Number 7

Marcus found the feeling in his body slowly retake itself.

As he opened his eyes, he found that his head was leaning on the shoulder of a woman who looked at him with concern.

"Are you alright?"

The woman with her jet black hair tied back into a ponytail looked to Marcus with a pained expression as she allowed him to rest on her, to which he slowly sat up on his own.

Taking his arm away from her, which had been wrapped around her shoulder for support, the man looked forward with a blank expression.

He looked around him to notice that the other six were all present, and somber expressions covered the faces of all but two.

"You're awake again, Mr. Marcus! Did you sleep well?"

The first to speak - the young girl who looked at Marcus with a childish excitement.

On hearing her question, Marcus nodded just once with a thin smile, then turned to see the man who sat across from him - Experiment Number Two.

[Indeed. Did you sleep well?], he repeated as he folded his hands with a grin.

The arrogant demeanor of the man before him would typically have irritated Marcus.

But even more so than that, the overwhelming aura which he held would previously have been enough to shake the man to his core.

Yet as he was asked this question, Marcus stood up, turning his back to the six as he held his forehead with closed eyes.

"I need... a moment."

The man began to walk away, to which Number Two merely chuckled lightly.

[Haha... I see.]

However Sylvia instead stood up, grabbing the shoulder of Marcus.

"Wait. Are you alright? What happened?"

Marcus stopped as the woman grabbed his shoulder, slowly turning back to face her with a grim expression.

"I need to think about some things."

Then, turning away, the man shrugged off the hand of the woman.

She was left with nothing more than these words as she pulled back her hand, bringing it close to her own heart.

Sitting down, the woman found herself trembling as she looked upon the scars which were now present on each of the fingers of her right hand.

"What did he see?", she asked in a manner which suggested that she wasn't leaving without an answer.

[What did he see indeed... well, I cannot tell you the exact contents, as I myself have not experienced them. But if I were to guess... he has seen at least a sliver of the truth behind us.]

Leaning forward, the voice of Number Two came to a whisper as he spoke with dignity.

[Perhaps he no longer has the heart to think of us as mere monsters?]

----

Smash!

Slam!

Crash!

A golf club flew into a window, causing glass to shatter around the storage room.

Then a baseball bat into another.

A basketball here.

A hockey stick there.

A shelf of equipment was toppled, and the sounds of physical violence emanated from the dimly lit room.

"Huff... huff... huff..."

And standing in the center of this mess was a man.

A man whose skin was a pale blue, his flesh rotten.

"What... am I supposed to do with this?"

Grabbing another shelf and toppling it over, the man whispered these words with hatred in his tone.

"Well!? What do you expect me to do with this!?", he shouted.

Yet there was silence.

No voice responded inside his head, leaving the man with nothing as he sat there in his exhaustion.

Time passed, and the man sat down on the ground, gripping his hair in his hand.

"I know now... what you are. I know... I know... but how... how do I even respond to this?"

[You are quite distraught, HUMAN.]

"How can you so freely call me a human, acting as if you aren't one?"

[Oh... but I am not. After all... does being born into the body of a human make me one?]

The voice pried into Marcus with arrogance, chuckling as he spoke.

[Hahaha...]

Continuing to mock his entire struggle, the creature - or rather - the man within Marcus spoke from an elevated position.

[No... that is wrong. I have lived for years with only the memories of a monster. That is what I was raised.. no... this is what I was created to be. And that is what I have become. However... that is fine. Because I have no need for the ridiculous practices which humans consider to be... common knowledge.]

"So what do you expect me to do about that? About your existence... about what you are... about who you are... Do you think I can just ignore this and continue living my life, if you can even call it that?"

[Hm? Oh... well, I've already said this, no? Do as you please. Though I will continue to mold you as I please. All I have done is reveal to you a small portion of my memories, yet you are this disturbed. Now let me ask you... what if you were to see more and more of the terrors which I experienced?]

"More… eh?"

Gritting his teeth, the man closed his eyes with a pained expression.

"I..."

Standing up, the man punched the wall, shooting his fist straight through the wood.

Pulling back his hand, the cuts which were formed in the rotten flesh quickly healed, and the man watched as this happened.

"You've destroyed this entire world... and I thought that I should try and prevent you from destroying any more of it. I thought and thought and thought as to how I could defeat something like you. But no matter how much I thought, I couldn't come up with a solution. But even so... I had a goal. Something that I had to work towards. An ENEMY to defeat. And as hopeless as it was... it was at least something which I knew I needed to do. Yet now..."

