Number 7

'The zombies... do not recognize a person from looks or smell alone.'

Marcus and Sylvia stood forth, grand smiles plastering their expressions.

'They cannot tell whether a person is just another zombie or a human... without a trigger.'

The foul creatures quickly turned their attention to the two, who had so readily created such a stir.

Within the vicinity, there were around 50.

'And it would seem that the trigger has nothing to do with WHAT one is... but rather HOW they act.'

Gripping their weapons, the two stood back to back as they prepared themselves to fight.

Likely, to their deaths.

'And what are the two things that separate humans from these monsters?'

A zombie lunged forth, at which Sylvia quickly stabbed her spear through it's head, ripping it out violently as she prepared for the next strike.

'Arrogance... and fear.'

With a pained expression, Sylvia did everything she could to keep that overconfident smile covering her face.

'And right now... we are overflowing with both of those.'

----

"What's wrong? Did you not hear me correctly? I said that this is a one time offer. If you're going to be the lucky winner, then you're going to have to try a little harder..."

Drawing a horizontal arc through the air, the sharp blade of flesh slid through the heads of multiple zombies like butter as Marcus fought with every fiber of his being.

"Than that."

The blood splattered over the two as multiple bodies dropped to the ground with squishing noises, lifelessly falling upon the cold pavement.

However even as these bodies fell, droves of zombies quickly replaced them, converging on the two pale skinned zombies whose eyes carried the liveliness of humanity.

They roared and groaned, snarling and hissing.

Some of the zombies began to trip over the ones who had fallen, at which Sylvia didn't miss a beat, thrusting her spear right into the falling path of those who had tripped.

The force of falling was enough to make their heads explode into chunks of flesh and blood, however she didn't merely stop at one.

One by one, she thrust her spear in and out of the zombies, matching their motions with her own as she caused spray after spray of entrails.

"There are only two brains available... so if you're going to get a hold of them... you're going to need to make a much higher offer... than anyone else."

With a smile, Sylvia switched places with Marcus, who rushed on top of the pile of bodies, lunging forth as he plunged each of his two blades into two zombies, slicing straight down through their heads and cutting their bodies into two.

"And currently... there don't seem to be any decent bidders. We aren't desperate sellers, you know."

Dodging the bite of another zombie, Marcus quickly gained his footing on solid ground as the zombie fell forward into the pile, at which he thrusted the regular blade into the back of its neck, pulling it out quickly as the creature fell forward, now lifeless.

However, now the two were separated.

"Ah, don't you think you're being a bit too... risk oriented?"

Jumping on top of the pile as well, Sylvia took the back of Marcus as she started to use the height advantage to attack from a distance.

Backing up while wielding both daggers, Marcus stood with Sylvia to his back, taking on any undead who got past her spear.

"Is this all you can do? After seeing Number 7, I would've expected more. Are there no zombies who can actually put up a good fight here? Or perhaps you all simply don't have any motivation?"

Even as he made such arrogant statements, more and more zombies seemed to be approaching the two.

They gathered in the masses, and were now to the point where they were pushing and shoving on another as they inched closer.

Sylvia's spear shot off like a minigun, her arms tirelessly working to stab each and every creature which approached her.

Her veins became like ice, and she felt herself becoming exhausted as she took care of the creatures one by one.

'I... can't do this.'

'There are... too many.'

The woman began to breathe heavily as a number of zombies got past her line, approaching Marcus.

'Shit...'

'I.... was arrogant.'

'No... we knew this would happen.'

Marcus then found himself slicing and dicing, cutting away at the chests of the creatures before they could reach him.

Barely able to stand, Sylvia forced herself to continue attacking, trying to kill as many as possible before they got close enough to Marcus.

'We knew... that this would happen... yet... we still did it.'

At this point, Marcus was furiously attacking one after another, not pausing for even a second to breathe.

'Why... did we do this?'

'Why... after all that... did we choose to do this?'

It was then that Sylvia tried to thrust her spear into the head of a zombie who was attempting to attack Marcus, however she instead dropped her weapon.

Her arms twitched uncontrollably, unable to move as she wanted.

She was exhausted.

'No...'

However even so, Marcus quickly took care of the creature, slicing it's head clean off.

He seemed to glance back at the dropped spear, however only for a second, given that there were too many zombies near him to allow him the chance to give it back to Sylvia.

The woman felt her knees buckling, barely able to keep herself standing.

'Shit...'

And then, she felt a hand grab her throat.

'Ugh!'

Turning around, she saw that numerous zombies had snuck up from behind, and were already within attacking range.

'No.... not... not again...'

Crunch.

Biting into the neck of the woman, a piece of flesh was ripped from her.

Rotten as it was, a surge of pain exploded at the location of the bite, causing Sylvia to scream out.

"Agh!!"

Falling off the pile of zombies, a number of living ones toppled onto the woman, taking advantage of her vulnerability.

'No... no.... not again...'

However, at that moment, two of the zombies' heads exploded.

As the blood rained onto the woman, she looked up to see that knives had been thrown, straight into the heads of the two creatures.

Turning her head, she saw Marcus standing there, out of breath and surrounded by zombies, who grabbed him from all locations, pulling him into their greedy clutches.

And then, with a fearful expression, the man said one thing to the woman.

"I'm sorry... it looks like... we really are going to die again."

A single tear flowed down the man's face as he was pulled into a group of zombies, who immediately began feasting on the man.

The crunching of bones, the ripping of flesh, the tearing of limbs, all these sounds were accompanied by the horrifying screeching of the man.

