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

“Come on.” Pursing his lips, Rafe blew out the candle, shrouding them in darkness again. “There’s a little stream behind the houses I can wash up in.”


The darkness was better. It hid emotions that refused to stay down, unexpectedly unleashed by Rafe’s actions. He could pretend Rafe didn’t know how hard he fought not to jump at the touch of his fingers when he pried the candle away, and then picked off the hardening wax. He could focus on putting one foot in front of the other and walk like everything was normal, like his entire world hadn’t been tilted onto its axis, all because Rafe had pronounced it so. He could breathe. He’d found a home.


The stream was mostly a trickle, but the water was cold and refreshing, the bank hard and lushly grassed. When Rafe was done with the brush, he sat off to the side to give Sullivan the room he needed to rinse away the rest of the wax. He didn’t stand when Sullivan was done. Sitting next to him was the natural thing to do.


Chapter 32