HA\LF: Dead nor Alive

“Is there anything else? I feel like you’re trying to hide something from me,” Eve asked as she lowered her head and stared Archie in the eye up close. “What is it? Tell me,”

“Hansel knew about the meteorite, he found something under the sea a very long time ago that got carried by the water. He was keeping it safe somewhere in this island,” Archie said as he stared at the tunnel from where he came in.

“Hmm? Do you know where it is?” Eve asked as she looked at the tunnel Archie was staring at.

“I do, let’s go there now because I’m curious about it as well,” Archie said as he tried to sit up.

Eve pulled Archie back down again and stared at him. “Hold on a minute, why are you hiding it from me if it’s just something from the meteorite?” Eve stared him in the eye.

“It’s not like that,” Archie shook his head. “You might understand when we see it, I think,”

Eve hummed with understanding and then she let Archie stand up.

Archie led Eve outside the cave to where the thing was kept by Hansel, he was thinking about Hansel’s memories. He felt bad for killing him and thought that he might be able to befriend Hansel if he didn’t act rashly. To make himself feel a bit better, he wanted to believe that the Adams that he killed were living inside his body now.

“It’s right up ahead,” Archie said as he stood at the edge of the short cliff and pointed down at the shore.

Eve stood next to Archie as she looked down, she immediately jumped down and landed safely. Archie jumped down and walked toward her as he looked at the thing he saw in Hansel’s memory, it was still the same and he decided to walk toward it.

“What’s this? It’s just a big rock,” Eve said as she looked at the giant rock that was half buried by the sand.

“You’re not wrong, but we should start digging and brushing the sand off of that rock,” Archie replied as he walked toward the rock and grabbed the edge of the rock on the right.

Eve didn’t say anything and started cleaning the surrounding area of the rock, she was a bit surprised that there was more to it. They both brushed the sand off of the rock, and slowly she saw something off about the rock, and she was a bit impatient about it so she spread her wings and blew all the sand away as she floated above the ground.

Eve realized that the big rock was only 10% of the whole rock, and once she uncovered 60% of the rock, she was shocked when she saw a claw mark on the meteorite. A mark that was bigger than the dragon-like parasite, and it was just a single claw mark.

Both of them got a chill down their spines as they stared at it from above where the rock covered the whole vast shore.

“Do you think this mark belongs to whatever live inside the meteorite?” Archie asked as he stared at Eve who looked shocked.

“I don’t know,” Eve answered quietly as she started to descend.

Eve stood in the middle of the claw mark and she looked so tiny that she looked like a dot in a drawing. She was either fascinated or scared because Archie couldn’t tell by her expression at all, but he was definitely petrified when he slowly descended on top of the mark.

Archie grabbed his sword and Eve was staring at him with her eyebrows furrowed, but she didn’t say anything and just watched. He walked to one spot where the claw marks scratched the surface that looked sturdy, he then tried to scratch it with his sword but to his surprise, the sword couldn’t even scratch it.

“What are you doing?” Eve asked as she walked toward Archie.

“You remember that this sword was made from the high-quality mineral from the meteorite, right? I can cut anything with this sword but look at this,” Archie said as he pointed at the surface of the rock. “My sword couldn’t even scratch this part, that means this part is way more dense and sturdy than this sword. Can you imagine how strong a monster or parasite can scratch this thing so easily?” Archie asked.

Eve hummed with understanding and then she transformed her right hand and used her claws to scratch the surface and it was the same. She wasn’t surprised but it made her feel uneasy because if that rock was the deepest part of the meteorite, that meant that being was exposed and could leave whenever it want.

“Are you scared?” Eve asked as she rubbed the surface of the rock.

“There’s no reason not to be,” Archie answered as he sheathed his sword. “This thing has been exposed for decades, don’t you think we are in danger now?”

Eve chuckled and looked at Archie. “I’m aware of that for a very long time, now you’re feeling what I felt back then. You won’t be able to live peacefully from now on, but then you will realize that there’s nothing you can do about it,” Eve answered with a smile on her face.

“You will start to think that everything is very insignificant and nothing can be compared to this. You will start doing whatever you want to do before this monstrosity decided to show up and annihilate everything,” Eve explained as she walked toward Archie.

“But then you realize that everything you have done isn’t that exciting anymore as the time keeps ticking. You will realize that you’re the chosen and nothing bad will happen to you as long as you follow their words and it will give you peace of mind,” Eve continued and stared Archie in the eye.

Archie stared back at Eve and it felt like she was talking about herself and what she had gone through in her past before she met him. She was telling him that it would be best to follow their orders if he wanted to be safe and saved by them.

“We should go back and meet with the others,” Eve said as she put both her hands on Archie’s cheeks. “We have an important task to do if you don’t want to end up like Hansel,”

Archie nodded his head with understanding and then they both went to the Central Nation.

The moment they both reached the Central Nation, Archie looked at all the mess that happened in the headquarters. He saw so many construction vehicles being parked around it and was rebuilding the laboratory.

“You did this?” Archie asked as he floated above the clouds.

“Yes, just for you I would do anything to keep you safe and alive,” Eve answered as she stared down at the city.

Archie looked at Eve and was a bit surprised because he never thought she would really do something like that for him. He was quite happy about it but worried at the same time that she would do something dangerous just for him because of what happened to her when she tried to get the serum.

“Let’s meet our friends, and hear what they found about the secrecy those humans have,” Eve said and dove down into the forest.

Both of them entered the city and saw everyone was still talking about the incident that happened a month ago. They were terrified that something like that might happen again soon and how dangerous a parasite could be. They were blaming the Axis Humans for not doing their job properly and how they let a parasite enter the city.

They had been living in peace for years and they forgot how terrifying the world was out there. It made Archie chuckle and realize how ungrateful those people were, and thought that it would be better if they had to live like people in the Eastern Nation.

“Your expression is too obvious, Archie,” Eve said as she chuckled. “Don’t bother thinking about them, they will die eventually,”

Archie scoffed and smiled as he nodded his head in agreement.

They both went to the barrack and were immediately recognized by the soldiers. They were forbidden to enter the headquarters because everything need to be sterile from anyone. They were brought to where Faye was since they had both gone missing for a really long time and she ordered everyone to bring them to her once they saw them.

They were brought to a tall building and the whole building was filled with soldiers and Axis Humans. It was the temporary headquarters until they rebuilt everything like how it used to be.

“Lieutenant Colonel is waiting for you in that room over there,” The soldier said as he pointed his hand at the door at the end of the hallway.

Archie nodded and then walked toward Faye’s room.

The moment they both entered the room, Faye looked at them and jolted from her seat.

“We are in grieve danger,” Faye said as she stared at both of them.

Archie and Eve raised their eyebrows and stared at Faye with a puzzled look.