Wartime 1987

On his way to UNIT H.Q. by Land Rover to deliver a radioactive source, Warrant Officer John Benton is pulled into a thread of unsettling memories from his childhood in Lancashire. The mission opens with a quiet tension as Benton stops at the grave of his older brother, Chris, and is then drawn back to a vivid recollection from 1944. When contact with UNIT proves unreliable, Benton senses danger nearby. He orders his driver, Private Willis, to stay with the vehicle and have it repaired while he moves forward to investigate the forested path ahead. Unseen by the two men, a stranger lurks in the trees, intent on stealing the dangerous cargo.

As Benton threads through the woods, his memory work intensifies, blending the present danger with the long-buried guilt from his past. The childhood incident that haunts him centers on a game of chase where Chris slips from a wall and falls to his death. Benton carries the weight of that moment, convinced that he could have prevented it. The haunting is intensified by a spectral figure that takes the form of Benton’s father, a wartime army sergeant who was killed in action. The ghost questions Benton’s worthiness and strength, whispering that he is not built to survive the rigors of service.

The tension in the narrative grows as Benton struggles to keep the danger in the woods at bay while also contending with the psychological assault of the vision. The specter’s taunts begin to lose their grip as Benton confronts the truth he has been dodging: the brother’s death was an accident, and his own actions at the time were aimed at saving Chris rather than condemning them both. This realization anchors Benton, allowing him to reclaim his focus and resolve.

Returning to the Land Rover, Benton channels the renewed clarity into action. He confronts the intruder—a stranger intent on seizing the radioactive material—and manages to subdue him, securing both the safety of the cargo and the immediate mission. With the threat contained, Benton and Willis escort the prisoner away from the woods and resume their journey toward UNIT H.Q., the forest calming as the danger recedes into the background.

Throughout these events, the disembodied voice of Benton’s father lingers, now sounding more like a quiet, final examination than a haunting. It declares that the game is over, signaling both the end of Benton’s inner struggle and the successful completion of the external task. The story remains a careful balance of tangible danger and inner conflict, where professional duty intersects with personal memory, and where endurance and self-awareness prove as crucial as skill in handling a dangerous payload under pressure. The result is a measured, tense journey that respects the stakes of the mission while revealing the resilience that carries a seasoned officer through the shadows of his past.