Chapter 4: A Teamless Little Leader

Day 6

The world was burning.

Still, no raging fires though, but it had been two days since the hypothalamus raised the temperature a couple of degrees higher to fever levels. This was, according to official reports, a necessary measure to weaken those who seek to do harm to the world. Immune cell patrols have doubled, and a lockdown had been in place on all major organs. No one comes in or out without getting inspected.

AE3803, or RBC-san, as her White Blood Cell friend calls her, had been walking for hours under scorching temperatures and was still nowhere near her destination. From the note in her hand, she was supposed to deliver a package of oxygen to the gallbladder, but alas, the path to said organ still eludes her.

"Hot, so hot…" she moaned. Her black shirt, red jacket, and shorts were all covered with sweat as she pushed herself to keep on walking toward the exit of the blood vessel tunnel she was currently inside. "Water… Need… Water…"

The lights on the tunnel flickered, and she suddenly felt a faint tremor shaking the ground. It happened for a couple of seconds before the shaking subsided.

It had been like this for the past few days. She could feel that something wrong was happening in their world, but nobody actually knows what it was. She could see that everyone also felt the same way, but no one even dared to speak of it. Her fellow Red Blood Cells still roamed around the circulatory system doing their duties, but their enthusiasm and usual fervor for work had all but disappeared.

The world had descended into a miasma of lethargy, and nobody knows exactly why.

AE3803 forced herself to move her legs one step at a time until finally, she had exited the blood vessel tunnel, arriving into an open plaza adjacent to a major organ building.

"Finally..." she panted, taking in deep breaths. "I've arrived in the… Oh no, not again..."

Her expression turned into horror as she saw the big sign above the entrance of the major organ that says in giant-neon letters, 'Liver.'

"Arrghh! This is the liver, not the gallbladder!"

Unable to endure the heat and exhaustion, she dropped her package of oxygen down as she hunched over to catch her breath.

"Senpai..." she mewled as tears started to form in her eyes. "Why am I such an idiot?"

It had always been like this. Even after months of being mentored by her senpai, she still gets lost on a regular basis. Even when she got a kouhai to look after, she still ended up depending on her junior rather than the other way around.

"I'm such... " she sniffed. "I'm such a fail-"

Then her expression perked up. Something in the corner of her eye had caught her attention.

She turned her head to her right and saw squatting on the side of the tunnel entrance was a little Platelet with long caramel-blonde hair sobbing silently with the occasional hiccups.

Platelet-chan?

AE3803's brows furrowed with confusion. She actually knew the little platelet as they both keep on bumping with each other. Usually, she was with other platelets leading them as their designated leader. However, today she was all alone with no sign of her team.

AE3803 turned around looking at her fellow red blood cells if they've taken notice on the lone crying platelet, but everyone seemed to be too busy or just couldn't be bothered to help her.

The little platelet had her knees and hands covering her face, and her over-sized teal shirt was covered with a lot of dirt and grime.

Finally, unable to resist her big-sister instincts, AE3803 walked toward the platelet and knelt in front of her.

"Hey, Platelet-chan," she muttered softly. "Is there something wrong?"

The little platelet sniffed a couple of times before raising her head to look at the one who approached her. "RBC-onee-chan?"

"Yep, it's me," AE3803 placed a hand above her cap. "What's up?"

Platelet-chan opened her mouth to speak, but only tiny sobs and inaudible mumbling could be heard from her.

AE3803 started patting her on the head.

"There, there," she cooed. "Take your time, I'm here to listen."

Platelet-chan tried to sniff herself out from sobbing until she took a deep breath to finally calm herself down.

"RBC-onee-chan," she mumbled, her voice still at the edge of crying. "I… I couldn't f-find my… I couldn't find my t-team…"

AE3803 tilted her head as she waited for the little platelet to continue.

"I tried looking for my team, but they're… They're gone… They're all gone…"

Fresh tears flowed from the little platelet's eyes and AE3803 instinctively hugged her closer.

"Ok, ok, don't cry now, it's alright... " AE3803 started to assure her. "Your team is fine… I'm sure they're just somewhere, maybe in the armpit regions cooling off?"

"The armpits are really hot right now," Platelet-chan muttered. "Bec-because of the f-fever…"

"Eh?" AE3803 blinked a couple of times before realizing the terrible truth that a little platelet just corrected her. "I-Is that so?"

"I don't know…" Platelet-chan croaked as she started to heave to cry some more. "I..."

