Number 7

Dead.

Dead.

Dead dead dead dead dead dead deaddeaddeaddeaddeaddeaddead.

As if he was listening to a record on repeat, this single word replayed over and over within the mind of Shane.

For standing before him, with eyes closed and a hole in her heart, was his sister.

She stood perfectly still, not even falling in death.

'An... angel.'

This was the thought Shane had as he looked upon the girl, whose mouth and dress were splattered with blood.

'Sh-She was... an angel.'

Tears dripped from his eyelids, falling to the cold concrete as Shane realized now once and for all.

The girl who he had just referred to as a monster - the sister who he believed he had lost - had not been lost at all.

Her personality may have changed, but that was a trivial matter.

A trivial matter compared to death.

"Why... would you do that?"

With a squeak, the boy spoke weakly, unable to even properly rebuke the monster who had so casually interfered - causing the death of a person.

"Do you not... value life at all?"

On seeing the lifeless body of his sister, Shane now understood.

He had now lost his sister.

Forever.

However in that moment, as Shane looked to his sister while whispering these words, his eyes went wide as he glanced at her expression.

The young girl was smiling in a disgusting manner, sinisterly smirking.

And then, those wicked eyes opened - looking down upon the tormented boy with excessive pleasure.

"You...."

The boy found himself breathless as he looked upon the girl, unable to even speak.

The whites of her eyes had gone black.

[Hehehe... I bet this is a surprise, isn't it?]

The girl spoke in a raspy tone, displeasing to the ears.

And to Shane, such a voice emerging from the body of his sister was all the more displeasing.

[After all... you probably didn't think we could do something like this.]

She looked at him with pure sadism, smugly grinning as she began to move her arms about - getting used to her new body with strange ease.

The skin of the girl slowly became a pale blue shade, and her veins became all the more visible.

The body seemed to change as an aura of rot spread through it, and the girl's fingernails seemed to grow - forming what appeared to be claws.

Yet even as his sister's body was transformed, Shane could not pay attention to anything aside from the eyes of the girl.

Filled with such bloodlust, Shane felt his heart writhe with agony as those eyes tore into him.

They were wicked and monstrous, and in them they carried an evil which the boy could never even hope to comprehend.

And within those horrible eyes, his sister was truly nowhere to be found.

----

What should he do?

No, what could he do?

Before Shane stood a calamity.

A being of chaos which held no concern for lives.

It was a creature to whom not a single person could possibly understand.

It was an enemy of humanity.

Yet this enemy of humanity had overtaken his sister’s body after causing her death.

No...

After causing HIM to KILL her.

And after dragging Shane and Sylvia into the death of his sister, forcing them into roles as accomplices to this murder, she laughed.

[Hahaha.... hahaha!!!]

She laughed, and she laughed, horribly mocking the attempts of the two to preserve such life.

"Ahaa! Your expression! It....Ahhh.."

She pointed at the boy as she almost fell over in her own laughter, barely able to contain herself.

[Ah... ah.... ah.]

Calming down, the creature looked down upon the boy, whose pride as a human being had been shattered.

'How... can I face this?'

He looked forward, his teary eyes slowly becoming filled with nothingness as his very soul was whittled away.

'How can I live with this?'

The laughter had numbed his mind, and looking up to the girl with a pained expression, the boy had one final thought.

'Wouldn't it be better... if I were to just die?'

[Hey boy. Let me tell you something, since you look like you've given up on everything.]

Grabbing the boy by the chin, the creature who was now in the form of a young girl stared intensly at him, her eyes filled with a demented madness.

[Whose fault do you think it is that your sister died?]

Letting go of the boy's head, the girl began to walk around him in a circle as she waved her arms in the air with excessive motions.

[Mine, because I used her as a shield? Hahaha... I'm a monster. Do you think I would feel guilt over the life of a human, when it was you humans who made me into this?]

With a giggle, the girl walked around the back of the boy as she spoke, her words digging further and further into him.

[If you want to blame me, then should you not blame the people who made me into what I am?]

Walking over to Sylvia, who was also frozen stiff in shock, the creature stood above her with a grin.

[Or perhaps it's your fault... for not having control over your own body.]

Coming closer, the girl wrapped her arms around the woman, looking directly into her eyes in a disturbing manner.

