Free Emerge by Heather Sunseri

right?”
    Ryder looked from me to West, who didn’t stop staring at me. “Fine. What do we need to do?”
    “Dax,” Caine began. “You will return to the settlement and alert the town that we are in quarantine status until further notice. Everyone is to go into lockdown mode, and they are to know that this is not a drill. Bring Dylan and my daughter back with you. They’ll need to be monitored and tested for the virus. Let’s just hope that if this is Bad Sam, we can contain it.”  
    Dax nodded at each instruction. I couldn’t help but think about what Caine didn’t say: If we can’t immediately contain the virus, our settlement most likely won’t survive.
    “West, you and Ryder will follow me.” Caine grabbed the gun back from Dax. “And if you give me any trouble whatsoever, I won’t hesitate to send you back where you came from, and I will have no problem using force to protect my people.” He led West and Ryder from the room while I stayed back to speak with Dax.
    Just before West disappeared, he looked back at me one last time, like he wanted to say something to me but wasn’t quite sure what.
    It wouldn’t be long before he figured out who I was. One way or another, I knew he’d put two and two together. How could I have been so careless with the PulsePoint?
    When they were gone, Dax started in on me. “What the hell, Cricket? Do you realize what kind of danger you’ve put yourself in?” He faced the window while running a hand through his sandy blond hair.
    Not as much danger as he thought, seeing as I was immune to Bad Sam. “Yes,” I said simply.
    “Why would you do that? What were you thinking?”
    “I was thinking that a girl needed my help, and I was able to provide it.”
    The look on his face softened. “Have you given up? Is that why you keep disappearing and constantly putting yourself at risk? Are you planning to leave?” He touched my cheek gently, then slid his hand around to the back of my neck, holding my gaze with his chocolate brown eyes. “Sometimes I feel like… like you’re always just a day away from leaving me—from leaving Boone Blackston. Like you’re just going to walk off into the sunset and never return.”
    I blinked up at him. “I’m not going anywhere.” Not yet, anyway.
    He pressed my head to his chest and wrapped his other arm around me. “Don’t leave me,” he whispered. “If you go, I go with you.”
    ~~~~~
    Dax unlocked the bell tower in the center of town. We raced up the six flights of stairs, and Dax entered the code to signal the alarm for a mandatory quarantine. The quarantine alarm—a verbal message over loud speakers—would continue to play for one hour from the time it was started.
    I looked Dax in the eye, searching for a sign that he was virus-free. I didn’t think he had been exposed to Bad Sam, but I couldn’t be sure. He hadn’t been around Key since she’d gotten sick, but he’d been exposed to all three of the city folk on several occasions now, and had spent the night in the same room with West, back at the Biltmore Estate. We’d learned years ago that it didn’t take much to contract this virus—casual contact, breathing the same air as someone with symptoms. Key wasn’t coughing yet, but that didn’t mean she was safe to be around. Her temperature was climbing quickly, and other symptoms would soon follow.
    My heart squeezed at the thought that either Dax or West would come down with the disease. My heart couldn’t handle seeing either of them sick with this fatal fever. They had both meant too much to me at different points in my life.
    Dax crossed to me. “Let’s leave. Get away from here.” There was fear in his voice.  
    My heart felt tight, knowing I couldn’t leave with him. “I can’t. Caine needs my help.” I cringed inwardly at my choice of words. How would I explain to Dax that Caine needed my blood in order to continue working on the antibodies for a cure for Bad Sam? Dax and I had agreed a long