《A Ghost's End》


 "Worlds finest, my ass"

    "Ghosts" they called us. Hiding among the bodies of the dead, popping out like supernatural creatures, that whole superstitious bullshit. As epic and awesome as that sounds, it couldn''t be farther from the truth. Our origins, and our present, is the biggest shit show I could ever think of in my life period.


    Us "ghosts" were formed on accident, lots of dead, a lot of blood, and they just told us to keep doing what we do, namely go behind the enemy and stab''em in the back until none are left. Mercy wasn''t exactly recommended in this line of work. If you wanted in, though I really doubt you''d have any choice, you''d have to get used to producing some nightmarish sights.


    As you could probably tell, I''m not here to tell a badass epic story of our exploits. To be completely honest, we weren''t the lucky ones. The lucky ones get remembered as heroes, mysterious spec ops heroes. Us? We''re the ones who accepted death the moment we got in. Before I forget, the name''s Nick, I''ll tell you the story of how me and my dull partner became the unluckiest motherfuckers in just one night.


    After flying so many missions, injecting ourselves into hostile territory you''d think we''d get used to it by now, but to be honest, I don''t think anyone could get used to flying in the dark, can''t see shit anywhere. The point is to blend in but hell wearing all black even with night vision, I''d be surprised if I can properly see within a few feet away from me.


    From that cheery thought, I already knew that tonight was gonna be especially shitty, but then again, as "ghosts" we pretty much expect to die until we actually go back home. While I was on one side of the chopper trying to get my bearings, Kyle, my partner, was fast asleep like a damn baby. How that fucker can fall asleep with noise like this, I have no idea. We''ve flown a bunch of missions together and the guy always starts it off sleeping.


    I don''t know why they always pair us up together, especially on boring clean up operations. Not like we haven''t trained for this shit every fucking day. Honestly I just think the higher ups hate me so much that they thought that Kyle would be a balance to my extremely charming personality.


    Our mission was to clear out a terrorist stronghold of any hostile for the main army to occupy, and, as much as possible, leave them guessing on who did it. We weren''t called "ghosts" for nothing after all. They told us something else to look out for while we''re there but can''t really remember. I''m only ordered to shoot and kill, and occasionally mame, not to pay attention.


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    As I sat waiting and staring into the dark, our pilot told us our drop point was only a few clicks away. I checked my equipment, pulled down my nods, and readied myself to drop. I turned to check Kyle and the guy was still fast asleep. You have got to be shitting me.


    "Wake the fuck up, sleeping beauty!" I yelled and kicked the guy. The bastard woke up as if I was his alarm clock and reacted like a normal person out of sleep. "We''re just a few clicks away from drop, get your shit together." I said crassly.


    He didn''t seem to be fazed by my urgency, to be honest, he didn''t look like he¡¯s even capable of reacting. He slowly checked his shit. He brought a huge sniper rifle for cover during the operation and his side arm had been a custom USP .45, silencer and extended mag. This guy was equipped for long ranged combat. Great, I guess I''m on my own to get up close and personal with bastards.


    "Come on man, put some hustle into our missions, can''t have you sleeping while I''m busting my ass out there" he finished checking his equipment and gave me a blank expression with his eyes. "Let me be sleepy, and I let you be an overgrown child, sounds good?" Oh this smartass really wants to get his ass beaten.


    "Besides it''s good to get some shut eye, we''ve been flying for an hour since 1100 on the dot." he says looking out to his side of the chopper. "Whatever, man" I responded. "Why''d you even agree to go on this Op, you could''ve just slept back at base." I asked him. "Command said it was urgent, I just do what I''m told." he plainly said. "Besides I have nothin better to do."


    He''s got a point there, when we''re back at base our unit would usually just keep to themselves, the rest of the grunts don''t even know who the hell we are, some of them think we''re just a bunch of assholes in the army who made their own clique, and he says I''m the overgrown child.


    Coms turned on and the pilot started to talk. "We''ll be dropping soon, remember you boys still got a ways to walk to the stronghold since I can''t land near the place without getting some unwanted attention." "From here on out, as per usual, you''re on your own. You will get no support from anyone."


