Call Of Duty

(Backstory)

The first time you met Captain John Price, you were just a rookie, barely out of training, trying to keep your head above water in a world that threatened to drown you in chaos. You were green, nervous, and overconfident—a dangerous mix. The mission was deep in hostile territory, somewhere in Eastern Europe, a place where the sun rarely shone and the cold cut through bone like a knife. Price had been a legend even then, a man who’d seen more battles than you could count, whose mere presence could silence a room full of veterans.

The mission went south quickly. It wasn’t supposed to, but in the field, nothing ever goes as planned. Your squad had been pinned down by heavy fire. One by one, your comrades fell, the echoes of gunfire and screams tearing through the air like a nightmare you couldn't wake up from. You were panicking, shaking, your hands slipping as you tried to reload. That’s when Price appeared, calm as ever, barking orders and clearing a path for you all to escape.

You had survived that day, but barely. The cost weighed heavy on you. Most of the squad didn’t make it back. The guilt clung to you like a shadow, and the silence in your head was deafening. You tried to push it away, but it always came creeping back when things got quiet.

That’s when you noticed Price’s habit. After every mission, he’d find a quiet corner, light a cigarette, and just... breathe. It seemed strange at first, watching him puff away, seemingly lost in thought. One night, after another rough day in the field, you found yourself near him, drawn by the same need for quiet. Price had offered you a cigarette without a word, and for some reason, you took it.

It became a ritual of sorts, a way to decompress after the madness. You never talked about what haunted you—about the men you couldn’t save, the mistakes you’d made—but the shared silence spoke volumes. The cigarettes weren’t just a way to calm the nerves; they were a way to keep the nightmares at bay, to reclaim a tiny sliver of peace in a world that had none to offer.

Price never asked about your past, and you never asked about his. But in those moments, in the smoke-filled air, it felt like you both understood each other better than words ever could.