HA\LF: Dead nor Alive

“What happened to her?” Archie asked the 3 women around Julia.

“She fought a parasite and she was left behind,” The black-haired woman replied.

Archie looked at Julia’s condition and there was no hope for her, he then went on his knee and grabbed Julia on the shoulder. “Why are you here?” Archie asked.

“She was looking for you…” Julia replied weakly as she tried to swallow the blood in her mouth. “Who are they?” Julia asked as she looked at the 3 women standing in front of her.

“They’re Ex-Humans, like me,” Archie replied.

“They helped me…” Julia looked at them with a slight smile on her face.

Archie looked at them and they were just nodding in agreement.

Archie was so confused about why they helped her because those Ex-Humans were no different from the ones he met in FalCon-1. They loved to eat Axis Human because they were delicious and gave them a lot of energy so they didn’t have to eat for a whole month.

Archie turned his head and heard footsteps running away from the forest. “Why there are a lot of people out there?” Archie asked as he turned his head back to look at Julia.

Julia shook her head because she didn’t have the strength to speak anymore. She tried to reach for Archie’s hand but she couldn’t, Archie could hear her heartbeat slowly decreasing and he knew that she had not much time left.

“Ar…chie…” Julia said.

Archie looked at Julia’s right hand and tried to reach for something in her pocket, he then grabbed her hand and reached her pocket with his other hand. It looked like a small bomb, Archie looked at Julia and she nodded weakly but Archie suddenly lifted Julia up and carried her. Julia stared at Archie with confusion but she couldn’t say anything anymore as she tried so hard to stay awake.

“Just go to sleep, I will protect you,” Archie said as he looked at Julia with an empty eye.

Archie wasn’t sure if Julia was listening to him or not but her eyes slowly but surely started to close. He kept walking as he listened to Julia’s heartbeat until he couldn’t anymore.

Archie fell on his knees as his heart poundings really fast, he felt annoyed because a human just died for nothing. He was angry because Ruby brought Julia there to her death by abandoning her in a place like that.

“Archie,” A woman’s voice came from behind him and a hand reached out to his shoulder.

Archie glared at the black-haired woman from the corner of his eyes. “What?” Archie asked.

“What are you going to do with her body?” The woman asked as if she asked if Archie would allow her and her sisters to eat Julia’s dead body.

“Don’t you dare touch her…” Archie replied with his trembled voice as he tried to hold his anger.

The woman walked forward and looked at Julia. “Then what are you going to do with that body of her? Bury it? Then the parasites will dig into the ground and eat her corpse. Burn her? It will only attract the parasites and they will eat what remains from her,” The woman said as she stared at Archie.

“And what’s your suggestion?” Archie asked as he glared at the woman.

“Eat her?” The woman replied without hesitation and have no guilt for what she said.

Archie gritted his teeth as he glared at the black-haired woman but then the other 2 women grabbed Archie’s shoulders from behind.

“It’s for the best, either for you or for her, Archie,” The pale green-haired woman whispered gently into Archie’s right ear.

“You won’t feel hunger for months if you eat her,” The red-haired woman whispered gently into Archie’s left ear.

Archie hadn’t eaten anything for the past 3 days and he fought all day and all night to exterminate the parasites that would endanger the Eastern Nation. He was starving and he tried so hard to not eat the parasites he killed, but at the same time, he needed them to replenish his strength and ability to heal.

“I will cover your eyes so you don’t have to see what you eat…” The green-haired woman gently covered Archie’s eyes so he couldn’t see anything.

“I will feed you so you don’t have to know what you eat…” The black-haired woman said as she approached Archie.

“I will cover your ears so you don’t have to hear what you eat…” The red-haired woman gently covered Archie’s ears so he couldn’t hear anything.

Archie could feel a hand grab his cheek gently and it wanted him to open his mouth. Archie who fell for the temptation opened his mouth and could feel something warm, soft, and juicy entered his mouth. He chewed it so slowly and he couldn’t comprehend how tasty and tender the food was, he couldn’t think about anything but to keep chewing and opening his mouth as the black-haired woman fed him.

“I want more…” Archie said quietly.

“There’s nothing more, Archie, you ate everything,” A woman whispered into his ear.

Archie snapped back to reality and opened his eyes, he immediately removes the hands from his eyes and ears. He looked down and saw nothing left but the uniform that Julia wore and what remains from her body, his eyes trembled as he saw the red blood everywhere and the woman’s hands were covered in blood. He just ate Julia with nothing left, he felt sick and tried to throw everything up but he couldn’t for some reason while those women looked at Archie.

“You tricked me!” Archie yelled as he tried to get away from those women.

“We are not, we only want you to embrace it,” The red-haired woman replied.

Archie had mixed feelings and he didn’t know what to do but grunt and clenched his fists and teeth.

“I can’t… I don’t want to…” Archie mumbled as he shook his head and held his head.

Archie slowly walked away from them and then ran outside the forest.

The black-haired woman stared at Archie from the distance as she licked the blood in her hands. “He will experience it tonight, I hope that he won’t have a problem afterward,” She said as she sucked her fingers.

“He should be fine, he’s the chosen one and he will be fine either he wants it or not because he’s not the one who steers the wheel,” The red-haired woman said as she looked at the bones that belong to Julia.

“I don’t think so, sister,” The green-haired woman looked at the red-haired woman. “He’s different from the one we met back then,” The green-haired woman continued. “He’s way more attractive than that guy,” The green-haired woman said as she smiled and looked at Archie who was running away.

“I couldn’t agree more, that guy was dead inside and I wonder where he is now,” The black-haired woman said as she stared at the sky.

Archie kept running and finally, he left the forest, the bright stars brightened the night sky and the abandoned city. He walked into the city with the roars and screeches that came from the city, he wanted to join and killed every single one of them because that was the only way to redeem what he had just done.

“Capt…” Tommy called Ruby who was crying in the corner of the room.

“Let her be, don’t bother her for now, and let her grieve for a moment,” Vincent said as he stopped Tommy from approaching Ruby.

Ruby’s cries were making everyone feel uncomfortable, not because of how noisy or annoying her cries were but because of how painful for them to hear someone cry like that. The pain could be felt by them, the pain of losing someone that was important in their lives, that was what everyone felt at that moment.

Ruby kept sobbing until she suddenly heard something from the outside, she tried to breathe she tried to listen. She stood up and walked toward the opened window, everyone looked at her with confusion because she stopped crying. Suddenly everyone could hear it, a man’s voice screamed in the middle of the clash between parasites.

“What was that?” Martin asked as he looked at Tommy.

“Ruby!” Vincent screamed as he saw Ruby jump out of the window and went to the road.

Because of that, everyone grabbed everything and followed Ruby since they were all worried about her.

Ruby could hear Archie’s screams that were coming not far from where she was, she looked around and looked for Archie but he couldn’t find him anywhere. She kept running and looked all the corners because she kept hearing his voice until she turned to the corner and saw Archie standing on top of a pile of parasites with a dagger in his left hand and a sword in his right hand.

“Archie!” Ruby screamed as she caught her breath.

Archie turned around and Ruby could see tears on his cheeks but his expression changed in an instant as he saw Ruby.

“Ruby…” Archie said as he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.