HALF: Dead nor Alive

“Hey, how did you do that?! You just stood there and stared at the parasite and it didn’t even attack you. Not to mention that you just cut him in half with just a single swing!” Ivan asked as he shook Archie’s shoulder with disbelief.

“I have been dealing far worse than that parasite, so looking at that thing is like looking at a toddler,” Archie answered as he wiped the blood from the blade.

“Don’t tell me you really killed that thing?” Ivan asked as he looked at Archie with curiosity.

“It’s up to you if you’re going to believe me or not because I’m not going to try to convince you,” Archie replied and sheathed the sword on his back.

“Alright, fair enough. By the way, here, your payment for killing that parasite,” Ivan said as he grabbed something from his pocket that he was troubled to get it out. “Here you go, 5,000 Nomac,” he said as he have the money to Archie.

Archie looked at the paper money and it looked so weird because it didn’t look like the money that he used to use for buying stuff up in the station. “Is this new money? I have never seen one like this,”

“Ah right, you were gone for seven years, huh? Well, the world has changed and every Nation is using this currency that the Central Nation made,” Ivan explained as he rested his hands on his waist. “That much is enough for you to live for a week if you spent it on fancy food. If you just eat the street food, it will last for three weeks or a month,” he continued as he pointed at the money.

“I see, I guess this much is more than enough,” Archie said as he put the money in his pocket.

“Huh? Are you being serious? With your skill, I can make you at least 50,000 Nomac in a day!” Ivan replied while tapped on Archie’s chest gently.” I tell you what, I will give you a tour around the city and I will tell you everything that you want to know while I’m going to get you more money. How’s that sound?” he asked with his eyebrows raised.

“Okay, sure,” Archie answered while nodding his head.

They both went back up and walked on the sidewalk.

“So, what did I miss? Something that really important that I need to know,” Archie asked as he looked at the people that walked past by.

“As you can see, the city is fully developed and now people don’t need to live in the station anymore. Now the station is for rich people so they can sleep at night without all of these commotions,” Ivan answered as he waved at his friends on the other side of the road.

“What else?” Archie asked as he looked at the people that Ivan just waved.

“We have developed weapons to deal with high gen parasites that can instantly kill them. The last time they used it was when they encountered a Gen 5 parasite and it worked like a charm, so all the Axis Humans are not really needed anymore but for hunting parasites for their feces,” Ivan answered as he checked his phone.

“Only gen 5? That’s not going to be enough to fight gen 9 or gen 0 with the latest variant,” Archie said with his hands in his pockets.

“Wait, what?! Gen 9?! You fought a Gen 9 parasite?! We don’t even see a Gen 7 for the past few months,” Ivan asked with his eyes wide open.

“I’m not sure if it was Gen 9 or not because we were too busy surviving that we didn’t care about what Gen the parasites we fought since what mattered the most were how to survive. But, yeah, I believe they were Gen 9 or even Gen 10,” Archie explained as he looked at Ivan who was dumbfounded by his words.

“Holy fuck! That’s brutal!” Ivan said as he stared blankly. “Anyway, we are here. My friend needs your help,” Ivan said as he stood in front of a small restaurant. “Come, we might get free lunch,” he said as he entered the restaurant.

“Yo, Madliv, I brought the guy I mentioned in my message, he’s a fucking beast I tell you that!” Ivan said as he looked at a skinny guy with black messy hair.

“Really? Can he do it then?” Madliv asked as he looked at Archie who was checking the restaurant.

“Of course!” Ivan answered. “Archie, he’s my friend, his name is Madliv. Madliv, he’s Archie and you might need his service from now on,” Ivan continued as he introduced them to each other.

“Alright, I trust you, can you follow me, Archie?” Madliv asked as he removed his gloves.

Archie looked at Ivan and he just nodded then the three of them went to the basement.

“So now every building has its own source of energy?” Archie asked as he looked at the basement which looked exactly the same as if it was the standard to confine parasites.

“Yeah, everyone can produce their own electricity now but the risk of getting killed is higher because you have to do it your own. If you don’t want to take a risk the government will provide you the energy and of course, they’re going to charge you quite a lot of money compared to making your own energy,” Ivan answered as he walked next to Madliv.

“So basically the Axis Humans are now doing this kind of job to get money?” Archie asked.

“Mostly, yeah, some are still out there to hunt parasites so they can sell them to us since the money is really good compared to this,” Ivan answered. Archie hummed and nodded with understanding.

“We are here, as you can see the feces are everywhere in there, but I can’t get them because those parasites are in the room,” Madliv said as he pointed at parasites that were walking in the room.

“What do you want me to do? Kill them?” Archie asked while raising his eyebrows.

“No! Please don’t! I don’t have enough money to buy a new one, so I want you to put them in a different room over there so I can peacefully collect the feces,” Madliv answered while pointing at the open room next to the parasite room.

“Okay, that won’t be a problem,” Archie said as he climbed up the ladder.

Archie entered the room and the parasites immediately charged at him but he just kicked them away from him. Ivan and Madliv were shocked that Archie just casually kicked them and didn’t even flinch when the parasites charged at him.

The parasites glared at Archie as they screeched but Archie glared back at them and the parasites immediately lowered their heads. Archie walked to the next room by walking backward to make sure the parasites were following him.

Archie closed the door behind him and the parasites were just standing in front of the door and looked at him and didn’t do anything. Archie looked at Madliv and pointed at the feces on the ground as he leaned on the door.

“What did I tell you, huh? This guy is a beast!” Ivan said as he elbowed Madliv with a grin on his face.

“Where did you get this guy?” Madliv asked as he unlocked the door in front of him.

“Man, you won’t believe me even if I told you,” Ivan replied as he walked into the room and helped Madliv collect the feces.

Madliv was asking so many questions to Archie, the same questions that Ivan had been asking him. Archie answered him with the simplest answers since he didn’t want anyone to know too much about him.

“Alright, we are done! Holy shit, that’s a lot of shit,” Ivan said as he wiped the sweat on his forehead. “When was the last time you collect these? It’s a bit too much if it was a week ago,” he asked as he looked at Madliv.

“Around three weeks, the people that used to do this job for me stopped doing this kind of job because of the risk and not to mention the money isn’t that good compared to selling parasites,” Madliv answered as he shoved the feces in the big sack.

“Don’t you worry about that, sooner or later they will come back since almost half of the city already have its own source of energy. The business of selling parasites will come to an end eventually,” Ivan said as he removed the gloves and threw them on the table next to him.

Madliv nodded in agreement.

“Anyway, since we are done here, here’s your payment,” Madliv said as he gave 5,000 Nomac to Archie. Archie took it and put it in his pocket, he never knew it would be that easy to get money. “Are you guys hungry? I can make you guys something if you want to,” he asked as he looked at Ivan and Archie.

“Sure, that’s why we are here in the first place, to get free food,” Ivan answered with a big smile on his face. “Let’s go, Archie,” he said as he patted Archie on the back.