"Shit! Angus!"

Angus turned around, hands in his pockets, cigarette in his mouth. The air was cold and foggy, his breath appearing in tiny clouds. Malcolm had stopped a few feet away, hovering over a pile of rubbish bags. "What is it, Mal?" he called. Perhaps some animal had wandered there to die or maybe he had found something valuable. People could throw out anything and not realize how much money it was really worth.

"Ang, get over here." Angus sighed and walked over. "Now!" Angus ran, surprised at his brother's urgency. 

"What?" he asked. Malcolm was kneeling over something Angus couldn't see. Amid piles of trash and a beat up bicycle was a long, pale mound of flesh. Angus didn't register what he was seeing at first but he stumbled backward when he got a good look. His stomach churned. 

A human arm.

Angus doubled over, willing himself not to be sick. Malcolm pushed aside all the garbage, apple cores and brown banana peels falling out of a tear in one of the bags. The arm wasn't alone; it was attached to an entire person hidden under all of the trash. Short brown hair that had been trimmed in a hurry spread over one of the bags, positioned almost like a pillow. The face was hollow and wan, just like the arm draped over another black bag. Nothing but a blue floral dress covered the body, nothing to protect it from the winter weather. "Is..." He swallowed his disgust and horror. "Is she...?"

"Fuck, I can't tell," Malcolm muttered, looking her over. She was a young woman, appearing older from hunger and weakness. Malcolm gingerly touched her arm and drew his hand back quickly. "Her skin's fuckin' freezing."

"Try a pulse," Angus suggested. Taking her limp wrist in his hand, Malcolm felt for a heartbeat. He exhaled in relief. 

"She's alive," he said and Angus sighed. "How'd she end up here?"

"Hell if I know," Angus said. "We need the police."

"We need a hospital," Malcolm said, standing up. "Look for a payphone, call somethin'."

"Got money?" Malcolm fished around in his pocket for loose change and shakily handed it to Angus, his hands also shaking. "Try an' get her out of that."

"Right." Angus took off for a phone while Malcolm studied the woman. Had she been a healthier weight she would have been quite pretty. Her lips had parted slightly, her breathing short and shallow. Malcolm gently shook her. "Hey. Hey, can ya' hear me?" She moved her head slightly then lay still. "Shit," he muttered. Every curse word under the sun ran through his mind which was still processing what was going on. 

How did she manage to end up here surrounded by all this rubbish? How long had it been since she'd eaten something? Malcolm took off his coat and wrapped it around her body, hoping to warm her up. Maybe the hospital would take care of her. Bring her back to life and get her started on her own. What about her family? Did they know where she was? Were they looking for her?

Did she even have one?

Malcolm wrapped his arms around the young woman, pulling her into a sitting position. She hung limp in his arms, her head falling against his shoulder. Putting her arms through the jacket and closing it up, he stood up, lifting her up with him. Light as a feather. Angus came running back out of breath, face red from the cold. "Got an ambulance comin'," he panted. "They wanted all this information an' I didn't have a clue."

"The hospital can figure it out," Malcolm said. "An' if not them maybe the police can find her family." Angus peered at the woman in his brother's arms. Her lips had parted again but her eyes remained shut. Stray strands of hair stuck to her face. "I don't understand how she ended up out here in the rubbish." 

"Could have wandered out late at night," Angus suggested. "Got tired or...fainted?"

"Maybe..." Malcolm said. He considered the arrangement of the garbage bags. They resembled a pitiful bed. "Hate to think she's been sleepin' out here."

"Ya' think she-" Sirens interrupted Angus' thoughts and they whirled around to see the ambulance coasting to a stop, lights flashing. A man and a woman stepped out of the vehicle in uniform and rushed for the men. 

"Thanks for comin'," Malcolm said. 

"Just doing our job," the woman said, inspecting her. "This where you found her?"

"Right, this here pile," Malcolm said. The man gently felt around the unconscious woman's neck then checked her wrist for a pulse. 

"She's weak," he said. "We need her on IV fluids and a heart monitor."

"Is that her bicycle?" The woman paramedic pointed at the dented bike sitting around the garbage bags. One of the tires had broken off. "Did she crash?"

"We don't know," Malcolm said. "We jus' found her lyin' next to it." Angus couldn't speak. He was shaking. "Don't know her name, don't know her number, nothin'."

"Alright, bring her this way." Malcolm followed the paramedics to the back of the vehicle. Inside was a stretcher that they rolled out, taking the woman from his arms and laying her down. Her arms draped over the sides, swinging slightly. The paramedics strapped her in, putting a blanket over her. They gently opened her eyes, which Malcolm noticed were a lovely shade of blue. Bloodshot, however. When the paramedics moved their hands her eyes sealed shut. "Let's get the IV going."

"Maybe you two ought to come," the man said. "The hospital will want to know exactly what you saw." Malcolm and Angus exchanged nervous glances. 

"Not sure we'll be an awful lot of help," Malcolm said. "But if you're sure."

"It would be for the best." Malcolm and Angus climbed into the back of the ambulance, Malcolm shivering from the cold. Angus sat down, keeping to himself. "Were you going somewhere when you found her?"

Angus remained unresponsive. "Jus' band practice," said Malcolm. "At our house. Walkin' down this street here an' saw her." The IV bag dripped fluids into her arm while one paramedic held a stethoscope against her back. "Will she be okay?"

"Hard to say," he said. "She's severely malnourished and dehydrated and I'd say she's pretty lucky you found her."

"We're gonna get her to the hospital as quick as we can," the woman said. "You boys hang in there and we'll deal with whatever happens, okay?" Malcolm took a seat next to his brother who still looked a little ill. 

"Ang?" Malcolm nudged him. "You okay?" Angus stared at the floor of the ambulance. "We'll explain to the boys when we can," he said. "We'll tell 'em what happened." Angus remained quiet. "Ang?"

The man slammed the doors to the ambulance and headed around to the wheel. The woman got started tending to her patient while Malcolm and Angus watched their lives change forever...