One Hour

Just one hour.

Eddie’s stomach roared so loudly Ruby heard it from the other side of the glass. She stared at him, searching his clammy face for any change.

“Getting pretty hungry,” he laughed nervously, his eyes darting to the hatch door leading to the rest of the research vessel.

“I’ll see if Ravi or Austin can grab you something.” Ruby stayed stoic, though her heart sank to her bowels. She quickly reached for her phone, opening the group chat with the rest of the crew - the one without Eddie.

“Kitchen’s right next door. I can run in, grab food and run back. No issue, eh?” Eddie’s long fingers twitched before he hastily shoved his hands into his jacket pockets. “I doubt anyone else is around.”

“No,” Ruby said firmly. She punched in a text message quickly: ‘Can someone get Eddie food? He’s looking like he’s about to flip out.’

“They’ll bring it by shortly. Hell, Austin is probably already in the kitchen, anyway.”

“Just like, ten seconds, Rubes. I’ll grab uh, a loaf of bread, fruit or crackers or something to tide me over.” Eddie’s voice was becoming shrill.

‘We just brought him food 20 minutes ago, wtf?’ Austin’s text came through.

‘I don’t know, just get something. He’s freaking out.’ Ruby fought to keep her face straight through her reply. Despite the glass separating the lab from the observation room where she sat, fear gripped her and squeezed the air from her lungs.

Eddie kept looking at the door. They hadn’t locked it, thinking that he would stay sane enough to not want to risk contaminating everyone else on the RV Paola. Ruby no longer had faith in his ability to be rational. She glanced back at her phone.

Eliza: ‘Coast Guard is still an hour out. Placate him however you need. We can’t lose anyone else.’

‘Guys, we gotta lock the door too. He’s freaking out.’ Ruby hoped her urgency was coming through.

‘I’m on the way with a granola bar. I’ll lock it behind me.’ Austin.

‘Coming.’ James.

“Austin’s bringing food in a minute, Eddie. Sit tight,” Ruby said. In her attempt to keep herself calm, her voice came across robotic. She laid her phone on the table, her hands sliding underneath to find the barrel of her AR-15. Just in case.

Eddie seemed too focused on his own troubles to notice Ruby’s unease. When the lab door opened, he nearly threw himself at Austin, who arrived with the granola bar as well as a bag of chips.

“Hey - watch it, bud!” Austin growled, shoving Eddie backward. He held the food packages to him on an outstretched palm, which the clammy man swiped up in an instant.

“Finally - thanks.” Eddie tore into the foil of the granola bar, barely moving it out of the way before shoving the whole thing in his face. “That’s it?”

Austin sneered in disgust. “You just ate. That’s all you get for now.”

“Whatever, asshole.”

Austin left, shutting the door behind him. Eddie was too preoccupied, but she noticed the handle shake as the door locked from the outside. She could also hear James’ limping footsteps approaching, followed by low voices. Ruby sighed with relief when James appeared in the doorway.

“You okay?” he asked.

“No - but I’m hanging in there.”

“I’m staying here with you for now,” James whispered. “Until the rescue team arrives. We saw what happened with Ted and Flora.”

Ruby nodded, squeezing her eyes shut. She wished she hadn’t seen what had happened. She would never forget it.

James sat down on the second rickety stool as Austin poked his head in. “All set, Austin?”

“Yeah. I uh, zip-tied the door, too. Just in case.” Austin swallowed hard, glancing at Eddie through the glass. Eddie was still plowing through his snacks like a starved dog, paying them no mind. “Just gotta hold tight for an hour, right?”

“Yeah,” Ruby tried to sound reassuring, but both James and Austin shot her a knowing look.

“James is staying here, and I’m just finishing up in the kitchen. Hopefully nothing else happens until the feds get here.” Austin ducked back out of sight.

“What do you think it is?” Ruby asked James, watching Eddie shake any stray crumbs of chips into his mouth.

“Whatever those fucking worms are? Something unimaginable. You weren’t there when Flora was messing with that fish. She should have taken it to the lab - I dunno what the fuck she was thinking.”

“It’s just really fucked up - what they do to people. Nothing behaves like this.”

