HALF: Dead nor Alive

“Is it chasing us?!” Nova asked as she ran right behind Eve and she was trying so hard to try to keep up with Eve’s pace. “God, I hate this idea so much!”

“Just keep running,” Archie replied as he looked back and the parasite started to breathe fire that heat was enough to burn everything into ashes. “We won’t make it outside alive we are not hurried,”

Eve led them from one tunnel to another while she was laughing because it was the first time she felt excited over something stupid. She never ran away from anything and for the first time, she ran away it was really fun for her.

“Eve, don’t laugh! We are in trouble,” Nova said as she entered the tunnel that Eve had just gone through while Archie started to chuckle as well.

“This is fun!” Eve replied. “We are almost there, by the way, so we need to start running faster,”

“You’re crazy! You both are crazy!” Nova said as she looked back and the dark tunnel started to glow red.

The ground trembled and the ceiling was crumbling, the three of them looked up and knew that the parasite was no longer following them. The parasite was trying to climb up the mountain because it knew that they were planning to leave the mountain.

“Should we stay here? If we go out there, we will be burned to crips,” Nova asked and looked at Archie.

“It doesn’t matter. If we stay, the parasite will break the ceiling and we might get trapped in this place,” Archie looked at the ceiling and the debris started to fall. “Just keep running, Eve and I can handle the parasite while you keep running and tell the others to leave the cave as soon as possible,”_.

The ground and ceiling stopped shaking, and the three of them stopped running and looked at the ceiling. They could hear the wings flapping in the distance from above, the parasite was already outside the mountain and started roaring.

“Alright, you ready?” Eve asked as she looked at Archie.

“Let’s do this,” Archie nodded his head in agreement.

The three of them ran out of the cave and were immediately welcomed by the roar of the parasite from above.

(Inside the Son Doong Cave)

Everyone was resting near the hole while they were preparing to enter the hole if needed. Suddenly they could hear screeches and a loud roar that overlayed the screeches, they all looked at each other and then looked at the hole in front of them.

“What was that?” Daniel asked as he gulped.

Faye slowly walked back and grabbed her rifle. “Everyone! Stay away from the hole and grab your guns!” she said as she aimed her rifle at the hole.

Everyone was away from the hole and those parasites’ screeches were getting louder and louder so everyone started to hold their breath and focused on aiming their gun.

The bat-like parasite was the first thing they saw, they were startled by how big it was and none of them were shooting their guns because Faye was signaling them to hold their fire. They saw another one come out from the hole then another until dozens of them came out of the hole and flew away.

“They were running away, like back then,” Ruby said.

“Running away? From what?” Aster asked as he looked at Ruby.

“The King,” Ruby answered and looked at Faye and Aster.

“Does that mean they managed to find a King-type parasite?” Faye asked as she watched hundreds of the bat-like parasites fly away from the hole and went out of the cave.

“I’m not sure, but either way, we don’t want to be here because we don’t know what kind of King-type parasite is inside that hole,” Ruby said as she lowered her submachine gun and put the safety on. “We have to move after all the parasites leave,”

“Alright, I will stay here until the three of them come back from the hole. I’m responsible for their safety and the least I can do is to stay here and wait for their arrival,” Faye said as she looked at Aster and nodded her head.

(Inside the hole)

“Watch out!” Archie said as he grabbed Nova’s arm and threw her away to the side before a tree trunk crashed onto the ground. “You need to focus on your surroundings, Nova!”

Nova rolled over and immediately stood up then ran again without even saying a single word. She looked up and the dragon was roaring and spitting fire into the sky that if it touched her, she would die instantly.

They were still miles away from the hole they came from and it would take them at least an hour of running. Looking at the situation, it would be a miracle if they could reach the end without getting injured because the trees were flying around like papers because of the parasite’s wings, tail, and breath.

“Eve, I will try to distract this thing for a moment. I don’t think Nova can keep up on us and will die if we don’t do anything to stop the parasite from chasing us,” Archie said as he unsheathed his sword and looked at Eve who was running in front of him.

“You think you can?” Eve asked what only matter to her.

“As long as I’m not disintegrated, I think I will be fine,” Archie answered as he looked back and saw the parasite start to flap its wings again and ready to fly toward them.

“Okay, I will come to you as soon as possible if you’re in trouble. Right now, I should bring Nova back safely,” Eve replied and stared Archie in the eye with her silver hair blown by the wind.

Archie nodded and reached out his left hand at Eve.

“Don’t die on me,” Eve said as she grabbed Archie’s hand then she pulled him toward her and threw him toward the parasite in the sky.

Nova who watched it from the side was shocked and looked at Archie flying toward the parasite.

“What?! Are you sure he’s going to be alright?” Nova asked and stared at Eve with disbelief.

“He will be fine,” Eve looked back as she kept running.

Archie looked at the feet of the parasite and stabbed his sword on the side of the parasite’s right foot. He was hanging down as he tried to climb onto the foot but the parasite started to wiggle its right leg and made them almost lose his grip on his sword.

The parasite used its left foot to get rid of Archie but he was fast enough to climb up the parasite’s knee and the parasite couldn’t reach him anymore. He climbed up to the parasite’s thigh and started to cut it open so the parasite would pay attention to him instead of Eve and Nova.

“Come on, deal with me,” Archie said as he kept stabbing the parasite’s thigh and covered himself with the parasite’s blood.

The parasite roared and started to fly up high while Archie kept cutting the parasite’s leg so that he could see the bone inside the parasite’s leg.

Archie looked up and the parasite almost reached the ceiling, he then climbed up higher because he knew what was going to happen next. The parasite started to dive straight down and planned on hitting the ground to shake Archie off of its body.

It was hard for Archie to climb and he had no option but to be prepared for the impact.

Archie looked down and before the parasite slammed its legs to the ground, he jumped up to reduce the momentum so he wouldn’t get crushed. He managed to land safely as he rolled over and over while the parasite seemed to be relieved from pain by roaring.

The parasite started to swing its tail and flattened the forest with its spiky bones that came out the tail. Archie jumped and rolled over to avoid the tail, he knew that he had given them enough time to run away so he started to catch up to them.

Eve and Nova looked back and saw the parasite was a mile away from them thanks to Archie’s effort. Eve suddenly stopped running and Nova looked at her with confusion.

“What are you doing? Let’s leave! We are almost there!” Nova shouted as she stopped running and looked at Eve.

“You go and warn the others, I will give another extra time for you all to get ready,” Eve said as she stared at the parasite who was running toward them. “Go!”

Nova nodded with understanding and then she ran as fast as she could.

Faye, Aster, Ruby, Vincent, Daniel, and Tommy were waiting near the hole while the others had left to the middle of the cave. They suddenly heard a crumbling sound of rocks falling down from the hole, they all pointed their guns at the hole and silently stared at it.

“Nova?!” Faye looked at Nova who was covered in sweat as she came out from the hole.

“Run! We have to leave! Now!” Nova said as she grabbed Ruby and Faye’s hands.