Wingman

Written by: Shawn Hoffman

Below you will find a short minute-long excerpt, voiced by the talented Kristen DiMercurio, a professional voice actress who has appeared in several audio-dramas.  Kristen portrays the novel’s protagonist, Harmony. 

Synopsis 

It’s the year 2133. American households have been in a perpetual state of economic and social decline for the past five decades. Falling from a top spot as a world leader, The United States is finding itself treading water. Ignorant to the hurting general populace, in the midst of dark and desperate days, war is launched in Asia. 

The United States and their allies continually find themselves in more defeats than victories.  In desperation, a governmental program code-named “Project Aspen” is put into motion.  Project Aspen takes a selection of young adult soldiers — as well as some select prisoners — and uses them as grunts to send on, essentially, suicide missions.  The story follows the remaining seven characters of Platoon 108, AKA Phoenix Platoon. 

Our protagonist, Harmony, is a strong woman who has become accustom to traumas both on and off the battlefield.  She's the token woman in a platoon overflowing with men.  Growing up as a product of a broken household, Harmony often sought solitude to avoid her raging alcoholic father.  Since her mother died in child birth, Harmony practically raised herself. Her sole friend growing up came in the form of a childhood boy across the street named Joseph, as he endured a similar set of tribulations.  The two were separated when Joseph moved away several years later, cutting off the only real friendship either of them had.  They later reunite in the last place they could imagine:  The battlefield.

The excerpt below takes place in one of the final chapters, after Harmony and Joseph have experienced several episodes of war together.  This scene takes place around midnight, inside of a school bus, in the now-abandoned streets of a Florida suburb.  They're both now twenty-four years old.