HALF: Dead nor Alive

“My name is Ruby, nice to meet you, Archie.” The brown-haired woman grabbed a pistol and offered it to Archie.

“For me?” Archie slightly lowered his head as he stared at Ruby with his eyebrows raised.

“I see you don’t have anything on you so I will lend you my baby.” Ruby wiggled the pistol in her hand.

“Thank you…” As Archie grabbed the pistol and checked the safety and the magazine.

Ruby turned around and see her group was helping the old man stand up very carefully. “He’s clear? Tom?” Ruby asked the guy with a machete on his back.

“Yep! He’s clear, the major is free from bites and scars!” Tom replied while he looked at the old man’s back.

“Alright, we should go back now, the sun is about to set and we are far from home.” Ruby grabbed the sub-machine gun carried on her shoulder.

“We should move or the parasites will come and hunt us.” Ruby looked at Archie while she fixed her gloves.

“Okay, I will be walking in the back and watch you guys’ back.” Archie pointed his thumb on his back.

“That’s a very nice vintage watch you have there, Archie.” Ruby pointed at Iohann’s watch.

“Oh? This?” Archie showed them the watch.

“Yo-you’re a commander?!” A guy with glasses looked at Archie with his eyes wide open. All of them immediately stood straight and saluted Archie including the old man while Archie just stood there and stared at them with confusion.

“What makes you think that I’m a commander?” Archie furrowed his forehead while staring at them still in confusion.

“Because of the black and red stripes on the watch, Sir!” The guy with glasses looked directly at the watch that Archie wore. Archie looked at the watch and saw black and red stripes on it as the guy with glasses said.

“Oh, this watch isn’t mine… it was a friend of mine…” Archie showed a sour smile and they were all just staring at Archie and immediately understood.

“Come on Bub, we need to move.” A guy with a scar on his left eyebrow stood next to the old man while he was holding an assault rifle and staring at Ruby.

“Okay, let’s move and protect the major.” Ruby nodded and looked at them seriously.

They walked the empty road while they were watching their surroundings, Archie was on the back with the guy with a scar. Archie looked up and stared at the broken bridge, he wanted to ask about it but knowing the situation, he rather not since everyone was so focused on protecting the old man.

After 4 hours of walking, they finally reached the wall, Archie looked at the wall and still couldn’t believe that humans made those giant and massive walls. They entered the gate and Archie was so confused seeing the gate was slightly open and nobody was watching the gate.

“Where are the guards?” Archie asked while he looked for the guards that were supposed to be guarding the walls.

All of them turned their heads and looked at Archie weirdly. “Don’t you know about the incident that happened 5 years ago, Archie?” Ruby furrowed her forehead and stared at Archie with confusion while she kept walking forward.

“5 years ago? What happened?” Archie squinted his eyes while he furrowed his forehead.

Ruby and the others were looking at each other silently, “It’s all over the news, everybody knows about that, Archie,” Ruby replied as she slowly shook her head in disbelief.

Archie was so confused at that moment because he never heard of any incident 5 years ago that broke the bridge. He was confident that 5 years ago, the bridge was still there and nothing happened to it.

Archie immediately stopped walking as he just realized something. “5 years…” Archie muttered and stared at nothing while he quietly scoffed and smiled with disbelief. The guy with a scar just stared at Archie from the corner of his eyes.

“I don’t where you were living that you didn’t know about this, but it happened 5 years ago.” Ruby turned around and looked at Archie who was still in disbelief.

“A parasite destroyed the pillars on the north pacific ocean. We still have no idea what kind of parasite but it was big enough to destroy the pillars.” Ruby sighed as she tried to remember the incident. “Because of that, the bridge collapsed and now the Eastern Nation is isolated from the other nations.” Ruby gripped her hand on the gun’s handle. “Since we don’t have enough food resources and materials, we decided to abandon the walls and made a new one, a smaller one.” Ruby looked at Archie who was staring at her with a shocked expression.

