Wordy Listens

This is a tiny taste of new content that you will find in Chapter 17 of the fifth published book in my Beauty of Life series, PURGATORY: Bonds Forged in Hellfire.

* PURGATORY: Bonds Forged in Hellfire (Beauty of Life, Book Five) is available on Amazon. (Note: paperback version is delayed for a few days due to an error.)

Book Description:
Happy to be back with his TRF team, Dan Broderick is pulled away yet again. He must relive his path through purgatory. Dan's testimony of his years in Special Forces is critical to the court-martial of Plouffe, Pletcher, and many others. Can he defy the odds and find the strength to persevere in the face of impossible obstacles?

Walk with Dan as the flaming fingers of hellfire, twisted and bent by the depravity of humanity, work to bring him down.

Do those flames also illuminate the best in humankind and forge lifelong bonds or lay waste to friendships?

Will Dan ever be able to rise from the ashes and experience the beauty of life?

SETTING FOR THIS SCENE: In the published Beauty of Life world, Dan (Sam) spends nearly three weeks rehashing all of his SF time. It is very difficult for him and he finds himself at one point reaching out to Bram (Wordy) for help in coping. This is set after he finished detailing the unit plane crash.

Enjoy this little sneak peek of PURGATORY. - Note, I've changed the names from Dan to Sam and Bram to Wordy (and the other characters too) since this is FP fanfiction site.

November 22
CFB Borden – General's Quarters – Sam's Room 2:30 a.m.

Sam flung himself back and forth as his arms flailed fighting the phantoms generated in his mind. His sheets drenched in sweat and twisted around his legs trapping them. He jerked hard to the right. His body landed with a thump on the floor waking him.

He lay on the ground as his breathing started to slow. Sam stared at the ceiling and waited. Did he cry out? If so, his father would be rushing into the room any moment now. All remained quiet.

Sitting up, Sam fought to unravel the sheets from his legs. He leaned his back against the bed as his mind rewound the dream. It wasn't a nightmare, well at least not a nightmare he normally had. This one was weird and left him feeling rather unsettled.

He bit his lower lip as he raked a hand through his hair. Sam needed to talk to someone. His hand reached for his phone and pressed the familiar number before he thought about the time of day. The phone rang five times before being answered with a groggy hello. Sam glanced at the clock. Two thirty in the morning. Crap!

Guilt assailed Sam as he said, "Sorry to wake you. I'll just hang up."

"Wait, don't. Are you alright?" Wordy said as he squinted at the clock trying to focus his sleepy eyes. Two thirty in the morning. Sam never called at this hour unless it was important—typically a nightmare.

Sam sighed and raked a hand through his hair. "Yeah. No. I don't know."

Wordy scooted out of bed and headed downstairs to the kitchen so he wouldn't wake Shel. "I'm listening."

The dead air on the line lasted several minutes. Sam heard sounds in the background. Wordy was making instant coffee like he usually did when Sam called in the middle of the night. Something he rarely did, but every time he did, Wordy was there for him. And if all they did was remain silently on the line together, Wordy never once made him feel weak for calling.

"I had a weird dream."

"Weird how?" Wordy poured a bit of milk into his coffee then sat at the kitchen table and took a sip.

"Mixed up."

Wordy waited for Sam to expound on what weird and mixed up meant. He was glad Sam called. Wordy was concerned about him. He and Ed talked earlier today, and Ed worried Sam would have a rough time if he recounted some of the details he overheard in the hospital. Ed wouldn't expand on what troubled him, but if Ed was bothered and Sam was calling, then he needed to offer a friendly ear.

"It's stupid really. My unit. Matt, Blaze, Mason, Winds, Patch, and Ripsaw were all wrapped up in the coils of huge plaid python which stopped them from reaching me. The python's head looked like Plouffe. Pink panthers surrounded me. One had the face of Murphy and one …" Sam trailed off.

He didn't have a name for the other face, though the image was etched deeply in his psyche. The face of the man who tortured him with red-hot needles. The One who broke him repeatedly.

Sam blew out a breath. "They kept biting and clawing at me. Four penguins wearing Toronto police uniforms showed up. Instead of helping me they encouraged the panthers and called me names. One was extremely fat. It waddled over and sat on my chest. I thought I would suffocate—it was hard to breathe." Sam stopped. He couldn't believe he was telling Wordy all this.

Wordy listened intently. This was weird, but dreams usually had some basis. Something the subconscious mind tried to sort out.

"You can't tell anyone the next part."

"I never disclose what you share with me, Sam. This time is no different."

Sam worried his lower lip for several minutes. "Okay. Don't laugh."

"I won't." Wordy muted his phone just in case he laughed.

"Well, this pack of six gray elephants charged in. One huge elephant had your face, and a small one had Jules's. And yeah, all the others were, the Boss, Ed, Spike, and Lou. Spike's elephant had a shock of black hair flopping in his eyes."

