Number 7

[Hahaha! The open road sure is fun, isn't it? Ah... but there are so many bodies in the road... I hope my tires don't get ruined.]

A white haired girl dressed in rags sped down the road with a smile on her face, a completely new personality overtaking her.

[Wait.]

However, suddenly, the woman slammed on the brakes.

It was enough to make a normal person shoot through the windshield, however the woman didn't even seem phased as she went into deep thought.

[I see. That's right, isn't it?]

'What is right? What are you even doing?'

Despite the fact that Eclaire could only think these things to converse with the creature, she could not hear the thoughts of the parasite which had overtaken her body.

How one sided, given that her thoughts were her only way to communicate - and as such they were completely exposed.

Turning the car around, the woman in the driver's seat headed back in the direction of the dealership.

[You sound awfully calm, given that I've taken your body. Weren't you trembling just moments ago? Did you realize something?]

Number Four changed the subject quickly, to which Eclaire could only let out a theoretical sigh.

'You really don't like answering my questions directly, do you?'

[The same could be said of you, couldn't it? After all, you just dodged my question.]

As the two conversed, Eclaire strangely felt a bond between the two - at least in their rebelliousness towards others.

'Well... I guess I did realize something.'

[And are you going to tell me what that something is?]

'Only if you tell me more about what's going on.'

[Hahaha... you really are an interesting person, Eclaire. I think this is why I chose you though as my Host. Just as I said... you are rotten with ego. However it is exactly that imperfection which makes you all the more... real.]

'Real?'

[I've spent my entire life deceiving, imitating, infiltrating. And even now... I am imitating the person known as Eclaire. So it's only natural that the person I want to imitate is someone legitimate... right?]

The tone of Number Four shifted once more, now filled with what almost sounded like genuine sympathy.

[Humans are flawed creatures, however I was raised in a situation where flaws were not to be accepted - but eliminated. Failure was something which would be punished immensely, and anything other than fulfilling the mission I was given was forbidden.]

As she arrived back at the dealership, the woman put the vehicle into park as she spoke aloud, remaining seated.

[Even the slightest mistake was unforgivable, so perhaps I wanted to perfectly impersonate someone flawed.]

Sitting back without unbuckling the seatbelt, the woman looked upwards, glancing at nothing in particular as she uttered these words.

[I'm going to take up your mission, Eclaire. Because this is the mission that I have given myself.]

With a click, the seatbelt was unbuckled, and the woman closed her eyes - cutting off any vision with which Eclaire could witness anything.

[But you know... despite the fact that I was raised not to make any mistakes... it's almost ironic that I have been put in this situation.]

At that next moment, the woman opened her eyes - and Eclaire was met with a strangely dark scene.

She was inside the office of the dealership.

And looking directly in front of her, there was a glass window which reflected the image of herself - smiling in demented fashion.

'Eh? What just happened? How did we get here?'

Smash!

And at that moment, the glass shattered.

A feeling of deja vu overcame Eclaire as something was clearly off, yet the words of the one who had overtaken her seemed to send chills down her spine.

[It's time to RETRY.]

----

'EH!?!?!'

'We're back in this place!?'

'Why are we here?'

'What the hell is happening!?'

While she had calmed down relatively quickly following the actions of the parasite which had overtaken her body, Eclaire's mind once more filled with shock and confusion as she looked out the now shattered window.

[You're quite flippant, you know. You're easily surprised, but you quickly calm yourself down and try to analyze the situation carefully.]

'That doesn't tell me anything...'

Eclaire let out a muffled complaint, which caused the impostor to chuckle lightly as she headed towards the back of the office.

[Well, I molded my finger and used it as a key to the vehicle, however I realized that was a mistake.]

'I don't understand at all. What are you talking about?'

With every word that the woman said, Eclaire felt as if she were talking to a robot, something which had programmed answers that didn't really have anything to do with the questions she asked.

[Eclaire. You may have been angry at that man for deceiving you and killing you. The Human Resources Officer. And you wanted to kill him, right?]

'Eh? K-kill him? I mean... I...'

Eclaire suddenly found the question posed on her which made her squirm and struggle to answer.

