HALF: Dead nor Alive

Two days had passed since Archie and the others evacuated the people in the city. Fanheim was devastated after knowing the old people planned on staying after knowing the situation.

“This is the last ship we are going to build, we don’t have much time left,” Fanheim said as he looked at the small ship.

Archie with the rest of the Axis Humans was defending the port from the parasite. They had been fighting for days nonstop and the storm made everything a lot worse.

The shipwright crossed her arms and looked at the people building the ship. “The ship will be ready tomorrow, do you think we can hold the parasite off until tomorrow?” She asked Fanheim.

Fanheim turned around and looked at Archie and the others from the distance. “That won’t be a problem, we can have all the time before the kings decided to attack us. You don’t have to worry about that, Brenda,” Fanheim answered as he looked at her. “You’re coming with us, right?” he asked as he looked at her with a worried expression.

Brenda turned around and looked at the chaos. “I don’t think it’s necessary for me to come with you guys. I don’t have no more purpose in life and I think I will accept my death here so I can meet with my family again,” she answered as she seemed to have her fate set in stone. “You already have the blueprints for all the ships so if in the future you need to build a ship, you can use them and it’s not necessary for me to be there,” she continued.

Fanheim exhaled deeply as he kept staring at Brenda with a pitiful expression. “I could have done better,”

Brenda looked at him and put her hand on her back. “You have done everything you can, Colonel. You have been doing what was the best for us and we are all grateful for all that,” she comforted him.

Fanheim sighed and nodded with understanding. “There’s no time for me to think about that, let’s focus on building the ship now,” he said as he looked at Brenda.

Hours had passed and the storm started to get worse and everyone was exhausted from holding the port. Archie was the only one who could hold those parasites off, and he didn’t mind taking everything on his own. Ruby and Vincent decided to rest and let Archie take control of the situation, they ordered everyone who couldn’t fight anymore to rest and everyone took that opportunity to rest.

Archie fought for another hour and the parasites kept coming at him like a wave, he knew that he couldn’t control the parasites and they were all scared of the kings that made them follow their orders to clear all the obstacles.

As he fought the parasites, the storm suddenly stopped, and it was still in the middle of the night. Everyone was shocked about it and decided to check out what happened, Archie on the other hand started to tremble as the king that he saw earlier decided to descend.

“My God… what is that?” Fanheim said as he looked at the king descended from the sky. A parasite that looked like a bat with its massive wings attached to its arms with a head that looked like a lion.

Everyone trembled in fear and awe at the same time, they watched the king land on the abandoned city in the south. It was the first time they saw a parasite that massive and they knew at that moment that there was no use in fighting anymore.

“Archie, what is that?!” Ruby asked as she ran toward him with Vincent, Tommy, and Daniel.

Archie looked at them from the corner of his eyes. “That’s a king, that’s a king that came from FalCon-3,” he replied calmly.

“What are we going to do now? Are we safe here?” Vincent asked as he looked at the king.

“Why do you ask me? Do you think I would know what it was thinking?” Archie asked back at him and he immediately went quiet. “One thing that I know, it won’t bother us as long as we stay low,” he answered. “There’s a slight problem though, the parasites seemed to follow the king’s order, and knowing that the parasites had been coming toward us and attacking us, that means it knows that we are here,” he continued.

“Archie!” Fanheim shouted his name as he ran toward them. “Is that what I think it is?” he asked as he looked at the king.

“Yes, it’s the king,” Archie answered.

“Then what are we going to do now? Do you have something in mind?” Fanheim asked as he looked at Archie with a worried expression.

“I do, if the king has decided to descend that means the other king has shown its presence to this one. I’m not sure for how long the other kings will show up, but we are not in a safe situation right now because if this king decides to annihilate us, it can easily do that,” Archie answered.

“So what you’re trying to tell us is-” Fanheim said.

“Yes, we need to distract it or it will come to us here and destroy everything,” Archie replied.

They were looking at each other and Ruby suddenly chuckled with disbelief. “We are going to distract that thing? I don’t think we would be able to do that,” she said.

“It’s fine, I can try to do it on my own but I can’t guarantee that I would be alive but at least I can try and play safe,” Archie said as he looked at the king.

“Fuck it, let’s do it,” Ruby said as she chuckled and shook her head. “I might regret this but as long as I can die to protect the people then I can die in peace,” she continued as she showed her sour smile.

Vincent, Tommy, and Daniel looked at each other and they weren’t sure if they want to do it or not. Ruby looked at Fanheim and she smiled at him while Fanheim just nodded with understanding.

“Alright, we might need the flares to take the parasite’s attention, and before we do that, we need to make a plan first,” Ruby said as she looked at Vincent and the others. “Vince, Tom, Dan, if you guys don’t want to do it, then you shouldn’t come with us. I’m doing this because this is my own call and my way to redeem the mistake I made in the past,” she continued as she patted them on the shoulder.

Vincent shook his head. “No, I’m coming with you,”

“We will follow you, Major, you’re our leader and we must follow wherever our leader goes,” Tommy said with a smile on his face while Daniel nodded in agreement.

“Let’s do this then, but we might need to go to the city and grab everything we need in the armory,” Ruby said as she looked at the magazines on her vest. “We might need a lot of things,” she continued as she realized that she ran out of ammo.

Fanheim crossed his arms and looked at Ruby. “The whole armory is yours to take, get everything that’s necessary to distract that monster. We are all depending on you guys because you’re the only ones who are capable of doing this,” he said and then he looked at Archie while he patted his shoulder. “Please, Archie, our fate as a human is in your hand and I know that you don’t really care about it but at least do it so we can finish the ship and we all can leave this continent,” he continued.

Archie nodded and then looked at Ruby. “Let’s move,”

The five of them went back to the city where the old people stayed and lived in the bunker where the only safe place in the city. They immediately went to the headquarters and grabbed everything in the armory, or at least whatever that was left behind.

While they were busy reloading everything, they heard loud noises that came from outside the armory. They were looking at each other and Ruby tilted her head at the exit. “Archie, can you check it out?” she asked.

Archie nodded and went outside, he looked around and noticed a person was wandering around the headquarters, looking for something. “Newman? What are you doing out here?” Archie asked as he noticed that the person was Newman.

“Archie? What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be in the port right now?” Newman asked as he approached Archie.

Archie nodded up and looked at the king. “We are going to distract that thing away from the port and the city as well,”

Newman looked at the king and he seemed to not be affected by its presence. “You’re going to do that? Do you have a death wish or something?”

Archie shook his head as he exhaled deeply. “I’m not going to die, and I’m not planning on dying today,”