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A vein was bulging from his neck.
    “Yeah?” Dax’s face reddened further.
    I glanced toward Caine, who was leaning against a work table with his hands clasped in front of him, letting the scene play out. “Caine, you want to enlighten us?” I asked.
    “Oh, I guess. This is so fun, though.” He pushed off the table. Unbuttoning the cuffs of his shirt, he rolled up his sleeves, one and then the other, in a slow, relaxed motion. His dark hair, in need of a haircut, lay disheveled across his forehead. His eyes were a smokier blue than Nina’s. “Dax, Cricket, this is Ryder and his friend Key. They’ve run away from New Caelum and have requested asylum.”
    “Run away,” I deadpanned. “Why?”
    “What Cricket means,” Dax said, tightening his grip on Ryder, “is why would you leave your elite bubble and risk contamination from the likes of scum like us?”
    “Let him go, Dax.” Caine laid a gentle hand on Dax’s shoulder. After a few seconds, Dax finally released Ryder. “Your questions will be answered in time. Their Tasers have been handed over to us. Their truck confiscated. We welcome visitors. Until they prove otherwise, we accept them as new friends.”
    Ryder and Key traded glances. Lines formed across Key’s forehead as she opened her mouth to speak. “We have another friend. He chose to walk here after we found Dylan and Nina.”
    “Your friend will be welcomed as well,” Caine said.
    Dax chuckled under his breath and shook his head. It was clear that he wasn’t going to be joining the welcoming committee any time soon.
    “Thank you.” Key moved closer to Ryder. She wore a silky, royal blue blouse, tucked into royal blue tight-fitting pants, and Ryder wore all black. They both had an air of polished sophistication about them. I couldn’t tell if they were just friends or if they were a couple. It was funny that I’d thought she was a boy at first, because now that I saw her up close—her high cheekbones, her naturally pink-tinted lips, and her dark eyelashes—I had no idea how I could ever have mistaken her for anything other than a girl, and a striking one at that.
    I also wondered why Caine was accepting these two into our community without further questioning. He’d always been very accepting of newcomers, but this was the first time any of those newcomers had come from New Caelum.  
    And would he be so accepting when he discovered that the virus might be back? Though Ryder and Key appeared innocent enough now, they had tasered Dylan, and they’d exited the city right on the heels of some kind of pre-dawn hazmat operation. Something didn’t add up. I suspected they hadn’t simply run away.  
    Nothing was ever that simple.

chapter six
West

    Ryder and Key had successfully infiltrated the settlement where Mother claimed I was likely to discover Christina. Somehow, my friends played the role of “victims of the evil city” perfectly, and they had won the trust of the two outsiders we found camping in the woods.
    I had yet to lay eyes on Christina, but according to Mother, I’d find her near Dr. Caine Quinton. I was skeptical. If Christina was so angry at age twelve that she ran from the protection of New Caelum, why would she remain this close? Especially if she had any idea that she might be hunted down one day if the virus were to ever surface again.
    And who had taken care of her? She was only a child at the time. Had this Dr. Quinton nursed her back to health? Or was she already cured before she left New Caelum? I suddenly realized how little I knew .
    I’d spent the day following the guy with a chip on his shoulder and the small blond-haired girl who looked angry at the world. They led me to the exact settlement Mom spoke about, the only one she thought existed east of New Caelum.  
    At the gate, it had been quite comical to see the tiny blonde engage in an argument with the butch-looking chick. This girl was twice her size and all muscle; she could have squashed the little