Emerge

by Heather Sunseri

  “But you didn’t.” I rubbed a thumb across his cheek. I wished I could explain everything to my friend, but there wasn’t time. “You’re so stubborn.”

  Dax scowled. “What is it about this place that has you all twisted up?”

  There was so much I had never confided in Dax. I had never thought I would have to. But my past had fully caught up with my present. “I promise I’ll tell you everything soon. I wish I could say nothing will change between us, but… I’m not who you think I am.” I turned to West. “I’m trusting you. No harm comes to him.”

  I let West stare deep into my eyes—to let him see that I was keeping my promise to give him a chance to teach me all that he could in the next twenty-four hours. The specks of gold in his hazel green eyes practically glowed in appreciation of the silent vow I was making.

  He turned to his guards. “Return Dax to his quarters,” he ordered.

  I sent a silent apology to Dax. He glared back, helpless and confused, before being led away.

  President Layne’s words grew louder again, prompting me to turn back to West. “To my son and his future bride. May they be the future of New Caelum.”

  The crowd erupted in applause. I didn’t know what to do. I had so many questions, and the only way I was going to get answers was if I played along with the charade launched by President Layne and Vice President Rhodes.

  Looking up at West, I wondered how much acting I would really have to do to feign a romantic connection to West. His fingers drifted along my face, sliding around it until his palm rested at the nape of my neck between my hair and my skin. He applied pressure, directing my face up to his, then whispered so that only I could hear him. “I’m going to kiss you now, Christina Black. And don’t think for a second that this has anything to do with anyone else around us. Let them have their show—but this is between you and me.”

  I wasn’t prepared for his words, or for the way his touch tingled on my neck and down my spine. He leaned in, tilting his head to the right then the left, until he closed the remaining space separating us and touched his lips to mine.

  The low roar of the crowd sounded like nothing more than the distant rumble of a train as I forgot all the reasons I shouldn’t let my long-lost childhood friend kiss me.

  When he released me, we turned to face the crowd, who cheered approval. But just as I felt a smile touch my lips, I caught a glimpse of Dax out of the corner of my eye. The guards were holding him in place across from us—so he could watch the show. Then the guards pushed him through the door, but not before I saw anguish cross his face.

  chapter thirty-four

  West

  Cricket disappeared into the lab with Dr. Pooley and Dr. Hempel immediately after Mother’s dramatic performance. Though she hadn’t fought the spectacle my mother had made of us, putting us on display like circus animals, she’d barely spoken to me afterward, just asked to be taken to the lab, not even returning to the suite for dinner.

  And yet… I had not imagined that kiss. She felt something for me. A person can’t fake that.

  But our circumstances were working against us.

  My life was here, inside New Caelum. Hers was outside. How would I ever convince her to see the bigger picture—a future that merged our two worlds, that concentrated on the rebuilding of humanity?

  My mother and the council were going about it all wrong. They were trying to force Cricket to join New Caelum, and you don’t force Cricket to do anything.

  I decided it was time for me and Cricket to talk—whether she wanted to or not. I made my way to the lab, and with a nurse’s assistance, I suited up and entered. Cricket stood across the room, her back to me. Several nurses and lab techs worked at stations around the room.

  As I approached, I realized she was staring at the countdown timer, which now had little more than twenty-four hours left. By midnight tomorrow, she would need to have disarmed the computer virus and the bomb inside New Caelum, or the people in the city would have far bigger problems than worrying about the safety of the outside world.

  “Hi,” I said behind her, making her jump and turn to me. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

  I realized she was crying behind the mask covering her face. “What’s wrong? What’s happened?” I rushed to her and started to wrap my arms around her, but she backed up, and I remembered the protocol—no touching each other inside the infectious disease lab.

  I dropped my arms to my side. “Sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

  With no way of wiping her nose or eyes, her face was wet with tears and snot, and her eyes were bloodshot. She was a mess.

  “Tell me what’s going on.” I stretched my fingers and curled them into fists.

  “She’s dead. She was just a child,” Cricket sobbed. “Justin approved the treatments, but something went wrong when Dr. Pooley injected the little girl with the serum. I didn’t even know her name.”

  I bent my neck forward and stared at the floor in front of me. I wanted to throw something. This little girl’s death weighed heavily on my chest. “Alexa.”

  Cricket cocked her head. “Alexa?”

  “That was her name.” I swallowed hard against the emotion of losing another citizen of New Caelum—an innocent child. A fiery anger spread across my neck and down my spine—and then I realized that not only was a sweet girl dead, but we still didn’t have a cure for my sister. Why weren’t Cricket’s antibodies working? Or was it something else that wasn’t working?

  “Come on. Let’s get out of here.” I had to stop myself again from reaching out and touching her.

  “I can’t. There’s not enough time. I have to stay here and see if I can help Dr. Hempel.”

  “You need a break. You’ve provided the tools the doctors need. Let Dr. Hempel and Dr. Pooley have some space. We’ll come back later.”

  “But I’ve listened to Caine talk for years about what worked and what didn’t. And before that, I listened to my parents talk about the disease.”

