Sword (ENG)

Sword

"When we were boys

We played pretend

Army tanks and army men

Hide and seek

Grow to be the kings we dream"

«Sensei! When I grow up, I want to be a strong and brave warrior like you!»

It was an innocent desire, born of a heart that didn't yet know the cruelty of the world that had given birth to her. If J-1178 had known what awaited her when she matured and emerged from the red bone marrow, she wouldn't have hesitated to stay forever in that world of illusions and dreams that would never come true.

She would have done it so gladly, every time she held the sword-shaped toy weapon that reminded her of what she was born to do: protect other cells, save them from certain death and ensure that they would complete their natural life cycle without abrupt interruption.

When she was a small cell, J-1178 loved the toy weapons the teachers brought to her and her classmates every day. Training was the best part of her day as a myelocyte: it was a time of joy and fun as she wielded her sword, made of a soft material that would never harm even the smallest erythroblast in that peaceful area of the organism.

With that soft, blunt sword in her hands, J-1178 enjoyed imagining herself facing a bacterium, ready to take it out with all the strength she had within her, and together with her friends she imitated the teachers who taught her the secrets of combat every day.

J-1178 was unaware of what awaited her when she came out of the red bone marrow. She believed that war would be as much fun as those innocent games, that she would be invincible, that every wound on her body would be a trophy to be worn with pride for the rest of her days.

"Where do we go?

We’re standin' on the frontline

Where do we go, we go?"

But, from the first minute she found herself outside the red bone marrow, J-1178 realised that reality was very different from the carefree days of childhood play.

Death.

Destruction.

Bodies everywhere, blood smeared on the streets and walls of the area she passed through.

This scenario was so far from what she had imagined in the simulations with her friends: there was no joy, no one cheered her on, and most importantly, finding survivors was rare.

In the red bone marrow, simulated battles were just a game.

In the rest of the organism, real fights were no joke.

Still holding her sword, J-1178 realised that her job was no game. No one would ever give her a prize for her victories, and every day she had to hope that she and her friends would return to headquarters safe and sound.

That sword, the symbol of her being, was very different from the one her teacher had given her during the simulations. That sword reminded her every day that she was a defender of the organism, but at the same time she was a potential cannon fodder.

She was just a tiny part of the immune system, perfectly replaceable in case of her sudden death.

Yes, "cannon fodder" was the right word to describe those first moments she experienced as a white blood cell.

At that moment, with those two words fixed in her mind, J-1178 put her sword back in its sheath and gritted her teeth.

She had to work hard, in this fierce race for survival. She had to work hard, trying to save as many cells as possible, and herself at the same time.

«So, that's it…» she muttered, regretting in her heart that she had grown up in a time that she cursed as being too fast.

"I don’t wanna be a soldier, soldier

I don’t wanna have to play with real blood

'Cause we ain’t playin' now

Can’t turn and run

No water guns

Just body bags that we’ve become"