“It’s a longshot, but we could use her advice. If we’re lucky, and we succeed in bringing her fully back to life, hopefully we’ll have enough time for her to look over our data before we start injections.”
They didn’t really need Emily to peruse their work. Damon was being overly cautious. The cure had been perfected months ago and used to save the lives of thousands of people since, but Emily would probably still be able to add some insight, given the opportunity. Particularly because there was no guarantee the disease hadn’t mutated enough that the cure wouldn’t work on these victims from ten years ago.
Ryan set his hands on his knees and lowered his gaze toward the floor. “This is really going to happen, isn’t it?”
“Yep. And you’re really going to be a part of it.” Damon slapped him on the back. “Your parents are going to be so proud of you.”
“Let’s hope,” he murmured, still worried about the practicality of reanimating twenty-two people.
In the last year since the technology existed to bring people back from cryopreservation, seven human beings had gone through the reanimation process at a civilian cryonics facility in Arizona. The difference was that in every one of those cases the people had completely succumbed to their illnesses when they were vitrified. Only two had been successfully brought to consciousness. Neither of them had survived more than a few weeks.
Ryan would give anything for the opportunity to see the files on the individuals reanimated in Arizona, especially the two who had lived. What did they die of so quickly if the reanimation was successful? The facility hadn’t released enough information for him to do much digging on his own. However, if all seven people had been clinically dead of natural causes at the time of vitrification, it wasn’t hard to believe doctors would have struggled to revive them.
In contrast, the government employees of Project DEEP, most of them high-ranking military physicians and scientists, had been cryonically preserved before they would have died naturally. It wasn’t legal in most of the world. It wasn’t even legal in the US—with the exception of this secret government venture.
For years Ryan hadn’t been completely privy to this detail. He was a civilian. Even though his parents were among the preserved, it wasn’t until the government hired him as a full-time employee to restart the exploration into AP12 that the truth of their preservation was confirmed. He’d suspected, but no one had come right out and told him.
The original team working in this bunker were considered invaluable members of society, their knowledge and expertise important enough for the government to permit them to be vitrified in the last stages of the fatal disease, instead of waiting until they were legally dead.
Every member of that team—twenty-one scientists—had made the conscious decision to be cryonically preserved before death. Each of them now stood a chance at a full and happy life, albeit ten years later.
With the exception of the general, the original scientific team had succumbed to the disease within months of their exposure to the live virus. General Custodio had been preserved fifteen years ago.
A precedent had been set that day fifteen years ago. One that paved the way for the entire team of doctors and scientists inside the bunker to argue for their own preservation five years later when a beaker of the virus that caused AP12 shattered, spreading the virus throughout the containment area of the facility. All twenty-one souls inside knew immediately they would not survive and worked rampantly over the next weeks and months to find a cure before the last man standing—Ryan’s father—had to be preserved.
“I know this has to be emotional for you,” Damon whispered. “I can’t imagine if my parents were among those we’re about to reanimate.”
“Yeah, it’s hard to believe,” Ryan conceded. “It’s been ten years, but in a way it seems like weeks. I’ve devoted my life to this project.”
“I know, and no matter what happens, you should be proud. You’ve done your best. We have the cure in our hands and the technology to revive these people at our disposal. However, be prepared that we might not save all of them.”
Ryan blew out a long breath. “I know. I try not to think about it.” If he had even five more minutes with either parent, he would consider himself blessed.
“So, we’re going to start with Lieutenant Emily Zorich,” Damon declared. Unspoken was the order of revival after Emily. They both knew Ryan’s dad would be second. He was the last man to be preserved, and the healthiest. Weeks after preserving his own wife, he turned to Ryan, looked him in the eye, and said his goodbyes. He claimed he didn’t want Ryan to see him sick.
Ryan didn’t know the true circumstances for many years. The general in charge of Project DEEP—General Temple Levenson—had brought two men in from another classified government bunker to preserve Tushar Anand weeks before it was imminently necessary, as there was no way he could do so himself.
Although Ryan had known his father was preserved in the same fashion as his mother, he had not had proof neither of them had been legally dead at the time the decision was made to preserve them. That detail had lit a fire under him to find a cure for AP12 and bring his parents back to the land of the living.
“Looks like it. Shall we go over the procedure again?” He sat up straighter, tugged over a stack of file folders, and opened the top one. The last thing either man wanted was to be unprepared to care for each individual as they were brought back to the living.
Chapter 2
Emily Zorich blinked her eyes several times while she swallowed past the driest throat she’d ever felt in her life.
Two seconds later a man leaned over her, smiling. He set a hand on her forehead soothingly. “Emily, can you hear me?”
She furrowed her brow. Why wouldn’t she be able to hear him? She had no idea where she was, but God had been on her side if this man was her doctor. She licked her lips and cleared her throat.
“You don’t have to try to speak yet. Just blink for me.”
