Broken Stars Read online

  Table of Contents

  Beta Note

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 40

  Hello there,

  Thank you for taking the time to help me make this book the best book it can be.

  All I need you to do tell me if a part of the book is boring, or if something throws you out of the story.

  Beyond that, I am always open tohear what you have to say, whether it be spelling and grammer mistyakes, or if you think adding you in as a charecter would make the book a lot better.

  Once you are done, you can message me on FB, or respond to the email where I sent you a copy of the book.

  Thank you again for this. I really appreciate your input.

  Best wishes and stay healthy,

  Linton

  [email protected]

  Chapter 1

  My name is Tom Penchant, and I’m an alcoholic. I said as much to the twenty-three other people sitting around me completing our circle.

  “Hi, Tom,” they said in practiced unison.

  “As you can all guess, I had my reasons for drinking,” I said. That comment elicited a few chuckles from my fellow AA members. “When I was in that Humvee felt invincible, like I could take on the world, as long as I had my Marine brothers with me. Then the explosion lit up my side of the truck and changed my world.”

  A woman old enough to be my mother sat to my right. She placed her hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. I bit down on the lump in my throat and gave her the best smile I could at the time.

  I looked down at my lap, or what was left of it and a tear burned a line of shame down my face. I continued but couldn't muster the courage to look up. “The improvised explosive device tore open my truck like it was a tin can and tore me apart like I was the fucking tuna inside.”

  “That’s it, brother,” old Captain Jim said from his seat across from me. “Let it out, Marine. It’s the only way.”

  That was what they told me. The shrinks, my folks, my ex-wife, and the people in that room. Open up and talk about what happened. Let the pain air out like a pair of dirty fucking gym socks. Socks I would never wear again.

  “At first, I didn’t feel it,” I said. “I just heard the ringing in my ears along with the heat and the pressure.” I chuckled. “It felt like someone had me pinned against a wall and they were trying to push me through it. Then the pain hit me. It hurt so fucking much,” I sobbed.

  “You know what hurt worse? When I looked over at Smitty for help and saw the piece of bloody shrapnel sticking out of his throat.” I took a second to catch my breath.

  “I’m no saint, and the shit I did for my country was just wrong. So, I knew that look in his eyes. They were hollow, like someone flicked off a fucking light switch. Only that light was never going to come back on, and I was down my best friend. So, you’re goddamn right I drank!”

  I looked up then. I might not be able to face them when it came to talking about me, but I would be damned if I let anyone forget about Smitty. “Every time I closed my eyes, I saw his dead gaze. I couldn’t sleep without reliving that moment. And then there was all the other dead gazes that came for me in my sleep. So, I drank,” I said it much more subdued. “I drank because there was no pain to remember when everything was a blur. If I couldn’t remember last night, I couldn’t remember the dead gazes.”

  “It never fixes anything,” Captain Jim mumbled. I looked over and saw an all too familiar haunted look in his eyes.

  “No,” I said as I shook my head. “It got worse—I got worse.” My shoulders slumped and I looked down again. “My wife was next to me through sixteen surgeries and countless hours of rehab.” My next words came out in a quiver. “She wiped my ass before I was able to figure out how to use my remaining arm again. And I fucking hit her. I was a drunk asshole and I hit the most perfect and beautiful person I had ever known because I was drunk, and she wouldn’t let me have another beer. What kind of ungrateful fuck was I?”

  My hand went to the control stick of my government issued powered wheelchair and I backed out of the circle. “I can’t,” I said. “I just can’t.”

  “Thank you for sharing, Marine,” someone shouted at my back.

  “Stay strong, Brother. We are always here for you,” Captain Jim yelled as I left the room.

  I took a right and made for the elevator. Alcoholics anonymous meetings at the VA hospital were held in the basement. I figured it was so our brothers and sisters in arms couldn’t see our shame.

  As I turned the last corner, I saw Nurse Bridget Lorn leaning against the wall. She straightened when she saw me and smiled. “Hi, Tom,” she said.

  “Nurse, Lorn,” I replied and nodded to her.

  “How did it go? Did you manage to speak this time?” We both knew she lingered just out of sight in the hall when I was in AA meetings, but we played this game of make believe.

  “I did,” I said. “It was hard and … fuck that noise. I don’t know why people bother.” I knew it for the lie it was. I did feel … something. Maybe one day that something would be feeling better. Who knew?

  “Confronting your demons is never easy, Tom. You can’t expect to be magically healed in an hour. If you stick with it and really try, then you will see and feel a difference,” she said.

  “Yup,” I replied. “That’s what they tell me.”

  A part of me wanted to tell Nurse Lorn to kick rocks. Let her know how fucked up I was and that I was a black stain in the life of anyone I came in contact with. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. It wasn't that she was pretty, not only that anyway. It was the way she doted on me without treating me like a fragile thing to be placed on a shelf so they didn’t have to worry about breaking me.