'I... I won't say no... but to kill him... I mean... I suppose... well, he did kill me... I... I don't know.'

Filled with conflict, Eclaire couldn't seem to make a decision on the matter.

[I'm not saying you will, or that you would make that decision if given the option. But you do WANT to, right?]

'Ah. Without question.'

As soon as the question became hypothetical, Eclaire found the answer easy.

[But even though you want to kill him, he isn't your real target. Am I wrong?]

'You're... not wrong.'

[What about Gerard? Would you kill him if you had the chance?]

'If I had 100 different lives, and in each one I had an opportunity to kill him, then I would kill him in about 10.'

[Why 10 in particular?]

'Because 90% of the time, I would want to subject him to a fate worse than death.'

As soon as the girl replied in this manner, Number Four seemed to become quiet.

She slowly headed into one of the offices, eventually coming across a safe as she placed her ear to it while she fiddled with the combination.

[I said before that you are human... and I believe that part of you is very human.]

With a click, the safe opened.

[To get angry... to be spiteful... to have hatred towards someone who hurts you... to repress your anger and mask your emotions... this is an enormous part of being human. And it is for that reason that I want to... learn from you?]

Inside the safe were numerous pairs of keys, which the woman seemed to be eyeing back and forth.

[I have someone who has hurt me, deceived me, tricked me, and done so many wrong things to me that I should never be able to forgive them - and yet I feel nothing.]

Holding up a finger, it molded itself into the form of a key as the woman began to compare it to the keys within the safe.

[I have no anger towards this person... I have no hatred.]

Finding the one that matched, the woman took it quickly as her finger returned to normal.

[Yet I understand that I should feel such a thing.]

Closing the safe, the woman made sure to lock it once more - as if out of habit.

[So I wish to learn... through the only means that I know of.]

And then as she stood up, she left the room as she spoke.

[I will become someone else... in order to feel what they feel.]

She made her way through the hallway, walking past the same bodies of the girls from before - at which Eclaire recalled the strangeness of the entire situation.

[This is why I have taken over your body, Eclaire.]

Yet Eclaire had no time to even think about it, for the next words which the parasite spoke were enough to make her forget about the confusion which lingered in her mind.

[I'm going to help you to destroy that man... so that perhaps I will gain the hatred necessary to fight another.]

----

'I somewhat understand your motive... there are too many questions that are unanswered, but I'll be satisfied with this for now.'

[Eh?]

As she headed once more to the SUV, which was parked not outside the gate in its original parking spot - Number Four couldn't help but let out this sound of confusion at the words of her own Host.

[Aren't you going to shout at me and question me until you know exactly what's going on?]

'I'm dead, aren't I?'

As Eclaire said these words, even Number Four was forced to stop in her tracks, her eyes widening in surprise.

[What would make you say that?]

'It should have been obvious? My throat was torn out. I became a zombie, and then you took over. I died. Yet for whatever reason, I am still here.'

With a strange tone of acceptance, Eclaire spoke with a slightly pained voice.

'I'm still here inside my mind, as a voice. Maybe I should have gone to hell, or maybe I would have dissipated into nothingness - but the fact that I'm still here inside my body has something to do with you, right?'

[To be honest, that is true - but I can't say it's exactly accurate. During the time the zombie was in control of your body, I didn't do anything in particular.]

Thinning her eyes in suspicion, Number Four rattled off a hypothesis.

[And that makes me wonder if your soul remaining trapped inside was a result of my presence within you... or if that is the case for every zombified human on this planet.]

'If that's the case, then we have to kill them all.'

[Eh? I didn't think you would come to that decision so quickly. Aren't you going to say something like 'We need to save them!'?]

'I was in such a state for a few moments. And as little as I know about it... I can tell you one thing that I knew for certain.'

Her words filled with hopelessness, Eclaire would have been nodding her head if she had control over her body.

'Even though my sensations were the same... the connection between my consciousness and my body had been completely severed. Effectively... I died. And I was nothing more than a lingering soul, sticking around to watch whatever trouble my body got into. Though I suppose it's still the case even now.'

