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forestshadow-wolf · 4 months

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What if... hidden horror au (I blame my moot for this bc they keep posting horror aus and I eat that shit up every. Damn. Time)

Cw: vulgar language but only a little, and also horror themes (obviously), and also (nongraphic)vomiting in fear near the end, it's a long one fyi

The 141 sent to investigate the mysterious disappearance of an entire military operation. It seemingly happened in less than 18 hours, a fully staffed military base, just gone.

When they get there it's nearing 1900 hours and night-time is approaching rapidly. The base itself looks... unremarkable. From the outside at least, only faint, indistinguishable sounds until they get closer. From the inside however... the red auxiliary lights have come on, and the emergency alarm is blaring, and... it's unnerving empty, and nearly silent save for the alarm. If you learn anything from anything, it's that human populated areas are rarely ever silent. Much less a military base.

Due to the unknown variables price splits them into pairs to cover more ground effectively. He and gaz head for security and comms, to see if they can find any leads. He sends soap and ghost off to look for any signs of life.

They spend an hour search and clearing room after room, finding only dropped and strewn items, but not a soul to be found.

It's not too much later that they kick open the southeast wing, and they both freeze. A shiver of anything but cold runs through both of them, but the hall is still empty, and differs minimally from any other area of the base they've cleared so far, so the push on.

They're... twitchier than normal for some reason, so when they slam open the door of another room and the lights flicker and cut out before backup emergency light flick on they both flinch. Logically they don't how long the base has been running on aux power, so it's probably just the generators running low, but that doesn't stop them from glancing frantically at eachother. The have to take a breath and remind themselves that it's nothing they haven't experienced before, even if their hearts are beating a mile a minute.

When they hear a wicker of sound from the hall they whip around, eyes wide with dis-calm, breathing shallow. Soap's eyes flick to Ghost for reassureance. Ghost doesn't look at him, keeping his eyes trained on the door as he flicks his comm line open. Soap follows suit automatically, breathing still shaky.

"Price, get visuals on the southeast wing." Ghost's voice feeds through the thick air, and soap's ear piece. Piercing, start and stop, feedback, that had them turning the volume on their radios way low, was their only response. "Price." He tried again. "Price. how copy?" Nothing but that incessantly wavering tone.

"Gaz? You copy?" Soap took a few hesitant steps back into the hall. Ghost followed. The tone of his radio racketed up to ear piercing volume before lowering back down to a low, almost slow... clicking(?) sound, that made soap balls want to shoot back up into his body. "Gaz?"

soap almost looked back at Ghost, but then suddenly Ghost was flying out of there, and pushing Soap ahead of him. soap had no choice but to follow, his legs moving even before his brain registered the heart stopping stabbing, or the unchilled shivers that wracked his through his hands.

and it's not until they've left the south side of the base entirely that his brain even begins to register the bone-quivering presence that was behind them, that had been breathing over their shoulders. still they don't stop running.

it's only when they reach the doors of the base entrance that soap's mind reboots and he remembers they didn't come here alone. he skids to a stop at the threshold, blocking the way out.

"what are you doing?! Go!" Ghost growls at him, frantic and afraid, shoving bodily at soap. he doesn't let up.

"Price and Gaz." he spits. Ghost freezes, eyes darting side to side erratically.

ghost turns abruptly, breath hitching with fear, marching determinedly back into the base. soap follows close behind, not willing to be left alone, nor to leave Ghost on his own to find their other two companions.

soap thinks about simply radioing them from his comms, but something about the eerie quiet keeps him from doing so. he swallows nervously as they walk down hallway after hallway.

they turn down one last corner, and suddenly the pressing fear that seemed to permeate the air, slams down on his lungs with all to tangible horrifying terror. his hands tremble terribly as he clenches his eyes closed as tightly as he could, and forces himself to take another step forward, and another, until he's shoulder to shoulder with his frozen in place Lieutenant.

