The Grumpy Roommate Gamble (Heroes of Huckleberry Creek #1)

PROLOGUE: GABE

My patrol was finally over. Hunger gnawed, and my skin itched from sand in places sand ought never be. Such was the way of things on a desert deployment. I wanted some grub, a shower, and eight straight on my cot. Things had been quiet enough in the region lately that I might actually get at least two of the three. But I paused on the way back to my tent to gaze up at the vast expanse of sky that stretched from horizon to horizon.

The moonless night meant nothing muted the stars. With no trees or buildings to lend perspective, the sky seemed so close. The Milky Way was a pale misty band across the sky, so dense with stars it almost seemed as if you could reach out and run fingers through it like water. There were no familiar constellations in this part of the world. No Orion’s belt, no Big Dipper. But the ones up there had become familiar over the past nine months, even if I didn’t know their names.

As I watched, a shooting star blazed across the velvet black before winking out.