HALF: Dead nor Alive

“Men! Today, we will be exploring the north so we can go and capture all the traitors! There will be no time to rest, we will be walking all day all night! We have lost so many men because of them, and now it’s time for them to pay,” Tostobrov said as he stared at each one of them.

The Axis humans that stood in front of Tostobrov were different from the others. They had no expression, their eyes were empty and they didn’t move a muscle like a robot. They seemed more like a machine than a person, and it was this lack of human qualities that made them so dangerous.

“Now, go out there, and bring all of them back!” Tostobrov said as he walked away.

Of course, because those Axis Humans were lacking in emotions and seemed to have no ability to go on a mission on their own, Tostobrov sent a dozen men that he trusted to lead those Axis Humans. They left the headquarters and got on the cars since it would be faster and easier to reach the Eastern Nation with a vehicle.

“You already sent your men?” Victor’s voice could be heard from the telephone on the desk.

“Yes, I have sent all the best soldiers that I have. I’m not sure why do you want me to use them since they’re precious for us,” Tostobrov asked.

“They can be replaced easily once we know how to make them perfectly. It’s just that I need the girl, that Elena kid, she’s the one that can give us information that nobody can,” Victor answered. “Also, those two, I want those two to be captured, alive. My boss wants to see them,”

“Your boss? That’s odd. I never thought he would make such a request. If that’s what he want, why don’t you tell the others and bring everyone to bring those two back?” Tostobrov asked as he sat down on his chair.

“It’s not time yet. We need stronger men that strong enough to make them yield and can’t do anything,” Victor replied. “They’re too strong for us right now, so just let’s be patient and see what kind of things they have to protect themselves, and then we can learn something from there,”

Victor hung up the call, and left Tostobrov thinking about what Victor just said. He didn’t like it when Victor used his men since he could use them for something else. He also realized that he had just sent his men to die, but there was nothing he could do anymore since it was already too late to bring them back.

“He wanted those two to be captured, I wonder what makes them so special,” Tostobrov said as he stared blankly at his desk.

A few days had passed since the Axis Humans had reached the north, and they were driving in the middle of the forest when they saw something that gave them chills. It was the winged woman standing in the road, blocking their way.

“Is that Ex-Human?” The driver asked as he started at Eve who was smiling at them.

Eve spread her wings as Archie watched her fly away and kick the king’s head like it was nothing to her. The king got knocked back by her kick and fell to the ground making a heavy earthquake that everyone at the port could feel the ground shaking.

“What was that?!” Ruby asked as she turned around and saw the king collapsed and Eve flying under the thunderstorm. “What is that?!” she asked again as she pointed at the sky.

A very long silver-white hair that was carried by the strong wind could be seen from the city. Vincent and the others were looking at it and they had no idea what was that or who was that.

“Let’s go and check it out! Maybe it’s Archie!” Ruby said as she started running back.

Vincent and the others couldn’t do anything to stop her so they were following her from behind.

Eve descended and walked toward Archie, she was a bit surprised when she saw his power that could regenerate. She smirked as she covered her naked body with her wings and walked toward Archie who tried to stand up.

“That power,” Eve said as she kept staring at Archie.

Archie stood up and stared back at Eve and at her wings. “You’re Eve, right?” he asked as he fixed the bones on his shoulder.

Eve just smirked as she stared into his eyes and didn’t say anything.

“What do you want from me?” Archie asked as he slowly walked back to make some distance between him and her.

Eve tilted her head while raising her eyebrows. “But you were the one who came to find me, is it not?” she asked back as she kept walking closer to Archie. “So, shouldn’t I be the one who asks you that question?” she continued as she kept getting closer.

“I was curious because I heard that you killed a Drautnir and I want to know if that’s the truth,” Archie asked as he held his sword tightly.

Eve suddenly extended her wings and put them behind Archie’s back then she pushed him closer to her. Archie tried to push the wings away but they won’t budge as if he was pushing a mountain. Eve then grabbed his cheeks with both of her hands while she kept staring him in the eyes.

“You want to know the truth?” Eve asked as she showed her claws at Archie. “The truth is that I didn’t kill a Drautnir, but I killed two of them,” she continued as she scratched Archie’s cheek with her claw and it cut open like butter.

“Do not be afraid, is what they told you didn’t they?” Eve said as she glared at Archie with her nose touching his.

Archie couldn’t say anything as Eve squeezed his lungs, and all he could do was gasp for air that he couldn’t get no matter how hard he tried. Eve saw his mouth wide open and immediately pulled out her tongue but before she could kiss Archie, Ruby came with the others.

“Archie?” Ruby asked as she saw Eve who glared at them from the corner of her eyes.

The moment they realized that Archie was being held hostage by Eve, the four of them immediately pointed their guns at Eve. Eve chuckled and covered her mouth then started laughing at them because she found it funny that they used those to threaten her.

“Let him go,” Ruby said as she pointed her pistol at Eve’s head.

Eve tilted her head and pointed her fingers like a pistol at Ruby. “Bang,” she said and pretended she just shot Ruby then Ruby’s left shoulder suddenly got dislocated.

Everyone looked at Eve with a shocked expression, including Archie because that didn’t make any sense.

Archie looked at Eve who seemed to be having fun and used the opportunity to swing his sword and cut Eve’s wing with it. He used all his strength to swing his sword but he didn’t expect her wing would be so sturdy that he almost failed to cut it off.

Eve was shocked that her wing fell to the ground and Archie immediately ran away from her. “Everyone, run!” Archie screamed his lungs out while Eve was still in shock from what just happened.

Before Eve could chase them, the king’s leg stomped on Eve and started to roar again as it stood up using its wings. Archie looked back as the king kept stomping its foot on the ground, he couldn’t see Eve because the ground bent as the king stomped on it over and over.

Archie couldn’t care and kept running until the king stopped stomping its foot. The king faced its face to the north and it was staring at something for quite a while. An earthquake happened not long after that and they were looking at each other because the king didn’t do anything and just stood there.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Vincent said as he looked at Ruby.

The moment he said that a howl could be heard coming from the far north, and they stopped moving and looked at the north. It was too dark to see because of the thunderstorm and it was still dawn. As soon as the lightning struck, they could see a parasite as big as the king slowly crawling toward the city.

“Did you guys see that?” Tommy whispered as he glanced at them.

“Yeah, it looks like a dog but it has two heads,” Daniel replied as he tried to look at it with his binoculars.