More Than a Ghost
by Philippe de la Matraque

Bonus Features

Deleted Scenes

The Return of Rorke
Homecoming
Director Dress Down
Thanksgiving
Is Gideon Ready?
Happy Birthday
Rorke on Stage
Director Goes Down
Rorke's Freedom
New Staff
The Reception

Play All

Rorke felt darkness closing in around him as the pain in his chest went away. Then he saw it. There was a hand over Logan's, a face beside his. "Elias," he breathed. And then the darkness closed over him and he felt no more.

Rorke sat up, surprised that he did so. He looked around. The Walker boys were there. Logan was leaning against Hesh, who had his weapon up aimed at the door. Rorke looked down and saw his own legs, blood seeping beneath them. He turned and saw his own face, his eyes staring blankly at the spot where he'd seen Elias. Elias's ghost. He was there, too, standing beside the boys. He was a ghostly white. Rorke looked at his own hands and saw that same ghostly whiteness. He was like Elias. He was a ghost.

He stood up. He wanted to hate them for what they'd done but he just couldn't manage it. He saw them differently now. Logan was a pitiful mess, a shell of his former self. Hesh, his brother and protector. Elias, the one who had defeated his boss's aims by bucking up his son against everything they used against him. Rorke looked again at Logan and then something odd happened. He saw his own face. But he was alone in the cell. The cell was different. But it was the same. He had been that pitiful and weak and beaten. That scene faded and he was again looking at the two boys and Elias.

The door opened behind him and Kick entered. He remembered Kick. Kick kicked his body. "I'm pretty sure I'm dead," Rorke told him. Kick ignored him and moved to the corner, right through Rorke, to where the boys were. Rorke felt him pass and it was an odd feeling. The three of them passed through him again. "Did it feel like this for you, Elias?" Rorke asked but Elias ignored him, too, and followed his sons out of the cell. Rorke followed him, but not up the steps.

He walked into one of the other rooms there, the one with the chair and the table. And he felt again the wounds he'd received, the ones he'd given to young Logan. He saw the man who ordered it standing by the door watching. The Director never got his hands dirty the way Rorke did. Rorke was afraid of him. He closed his eyes and when he opened them he was in the mud and gunk. The stench was awful. And the smell was familiar. He looked up and saw the Director smiling down. Logan hadn't broken like he had. Rorke was convinced now that Elias was the reason. Elias wouldn't let his son give up hope. And contrary to what he'd believed before, Rorke now realized that hope was what sustained a man. He hadn't had anyone to hold on to like Logan. Elias had dropped him. He had betrayed him. They used that against him. They used it to turn him. To turn him into a monster.

Rorke closed his eyes and thought hard about the Director, how much he hated that man who had ordered him starved and sickened, tortured, and turned. Had made him do to another man what was done to him because one Ghost wasn't enough. The man who would not except failure from his Ghost. He couldn't let himself believe that Logan couldn't talk. That would have been an excuse for failure. But Logan didn't talk, didn't scream, not ever. Not like himself. When he opened his eyes he was in an oppulent bedroom. There was a man and woman in the bed. The woman was young and pretty, a prostitute. That man was his boss, Director Immanuel Zapata. Rorke thought to smother him with his pillow but he couldn't hold it. He tried the man's neck but his fingers passed through it. He couldn't pull back the covers. He couldn't touch anything. What good was being a ghost if he couldn't touch anything? Elias had touched things. He had touched his son. That wasn't fair.

Rorke found a chair in the room and sat it in. Why could he sit in it? The rules weren't clear. He watched Zapata until morning when he kicked the young woman out. A bodyguard entered. He had a radio on his hip and Rorke remembered his men's issues with radios. The batteries would go dead just before Elias pulled something. Rorke followed the man and tried to figure out how to drain the batteries from his radio. Finally, he had his hand in the radio and he felt a buzz through his fingers. He took his hand out and pushed the guard into the counter in the kitchen.

