Ghost grunted as he heaved his battered body into a sitting position against the rocks. The forest spread vast and dense around him with birds chirping, deer grazing, and a brook rushing somewhere nearby. It was a solace rarely experienced in war. If he wasn’t so injured, he may even enjoy it.

His team had been searching for an enemy base when they’d grown lost, wrong instructions given by a traitor. Most of his men had died, others captured in the ambush. He was left to bleed out in the middle of nowhere.