“Just my mother-in-law.”

“James -”

“Sorry. Tasteless.”

Eddie belched, followed by a groan. “Ugh, that wasn’t enough.”

“That’s all you get, buddy,” James said gruffly.

Ruby glanced down as her phone lit up. Eliza: ‘Coast guard updated their ETA. should be here in 20. Everything OK?’

Austin: ‘Guy got his food. James and Ruby are both on watch.’

Eliza: ‘10-4.’

The minutes passed, with James and Ruby staring at Eddie. The man eventually stopped complaining, plopping onto the squeaky lab stool and grumbling under his breath. He leaned his head back, beads of perspiration clinging to every inch of visible skin like he’d just ran a marathon. Ruby made a quick note on her phone. If the symptoms aligned with Flora and Ted, things were about to get worse.

Flora had been first. She’d come into the med bay, complaining of dizziness and nausea. Ruby, the ship nurse, thought she was seasick, giving her some Dramamine and telling her to rest. No one thought to tell Ruby about the fish Flora had found that was packed with unidentified worms. Flora was fine for a while, until she began complaining of extreme hunger. Poor nurturing Ted was happy to keep her placated, bringing her as much food as he could for as long as he could. He did not tell anyone of her worsening symptoms until it was far, far too late.

“Eddie, you hangin’ in there?” James asked.

Eddie’s eyes were closed, and he had stopped moving. “Yeah, I’m alright. Just hungry.” His voice was small and thick like he had a mouth full of marshmallows.

“Soon, bud.”

Ted had gotten the brunt of…whatever happened to Flora. Ruby only heard the commotion, joining the few other crew members in the hall. Ted was hysterical, covered in viscera and blood and bile and wriggling worms. While everyone else was afraid to go near, Eddie was the only one brave enough - or dumb enough - to help.

Austin: ‘I don’t hear him complaining, everything good?’

Ruby looked at Eddie closely. He looked as though he had fallen asleep. His breaths were slow and deep. He’s asleep.

Ravi: ‘Me and the guys see the boats a few clicks out. Any last minute prep, Captain?’

Eliza: ‘Not yet. Stay sharp, they seem like they know something we don’t.’

‘What?’ James typed furiously on his own phone as similar messages poured through.

Eliza: ‘Just a hunch. They’ll be evacuating anyone asymptomatic first. That means everyone but Eddie.’

Paolo: ‘Captain there’s a chopper too.’

A sharp groan from Eddie jolted Ruby and James from their phone screens. Eddie was twitching, his eyes wide and staring blankly at the ceiling. After a few seconds he settled, cleared his throat and went back to sleep. Ruby untensed her muscles, realizing that her finger was poised to disengage the rifle’s safety.

Eliza: ‘Christ. Okay, everyone to the deck. Leave Eddie in the lab. Let’s just make this as quick as possible.’

Ruby stood at once upon reading the message, slinging the rifle over her shoulder. She was beyond ready to leave. James, however, was slower to move. He was staring at the glass, mouth agape, as he pushed his stool back. Ruby followed his gaze.

Eddie was hunched over, his knuckles white as he gripped the edge of the small lab desk. His back was - vibrating? No, it was moving. Something was rippling underneath his shirt - under his skin. Eddie stood, revealing a severely distended stomach. Ruby and James both yelped. The flesh twisted and churned, tearing his jeans. His swollen stomach and genitals sagged toward the floor, still bubbling like the surface of boiling water. With surprising speed given the state of his body, Eddie leapt onto the table and began throwing himself against the glass.

To Ruby’s horror, it started to crack.

James picked up the camera and shoved Ruby through the door. “Run!” he followed, slamming the door and locking it behind him. “Everyone run! Go to the deck!” he bellowed.

In the lab, the glass continued to crack. Eddie was shouting, his voice muffled and animalistic. He wasn’t him anymore. Ruby sprinted through the narrow corridor, grabbing Arlene as she shuffled out of the crew bunks and dragging her along behind her.

“What happened?” Arlene screeched, her laptop bag bouncing along her hip.

