where Harry Potter lived. In truth, given the size of the house, you can bet that there are bigger and nicer rooms where you could sleep. However, at this point you only dream of putting your head against the pillow and finally falling asleep.

Unfortunately, sleep is not coming. Although small, the narrow bed is very comfortable. Certainly more comfortable than the ones you slept in last time. If you slept in a bed at all. It's curling up in a ball in the sheets, changing position every now and then.

Riley protested for a long time by clenching his paws when Ghost tried to lead him out of the room. The dog wanted to stay with you.

Of course he wanted to.

It was amusing to watch the big man speak to the dog in an affectionate and pleading tone. Lightly pulling him by the dog's collar or trying to lift his heavy body off the floor. And Riley had nothing to do with his words and simply chose you. You didn't even have to say anything. You sat on the edge of the bed watching the whole overly comical situation. You felt it wasn't worth it, better not to make your situation worse.

It was Riley's decision, not yours.

The calm, rhythmic loud breathing of the dog finally puts you to sleep after many long minutes.

For the first time in a long time you find yourself in the arms of Morpheus. You sleep through the night, not once waking up with fear.

The first peaceful night.

Day 733

When you wake up, the first thing that catches your attention, still drowsy, you notice that you are not shivering from the cold. Every morning since time immemorial has started the same way. Icy limbs and shivering body, you often even moved your jaw involuntarily because you were so freezing.

This time it's pleasantly warm. Strange. Lying motionless in the warm bedding, you try to assimilate the astounding new situation. A few more moments and you remember where you are. At Ghost's house. Well, yes. Not in some abandoned, cold building somewhere in an unknown place far from civilization.

As you leave the room you notice the absence of the dog's presence and the same shrill silence as at night. You can hear nothing, no signs of presence, busyness in the kitchen, footsteps, no one and nothing. After the morning toilet you head to the kitchen and a peculiar sight appears to your eyes. On the counter lies a piece of paper and a covered plate.

“I'm on patrol with Riley.

Don't do anything stupid.

I see you.”

You smile under your breath. Bluff. Surely there are no cameras in the apartment. Supposedly why would he mount them in the house, use up such precious electricity. Surely he wanted to trick you. He probably wanted to scare you so you wouldn't do anything stupid or relatively dangerous and start searching his house. Still, this stubborn man didn't trust you. That was obvious.

Sitting down at the kitchen island, you look down at your plate. Another surprise. The meal looks decidedly better than what you've been eating for the past few months. You can afford to indulge in a little luxury and quickly take your plate and heat it up in the microwave. Moments later there is a familiar sound, long unheard.

Truth be told, as if someone had told you a few years ago that you would start crying because of hot running water or squealing because of hot tea or a heated meal, you would have laughed out loud, shaking your head in disbelief.

Overall, the last few years have changed you a lot. They have reshaped you. They have changed practically everything. And despite so many days of breaking down, wishing for death after being left alone. After tonight, you feel as if new life has been pushed into you. Once again.

Oh and if only the demeanor of this giant, cranky, uptight man had been a little different. But it seems you can't have it all at once. Riley and finally a little civilization should be enough for you.

It had to be enough.

After eating, you must conclude with a hint of jealousy that even under such difficult conditions the man prepared a really tasty meal.

Not caring about the threat of being watched, you decide to look around the house. At least get a little familiar with your new surroundings. There seems to be nothing better to do. The idea of going outside in search of Ghost and Riley crosses your mind, but you immediately drive those thoughts away. After checking the door and a few windows. Of course, everything is locked. There is no way out. You decide not to struggle with the locks. Not to do any damage, because surely when trying to open the locks something would get hurt. Either you or the locks, which anyway looked very solid and difficult to open with some ordinary wire. It is better not to risk another argument with a man. Getting acquainted with the place also seemed tempting. Considering that at first glance it was clear that the man was well prepared for months, years of living in post-apocalyptic conditions. In the kitchen, apart from a lot of tightly packed long-life food, nothing else could be found. Lots of cans, packages, cardboard boxes. On the lower shelves, water purification devices, spare field stoves. The pantry is also not surprising. Well, maybe it is, the amount of food would certainly be enough for a family or even several. Not just for one person.

Looking at one of the labels, you notice that they are not familiar to you. They are definitely not the kind of things you find in a store or other abandoned houses. You can't deduce much from the description, the long expiration date, the ingredients, the preparation instructions. Calorie count. No company name, bar code or place of manufacture. Nothing.

The shelves are bowed by the number of evenly stacked items. Which seem specially prepared for the situation. Nothing like the packages usually found in abandoned houses or stores.

Walking around the house you notice that in no place on any wall or shelf is there a single photo. Not a single empty frame. A bright rectangular mark on the wall. Nothing. It's as if no one had lived here before, or perhaps Ghost had buried the remains of the former tenants. Not wanting to see unfamiliar faces that looked reproachfully at the new tenant every day.

There is another option that now comes to mind. One more possibility. Something that was not quite so obvious. However, seeing the large amounts of accumulated belongings and food. It could have been that before day zero, this was his home.

If you had been even a little brave you would have asked him all the questions that were bothering you. But his manner, his tone of voice, his whole persona were so intimidating that you preferred not to know anything. Not to upset him, not to expose yourself. Just like at school. Stand aside and pray that no one notices you and ridicules you once again.

If ignorance, lack of questions and compliance are to make you stay. You are able to agree to this.

Many doors in the house are also closed. You are left with only the rooms you were in yesterday. After looking through the contents of the bookcases in the pantry and going through some maps and documents in the small room where you were interviewed yesterday, you found nothing of interest. Which would have kept you busy while you waited for Ghost and Riley to return. Despondent, you return to the living room.

With resignation you sit down on the couch, you didn't even know how long this patrol would last. At least until one o'clock in the afternoon plus the return home from the tower, so the time spent alone was going to amount to several more hours.

There were some books in the room. So you try to kill time by reading. However, after a few moments, the words merge into one incomprehensible chatter. You can't concentrate even for a few moments. There were a lot of questions, doubts and question marks in my head all the time. You had so many interesting questions, and yet you were afraid to ask the man. Maybe after all, the comfort and security of a tightly closed home made it impossible for the brain to relax while reading.

Silence accompanied you every day.

When you were alone, you always had a book with you, something that allowed you to escape into an imaginary world for a few hours, to be somewhere else. Now the silence, the warmth of this house, something so natural, made your body feel alert somehow. As if peace wasn't something natural and right. Somewhere subconsciously you are still afraid that something bad is lurking around the corner.

Time slowly passed, maybe I managed to fall asleep on the couch for a while. It's possible that only a few minutes have passed. In a tightly closed house, in silence that irritates the ears. You decide to do something. Repay the man in some way, show that you are not a useless obstacle that appeared in his life. That you can be useful and needed. A nice gesture towards him, showing that you are grateful for his hospitality.

Convince him to let you stay longer.

The simplest thing that comes to mind, and that you are sure of. Is to make food. A tasty, warm dinner. Looking at the contents of the pantry and shelves, you are sure that even with a little effort you will be able to prepare something. Not just reheat a can of food with a long shelf life.

Bringing the necessary ingredients to mind what comes to your mind is another thought. Since you're sitting here locked up by yourself anyway.

Making something warm and edible might have annoyed Ghost. Using his supplies without asking, taking his things. Something he had meticulously collected and organized. He probably had his supplies calculated every day. So your behavior, certainly was not something extremely wise. But it was probably worth the risk.

You lost yourself, you got carried away. Maybe the feeling of independence or the longing for the old life in such an ordinary, trivial activity as preparing a meal made you feel more confident. So now, after a long time in the kitchen, when you have managed to turn on the stove and the food is cooking, you jump around the kitchen listening to music.

You always did this while cooking.

Knowing that there was electricity in the house and seeing the music player, you turned it on and, full of excitement, hearing the first sounds of music, you involuntarily started moving your body to the rhythm of the music.

2 years before Day Zero

You

Driving home with your parents in the car, you sit in the back seat and listen to your favorite music. You pay no attention to the loud conversation and laughter of your parents, who sat in the front.

Looking out the window, you look at the crowded streets, the approaching holiday and weekend cause a lot of traffic. Although the weather does not encourage anyone to leave the house, many people unfortunately find themselves in a similar situation to you.

As you enter the road leading to your home, the rain intensifies. In fact, these are already suburbs and the road mainly leads to quiet neighborhoods of single-family houses.

The sudden braking of the vehicle and the rotation of the car around its axis causes you to shift inertly in your seat despite the fastened seat belt.

“What's going on?”

Removing one earpiece, you glance at your parents and look through the windshield.

Your attention is caught by one thing. A small dog is standing in the pouring rain. In the middle of the intersection stands a small, defenseless animal.

Thinking little, you unbuckle your seat belt and run out into the street and only then, you see the horrifying scene on the street.

The soaked dog is shaking in your arms.

“That ... could've been us.”

You hear your mother's terrified voice behind you. Now that you're back home, your parents anxiously describe the whole event to your sister.

“That truck should have driven into us. If you hadn't ... if Dad hadn't braked and swerved. That truck would have crushed us, because it suddenly drove into our lane.”

Wiping the dog you try not to listen to the concerned voices of your parents. There is no point in dwelling on this terrible situation. By some miracle you managed to avoid a collision with a multi-ton vehicle. And happily you were now all together at home.

“I wanted to avoid dog, the puppy suddenly appeared on the road”

Your dad tries to explain his sudden behavior on the road.

“Fucking miracle.”

Your mom looks at you and the dog, smiling gently.

Day 733

Your memories are violently interrupted by a sudden quiet. The music cuts off. Once again there is a piercing silence.

You quickly turn toward the room and notice that you are no longer alone.

Riley is standing on 4 paws merrily wagging his tail with his mouth wide open and tongue extended. Unfortunately, he can't approach you because he’s held on a leash in a strong grip. Yeah, right. You lift your gaze to see the tightly clenched hands on the leash and, despite the masked face, you immediately know that the man is clearly not happy.

“Tomorrow you'll be without electricity, because you don't know how to behave.”

He says.

The broken silence lasts only a moment. Ghost stares at you for a few more seconds, then he and dog walk off into the dark corridor.

You hear him take something from a shelf in the pantry, and then the door at the end of the hall closes with a loud slam.