“Let’s talk about it later once we are back, we still need to walk for another few hours.” The guy with a scar looked at Ruby.

“Okay, let’s move..” Ruby turned around and lead the way.

Ruby kept stealing glances at Archie without him knowing while they kept walking in the middle of the abandoned city.

They finally reached the wall that Ruby mentioned, Archie looked at how badly built the wall was and how weak it looked from the outside. Archie looked at the pillar and he saw how dark the pillar was, they built platforms and small houses around it.

“Is that where people live?” Archie asked while he kept staring at the houses on the pillars.

“Yes, since we don’t have much space, we decided to use the pillar as a place to live.” Ruby looked at the houses while she waved at the guards who guarded the wall.

They entered the gate and the soldiers saluted Ruby and the others, “Captain! Welcome back!” The soldier stared at Ruby respectfully.

“At ease…” Ruby replied as she walked past them.

“Dan, could you bring Archie to the pub? We are going to report our mission to Marshall.” Ruby looked at the guy with glasses.

“Yes, ma’am!” The guy with glasses saluted her.

“Come on, Sir, I will show you the pub.” Dan looked at Archie while he smiled with excitement.

“Okay, lead the way.” Archie slightly smiled while he looked at Ruby and the others went to the alleyway.

“So, what were you guys doing outside the wall?” Archie looked around the city that looked similar to the one in the Western Nation.

“We were looking for woods, Sir.” Dan looked back at Archie.

“Woods? You have a lot of trees around here, why would you go out there to find woods?” Archie furrowed his forehead while he raised his eyebrow.

“Yes, we needed a specific wood, a wood that’s sturdy enough because we are going to make another ship,” Dan replied as he nodded.

“Here’s the pub, Sir, this is where we usually hang out to relief the stress!” Dan pointed his left hand at the door.

They both entered the pub and there was nobody inside, only the bartender who smoked his cigarette and listened to the radio.

“Oh, you’re back, Dan? Where’s the captain and the others?” The bartender puffed the smoke as he stared at Dan.

“Oh, the captain is reporting the mission, Frank. She and the others should be here soon.” Dan closed the door behind him and guided Archie to the counter.

“And who’s this strong-looking guy over here? Is someone new? I never saw him around here before.” Frank smoked his cigarette and puffed it at the ceiling.

“Oh, he saved the major while we were on a mission earlier, so the captain brought him here as gratitude for saving his life.” Dan grabbed a glass and poured water on it.

“Huh? He saved the major you say? Well then, as a gratitude, I will pour you the best alcohol we have!” Frank grabbed a shot glass and a bottle and then poured the alcohol into the glass. “Here, this one is in the house!” Frank passed the glass to Archie.

Archie drank the alcohol as if he was drinking water, and it was exactly how he felt, it wasn’t strong at all, and his throat didn’t even react to it.

Both Frank and Dan stared at Archie with their mouths wide open. “Wow! You’re good at drinking alcohol, I see!” Frank slapped the counters twice as he stared at Archie.

“What? This should be a strong one?” Archie raised the glass while he looked at Frank with confusion.

“Huh? You try it, Dan!” Frank poured the alcohol into another shot glass and then tossed it to Dan.

Dan drank it and he immediately spitted it out. “Holy shit! It’s so strong!”

Frank bursted out laughing while Archie just chuckled and shook his head. Dan was wiping his tongue with his sleeve while he groaned and screamed in pain.

While both of them were enjoying making fun of Dan, the door opened. “Oh? You guys having fun without me?” Ruby entered the pub with the guy with a scar. They both sat next to Dan then Ruby ordered a whiskey for everyone.

“This one is for you, Archie.” Ruby slid the glass toward Archie.

“Thank you, Ruby.” Archie grabbed the glass and then smelled it for a second.

“For surviving outside the wall and for saving the major, cheers!” Ruby raised the glass.

“Cheers!” All of them raised the glass while Archie just stared at them.