Number 7

'Eh?'

'Now that I think about it...'

The sky was dark.

Clouds seemed to have billowed up above her, and despite the fact that there was no sign of rain, the atmosphere was one filled with gloom.

Eclaire and the other four prostitutes found themselves faced with a man who had taken complete control of the group, with no room for objection.

However this situation suddenly seemed to be released from the mind of Eclaire as she fell to her knees, looking up towards the sky.

"The sky..."

It was covered as if a blanket had been draped across it, yet even so the girl uttered these words.

"It... still exists."

Tears formed at the eyes of the girl, whose mouth curled up in a demented manner as a crooked smile formed.

"Hah... hahaha.... it still exists..."

The girl laughed lightly as the tears streamed down her cheeks - at which the other four immediately looked upwards.

"Ah..."

"She's right..."

Twitching their limbs as their bodies seemed to weaken, a trance seemed to fall upon the group, at which the orange bearded man raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Hey, what the hell has gotten into you-"

"How many years has it been?"

Breathing out these words like a breath of fresh air, the girl with the white hair looked up with a sparkle in her eyes - a brutal combination of madness and innocence melding itself together as she spoke.

"I don't even know."

----

'Ahh... I only ever dealt with the basement residents, so I don't know what condition the first floor residents were under... however it looks like they weren't living under good conditions either.'

As the man known as Ector thought this, it took everything within him to prevent a wicked smile from covering his expression.

'Wonderful.'

Closing his eyes as he took in a breath, the man seemed to change his demeanor in an instant.

'No no... I have to be patient. Not yet with these ones. Soon... but not now. I have to ensure that they aren't... aware of my nature.'

"Alright, now that you all have finished your emotional reunion with... the sky... it's time to get back to work."

Motioning for the prostitutes to stand up, the man seemed to put on a strangely gentle smile as he approached the women.

"I would have asked you all for suggestions concerning where we should head to obtain supplies… but I probably know the area better than you all do, given your reaction to being outside."

Taking control of the group with a newfound charisma, the man spoke in a much more considerate tone than before.

"Of course, grocery stores and restaurants would be useful for food, however I think more important than food would be a means to transport items. We need vehicles. And if I recall correctly..."

Looking into the distance, the man's gaze fell upon the horizon - which was blocked by a number of buildings.

"I believe there should be a dealership in that direction."

"Ah... so we're going to go steal some cars?", one of the girls asked.

"Stealing... haha... it always makes me laugh that such a concept exists here in this nation."

With a chuckle, the man notioned for the others to follow him as he suddenly took the lead - contradicting his previous statements.

"In my country, there is no such thing as stealing."

Glancing back at the women, he spread his arms wide as he spoke with a strange amount of nostalgia in his tone.

"It's a paradise where everything belongs to the PUBLIC."

And with these words, the man gazed into the distance without a shred of remorse.

"Therefore... we aren't stealing."

Grabbing his rifle from off his back, the man once more prepared himself for combat as he headed towards the street.

"We're merely confiscating property. As REPRESENTATIVES."

----

'Ah... it really has spread everywhere.'

The streets were filled with the undead.

Eclaire couldn't even think straight as she looked down the road, unable to even count the number of undead within her sight.

"Stand up front. Your weapons have silencers, so they won't attract too much attention. Feel free to fire at will, but be careful not to get too close to any of the undead. I'll take care of as many as I can from the rear, so just practice to improve your aim for now."

Hearing these words, almost as quiet as a whisper, Eclaire turned back to see that the man was genuflecting on the ground, having set up his rifle on a garbage can as he took aim at one zombie after another.

Bullets flew, tearing apart the eyes and foreheads of their targets, and one after another the creatures seemed to fall - slowly decreasing their numbers.

'I suppose we should shoot as well-'

This was the thought that Eclaire had as a number of bullets flew from the other women.

"Die, bastards..."

"That's right... there... not that one... not that one... there we go."

They were amateurs who had no sense of direction, and firing off a bullet seemed to come with great difficulty to any of them, yet even so - following many misfires, they seemed to be able to fire straight.

"Ngh... why the hell does this thing fire back at me every time I shoot?", one whispered in irritation.

"That's recoil. You'll get used to it, just take one steady shot at a time. Reset yourself if you need to, don't rush things. Hold the weapon with two hands."

The man said these words of encouragement as he mowed the lawn with his bullets, taking down one after another with haste.

However there was one particular girl who hadn't yet fired a single bullet.

Glancing back at the man, Eclaire thinned her eyes as she gazed upon him.

His bullets seemed to fly right in between the girls with precision, careful not to hit them no matter where they stood or how they ran around trying to get kills.

Without question, he was a professional.

'But it's exactly the fact that he's so skilled... that makes me so concerned.'

There was something off.