This is definitely not how you planned to convince him. This is not how it was supposed to be...

3 years before Day Zero

Ghost

Ghost entered the briefing room, as usual, a few minutes before the scheduled meeting. In the back row, he spotted his two team members, Sergeants Soap and Gaz. The men were gesticulating happily, showing each other something on their phone screens. Without even noticing it, the lieutenant took a vacant chair and sat down next to them.

The man wondered where the sudden call for this urgent meeting had come from. The mission they had been working on for months was progressing gradually, but so far successfully. They had a few more weeks to make another trip to gather more intel. There was no indication of a sudden change of plans.

It had to be something else.

Ghost looked around the small room. To his surprise, all the members of the other task forces and other high-ranking soldiers were here.

There was definitely something going on.

When Captain Price entered the room, followed by Kate Laswell, the lieutenant greeted his superiors with a slight nod.

Ghost felt like he was in some freaking action movie, or even more of a sci-fi movie. Everything that was said during the briefing seemed irrational and untrue.

When finally the four men of Task Force 141 and Kate were seated in the captain's office each looked at the one another, as if each individual wanted to reassure themselves that what had taken place just a few minutes ago had really happened. That these words are not the product of their overtired heads, destroyed by constant stress and adrenaline.

Finally, the captain speaks up, interrupting this exchange of glances.

“So, Kate. What should we do now? After all, we can't pretend that what was said a moment ago never happened. How do we get back to our duties.... How are we to look our loved ones in the face and pretend that something so strange is not waiting for us?”

“I don't know John, unfortunately I know as much as you do. Everything is happening above me, at much higher levels. We just, we just have to prepare as best we can. To try... hell I don't know, for the first time in my life I'm not sure how to act.”

The woman hides her face in her hands without saying anything more.

“So what, we're supposed to keep going about our work, just like that? and at the same time get ready for the apocalypse?”

Kyle nervously walked around the room gesturing.

The exchange of nervous and raised voices continued, and Ghost was the only one who did not speak up. He felt overwhelmed by all this information. Everything seemed to be happening outside of him. Somewhere beside him. He wished it didn't involve him.

“ And you LT, what do you think?”

Finally, the question asked by Soap, draws the attention of the others to the masked man and the voice in the room falls silent.

“We are soldiers and we have to follow orders. And from what the general has relayed. We are to keep working while preparing safe houses for the eventuality of an attack. Each of us has assigned activities. If we want to protect ourselves and our relatives let's just stick to the assigned plan. We are in this together after all. So let's just follow it. If Day Zero is to come, we must be as prepared as possible. ”

Day 733

Standing at the office door with steaming food on your plate and you momentarily hesitate to do something. Each single interaction with this man causes a strange pressure of nervousness in your stomach.

Every action he takes is unpredictable to you. Every reaction from him makes you doubt whether you will ever be able to establish any kind of a bond with him.

Finally, you end this internal struggle and knock on the door of the room. You wait a moment for any reaction, a sign of life, but nothing of the sort occurs. You put the plate by the door and hastily leave, hoping that the man will at least open the door and take the plate. He'll eat and maybe appreciate the meal you prepared.

“Let's talk.”

When you hear that low voice a few dozen minutes later, you flinch slightly on the couch. You put the book down and look at the man who is standing in the doorway leading to the kitchen.

“Okay.”

As he walks closer you involuntarily contract your legs on the couch, embracing them with your arms and nervously squeezing the blanket with which you are covered.

“We need to set some rules. I don't want the situation from today to happen again.”

Ghost sits down at the end of the couch without taking his eyes off you. He places a half-empty bottle of alcohol on the coffee table.

“You are extremely irresponsible. Do you know what could have happened if they had heard you? Do you know how that damn music could have been heard?”

Despite the words he speaks, the tone is monotone, and extremely calm.

“I didn't think...”

You say quietly hugging your legs tighter

“Of course you didn't think.”

With a snort, the man takes the bottle and, without offering you, takes a big sip. He does it in a rather efficient way because you don't even notice when the moment he exposes part of his face to easily take a sip of alcohol without dirtying his balaclava.

“Or maybe this is your way of letting your comrades know where you are, kid?”

“Oh god, seriously, you still don't believe me? I don't have the energy and already have no idea how I can convince you that I came alone.”

You nervously squeeze the material of the blanket while looking through your eyelashes at the figure sitting across from you.

“It's hard to believe that someone like that. Just like you. Was so lucky and had survived unharmed for so long.”

You don't answer him.

You are not ready to recount all the events that took place during those lonely months. Although you want him to trust you, you also partly understand his distrust. It is too soon for you to trust him. You don't really know anything about each other. And his behavior, what you saw in his house. Practically the whole house - a fortress, causes more question marks, more doubts.

“Are you a soldier?”

By asking this question, you hope to find out more and, perhaps, get some answers to nagging questions. You will somehow manage to get closer. You have to start somewhere. Do not persist in this exchange of thoughts about how you got here. Because it doesn't lead to anything.

“I was.”

“Because... because I see that you are well prepared. These supplies. The electricity. That tower.”

The man looks at the bottle he is squeezing in his hands

“Yes. This house was prepared for such a possibility. It is easy to survive here for many more years.”

Slightly you relax and decide to ask another question

“Since you are, you were a military guy. It's true what was said at the time, all those rumors. That you knew much in advance about what was going to happen?”

The man takes another large sip of liquor and gets up from the couch without looking at you.

“The interrogation is over.”

As he walks away, you repeat the words he said in his office last night

“'Interrogation? Ghost. We're just, we're chatting.”

The man stops halfway and, gently nodding, replies somewhere in space.

“Smart ass.”

and you could swear you could hear a hint of amusement in his voice.

Day 734-6

The next few days pass just like the previous ones. When you get up the house is already empty despite your best efforts you don't wake up before Ghost and Riley leave on patrol. Without an alarm clock this is a very difficult task. Especially since even though the room is claustrophobic and not too cozy, it is quiet and safe. They cause that every night when you put your head to the pillow you momentarily fall asleep and sleep all night.

Many months of stress and little sleep cause your body to finally give up, and your tired organism finally rests. It allows itself a well-deserved rest.

Everything is a routine. Every day is identical. And that's not the worst part. The worst thing is the fact that every day the man does not even say a single word in your direction. Returning, he locks himself in the office with a bottle while you knock, puts a plate with a meal in front of the door and leaves.

Even in the evening he doesn't come to talk to you. He treats you like air.

And, it's worse than when you were alone.

Finally, the next day when the situation repeats itself. Every action from the previous days is done by a man, as in a fucking routine.

Something finally breaks inside you. This is not why you try, you submit. You do not ask further questions or even question his decision that he keeps you locked up in this house.

However, this quiet and silence on his part, towards you, is something you can't stand.

When you knock once again and this time you don't put a plate in front of the door. You walk away a few steps and stand at the bathroom door waiting for Ghost to open the door to take the plate. And which should, as every day, be on the floor.

After a few minutes you hear the sound of the lock being twisted and the door slowly opens. The man, clearly confused, looks around the hallway.

“I thought maybe we could finally eat together.”

Saying this you turn around and head towards the kitchen.

Hearing quiet footsteps behind, you smile softly with satisfaction.

Dinner goes on in silence, Riley lies under the table near your legs quietly gasping. When he returns with Ghost from each patrol, the dog is visibly tired but definitely satisfied as well.

The man doesn't take his eyes off the plate. Now that you are sitting across from each other you can finally notice a scrap of his face.

The mask is folded up and reveals the lower part of his face. Several days of light beard cover a square jaw and, clearly, a strongly defined jawline, his mouth is wide even, his lower and upper lips are the same width. The lips are even and quite prominent. Despite the mask, you can only see a portion of his face, and despite the scars, you get the impression that there is quite a handsome man hiding under that dark material. Since he has a light beard, you wonder if his hair is light blond or maybe he is a brunette.

“Thanks for the meal.”

You are pulled from your thoughts by the man's low murmur.

“Sure no problem. I make a note of everything I've used up and try to take food with a short shelf life. And those that can spoil quickly.”

Ghost stands up and nods.

“Can I finally go on patrol with you? I'm bored here”.

“Sure, but not tomorrow. The day after tomorrow.”

To your surprise, the man returns from the room after a few moments with a thick and hardcover book. Beside the book, he puts down a bottle and brings two glasses from the kitchen.

He pours the clear liquid and moves one of the glasses toward you, and sits down again, at the table.

Taking a sip, you try not to choke and cough loudly.

You've never been a fan of strong and sharp alcohol. After taking a few more sips, clearing your throat, you finally get up the courage.

“I thought you preferred to spend your evenings alone.”

Saying this, you slide back in your chair to be closer to the man and have a better view of what is written on the paper and in the book open on the table.

“I thought you preferred to be left alone”.

He replies briefly, writing something down on a piece of paper and then reaches for the watch on his wrist.

Another throat-scorching sip of the drink.

“What are you doing?”

You curiously lean over to see better what the man is doing, tilting your head in his direction

“I'm setting the alarm, for the hour when the sunrise and sunset will be tomorrow.”

The man raises his eyes and looks at you. In this light, in the dim room, his eyes appear very dark. Contrasted by his light, long eyelashes, his irises are practically black.

Ghost moves closer to your face, the thick and rough material of his balaclava gently teasing the delicate and sensitive surface of your earlobe. Although his mouth is covered you feel the gentle whiff of his breath on the thin skin of your neck.

“You see. All you have to do is just, ask.”

After these words, Ghost gets up and leaves you alone in the room.

Day 737

Despite the fact that for most of the evening you recreate what Ghost did at the table, sleep comes quickly. Maybe it's the alcohol you drank, or maybe it's just tiredness.

However, just after waking up you still can't forget what happened in the evening.

Only tomorrow is the day that the man promised you that you would go on patrol with him. So now you have to get busy with something. Not only that, you want to prepare as best you can, but you need to occupy your thoughts with something and at least kill the slow-going time a little.

You look through the things prepared by the man for you, study the map you looked at the first day, read. Or you simply look out the window to at least get a little acquainted with the landscape of the neighborhood.

When it is finally time to prepare the meal to your surprise you find cd players and headphones on the kitchen counter.

Perhaps the man has heard you humming quietly to yourself every evening while cleaning the kitchen after eating. Since that fateful day, you haven't dared to put any more music on loudly through the speakers.

