I

Dreams of Adventure
He wasn't known for being outgoing but then again he wasn't known for much. Most
days he'd be content alone in his room creating the most unusual game with the most unusual
objects. Today Vincent was tossing around a dice and flicking eraser caps depending on the
number rolled. When someone would question him on what he was doing he would always
reply, I'm training my strategic mindset.
Vincent looked at his homemade game board in which 3 blue erasers caps and 4 red
caps were placed in disorganized formations. Vincent rolled the die and was quite surprised to
see three dots staring back at him. He quickly reached for a dart and whizzed it at a dart board.
Another bulls eye! Vincent proclaimed quite proud of himself, That means 18.5 hit points on
the capitals right defense tower from the united helicopter overhead. Vincent shouted this as
it made perfect sense even though a bystander would have been quite puzzled at the
proclamations.
Monday soon came, along with Vincents dread, as he got ready for another day in 8
th

grade. Vincent could hardly concentrate all day as he thought forward to the battles of the
United Forces and the Capital Allegiance. Vincent almost laughed, while other children sighed,
as Algebra worksheets were passed around the room.
Finding the variable b in the equation y = mx + b, was almost so simple it was barbaric.
Vincent hurried along his work, smiling all the way like a fifth grader completing a first graders
homework. Many classes followed Algebra, most were a bore to Vincent not because he was
confused but because his level of interpretation was much higher than all of his classmates.
In language arts he detected all the errors in the essay before most children had finished
the first paragraph. During social studies he wrote a full report about battle art and how
different civilizations used it. Finally in science class while most students wrote about safety
rules when mixing baking soda and vinegar, Vincent wrote on precautions to take when
defusing an average time bomb.
School was not terrible but there was only one goal in Vincents mind. He wanted to be
a Cell Radiator like his father, Angus. Many days Vincent would dream of himself shrunken and
inside the brain of a living person using his quick wits and Radiation Ray to eliminate cancerous
cells. Vincent couldnt wait to hear back from his father who had just ventured on his most
recent assignment. The patient was the Secretary of Agriculture for the United States. Eleanor
Brimswell had just got diagnosed with cancer when his father had been called.
Angus Larson was the best in the business, the cream of the crop in Cell Radiation.
Angus and his companion Joel Pellet were an unstoppable team called upon when important
world figures were infected with a dangerous disease.
Vincent had read every novel and heard every story available on the subject of Cell
Radiation. He knew for sure he wanted to go the Larson Academy, named after his father, to
study the occupation. He could see himself there, he would be known by everyone and every
teacher would be honored to guide him. However, it was not fame Vincent desired instead he
wanted to follow in his fathers footsteps and explore the inside of an infected persons body.
The pure quintessence of the adventure was all he truly yearned for.
All of these things influenced Vincent to become a Cell Radiator but the largest reason
was the desire to battle cancer cells. The way in which these cells combatted was unearthly.
When youre shrunken down inside of a body the cancer cells are almost as large as your hand.
The main way these cells fight is by lashing out at humans with tentacles armed with cancerous
bacteria. If these tentacles touch a vital organ such as the brain or heart a person will begin to
die.
However the Radiation Ray that almost all units carried could easily help a trained Cell
Radiator complete their mission. It was powered with so much radiation that it will turn
ordinary cancer cells into a thick yellow smoke upon contact.
Vincent had seen the Radiation Rays, or RRs, that his father kept in his weapon room but
Vincent had never actually held one in his hand. He had many dreams of saving the lives of
kings and queens all around the world and being named the hero of the modern age, only to
wake up to the despair of his youth.
Vincent hadnt given up through on those dreams yet, they were the reason the
thoughts of adventure cascaded throughout his mind all day, they were the reason he played
with eraser caps and homemade strategy games, and they were the reason why Vincent still
wished to live.

