HA\LF: Dead nor Alive

Archie and Eve were running toward the parasites the moment they saw them while the others watched them. Faye didn't stop them because there was no reason for her to hold them down and it was also a good thing since they could reserve their energy for later.

Archie was at the front while Eve followed him from behind as they were both sliced and crushed the parasites' bodies and heads. They were moving in sync that it looked so beautiful from the distance, and they moved so swiftly that the parasite couldn't keep up or grab them.

"So this is nothing compared to what you dealt with in the Eastern Nation?" Aster looked at Vincent with his mouth open.

"If you're talking about the horde, yes it was far worse than this, we had to fight days and nights just so we don't die. Nobody could save us but ourselves, we trust each other's back and hope for the best," Vincent answered with a sour smile on his face. "It was hell and I hope that none of you have to experience that,"

Faye, Nova, and Aster looked at Ruby and Vincent's eyes, and they could see the emptiness and painfulness in their eyes.

"If we don't act now or do something about this, we are doomed, as a human," Ruby said and stared at them seriously.

Faye couldn't respond to Ruby's words and just stared back at her as she nodded with understanding.

"All clear," Archie said as he swung his sword and removed the blood from the blade with Eve standing in front of him as they faced each other and looked at the others.

Two people who had the same hair color and height that stood under the sunlight made them look like a savior of humankind. Unfortunately, the truth was far from what they had in their minds, and only Ruby and Vincent knew about the truth.

"That was amazing, I don't think anyone could do the same thing as what you guys just did," Aster said as he looked at the dead bodies and body parts that lay down on the ground.

"Well, it's not something that you can achieve by just lazing around, you might need to survive on your own in the middle of nowhere to achieve this," Eve replied as she looked at all of them with a mocking smile on her face. "It's better for you to stop admiring other people because that will give you nothing. How about you start to think of making yourself stronger so you can be useful?"

Aster's smile disappeared and the others were averting their gazes as the atmosphere became awkward. Archie was quite shocked that Eve would say something like that out of nowhere and there was no reason for him to stop her since what she said was true.

"Let's continue our journey, there are still parasites that are lurking in the cave and I believe the deeper we are, the stronger the parasites will be," Faye said as she looked at them.

Faye led the team deep into the cave and they were surprised by the scenery. They found a big hill and behind that hill, there was a beach which was a perfect spot to rest. Unfortunately, they had to keep walking because they weren't even reached the middle of the cave.

As Faye expected, there were more parasites that lurk in the cave and some of them came from the mouth of the cave on the walls. They had no other option but to fight them all since they couldn't get through without getting noticed.

This time, Ruby and Vincent were the ones who fought the parasite on the frontline while Faye and the others dealt with the parasites that came out from the walls. Archie and Eve dealt with the strongest parasites amongst the horde and it ended quite quickly.

"It's better for us to stay here for a moment and wait for the parasites to come to us since we don't know how many are there in those holes," Ruby said as she pointed at dozens of holes on the walls. "We don't want to get surrounded by parasites,"

Faye nodded in agreement. "Alright, we will be staying here for an hour and see if there are movements from the holes or from where we came from," she said as she looked at the river in front of her. "Make the most of your time,"

The sunlight slowly pointed away from the ground and it indicated that they didn't have much time before the night time come. After they dealt with dozens of parasites that came from behind them and from the walls, they decided to move after there was no more sign of parasites.

As they kept walking into the cave and admired the scenery, they felt the ground shaking. All of them looked at each other and immediately hugged the wall and felt the vibration of the ground which got worse and worse.

"That's not a normal parasite, isn't it?" Aster asked as he looked at Faye.

"No, whatever that thing, it should be Gen 8 Variant 2 or 3 because of how big it is. Or worse, it could be Gen 9 or even 10," Faye answered and everyone was a bit worried about it except for Archie, Eve, Ruby, and Vincent.

They stood still and held their breath as the footsteps were getting closer and closer. The moment they saw the massive leg right next to Faye, Eve dashed past Faye, Aster, Nova, Ruby, and Vincent in a flash.

Before their eyes could catch Eve, she was already jumped high enough and grabbed the parasite's head. She pulled the head off with the spine still intact, the parasite couldn't even make noise and died the moment the head was in Eve's hands.

The body fell and Eve was tossing the head in the air as she stared at Faye. "The biggest threat in this cave has been taken care of, now it's time for the final horde," she said and then screeches and growls could be heard from every hole on the walls.

"Everyone! Get in position! No more holding back!" Faye said as she grabbed her rifle and started blasting the parasites that came out from the holes.

Everyone emptied the magazine in the gun and immediately loaded with another magazine in less than twenty seconds. Archie and Eve used their magnum pistols and blew the heads of the parasites and they both loved the feeling when they blew their heads like balloons.

After they spent three whole magazines, they put down their guns and started to use their swords, spears, and daggers to deal with the parasites. Even though those parasites were just small fries, there were at least dozens even a hundred of them and they kept coming and no sign of stopping.

"We need to fall back, Faye! We are going to be surrounded in any second now!" Aster said as he stabbed the parasite in the heart and then threw the parasite away. "It's getting crowded, we need a bigger space,"

"Fall back slowly and keep the line wide!" Faye said and decided to grab her rifle again.

The others pulled their guns as well and used the rest of the magazines that they had left to keep the distance between them and the parasite big enough. Knowing they had limited bullets, they tried to kill a parasite on every shot. Since they were elite amongst the elite, their aim was unbelievably accurate and it looked like they weren't even trying.

"I'm out!" One of the Axis Humans said and slowly walked back and got replaced by another to hold the line.

"I'm out as well!" Another guy said and was immediately replaced by another.

Slowly but surely all of them ran out of ammo as they fastened their pace to retreat to the bigger space.

"Ruby, Vince, Eve, let's give them some time to retreat," Archie said as he put his pistol in the belt and unsheathed the sword from his back.

Before they charged to the front, they heard loud gunshots from far behind them. They turned around and saw Fanheim, Daniel, and Tommy with dozens of Axis Humans giving them support.

Ruby and Vincent were smiling and chuckling with disbelief to see them in the cave with them.

"Just get back! We will give you cover!" Fanheim said as he shot the parasites near Archie and the others.

They all regrouped with Faye and the others and kept running to the hill where Fanheim and the others were blasting the parasites with bullets.

After knowing the parasites couldn't get close to them, they all retreat and crawled back into the holes like ants. Fanheimg and the others didn't let them leave and took some of them before the parasites could enter the holes.

Fanheim put down his rifle and looked down at Archie and noticed Eve next to him. Fanheim, Tommy, and Daniel were shocked to see her again but Ruby and Vincent immediately stood in front of Eve.

Fanheim squinted his eyes but understood what that meant. All he had to do was to wait for an explanation.