After cooking a meal, you remember to try on the shoes that Ghost had already prepared for you on the first day. Your old sneakers were not suitable for any use.

Walking down the corridor with headphones on, you pass another locked door. Finally reaching for your shoes, you put the cd player down on one of the trays in the hallway. And through your own carelessness you knock down an object standing on it. The heavy flashlight falls to the floor with a big noise. You hastily bend down to pick it up and check that you haven't broken it.

When to your satisfaction after pressing the button the flashlight shines with a strong light. Suddenly you hear a sound from somewhere far inside the apartment.

A tapping sound.

A steady one.

Rhythmic.

Pounding as if on metal pipes. Into the audible surface.

The sound spreads through the house.

A quick

A long

And over and over again.

You slowly turn around and head for the nearest door.

These look slightly different from the others. They are more massive, wider and have more locks. You put your ear to the cold steel door.

Bang.Bang.Bang.

Silence.

Bang.Bang.Bang.

Pause.

With a shaking hand you lift to the handle. However, when you pull on it nothing happens.

The sound doesn't stop, the door doesn't open.

When it finally occurs to you what the sound means from the other side of the hallway you hear a dog barking and the sound of the lock opening.

Ghost is back.

And there is someone in the basement calling for help.

SOS.

taglist:

@leviathanleva @chocolate-noodles @vmaxis @poohkie90 @ghostlythots @nobodys-coffee @famouscattale @youdontneedtoknow1226 @pimpinsins @justguessfan @novasilvae @pausbirudanlumbalumba @ella2497 @lunamoonbby @sams-pineapples @tonylagsagne @lurkinwbreexy @azkza @mooseblooddd

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villainofmyownstory · 1 year ago

Text

Hi! I'm V (Villain or Vi) | she/her

!!!!!!!! 18+ only! MDNI (nsfw + dark content) !!!!!!!!

writing fat reader characters | my native language isn't English

WIP updated 07/30/24

Day Zero

apocalypse AU - ongoing - chapter 7

Simon "Ghost" Riley x plus size fem!reader

masterlist | taglist | AO3 | playlist

Ghost and his dog Riley regularly patrol the city. A man has his own routine, every day, for almost 2 years, has to look the same. The man knows that he cannot change his behavior because deep down he still feels that someone will answer his radio signal. He doesn't lose hope. However, exactly 730 days after "Day Zero", no one shows up at the transmitter mast. Just when you finally get there. You've been trying to get here for weeks, seeing a tower in the distance. You needed electricity, and the tower had a source of light every night. And so each of you, individually, still thinks that you are the only one alive.

______________________________________________________________

Three copies and some signatures

part 1 part2

Simon/Reader/(Johnny)

You and Simon are married. A deal, a contract made only to avoid being deported. However, not everything can be predicted, lies are slowly consuming everyone. You, Simon and his real partner - Johnny. Feelings are stronger than words written on paper.

______________________________________________________________

click 'keep reading' to see more of my works

Blurry

exhusband!Captain John Price x fem!Reader

ongoing - part 2

You visit your ex-husband, in your once shared home. The memories are painful. But only for you. Unfortunately, after that one bloody mission, John doesn't remember you. The memory of your life together, blurred in his mind.

______________________________________________________________

GIF by adultstim

part 1 Blindsided part 2 Anyone Else

for Cali’s Nameless Challenge

nameless COD member x fem!Reader

You can't get over the breakup and the fact that you were left alone. You keep coming to the place where you last saw him. To, perhaps, finally get some kind of answer. Some solace.

______________________________________________________________

Light years

oneshot #GhostChallenge

Simon “Ghost” Riley x android/hologram!Reader

Many decades of longing. A lot of years of waiting. Hundreds of light years away from an Earth that no longer seemed like a memory, but a fictional story. A fairy tale written by poets. Earth no longer existed, and life on Zeus 2 went on as if the years of intergalactic war had never happened. As if the destruction of most of humanity had never taken place. There were still a few people on the new planet who remembered their lives on Earth. A past that was a memory stinging under the ribs. A small personal utopia for the last living people. Paradise lost.

______________________________________________________________

Incapacitation

König x plus size fem!reader

| AO3

You and König contact each other every day. Literally, you talk all the time. As soon as you open your eyes you see or hear him. König accompanies you in every activity. But you are no longer together. Despite the distance between you, you still hope that he will come back to you. One day you find out that König has fallen in love with another woman. Something inside you breaks. Once again. You will not let him decide about his life again, not this time. You know better what is best for him. You know König very well. After all, you talk to each other all the time.

______________________________________________________________

Zultanite

Poly TF141 x plus size fem!reader

masterlist | AO3

After inheriting jewelry from your dearest grandmother and one visit to a fortune teller. Your life is changing. Not once, not twice…. but four times.

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villainofmyownstory · 1 year ago

Text

Day Zero chapter 4

masterlist | taglist | AO3

Previous | Next

pairing: Simon “Ghost” Riley x plus size fem!reader

summary: Your horror and fear after what happened at the town hall are mixed with hope. Unfortunately, the newly met man in the mask doesn't make things any easier for you. He is stubborn and distrustful. However, when night comes, he takes you to his only safe place. To his house. Home.

tags: AFAB reader, plus size reader, dog german shepherd, weapon, suicide

author's note: I decided to post a new chapter today, unfortunately I'm having a worse time in my life again…. I hope it will get better soon. The longest chapter so far, let me know what you think.

Warning!! Mention of a suicide attempt, if you don't want to or can't read this, skip the parts where day 64 is referred to. Your mental health is more important! Take care of yourself, dear reader.

AO3

💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀

Chapter 4: The one where you visit Ghost's house

Day 732

Getting to the tower by car definitely shouldn't take as long as your hike. The distance to cover, from the center to the suburbs, did not seem so far. You both remain silent the entire way. Ghost keeps looking in the rearview mirror while driving. As if he had to make sure you were still sitting on the trunk. When it reduces speed or (worse) brakes to almost zero on the odometer. His gaze focuses on the mirror. As if the man expected you to take advantage of the opportunity and jump out of the car, taking Riley with you. You will run away and disappear, just as you suddenly and unexpectedly appeared.

Admittedly, you had no intention of doing so. Quite the opposite. You wanted to stay. Even though the man was hostile towards you, you were sure of that. Damn, he wanted to shoot you!

Like a hunter hunting a defenseless deer. A sniper in war, shooting at a designated, nameless target. Without blinking an eye, in cold blood, in one breath. Shot. Exhale. End.

Without even exchanging a word with you. Without asking you anything. Not wanting to know anything. One shot and you're done, you wouldn't even feel it. He pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Remembering what happened a dozen or so minutes ago, you clench your hands into fists. Rubbing the material of your gloves against each other. Feeling the rough material slide over the skin of your hand. You try to focus exactly on that feeling.. You don't want to let fear and terror get the best of you. Breathe, slowly. Don't let these bad thoughts defeat you. Luckily for you, the man didn't do anything to you. Maybe he is also a lost and lonely man. Who is slowly losing his mind under these circumstances. He can't cope. Just like you.

You swallow. The hands are still tightly clenched into fists. Your hands are sweaty from stress.

The sun slowly hides behind the buildings, getting darker with each passing minute. The night is getting closer. The car is traveling at a higher speed. There are fewer and fewer buildings, they are probably suburbs, so you are getting closer to your goal - the tower.

You have to be strong, not show weakness. Focus. To listen carefully. Observe.

Although it's all Ghost, he has the upper hand. He has the most important argument and strength - he has a gun. Also, he's in his own territory and is undoubtedly a man with military training. He's taller and better built than you. Definitely stronger and athletic. Yet you try to control another panic attack, you won't give in to him so easily. You may not be in a lost position. You just have to convince him somehow. After all, somehow he has to believe that you came here alone. If you gain his trust without lying to him, maybe he'll let you stay. You don't really have anywhere to go back to. That house somewhere far away wasn't fit to live in for another winter. No heating, a leaking roof, you could list more defects. And the food supply in the area was running out, you found almost everything edible. You didn't know if it would be safe to return to that place.

You swallow. Your hands are still clenched into fists. Sweaty from stress.

The sun slowly hides behind the buildings, getting darker by the minute. The night is getting closer. The car is traveling at an increasing speed. There are fewer and fewer buildings, probably suburbs, so you are getting closer to your goal - the tower.

You have to be strong, not show weakness. Focus. To listen carefully. Observe.

Without a doubt, the whole Ghost guy, has an advantage over you. He has the most important argument and power - he has a gun. Besides, he is in his own territory and is undoubtedly a man with military training. Higher and much better built than you. Stronger. Athletic. But, if you are trying to control another panic attack, you won't give in to him so easily. You may not be in a lost position. You just have to convince him somehow. After all, he has to believe in some way that you came here alone. If you gain his trust without lying to him, maybe he will let you stay. You don't really have anywhere to go back to. That house somewhere far away, is uninhabitable for another winter. There's no heating, the roof is leaking. And food supplies were running out in the area, you could find almost anything edible. You don't know if it would be safe to go back there.

This town you are in now is the only one of the larger ones in this area. He seems to be better organized, definitely better than you. You haven't even found a car in working order with at least a little bit of fuel in the tank. So maybe it's better to stay with him. It will be easier to survive. Maybe the two of you can find other people?

Maybe the man knows something more, maybe he knows about a settlement, a safe place? Some larger group of living people? Maybe there is some hope.

Meeting this man caused a small spark that some future might exist.

Although it is probably not difficult, you have never been able to plan or predict. You lived in the moment. Not worrying too much about what the next day will bring. Not really taking into account.

The consequences of your actions or, inversely, your inaction. It's time to grow up, the worried voices of your parents echo in your head. Well, maybe you should have listened to them.

You sigh and look away from the passing suburban landscape, still lost in your own thoughts. You look down for a moment, at your protruding belly and wide thighs. You haven't even lost much weight in the last two years. You blame it on your bad, inappropriate diet. You mainly ate carbohydrates and cans of ready-made or sweetened food. You found any canned vegetables less and less often. Lots of cans of carbonated drinks and lots of sweets. Not to mention salty snacks. It was easier that way. Everything had long expiration dates and was tightly packed. Thanks to this food, you satisfy your hunger and provide your body with endorphins. Fighting with your own bad, dark thoughts, when you had supplies of food and drink. You simply lay in bed on the mattress for weeks. Vegetating, waiting. Counting on... you didn't know what.

