Outbreak (38 page)
Authors: Tarah Benner
Eli is still aboard the megalift, flanked by Jayden and the secretary. Two large men dressed in black have replaced the controllers, and horror settles over me.
They’re from Constance.
When I catch Eli’s eye, I only have a second to read his look of terror. Someone lowers a black bag over his head, and the doors slam shut.
Author’s Note
Thank you for reading
Outbreak.
This was the first book I wrote as a full-time writer, and I honestly thought it would feel different now that writing books is my job.
I don’t buy into the idea that if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life. If you love what you do, you work
every
day of your life because you don’t want to stop.
Luckily, writing this book didn’t feel much different than it did when writing was just a side hustle for me. Every night when I go to bed, I’m already looking forward to waking up and working on whatever book I’m writing.
But once I started talking to readers about
Outbreak
, I could tell something had changed. Many of you were
waiting
for this book, which made me that much more excited to release it. I’m so grateful for your emails and your infectious enthusiasm. It pushes me to write faster and makes everything more fun.
One of the best things about being an author is the ability to share experiences with people and achieve a true understanding that’s so rare in the real world. I put a little bit of myself (or people I know) in every character, so it’s a relief when readers can empathize with their flaws.
Another perk of being an author is the excuse to learn about new scientific discoveries as I’m doing research for the books. I want to make things as realistic as possible, so I always try to ground fiction in reality.
Sometimes it’s terrifying; other times, it’s incredibly cool.
Recently, I stumbled upon some information about
IBM’s supercomputer Watson
, which can digest and analyze an enormous amount of medical information, new research, and even
human genome data
. Watson is so good that hospitals are using it to diagnose cancer: It successfully diagnoses lung cancer 90 percent of the time, while regular human doctors are only correct 50 percent of the time.
This discovery further reinforced my belief that genetic data is going to play a big role in the future. Watson is great news for the fight against cancer, but I’m still a little wary about other potential applications of this technology.
IBM just acquired two startups to bolster its data analytics, which means the company gained access to one of the
largest clinical data sets
in the world (data from 50 million people!).
Now, maybe I’m just paranoid, but if a supercomputer has access to your health data and millions of others’ data, I don’t think it’s too far-fetched to think that one day our genetic data could be evaluated when we apply for health insurance, jobs, loans, etc.
Sequencing a person’s genome has already gotten significantly cheaper and faster. For
$1,000
, you can get your genome sequenced within 24 hours, and Oxford Nanopore Technologies is testing a super-cheap gene sequencer
about the size of a flash drive
.
The company hopes to one day bring the technology to consumers for mobile self-monitoring. (I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t help but picture people going on a date in the future and whipping out their phones to test their genetic compatibility.)
Another aspect of the book that’s actually very close to reality is the idea that genetic mutation could lead to radiation resistance. Scientists have bred a strain of E. coli that can
repair its own DNA
after being bombarded with radiation. They think that human cells could eventually repair radiation damage the same way, and there is already a system that allows scientists to
edit a genome
.
And speaking of bleeding-edge medicine, how about bringing a patient back from the dead? The life-saving procedure the doctors performed on Lenny when she was rushed to the medical ward is a real thing.
Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center are
currently experimenting
with a suspended animation procedure that literally brings people back from the dead. Surgeons drain the patient’s blood and replace it with cold salt water to induce hypothermia, which slows cell death. This buys them a few hours to repair the patient’s injuries and repopulate the body with blood.
If the procedure works, the heart starts beating again, and the patient regains consciousness within a few hours or days.
Okay — enough with the good news. Let’s talk about the scary shit.
How is it that the Desperados got their hands on a deadly virus that absolutely no one can control? Even if the federal government relocated some virus samples to a compound before Death Storm for safekeeping, doesn’t that seem like the sort of thing they would keep on heavy lockdown?
Unfortunately, biosafety level 3 and 4 labs make horrendous mistakes all the time.
Specimens go missing; infected research animals escape. What’s even more terrifying is that the federal government doesn’t even know where all these high-containment labs are. (Reporters have identified
more than 200
.) It should come as no surprise, then, that oversight of these labs totally sucks.
In 2014, officials unearthed some
old boxes
of smallpox samples in storage at the National Institutes of Health that everyone had forgotten about. Horrified by the NIH’s poor housekeeping skills, the feds investigated some 4,000 labs and found poorly stored specimen that cause plague, botulism, and bird flu. Just recently, a Defense Department lab in Utah
accidentally sent
live anthrax to nine labs and a U.S. military base in South Korea. (Whoops.)
After gathering enough material to give myself nightmares for years, I concluded that it’s very plausible for the drifters to get their hands on a fictitious virus that could devastate the compounds. I’m eager to explore how compound 112 will react to a potential outbreak in book four.
I’m also very excited to follow Celdon into the inner folds of Constance, see the viral outbreak from Sawyer’s position in the medical ward, and maybe even get inside Owen’s head to understand where his true loyalties lie.
As I was writing this book, it occurred to me that Harper and Eli could either be the best thing for each other or the worst. They push each other and comfort each other, but their strong personalities frequently lead to clashes that border on unhealthy. Harper is finally beginning to understand Eli, but they both still have a lot of hang-ups.
I’ll be interested to see how they cope with separation in book four and if they can finally reach a point of trust and understanding that will make their relationship sustainable. Of course, I’m a sucker for couples that have true chemistry, so I’m rooting for them.
After reaching the end of book three where Harper and Eli are arrested, one of my beta readers pointed out that things look pretty hopeless for those two. I don’t disagree, but I’ll leave you with this: No matter how bleak things seem, there is always hope for resourceful, resilient people like Harper and Eli.
In my opinion, the best defense against a world that’s barreling toward destruction is mental toughness and relentless curiosity. Don’t assume that everything is fine. Don’t assume that
somebody
has things under control. And always, always,
always ask questions.
I hope you enjoyed
Outbreak
and that you’ll help me spread the word by leaving reviews on
Amazon
and
Goodreads
. Reviews are the best marketing in the world because they help readers like you discover books by independent authors. You can also
get in touch
to tell me what you thought of the books. I love getting emails from readers.
And don’t worry…I’m hard at work on book four of The Fringe right now. In the meantime, check out my other series, The Defectors Trilogy.
You can get books one and two for FREE when you
sign up for my mailing list
.
Table of Contents