HA\LF: Dead nor Alive

“Good morning,” Faye said as she entered the barrack with Aster. She looked around and saw Archie and Eve were still sleeping while the others were ready to go for morning training.

“Hmm? Did those two stay awake until morning or something?” Faye asked Ruby who was brushing her teeth at the sink.

“I’m not sure, we fell asleep not long after we came back from the bar. I think they did stay awake until dawn since I heard them talking while I was half asleep,” Ruby answered. “Do you want me to wake them up?” She asked as she wiped her mouth.

“Yes, if you mind because we have to train,” Faye answered as she nodded her head.

Ruby cleared her throat and before she could put her hand on Archie, both Archie and Eve opened their eyes and grabbed her prosthetic arm. She was startled when those two suddenly awake and not to mention they grabbed her arm really tightly that it made a little cracking sound.

“Wow, you guys are on guard even in your sleep. That’s really amazing,” Faye said as she approached. “Come on, wake up, it’s time for training,” she continued as she looked at both of them with a smile on her face.

Archie and Eve were walking behind the others as they entered the training facility. It looked like a hangar and it was so big it could fill at least a dozen of planes inside.

“Archie, I still haven’t fulfilled my promise to you,” Ruby said as she looked back at Archie.

“Promise?” Archie asked as he tilted his head and raised his eyebrows.

Ruby used her hand like a gun. “Shooting training,” she answered with a smile on her face. “I guess it’s finally time for me to teach you how to use a gun properly. Eve can join us as well since I believe she’s not familiar with guns as well,” she continued as she looked at Eve.

“Hmm? These two don’t know how to use a gun? Seriously?” Nova asked as she looked at Archie and Eve.

“I do but I’m not that good since I don’t even remember when the last time I shot a gun because I have always used my swords or my hands to fight parasites,” Archie answered.

“For me, I never used any weapon in my life since my hands are enough to deal with them,” Eve answered.

Nova, Faye, and Aster looked at each other and were surprised when they heard it.

“Well, it’s perfect timing then since we will be having the whole facility for ourselves today. You can try all the guns that we have and Ruby will be teaching you both. Right, Ruby?” Faye said.

“Yes, that’s my plan,” Ruby answered.

Faye and the others were busy sparrings while Ruby was teaching Archie and Eve how to aim. Since Archie had basic training, he knew about it already but not Eve, she looked at the guns and played with them.

“You need to be careful and not to point the gun at anyone,” Ruby said as she flinched since Eve was rotating and pointing the gun randomly.

“What if I point my finger at you? Does that count as well,” Eve jokingly asked as she pointed her index finger at Ruby. “I’m just joking,” she continued while Ruby slowly moved away from her.

Archie looked at Eve who was smiling and chuckling. “I forgot to ask you about that ability. How did you do that? You don’t have to answer it if you don’t want to,”

Eve looked at Archie and Ruby who seemed curious about it. “It has something to do with the parasite inside your body, I can control anything or anyone as long as there’s a parasite inside their body so I use them to harm themselves,” Eve answered.

“Wait, really? Isn’t that a bit too powerful?” Ruby asked as she cocked the pistol in her hand.

“It does but since I will be the mother of the parasite in the future, I think they gave me that power so no parasites could hurt me,” Eve answered as she looked at Ruby. “Still, there are a few exceptions like the kings since they’re a higher being compared to the other bugs,” she explained as she looked at the shooting target.

Ruby stared at Archie who was checking the aim of each gun while she raised her eyebrows. “I guess that makes sense,” she replied. “Anyway, don’t play around with the guns and start shooting on the target,” she continued as she looked at Archie and Eve.

After an hour of shooting practice, both Archie and Eve started to get used to the aim. Both of them loved the magnum pistol because the power and the recoil were a nice experience.

“How’s the practice going on?” Faye asked as she walked toward them.

“Even though they’re the best in close combat because of their strength, they’re still like us when we first used a gun. Their aim isn’t that bad but I don’t think they would use them on the field,” Ruby answered as she watched Archie and Eve shooting the magnum pistol.

Faye hummed while she looked at Eve who had enough of playing with guns. “Eve, do you want to spar?” she asked, Ruby and Archie immediately looked at her with their eyebrows raised.

“A spar? With who? I don’t think there’s anyone in this building that can win against me,” Eve answered as she looked at her surroundings.

“I know that already, but what about Archie? I’m curious about how strong you guys are compared to the others,” Faye explained as she looked at Archie. “What do you think, Archie? Do you want to show it to us? Your close combat skill?” she asked.

“Honestly, I don’t want to because I know I will lose immediately when my opponent is Eve and not to mention when it comes to close combat and fist fights. I still treasure my life and I don’t want to die yet,” Archie answered jokingly.

“I see, how about you spar with me, Eve, are you interested?” Faye asked with her arms crossed.

Before Eve could answer Faye’s question, a soldier came into the building hurriedly. “Lieutenant Colonel Faye! Marshal Gard is summoning you to his office, he wants you to get there immediately,” the guy said while he caught his breath.

Everyone looked at the soldier. “What’s it all about?” Faye asked and she didn’t want to go there immediately since the Valor special force wasn’t a part of the Central Nation military so she needed a reason.

“Marshal Gard received information about the Ex-Human in Indonesia and they captured a few pictures of an unidentified parasite that’s almost as tall as the sky. The unidentified parasite is heading to the bridge and there’s a chance it will break the bridge that connects to Southern Nation,” the soldier answered.

“What?!” Faye replied. “Aster, come with me, you guys immediately go to the barrack and prepare your stuff because we will be leaving very soon!” she continued as she looked at the others.

Faye and Aster sprinted and left the training facility while Archie and the others hurriedly went back to the barrack and grabbed their belongings.

“Wow, it seems they really take it seriously,” Eve said while she watched hundreds of people running past their barrack. “Don’t you think it’s unnecessary to go out there since there’s nothing much you can do about it?” she asked as she looked at Ruby.

“As long as we can distract the king from destroying the bridge, I think that’s good enough. We were lucky because Archie was there and he was the reason we are here right now. I don’t want the other nations to suffer like how we suffered for the past few years,” Ruby answered as she looked at her broken sword in her hand.

“Still sad about the sword? I can find you a new one later,” Eve asked.

Ruby scoffed and smiled. “It would be hard to find a new one, and even if you found it, there’s nobody in this world who can forge this masterpiece again,” she answered.

“If I can break it with my hands, what makes you think that I won’t be able to make it with my hands? Although it won’t look as cool as that it will be sharp enough to kill a parasite,” Eve said.

“No, it’s fine,” Ruby replied.

Faye entered the barrack with Aster behind her. “Alright, we are going to leave tonight and it seems that you guys already know the situation already so I don’t have to say much about it,” she said. “We aren’t going to fight the king,” she continued and made everyone a bit confused.

“We are not?” Ruby asked.

“We are going to escort the newly developed weapon and they want to test it out on that parasite,” Faye said with a serious expression.