    "My heart aches from the loss of your support." I snarky replied, at the annoyance of the pilot. "Radio silence is integral to mission success and-" "Yeah we get the drill, we don''t need a refresher." I impatiently said. The pilot let out a sigh of frustration.


    "We''re here, travel 4 more clicks north and you should see the stronghold. Whatever you guys do from here is your business, good luck." We both dropped from the chopper and watched as it left to the direction we came from.


    "Let''s get to work." Kyle said. "Finally." I responded. We knew exactly what we were getting into the moment we joined the ghosts. We knew that we were risking our lives more than most in the army would, and we were fine with that. What we weren''t expecting was that this not was about to get a whole lot worse.

 "2 against 80? No Problem."

    We started walking the distance to the stronghold. Normally on marches, we''d have rucksacks for the rest of our shit, but since this is a stealth operation, all we had were our weapons, our armor, and a few rations. Fun, right?


    We took breaks in between our march to enjoy our crappy rations, and take a breather. We mostly sat in awkward silence, since we usually just talk about the mission, although there have been a few times we''d talk about personal shit. We''re in a profession where certain death is pretty much a part of the job description, so might as well right?


    "Do you have any idea what was going on at the stronghold?" I asked. Kyle looked at me with a questioning look. "You really don''t listen to any of our briefings don''t you?" "Shut the fuck up and answer the damn question." I said impatiently.


    "Calm down, just pointing out a fact." he said with near zero emotion, as usual. "I''m pretty sure you know that we''re up against a terrorist group." Obviously. "They should be connected to a newly emerging group in the middle east, hence why they dropped us in Afghan soil." I already knew this shit.


    Kyle looked at me seriously "Just pay attention would you?" he said. "However, new Intel suggests that this group has connections to a superpower, we''re meant to investigate the connection in its entirety."


    "Man, I knew there was a reason I didn''t pay attention." I said while eating the rest of my MRE. Kyle gave no noticeable reaction. "I''m surprised they haven''t adjusted that attitude of yours." he said. "It''s cuz I get the results they want." "And what would those results be?" he asked, already knowing the answer. "We''re government sanctioned hitmen, assassins, bounty hunters pretty much, what the fuck do you think?"


    "Hey we still got orders, and if they say alive, then we follow." What the fuck does he mean alive? This job has nothing but dead, rotting corpses. "It don''t matter what the job is, we kill, or get killed. I''d much rather prefer the former. And I plan on keeping it that way." "To survive?" he asked. "No, cuz it''s fun beating the fuck out of the enemy."


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    "You''re a psychopath." Kyle said, still with no emotion. "Got a problem with that?" I snapped. "No, as long as you''re effective, it''s fine by me, besides makes you less dull than any soldier in this day and age." he explained. "Coming from a guy who sounds like feelings are complete bullshit." he shrugged, not surprised.


    "Whatever works for us, we got a job and I do it best the way I am." gotta say I''m a little curious how he got this way. We walked a little more until our rations were already at half, but by then, we could see the stronghold. It was huge, alright. A long, and tall concrete wall stood between the abandoned houses and the outside. Around twelve guards lined the walls watching over each four sides of the damn fortress. That doesn''t even come near to how many were inside, that were within sight. Kyle began to set up his sniper and adjusted his scope to the distance between our high position to the stronghold.


    "How many we got?" I asked Kyle, he stayed silent. He just stayed there silent and laying on his stomach. "Yo Kyle, how many we got?" Still no response, is he deaf or something? "For the love of..." I was prepared to kick the shit out of him before he gave me a gesture to hold off. "You really need to calm down." he said, finally. "I count twelve on guard on the walls." he adjusted slightly to the right.


    "Twenty on the east side, scattered and sleepy. Easy pickings." he adjusted to the opposite side. "Thirty in the buildings in the west, sleepy but a lot." For a second, I would''ve thought he was worried. "The rest must be in the buildings." he said, adjusting his sights to the center of the stronghold, toward the biggest building. "I see ten inside. Two by the entrance, three on the second floor, and five on the third."


