HA\LF: Dead nor Alive

Archies whole body was exhausted from bearing all the attacks and hits, his legs started to tremble and it was quite hard for him to stand properly. The guy, on the other hand, was still in his prime as if he didnt lose anything in exchange for using that form.

“Whats wrong? Had enough?” The guy said as he lifted Archies arm and looked at Archie. “Wheres your confidence from earlier? Did I blow it away?” The guy continued as he slammed Archie to the ground.

Archie groaned as he crawled on the road but the guy stepped his foot on Archies back. He squeezed Archie like a paste, Archie coughed blood as he tried to free himself but it was no use because how the difference in size between those two.

“I had enough fun, I should kill you now,” The guy said as he grabbed Archies head with his hand.

Archie screamed as he tried to bite the guys finger but it was so tough that his teeth broke the moment he tried to clench his teeth.

When the guy was about to pop Archies head off, a gunshot could be heard from the distance. The guy stopped squeezing Archies head and immediately removed his hand from Archie. Archie gasped with his eyes going red and face covered with his own blood. Archie turned around and looked at the guy staring at something in the distance, Archie looked at where the guy was looking at and realized that it was where Ruby and the others were.

“It seems your little friends decided to join the fun, I guess I should greet them then.” The guy said as he removed his foot from Archies body and then ran toward the laboratory.

Archie couldnt move a muscle, he could only watch as he waited for his body to heal itself. He saw the guy charge at the building and destroyed them like it was nothing. Archie was grateful to Ruby and the others for saving his life but at the same time, he didnt want them to help him.

Ruby and the others ran away the moment they saw the guy running toward them, they left the building and ran as fast as they could to their second checkpoint. Ruby had planned everything and this was something that she predicted as well so it wasnt really a problem.

“Hurry! Dont let him catch up to us!” Ruby said as she started to hear giant footsteps from behind her.

As they ran they heard the Laboratorys entrance was being destroyed, they immediately ran much faster as their lives depend on it.

“Where are you, little humans!” The guy shouted while he broke the walls.

He couldnt find them and he decided to use his ears to listen to their footsteps. He found where they were and immediately charged the walls in front of him, then he saw Daniel run to the corner. The guy smiled and broke the walls to use the shortcut, and when he broke the last wall, he saw the four of them pointing their guns at him. They fired and emptied their magazine at him, but unfortunately, his skin was so tough it bounced some of the bullets off.

“Run!” Ruby screamed.

All of them ran their separate ways but Tommy was unfortunate because the guy threw a remnant of the wall at him and hit his back. Tommy was struck down by it and he couldnt move because he broke both of his legs and his spine. His scream could be heard by the others and they immediately turned around and fired their second magazine at the guy.

“Take Tommy away!” Ruby screamed as she shot the bullets in the guys face.

Without wasting any time, Daniel and Vincent dragged Tommy away and carried him to safety.

Ruby kept shooting his submachine gun at the guy but all of her bullets were bounced off of him.

“How funny. Do you think a bullet will stop me?” The guy said as he stood in front of Ruby.

Ruby emptied the magazine and threw her gun away, she then grabbed her pistol on her waist but the moment she pointed her gun at him, he flicked her hand and she lost her pistol.

“Stop trying, youre just wasting your time,” The guy said.

Ruby looked at the bag on her left waist and removed the belt from it, she grabbed the bag and lifted it up. Before she could grab something from inside the bag, her left hand was grabbed by the guy and he lifted her up and tried to crush her whole hand. Ruby screamed in pain while the guy laughed at her, Ruby was trying so hard to free her hand but suddenly she laughed and made the guy look confused.

Ruby stopped resisting and glared at the guy while he was hanging. “You fell for my trap,” Ruby said as she smiled and endured the pain.

The guy looked at his right hand where he crushed Rubys left hand and suddenly his hand exploded. Ruby fell to the ground as she screamed her lungs out because she blew her hand off and lost half of her left arm.

Vincent came back when he heard the explosion and saw Ruby laying on the ground with her missing hand and spurting blood. “Bubby!” Vincent screamed at her as he ran toward her.

The guy looked at his hand and he bleed but he noticed that there was some kind of liquid other than his blood. He looked at it for a moment but suddenly he staggered and started to feel the pain in his hand.

The guy started to scream in pain because the serum started to kick in its effect, his hand was twitching as Vincent grabbed Ruby and carried her away. They both looked at the guy screaming and on his knees, they saw his body slowly shrinking and the muscles that wrapped his whole body started to twitch and went back to normal.

Archie came and saw the guy was in pain then he saw Ruby and her missing hand. He was so confused about what happened in there but then Ruby pointed her hand at the guy. “Its your chance to kill him…” Ruby said as she groaned in pain.

Archie without hesitation ran toward the guy and saw an opening on the guys back. He used all his strength and ability in his right hand and then thrust the guys back. He managed to pierce through the guys skin and immediately grabbed his spin and pulled it out. The guy screamed as his body kept shrinking until he was back to his normal size and form.

The guy was laying on the ground with his whole body twitching, Archie was confused but at the same time, he didnt waste a single second by doing nothing. He tear the guys whole limb apart and he could see the flesh in the guys body was twitching like crazy. Finally, Archie pierced through the guys heart and pulled it out while it was still beating.

The guys eyes were wide open as he tried to reach his heart from Archies hand. Archie glared down at him and used his left hand to crush the guys skull and squeezed his brain.

Archie fell on his butt and with both of his hands held the guys brain and heart. He looked at the guy who was no longer breathing or moving, and he could see the guys whole body was still twitching uncontrollably.

“What happened to him?” Archie asked as he caught his breath.

Vincent wrapped the open wound on Rubys arm while Ruby looked at the dead body of the guy. “We made a serum and it was for handling a parasite that we couldnt kill,” Ruby said as she groaned in pain.

Archie turned around and Rubys scream was getting louder and louder as if the pain worsened than before. Vincent looked so worried about Rubys condition, and then Ruby grabbed Vincents hand as she glared at him. “Cut it off! Just cut it off! I got exposed to the serum and if you dont cut it, it will affect my whole body!”

Vincent was hesitant but then Archie suddenly grabbed Rubys hand and cut off Rubys arm from the elbow down to her forearm. Ruby screamed and then sighed with relief as if the pain was slowly gone. She looked at Archie and smiled a bit. “Thank you…”

“Whats that serum? Why is it dangerous to you as well?” Archie asked.

Rubys lips trembled as she looked at Archie. “It was the serum to kill the subject that failed in the experiment. The serum is the easiest way to kill a parasite inside our body so its harmless if our skin touches it but its extremely dangerous if it gets inside our body.” Ruby explained.

Daniel came with Tommy on his back, Daniel was shocked when he saw that Ruby lost an arm while Tommy was unconscious.

“You guys should go back and treat your injury…” Archie said.

Vincent carried Ruby on his shoulder. “What about you?”

Archie looked at the dead body of the guy. “I will stay here for a moment and deal with this first…”

“Leave him be… lets go back, I need immediate treatment before it gets worse…” Ruby said.

Vincent nodded with understanding and then the four of them left Archie alone with the guys dead body.

Archie looked down and stared at the guys dead body then a wind blew into his face. “Eat him…”

Archie looked up and noticed the wind witch was around him. “Eat him? Why?” Archie asked.

The wind blew onto his face again. “You will gain his power, and it will make you stronger…”