Cells at Work: Ebola

Chapter 7: Kouhai

Platelet-chan shut her eyes as she tightly wrapped her tiny hands around RBC-san's neck.

"Onee-chan!" she wailed, her little body shaking. "I'm scared!"

AE3803 hugged the little platelet closer to her chest, placing a hand on the back of her head in an attempt to calm her down.

She opened her mouth as if to say something, but no words would even dare come out from her lips.

A sea of her fellow red blood cells scurried away from the conflict zones, fleeing into exit veins in panic, as the handful of neutrophils in the vicinity attempted to buy enough time for them to escape.

She also wanted to run, she also wanted to flee, but her legs refused to move. She tiptoed as she tried to look past the moving red blood cells and watch the destruction taking place in the plaza.

WBC-san... she thought. She could feel her chest aching. WBC-san, where are you?

Strong emotions swirling inside her pleaded with her to confirm the whereabouts of her neutrophil friend. True, she knew that he was strong, and he could handle himself, but she couldn't stop herself from worrying about him.

"Onee-chan!"

Like a smack to the head, Platelet-chan's crying voice took her out from her debilitating stupor.

AE3803 blinked a couple of times as she looked down on the trembling platelet, clutching her little arms around her neck.

That's right, she told WBC-san that she'd protect Platelet-chan with her own life. This was no time to stand around and worry about things she had no control over... This was now the time to move and act.

She shook her head vigorously to clear out her thoughts, forcing herself to focus solely on survival.

"D-Don't worry, Platelet-chan," she whispered at the little platelet's ear as she mustered all her willpower to move her legs. "Let's go to a safer place."

--0--0--0--

The apartment buildings surrounding the liver and plaza burned like pillars of fire as the traitorous maids torched each of them with resident cells still trapped inside.

Screams of the desperate and the laughter of the deranged echoed throughout the residential quarters. Some occupants tried to flee from the burning buildings, only to be sliced down by macrophages waiting for them in the entrance.

On top of the dead KT cells piling up in droves in the plaza, so too the dead non-immune cells also littered the streets and open spaces surrounding the battlefield while the dying prayed to the consciousness for protection and deliverance.

It would never come for them.

A red blood cell with long black hair and straight bangs laid face down on the pavement, sobbing and praying for rescue. Her red uniform was in tatters, drenched heavily with her own cellular fluids. One of her legs got twisted into a disgusting angle that removed all doubt if she could ever walk again.

Tears rolled down from her eyes as she clenched her teeth to stop herself from crying.

This was not supposed to happen. She was supposed to have a bright future ahead of her as a rising red blood cell rookie.

Her teachers in the bone marrow always told her that she was destined for greatness. She was a top achiever of her class as well as an excellent newbie with no records of any late or incorrect deliveries.

Her career life was just about to start.

But for NT4201, her future ended when the maidens of death started to set the whole world on fire.