So that was how. He ran back to the bedroom and pushed Zapata hard into the closet door. He tried to do it again but the power was gone and his hands went through Zapata. Zapata staggered and turned around. His nose was bleeding. Rorke smiled. This was going to be fun.

Riley watched the door to his room, waiting for it to open. Hesh had gone on a mission without him and Riley wanted him to come back. One time the door opened, but it was someone else. He took Riley outside for a walk but brought him back and Riley waited again. He lay on the floor in front of the door and put his head down on his paws.

Finally, the door opened and Hesh was there. But there was someone else, too. Riley knew his smell. He knew his face. It was Logan! Riley jumped up from the floor and stood up to put his paws on Logan's shoulders. He licked his face. He tasted like Logan! Riley had missed Logan. Logan put his fingers in Riley's fur and rubbed.

"Down, Riley," Hesh said in a happy tone. "You'll knock him over."

Riley understood, "Down, Riley." He got down. Logan sat down and Riley put his head in Logan's lap. Logan rubbed him some more.

"He's missed you," Hesh said. Riley was very happy.

Logan yawned and started to pull his boots off. Riley sniffed them. They didn't smell right. They smelled like Logan but like someone else, too. More of someone else.

"Here, boy," Hesh said. Riley went to him. Hesh gave him a treat and said, "go out." Riley liked "go out." He looked at Logan but Logan was lying down asleep. Riley was torn. He liked "go out," but he also liked Logan and "go out" happened a lot. Logan didn't happen a lot. Riley looked to Hesh then to Logan and then to Hesh.

Finally, he decided. He nuzzled up under Logan's hand and jumped up beside him the bed. He nuzzled again and Logan wrapped his arm around Riley.

"I guess I'll come get you both before dinner," Hesh said. His tone did not say go or come. He sounded happy again. So Riley stayed where he was. Logan was home. He had two people again.

"What is wrong with you!" President Rodriguez yelled. Rorke grinned. Zapata had finally gone too far. "Why on Earth would you attack San Diego without my permission?"

"It-it wasn't San Diego," Zapata stuttered as the door shut behind him. He thought he was alone with the president. Rorke knew differently.

"Close enough!" Rodriguez stood behind his enormous desk. "You lost four armored vehicles and sixty-five men. For what?"

"We almost got him," Zapata begged. "He was there."

"This was about the Ghost? You are obsessed with that boy. You had a perfectly good Ghost in Rorke. He was taking out their Ghosts, winning battles, taking cities." Rordriguez stalked out from behind the desk. Rorke walked through it and took a seat in the president's chair. "Instead, you fixated on that Walker boy and now Rorke is dead along with several hundred of our soldiers. You have wasted too many resources on this obsession of yours. Well, it's too late now. Your boy is dead." Rodriguez picked up a report from the desk and threw it at Zapata. "He shot himself in that canyon. Now you can stop this ridiculousness and do your real job."

Rorke enjoyed the dismayed look on Zapata's face. He was sorry about Logan though. Poor kid. He understood his choice to die rather than be taken. Zapata fumbled with the paper. "No, no, he can't be. He wouldn't."

"From now on, you are General Zapata," Rodriguez went on. "You will order no major assaults without my express orders. You will take over our forces in Patagonia. Do well there and maybe, maybe I'll give you more. You waste resources there and I'll have you shot for treason. Do I make myself clear?"

"Sí, señor presidente," Zapata cowered.

Rodriquez hit a button on his desk and the door openned. "Now get out!"

Rorke followed Zapata out. He hurried out to the general's car and drained the battery in his bodyguard's radio. He rushed back inside to watch Zapata try and call for the guard. He went behind him and kicked him in the knee so that Zapata fell. Rorke enjoyed toying with the man this way. It was light compared to what the man had ordered, for him and for Logan. But Rorke thought maybe, given enough time, he could make Zapata insane or insanely paranoid. Or maybe dead. He imagined scenarios that he might manage, like crashing an airplane Zapata rode in. He could try that. Or maybe draining his car battery just as he was driving over a mountain. He could then tear the break line out and watch Zapata fall over the side of the mountain. He hadn't yet been able to do that much, but he figured he had a lot of time now.

