HA\LF: Dead nor Alive

Archie and Eve guided everyone into the abandoned city since it was the fastest way to get to the village. He pointed at the headquarters and looked at it. They all understood what he was trying to say without even saying a word. They knew about the people that got stuck and abandoned because there was no power to open the door.

Ivan looked around his surroundings to get a sense of what could be scrapped and used. He told Vincent and Aster that he could make it by just staring at the tools and items around him. It was a much-needed piece of good news, and the only thing they needed to think about was finding parasites since they would need their waste.

Marlon looked at all the destruction and chaos and felt overwhelmed. He was thinking about how to rebuild the city and salvage what was left, but he and Fanheim were already deep in conversation about where they could start. They were brainstorming ideas and talking it over, excitedly planning how they could make things better.

They left the city, and Archie guided them into the forest.

The moment they saw the small, dilapidated village, they could tell that there were only dozens of them that had survived through the harsh conditions.

Newman and Marie were standing near a wall made from tree trunks, which was surrounded by hundreds of people. They were surprised when they saw Arche and Eve, but this time, there were hundreds of people behind them, who were all excited and happy.

“Ruby! Vincent!” Marie shouted.

Ruby was beaming with joy and immediately walked toward Marie, hurriedly. She wrapped her in a warm hug and it was so emotional for everyone who watched them.

“I’m glad that you survived, Marie,” Ruby said as she sniffled and kept hugging Marie so tightly.

Simmering forward, Stepfanie walked toward them and gave a warm hug to Newman. They both wanted to say the same thing, but as a man, a hug was enough to tell how much they were glad to see each other again. They just stood there, holding onto each other for a long while, before they finally pulled away.

Everyone entered the village, and got a warm welcome by the survivors. Some of them knew each other, and some just stood there and didn’t want to move much because they didn’t want to destroy anything.

Faye and Aster with her team, realized how bad the condition of the Eastern Nation was. Even Ivan was speechless and shocked by it as well. He didn’t know what to say, but to observe how primitive they were.

“Please come, I know that this place is nothing like what you guys have back home,” Marie said as she looked at Faye and the others.

Faye smiled and shook her head. “No, I feel like this place is a very nice place to live in. I love it here,” Faye replied.

“How considerate of you. Please make yourself at home, and I mean it because we will be living together here from now on, right?” Marie said.

“Yes, and we will do our best to keep this place safe from harm,” Faye answered as she nodded her head.

“Thank you. Let’s get inside, come on,” Marie said.

They all entered the village, and introduced themselves to the survivors. They were so glad that Marlon and the others came back, and not to be mentioned, they brought more Axis Humans with them. They all felt a lot safer after knowing that, and they didn’t hesitate to treat Faye and the others with whatever they had.

Newman and Marie explained everything to them about what happened to the city. Although they already heard about what happened, they didn’t say anything and listened to their stories.

“I see, you’re slowly running out of food. Then let us hunt some since we won’t take anything from what you have now. Since the sun is still up, it’s better we start moving now,” Ruby said as she looked at Faye and the others.

“Yes, I agree. Let’s hunt some games,” Faye stood up and nodded her head.

Everyone left the village and started hunting for games away from the forest. Ruby knew the good places to hunt for games, and so she led them out of the forest.

Archie and Eve stayed behind as Elena went to Phellope’s house to play with her. Archie sat down and leaned on the wooden chair as he closed his eyes and listened to the noises around him.

“There’s something that we would like to tell you,” Archie said as he looked at Newman and Marie, and the rest of the survivors.

They all looked at him with confused looks on their faces.

Archie pulled out the wings on his back, and showed them his hands with sharp claws and the black gooey that wrapped his hands. Everyone was shocked by what they saw, and slowly backed away because they feared him.

“I’m not a human, and I’m not a human even long before I came here,” Archie said.

“Yeah… you will get used to it eventually,” Ruby replied as she looked at the pillar from the window.

“Food is ready!” Julia came with a plate of meat. She sat next to Ruby and put the plate on the table.

Archie looked at the meat and it looked like something that he had never seen before.

“This is rabbit’s feet, my favorite food,” Julia said as she grabbed one and ate it.

“I’m not hungry,” Archie said as he kept staring at them.

“So, Archie, how did you end up here in the Eastern Nation?” Ruby asked as she ate the rabbit’s foot.

Archie looked at the food and thought about what to say and what kind of lie he had to make. He then thought that it was unnecessary for him to make up a story so he could tell Ruby the truth.

“I’m an Ex-Human,” Archie said and looked at them both seriously.

Both of them stopped eating the rabbit’s foot and their eyes were focused on Archie.

Julia chuckled and snorted then bursted out laughing. “You got me!”

Ruby couldn’t help but chuckle as well. “You’re funny, Archie.”

Archie slightly smiles and looked at the small knife on the plate, he grabbed it and stabbed it onto his arm then pulled it wide open. The two of them were shocked and Ruby immediately grabbed the fork from his hand.

“What are you doing?!” Ruby asked as she yelled at Archie.

“Just wait and see…” Archie stared at the wound on his arm.

Those two were staring at the wound and nothing happened. Archie was so confused that the wound didn’t heal, and then Ruby had enough and ripped her sleeve and covered the wound with it.

“Are you out of your mind?!” Ruby yelled as she wrapped the cloth on Archie’s wound.

“No, this is not right…” Archie mumbled as he pulled his arm away from Ruby. “I-i have to leave…” Archie said as he looked panicked that his wound didn’t heal.

Archie ran out of the house while both Ruby and Julia just stared at him with confusion.

“Uhh… you sure that he’s right in his head? Such a shame, he looks handsome but he has a screw loose in his head.” Julia scoffed as she looked at Ruby.

Ruby kept staring at the door with the cloth in her hand, she then looked at the cloth that was covered with Archie’s blood. She realized that the blood wasn’t red but pitch black and gooey.

“Do you think this is blood?” Ruby asked as she looked at Julia and showed the cloth in her hand.

“What… is that…” Julia said as she grabbed the cloth and looked at Archie’s blood closely.

They both stared at it for quite a while and then they started to think that Archie might have told them the truth. Julia and Ruby immediately grabbed their gears and left the house to catch up with Archie.

Archie walked down the stairs hurriedly and ignored the people he bumped. He stared at the wound that wouldn’t heal, he was so confused because it should be healed immediately since it was just a scratch to him.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he ran in the direction of the headquarters. On his way to the headquarters, he stopped running and he smelt something familiar. He looked around and stared at the wall where the smell came from, he immediately ran toward the wall and approached the smell.

Archie ended up outside the wall, he looked around as the smell became stronger. He ran and followed the scent that came from one of the buildings.

He ran as fast as he could and then saw a parasite who was eating a deer. Turned out, that what he smelt was the smell of a parasite, and the stronger the smell, the more hungry he became. Archie without hesitation tear the parasite and killed it, the smell of the blood starved him.