Survival Ties (The Outbreak Chronicles Book 1)
Read Survival Ties (The Outbreak Chronicles Book 1) Online
Authors: Trisha Leazier
The
Outbreak Chronicles
Book
One
Survival
Ties
By
Trisha
Leazier
©
2016 by Trisha Leazier, Body Count Productions, Inc.
All
rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and
incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used
fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or
dead, is entirely coincidental.
If the Apocalypse comes, beep me.
The author
acknowledges the use of various trademark words in this work including and not
limited to Wal-Mart, The Enemy, Winchester, The Walking Dead, Buffy the Vampire
Slayer, Days Inn and more.
Library of
Congress:
ISBN,
print:
978-0-9967678-3-5
ISBN,
e-book:
978-0-9967678-4-2
First Edition, 2016.
This book is
dedicated to my Omi thank you for encouraging me to follow my dreams wherever
they may lead. Also to my husband Bryce and daughter Kylie.
A special
thank you to my mother-in-law Jacqui: Without you this book wouldn’t exist.
Thank you for showing me how to make this dream a reality.
Edited
By:
Nas
Dean
Cover
Design By:
Rogenna Brewer
Cover
Photo By:
Jessica Leazier
Beta
Readers:
Sue
Collins
Lance
Smith
Joey
Griffin
Marie
stood in the kitchen holding a manila envelope neatly labeled with the logo of
an electrocardiogram leading into a tree of life. Clydework Research Industries
logo.
“Well what does it say?” I asked her as she
scanned the letter.
“To Mrs. Forde or whom it may concern,
Here at CRI we pride ourselves on
striving for the impossible. Our teams of scientist and doctors have had a
breakthrough around the issue of failing organs. Our team has developed a
process where they clone a failing organ and grow a healthy replacement
.” Marie read.
She glanced up, locking gazes with our dad and
pointed out a section to dad.
“The hope is that with this
development we could eliminate the need for a donor waiting list. We could take
cells from the organ in question and grow a healthy replica free of any flaws
that the original had.”
Dad read.
“How far into testing are they?” asked Marie’s
husband, Carter Forde.
“If you’d wait a second, I’m getting there.” Dad
responded.
“Well?” Mom asked.
“So far we have only gotten through
the stages of animal testing with results that are off the charts of even what
our teams were expecting. The amount of success the teams have seen has
resulted in the FDA giving approval for us to continue into the next stage of
trials
.”
Dad read.
“Dave?” Mom asked. Dad lowered the letter.
“They are starting human trials and I meet the
requirements.” Marie answered.
“They say they will be announcing what they have
found after they get the results from the human trials.” Dad said.
“They’ve sent letters to three hundred people and
there’s a number for me to call to make an appointment.”
“Are you serious?” Carter asked. We had been
waiting the better part of two years for a heart transplant to come through for
her.
Marie smiled as she nodded.
Carter laughed as he picked her up and spun her
around till she begged him to stop.
The
hospital in our hometown called to inform Marie that Dr. Minnow had made an
appointment for her.
“It’s convenient that we can do the biopsy here.”
Dad said as we waited in the mint green waiting room.
“It’s nice that transporting the cells to the
clinic is an option.” Carter said. He was tapping his foot.
“Stop tapping.” Marie said as she pushed Carter’s
knee down, “You’re making me nervous.”
“Marie Forde?” A nurse in Felix the Cat scrubs
called.
“That’s me.” Marie responded and stood up, “Is it
okay if my husband comes in with me?”
“Of course, just make sure you do what the doctors
tell you to.” The nurse answered and led them out of the waiting room.
All we could do was stare at a muted TV while we
waited for Marie and Carter. When my sister walked into the waiting room an
hour and a half later I took in her appearance. Standing at five feet tall and
barely weighing ninety-eight pounds, Marie had always been tiny. With her long
blonde hair and big brown eyes she looked a lot younger than her thirty-two
years. People who didn’t know us sometimes thought she was my younger sister.
Since her heart started to fail her two years ago, she looked even smaller to
me.
At last the day arrived. Marie and Carter waited
while we were loading up to take her to the clinic for the transplant.
I sat in the third row seats of the Tahoe watching
Marie sleep. She was leaning on Carter in the seats in front of me and she
looked so peaceful we could have been heading to go camping. Instead we were
heading to CRI’s clinic. We had just started to drive but I was already looking
at the clock on the radio annoyed by the time.
“Do we have everything we need?” Mom asked.
“Yes Joyce.” Dad answered.
“Is everyone comfortable?” Mom asked as she played
with the temperature controls.
“Yes.” Carter responded.
“Should we stop for breakfast?” Mom asked. She was
spinning her wedding ring around her finger.
“Mom stop. It’s going to be fine. Just relax.” Marie
said.
