Free Emerge by Heather Sunseri Page B

mother, came together and decided to build their own city. A city with state-of-the art scientific labs, medical facilities, and living conditions fit for royalty.
    And many believed one had to be near-royal to secure a spot inside the city. The people who built New Caelum predicted the world as we knew it was going to end, and they felt it was up to them to stop it—or, failing that, to at least ensure that our species survived.
    Those who weren’t invited to join New Caelum—which was virtually everyone—thought they could control the spread of the disease with things like this infectious disease unit. Those poor souls thought they would survive the pandemic, just like they had survived every other crisis before it—with protocols and guidelines handed down from government powers.
    And a few people who were invited to New Caelum—like Dr. Caine Quinton, a well-respected doctor according to my mother—declined. They chose to live outside of the city.  
    Most of them were dead within a year.
    I fiddled with the PulsePoint I had found in Cricket’s bag. Caine had been nice enough not to take my belongings from me, and Cricket hadn’t asked for it back—not that it mattered. She probably knew as well as I did that it was useless without the owner’s fingerprint. And Cricket was not the owner.
    No, this PulsePoint belonged to Christina. I knew this because I recognized the worn butterfly stickers on the back. She and I had been kids when we were first given these devices, and of course Christina had immediately taken to decorating hers—evidence of just how young we still were.
    Critical questions swirled through my mind: Where was Christina now? Why did Cricket have her PulsePoint? And since it was useless to her, why was she carrying it around?
    I tucked the PulsePoint back in my bag and looked out through one of the glass walls of my unit. Ryder was in the unit next to mine, and I could see Key shivering in a hospital bed two units over. Caine was with her, covered head to toe in a complete hazmat suit in surgical blue. Of course, the world had learned that even the most conservative precautions didn’t guarantee that health care workers wouldn’t contract Bad Sam. Yet still, the same man who had pulled a gun on us earlier today was now risking his life for Key.
    Ryder stood against the glass that separated him from Key, monitoring Caine’s every move—and watching the suffering of the girl he’d loved since they were kids.
    At least the isolation units were built with lots of glass. Patients didn’t go as crazy when they felt they were still around people.
    Outside in the hallway, Cricket talked with Dax, Dylan, and Nina. As they spoke, she played with the hair on the right side of her head so that it covered her scars. Did she know that the scars didn’t stop her from being attractive?
    I gave my head a shake. What the hell was I doing thinking of this girl as pretty?
    As if hearing my thoughts, Cricket turned her head slowly toward me. Dax had a hand firmly planted in the small of her back. Were they an item? He treated her like she was his property, but I didn’t sense her reciprocating that same level of affection toward him.  
    I couldn’t help but smile at that. There was something about her that made me want to get closer to her. And there was something about the way he touched her that pissed me off.
    Maybe in another life I’d get the opportunity to know someone like her.
    When Cricket saw me smiling, she quickly turned away. What was it about her? She was a puzzle.  
    But it was one I didn’t have time to solve. I was here for one purpose only—to find Christina and get her back to the city. Mom seemed to think Christina had the answer that would save my sister from an ugly death. And if the girl who’d deserted me all those years ago could do that, then I’d find her.
    Caine exited Key’s isolation room and entered the short hallway that connected our three iso units. Then he stepped