All That Remain

by Travis Tufo

"Chris! Go get this woman some water!" he yelled out to the large, trailing man who hadn't quite made it to them yet. To Chris, that was an upsetting thing to hear. Running wasn't one of his favorite things, and now he was being ordered to run some more.

  "Ma'am we ‘otta sit you down so you can catch your breath,” he said, placing a hand on her as he motioned her to sit down. She refused, and instead took Apollonia from her back and set her on the grass in front of them.

  "What's wrong with her, boss?" one of the workers asked as he removed his hardhat. At that moment, Chris returned, completely out of breath, red cheeks puffing and a canteen full of water in his hand, extended out towards the mother. The panting mother and he locked eyes for only a moment before she collapsed to the ground.

  "What…the...hell," the out of breath lumberjack managed to squeeze out in between gasps for air. The foreman knelt down next to her and put his hand on her neck.

  "There's no pulse,” he said, trying again on her wrist and finally placing his ear to her soaking wet chest to listen for a heartbeat.

  The third worker finally spoke up. "I don't know what the hell is going on here, but this woman just died trying to get us to help her little girl. We gotta do something," he said.

  "Chris, go start that damn truck up," the foreman said as he diverted his attention to the little girl who was seemingly in a trance. With widened eyes he looked to his boss. He knew it was for a good cause, but could he even run any more than he already had? Seeing the poor girl in her condition was all it took as the foreman lifted her near lifeless body up into his arms. A sense of urgency fired into Chris's body as he bolted for the truck, leaves practically flying up behind him, not because he was so fast, but because his tremendous footsteps shook the earth.

  WITHIN MOMENTS CHRIS pulled up to the group of workers and they carried Apollonia into the large work truck. They all piled in and drove off as fast as Chris could get the truck to go, heading for the nearest town which was a popular one for trading with the United States. Lots of fruit sales and other various goods were brought there before being loaded onto another truck and driven to the States. The high speed of the work vehicle careening into the town startled many of the citizens. Upon arrival, the men jumped out and starting yelling for help. People, including vendors, tourists, and men looking to buy large quantities of goods for their businesses back in the States quickly crowded around in a large circle to peer down at Apollonia as the foreman laid her down gently, hoping a doctor would come to her rescue. As he set her on the ground he felt a strange lump on the back of her neck with his finger tip. He reached the rest of his hand back to get a better feel. It was as if a large cyst was about to erupt from a mountain forming on her neck. He gently spun her around so that she lay on her stomach. Her neck was covered by her long brown hair, but he quickly brushed it aside. As her neck became visible, the crowd of people gasped in fear at the sight. It looked as if a golf ball was lodged under her skin and the flesh around the large lump was dark purple with strange blue veins pulsing around it.

  "Someone get a doctor," a random vendor from the crowd yelled out as he averted his view. Hundreds of frantic whispers were firing back and forth, all wondering the same thing: was she still alive?

  "I'm a doctor," a voice echoed over the muttering coming from the crowd. Quickly, a divide opened in the onlookers and the doctor stepped forward. He hurried to the girl lying seemingly lifeless on the ground. The doctor knelt down and placed his ear to the young girl’s chest. He could both feel and hear her heart pounding fast, much faster than any heart should ever beat. He lifted Apollonia from the ground and turned her over again. The large darkened bump on her neck began to pulse, and every few seconds the doctor could see that it had its own separate rhythm

  “What’s your name?” the doctor asked the foreman, hoping to calm the situation.

  “What...? Uh, I mean, I’m Rick.”

  “It’s nice to meet you Rick. I’m Dr. Hugo Garcia, and I’m going to have to ask you to help me save this girl’s life.” Rick was panicked to hear that he was about to perform such an important role.

  “I, uhh, I don’t think…I can do that.” His words tumbled out like a nervous child on his first day of school.

  “First things first. Rick, I’m going to need you to calm down, this stuff happens every day and we determine the outcome. Don’t worry; we are going to save this young girl.” The doctor laid Apollonia on the ground and propped her head up so that she could breathe during this procedure.