  “Caine experimented on rats. And you were just a child when you heard your parents. You couldn’t possibly be expected to remember what they said.” Not to mention, Mother thought they had been going a little crazy before they took that last trip. Of course, I wouldn’t tell Cricket that. “Come on. Let’s get out of here,” I said again. “Time away will do you some good.”

  After a few seconds of staring at me silently, she gave in with a sigh.

  I let her pass through the decontamination chamber first. When I found her on the other side, she had cleaned up her face and was standing by the window of one of the iso units, looking in at the little boy still fighting for his life. Dr. Pooley was in the room with him.

  “Hey,” I whispered. “Where’s Dr. Hempel?”

  Cricket shrugged. “He was so angry when the little girl died, he stormed out. I assumed to cool off.

  Cricket sniffed. Her eyes were a little swollen. “I’d give anything to be back on top of my mountain tonight. I just feel completely claustrophobic and helpless.”

  I knew Cricket didn’t mean for her words to hurt me, but they stabbed at my heart. Would she ever feel at home inside New Caelum? Could I expect her to find happiness beside me?

  I reached down and linked my fingers with hers. “Come on. I’ve got an idea.”

  ~~~~~

  “Keep your eyes closed.”

  “West,” Cricket whined. “This is wrong. Thank you for getting me out of the lab for a while, but we can’t run away from everything like we could when we were twelve.”

  “Just keep them closed.” Keeping my hands on her arms, I guided her through the door. She was so skinny beneath my touch. “Two more steps.”

  Once we were completely through the door, Cricket stopped. I was at her back. She leaned into me as her head tilted backward, and she took in a deep cleansing breath. “We’re outside.” I could hear the smile in her voice. For the first time in days, her voice was upbeat, hopeful.

  I whispered close to her ear. “Open
your eyes.”

  She did. Her body remained still as her head turned and surveyed this tiny spot in the sky—the best I could do—a spot where memories were formed.

  Slowly, she stepped away from me and farther out onto the roof. “It’s so much smaller than I remember.”

  “We were much smaller the last time we were out here.”

  Cricket rubbed her arms. It was even colder now than it had been on the night we spent together on the mountain.

  “Oh, right. Just a sec.” I ducked back inside the building and grabbed a couple of large down comforters I had stashed earlier.

  When I returned, Cricket was staring up at the sky, taking in deep breaths. “It smells like snow.”

  “How can it smell like snow?” I laughed.

  “I don’t know. The air, when it’s this cold, has a clean, refreshing smell to it.”

  I smiled. “I think you’re just slightly nuts.”

  The hint of a giggle escaped her lips, and I would have given anything to have recorded that beautiful sound—the sound of all the bad melting away, even if only for a split second.

  “Maybe I am. Maybe we’re all a little nuts at this point.”

  While holding one blanket between my legs, I draped the other around her shoulders and brought the fabric together in front, then pulled her closer to me. The whites of her eyes glistened in the cold air, while the electricity of her blue irises drew me even nearer to her.

  She stared up at me, and her brows pulled inward. She narrowed her eyes as a blend of pain, confusion, and fear crossed her face. “West… I… We really need to talk.”

  I closed my eyes briefly. “I know.”

  “I don’t want to hurt you, but I’m afraid you think something is happening between us that simply can’t—and never will.”

  “No!”

  Cricket flinched as I spoke louder than I had intended. I readjusted my grip on the blanket that was holding her near to me.

  “I’m fully aware of what our situation is and is not, but I will not let you deny what is happening between us,” I said. I touched my forehead to hers. “Please don’t leave me.”

  She lifted her hand and pried the blanket from my hands. She pulled away and walked a few steps, her back to me. “Did you see how the people of your city looked at me today?”

  “Yes. They saw a beautiful, strong woman at my side. New Caelum celebrates any and all unions.”

  She turned and smiled at me. “They saw an outsider. One with scars on her face. Like everyone I meet, they wonder what horrific event caused these scars. I represent their worst fears.”

  “You represent hope.”

  “You’re kidding yourself.”

  “Don’t you get it?” I pushed away the hair hanging across her right cheek and tucked it behind her ear. “I don’t care what others think. Forget about my mother, the council, or the people of New Caelum. The people who matter will love you. I’m next in line to run this city, and I want you by my side. You hold the future of our civilization. You will be the one who will link my world with the outside—your world.”

  Cricket burst into laughter. “Now I know you’ve lost it. Did you hear your mother today?”

  “Yes. That was not my mother. The things she said were not her views. My mother is a reasonable woman. And though she hasn’t been ready to venture outside our walls, she wasn’t fully against exploring the idea either.” I wasn’t sure where Mother’s message had come from today.

  “No. She and Justin have no intention of taking the people of New Caelum back out into the world,” Cricket said. “And that’s a good thing, because the people on the outside will never roll out red carpets to welcome you. Not to mention…” She stopped talking and looked away.

  “What?” I asked. “Don’t hold back now.”

  “Nothing. I shouldn’t have—”

  “Cricket. I am not my mother, and I’m nothing like Justin. I will take over running this city eventually.” Possibly sooner rather than later. “I already have a team of supporters who will help me make the changes we need in order for us to emerge from this cocoon. Tell me what you were about to say.”