"close-" he swallows the thick bile that tries to climb up his throat, "close your eyes. it helps with-" he had to clear his throat again, it seemed too loud for the silence, "it helps with the fear. just- just close your eyes. Ghost- Simon. close your eyes." he begged, violently fighting down the rising bile in his throat, when Ghost still didn't move. he grabbed Ghost by the bicep and squeezed as hard as he could, trying to get some sort of reaction.

he hears a shivered breath come from the taller man, and when he finally musters the courage to open his eyes he looks immediately at Ghost. even through the mask, his face looks sunken with fear, and he's shaking harder than a leaf in a hurricane, but his eyes are closed nonetheless. he clamps his eyes back shut again.

he's quick to stumble backwards, still gripping onto Ghost as hard as he could, until his back hit the wall, and he turns them down the corner. Ghost noticeably untenses some as soon as they're further down the hallway, and the pressing fear lifts just the tiniest bit. still he does not let go, nor does he open his eyes, moving them back to the base entrance on feel and memory alone.

it's only when the cool night air registers in his panic addled brain does he open his eyes, though he still doesn't let go of ghost. he opens his mouth to speak but nothing comes out. he clears his throat once, twice. "we're outside. you can open your eyes now." the words come out scratchy and weak.

it's only when ghost unclenches his own eyes that he realizes there are tear tracks streaking through the black grease paint surrounding his eyes, and he can see the pale skin underneath is almost grey with still present terror.

he quickly becoming apparent to him that ghost cannot go back in there again. he nearly lets out a sound of sob when he realizes, but takes the sound in a firm grip and doesn't let it up as he begins to strip out of his heaviest gear. he swallows again when he's finally down to nothing but his sidearm strapped to his thigh, and a knife at his hip. he feels naked going back in without his gear, but it won't do him much good against it anyway, and he's favoring speed anyway. plus he needs both hands free to drag Price and Gaz out...

ghost tries to stop him as he gearing down, but he doesn't listen, just telling him to gather up his gear with a firm look. it doesn't look like Ghost has the wherewithal to argue against him, and it's confirmed when he does as he's told.

a whimper escapes him as he enters the doors into the base again, but he forces himself forward. he doesn't stop until his legs will no longer listen to him, then he closes his eyes, and shuffles forward anyway, using the wall to guide him back. the only sounds are his shuffling steps, and terrified breaths in the suffocating silence.

he only stops when he hears another set of noises. breathing, not his own. he forces his eyes open despite the dread that squeezed his heart to bursting. ten feet away price stands, his back to him, trembling where he's frozen. three feet further, Gaz lays prone on the ground, eyes wide open in frozen fear, but his chest is moving still.

when he can't stomach to keep his eyes open he closes them tight again, working his way forward on memory alone until he knocks into price. it feels like the man wobbles but stays standing, soap crouches and wraps around the front of him, one clammy, shaking hand anchored firmly on his ankle, feeling around until his hand meets Gaz's temple. the terror has him quivering and nearly ready to hurl, it's only sheer will power that keeps him from doing so.

he flails around for a moment until he can grab the strap on the back of Gaz's vest, and drag him closer. he needs to pick him up but he's unwilling to let go of Price in the process, so he pulls Gaz until he can hoist him up on his knee and eventually onto his back.

it takes longer than he wants it to with his clumsy, trembling hands, but he does it. as soon as he has a firm hold on Gaz, he drags himself up, moving his hold from Price's ankle onto his vest strap. his heart is racing, and he's shaking, and his hands are cold and sweaty with fear, he needs out. out. out. everything in his being screams at him to get. out.

as soon as he has a firm hold on both men he's scrambling back the way he came, careless of how price falls backwards, only saved from slamming his head on the concrete by soap's frantic pace, and iron will of a grip on the back of his vest. he goes and goes and goes, eyes shut tight, moving on memory alone, slamming into corners and walls alike, but he doesn't stop. not as he slams into a corner so hard he splits his lip, not as he hits a wall hard enough that he can feel wetness sliding from his brow, not as he retches in fear.

and for the love of all that he cares about he does not let go. not until he hears ghost trying to calm his spooked mind, and he's sure they're outside again.

it's only then that his grip weakens, and he's sure that price and gaz crash to the ground, but he can't tell because he's keeled over retching terror and panic onto the uneven ground, trying to stop the sobs from completely sapping his shaking body of the last of his strength.

he's not completely sure what happens after that, it's all mostly a haze addled memory. shakily dragging a barely conscious price back to the exfil, helo that Ghost must've called, while Ghost carried Gaz's shellshocked form. the flight back was silent, or he thinks it waas at least, he can't remember. getting checked out by medical, Ghost was the best out of all of them, Gaz and Price seemed to come out of it soon after they arrived back on base, but soap was still wide-eyes and shaking by the end of 2 hours' observation in medical. they'd discharged him when it became apparent that there wasn't much they could do for him, under the condition that he was kept under constant watch until he came out of it.

it was nearing the end of what could be called afternoon when Soap came back to himself enough for his brain to begin memory storage again. he was laid, shivering, down on the couch of the 141 private rec room couch. ghost was sat in the loveseat next to his head, quietly reading aloud to him. he was still trembling when he pushed himself sitting, ghost stopped reading abruptly to watch him.