“Eddie. He’s - that stuff.” Ruby didn’t know how to explain it, and was glad that Arlene didn’t ask her to elaborate. Behind them, James and Austin were blocking the hall with anything they could move from the kitchen. “Is everyone else on deck?”

“Yeah. I just had to get my laptop.” Arlene helped her open the door. “Austin, Jim - come on!”

They waited at the bottom of the steps for a few seconds before Austin and James barreled through, slamming the door shut behind them. “GO!” Austin shouted.

Ruby didn’t question anything anymore. She ran up the steps, finding the remaining crew huddled near the bow of the ship watching other ships approaching. Overhead, a helicopter was circling. Ruby spun around, keeping her rifle sights trained on the staircase.

Captain Eliza stepped out of the cabin. “Y’all okay?” she asked.

“Eddie - broke through the fucking glass -” Austin panted. He threw empty crates into the stairwell.

“How the hell? He didn’t - uh -?”

“Not yet.” James pointed his own rifle at the stairwell, mirroring Ruby.

Two rescue boats were close enough that Captain Eliza was able to shout to them. Their rescuers were donning environmental suits and preparing to board. Ruby had the stray thought that they might be killed - like every movie where someone stumbled into information they weren’t supposed to know.

“Everyone here is uncontaminated?” one of the employees asked.

“Yes - there’s one downstairs - he’s changed,” Captain Eliza told them. “We need off this vessel ASAP.”

“Got it. Let’s go.” One of the suited employees jumped aboard, heading to the cabin. “I’ll keep it steady.”

There was a clamor along the side of the boats as everyone was anxious to vacate. Workers from the second rescue vessel, also suited up but armed as well, were beginning to swarm the deck from the starboard side. Ruby told them of Eddie, then stood down and joined the others as they hopped across the boat.

“Do we have to ditch our stuff?” she asked one of the technicians.

“No, it’s not transferred like that.”

“Huh -?”

The technician shuffled her forward, helping her jump across to the rescue ship. They tossed their luggage and belongings over behind her. Ruby’s head was spinning. She turned and watched as James was the last of them off. The only people left behind on the ship were the rescue technicians - and Eddie.

A sharp thud shocked the chaos into sudden stillness. A second thud sounded from the stairwell, and the rescue teams leapt into action. Most jumped back onto the rescue vessel and scrambled to get its engine going. Someone was yelling about needing samples while others told them it was too risky.

Ruby’s full attention was on the stairwell. The rescue boat was inching away, but it was far too slow. Every second felt like an hour as Eddie thudded against the door a third time. The armed members of the response team were gathered, weapons poised. Ruby wondered idly if guns would even be useful against thousands of tiny -

CRRRACK.

It happened before Ruby’s synapses could even fire. Eddie – or what was left of him – emerged from the stairwell at an impossible speed. His body was bent backward, almost in half, under the weight of his impossibly swollen belly. Gunfire filled the air. Bullets didn’t stop the corpse, instead flinging bits of worms, flesh and blood in every direction. The mass got mere inches away from one of the response contractors and ruptured with a surprisingly unceremonious pop. Three of the workers were completely engulfed in worms, while the others tried desperately to get away, flailing to get the worms off them.

But the rescue boat was pulling away, speeding up. Ruby had been too transfixed to realize it, along with the fact that she’d been screaming. She was still screaming long after the research vessel was out of sight, and through the explosion as the helicopter fired a missile to rid the world of any evidence.

And then it was serene.

Ruby stayed frozen in place, flinching at every touch or movement nearby. She shivered despite the humid summer air. Her eyes mistook every ripple of water on the deck as an errant worm, coming to get her next.

“You alright, Ruby?”

Austin’s voice made her yelp. “Oh! As much as I can be,” Ruby stuttered.

James handed her a blanket and a bottle of water. “We’re close to shore. Just wanted to check in.”

“Yeah. You guys okay?”

James shook his head. “Probably never will be.”

“Maybe after a lot of therapy. Think the military will cover it?” Austin asked rhetorically.

As he turned, Ruby thought she saw something dart across the skin of Austin’s cheek and slide underneath the lid of his right eye. She wedged her body against the side of the ship, watching Austin and James walk away with fear burning in her chest.