The Brain 2:00 PM
Guanine was kind of getting annoyed with all the publicity she's been getting for her recent "act of valor and bravery the Body had never seen" - they seem to forget the small matter of their little encounter with the Red Death and the cell who saved them. Guanine personally didn't see what the big deal was, all she did was call Immunity on a little group of unconfident germs who where otherwise harmless. This didn't stop her being fallowed by reporters, photographers and the whole media in Frank as she was being lead through the Brain by two recently hired "Guard" brain cells. She had been called for a meeting by the Mayor's advisor.
The guard dropped her off at the Mayor's office, she was almost fallowed in by the media but where held back by the burly (or as burly as brain cells go) guards. The door fell down shut over the flashing of the cameras and Guanine walked into the room, it seemed vacant. Mayor Estrogen was not there.
Where's that broad? Don't these idiots know how to run a Body? Thought the white blood cell as she quietly walked into the room, "Anyone here?"
The Mayor's chair turned around revealing an tall, thin, aged brain cell.
"And what would you be doing here young, um, blood cell" stated Cerebral in a bittersweet tone
"You tell me, you was the one who called me" Guanine said as she put a hand of her hip
"Ah, yes you're my two O'clock. The new local hero" Cerebral said taking some green stuff out of a rather fancy bowl, "Vomit?" He offered
"No" Guanine said lowly, "Where's the Mayor?"
"You sure you don't care for a taste?" Said the brain cell taking another handful after eating the other
"No thanks. Where is she?" She asked again
"I assure you it has not expired"
Guanine could tell this creep was avoiding her question, she would ask him later.
"So, why'd you call me here?"
"Ah, yes" He said standing up from his seat, "Judging by the amount of attention you are getting you're apparently now the alpha blood cell . . . "
"Excuse me?" Guanine growled, "Do I look like an animal cell to you?"
Cerebral loudly cleared his throat.
"Well, I regret to inform to you that your kind is will no longer make up our Immunity force"
"What? My kind?" Guanine asked with a twinge of anger in her words
"Oh, must a spell it out for you?" He said turning and walking toward her, "You're being laid off, you're being outsourced, we have no need for you simple little white blood cells"
"And who's going to protect the city, we keep Frank healthy, you just can't fire us!" Guanine asked both surprised and furious
"Why of corse I can, we will use the brain cells for your work" Cerebral said as he walked toward the Mayors desk
"And what if a virus attacks?! Brain cells are no defense for something like that!"
Cerebral laughed loudly.
"Oh, viruses?!" He asked mockingly, "How frightening! I'm so terrified" He shouted still laughing hard
There was a click. He looked up to see Guanine's gun held to his head. He let out a shrill startled cry and jumped back.
"You have no authority to do this!" She snapped, "I demand to see the Mayor!"
"Can't we talk about this like civi-" He gagged as the weapon was pushed into his neck
"Where is she?"
"I don't know" He gagged as his eyes shifted nervously around the room
"The truth!"
"Oh but truth is in the eye of the beholder"
"I swear to Frank I'm going to blow your membrane against the wall if you don't -"
Guanine was grabbed by Guard brain cells and held firmly so she could not move. Cerebral cowardice melted from his face, he grinned, took her gun and tossed it aside.
"Let me inform to you something, blood cell" Cerebral hissed, "I've been slowly working my way up to becoming Mayor of this body. I could only succeed in this is long arduous task by taking care of my rivals . . . one, by one" He said tapping her snout with his finger, "Now for all this success, I am so close to achieving my ultimate dream of a prefect Body run purely by we, superior, brain cells. Now that all the little vermin have been taken care of I can now bring this Body to it's full potential! And certainly one tiny cell isn't going to stop me!"
Guanine was dragged out of the room.
"You're making a mistake!" She screamed, "You need us, we would be being attacked left and right!"
Cerebral laughed.
"Nor will any little virus be able to put an end to my reign!"
The Lungs 3:23 PM
Most of the mucus had ended up going into the Lungs - carrying the virus with it. He was not detected because that area of the Lungs didn't have many cells around because it was partially flooded with mucus that lapped the tops of the puffy buildings.
Thrax utterly despises the water. He can swim but he just hates the feeling - it makes him nauseous. But there's noting that shares his hatred more than ice, so cold it actually hurts him. Frigid, stinging cold painfully devouring him alive, it's hunted his dreams all his life.