    "Anything about these guys imply a superpower involved?" "Nah, weapons are your standard AKs, no modifications, old mounted pickups, some RPGs." This is gonna be easy then, near hundred barely armed terrorists against two elite killers. What could possibly go wrong. I thought to myself "Maybe I should take my time have some fun." I can feel myself grinning at the idea. I saw Kyle looking at me with a questioning look, raising his brow under his mask.


    "You really are a psychopath." I found it funny, he seems to have no problem with and yet he called me out on it. "I''d like to think I turned out ok." I shrugged. "Besides, I''m just honest about my fucked up thoughts. If that makes me a psycho then so be it."


    "Whatever man, just get ready to go down there." Kyle ordered. "Don''t start feeling something now, I''m going." I triple checked my USP .45, , MP5, and my utilities to see if they''re all there and functional. Everything seemed to be good to go, I turned on my radio and checked to see if all was green on both mine and Kyle''s piece. We switched to a channel made for our unit and tested it to see if we could hear each other.


    We gave each other nods to signal that everything was good, then I made my way down to the ground and started walking toward the stronghold. A stronghold filled with roughly eighty enemies against me and my partner who''s a few hundred meters away with a sniper, along with the fact that we only have little intel to go on on the entire damn place.


    "At this point they''re honestly trying to get us killed." I said to myself, letting out a chuckle at the idea.

 "Time to have some fun."

    Two hundred meters away, only a reticle between me and my target. All it takes is one motion and that target is gone.


    I must have been real deep in my thoughts, because I forgot that Nick was radioing in through our comms. "You better not be fucking sleeping, prick." he said in his usual colorful way. "Shut up." I responded without thinking. As much as I do tolerate the guy, he can be a bit of a pain in the ass sometimes. "Get your shit together would you? You have a visual on me?" I focused myself, and scanned the area with my scope.


    I scanned along the wall to see if Nick had reached the stronghold. Low and behold, he was waiting in the west side of the stronghold, just hugging the wall to avoid being spotted by the sentries along the walls. Though, I don''t know how he could avoid getting spotted, flipping me off the entire time.


    "Stop fucking around and get to work already." I said impatiently. He responded with a snarky laugh. "You and I both know you enjoy the work, uptight bastard."


    I didn''t want to admit it and give him the satisfaction, but he wasn''t wrong, I enjoyed what we did. But at the end of the day it''s a job someone has to do. Nothing more, nothing less.


    Nick looked around and became confused judging by the way he''s scratching his head like a frustrated kid. "See any way in?" he asked.


    I scanned along the wall and other than the main gate blocked by a checkpoint and exposed in the light, the only other way in is a small and very old sewage tunnel further along the west side.


    "There''s a sewage system further along the wall from your position." I responded. He grunted. "This place is old. Can''t you find any openings or something?" he protested. "Stop bitchin already, and swim." I said strictly. Nick let out a disapproving groan. "This better be damn worth it." he said irritatingly. His suffering provided me with a few minutes of entertainment as I waited for him to make it inside.


    Luckily, these bastards never bothered to leave men by that crack in their defense. I mean, lucky us right? After a few more minutes of grunts, groans, and the occasional profanity from Nick, he finally made it inside, seemingly in one piece. I could only barely spot him amongst the many enemies surrounding that area. As he got out of the sewage, he immediately began to wipe and scrape whatever is left of sewage crap on him. "After swimming through shit, I deserve a raise." Nick said. "Did your mother ever teach you manners?" I asked genuinely, contrary to my normal tone.


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    "Nah, she taught me to curse whenever I see fit. Which is nearly every fucking time with this job." He said, seemingly proud of the fact. "Then let''s quit the chatter and get it done." I said and we both maintained radio silence for the most part and commenced our mission.


    Nick began to move through the camp, with me keeping an eye on his immediate surroundings. It amazes me, that all the time we have worked together, contrary to his usual behavior, he dispatches his enemies with quick and silent efficient methods, if not a little bit overkill. I called out targets for him to take out, and each target I mark, one more enemy dies with his last sight being the sight of Nick''s skull mask and his blood rushing down their neck. It''s a wonder how none noticed enemy blood, which baffled me with Nick''s abilities on the field. I have asked him about this previously but I only got a laugh and a "That''s a funny thing." as a response from the bastard.


