Chapter 7: Ascaris Lumbricoides Part II
Red Blood Cell tried to cover the platelets with her body as best she could.
At least, until they told her they needed to go help patch the hole.
At that point, she cowered by herself by some rubble.
I'm such a useless cell, she thought. Everyone else has a job to do, and all I can do is run away.
Of course, in her soul, she knew this wasn't true. She had a very important job: to deliver oxygen. Red Blood Cells gave their deliveries their all, and it was the job of the immune cells to protect the body so that the erythrocytes could make their deliveries.
Still, it was hard to not feel like a burden when the other immune cells jumped into action while she ran for cover. Well, at least she would give deliveries her all…
And then a stray chunk of debris hit the cart that her box of oxygen was resting on.
The box tumbled sideways and all the oxygen canisters fell out.
"Wha-? Oh no! My oxygen!" she cried.
AE-3803 dove to grab the oxygen canisters, but she only managed to catch the two closest. Fortunately, Platelet Leader-chan caught the third. But the fourth-
The fourth was heading straight for the bacteria!
Red Blood Cell watched as White Blood Cell grabbed the fourth canister and brained a bacterium with it. Then another started wrestling with him, and-
She covered her eyes. The canister broke. A quarter of her oxygen delivery was gone! Now she felt really useless.
RRRRREEEEEEAAAAAAAAAGGGGHGHHHHHHGHHH!
Red Blood Cell covered her ears as the Ascaris' roar split the air. Looking up, she saw Eosinophil leaping from monster to monster, stabbing down with her spear as she landed. The monsters roared and squirmed, but it wasn't enough. There were many worms, and only one Eosinophil. It was hard enough for her to kill one, let alone many! At the moment, she was only wounding them.
And annoying them.
The monsters screeched and thrashed, destroying cell homes on either side. Red Blood Cell looked behind her. Fortunately, it seemed that the immune cells were finished with the bacteria. She ran towards White Blood Cell as the monsters advanced.
Suddenly, she saw Eosinophil appear above her and land unceremoniously on the ground with the other immune cells.
No… there's too many… she's not strong enough!
"RUUUNNN!" shouted 3803.
"ATTAAAACK!" shouted someone else.
Red Blood Cell plowed into White Blood Cell, confused at the new voice. She looked around, trying to see the newcomers.
"YAAAAAHHHHHH!"
Red Blood Cell rubbed her eyes. No, she was seeing correctly.
The newcomer- the newcomers- were all Eosinophils.
She had never seen so many in one place. She had never met any other Eosinophils besides… Eosinophil.
They all wore the same, rose pink uniform. Some had the ear flaps on their caps loose, while others tied them up like 3803's friend. Most were women with their hair tied in pigtails, but 3803 was surprised to see some men too, their pink uniforms doing nothing to dampen the bloodlust in their eyes. They all carried bidents, lowered at the worms as they charged into battle. One was even carrying the flag of the Eosinophil Division, a white banner with a black star in the top left corner, a pink bident over top of the star, and a pink stripe at the very bottom of the flag. The cell carrying it, a male Eosinophil, was acting like a commander and rallying point to the other Eosinophils. Red Blood Cell realized he was the one who had shouted the attack.
"GIVE 'EM HELL!" he commanded, and the Eosinophils responded with one cry.
"Eosinophil, do you see…" Red Blood Cell turned to her friend and trailed off. Eosinophil may have been tossed by the monsters, but she was already rushing back into the thick of battle with her sisters-and-brothers-in-arms.
"ORE ORE!" shouted the Eosinophils as the converged on the worms.
RRRRREEEEAAAAGHGGHHH! roared the monsters as they were overwhelmed.
Swarms of Eosinophils converged on each worm. It was almost impossible to see the parasites as they were engulfed by the Eosinophils, each cell stabbing the monsters with their bidents and tossing granules from their jackets into the wounds.
RRRREEEEAAAAGHGHHHH!
Every now and then, Red Blood Cell caught a flash of blonde pigtails among the crowd. The swarm quickly split up to deal with the multiple worms. As soon as it was clear that one was taken care of, the remainder ran to the next one, working like a well-oiled machine. By the time the fifth worm was overtaken, the first worm that they attacked was a dead, steaming pile of goo that was dissolving quickly. The Eosinophils that killed the first worm then moved on to the sixth.