[After all, if you could do that one simple thing... then none of this would have happened. All you needed to do was have control over your body. No... not even that. All you needed to do was stay alive. No... even less.]

Sylvia too felt her heart race as the raspy words of the girl drove into her heart like a stake, smashing her resolve to pieces.

[All you had to do was stay dead.]

[But you couldn't even do that.]

Pulling herself back, the creature giggled once more as she approached the boy.

"Hehehe... and you. You failed on multiple occasions. Number 1."

Raising a finger, the girl slammed the boy with sound yet disturbing logic.

"You failed to protect her by forcing her to become what you should have. A killer." She purred.

Raising another finger, the monster continued, not stopping for even a second to let the boy recover.

"Number 2. Even after honing your resolve, it was only a half assed, pathetic resolve which could only take you as far as that truck. If you were going to run, then you should have ran with everything you had - leaving these two behind. And if you really wanted to save your sister… you should have dragged her off.”

With a light giggle, the girl closed her eyes as her expression filled with enjoyment upon the torment of the boy.

“And if you were truly so determined to save them… then you should have died trying. Yet you sat there, while your sister ran off to help them... doing absolutely nothing."

As harsh as they were, the words rang all too true.

Tears fell down the face of Shane, however this time they were not out of fear or horror.

They were out of self hatred.

'This thing.... this monster...'

Unable to take it, the boy began to fall forward, prostrating himself as he wept.

'As evil as it is....'

He didn't want to admit it.

He didn't even want to think about it.

Yet he knew.

'It's… right.'

The boy trembled as he realized something.

'I... blamed it all on this creature... I blamed everything on the fact that this BEING OF EVIL was the cause of everything... that everything which went wrong was her fault... yet because of that... I failed to see....'

Overcome with self regret, Shane hesitated to think a dangerous thought.

'How little I did.'

"And only after your poor little sister was already on death's row did you even lift a finger... and yet even that finger which you lifted...."

With a smile, the girl raised a third and final finger.

"Number 3."

Then, grabbing the boy by his neck, she raised the crying child into the air as he choked, desperately attempting to get a breath.

"What are you doing!?"

Sylvia shouted out as Number 1 lifted the boy, however she quickly shot the woman a deadly glare.

"Don't interrupt, host."

The woman was frozen in place, unable to even shout out.

For in that instant, she was overcome by fear.

'This.... is what was inside me?'

Terror didn't even begin to describe it.

Disgust, hatred, denial, horror, rejection.

All these emotions welled up in Sylvia, yet more so than anything was complete and utter hopelessness.

"The third and final thing you did wrong.... is that when all was lost, and there was nothing more to take back... you decided to attack me. An enemy which you could never in your life even hope to touch."

Dropping the boy, he panted as he fell to the ground, barely able to catch his breath.

"Ughh... ug.... huff... huff..."

"And there is nothing I hate more... than seeing someone who has no chance of winning... pathetically put on a display of heroism."

Walking over to Sylvia, the girl held forward her hand towards the forehead of the woman.

Looking back at the panting boy, she said one last statement.

"If you want to be a hero... then you're first going to have to realize that there are some enemies you can't defeat... and some people you can't save."

And then, from her hand, a tentacle shot forth - piercing the rotten flesh of Sylvia.

Shooting straight through the skull and into the brain, the pumping motion began to occur within the tentacles, and soon enough, the tentacle disconnected from the young girl - whose hand returned to normal.

And then, turning around, the girl walked over to the boy who was spread on the ground, pathetically crying.

"Brother... why are you crying like that? You were never so weak before. Did someone hurt you?"

The voice which spoke was distant, yet as the boy heard it, he felt something within it.

Kindness.

Looking up, he saw it.

The eyes of the girl had returned to normal, and she looked down to the boy with concern.

"Amy..."

Standing up, the boy immediately hugged the girl.

"Amy!"

"Brother, you're hurting me. Don't squeeze so tightly."

"Ugh... Amy!"

"Why are you doing this, brother? Miss Sylvia, am I missing something?"

Trying to turn her head while being tightly hugged, the girl looked back to see that Sylvia had her mouth wide open.

"You... are alive?"

Her mouth quivering as she whispered these words, Sylvia was at a loss.

"Why wouldn't I be? Ah, but this skin... it feels a bit different... hehe... it's kinda cool! Look, Miss Sylvia! I'm just like you!"