Looking at his hands which were scarred with the regenerated flesh, a saddened expression came across the man as he whispered.

"I can't even consider you to be a monster anymore."

Gripping his fist, the man walked out of that shack, looking up to the starry sky.

"What you have done to the people of this world is enough to make me throw up... it's enough to make me want to slug you here and now. And one day, after I had somehow gained some power to stop you from doing as you pleased, I planned on killing you for good - even if I had to take both of our lives to do so. But after seeing such a thing... I can't even do that without wondering if I'm right or wrong."

With a crooked smile, the man began to laugh to himself.

"Haha... what do those things even mean? Right and wrong.... isn't that just a justification for all the horrible things we do?"

[Exactly.]

For once, the creature seemed to agree with Marcus as the voice began to monologue within the mind of the man.

[However... I have no intention of JUSTIFYING myself.]

[Marcus... I came into this world to destroy it. My sins are greater than any other creature in this world.]

[Yet even so... unlike you humans who do horrible things in the name of ideals... I will never cling to something so delusional.]

[I am a monster who wishes to see the people who hurt me punished. That is all.]

[And if I have to take down the entire world to do so... then I will.]

[Therefore... continue your struggle, human. And I will watch you with anticipation.]

It was then that the creature began to laugh.

[Heh...hahaha....hahaha....]

The laugh devolved into the sinister laughter of an evil creature, scratching away at the sanity of Marcus.

[Ahahahaha!!! Ahaha... ahaha...heh heh... ah... continue to suffer for my goals. I look forward to each and every death you experience from this point on.]

It was as the creature laughed while saying such sinister things that Marcus remembered.

No matter what this thing had gone through, it was too far gone.

It was not something which he could compromise with.

'Ah...'

Yet even so, Marcus felt a hole in his heart.

'It's going to continue allowing me to die...'

'Over... and over... and over...'

He knew that this creature was evil.

Yet even so, he knew that it was once a human.

A terrified human who was experimented upon in an inhumane manner.

Someone who may have had a life.

A family.

And comrades.

"I'll... save you."

Marcus whispered out these words as if he were spitting them out, gritting his teeth as he said them.

"I'll save you... you monster."

And then, his mouth curled upwards, revealing a pair of fangs as he smiled.

"I'll save every damn last one of you. Even if I have to die over and over and over and over and over before it happens."

"Do you intend on doing that alone?"

With veins in his eyes, Marcus looked up to see a woman standing before him with her arms crossed.

She stood there looking down on him with a disappointed expression, and he opened his mouth slightly in surprise before his grin returned.

She extended her hand to him, and the woman soon grinned as well to reveal a similar pair of monstrous fangs.

"If you do... then I might have to increase your death toll to eight."

"Haha..."

The man stood up, and it was then that the two caught each other's eyes.

Both of them were filled with a slight madness.

And as they looked at each other, the man spoke.

"Will you dive into this hell with me... over and over again?"

"I've died three times already, and I've lost a lot more than just some lives. I'd say my brain is probably missing a few parts at this point anyways."

"Hahaha..."

"Hahaha..."

The two then laughed.

They grabbed each other's shoulders, laughing as they looked at each other with insanity.

"Ah... ah... I suppose it's about time I tell you what happened."

"And the same for me."

Thus, the two walked together under the moonlight.

----

[Ah ah... she left me to take care of the children. How irritating. Does the fact that I took in a girl to observe her for experimental purposes mean that I automatically get shifted to the role of babysitter when the other adults have lost their minds? Haha... well, I suppose Seven and One have never been particularly responsible either. And for whatever reason… I seem to have an affinity for fatherhood.]

Looking forward with an inquisitive expression, Number Two seemed to fall into deep thought at that instant.

[Perhaps it was something from the life which I have no memory of.]

The man who wore a professional suit with slicked back hair and glasses found himself carrying a young girl on his shoulders, giving her a piggyback ride.

"Over there, Number Two!! I wanna climb on top of there!!"

[Very well.]

Grabbing the girl by the collar of her neck, the man threw the child up on top of a canopy which protruded from the school building, sending her tumbling across the tiles.

"What are you doing!?!? Throwing that girl up there like that!!"

Stella shouted out from behind the man, however he merely looked at her with a confused expression.

[She is having fun, is she not?]

Notioning up to the canopy, the man presented the girl who sat up while giggling - a tile stuck through her cheek.

"Hehehe... that was fun!! I'm going to jump down now!!"

Standing up, the girl jumped into the arms of the man, at which he stepped out of the way.

