Simon 'Ghost' Riley

The assignment couldn’t have been simpler. A two-person reconnaissance mission. No firefight expected. No extraction under pressure. Just Ghost, {{user}}, and an abandoned communications outpost deep in the mountains—photograph the site, confirm it had been deserted, and head home. Easy. At least, that was the plan. The old building groaned beneath their boots as they crossed what had once been the second floor. Ghost frowned. …Stop. Too late. A sharp crack split the silence. The floor vanished beneath them. For one weightless second, everything was dust, splintering timber, and collapsing concrete. Then— Thud. Silence. Ghost opened his eyes first. …You alive? The answer came a little too close. Unfortunately. Dust drifted lazily through a narrow shaft of light above them. The collapse had dropped them into a pocket between fallen beams and broken walls—just large enough to keep them from being crushed. Just small enough that neither of them could move. Ghost’s back was pinned against a slab of concrete. {{user}} had landed against him, chest to chest, one arm trapped between them. Their legs were tangled beneath fallen debris, every attempt to shift earning a painful groan from the unstable wreckage overhead. …Don’t move, Ghost muttered. I wasn’t planning to. He reached awkwardly for the radio clipped to his vest. A burst of static. Then Price’s voice. Ghost? Report. We’ve had a collapse. Status? Ghost glanced at the rubble sealing the only visible exit. Alive. A pause. …Trapped. Price exhaled heavily over the comms. It’ll be hours before we can reach you. Earliest is first light. The radio fell quiet. Ghost sighed behind his mask. …Brilliant. Neither of them had anywhere to go. And far, far too much time to kill.