Parasitic Dominators

Parasitic Dominators

Invaders from the pond.

By Andrew Ball

April 26, 2012. A man that had previously ventured out into the Everglades was admitted into the Everglades Memorial Hospital, complaining he had a “pain in his right foot”. He was inspected by Dr. Neil Ehrenburg who told the man, whose name was Aaron Fielding, that it was a “simple infection”.  He was given a drug to help with the pain, but came back three days later saying that the drug hadn’t done anything to help the infection go away. In fact, the infection had spread to his leg. He was taken in for an X-ray to see if the problem was something more than a “simple infection”. After viewing the results of the X-ray, doctors were astounded to see what seemed to be a hive of parasitic-like flies living inside the Fielding’s leg. They immediately called in parasitic expert and researcher Dr. Michael T. Ball to inspect Fielding, hoping he would know what exactly was happening to his leg.

Michael lifted the patient’s foot to his face, taking in every detail.

“Well, I see that there is a two meter welt on- uh, Fielding, is it?”

“Right” said Fielding.

“Well, as I was saying, I see that there is a welt about five centimeters in length, or two inches, on the right foot of Mister Fielding. This welt contains a small opening in the flesh”. Michael took a look at the X-rays. “My my, he said, this foot is infested with parasites!”

“Do you know what kind of parasite it is?” questioned the nurse.

“I’m not sure, he replied, it’s not identifiable from the X-ray. I would need to do surgery and take one out of his foot to find out.”

“Surgery?” exclaimed Fielding. “Can’t you just do a better X-ray or something?”

“Well, when I said surgery, I didn’t mean a whole elaborate operation,” Michael implied.” I just meant making an incision in your heel.”

“Well in that case, slice away.” Michael had taken a scalpel out of his medical pack while the nurse had helped Fielding set his leg into position.

“Shouldn’t I be signing some paper work?” Fielding asked.

“Do you plan on suing me?” Michael asked back.

“He-he! No! Are you planning on destroying my leg with your scalpel?”

“No.”

“Then we have nothing to worry about.”

                Michael put the scalpel into position at the top of Fielding’s heel. “Three, two, one.” Michael dug the scalpel into the heel. They had all expected to see blood, but instead, all they saw were eggs, maggots (or something like maggots,) fly-like creatures and a sticky, white substance.

“What the heck is it?” Fielding asked in a shocked manner.

“That’s what I would like to know.” Michael thought. But rather than scare the patient, Michael gave him somewhat of an answer.

“It seems like a species of maggot has gotten inside your foot, developed into a mature form, and has started laying eggs, using you as a host.”
“And what about the white liquid substance, Dr. Michael?” added the nurse.

“Well, thought Michael, if my assumption is correct, these maggots are feeding off of Mr. Fielding’s leg, which could-

“What?!” exclaimed Fielding, “You’re telling me that my foot is being eaten by some maggots?”

“Well, yes, replied Michael, these ‘maggots’, if they are maggots are feeding of your leg, using you as a host. It’s a form of symbiosis called parasitism. They benefit from you while you suffer the consequences. They’re trying to keep you alive as long as possible, which means that your leg might only be the beginning.”

“The beginning of what?” said Fielding. You could obviously hear the slight fear in his voice.

“Well…if-. Michael hesitated. He didn’t want to cause Fielding to panic. “If these maggots continue to eat at your leg, if this is what they are doing, they can either ruin your leg so it has to be amputated or…”

“Or What?”

“They could spread around the whole body, eventually, ah, killing you.”

“What makes you think that?!”

“It’s only a theory, but considering the spread and growth of these maggots, and how well your leg is holding up to such damage, it seems so.”

“So what can I do?”

“Eh-hem, the nurse started to say, I know that this is quite frightening and all, but what is the white liquid?”

“It could be saliva and mucus, it could be waste from the food, it could be many things. And as for what you can do Mr. Fielding, I’m afraid to admit that there’s nothing you can do except stay at the hospital while we figure this out. “

“Okay, Fielding replied gloomily, Just promise me that you’ll get it all figured out.”

“I promise”

This was the first case out of many that soon emerged. It was also true that the host did in fact die after awhile. One person, who was found dead at her home, was taken to the morgue. The body would soon be discovered by Michael, but more of that later. Here’s what Dr. Michael wrote in his medical journal after a few days of study-

May 7, 2012

So far, we have discovered little, yet these discoveries have proved great. We first took samples of the larvae, “fly”, eggs, and liquid. The larvae seem normal.  All was normal except for the glands on the sides. These glands secrete a poison out, causing the insides of the human body to breakdown. It’s kind of like powerful saliva. At least we now know a way the heterotrophs eat. As for the flies, they have an almost beetle like appearance. The differences are the wings, head, and anatomy, as well as other small differences. Their wings are like fly wings, folding in the same nature. The head is nearly like a fly’s, except that it has a more sleek appearance.  It’s nearly as if a beetle and fly mated and created a mixed offspring.  The difference in anatomy is the reproduction organs. It seems to be that they are made to reproduce on a mass scale. The eggs showed no differences when compared to others. The liquid is still a mystery. I wish we had more to work on.

Wish Granted

Around five in the morning, Michael awoke. A siren had been going off near his hotel room, waking him. Deciding that it would be worse to fall asleep again and wake up two hours later, Michael got dressed and went down to the gas station where he could buy some cheap food. Walking inside, he could hear the song Fireflies being played on the radio. “Ugh.” Thought Michael. “It’s been five years since that song came out. It’s gotten quite old through the years.” Right next to Michael was an employee, probably the only one in the store.

 “Hey, uh…” Michael couldn’t read the nametag.

“Andrew. Andrew B. Stevens.” He said.

“Yes Andrew. I would like to know why this song is being played. It’s time has passed to be on the radio or anything like that.”

“Well, he replied, it is kind of old, but the public likes it, so on it stays. To tell you the truth though, I even like it.”

“Sorry to insult your music.” said Michael apologetically.

“Your fine.” Replied Andrew. “Want a newspaper?”

“Yes, Thank-you.”

                Michael took the newspaper, bought a ham sandwich, and sat down at a booth. Michael skimmed through the paper, reading about robberies, murders, local news, and other stories. He soon got to the obituary pages. Michael didn’t normally care to read the obituaries, but something caught his eye.

Death by Parasites.

Michael read on.

March 6, 2012

Maria J. Carson, 21, was found dead in her home March 6. Her body had been eaten alive by maggots. Flies were found to be swarming all over the body. She was soaked in some white liquid that is yet unknown. Her body, along with the other organisms and liquid were brought to the Tamaho City Morgue, waiting to be taken by investigators to observe.

Maria was a biologist who studies the Everglades often. What activity took place out there may be the answer to her death, investigators speculate.

Michael’s eyes widened. His heart quickened, his brain started to think.

I need to see that body.

Michael got up to leave. He was going to pay a visit to the morgue.

This has been altered by 1%. I know it's not finished, but I plan on doing that. I actually got part of it figured out, but I don't want to spoil it. (It's also a little gross what I planned, so I'm not putting it up the summery I made to finish the report.)