You look back at the passing landscape, individual buildings and road signs. City exit sign, highway exit, empty fields.

You regret that in the past you were never interested in the army. You didn't even know what military unit this man was from. The only thing that was clear to you was the British flag attached to his uniform. Maybe it meant something? Perhaps he was here for a reason?

Even now, when the cold of the coming evening and the breeze caused by the speed of the car caress your cheeks and exposed neck. This causes goosebumps and reddened cheeks. It was bearable, the feeling of cold wasn't really that bad.

The most significant thing is that you no longer have to walk.

The important thing is that after so many days you at last found hope.

The fact that you are finally not alone.

You choose not to think about it any longer, clinging to Riley, thanking him without words for saving him. You calm down a little.

When you finally arrive at your destination, the man hurriedly gets out of the car and opens the trunk with a gun in one hand.

“Riley stays with me”

If you don't mind the penetrating chill of the coming evening, the coldness in the man's voice definitely makes you shiver.

‘And you, woman, go into the building and tell your people to leave. I have you in my sights all the time.’

You don't have the strength to argue with him. Another exchange of words makes no sense at this point. You dream of eating something and finally taking off those damn shoes. Your legs hurt so terribly. Subconsciously, you already know that a verbal battle with this man is pointless now. He won't believe you anyway, he has to see for himself. See what you keep telling him.

One thing you were sure of right from the start. This guy was definitely confident and he didn't tolerate a word of disagreement, he knew best. Stubborn. Probably soulless, a killing machine. Who knows what bad shit he'd done in the past?

So as you slowly walk towards the building next to the tower, you wonder if your back might get shot. Simple and clear. He will execute you and this will all be over. Perhaps it would have been better. Maybe that was your end.

Fate. Destiny.

Maybe these two years of loneliness and torment were supposed to end this way. Your body will remain near the tower as a warning to other travelers. If anyone but the two of you had survived this long. Because during these few months, without seeing any sign of another person's life, you began to believe that you were completely alone. That somehow you were the only one who survived.

Day 64

You

You didn't think the crisis would come so quickly. That you will lose faith. You didn't see any solution to the situation, or there never was one.

You weren't the type of person who was sad, emotional, or prone to depression. You were always a ray of light, a cheerful green pea, as your dad used to say.

But now, as more days passed, more days of darkness, emptiness, silence. Fucking loneliness.

You couldn't handle it.

You have stopped looking out the window for hours, hoping that your loved ones will come home.

That some familiar face will save you. That someone will break the silence.

The worst were the sleepless nights. Curled up somewhere in a corner or hidden in a bathroom, somewhere in a room without windows. As far away from the outside walls as possible.

You gave up really fast. And you made one most important decision. And that day, early in the morning, when the first rays of sunlight appeared in the sky. You left the house at a brisk pace and easily reached your destination without stopping. Standing in front of the abandoned pharmacy, you knew why and for what you had come here. Without blinking an eye, you went inside and quickly found the right packages and took them from the shelves. Then, just as efficiently, you hurried back to the empty family house.

However, as you crossed the threshold of the building, the familiar smell, so close to your heart reached your nostrils. Home, the family nest. The door slammed behind you and then, for the first and only time, you hesitated.

Just as you had done for years, now, you called out to the empty rooms.

“Mom? Dad? Sis?... I'm back..."

Silence.

Nobody answered.

Emptiness.

So that was a sign, no one was there. And the decision was made, there was no turning back.

Sitting down on a chair in the dining room, you carefully unpacked the contents of the packages you brought. Earlier, you prepared a kitchen mortar and a glass of water.

Slowly, systematically, one by one, you place tablets of different sizes on the bottom of the agate dish. You don't know what quantity is right. Probably the bigger the better. The more the faster. The larger the quantity, the much painless it should be. You hope so. End the pain. Put an end to this misery.

Stirring slowly with a heavy stone pestle, you don't worry that some of the grinded medicine, will fall on the table. White powder stains the dining room table and your jeans.

Nobody will see the mess anyway. And if they do, they won't pay attention to such a detail anyway. They're more likely to notice you.

You pour the ground contents into a glass of water. Hoping that some of it will dissolve and make it easier for you to drink.

Bitterness. This is all you feel.

The cold water with the crushed tablets slowly passes down your throat into your stomach.... The bitterness on your tongue. The ground up undissolved pieces irritate your gums, sticking like sand between your teeth. You feel the acid under your tongue. Something in your throat.

You slowly swallow the rest of the mixture in the glass. Now you just have to wait. You fall asleep.

Alone.

But you won't wake up on your own. Eternal peace. Eternal peaceful sleep.

Maybe it'll be better if there's anything waiting for you afterward. If only this pain would go away.

That's what you're counting on. Well, you haven't been good at math since kindergarten.

Day 732

Finally, after a long while of walking, with a feeling of fear, with the gun pointed at your back, you reach the door of the building. With a deep sigh, slightly irritated by this whole protracted situation, you open the door

“Hey guys, come out.”

With irony in your voice, you look at the man standing at a notable distance from you.

"You see? Like I said, no one. here. There isn't"

You say angrily, clenching your fists. After a few moments, you turn on your heel and cross your arms over your chest, waiting for Ghost to move. Whatever was going on in his head right now was starting to irritate you. Constant silence on his part, and when he did have something to say. It was his words that were cold, harsh. Angry, rough commands. He addresses you without respect.

In fact, he treats you worse than a dog.

“I'll shoot you if no one comes out soon."

Ghost adjusted the gun resting on his shoulder, still aiming at you.

“No one will come out of this building...”

You sigh.

“...maybe you'll finally believe me and we'll end this nonsense? If this is how you host all your guests. I'd rather not know how my predecessors ended up.”

You add, exhaling loudly through your nose

“And I don't really want to find out”

While waiting for the man's reaction, you look at him closely. Why is he so hostile? Why does he still not believe you?

Yes, no one had the right in these strange times to trust anyone or anything, however, you appeared in the area defenseless. Without any weapons. You didn't even think to bring a knife with you. Nothing for possible self-defense. So he, after all, was just plain stubborn.

Finally, the man slowly, silently approaches you and searches the inside of the building.

Of course there is no one inside.

Paying no attention to you, the masked man turned around and moves back toward the vehicle.

“Let's go. There's not much time left.”

He throws over his shoulder in your direction. Nothing more, no apologies, you're right. I believe you now. No remorse, no understanding. Heartless, strange, Ghost.

As you sit next to the dog, with your back to the boot, the man starts the car with a squeal of tyres. The speed of the car is definitely higher. You are going too fast, even though there are no other road users besides you. It's as if Ghost is racing against the setting sun. Every now and then he nervously checks his watch and turns his head over his shoulder, towards the western sky. And so on and on.

The streets grow darker and darker. Night is coming. Nightfall.

This time you are heading in a different direction from the centre. A new, unfamiliar one. With Riley at your side, you watch the changing landscape with curiosity. Crowded, densely built-up streets with many tall buildings turn into new suburbs. Single family houses and wide pavements with overgrown yards appear before our eyes. This must once have been a nice, quiet and green neighbourhood. Families with children probably spent their best moments here, enjoying a happy life together. The middle class probably lived here and worked hard for every square metre. After school, children rode their bikes on the wide streets or ran on the green, evenly mowed lawns.

Once. Past. Memories.

Finally, after several minutes of crazy driving, the man parks the car next to one of the houses. Hurriedly he gets out and opens the garage door with a flourish.

Ghost quickly pulls in and reaches for the dog and pulls him out of the trunk. He puts him in another car, parked in the garage next door.

“Hurry up, we don't have much time.”

With that, Ghost opens the passenger door and gets behind the wheel without waiting for you.

When you change to a smaller vehicle and sit on the passenger side, you ask in surprise

“Why a we changing the car? What's going on?"

He doesn't answer anything, he rushes away. He drives for a while, again, in silence you notice him circling the area. You definitely pass the same house several times.

“Why are we driving around?”

You ask with a little fear. From minute to minute, every behavior of a man causes increasing nervousness in your body. Again, you find his behavior strange, irrational.

‘We need to confuse the trail, cover our tracks.’

The man finally speaks up and after a few moments stops at the next house.

‘Stay in the car and don't go anywhere, understood?’

Ghost quickly picks up Riley and, with the dog in his arms, marches quickly in an unknown direction. Disappearing from your sight after a moment. You're left alone, in the car, in an unknown place.

The sun was almost below the horizon, a small red glow gently illuminated the wide street.

Suddenly, the door opens on your side and you jump in your seat, slightly scared. Seeing the now familiar, masked figure, you breathe a sigh of relief.

“Shit!”

You clutch your chest, mumbling.

“Put this on your shoes and walk fast, damn it.”

The man hands you something like hospital slippers. You quickly put them on over your shoes. Hearing his voice, you know perfectly well that there is no time for discussion. Time is running out.

"Pull your hair back or keep it out of the wind and follow me quickly. Don't you dare turn around and stop!"

The man grabs you by the elbow and pulls you out of the car. He moves quickly, taking quick and decisive long strides. Compared to his legs, yours are considerably shorter than his, you practically have to run to keep up with his pace.

Not only do your legs hurt, but you are simply out of shape. Many weeks of trekking to this city and saving the portions of food you took with you. And also, the nerves caused by today have left you simply out of shape, out of strength.

Stumbling, your legs slowly give up and you hold your hair with one hand to keep it from being blown away by the wind, as commanded. You try not to fall behind the man.

At one point, Ghost slows down for a moment and turns his head, looking behind him.

“Damn it, faster.”

Regardless of your protests, he grabs you and lifts you off the ground.

"Hold on to me and don't let go."

He energetically grabs your hips and lifts you up, pulling your body towards him. He squeezes your plump body hard, digging into your skin. He's practically running now. You hold on to him, praying that he doesn't fall under the pressure of your weight or suddenly drop you.

However, nothing of the sort happens, and you both quickly reach one of the larger houses in the area. The only thing that distinguishes it from the others. Apart from its size, is that it has massive shutters and is not as overgrown with weeds as the others in the area.

The man opens the door locks, with one hand, and hurriedly enters the house. Finally, he sets you down on the floor, mumbles something unintelligible under his breath. He closes first one front door and then another, more massive one with multiple security features.