"how are you feeling?" he asked, almost passing soap a mug of lukewarm tea from the coffee table before noticing that his hands were still shaking too much to not spill the liquid everywhere. soap looked down at his hand, still feeling a little thrown from his body, and clenched them tight trying to get them to still, to no avail. "hungry?"

soap's stomach roiled at the thought of food and he grimaced. ghost took that as the answer it was and let it go, as soap unclenched his fists. he looked down at his hands, willing them to stop trembling. they did not seem like they were willing to listen to him any longer after being pushed so far beyond their limits. Ghost laid a steady, hand on his own.

"the doctor said it'll go away in it's own time." he said gently. soap huffed, but let it go, and ghost released his light hold.

a zagging line of cold ran up his side when Ghost moved his hand, and he shivered into it. evidently Ghost noticed because in the next moment he was snuggling into the brit's side, trying to stave off an imagined cold that felt real enough to him.

it's a little while later of comfortable quiet that his slow mind coujures up a thought. "Price? Gaz?" he croaks into the velvety atmosphere, such a stark difference from the last thing he remembers.

"they're okay. you got them out." Ghost says calmly

"you?" his brain can't quite come up with multi-word ideas yet.

"you got me out first. I'm okay." Ghost's Manc accent soothes him. they fall back into a cool quiet for a moment before Ghost picks his book back up and continues reading aloud softly.

soap swallows thickly, letting the Manc accented words smooth over the black, sinister tarnished memory of before. it's better with Ghost he thinks sluggishly, as his eyes close tiredly.

it takes most of the following day for him to be able to hold down bland rice and mashed potatoes, and it's not until that night that the last of the shake leaves his hand weak for grip strength.

the day after that they all crowd into Price's offices to debrief, and work through what happened at the abandoned base. Price and Gaz both only remember accessing the security cameras, they deduce from there that they must've been affected to a lesser affect by It through the cameras, then It found them when they tried to escape. they figure it must've happened sometime around when soap and Ghost entered the southeast wing, of which Ghost says he doesn't remember anything after the clearing the first room of the wing.

soap was mostly quiet, mulling over all of the new information, piecing the puzzle together. he only realizes that they're all staring at him when ghost nudged him in the side. he clears his throat and quietly tells him that he remembers most of it, to which he receives questions of explanation.

he recounts how they off loaded the helo at around 1900 hours, price split them up, the he walks them through clearing the base until the southeast wing, and their comms had cut, where they continued clearing it until ghost rushed them out. soap says that 'It' must've already gotten to Gaz and Price by then, which is why they were so frozen when he'd dragged them out. he explains how he and ghost had tried to retrieve them, but had had to leave before they got to them. how he had dragged ghost out, and went back to retrieve them. then he doesn't remember.

"mate, what it 'It'?" Gaz questions worriedly.

"how do you remember so much that we don't? you seem to have been affected... differently than us." price asks.

ghost just looks at him with a look he can't quite decipher so he ignores it.

soap isn't sure how to properly answer those questions, but he does his best.

'It' is a macTavish family legend, a secret, a monster, something sinister, he's not really sure. all he knows is that it's faceless, shapeless, odorless, doesn't have a name, and to his knowledge nobody's ever touched it and lived, and he's encountered it only once before, and he prays to never do so again. he swallows shakily, almost afraid the trembling is back, as he explains. he tells them that 'It' and the MacTavish's have a long and extensive history that he doesn't really know all too much about, and he assumes there's something in there that makes him be affected differently. and he wasn't aware that it could... shift. he thinks that might be the most correct word for it, he wasn't aware it could take out an entire military base. though he was thoroughly aware of it's... terrifying abilities.

he's aware that he's only created more questions with his answers, but he doesn't have answers to those questions, so he stays quiet, trying to block the memory from his mind. he tries not to lean too much into the comforting warmth that was Ghost at his side.

by the end of debrief Price has decided to give word that the abandoned bass it to be restricted all access up to a mile radius outside of the area, with reasoning of soap's recounting, barring the MacTavish history. soap can't really say he cares all that much about what happens to that god forsaken base, as long as he doesn't have to go back there. ever.

Eyyy what do ya know! One part! Lmk if you think I should clean this up and toss it on ao3

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