HALF: Dead nor Alive

“Open the gate for the 11th Division led by Captain Princeton and the 12th Division led by Captain Resse!” The soldier informed the gatekeepers.

Archie and the others turned around and looked down the wall, they saw at least a hundred of them were standing in line with Prince and Resse at the front. They both were checking their gears and then they both looked up at Ruby, Resse just smirked and continued to tighten her gloves.

Ruby walked down the stairs hurriedly. “Prince, what are you planning to do to go out there?” Ruby asked as she stared at Prince.

“Marshall Marlon ordered us to take care of the parasites so the others can have time to prepare,” Prince said as he moved his right shoulder.

“What?! Only with 2 divisions? That’s dangerous,” Ruby said.

Prince just raised his eyebrows in agreement that his expression was telling her that there was nothing he could do but obey the order. Resse seemed don’t care about any of that since she was different and she was a maniac that was why they called her ruthless.

Ruby looked up and stared at Vincent but he just shrug and shook his head telling her that there was nothing they could do about it.

“Don’t worry about us, Ruby, because as you can see, this time everyone is prepared and they’re bringing all the big guns. Even though we are going to be alone out there, we have hundreds of air supports.” Prince said as he held his assault rifle.

The gates were opened and they started to march outside the wall while Ruby just watched them from the side with Vincent.

“What should we do now, Capt?” Tommy asked Ruby.

“I’m not your captain anymore, we are the same rank now, so just call me by my name,” Ruby said as she turned around and walked up the stairs. “And for your question, it’s better to stay here until we receive an order from the higher-ups.” Ruby continued as she looked up.

When they reached the top, Ruby noticed that Archie was nowhere to be found. She looked around, left, right, and down but he couldn’t find him anywhere. “Where’s Archie?” Ruby asked Daniel who didn’t follow them down the stairs.

“Oh, he said that he has some business to take care of,” Daniel replied as he pointed to the west side of the wall.

Vincent immediately ran past Daniel and squinted his eyes to look for Archie.

“What is it, Vince?” Ruby asked while she furrowed her forehead with confusion.

“We need to go and find him! He’s going to fight that Ex-Human!” Vincent explained to them.

Ruby and the others were surprised and they immediately ran to where Archie went. The reason Archie left was that he couldn’t feel the guy’s presence at all amongst those parasites.

Archie stood on the edge of the wall and he could sense the guy’s presence not far from where he was. He looked around and noticed that he could feel him from the direction where he got beaten up. Archie then jumped off of the wall which was quite tall and dangerous but he used his claws and stuck them on the wall to slow him down.

“Archie!” Ruby shouted at him.

Archie turned his head and looked up. “What are you guys doing here?” Archie replied.

Ruby ignored him and looked down, she saw the damage on the wall and used them to help her drop down from the wall. The others were surprised but they followed her anyway while Archie watched them with his eyebrows furrowed.

All of them safely reached the bottom of the wall and immediately approached Archie.

“We are coming with you,” Ruby said.

Archie glared at Ruby with no expression. “It’s not even a week since you recovered from the trauma, and now you want to join me and endanger the people behind you?” Archie said. “If you can learn a thing or two, how about not sacrificing the people that care for you just for your own ego?” Archie continued as he kept glaring at Ruby who was shocked by what she just heard.

Vincent couldn’t put himself on Ruby’s side this time because he was thinking the same thing as Archie but he didn’t have the courage to tell her that. Archie said that not because he cared about her or the others, but it was because they would be a distraction and a burden for him.

Ruby was frozen as Archie left them to be while Vincent, Tommy, and Daniel tried to comfort her. They knew it was the right thing to do and Archie was the one who reminded her after what she had experienced.

“Archie!” Ruby suddenly yelled at him while she glared at him. “I don’t fucking care anymore! If I die then I die!” Ruby continued as she ran toward Archie.

Archie sighed and suddenly charged at Ruby and knocked her out by hitting the back of her head.

The three of them were speechless because they were barely able to see Archie’s movement. All they saw was Archie suddenly on Ruby’s back and knocking her out with his hand.

Archie looked at them as he held Ruby in his arms. “Bring her back to the wall, I don’t need you guys here and I’m being serious.”

Vincent approached him and grabbed Ruby from his hands, he then put Ruby on his back. “We can’t go back in since we are too far away from the west gate and there’s nobody guarding the gate because everyone is on the south wall right now,” Vincent explained.

Archie shook his head. “That’s none of my business but you have to leave this place right now,” Archie said but suddenly he turned around and stared at the road. “It’s too late…” Archie said and clicked his tongue.

Vincent looked at Archie with confusion. “What? What’s too late?” Vincent asked.

“He’s here and he sees us…” Archie said as he kept staring at the road. “Vincent, do you know the old laboratory is? The one that looked like a dome?” Archie asked.

“I do, why?” Vincent replied.

“Go there now, I cleaned the building a week ago so you should be safe there but there are still a few little ones that you guys can handle,” Archie said. “Stay there and don’t go out until I kill that man.” Archie continued.

“Are you sure you can kill him?” Vincent asked with a worried expression.

“Who knows, either I die or he dies, but one thing for sure is if one of us dies, then it will affect your future as humankind,” Archie said as he looked at Vincent.

Vincent gulped nervously and nodded with understanding and then he told the others to follow him to the old laboratory to hide.

Archie walked in the middle of the road and he could sense the guy’s presence hiding somewhere and knew that he was watching him all this time.

The guy came out from the corner and he stood in the middle of the road while he stared at Archie. He put his hand in his pockets taunt Archie by doing nothing and made himself look vulnerable. Archie stared at him and kept walking, he felt a bit nervous but he remember that he went through a lot for a week, and he was a bit confident about himself.

The guy tilted his head and nodded up. “You’re not running away? That’s a bit disappointing.”

“What makes you think that I would run away?” Archie asked.

The guy shrugged. “Because you’re weak? I was hoping that you would abandon those humans and live for another day to become strong until we can meet again. But, knowing that you’re here right now, I guess this will be the end of the 8th Adam, which is very anti-climactic.”

Archie squinted his eyes and stared at the guy. “How do you know that I was the last one?”

The guy shrugged his mouth. “By the look of how weak you are and of course because of the information that I received.”

“Information? So you’re telling me that you came here because someone told you about my existence?” Archie asked with his eyebrows furrowed.

“That’s right, I came here to kill you and I can’t tell you how I got the information, maybe I will tell you before you die?” The guy said as he raised his eyebrows. “Anyway, I saw you brought some humans with you, are they going to interfere in our battle?” The guy asked.

“Don’t involve them with our battle, they have nothing to do with it and I warned them to leave or they will die, so leave them alone,” Archie replied.

“Fine, I won’t touch them since they’re just human, they’re nothing but a sore in the eye,” The guy said under his breath.

The guy clapped his hands and then flips his hands. “So? Are you ready to die?” The guy asked.

Archie smirked and scoffed. “Are you?”