The room goes dark.

‘Where are we?’

You finally ask hesitantly, catching your breath. You didn't even notice when you held your breath.

‘In my house.’

He answers briefly and walks past you into the cramped vestibule, deep into the dark hallway

‘Take off your shoes and jacket, leave them here. Follow me.’

Ghost's house is warm and somehow strangely cozy. Standing in the doorway of the living room, while the man hastily closes the shutters and before the room goes completely dark, you try to look around. Get acquainted with the new surroundings.

The interior is decorated in a simple style. Plain, single-coloured shelves. The dark furniture bends slightly under the pressure of the collected objects. Against the walls, where there is no furniture, stand towers of neatly arranged things. There were a lot of objects here. Everything neatly, perfectly arranged. Books, CDs, clothes, bins, boxes containing other things (rather essential for survival and ordinary daily needs). Everything neatly and evenly grouped. You will not be surprised if you find that the man has everything carefully catalogued. So if you were to ask him for a small lithium battery of the CR1620 type, he would certainly find it in a few moments, without hesitation.

Despite the large number of items stored, the space does not seem cluttered. In the middle of the room is a large dark sofa with a small coffee table, opposite one of the walls on which is a large flat-screen TV. Looking to your right, you notice a slight glow and notice that instead of another wall with lots of cupboards and shelves filled in, there are open double sliding doors that lead into the kitchen. Now that glow reaches you, it's the light from the LED lamps above the worktop, slightly illuminating the distant room. You make a mental note to ask the man later where he gets his electricity from. Because he definitely has some sort of energy source. So it's not just the tower you were in last time that has a power source. It looks like this house has been inhabited for a long time and is definitely set up to live in such apocalyptic conditions for a long time. Rather, you could ask the man if he found this house by chance. Did he know about this building beforehand, and if not, how did he know to prepare so much?

Maybe he was one of those weirdos who believed every conspiracy theory, every rumour. Perhaps he was once in some sect that spoke of the imminent end of the world.

When Ghost finishes closing the shutters, the room is completely dark. You don't even hear the man moving around the room because suddenly you hear his low voice from behind you.

“Follow me, you need to wash up.”

It's only now that it's come to you. That's right. You must stink badly. Now the smell must be clearly noticeable in an enclosed room.

You feel a wave of shame sweep over you. Your cheeks are definitely red.

So many days of wandering, sleeping anywhere, as long as there was a roof over your head.

When you set off, you didn't take too many things with you. You mainly packed food, a sleeping bag and one thick sweatshirt, which usually served as a pillow. In order not to carry too many weight in your rucksack. You did not take excess clothing, but only the most necessary things to survive. You didn't expect to find much food along the way that was still edible. You didn't know how long the trek would take. However, you didn't think it would be that long. Too long.

So you turn away in shame, lowering your head, even though the house is dark, you are afraid of the man's gaze. You feel your way towards where the Ghost's voice had just come from.

You feel embarrassed about yourself, you must have, well literally, stank. You can't even remember the last time you washed yourself properly. Before setting off, you managed to heat up the water you had collected and washed yourself thoroughly in the bath. You don't even remember how many days ago that was. Too long ago to remember.

You have quite long hair, which you had tied up in a braid for days without even untangling it or combing it every day. Now many strands have fallen out of the braid, in fact, even your hairstyle looked more like your hair was loose than braided.

But the fatigue and frustration of the ongoing journey had subsided and you no longer cared about looking presentable. You didn't expect to meet anyone.

Seeing the soft light that spread a pleasant warm and yellow aura in the narrow corridor. You slowly approach the open door. Finally you hear the clear voice of a man from deep in the room, and he speaks to you again in the same dark and monotonous voice.

“Take a bath, you have everything you need in the bathtub”

Then, following his voice, you enter a slightly lit room.

It is a large bathroom decorated in a minimalist style. Dark tiles and silver fittings. No windows, no shelves of supplies. Simple minimalist interior.

A man stands next to a large free-standing bathtub. Without waiting for your answer, he leaves and speaks again.

“Wait a few minutes, the water needs to heat up”

Before you can say anything, Ghost pushes past you and closes the door behind him.

You stand in the room for a few moments, you feel so unreal and strange. As if you were in some hotel. On a special vacation.

There was a time, well, you hardly even remember, when you had things like hot water, warmth, a house without a dripping roof and just a safe space. Everything is prepared and at your disposal. You don't have to search for anything. Scouring shops and houses to find the thing you need like shampoo, toothpaste or a hairbrush.

You sit down on the closed toilet, gently remove your gloves and place them on the sink, having to wash them by hand to put them back on as quickly as possible.

You struggle to remove your shoes, and a terrible sight appears to your eyes: socks that were probably white were now a mixture of several colours. Brown, greyish black or crimson. With great difficulty you remove the sock, hissing loudly in pain. The cotton material has stuck to the dried blood, fusing with the cotton material of the sock and with your foot. Some of the wounds are reopening. Most of the nails are practically black. They are likely to fall off soon. Now that your feet are finally uncovered and you are free to lay them on the cold stone tiles on the bathroom floor. You breathe more deeply.

Cursing under your breath, you try to undress. You slowly stand up, shaking on your swollen legs. It seems to you that it is even worse than when you had tightly knotted shoes on your feet the whole time.

After a few moments, you slowly reach for the rest of your clothes and slowly undress, throwing your dirty clothes on the floor. The last layer of clothes, the one closest to your skin, has practically stuck to it. The material is wet, as if greasy and even hard in some places, soaked through with the sweat that your skin has secreted over many weeks.

When you finally manage to undress, with shaking legs you walk over to the bath and sit down on its edge. As you turn on the tap you almost sob with joy. It's been a long time since you've seen running water. Hot straight from the tap. It used to be a normal thing that attracted attention, today it's an incredible luxury.

You hesitantly reach your hand under the flowing stream of water and shiver with pleasure. It's really, really warm. You don't even know what you're going to say to Ghost when you get out after your bath. You are so grateful to him. There are no words now to describe your joy and gratitude over such a trivial matter as this bath.

You reach for the bottle standing next to the bath. A 3-in-1 body wash. For men. Well, you can't have everything. But even if you only had warm running water at your disposal, you wouldn't mind at all.

When the bath fills to the bottom, you slowly step into it and sit down. Despite the growing tingling on your skin and the pinching of your wounds. You lean more comfortably against the tub, tilt your head back and close your eyes. You finally feel comfortable and can relax, at least for a while. Your muscles and injured skin, although they seem to hurt less for a while, can finally rest.

Hot water heats the bathroom, slowly steam appears in this small space, it becomes stuffy.

The bath takes a really long time. You contemplate how the water will slowly warm your frozen, swollen body. You wash every inch of your body thoroughly. The gel smells nice, you can feel lavender and sandalwood.

You don't care that a man might be angry with you and full of further resentment. Because you spent so much time in the bathroom. That you used too much water.

It feels so wonderful. Blissful. You finally wash your greasy and tangled hair and massage your scalp. You feel tears coming to your eyes. For the first time in you don't know when, you feel safe, just clean and comfortable. You allow yourself moments of weakness.

Relaxed, you fall asleep, but unfortunately the bad memories haunt you once again.

Days 64-66

You

You didn't see how long it would be before these peculiar cocktails full of anxiety would kick in, so you chose the closest place that seemed comfortable. The sofa in the living room.

Lying down, you hugged one of the cushions you had taken from your parents' bedroom earlier. It was big, soft and smelled like.... Mum. Home. The closeness. Security. Stability. All the good things that no longer existed.

You don't know how much time has passed, each passing minute seems like an eternity.

Eventually your eyelids become heavier and heavier. Your breathing slows down. You fall asleep. Hoping forever.

Unfortunately, you were wrong, the mixture of drugs was not what you expected. You wake up with a terrible, huge stomach ache, headache, nausea. You don't even have the strength to open your eyes.

You vomit. You can't collect your thoughts, you don't know what's going on. There is only one thing in your head: pain, pain, pain.

All this goes on for hours, moaning in pain, nausea, fainting. Breathing problems come on suddenly, convulsions occur.

Everything is one long agony.

This is not how it was supposed to be.

You were not meant to suffer.

Tears run down your cheeks, mixing with the vomit that is practically everywhere. You must have fallen off the couch. You don't even feel yourself hitting the floor.

Everything hurts so much.

You fall asleep for brief moments. It all continues, the pain, the crying, the momentary loss of consciousness and then back again. Vicious circle. Endless.

When it all goes away for a while, you don't have the strength to get up, you stare at the white ceiling. Your heart beats fast.

Night and day pass. In the end, everything slowly subsides. This time you have failed. Something gave you another chance. Maybe there was a reason that you survived after all.

Days 732

You

You wake up abruptly and only after a while do you remember where you are. The bath water is already cold. You sit up shrinking your legs, hugging your legs tightly to your chest, wrapping your arms tightly around them. You bury your head, trying to make the bad memories disappear, hide, or preferably erase them from your mind.

It's not just the constant, daily nightmares that remind you of the ordeal that day. When you swallowed the ground pills and the wrong mixture caused one of the side effects to appear. That night you lost some of your hearing.

Maybe it was a punishment, or maybe it was meant as a reminder. It's not worth it. You shouldn't. No.

You will never forget.

Once the water is very cold, we get out of the bath. Although your body has thankfully relaxed a little. You wrap yourself in a towel and look around the bathroom. No sign of a change of clothes. After all, you're not going to parade around in a small towel that barely covers your pudgy body.

Slowly, hesitantly, you open the bathroom door, wanting to call out and ask a man for clean clothes. Because there is no point in wearing the old ones. They are fit to burn at most. You don't believe that even the best washing machine and detergents can cope with such dirt that has dried for weeks.

Looking down the corridor you notice a few changes. The corridor is softly lit, no longer dark.

And the other thing is that there is a chair opposite the bathroom door.

And on it lie nicely stacked brand new clothes, deodorant and a toothbrush. Next to it lie plasters, bandages and wound disinfectant.

You look around the corridor, but there is no one there but you.

In the distant kitchen you hear the clink of plates and cupboards being opened. You think you hear the clatter of Riley's claws walking quickly across the kitchen floor, a very familiar sound, something known from the past.

