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

As Sullivan unlocked the garage door, Rafe pressed to his back, his arms stealing around his waist to lock him in place. He squeezed once, hard. If nothing else, he wanted Sullivan to know Rafe understood.


The apartment spanned the entire area of the garage, though it lacked walls to designate rooms. It wasn’t the sheer square footage that struck Rafe dumb when Sullivan lit a lamp. He’d known Belle had ample space for a man of Sullivan’s size. No, it was the amount of greenery Sullivan had brought into it. Plants and cut flowers adorned every flat surface, every corner. An overflowing vase sat in the middle of the tiny table, leaving almost no room for anyone to actually eat. Small pots of herbs sat on the window sill, ready to embrace the morning sunshine when it peeked over the horizon. A row of feathering ferns hid one wall.


Chapter 36