She could not tell what, but she knew it without question.

And as such, Eclaire felt reluctant to use any of her own bullets.

"How many shots do we have in each cartridge?", she questioned.

"12 each, but I have more on me if you need them. Just shout out once you've run low and I'll help you out, though I guess I'll need to teach you to reload. Hm... I guess I'll have to do that once we've cleared this wave. Therefore, once you run out, just stand there and wait for me to take care of the rest."

The majority of the girls seemed to pay little attention to these words, brushing them off as logical given the difference in experience, however in her suspicion, Eclaire couldn't help but think otherwise.

'Is he trying to get us to use all our bullets on the zombies so that we won't be able to use them on him?'

Was she just being paranoid?

'No... but he's a client, isn't he?'

Was she just overthinking?

'And if there's one thing I know about clients...'

Holding her hand forward, the woman gripped the pistol as if her very life depended on it.

Turning to face forward, she picked out one particular zombie - this one so small that it was barely even a child - and she pulled the trigger.

'It's that they have absolutely no concern... about what happens to US.'

----

"What's wrong, white haired girl? All the other ones ran out long ago, but you still have six shots left. Right?"

The undead had been cleared.

The streets were free of zombies, covered now only in bodies, and there was not a risk in sight.

The vast majority of the shots taken by the other girls had missed, however Eclaire had taken care with each bullet - ensuring that it wouldn't miss its target.

However even then, she stopped firing after six.

'He was focused on his own job, taking care of all those undead and reloading his own rifle when necessary... yet he had the time to find out exactly how many shots each of us had fired.'

'He can multitask, focusing on many things at once with precision.'

'And he has the eyes of a hawk, able to keep tabs on everyone around him without exception.'

"You're surprised?"

Reaching into his coat, the man pulled out a number of magazines as he threw one over to the girl.

Then to the others as well, they fiddled with them as they struggled to catch them.

"As a Human Resources Officer... it was my duty to represent the State."

Standing as he packed up his own rifle, the man spoke with pride of his own past.

"And as a representative of the state... I had to ensure that everything and everyone was under control."

Thinning his eyes, he stepped forward, taking the lead once more now that the fighting had ceased.

"There was not a single person that I could afford not to have tabs on - and I had nobody below me that I could ever completely trust to assist in this."

Moving forward without looking back, the women began to follow him as his gaze fell upon a large lot - filled to the brim with unused vehicles.

"I was the one assigned to my City - and so I had to make sure that not a single person in that City committed any crime."

And as he approached the gates of the facility, the man set up his rifle once more, preparing to eliminate a number of the undead without any threat to his own life.

"Now how do you think one man could possibly handle such a thing?"

Yet in that instant, instead of firing upon the undead - his bullet instead made its way into the engine of a car.

An explosion resounded through their ears, at which numerous zombies were killed in an instant - and many more rushed out from within the store.

They ran out, all making their way to the vehicle as if such a thing was their enemy - biting and tearing it apart as they jumped on top of it in a large cluster.

On seeing this, the man smiled as he reached into his pocket, pulling out a grenade.

Removing the pin, the man hauled the item over to the detonated vehicle - at which a second explosion followed, taking out all of the surrounding undead with it.

Standing up, the man looked back to the women, who were standing there with shock - some of them trying to find out how to reload their weapons as they fiddled with the cartridges.

Gently, the man approached one of them, taking hold of the gun as he moved her hand in such a manner as to eject the current magazine, then to place the new one in.

And without a word, the man did the same for each of them - showing them through action before standing in front of the gates once more.

"I learned about EVERYONE."

With these words, the man reached across the gate, undoing the lock from outside.

The gate doors opened on their own, as if beckoning for the group to enter, at which the man lowered his tone.

"And only once I was certain I knew someone... would I dare to go against them."

Heading towards the main building, the man didn't direct his attention to the vehicles, but rather to the office where the keys were likely stored.

"Know thy enemy... or get killed by that which you don't understand. This is the law that all soldiers and officers must follow."

----

"We're going to have to head inside to find the keys to these vehicles. Of course, most of them might not work, but I'm sure that somewhere in this lot there will be at least a few that can run."

Reloading his rifle as he entered the dealership, the former Officer looked around to see a lot filled with hundreds of cars, trucks, and SUVs.

"I would like to hope that we took care of all of the undead in that last explosion, and the fact that no more are coming out of the woodworks implies that we've done so... at least for the ones that are capable of reaching us. However, don't allow that to relax your guard. There might be more around any corner, so do you all remember how to reload the way I showed you?"

Looking to the women as he finished loading his own rifle, the man received a number of nods before he himself nodded in satisfaction.

"If that's the case, then that's fine. Here. I'll let you all have another clip in case you need it. Be careful to track the number of shots you've taken so that you'll know exactly when you need to reload, and so that you can be prepared to do so."