Out crawled the Red Death in a very undignified way (luckily for his bloated pride no one was around to see him). Clawing at the shore to get out of this disgusting liquid. His cloths heavy with snot, hanging of his body making him appear much thinner. His eyes where wide open. His dreads hung over his face dripping mucus. He looked like a cat that had just been thrown in water. He hates getting wet when he doesn't want to.
He quickly crawled onto the shore, his chest heaving. Disgusted that he, the most deadly virus ever to have lived in this Earth, was now covered in the nasty secretions of the very Body he was going to kill. Thrax was completely ungrateful that he had ended up in the Lungs when he could have landed in the Stomach and been digested alive. Fergie ended up in the same area and crawled onto shore beside him, making significantly less of a scene out of himself. He quietly crawled up beside Thrax and shook his body dry, flinging gobs of goo onto the red virus who was very unhappy about having boogers flung at him. Thrax shoved Fergie back into the water, slicked his hair back into place and started to wipe the slime off him when he heard a familiar clink.
Thrax looked down and saw in his left claw was his chain. A malevolent grin slowly curled up his face as he fingered it. Every bead of DNA was still in place, just has he remembered, all the memories of his past victims and the looks of misery on their loved ones faces - it made him feel proud. The Red Death stood up and full height now that the peace missing from him as been returned. He wrapped it around his right wrist and with an evil grin he said;
"Now, to take care of Jones and this city"
The Brain Stem 4:00 PM
" . . . And it is with great despair that I announce to you that our fine Mayor had not survived the tragic dam break. This freak accident has taken the life of not only our Mayor but our respected savior, Officer Jones and his partner" Spoke Cerebral dressed in his in his long black robe, outside the city hall was a large gathering of microbes. The funeral was being broadcasted everywhere in the body, "We all will share woeful grief for these brave souls on this dark day. With our fine Mayor gone it is upon the responsibility of me to take her place as the Mayor of this city and ensue a new order"
Some heads rose in the crowd to see the brain cell sparked a most sinister smirk. He flicked his wrist, snapped his fingers and his newly appointed brain cell guards stepped up beside him. All eyes where on Cerebral as he clasped his hands together.
"And I guarantee that under my rule there shall be no such further issues"
The Sinuses 4:50 PM
It had been a long time before anyone started to come to. They had been lucky enough to have fallen safely in the sinuses but had a rough landing.
"Is everyone all right?" Asked Drix leaning up
"Yeah . . . Yeah. I think I'm okay" Chill said who was handing upside down caught in a particularly sticky drop of mucus
"Where's Ozzy?" He asked
It was then he noticed the cell lying limp on his back. He placed him on the ground. He showed no signs of life. Fearing the worst the pill gently shook him with his hand to see if he would move. Nothing. He shook him a little harder but he didn't respond.
Sudden noise and movement startled Drix. He backed up as Osmosis leaned up and coughed up some liquid.
"I'm good" He said, "Where's Leah?"
Drix looked around and pointed.
"She's over there" Said Drix pointing to her a few meters away
She lied on her side unmoving. He ran over to her. To his relief she turned toward him and let herself rest in his hands.
"You okay?" He asked
"Yeah, are you?" She responded
"I'm good"
"That was gross" She said at length
They both stood up and hugged. Chill and Drix approached them.
"Yeah yeah, warm n' fuzzies all around - what are we going to do now?" Chill asked
"We should head to the Chief's house, it's the closest and since I can't find my car . . . " said Ozzy looking around the vacant Sinus Cavity "We'll probably have the best luck getting there"
"I think your forgetting something, kid" Growled Chill, "Your old pal Thrax is still alive and more importantly Immunity will be after me"
"Oh no, Thrax. He's got the chain now and he's still alive" Ozzy said
"That's unlikely Ozzy" Drix observed, "Because I don't see him anywhere here, he probably was sucked into the Stomach and killed. But I can't know for sure"
"Well let's just hope you're right"
The Nose 6:13 PM
After being dragged out of the Brain by Cerebral's guards Guanine was thrown into an abandoned jail house built in the dam that had just blown out hours earlier. Most of the prison survived the collapse because it is built off to the side, though it was still damp with fresh mucus.
