The Ghoul

Unspecified base of the ten rings, located somewhere in Afghanistan.

Inside of the base with hundreds of members swarming about, all on high alert, two people were resting in the supply area.

A young man in his twenties, with bright blue eyes and light brown hair, that had been cut into a buzz cut. With a small scar on his eyebrow, the young man would've been more suited to being a model than his current occupation. Right now he was resting on the side of a ration crate, lying on the floor with his legs somewhat spread out.

Next to him, a older man with a beard was leaning against the wall, smoking a cigarette. With most of his hair having turned white, the man was probably one of the oldest people in the entire complex, sporting a myriad scars on his face after having lived a life of strife.

The man, one of the people responsible for training the members in the organisation, suddenly said to the young man on the floor.

"Hey Marcus." turning to look at the young man, the old man stopped puffing his cigarette.

"Yeah?" tired, Marcus looked up at his mentor. 

Having finished their daily training, right now they were resting in their usual spot, hidden among the crates in the supply room. 

"Mmm... No, nothing." hesitating at first, he closed his mouth and went back to smoking. 

"What is it, Abel? You've picked up smoking the past half a year and now you can't even say what you want? Come on, just go and retire already old geezer." Marcus said, teasing his friend and teacher. 

"...I'm planning to get the fuck out yeah." not looking at him, Abel replied. 

"That's great. Wait-are you serious!? You're retiring?!" at first not realising what was said, Marcus then jumped up from the ground in fright, having comprehended the gravity of the words. 

"Yeah... I've... I've done enough havent I..." with cloudy eyes and shaking hands, the old man stuttered. 

"What do ya mean?! RETIRE?! THEY WOULD HANG YOU UPSIDE DOWN AND GUT YOU LIKE A PIG!" Grabbing the old man by the shoulders, the young man started almost shouting by the time he finished his words. Looking around after that in panic, he was happy not to see other people in the supply room. 'safe', he thought. 

"My whole life, I've been fighting this pointless war, I-"

"It's not pointless! You've fought for something you believed in! You are more of a man than most people out there! You-"

"Can being a man bring back my family?" suddenly interrupting Marcus, Abel looked him straight in the eyes. 

"..." suddenly, Marcus didn't know what to say. 

"Can being a man atone for all I've done, the countless families I have torn apart... All these years I've been fighting this stupid war, used as a stupid pawn by even more stupid people that dreamt of world domination, lying to myself that what we were doing is just. I've killed more innocent people that I have seen soldiers... I've done things that still haunt me in my sleep. Marcus, I... All this while I've seen my friends have families, children even, and grow old happily with their spouses, not worrying whether they would live another day, or whether what they were doing is the right thing."

By now, the old man's shaking had subsided, with a singular tear having formed at the corners of his eyes. 

"I'm so fucking tired of this shit Marcus..." 

Marcus, not knowing what to say, fell back down on the ground, the previous reaction having consumed the last fragments of his strength. 

"I don't think we a-" 

rumble rumble rumble... 

In the distance, a faint sound of thunder rumbling resounded, interrupting what Marcus wanted to say. 

Both of them started changing their expressions, old man Abel pulled out his phone and tried to open the weather app on his phone, his hands faintly shaking. 

Having gotten yet another burst of strength, Marcus jumped up from the ground, trying to see the weather forecast as well, yet this Spur of energy... It wasn't due to his friend doubting his entire life's work... 

No, it was fear. 

Soon, the weather app finally finished loading, the rumbling of thunder having gotten slightly closer by now. 

Both of their faces slowly went pale, before the old man's phone fell out of his hand. On the screen of the phone, the forecast listed only one thing for the entirety of the next week. 

Sunny. 

"It's here... " Abel, saying this, closed his eyes. 

"I'LL GO DEFE-" Grabbing his gun, Marcus tried to rush out of the room to the guard post. 

Yet no sooner did he turn around and try to leave, did he hear Abel say something, before his consciousness went black. 

"In that state?" 

THOCK! 

The unconscious Marcus, with a slight bump on the back of his head, was picked up by Abel before he was dragged off to a remote corner. Finding a wooden crate that seemingly fit him, Abel threw Marcus in there, before crudely closing the box by hammering in some nails using the butt of his rifle. 

"Although it's crude and uncomfortable inside the box, and it's definitely better than dying here for some stupid cause, so I hope you can forgive this old man for hitting you." the old man, not knowing who he was talking to, left to join for the defence forces. 

As the old man kept approaching the guard post, he saw countless men and women roaming about the cave, all in a state of high alert with fear visible in their eyes.

Finally, arriving at the guard post on the outside of the base, he climbed up the ladder as quickly as his body would let him.

The guard post, or more so the guard tower that stood in the middle of the camp, was the best lookout for the surrounding few kilometers.

Carefully surveying the entirety of the horizon, Abel finally spotted a shadow in the distance.

The lone shadow, covered in patches of black and red, stood as a stark contrast to the endless expanse of rocks, with an otherworldly evil aura spreading out of it.

Pulling out the rifle he had, still shaking, he started aiming at the shadow in the distance.

And as he started looking at it from his scope, the being was staring back at him.

A wide smile spread out on the deceptively human face as he looked back upon Abel, his entire body twitching. 

He was almost naked, except a pair of ripped pants barely covering the important area. The blood patches, covering the entirety of its body, had dried long ago. And where there wasn't dried blood covering the skin you could easily see the the countless scars from battles criss crossing on its body. 

On his back, there was a large military backpack with countless guns sticking out, trophies of the more than twenty terrorist bases, most of which were property of the ten rings.

Worse still, the "person" wasn't standing on two legs, instead having placed his left hand on the ground in front of him, while his right hand held an extraordinarily flashy double barrel shotgun.

Aiming the shotgun up high, the knell of death resounded once more, as the weapon of the grim reaper fired once more. 

Rumble rumble rumble!

Hearing it more clearly this time due to being outside, Abel got ready for one last fight in his life.

The Ghoul had arrived.