The man's tone switched from that of an encouraging teacher to a veteran soldier in an instant as he muttered his next words.

"After all, you certainly don't want to be caught in a scenario where you have no loaded bullets and an enemy is right on top of you."

As if these words bore a deep wound within him, the man seemed to spit them out with spite, however his demeanor quickly changed back to his previous one as he took the lead once more.

"I'll need you all to check the rooms while I stay behind to provide support as necessary, so once we head in you all are going to fan out and each check a room on my signal. Is that understood?"

Pressing himself to the door as he gazed inside, the man witnessed a hallway filled with a number of entrances, likely to offices of the various employees who had worked in this place.

"Do we really have to?", one girl asked, clearly not mentally strong enough to take the lead herself.

"Yeah, I mean, is this really necessary? I mean, you could just take care of each room one at a time-"

"So you're telling me that I should just baby you and do all the work myself, denying you critical experience - which you will need the moment that Gerard decides to send you on missions without someone like myself to hold your hand?"

Nodding his head no, the man clicked his tongue in a disapproving manner.

"That won't do."

Opening his sharp eyes as the man looked to the three, he let out a sigh filled with disappointment.

"This world has changed. Don't you see that?"

Standing forward as he walked through the hallway, the man seemed to gaze upon each door as if taking some sort of measurement before coming to the end of the hallway.

"You all need to become soldiers, whether you like it or not."

And as he came to the end of the hallway, facing the wall with his back to the women, the man continued to speak without so much as turning back to them.

"And if I don't turn you into them... then you'll just become fodder at the time you come into contact with a REAL soldier."

And then, with a grin that the women could not see, the man could not help but to speak with a slight amount of SADISM in his tone.

"So fight... or die here and now, and save your enemies the trouble."

----

'I guess... I have to do this, don't I?'

Eclaire, and all of the other prostitutes for that matter, found themselves standing in front of one of the doors along the hallway.

Each girl bore their pistol at the ready, preparing to barge into the room and eliminate whatever undead that they may find within.

'That's right... I have to do this.'

Filling herself with confidence, the girl gazed forward with resolve, preparing herself to fight.

'This is... a good step forward.'

Closing her eyes as she took in a breath, the white haired girl's hands seemed to steady as she calmed her mind.

'If I can learn how to use a gun... how to fight... then I will stand a better chance.'

'Physical strength may not be everything... but if I am to achieve a goal, then I cannot allow myself to be weak.'

'Merely refusing to give up isn't enough.'

'Even if I try and try again, there will be no results unless I improve myself over the course of those trials.'

'Therefore... I will become stronger.'

Placing one hand on the handle while holding the silenced weapon in her other hand, the girl prepared to burst in, awaiting the signal of Ector, who was waiting at the end of the hall with a pistol of his own.

A rifle would have been too large to use in a cramped space, after all, or this was what he had told them.

'I've been trapped all this time... unable to do anything to actually become stronger... but this ends now.'

'From this point forward... I will make progress... and I will eventually achieve my goal.'

"On the count of three, you all will open the doors. If there are any undead inside, you will eliminate them. I will be right here watching, so be at ease. So long as you don't let them bite you, I will kill them before they get the chance to do so."

The orange haired man gave these orders to the girls, who all had their hands upon the door handles in the same way as Eclaire.

"Don't worry about being attacked from behind due to the failure of someone else. That's why I'm here. The only threat to you... is the enemy in front of your face."

Many of the girls looked fearful, however the words of the man seemed to reassure them to a slight extent.

'I can't trust other people... but I also can't do this alone... therefore I will have to find people who I know I can blackmail if the time comes.', Eclaire thought, somewhat disconnected from the entire situation.

'Blackmail... eh? I never would have resorted to such a thing before... but I suppose if it's necessary... then it will do.'

Raising a hand, the man seemed to signal the countdown as he called out.

"Three."

'This man is a client, but he isn't necessarily on Gerard's side. If I can use the fact that those clients aren't satisfied with his tyranny, then I might be able to form a united front against him.'

"Two."

As Eclaire's mind filled with plots and schemes, the man didn't cease his countdown, which she registered within the back of her mind.

'The henchmen and executives are the real problem. They are loyal to Gerard without question... or they should be. Although I have my doubts about whether the executives will stay loyal in all situations. Which would make that one the biggest issue.'

"One."

'We'll have to find a way to get rid of him... and following that, the rest will crumble.'

"Go!"

Switching from intense thought to battle mode, Eclaire swung the door open, grabbing her pistol with both hands in a swift motion as she aimed forward, her eyes piercing the room that spread out before her.

It took only a moment for her to witness that the room was a small office with a desk and a computer - one which was shattered and broken - and sitting at that desk within a chair that was torn to shreds was a tired old man with pale blue skin and reddened eyes.

