Laurie Parkinson, who’s lived in Laurel Hills all his life, is a gay sheet metal worker who’d rather be a gay hairdresser. Wheat Dupuis, who’s also gay, is the scion of one of Laurel Hill’s wealthiest families. He’d rather grow grapes than become CFO of Dupuis International. Laurie wakes one morning to discover his family gone and his town decimated by a bacteria that has lain dormant for millennia, incased in ice. With the melting of the ice caps, the bacteria is released, and mankind faces a pandemic that could surpass the Black Plague. Wheat and his family are on their way to safety when the unthinkable happens and he’s left behind. Laurie knows of a bunker in the woods outside Laurel Hill, where he intends to take refuge. On the way there, Laurie finds and rescues Wheat. Can two such dissimilar men work together through a pandemic to find their families ... and possibly find love, as well?

Pandemic

He didn’t trust the balcony to bear his weight, so he angled his body farther out the window so he could see down the block, and he bit back a moan. Another body was face down in the road, the head looking strangely flattened. Beyond that, a car had crashed into a fire hydrant, and a stream of water gushed from it. The driver’s side door hung open, but Laurie couldn’t see a driver anywhere. But there was blood. So much blood.


He shivered and stayed where he was for a moment, watching, but there was no movement below. He swallowed heavily. Goosebumps raised up on his hair-dusted thighs and forearms and cold shivers racked his body. He knew what this meant. It was the zombie apocalypse.


He backed away from the window and closed and latched it with shaking fingers, then rubbed those fingers over his face. Okay, he would stay here—he wasn’t a fool and had no desire to see what else might be happening out on the streets.


Chapter 7