You do what you can...

You do what you can
By: Nathan Izzo
         Drew woke with a headache. Upon trying to move, he realized his whole body hurt. It was fatigue and dehydration and the lingering effects of exhaustion. He looked around the alien room that tried to capture human comfort. He began recalling his last few days as he sat up and rubbed his eyes. His last few days, since life changed for everyone. Since he was rocking on his porch in the cool autumn air. The craft had arrived so fast, that it more seemed to appear, his vision only able to catch a hint of movement with it's arrival. The sheer hull gave way to a thin line of light, and the line grew to the shape of a door. The door opened instantly without any noise or clue at the machinery that powered it. Three strange beings appeared and seemed to have floated out of the craft. They made their way nonplussed to the terrified Drew, who could only stare and try to comprehend what he was seeing. They spoke without words or movement, some form of effortless telepathy that simply added answers and ideas to one's head as if they originated there.
         "we have come from a distant spot in the universe," the featureless, elongated creatures began. "Your race, though at one time seeming to have promise, has hit an evolutionary dead-end. You have been slated for destruction, so that another race may try to evolve. But we are not without pity, and you have been chosen to remain a lasting testament to your species. You will be housed, fed and cared for until the end of your line." Without a pause or hesitation, the aliens bathed Drew in bright warm light that effortlessly lifted him from his chair and held him a few feet above the ground. The effect was painless, yet so completely indomitable that Drew couldn't think to resist. He was levitated on board the ship and placed in the center of an enormous room, the size of a football stadium. They set poor Drew down right in the middle, where the Fifty Yard line would be, at a table and chair with nothing on it.
         The beings regarded Drew with unknowable eyes, "again, we are not without compassion. You may bring along those you wish, saving them from destruction. You have 48 hours, where anyone you think to include will be brought here to share the same promise of sanctuary we offer you." With that they vanished, leaving Drew alone and adrift in the middle of a great cavernous alien sports arena. He took a breath and felt the emotions come. Panic, fear, anger, disbelief, defiance. He didn't disbelieve them, they seemed capable of just about anything. He felt grief and fear for his wife and children. Just as he was processing those emotions, his wife and daughters appeared ten feet away, startled and clutching their nightgowns. "Oh my God," Drew thought, "this is happening. Humanity is going to be destroyed and the only people who will survive are the people who I can think to save." Drew's head reeled, "I have to think of everybody."
Drew felt a panic and fear that he hadn't felt since he was a child, but he pushed it away. His wife and daughters, still shaken and confused, tried to talk to him, but he waved them away. Their will be time for explanations and comforting later. He began thinking of his family, of his wife's family, distant cousins and great aunts, the girl's friends from school. They all started appearing around him on the field, half-asleep and dressed for bed. Hopeful, Drew concentrated and thought of parents, aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws, and everyone of their spouses and children. Especially the children. He thought of co-workers, golf buddies, teachers, landscapers, neighbors, police and the old lady who smiled everyday as she sold him his morning coffee. A moment's panic as realized he only knew her first name. he looked up and surveyed the growing crowd of confused people. There! The coffee lady was there, in a tattered pink bathrobe and curlers! God Bless her! He thought his way through family and friends, doctors and contractors, childhood friends and ex-girlfriends, even the angry judge who sentenced him to community service during his reckless college years. The hours stretched out and Drew continued on at a breakneck pace, frantically grasping and flailing like a drowning man. The crowd continued to grow, spilling into the seats off the field, but Drew couldn't be deterred. The summoned were quite busy with their own shock and acceptance as to what was happening. They were all drowsy and trying to process through shock and wonderment, fear and panic, some anger and some catatonia. They exchanged the same story of being asleep in bed and waking here. They introduced themselves and exchanged information until they found the common thread that led to Drew, head down and curled up in a ball at the table in the center of the stadium. They started trying to make their way up to him and ask him questions, but Drew couldn't stop to explain. How many would die if he stopped to talk? He would rather not have to answer that later, so he closed his eyes tighter and crouched lower, and continued to draw people to him. As drew concentrated on drawing name after name, the crowd grew more aggressive, fueled by fear and ignorance to their plight. When he heard the threats against his family, he knew he had to answer them as quickly as he could. He opened his eyes and climbed on top of the table and yelled out to the crowd, "People! I know this will sound crazy and impossible, but I ask you to remember that you were somehow teleported here without a thing you could do to stop it. So what is crazy is lost to us all. I was sitting on my porch last night and a UFO landed. I know, I know, but its true. I was brought here and told the Earth is too be destroyed entirely, except for the people I can think to rescue. So please leave me alone so I can save as many as I can. I can't answer any more questions, cause that's all I know. But please just let me think!"
With that said, Drew dropped back into the chair and resumed recalling names and faces. The crowd exploded with every reaction at once. Drew ignored it and continued. His wife and closest family and friends drew a protective circle around him to keep the crowd at a distance. Refreshed from the momentary break, Drew considered humanity. He had to also consider saving humanity as a whole, not just his little corner of it. He thought of Presidents, Prime Ministers, the Pope, Politicians World Leaders, famed scientists and businessmen. With the sudden appearance of the world's most powerful people, the crowd turned their attention to them. Drew went through civic leaders, newscasters, philanthropists, and Generals of the Armed Forces. As drew was working his way through politicians that he thought of a mayor who had been run out of office for taking bribes. Drew hesitated. How could he not bring him just because he was a criminal? This was life and death, and he would save as many as he could. But he made it a point to think of community leaders before considering serial killers.
The giant stadium was now a bustling, noisy place in Drew's 30th hour. He was exhausted and not thinking clearly. He was going through actors and comedians when he thought of mickey mouse. No person there. His wife had tried to offer him food and drink, but he waved it away. Although he was glad to hear that the aliens were feeding people. Drew was listing baseball players and reality TV starts when the crowd started to get angry again. They had apparently been watching who was arriving and were beginning to ask about people they felt drew should include. He looked up and saw a hundred faces trying to tell him a hundred things at once. "Do you remember Aunt Devine? She came with me to the Christmas party four years ago"
"Where is Walter? You remember the mailman before the one we have now?"
"Do you remember my husband Roger? I introduced you at the Harvest Festival last year"
"Martin Lavis, he is my Press Secretary and very indispensable"

         Unable to think clearly anymore, Drew tried to listen to everyone. Some he remembered, others he could not. Those hurt the worst, as the crowd pulled away the sobbing person as Drew desperately tried to recall a women's niece who brought them a casserole two years ago. Who the Secretary of Agriculture is, who their spouse is, who someone dated in college.
         As the 48th hour closed, Drew was in a dazed semi-conscious state. He would grasp at names and faces and occasionally drifted into making up names, bob smith, barbara fuller, kim jones or alex Hernandez. He didn't even remember it ending. He woke up two days later alone in what he assumed was to be his room. A screen graciously showed the archival footage of the Earth exploding. He got up and used the bathroom, but when he thought of facing the few he was able to save, he thought of how he will remember someone he forgot in the coming days, and it will be too late. Drew burst into tears and limped back to bed, pulling the covers over his head.