[What if you were to find out that there was a way to save all of them?]

'Such a thing will not happen. But if it were to happen, then I would do everything within my power to help them to regain their minds.'

[I see. Well then... let's get going.]

Jumping once more into the driver's seat, the woman now used the key in her hand to turn the ignition as the engine revved.

[I have an organization to destroy... and a man to kill, after all.]

----

'Ah... I might have taken things a bit too far. Well, I can just tell Yakov that they died of their own stupidity and that there wasn't much I could really do about it. At the end of the day, they were just first floor pawns, so Gerard won't be too irritated about their loss.'

Ector found himself once again sitting atop a canopy at one of the entrances to the hotel, maintaining his rifle as he took care to clean it.

'If I let them know that we cleared out a dealership before I came back, they should let me take another team out there to obtain more vehicles. If I can do that, then I will gain the credit for obtaining the vehicles, and my standing will rise.'

As he had these thoughts, the man plotted his next moves as he decided upon cooperating with the Street Rats 4th branch, aiming to move upwards in their rankings as a method of achieving his own goals.

'I have no idea whether this was some sort of attack by our country... or if it was something more indiscriminate. But I need to solidify my place for now.'

Reassembling the weapon after he finished cleaning each part, the man clicked and shuffled the pieces together once again, his hands moving without stopping.

'Yakov is the main problem... but we can collaborate on assassinating him later. If we can catch him off guard... maybe when he's asleep or after leading him into some sort of trap... then we should be able to take care of him. At that point, we will be free to do as we please.'

As he thought this however, a shudder went down the spine of the man.

'But does that monster actually ever sleep?'

The figure which was Yakov seemed to grow within his mind as the man loaded the rifle, pulling the bolt as he prepared it for action.

'He has to. Every human has a weakness, and that weakness can be exploited. There's no such thing as someone who is flawless or invincible.'

It was at that moment that the man caught movement in his eye.

It was a vehicle.

It pulled up quickly, and as soon as it appeared the man placed its driver in his sights.

A white haired woman.

'Eh? Isn't that...'

The woman stepped out of the vehicle after parking it, her head directly within the scope of the man as she glanced directly at him - fearlessly staring without a word.

'Isn't that one of those girls that I just left to die?'

Squeezing the trigger, the man grit his teeth as a strange feeling of apprehension slithered into his heart.

'Something is off... something is very off.'

And as he glared into his scope, he noticed it.

'Her neck is healed.'

'Her legs are in perfect condition.'

He had witnessed a zombie bite into the girl.

He knew that she was in no state to get up, much less to come back to this place in a healed condition.

'But without a doubt, it's her. It couldn't be anyone else.'

Therefore - a single conclusion came to his mind.

'Did I mistake her injuries for those of a different one?'

However he nodded his head in response.

'No. I would never do such a thing.'

Denying such a possibility in an instant, the man gripped the trigger even harder as he prepared to fire.

And in that instant, the man bore a devious grin.

'How could I forget her beautiful screams?'

Thck!

As soon as he had confirmed the situation in his own mind, the man pulled the trigger.

He didn't know why the girl was alive, but he knew for certain that she had suffered fatal wounds - and that allowing her to live would only present an issue for him.

'If she testified against me, I might have trouble gaining Gerard's trust.'

Therefore the man fired upon the girl.

Yet as soon as he did so, something unthinkable happened.

At the exact moment he pulled the trigger, the woman moved out of the way, shifting her head ever so slightly.

the bullet seemed to whizz by her ear, just by a hair's length - and her gaze fell upon the man who kept his eyes upon her through that scope.

'Eh? Did I just miss?'

Taking aim once more, the man honed his focus on the woman, tightening his grip on the weapon as if to become serious.

'I won't miss again.'

Thck!

The sound of the silenced weapon was accompanied once more by the whizz of a bullet - yet once more as if perfectly aligned with his movements, the woman shifted her head.

It was only the slightest bit, just barely enough to dodge the bullet - and it seemed to be just in the knick of time.

Yet the fact of the matter was that she remained alive.

'What's going on?'

