Dead Will Follow

"That's the thing about evil, doctor. You don't have to do anything. It's a feeling. Inside."

- Roba to Riley in a hallucination.

Dead Life is the second comic book in the Modern Warfare 2: Ghost series published by as a companion to the main series game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which was released in the same year.

Plot
Back in Lisichansk, Ukraine, three o' clock is getting closer and the terrorists are getting agitated and distracted, but the man still continues his story.

The night has come and Riley's still alive but getting desperate. The maggots are crawling all over him now and the stench is getting to him. After getting over how scared he was, he seized the jaw bone of the rotting corpse of Vernon and used it to break through the wood of the coffin and dig through the dirt. It took him about thirteen hours but he made it.

He gets back to the S.A.S. Service Facility, in Credenhill by December 18th 2010, to get back in the hunt for Roba and is asked what he remembers. Riley explains that it took him a month-long walk to get to Texas, during which he was delirious, dehydrated, covered in sores and infected. He had given up and just laid down down, ready to die when a Texas ranger found him. After that, it took him a week to get back home and that now that it's been four months, he thinks he's ready to rejoin his men.

The man interviewing him says that it is true that his body is back to normal, but his mind is not as his memory is spotty and he has been having violent nightmares. Riley denies having had any nightmares in the last few months but the man says that it's his psychiatrist that he should convince, since she's the only one who hasn't approved of him joining the military again.

Riley goes to a bar at Salford, where he seeks comfort in the bartender, Hodgson. As they talk, Hodgson's daughter kisses her father goodbye. The girl catches the attention of Riley and he starts talking dirty to her right in front of her father. When Riley and Hodgson argue Roba appears from the shadows followed by his men. Riley brings out a Mini-Uzi from nowhere and starts shooting the men spare Roba. Riley starts choking Roba and asks what happened in Coahuila that made him crazy. Roba laughs and says that he killed Riley and then turns into a skeleton. Roba reappears with his face painted as a skull and tells Riley that he's just going crazy and points at his forehead to tell him that this is all in his head. Riley starts shooting again.

Riley wakes up in his bed screaming, realizing it was just another nightmare. He goes into the bathroom and covers his face with toothpaste. His mother enters the room and asks if he's had another nightmare. Riley confirms this, and tells her that he's doing terrible things to women and likes it which he finds scary. His mother assures him that he just needs time to sort it all out. She goes down to prepare some tea and says that Riley looked like his father as an afterthought. Riley asks why, and she replies that he'd always wear white facepaint whenever they went to a concert together to get attention when they were young, giving him the nickname, "Bones." Then she reminds him that even if they never got along, he should visit his father since he's had cancer and is likely going to die soon and leaves.

Riley has another session with his shrink, Halloway, that day. She asks if he is worried about what might happen if he does visit his father. He replies that he's met a lot of people around the world and that most of them are stupid and greedy, some are power mad which is just greedy and smart. He says that Roba is power mad and sadistic but that doesn't compare to his father who was just pure evil. She asks why he thinks of his father this way but Riley just says it's not from experience, but just from feeling.

Riley, wanting to find someone who can relate with him, finds Sparks. They catch up on what's happened at yet another bar. Sparks and Washington were coming through Raf Bonington when they heard that Riley was okay. And when they got back home, Sparks was promoted and will be shipped to Afghanistan to train natives soon. He then mentions a friend in a high position was responsible for all of this. Before Riley could ask who this friend was, Sparks asks why Riley's having a hard time getting back into the S.A.S. and he explains that his psychologist is being uptight about this whole thing. Sparks reassures Riley and asks if he's told his shrink about the nightmares. Instead of answering Riley asks if he's having them too where Sparks replies that the pills given to both of them really helps if it isn't fought.

Sparks and Riley leave the bar talking about what Sparks is going to do in Afghanistan. Sparks says he'll be training the the Afghans how to take over their own security while holding the "back door" open for heroin and terrorist trafficking. Riley, reminded by this statement on what was said before, asks who Sparks' high positioned-friend was. Sparks just says that as soon as Roba's plans come together, he will finally be able to back to Coahuila, confirming Riley's suspicions of Sparks' being a traitor to his country.

Before Riley can apprehend Sparks, Sparks notices the girl that he was eyeing at the bar was about to enter her house. Sparks runs towards her and knocks her unconscious. Riley turns on his cellphone's recorder and plays along. He grabs the keys from the girls bag but fails to open the door since there were too much keys to try on it. A police siren sounds and they run for the hills, leaving the girl.

They arrive at an inn where Sparks is staying. Sparks asks Riley to get his pills because he's having an anxiety attack, instead of bringing the pills out, Riley brings out a knife. Then Sparks brings out a gun on Riley but makes the mistake of pointing it at point-blank range. Riley punches and flips Sparks then cuts the wrist of the hand holding the gun. Riley then asks what made Sparks sell out his country but a confused Sparks just says he wants to go back to Coahuila and will do anything.

At that moment, Washington opens the door and sees Riley holding the knife at Sparks throat. Washington brings out his own gun and shoots at Riley who flees out the window but still gets shot in the leg. Since he can't run, Riley steals a cab and flees the scene. As Riley drives aimlessly around he remembers what Sparks said when he brought out the gun, that he was told what would happen if he made the wrong choice. He remembers Roba holding a skull and saying it was his mother's, then holding two more skulls and saying one was his father's and the other was his brother's. He calls his mother but receives no answer.

He drives as fast as he can to his house and sees the front door left open. He runs inside and finds the corpses of his mother, Tommy, Tommy's wife and even his nephew, Joseph, all dead on Christmas Eve.