HALF: Dead nor Alive

“Good morning, everyone,” Faye said as she walked to the front where hundreds of people were standing in line early in the morning where the dew on the grass was still fresh.

Faye and Aster stood in front of them while Archie and the others were standing at the front line and stared at them both. She took a deep breath and stared at them back. It reminded her of the time when Flavius gave his speech before sending Iohann to FalCon-1.

Archie could tell that Faye hesitated in giving a speech, and he knew exactly what was on her mind by the expression she made.

“If you’re nervous, everyone is going to be nervous as well. You don’t want that when you’re leading hundreds of people into the most dangerous place on earth with that kind of expression,” Ruby said and stared at Faye with a serious expression.

Faye was startled when she heard Ruby say that out loud.

“Everyone already knows the risk, so don’t bring their fear up to the surface when everyone had prepared mentally and physically since we step our foot here,” Ruby continued.

Faye nodded with understanding as she took a deep breath and exhaled deeply.

“It appears that we are all nervous about this mission, and I believe it’s a good thing in this situation. Let’s use that nervousness to watch each other’s back because with that being said, we can feel a bit at ease, and at least we know there’s someone who’s going to protect us,” Faye said with her hands on her back.

“We have been through a lot together, let’s keep it that way and stay together so we all can go back home,” Faye looked at every one of them. “Seeing you all here, that means you’re ready to go out there, and let’s not waste any more time here listening to this meaningless speech. Let’s go,” Faye said as she nodded her head with a serious expression.

Although Faye said that, she checked on everyone and made sure they prepared everything before they left. She decided to explore FalCon-1 for five days and already knew which area she would explore, and that area was where Iohann and his team went.

“I heard you guys went there with Flavius back in the day, did you manage to find Iohann?” Archie asked.

“No, we didn’t even reach the area that he went to because the parasites were too many and too strong. We ended up leaving after losing too many casualties,” Faye shook her head as she stared at the bullet train in front of her. “Wait, you know Iohann?” Faye asked with her eyebrows furrowed.

“Of course, I was there with him during the expedition,” Archie answered. “Didn’t I tell you about it?”

“What?! No! You didn’t tell me about this!” Faye’s eyes were wide open. “I remember that everyone that joined the expedition was all dead! How come you not come back and tell everyone about it?!” Faye’s hands grabbed Archie’s wrists so tightly.

“Because I can’t come back,” Archie answered as he looked at Faye’s hands. “I guess this isn’t the right time to talk about this,” Archie said as he looked at everyone who was ready to leave.

Faye turned around and saw everyone staring at her. She then cleared her throat.

“Let’s leave, but you owe me an explanation when we are back,” Faye said with a serious expression then left to tell Aster about what she just heard.

“Are you planning on telling her the truth?” Eve asked quietly as she stood right behind Archie and stared at Faye. “You know it’s not going to go well because they might interfere again and kill her,”

“I know, I’m not planning to do that, I’m just wanting to tell her the truth I want to tell her,” Archie answered as he walked toward the train.

Everyone entered the train after checking each other’s equipment, and the train immediately move as soon as the doors were closed.

Faye was planning to ask Archie about his story, but since she and Aster spent the whole night doing some research and preparing for the mission, they both didn’t have the chance to sleep. They both were asleep as soon as they sat down and leaned their heads on the window while everyone was having a bit of trouble calming down.

Six hours had passed and they were about to arrive at the station. Archie was enjoying his peaceful moment, and then he looked at his surroundings, but everyone was making the same reaction as what Iohann and the others had made.

“What a sight. How things have changed since then,” Archie said in his head with a bit of a smile. “Even Ruby and the others are nervous right now even after everything they experienced,” Archie continued as he looked down and hid his smile.

Faye stood up and cleared her throat. “Alright, do a final check before we go! We are going to arrive in ten minutes!” Faye raised her voice to make everyone pay attention to her and forget about their nervousness.

The moment they all stood up to check each other’s equipment, an earthquake happened, a big one as well. Everyone stopped moving and held something they could hold with their hands. Everything went dark and all the lights on the tunnel were cut off.

“What was that?!” Tommy asked in a cracking voice.

Both Archie and Eve felt it, a presence of a King-type parasite. Not from above, but from down below them.

The train had to stop moving, and everyone was silently staring at the ceiling because they were underwater. They all were afraid that the tunnel might break and leak the water, if that happened, there would be no way for them to survive.

“Archie, is this…” Ruby asked, but before she could finish her sentence, Archie already nodded his head. “Great…” Ruby said quietly because she didn’t want to make everyone panic.

The earthquake didn’t stop after three minutes and everyone started panicking because they could see and hear the dust falling. Faye ordered the loco pilot to start moving the train because it was better to keep moving rather than stay there.

The train started moving, but very slowly. It was enough to make everyone a bit at ease because at least they could move closer to the station and even if the tunnel broke, they were already on the island rather than stuck in the tunnel under the sea.

“Mediterranean sea,” Archie said to himself, he then looked at Eve. “We are quite close from where the meteor strike, do you think this one came from there or from FalCon-1?” Archie asked.

“We don’t know until we see it with our own two eyes, but you can tell it’s really big compared to the last two we fought,” Eve answered as she looked down. “It’s moving,” Eve said as she looked to her right, and Archie also felt it.

“I guess it’s our presence that makes it interested in us,” Archie said as he slowly looked up.

“Then that means we will be welcomed as soon as we step our foot on the island,” Eve replied. “Are you ready to fight another one?” Eve asked as she stared at Archie.

“It feels like we don’t have time to relax at all…” Archie sighed as he sat down and tightened his gloves.

“It’s the final step, keep up or give up but the second option means death,” Eve replied as she sat down and closed her eyes to try and hide her presence from the King-type parasite.

After an hour on a slow moving bullet train, they finally reached the station. The earthquake was still haunting them because the King-type parasite was following them thanks to Eve and Archie. They had no option but to hurriedly leave the station and use the lift to go to the surface.

“What’s going on here?! This is ridiculous! The earthquake hasn’t stopped!” Daniel asked as he looked at Ruby and Vincent.

“Who knows, but now the earthquake seems to be calming down now. I guess there’s a storm outside or something,” Daniel replied as he looked up because he couldn’t wait to leave the narrow space and be surrounded by steel walls that might collapse anytime soon.

It took then fifteen minutes to finally reach the surface. Everyone hurriedly walked out of the lift and turned around to look at the sturdy walls made of steel. The earthquake was still happening, but thankfully everyone was safe and the lift was safe as well.

“Is this an eruption? I don’t see any thunderstorm, not even a droplet of rain from the sky,” Daniel asked as he looked at the sky.

Before anyone could say anything, the ground suddenly shook really badly which made everyone fall to the ground. They didn’t have the chance to think about the situation because they heard a loud roar coming from behind the steel wall.

“What’s that?!” Aster asked.

“That’s the sound of a King-type parasite welcoming us. Now we know why the earthquake isn’t stopping,” Eve said with a smile on her face.