HALF: Dead nor Alive

“Look at them trying, they’re only putting themselves in trouble,” Eve said as she watched the ships were being attacked by parasites from above the sky. “They’re already struggling even though the king parasite hasn’t showed himself to them,” Eve continued as she chuckled.

“That’s good, that means they will try to bring more resources to cross the sea, and when they do bring all the resource they have, we will lure the king parasite toward them. We are not going to let them come to the Eastern Nation with all cost,” Archie replied as he watched one of the ships was sinking.

“Yes, I’m thinking the same thing, and even if they tried to blew the king parasite up, there’s still us to prevent them from coming. Maybe we should ask the witches help as well since they’re also good for this kind of thing, right?” Eve asked as she looked at Archie.

“Oh, you’re right. We should ask them to help us as well, and I believe they will do it since they have decided to follow us. They could enjoy the flesh of Axis Humans, so it’s really a win-win situation for both sides,” Archie answered as he nodded his head in agreement.

They watched as the parasites slowly but surely took over their bodies, fought back with all their might, but were eventually overwhelmed, and surrounded from all directions with no way out. They were left with no choice but to fight for their lives.

They struggled for hours, but in the end they couldn’t survive and ended up dying in the middle of the sea. Archie and Eve were a bit excited to see them survive since the king parasite decided to show up to join them, but then they died before the king parasite ever showed himself.

“That was fun to watch, I wonder when are they going to come again so we can enjoy the show,” Eve said as she stared at the bubbly sea from the sinking ships.

“That would take a while since the ships aren’t that easy to build, especially battleships like those. It might take years, so if they decided to use wooden ship, they’re just going to kill themselves,” Archie answered as he looked around.

“Now that I think about it, don’t you think they would use the ground route? From up north over there?” Archie asked as he pointed to the border between the Northern Nation and the Eastern Nation.

They both looked at the distance, and it was highly possible for the enemies to use that route rather than using the sea after they failed to sail across the sea. Although it was way longer, but it was way safer and they would be able to deal with all the parasites that they encountered.

“Let’s send the witches there as well then,” Eve said as she looked at Archie.

“Yeah, let’s do that,” Archie nodded his head in agreement.

Archie put on his trench coat and gloves then he grabbed his bag and left the house. Ruby, Vincent, Tommy, and Daniel were waiting for him outside of his house.

“You’re good to go?” Ruby asked as she trained her left arm.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Archie said as he nodded.

Vincent tied his shoelace while he sighed. “I’m going to hate this mission…” Vincent said as he wiped his shoe. “I mean, from all those people that are free, why those two in particular,” Vincent continued.

Ruby just smiled and patted his shoulder. “It’s not really a bad thing having them with us though,”

Vincent sighed again and just nodded his head and then they all went to the north gate.

“Wow, you guys are really taking your time, huh?” Resse said as she crossed her arms and chewed bubblegum with Prince standing in front of her.

Ruby walked past her and stood in front of her while she looked at Prince. “Got any information from Marlon about the nomad’s whereabouts?” Ruby asked and ignored Resse on purpose which made Resse a bit annoyed.

“The last sighting of the nomad is near mount judge howay, and that information was a month ago so there’s a high possibility that they’re staying there at the moment,” Prince replied.

“Hmm, that’s going to take a while to get there. The base in Seattle is still operating right now so we can go there first and we can rest for a day there since it’s going to take a week or so.” Ruby said as she stared at the north gate.

“Yes, Marlon also gave us the safest route to reach Seattle, and then we can get the safest route to Vancouver from the people in Seattle,” Prince said.

Ruby nodded with understanding. “Alright, let’s move.”

They walked past the north gate and followed the road.

They had been walking for almost a day and everyone barely talked to each other since they had to focus on their surroundings. Archie could tell that Resse and Prince had been stealing gazes at him but they didn’t say anything to him, he just ignored them since he had no business with them.

“Alright, we can stay here for the night,” Ruby said after she checked the area around the abandoned building.

Everyone removed the bag from their back and put them on the floor. Archie was still checking the surroundings and he could feel the presence of the parasites around him from hundreds of meters away. He knew that those parasites were the weak ones so he didn’t bother to take care of them since those parasites had no intention to attack them.

“Your name is Archie, right? Or at least that Ruby and the others called you,” Prince said as he stood near the door and looked at Archie.

Archie turned around and stared at him uninterested. “Yes, that’s my name,” Archie replied.

“I heard a lot about you from Ruby, she said you’re the best soldier in her Division. No, she said that you’re the best in the Eastern Nation for an unknown reason, so I’m a bit curious how can someone that’s mysteriously appeared and became an Axis Human could be called the best.” Prince said as he approached him.

Before Archie could say anything Resse suddenly landed next to Prince, Archie looked up from where she came from and she was on the third floor when she jumped down.

“You’re not the only one who’s curious about it, Prince,” Resse said as she wiped the dirt on her jeans. “So, what’s your ability?” Resse asked as she rested her arm on Prince’s shoulder.

Archie sighed and slowly walked toward them with a sharp gaze toward them. “My ability?” Archie asked back. “I could tear all of your limbs before you could feel them missing,” Archie calmly replied as he stared at both Prince and Resse’s arms. “I also have sensitive hearing that I can hear both of your hearts are starting to pound really fast from fear,” Archie continued and then left them.

Both Prince and Resse were the bravest Axis Humans but for some reason, at that moment, they were terrified of Archie’s words.

The morning came and they continued their journey, both Prince and Resse were oddly quiet because they were so confused about what happened last night. They were confused about why they were so scared of Archie who they didn’t even know what he was capable of as if they were hypnotized by Archie’s words.

After a week’s journey, they finally arrived at the base in Seattle but Ruby changed her mind and planned to continue the journey after getting enough food for the two days journey to Vancouver. Prince and Resse didn’t complain since they agreed that they didn’t want to waste time resting because it would take a while before they could find the nomad in the mountain.

Ruby, Vincent, Prince, and Resse were talking with the field officer about the nomad, he gave them the exact same information as what they heard from Marlon. They were convinced that the nomad was near the mount judge howay, then Ruby and the others left the base and went to Vancouver.

Two days had passed since they left the base and they reached the base of the mountain, they looked at how dark and eerie the forest was. They didn’t know what kind of parasites were inside the forest since it had been years since they abandoned that area, not to mention that the mountain was really close to FalCon-2.

“Prince, Resse, this is your first time in FalCon-2, right?” Ruby asked as she looked at them.

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“Let’s split into two teams, since we need to find them as soon as possible. The only one who knows about this terrain is me and Vincent, so I will bring Tommy and Archie with me while Vincent will be taking Daniel, Resse, and Daniel.” Ruby said. “Is there any objection?” She asked.

Everyone shook their heads and then Ruby looked at Vincent and nodded. “You will go to the east while we will go to the north.”

“Okay, just keep your radio on so we can contact you when we found something,” Vincent said.