Number 7

"Hey."

Marcus stopped in his tracks, his tone becoming deadly serious in an instant.

"I don't recall ever doing anything to you. And It's highly likely that the majority of the people out there haven't done anything to you. So let me ask you then, monster."

Pointing the knife out the shattered window towards the lot of zombies, Marcus thinned his eyes as he spoke, anger directed at the deity in his head.

"What the hell did they all do to deserve this?"

[Enough.]

"Tell me. Now."

[Enough, human. You're becoming too arrogant for your own good. You know nothing of what they've done to me. What you've done to me. What you have taken from me... simply by existing.]

It was then that Marcus's anger boiled up in him, as he slammed his fist to the window sill, allowing the glass shards to pierce straight through his hand.

"What I've taken from you just by existing!? Listen to yourself! You go and destroy the entire damn world, and then you claim it's our fault for existing in the first place!?" Marcus shouted.

[I've had enough of your attitude. Be silent, human. Or I will take even the little you have from you.]

It was as the voice said this in such a calm tone that Marcus gripped the glass in his hand, ripping off a shard from the window sill and holding it to his throat once more, not even wincing as a single drop of warm blood was drawn from the cold blade.

"And I've had enough of you. Take what little I have? Let me tell you something, monster."

As he said this, a grin drew itself across the face of Marcus - giving him the expression of a demon.

"You can't take what I have if I take it first."

Pressing the piece of glass to his neck, Marcus sliced his own artery, causing blood to spray out as it covered the walls.

He dropped to the ground, the sound of flowing liquid being the only thing that remained after the thud.

However, just as his consciousness was fading, the voice said one last thing.

[Hahaha… fool. Even if you were able to kill yourself, it would only set me back... slightly. Yet it would seem… that you have played right into my hands.]

'What?'

There was only enough time for Marcus to make this single thought, not even able to comprehend the words of the creature as his vision went black.

And with that, Marcus died.

For the first time.

----

Marcus opened his eyes to see that he was laying in a pool of congealed blood.

It had not yet hardened, but rather was thick and gelatinous - and this immediately told Marcus that while he had been unconscious for a while, it was not long enough that he should be concerned about the passage of days.

More importantly, he should be concerned about the immense quantity of blood which surrounded his body.

It was far too much for a human to lose. Far too much for a human to survive.

"How uncomfortable.... I feel as if I died."

[Yes, well, you did. Stop killing yourself. There will be plenty of time for that later. Ah, but now that you did it the first time... you really have become a monster.]

With a sneer, the voice spoke in a mocking tone.

[And how comical it is… that you have nobody to blame except yourself.]

It was as the voice said this that Marcus took a look at himself and realized it.

His hands were a greyish blue color.

The same shade as the zombies which he had seen outside.

His skin was pale and he could see the veins in his arms as if his very body had become transparent, and as he witnessed such a phenomenon his hands began to tremble in fear.

"What... is wrong with my body?", he whispered.

[Hey, didn't you hear me? I said you died. Don't you remember, you know, slitting your own damn throat? Or were you too buzzed to even remember such a thing?]

[Heh.]

The voice uttered a single sinister chuckle as it spoke.

[Well, hey! This makes things a whole lot interesting. So? Do ya wanna know what happened to you?]

"What..."

With a gulp, Marcus found it difficult to even get the words out.

"Happened?"

[Oh!! Now you come to me begging for information! It's a pretty terrifying thing not to be able to die, you know.]

The voice spoke in a mocking tone, however it then became low and sinister, as if whispering into the ear of Marcus.

[Maybe even more terrifying than living.]

"What have you done to me? Why am I... why am I a zombie?"

[I guess I should answer, right? And if I don't, will you kill yourself again? Ah, but that won't do anything except waste time. I'll explain, so don't worry. Where should I start? First, as you know, I invaded your mind and merged with your cells. So where did that put you? Well, you were still human, but your cells became similar to my own. You gained all the abilities and resistances that I have, and our DNA slowly merged together as one. However just now you tried to kill yourself. And when you did so, I was forced to resort to drastic measures.]

The voice began to explain to Marcus, and he patiently listened, awaiting the reason behind his condition.

[I don't need you. If you wanted to go ahead and die, then that wouldn't impact me. I'd just regrow another parasite from my real body and find another host to invade. It would be annoying and take some time, but it wouldn't actually threaten my life. However, when you killed yourself, I asked myself 'Should I save him? Do I have a reason to do so?', and you know what I thought?]

It was then that the voice began to laugh.

[Heh.]

The chuckle bloomed like a deadly flower, blossoming into a fully-fledged cackle.

[Heh heh heh.... I thought to myself, 'Ah... but wouldn't it be a bit too easy if I just let him die without suffering any more?']

Marcus could feel his very existence being mocked with every word of this creature.