II
The 53
rd
Mission
Angus Larson was never one to cry or admit defeat but as he gazed at the motionless
bodies floating around him several tears glided down his cheeks. They were only a centimeter
from the entrance point in the temple near the right eye when they had been ambushed by
countless cancer cells.
Angus had never lost more than 2 units on a mission. Most missions he never lost a
single unit, but to have all eleven squad members killed in a battle was too much for Angus to
bare. Angus was just glad that his assistant and loyal friend, Joel, was currently assigned a
different mission. They usually fought together, Angus with incredible aim and brute force and
Joel with his brilliant strategic mind.
On all of his 52 missions Angus had never encountered these cancer cells. They were
cells from a brain tumor. Tumor cells were always quite hostile but any cell involving the brain
did not act to kindly to intruders.
Angus studied the fallen troops, four were attacked in the brain and five in the heart.
The remaining two had been slowly killed by an infection that started in the arm or leg.
Angus was Eleanors only hope now so he took this opportunity to empty the radiation
tanks from the 11 RRs floating in the bloody mixture. He had enough radiation to cure five
people.
His task was simple, he had to locate the tumor in the brain, destroy it, and then make
his way to the extraction point in the nasal cavities to be transformed to regular size. Angus
was constantly alert for the next colony of cancer cells to attack. What scared him most was
not that eleven of his units were murdered violently before his eyes, but that another squad
was sent on this mission only one week before. There radio signals were cut off as they were
half a centimeter from the tumor. They were not rookies either, on average these Cell
Radiators had completed about twenty five missions.
Angus checked the map on his wristwatch. He was one centimeter away from the
target. Suddenly a colony of about fifteen cells leaped out from a nearby blood vessel. He had
barely lifted his gun before a slimy tentacle came flying towards him. He jumped to the side
and shot the end of the tentacle and watched as the radiation slowly burned through it and into
the cell. A puff of yellow smoke was followed by four more as Angus rapidly fired at the cells.
He knew he was wasting radiation by firing randomly at the swarm of cells but with
enemies of this level hostility he had no time to aim. The last two shots of radiation flew from
his gun and found a home in a cancer cell near the front of the colony. Angus knew he needed
to reload but if he lost concentration for one second a tentacle could spear him right through
the brain. So instead he made the choice that would decide the course of his life, to use the
weapon that all units were issued but hardly ever used, A Radiation Blade.
The weapon gleamed with an eerie green glow as Angus unsheathed it. It was a thin
sword but very long. Before it was shrunken down it would be about four feet long. Angus
threw his RR to the side and challenged the final ten cancer cells charging towards him. They
met with great fury of tentacles against a single blade. The battle took pace in a matter of a
few intense seconds, as tentacles were hurled at Angus he dismembered them and swung
towards the body of the cells. Yellow smoke started to cloud Anguss vision through the
eyewear as cell after cell was cut in half. The battle concluded with a single thrust as the last
cell was impaled strait through the middle and quickly disintegrated.
Angus collapsed from the suspense of the battle and slowly waited until his body
recovered. There was no time to waste he was done with this mission, he wanted to go home.
After this mission Ill retire, he thought happily to himself, just one more nightmare. In the back
of his mind though Angus was quite scared, he had found no trace of the missing squad that
had passed through this area.
He picked up his RR and gave it a fresh tank of radiation. Now Angus realized the value
of the Radiation Blade. In the past he had mainly used the weapon to clear a path or cut
though large sections of infected tissue. But today he had truly understood its great use in
combatting the cells directly. He picked up the blade in his left hand and the RR in his right. He
didnt have to walk very long to find his target.
He hid behind a large wall of uninfected cells and stared into the area containing the
tumor. It was a gigantic tumor, larger than any other infection he had ever seen. It was a thick,
pink sac with cancer cells mulling around it. However the tumor was not the most disgusting
thing in that area. I should have considered this, Angus thought to himself, they are brain
cancer cells meaning they can take possession of human minds. Standing only several yards
away from him was the missing squad still holding their Radiation Rays.
There was no doubt that they were being controlled by the cancer cells. They were
obviously dead but the cells were acting as a brain and were learning how to command joints
and muscles to complete certain tasks in the body. Angus knew as soon as he shot the first cell
the others would be quickly alerted just like a colony of ants when their scouts are killed.
Angus decided to fire all of the blasts of radiation from his RR at the possessed squad members
and then finish the normal cells and tumor with the blade.
Angus took aim at the first possessed unit and blasted radiation at it. He didnt have
time to see if his shot made contact he went down the line of units firing one blast at each.
When the thick layer of smoke cleared, seven corpses were floating, uninhabited by cancer
cells. He was out of radiation so just like his plan portrayed he rushed towards the units with
the blade pointing straight ahead.
He had stabbed the first straight through the heart before the cells even had time to
process what was happening. Cancer cells that were not possessing a unit quickly retreated
into different parts of the body as a battle soon erupted near the tumor. Only four units
remained standing and they all were firing rapidly at the blurry figure attacking them from all
sides. Two units were decapitated and another was jabbed right through the brain. The last
unit let out many blasts of radiation just as Angus had finished off all the others.
Angus dodged all the radiation but his blade wasnt as lucky. On contact with the shot
the blade broke in two and flew from Anguss grasp. It was unusable and now Angus had to
reload his RR while the final unit still was armed with half a tank.
He jumped to the left and threw the tank to the side while quickly pulling another
canister from his pouch. He was depending mostly on luck now that no shots for the enemy
would meet their target. A shot of radiation sent a chill down his spine as it soared past his ear.
I only have seconds before this battle is over, Angus thought to himself, I need to take aim now.
He steadily positioned his gun in front of his eye and fired a single shot but so did his enemy
and both met their destination.
The units head exploded and with it came the sickly smoke. The pain was absolutely
terrible, Anguss leg had been shot with radiation. It felt as if Angus could feel every one of his
cells die in terrible agony. He knew he had less than an hour to live before the radiation made
its way to a vital organ. The only time the subject of radiation had been discussed was if a unit
was every shot by friendly fire.
It was only then then Angus realized that the cancer cells werent just killing the cells,
they were also possessive cells. If a single cancer cell could take control of the body of a dead
unit then the tumor could easily operate Eleanors mind. He had heard rumors of untreated
brain cancer victims speaking gibberish about their childhood and their deepest secrets. The
cells had taken control of the brain, Angus said to himself bewildered yet still wincing from pain.
It was in that moment that Angus made his choice. He was about to die and an
important world official was about to be possessed. Im so sorry Eleanor, he thought. He lifted
his gun with the little strength he had left and without aiming fired straight into the brain. He
spent the short remainder of his life watching as the brain malfunctioned and the body started
to kill itself. Cancer cells rushed into the area trying to figure out a way to save themselves and
Angus did not even resist when one sank its tentacle into his heart. Angus, the cell radiator
who had ventured on fifty two missions, had finally resigned on his fifty third.
Right as his life started to fade away a single word came to his mind that filled his last
thought with regret and despair, Vincent.