HALF: Dead nor Alive

Archie stood up and looked at the people outside the room from the one side mirror glass. There was barely anyone who paid attention to the room, and so he looked around and grabbed a note book in his lab coat. He grabbed a pen and then walked toward Elena.

“Do you have siblings, or any family member that you know, Elena?” Archie asked.

“I did, but all of them died at the same night when my mother died,” Elena answered.

“I see, how about friends?” Archie asked again.

“I do, I have a friend. Her name is Jill and we are best friend, but I don’t know if she’s alive or not because I couldn’t see her when Jenny brought me here,” Elena answered as she looked a bit concern about Jill.

“Then. have you wrote a letter before, Elena?” Archie asked as he sat down in front of Elena.

Elena shook her head as she stared Archie in the eye. She was staring deep into his eyes as if she knew who he actually was. Archie then stared back at her and winked his right eye as he smiled at her.

“Then let’s write a letter for Jill,” Archie answered with a gentle smile on his face.

Archie wrote a short message to Elena, and the message was telling her that he was there to destroy the lab and kill everyone inside. He told her who he was and the reason why he came there in the first place, and made the message as simple as possible so Elena could understand.

Archie passed the message to Elena, and she was a bit shocked but not visible enough for the cameras to understand what was going on in the room. She read the message for quite a while, and then she replied to the message on the back side of the paper.

Elena passed the message to Archie after she wrote a very short reply to him.

“Alright, why don’t you start writing a letter for Jill?” Archie asked as he passed a new paper to Elena.

Elena hummed as she grabbed the paper and the pen from Archie’s hands.

Archie stared at the reply that Elena wrote, and her reply was short and simple. She said that she knew about Archie and the parasites inside him, and she didn’t mind because those people were torturing the parasites and the subjects. She said it was better that way, but then she lastly asked a question, and it was if she would be killed as well.

Archie wrote a short answer, and then passed it to Elena.

Elena looked at the answer below her question, and the answer was no. He would bring her back with him because he wasn’t alone.

Elena looked at Archie, and then she nodded her head with understanding.

“How long have you been in here, Elena?” Archie asked as he watched Elena write the letter.

“I don’t remember, but I think I have been here for three or four months now because they brought me cake every week, and I had been eating dozens of them ever since I’m here,” Elena answered as she focused on writing the message.

“So, is your ability is to be able to understand the parasite? Do you have any other ability?” Archie asked as he walked away and sat on the chair.

“Jenny said that the parasites won’t hurt me, but I don’t know if it’s true or not because I have never experienced it myself. But, she did run some test and said that’s one of my abilities. She didn’t tell me about the other abilities though.

“I guess I should ask her about this,” Archie answered as he looked at the one side mirror.

“I want to see her again,” Elena mumbled quietly.

Archie stared at Elena who put her head up close to the paper. Her chubby cheeks covered her mouth that it was a bit hard to hear what she said without looking at her mouth. He wasn’t sure what he heard, but he believed that she wanted to meet Jill again.

“I’m done writing a letter for Jill,” Elena said as she wiggled the paper in her right hand.

The steel door was open, and Jenny entered the room. She looked at the paper in Elena’s hand.

“Hmm? What are you guys doing?” Jenny asked as she tilted her head.

“I’m writing a letter for Jill!” Elena answered excitedly.

Jenny was surprised as she raised her eyebrows because Elena sounded so excited. She was a shy girl and never looked so happy like that before, especially showing her expression to a complete stranger like Archie.

“You’re writing letter for Jill?” Jenny asked.

“Yes, and Professor Dale will send it to her,” Elena answered as she pointed at Archie.

“I see,” Jenny smiled as she stared at the letter. “Anyway, Professor, we need your opinion about our subject,” Jenny looked at Archie with a serious expression.

Archie nodded as he stood up. “I will give the letter to Jill when I’m done with my job,” Archie said as he took the paper in Elena’s hand.

Elena hummed and nodded with understanding as she smiled so widely.

Archie and Jenny left the room and locked Elena in her room on her own like a prisoner. The moment door closed, her smile disappeared and looked a bit sorrowful as she sighed deeply.

“Elena’s friend, Jill. She died as well, and there’s no survivor in the village where she lived,” Jenny said quietly as they both walked back to the other room.

“So, what’s actually happened? I believe the parasite that host Elena’s body is Gen-0 parasite, and Gen-0 parasite couldn’t kill a whole village on its own,” Archie asked as he furrowed his eyebrows with curiosity and suspicion.

“Well, you’re half correct about it,” Jenny answered. “It’s true that it’s impossible for Gen-0 parasite to kill like that on its own, but not when it host a body,” Jenny continued as she looked at Archie.

“I see, so she’s the one who killed everyone in the village,” Archie answered as he nodded with understanding. “So she’s quite powerful, but I guess she’s not fully invested by the parasite, or rather the parasite didn’t want to take over her body and want to protect her instead,” Archie continued as he rubbed his chin.

Jenny smiled as she started chuckling quietly.

“You’re absolutely correct about it, and that’s why she’s special because of that. Although we know what she’s capable of, we have no idea why the parasite behave like that and why she’s the only one like that,” Jenny replied.

“That’s going to be impossible to understand even if you took her blood sample because a parasite has its own mind, just like us,” Archie said as he entered the room with Jenny.

“You think so too, Professor? Becuase I thought it was like that after we ran a few test and we got nothing but proof of her blood sample were being ignored by the parasites,” Jenny asked as she looked at Archie with admiration.

“Of course, I know my field and this is my expertise. That’s why I’m interested in the parasites and their behaviors,” Archie answered with a smile on his face.

“Having you here is really giving us a new whole perspective. Thank you for that, Profressor Dale,” Jenny said with a genuine smile. “Anyway, we would like you to observe about this subject one more time before we decided to kill it,” Jenny continued as she pointed at the subject.

Archie smiled the moment Jenny called the subject it rather than him or her. He realized those people in the room didn’t even care who they were and saw them as lab rats.

“Sure, that’s my job,” Archie answered as he walked toward the glass.

Archie stood right in front of the glass wall, and the subject stared at him furiously. The subject then suddenly charged toward him and hit the glass wall, but thankfully the glass wall was strong enough to handle the subject’s force and strength.

The other scientist and even Jenny were shocked and amazed by how Archie didn’t even flinch the moment the massive parasite hit the glass wall in front of him.

“Help…” The subject said quietly and weakly. “Kill….” The subject continued as he kept banging his fists at the glass wall.

They were dumbfounded when they heard the subject speak, and it was clear enough for everyone to hear it. They all gathered around behind Archie and tried to listen again. Before they could hear the subject speak again, the alarm went off, and the red lights were blinking all over the room.

“Wait, what’s happening? Did something happen?!” Jenny asked as she walked toward the steel door to check the other room.

Everyone followed her from behind as Archie kept standing in front of the glass door.

“Looks like the time has come, you will be the right tool for me,” Archie said as he touched the glass wall and shattered it.