[So I infected you with the virus that I've brooded within this parasitic form. And now, like me.... no matter how many times you're killed, even if you're torn apart limb by limb.... you won't die.]

The information which the being laid onto Marcus was far beyond the realm of belief. Marcus slowly blinked, barely able to register the information.

[Yet unlike the mindless zombies whose minds are eaten away by the virus... you will be forced to retain your consciousness. Just as I was.]

However, the fact that Marcus was still alive after stabbing his very neck was enough to force him to believe.

[I wonder how long it will take you, then... to lose your mind.]

He shared a body and mind with a creature whose motives far surpassed human logic.

[I'm sure it will be entertaining to watch, human. I will be watching and waiting for you to become… a perfect host.]

He had become a monster.

"Why... no.... I don't even need to ask why."

Standing up as he held his hand to his forehead, Marcus looked around him.

A migraine slowly begun to form, enough to make his head throb with pain.

"It's not like I could ever comprehend the thoughts of something like you."

Heading over to the windowsill, Marcus took a long shard of glass, tearing it off from the window.

Then, taking the knife at his side, he began to sharpen the glass.

"But I know one thing for certain."

Forming a blade from the glass, Marcus walked over to the bed and began using it to saw off the top of one of the bedposts.

"This is reality. And no matter what sort of hell you've made this world into... I'm still alive."

As he sliced off a piece of wood, he began to carve it into a handle, which he then slid the glass blade into.

Then, placing his hand onto the blade, the flesh of his hand seemed to expand, wrapping itself around the blade and seeping into it, merging together to form a blade of flesh.

How Marcus knew to do this, he didn't know.

He simply knew, as if the instinct had been instilled into him.

"And so long as I'm still alive... that means I have to continue to live. Therefore... that's exactly what I'll do. You want to take your revenge on humans? You want to have your fun? Fine then. Do what you want. But I'm not taking part."

Sliding the two blades into their sheathes on either side of him, Marcus stepped down the stairs.

Approaching the iron door - which zombies were relentlessly banging from the other side - Marcus gripped the blade as he cut right through it.

And with that single slice, the iron door was split in two.

The zombies began to pour in through the opening, rushing towards Marcus without the slightest hint of intelligence as they grumbled.

As they approached him, Marcus drew an arc horizontally, sliding the knife cleanly through the heads of five approaching zombies.

The pale blue heads fell to the ground, pools of blood forming around them as the bodies fell to the ground on the spot.

Dozens more zombies immediately replaced the five, all approaching Marcus with loud roars as they reached out in their mindless hunger.

However even when faced with these creatures, Marcus was unfazed.

With motions that appeared superhuman, he athletically slid his way around the zombies, slicing off each and every one of their heads like a dancer, gracefully hitting each and every motion.

More heads hit the ground, and more bodies dropped with the ever-so-similar splatter.

Then, flicking the blood off the knife and fixing the tie to his ragged suit, Marcus walked forwards.

"I have work to do."

----

Marcus didn't know what had happened to his body.

He didn't understand for even a moment why he had done the things he had done - or how he knew to do them.

However as he was faced with dozens of zombies that poured into his home, he realized something.

"Shit... there are so many of them...."

Slicing at one after the other, the heads and bodies formed piles around Marcus, restricting his movements while they continued to pour in through the bottleneck of the entrance nonetheless.

"How... Can I deal with this many?"

Marcus dual wielded his blades, not allowing either of his arms to rest for even a moment.

Slicing off limbs, heads, torsos, he continued to hack away at the monsters who approached him in their hunger.

"Ugh...."

"Raagh!!!"

An energetic zombie lunged at Marcus, to which he jumped back, however this caused him to trip over the dead body of a zombie behind him.

Falling to the ground, Marcus quickly gathered himself.

'I have to get up. I have to-'

However, he was not fast enough.

Before he could stand up, six more zombies were in front of him, all rushing at him with mindless bloodlust.

"Ugh!"

"Grr!!"

"Ragh!!"

"Shit!! Get off me!"

Marcus hacked away at one zombie, stabbing his knife through her chest, however as he did so, the blade became stuck.

The zombie roared, and Marcus could see her rotting teeth as the grotesque mouth opened. He twisted the knife further into her chest.

The zombie didn't seem to be phased by such a thing, and instead continued to press on Marcus, grabbing hold of one of his legs.

"Agh!! Fuck!!"

Marcus quickly used his fleshy blade to slice off the head of the zombie, however in the time that this happened, he was completely surrounded on all sides.

"Oh... fuck...."

The zombies all toppled onto him, and like a quarterback at the bottom of a dogpile, Marcus was stripped of the ability to move.

And then...

Crunch.

Marcus felt it.

Given his current condition, Marcus was unsure as to whether it was even possible, yet he felt it.

