HA\LF: Dead nor Alive

“After all, we are still scared of death, huh?” One of the guys looked at Axis Human which became mutated into a monster that has become an Ex-Axis Human.

A tall human-look-like parasite with massive muscles in his arms but only had six fingers in total. Glared at them with its deformed face and sharp teeth like a shark covered with saliva.

“It doesn’t matter, we must kill it before it breeds filthy and foul monsters.” As the muscular guy readied his stance with his black sword in his right hand.

The muscular guy looked at Archie, “Stay back, we don’t want to lose you here. If you’re dead we’re dead.”

Without hesitation, Archie went further back and hid in between rocks as he watched the fight between them and the Ex-Axis Human since his eyes finally adapted to the darkness.

The muscular guy charged toward the Ex-Axis Human with his sword readied to thrust its body, but he didn’t expect the Ex-Axis Human would be able to block the blade with its gigantic hand.

Each one of them went in and helped him by shooting their guns at its head. Bullets’ shells were falling down and the flashes made Archie stand there in awe when he saw the muscular guy who was bigger than him could move swiftly as if he saw a video game character where each frame showed him a different move.

The muscular guy’s swordplay was amazing that he almost looked like he was having a one-on-one fight with an Ex-Axis Human which was impossible for anyone to do. It was all thanks to his super perception that he could see things ten times slower than any other Axis Humans.

In Archie’s perspective, it was an even match between the muscular guy and the Ex-Axis Human until the Ex-Axis Human disappeared in a blink of an eye. He looked around and couldn’t find the Ex-Axis Human’s whereabouts but then the muscular guy and all of his teammates shot their guns at the ceiling of the cave. The Ex-Axis Human could walk and climb the flat surfaces of the ceiling by penetrating the surface with its fingers.

Archie realized that the Ex-Axis Human was faster and immune to bullets because of the muscles in its body.

Archie’s eyes met with the Ex-Axis Human’s eyes and at that moment, he felt like all of his blood were running up to his head and knew that the Ex-Axis Human wanted him dead first. It pounced at Archie but he managed to roll over and dodged it but he knew that he won’t be alive before he could even stand up.

Archie looked back and the Ex-Axis Human was about to crush his head with its fingers but then the muscular guy blocked him.

“Archie! Run to the outside! We are going to fight this thing in the open!” As the muscular guy used all his strength to push the Ex-Axis Human away from Archie with his sword.

Archie ran toward the entrance but then his whole body froze as he saw the dead body of the scout member being eaten by something terrifying. A one-armed Ex-Axis Human swallowed half of the body of the scout member whole.

The one-armed Ex-Axis Human looked at Archie with his tongue hung down to his crotch. Archie’s whole body trembled and he felt like he was suffocating because he was panicking. Arche didn’t speak nor move a muscle, not because he couldn’t but deep down, he wanted to believe if he didn’t move, the one-armed Ex-Axis Human won’t notice him.

As soon as the one-armed Ex-Axis Human growled at him, he immediately turned around and ran back to where the others were. He ran as fast as he could while he took a deep breath, “There’s another one at the entrance!” As Archie pointed his finger behind him.

Everyone was too busy handling the Ex-Axis Human, and they couldn’t hear Archie’s voice because of the gunshots. Archie had no other choice but to grab his gun and turned around to aim at the one-armed Ex-Axis Human.

Archie emptied the magazine in less than five seconds, and it didn’t do anything to the one-armed Ex-Axis Human. Not a single scratch on its body because it absorbed the bullet into its body while he kept chasing him.

The muscular guy and the others noticed the gunshot and their eyes were wide open when they saw another Ex-Axis Human.

“You two go and protect Archie!” The muscular guy yelled at his teammates that the veins on his neck popped out.

The lesbian couple ran toward Archie as they were reloading their guns.

Archie heard a growl coming from behind him and so he turned his head to see the one-armed Ex-Axis Human. The one-armed Ex-Axis Human was choking on something that tried to get it out and then it open its mouth then heard something solid being spitted out. Bullets that Archie shot toward the one-armed Ex-Axis Human earlier were being shot back to those two but they both could dodge the bullets with ease while they both kept running toward Archie.

They ran past Archie and immediately shot their guns toward the one-armed Ex-Axis Human even though they knew that it could spit the bullets back at them. A few others ran past Archie and helped the lesbian couple because Archie was their top priority.

As soon as the one-armed Ex-Axis Human felt like he was being threatened, it jumped from side to side. They tried to shoot at him and not a single bullet hit him, they all knew immediately that this one couldn’t handle the bullet like the other one. They emptied their magazines and decided to not use the gun anymore, they all unsheathed their weapons and charged at it.

The lesbian couple was at the front but then the one-armed Ex-Axis Human stuck out its tongue, faster than a bullet, and hit one of the women right on her right shoulder. The tongue penetrated through her skin, flesh, and bone as if its tongue was made of sturdy steel.

The woman screamed in pain and they all could see that the wound slowly got bigger as if the saliva on that Ex-Axis Human melted her skin, flesh, and bone.

Everyone was shocked and stared at her but without them noticing, the one-armed Ex-Axis Human jumped at her, luckily the guy who sat next to Archie on the train punched the one-armed Ex-Axis Human’s face so hard that the one-armed Ex-Axis Human was thrown away to the wall.

“What are you guys doing?! Stay focused!” The guy glared at them while he pointed his axe at the one-armed Ex-Axis Human.

The guy looked at the woman with concern, “You both need to leave and protect Archie safely to the outside! There must be an exit on the other side! Go!”

Without hesitation, the woman grabbed Archie’s arm and dragged him to the other side of the cave with her partner holding her shoulder in pain.

The three of them walked past the muscular guy and the other teammates. The muscular guy looked at the three of them and decided to follow them outside because they were at a disadvantage if they had to fight in the cramped cave.

Archie looked back and everyone was safe and managed to leave the cafe with two of Ex-Axis Humans chasing them.

“Are we not going to help them?” Archie looked at the women in front of them.

“Help them? You have no power, she’s handicapped, do you want us to be a burden for them? Just keep running and we need to get as far as possible from the battle! My only job right now is your safety!” The woman kept pulling Archie’s arm and glared at him.

An hour passed and the three of them were in the middle of nowhere, with no clues on what things around them that could kill them or ambush them. They kept running and Archie was already out of breath until he fell down and couldn’t move his leg muscles anymore.

“We should be safe here…” As the woman kept holding her shoulder with tears in her eyes because of the unbearable pain.

“I think we can catch a breather for a moment here.” The other woman looked around making sure that they were safe.

It was still dark there and there were no more sounds of cicadas or crickets around them. The silence didn’t bother them anymore because the real threat was already far behind them until they saw a red flare-up in the sky. The three of them stared at it and their eyes were wide open, their hearts pounded really fast.

The red flare means that they have failed and their mission is compromised, and not just that, it also means that there’s no hope for them to get some help. The other two are yellow flare and green flare. The yellow flare is a bit similar to the red flare but they want to get some help since there’s a high chance they would be able to survive the situation. The green flare means that they achieved the mission and wanted the other to come and escort them back safely.

“Do you know what that means, Archie?” As the woman walked and stood in front of Archie while she was blocking the red flare light from Archie. He couldn’t see what kind of expression she was making but he knew that she must be terrified.

Archie just nodded and couldn’t believe they used the red flare instead of the other two colors.

“We’re on our own now, we’re abandoned and no one will come to help us. Do you understand? We must survive and go back to safety on our own.” The woman glared at Archie with fear written all over her face.

Archie gulped as he nodded with understanding, “Yes, I understand.”

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