Of Hearts And Stars (Classic Editon) (The Cadet Starship Chronicles) by Edward West Read Free Book Online

thoughts, it did allow him to spare Frankie at least.
    “ You're always sorry Frankie.” Swift said, his words husky and thick “That makes you a sorry person.”
    Frankie flinched in anticipation of a face demolishing punch, but it never came. Instead he opened his waterlogged eyes to see Ollie's empty room with Swift gone. He ran into the hallway just in time to see Swift sprinting full speed towards the cafeteria stairwell. Frankie gave chase and got downstairs as Swift kicked open the cafeteria doors.

    - 17 -
    Swift marched in and tore off his jacket; throwing it to the floor and eliciting gasps from anyone who could see his back. The most recent whipping he had received burst the skin on his back; bright red blood bloomed like floral print on the fabric of his snow white polo.
    Swift roared above the din and clamor of the other orphans having dinnertime conversations “Butch! Fight me!”
    Everyone fell silent. Butch then made an ill informed move by standing up and looking for who had called him out. That is when Swift saw him and knew where he was and who he was. This was the guy who wasn't getting away. The cramped aisles between the tables provided no fast access to Butch. So Swift, in a blood haze, leaped onto the nearest table, sprinted the length and jumped, repeating the process until he was just above Butch. Stunned by the absurdity of this sight, Butch did not immediately react, and Swift dove onto him with a punch to the face. So brutal was the initial strike that Butch was rendered unconscious immediately. His goons were quicker than him however and grabbed Swift, but not before another heavy punch shattered Butch's eye socket. Again it was a Marcus and George on each arm, and again it did not go as planned for them. The surrounding children had moved to give them space, cheering and going crazy with excitement over the violence they were seeing. Swift leaned back to swing his arms forward with a tremendous force, causing Marcus and George to bump heads. Punches were thrown before they could even recover from this, and as a result Marcus received a broken jaw. George took two rib crushing body blows and wished he had just finished his banana pudding instead of fighting. Both hit the floor and stayed there from fear of future thrashing.
    Swift shouted at the three incapacitated bullies “Get up! Get on your feet you cowards! You want to gang up on people? Gang up on me if you can! I really wish you'd try to throw mefrom the roof!”
    Suddenly his back exploded with renewed pain and he staggered forward onto one knee. He became aware of the boos and jeers coming from the other kids. Swift turned his head to see a caregiver standing triumphantly over him. There was a paddle wet with Swift's blood in his hand. Food and dinnerware began to rain down upon the caregiver from the angry audience.
    He turned and raised his paddle, booming at them to “Cut it out before I beat the life out of all of ya!”
    Fed up with his own beatings, Swift rose and tackled the caregiver from behind. The paddle flew from his hand and to the floor, where several small and mischievous feet kicked it far from the fray.
    “ You little punk!” The caregiver bellowed and tried to hit Swift with his elbow.
    Swift pushed back off of him to dodge this strike and put his hands up. His head was swimming from the pain he felt in his back. He could hear his heartbeat rumbling in his ears like a thunderstorm. There would be no fight between the two however. The other caregivers on duty had arrived and grabbed hold of Swift. Despite the adrenaline coursing throughout his body he had begun to feel very weak and tired. Even so he managed to break free only to be taken down right away by a sedative.

    - 18 -
    The next day Swift sat in the visiting room. Hazy gray light, the kind that was the signature of a foggy morning, shined down in his eyes from a window high upon the wall. He was still mildly drugged when Bob Hookanos strode in. Therefore