Cancer Apocalypse Part 1
The red alert status had been officially declared a reality in the body.
A very extreme shift in comparison to the big peace period that they had enjoyed.
Memory-T 9248, placing a hand on where he had been injured, had one of the most depressing faces he had ever shown in his entire life.
Even if the stupid dendritic cell had shown him any of those cursed photos, it would have been unlikely that Memory-T 9248 would have reacted at all.
The worst enemy of the body had returned once again... and this time it would not be the three of them who had defeated him in the past there to stop him once more...
Because the third member of their unofficial group no longer existed. "NK…"
When they met, she was a complete migraine in humanoid form to him... always thinking that she could solve everything on her own...
But after having survived such arduous ordeals together, it was impossible that there wasn't at least some level of mutual respect.
And now that monster was using her weapon to cause disaster...
He wouldn't forgive him...
However, he knew that he wouldn't be the only one who would desire to give Cancer a legendary level beating.
That was why Memory-T had attempted to communicate through radio directly with U-1146... which was more complicated than it turned out to be.
That idiot surely must have been messing around with his wife and being irresponsible!
If it wasn't for the fact that replacing radios wasn't as easy as it seemed, he would have crushed the damn device out of sheer frustration.
As the macrophage finished checking his wounds, she commented something.
"Is Cancer stronger?" He looked at her and nodded. "Much more, the strength I attacked him with today was more than enough last time… we are in serious trouble."
"I'll call more troops to try to control the situation, we don't know where he is or when he'll strike… but he probably comprehends he must do it soon since he can't hide forever now that he knows we won't rest until we find him." The woman sighed, and then she left to speak with her companions to consider and discuss search and attack plans.
Regarding the other NK cell, 7436, she was describing the situation of how she encountered that abomination of nature.
"He was using the pardoned cancer cell to hide his frequency, the bastard was very smart." She turned her hand into a fist due to the rage.
"Who?" one of the macrophages asked in confusion.
"The hybrid, the pink cell, that idiot." NK-7436 shook her head and grunted. "The worst thing is that the useless idiot was not even able to notice that something was off with his companion. Heck, what am I saying? he is a bug too, just like that bastard! he probably knew and was keeping the secret! they probably are partners! we should eliminate him!"
The macrophages looked at each other, clearly not very comfortable hearing this, but most of them preferred not to say anything.
Still, if Cancer could hide using the hybrid as camouflage … it would make sense to start by following the hybrid around.
"These are the orders, you'll watch him. Try to find the Cancer that attacked you today, but you gotta remember that he has special protection from the brain." Commented the macrophage that was the "general"
NK-7436 just grunted but agreed.
Cancer was hitting the walls of his shelter, rage being the emotion dominant in his mind.
He had failed to kill that stupid bitch!
He had wanted to wait for the right moment to launch a single precise surprise attack against that organ and thus destroy this world before anyone could stop him!
He hadn't even had a chance to keep an eye on that hybrid and convince him to join his cause!
But apparently, there was no more time to continue preparing.
The "fallen angel" grabbed another stolen nutrient basket and began to eat at high speed.
That battle had left him quite tired and hungry.
Much more than usual.
But once he was back to his full power, there would be no mercy.
He would destroy this world.
This meaningless world!
This putrid world and filled with slaves fraud!
As his clones gathered under his call, he then gave the order.
DESTROY
AM-2432 was sitting near a "machine" of the lungs as she waited while eating some ice cream.
It was just one of those times of the day when the carbon had to be delivered to be released into the outside world.
She frankly hated that feeling of walking against gravity to enter the heart, but in the end, this moment of rest was always worth it.
Once she had oxygen once more in her hands, she noted the address she was to deliver it to.
Every time she finished a delivery, she made sure to mark that address as visited. She didn't want that, for any kind of reason, she would forget the places she had already delivered oxygen to end up giving someone her oxygen later than usual.
This thing was essential not only for the survival of the entire body but for each individual cell.
She had always been told that to ensure she knew how important her job was.
Without oxygen, the entire body would die. It was a sacred task for her and her companions.
And she was willing to fulfill her task no matter what.
From that day and on... her resolve would be tested.
After leaving the lungs, and returning to the heart for collecting some more nutrients, AM-2432 had completed another trip inside the heart and now it was time to take the artery road out.
It was there when she met up with some friends.
However, she was more focused on trying to make her hair stand out better… since she could feel NGC-6753's gazes.
She wondered when he would decide to ask her out on a date.
Or maybe she should try asking him?
"And how has it been since we graduated?" she asked, the only one she had worked with so far was her hybrid friend.
"Well, apart from a rather... particular client." AR-7525 gritted his teeth. "everything has gone great. Exploring this world is wonderful."
"Speaking of exploring, it's great to be able to go wherever I want in my spare time." commented one of her friends, AIH-4845.