The man wondered this to himself, however at the next instant he took a deep breath, preparing to fire a volley.

'Three shots. All to the head. One of them will hit, even if she dodges the first or second.'

Thck. Thck. Thck.

With slightly different positions each time, the man fired them off in succession - yet as if she knew exactly where the bullets were going to land the woman's head seemed to weave in and out of their paths.

And as soon as this happened, the man felt himself taken aback.

Dropping his rifle, he sat up, his mouth ajar as the woman walked ever closer, approaching without fear despite the fact that she was faced with a skilled marksman.

'Impossible.'

His hands trembling, the man met the gaze of the woman - who without question should have been dead.

And as he did so, there was something within him that told him that he should have never made this woman his enemy.

'Who... no... what is she?'

Yet despite the overwhelming fear which seemed to creep its way into his heart, the woman did something most unexpected - something which was perhaps even more fearsome than any attack.

She smiled.

"Hello! I obtained a vehicle, and even the key! With this, we can show Gerard the results of our expedition, and perhaps he will evaluate us a bit higher than before. Don't you think so?"

And she said these words - as if nothing had happened in the first place.

'Eh?'

At that moment, Ector realized something.

There is nothing more terrifying than someone whose actions cannot be understood.

----

'I just shot at her... five times.'

'Not only did she dodge every single bullet as if she could predict exactly where I would shoot, but she doesn't even appear to be angry.'

'I left her for dead at that dealership... yet her injuries are gone.'

'What the hell is going on?'

Ector's head was spinning.

Everything he ever knew seemed to be flipped upside down with the appearance of this woman, who walked forward with a pleasant smile.

"But why did you come back here without any vehicles? Perhaps you were in too much of a hurry to get out of that office after you had finished with us, but your entire goal was to obtain vehicles for the Leader, right?"

As the woman spoke, Ector once more picked up his rifle, jumping off the roof as he landed in front of her with suspicious eyes.

"Unless of course, you were trying to lure more of his men out in order to thin his numbers."

"That isn't the case."

Immediately, the man denied the accusation of the woman, to which she tilted her head with interest.

"Is that so? I see. Well, whatever your reason is, that doesn't really matter. Four of my first floor comrades have been killed, but you certainly are lucky that I survived."

"Hm?"

The man looked to the woman with confusion as she made this statement, unable to comprehend why she would say such a thing.

'I'm lucky? What part of this could possibly be lucky? It just means that I have to somehow deal with this witness... is she going to rat me out? No, but she's nothing more than a first floor resident. Gerard wouldn't care how many of them die as long as he benefits from it. That's the type of man he is.'

"You're lucky that I survived... because I'm his favorite."

Yet in contrast to the thoughts of Ector, the woman known as Eclaire - or rather the experiment that impersonated her - made this shocking revelation.

"Oh, you thought that his favorite would be one of the executives? Well, that would usually be the case. But you know, I used to be an executive. But I was demoted to the first floor."

"If you were demoted to the first floor, then why the hell would you have any importance to him? Are you delusional? If what you're saying is true, then he just threw you out, didn't he?"

"Wouldn't you throw someone out if you found out that they were trying to kill you?"

At this statement, the man didn't know how to respond.

He took in a deep breath, gazing deeply into the eyes of the woman as he tried to analyze her, in an attempt to find out whether she was lying.

However, as he did so, he could see no trace of hesitation.

She said these things with complete confidence, as if they were completely true.

'Is she just that good of a liar... or is she telling the truth?'

'Why would she tell me this?'

'What is her goal?'

"I had a plan to take over the fourth branch myself, you know. However that plan was exposed by the ones who are currently executives, and I was thrown away. It's that simple. But let me tell you something - something that should indicate how highly that man values me."

As the man thought of these things, a spark seemed to flicker in his mind as a question entered his head - the very question which the woman asked next.

"If he had truly thrown me away after discovering my plot... then why wouldn't he have sent me down to the basement?"

As if she could read his mind, the woman seemed to slither around the man with a deceptiveness the likes of which he had never before witnessed.

"The truth is that he couldn't do that... because he didn't want me to break."

----