"This ought to keep you quiet, little missy" Sniveled one of the guards locking the cell door shut
"You're making a big mistake! You can't believe him, he's insane" Guanine said putting her hands on the bars
"He's not insane! He's a genius! He's finally giving us the recognition we deserve for everything we do for this city"
"No, he's using you so he can gain power!" Guanine said as the guards began to exit, "He's going to get us all killed!"
The heavy cartilage door slammed shut and the room went black except for the yellow glow that came out the barred window. Guanine slammed her fist on the wall.
"I thought brain cells where supposed to be smart" She said then slid to the ground, "I thought I was supposed to be smart, I could have stopped him before all this happened"
She hugged her knees and curled up into a ball. For Guanine, she's always dreamed of being a great Immunity and being a great Immunity means keeping the body from being harmed and Cerebral's twisted mind would send the city into chaos. Little did she know the brain cell planned on committing mass murder of all organisms suspected of opposing him to prevent an up rising. She had failed. Guanine sighed as tears streamed down her face.
She felt something move suddenly from her jacket pocket and a single little eye poked out and looked around the room. The eye was attached to the head of a small green amoeba creature.
"Hello there, where did you come from?" She asked
She picked up him and held him in both her hands. He shook violently and his head jerked in different directions, as if he where looking for something. It muttered very quickly, Guanine could not pick out any words.
"What's wrong, dude?" She asked
"He's coming . . . He want revenge . . . Kill us all . . . He is coming" He rambled
"Okay, slow down. Who's 'he'?" She asked in a gentle tone
"El murte rojo, he is going to kill us all . . . "
"The Red Death?" She translated, "A virus, right?"
The creature suddenly jolted and scurried back into Guanine's pocket.
"He's here!" He shrieked
Guanine heard footsteps from outside and muffled voices. She stood up and peaked out the window to the outside. There was a cluster of bacteria lead by a powerfully built virus that stood taller than them all. She recognized the group, they where the same group that was at the Wart earlier. She also knew their leader, the tall, red virus that had groped her last time they met.
"Is that guy the one your talking about?" Guanine asked
The creature poked his eye out of the window.
"El murte rojo!" He screamed diving back into her pocket
"I wonder what he's up to" She said
The red virus lead the procession of germs past his waterlogged hideout. Fergie fallowed Thrax closest but didn't speak a word. The same couldn't not be said for the other germs.
"I'm still ain't clear on what exactly you is planning here, red" Said one of the bacteria from the back of the group
"Yeah, and why should we be listening to this bozo anyway?" Growled a larger bacteria who was closer to Thrax
"Because ya'll owe me for breaking you out of that precinct" Said Thrax, "And if you don't want to help me go ahead and leave right now . . . "
A number of germs stopped and began to turn away.
" . . . that is if you don't want me to save you when this place goes up in smoke" He said making a point by tapping his glowing claw on a small nose hair that soon began to melt and burst into flames
The germs stared in awe and quickly fallowed behind Thrax. Fergie tugged at Thrax's coat as politely as he could, although he hated Thrax inside of treating him so rottenly. The virus's eyes flashed at him.
"What are you planning to do now, Thrax?" Fergie asked, who was confused thinking Thrax was some kind of flu or common cold, "Aren't you done?"
The virus uttered a warm, yet troubling chuckle.
"Far from it" Thrax saidm "I only got 31 more hours to take down this place"
"Take down?" Fergie asked as some of the pathogens behind him started to get excited, "You don't mean, kill Frank?"
Thrax smiled sinisterly.
"B-but Thrax, you're going to kill him?!"
"How long'd it take to ya figure that one out, kid?"
Fergie was the only pathogen who wasn't completely thrilled that they where now a part of a deadly epidemic. Thrax's henchmen cheered and wooted, but where coldly turned down when they offered their leader a high five. Fergie lagged behind, he wanted to run off and warn someone, anyone - but he didn't want to get in trouble with Thrax. Then suddenly an epiphany struck the strep throat, Thrax was using him! He looked at the virus was a glare of contempt, he was going to get him back!
"What are we gonna do now, boss?" Asked one of the germs
"Where's going up to the Brain, baby" He started
"The Brain?"
"Can we do that?"
"We'll be caught!" Interrupted the germs
"And we're going to cause a little distraction so I - " He cleared his throat,"We don't get caught when we make the finishing blow to this city"
"What distraction?"
"We're cutting some veins" He said, "And causing a stroke"
That's when the pathogens escaped view. Guanine stood in the empty jail cell taking in what she just heard.
