The Outbreak Chronicles Book One Survival Ties

Prologue

Marie got a letter from a facility known as Clydework Research Industries. She read it to us as it explained that science had finally accomplished the impossible. They found a way to grow a healthy clone of failing organs. She pointed out a section to our dad that went on about how this could eliminate the need for a donor waiting list. They could take cells from the organ in question and grow a healthy replica free of any flaws that the original had. The letter explained that so far they had only gotten through the stages of animal testing with results that were off the charts of even what they were expecting. The amount of success they had seen not only propelled them into the next stage of testing but got them approval from the FDA. They were going to start human trials.

The letter continued with how they had announced what they were working on and what the next step was months ago. They started going through the donor waiting lists looking for people in a certain age group. They had to be at a healthy enough level that they would have time to wait for the new organ to be grown. The FDA had given approval for the trials and they had sent letters asking 300 people take part in trails that could change medicine. It was a huge step to preventing loss of lives due to lack of donors. My sister, Marie, fit the qualifications they set and she if accepted the opportunity she would need to schedule an appointment at once.

We had been waiting the better part of two years for a heart transplant to come through for her. So we made our first trip to the clinic. While my parents and I waited in a waiting room staring at a muted TV, they took Marie and her husband, Carter, to one of their operating rooms so the doctors could do the biopsy for the cells they would use to grow a new heart for her.

Marie had always been tiny. Standing at five feet tall and barely weighing 98 pounds. With her long blonde hair and big brown eyes she looked a lot younger than her 32 years. People who didn't know us sometimes even thought she was my younger sister. Since her heart started to fail her two years ago, she looked even smaller to me. Especially as she stood there outside of the SUV with her husband, Carter. They 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. All of us were anxious and after a few failed attempts at conversation mom and dad gave up. They settled for turning 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, 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.

When we had all unloaded we started to head towards the clinic entrance of the CRI building. I noticed how the facilities' name stood in letters. They would have suited a theater building better than a medical research building. 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.

As we walked in the door there was a man in scrubs talking to the receptionist. He looked up and smiled at us as he started towards us. I recognized him almost instantly as Dr. Minnow. He was fairly tall standing at just about six feet and he had dark brown hair that was peppered through with grey. His eyes were kind and they were dark brown almost black behind black rimmed glasses. He wasn't extraordinary to look at his face had only 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.

"Good morning everyone 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.

"Ok 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 hour wait with us till Marie would enter into recovery.

I was making my five hundred and thirty third lap of pacing the waiting room when Dr. Minnow finally came back 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. He didn't say another word to us, just turned and headed back from where he'd come from.

"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 was avoiding looking up at the clock; it was intentionally mocking me with the slow ticking noise. I was almost jumping out my seat every time the doors opened and someone walked by us. I was just about to give in and look up 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 sitting up in the hospital bed resting 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 8am.

Dad, mom, and I hugged Carter and Marie before we headed out. We went to the Days Inn where we were going to be staying at 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 spent either in the hotel room or a blur of hospitals visits watching Marie get stronger. When Marie was given the ok to return back home to Flagstaff it felt like that odd mix when it feels like no time has gone by but at the same time this moment took forever to arrive. The plan we went over with Dr. Minnow meant we were all going to help care for Marie as she continued to heal, so we could monitor her and call CRI if anything seemed to be out of the norm.