  “Well, I guess it’s a good thing you speak English, doctor.” Rick had a sudden rush of adrenaline, much like the one a football player gets as he walks onto a field the night of a game.

  “That’s the spirit. Now I need you to go to my truck over there, the red one, and bring back the white bag.” Hugo pointed with his head as his hands were preoccupied examining the large bump. Rick quickly rushed over to the truck and flung the door open. He threw things around until he found the bag. He quickly rushed back to Hugo, set the bag down beside him, and stepped back.

  “Oh, you aren’t done yet. I think I may have found what I was looking for but I don’t want to take my hands off the spot. Can you get what I request from the bag for me?”

  “Yeah, I think I can handle that one.” Rick was relieved to be given such an easy task.

  “I need you to get me the bottle of antibacterial wash, some gauze, a cloth rag, some tape, and my razor,” Hugo said, never removing his gaze and firm grasp from Apollonia’s welt. Rick quickly rummaged through the bag which had countless medical instruments inside, setting down the listed materials beside Hugo as he found them.

  “What do you need that razor for?” a voice from the crowd hovering over Hugo and Apollonia asked.

  “I think that question is self-explanatory,” Hugo said as he began to drench the small cloth in antibacterial wash.

  “You’re going to cut that girl open?” an alarmed woman yelled out, and with her voice came panic.

  “This isn’t just a type of bruise people, there is something in there!” Hugo yelled back as he finished wiping her neck with the wash. There were shrieks as he grasped the razor in his hand. He slowly brought it to the center of the welt and placed it against a spot he thought would be the least dangerous. Some watched over his shoulders with their hands covering their mouths while others had to look away. With the slightest drag of the razor across the soft flesh of her neck, the skin split with ease. He didn’t need to cut for long, however. As the incision became about the length of his fingernail, the entire bulge erupted. Blood violently splashed out onto Hugo’s face and even had the force to propel it to people standing behind him. There was now a large hole in her neck, as if she had been shot. Hugo quickly wiped the blood from his face and examined it on his hands. Something was strange about the blood, he thought to himself. Tiny dots of purple could easily be seen in the viscous fluid.

  “What the hell?” Hugo didn’t focus on the strange blood for too long, as he noticed that the hole in Apollonia’s neck had something else going on inside it. He leaned in to get a better look. He found what looked like a stick, and it seemed to extend deep inside of her. He put his fingers on her wrist and another at her jugular vein, searching for a pulse. Upon realizing that there was none, that she had passed away, he decided to investigate the strange stick. He dug his fingers into her newly opened wound, grasped the protuberance with two fingers, and pulled. It was securely embedded; he had to strain to get it to budge. It was a lot like pulling a pencil sized splinter out of your foot. He managed to get the long, unknown object out about three inches. Hugo didn’t know that it was the exact same fungal strand that the unfortunate ant had protruding from its neck. He thought it was a type of worm or parasite—something living inside her.

  “Is she still alive?” Rick said looking down at Hugo helplessly.

  “She didn’t make it. This worm, or whatever it is living inside of her, must have killed her.” A wave of sadness washed over the cr
owd; some mothers from the town even began to cry for the young girl.

  A MAN FROM the crowd approached Hugo. “Doctor, I got some of her blood on my face and I noticed that there were some strange little specks in it. Should I be worried?”

  “To be honest sir, I don’t really know. I noticed the speckled appearance of her blood as well, but I can’t run any tests here, as I have a severe lack of resources. But if those little particles are what I think they are, we need to get everyone who made contact with the blood to a testing center.” A worried bystander stepped up.

  “What…what do you think the specks are?” A pale face looked desperately at Hugo.

  “I can’t be sure, so don’t quote me on it, but I... I believe that it could possibly be eggs of some sort. And seeing what this worm did to this young girl...well, I don’t want to take any chances.” People quickly became outraged, yelling back and forth about how they were covered in blood.