Kick had gone all out. When asked, he said cooking helped him destress. Logan, wanting something to do while he recuperated, had offered to help. So he'd made the green bean casserole and the mashed potatoes and gravy. Kick had found an enormous turkey. No one asked him how. It took the two of them to put it in the oven and pull it out again. They'd set it all out buffet style on one long table in the mess. There was also cranberry sauce, hot rolls and hot cider to drink.

After the others filed in and took their seats, Estelle gave the blessing and each person wrote on a slip of paper something they were thankful for. Logan, of course, wrote that he was thankful to be free. Hesh that he was thankful to have his brother back. Estelle collected them all and read them without giving names. Logan was touched to hear quite a few others that were thankful for his return. He didn't even know everyone on the base yet. Merrick and Keegan joked that his being back made Hesh a lot easier to live with.

Logan took a fish oil gelcap before loading up his plate. He got some turkey and mashed potatoes. He was about to move on, but Merrick stopped him and added more turkey, telling him he was still too thin. So Logan loaded up his plate, thankful again that he could do that.

Everyone sat down with their plates but no one ate at first. Logan sat at the table with Merrick, Keegan, Kick, Estelle, and Hesh. Merrick stood up and raised his cider cup. "Happy Thanksgiving!" Everyone else raised their cups and gave a cheer. Then the eating and talking filled the room with a happy cacophony. Logan felt content to listen in. Estelle was right. He still had to heal, but there was life after the trauma. Good life. And this day was part of it.

Logan was nervous. He knew Merrick was reading his latest medical report. If the doctors said he was physically well enough, Merrick could put him back in the field. It's what Logan wanted. But the thought sent an odd feeling through his body. Like his heart wasn't right, his chest felt odd all the way down into stomach and into his thighs. His breathing was tight and he felt a little light-headed.

Merrick came to see him in his room. Logan was petting Riley to try and keep calm. The older man sat on Hesh's bed. "Your latest physical is good. Your body weight is back up. You're stronger than you were before. Physically, you're ready. The question is, what do you want to do?"

Logan let out a shaky breath and pulled in another. He didn't answer right away.

"You know I've been practicing," Merrick said. "So give me a shot."

Logan nodded. He let go of Riley. 'I want to be a Ghost. But I just feel-' He struggled with the right word and finally just signed, 'wrong.'

Merrick just nodded. "That's okay, Logan-Gideon. It's PTSD."

Logan looked down and sighed. "Hey," Merrick said. "No one thinks less of you for it. Look, I read those reports before your brother did. No one, and I mean no one, could go through that and not have PTSD. So don't rush yourself. If you want, we can start you out slow when you're ready. We've got recon missions where you could guide Riley. Or we could get you set up with the Remote Sniper. Keep you out of the thick of it for a while. No rush. You let me know when you wanna try that. Until then, just keep doing what you're doing. Keep your body ready. And if you decide you're never gonna be ready and it's time for civilian life, we can deal with that, too. Either way is okay, and anything in between. You don't have to feel wrong. Just wait until you feel right."

Hesh walked back into the base with a small box in his hands. Logan knew what it was. Hesh handed it to him as soon as he was inside. "I appreciate what Kick was trying with the onions, but my eyes are still burning."

Logan opened the box. There was a medal there, his Purple Heart. Posthumously awarded to his surviving brother.

Merrick put hands on both their shoulders. "We never know what the Director might be watching in our feeds. You had to look like a grieving brother. It worked."

Logan put the medal in the drawer in Hesh's bedside table. He could never wear it as Gideon. That would have to wait until they either eliminated this Director or the war ended. Hopefully with the Federation's defeat. It kind of made him sad, but he felt safer being Gideon. He just hoped the Director, whoever he was, had believed that Logan Walker had died back in Steele Canyon.

Hesh came in and sat beside him. "You okay?"

Logan nodded. Hesh stood up again. "Come with me, I have a surprise for you."

