HA\LF: Dead nor Alive

“I have told you, Capt, I’m an Ex-Human,” Archie stared at Ruby with a resting face.

“How? How is that even possible?” Ruby squinted her eyes as she kept aiming at Archie’s head.

Archie scoffed and looked down, he smiled and shook his head with disbelief. “We have been through this conversation before…” Archie quietly replied.

Julia grabbed Ruby’s shoulder and slowly reached out her hand then pushed her hand down gently. “I don’t think it’s necessary for you to point a gun at him after knowing that he wasn’t trying to hurt you back there,” Julia looked at Ruby and raised her eyebrows to convince her.

Ruby lowered her hands and then looked at Archie. “So you’re not lying about it…”

Archie shook his head while he kept looking down. “There’s no reason for me to lie to you, Capt.”

Before Ruby could ask anything else, they heard a loud growl came not far from them. Both Ruby and Julia looked at each other and grabbed their bigger gun, but before they could go and check, Archie blocked their way and stared at them.

“You’re not strong enough to handle that thing over there,” Archie said as he kept blocking their pat with his arm.

“How do you know that? Have you checked what’s in there?” Ruby asked as she gripped her submachine gun tightly.

“I could feel it, I have been dealing with this kind of thing in the forest…” Archie replied as he looked in the direction of the parasite.

“We should tell Prince that there’s another one outside the wall,” Julia said as she leaned her head toward Ruby.

“It’s not necessary, I can handle this on my own,” Archie said as he lowered his arm.

“You? You won’t be able to fight that thing over there. It must be a Gen 3 or even 4 so we must inform the elites about this before it’s too late.” Ruby said as she glared at him.

“It’s better if we stay quiet, Bub… I think it already notices us and if we make a move, there’s nothing that can save us…” Julia said as she held Ruby’s arm. “You said that you can deal with it, Archie?” Julia asked.

“It’s going to be messy but I can handle this,” Archie replied as he kept staring at the wall.

“Are you sure? What makes you so confident that you can deal with it?” Julia asked as she squinted her eyes and looked at Archie.

Archie turned his head and looked at them, he slightly smiled. “Because now I’m full.”

Julia scoffed and smirked. “Go get em’, Archie.”

Archie nodded and stealthily walked toward the sound.

Not even a minute since Archie walked toward the sound, both Ruby and Julia heard a loud banging coming from that direction. Without thinking twice they both ran toward the sound and check what happened over there.

They both came out from the corner and saw Archie using his bare hands to fight a parasite that was 10 meters tall. The parasite looked like a goat but stood with two legs and the head was just a big mouth and nothing else.

Archie dodged and climbed up the parasite’s arm and grabbed the bottom of its mouth then slammed it to the ground. He looked for an eye but that parasite had no soft spot other than inside of its mouth. Ruby who watched him fought the parasite immediately ran toward him and grabbed the sword on her back.

“Archie! Catch!” Ruby screamed as she threw the sword toward Archie.

Archie looked at the flying sword and grabbed it on the blade, his hand bleed but he didn’t even bother about it and immediately grabbed the handle. He swung the sword and stabbed it on the top of the parasite’s head, but the sword broke in half because of how thick and sturdy the skin was.

“I knew this would happen…” Archie mumbled as he saw the sword.

A hand slapped Archie and he fell from the top of the head of the parasite. He was thrown away from the house and broke everything in his way, and before he could stand up, the parasite ran toward him and took a bite at his left arm. The parasite wiggled its head with Archie hung in its mouth, he tried to free himself but the parasite was too big for him to handle.

*SPLAT!*

Archie was thrown to the road and dragged all the way to where Ruby and Julia stood. Both of them were covering their mouth as they saw Archie’s left arm gone eaten by the parasite.

“Archie?!” Ruby screamed as she ran toward him.

Archie stood up and groaned. “I’m fine…” As he said that while the blood came out like a waterfall from his left shoulder. “Give me another sword…” Archie turned around and looked at Julia.

Julia who was shocked grabbed the sword on her back and gave it to him without saying a single word.

Archie swung the sword and looked at how the sword was similar to the one that Ruby had. He sighed and nodded then immediately run toward the parasite who was busy chewing on his arm.

“Open your mouth, you ugly bastard!” Archie screamed at the parasite as he swung the sword.

The parasite looked at Archie and crawled toward him with its mouth wide open. Archie dashed and jumped into its mouth without hesitation. Both Ruby and Julia were watching as he was swallowed by the parasite.

They could see Archie going down to its throat as the parasite tried to digest him but then the sword came out from its throat. He kept pushing the sword down its throat and down to its chest, Archie then crawled out from the parasite with saliva covering his whole body. Julia grabbed her assault rifle and started shooting at the open wound then Ruby grabbed her submachine gun and shot the same target as Julia.

“Archie!” Julia shouted.

Archie stood up and looked at Julia.

“Use these!” Julia threw a grenade at Archie and then another one.

Ruby looked at Julia with a surprised expression.

Julia scoffed and looked at Ruby from the corner of her eyes. “Why are you looking at me like that? I came prepared and I don’t want to be a parasite.” Julia said as she kept shooting at the parasite.

Archie stabbed the sword on the ground then grabbed the grenades and pulled the pin. He ran toward the parasite who was trying to block the bullets then he jumped as high as he could and then put his hand into the parasite’s chest.

*BOOM!*

Archie was thrown away from the explosion and fell on top of the house then buried in it.

The parasite exploded into tiny pieces, and both Ruby and Julia ran toward where Archie landed to check on him.

As they ran toward the house, Archie could be seen walking out of the house. They both couldn’t believe that a person could still stand up after all that and not to mention that he lost his whole arm as if it was nothing to him.

“Archie…” Ruby looked at Archie with a worried expression.

Archie ignored her call and kept walking toward what remained from the parasite. He looked around while Ruby and Julia watched him, he then saw the small parasite that tried to crawl away. He grabbed it and looked at it for a moment then he bit it and swallowed it in two bites.

Both Ruby and Julia covered their mouth as they saw Archie eating the parasite like it was a rabbit’s foot.

“Sorry that you both have to see that, but it’s for a greater good or that parasite will possess something else,” Archie said as he looked at Ruby and Julia who were staring at him with disbelief. Archie looked at the distance and squinted his eyes. “It seems that they have noticed that something is going on out here, they’re on their way here,” Archie said as he walked toward Ruby and Julia.

“I don’t care about them, I’m more concerned about your condition! What’s going to happen to you with that condition?!” Ruby asked as she pointed her hand at Archie’s missing arm.

“I will be fine, it will regrow overnight after I consumed quite a lot of parasites tonight.” Archie looked at his shoulder that already closed the wound. “I shouldn’t be seen like this or they would be suspicious after seeing my arm grows back tomorrow.” Archie continued as he looked at both of them.

“Then where are you going for tonight?” Ruby asked since she was still worried about him.

“I will find a place to sleep for tonight. I won’t die and I have been on my own for a long time so this won’t be a problem,” Archie replied as he sighed. “I told you, Capt, I know how to survive,” Archie slightly smiled at her. “I guess, I should get going now, they’re getting close.” Archie continued as he looked at the distance.

Archie walked the road while he held his shoulder.

“Archie, don’t forget that you have training tomorrow morning. Don’t be late!” Ruby said.

“Roger that, Capt. I will be there.” Archie replied as he turned his head to look at Ruby.