KERATINOCYTE (Bricklayer):
“Look, I just keep dividing! That’s the job!
But now I’m ten-deep and the exit’s a mob!”
MAST CELL (Alarm):
“OH MY GOD! A BREACH! A BREACH!
I’m hitting all the alarms! Histamine! GO!
Cytokines! GO! I’m calling everyone!
AHHHHHH!”
NEURON (Brain wire):
“OW! FUCK! Who set off the flares?!
I’m not even touching anything!
Why does it burn?!”
NEUTROPHIL (Grenade):
“ALARM! ALARM! I’M HERE! I’M HERE!
I’m just gonna… cast this net. Everywhere.
Is this the enemy? Who gives a shit?
I’m ordered to attack, so I’m attacking it!”
MACROPHAGE (Bulldozer):
“RIGHT. ‘DEMOLITION CREW’ IS ON SITE.
My orders say ‘ENGULF’ and ‘DESTROY’.
Are you a wall? You look like a wall?
CRUNCH.
Was that… important? No ‘STOP’ signal?
Okay. CRUNCH.”
T-CELL (Conductor):
“Right, people, what’s the signal here?
Are we Th1? Are we Th17?
Someone give me a clear directive!
(to Neutrophil) You! Keep… doing… that, I guess?
(to Macrophage) You! Be… angrier!
We need more… war! Yes! That’s it!”
B-CELL (Paranoid Factory):
“…Hiiii. I’m just sitting here, but… ew.
That Neutrophil just exploded… stuff… everywhere.
And… wait. Is that… collagen?
You know what? That looks really suspicious.
I’m gonna make antibodies against that!
And… that? Yeah, that too.
Is this helping? It feels productive…?”
KERATINOCYTE (Re-appearing, lost in the dermis):
“Okay, the wall’s gone, so I’ll just… keep… growing?
I’m just gonna follow the inflammation trail…
I’m making a… line? Is this a line?
I’ll just build a nice little tube. Down here. Seems safe.”
FIBROBLAST (Stapler):
“The blueprints say ‘REPAIR’! I see a new structure!
Must… wall… it… off! Must… add… COLLAGEN!
(pauses, looks at his work)
…Wait. I just… I just reinforced it.
That’s not a scar. That’s a tunnel.
Oh, god.”
ALL (In a jumbled, panicked chorus):
“Can somebody please take command?!
What the fuck is actually going on?!
We’re tearing this whole goddamn place apart,
and no one is telling us how to stop!”
THE GUIDE (To the Patient):
You hear the madness, tragic and absurd?
They’re lost and waiting for a single word.
You are the General, you see the map,
It’s you who stops this self-inflicted trap.