HA\LF: Dead nor Alive

“Oh, you’re awake?” A guy looked at Archie who just woke up from his realistic dream.

“Do you need something?” Archie asked as he stood up and looked at the dark sky.

“Yes, uhh… Captain Prince and Captain Resse are looking for you outside,” The guy said nervously as he pointed his thumb at the outside.

Archie turned around and looked at the guy with confusion. “They came to pick us up?” Archie asked as he approached the guy.

“Well, yeah…” The guy replied with hesitation.

Archie furrowed his forehead and looked at the guy as he walked out of the room and past the guy.

Archie heard people talking outside of the building and he looked at the window where both Vincent and Ruby were being interrogated by Prince and Resse. They already knew about what happened, Ruby was still depressed about Julia’s death but Resse didn’t care about her feelings and kept asking her questions.

Archie went outside and showed himself to Prince and Resse, they both immediately paid attention to Archie and ignored Ruby and Vincent.

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“So you’re Archie Lancaster, the guy that made all this mess,” Prince said as he stared at Archie.

“Do you have a problem with me?” Archie said as he glared back at Prince.

Archie hated both of them, the reason why he hated them was that they used his blood to gain the power then they thought they were superior to the other Axis Humans. As far as Archie remembered, there was no such a thing as discrimination, but thanks to Professor Larse’s discovery, everything changed.

Everyone looked at Archie with a shocked expression except Ruby who stared at nothing with her red eyes.

“I’m sorry, soldier, did you just talk back to me?” Prince asked as he furrowed his forehead with an annoyed face.

“As I said, do you have a problem with me? I’m tired and I’m not in the mood for this bullshit,” Archie said as he sighed and rubbed his forehead and hair.

A fist was thrown at Archie but Archie grabbed it without flinching and was unfazed about it. On the other hand, everyone was surprised that he blocked Prince’s punch like it was nothing and it could be seen that Prince tried so hard to push his fist at Archie but Archie just held it like it was nothing.

“I warn you, I’m tired and I can make you regret throwing a punch at me,” Archie said as he pushed Prince’s hand away from his face. Archie then glared at Resse and it was enough to make her have a goosebump on her nape.

“Prince, we don’t have time for this, we should go back now while the parasites are resting,” Vincent said as he grabbed Prince’s shoulder.

“Remove your hand from my shoulder,” Prince said as he glanced at Vincent’s hand from the corner of his eyes with a disgusted expression.

Vincent removed his hand from him and raised his hands while he backed away.

“Alright, let’s go back and we will continue this back in the headquarters,” Prince said as he walked away from Archie.

(2 weeks later.)

Archie chopped off logs to help the old couple to survive the winter soon. Archie had been living in one of the houses that belonged to that old couple after he got discharged from the military for making such a huge mess and killing one of the best Axis Humans of the Eastern Nation. He was lucky enough that he didn’t get heavy punishment because Ruby shared the punishment with him.

Ruby got demoted to Lieutenant while Vincent only got a warning from Marlon. After her demotion, she had never been seen again and the only one who talked to Ruby was Vincent. Archie didn’t bother to check on her because he was still mad at her since she killed Julia.

“Archie…” The old woman approached Archie with a bowl of soup and dry bread.

“Ah, Miss Marie, good morning,” Archie said as he stuck the axe on the ground.

“I know that it’s not much, but I hope this is enough to fill your tummy…” The old woman offered the soup and the dry bread to Archie.

“Oh, thank you, Miss Marie, but I told you that you don’t have to provide me with anything. I only need a place to rest and that’s it, I can find my own food by working at other places,” Archie replied as he gently pushed the bowl back at Marie.

Marie looked at Archie with a worried expression. “You said that but I never saw you eat anything since you lived here, are you sure you have something to eat or were you lying to me this whole time?” Marie asked as she sat next to Archie on the bench.

“Okay, I will eat this just for this one time and I want you to eat it together with me, Miss Marie,” Archie replied while he smiled and grabbed the bowl from Marie’s hand.

Archie drank the soup and he couldn’t taste anything, and it taste disgusting to him. In fact, everything tasted disgusting for him ever since he ate Julia’s flesh. The only thing that was bearable to consume was alcohol but he couldn’t get drunk because his body was immune to the alcohol.

“I hope you like it, I made this with fresh ingredients,” Marie said as she dipped the bread into the soup.

“Yes, this is delicious,” Archie replied as he ate the bread.

“For the past few days I have been watching the soldiers walking around the city, I saw so many injured soldiers were being carried from all over the place. I wonder if the day has finally come…” Marie said as she rested her hands on the bench.

“What is it, Miss Marie?” Archie asked as he tried to eat the soup.

“The end of this nation…” Marie said as she stared blankly at nothing.

“You worried too much, Miss Marie. Those soldiers are very strong and they won’t let those parasites walk into that wall.” Archie said as he pointed at the wall in the distance.

Marie giggled as she rubbed her hand. “Young man, I have seen this scenery for decades, I know what happened in every corner of this city. I have never seen soldiers with fear written all over their faces but now I see it everywhere.” Marie said as she looked at Archie with a gentle smile. “You used to be one, don’t you? I remember that you were discharged for misconduct,” Marie asked.

“Yes, I was trying to protect humans from those parasites on my own but they punished me for endangering people’s lives,” Archie replied as he put the empty bowl next to him.

Marie scoffed mockingly as she grabbed the bowl. “Hah, I’m not surprised…” Marie said as she stood up and walked back to the house. “You’re a nice kid, Archie, you’re a nice kid…” Marie continued and then entered the house.

Archie looked up at the sun without squinting his eyes, he was thinking about the plan for his next move. He had nothing else to do in the Eastern Nation but at the same time, he needed that ship so he could go back to the Western Nation. He wanted to meet Faye and Aster at least for one last time because he missed them so much.

Archie stood up and continued chopping the log.

The sun went down and he didn’t realize that he had been chopping the logs all day. He put down the axe and grabbed his bottle of water while he looked around. It was so quiet than usual, it was all because of the anxiety of the people of the Eastern Nation like what Marie had said earlier. Everyone knew that it won’t be long until they had to evacuate and survive on their own.

Archie touched his stomach and he hadn’t felt hunger ever since that day, he started to believe what they said about not feeling hungry after eating an Axis Human was true. It was convenient for him and he had tested it himself by chopping off his hand and it regenerated faster than ever. It only took a few hours to fully healed a missing limb and it was all because he ate an Axis Human.

Archie decided to go back to the house and rest for the night, and when he entered the house he could feel a presence in one of the rooms. “Show yourself,” Archie said as he stared at his bedroom.

A very weak footstep could be heard coming from his bedroom. “Archie, can I talk to you?” Ruby asked as she peek at Archie.

Ruby looked so thin and had dark circles under her eyes. She was totally different from the last time Archie saw her.

“What do you want?” Archie asked her back.

Ruby weakly walked toward Archie. “I’m scared…” Ruby said as her tears started to well up.