HA\LF: Dead nor Alive

“Is everything and everyone ready in the position?” Ruby asked through the radio.

“I’m ready, Bub,” Vincent answered as he hid in the building near the wall with his sniper in his hands.

“Tommy and I are ready, Major,” Daniel answered as he looked at the king of parasites through the binoculars while Tommy looked at his surroundings.

“Archie, are you ready?” Ruby asked as she looked at the radio.

“I’m in position, just give me the signal and I will move immediately,” Archie answered as he sat on top of a building and looked at the king that was close to him.

“Alright, send the flare, Vince,” Ruby said as she got ready to move with the sword in her hand.

“Roger…” Vincent answered then shot the flare into the sky to attract the king.

Archie watched the red flare up high in the sky, he transformed himself into a parasite and then leaped from building to building. He was only a hundred meters away from the king as the king stared at the bright red light in the sky.

“Archie should be in the position now. Go and empty your magazine!” Ruby said as she ran toward the king from the front.

Vincent, Tommy, and Daniel fired their snipers at the king’s four eyes on his right side. The sound of loud gunshots could be heard from the city, Newman and Marie watched them from on top of the wall.

“Miss!”

“Miss!”

“Miss!”

The three of them said the same thing repeatedly as they kept firing their snipers at the king. The bullets couldn’t reach the eyes because of how tall the king was and it won’t stop moving so it was hard for them to measure the range.

Archie climbed up the king’s tail, but the king immediately noticed his presence and immediately wiggled its tail. Archie stabbed the swords on its tail as he tried to hold them so he won’t fall.

The king roared and the bullets that traveled immediately got pushed by the soundwave and fell to the ground. Ruby covered her ears as hard as she could or her eardrums would explode from the roar even though she already plugged her ears.

Archie started to climb with the swords, he climbed as fast as he could like a lizard on the wall. He didn’t want to waste the chance and kept on climbing as he tried to cut the parasite with his swords at the same time.

Ruby was busy dealing with parasites, but it wasn’t a problem for her because of the Bachmut sword in her hand and her body that evolved from the serum. She tried her best to avoid encounters with the parasite but it wasn’t possible because those small fries would stick around the king.

“Bub, we are waiting for your signal,” Vincent said as he looked around because the parasites started to notice his presence.

“Hold on! I’m trying!” Ruby replied as she slashed the parasite in half.

Ruby ran as fast as she could and finally she was directly under the king, she swung her sword and stabbed it at the king’s foot. She was surprised that the Bachmut sword couldn’t pierce through its skin.

“I can’t cut it open!” Ruby said as she tried to stab the foot over and over.

“What?! That’s impossible!” Vincent replied as he looked at the king. “Archie’s sword! He can pierce the skin with his swords! Ask him to lend you one of them!” He continued then he looked at the parasite that entered his building.

Ruby heard gunshots and screeches from the radio. “Vince?! Are you alright?!” She asked with a worried expression.

“I’m fine! Just ask Archie to give you his sword!” Vincent replied as he shot the parasite in the head with his pistol.

Ruby changed the channel and immediately looked up. “Archie! I can’t pierce the skin with my sword! I need your sword to do it!” She screamed so Archie could hear her.

Archie looked down and saw Ruby was hiding in the building, he then looked at Nyx and removed it from his hand. He threw the sword down as hard as he could, and it landed right in front of the building where Ruby was at.

Ruby grabbed the sword and immediately ran back toward the king’s foot. She stabbed it as deep as she could then she made it wide enough so the bag on her back could fit inside it.

“I did it! I will do it now!” Ruby informed the others.

Ruby pulled the pin of the grenade in her hand then she put it inside the bag. She pushed the bag inside the wound and immediately ran away as fast as possible.

The bag exploded, the inside of the bag was the same serum that killed Gideon but the dosage was dozens of times bigger than before. She managed to go back to safety and it was the signal so Vincent, Tommy, and Daniel could regroup with Ruby.

The three of them ran toward the meeting point and immediately protected Ruby from the parasites chasing her. She ran as bullets were passing her, she didn’t want to make an unnecessary movement as she ran straight to the building where Vincent and the others were.

The king roared and the whole sky was rumbling as if it replied to its voice, they were shocked and saw the heavy rain start to fall down. They saw the king spread its wings and immediately flew away up into the sky as it spun repeatedly.

Archie started to lose his grip on the king since he only had one sword with him. He tried his best to hold onto it but he couldn’t and decided to cut its back with his sword as he was free-falling from above the clouds. He hardened his skin, flesh, and bones on his back to prevent him from taking heavy damage from falling.

Archie landed on the ground as if he was falling onto the sand, he didn’t feel much pain from falling that high. He immediately grabbed his sword and looked up into the sky as the king disappeared above the dark clouds.

“Archie! Run!” Ruby screamed at him through the radio as she saw the king dove down toward Archie.

Archie couldn’t move a muscle as the rain stopped moving and float in the air around him. He looked at how bizarre it was when his body started to tremble and the droplets of water started to explode. His body was shaking like crazy and he started to feel his muscle and bones start to tear and break.

All the buildings around him started to crumble and flattened to the ground, then he saw the king had been screaming at him with a silent scream. That was the reason why he couldn’t move his body, the king landed on top of him and the whole area turned into a crater.

“Archie!” Ruby screamed as she looked at the destroyed ground where it landed.

The king roared so loud that Archie started to see a triple vision with massive headache. He couldn’t do anything and stayed down on the ground as his head was about to explode from the roar.

The king looked down and glared at Archie, it looked at its leg that started to melt because of the serum. It lifted the leg and bit it off before it spread to its body, it knew that the thing inside its leg was dangerous so it prevented bad things to happen.

Ruby and the others were covering their ears as they hid inside a building. They were far enough from the king but the roar was enough to make them suffer and almost made them unconscious.

“Bub! We can’t stay here anymore! We need to move!” Vincent said as he screamed at Ruby.

Ruby looked at him and nodded, then the four of them left the area and went back into the city.

The reason why they abandoned Archie was because of Archie’s decision, he warned them before they left the city. If bad things happened, he would rather be left alone and handle it himself because he had a higher chance of surviving compared to them. Ruby and the others agreed to it and they had no complaints after they saw how big and dangerous the king’s presence was.

Archie lifted his head as see things upside down, his eyes were barely open the moment he heard footsteps. The king kept roaring and didn’t plan on stopping as it started to rage because of what happened to it.

As Archie tried to stay awake, a gentle touch of cold hands covered his ears to prevent him from falling unconscious. He looked at a beautiful face that smiled at him with her hair touching his face, a silver-white hair that reflected the moon and made him feel safe.

“Eve?” Archie asked weakly.

Eve smiled gently and leaned her head closer to him. “I will not let you die, my Adam,” she whispered into his ear.

Eve slowly lifted her head and glared at the king. “He’s mine, go away,” she said quietly but the king started to roar louder at her.

Eve tilted her head as she exhaled deeply. “All of you are the same, a brainless maggot. You all wouldn’t listen to me anymore, huh?” she said as she stood up. “Then someone must punish this disobedient maggot, to teach the other a lesson,” she continued as she showed her claws at the king.