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

He held his breath as he tested the door. The exterior could have been unlocked because this one held intruders at bay. But this, too, yielded to his request for entrance, and he slipped inside as unobtrusively as possible, opening it only what it took for his body to clear the space.


Candles beckoned from a small alcove, row upon row of them, tiny beacons holding firm and true in the muted lighting. Kneeling in front of them was a man, his head bent, his hands resting on his thighs. He knew that shape, without seeing detail, without hearing his voice. How Rafe had become so entrenched into his consciousness, he didn’t understand, but he needed no further specifics to know he was right. He might not have recognized Rafe when he arrived, but Sullivan would know him in his bones forever on.


Chapter 23