And then, from the other side, the zombies who had lagged behind the first two were on top of Sylvia.

An orchestra of screams pierced the air as the two were tackled by the hordes, teeth and claws sinking into their flesh as insanity filled their minds.

As the creature sunk its teeth into her leg, the woman furiously struggled, at which the zombie grabbed hold of her, pinning her down.

"No! No!"

Then, a few other stragglers approached the woman, and soon enough there were a dozen around her.

"Stop!"

She screamed, however such a thing was useless when faced with such brainless creatures whose hunger knew no bounds.

The chewing sounds did not stop, and her flesh was once again torn from her body, as disgusting and rotten as it was.

Her fingers were bitten into, and everything aside from her brain was consumed with haste.

Burning pain ignited throughout the woman, causing every one of her sensations to flare up in anguish.

The two screamed and shouted, terrified and reminded of something all over again - something which they should have realized the first time - yet had failed to do so.

That even if they were zombies, they still felt pain.

That even if they would not die...

That some things were worse than death.

As they were eaten away at, these two forgot about the children that they were trying to protect.

They forgot about their reason for coming to this place, their resolve in sacrificing themselves, and their entire reason for living.

Only one thing filled their minds.

Agony.

And in this agony, both people thought the same thing.

'Why would I have done this to myself?'

This question boiled in their minds, ripping away at their very beings.

The torment which they endured was nowhere near worth saving the lives of a couple of children who they barely knew.

It was enough to make the two wish that they had never been born.

'How... could I have been so naive?'

'How could I have approached this without a plan?'

'How... could I have thought that merely by being overconfident... that a solution would just come to me?'

'Ah. That's right.'

Marcus began to question every decision he had made up until this point, wondering how he could have been so foolish as to not learn from his own deaths.

Closing their eyes, the two furrowed their brows as the pain slowly began to numb.

'Those people on the top... arrogance was all they had.'

'And that was enough to gain them power.'

Closing their eyes, the two barely felt anything anymore.

'Yet I seem to have forgotten.'

'I have never in my life been on the top of the food chain.'

'I don't hold that kind of luck.'

----

[Moments ago]

Shane could feel nothing more than shame as he snuck away from the two, who called out to gain the attention of all the zombies within the corridor.

He was pathetic.

This was the only word he could use to describe himself.

Those two had died.

They had been killed.

Tormented.

Put into the agony of being eaten alive.

Yet even so, there they were, standing tall in the face of yet another death.

Like it was nothing.

They put on arrogant smiles, shouting out to the zombies as they gained their attention - all so that Amy and Shane would be able to sneak by without being noticed.

'How could I have... killed her?'

Guilt.

Overwhelming guilt.

The hatred which Shane held for the monster had not subsided, yet the fact that he had harmed Sylvia in such a manner out of said hatred was enough to make him want to curl up.

How could he be so weak when everyone around him was suffering just as much?

No, even more.

"Come on, brother. If you take so long, then we won't be able to kill those monsters."

Looking back at him with those insane eyes, the girl tilted her head as she spoke in a crazed manner.

"You don't want that to happen... right?"

"I..."

Holding back his emotions, Shane pressed forth, hunching his way past a line of bushes while remaining out of sight of the main road, which was littered with the undead.

"Don't want that."

The two quickly headed past a number of buildings, passing a number of zombies who seemed to be converging on the noisy pair, who were creating such a distraction.

'They don't even pay us any attention, but instead go straight for the noise.'

The two were almost able to walk right through the zombies, who were occupied on something else.

They remained relatively out of sight, yet even if they were right in front of the zombies, would they actually be attacked?

"Brother. The traffic light is up there. Let's go."

"Wait. Wait until the zombies clear... then we can walk out."

Little by little, the zombies all seemed to walk past the two, however it was then that the noise seemed to stop.

Looking back, Shane saw that Sylvia and Marcus were desperately fighting, too exhausted to even shout out anymore as they struggled to remain alive.

'It must... be terrifying.', Shane thought as he looked over, then quickly looked to the traffic light.

However it was then that he saw it.

One single zombie at the back of the line had stopped in his tracks.

Turning it’s head, the creature instead looked to the bushes which the two children were hiding in.

And then, it smiled.

Turning it's head with a groan, the zombie began to approach the two.

'Wha... it's... coming this way!?'

Shane looked around with concern, wondering how on earth the zombie knew that they were there - or rather, why it had targeted them even in the ruckus.

"Brother... don't you realize it?"

The zombie approached the two, reaching it's hands out towards them as it came closer.

It was then that Amy stood up.

'What... what are you doing!?'

Shane could do nothing more than watch with wide eyes as his sister stepped up, walking into the open.

Yet even so, the zombie continued walking forward, heading straight for Shane.

Then, walking around the zombie, the girl jumped up onto the undead man's back, as if he were giving her a piggyback ride.

"They can sense human emotion. Therefore... if you don't want them to notice you... all you have to do is…”

With a pause, the girl brought the knife around the man's head, and stuck it in his mouth.

“Switch off your emotions.”

Pressing the knife forth, she shoved it straight through his head, causing the man to stop in his tracks.

Jumping down, the girl seemed to wipe the blood from her hands to her gown, staining it further as the zombified man dropped to the ground lifelessly.

"But brother... you seem to be emitting a lot of emotion right now. It's no wonder they notice you."

Turning her head, the girl began to stroke her own hair, mixing it with the zombified blood.

"After all... you're terrified, aren't you?"