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 had to get out of there, and he’d remembered something Lync had told him—his dad had a bunker out in the woods outside of town. The thing was, he’d need a car to get there. Laurie had seen a bunch of cars in driveways and at the curb on the trek from home, but he didn’t have the time or the knowledge to hotwire one. He’d have to go for his own car; he crossed his fingers that it was still where he’d left it.


He took the side streets, using caution, and he had a couple of close calls, but finally he reached the parking lot behind the bar he’d been in the night before.


His piece of shit car was still there, a parking ticket stuck under the windshield wiper. He threw it away. Like the courts were going to haul his ass to jail because he didn’t pay the fine. He tossed the bag Rod had given him onto the front seat, then unstrapped the bugout bag and swung it in as well. Finally, he pulled out his keys and climbed into the car.


Chapter 19