Logan wasn't sure what it was. He followed his brother out of the room and upstairs to Estelle's room off the Sanctuary. Merrick and Keegan were there with her. She was holding a small cake with two numbered candles in it. "Happy Birthday, Logan," Hesh said. "I know it's not the great birthday party I promised in my card-"

Logan shook his head. 'I'm home with you. It's the best birthday I've ever had.'

Estelle sat the cake on a table and Logan made a wish. He wished that he'd spend his birthday with his brother every year for the rest of his life. He blew out the candles. He was twenty-seven.

Rorke wasn't thinking it would be like this. Nor that it would take this long. Zapata had towed the line for a year down in Patagonia and been reassigned to his former position, provisionally. Rorke knew he was planning black ops for small teams. He still wanted his Ghost, even if it wasn't Logan. Logan's brother would work. Rorke had found that no amount of battery power would allow him to kill anyone directly. This had been disappointing but he had accepted it. Instead had worked hard to drive Zapata crazy and leave him vulnerable. He routinely drained the batteries from his guards' radios to make them less efficient in keeping him secure. And of course, to give Rorke the ability to throw things around the room or to pull the blankets off Zapata while he slept.

But now as he walked the streets of Caracas behind Zapata and his guards, Rorke thought he saw a familiar face. No one else would have noticed it. The man blended well into the spectators, but Rorke recognized Kick. He left Zapata and leaned into Kick's head to hear what was on his radio. It felt weird but he was used to it by now.

"Marca está aquí," Kick stated and Rorke got very excited.

"Affirmative, Ghost Six-Four, you're on," was the reply. Ghost Six-Four. Wasn't that? But it couldn't be. He was dead. Rorke closed his eyes and thought hard about the younger of Elias's sons. He pictured him how as he'd seen him before he'd captured him, tall and well-built and strong. He opened his eyes and he was in a stairwell. A door opened below him and two dark figures raced up the stairs. One of them carried a sniper rifle and wore a Ghost mask. Rorke couldn't see his face. He estimated he was six feet tall.

Rorke followed him anyway. They ran up the stairs two at a time. Rorke had no problem with that. They were pinned by weapons fire before they could get to the next floor, and Rorke took the chance to really look at the sniper's eyes. And then he knew. Logan Walker had not died two years ago.

"I'm going to help you," Rorke told him. He closed his eyes and thought again of Zapata, with his oily hair and hairy arms, and too-tight uniform over his bulging belly. He opened his eyes and he was with Zapata on the stage for the president's speech. A light rain had started to fall and the wind had picked up. Rorke looked back at the building the Ghosts were in. It was a long shot in these conditions. Was Logan that good?

The crowd cheered. The president waved as he finished his speech. Rorke found some batteries with the president's bodyguards and returned to Zapata. The fireworks began to light up the sky. It would happen any minute now.

Keegan led Gideon deeper into the building. Hesh and Jackson helped to clear it but it was Keegan's job to get Gideon to his mark. Only Gideon's eyes revealed his emotional state. But Keegan had stopped worrying about that more than a year ago. Gideon had proven himself capable back in Steele Canyon. But he had been eased back into the field months later. Merrick had remembered how Logan had been really good at picking off the distant enemies before he was taken and had given Gideon a sniper rifle to practice with. In the last year he'd proven particularly deadly with it.

Keegan opened the door and they stepped out onto the roof of the building. It was raining, but Keegan didn't mind. It would help to hide their presence. Gideon didn't seem to mind either. He'd really gotten that good. Hesh and Jackson followed and took up defensive positions in case anyone else came out that door.

Keegan led Gideon to the northwest corner. He pulled out his binoculars and aimed them past the next building over into the space between the skyscrapers. There was a square over there and Keegan could just see a sliver of a stage and three men to the left of a podium. The target was the one in the middle. Keegan briefed Gideon, and the younger man crawled up onto the ledge. It was about two-feet wide, enough for him to lay prone as he steadied the rifle. Keegan handed him the bullet he would use. Gideon squinted in confusion but then he got a satisfied look in his eye when he really looked at the bullet. There were three letters imprinted into the slug: LTW.