Pain.

Adrenaline had overtaken his body until this point, and so even when he had smashed his hand into the glass of the windowsill, he had felt nothing.

However, this led Marcus into a trap.

He was led to believe that because he was no longer human... that he would no longer feel any pain.

"Agh!"

How wrong he was.

"Urgh-!"

The zombies began to bite into the flesh of Marcus, tearing away pieces of flesh from areas all over his body, each having their own feast, slurping and grinning like the beasts they were.

"Help!" Marcus screamed. Anyone, anyone, to stop the pain, even the voice in his head-

One took a bite from his side. Another from his leg. Yet another ripped off his arm, twisting it about as his tendons snapped before the creature began to eat his fingers like a snack.

Crunch.

Marcus let out another scream. He could feel metal coating the back of his throat as he screamed- some hazy part of him figured that that was something bursting.

Tears began to form in Marcus's eyes - yet another feature which he was unsure whether was possible for him.

[It would seem that you have much to learn, Marcus. After all... is only this much enough to make you scream?]

It was as the zombies violently mutilated Marcus that the evil voice once more spoke up, saying things which were inconceivable to anyone who held even the slightest bit of common sense.

"You... Can you stop this?" Marcus breathed, panting. No response. Marcus growled. "Can you stop this?!"

Marcus shouted out to the voice in pain as a zombie broke his leg, tearing it off and consuming it alongside two others.

Another terrified, pained scream. "Stop it-!"

[Can I? Well of course... I could. However, listen up... human. If this is enough to make you come to me for help... then isn't your conviction a bit shallow?]

With every second that passed, another pang of pain resounded through the body of Marcus as the numerous teeth sliced into him, yet not a single shred of sympathy was given.

[What you humans did to us makes something like this look like a mere scrape. Tell me then.... Marcus.]

As he was tormented by the monsters around him, bit by bit the body of Marcus became smaller and smaller - to the point where he was now merely a torso with a head.

His body parts were all over the place, and he was aware of each and every one of them- in small chunks, his flesh and blood was spread across the room.

Even still, numerous zombies still ate away on top of the man.

And as they did this, the voice continued to mock him.

[What reason do I have to help you?]

With a laugh, the voice cackled to itself.

[Hahaha.... I have none. Die again, fool.]

Thus, Marcus died.

For the second time.

----

Marcus... no longer knew where he was.

Everything was dark.

Was he asleep? Was he unconscious?

Was he dead?

Even Marcus did not know.

'Ngh..'

The painful memories of being eaten alive consumed Marcus's mind like a river rushing onto dry land, filling his brain with torment.

He couldn't speak, not with the mental pain, but he still thought.

Even in this world of darkness, he felt himself panting and sweating in terror.

[That concludes trial number 2. And now.... we shall be moving on to number 3. Or at least... that is what that man would have said right now.]

Even in this world of nothingness, the voice had followed him here.

Unable to bear with this reality, Marcus attempted to shout out.

"Get out of here! Get out of my mind!"

[You've really gone off the rocker, haven't you? What's wrong, Marcus? A single death... no, I suppose it was two.... haha... only two, and you're already at this point? Ah... but I forgot...]

[For a human, it's only supposed to happen ONCE.]

----

"What is your goal? Why are you taking your revenge on humans? Why have you singled me out?"

Marcus was aware of his fists clenching, jagged nails digging into skin as he shouted out into the void, however his desperate pleas were met with nothing more than continued mocking laughter.

[Hahaha... it would be so easy if I just told you, wouldn't it? You'd understand everything. You would talk me down, maybe we could develop some sort of bond as comrades, and we could forget about the whole thing.... right?]

[Wrong.]

[I don't have anything against you in particular. I've already said this. I have something against the entire human race. You just happen to be one. And so if I'm going to destroy you all... then I might as well have some fun while I'm at it.]

"But- But why?" Marcus breathed.

[Marcus, I could tell you why. I could give you every last word, explaining and explaining. But let me tell you something.]

The voice then became dull and low, tearing into the mind of Marcus.

[After a few minutes of pain, you already understand more than what a lifetime of explanations could do.]

It was as the creature said this that Marcus realized something.

He hated this thing.

Pure, undiluted, hate. He wanted to kill it, get rid of it, purge it's very existence-

"Number 7.... is what you said you're called?"

[A name... no, a LABEL that a human gave me. The very human who made me... into what I am.]

Bit by bit, each of the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.

"The human... who made you?"

This thing was manmade.

A creation of mankind.

Which had destroyed mankind.

A human had made this thing.

[That is right, Marcus. It seems that you do have a few brain cells still remaining in that rotten brain of yours.] The voice giggled.

With terrible laughter that grated at Marcus's ears, the voice laid his origins on Marcus.

[I am an experiment. Experiment Number 7]

----