HALF: Dead nor Alive

“Wow, you two really can handle your liquor, I’m amazed,” Nova mumbled because she started to get tipsy from drinking.

Ruby and Vincent were never a fan of getting wasted so they knew their limit. Faye and Aster barely drank since they wanted to keep it professional even though they were off duty. They knew who would get drunk and that was a good enough sign to put the liquor away from Nova because she drank alcohol like water.

“I think it’s for the best if we called it a night and bring Nova back to her barrack before she made a mess,” Faye said as she looked at Nova who was zoning out while she was swirling the whiskey in the glass.

“Come on, Nova, let’s go back,” Ruby said as she grabbed the glass from Nova and then picked her up from her seat but Nova tried to grab the bottle. “No, no, no, that’s enough for tonight,” Ruby said as she smacked Nova’s hand and made everyone laugh.

Everyone went back to the headquarter, Faye and Aster went the other way since they had their own room on the base while Archie and the others went to the barrack. Nova was so drunk that she staggered and was barely able to speak properly which made everyone couldn’t stop laughing.

After Ruby helped Nova throw up all the alcohol in her body, she brought her to her bed.

“I never thought with that kind of personality and face, she had that kind of side in her,” Ruby said as she walked to her bed while looking at Vincent.

“Everyone has that kind of side where they don’t want anyone to see but only to those who they’re comfortable with. I’m glad that she thinks that we are someone that she can trust since she feels comfortable with us,” Vincent replied as he looked at Archie and Eve who sat next to each other.

“I never thought that we are going to go out there again after what we have been through, at least I never thought it would be this soon,” Ruby said as she sat down next to Vincent.

“Habit?” Archie asked as he looked at Ruby with a smile on his face.

Ruby chuckled and nodded while she raised her eyebrows. “Yeah, you might be right,” she said. “We used to live in a world where we can’t close both eyes at the same time. Now, everything looked so peaceful and it’s really unbelievable,” she continued as she stared at the floor.

“Good for them,” Vincent said as he looked at the moon outside the window.

“Yeah, good for them,” Ruby answered as she nodded and raised her eyebrow. “Anyway, good night, Archie, Eve,” she said as she looked at Eve.

“Good night,” Archie and Eve said at the same time.

Hours had passed but both Archie and Eve couldn’t sleep because they both didn’t even need to rest. They heard Nova and Vincent snoring and they were shouting at each other which was quite funny to hear.

“Are you hungry? Do you want to eat?” Eve whispered as she stared at Archie while she lay down on the bed next to Archie.

Archie looked at Eve and furrowed his eyebrows. “Eat? Where?” he asked back.

“There’s a specific food that’s quite delicious but they’re hard to find. I want you to try it,” Eve answered as she raised her eyebrows.

“Sure, but I don’t think we have the time to go out there since we have to go back here in the morning,” Archie said.

“I can fly and I can bring you with me. It will only take an hour if you’re up to it,” Eve replied.

“Right, well, let’s go then,” Archie said as he nodded his head.

They both stealthily left the barrack and went to the place where there were no cameras so they wouldn’t get caught.

Eve spread her wings and something was different compared to the last time Archie saw it.

“What happened to your wing?” Archie asked.

Eve looked to her right and flapped the wing. “This is after Ruby shot me with that bullet, I don’t know what was in that bullet but it destroyed my cells,” she answered.

“Wait, don’t you have regeneration ability as well? It shouldn’t be like that if you have regeneration ability since it will heal itself eventually,” Archie asked as he looked at the broken and deformed wing.

“I don’t have regeneration ability,” Eve answered as she shook her head.

“Huh? But I cut off your wing back then and you have it back already. If it wasn’t regeneration ability then what is it?” Archie asked with confusion.

“That’s because I can attach them back and the cells will reconnect themselves back again. So if you took the wing from me, I can’t grow them back since I can only attach it back,” Eve answered as she looked at her wing. “Anyway, let’s go, I’m starving since the last time I ate was a decade ago,” she continued and Archie was shocked when he heard it.

“Okay, I’m ready whenever you are,” Archie said and immediately Eve grabbed his hand and flew up into the sky in an instant. “What just happened?” Archie asked as he looked down and there was nothing else but clouds below him.

“We are flying, now let’s go and find our food,” Eve said and started to flap her wings.

“Can we go higher? I want to see the earth from far away,” Archie asked as he looked at the stars.

“How long can you hold your breath?” Eve asked back.

“An hour,” Archie answered.

“Okay, let’s go higher,” Eve said as started to fly higher so fast that the wind broke and his ears were ringing because of it.

Archie looked down and looked at how small the Sky station was from up there. He saw the lights in the city and he couldn’t describe how beautiful the earth was since he had never been that high.

“Enjoying the view?” Eve asked with a smile on her face.

“Yeah, this is beautiful, thank you for showing me this,” Archie answered with a grin on his face as he looked down.

Eve never heard someone say that word before, a simple thank you was enough to make her feel weird. She stared at Archie for quite a while and she was convinced that Archie was different from the other Adams and she didn’t regret her decision to not kill him the moment she saw him back then.

“Okay, you can enjoy the view while I bring you to the place where the food is, so, hold your breath,” Eve said as she started to fly across the world.

As Eve said, they arrived at the destination in an hour and that destination was Antarctica. She descended and landed safely with Archie next to her, they both looked around and didn’t see anything but ice and snow.

“Is there a parasite up here?” Archie asked as he looked at Eve.

“Yes, plenty of them, and they’re all so delicious to eat,” Eve answered as she looked around. “Come on, I can sense them,” she said and grabbed Archie’s hand then dragged him to where she went.

Eve and Archie walked up the hill and once they reached the top, they saw hundreds of penguins gathering around with a giant ice cave in the middle. She put her finger on her lips and wanted him to stay quiet.

The penguins were gathering around the ice cave and all of them started to make sounds. The ground shook and a parasite that looked like a while but with legs came out from the cave. The parasite ate them in a single swoop while the rest of the penguins ran for their lives.

“That’s our target, let’s kill it,” Eve said and then slid down the ice and Archie followed her from behind.

Eve didn’t hesitate and pointed her hand at the parasite, for some reason the parasite got slammed to the ice and its head exploded because of the pressure. Archie looked at her and he realized that her ability had something to do with her hands which was still confusing to understand.

“Come on, eat it while it’s still fresh,” Eve said as she pointed at the parasite’s body.

Archie cut the body open and he was amazed that the flesh was so red as if it wasn’t a parasite at all. He cut a big slice of the flesh and ate it immediately, he looked at Eve and he was so shocked because it was juicy and delicious. It felt like he was eating a steak and it satisfied his hunger.

“Why are you not eating?” Archie asked. “Here, I cut it for you,” he said.

Eve smiled. “Feed me,” she said.

Archie chuckled and nodded then put the meat in front of Eve and she immediately ate it from his hand.