Wow, though Red Blood Cell, those Eosinophils are super effective!
The Eosinophil holding the flag was busy barking into a walkie-talkie. "WE NEED AS MUCH BACKUP AS WE CAN GET, THERE'S A LOT OF WORMS DOWN HERE! I DON'T CARE IF THERE'S NOT MANY, SEND EVERY EOSINOPHIL YOU GOT!"
The swarm moved systematically through the worms, killing, dissolving, and apparently even eating some of them as they went. As the continued to move, more Eosinophils appeared to help with the battle. Red Blood Cell stood transfixed until she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Let's go, they're finishing up," White Blood Cell said.
"Already? That felt super fast!" complained Backwards Cap-kun, who was standing with Leader-chan by Red Blood Cell's legs.
"Well, it felt fast, but we already made a bunch of repairs to the hole in the vessel!" Leader-chan reminded him. "That takes a while."
Red Blood Cell blinked. "Have we been standing here a long time? I didn't notice, I was watching everything happen and time just… just… just felt like it stood still!"
White Blood Cell smiled. "Battles against invaders can feel like that sometimes. It looks like immune cells are not the only ones who can get caught up in it. Come on, let's go find Eosinophil and be on our way."
The group began walking towards the gigantic Eosinophil army. Red Blood Cell saw Macrophage and Memory T Cell in the corner of her vision. She craned her head around to search for Basophil, but he was still missing in action.
Or inaction.
She wasn't really sure what that guy did.
"By the way, what were all the Killer T Cells doing down here?" White Blood Cell asked to Memory T. "It really wasn't Cancer again, was it?"
Memory T scowled. "If it was as dangerous an enemy as Cancer, I would have told you. Just some viral infection down here. Looks like they came from whatever dirt this body picked up the worms and bacteria from. Nothing we can't handle."
"Do you need any help with that?" asked White Blood Cell.
Memory T cracked his knuckles. "Already taken care of."
The reached the mass of celebrating Eosinophils. Thanking them for their hard work, the group tried to slide through the crowd until they saw a familiar blonde just ahead of them.
"Eosinophil!" called out Red Blood Cell.
Immediately every Eosinophil within earshot looked at her.
"Oops…"
"Guys!" said Eosinophil. She made her way over to the group and was caught by Red Blood Cell giving her a big hug.
"Ohh, I'm so glad you're safe!" chirped 3803.
"Haha, thanks."
"Big Sister Eosinophil, I didn't know you had so many teammates!" Backwards Cap-kun said.
The flag-bearing Eosinophil had come over, and patted Backwards Cap-kun on the head.
"Little man, there's actually much less of us than there are Neutrophils or Erythrocytes. That's why you don't see as many of us, we're such a small percentage of the blood. But when we get together, we really get wild."
Eosinophil rubbed the back of her neck as Red Blood Cell looked at her. Even though she was a lean, mean parasite-fighting machine, Red Blood Cell wouldn't describe her as "wild." She wouldn't even describe her as "mean," it just rhymed.
"Good work, 6677," said the flag-bearer, giving Eosinophil a thumbs up.
"Eh?" squeaked Red Blood Cell.
"T-that's my number, EO-6677. I don't have to wear my number on a badge since there's so few of us, but here it might be more useful that just 'Eosinophil.' And t-thanks, 5178."
"No problem!" said the flag-bearer with a wink. "Welp, I gotta go check on the others, make sure everyone is alright. See you guys!"
"Wait!" said Red Blood Cell, "I'm curious, how did you all know to come here?"
EO-5178 stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Well, Eosinophils are kinda primed to attack worms. We also got a heads up from BA-0808, he's the one who called us."
"Who's that?" asked Red Blood Cell.
"I'm sure you've seen him before. Tall guy, wears a blue coat and a mask, kinda weird."
Memory T Cell's eyes widened. "Basophil? That slacker called you guys?!"
A/N: Medical info from Discover Magazine. I also based the Eosinophil attack off of a video of Eosinophils swarming a parasitic worm, which can be found online.