  “What are you going to do now?” She asked. Nurse Lorn’s shift ended an hour before the meeting started and she hung around till after the meetings were done. I think she was one of those women that liked a project and in her case—the more damaged the goods, the better the project would be. It was the only explanation that made any sense to me.

  “I don’t have plans. I’ll go home and stare at the wall till the sun comes up. Same as usual,” I said. It was more truth than I was willing to share with most, but I had become used to Lorn and opened up enough to tell her shit like that.

  The elevator dinged and she walked in. I followed and pressed the button for the lobby. As the doors closed, I thumbed the sobriety chip that hung on a short dog-tag chain from my wheelchair’s control stick. We rode in silence until the elevator stopped. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why people remained quiet on elevators. I can understand now, or I think I did. Since most people try to ignore me while staring out of the corner of their eye. But I never could figure out why people that know each
other tend to stay quiet. Oh well.

  Nurse Lorn walked with me out of the building. I accompanied her to her car on account of it being late. Not that I was much of a bodyguard. Old habits die hard, which was why I still held open doors, even though most people tried doing it for me.

  “So, tell me,” Nurse Lorn said as she spun and leaned against her faded red Mustang 5.0. “What do you do for fun? I mean, besides sitting in that musty old basement and listening to other people’s sob stories?”

  I chuckled. “Yeah, cause that’s fun.”

  “Seriously, what?”

  “I don’t do much of anything. Mostly just watch the tele or read a book. What else is there to do?” I asked.

  “Maybe you could take me out to see a movie?” She asked. “Or take me home for some … thing else?”

  What the fuck just happened? Since when did women hit on a guy with two stumps for legs and an arm and a half? I looked around expecting cameramen to rush out and tell me I’ve been punked while some obnoxious little star-boy laughs and makes jokes.

  “Tom?” Nurse Lorn’s voice took on an edge of concern.

  “I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” I said. “You really don’t want to see me naked. The scars are … let’s just say, they’re not something to show off.”

  Nurse Lorn narrowed her eyes and I swallowed a lump of spit. “Some women think scars are sexy and more so on the body of a war hero.” She leaned forward enough for me to get an eyeful of smooth creamy cleavage as she slid a finger along my jaw. “What do you say?”

  “Are you fucking with me?” My voice came out raspy and tears filled my eyes. I couldn’t bear the thought of the one good person in my life being cruel. Not when I pushed everyone else away until she was all I had. Not to say, we had much up until that moment.

  “No, Tom. I most certainly am not fucking with you. In fact…”

  “Shut up and give me all your money, bitch. You too cripple.”

  My head snapped to the left and I was looking right into the barrel of a gun. For so long, I prayed for something just like that, or almost like it. But not now, no fucking way.

  I tilted my head to the right and got a good look at the dickbag. He was tall, everyone was from the chair, and lanky. His hair hung in greasy clumps around his shoulders and his teeth looked like something from a blowjob nightmare.

  “Get lost,” I growled.

  “The fuck you say, gimp?” He glared at me and I gave less than two shits. “How bout I put a bullet in your head?”

  “How about you fuck off?” I countered. Yeah, I had mad negotiation skills.

  “Oh, a tough guy?” He positioned his weapon so it was pointed center mass on Nurse Lorn. “Or! Or, I could put a pullet in this pretty bitch here? You like that, hero?”

  My eyes tracked down from the barrel of the Glock pistol to the thug’s face. He was staring at Nurse Lorn with a look one might see on a man stranded on a deserted island and being offered his first steak in years. He even licked his lips, as if to accentuate my thought.

  I let out a roar and dove out of my chair. My hand smacked the gun up and my shoulder hit him square in the chin. The thug fell over and landed on me. I flopped over and pushed him to the side, then sent a couple of hammer blows into his face before pulling myself up his body. Once in position, I reached up with my good arm and rained down punch after punch on his face until I could no longer lift my arm. Then I rolled off of him and rested my head down on the blacktop.

  Nurse Lorn moved to stand over me. I frowned because of the expression on her face. Instead of the fear I expected from the failed robbery and my actions, I saw a big beautiful smile. She slowly clapped her hands.

  “You are so much more than I hoped you would be,” Nurse Lorn said. She pulled a small device from her pocket and held it to her mouth. “I have what we came for. Requesting immediate transport and asset recovery.”

  “Say what now?” I asked.

  Nurse Lorn knelt down next to me and picked me up from under my arms like I weighed nothing and set me back in my chair. I couldn’t talk. My jaw moved like I was going to but the words and questions couldn’t get past what she said and did.

  “I’m going to explain, but we don’t have a lot of time before our ride gets here, so I will show you instead.”

  Nurse Lorn reached up to her right earing and pressed it with her index finger. She shimmered then she was no longer the woman I knew. In her place stood a woman of the same height, weight and build, even wearing the same scrubs and white sneakers. But her skin was now a light blue and her eyes were bigger than they had been. She was just as stunning, if not more so.

