HALF: DEAD NOR ALIVE

“I’m glad that you’re with us, Archie,” Marlon said as he watched the whole city was in chaos from the car. “I was doubting that I will not be able to leave this place unnoticed,” Marlon continued as he looked at Archie from over his shoulder.

“It’s a pure coincidence. I was with Ruby and Faye but then we saw Prince and Resse struggled fighting the mercenaries,” Archie answered as he sat on the back of the car.

Marlon furrowed his forehead and turned around. “Ruby and Faye are still here? What are they doing? I thought I personally ordered Ruby to go straight to the safehouse,” Marlon asked with a puzzled look.

“We were, but then Faye insisted on bringing all his men to the safehouse. She believed after jeoparding and exposing the secret, all his men would be used for the experiment. Ruby understood her feelings, and decided to bring her back here, and now they’re on their way to the station on the north side of the city,” Archie answered.

“As long as she didn’t bring the flash disk with her, she can do whatever she wants. But is she or is she not?” Marlon asked.

“I’m not sure sir, but I think she didn’t bring the flash disk with her,” Archie answered.

Marlon hummed with understanding.

They arrived at the safehouse and the first thing that Marlon asked for was the flash disk. Aster had it with him the whole time and Marlon immediately took it from him and checked it himself using the laptop he brought with him.

The sun was about to go down. Vincent and Aster were worried sick about Ruby and Faye, but then three cars came to the village. It was Ruby and Faye, with Faye’s men that she managed to bring with her.

While everyone was glad to see each other again, Archie, on the other hand, had to wait for Eve. He knew that Eve was strong, but he couldn’t help but be worried about her since she almost died back then because of the serum.

Faye and Aster were looking at Archie sitting on the cliff staring at the empty road between the forest. Faye had told Aster about what Archie had told her, and so they decided to approach him and accompany him.

“Waiting for Eve?” Faye asked as she sat down right next to Archie.

Archie looked at Faye, and then looked at Aster who stood right behind her.

“Yeah, I’m a bit worried because she almost died because of the serum when you shot her back then. There’s no reason to not be worried since it might happen again this time,” Archie answered as he stared blankly at the forest.

“Right, I did that,” Faye replied as she nodded her head.

“If you want to ask about me, can we wait until Eve comes back? I can’t think about anything else right now,” Archie said as he smiled gently at both of them.

“We understand, we are here to accompany you, nothing else,” Aster said as he sat down next to Archie.

An hour had passed and it was getting dark, but there was no sign of Eve anywhere near the village. Faye and Aster didn’t say a word, but they were there just to be present for him to make him feel less anxious.

Archie felt a presence in the sky. He looked up, but then a glimpse of shadow just went straight down into the forest. He stood up so he could look at the forest more clearly as he squinted his eyes, and then a rustling sound could be heard in the distance.

“Waiting for me?” Eve asked as she looked up at Archie, Faye, and Aster with a smile on her face.

Eve flew up and landed right behind Archie, and then she hid her wings. Before she could say anything else, Archie stood up and checked her body up, down, back, and front.

“Are you alright? You’re not hurt anywhere?” Archie asked in a worried voice.

“I’m fine. I was enjoying killing them and didn’t realize the time,” Eve answered with a smile on her face as she grabbed Archie’s cheeks with her hands. “Anyway, I got something for you,” Eve said as she grabbed something on the sling bag around her body.

Faye furrowed her eyebrows and looked at the hard disk in Eve’s hand.

“Wait, is that a hard disk?” Faye asked.

“Yes, I stole it from the VMC’s main building,” Eve answered as she nodded her head. “Don’t worry, Archie, I did remove the tracking device from it as how Ivan did it back then,” Eve said before Archie could say his mind.

Faye and Aster looked at Eve and Archie with a puzzled look.

“Back then? Wait a minute. Don’t tell me it was you who killed those people in the Northern Nation? And it was you who sent me the flash disk?” Faye asked as she looked at them both.

“You’re right. I was the one who killed them, but I was just the distraction while Archie was the one who stole the hard disk and decided to give the copy of the content to you,” Eve answered. “Anyway, looks like you guys are waiting for me, so I guess we should start explaining things to both of them?” Eve asked as she looked at Archie.

“Let’s bring everyone, it’s time we do the same like he did,” Archie replied.

“Everyone? Are you sure?” Eve asked.

“Yeah, I don’t think there’s a need to hide it from them because we are all in the same page now. But, how about we look at the inside of the hard disk first? I bet there’s something more important that we might discover,” Archie said. “Is that alright, Faye?” Archie asked.

“Yeah, as long as you don’t run away, then we can wait,” Faye said with a serious expression.

“Don’t worry, I’m not planning on to do so,” Archie answered.

They all went to the village where everyone was gathering in a small barn to see what was the content of the flash disk. Faye and Aster went to the front with Marlon and Fanheim so they could see what they were reading.

Everyone was listening to Faye as she read it out loud the reports inside the flash disk. They were all shocked at the fact they had been used for something called ‘For the greater good’. They were so furious, disappointed, and dishearted after knowing all the four nations were helping Victor.

They were reading until late at night, and finally they were done with all the content in the flash disk. Archie then walked to the front and showed the hard disk that Eve stole from VMC’s main building.

Everyone was tired and a bit sleepy, but the moment they heard Archie find another one, and it was from the VMC’s main building, they suddenly became wide awake. Marlon immediately plugged in the hard disk into his laptop, and there were thousands of files worth of reports.

“I don’t think we have the time to read everything at once. This is too many information to digest,” Fanheim said as he stared at the files on the screen.

“Hmm? What’s this?” Faye asked as she pointed at one of the files. “Can open this one, Marshal Marlon?” Faye asked again.

Marlon opened a file named ‘Operation: Bridge’. They were all making the same kind of expression, they were all staring at the screen with their eyes wide open.

“This is!” Marlon said as he read the reports.

“I was right,” Ruby said as she covered her mouth. “They were the ones who destroyed the Sky Station. They sabotaged us so they could use the resource for themselves,” Ruby clenched her fist as she glared at the screen.

“Unforgiveable!” Marlon slammed his hand on the desk and everyone from the Eastern Nation felt the same way as him. “I can’t believe this. They welcomed us and pretended they cared about us, but the truth is they were the one who abandoned us,” Marlon said as he gritted his teeth.

“No wonder they have been keeping us in the dark until now. Turns out they were the one behind all this,” Fanheim said as he sighed and shook his head in disbelief. “What are you going to do, Marlon? These people, we can’t just let this go, not after we know about rotten they are,” Fanheim asked as he looked at Marlon.

Marlon stared at Prince and Resse.

“Who said that we are going to let this go?” Marlon asked back. “They decided to abandon us, then don’t expect us to just stay quiet about this. Even though there are only a few of us left, I know their important bases. Let’s give them war and make them regret for doing that to us,”

“If that’s the case, there’s something that I want to tell you guys,” Archie said as he walked to the front. “I’m an Ex-Human,” Archie said as he stared at them with a serious expression.