Epilogue

Striker stood at the doorway leading to their home, or what had been their home. Shannon was gone. He didn’t blame her. He wasn’t the man he used to be.

The woman living here now lifted her eyebrows. “I don’t know where she moved. After her husband died, she took off.”

Striker sucked in a breath. Jesus, the Army couldn’t get anything right. He hadn’t died, but they sure as heck had screwed up by losing track of Shannon. Hell, he was still alive, but he’d been held prisoner for years. The nerve damage to his right leg was permanent. He’d done physical therapy, but he’d never be the same. Hell, no one after coming back from that hell would ever be the same.

He noticed the woman’s lips thin and her hands shake. No doubt, he looked like shit. She would probably call the cops soon, and he didn’t need that. The marijuana that kept him from going off the deep end sat in his pocket just waiting for him to smoke.

“Thank you,” Striker said and took a step back.

The door slammed, and he heard the deadbolt slide closed, locking him out. He’d returned a hero with nothing. Sure, he got the party, the little gift from the president, a place to stay while he got back on his feet, but he had nothing.

His house had been sold, his wife and their kid gone, disappeared into thin air, and he didn’t even have the old couch they found on the side of the road.

The war had not only taken his mind and his time, it had taken his whole life.

Now, he wanted it back, but he couldn’t find Shannon. He’d looked, good lord he’d spent hours searching, but it was like she didn’t even exist. He couldn’t find anything about her. Nothing! She had drifted off after he’d been listed as dead and he feared he would never see her again.

His phone rang, and he checked the caller ID. It was a buddy of his from the service. He let it roll to voicemail. They’d want to drink, but he didn’t need alcohol. All he needed was Shannon and their child, if that child was even alive. Hell, his life was screwed, and he had no way to fix it.

Read Endure The Darkness Next today for more of Striker and Shannon’s story.