  “What the fuck?” The mental blockage abated enough for a few word to stumble out of my mouth.

  “I am Bridget Lorn, former leader of the resistance and Senator of the new Galactic Alliance.” She bent down so her face was right in front of mine. “I saw Star Wars, so I know how clichéd this is going to look and sound, but oh well. Tom, we need your help. You are our last hope,” she said.

  “What the fuck?” I replied.

  Nurse err… Senator Lorn giggled. “We really do need your help, Tom. Will you come with me and help save earth and every world in the Galactic Alliance?”

  “Uh … sure … uh … Senator?”

  She leaned in until our lips touched and planted a gentle kiss on me. Then she stood and a halo of light surrounded her. Senator Lorn looked both regal and angelic as she was bathed in the light … wait.

  Where the fuck did the light come from?

  I looked up and saw a long cylindrical shape hovering in the sky. The light shot out of it from center mass and cascaded around Senator Lorn. It grew wider as I was looking until we were both under the harsh white light.

  “I love this part,” Senator Lorn said.

  “What paaaaa… hey! What the shit is this?” I screamed. Both Lorn and I rose off the ground. Or to be more precise, she rose off the ground and I rose out of my chair. We hovered a few inches above our respective perches then shot up into the sky.

  Chapter 2

  Pressure built in my head as I flew up until it reached a point I blacked out.

  Then I lay on something soft, with cold lights moving past me. Flashes of Lorn and white walls moving in the same direction. A person in all white with his face covered by a high-tech looking surgical mask stood next to me. Bridget Lorn was on the other side smiling down at me. She looked to be walking. I slipped into unconsciousness again.

  Gold light shimmered above me. A red beam moved from side to side at the speed of a machine. It traversed my chest as it headed downward. Then I was out.

  I screamed as pain glanced my half arm. Hands pushed me down jostling the mask over my mouth and nose. “Give him more gas,” someone yelled, the voice sounding like it was coming through a ton of water. I drifted off feeling really good.

  I came to in a chair in a white and grey room roughly twelve by twelve feet. There was one door and no windows. The room and door seemed to be made of a dull polished metal. My head was the only part of me I could move. Not that I had a lot of appendages to begin with. “What the fuck?” I slurred.

  Looking down I saw my good arm resting on the armrest of the chair. My middle finger twitched slightly as if my body was trying to tell me what to do with myself. The other armrest also held an arm which was attached to me. The arm was the right skin color, but there were lines running lengthwise and across my arm. In some of the lines a dot of blue lights blinked in and out.

  If that wasn't weird enough there were two legs with feet sitting on the floor. Both attached to my thighs where there should be stumps. Just like the arm, there were lines crisscrossing the legs and blue blinking lights at random intervals.

  A click drew my attention to the door and I watched as it slid into the wall without a sound. Bridget Lorn stood there with her pale blue skin and large eyes. She wore a dress that wrapped around her neck and ran down to the floor. It left her arms bare and only a strip r
an down her midriff leaving the sides of her belly exposed. Any other day, I would have taken the time to enjoy the hint of muscle tone under what showed of her flat belly, but today…

  “Sorry I wasn’t here when you woke up,” she said as she walked in. The door closed behind her but there was no click. “Matters of state kept me away. I imagine you need an explanation?” She raised one perfectly sculpted eyebrow.

  “You could say that,” I replied. If I could have moved, that moment would have been when I leaned back and given her a smug look. I opted for just the look.

  “While we talk, or I talk and you listen, we can calibrate your new parts. Is that okay?” Lorn asked.

  “Why can’t I move?” I asked. “I mean the parts that are me.”

  “Okay, I will do some explaining first.” Lorn tapped at a shining silver bracelet that took up half her left forearm. The floor in front of me melted and the gooey grey stuff rose up. It took on the shape of a chair like the one under me, then solidified. Lorn took a seat.

  “I told you that we were looking for a savior and that you're the man we need. Unfortunately, even a badass warrior isn’t very useful when confined to a wheelchair.” I raised an eyebrow at that but kept silent. “So we gave you legs and an arm. We had to remove what was left of the original limb in order to make sure you had the strength you were going to need from the new hardware.”

  “You sound really calm for someone who just told a guy that you cut off his stumps and glued on new legs and an arm,” I said. My voice was calm but inside I was freaking out because that shit they took was me.

  “Because we did some really cool things that I know you are going to love,” she replied. “You trusted me before you found out who I really am. Will you give me the benefit of the doubt and trust me for a few more minutes?” Lorn asked.

  “You did right by me before. Probably treated me better than I deserved. I’ll hear you out, Senator Lorn.”

  “Please, Tom, call me Bridget. Thank you for your faith in me.” She gave me a big smile that made my heart flutter, but I didn’t let my excitement show. I responded with a simple nod.