In addition to the symphony of sounds, your nostrils are filled with a smell. Food. Dinner. Definitely a warm meal. It's all so unreal, ordinary, idyllic. So innocent and mundane. As if those two years never happened, as if you were spending your weekend off gossiping at a friend's house. And you weren't struggling in drudgery and terror to survive.

Hurriedly, feeling your stomach growl with hunger, you pick up the things Ghost left for you from the chair. You glance at the tag of one of the clothes, not only were they the right size, they were from a really good and expensive company.

Returning to the bathroom you smile slightly, hugging the fresh and tactile clothes.

Well, maybe meeting and visiting Ghost's house wasn't as bad as you thought at first.

And maybe under the mask he wasn't such a scary person after all.

taglist:

@leviathanleva @chocolate-noodles @vmaxis @poohkie90 @ghostlythots @nobodys-coffee @famouscattale @youdontneedtoknow1226 @pimpinsins @justguessfan @novasilvae @pausbirudanlumbalumba @ella2497 @lunamoonbby @sams-pineapples @tonylagsagne @lurkinwbreexy

#simon ghost riley x reader #simon ghost x reader #simon riley x you #cod #ghost #call of duty fanfic #cod au #ghost x reader #simon ghost riley #simon riley x reader #ghost cod #dayzero💀

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villainofmyownstory · 11 months ago

Text

Day Zero chapter 6

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pairing: Simon “Ghost” Riley x plus size fem!reader

summary: The constant mistrust of each other causes permanent tension and resentment. No one can admit what they are really hiding.

tags: AFAB reader, plus size reader, dog german shepherd, alcohol, weapon

author's note: Thank you for your replies. I love reading your comments, they make my day! Feel free to write to me here if you have any questions, complaints, concerns, whatever. <3

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Chapter 6: The one with half-truths

Day 737

Everything happens as if in slow motion. With every single heartbeat. Animation played frame by frame. Blink after blink of an eyelid.

And the constant audible banging of pipes, somewhere downstairs in the house.

If it wasn't for the fact that Ghost was holding Riley on a leash, the dog in a frenzy would probably have bumped into you at full speed and plunged its fangs into the thin skin of your neck, driving blades tearing through your aorta in seconds.

If it wasn't your dog, that's probably what would have happened. However, despite months of separation, you knew this dog very well. He had never behaved like that. And most importantly, he had never behaved so aggressively towards his owners.

Fury was written all over his face, his eyes reddened, bigger than usual. Loud stifled whimpers, interspersed with loud threatening barks. He acted as if he was facing a rival, not a familiar person. A deadly enemy.

Excess saliva ran down the dog's coat dripping and soiling the hallway floor.

The dog jerked, trying to reach you.

You involuntarily turn sideways towards the dog standing more confidently on slightly bent legs, raising your arms as if to hide behind them.

However, when Ghost's voice gives the dog simple and firm commands, the dog's attention turns to the man.

Although the tone of his voice is not pleasant, nor are the words he speaks. Somehow, they cause the frantic race of thoughts in your head to stop and the fact that the dog does not want to attack you reaches you. The truth is that it wants to attack that which is making itself known with loud bangs, hidden down in the basement.

The man speaks loud but calm commands to the dog, which, further enraged, slowly calms down and stands back on two paws, continuing to growl throatily.

However, he eventually obediently stands by the leg of the masked soldier and just looks in your direction with his head lowered.

"What the bloody ‘ell did you do?"

Ghost slowly walks in towards you. You notice that he wraps the leash around his hand so that it is even shorter.

"I’ve asked you a question, what ‘ave you done, kid?"

You stare at the man, trying to somehow logically explain the whole situation. But no clever words come to mind. You haven't really done anything, at least nothing deliberately.

He is the one who should explain himself. It wasn't you who had a big secret hidden in the basement. Clearly, a very alive mystery.

Finally you straighten up by lowering your arms along your body and look more confidently at the uniformed man in front of you.

"I- I didn't do anything.I was trying on shoes and suddenly there was a knock on the pipes. Ghost, what the hell…"

Another sound from downstairs sounds as if with redoubled force. Interrupting your words. This time the sounds are non-rhythmic, as if full of despair and hope that someone will finally hear it.

A cry for help.

The man looks towards the door then raises his gaze to your hand, around which the leash is tightly tied. Then his eyes return again in your direction - to the door. As if pondering, he is trying to resolve some inner personal battle that is going on in his mind at the moment.

"Get the dog and go to the bathroom, lock the door and don't open it till I come for you."

Ghost says quickly untangling the leash from his hand and quickly tying it around yours.

"No, no Ghost it's..."

"Bluddy 'ell there's no time for a chat. Just do what I tell you. Get Riley and go to the damn bathroom."

The man pulls lightly on the leash provoking the dog to move but the dog, like you, has no intention of moving from its spot.

"Fuck. Kid, cooperate..."

He hisses through clenched teeth the man reaches for the keys he had on a chain in his tactical vest.

"No, Ghost!"

You yell desperately. What if this man is not who he seemed. Although, he doesn't evoke positive feelings, he hasn't made you feel threatened or more afraid of him in the time you've been in his house. Apart from the incident on the day you met him, Ghost has behaved harshly towards you, but he hasn't tried to hurt you.

However, hearing those desperate noises from the basement, many thoughts popped into your head, many solutions to explain it all.

What if he was one of those lunatics who lost their minds during months of solitude. What if he was already some kind of madman before Day Zero or... maybe he was a soldier who enjoyed killing, a war criminal, a fucking murderer. Which is what... no. Nodding your head negatively you want to banish these messed up thoughts from your head. What if what you were eating, what was hidden in the icebox, that blood red meat wasn't what you thought it was all along.

Trying not to explode, holding back a sudden vomiting reflex, you stare at the man with horror.

"Well, spit it out. I can see you wan' to say something."

Ghost saying this goes to one of the closed doors and quickly opens it. His movements are swift and decisive, and despite the prevailing semi-darkness the man emerges from the room after a few seconds holding a gun in his hands. A freakin' shotgun.

"What the..., Ghost! Who are you holding in there? Why are you keeping someone locked in the basement? Who-who are you?"

In terror with your voice raised by several octaves you shout at the man waving your hands towards the door and the man.

"Go. To. Bathroom. Now."

Ghost loads the magazine and walks towards you. With his free hand he grabs your arm and, squeezing harder, pushes you deeper into the corridor. Towards that bathroom.

Riley now obediently standing by your leg again growls loudly and practically barks hysterically.

"No, damn it! I'm coming with you, there's someone alive in there and you're what? What's going on here?"

You try to say anything logical. But the stress, the adrenaline of this whole strange situation causes a torrent of words to pour out of your mouth, merging into one squeaky whole. The previously quiet place is now a cacophony of many sounds, voices. Chaos.

Ghost turns towards you leaning in your direction. A large and tall monument of a man who seems the only one composed in all this madness. When his gaze is at your eye level for a few seconds without blinking he looks into your frightened eyes as if he wants to reassure you, to look somewhere inside you and without words calm you down.

‘Please.’

This time his words are subdued as if calmer. Despite so many sounds that are now sweeping through the house, you stand as if in hypnosis focused only on the low voice of the man in front of you.

"Please, I'll explain everythin’ later. Go to the bathroom for God's sake."

Ghost leads you to the bathroom at the end of the corridor, the same one he let you take a bath in on your first day.

When he made sure you locked the door from inside only for a brief moment you heard his hurried footsteps towards the cellar door. Then the clink of keys and the creak of a steel door opening.

The slam of the door closing.

A few moments. Maybe two or three minutes.

And there came silence.

Nothing, no banging.

Curled up in the corner of the bathroom, you try to control your slightly accelerated breathing. The chase of thoughts comes up again.

As soon as the bathroom door closed and the sounds from the basement stopped, Riley momentarily calmed down. He lay down next to you gasping louder, but it would seem that the events of a moment ago and his sudden attack of aggression had not happened.

Counting your breaths, squeezing harder on the leash you still held, you try to put your thoughts in order. Still, the man, Ghost himself, is an unknown to you. Just when it seemed to you that you had somehow made a step forward in this strange and unusual acquaintance of yours. His sudden behaviour made you take two big steps backwards. It was as if he was tightly wrapped in a slippery cocoon, which you were trying to climb inside, slipping every now and then.Just a few hours ago, the memory of this sudden closeness is still vivid in your mind. The unexpected proximity breaking down the barrier between you, when last night you felt his mask on your cheek and his warm breath on your neck.

Maybe it was your delusion, that event at the table after a few sips of alcohol did not happen. Or it simply meant nothing.

Now, all in all, it didn't matter any more.

Even the fact that closeness, with another human being, was something you craved somewhere deep inside. And ironically, you didn't even realize how your body, mind and soul craved and longed for physical contact with another person. Maybe it wasn't even about any intimacy between a man and a woman. But that kind of contact with the other person - ordinary human, friendly and comforting.

But now it all didn't really matter, the fact that he cooked such a good dinner, the fact that he prepared your clothes, shoes other useful things. Or that he even left that old-fashioned cd player.

Small gestures, but somewhere under your skin you felt a pleasant tingling, this gentle trembling releasing a pleasant feeling, somewhere buried deep in your body.

It was all shattered. Buried many feet underground, even covered in concrete. Perhaps no longer recoverable, through what had just happened.

Now a secret hidden a dozen steps down, under the floor, behind a steel door. It caused fear and uncertainty, as if you had gone back in time and, just as you had done for so many long and miserable weeks locked in your family home or in the strange houses you had lived in, you sat huddled in the darkest and most remote room huddled in a corner. Praying for the return of normality, begging anything, anyone to explain the chaos that was happening outside.

Now, huddled in the corner of the bathroom in Ghost's house, you try to explain in any way you can, or perhaps reassure yourself.

But no logical and sensible explanation came to mind.

There was someone down there. Someone. Alive. Just like you or Ghost. So what was he doing down there, how did he get down there and most importantly why did the man lock that person down there.

The man in the mask is like a fucking enigma to you. Questions and doubts constantly brewing.

What if you weren't the first person to get caught in this man's trap, what if this tower and the signal weren't meant to help, to save. But were some kind of lure for the lost, lonely and frightened last surviving travellers. What if it was all some kind of bullshit game of hunter and prey.

Were there more people in the basement, why hadn't you heard anything all those days. And how long had they been locked in there.

