The Embattled Road (Lost and Found Series) Read Online Free PDF Page A

crested. Chad didn’t sleep at all once they finally went back to their rooms. Though the Gunny played a good game, Chad knew he had to be upset. In the entire time he’d been in the hospital, he’d only seen him have a few visitors. The first was an aide who came to deliver his medical discharge paperwork. The second was his commanding officer. And the other few were grunts he’d trained and served with. All of the visits were painfully short.
    Chad felt bad. His family irritated the crap out of him, but they were still blood. They still came for visits and brought cookies and news from home. Still kept him in the loop, even though he was a thousand miles away. They were already making plans for him to return to the ranch in Texas.
    He honestly didn’t know what he was going to do when he got out of the hospital. Ranching just did not appeal to him.
    Palmer had no family. No parents or siblings or even cousins. Chad had made the mistake of asking him and had his ass handed to him. The only thing waiting for him at Lejeune was an empty rack.
    After PT, Chad rolled himself down to Duncan’s room. Palmer was sitting at the window and a nurse was holding Duncan’s chair as he transferred into it. Once she left, they all agreed to go out to the balcony. Palmer rolled out first, anger in every movement he made as he shoved his chair down the hallway. Duncan went next, pushing the wheels of his chair more calmly.
    Chad got there last, of course. His left hand wasn’t recovering as quickly as they’d hoped, so the thing was wrapped like crazy. They were talking about shipping him to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, where they specialized in burn treatment. It didn’t help that he banged it in the night, sometimes undoing the work from whatever surgery he had last.
    So, his one leg didn’t drag as fast as their healthy arms pushed on the wheels of the chairs. He couldn’t wait to be fitted with the prosthetic. Then he could get out of the chair and use a cane or crutches at least. How sad was it that he was hoping for a cane.
    It was cold outside, but nobody felt it. Palmer stared off in the distance, refusing to make eye contact with either one of them.
    “So, what’s your itinerary?” Chad asked him finally.
    Palmer glanced at him. “I fly out Friday. A volunteer will meet me at the airport and take me to my old barracks. Collect my stuff. I’ll be in a step-down program before I’m released completely into the world. Then I guess I’ll get an apartment and stare at the walls.”
    Chad cringed in sympathy. The scenario was something they all could be facing. “Are you going to go to school?”
    Palmer shrugged. “I’ve been an MP for years. Have no frickin’ idea what I’d go to school for.” He snorted. “Fuck, I barely made it out of high school. And I’d be older than everybody there.”
    They were each lost in their own thoughts for a while, because it was a reality they all could envision. Having no purpose in life other than to collect a disability check from the government. It gave him chills to even consider it. “We may not have an option.”
    Gunny shot him a furious look. 
    “You know,” Duncan said, “we all have experience. We trained Marines for years. Military Police, no less. We have leadership abilities, decision-making skills, armory experience, and a boatload of other things the government considered us valuable for. No, we can’t drive anymore or run around shooting people, but somebody has to need what we can offer. We just have to find them.”
    Palmer looked unconvinced. His dark brows were furrowed over his black eyes and Chad knew that nothing was sinking in right now.
    He was ashamed to feel relief that he wasn’t the one leaving the hospital first. It had become a haven for all of them, where they’d been through similar things and experienced similar losses. Worry tightened his gut. Palmer had no family to rely on, very few friends and slim prospects for