  Squaring her shoulders, Cricket took in a deep breath. “I don’t believe the people who contracted this virus did so as a result of an accident. I think everything that is happening has been meticulously planned, including the fact that I’m here. And your mother knows more than she’s telling you.”

  “My mother protected you when you got sick. She said you wanted to leave the city, so she found a way for that to happen, and then she kept your secret. She only brought you back to save her daughter. She wants nothing but the best for you, Cricket. Something else is going on here. I don’t know what yet, but don’t write my mother off just yet.”

  “Fine. Let me ask you this then: why do you think Justin, or the council, or whoever, wants you to convince me to stay inside New Caelum?” She pulled the blanket tightly around her.

  I studied her face. Was I seeing compassion there? Pity? “Why do you think?” I asked warily.

  Instead of answering, she asked me a question. “What’s the one thing that’s special about me, West? Do you think they want me here for my beautiful looks? My charming personality?”

  I wanted her here for all of those things, but I knew she wasn’t really asking me.

  “No. They want me here for my antibodies. They want to own a Bad Sam survivor. And West… it means they don’t expect to have one of their own.”

  She was talking about Willow.

  “No. You’re wrong.” She had to be, right? I walked over to the edge of the roof and looked out over the wall toward the west.

  Cricket slid her hands under my arms from behind and wrapped her blanket across my chest in a hug. “I’m sorry.” She buried her face into my back, kissing me through my jacket. “I don’t want you to give up hope, but I want you to consider everything that’s going on here.”

  I nodded. She wanted me to consider just how corrupt my government actually was. I turned in her arms, placing my own arms around her and staring down at her. “This is why I need you here with me. We would make a great team. I am going to stop the people on the council, and anyone else who has harmed our people.”

  “I believe you. And I’ll do what I can to help you. But I can’t make any promises right now. You’ve got a huge battle ahead of you. For now, I just want to concentrate on getting your sister treated, and on leaving here tomorrow night—hopefully with a way to treat our friends on the outside as well.”

  I turned back around, leading Cricket to stand in front of me with her back to my chest. With the second blanket wrapped around me, I enfolded Cricket in my embrace as we both stared off into the distance. We stayed like that for a while.

  As I imagined what life was like for people living in the west, I was suddenly hit by a glaring realization. “There were four trucks that went out the night I left New Caelum in search of you.”

  “I know.”

  “Only two are accounted for.”

  “I know.”

  “If what we’re saying is true—that everyone who went out was infected—then there are still four other sick people are on the outside. And if they entered any of the settlements to the west…”

  “Then the outside could be plagued with Bad Sam again, just like your mother told her people today.”

  And just like someone had wanted.

  And I was pretty sure I knew who.

  chapter thirty-five

  Cricket

  The view from the roof was nice, but the sky looked completely different here compared to the way it looked in the mountains, or even Boone Blackston. The city lights prevented me from seeing the millions of stars I knew were out there.

  Looking to the east, I saw the outline of the forest trees against a moonlit sky. My friends from the settlement—the only family I’d known since I’d lost my parents—were out there. Surviving, I hoped.

  I tried not to worry too much about them.
We had initiated quarantine procedures quickly, so they were at low risk for contracting the virus. And they had always remained prepared for the return of Bad Sam. They knew how to isolate themselves.

  Plus, the people of Boone Blackston trusted each other. A code of honor existed among residents of the settlement. If someone developed a fever, he would quarantine himself. Dylan, like every other outsider, would rather die than spread death.

  However, we still didn’t have a cure. And if people in the other settlements had been less careful—or less fortunate—the virus would be devastating.

  Is that what New Caelum wanted? Why would anyone want such a thing? Or was that not the ultimate motive? Maybe what the leadership of New Caelum wanted was a way to keep their citizens safely tucked inside a bubble of fear. And by inflicting Bad Sam on the people on the outside, people inside would stop talking about exploring the outside world.

  This possibility made me feel less guilty about my little insurance policy ticking away. Besides, I wasn’t here to solve the woes of New Caelum’s corrupt government; I just wanted to find a treatment for Bad Sam.

  I shivered as a chill skipped down my body. West and I lay beside each other on one down blanket, and we were covered by another. His head was propped up on an elbow, and his other arm lay across my stomach. When I trembled, he pulled me closer, tucking me into his chest.

  “I brought you something.” He pulled my necklace out and held it up, dangling it from his fingers. “I forgot I even had it. I found it the first night I ventured out into the outside.”

  Sitting up, I took the necklace from him, examining the beads.

  “It was a gift from my parents, you know.” Tears sprang to my eyes. “They gave it to me the last time I saw them. They said it would keep me safe while they were gone.”

  “I remember that day,” West said while feathering his fingers along my arm. “My mother spoke of some wild idea your parents had to stop Bad Sam at its source. They thought they already had the proof, but they needed to travel to Africa to gather additional resources. This was before people realized Bad Sam would completely destroy our country as we knew it.”