She did as instructed, batting her eyes several times.
“Good.” He beamed, extremely pleased with her ability to blink. What the hell? Had she been in an accident? She searched through her mind and came up blank.
“Relax,” he crooned. “You’re going to be okay.”
She attempted to lift a hand and found she didn’t have the strength. Only managing to wiggle her fingers, she at least assessed she wasn’t paralyzed.
The gorgeous doctor was joined by several other doctors and nurses, but Emily couldn’t keep her eyes open. As soon as someone adjusted the IV bag near her head, she drifted off.
* * *
The next time Emily awakened, she was startled to find the same doctor in her room. He’d been sitting in a chair near her side and jumped to his feet as she turned her head his direction. His infectious smile was huge.
He also set a hand on her forehead once again, stroking her skin soothingly with his thumb. “How do you feel?”
She parted her lips, swallowed, and found her voice. “Like I’ve been in a coma.”
He chuckled. “That would make sense. Do you remember what happened?”
She closed her eyes, focusing. She knew this room. In fact, she too was a doctor. She worked here. She was a hematologist. She was working on a cure for anemia AP12.
And then she’d gotten sick… Had she somehow lived?
No… She’d been cryonically preserved.
Her eyes popped wide. “What is today’s date?”
He smiled again. “You remember. That’s great.”
Her hand felt leaden, but she managed to lift it enough to grab onto the doctor’s wrist. He seemed vaguely familiar. His smile. Those dimples. Did she know him? “You brought me back?” She hadn’t really believed it was possible. A long shot.
“Yes. Well, my team did.”
She glanced around, still holding his wrist, the contact grounding her as if she might otherwise float away. The room looked normal. She was still in the bunker. At least she wasn�
��t on a spaceship or another planet. If she’d had the energy, she would have laughed at her rambling thoughts.
There were two other people in the room. They looked…relieved? Pleased? She didn’t know them.
He flipped his hand over and clasped hers, gripping it tightly. He was real. “You’re going to sleep a lot for several weeks. Your body needs the rest as we pump you with nourishment and fluids.”
She met his gaze again. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“I know.” He cocked his head to one side. “I want to make sure you’re stable before I answer too many questions. This is all going to be a shock to you.”
“How long?” she demanded as someone else came in the room and then checked her pulse. Everyone’s faces dropped as their brows furrowed. What were they keeping from her? “How long?” Her voice was louder that time, and she squeezed his fingers tighter. Or perhaps it simply seemed like it.
He twisted his body to halfway sit on the edge of her bed, bringing his other arm across her and propping himself over her, his face closer to hers, his expression serious. “Ten years.”
She gasped. “My God.” She jerked her gaze around the room again. There was new equipment, some machines she didn’t recognize. A few more people were in the doorway. And then she yanked her attention back to the doctor’s unwavering presence. “The others?”
“You’re the first. We thought you might want to look at the data before we injected you with the AP12 cure.”
Her eyes widened. “So, I’m still sick?”
“Yes, but the fact that we filled your body with clean blood will buy you time.”
“You developed a cure?”
“Yes.”
“Has it been tested?”
“Yes. It has worked to cure thousands of people in the last several months.”
“Then what are you waiting for? Why do you need me to look at it?” Her mouth was so dry.
He must have realized this because he sat up straighter, released her hand, and picked up a cup from the bedside table. A moment later, he offered her an ice chip. As he watched her lips, he spoke again. “We have no way to be sure the disease hasn’t mutated enough to render the cure ineffective on you.”
“Who developed it?”
“I did. Me and my team.”
“How long have you been working on it?”
“From the moment you were preserved. It was my entire life’s work until a few months ago.” His voice dipped, and he lowered his gaze to the cup in his hand before taking a deep breath and meeting her eyes again. “I’ve done all the research I can. Everyone in this bunker has spent years of their lives developing the cure. I have every confidence it will work, but there’s time. So, as a professional courtesy, I waited for you to look at the data first.”
She relaxed her shoulders slightly. He was right. With a fresh blood transfusion that would have completely replaced her own blood from before being preserved, she would have time. Weeks perhaps.
“We also developed an immunization that will eventually eradicate the disease. Everyone working here is immune. And we have drugs that drastically slow down the effects. I’ve already administered them to you. You shouldn’t even notice the symptoms. Although it will take several days for you to have the strength to sit up, and then weeks of physical therapy to get your muscles to respond properly to instructions from your brain.”
“How do you know so much if I’m the first one you’ve brought back?”
“There have been others. Several people have been reanimated at the cryonics facility in Arizona. Two of them survived the process. They only lived a few weeks, but I’ve studied what little information was released concerning their progress. None of them had been preserved before clinical death, however, so your situation is different. Your body was still functional when you were vitrified. That makes your case unique.”
She concentrated on every breath. I’m first. The others are still in suspension. “Why did you choose me?”
