HALF: Dead nor Alive

“So this is the result of two Kings clashing with each other?” Vincent asked as he stared at the mountains and hills that were destroyed and flattened. “There’s no way any living beings would be able to survive if they’re in the vicinity,”

Tommy looked at the damages and realized that the chance of surviving was zero if anyone was near two King-type parasites. He wanted to believe that there would be survivors or at least a survivor from this kind of destruction in the Eastern Nation.

Everyone looked at a vast field with giant craters that used to be a massive forest in the distance. The land was dried out and everything was burned into ashes that they could see those fly into the sky with black smoke.

“Put your mask on, we will be walking past through this,” Faye said as she put her mask on. “We are not even halfway through, but the good news is that there’s no parasite here so we could focus on bringing the weapon all the way up there,” Faye pointed at the remaining hill in the distance.

They all walked through the land, it was so hot that everyone started dripping sweat all over their bodies. Even though the battle ended three days ago, the heat was still there and they couldn’t imagine how hot it was when the fight between those two happened.

It took them more than six hours to reach the destination because of the heat and the terrain.

“We can’t do this, not in this heat,” Tommy said as he removed his jacket and shirt, he then wiped the sweat on his body with his shirt. “This is so fucking hot, we will be dehydrated in less than five minutes,”

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement with their faces covered with sweat._.

“Yeah, let’s not think about how to fight the King-type parasite while we can’t even survive with this temperature,” Daniel said as he put a wet towel that he poured with water and put it on his face. “Not to mention the ashes and the smoke are really dangerous for us,”

Faye looked at everyone and they were all suffering from the heat and the smoke.

“Let’s move, we are going for plan B,” Faye said and nodded her head. with sweats on her forehead. “That area should be unaffected by the battle,” Faye pointed her finger at the area on the east side of the island.

“Okay, I don’t care how far it would be, but as long as we are not here, it’s already a better plan,” Vincent said as he walked toward the weapon. “Archie, can you lend us a hand? I don’t think anyone has the strength to push this thing anymore,” Vincent asked as he stared at Archie.

Archie nodded and walked toward the back of the weapon.

They all left the area and it took them only two hours thanks to Archie who helped them push the weapon. They all looked at him and thought that he should have helped them from the beginning instead of watching.

“The sun is already down, we should rest for the day,” Faye looked at everyone laying on the grass. “Thankfully, the scout team found a river not far from here, so you guys can clean yourself and wash your clothes over there,” Faye pointed her finger to the north.

Everyone hurriedly stood up and looked in the direction Faye was pointing at, then they were all going there to cool off.

“You have been so quiet, Archie, what’s wrong?” Ruby asked as she wiped her nape and neck with a wet towel.

“I don’t sense the parasite, not even a little,” Archie answered and looked at the distance with his eyes squinted. “I think the parasite left the moment the dragon one flew away,”

“Great! So we came all the way here for nothing?” Ruby raised her eyebrow as she sighed.

“No, the parasite is still here,” Eve said. “It’s normal for you to be unable to detect the parasite because that thing can hide its presence like a gecko or an octopus,”

“A gecko or an octopus? Are you telling us that it can camouflage?” Vincent asked. “I don’t remember that parasite could do something like that back then. Is it the result of evolving after it got exposed by the bomb?”

“Yes, it’s because of that but luckily I can still sense it. It’s deep down underneath us and it’s trying to heal its body after the battle,” Eve said as she looked at the ground under her feet. “We just need to find a way in,”

“You guys are not dipping yourself in the river?” Faye asked as she walked toward them.

“We will go there later, it must be crowded over there right now,” Vincent answered while plucking the grass.

“I see, we have the same way of thinking,” Faye said with a smile on her face, and then she looked at the distance with her arms crossed. “Where do you think that parasite is hiding? Based on where we are standing at, that thing should be around here, right?”

“The only place where a massive parasite can hide is right below us,” Eve answered as she tapped the ground with her heel.

Faye looked down and raised her eyebrows. “Down here? That means we need to find the hole that the parasite made,” Faye said. “Now, how are we supposed to fight it if the parasite is down here?”

“Lure it out, that’s the only way,” Archie answered as he rested his hands on the ground behind his back. “You can ask those guys to search the hole from above,” Archie said as he nodded up at the helicopter near the weapon.

“Yeah, that’s my plan for tomorrow early in the morning for the helicopter to check the area from above thoroughly,” Faye replied and looked at the helicopter. “But luring out the parasite, that would be hard to do and if you have to be the one to do it again, I feel like we always depending on you both rather than doing it as a team,”

Ruby scoffed and shook her head which make everyone look at her with confusion.

“It’s because we are not meant to fight those things, and we are not ready for this kind of stuff,” Ruby said while covering her face with a towel.

“What do you mean, Ruby?” Faye asked with her eyebrows furrowed and stared at Ruby weirdly.

“Just once, I want you guys to do a mission like this without Archie and Eve then come back,” Ruby removed the towel from her face. “You will understand what I’m talking about then,”

“I know what you’re trying to say, everything that happened it was all thanks to both of them. It made me realize that we are just an ant in this world, the lowest of the lowest in the food chain. But that doesn’t mean we are going to let it happen, right? We are smarter than them and we have survived for thousands of years. That means we would be able to survive this as well,” Faye replied and looked at Ruby with a bit of disappointment.

Ruby once again scoffed. “I’m sorry, I just found it funny because I used to think like that,” Ruby said as she stared back at Faye. “I’m going to dip in the river, I will talk to you guys later,” Ruby stood up and then walked away.

Vincent sighed and closed his eyes.

“Vincent, what happened to Ruby?” Faye was so confused about what just happened.

“It’s better for you to not know what we know, Faye,” Vincent looked up and stared at Faye. “The things that we saw, we heard, and we understood, those things are giving us nightmares,”

Faye got more confused by Vincent’s words but she brushed it off because she was too tired to think about anything at that moment.

“I see, well then, I will check the others’ conditions,” Faye said with a smile and then left.

Archie, Eve, and Vincent decided to follow Ruby and they all enjoyed the evening in the river with the starlight illuminating the sky. They spent an hour in the river before they decided to go back to the camp and rest for the night.

Everyone was asleep so tightly including Archie and Eve because they were exhausted because of the heat as well.

While they were asleep, the ground suddenly trembled and they all woke up by it. They all looked around but couldn’t see anything because the sun wasn’t even up yet. But then they heard a loud roar, the familiar roar they heard inside the Son Doong cave.

“It’s back?!” Faye asked as she looked at the distance while waiting for her eyes to adapt to the darkness.

Eve stood next to Faye and saw the dragon trying to dig the ground and find the parasite. “Yes, it’s back and ready for a rematch,”