HA\LF: Dead nor Alive

“You should be able to do this as well,” Eve said as she showed Archie how to modify her own body. She showed him how to add more fingers to her hands which surprised him.

“Does that mean I will be able to manipulate my own back and create wings as you did?” Archie asked as he ate the flesh of a parasite in Antarctica.

Eve put the meat in her mouth as she walked toward Archie’s back and put her hands on her back.

“It’s rather painful if you want to do it because you’re going to break your ribs and scapulas. It’s hard at first but it’s possible,” Eve answered as she touched Archie’s scapulas and ribs below them to tell him the body parts that he had to break to make wings.

“I see, maybe you should show me how to do it later because we have to go back since we have to check the cave that Faye mentioned,” Archie said as he wiped his mouth.

“I don’t think they will be prepared to go down there, but it’s going to be fun when they witness the world beneath,” Eve said and started to chuckle mischievously.

“Have you been there before?” Archie asked._.

“That’s where I spent most of my time back then because the place is nothing like you could imagine,” Eve answered. “I don’t want to spoil the fun, so let’s go back now and get some rest.

The morning came and everyone was ready to leave for the other city by using the train. The city was quite far so it would take them at least four hours and it was enough to give Archie time to train his new ability.

“I wonder if this ability came from the parasite inside my body or it came from you when I was protecting you from the explosion and radiation,” Archie said as he looked at Eve who taught him how to control the ability.

“That would be interesting if you really got the power from my body but I don’t know if it belongs to me or not since I got nothing, not even a thing from that explosion,” Eve replied and shrugged her shoulders as she looked out at the city.

Faye checked on everyone by moving around the carriages and then she sat down on the other side of the carriage where Archie, Eve, Ruby, and Vincent were talking about the cave.

“So, Son Doong cave is where we are going, right?” Nova asked and looked at Faye.

“Yes, it was rediscovered three years ago and that cave used to be a tourist attraction. As I said back then, the cave was big enough it has its own ecosystem and weather,” Faye answered while the others were looking at her.

“Is the cave really deep?” Vincent asked with his eyebrows raised.

“It’s deep and parasites are living inside the cave so we are going to deal with them before we can reach our destination,” Faye answered and nodded her head. “The last information we got about the cave was there were at least dozens of Gen 8 parasites lurking in the cave,”

“That won’t be a problem,” Ruby replied. “The problem would be luring a King-type parasite. Not because it would be hard to find, it’s more like how to not bring more than one King-type parasite,” she said as she stared at the forest through the window.

“What do you mean by that? Are you staying that there’s more than one King-type parasite down there?” Nova asked and looked at Faye who seemed to know about that already.

“It was a shock for me as well when I heard that there are King-type parasites that live underneath us,” Faye replied as she stared at Nova. “The truth is that all the parasites that live among us are not the apex predator, those parasites that are on top of the food chains live underneath us and that means there are thousands of them below us,” she continued and sighed with a worried expression.

“Bullshit, there’s no way something like that exists down below us, not to mention thousands of them?! If people knew about this, there’s no way they can laugh or even smile,” Nova said as she looked at Archie and the others.

“That’s why we keep it a secret from everyone, including the Axis Humans,” Faye replied with her arms crossed. “Sooner or later those parasites will come to the surface, a battle to take the kingdom of humans,” she said as she looked at Archie.

Nova was dumbfounded and went quiet ever since.

Hours had passed and finally, they reached their destination. Archie and the others were preparing to get off of the train while Nova was still overwhelmed by the fact.

“Nova, let’s go, we are leaving now,” Ruby said as she stood next to Nova.

Sun Doong cave was in Vietnam and it was in the middle of the forest with no path to walk on. They had to look for signs that the scout teams left behind to guide them into the cave.

It took them an hour to finally reach the mouth of the cave and Faye didn’t lie about how big the cave was. It looked so big that it could fit a skyscraper inside, and when they entered the cave, it got bigger and wider.

“This is beautiful,” Ruby said to herself as she looked at the walls and the ceiling of the cave.

It was cold and warm at the same time because the sunlight was warming them while the chill wind struck their skin and face. Archie couldn’t believe it at first as the others and it could attract anyone or anything inside because of how perfect the cave was for anyone to live in it.

Faye walked to the front and turned around to look at every one of them.

“This cave is at least 6 miles and this cave connects hundreds of other caves so I want all of you to keep your eyes and ears wide open. We are here not to admire the beauty of nature, but we are here on a dangerous mission that has never been done before,” Faye said and her voice echoed throughout the cave.

“Also, we will be spending two days in this cave before we go deeper down to the earth. We will gather information first before we go for the exploration, so please keep an eye out if you find a suspicious entrance or cave because we have no idea what will be coming toward us,” Faye explained as she turned around and continued walking.

Archie looked at the clearwater river next to him and it made him thirsty and wanted to try to take a sip of the water. Eve, on the other hand, was staring at the mouth caves on the walls as if she was reminiscing the time she was in the cave.

[0)ᴠʟ As they walked deeper into the cave, they started to hear screeches, growls, and grunts from in front of them. They immediately grabbed their swords and spears because they didn’t want to attract attention by using guns.

Faye and Aster looked at each other and then led them forward quietly and stealthily.

Everyone was hugging the wall while Faye was at the front and peeking her head to see the situation on the other side. She saw at least a dozen of parasites that were gathering on top of the rock hill, they weren’t fighting each other, they were just taunting each other.

“They’re at least Gen 4 or Gen 5 parasites, let’s take them all down at once,” Faye said as she looked at the others. “I will lure them here,” she said as she grabbed a rock on the ground.

Faye threw the rock on the ground as hard as she could, it was enough to attract the parasites’ attention. The parasites started to crawl toward the sound so quietly as if they didn’t want to be noticed.

Faye watched the parasites walk toward them so slowly while she raised her right hand and clenched it to signal the others to wait. The moment the parasites were close enough to them, she pulled her right hand down and everyone immediately move so quietly.

Some of them threw their spears at the parasites and hit them in the head to immobilize them. The rest of them ran as fast as they could and swung their swords and daggers at the parasites so swiftly that the parasites had no time to react.

It was impossible to prevent the parasites from screaming or screeching loudly, and it was enough to attract the rest of the parasites who were around them. Faye wiped the blood of the parasite with her glove and then swung her sword as she stared at the distance.

“Get ready, the battle starts now,” Faye said as she took a deep breath and exhaled deeply.