HA\LF: Dead nor Alive

Archie put on his trench coat and gloves then he grabbed his bag and left the house. Ruby, Vincent, Tommy, and Daniel were waiting for him outside of his house.

“You’re good to go?” Ruby asked as she trained her left arm.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Archie said as he nodded.

Vincent tied his shoelace while he sighed. “I’m going to hate this mission…” Vincent said as he wiped his shoe. “I mean, from all those people that are free, why those two in particular,” Vincent continued.

Ruby just smiled and patted his shoulder. “It’s not really a bad thing having them with us though,”

Vincent sighed again and just nodded his head and then they all went to the north gate.

“Wow, you guys are really taking your time, huh?” Resse said as she crossed her arms and chewed bubblegum with Prince standing in front of her.

Ruby walked past her and stood in front of her while she looked at Prince. “Got any information from Marlon about the nomad’s whereabouts?” Ruby asked and ignored Resse on purpose which made Resse a bit annoyed.

“The last sighting of the nomad is near mount judge howay, and that information was a month ago so there’s a high possibility that they’re staying there at the moment,” Prince replied.

“Hmm, that’s going to take a while to get there. The base in Seattle is still operating right now so we can go there first and we can rest for a day there since it’s going to take a week or so.” Ruby said as she stared at the north gate.

“Yes, Marlon also gave us the safest route to reach Seattle, and then we can get the safest route to Vancouver from the people in Seattle,” Prince said.

Ruby nodded with understanding. “Alright, let’s move.”

They walked past the north gate and followed the road.

They had been walking for almost a day and everyone barely talked to each other since they had to focus on their surroundings. Archie could tell that Resse and Prince had been stealing gazes at him but they didn’t say anything to him, he just ignored them since he had no business with them.

“Alright, we can stay here for the night,” Ruby said after she checked the area around the abandoned building.

Everyone removed the bag from their back and put them on the floor. Archie was still checking the surroundings and he could feel the presence of the parasites around him from hundreds of meters away. He knew that those parasites were the weak ones so he didn’t bother to take care of them since those parasites had no intention to attack them.

“Your name is Archie, right? Or at least that Ruby and the others called you,” Prince said as he stood near the door and looked at Archie.

Archie turned around and stared at him uninterested. “Yes, that’s my name,” Archie replied.

“I heard a lot about you from Ruby, she said you’re the best soldier in her Division. No, she said that you’re the best in the Eastern Nation for an unknown reason, so I’m a bit curious how can someone that’s mysteriously appeared and became an Axis Human could be called the best.” Prince said as he approached him.

Before Archie could say anything Resse suddenly landed next to Prince, Archie looked up from where she came from and she was on the third floor when she jumped down.

“You’re not the only one who’s curious about it, Prince,” Resse said as she wiped the dirt on her jeans. “So, what’s your ability?” Resse asked as she rested her arm on Prince’s shoulder.

Archie sighed and slowly walked toward them with a sharp gaze toward them. “My ability?” Archie asked back. “I could tear all of your limbs before you could feel them missing,” Archie calmly replied as he stared at both Prince and Resse’s arms. “I also have sensitive hearing that I can hear both of your hearts are starting to pound really fast from fear,” Archie continued and then left them.

Both Prince and Resse were the bravest Axis Humans but for some reason, at that moment, they were terrified of Archie’s words.

The morning came and they continued their journey, both Prince and Resse were oddly quiet because they were so confused about what happened last night. They were confused about why they were so scared of Archie who they didn’t even know what he was capable of as if they were hypnotized by Archie’s words.

After a week’s journey, they finally arrived at the base in Seattle but Ruby changed her mind and planned to continue the journey after getting enough food for the two days journey to Vancouver. Prince and Resse didn’t complain since they agreed that they didn’t want to waste time resting because it would take a while before they could find the nomad in the mountain.

Ruby, Vincent, Prince, and Resse were talking with the field officer about the nomad, he gave them the exact same information as what they heard from Marlon. They were convinced that the nomad was near the mount judge howay, then Ruby and the others left the base and went to Vancouver.

Two days had passed since they left the base and they reached the base of the mountain, they looked at how dark and eerie the forest was. They didn’t know what kind of parasites were inside the forest since it had been years since they abandoned that area, not to mention that the mountain was really close to FalCon-2.

“Prince, Resse, this is your first time in FalCon-2, right?” Ruby asked as she looked at them.

Both of them nodded and then Ruby pointed at the top of the mountain. “That mountain over there, it’s the beginning of FalCon-2, so there’s no reason for us to go there since the nomad wouldn’t dare to live in the mountain inside the FalCon-2. We will go from here and go to the east, remember that or you would be in really big trouble.” Ruby said with a serious expression.

“Let’s split into two teams, since we need to find them as soon as possible. The only one who knows about this terrain is me and Vincent, so I will bring Tommy and Archie with me while Vincent will be taking Daniel, Resse, and Daniel.” Ruby said. “Is there any objection?” She asked.

Everyone shook their heads and then Ruby looked at Vincent and nodded. “You will go to the east while we will go to the north.”

“Okay, just keep your radio on so we can contact you when we found something,” Vincent said.

Ruby nodded and then they went on their separate ways into the forest and up to the hill.

Archie and Tommy followed Ruby from behind, she was so focused on the map that she drew. It was a map with marks on it, those marks indicate the habitable area around the mountain and that might help them find the nomad. Suddenly Archie stopped walking and his eyes were wide open, his pupils trembled. Archie grabbed Tommy’s shoulder and pulled him forcefully and then he grabbed Ruby’s arm and pulled her toward him.

“What’s wrong?!” Ruby asked as she was getting pulled by Archie.

“It’s not the right time to ask, we need to regroup with the others!” Archie said quietly which make them both look so confused and worried at the same time.

Ruby spoke to Vincent through the radio but he didn’t respond and only static sound came out from the radio. Archie knew what happened with them and so he told them to follow him to the east where Vincent and the others went. Ruby was so confused about what happened that made Archie suddenly lose his calm. The reason for his sudden act was because he felt the same feeling when he was dragged underneath the ground by the earth witch, he felt something terrifying living underneath them.

They were running as fast as they could to catch up with Archie, but then suddenly Archie stopped running and hid behind the tree. He grabbed both of them and they just looked at each other in Archie’s arms.

“Don’t make a sound…” Archie whispered.

Both of them took a peek at something that they were trying to hide from, then their whole body trembled as they saw something crawl out from the ground that they had never seen before, something that was enough to make their legs weak and their heart stopped beating for a moment. Archie looked down at Ruby and her eyes were filled up with tears, her whole body trembled and he had to support her body so she didn’t fall to the ground. Tommy was the same but he still managed to stand on his own even though his whole body was shaking like crazy.

Ruby looked at Archie with her lips trembling. “What is that thing?”

Archie shook his head slowly. “I don’t know, but that thing made the parasites inside my body terrified of it.”