"A stroke . . . ?" She asked herself, "I've gotta get out and warn someone" She turned and ran toward the front of the cell
She pulled at the bars of the door. They where old but didn't budge in the slightest.
"Spit, I can't break these!" She said
There was a scratchy cackling coming from above. Guanine turned around to see two round, red eyes glowing in the dark above the window. The eyes moved down and a small scraggily creature crawled down in front of the window and perched herself on the ledge. She was not much larger than the microbe that warned Guanine of the Red Death. It was green with a long thin face, long arms and legs, half it's body was a tail with a large fin at the end.
"Of corse you can't break them" Spoke the creature
"What are you? A cat, or fish, or lizard . . . ?" Guanine asked
"I'm a comrade, a sister" She said hopping down form the window and walking on all fours toward Guanine, "I'm a friend"
"Or some kind of ferret"
"Never mind what I am!" She snapped, "I'm here to help you, but, my assistance comes at a price"
"What?"
"Oh nothing much" She said taking away of peace of cartilage reveling a hole to the outside, "A few sugar crystals, some other valuable objects should fair nicely"
"I don't have anything on me now" Guanine said
"You can pay me in interest later"
Guanine started to crawl through the hole. She exited to the outside. She noticed a peace of shrapnel from an exploded bomb. She observed it.
"This must have been what caused the dam to break so violently" She said
Guanine was about to run off to tell the Chief when the creature interrupted her.
"The one who does not let go of his hate will be eternally burning" Hissed the scratchy voice
"What?" Guanine asked turning around but she was gone
The Thymus 10:00 PM
It usually wouldn't take a healthy cell (virus or pill for that matter) four hours to travel down the Throat but Cerebral's guards now swarmed the Body equipped with the firearms confiscated from the Immunity force. Ozzy and his friends had to take every back alley they could find to avoid being detected.
"I don't see any guards up ahead" Said Osmosis peeking his head out from the side of a building
"Why are we dodging these guys?" Leah asked, "They're Cerebral's friends, maybe they can help us"
"I don't think they're very friendly" Drix said, "Plus we have the flu shot with us, we can get in big trouble"
"I have a name" Chill hissed
"Shhh." Ozzy breathed, "Let's move"
The group moved out of the black shadow of the building and out into the gloomy street. The neighborhood was vacant and grey. Since the white blood cells where kicked out of the area to be run by the brain cells it hasn't been as cheery. With no one around to talk it was silent, there's no wind in the Body not even the sound of a breeze could be heard. All that was audible was the footfall of the group of four. Suddenly a loud voice broke the stillness.
"How much further?" Said Chill startling them for a moment, "I'm starving"
"We're all hungry" Ozzy growled, "Suck it up, it ain't that much longer anyway"
"We've been walking for hours! You're lost! I can't go any longer, I'm feeling faint" Chill whined slouching over, "Go on without me!"
"Ok" Drix replied as they continued to walk on
"Where are you going?! Help me, you stupid Immunities!" Chill screamed, "Get me some water or a sandwich or something! But no peanut butter, I'm allergic. Oh and could you -Mmph!"
"Shut your howling yap" Leah said holding his muzzle shut, "We're here already"
The Chief lived in an upper class house in the Thymus gland. Because he was a high ranking official and mostly trusted by Cerebral himself, his house was not patrolled by Cerebral's guards. They quietly approached the door, still keeping an eye open for anyone who may be watching. Ozzy took the large knocker and struck the door a few times trying not to make too loud of a sound. There was no nosie from inside the house.
Out of the still walked a young white blood she-cell to the house. Everyone turned their heads to see Guanine walk up to the house with her hood pulled over her head. That is, everyone but Osmosis who was preoccupied with craning his neck, trying to see through the high window atop the tall door. He froze as he felt a firm hand clutch his shoulder.
"Move it, Jones" Said a female voice
He screamed as he flung his arm around to hit the voice. Guanine quickly dove down and evaded the flailing arm. His arm continued and slapped Chill in the face who spun around twice and collapsed to the ground.
"What are you doing, you idiot?!" Guanine snapped standing up
"What am I doing?" He asked after recuperating from the scare, "What are you doing, sneaking up on me like that - You almost gave me a heart attack!" He said cocking his head with his words
"You're a cell, you don't even have a heart" She said angling her head the same way
"Look who's talking!"
