HA\\LF: Dead nor Alive

The silent and cold night came, everyone had packed all their stuff and was ready to leave. Each division took a short briefing, Archie with his division were the ones to leave the camp first because they had to go to the furthest area before the sunrise.

The sound of cicadas and crickets was accompanying them throughout the night, it made them feel a bit at ease and at peace. They would rather have those bugs around them than those parasites, and because of those bugs around them, the parasites wouldn’t be able to detect them because of the sound and the living beings surrounding Archie and the others.

The scent of the wild grass and damp trunks were so overwhelming that they couldn’t smell anything else. During the night, the parasites were less active compared to the daylight, but that didn’t mean those parasites won’t be able to ambush them.

The muscular guy raised and clenched his right fist, “Hold…” as he put his left index finger in front of his mouth.

Everyone didn’t move a muscle as they stared at the muscular guy.

“We have got company, boys…” As the muscular guy whispered and sharpened his gaze toward something beyond the darkness in front of him.

“Two? No, three? No… there are so many of them…” A woman spoke under her breath while she glared at her surroundings and she swung her axe.

The muscular guy looked at everyone from the corner of his eyes, “You guys know what to do, try not to make a lot of sounds, and don’t use the gun.”

All of them nodded and immediately spread out, Archie looked at them all and they all swallowed into the darkness.

“Stay close to me, Archie…” The muscular guy and a few of his friends guarded him while they looked at their surroundings.

As they were guarding Archie, they couldn’t hear anything but the screams, roars, and growls of the monsters around them. They could hear the blades cutting the flesh, the sound of bone cracking, the sound of liquid splattered on the ground and trees.

The screams and groans from those monsters couldn’t be heard anymore, then dozens of footsteps came out from the shadows. All of them came back unscathed only blood covered their weapons and armors.

“Is it done?” The muscular guy stared at them.

All of them nodded while they were wiping their armor and weapons from the blood of those monsters.

Archie was so confused because everyone looked so at ease even though those monsters were making loud noises. He looked at the muscular guy and tilted his head, “Aren’t we supposed to hide or at least get out of this area as soon as possible?”

The muscular guy kept walking forward and stared at the distance, “You don’t have to worry about that. You were misled by the VST because of a reason. the truth is the parasites are territorial creatures, they often fought each other because they hate each other. Every area in Fallen Continents, there’s always one that ruled each area and so as long as we didn’t scream or use guns, they will ignore the screams and groans of those monsters.”

Archie thought to himself that he didn’t know about that and he started to think that his skill might not be able to help them since he only know much about those parasites and behaviors from the test.

The sky was still dark and they were standing in front of a path that they had to choose. The muscular guy was hesitant to choose because of the intel he received from the scout he sent earlier.

“The left path seems to be the safest route even though it took a lot longer to reach our destination.” The muscular guy rubbed his chin while he crossed his arms.

“What do you think, Archie?” The muscular guy stared at him.

Archie checked his surroundings and realized that something was off about the left path, “Can you give me a moment to check?”

Everyone looked at Archie and they all followed the muscular guy’s decision.

“Okay, take your time, we still have enough time to reach our destination.” As the muscular guy walked toward the tree and leaned on it.

Archie looked at the environment on the left path as he kept walking further, he realized that there were no signs of the parasites that walked through this path. No claw marks, no salivas, or any liquids that the parasites produced. Everything from where he stood and in front of him had no marks or any kind of signs.

Archie walked back and he looked so unease about this, he looked at the muscular guy, “I don’t think we should go there because there are no signs of the parasites coming or going to that path. It’s a sign that something or anything beyond this path is dangerous even for those parasites. I would recommend taking the right path and fighting those parasites since we know what types of the parasites that roaming there.”

The muscular guy crossed his arms while he stared at his teammates, “Do you think we can fight those parasites?”

One of the guys nodded, “We could, but it might take quite a lot of time.”

“We should follow Archie’s suggestion since he knows more than us.” One of the guys looked at the muscular guy.

The muscular guy rubbed his chin while he looked at the ground, “Go and check the left path once more and this time goes as further as you can and come back here in 10 minutes.”

The scout teams nodded and immediately left to check the left path.

Archie wasn’t pleased with the muscular guy’s decision and he wanted to question his decision but he was too scared to do so, then the woman who kissed another woman on the train looked at the muscular guy, “What’s the purpose of doing that? Are you still going to take the left route?”

“I’m not trying to discard Archie’s opinion, it’s just that we are going to find those Ex-Humans. We don’t know how strong they’re and we only know that they’re dangerous. If we wasted a lot of our energy by killing those parasites, we won’t know what will happen to us if those Ex-Humans might ambush us later.” As the muscular guy walked to the middle and stared at Archie.

“I can feel your concern, Archie, but our job here is to capture those Ex-Humans. We need to avoid any encounter with those parasites as much as possible, and I hope you understand that.” The muscular guy patted his shoulder.

The scout team came back and they were all confident that the left path has no sign of any kind of threat. The muscular guy looked at everyone and they all already knew the answer, so the muscular guy ordered them to take the left path because he believed it was safer than the right path.

As they walked deeper into the jungle they all felt something was off with this path except for the muscular guy. He was the leader and he didn’t want to show any regret as his motto had been carved into his chest.

They stopped and stared at the huge mouth cave in front of them because there was no other way to walk past the jungle, and the cold wind that came from inside the cave made all of them tremble.

“I beg you, we need to go back! I don’t know what’s inside this cave but whatever it is, I know for sure why the parasites didn’t want to go here.” Archie pointed his hand at the mouth of the cave while he stared at the muscular guy.

Everyone looked at the muscular guy and waited for his response.

“Scout team, can you check what’s inside?” The muscular guy looked at the people next to him.

They didn’t question his order and immediately went inside without hesitation.

Ten minutes passed and there was no sign of the scout team but everyone waited for them.

Another ten minutes passed and the scout team was still inside but this time everyone started to get worried.

“Do you think we should check them out? They have been in there for 20 minutes now.” One of the guys looked at the muscular guy.

“Alright, let’s move.” The muscular guy unsheathed his sword and Archie looked at the black sword that looked like a claymore.

Everyone went inside and they started to search for the scout team but after a long time of searching, they didn’t find them anywhere. Everyone started to panic but the muscular guy kept walking at the front to lead the way. Deep down he knew that he just dangered some of his men because of his selfishness but it was necessary for him and his team.

They heard a footstep come from in front of them and everyone immediately ran toward it while Archie couldn’t see anything so he followed them from behind. As soon as Archie caught up with the other, he saw one of the scout team members laying down with only one leg attached with his arms missing. His mouth tore apart and his jaw barely hanging, his eyes were filled with fear as he looked at his friends.

Before the muscular guy could ask about what happened, everyone heard a roar come from far ahead, they all looked at what was in front of them.

“That’s…” The muscular guy’s eyes were wide open as if he saw something that he couldn’t believe.