Mom finally settled for tuning on the country
station Marie loved. We sat in the car watching the landscape go by heading
towards Phoenix with the music drifting among us.
I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I
knew Carter was shaking my shoulder.
“We’re here Ash.” He said, as my eyes opened. It
was bright and I had to blink a few times to clear the blue tint sleep had left
on my vision.
Above the entrance, the facilities’ name stood in
red letters on a lined white background. I could see Marie’s hand shaking as
she walked in front of me holding tight to Carter. She had always hated
hospitals of any sort. I walked up beside her and snatched the shaking hand,
squeezing it to comfort her.
“Is this a medical research center or a theater?”
Carter asked and pointed to the letters.
Marie didn’t respond, but she did a nervous hiccup
giggle as she shook her head.
Dr. Minnow was talking to the receptionist as we
walked into the lobby. He smiled at us and started towards us. He was fairly
tall, standing at about six feet and he had dark brown hair that was peppered
through with grey. His dark brown eyes were almost black in color behind
black-rimmed glasses. He wasn’t extraordinary to look at; his face had average
features that would easily be lost in a crowd. In fact the only thing that
etched his face into my mind was the simple fact that he was Marie’s doctor. He
was going to be doing the procedure.
“How was the drive down?” He asked as he stopped
in front of Marie.
“Long.” Dad answered with a little nervous
chuckle.
“Well we are all ready to get the prep work out of
the way and get you in and out of surgery Marie.” Dr. Minnow said, getting
right to the root as to why we were here.
“Okay, I’m ready.” Marie answered so quietly it
was almost a whisper of sound.
Dr. Minnow led Marie and Carter down the hall away
from us. Carter returned a short while later to wait the four-hours with us
till Marie would enter into the recovery ward.
I was making my five hundred and thirty third lap
of pacing the waiting room when Dr. Minnow finally came out. We all stood,
anxious to hear how Marie was.
“Marie is in recovery now and everything went as
we had hoped. No complications at all and the nurse will come get you when she
wakes up so you can visit her.” He informed us, “Of course she will be staying
for the next few days. The paperwork included her husband staying as well. Have
the rest of you made arrangements nearby?”
“Yes we have.” Dad answered quickly.
“Good, replacing a heart is never easy, so Marie
will need a lot of rest to ensure she heals well.” Dr. Minnow told us as he
looked at his chart. Without saying another word to us he turned and headed
back from where he’d come.
“Anyone want coffee or a candy bar?” Mom asked for
the tenth time since Dr. Minnow had left us.
“Joyce, honey, please stop asking us that.” Dad
told her for the fourth time.
I avoided looking up at the clock; it was
intentionally mocking me with the slow ticking noise. I was almost jumping out
of my seat every time the doors opened and someone walked by us. I was about to
give in and look at the stupid clock when Carter came through the doors and
waved us over to him. We followed him to Marie’s room where she was laying in
the hospital bed her head on a pile of pillows.
“Hi sweetheart, how are you feeling?” Mom asked as
she grabbed Marie’s hand.
“I feel groggy, Mom.” Marie answered as mom patted
her hand.
We sat there with her until the nurse came in to
tell us that visiting hours were over. We could come back the next morning at
eight.
Dad, mom, and I hugged Carter and Marie before we
headed out. We went to the Days Inn where we were going to stay for the next
few days.
“She looked well. Didn’t she look well, Dave?” Mom
asked dad as we entered our room.
“Yes Joyce, she looked as well as can be expected
after a surgery like that. Now let’s get some rest so we can be cheery for her
tomorrow.” Dad responded, kissing mom on the cheek.
The following days were a blur of hospital visits.
We watched Marie get stronger than we had seen her since she was diagnosed.
When were in the hotel room, crappy TV movies played as constant background
noise.
“I’m happy to say that Marie is well enough to
travel back home.” Dr. Minnow stopped to tell us the third day while we were
with Marie.
“Are you sure? It seems like we just got here.”
Mom said.
“I’m sure, I know it seems quick but her vitals
are good and she meets all the requirements to continue healing at home.” Dr.
Minnow said.
“Thank you Doc.” Dad said and reached his hand out
to shake Dr. Minnow’s.
“I know the drive back to Flagstaff will take
about two hours and Marie will be mildly sedated for that.” Dr. Minnow
explained.
“What do we need to do when we’re home?” Carter
asked.
“Monitor her; make sure she takes her medications
at the same time each day. She’ll get tired quickly while she’s still healing
and her appetite may vary from day to day.” Dr. Minnow answered as he handed
Carter a pamphlet.
“Anything else?” Dad asked.
“If you are worried about anything or unsure if
its normal just give us a call and we’ll talk you through it.” Dr. Minnow
answered, “Have a safe trip home.”
“Thank you again Doc.” Dad said.
The nurses already had Marie packed for the trip
home by the time we got to her room.