"Urgh?"

The man turned around, and immediately Eclaire understood that he was a zombie.

Taking aim directly at the head of the man before he could stand up and attack, Eclaire prepared to pull the trigger.

However, just as she was about to do so, the pistol flew from her hands to the side.

'Eh?'

Confusion filling her mind, the girl watched as the pistol slid along the ground down the hall, her eyes unable to remove themselves from the weapon as a chill went down her spine.

'Hey... what just happened?'

And it was at that instant that she comprehended it.

There was a bullet hole in the pistol that she once held.

Someone had shot the pistol from her grasp.

And that someone could only be a single person.

Jerking her head as she looked to the orange haired man known as Ector, Eclaire's hands began to tremble as she witnessed something completely unexpected.

His expression was twisted with pleasure.

With one hand on his gun and the other in his pants, the man had fired off five bullets in the matter of an instant, disarming each and every one of the women.

And then, within the few seconds that it took for Eclaire to face the man, a searing pain rendered itself throughout her neck as the teeth of the zombie sunk themselves into it.

'EH?'

She did not scream in pain, for the shock of the entire situation was enough to silence her, however as she looked into the eyes of the old zombie that bit into her, Eclaire felt her entire body melt into liquid as tears formed in her eyes.

"AGH!!!"

"KYAAA!!!"

"HELP!!!! HELP!!!!"

"NOOOO!!!!"

And then, the screams came.

Horrid, wretched screams that pierced the soul - the screams of the women being mauled and torn apart at the leisure of whatever zombies they faced without so much as a weapon to defend themselves.

The undead man tore a chunk of flesh from the neck of Eclaire, who pushed it back with all her dwindling strength as both the zombie and the blood covered girl fell backwards.

Her hands twitching and pain overwhelming her, the girl's thoughts somehow managed to remain calm as if she denied the very reality of the pain within her.

'He betrayed us?'

'I knew there was something off about him... but this!?'

'I didn't think it would be here or now... and for what reason?'

Glancing over however, Eclaire understood immediately upon the moment she faced the man, whose expression was distorted with pleasure.

'Ah...'

The undead man stood up once more, making his way over to the weakened girl who couldn't do anything to run away or even redirect the attention of the zombie.

'He is a client, isn't he?'

'And one that I've never met.'

'Which would mean one of two things.'

As a set of claws dug into the already mutilated neck of the girl, the old zombified man bore over her as he opened his mouth to take another bite - this time out of her skull.

'Either he is someone involved with the elites on the upper levels... or he is one of THOSE clients.'

'And based on his expression... I already know which one he is.'

Kicking the legs of the zombie that attacked her, Eclaire tripped up the creature as they both struggled on the ground.

'Am I really going to die here?', she thought as fear made its way into her mind.

'Can I really let everything end here!?'

The creature crawled towards her, grabbing her legs as the screams of the other women pierced Eclaire's ears, proving to her that their situation was no different from her own.

'The gun... the gun... ah... ah...'

Reaching her hand out towards the weapon, Eclaire understood that it was too far as the creature sunk its fangs into her thigh.

Although - she didn't even consider the fact that it had already been destroyed.

"AGH!!!"

And finally, she let out a cry of pain.

"Heh... you finally screamed."

And as she did, the man let out these words as the creature dug into the flesh of the girl who was helpless to fight back.

She tried to kick with her free leg to no avail, her weakness evident from her own wounds.

Thck! Thck! Thck! Thck! Thck!

The sound of five silenced shots could be heard in that instant, and looking forward, the girl realized that a bullet had gone straight through the mind of the creature.

Looking around, Eclaire realized that it was the same for the others.

The man had killed off the undead attackers, leaving each and every girl wounded and infected, screaming and hollering in pain and fear.

The smell of blood and urine covered the hall, and the man walked past Eclaire with a grin on his expression, his hand still moving around in his pants.

"That was all I wanted. But now that the moment is over... I suppose it's time to get to work."

"Hey!!! Wait a minute!!! You bastard-"

"Be quiet, woman."

One of the prostitutes shouted out at the man, to which she was met with a kick to the face, slamming her to the ground in a pool of blood.

"You're only good for one thing... and now that I've heard you scream... you're no longer entertaining."

Stepping through the weakened and injured women with these words, the man silenced them in terror as he made his way out of the building.

"Ah... you all thought that I was serious about training you up as soldiers? Let me tell you something. You five are whores. Do you think that a group of whores would ever be able to survive in a war?"

Clicking his tongue, the man let out a haughty laugh.

"As if. When a war happens, you'd be nothing more than a victim of a war crime. That is your role."

The cold steps of the man as he waded through the pools of blood were the only thing that could be heard as he uttered these final words.

"And you've fulfilled it."

----