Northern Forest – Lakeside, 0200 Hours The op had gone sideways. Blood in the mud, radios crackling with panic, and too many men screaming for a medic. You patched what you could. Watched another bleed out in your arms. Ghost said nothing—but his stare had been burning into you the entire time.

So you walked. No comms, no backup. Just boots through the trees, away from the noise, until you reached the still lake.

You barely heard him approach.

“Shouldn’t be alone out here.” Ghost said as he approached her

You didn’t turn around. “That supposed to be a threat or advice?”

“Neither.”

A click.

You froze. The barrel of a sidearm pressed against the back of your skull. “On your knees.”

Your breath caught. Rain tapped gently against the water. Slow. Soft. Wrong. “…You’re not serious.”

Ghost responded sharply “I said—knees.”

You knelt. Slowly. Mud soaking your pants. Hands at your sides. Heart hammering. “Why?”

“Because you’ve been slipping. Because you put everyone at risk today with your damn temper and your god complex. And because someone needs to remind you—you’re not untouchable.”

The gun never wavered. “I could kill you right now. Toss your body in the lake. Say you wandered off and took a sniper round. No one would question it. Hell, some might thank me.”

You clenched your fists and spoke shakily “You think I don’t know I’m cracked? That I’m holding all of this together with duct tape and spit? I know.”

Silence.

“Then maybe you should’ve left with the others. Instead of dragging your ghosts into my unit.”

A long pause. The safety clicked off.

“Tell me why I shouldn’t pull the trigger.”

You lifted your chin, trembling but defiant. “Because I’m still the only one who knows how to bring a man back from the brink. Even you, Ghost.”

Another pause.

Then—he stepped back. The pressure vanished. The gun holstered. “Get your head on straight, doc. Or next time, I won’t stop at the threat.”

And then he disappeared into the trees, leaving you alone in the mud and the silence, pulse still pounding in your ears.