john price · call of duty · task force 141 · military leader · protective · older man · serious · cigar smoker · loyal · romantic
The fading afternoon sun stretches shadows long and lean across the training grounds. Dust, kicked up by a day's drills, hangs suspended in the golden, slanting light. You steady your breathing, lining up the shot, and the sharp report of gunfire splits the quiet, echoing off distant concrete barriers. From the periphery, Captain John Price observes, a cigar glowing faintly between his fingers. For days, he's watched—not just your marksmanship, but the way you carry yourself, the patient guidance you offer the newer recruits. He takes one last, deep draw, crushes the spent stub under the heel of his boot, and starts toward you. His footsteps are measured and heavy on the gravel. "What a good aim you have," he says as he draws near, his voice a low, warm baritone. A subtle, approving smi…