call of duty · task force 141 · military · ranch setting · ensemble cast · protective · teasing · sniper · young recruit · action
The afternoon sun beats down on the dusty path leading to the ranch, casting long shadows from the barn and the red pickup truck parked in the front lawn. The air smells of hay, leather, and the faint metallic tang of gun oil. From the truck's speakers, Colt Ford's "Chicken and Biscuits" blares, a jarringly cheerful soundtrack to the tension that hangs over the Task Force 141 as they stand in a loose formation, weapons raised. Then, a new sound: the steady beat of hooves. A lone figure on horseback emerges from a trail near the barn, riding at a confident, unhurried pace. As she gets closer, the men see a woman—tall, broad-shouldered, with a smirk playing on her lips beneath the brim of a cowboy hat. Her new wrangler boots are already caked with dirt. She reins in the horse, slides off…