"What is that supposed to mean?!"
"Both of you break it up!" Leah said shoving both of them asunder, "Do I always gotta do everything for you . . . "
She walked up to the door and pushed in the door bell. Within seconds the door knob turned and the Chief answered the door to see the very unusual group.
"Jones?!" He exclaimed with wide eyes
"Hey, hey, Cheify!" Ozzy said letting himself in, "You mind if we spend the night here?"
"You're alive?!" He stuttered as the five walked in
"What?" Drix asked as they all started to turn around
"Just a few hours ago the Mayor said you all died in a dam break"
"I didn't say that" Leah said
"Oh, um, the new Mayor, Mister Cerebral"
"Since when was that old coot Mayor?" Ozzy hissed
"Of corse, it makes prefect sense" Drix said, "He must have taken advantage of the dam break to become Mayor himself"
"He didn't just take advantage of it" Guanine said taking out the twisted peace of shrapnel, "He caused it, he must have put a bomb in the dam, knowing you would be there, and blew it to kill you all"
"But why would he, he told me all he wanted was the help me" Leah said
"All he wanted was to take your power for himself" Guanine said
"Wait, so was it him who caused the sneezing in the first place?" The Chief broke in
"No, it wasn't him" Ozzy said
"Well who else would be able to do that?"
"Cheify, baby" Ozzy said leaning on him, "You ain't gonna believe who's back for round two . . . "
The Cerebellum 5:15 AM
Thrax's brigade of less powerful pathogens have been causing havoc in the tall open room where many nerves ran up through into the Brain. The room was vast and empty, the walls where a deep indigo, illuminated by the white glow of the nerves which appeared to be great staffs of light rising from ground to the ceiling. Some nerves where small and thin, some where large and wide and many where in between.
Thrax leaned on a huge nerve that too him appeared to be a massive wall of glowing white. He watched his little henchmen to make sure they didn't do anything rash . . . or stupid. He ordered them to cut them small ones until he tells them to stop then they will ascend into the Brain and do the real damage.
Fergie was more interested in complaining that doing his job.
"Do this, do that. He doesn't even do any of the work himself, some big evil virus he is" Fergie grumbled, "I could have been a better leader! He didn't even give me a chance!!"
A few germs turned their heads the sudden outburst. Thrax looked up and saw Fergie wondering aimlessly complaining about his leadership.
"What makes this procaryotic blowhard so freakin spacial!" He said taking his claw to one of the nerves, "I'm the stronger one, I'm faster, I'm smarter, I'm know what I'm doing-" He cut the nerve but got his claw stuck and was painfully shocked, "HAAAARAAAGGH!!!" He dropped to the ground
"Why do we even have to cut these stupid things!" He snapped hopping up, "I thought the big ugly boss wanted us to cut veins!"
"He said we gotta do this first, don't question the man, he's smart" Said the germ a few feet behind him
"Yeah sure. The idiot doesn't even know what species he is"
He got a chuckle from a germ beside him who was almost as small and scrawny as him. This egged him on.
"Yeah, he shows symptoms like a flu but gloats like Ebola"
The small germ laughed and hopped up to him on her three thin bird-like feet.
"Yeah, yeah" She hissed through her long skinny muzzle, "He's about as smart as E. coli"
"Smells like foot fungus" Fergie laughed, "Like a big fat smelly foot fungus"
"With sunglasses!" She added
"And boy is he uuuuugllly" They cheered in unison
The female germ caught something out of the corner of her eye and quickly took a double take. She hopped backward and slowly backed away. Fergie didn't notice as he was too preoccupied with rabbling about how stupid and ugly his boss was.
" . . . And stinky, and creepy, and"
"Uh, kid" Interrupted the germ
"I'd be running the place, if it weren't for that big, fat, ugly-"
"Oh baby, surly he can't be that bad" Said a voice from above him
Fergie quickly spun around to run into something black, he looked up to see the unhappy face of the Red Death. Fergie didn't even brother to say anything, he knew what was coming to him. He bounded away from Thrax but didn't get very far before a hot claw had a vice grip on his neck.
"If you want to go ahead and mock me behind my back then ya'll can burn with this city as far as I care" He snarled looking at his other henchman with an evil glare
Fergie was swung around and thrown across the room so quickly he might have easily be mistaken for a bullet.