And then fresh tears started to burst out once again.

"Ah…" AE3803 frantically tried to look at her surroundings if anyone would help her, but nobody even seemed to notice them at all.

"Ok, ok!" she took out her handkerchief and started to wipe the tears from the little platelet's eyes. "Onee-chan here will help you find your team in no time!"

Platelet-chan hiccuped then raised her head to look directly at AE3803's eyes. "R-Really?"

"Uh, well," AE3803 forced a smile. "I still have a delivery to the gallbladder, but after that, we can look for your team! Would that be alright with you?"

"But onee-chan," Platelet-chan rubbed her nose with the handkerchief. "You are always getting lost. Are you sure we could find my team?"

Oof!

Innocent though her observation may be, the little platelet's words carried the same force as a direct hammer blow to AE3803's guts.

"Ouch," AE3803's forced out a chuckle. "Ehehehe, d-don't worry, Platelet-chan, I'm feeling lucky today, we will definitely find your team!"

A lie. If anything, today was as bad as any of her days, but she still needed to act as a big sister in front of the little platelet. If anything, this should be an opportunity for her to prove herself as a competent and mature red blood cell.

"Um, Platelet-chan, do you know whe-ahhhh!"

Without warning, AE3803 heard a loud crashing sound from behind which jolted her back to her feet, swooping the little platelet in her arms.

Raw instincts immediately kicked in, and she was about to run away from whatever caused the sudden noise behind her when she felt a firm hand touching her on the shoulder.

"Ahhh!" AE3803 screamed. "Please don't kill me! I don't have oxygen!"

"RBC-san? Is that you?"

"Eh?" AE3803 turned to look back at the one addressing her and saw a neutrophil in his usual grey military fatigues. "WBC-san? You're… Y-You're here!"

WBC, or U1146, heaved to catch his breath as sweat dripped down his face. The rise in temperature had made the ventilation shafts he used as shortcuts too hot and airless for him to normally traverse. Still, after a couple of seconds, he straightened up before brushing off the dust from his cap and ruffled silver hair.

"RBC-san, it's nice to see you again," U1146 began. "It seems we always keep on bumping with each other."

"Ahehehe, yeah, it's always like this." AE3803 chuckled. "So uh, what's up?"

"Oh ah…" U1146 started scratching the back of his head. "Well, I was-"

Then he realized the little platelet AE3803 was carrying on her arms. The platelet had her arms wrapped on the red blood cell's neck as she turned her head to look at him, her eyes wide and watery, a clear sign of her crying.

"Platelet-chan?"

"WBC-onii-chan," the little platelet bowed her head in greetings. "Hello there."

"Ah!" AE3803's face brightened up as she just realized something. "Um, WBC-san, by any chance, have you seen Platelet-chan's team? She seems to have been separated from them."

"Separated?" U1146 bunched up his brows in recollection. "Hmm… Now that you mentioned it, I haven't seen any platelets other than Platelet-chan here."

"Oh," Platelet-chan's expression wilted as she lowered her head in grief. "I haven't seen any of my comrades for days now as well."

U1146 stared at the little platelet for a couple of seconds before shaking her head. "I'm really sorry that I couldn't be of any help."

"Uh no it's fine," AE3803 smiled at him faintly. "I'll accompany Platelet-chan in finding her team after I make my delivery."

U1146 raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure RBC-san? Maybe you'll just end up getting lo-"

He stopped before he could finish his sentence as he saw AE3803 pouting her face in anger.

"Right." He nodded.

"So uh, WBC-san, are y-you going somewhere?" AE3803 blurted out.

U1146 suddenly turned serious. He looked around for several seconds before leaning closer to her and Platelet-chan.

"Yeah," he whispered. "Actually, I'm not supposed to tell you this, but we got an anonymous tip that something bad is about to happen here in the liver."

"Oh really?" AE3803's eyes widened. "You're saying that something ba-"

"Shhh!" U1146 immediately placed a finger in front of his mouth as he hissed. "Not too loud!"

"Sorry!" she whispered back.

"Listen," this time, he placed a hand on AE3803's shoulder while placing his other hand on Platelet-chan's head as he tried to assure the two. "If you two must go, please, just prepare yourself for anything. The moment you see something wrong happening, run… Just run away, ok?"

AE3803 opened her mouth to respond but immediately closed it. Her face grimaced into a look of concern as realization dawned on her. "WBC-san, are we…" she paused for a couple of seconds before continuing. "Are we under attack?"