“You were the most knowledgeable about the cure. Your research is the most advanced. I’ve read all your notes. I’ve memorized them. I could recite them in my sleep.”
She searched his eyes. Deep brown. Beautiful eyes. Mesmerizing. Sleep was tugging at her, but she powered on, wanting to keep talking. “Your entire adult life has been dedicated to AP12?”
“Yeah.”
“What will you do now?”
He smiled. “There are seven other diseases currently being researched in this bunker. I’ve already shifted some of my time to those other projects.”
She returned his smile wanly, her eyes too heavy to continue, but for some reason she was relieved to know he wasn’t going to leave Project DEEP anytime soon. Even though she felt like she’d only been asleep for a few days, she still craved human connection. Particularly from this kind doctor who proved to be such a calming presence.
He squeezed her hand. “You need to sleep more. The next time you’re awake, I’ll bring you some of your research and something to eat. You’ll need to start slow and give your digestive system a chance to wake up, but I think you can handle something small. What’s your favorite food?”
“Do you still have McDonald’s?” She grinned without opening her eyes. “Seems like it’s been a decade since I had fresh, hot fries.” She slid into slumber again before she could hear his response.
Chapter 3
Ryan stared at his patient without moving. He’d done so a lot lately. Nearly every waking hour. He couldn’t bring himself to leave her side. He told himself it was because she was the most interesting research subject of his career, but he knew he was partially lying.
She was stunning. Even in a hospital bed with no real shower for ten years, limp hair, and pale features, she was gorgeous. Her smile lit up a room. It was irrational for him to be attracted to her, but if he were honest, he’d already held a torch for her from years of studying her research notes. He understood how her brain worked—so much like his it had always sparked an interest. Seeing her… It was like meeting someone he’d known online for years.
He probably needed more sleep. And perhaps he should have taken more time to date in the last decade. It had never seemed as important as his research, however. His parents were preserved in this bunker. He never once felt like he had the right to be out partying and enjoying himself while they were stuck in the underground facility, waiting for a cure.
He still didn’t have that luxury. His focus needed to be on his parents, reanimating them, and bringing them back to health. A woman had never distracted him from this task before. Why now?
He kept telling himself his attraction had less to do with Emily herself and more to do with the fact that he hadn’t dated in a long time, she was stunning, her brain was amazing, and he was so fascinated by her case. Several factors could explain why he was so drawn to her. Combined, they made perfect sense.
If he managed to bring his parents back to life, they would reprimand him for not living life, but it couldn’t be helped. The few times in college he’d allowed someone to lure him out to a bar or a party had left him feeling restless, guilt climbing up his spine.
So, no. He had not lived life as his parents had instructed. He had dedicated himself to finding a cure and gathering other scientists to help him. The task had been monumental. For one thing, there had been a constant need to acquire funding.
Luckily, the government had made a particular arrangement with every member of the original team to pay out what essentially amounted to death benefits to their families. The benefits would be paid for as long as the twenty-two people were in a state of suspension. The benefits would end when and if the people were able to return to their regular lives, or, in the event of their deaths, the benefits would switch to a lump sum to be paid out to the families.
For Ryan, the money was enough to live off of. It covered his tuition, and it provided him with the means to begin researching on his own after graduating at the top of his class in me
d school. Luckily, he always had his grandmother to fall back on. She still lived in his childhood home. The two of them were close, and Ryan always knew he had somewhere to get away and someone who cared about him.
For the first year after residency, he’d worked alone, often from the small bedroom in his childhood home. He spent half his time with his head buried in research and the other half pleading with the government to reopen the study and fund him. Eventually, they had acquiesced, giving him three people for the first six months and then gradually increasing his team until they numbered a dozen in total.
He had no illusion that the reason the government let him form a team initially had nothing to do with the twenty-two suspended souls. The reason they’d permitted him to continue the research where his parents had left off was because a cure still needed to be developed before AP12 took hundreds of thousands of lives.
It wasn’t simply the disease that needed to be cured, though. He simultaneously needed cryonicists working on a way to reanimate the team. The cure itself would be useless to the team if there was no way to bring the preserved people back to life.
When Ryan discovered Dr. Damon Bardsley working in a research facility in the fields of cryobiology and cryonics, he’d approached him and brought him on board. The two of them were the only two people on the team who weren’t military. The only two civilians who had any knowledge of the project and its possibilities. The other ten members were all military, as were all twenty-two of the people who had been preserved.
A soft sigh jerked his attention back to the woman lying on the bed as she blinked her eyes open and then smiled. “Is it real? Or am I having a dream? I keep waking up to find you leaning over me. If I’m dead, this is certainly what I would have wanted heaven to be like.”
He blinked, speechless. What had she implied?
Her smile broadened. “You heard me. You’re not hard on the eyes.”
Reviving Emily Page 2