Wordy chuckled and was damned glad he muted. Sam had a wild imagination. Pythons, panthers, and penguins, oh my. Now the team as elephants. Sam's mind must be trying to work out something significant.

Sam waited for a moment listening for Wordy's laugh. When it didn't happen, he relaxed a little. Wordy was always safe. He continued, "The elephants stomped on the penguins, and the Ed and Jules elephants ran their tusks through the Murphy panther. Next, the elephants pulled the python off my unit. The guys slaughtered all the remaining cats except one who ran away."

He didn't explain that the one who got away was The One. Wordy wouldn't understand, and he couldn't explain. "My back was all cut up. Then things changed, and I was in the hospital in Afghanistan. God, I hate hospitals. Anyway, it seemed so real. My back hurt badly. Spasm after spasm gripped my back and suddenly my father was there rubbing my back and whispering words of comfort.

"Then the Plouffe python reappeared and tried to squeeze the life out of my dad. While a parrot with Merrill's face sat on a perch and continually said, collect a blond bobblehead." Sam bounced the back of his head on the mattress in frustration. "All mixed up. Weird. Don't know what the dream means. Never had one like it before."

Wordy thought a moment as he unmuted his phone. "Lots of imagery in there. Plouffe represented by a snake makes sense. Murphy as a panther too. From what you shared in the past, Murphy attacked you before the terrorist's captured you. I have no clue about the penguins. Maybe it had to do with the officers who took you into custody after the bank robbery before you joined the team.

"As for the elephants, Ed and Jules both shot Murphy, and the team uncovered Plouffe's crimes. Remember the night you fell into the elephant enclosure at the zoo during training? You told me you felt safe when the mother elephant wrapped her trunk around you. Perhaps your mind put the team and the elephants together because both make you feel like you belong.

"And your father comforting you could be your subconscious reinforcing to you that he cares about you and is here for you now. You are under a lot of stress with this interview. This could be your mind's way of processing everything and reminding you that many people care for you."

Sam stared up at the ceiling. He exhaled heavily as his body relaxed more. Wordy's explanation made some sense out of his dream. "Sorry I called so early, but thanks for listening. It helped to talk about it." Sam yawned as more of his anxiety drained away.

Wordy caught the yawn. He was glad Sam called, and he could help. "You can call me anytime. Think you can sleep now?"

Sam rose from the floor and sat on the bed. "Yeah, thanks. Say hi to everyone for me."

"Will do. Are you still coming to the picnic? Allie will be devastated if you don't come." Wordy stood and ambled towards the stairs.

"No place I'd rather be. See you then." Sam hung up, lay down, and thought weird dream.

.

The Beauty of Life series takes my original fanfiction stories and revamps them—with tons of new content and expanded storylines while still keeping the same heart and familiar feel of my fanfiction stories.

The first FIVE books in my Beauty of Life series are available as ebooks or paperbacks on Amazon—just search for Laura Acton in books.

If you don't have a Kindle—no problem—just download Amazon's free reader app—it works on phones, tablets, and computers.

If you have Kindle Unlimited you can read them for FREE, too. And I think Amazon offers a free 30-day trial of Kindle Unlimited (where available) which is even better for you if you want to read all of them in one month :)

Beauty of Life series

- FORSAKEN: On the Edge of Oblivion (Beauty of Life, Book One)

- SOLACE: Behind the Shield (Beauty of Life, Book Two)

- BELONGING: Hope, Truth, and Malice (Beauty of Life, Book Three)

- OUTLIER: Blood, Brotherhood, and Beauty (Beauty of Life, Book Four)

- PURGATORY: Bonds Forged in Hellfire (Beauty of Life, Book Five) - PUBLISHED 9/22/17 (may not show up in Amazon for 72 hours)

- Work in Progress: SERENITY: A Path Home (Beauty of Life, Book Six)

You can visit Amazon and search for LAURA ACTON in Kindle Books to read the first few chapters of each book with the look inside feature.

Come meet Daniel William Broderick, Alexandra 'Lexa' McKenna, Jon Hardy, Nick Pastore, Loki Baldovino, Bram De Haven, Ray Palomo, Tia Walsh, Brody Mikhail Hunter and the rest of your favorite characters (General Broderick, Yvonne, the Broderick cousins, Blaze, Mason, Patch, Winds, Ripsaw, etc.). Delve into a complex world of courageous men and women riding a roller coaster of emotions and danger. Explore the nature of relationships and bonds developed, tested, and strengthened in the face of adversity as they seek to find the beauty of life.

If you like all the details, twists, turns, and connections of my fanfiction – then you'll love the books — they're filled with them.

If you're a JAM fan become a LAN fan – come fall in love with Dan and Lexa. Their relationship has all the passion of JAM with a new exciting and hot way they first meet. Their relationship has a surprising beginning that turns into a slow burning build of their soulmate connection—it's quite a ride.

If you love the Team, the General, the Broderick cousins, Blaze, Patch, Winds, Mason, and the rest of the cast of characters, you should enjoy the new Beauty of Life series—they get more time than before.