  “People settle down! Firsts things first. I need you all to be nice and calm. Clearly a riot won’t help matters. We need to get this girl’s body ready to travel and the rest of you need to find a vehicle so you can follow us.”

  “Where the hell are we going?” one of the many panicking people asked.

  “We need to get to the hospital I work at in the United States.”

  “The United States?” someone shouted. The crowd was only getting angrier, though those who were covered in blood were immediately willing to go.

  “Yes. That is where I work and the sooner we get there the better! My lab is the only place where we can accurately figure out what is going on.” Hugo was growing impatient because he, too, was at risk.

  “Either you hop in a car and follow me to the States, or you risk your own life and those around you.” He made his point as he stood up and started gathering his things. Of course what he said was nearly impossible for the people around him; they had little or no money, not to mention that the border meant countless miles of travel for these people. Nevertheless, within the next few minutes, everyone who agreed to go got ready and jumped in their vehicles. Hugo and Rick wrapped up Apollonia’s body in a garbage bag and put her in Hugo’s truck, then left to lead the charge to the U.S. border. Five stubborn individuals who had made contact with the blood decided to stay behind. Either they felt it was unnecessary, or they just didn’t want to make the trip. There was only a slim chance that they wouldn’t be arrested at the border for having a dead body wrapped in a bag in the back, especially since it was a young girl, and it certainly wasn’t the most professional way of dealing with the situation, but this doctor felt something otherworldly had just come from this body and did what he must.

  Chapter Three

  WITH THE SAME old annoying ring, Eli’s alarm went off, ruining his sleep—or the lack thereof. His bloodshot eyes fired open into the still, darkness of his room. He quickly slammed his hand down on the alarm in an attempt to shut it off, but only made it worse by sliding the alarm farther down his nightstand. He now had to stretch his arm out as far as it could go before he could reach the clock. This time he was more cautious and actually felt around for the power button. Now wide awake at 3:45, Eli stumbled his way over to his shower. He turned on the water and sat down on the cold tile beside the shower waiting for it the water to warm up. This process could sometimes take up to ten full minutes.

  “Isn’t there a law against not letting employees get enough sleep? Cause there sure should be,” he mumbled to himself as he looked out the open bathroom door to a clock in the hallway. He reached his hand behind his head into the water. It wasn’t exactly cold, but it surely wasn’t warm enough for comfort. He didn’t mind though; it was the best he was going to get in the small amount of time he had left. When done with his tepid shower, he went through the rest of his usual morning routine, finding clean clothes, turning socks inside out, and throwing his shoes on. At just a little past 4:00 he grabbed his keys and made his way down through his building to his car. It was autumn, so of course it was cold enough to see his breath in the air as he stepped outside. Living in Colorado, he was just lucky it wasn’t snowing. After a few attempts, he got his car started and headed off to work.

  Driving to work and taking his morning showers were his two favorite times of the day. The shower, especially when the water was warm, was the birthplace of some of his best ideas. He kept a small notebook in his bathroom right outside the shower so that when he got out he could jot down whatever he thought about. He had dreams of being an author, much like a very successful friend he had from high school who’d hit it big, but he never seemed willing to put in the necessary work. As for the early drive, he enjoyed it so much because there was never anyone on the road, and in a busy place like Denver, that was a rare sight. Of course he passed the occasional car, but he could count the other vehicles on the road on one hand. He felt relaxed being so alone in such an otherwise lively area. He had always found solace in isolation, ever since he was a child. Between the solitude and the beautiful view of the scenery in the breaking sunrise, his commute was one of the best times in his life.

  After his forty-five minute trip, he arrived at the dead retail store’s parking lot. Of course, he was the first one there, even though it was only five minutes until his shift started. There was supposed to be a manager and another employee there by now. He parked his car and shut off the engine to avoid using any extra gas, even though it quickly got cold in there. Within a few seconds, another car arrived. Had it been the manager, he could have opened the doors and let Eli in to warm up, but it was only Kevin, the other employee that was scheduled for five a.m. Kevin pulled up next to Eli and parked his car, but left the engine running. He had some new pop song by Katy Perry playing. He looked over to Eli, who made eye contact. Kevin smiled and turned the song up another few notches. Eli laughed as he started head banging. Kevin and Eli were good friends, or as good as you can be with someone you only see at work, but still, they got along well. The joke quickly faded as the song ended and Kevin turned the volume down and retreated into his own world.

