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

Not as many people filled seats, though those that did noticed him right away. The silence was shorter tonight, an improvement in his mind, but he ignored it, hoping dismissal would diminish its importance. He waited patiently while Maria finished taking someone’s order, his body instinctively at parade rest.


“Have a seat at the counter,” she said, waving him toward it as she headed to the kitchen. “I’ll have your food right out.”


More sets of eyes followed him as he deliberately perched upon a stool that put his back to the front door. Believe me when I tell you I’m not a threat,he hoped it said to them. What kind of soldier would make himself so vulnerable if he didn’t have to?


Chapter 19