Gideon loaded it into the weapon and took aim. He took his time, slowing his breathing. Keegan knew his pulse would be slowing, too. Gideon adjusted for the wind, the distance and gravity. In the distance, fireworks began to light up the sky. It took a second or two for the sound of the blasts to hit them. Gideon stopped breathing. Keegan put a hand on Gideon's shoulder, holding on to his vest in case the rifle's kick should upset his balance on that ledge. He pulled out his binoculars again. The boom of another firework came back to them just as the kick pushed Gideon's shoulder. Keegan watched the man crumple. The people on the stage panicked. "Good shot," Keegan told him. "Let's get you out of here, Logan." He clicked on the radio. "Target is down. Director Zapata is no longer a threat."

"Yes!" Hesh exclaimed. Keegan saw him pump his fist into the air before he settled back into focus.

"I don't suppose he can get a bead on the president?" Merrick's voice answered.

"No, they're panicked. Got him squared away first thing," Keegan replied. "Besides, we wanna leave before they know where to look for us." Logan picked up his casing and put the rifle on his back. He signed and Keegan figured it was something in the order of, 'Lead the way.'

"Good work, Actual." Merrick voice said in his ear. "Get to the rally point. Exfil in ten."

Rorke felt the bullet and pieces of bone and brain pass through his face as Zapata's head came apart between his hands. He had held Zapata's head still by cupping the man's ears. The man beside him had asked Zapata why he was fiddling and it was funny to hear him try to explain. Well, he wasn't explaining now. Logan had made the shot. He wouldn't have to worry about any small black ops teams any more. He could just be another soldier in the war. For himself, Rorke felt a certain freedom to be rid of Zapata. Free of hate now.

He turned to where they'd rushed Rodriguez off. Maybe he could still do his duty to his country. His real country. He took off after them. Would a paranoid president help end the war?

Logan put his hand on Kick's shoulder. He was losing his destressor. The army had assigned them a civilian cook. As with San Antonio, Phoenix was evacuated after its liberation. NORAD had decided it would be too difficult to hold given the destruction of No Man's Land that separated the city and the rest of the country. The evacuees had to be housed and given jobs and the army, as it settled further into the base in San Diego had offered many of the civilians work in the service sector, doing laundry, cleaning and cooking, but also administrative and IT work. Two such evacuees were slated to the Ghost base in the church. In fact, they were a mother-daughter team: Esmerelda and Maria Infante.

Logan waited with Kick at the back of the corridor, watching for the two to arrive. Merrick and Estelle were greeting them officially. Hesh and Keegan joined Kick and Logan as they watched. An older woman entered with another woman that Logan couldn't really see from his vantage point. He heard the older lady say something in Spanish. Then the daughter translated. Logan felt he knew that voice. When he saw Estelle hug both women, he felt sure he knew the voice. He left the other three standing there and joined Estelle. She welcomed him and put her arm around him.

"Logan, this is Esmerelda Infante and her daughter, Maria. Esmerelda very kindly loaned me her wig in Phoenix. Maria was our waitress in that lovely cafe."

Logan signed his reply, 'I remember,' and he held out a hand to Maria.

"You look a lot better now," she commented as she shook his hand, "And bigger. You finally have meat on your bones. But you still need to keep up your end of the bargain."

Logan smiled. 'We're working on it,' he told her and Estelle translated.

Maria smiled and filled in her mother on who Logan was. Her mother's eyes went wide and she hugged Logan tightly.

"What bargain?" Logan heard Merrick ask.

"To kick the Federation back to South America in return for the resistance's help in escaping the city," Estelle told him. Finally, Esmerelda let Logan go and Estelle took the two women to show them the kitchen.

Hesh and Kick ran over to him. "Do tell," Kick said. Logan noticed the Hesh was just staring after Maria. So Merrick filled Kick in as Logan told the story.

