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

Wheat dropped the flashlight and spun around, his grip tight on the baseball bat Althea had given him. “What is it?”


Laurie was backing away fast from the counter. “I…I think I found the receptionist.”


Wheat rushed to Laurie’s side. Lying on the floor behind the reception counter was the body of a woman. So that was the cause of the cloying odor.


It was hard to tell her age, but going by the style of clothes she wore, she was probably in her mid to late-twenties. What was obvious was that she’d been dead for some time.


Laurie raised haunted eyes to him. “I knew her. She worked the night shift, and sometimes I’d see her. I’d talk to her about her husband and kids, how well this job worked out for her because she got to put them to bed and still be home in time to get them ready for school…Oh God, the kids.” He swallowed heavily, and Wheat slid an arm around him and urged him away from the sight of the dead woman.


Chapter 48