And most importantly, were you supposed to end up there too?

Every second a new thought pops into your mind, a new question, frightening and electrifying to the marrow of your bones.

You are finally pulled out of these chaotic and nervous musings by the sudden movement of a dog. Riley rises quickly and stands on four paws trying to approach the door. With no time to react you hear a knock.

"It's me, Ghost. Open up."

You slowly get up on your feet and with shaky legs, approach the door. Grabbing the handle and the door lock with your other hand, you sigh and quietly say

"I'm scared..."

"Christ, open it and let's talk."

To your surprise the words spoken by the man are not full of anger and hostility or the irritation you already know so well.

Once again, already countless times, his behaviour surprises you.

"What if, what if I end up in the basement too? How do I know you won't hurt me?"

You lean your forehead against the door praying that his words will reassure you, just like when he told you to go to the bathroom, when he bent down and in a calm tone told you what to do.

"You won't get there"

Riley standing next to you lightly tugged on the leash that you involuntarily still hold in your hand, he scratched the door with his paw as if he too wanted to convince you to leave.

‘Look there's Ghost, you've got nothing to be afraid of.'

"You won't end up in the basement..."

“You're staying here, I can promise you that. You don't belong there."

No no no. Impossible. Promises were not his habit.

This couldn't be true. After all, this house was, no, is a fucking fortress. A tightly secured place. Not prison for... anyone.

Shaking your head, you try to control yourself.

"I don't believe you. Someone is there and you..."

You say through gritted teeth.

“It's your home after all, Ghost. This is not some prison, this is not a place where…"

“Open the door and let's talk face to face, okay? I'll answer any question, just get out of this bathroom.”

His snarky, low timbre of voice penetrates the door with ease. Your shallow breathing slowly fills your lungs. For the last few days, no, for far too long you've been under constant tension. You feel like a ticking bomb whose fuse has slowly backfired and is getting closer to detonation with each passing day. An explosion.

The dog is impatient, hissing louder and louder every passing minute, scratching at the door and nudging your leg with its head as if to hurry you along.

As you finally turn the key in the lock with a quiet clatter and slowly open the door, Riley takes the opportunity to squeeze through a small gap and with a stifled bark comes to the man's feet sniffing him.

Like a shadow with your head lowered you slowly walk out of the dark room and follow the man and your dog.

When you reach the room, the same table where you allowed yourself a slight exaggeration in terms of the amount of alcohol last night. And the man has crossed that unwritten and invisible personal space. And ironically, everything looks like the day before. As if nothing had happened. Just another quiet day.

Ghost is still dressed in a heavy tactical gear, with that creepy skull attached to his balaclava.

When he finally sits down without waiting or saying anything to you he reaches for a bottle of some expensive drink again. Pouring himself a full one, he places the already half-empty bottle in your direction and takes a few large gulps.

Wiping his half-covered face with a glove, he finally turns towards you

"We don't have all evening. Hurry up."

This time you don't sit close to him, you sit across the table from him, placing your hands on the tabletop nervously plucking at the slightly tattered fabric of your gloves.

"I want to."

The lump in your throat tightens, preventing you from saying the sentence out loud properly and with an air of certainty.

"Come on, kid."

He snaps, covering a gentle smile with his raised glass, slowly taking another and another sip of alcohol.

You want to say so much, to ask so many questions that have not only been swirling around in your head since that basement situation, but that have been clogging up every minute you've spent in his house.

But you are so afraid, somewhere deep inside you, underneath the feelings tightly buried underneath the fear, you are afraid that he will say what you don't want to hear.

Who he really is. No saviour, a rescue for your lost and lonely self. Or maybe someone completely different, evil.

Finally, clutching the fist of your left hand tighter, you lift your gaze and stare angrily at him.

"I-I want to know who's in the basement."

The corners of the man's mouth lift higher, upwards, and mockingly, nonchalantly he replies to you

"Nobody."

A clenched fist hits the table with heavy force. Riley concernedly rises from the doorstep and looks at you both.

"You think this is funny! You think... You're having fun, aren't you? What the hell is wrong with you, dude?"

The man leans back in his chair, getting more comfortable by relaxing his shoulders and straightening up he seems even more amused by your sudden attack.

"There's no one there. No more."

Answering he tilts his head lowering his gaze to your clenched hand which still rests in the same place on the wooden table.

"Why the gloves?"

"Why the mask?"

You reply fiercely and immediately, grimacing your face in anger.

Ghost lets out something resembling a monosyllabic laugh while tilting his head back while nodding disbelievingly.

"I'm the one making the rules here. No more questions."

With fury you stand up and pointing your finger at him hisses through your teeth.

"You don't want to answer my questions? Fine. Get the hell sober, then we'll talk like adults."

You turn on your heel and quickly leave the room. You want to be as far away from him as possible, even though you feel you've wasted your time and strained your already shattered nerves you're still glad it wasn't today that you heard his true motivations.

At least one more goddamn night in this warm house.

One more warm meal. And tomorrow...

"It was.... hell, I had one of them"

His words momentarily stop you in mid-step. It seems the man himself regrets these frankly spoken words, as if he has surprised himself with this sudden surge of truthfulness.

"I had everything under control. I don't know why it woke up."

When you turned to look at the man he was already hunched over the table nervously moving the empty glass in his hands without taking his eyes off it. It was as if he was afraid to look at you knowing that he would see no understanding, just another wave of sinister angry looks.

"Do you mean to say that all this time. When I was sitting in that damn house. Locked up in so many locks! For fuck's sake! I was locked in with one of them? I can't believe it, this is crazy. There's something wrong with you."

You shake your head. Even though a storm of emotions is sweeping through you inside. A raging hurricane, a tornado. You stand still, not moving in any direction.

"It's not like that. You were..still. You are, safe here. Safer than anywhere.Besides, it's more complicated than you think."

Ghost responds by speaking slowly, in a trembling and hoarse voice.

"This is classified. Confidential. I can't say anything more. But that one, it's not a problem anymore. I've dealt with it."

Finally, shaky legs lead you back towards the table.

"Are you demanding honesty from me? And now you say it's classified? And you won't provide any explanation? I think I deserve, any explanation. Unbelievable."

You snort angrily, turning on your heel and this time walking out of the room unstopped by Ghost's next spoken words.

The only audible oddities in the house are your quick footsteps and the clatter of Riley's paws who, seeing you disappear into the dark hallway, immediately ran after you.

Day 738

The sensation of a firm grip on your shoulder and a vigorous but slight shaking, gradually awakens you from the extremely peaceful and deep sleep you had fallen into after the emotional afternoon of the previous day.

A quiet and steady male voice, heard as if spoken from somewhere in the distance, slowly brings you back to a state of consciousness. From the pleasant images of your dreams, you are pulled out by a strangely familiar - and yet other than usual - voice. It sounded different. As if he was the opposite of the one you had already become used to during the last few days here, his voice was as if friendly, and perhaps a tad affectionate.

"Wake up, hey. Get up."

No, you must have thought so. Perhaps due to sleep, Ghost's words sounded like a favourite, oft-played melody. He had never spoken to you in such a tone.

Slowly opening your eyes, still glued together from a pleasant sleep, to your surprise the vision in front of you is invisible. Darkness continues to reign. It must be very early in the morning.

Grimacing and yawning involuntarily, you drag yourself up straightening your ossified limbs and your sore muscles, stiffened from the hard mattress.

"Good mornin’ "

Mumbling uncomfortably, you notice that your pyjama shirt has pulled up tightly during the night, pulling your protruding belly away. Sitting up you grab the hem of the tee quickly pulling it down. And at the same moment as the soft material of the shirt covers your body, feeling the cotton weave under your fingers - you freeze.

You are not wearing gloves.

In a panic you clench the fist of your left hand, praying that Ghost, like you, can't see much at this hour. That, thanks to the tightly closed shutters, not even the smallest, first rays of the rising sun entered the room and prevented you from getting a good look.

You don't remember taking your gloves off before going to bed. You only took them off when you took a bath and quickly washed them. What is there to say, ever since you crossed the threshold of this house and made sure that your left hand was either clenched into a fist or hidden, so that a man wouldn't see what you wanted so badly to hide from him. Even while sleeping in this bizarre tiny room, or rather resembling a storage room. The gloves were still stuck on your hands, thoroughly covering every bit of skin on your hand.

You didn't want to let the man finally see what you were trying to hide from him.

And you had good reason to do so. Revealing the truth could have cost you a lot. Well, it could have cost you your life. Literally.

You are pulled from these feverish musings by the next words of a man who was now standing in the exit, almost in the corridor.

“Gather up, we're leaving in twenty minutes.”

Finishing his sentence, he turned his back and started down the corridor with a quiet chuckle, adding

“You don't like getting up in the morning, do you, birdy?'

When you finally look at yourself in the bathroom mirror after your morning toilet, you are surprised to find that your previously grey, heavily tired face with large bags under your eyes has slowly taken on more vibrant, cheery colour.

You correct the clothes you found a few days ago on one of the neatly stacked piles of clothes. Hoping they will be good on you and the man won't mind, considering that they were definitely not to his taste.

Stepping outside, Ghost is already standing in full gear with Riley on a leash, who merrily wagges his tail while standing evenly by the man's side. The weather promises to be sunny, the sky shrouded only by single, small clouds. Even in the distance you can hear birds singing.

One would think that it is a simple May morning, like any other for many years. The same, lazy and peaceful. The world slowly waking up to life.

Except that as you take your first steps on the stairs and Ghost hastily closes the locks, you don't hear the noise of passing cars or the chatter of neighbours in the yards of their houses at all. Apart from the birds and the light hum of the wind, there is that familiar, and unbearable, silence.

"Come on, get in."

The soldier's voice is again just as you remember it, harsh, commanding and unpleasant.

“Get behind the wheel, I'll take care of monitoring the area.”

It's been a while since you last sat behind the wheel and drove a car. However, it was probably nothing difficult, reckon it's like riding a bike. Once learnt it is never forgotten. You check the position of the side mirrors and wheel, and adjust the saddle so that your legs reach the pedals comfortably. You fasten your seat belt and, breathing deeply a few times, start the engine by turning the key in the ignition.

With little bouncing and whooshing the car finally starts. The drive is slow, the man instructing you which way to go.