"Much better than seeing it through pictures." NGC-6753 looked in another direction. "Being able to buy things with our own money is satisfying… although sometimes I think I have too much just for myself."
Was that some kind of hint?
Well, she'd ask to find out-
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
The walk of all the cells began to stop as that shout got their attention. AM-2432 swallowed hard.
This usually meant the presence of bacteria in the area.
But AM-2432 wasn't scared, soon the white cells would come and take care of the situation.
"AAAAH HELP!"
"MONSTERS!"
"AAAAAAAAAAH!"
She still remembered very well the classical instructions to escape from bacteria, especially the one that Professor U-4989 had told her.
If enemies are nearby, seek out the nearest white cell and ask for protection.
However, finding one in this "ocean" of red was particularly difficult.
Her classmates began to look in different directions, all nervous because the line did not advance...
Until the unthinkable began to happen.
That the flow began to go in "reverse"
The line of people began to "bend" and AM-2432 could see red cells desperately trying to get away from whatever was coming.
And the screaming kept happening constantly.
"NO! STOP! STOP! PLEASE NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
"I think... I think we should run." NGC-6753 grabbed her arm and tried to make her walk… But AM-2432 did not react...
Since she could finally see what was happening…
Cells… that were... misshapen…
Misshapen cells in great numbers holding onto as many red cells as they could.
"AM!"
A female cell screamed in desperation as she was knocked down and these monsters started biting her neck, legs… arms…
A male cell was trying to protect his girlfriend before being crushed by at least five of those monsters that... engulfed him.
And as more of those creatures continued to appear, the number of red caps lying on the floor increased.
"AM-2432! RUN!"
This wasn't a normal invasion...
This revelation was finally enough to activate her survival instincts,
She abandoned without a second of hesitation, as did her companions, the oxygen box and any other type of nutrient they might have.
It was not worth carrying something that would only delay them and that they could deliver later...
After all...
Better late than never... right?
She had to be thankful that this was the outlet of the heart...
Had it been the entrance...
Making it through the entire crowd would have been impossible with such a level of chaos and terror.
"Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff!" she ran as fast as her legs allowed it.
The monsters kept chasing them… but there was nowhere else to run. That straight path back to the heart which was getting denser with red blood cells was the only escape route.
She watched as a few red blood cells stumbled… which was enough for them to be grabbed by their feet and dragged into the crowd of misshapen cells for dinner.
That wouldn't happen to her...
No... she definitely wasn't going to die here...
She wouldn't be food for a monster...
No…
No…
No…
Definitely not…
Normally, this would be the perfect time for her to trip… but she refused to let such a thing happen. She jumped when her path was impeded by another red cell lying on the ground, crushed by others trying to escape.
Although she felt bad for not trying to help him, had she stopped she would have been captured in less than three seconds.
She and all her friends were beginning to despair.
"Where are the white cells?!" screamed one of them.
But the more she ran, she only had someone in particular in her mind.
UA-3846…
Her protector knight in white and red…
WHERE WAS HE WHEN SHE NEEDED HIM?!
One thing was certain in AE-3803's life.
Chaos always seemed to follow her everywhere.
She was perhaps one of the few red blood cells that had had direct or visual contact with almost all types of bacteria and threats that had entered this body.
But today was another occasion...
U-1146 accompanied her, something he continued to do given her pregnancy.
"Mrgh!" she suddenly had to stop and grab the "stomach of her" part "Oh?" U-1146 was almost immediately holding her and helping her up. "What's happening? What hurts you?"
AE-3803 giggled as she looked at him tenderly. "No, it's fine, I'm just still hungry."
U-1146 smiled and shook his head.
"I'm going to have to put more effort into hunting bacteria to feed the new member of the family well."
Since they were still inside the arteries of the heart, they would have to wait a bit until they could get somewhere to get food.
The fact that they were there also explained why U-1146 was carrying her on his shoulders.
To prevent her from being crushed by the crowd, something that could hurt their new child.
Just the typical stuff he must do, the basic things a good husband would do for his queen.
However, his walk was interrupted as… they heard screams coming from the frontal zone.
AE-3803 sighed, but smiled at her husband. "Come on, go, I'll be fine."
"A-Are you sure?..."
"I'll wait on the roadside," she commented as he began to lower her and let her stand.
"Good luck, my knight." She then gave him a soft and loving kiss.
U-1146 was still looking worried, but then he nodded.
He then began to run at top speed.
However, seeing such a number of cells running so desperately made him understand that this was not normal.
"What the hell is going on…"
He kept doing so for at least a minute... and then he suddenly stopped… as he watched, with multiple levels of horror, what was attacking the body.
Those misshapen bodies...
He had already seen them…
Multiple times.
No... this... this couldn't be happening here...
This was perhaps the most important organ…
No…
No…
No!
He didn't hesitate to pull his radio out from his pocket and activate it immediately as he backed away slowly, seeing these monsters eating already dead cells.
