Emerge by Heather Sunseri Page A

an expression softened by compassion and warmth. “Why did you do that?” he asked. He sat on the floor, leaning against a wall while still holding an ice pack to his face.
    I didn’t owe him an explanation. He didn’t need to know why I’d sent Dax away, or why I was about to give him exactly what he and the people inside New Caelum needed. “How many people inside New Caelum have Bad Sam?” I asked.  
    “Only one.”  
    “That you know of.”
    His lips stretched into a thin line before he agreed with a single nod.
    “How did Key and Ryder contract the disease?”
    He lowered the ice pack, resting his arm on a knee. “I haven’t a clue.”
    I took a deep breath while staring briefly at the ceiling—for what, I had no idea. “West, Caine was close to having a treatment for Bad Sam, but something’s wrong with it.”  
    Caine and I traded knowing glances. We had few options, unless we planned to watch Key and Ryder die.  
    “Wait here,” I ordered and then turned to Caine, who shrugged. Wordlessly, he followed me down the hallway. We made our way to the lab, suited up, and entered.
    “There are doctors inside New Caelum who could possibly be closer to a cure than I am,” Caine said.
    I closed my eyes. I wasn’t surprised by his admission of defeat. We both knew that when those rats died, it had proved that he was no closer to a cure to Bad Sam today than he was last week or last year. And before he could figure out the problem, Willow, Key, and Ryder might die, and others might contract the virus.
    “How do you know this?” I asked.
    “Because the best infectious disease doctors and research specialists the world has ever known are inside New Caelum. I would go myself, but—”  
    “Someone has to take care of Key and Ryder.”
    “I can send you with samples of the antibodies I’ve extracted from you, and with vials of the treatment I thought was helping the rats. Who knows what they’ve been working on inside the city? But we know one thing: they’ve lacked at least one major ingredient.”
    “Me,” I said. “My antibodies.” I closed my eyes, sucking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly. “I have to go. I can’t let Willow die. And if I can help stop this virus from making a comeback—”
    “Are you sure about this? It’s not your fault that their citizens have come down with a virus that should have been long gone from our world. I mean, those people are responsible for turning their backs on millions of people.”
    I cocked my head. “What are you saying, Caine? One minute you’re telling me they’re the best doctors in the world, the next you sound like you’re trying to talk me out of going.”
    Though we were garbed in thick hazmat suits, he closed the distance between us and folded me into a fatherly embrace. “I just want you to be sure. I wouldn’t blame you for not wanting to go.”
    I pulled back from him. “Those people killed my parents. It took me a lot of time to get over that. I’ll be going to them with my eyes wide open.”
    Caine’s shoulders drooped. “You’re like a daughter to me. I couldn’t be more proud of you.” He pulled out a padded black case and began loading it with the things I’d requested, including the vials of the live virus and my antibodies, and surrounded them with dry ice. He then folded some papers from his clipboards and stuffed them inside an outer compartment of the same case. When he was done, he handed me the case and said, “You don’t have to do this.”
    “Yes, I do. I survived Bad Sam for a reason.” Do something every day for someone who doesn’t deserve it. Or, possibly, for a whole lot of people who might not deserve it.
    Caine placed a palm on the outside of my mask next to my non-scarred cheek. “You’ll need to find Dr. Hempel. Of all the doctors who joined the people on the hill, I think we can trust him. And before they closed New Caelum up for good, he was the go-to person for studying the Samael