HA\\LF: Dead nor Alive

“Archie?” Eve looked at Archie’s body which got bigger and bulkier while he was groaning in pain.

Different types of parasites inside Archie’s body were trying to free themselves from the radiation inside his body. It was a bit concerning to watch for Eve since she had never seen something like that before and she didn’t know what to do.

Eve decided to knock Archie out while he was still in his human form and hadn’t turned into a parasite. She tried to control the parasites inside his body but it was quite hard to do because those parasites weren’t listening to her command.

After an hour of walking, Ruby and Vincent finally saw Eve in the middle of the forest. They both ran toward her and immediately noticed Archie’s body was being dragged by her.

“Archie!” Ruby and Vincent said the same thing as they ran toward Archie who was unconscious.

“What happened to him?” Ruby asked and looked at Eve. “The bomb, wasn’t it? But how are you safe?” She kept asking before Eve could answer them.

“It was the bomb and he protected me from the radiation. Although I look fine, I’m starting to feel weird inside my body but I still can control them, not like Archie who took a full blast,” Eve answered.

“We can’t stay here, we have to move or they will find him and know the truth about who he is. We have to leave before Faye and the others came here to check,” Vincent said and looked at Ruby.

“Yes, we have to hide until dark and take care of him. He should be able to recover from this, right?” Ruby looked at Eve who had been staring at Archie’s body twitching and moving on its own.

“He should be able to but if the parasites in his body are trying to leave, it will be hard for him to recover because the parasites are rejecting his body right now,” Eve answered as she tried to calm down the parasites in Archie’s body. “But he should be fine because I’m trying my best to calm them down,”

“That’s good to hear. Now, let’s go and find a place to hide,” Ruby said as she looked at both of them.

They went to the far north and they watched the blimp go to the bridge of the Sky Station. Ruby believed that they were planning on letting everyone on board and went to the island to check on them and the parasite as well.

Faye went back to the Sky Station and ordered everyone to go to the rooftop because they were going to the island.

Everyone was boarding the blimp using the ladder while Faye looked down and checked everyone who climbed the ladder.

“So they survived the bomb?” Faye asked the General.

“By the look of it, two of them got blasted by the shockwaves but I believe they should be fine since you said they are the best people you have. They might get a few bruises and that should be it, nothing else,” The general answered with his arms crossed.

“So, did you kill the King-type parasite, General?” Aster asked and looked at the General.

“The plan is a success but it wasn’t because of us and we also fail to kill the King-type parasite. We never thought that big mass of bomb would do nothing to the parasite, that thing even had the time to replace its skin during the explosion,” The general answered with a bit of disappointment on his face.

“It’s fine, if we can send a King-type parasite off, we should be able to do it again in the future. Right now, let’s head to the island because they should be in a bad condition over there,” Faye replied as she walked to the other side to look at the island where the parasite was.

After all the soldiers boarded the blimp, they went straight to the island again to see it for themselves.

“They came back as I expected,” Ruby said while she was on top of the tree and saw the blimp flying toward the island. “We really need to find a place to hide,” she said as she jumped down from the tall tree.

“We have zero information about this island and even if there’s a cave, we won’t be able to find it before they find us,” Vincent replied. “We should keep walking further to give Archie time to recover,” he said as he looked at Archie’s condition which hadn’t gotten any better.

The three of them started to move again while Eve dragged Archie who was still unconscious.

“Is that really just the skin?” Faye asked as she looked down through the window and saw the skin of the parasite. “That’s fascinating and terrifying at the same time,”

“I can’t see them anywhere, Faye,” Aster said with binoculars on his eyes to find Archie and the others above. “We should go down and find them ourselves,” he continued and looked at Faye.

“Yes, that’s our plan in the first place, we can also bring a few samples from the King-type parasite’s skin. This will be a huge discovery on how there are parasites that could grow this big,” Faye answered.

The General descended the blimp and landed safely.

“Alright, some of you should stay here and gather some samples while the rest will come with me to find Archie and the others! Let’s go!” Faye said with a rifle in her hands then she got off of the blimp.

“Are those tentacles?” Aster asked with his eyes squinted and looked at the tentacles near the skin of the parasite.

“Yes, I wonder how the hell did they manage to cut them off,” Faye answered and looked at the tentacles as well. “I just hope that we are safe here because the hole that the parasite dug might be its temporary shelter so we can’t be down here for too long,”

“What if we can’t find them?” Aster asked.

“We will leave and come back tomorrow early in the morning with choppers,” Faye replied and she looked a bit worried.

Faye went to the northeast while Aster went to the northwest so they could sweep the area and meet at the far north since it was the last time they saw Archie and Eve.

The sky was setting and they had been searching for them for almost three hours but they couldn’t find anything. As Faye said earlier, they all went back and boarded the blimp then left the island.

“They left,” Ruby said as she saw the blimp ascending.

“Do you think they’re giving up on looking for us?” Vincent asked.

“No, we are too valuable for them, Faye knows that already so I believe they will come back tomorrow in the morning,” Ruby answered and looked at Vincent and Eve inside a hole that they dug to hide. “We should start looking for food, and fortunately, this place is rich so we can have a feast,”

“You guys can go, I don’t need human food anyway,” Eve said as she put Archie’s head on her lap.

Vincent and Ruby nodded with understanding and went hunting for themselves.

Eve stared at Archie as she rubbed his cheek so gently. “Are you awake? Can you hear my voice?” she asked. Archie didn’t move a muscle but Eve knew that he could hear her because she used the parasites to communicate with his brain.

While Eve was busy talking with Archie using his parasites, a silhouette appeared on the mouth of the hole.

“What do you want?” Eve asked without even looking at whose silhouette it belonged to.

“The humans are dangerous, Eve, be careful with them,” A voice could be heard from the mouth of the hole and the sound of wings being flapped could be heard.

“Cherubim, you have told me that millions of times. What do you want from me that you came down to see me again?” Eve asked calmly.

“Kill the humans, their existence should come to an end but they are resisting and you have to be the one to annihilate them,” The silhouette became clearer and an angelic figure could be seen from the shadow.

“That wasn’t the deal, the deal was for me to find my Adam. Now that I have found my Adam, there’s nothing else,” Eve replied and kept staring at Archie.

“Are you sure he is the one, Eve? There are still so many Adams out there and they are far stronger than that one,” Cherubim asked with a flat tone.

“Who knows, is my fate really in my hand?” Eve asked back and stared at Cherubim. “I’m just a toy waiting to be played and I don’t think there’s no reason for you to ask me that since you know that I hold no control over my own fate,”

“If you want an answer, then I want to stay by his side for as long as I want,” Eve answered.

“If that is what you want, then you have to be prepared because the other Adams have been informed by them. They will be furious and humankind will be annihilated very soon,” Cherubim said and then disappeared.

“Let them be, because my Adam will do something about it, and I will be by his side to help him,” Eve said with a smile on her face as she stared at Archie.