Escaping Grace: A Turning Grace Novel (22 page)

I had no idea what this experimental drug was. We doctors warn our patients about taking medications that aren’t FDA approved. And even then, pills are always being recalled.

It was enough that I was now worrying about what side effects Gracie could have from the serum. Did I want to put myself in the same situation? I was her father. I was supposed to live and grow older to watch her journey through life. Should I be risking that just to have the chance of recovering more quickly?

Mark must have noticed my hesitations. “Jack, don’t be worried.”

The nurse handed him the large needle. The liquid inside was clear. You’d think that because I was a doctor, I shouldn’t be afraid of needles.

Well, today I was.

Mark lifted the sleeve of my hospital gown. I tried to lay back and remain relaxed, but I could already feel my arm tensing.

He turned my arm and swabbed the inside of my elbow with an alcohol pad.

My heart was racing.

Mark looked at the heart monitor. “I’m going to inject the vein now. It’s going to be okay,” he assured me. “Just take a deep breath, and it will be over soon.”

I took a long, deep breath and held it. The tip of the needle poked my skin before I felt the pinch of it sliding in.

He pushed the top of the needle down, injecting the serum into my bloodstream. A cold sensation spread below and above the vein and traveled to my fingers and my shoulder.

Mark didn’t mention what I would feel after, which was probably something I should have asked him.

But I was assuming instant fatigue was one of them, because my eyelids suddenly felt heavier.

A kind of euphoria filled my head, almost as if my mind was there…but it wasn’t. As the serum coursed through my veins, my environment slowly began to change around me. The fluorescent light above me became brighter. The sound of the machines in the room grew louder.

I glanced at Mark, who was now spinning in slow circles. My extremities started to feel restless, and for some reason I wanted to get up and start running. My face became flushed, and I could feel the heat burning my ears.

I tried to focus on Mark long enough to inform him that something wasn’t right. I didn’t feel right. 

My heart beats were speeding up faster and faster, and somehow I felt both exhausted and exhilarated at the same time.

“Jack? Jack!”

The beeping from the machine next to me became a constant noise instead of a steady, pulsating throb.

My head began shaking uncontrollably and soon after, my body began convulsing.

“Irene! Go get Dr. Charles! Jack, hold on buddy!”

I couldn’t stop. I wanted so badly to relax, but my heart kept pounding harder and harder inside my chest. I felt like it was going to pop right out of me.

“What’s happening, Mark?”

I could hear voices, but I could see anything.

“I’m not sure. I injected him, but something isn’t right.”

“He’s seizing! His heart rate is through the roof! Irene, propranolol and fosphenytoin. Now!”

The convulsions were getting stronger and more intense. I had no control over my body any longer.

My mind was slipping into darkness. The room was closing in around me. I fought hard against the shadows.

Eve.

I thought of Eve’s face. Her smile. The way her soft skin felt against mine. I love her so much.

Gracie, my baby girl. My sweet angel. Her kinky curls hung just below her tiny little face. She looked just like her mother.

I love you, Grace. I’m so sorry.

A single tear rolled down my left eye, and it was the last time I could feel anything.

Acknowledgements

A special thanks to Angela Maher-Mumm, my beta reader, my family, my friend. Thanks for the great help and all-night chitchats. Love you to pieces.

And thank you to the hubby, Matthew Davis. Thanks for brainstorming with me and always being there when I needed you…even if that meant waking you up in the middle of the night to get your opinion on an idea. That’s why I love you. 

About the Author

J.Q. Davis is from New Orleans, Louisiana. She and her husband, an active duty Marine, have no children but consider their pooches, Lucy and Bella, their daughters. When she was a little girl, she aspired to become a writer. But then one day, she learned about zombies…and now she wants to be a zombie.

The End.

Be sure to follow J.Q. Davis on Twitter @JoJoQD

and visit her website

www.jqdavis.com