HALF: Dead nor Alive

*Bang*

Ruby shot her pistol at Eve, she didn’t even bother to block it and just took the bullet with her wing like it was nothing to her. Archie who struggled to free himself suddenly looked at Eve’s expression that turned drastically to confusion.

“You just made a mistake,” Ruby said as she kept pointing her pistol at Eve. “Don’t underestimate a human because you never know what we are capable of,” she continued as she watched Eve’s wing start to twitch.

Eve looked at her right wing and it slowly melted like a block of ice in hot weather, she looked so confused but then she staggered and fell to her knees. Archie looked at her wing and turned out Ruby used the bullets that she had smeared with the serum.

“We don’t have time to waste, let’s go!” Ruby said as she ran past Eve and she grabbed Archie’s arm and then dragged him.

Archie turned his head back to see Eve was struggling to control her body but she didn’t seem to be in pain at all. She suddenly tore her wing after she noticed what was happening to her body, but it was a bit too late because the serum had spread all around her body.

Nobody knew who that woman was but they knew that she was an Ex-Human, they never thought to see one and how terrifying she was. If they knew that she wasn’t just an Ex-Human but also the one that would take over the earth, they might have killed her with the opportunity they got.

“Everyone aboard!” Fanheim said as he waved at Ruby and the others since they were the last ones to board the ship.

They all climbed the rope and aboard the ship.

“Pull the anchor and set the sail!” Fanheim said as he hung on the rope and climbed up to the ship.

Everyone was busy operating the ship while Ruby and Vincent were looking at Archie who just stood at the front of the ship. Archie saw Eve was staring at him at the port with her wing in her hand, she didn’t make any expression as if she wasn’t planning on chasing them.

“Who is she, Archie?” Ruby asked as she put her hand on his shoulder.

“She’s like me, she’s not just an Ex-Human like you were in the forest. She’s here for a reason, and that reason is the same as mine,” Archie said as he kept staring at Eve.

“A reason?” Ruby asked as she looked at Archie with curiosity.

Archie nodded and turned his head to look at Ruby. “Yes, she’s here to find me and that’s the woman that I have been looking for. We both are meant to be together but as you can see, it doesn’t look like that because she’s different from what I imagined,”

“What do you mean by meant to be together? How do you know? Did you meet her before?” Ruby asked as she furrowed her forehead.

“It’s more complicated than you think,” Archie said as he sighed. “Do you believe in God, Ruby?” He asked as he looked at the sea.

“God? No, I don’t believe God exists because if God really exists, he won’t abandon us like this,” Ruby answered without hesitation.

Archie smiled as he looked at Ruby. “What if that’s his plan? That humanity is no longer needed in this world,”

Ruby looked at Archie with confusion and terrified at the same time. “What do you mean by that? What are you talking about?”

“Do you know there are lives before humankind?” Archie asked and Ruby nodded with understanding. “Now think about it, what happened to them?” he continued as he clenched his fist and looked at the kings clashing in the abandoned city.

“They went extinct because of a disaster,” Ruby answered as she looked at the chaos.

“Then what makes you think that it won’t happen to humankind? Do you believe that we are miraculously here without a reason? We are here for a reason and that reason always has an end,” Archie said as he sat down and leaned on the rail.

Ruby was speechless and started to think that the meteorite that struck the earth wasn’t just a coincidence. With the parasites that roamed the earth, billions of lives died that day and realized that the parasites were the only dominant being on earth.

“You’re telling me that all of this happened because of a reason and that reason was God’s plan?” Ruby asked with fear written all over her face.

“I thought you don’t believe in God, Ruby? Archie asked as he looked at her.

“No, I need to know, what makes you think that way? Why are you so confident that it was God’s plan?” Ruby asked as she sat down and grabbed Archie’s shoulder.

“Do you know the story about Adam and Eve, Ruby?” Archie asked.

Ruby shook her head. “No, I never heard of them,”

“They were the first human that roamed the earth, and God sent them down from heaven. They’re the ones who made us who we are now,” Archie explained.

“That makes no sense, so now all those parasites will be the ones that roam the earth? I don’t want to believe that bullshit,” Ruby replied as she shook her head in disagreement.

“No, the parasites are not the ones who will roam the earth, but me and the other Ex-Humans,” Archie answered. “The woman you just saw earlier, she’s Eve and I’m the Adam. Do you understand what that means, Ruby? I was chosen by God and the angels were the ones who told me everything about it,” he continued as he stared at Ruby.

Ruby was dumbfounded and she looked at Archie with disbelief, she then stood up and walked away slowly while she was shaking her head. “No, I don’t want to believe it. You must be making things up,” she said and then left hurriedly.

Archie just watched Ruby leave and then he closed his eyes since he had fought for days and didn’t rest for even a single second.

“So that’s how it is,” A soothing woman’s voice whispered into Archie’s ear.

Archie opened his eyes and the eldest wind witch was the one who whispered into his ear. “So you were listening? Now you know why there are so many Drautnir like me,” he said quietly and looked at the people who were still busy controlling the ship.

“We have a hunch that it must be something similar to that, but we never thought it would be like that. It’s still surprising even for me,” The witch replied.

“I’m not sure if I’m allowed to reveal it to a human, but realizing that nothing is happening right now, I think they’re fine with it,” Archie said as he looked at the dark sky with bolts of lightning striking the sea.

“Colonel, we see the other ships!” An Axis Human screamed from the top of the mast.

Archie stood up and checked the finger that the guy was pointing at, and they saw six ships waiting near the shore. Fanheim walked to the other side of the ship and used the binoculars to check and he was glad that they were doing fine.

“Let’s regroup with them,” Fanheim said.

All the ships were gathered and Marlon looked so glad that they managed to leave the port. Fanheim explained that there were so many people who decided to stay, Marlon understood the situation and then he asked about what they saw earlier. Fanheim couldn’t explain much but he told him about the kings and that was one of them.

“Archie, have you seen Ruby? I haven’t seen her since we got here,” Vincent asked.

Archie shook his head. “No, I haven’t seen her either,”

Vincent left to look for Ruby while Archie had been feeling weird ever since he left the port.

Archie’s body and the parasites that resided in his body were hard to control as if something made them feel unease. He tried to understand his own body but he couldn’t find anything weird, it was that the parasites were the ones who acting weird.

Archie started to feel weak and decided to go down and lay down on the hammock to get some sleep.

Fanheim looked at the thunderstorm with no sign of ending, he looked at how crazy the sea was and they couldn’t get through that kind of storm with the small ship he was on. Marlon agreed to wait until the sea calmed down since he didn’t want to risk it and also because they were safe near the shore.

After a day of waiting, the storm had finally calmed down, Marlon led the journey as the other ships followed from behind. They got enough food from hunting near the shore and it was enough for a week’s journey.

Fanheim looked at the sea and he felt a bit nervous about it. “Let’s hope nothing happen to us,”