A Soldier Travels

By Ann Stratton

Xhavean’s the only sane man in the house, and that description is pretty questionable on the best of days. Today’s not the best of days. He has three civilians to get to shelter, but how can he get these people to safety when the world has been destroyed around him?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ann Stratton
• Release date: Apr 17, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310209307

Ann Stratton

Ann Stratton started writing at age thirteen with the usual results. After a long stint in fan fiction, honing her skills, she hopes she has gotten better since then. She lives in Southeastern Arizona, trying to juggle all her varied interests. 

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A Soldier Travels

The Smashwords Edition

Ann Stratton

A Blind Woman Production publication

Copyright © 2016 Ann Stratton

Smashwords License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment. It may not be resold or given away. If you would like to share this ebook, please purchase an additional copy for each person with whom you want to share it. If you're reading this ebook and did not purchase it, or if it was not purchased for your use only, please return to Smashwords and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

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Disclaimer

This is a work of fiction, a product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance or similarity to any actual events or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

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Credits

Cover photo courtesy of http://www.bigstockphoto.com/

Editing, formatting, and cover design by Ann Stratton

Thanks to Juanita Constantine Riggle for the insight she has on tornadoes!

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A Soldier Travels

The shelling stopped, finally, the hammering dwindling down to the rush of wind and rain. Xhavean uncurled an arm from over his head, listening intently for the next crack. Thankfully, the roof hadn't caved in, or he would have to work his way out from under more than just the cot. The mattress and blankets he had dragged in with him trapped him for a sweaty panicky moment, but eventually he squirmed out into the open room.

Nothing else seemed to be amiss, but then he didn't really pick up after himself and if a shell did detonate in here, who'd be able to tell the difference? He pulled the mattress and blankets out from under the cot and threw them back on top so he could reach under there for his rifle, except that it wasn't there. Desperation and loss careened through him with the force to throw him back under the cot, rummaging frantically through the dark.

Nothing! Well, an old beer can, but that was empty and no weapon at all! His hands clenched frantically around the rifle that wasn't there, cold empty fear hollowing out his chest. His heart hammered and rank sweat poured down his sides. He put a knuckle in his mouth and bit down, focusing instead on the pain.

Miss Ybarra at the VA had coached him along in coping techniques. It wasn't easy to recall her calm and measured voice talking him through an attack, but he did his best to listen to her voice, not the fear rampaging through his mind and body.

Slowly, he could think again, reassess himself calmly and recall where he was. Miss Ybarra's voice merged with the sound of rain against the windows of his basement room, a fierce flow driven by the diminishing wind. Reason slowly reasserted itself as he looked around at his dim trash drifted room. If there had been a real shelling, the