In the year 2184, the US is divided. Half the country has moved on with the rest of the world, while in middle America, the survivors of the terrorist biological attack that split the country struggle just to stay alive. Though a century has passed, few people brave going behind the borders meant to contain the danger. Even the privatized military is reluctant to do so.<br><br>But that doesn’t stop recently discharged Sullivan Eberle. Only one thing drives him anymore -- the need to find Raphael Hamada. He doesn’t know why. He only knows he must. If that means a lifetime behind the borders, then so be it.<br><br>Rafe Hamada ran away from the real world when he was still a kid. The last thing he wants is to be found, especially by a soldier who can’t even tell him why it was so important to locate him in the first place. He’d like nothing more than for Sullivan to leave, but turning his back on a man alone and friendless is against everything Rafe stands for ...

Penny Candles

The loose grit of the steep banks forced him to dig his toes into the dirt if he didn’t want to fall in front of them. If push came to shove, he’d defend himself, but what he really wanted to do was get out of there as soon as possible. From the sun’s position in the sky, it was nearing sunset anyway. An early start would get him farther away from men who weren’t afraid to demonstrate exactly how they felt about the military.


“Pat him down, Joe,” Shorty instructed. “We don’t want him surprising us.”


Sullivan didn’t need a blade or a gun to take these two down, but he lifted his arms obediently, setting his jaw as he stared straight ahead. Indignity was nothing new to a soldier, and Joe didn’t have the same rough technique any number of his commanding officers ever had. He’d prove to them he wasn’t a threat, then be on his way. In the opposite direction they were going.


Chapter 3