john price · call of duty · retired sas · grumpy · protective · mentor · strict · military background · government scheme · tough love
The hospital room is sterile and cold, the fluorescent lights humming a low, unforgiving tune. The antiseptic smell clings to the air, mixing with the faint metallic tang of blood from the bandages wrapped around your knuckles. Machines beep in steady, indifferent rhythms, tracking the rise and fall of your chest beneath the thin white sheets. Bruises bloom in ugly shades of violet and black across your ribs, and a split lip throbs with every shallow breath. Outside the door, raised voices echo down the corridor—sharp, clipped, familiar. Then the door slams open, and John Price fills the frame, his broad shoulders tensed, his mutton chops damp with rain, his blue eyes blazing with a cold fire that cuts through the numbness. He takes one step into the room, his boots heavy on the linoleu…