"I don't know," U1146 admitted. "Everything is just so messed up right now, but still, we have to remain vigilant."

"Understood." AE3803 nodded. She then tightened her grip on the little platelet. "I'll protect Platelet-chan with my life."

"WBC-onii-chan, RBC-onee-chan..."

Both matured cells looked at the little platelet.

"Yes, Platelet-chan?" AE3803 asked.

Platelet-chan then pointed her hand toward the entrance of the liver organ. "What are they doing there?"

AE3803 and U1146 turned to where the little platelet was pointing and saw two factions of immune cells facing each other.

"Are those... " AE3803 narrowed her eyes to focus on the two groups. "Macrophages and Killer T Cells?"

U1146 didn't respond. His receptors were going haywire, but there was no sign of any enemy.

"I… I better go," he said to the two as he adjusted his cap. "Something is definitely wrong… I better go to them to check what's really going on."

U1146 started to walk toward the two immune cell groups when he felt a tug on his sleeves.

"WBC-san," AE3803 started. She looked torn and apprehensive. "Please… Promise me, to be safe ok?"

U1146's mouth fell half-opened. Something in her words made him feel fuzzy inside, and his face suddenly felt warm.

"I promise," he gave AE3803 an assuring smile as he also patted Platelet-chan's head. "I can handle myself. And you two, please remain safe y'hear?"

"We will!" AE3803 and Platelet-chan both nodded in the affirmative.

Satisfied, he closed his eyes and bowed as if in deep thought. "Consciousness, help us all."


A/N:

Take note, the armpits (axillary) are actually cooler when compared to the temperatures taken via the mouth (oral) or ear (tympanic). As such, AE3803 is actually correct when she said the armpits are cooler. However, it still doesn't mean she knows how to get to the armpits without getting lost though lol!

Anywho, we finally get to see U1146 and AE3803 together along with Platelet-chan. I love writing these three characters together since it's like writing a story of a small family. Also, I really hate that I can't post images here in ff because I've seen a picture of the three cells together with AE and U kissing each other with platelet-chan sitting between them but her eyes are being covered by their hands. So cute and adorable!

So yeah. The next chapter will be released maybe before October 5. I'm still going to write it and it's actually a very important chapter (for reasons I'll explain later) and so it might take a longer time to check and double check after the first draft.


Author Musings (You can skip this part):

So previously, I mentioned that I wrote an outline of the story from start to finish before writing down the first chapters. I'm actually a Story Structure Nerd which means, I love and prefer writing stories with a clear and definite outline instead of writing on the fly. For years I tried writing like the latter, but it was only when I started writing with a clear outline that I started getting results.

As such, for anyone interested in writing with an outline, allow me to share here the outline I made for this chapter. Please take note the major changes from the planned outline to the actual writing. For example, in the outline, WBC was supposed to be jogging his way toward the liver when RBC and Platelet-chan called out his attention.

For anyone interested to know more about how to Outline stories, you can just give me a PM. XD

Anyways, here's the original outline for this chapter:


Chapter 4

1 - Red Blood Cell was walking down a blood vessel near the liver looking perplexed. Apparently, she had gotten herself lost again and was now trying to find her way toward the kidneys to deliver her package.

2 - On the way, she sees Platelet-chan sitting on a corner crying.

3 - Curious, she approached Platelet-chan to ask her reasons for crying.

4 - Platelet-chan explains to her that she had been looking for the other members of her division but she'd not found any one of them.

5 - Red Blood Cell then comforts her saying that she'd help her look for her team.

6 - Platelet-chan thanks her but then tells her that she would only end up getting lost again. Red Blood Cell felt like someone just punched her directly on the gut.

7 - Suddenly, they see White Blood Cell jogging toward them. They wave their hands to call him out.

8 - White Blood Cell sees them and then approached them. His face looked paler and whiter than usual. He tells them something strange was going on in the body. His receptors were going haywire and that he was getting a distress call near the liver.

9 - Red Blood Cell and Platelet-chan exchanged looks of confusion. Finally, Platelet-chan tells him that she saw a number of Macrophages and T Cells gathering at the entrance of the liver. She further states that it looks like there's a confrontation between the two factions.

10 - White Blood Cells thinks that to be very strange and that he had never heard any bad blood going between the T Cells and the Macrophages. He then tells the two to stay where they are as he tries to investigate the ongoing incident.


Revision History:

- Originally published on Sept. 30, 2018