Emerge (27 page)

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.

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.”

I stared at the beads. They were dark green with specks of crimson red—blood red. Bloodstones, they were called.

Legend had it—or so my parents told me when they gave me the necklace—that bloodstones had medicinal value. That when worn next to the skin, the stones boosted the strength of a person’s immune system, creating an unwelcome environment for toxins and infection. I remembered telling my parents that I thought it was stupid to think that simply wearing a necklace would ward off disease.

I never forgot what they said next. “It’s what’s inside that counts,” I whispered to myself. “You have everything you need to keep yourself safe. One day you will be asked to do something benevolent for someone who doesn’t deserve it. Hold these close to you. They’ll protect your heart.”

“What?” West asked, sitting up beside me.

I shook my head and turned to him. “Oh, nothing. My parents always had these little sayings—words of wisdom they hoped I would live by. I think… I think maybe they knew they wouldn’t be seeing me again.”
 

West nodded. “I’m sorry.” He squeezed me a little closer.
 

I stared at the beads again, repeating my parents’ words in my head:
It’s what’s inside that counts.
 

West watched me closely. “It’s a beautiful necklace.”

I smiled. “My parents collected these beads. I have a bunch more of them in a box back at the settlement, and my parents left a ton of them back at our old house. They must have really liked them.”

It was curious, now that I thought about it. Why had my parents collected so many of these beads? “They’ll protect your heart,” I whispered again. Memories flashed before me of heated late night discussions, of my parents taking me to a hospital after one of their trips.
 

“I think I know what’s missing from Dr. Hempel’s treatment.”

“What? How?”

“I’ve had it all along.” I jumped up. “Remember when I told you the hallway leading to the lab looked familiar to me?”

I nodded.

“My parents took me somewhere after they came home from one of their last trips. The memories are still a little fuzzy, but they’re becoming clearer. It was a hospital. A children’s hospital, maybe. I remember sitting in a conference room around this large table while they showed some doctors the bloodstones. I also have these vague memories of getting a shot. I stayed there for a couple of days… or a week… I don’t know.”

I rubbed my eyes, willing for the memories to be less fuzzy. “No, it wasn’t a shot. It was an IV. And the doctors took blood from me, I think, and I remember… and this memory is vivid.” I turned to West. “I remember the doctors shaking their heads outside my room and my parents looking sad.”

“Why do you remember that so well?”

“Because I thought I was dying. Why else would I have been admitted to a hospital? Why else would my parents keep so many secrets? It was like they were trying to protect me from the truth.”

“Did you ask them?”

“Yeah, as soon as they reentered my room. They hugged me and smiled, and they assured me I was healthier than anyone in the world.” I looked down at West, the pieces slowly clicking into place. “I think I know how to help your sister.”

“Dr. Hempel will know what to do,” Cricket said for the fifth time on the short walk to the lab and medical wing. “He has to.” The last three words came out in a panicked whisper.

Then we turned the corner to the main entrance to the medical wing, and came face to face with four armed guards dressed in red hazmat suits.

I stopped abruptly, and Cricket ran into my back. The red suits could only mean one thing—someone else had contracted the Samael Strain.

“Who is it?” I asked. “What’s happened?”

The guards shifted. One of them pointed his Taser at me. “You will both stay back.”

I squared my shoulders. “You will stand down and not point that weapon at me.”

“We have our orders, Mr. Layne. And right now, we don’t answer to you.”

“Answer to me or not, I am not a threat to you. Point the Taser elsewhere.”

Through the hazmat mask, I could see confusion and conflict pass over the guard’s face. He adjusted the aim of his weapon slightly. “Sorry, sir. We only aim to keep you and Miss Black safe.”