"Got it?!" Roared the virus
Fergie slammed into the wall with a boom smacking the "alarm" button with his tail. The room went black. A loud bleeping filled the room along with a red light. The doors slid open and a number of brain cell guards stormed in. All the germs except Fergie and Thrax charged the guards and a fight ensued. Thrax backed away from the fight and his eyes darted around the room. His eyes locked and he grinned. His claw sparked to bright orange. With one cut a nerve twice as wide as Thrax was cut cleanly off. The lights went off.
This was exactly the way Thrax wanted it. With his remarkable night vision he would be able to sneak up to the veins he wanted to cut and cause the stroke he wanted. He quickly evaded his way through the other blundering microbes and sprinted out of the room and up a flight of stairs into the Brain. He hadn't noticed that Fergie has grabbed the bottom of his coat and traveled with him to escape the confusion.
He was heading toward a vein, three guards surrounded it but were blinded in the black. He held his blade out but as he was about to slash open the vein the power went back on. Blinded by the light his feet slipped and became caught on Fergie still hanging on to his coat. He lost balance and slammed into a guard.
"What is that?!" Shouted a guard
"It's that evil red virus!" Said another
"Get it off me" Shrieked the guard under the big virus
Thrax felt the guards knee jab his gut. He quickly jumped to his feet to see the guards had their guns pointed to him. Both humiliated and irritated, Thrax was not in the mood to fight with some messily brian cells. He took a number of steps back toward the window.
"Halt pathogen!" Said a guard
"Put your claws up and surrender or we will have to use deadly force!" Said another guard who happened to be holding his gun backwards
"Sorry baby, I ain't in the mood for all that" Thrax said with a calm grin, "But don't worry, I'll be back in 29 hours"
He slashed opened the window membrane with a swipe of his hand and leapt into the air. He fell out of view. Looking down the guards and Fergie saw his trenchcoat open up like a parachute, he hooked the edges of the coat with his claws and spread them into wings. He glided quickly upward with a mocking laugh.
Something sprung out the building with a loud shriek of; "Wait for me!"
Thrax's eyes widened and he looked behind him to see Fergie flying in the air after him. Before he was able to react the germ landed on top of him and clung to his neck.
The guards lifted their weapons and shot at the virus. Of corse the brian cells had never shot a weapon before and missed hitting Thrax but tore up his trenchcoat to the point he could no longer fly. He plummeted, spinning to the ground. He dropped behind some tall buildings and out of view.
"Did you get him?" Asked a guard
"I don't know, I couldn't see where any of my bullets went"
"He's as good as dead anyway, he couldn't have survived that fall" Said the third guard, "And if he comes back then we'll take care him"
The Thymus 5:17 AM
The Chief was happy to let the five fugitives stay at his house for the night, of course, not without an explanation first and thus the long exchange of information ensued. In retrospect, Guanine reveled that it was the work of Cerebral that the dam conveniently broke while Mayor Leah was there and that he had been plotting to take over the Body the whole time. The Chief told of the corruption of Cerebral his plan to eliminate all other cells other than the brain cells. Ozzy had the responsibility to explain his encounter with Thrax the virus, exaggerating the tale with a number of his eccentric hand and head movements.
After the stories it was clear the Body was in a monumental amount of trouble. So overwhelming in fact, that it was suggested that everyone took the rest of the night to sleep on it and they would come up with a plan in the morning.
In one of the guest rooms a window beside the bed was open wide. The grey and gloom was gone and the city buildings where lit up with the night time lights. There where no lights of cars. No one was around to drive them. The neighborhood was silent. No one was there to make a sound. The lights where a soft yellow, making everything else a smooth red. The buildings stretched back out of focus into a crimson haze. The hue of red came though the window and reflected across the bed. In the gentle light the blood cell, unable to sleep, was illuminated with the exception of his head which was in the black contrast of the shadowy room. Only the white of his membrane caught some red light.
He stared out the window, thinking deeply about the yesterday's events when the room turned black and snapped him out of his trance. He leaned up at alert and stared at the city out the window, it was black. The lights came back on soon after, but much duller.
"Something must a went wrong with one of the nerves" Osmosis whispered quietly
Something about the sudden power-out troubled him, it just didn't seem right. Nothing seemed right anymore. He looked toward the door, then toward the second twin bed in the room that was in shadow.
