Emerge (31 page)

I lowered my hand back to my side. The necklace dangled against my thigh. “This isn’t just any necklace. This is a medicinal mineral. It’s very rare in our country, but it’s worn widely in the countries of Africa. My parents believed that this stone was the reason why people in those countries were better at fighting many diseases—not just Bad Sam. The people in those countries used the medicinal properties from this stone in many ways. I think that’s why they returned to Africa—to obtain additional bloodstones.”

“But we don’t know if anyone is alive in any of those countries, do we?”

No, we don’t,
I wanted to scream.
Because President Layne stopped all travel and cut off all communication with the rest of the world.

Panic mounted inside me like magma inside a volcano. I glanced backward toward the isolation unit, where I was sure Dr. Hempel must be. “Can’t we at least try? West said you were going to help me.”

My PulsePoint vibrated at my side. I glanced down at it and found a text message from West:
You will see guards in red and black enter the outer chambers any second. They won’t be able to access the room yet because of the scrambled lock codes, but when the alarm sounds, know that you have about ten minutes before they unscramble the codes.

I glanced toward Dax, helpless. “We don’t have time for this,” I said, no longer caring that Dr. Pooley could hear us. I pulled the PulsePoint from my belt and began typing:
Dr. Pooley is not cooperating.

Can you come up with a treatment yourself?

What? No. I shook my head, though West clearly couldn’t see me.

“What is it?” Dax asked.

I handed him the PulsePoint.

“You can. You’ve helped Caine for years.”

“I’ve
watched
Caine for years. I’ve never really
done
anything.”

Movement out of the corner of my eye distracted me. Dax and I turned toward the outer chamber, where guards dressed in red and black had gathered, all armed with Tasers. The last one to enter was Justin. I could see the stern look in his eye.
 

“We’re out of time.”

“You were out of time before you even started,” Dr. Pooley said behind me.
 

“Cricket, look out!” Dax screamed.

I whipped around just as Dr. Pooley came at me with a syringe and needle. I grabbed his arm, falling backward to the ground. He straddled me and was about to jab the needle into my arm when Dax kicked the syringe out of Dr. Pooley’s hand, then landed a boot into Dr. Pooley’s head, knocking him off of me and unconscious.

I sat up, panting and holding a hand over my heart, and met Dax’s gaze. “Thank you.”

He let out a relieved breath. “My pleasure.” And I was sure he meant it. I think he’d been wanting to hit something or someone ever since he’d arrived inside New Caelum.

So, it looked like it was up to me to test my theory and develop a cure for Bad Sam. I pushed myself up and surveyed the lab. Could I do this? Behind Dr. Pooley’s unconscious body was the row of refrigerators where Dr. Hempel and Dr. Pooley had been storing the substances they’d been using and creating, including the refrigerator the virus was stored in.

I opened the refrigerators and removed trays of vials. I could quickly see the difference in Dr. Pooley’s handwriting as compared to Dr. Hempel’s and Caine’s. I sorted through vial after vial, all tagged with dates and names and other cryptic indicators. As I looked over the many trays, all marked by different doctors, a slow burn developed in my chest.
 

“I can’t do this,” I whispered. “I don’t even know where to begin.” I closed my eyes. What had I been thinking? I couldn’t do this alone. I needed Dr. Hempel. Or Caine.

Suddenly, the alarm West had warned me about sounded from my PulsePoint. My eyes flew open. “We have ten minutes.”

“Cricket, can you do it?” Dax asked, his voice surprisingly calm. “If not, no one will blame you, but if you can’t, let’s get the hell out of here.”

I looked back at him. “Keep it simple, stupid,” I said softly. “I can do this.”
 

I glanced at the timer and marked the minute. “Watch the timer.”

Keeping it simple and sticking to what I knew, I searched through the trays of vials until I finally found the ones I had brought with me. The tray that Caine had been using on the rats.
 

“The earlier dates will have stronger antibodies,” I said to myself. “I’ll use those.” I turned in all directions looking for the tool I needed. “Quick, over there.” I pointed across the lab. “Grab that mortar and pestle.” Every scientist needed one.

