The cells push on with their jobs in the fifth volume of Cells at Work! Code Black, but that proves to be an almost impossible task in a body suffering with diabetes.
This volume contains chapters twenty-five through to thirty-one, plus the second part of a special chapter.
Front cover of the fifth volume of Cells at Work! Code Black, featuring Red Blood Cells
KILLING WITH SWEETNESS
After a harrowing journey into a new body, Red Blood Cell and White Blood Cell have finally met up again in this strange new world. But the circumstances of their reunion are dire: They’ve just discovered that this new body has diabetes. The kidney cells grew overtaxed by having to filter too much sugar, and a terrible fate has befallen the islets of Langerhans in the pancreas… A new code black brings a slew of new complications: sleep apnea, pancreatitis, gum disease – how can any cell keep working under these conditions?!
There’s no time for breaks for the cells in this volume of Cells at Work! Code Black, with things happening one immediately after the other – or even at the same time in some pretty dire cases.
A recurring theme for this volume is the “will of the body”. These disasters keep happening, yet the body keeps receiving outside help in response to each one. That does lead to some cells finding themselves with nothing to do.
Said cells begin questioning if they are even necessary to keep the body running. Other cells, meanwhile, find it all to be far too much, and make a tragic decision. There’s so much going on, and almost none of it is good.
On the White Blood Cell side of things, they dive into their biggest battle yet. Many don’t walk away from it, and those who do are seriously injured or despairing over how they could not achieve anything.
By the time this volume comes to an end, things are looking pretty dire. That seems to be a running theme for this series, because, hey, it wouldn’t be a code black otherwise.
It’s dark, and ominous, but it certainly is compelling.
Rory Muses 