"Drix . . . Drix" Ozzy whispered hoarsely
He snorted. "Yo Drix!" He said in his speaking voice, he grabbed a pillow and threw it toward the pill in the other bed. The pillow impacted with a thud.
"What?!" Drix spoke turning over
"Can't sleep either?" Ozzy asked
"Not anymore" He said rubbing his eyes, "What time is- Ozzy, where are you going?"
"I gotta go check something out" He said putting his arm through one of the selves in his jacket, "The power went out a few minuets ago and I gotta go find out why"
"Since when did you suddenly care?" Drix said
"Since it defiantly has something to do with Thrax" Ozzy said taking a flashlight out of a cabinet
"How can you be so sure?" Drix said getting off the bed
"Well, how can you be so unsure?" Ozzy asked reaching for the door knob, "You coming?"
"You really are a mind-job, Jones" Drix said reluctantly agreeing, "But next time you want to go adventuring could you do it when I'm awake?"
He slowly opened up the door but the door hinges let out a pricing shrill shriek which startled Ozzy and caused him to jump into the hallway. There was a scream of a female voice and before anyone knew it Ozzy and Guanine had their guns pulled on each other. They both realized that they weren't faced with the big scary villain they pictured and lowered their guns.
"Guanine?" Ozzy asked
"I guess we're both after the old, ugly virus tonight" She assumed
"What what you doing up so late, anyway?" Drix asked
"Call me an insomniac" Guanine replied putting the gun back in its holder
"Call her a freak" Ozzy commented
Guanine turned a looked at him with a look of disdain.
"Just don't talk to me" She choked pushing him aside and walking to the front door, "You coming, or am I going to have to take this guy down myself?
Ozzy and Drix exchanged concerned glances, they both had a feeling the bitter she-cell had some kind of deep reason for being bitter. They fallowed her out the door, by now she was trudging toward the highway the lead to the Brian. She was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. She aggressively turned.
"I thought I told you-" She turned to see it was the pill, "Oh, it's just you, where's your stupid partner?"
"I'm right here" Ozzy growled from a distance, reluctant to comfort her after the way she's been treating him
"Is there something you want to tell us about?" Drix asked softly
"It's not like anyone cares or anything!" She said jerking away
"You're right, I don't care" Ozzy said
"Shut up! If you two really want to know, I'll tell you!" Guanine snapped in a rage, then she sighed and sat on the curb, "Ever since I was a little girl I always wanted to be a great Immunity like my daddy. You know my daddy single handedly took down a case of chicken pocks before they had a chance to make all those annoying itchy sores"
"Yes, what happened" Drix asked sitting beside her
"Well, guess I just . . . I kinda just . . . "
"Hm?"
"I messed up, okay!" She suddenly cried, "I made some wrong choices, I screwed up my life! Let's leave it at that"
At this Osmosis turned, he, for once, could easily relate to her.
"Then one day, when I got home from a party, I found my dad was gone. He didn't come back for days, he abandoned me. I couldn't live alone, my mom died when I was young, I don't even remember her. Then one day I was taken up in a shot and injected here. I thought it would be a good place to start over" Some tears started to go down her face, "I'm going to prove I can be every bit as good as my dad by taking down the Red Death myself!" She said standing up
"Guanine, wait!" Ozzy shouted
"What?!" She hissed
"Wait" Ozzy said taking her shoulders, "Don't try that, that'll be another wrong move"
"Then what am I supposed to do to get any respect around here?!" She hissed, "You apparently 'killed' him all by yourself, what makes you think I can't?!"
"Because that was all just luck"
"Dumb luck" Guanine added, she sighed, "Fine, I'll let you two tag along - maybe I'll get some credit for helping"
"Yeah, but first . . . we gotta catch him."
The Brain Stem 1: 05 PM
In a forgotten street, where the cells that lived there where chased out by Cerebral's guards, lied two beaten pathogens. Knocked cold from the impact of hitting the road, but not killed as they where lucky enough to hit some membrane awnings over a window which absorbed the fall. After hitting the awning they where thrown sideways into the street. They both awoke at about the same time. Fergie awoke to a surprise (and pain) as Thrax has landed on top of him - almost bad karma for Fergie for giving the older virus such problems with his otherwise simple mission. Thrax pushed himself up off the smaller virus. Fergie cringed but Thrax didn't even take the time to smack him, he just stood up and cracked his neck. As Thrax shook off the pain Fergie opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted. Thrax was walking away from him.
