epilogue

Justine Franks, MD, FACS
St. Simons Island, Glynn County, GA
Tuesday, December 21, 2027
Patient X

Patient presents with systemic organ failure due to general transplant rejection. Past history suggests patient has developed immunity to all but toxic levels of immunosuppressants and nanotech-based anti-rejection medications. Research continues in conjunction with the Emory University Transplant Center into the effects of the Franks laser weld on the regeneration of spinal stem cells, but the prognosis for Patient X remains constant: complete failure of all transplanted systems imminent.

Prescription at this time is to continue IV Interferon therapy in overdose quantities as well as gluccocorticoids; opioids, as needed, for pain management. Patient has been entered into rotation for current drug testing trials for bio-engineered nanotech and gene therapy that has shown promise in early stage animal experimentation, but the prognosis is unchanged.

Justine pushed herself back from the desk and put her tablet to sleep. The screen flickered once and went dark. She rubbed her eyes, took a deep breath, and dropped her head back, staring at the ceiling.

“Lights,” she said. The LEDs dimmed, leaving sunlight alone to illuminate her office. Shadows from the trees outside the window crawled across the room. With a heavy breath, she stood up and stretched.

Across the hall, Justine put scrubs on over her clothes, then washed her hands and arms in the stainless steel sink before applying disinfectant and gloving up. Outside the bathroom, she stepped into self-sealing surgical booties on the hardwood floor. From windows high up the walls, sunlight filtering through the Spanish moss lit up the air.

The master bedroom door still had the deadbolt lock, but it opened at a touch of her elbow on the sensor next to the knob. Inside, the curtains had been left open, filling the room with December warmth from the Georgia sun. Justine absorbed the data from the bank of machines lining the walls with just a look.

On the bed, Patient X could barely be seen, buried beneath a mass of IV tubes snaking into each arm and leads to the electronic monitors. An implanted defibrillator was the only wireless device in the room; nothing was allowed to interfere with its activities.

As she reached the bed, his eyes opened.

“Hi,” she said, resting the back of her hand on his forehead before letting her fingers trail down his face. “Need to shave you again.”

“I thought—” He coughed, his frail body shaking in the bed. “I thought you liked the beard?”

“Mary says it itches,” she said with a smile. “Me too.”

“Makes her sneeze.” He shrugged. “Then she laughs.”

“Speaking of Mary,” Justine said, “I thought she was in here with you.”

“Just left,” he said, then coughed again. “Sorry.”

“Feeling any better today?”

“Yes,” he said, shaking his head to lessen the meaning. “Maybe?”

She leaned down, resting her face against his cheek. Her voice was soft in his ear. “I love you, Henry.”

Farther down the hospital bed, his fingers fluttered in vain, trying to rise up far enough to stroke her hair, to hold her close. With a harsh sigh of frustration, he dropped his hand back to the bed, hardly having moved it at all.

“I love you too,” he said.

When she looked at him, his eyes were closed, a single tear hanging on one of his few remaining eyelashes. A trail of blood ran from his nose to his lips, the color stark red on his pale skin.

“Your nose is bleeding,” she said, wiping his face with a tissue.

“It’s the medicine.” He laughed, once, the sound weak and faint. “They give me nightmares, too.”

“Liar,” she said. “They do not.” She smiled, and then kissed him. When the kiss ended, she gave him a long look, studying his face. “Though, yes, they do sometimes give you nosebleeds still. I’m working on that.”

“Anything you’re not working on?” he asked.

She pushed herself up until she was leaning over him. Her smile was gone and her warm honey eyes were determined. “I couldn’t save your mother, Henry. I can save you.”

“You already did.”

She shook her head, sending a lock of hair flying out of the surgical cap.

“Yes, you did, Justine,” he said. “When you married me, when you gave birth to our daughter; you saved me.”

Her tears splashed onto his face as she kissed him. Again, his fingers fought to rise up and she stopped the kiss to reach back and pull his arms around her.

“Mary needs her father,” she said. “I need you.”

He smiled. “I’m here.”

“You’re dying,” she said, wiping the tears off her face with the sleeve of her gown.

“I’ve died before,” he said with a hollow laugh.

Justine slid her fingers down to his until they were holding hands, the IV tubes twisted around them.

Outside the window, the sun slowly disappeared into the marshes. Long shadows of skeletal trees stretched across the bed. Stirred by the wind, a branch skated across the window. The sound, almost a hiss, was drowned out by the softness of her breathing in his ear as she lay down next to him.

“Henry,” she said, her voice welcoming and warm. “I can save you.”

From the edge of sleep, he forced his eyes back open. “How?” he asked.

“We just need to find another donor.”