HA\LF: Dead nor Alive

“Well, our mission here is done, right? Are we really going to fight the parasite and not wait for the others?” Vincent asked and then he realized something as he looked at the pillar which was a few miles away from them. “Oh, right, how are they going to help us if we are on an island while they’re inside the bridge?” he said as he pulled his hair back.

“I thought you’re a cool and quiet guy, Vincent. I never thought that you would talk a lot and have a sense of humor at the same time,” Archie said as he looked at Vincent.

“Well, that’s the Vincent that I know,” Ruby replied with a smile on her face. “He’s acting cool just to impress someone and once he feels comfortable with someone, he would show his true self,” she continued and chuckled at Vincent.

Vincent looked at Ruby and tilted his head. “Come on, Bub, that’s not true,”

“I hate to ruin your conversation but the bug is about to come here. We need to move to the middle of the island so we can kill this bug,” Eve said as she stared at the parasite.

“Alright, I think we can kill it if we kite it into the island,” Archie replied. “Let’s go, we don’t have much time since the blimp is about to drop the bomb on the parasite and us,”

All of them ran as fast as they could while the parasite walked up to the shore.

Faye and the others just got up into the Sky Station and they had no idea that the parasite was already away from the pillar. They looked out the window and saw the parasite was on the island and they were confused why the parasite suddenly changed its course.

“Why is the parasite far away there? Didn’t the whole station just shake not so long ago?” Aster asked as he stared at the parasite. “Wait, don’t tell me…”

“Find Archie and the others! Go!” Faye said as she ran through the long and endless bridge while the others followed her from behind.

They ran for a whole ten minutes and suddenly Faye saw the steel gate for the maintenance was forcefully opened. She stop and looked down while the others looked at how crazy the four of them were because the steel gate was sturdy and strong enough to handle pressure, but looking at it and how it was damaged, they couldn’t believe it if one of them opened the steel gate.

“Do you think they went here?” Faye asked as she on her knee and looked down the hole.

“I’m not sure, let’s try and call the elevator down,” Aster said as he grabbed the keycard and used it to call the elevator down.

The elevator could only bring a dozen people at most so Faye only brought Aster and Nova with her into the elevator while the others stayed there and wait.

“Do you think they lured the parasite into the island?” Nova asked Aster.

“The gap between us going up to the Sky Station and those four was only half an hour. How did they go that far in just half an hour? That’s impossible no matter how fast they swim and not to mention the parasite was on their tail,” Faye answered as she leaned on the railing and rubbed the bottom lips with her index finger.

“Then how did they manage to go over there then? Fly?” Nova asked with her eyebrow raised.

“Who knows, but it’s impossible for us,” Faye answered, and then she saw a hole behind Aster and Nova. “Stop the elevator! Look!” she shouted as she pointed at the hole in front of her.

The three of them looked at the hole and decided to walk through it.

They ended up outside the pillar and Faye was a bit curious about the man-made hole it didn’t look like it was being cut open, it was more like it was being torn.

Aster squinted his eyes and saw a bullet shell near the edge, he walked toward it and took it.

“They were here,” Aster said as he showed the bullet shell to Faye and Nova.

Nova walked to the edge and looked down. “There’s a scratch mark on the pillar,” she said as she pointed at the claw marks.

Faye looked down and the damage was quite heavy but thankfully the pillar could still withstand the damage. If there were more scratches on the pillar around it, it would be the end for South Nation.

“Did they jump off of the edge and rode the parasite? But looking at the distance between where we stand and the scratch marks, I don’t think they would survive the fall,” Nova looked at Aster and Faye who looked so confused as she was.

“It’s either they jumped off the edge or fell down because there was only one bullet shell here. They might get launched because of the bumping,” Faye answered as she looked at the parasite walking to the middle of the island.

“Now what? We can’t get over there,” Nova asked.

“We can do nothing,” Faye answered and then they heard the sound of propellers up in the sky. “That’s our only option,” she continued as she looked at the blimp in the distance.

Archie and the others reached the middle of the island while Eve was flying up above the ground to check on the surroundings. The mountains and hills were surrounding them and there was nothing else but dried grass and the hot wind.

“We should be fine here, it’s time to play,” Eve said as she landed on her knee. “The blimp is on its way here so we have at least an hour to deal with this parasite,” she continued.

The parasite growled the moment it knew that Archie and the others didn’t run from it anymore. It started to run and the ground shook heavily which almost made Ruby and Vincent lose their balance.

The parasite screamed at them as it kept charging at them, Ruby and Vincent ran to the side while Eve and Archie stayed and be the bait.

“Fuck! The rifle is jamming!” Vincent said as he tried to cock the rifle and get the water out.

“It’s okay, we have time to fix it since Archie and Eve will handle this,” Ruby replied as she looked back. “We need to find a perfect spot on the high ground,”

Archie held his sword so tightly and stared at the parasite’s eye. “It’s already taking effect, the serum, it’s only a matter of time until it affects the parasite’s whole body,” he said as he looked at the parasite’s eye that melted.

“This is not good,” Eve said as she put the wings back into her body.

“What is?” Archie asked.

“The breath produced sulfur since you can smell it and it seems that it could breathe fire,” Eve answered as she looked at Archie. “Just be careful,”

“Alright,” Archie nodded his head with understanding.

“It’s time for you to fly,” Eve said as she slowly walked back and punched the ground enough to launch Archie up in the air.

Archie wasn’t ready for it but he was already up in the air and the parasite’s eyes were pointing at him.

The parasite leaned its body to the back and used the back legs to jump. Archie was shocked when the parasite was targeting him while he couldn’t do anything and let gravity take control of his body.

The parasite’s mouth was wide open and it stink so bad but before it could swallow Archie, Eve jumped and kicked the parasite’s left jaw. It was enough to make the parasite get knocked back and fell down to the ground and rolled its body.

“Now, fly!” Eve said and grabbed Archie’s arm then threw him toward the parasite.

Archie flew toward the parasite and stabbed the parasite in the throat but because Eve used too much strength, his arm was inside the parasite and it got stuck inside. He tried to pull his arm back but the muscle inside the parasite’s throat was gripping his arm and slowly sucking him in.

Archie had no choice but to use his ability and transform himself into the parasite. He ripped the parasite’s throat with his left hand and it was enough to give space for him to free himself.

Archie pulled his arm and his whole arm was covered with phlegm and it was corrosive because it made a sizzling sound on his skin. He immediately swung his arm to remove the phlegm from his arm but it was so sticky that he could do nothing.

The parasite swung its head so suddenly and threw Archie down to the ground.

The parasite growled with its head pointing at the sky. The hole that Archie made, made the phlegm come out from the hole and suddenly it got ignited and burned the parasite’s whole head. It breathe green flame as Eve warned, and the flame was high enough that it was visible from the distance.

Faye looked at the parasite’s fire breath with her eyes wide open. “What the…”