"U-1146 reporting here, code red in the heart, I repeat code red! Cancer cell invasion!" U-1146 attached his radio to his belt and immediately drew two knives.
One of those monsters tried to grab him, to which U-1146 quickly slashed through his hands, followed by more slashes to his face, and finally he pushed him away with a kick.
And he then did the same thing with another one of these horrible deformations.
Nevertheless…
They got up.
Deep wounds didn't seem to matter to them, and then they kept moving. "What?!" U-1146 had to do some back somersaults as these monsters almost managed to land a punch on her.
More of those monsters were approaching.
Using a mix of hit and run tactics, U-1146 was sure he was slowing them down…
BUT THESE THINGS JUST DIDN'T FUCKING DIE!
"Damn!" he plunged the knife deep into the face of one of those monsters.
This finally started to slow him down better.
So he kept hitting deep cuts
And then the cancer cell fell face down on the ground.
But only one of all.
There were still hundreds to fight.
WHERE WERE THE DAMN REINFORCEMENTS?!
"Well well well…"
U-1146 felt his core stop working for almost a second.
All these wretched deformations stopped moving… as their leader appeared.
He was clapping slowly. "I must congratulate you, old friend. To be able to face my new and improved siblings alone? You really are the strongest neutrophil."
"Y-YOU!" U-1146 gripped his knives harder.
Although he found himself being pushed by a fist against the ceiling. "AAAAARGH!" U-1146 fell… but he quickly got onto his knees, his teeth clenched and his gaze filled with hate.
Cancer was not far away, standing and watching.
His gaze seemed to grow more and more serious… and then he advanced at high speed against U-1146.
The neutrophil moved his face to the left, right, down and also began to back away as he was assaulted by a storm of punches.
When he attempted any knife attacks on him, Cancer simply used his extra hands to catch and deflect attacks.
It was clearer than water that the favoritism of the cancer cell was the only thing that kept U-1146 from receiving more damage,
Otherwise, Cancer could have hit him very easily.
"Come on! I know you can do better than this!" Cancer's bastard grin only made U-1146 want to cut everything from his eyes to his stomach!
"You never learn, do you? you damn monster!"
U-1146 somersaulted back and got into a fighting stance once more.
"Quite the contrary, my old friend. Why do you think I am now trying to destroy this putrid world with a single accurate strike?" Cancer moved his left hand as if he was crushing something.
"You're doing what?!" U-1146 growled, lunging forward in order to kick this aberration.
"Of course, whether or not you know what I'm doing is irrelevant, it's already too late for you to stop me!" Cancer again used his extendable limbs, many of them coming out from the walls.
U-1146 dodged one coming from the left, then another from above. He had to roll to dodge another fist, this one coming from the ground, from slamming him into the ceiling once more. U-1146 was barely touching the ground again when he noted that Cancer had closed the gap between them and had his right main fist raised and ready to strike.
U-1146 had to cross his arms in front of his face to avoid taking full damage, but he was still sent flying quite a bit before hitting the ground.
The next thing he noticed, however, was someone holding him by the neck and pressing extremely hard.
Cancer shook his head. "What a disappointment, none of you really make me put effort into this… but it doesn't matter. I was generous with you the previous times and it cost me heavily… so… BE GONE!"
Cancer's multiple hands encircled U-1146's head, his skull was about to be completely crushed.
"PERFORIN CANNON PUNCH!"
Cancer had to growl in exasperation.
NO!
SO CLOSE!
The fallen angel was forced back as multiple of those 'compressed air' punches impacted him.
One alone wouldn't have been much of a problem, but if there was one thing Memory-T had learned from Cancer, it was to launch a storm of attacks.
"Stand up, you useless." "Memory-T!" U-1146 was relieved to see a large group of neutrophils, macrophages, Killer-T cells and just about any type of white blood cell that existed.
An entire army.
Cancer growled like the demon he was and immediately drew the Katana sword from his body as before.
"I see that you all are very eager for me to dismember you, very well, I will gladly grant your wish!" With that alone, his legions of monsters stopped consuming the remaining cell corpses and roared demonically. And then they advanced towards their enemies.
U-1146 and Memory-T didn't know how Cancer was so strong now… but they knew something…
This would be a brutal battle.
Well, it has been some time since I posted the last one... but I'm kinda happy we finally reached this part.
The feeling of progress for me is still there, I had planned this part since the very beginning so this is just awesome.
I guess some of you may have forgotten the red blood cell that is UA-3846's friend, AM-2432. I wouldn't blame you, I kinda left her aside for some chapters but expect to see her in the next ones.
Given the fact Cancer cells were depicted as zombies (besides the original one that is not as mutated as the remaining ones) it made sense to me to write the whole scene like that. However, because they are heart cancer cells plus they have many nuclei, they are very hard to take down. Think about them as the Regenerators of RE4 but faster and smarter. If you don't know them, just look on youtube.
Not a lot to say right now so... I just hope you enjoyed it!