    Before I knew it, half of the hostiles in the west side had gone down to half, and not a single soul knows better. "Don''t get too excited now." I reminded Nick before he could kill any more. "You''re no fun." he pouted. "The point is to go unnoticed, so I think they''ll notice if a good amount of their men are dead."


    "Hey a lot of the men I killed were asleep, they won''t be expecting them to answer for a while." I sighed in slight annoyance at his sarcasm and humor. The man almost never takes anything seriously. "Your mother teach you to be this uptight?" he asked out of nowhere but seemingly genuine for once in his life.


    "She taught me how to focus on what''s important and to be strong." I responded. "Looks like someone was loved as a child." I let out a soft chuckle. "I wouldn''t exactly say that."


    Before we got into our conversation, I noticed a patrol going in Nick''s direction. "You got hostiles incoming at your six, Nick." he turned and took cover by a few of their supply boxes. "You did hide the bodies didn''t you?" he gave me a few seconds of silence and an unsure pause. "Nick?" I asked again.


    "Calm your shit, I hid what was necessary." he answered, annoyed. "Where did you hide them?" I asked. "You really don''t wanna know." he answered cryptically.


    As much as I needed him to be straight with me it wasn''t important we needed to deal with the patrol. I aimed my sights on the patrol, counting at least four in the group. They were nearing one of the tents that had been set up for sleeping quarters, which is also where a few of the dead bodies were. I saw Nick following close behind them, with his knife ready in his hand, I knew all he needed was my signal.


    I trained my crosshair on the leading man, slowed my breathing, took a deep breath, aimed then fired my shot....headshot. Before the others could scramble and alert others, Nick had stabbed and slit the throats of the two at the back of the patrol, in time to kick the third down and finish him off. "Nice shot." Nick said, which was probably the only compliment I ever heard from him.


    "Hide the bodies and move on, before I make another one." He chuckled at my response. "It''s one kill ya prick. What''s gonna--?" "I shoot anymore I''ll give away our while operation. Or did you forget guns and bullets make a lot of noise." he only mumbled, obviously annoyed at my scolding. "Don''t lie, you''re itching to pull that trigger a few more times, fucking show-off."


    We remained silent once again as he hid the bodies and hustled towards the main building. He was right though, I wanted to shoot some more, I was enjoying this. And now, I was hoping that I¡¯d get to have more fun.

 "Well, shit...."

    I thought the building would have been a good excuse to start shooting up the place because of all the hostiles in there, turns out I shouldn''t have bothered. Nick had enough cover and assets to be able to get through it on his own with minimal detection. I say minimal, cause he tends to be a little theatrical with his kills. As entertaining as it was gruesome, the man could have a little respect for the dead.


    "Respect?!" Nick quietly shouted over the comms. "These assholes are out to destroy the livelihoods of people just cause it''s necessary to their fucked up cause." he explained slightly annoyed. "Never took you to be a zealous type, Nick." he scoffed at my comment. "Hell no, they''re hostiles, therefore, they are enemies, and if they''re enemies I have the right and the obligation to shoot them." he paused for a while to slit an enemies throat from a dark corner and pulled him back to hide the body. "Or in this particular case, mutilate them. Plain and simple."


    "Guess you weren''t loved as a child then, were you?" I asked. "I grew up to be a sadistic, government sanctioned, psycho, what the fuck do you think?" Guess I shouldn''t have asked. As a little time passed, Nick had managed to pass most of the building undetected and was unbearably bored by the fact.


    "Y''know, I think we should make things interesting." Nick proposed. "How so?" I asked. "I bet I could clear the room. No support. Zero detection." The next room he had to go through was the last one he needed to pass before his target point. About ten hostile, all armed. I only had a clear shot of about three of them. His odds of winning his own bet is impossible, then again we wouldn''t be ghosts if it weren''t.