Dax handed me the tool, and I quickly pulled one of my beads off of my necklace and placed it in the small bowl. I crushed and ground the bead until it made a fine powder, trying not to wonder what I was doing or if it would even work. I couldn’t afford doubts. It had to work.

The guards in hazmats banged on the windows.

“Christina, let me in so we can talk.” It was Justin, speaking over the intercom from the other side of the window. “I think you’ve somehow gotten the impression that we don’t want your help in obtaining a cure for Willow and Dr. Hempel. We just didn’t take kindly to you threatening us with your computer virus and your Bad Sam bomb.”

I looked up, distracted and angered. “If you had simply allowed me to work with Dr. Hempel, I and my weapons would have been gone from here by now. And you would have your treatment.” I poured the bloodstone powder into a beaker. I had no idea how much of it would be needed for each person.

Keep it simple, stupid
, I repeated to myself.

“Christina, West would really like you to stay with him. And I know you’d like that, too.”

Dax’s jaw hardened. “Can we shut him up?”

“We can work something out. Open the door, Christina,” Justin continued. “The council and our city want you to join us here.”

“Feel free to crush the intercom over there.”

Dax walked over to the windows. He grabbed a metal stool and slammed it repeatedly into the intercom until the vice president’s voice crackled into incoherent static. “There. That’s better.”

I smiled, but continued to separate the vials in front of me into two trays.

“Why are you separating these?”

I cringed inwardly and looked up into Dax’s brown eyes—eyes I’d studied so often since we’d met. He was my friend. Aside from Nina, he was my
best
friend. I had kept too many secrets from him. He deserved to know this one.

 
“This set”—I pointed to the vials on my left—“is filled with a medicine that Caine developed from antibodies he took from me a few years ago. The others”—I gestured to my right—“used antibodies taken from me more recently.”

“Why does it matter? Are the fresher antibodies more effective?”

I shook my head, and he read the expression on my face.

“What are you saying?”

“You know now that I’m not immune to Bad Sam the same way Caine and Nina are. My immunity came from developing antibodies after I survived the virus. Well…”

 
“Has your immunity to Bad Sam weakened?” he asked, his voice cracking slightly. “That’s what Caine meant with the message he sent me here with, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”
 

Dax only stared at me. His Adam’s apple moved as he swallowed.
 

“Now tell me the time,” I said.

He gave his head a shake, then glanced toward the timer. “You have four minutes.”

Four minutes, and I hadn’t heard from West in over ten. How was I going to get out of this lab without West giving us an escape route?

Remembering to keep it simple, I mixed plain saline solution with the powder from the bloodstone. Now I was ready to add the last ingredient to the vials. I carefully removed the lids from each of the six vials with the older antibodies.
 

“I hope this works.” Using a dropper, I added equal amounts of the bloodstone mixture to all six vials.

Then I quickly replaced the lids, and I packed up everything I wanted to take with me in the same dry ice containers I’d brought from Boone Blackston’s hospital. I also snatched a couple of vials from Dr. Hempel’s collection—the ones containing the chemical he’d shown me yesterday. He’d said that that chemical might repair the antibodies running through my blood; maybe Caine could learn something from it.

“How are we going to get out of here?” Dax asked. “Do you plan on West coming to our rescue?”

I hadn’t really been planning on West’s help since the minute he’d allowed Justin to lock me up. “No. But I do have a plan.”
 

I used my PulsePoint to scan and unlock the refrigerator marked with the biohazard symbol—where live viruses were stored. I grabbed the vials of Bad Sam I had brought with me and placed them in their proper cases. After pouring dry ice over the vials, I closed them up. But I kept one vial out, enclosing it safely in my hand.

Then I led Dax through the decontamination chambers. After we had sufficiently rid ourselves of any virus we may have been exposed to inside the lab, we quickly suited back up in dark gray hazmat suits.

When we faced the exit, I cast a worried look at Dax.

“I’m not one to usually panic,” he said. “But we’re trapped in here.”

