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

“I intend to keep on helping Belle, though, so don’t worry about that. But if you’ve got any advice for me, I’m more than happy to take it. You’re the expert, and I just want to see her happy.”


“I am happy.” Belle appeared at his elbow as if she’d never left. “What kind of nonsense are you putting into his head?”


“Nothing, I…” He stopped, flustered by the unexpected interruption and the jolt back to reality. His brain had to stop and start again to remember he hadn’t actually had a conversation with her husband. “But you must miss him.”


“Of course, I do. Every day.” She leaned heavily against her cane, gazing down at the headstone. “You remember the ones who leave you. Always. But the important part is not to forget you didn’t go, too.”


Chapter 57