HALF: Dead nor Alive

Archie walked away the moment he broke the glass and freed the subject. Jenny and the other scientist heard the sound of the glass scattered, and the moment they turned around, it was already too late for them.

The subject started tearing and ripping the scientists bodies. Although the subject still had his consciousness, it was his own will and he decided to kill all the scientists. Jenny who saw the subject broke free, immediately ran away, and sent the alarm off to warn everyone.

Jenny didn’t bother to look back and started running toward the entrance to the laboratory. She could hear the screams of pain, the sound of bone cracking, and the sound of blood dripping and splattering on the floor.

Jeanny hurriedly opened the door, and the guards were already in position to stop the subject from destroying the lab and killing the scientist. The first thing they did was attract the subject’s attention by shooting him in the head.

It worked like a charm, and the moment they got the subject’s attention, they drew their swords and started running toward the subject. Although they were only four of them, they weren’t scared at all. One of them grabbed his pistol and shot a bullet filled with a serum, and then shot it on the subject’s chest.

“Alright! Time to kill this son of a bitch and get this thing done!” The guy said as he put his pistol back.

All of them surrounded the subject, but before they could make a move, the electricity suddenly went out, and everything was pitch black.

“Are you fucking serious right now?” One of the guys asked as he looked around.

Before his eyes could adapt to the darkness, the emergency light turned on. He was shocked when he saw all his friends were dead with their heads missing. He was so confused because the subject was on his knees because the serum started to take effect.

“What the fuck happened?!” The guy asked as he looked around and the scientists had already left the lab, and he was the only one left.

The light started flickering and slowly, one by one the lamp started to turn off. The guy started to feel scared because he didn’t know what had happened and something was with him in the lab.

Suddenly all the steel doors slowly opened, and the guy decided to run away because he couldn’t handle all of them at once even though they weren’t as strong as the subject. He tried to close the door, but since the electricity was gone, he couldn’t do it.

He suddenly realized that if the emergency power was gone as well, then that also meant everyone was stuck down there with dozens of subjects.

“Fuck!” The guy said as he grabbed his rifle from his back. “Fucking damn it!” He kept swearing as he tried to calm himself down and prepare for the worst.

Archie watched all the subjects started leaving the lab and walked toward the guy. He started to hear gunshots from the hallway, but he didn’t bother to look at it as he walked toward Elena’s room.

“Elena?” Archie asked as he entered Elena’s room.

Elena was hiding in the corner, and then she looked at Archie in his real body and face. She was so confused at first, but then she noticed the same parasites that lived inside Archie and immediately noticed him.

“Professor Dale?” Elena asked as she stood up and looked at Archie with a puzzled look.

“My name is Archie, and yes, I was Professor Dale. I have the ability to change appearance,” Archie answered with a smile on his face.

Elena slowly approached Archie, and she noticed the similar smile that Professor Dale made. She believed Archie, and then he offered his hand to her. She didn’t hesitate to grab his hand, and left the room.

Elena could hear the screeches, screams, and gunshots in the hallway, and she didn’t even scared of those sounds. She could feel the anger and the sadness of the parasites from those sounds.

They didn’t even last for a minute, all those sounds were gone.

“They’re coming,” Elena said as she held Archie’s hand so tightly.

“Don’t worry, I can handle them,” Archie said as he transformed his left hand into scythe-like fingers and claws.

Elena was surprised when she saw Archie’s hand, and rather than scared, she was curious and interested by it. She then looked at her right hand and somehow she remembered something, but she didn’t know what it was because it only flew by for a split second.

“Wait here, I will take care of them,” Archie said as he slowly removed his right hand from Elena’s hand.

Elena grabbed Archie’s hand again and tried to pull him back. “No! Don’t!”

Archie turned around and raised his eyebrows with a puzzled look on his face. “You don’t want me to kill them?” Archie asked.

“No, let them be. They’re not going to attack us anyway. They just want to live,” Elena answered as she used both hands to stop Archie from leaving.

Archie was a bit confused about Elena and her behavior. She was more worried about the parasites rather than the humans, and he was a bit surprised that she didn’t even care about Jenny at all. He didn’t know if it was because she was a kid and only cared about things that she listened to or something else.

“Okay, I won’t do anything,” Archie said as he showed his left hand turned back to normal to Elena. “But the problem is, how are we going to go up?” Archie asked as he looked at the thick steel ceiling above his head.

“We can try to use the lift, and I believe the power will come back eventually,” Elena answered.

“No, I don’t think so, Elena,” Archie replied as he shook his head. “My partner is quite ruthless and I think everything above us is already gone because of her,” Archie explained to Elena.

“Your partner is a girl? A woman with long white hair?” Elena asked.

Archie raised his eyebrows and was surprised that Elena knew what Eve looked like.

“How do you know that?” Archie asked as he went down to his knees and stared at Elena in the eye.

“Because her presence is the most dominant every since she came here. I can hear the parasites talking to each other, and looks like she’s the ancient parasites of them all,” Elena answered.

Archie was more confused about what Elena was saying, but he didn’t want to waste his time down there.

“I see, how about you tell me the details after we are out of here?” Archie asked.

“Okay,” Elena nodded her head.

They both left the lab, and as Elena said, the parasites didn’t attack them at all and ignored their presence. They both went to where the lift was, and he immediately covered Elena’s eyes with his right hand because all the scientists had become mushy like porridge.

“Cover your mouth and nose, Elena. It’s smells here,” Archie said calmly.

Elena immediately covered her mouth and nose with both hands as she was guided by Archie.

Archie forcefully opened the lift doors, and then entered the lift with Elena. He then made a hole in the top of the lift so he could fly up and meet with Eve.

Archie spread his wings and blocked the exit with them so Elena couldn’t see what had happened to the scientists. Elena pulled Archie’s hand away, and saw the wings on his back. She was in awe and dumbfounded at the same time.

“Hang on tight,” Archie said with a bit of a smile.

Elena hugged Archie’s waist, and then they both flew away.

Archie looked at the numbers on each exit, and he could sense all the parasites had overwhelmed each floor and killed everyone on each floor. He didn’t care about them and kept flying up to where he came from.

The moment they went back to where he was, Elena was surprised when the whole floor was destroyed with people lying on the ground dead. Some lost their heads, some lost half of their bodies, some got split in half, and some were crushed and couldn’t be identified anymore.

They heard gunshots in the distance, and Archie immediately ran toward it to check if Eve needed his help. Elena stayed back and hid under the table as Archie asked.

Archie flew toward the gunshots, and it came from the hallway.

Archie landed and took a peek at the hallway. He saw Eve stand on top of the Axis Humans, and she killed all of them without a scratch. She was still wearing her lab coat, but her face had changed to her real face.

“Eve,” Archie asked as he came out of the corner.

“Long time no see,” Eve said with a smile and blood covered her body. “Hmm? Who’s that cute little girl?” Eve asked as she tilted her head.

Archie turned around and saw that Elena was standing behind him.