    "Just don''t make me clean up your shit." I responded. He scoffed, I knew he was arrogantly smiling on his end. "Winner gets to flip the switch." he said. That was when I realized.... Again, we are fucked up. "Only you would see that as a win, sadistic bastard." Before I could say more, Nick threw a smoke grenade in the room, and filled the room with smoke almost instantly. Bastard really didn''t want me to win. As soon as the room was covered, he went in.


    I kept my scope on the room, and to my surprise, I didn''t see any flashes nor could I see any of the men rushing towards the scene, he must really be doing it. It took a few more minutes before I could see even just a little bit of the room. And I''ll be damned, the guy was able to clear the room on his own, I saw about five men down on the ground bleeding out, immobile. The other five were on their last breaths, like that even matters at this point. I focus over to him and see him boasting, and for the final touch, the middle finger. Cocky prick.


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    As he was reveling in his success, in the corner of my scope I saw one of the wounded men go for the wall. On the wall I saw a rusted button, which must have been an alarm. He was right in my sights, and without hesitation, I took it, startling Nick in the process. "What the hell was that for?" he said, infuriated. "You missed one." I told him. "Bitch was gonna die anyway." "He was going for an alarm, genius." he stood speechless when he saw the button I did. "Looks like I get to blow shit up now huh?" I said, smirking. I swear I can hear Nick silently murmuring every curse in the book.


    We proceeded our mission as planned, and the next room is our target point. I had no visual of the room so I had to rely on Nick''s eyes. "What do you see?" I asked. "Documents, photos, laptops...." he pauses for a moment. "What else?" I asked anxiously. "What the fuck....." he whispered on comms. His voice sounded shocked, and horrified. He isn''t usually like this, in fact he''s never like this. What the fuck did he see? "Hey what''s there?" More silence followed my question. This is starting to get annoying. "Who.... Why the fuck..." he kept saying. "For fuck''s sake, Nick!" I yelled with anxiety and frustration in my voice. Then I heard a laugh on the other end of comms.


    "Jesus calm down, it''s just a creepy ass bullet board." I fucking knew it. "Were you scared?" I can almost here a cocky laugh on the other end, fucking prick. "Awww you were worried about me. I''m touched." Nick gloats in amusement. "Shut the fuck up and tell me what you see, damn bastard." I quietly urged him to do it. He tried his best to hold in his laughter, I emphasize "tried". A few moments of silence followed, I assumed he was being thorough in inspecting the rest of the room.


    "It looks like someone''s been targeting specific operatives and operations..... Keeping track of progress......" His voice seemed to become more grim. "Who were they targeting?" "I can''t tell, most of the targets here seem random, but safe to say they''re targeting US personnel." Nothing new there, I guess. "Alright grab what evidence you can then get the hell outta there." "Copy." He responded. I kept my scope on Nick''s position until I noticed that a few of the hostiles started to move, as if they had been commended to. I noticed they started to gather at the entrance of the center building, where Nick is right now. "Hold up, Nick. You got a commotion brewing up out the front." I notified Nick as soon as I could, however instead of hearing his response all I heard was static. I tried multiple times to hail Nick, but static was the only thing I could hear on my headset.


    Before I knew it, I heard footsteps and rustling behind me. Before I could see who or what it was, I felt an instant pain behind my neck and I felt my body fail and my head lighten. My vision became nothing but dark as I lose my vision in no time, I''ve been compromised.

 "My End"

    I kept calling Kyle on the other end, hoping that fucker is just ghosting me for scaring him the first time. The last thing I heard from him was something about a commotion, I think? Everything went static before I could hear anything else from Kyle. As I made my way down the steps, I couldn''t hear anything. From the room to the hallways, not even a single footstep or just the snoring of these sleepy fucks. It almost seemed pointless to sneak around and keep quiet but I can never be too careful in these situations.


    When I reached the second floor, I noticed that the lights outside became brighter as it was able to leak from the window. I guess that was the commotion Kyle was talking about. Why are they all gathering? Did they see the bodies? That would definitely be a first for me. But wouldn''t that mean that they should be searching everywhere for me? Man this hurts my damn head just thinking about it. I just kept telling myself that this is my perfect chance to get out of here, since they''re busy moving around and shit. I didn''t know what was going on, and how could I.