Riley sits on the boot of the back as if copying Ghost's behaviour, stretches his neck out and looks carefully around.

The landscape outside the car's windows is typically urban, straight intersections, buildings standing tightly side by side. As the city has been uninhabited for a long time, greenery appears in the least expected places.

Between the sidewalk tiles or in the roofs, holes of buildings.

It's quiet in the car, only every now and then Ghost breaks the prevailing silence for a moment and gives short and quick commands, pointing you in the direction of drive.

You are still angry with him for yesterday afternoon. For the lack of any explanation and for his drunken ramblings about secrecy and confidentiality , about pratically everything you wanted to ask him about.

Clutching your hands tighter on the steering wheel, you stubbornly do not turn your head away from the windshield, focusing your gaze on the straight and smooth asphalt streets.

Finally, you open the window from your side to feel the brisk breeze of spring. You smile gently, feeling the warm wind brush your cheeks.

Eventually you drive quite far from home, Ghost tells you to stop at one of the buildings. The district seems to be more industrial than residential. Large buildings with broken windows stand by the street scaring its view, by casting extensive shadows on the street.

“One of the cameras has been activating every now and then for some time. Maybe it's broken, because it should only activate when it senses some movement.”

Ghost looks through the window on your side, pointing his finger at one of the walls of the tall, oblong building.

“Maybe it detects some kind of herd, wild boar or hares. It's getting warmer and warmer, everything is waking up after winter, maybe they're looking for food.”

“How does it all work?”

You interrupt him, looking in the same direction as the man.

“Why don't you finally say something more about all this, you are quite well organized. Why don't you say it's a confidential matter and I won't find out anything more?”

You turn your head in his direction, trying to read something from his posture, his movements in the passenger seat. Unfortunately, wearing a mask, it was difficult to understand what feelings were going through him at the moment.

“Yes, most things are classified, but.... I can tell you something,” he replies

The man gets out of the car and pulls the dog out of the trunk. You hastily get out and stand next to them.

“The cameras have motion sensors, so they don't run continuously. I have solar panels, aggregators, so when it comes to power, there is no problem. The house, as well as important points in the city, have been prepared for such an eventuality. So by taking care of it and having the knowledge, I can live here for many long years.”

Ghost looks at you crossing his arms over his chest. Riley, without waiting for you, walks down the street sniffing cars left on the side of the road.

“So you're saying that you knew... that you were prepared for all this?”

“Not exactly, but yes. I was trained to survive in difficult conditions. I also learned a lot during those two years.” - he said.

The man pulled the gun off his shoulder and looked at it carefully

“That means you have running water, electricity. You've got supplies, weapons.... It means that all the rumors that were repeated months before. They were true. That the government, the military, other services.... knew about it! You knew what was going to happen!”

Ghost lifts his gaze from the gun and looks back at you squinting his eyes and sighs loudly

“It's... complicated. No, we were not prepared for such a situation exactly. It's ... just there was information that something , close to it, might happen. But no one expected such chaos, annihilation. And what it is now.”

Maybe the man was telling the truth, maybe he wanted to convey something to you that would finally cut short this intrusive race of questions that was going on in your head. Or maybe the man answered evasively, lying in an attempt to simply reassure you in a twisted way.

“And the basement?”

You finally ask this question hoping that the situation from last night will not repeat itself.

“It's classified.”

Ghost replies roughly

“Come on. After all, the law, the governments, all that stuff is gone. You can't hide behind continued professional secrecy or whatever you want to call it.”

Raising your voice, you nevertheless try to sound calm, not letting him know what emotions are gripping you.

You felt like throwing yourself at the man, beating him with your fists shouting for him to finally end this farce and tell you everything you want to know.

If you were to cooperate and live side by side you had to be honest with each other.

And in this case, unfortunately, you were afraid that you could not be completely honest with him, because the truth could cause more damage and problems than keeping silent or partially ignoring the issue. Maybe lying was not always the worst option, maybe it was the lesser evil. Less harm, and less pain.

“There was one of them in the basement. Unconscious. That much I can say. Come let's check that security camera.”

After checking the camera, which Ghost said was fully operational, the man decided to search one of the neighboring buildings.

Then you go in a steady rhythm to the tower, at noon, where for more than an hour Ghost waits for any signal or the arrival of anyone. However, no one responded this time either. Not a trace of anyone.

Returning, as the suburban landscape moved lazily past the window, you decided to ask a few things again.

“Are there more places like yours?”

Asking this question, you took your eyes off the road for a moment and looked hopefully at the man

“I don't know. There are several houses similar to mine planned in this town. They should also be in other strategic places. But... I don't know, I haven't heard from anyone since Day Zero.”

“So you think... you think it's the end of humanity, that this virus, bacteria, whatever it was and it's infecting people, it's so strong that.... eventually everyone will become one of them?”

“What exactly do you mean kid? The end of humanity?”

You roll your eyes hearing this nickname once again

“Why are you calling me ‘kid’?”

Your fingers nervously tap the steering wheel, and when you don't hear an answer from the man, you add

“I'm not as young as you think.”

Ghost visibly amused snorts

“You're young enough for me.”

“Then what should I call you old man? Actually, I don't know what's under that mask. Maybe you wear it to somehow hold back the big wrinkles?”

Ghost snorts visibly amused

“Maybe you're right, maybe not.”

The man focuses his gaze behind the view outside the window and follows something on the sidewalk.

“Stop quickly.”

You press the brake pedal, causing the vehicle to jerk suddenly.

Ghost hastily gets out and heads a few steps behind the car.

You get out and run up to the man.

“What's going on Ghost?”

As you approach, you look to the spot over which the man is crouching

“Blood. But it's already dried up. Maybe some animal got hurt. It's not a large amount.”

You notice a small dark crimson stain on the sidewalk right next to the curb.

Ghost gets up and looks around.

“I'll let Riley out to check the area, but I'm sure it's the blood of some small animal hunted by some larger predator.”

As Riley searches the area you and Ghost stand next to the car in silence watching the dog's actions.

“Do you know how to shoot?”

Ghost is standing next to you with his hands folded over his chest his tone of voice is a little more pleasant this time, perhaps more sympathetic even.

“No, I've never shot,”

“I'll teach you.”

The man replies briefly and pulls one of the smaller gun from its holster.

Holding it in his open hand, he displays it so that you can see the item accurately.

“Are you left-handed or right-handed?”

“I don't know. When I was a kid I learned to write with one hand and the other... so.”

You answer and Ghost turns the weapon around so that you can freely grab the handle.

“See which hand you're more comfortable in.”

Catching the weapon uncertainly in your right hand, you are surprised by its heaviness. Despite its small size, the weapon is relatively heavy.

“Relax, the gun is locked.”

Ghost saying this corrects your hand on the gun so that you can grab it more comfortably and with a firmer grip.

After a while you release the grip and, hesitating to move the gun to your other hand, you remember that if you grab it with your left hand, the man may notice something you've been trying to hide from him all these days.

Nevertheless, the man speaks, as if reading your mind.

“Your left hand, you always hide it.”

The man slowly takes the weapon from your hand and puts it back in place.

Standing opposite each other, with the sun gently covering the clouds, you could finally take a calm and close look at the man. His dark eyes in the daylight were a warm brown, like two ambers in which were embedded flecks of glittering gold and reddish glitter. His eyes are unique, staring at you with full attention and concentration. You could swear that underneath that scary and menacing-looking skull mask, Ghost was smiling. The corners of his large eyes were crinkling and along with his long (for a man, he had bloody long and thick eyelashes - oh how you'd love to have those), forming a peculiar, lovely frame around his eyeballs.

Looking at him has your body warming, a fire igniting under your skin.

His hand has slowly moved towards your left arm. In a gentle grip, he grabs your wrist and just as slowly lifts it up so that it is stretched out in front of you.

You feel his hard slightly rough thumb slide with unusual tenderness over the top of your wrist gently hooking the skin that was already under the material of the glove.

You say nothing, your eyes remain in uninterrupted contact, and the man wordlessly tilts his head slightly to signal you not to worry. Interrupting the soothing finger movement, the man slips his index finger and thumb inside the glove, catching your hand in a slight squeeze and unhurriedly moving his hand so that the glove material began to slide away from your hand.

Riley suddenly breaks off on all fours running towards one of the deserted tall buildings. He falls into the same rage that he had fallen into the day before when those sounds were heard from the basement. Barking loudly and nervously, he sprints towards the dark, open entrance of the building.

Ghost lets go of your hand flexing his muscles and straightening up.

He looks towards the building the dog was running towards and then at you at the same moment pulling the gun off his shoulder.

"Get in the car. And close the door."

The man hastily checks the number of magazines he has on him and lights the torches he has attached to his tactical gear.

"Come on!"

He shouts urging you on.

"What's going on, why should I get in the car? Maybe someone is out there? they need our help or something?"

You ask nervously looking towards the building in front of which the dog was standing furiously and out barking noisily.

"Bloody hell, kid. Our help? Are you really that stupid? They don't need our help!"

"They? What are you saying, maybe there's someone out there injured, but- but alive?"

You stammer, flustered.

“I don't believe it. You really think they need our help. They are dead. And damn dangerous in the herd.”

You nod in the negative and shout in chorus.

“How can you know if you're standing here? Hell, how do you know who's out there if you're here. Do you always assume the worst?”

“What the-. Wait. Wait, kid.”

Ghost turns around and grabs your elbow in a strong and pain-inducing hug

“Do you want to say. No. Fuck. Impossible.”

Ghost's muffled words merge with the loud barking of the dog, which stands uninterruptedly furious in the same place.

“You're suggesting, no... Can't you hear them? Don't you hear that chorus of penetrating squeaks? That cursed sound you hear all night long, reaching the farthest recesses of your brain.”

The man jerks you harder, as if he wants to force an answer out of you.

And you stare at him with fear. Not because of the threat that most likely lurked in the dark recesses of the abandoned building.

But you fear that the truth, which you hide not only under the material of your gloves, will be something that will make the man decide to end your life, just like what he kept in the basement. You know perfectly well what he is capable of.

Because by revealing the truth, you may reveal something that you have been hiding even from yourself. Because when, after a failed suicide attempt and after many days of agony and suffering, you finally came to your senses, you noticed with horror and alarm that the penetrating squeals that accompanied you every night had quieted down.

You didn't hear them anymore.

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