Logan handed Estelle's mother a tissue and she dabbed her eyes. The chaplain performing the wedding had a sign language interpreter right beside him. One of the bridesmaids, the youngest, kept looking back at him and smiling. She was pretty. She had long dark hair and brown eyes. She was Estelle's sister, Éowyn. All their names came from the Lord of the Rings in one way or another. Which was something considering there weren't that many female characters. So Galadriel was the oldest, then Estelle, then Rosie, Merry, and Sam (Samantha). Éowyn was the youngest. She was just a year younger than he was, in fact.

She made a point to ask him to dance at the reception. The music was loud. She led him close to the speakers, telling him she could feel the music there. Stan and Rosie were there as well. Logan had never had a lot of experience dancing and he told her that. 'It's okay,' she said. 'Watch what they do and just do the same.' She pointed to Stan and Rosie. But there were plenty of others dancing as well. 'I'll try to make it look like you're leading,' she added.

Hesh watched his little brother dancing with Estelle's youngest sister. Keegan leaned over. "Wouldn't that be priceless? A guy who can't talk with a woman who can't hear."

They were both surprised when the bride leaned in between them. "I think they're cute together." She tapped Hesh on the shoulder. "You just be sure he catches the garter, and I'll try to throw the bouquet right to her."

Hesh shook his head. "If you're gonna play matchmaker, I'm single, too," he joked. He'd been trying to work up the courage to ask Maria to dance.

Estelle got a wicked grin. "Well, I'm already working on that." Hesh wasn't sure how he felt about that. "But, you know," she went on, turning to Keegan, "Galadriel got divorced last year. She's asked me if Keegan is your first name or last."

Keegan's eyes went wide. "Leave me out of this!" He stood and stalked away. "I'm gonna go get some punch."

Estelle laughed. "Tom isn't really much a dancer. So, do you think you can dance with the bride, David?"

Hesh stood and bowed, offering her his hand. "I'm only a slightly better dancer than Logan, but I'd be honored."

Truly The End

Note: I tried my hand at a Riley scene. I've never written from a dog's POV.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed the story and these extras. They weren't really deleted from the story, but written after. They're not story-worthy really. Rorke does not get a POV scene in my story. Riley certainly doesn't. And not all loose ends need to be tied. But they are a guilty pleasure of mine, and I thought maybe you'd enjoy them. I'm trying to get all the COD Ghosts things out of my system so I can get back to my usual life. I've put off studying my foreign languages (French, German and Swedish) as I did every evening, and my Criminal Case game I was very into, and many other things as all I wanted to do was write. And COD Ghosts has ruined me for other games thus far and I'd really like to enjoy some other games.

Oh, and I do think Hesh ends up with Maria, Logan with Éowyn. They have a hearing child. The couples end up living in a duplex together so Aunt Maria, Uncle Hesh, and Abuela can visit often so the child can learn to talk that magic way that babies do. Oh, she'll be trilingual when she's done (sign, Spanish, and English).

I have toyed with the idea that Logan has surgery to replace his damaged vocal cords. They are actually working on stuff like that now in 2015! Read it in Huffington Post. Lab-grown vocal cords vibrate in just the same way as natural vocal cords, new tests show. So it could be done! How then does he learn how to speak? Hypnosis. A therapist who uses it regresses him to when he was a toddler and knew how to talk, then wakes him up retaining that knowledge. His vocabulary would be limitted and he'd have to try out new words, but the simple knowledge of how to make those cords vibrate and form sounds would be there. But as you can see, I didn't write it. Feel free. It could be cute when he's regressed and a grown man speaking like a 2-year-old. But also really neat when Hesh finally hears his brother say his name again.

So there you have it. All my COD Ghosts ideas are out in the open. I need to get back to life now.

Thanks for sharing in my therapy after finishing the game. I can survive it now. At least until they finally put out COD Ghosts 2...

Philippe de la Matraque aka Gabrielle Lawson aka Ainaechoiriel (in LOTR fanfic).