  FINALLY, FIFTEEN MINUTES past the start of their shift, a manager showed up, and without fail, it was Mr. Atkins, the store manager who, for some reason unknown to humanity, had a problem with Eli. It couldn’t be because he was a bad worker, as Eli easily did the most work in the store, both in terms of physical labor and overall time spent actually doing his job and not messing around. Eli was clueless as to why his manager hated him so much. Mr. Atkins parked as close to the building as he could to eliminate as much walking as possible, even though it was against the store’s rules to park that close. The door to the black Mercedes with tinted windows opened up, and out stepped a hefty, balding man wearing a sweater vest, cuffed khakis, and a thick pair of glasses to top it all off. Eli and Kevin got out of their cars and jogged to catch up to the dapper Mr. Atkins.

  “Good morning gentlemen,” Atkins said as he opened the doors to Renfield’s.

  “Good morning Mr. Atkins,” Kevin replied, stepping inside as soon as he could.

  “Hey Charles,” Eli quickly replied as he shut and locked the door behind the others.

  “I hope you two are ready to go get some work done.” Eli and Kevin looked at each other and grinned.

  “As ready as ever,” Kevin said as the three of them made it to the door leading upstairs and to the time clock. As Eli and Kevin both punched in, the clock made a noise that it makes only when someone is late, which technically they were, thanks to Charles.

  “Charles, you going to do something about this?” Eli shouted out to Charles who had already made it into his office. A few seconds passed with no response.

  “Hey I said…”

  “Yes! I’ll deal with it!” Charles shouted back. Kevin mouthed the words as Charles said them because they’d heard that line so many times before. Every time Charles was the opening manager he was late, and he would tell his employees that he would fix the entries in the clock, but he never did. To most it wa
sn’t a problem; it wasn’t a firing offense, but when the time rolled around for raises, it did make them ineligible.

  “Let’s see to it,” Eli whispered under his breath as the two of them headed off downstairs to start their day.

  THEY WORKED IN the back room, cutting open boxes, moving pallets, and generally putting product on the sales floor. Just as Eli had reached the storeroom, which was located as far away from the upstairs offices as possible, the intercom turned on. It was Charles.

  “Eli, could you please come upstairs real quick. Oh, and hustle.” Charles was famous for saying that line multiple times a day.

  “Oh...and hustle. That fat bastard!” Kevin joked to Eli.

  “Isn’t it ironic that his main catchphrase involves actually getting off your ass, doing something, and doing it fast? On top of that, I swear to God he watches me on those cameras. Was it really a coincidence that he called me back up there right before I got out back?”

  “Hey man, Big Brother is always watching!” Kevin said with wide eyes as he stood up straight and marched into the storeroom. Eli smirked and headed back, retracing his steps to the front of the store. He went upstairs and tried to open the door to Charles’ office, but it was locked.

  “Why the hell is it locked? You knew I was coming,” Eli whispered so that Charles couldn’t hear him, even though he would love for Charles to hear what he had to say.

  “Just a minute,” a shout came from the office. Eli rolled his eyes and stood there impatiently. Minutes passed. Eli shifted from foot to foot, becoming more antsy by the second. Ten minutes he waited, but to Eli, that was ten minutes less he had to spend working. A heavy few pounds at the ground and Charles had reached the door. A loud clacking noise sounded and the door swung open, nearly taking out Eli—or maybe it was the industrial sized lock on the door. Through the opening, Eli could spot a box of Dunkin’ Donuts sitting on the table inside the office. His stomach immediately growled; he hadn’t had time for breakfast. The noise was loud enough that Charles, still out of breath from the trip from his chair to the door, heard it in full.