Cells at Work: Ebola

Chapter 16: A Little Leader's Nightmare

She dreamt of nightmares.

Before her, she saw a hellish scenery of a world in flames and a burning grey sky torn asunder. She heard the ghastly screams of countless of her onii-chans and onee-chans consumed by unholy fire, their faces twisted in agony. She saw their hands outstretched up to the heavens as if to pray for deliverance only to be put out by their miseries by the cruel judgment of the maidens of death. The high arterial walls of the world broke and split to reveal a large tear in reality and the abysmal void beyond. The wind howled a mournful lament, of hope lost and faiths shattered, for none now lived that could halt the coming of the end.

Her body started to tremble at the sight before her. No platelet should ever be burdened by such nightmares. Little thrombocytes like hers should instead be running down the streets with smiles on their lips.

Tears began to run down her cheeks and, before she realized it, her vision began to blur. At first, she tried to hold her emotions in check, but like a cracked dam, streams of tears fell until she finally burst down sobbing. She heaved, she moaned, and she cried at her utter helplessness.

She would die... Of that, she was sure. As a thrombocyte whose job was to fix damaged sections of the world, she was no stranger of death. Death was an ever constant presence that she had grown to accept as part of the cycle of life. And yet, it still doesn't mean accepting the reality of death already made the pain of losing a loved one bearable. On the contrary, it only made the whole ordeal even worse.

She would die... Of that, she was sure, and she would die young and alone with no one to mourn her passing.

But most of all, she would die a failure.

She shut her eyes closed, wiping them with the back of her tiny hands. Her head started to throb with pain as the words of her former mentor came back to her like a surge of stomach acid.

Failure is a sin, and death is no excuse!

She had committed a most grievous of faults, and there was nothing more she could do other than to live with the guilt.

She had failed in her duties, but even more painful than that, she had failed her friends.

"Oi, Leader-chan!" a voice from behind cried out to her.

She turned and saw her vision of hell had vanished. The world no longer burned, and she could no longer hear the horrifying screams of the damned. Her peaceful world had returned, complete with her red, black, and white onii-chans and onee-chans moving along busy streets, performing their tasks as if nothing had happened at all.

"Leader-chan!"

Amongst the gathered crowd of bustling cells, her eyes quickly darted toward a group of platelets smiling and waving their little hands at her.

Her insides started to churn as fresh tears came rolling down her cheeks. A torrent of emotions swirled in her chest, making it hard for her to breathe.

Before her, was her squad, alive and unhurt. They all looked seemingly fine as opposed to her who looked terrible with her eyes red from crying, her chestnut hair disheveled, and her platelet uniform consisting of a turquoise shirt and shorts all tattered and covered in grime. They even looked unconcerned as if they all didn't go missing only just a few hours ago.

Nevertheless, seeing her squad filled her with much-needed relief. She clasped her hands together and bowed her head in silent prayer, thanking the Consciousness for the safety of her friends.

She sniffed a couple of times to steady herself before opening her mouth to greet them.

"Uh..."