“Stay close to me.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You expected me to stray?” He glanced down at my hand. “What are you holding, anyway?”

I started to answer when the outer doors clicked. They had broken through the lock codes. “Here we go.”
 

I shoved through the door and came face to face with several men and one girl—Shiloh—in red. Was she there to help? It didn’t matter.
 

I stepped in front of Dax and held out my hand. “Don’t come any closer. This vial contains live Samael Strain.”

Shiloh’s eyes widened, and her hands went out to her side. They all started to back up.
 

Everyone except for Justin. “You are resourceful, aren’t you?”

“You left me no choice. Do your people even know what you and your government have done?”

“You couldn’t possibly know anything about our government.”

“I know plenty. Now back up.” I shook the vial for effect, and they did as I ordered, including Justin. “Your people should know that you deliberately infected members of your own community with Bad Sam and then sent them out into the settlements. That’s the only reason the outside is plagued with illness. Is anyone here missing their friend Garrett?”

Everything in the lab went deathly quiet. Then the rustling of a hazmat suit got my attention. A girl who had to be about my age stepped forward. “My brother has been missing for seven days.”

“Your brother is Garrett?”

She nodded, fear etched into the lines around her eyes.

“I’m so very sorry, but guards in red hazmat gear killed your brother and his friend when they returned from a scouting mission infected with Bad Sam.” I studied the faces of each of the people in front of me through their masks. I then raised my voice to drive the point home. “Scouts from your city were deliberately infected with Bad Sam while
still inside this city
.”

“Why should we believe you?” someone yelled.

“You don’t have to believe me. But eventually, more evidence of what I’m telling you will come to light. For now, all I need is for you to back away, because I will have no problem whatsoever dropping this vial of virus against the floor. And when I do, Bad Sam will be inside your city, and there will be no stopping its spread.”

Shiloh typed something on her PulsePoint. Justin’s face reddened. His hands hung to his sides, helpless.

Dax and I reached the outer door and pushed through it. When a guard appeared, I held the vial out in front of me. “Step back and let us pass.”

“Do as she says,” Justin ordered in frustration. “I never should have let you and West back inside this city.”

Several of the guards’ heads whipped around in Justin’s direction. That’s when I knew I had them. Though they weren’t quite ready to believe their government was corrupt, they
were
West’s supporters.

“West is the one person in leadership right now who is thinking clearly,” I said. “West has the people of New Caelum’s best interests at heart and on his mind. He has been willing to sacrifice his own needs to lead you.” I glanced at Shiloh. A smile played at the corners of her lips. I was pretty sure she was here to help me, but I didn’t need her. There was no sense risking her life with what I had to do next. “If anyone follows us, I will throw this vial like a grenade.”

And with that, we reach the staircase door. We darted inside and disappeared.

I’d always wondered if a person actually saw stars when he took a hit to the head. I could now definitely say “yes”—as I saw plenty of them after one of Justin’s guards landed a solid left hook to my jaw.

“How did she get into the lab, West? Who helped Christina and her friend escape the holding room?”

I remained silent. My hands were tied behind my back behind a wooden chair. Where the hell were my reinforcements? They should have been here already. And where was Mother?

The door slid open, and another guard entered. “They should be inside the lab in less than two minutes,” he said. “Justin said to just hold West here until he could get up here.”

“You both realize what Christina Black is doing, right?” I asked.

The second guard—who was even larger than the one that clocked me—leaned in close to my face. I held my breath when the rotten egg smell of his breath hit me. “We don’t care. Our orders are to keep you busy and use whatever force we deem necessary.”

The other asshole joined in. “And no one needed to tell us twice. We’re delighted to have the opportunity to take the prince of New Caelum down a notch.”

I smiled. “You’re making a big mistake.”

“Oh yeah?” the first guard asked. “Why do you say that?”

“You’re fighting on the wrong team.”

They both laughed.

“I’m not kidding. The council is dead. Soon there will be a new vice president, maybe even a new president, and you, my friends, will find yourselves on the losing team.”