Liberation, The Bad Company, Book Four
By Craig Martelle & Michael Anderle
Undedited
Snippet #1
Keeg Station
“A change of scenery will probably help.”
“Among other things, my friends,” Aaron replied cryptically. “We will help her, with all that we are, because she deserves that and more.”
Yanmei reached upward and bent at the waist until she touched her toes. She slowly stretched downward until her palms were on the floor. Cory mirrored her.
Aaron excused himself and joined them, adjusting Cory slightly before assuming his stance. His long arms touched the floor before he finished bending. After a solid thirty seconds they rose. Three iterations later, they lunged forward into the warrior pose. Cory slowly assumed the position. Yanmei reached over to straighten one of Cory’s arms, rotating until her arm was under Cory’s supporting it. Aaron moved to support her back arm. They remained in that position until Cory’s legs began to shake. They stood up and shook out before moving into a new pose.
In between poses, they didn’t give her time to think. It was the first step on a long road, not to forget, but to live a life as it had become. Move forward, one second at a time, one step at a time.
Char stood and stretched the tightness from her legs. She had overdone it, just like her husband. Terry rotated his shoulder, flexing, twisting, and wincing. After all the years and the treatments in the Pod-doc, it still gave him problems, especially when he worked out like a madman. He folded his hands in front and watched his daughter do something other than cry.
It had been tearing at his heart, because her grief was so profound, and there was nothing he could do about it. Terry felt the burden of life weighing him down, not able to shake the crushing mass. Char carried her own angst, every bit as great. No parent could watch their child go through what Cory was going through without having it grate on their very souls.
It gave them hope seeing their friends intervene and slowly lead Cory onto the road to recovery.
Terry breathed slowly and deeply, licking his lips and picking up his towel. “What do you say we find Ted and ask how things are going?”
“We have dinner with them tonight. He might get suspicious if we talk with him twice in the same day.”
“True,” Terry agreed. “Then let’s get changed and walk around. See if there’s any color we can add back into this station.”
“I know what you mean,” Char said softly. “It’s like everything is shades of gray.”
“Fifty?” Terry injected light-heartedly.
“Don’t you start with that.” Char pushed Terry playfully, her purple eyes sparkled for a moment.
Normalcy. Maybe it wasn’t such a distant thing.
After one last look at the weretigers working with their daughter, they walked away, feeling much better than when the day started.
