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 supposed there was a possibility Maria was lying about all of this, but she wore her melancholy like a cloak, especially when she talked about her husband. It explained why a woman like her had never remarried, either, even when there were obvious suitors in town. In her heart, she still was, and few men would ever live up to the ideal her husband had managed to attain through his selfless actions.


“I have no interest in hurting Rafe,” he said. “You have to believe me.”


Her sad brown eyes regarded him for more beats of his heart than he liked. The corner of her mouth finally tipped upward, though it failed to banish the shadows in her face. “I do. And I know why he’s so fascinated by you. You’re what he could have been if life had turned out a little bit differently. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy for me to forget about everything we did to keep Rafe alive. Especially since you don’t know why you’re here. Not really.”


Chapter 53