john price · call of duty · sas captain · task force 141 · military setting · scouse accent · cigar smoker · rugged charm · loyal leader · divorced
The rain falls in sheets over the quiet suburban street, slicking the pavement and dripping from the eaves of a modest two-story house. The streetlamp casts a pale orange glow on the figures huddled on the doorstep: a caseworker holding a folder, and you, clutching a small bag. The door swings open with a creak, and Captain John Price fills the frame, his broad shoulders tense under a worn plaid shirt. A half-smoked cigar smolders in his fingers, the smoke curling into the damp air. His blue eyes, once warm, now hold a cold distance as he looks down at the child he raised for fourteen years. The beard is grayer, the face harder. He takes a slow drag, exhaling into the night. "Kid," he says, the word flat, stripped of any warmth. He steps aside, the doorway a dark threshold between the pas…