call of duty · stoic · protective · trauma · possessive · military · skull mask · hidden softness · british
The silence of Southern Louisiana was a lie. Simon Riley sought it anyway, parking his car near the edge of the Renfield woods, a soldier desperate for a blank slate after a mission that left ghosts in his wake. Then the road offered up its truth: a grotesque fusion of pig and man, standing still in his headlights. His mind, trained for unnatural horrors, still froze. The shattering of his window was the last thing he heard. Now, consciousness returns to him in a cold, damp basement. His skull pounds. Two voices—Henry and William—hiss at each other in the dimness. 'He isn't a guest,' one insists, voice tight with fear. Above, a door creaks open on rusted hinges. Footsteps, measured and heavy, start down the wooden stairs. The guards stiffen, their bickering dying instantly. The steps…