HALF: DEAD NOR ALIVE

“If only we had this kind of ship back in the east, do you think everyone would be alive now and live a peaceful life?” Tommy asked as he stared down at the sea while resting his arms and head on the railing.

“No, I don’t think it would change anything because the King-type parasite would be attacking the ship rather than fighting Archie since the ship is attracting too much attention,” Vincent answered while he sharpened his sword and looked at the edge of the blade.

“Yeah, we wouldn’t be able to survive because you should remember how terrifying the waves were. The ship would easily get flipped over and we all would die on the sea,” Daniel nodded his head in agreement.

Tommy sighed and lifted his head. “I’m worried about them ever since we boarded the ship. I hope that they’re fine on their own over there, but knowing the city is the arena of two kings, the chance of them surviving would be none,”

“I want to go back there and check the condition of the city,” Tommy said. “Do you think we can do that? I mean, the parasite is dead, and we have this cargo ship with us,” Tommy asked as he looked at Vincent.

“That’s not my call, Tom. If you want, you can ask Bubby, Fanheim, or Marshal Marlon,” Vincent said as he leaned on the railing with his arms crossed.

Archie overheard their conversation from the other side of the deck with Eve standing next to him. He was worried about Marie since she had been kind to him and treated him like her own son. She gave him the warmth that he never thought would experience again because he had been living on his own even before he became an Ex-Human.

It made Archie feel uncomfortable thinking about Marie and the possibility of her death even though he didn’t really care much about the humans anymore.

“I’m going to rest, wake me up when we arrive on the island,” Archie said and looked at Eve who was enjoying the breeze and the smell of the sea._.

“Okay,” Eve nodded her head with a bit of a smile on her face.

Archie went to the cabin and took the first empty room that he found and then hit the bed.

Archie could feel a gentle touch on his forearm, he opened his eyes and saw Eve sitting on the bed while staring at him. He looked out the window and the sun was already down, he was a bit surprised because it felt like he just closed his eyes a few minutes ago.

“What time is it?” Archie asked as he sat down and closed his eyes for a bit because his head was spinning lightly.

“It’s 9 P.M., we can already see the island and we will reach the island in half an hour or less,” Eve answered. “Are you okay? It seems that the parasites inside your body are still undergoing of mutation,” Eve gently touched Archie’s cheek and stared him in the eye.

“I’m fine, I think,” Archie said as he stood up and stretched his arms while yawning. “I need some fresh air, I’m going to the deck,”

Eve nodded and followed him to the deck.

Everyone was gathered on the deck and they all checked the massive weapon on the deck. The weapon was called the Terminator, and it only had three bullets on it, so they really had to be careful on using the weapon.

“So, how are we going to bring that weapon down from the ship? There’s no way we are going to carry it down the ship, right?” Daniel asked as he looked at Ruby.

“Faye said that there’s an abandoned port on the island, and we are going to dock this ship there. The chance of the crane working is not high but we brought technicians on the ship, and they will take care of it while we will be protecting the ship and the weapon on the port,” Ruby answered with her arms rested on her waist.

Ruby sighed as she crossed her arms. “Still, I don’t think bringing this weapon would be helpful to us and it will only slow us down since we have to escort that weapon all the way to the area where the King-type parasite at,” Ruby said as she stared at Faye and the others were busy doing a final check-up on the weapon.

“Wait, really? So we are going to drag and push that thing all the way to the middle of the island?” Daniel asked with his eyes wide open.

“Yeah, I know, right?” Ruby replied with a mocking smile on her face.

Faye clapped her hands and it was enough to get everyone’s attention.

“Everyone! We will be reaching our destination in ten minutes! I want you to prepare and make sure there’s nothing left behind before we dock at the port!” Faye shouted as she stared at everyone on the deck.

Everyone went down to the cabin to grab their belongings while Archie and Eve were just chilling on the deck since they didn’t bring many items with them. A magnum pistol on their waist and a pair of clothes in their backpack was the only things they had on them.

Archie went to the front of the deck and saw the port, it was dark and it would be impossible to see it with a naked eye. The port was bigger than the last one, it could fit at least dozens of cargo ships there.

Archie watched the ship carefully enter the port and he already could tell there were so many parasites lurking in the darkness inside those buildings on the port. There was nothing else there but buildings and cranes, there was no containers or ship.

“Alright! Let’s clear the area around the port and make sure there’s not a single parasite here!” Faye said as she put her rifle on her back and pistols on her waist.

Archie stood on the railing and everyone looked at him with confusion until they saw him jump off of the ship with Eve. They all ran to the edge and saw both of them land safely from that height which was a bit risky even for Axis Humans.

Faye pulled out the bridge manually and then they all ran down from the ship and touched the port. They spilt into dozens of teams and started patrolling around the port that was ten times bigger than a football field while the technicians were escorted by Ruby and her team to the crane.

“Tom, Dan, go and check the electricity supply, it should have enough power to run a crane,” Ruby said as she threw a radio to Tommy. “The channel is 16, report to me once you find it,”

Tommy grabbed the radio and nodded with understanding and then left with Daniel.

“Don’t get too far from us, we know that we are in a hurry but there’s a chance a parasite could come out from the water. Your life is more important than time, so report to me if you want to go somewhere and one of us will escort you,” Ruby said as she stared at the technicians behind her.

Archie and Eve were already got a handful of parasites and they were slaughtering them while the others listened to the parasites screeching in pain. They had no idea what was happening inside the building but they didn’t want to know and ignored the noises.

Time passed by, and Tommy and Daniel found the electricity supply, they looked at the device and were a bit confused about how to turn it on.

“Major, we found it,” Tommy said with the radio in front of his mouth as he kept looking for the instruction.

“Roger, I want you to turn it on now because the crane is still in a good condition. We can use it now whenever you’re ready,” Ruby replied.

“We are working on it. Give us five minutes because we are struggling to find the instruction on how to turn this thing on,” Tommy said and then put the radio on his waist.

“Roger, take your time but be hurry,” Ruby’s voice could be heard from the radio.

“I found the instruction, Tom,” Daniel said as he showed the manual book in his hand.

“Perfect, let’s do this,” Tommy said as he walked toward Daniel and then they both read the manual.

After reading the instruction, both Tommy and Daniel followed the instructions step by step, and then lastly Tommy pushed up the toggle switch. The generator started to make loud noises and then all the lights were turned on.

“Job is done,” Tommy said to the radio.

“Roger, now get back here,” Ruby replied.

Tommy and Daniel hurriedly ran back to the crane to protect the technicians.

The moment the crane was turned on, it made a louder noise that it attracted all the parasites in the surrounding area. Ruby looked at the empty roads and forests around the port, she knew that a threat was coming toward them.

“How long until you can safely unload the weapon?” Ruby asked.

“Half an hour or more but won’t take more than an hour,” The guy answered and looked at Ruby.

“Alright, just focus on unloading the weapon, we will protect you,” Ruby said as she grabbed her submachine gun then she grabbed her radio and turned to all channels so everyone could hear her.

“We have to protect the port for an hour, be ready because we will be welcoming unwelcomed guests. I repeat, we have to protect the port for an hour,” Ruby said and then removed the safety on her gun. “Good luck, everyone because it’s going to be a long night,” Ruby continued and then put the radio on her waist.