With an innocent smile, the girl looked back to the woman, who could only shudder with emotion.

"You... really are alive..."

Speaking these thoughts out loud, the woman was filled with confusion.

'Why?'

'Why would that creature-'

It was then that she remembered.

'Ah.'

[See? As incomprehensible as you may think I am... perhaps you are beginning to understand me. Hehe.]

Overcome with realization, Sylvia slowly stood up, weakened and filled with uncertainty once more.

Holding her forehead, she looked around her to see that Marcus too was standing there, having just been returned to consciousness.

Number 7 had simply stood by and watched, not having said a thing during the entire affair.

'He didn't want to interfere with the fun of his comrade... and as for her...'

With a pained smile, Sylvia let out a laugh as a single tear fell down her cheek.

'She saved the girl... simply because doing so would be entertaining.'

----

How many times now had Marcus been reminded?

Death was not something to take lightly.

'Rushing off and saying something like 'I will give my life to save these children.'... what was I thinking?'

His body had been restored.

The pain was gone, and everything around him seemed to be fine.

The children were alive.

Sylvia was alive.

Number 1 and Number 7 had resigned into their shells, inside the minds of the two.

However inside the mind of Marcus, nothing was fine.

'How... do we even start?'

As the memories of Number 7 flowed into his mind from the time he was dead, Marcus soon came to realize that the situation was far, far worse than he could possibly have imagined.

'Every time I give my life... I give him a chance to take over… no… he can take over even when I am not dead… just how… do I deal with such a thing?'

Even if he ignored the tormenting pain, which still continued to throb in his mind, there was one thing which had been hammered into him this time around.

The two creatures within him and Sylvia were not their allies.

They were their enemies.

'I tried to use him... I tried to use that power to my advantage... and the result of that... is this mess.'

But if he didn't use it, where would he be?

Dead.

Was he simply destined to struggle?

Was his life in this world simply doomed to defeat and suffering?

Was he guaranteed to live his life, painfully dying over and over, witnessing death all around him until his mind broke?

Walking over to the side while holding his head as if he had a migraine, Marcus approached a vehicle.

Inside this car was a woman who had been zombified, looking at Marcus as she drooled immensely.

"Roooar..."

Smash!

Punching straight through the window, Marcus caused the woman to fly backwards, her head falling off her body with the impact.

Glass shards flew everywhere, and Marcus' hand became bloodied as a result of the swing.

Yet even so, in moments it began to regenerate.

Picking out the shards from his skin as the regenerating flesh filled in the gaps while blood dripped, Marcus cursed under his breath.

"What the fuck have I become..."

Closing his eyes, Marcus took in a deep breath.

Turning back to the three, he desperately attempted to calm himself.

'Enough.'

Fixing his demeanor, he approached the three.

"Look, look! Do I look cute like this!? Roar! Ahaha.. I'm going to infect you!", Amy shouted.

"I'm already infected, child. Even if you bite me, there's nothing you can do to further corrupt my body.", Sylvia responded.

"Ehh... then, what about you brother!?"

"Don't... don't say such a thing! Unlike you, I might truly become a brainless zombie! After all, you were possessed by that... that..."

The boy had finally wiped his tears, and was now looking to his sister with a smile as she excitedly showed her new body to Sylvia.

Yet as the boy spoke, he could not bring himself to say the word.

'That monster.'

Marcus watched as the boy looked at Sylvia and Marcus with serious expressions.

"Are you two... and I'm speaking to the ones inside you... are you truly monsters?"

The boy had been destroyed.

Everything seemed to have been lost, and at the moment he lost everything, Number 1 had berated and mocked him.

Yet even so, even if it was out of curiosity, she had revived his sister.

Even if she was the one to cause the girl's death in the first place, Shane couldn't help but to feel conflicted about the being.

"Why... would she go that far... just to revive her?"

The boy voiced his own confusion as he looked to his sister, yet his question was met with a laugh.

Forming a mouth on the cheek of Sylvia, the demented creature known as Number 1 begun to speak.

[Hahahaha.... do you not understand, human?]

The harsh voice of the being once again responded to the boy, to which he listened with a tense expression as he looked up with fear evident in his expression.

[It is only by becoming truly broken... that we recognize that something needs to be fixed.]