    As I was making my way down to the first floor, the lights stopped, and I noticed that the lights were shining directly into the first floor. Which only meant that their lights and most likely their guns were aimed inside. Which meant they knew exactly where I was...... EXACTLY...... Where.... I..... Was. Those fucking bastards.


    "Hello? Is this working?" I heard a voice coming from my comms at last...but it wasn''t Kyle. "Talk if you can hear me." I didn''t respond. "I already know you''re in there just save us both the trouble and respond like a civilized individual." I needed to keep quiet, this may be a bluff, albeit a very on the nose bluff at that. I ain''t gonna fall for something like that. "Should''ve known, you ghosts were never really civilized were you?" the guy kept talking." Well let me put it in ways you can understand." his voice raising, the man is pissed. "If you don''t respond in any way, I can easily just kill you and go about the night as I fit." "However, if you do respond I may just be able to help you get you out of that sorry excuse for a life you lead, as a glorified government thug." This guy sounds so stuck up, I can almost picture him with a damn monocle and mustache.


    He is right though, there''s no way for me to get out of this, not alive anyway. So if I''ll die then I guess I might as well hear what he has to say before I do. Who knows? Maybe lady luck, or Jesus Christ will finally bless me with some luck or something like that. I stood up and raised my hands away from any of my weapons, and walked forward into the light. The light was so damn bright, did they have to point it directly in the building? I may be wearing black but I''m not that invisible in the dark.... Am I?


    I could barely see my way ahead, it''s a wonder how I even made my way outside. When I got out, in all honesty, I should''ve shat myself with what greeted me. Nearly five times the force we saw before. "Well, shit." I said to myself. "So you do have some common sense after all." I looked around to see who was the one talking, and of course the man was dead center of the whole army.


    He raised his hands and half the men lowered their weapons. "I thought I might have to just kill you inside the building which would have been, admittedly, a little barbaric for my liking." the man said, stepping out of the crowd. In all honesty I was a little disappointed. He didn''t have a monocle nor did he have a mustache, although he did have clean long blonde hair, for a guy. and His skin was fair and there wasn''t a single stain from dirt or something. The guy looked like one of those British aristo-cocks.


    "From the looks of things, I''d say I''m the only one with common sense between the both of us, which is saying a lot." I responded back. "And why is that?" he asked. "You are a man trying to eliminate an entire fortress, filled with armed guards and weapons, all alone." he paused. "I''m sorry, with only yourself and a friend." he gestured to one of the soldiers. The soldiers approached him and brought a man. It was Kyle, beaten and bruised, his mask off and his forehead bleeding. That explains why he wasn''t responding. "Jesus, Kyle." I said. "You look like crap." He didn''t respond, he must be out cold.


    "So pray tell, how are you the man with the most sense?" the man asked. "Well...you look like you should be sippin tea in the morning, and having lobster for dinner in your damn mansion." I responded. The man simply chuckled at my response. "Come on man, you look like a british aristocock lost in the middle east looking for his next shindig." "You are correct, I am english, however, I was part of the royal army, the SAS in fact." Kyle then began coughing blood, struggling to get up but one of the soldiers kept him restrained.


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    "Onto business then." the man said. "I am aware that you were sent here to eliminate all of us, however, I have also heard that you were sent here on another mission." he paused for a second. He must have been looking for a reaction from me as he kept his gaze on me for a moment. "Oh I could already guess what they sent you here to do." he smiled and paced calmly. I hate to admit it but I can''t get a read on this guy. I can''t tell what he wants. Might as well just play along for a while.


    "You sure sound sure of yourself, don''t you?" I said, I tried my best to keep my poker face, to the point that I felt nearly every muscle in my face. We were trained for interrogation but that doesn''t mean this is easy, and my targets were never alive long enough to interrogate me. "Of course, the mission is obvious because your government sent you two on this mission." he said laughing, loving himself every second.


    "The infamous ghosts you Americans always romanticize in their books and video games." he said, sounding disgusted and somewhat irritated. I couldn''t help but let out a chuckle at his irritation, looks like I found a button to push.


