Excerpt

The soldier's sputtering gate drew noticeable stares. Passing along the train platform, he felt the eyes of the crowd as he ambled by. Raspy breathing came out of him in a sickening accompaniment to his movements. One woman cried the instant she glimpsed the battered body wrapped in discolored bandages. A piercing quiet invaded the citizens gathered there as the figure moved in apparent agony while clutching the stick that kept him upright. Never in his life had Vince felt more nervous. It was as if all the eyes staring at him could see through the bandages to the dark skin beneath...