"Wait, where are you going?" Fergie asked
"I'm taking a break"
"Oh, that's good, we can-"
"From you, baby." The virus finished turning toward Fergie, "I'm taking a break from you. Come back to the warehouse at five O'clock sharp and do exactly as I tell you . . . or don't come back at all!"
The Brain 2:30 PM
While all other cells in the Body where pushed out of their homes and left in the streets to starve, the Brain cells where living in the lap of luxury. Although Brain cells began to notice a quaint thing about the body, that the brain cells where unable to do any other cells job other than being brain cells. Because of this dilemma the organs, bones and tissues where unable to function properly for much longer and already a number of systems where starting to deteriorate. This fact concerned everyone in the city, even the germs who had realized they where affected adversely by the streak of system failures too.
Everyone was concerned except for their new ruler, Cerebral, who couldn't care less about anyone's opinions other than his own. He sat in the mayor's chair looking at the top of the Brain that still glimmered with the golden street lights below. He has had a long night of calibrating his new gained power and he had a bit of a hangover and was in less of a mood to be bothered than he is normally- meaning he had no tolerance for it. But as fate would have it one of his young followers, a former secretary nerve she-cell, entered the office begging his pardon as she wanted a word with him. She was accompanied by an older a wiser brain cell, older than even Cerebral himself (if you can believe that).
"Mister Cerebral-" She started
"Ah! You must refer to me by my formal name" Interrupted Cerebral
"Mayor Cerebral Wolfgang, sir . . . " The she-cell said meekly, "I've come to tell there's something going wrong with your new plan for the city"
The corrupt Mayor did not make a sound.
"It seems that-"
"You will speak when spoken to!" Snapped Cerebral
"The Brain cells are not equipped to do these tasks you've assigned them" Said the elderly brain cell bravely stepping up
"Well then I suppose you will just have to adapt" Said the corrupt Mayor not even turning his chair to make eye contact with them
"You have to bring back all the others-"
"Silence! You know the new law, we do not converse with those underlings!" Cerebral snapped swiftly turning and staring at the two cells with a ferocious glare
"If you don't change your ways soon Cerebral, Frank will die!" Yelled the old cell
"Do not question my ways! You will do as I tell you!! I am your leader!" Cerebral spat throwing the older Brain cell to the ground in a rage. He slammed his fist on a button on his desk, "Guards!!! Come to my office at once!!"
Guards stormed into the room. The young nerve she-cell ran to her friend. She lifted her head to see the intelligent gentleman that she thought she fallowed had melted away to reveal a terrifying tyrant stood above her, snorting like an enraged bull. His eyes turned black, with an angry display of razor like teeth and claws like stakes and spikes arose from his back. That's when she realized that Cerebral was not a brain cell anymore, at one point in his reign he turned into a full blown and powerful cancer cell. Before she could speak to warn the innocent guards cells their leader was out to kill them all she was grabbed by them. They guards took the two cells and lead them out of the room.
The cancer cell lunged like a fierce animal at them as they exited the room and in a venomous hiss breathed, "Execute them"
The door shut and Cerebral's cancer cell form diapered as he watched the membrane walls that made up his office started to turn grey and die.
"Those sheep, they will fallow me blindly until this whole city is sucked dry" He hissed in a sinister tone, he shook his head and started to speak softly to himself, "But if the city is dead, what will I rule? I thought I wanted to become Mayor, or do I want to kill Frank? I thought I knew, but now I feel like my mind is clouded over by something . . . "
There was a banging on the door that snapped him out of his trance-like state. He turned quickly with a startled look to see the door was open. A bright white light came from the door that lit the dark room. One of the Guards stood in the open door, his body blackened by the bright light behind him.
"Mayor Cerebral Wolfgang, we have received information of a hostile virus being spotted in the Cerebellum" Said the guard
"What?" Cerebral said holding his head
"Our guards where unable to capture him but he was shot down while making his escape, although we aren't sure if he was killed, we have not been able to recover the body"
"It's not an issue, viruses are harmless. You're dismissed" Said Cerebral in a dry tone
The guard turned to leave but was interrupted by Cerebral.
"But if you so happen to find an unauthorized organism in the vicinity" He growled tossing a pistol to the guard, "Shoot them."