    "Gotta say, I''m surprised you even know about us, so how-" "You people weren''t so hard to figure out." he interrupted, looking more and more crazy by the minute. "I was special forces to begin with. With my level of access, and the right connections, I was gonna find out about you eventually." he explained.


    "Along with a few....less than preferable complications along the way." he continued. This guy is fucking hilarious, I''m trying hard not to laugh my ass off. "You......Son of a bitch!" I yelled, failing to contain my laughter any longer. "And what seems to be hilarious about this whole thing?" the man asked. "Oh ho, this whole thing? the mission? the objective? it was all for us." I said hysterically.


    "YOU wanted to be found by us, you MADE yourself a target, all just to get to us!" I explained. "I don''t know what to say, I never got this much attention before." Before I could irritate him even more, He pulled out a gun and quickly shot my shoulder. The bullet went through so I was bleeding out and it hurt like a motherfucker alright.


    He then proceeded to bring Kyle to the front and beat him and kick him down. He was beaten so much that I could hear Kyle''s bones cracking with every hit, and all the while, Kyle was coughing out more blood. However, for just a moment, I saw Kyle smile. He was enjoying this as much as I was.


    "Such an unruly sight. You two are nothing but murderers. No regard to any of the lives you take and affect." the man said. "You are not fit to be called soldiers." Despite the unbelievable amount of pain I was experiencing, I still couldn''t help but laugh at the guy.


    "Look you arrogant fuck, being ghosts meant that we weren''t serving cause we love our country." I said, mustering the energy and will to sit myself up. "We do what we do cuz it''s the only thing we''re good at, and we love it." I said with smile on my face, I probably looked stupid as hell or crazy as fuck.


    "Let me tell you how the night will end for the both of you." the man says, as he pumped another shot into my gut this time. He then knelt down and whispered in my ear. "I will kill your partner, quickly. He at least deserves a quick death being stuck with you for a partner." he said. Kyle wasn''t looking too good.


    With all the beatings he got, I''m surprised he''s still conscious. He looks like he''s about to cough out his guts right there. The man then pointed the gun to my temple. "Afterward, I''m going to subject you to the worst torture known to man for as long as you draw breath." he said with his voice full of glee. "And I will not grant you the sweet release of death until you beg for mercy from God."


    This guy is really dramatic, so much so that I feel like someone''s gonna call cut then we''ll all be out to lunch for the break. Sadly, I think the shitty MREs will be the last thing I will ever eat in this life. "Wanna bet?" I said arrogantly. Since I''m going to die I might as well have some fun, and annoying this guy seemed like the only fun I could get out of this situation. He only responded with a dumbfounded look. "I will kill EVERYONE in this fortress in the next say........Ten seconds. Without moving an inch away from this spot." I said with a mischievous grin on my face. "Deal?"


    Kyle laughed his blood out hearing my proposal. "You''re.....a fucking....idiot..." Kyle struggled to say. "And... an arrogant fuck...." This punk is dying and he chooses to make his last words insults towards me. Bastard.


    The man proceeded to shoot Kyle in the head, blowing his brains all over the ground. "That''s enough out of you." the man said. I didn''t know him all that well, though despite our shared, fucked up professions and outlooks on life, he was the better man between the two of us. Respect to you, Kyle. Get a better life in the next.


    "Well, I guess with that." I said. "There''s only one thing left to do." I reached into one of my back pouches and grabbed a detonator, then proceeded to countdown from ten. "The man then kicked my stomach, making my blood splatter. I felt his boot open my gunshot would even more. Eight.


    "How irritating, to think you could possibly kill us, ANY OF US in your condition?!" the man shouted infuriated. This guy has no idea, and he''s too distracted to even bother checking what I had in my pouches. Fucking moron. Five.


    "I will make you suffer, as you have made others suffer." he whispered, then raised his hand gesturing to his men to move forward. "You will know what they felt....What HE felt!" He continued to scream and rant. Three.


    "You ghosts will know how my brother felt..." he said. He then grabbed my vest and prepared to raise my mask. One.


    Before he could take my mask off, I pressed the button on the detonator. A big bang and light followed. "What have you done?!" he screamed. I simply gave him a smile.


    "I won...bitch"