Emerge Read Online Free PDF Page A

here.”
    “Why don’t I show you—” I began.
    Dax squeezed my hand again, cutting me off.
    “You should put a muzzle on her.” Zara wore camouflage pants and a tight-fitting black knit top. She was military, and looked every bit the part. She did everything she could to be a necessity to Caine. And she hated that I, by contrast, didn’t have to do anything to remain in his good graces. Even worse, in her eyes, I was constantly doing things to not deserve Caine’s fatherly affection—like leaving and taking his daughter with me.
    “Let us through, Zara. We need to see Caine. Dylan and Nina are in trouble. Surely you don’t want me to tell Caine that you played a hand in keeping us from helping his daughter.”
    Zara’s lips lifted. “Seeing as Nina arrived several hours ago with some new friends, I don’t think Caine gives a flying crap what you know. So why don’t the two of you turn around and head on back from whence you came.”
    That was good news, but what did she mean by “friends”? Surely she wasn’t talking about the guys who’d tasered Dylan and stolen him and Nina from our campsite. I wasn’t about to ask. “Whence?” I laughed. “It doesn’t matter how hard you try, or what fancy words you spout, you’re still an idiot in Caine’s eyes. Now get out of our way, or I’ll move you myself.”
    Zara lunged at me, her arms flying, but Dax caught her in mid-air. She continued to reach, though, and she managed to grab and yank a handful of my hair.
    I screamed, digging my fingernails into her arm and forcing her to let go.
    “Give it a rest, you two,” Dax laughed. “At least let me get you some white t-shirts and a pool of mud before you start this shit again.” He shoved Zara backward. She was breathing hard.
    My pulse didn’t rise above sixty beats per minute.
    Zara huffed, but allowed us to pass. “Why did you come back, anyway?” she yelled.
    “We missed you.” Dax blew her a kiss, and if we weren’t walking away from her so fast, I was sure Zara would have spit on us.
    Once inside the walls, I immediately felt claustrophobic. It was small-town living at its worst. A main street divided two rows of two- and three-story buildings on either side; these buildings had served different purposes prior to Bad Sam, but our people had managed to redesign them to our needs over time. There were other settlements like this out west, all having popped up gradually in the one to three years after Bad Sam was gone, but Boone Blackston was the only settlement between New Caelum and the ocean.
    “You coming?” Dax called, getting ahead of me. He stood at edge of the sidewalk, and was about to head down the stairs to Caine’s underground offices. Dr. Caine Quinton was Nina’s father; he was also the doctor who had nursed me back to health and helped me flee the city once I was well enough. He had raised me from the age of twelve on.
    When we’d left the community a few days earlier, I had made it clear to Caine that I wouldn’t be back for a while. Yet here I was. “Yeah.” I jogged to catch up.
    We descended the stairs. But before we had a chance to knock, the door opened and laughter spilled out.  
    I followed Dax inside. Sure enough, Zara was right—Dylan and Nina were there with Caine. To my surprise, the two city kids were there too: Ryder and the girl. There were smiles all around.
    “What the hell, Caine?” Dax stormed over and grabbed a handful of Ryder’s shirt. “This guy tasered Dylan.”
    Ryder didn’t seem the least bit bothered that a guy a third bigger than him was holding him in his fist. He looked at Dylan, and then over at Dax. “Wow, twins? How cool is it that a set of twins survived the apocalypse?”  
    I hated when people referred to what had happened as “the apocalypse.” It sounded so end-of-the-world and made me picture zombies.
    I made eye contact with Nina, raised a brow in question.
    “We’re okay,” she said, for Dax’s benefit more than mine.