The legs of the girl broke upon impact with a crack, causing her to fall forward onto her face.

"Ah... you didn't catch me, 2!! What are you doing? Hehe..."

[You never told me to catch you. Is that how the game is supposed to work?]

"Yes! Ah well. Ah... I can't get up."

[Well, that's because your legs are crushed. Of course you can't get up.]

Gordon, Stella, and Shane merely watched with horrified expressions as this almost charming yet disturbing scene of a father and daughter played out before them.

'It's like...'

'They were made for each other...'

'In a horrible...'

'Demented sense...'

[Worry not, child. I can heal you so that you can stand once more. Behold.]

It was then that the man grabbed the head of the girl, gripping her skull with such strength that his fingers penetrated into her brain.

Blood flowed, however the girl didn't so much as flinch as the man's fingers soon transformed to siphoning tentacles, pumping fluid into the girl.

And then, her legs slowly healed themselves as if nothing had even happened.

He let go of her head, and the holes which he had created in it soon filled themselves with flesh.

The girl jumped up, kicking her legs around with amusement as she tested them out.

"Wow!! You really are impressive, Number Two! You're as fun as Number One!!"

[Is that so? I'm delighted to hear such a thing.]

The girl brought her fists to her chest as she looked up to the man with a bright smile.

"Hehe... um... Number Two... do you know where Mr. Marcus and Miss Sylvia are?"

[Oh, them? Well if I had to guess... they've probably lost their minds at this point. Seven is quite the fiend, you know. However... Perhaps they will be able to change him as well. He is too focused on his emotions... which I believe are holding him back from his true potential. Yet even so... well... I don't believe we have much to be concerned about. They will return... more powerful than ever.]

"Hm? What do you mean by that?"

The girl looked to Number Two with a curious expression, to which he gently smiled upon realizing that he was speaking to a child.

'Ah... perhaps she doesn't understand. I should speak in simpler terms when speaking to such small humans.'

[To put it simply... Well, power is not measured in terms of mere strength. There is power in physical ability. But before such power can be used, one must become mentally strong. Hmm... I suppose you wouldn't understand such a thing either. How to explain it in the words that a child would understand...]

As Number Two thought this out loud, he didn't even notice that he had used the word CHILD to refer to the girl.

[Even if you have big muscles, this means nothing if you can't use them.]

"Ah... I think I get it. Thank you, Two! Can I use my muscles too?"

[You've already done so, no? I happened to see from a window when you killed that boy.]

"Oh! He was being mean to Gordon, so I played a punishment game with him! And he lost! I won! I didn't cry first, even when I was playing against a boy who was older than me! Isn't that impressive?"

As the girl excitedly listed off her achievement as if she was gloating to her father, she was met with a hand on her head.

[Yes, Amy. It was very impressive.]

As the man made this motion while he uttered the name of the girl, Shane widened his eyes as he watched.

Overlapping with the image of this monster who had taken over the body of a human and performed all sorts of vital acts, was his father.

'Dad...'

Yet Shane knew that his father was gone.

Biting his lip, he looked at the happy expression of his younger sister as she received the praise of the man.

'I... will let her be.', he thought.

----

"So? What did you see?"

Sylvia walked alongside Marcus throughout the school grounds, looking to him with a calm smile despite the horrors which she had just experienced.

"What did I see? Hahaha... I saw everything... and yet I saw nothing. Number Two informed us that the experiments were once human... but perhaps that didn't register with me as much as it should have."

"Hm? What do you mean by that?", Sylvia asked while cocking her head as her tied up hair flipped to the other side.

Looking up into the sky, Marcus thinned his eyes as he spoke in a serious manner.

"You see, regardless of whether they were human - I never had any intention to forgive the ones who overtook our minds and made the world into this rotten place. I never had any intention to forgive the one that forced me to die over and over. Regardless of whether it was human or not."

Looking at Sylvia with a grim expression, Marcus spoke in a low tone.

"Because even if someone is human... that doesn't mean that they aren't a monster."

As Marcus said this, the smile which Sylvia wore disappeared.

"Yeah. I know."

"However."

Holding up his hand, Marcus raised his index finger as he brought up a new point.

"What I saw today made me question whether the creatures inside our heads truly are nothing more than monsters."

"And what did you see?", Sylvia asked patiently.

The two continued to walk, folding their hands behind their backs as they walked side by side in a professional manner.

"I witnessed the memories of Number Seven. And it was in seeing such things... in experiencing such things... that I have lost my anger towards him."

Looking at his own hand, Marcus smiled with a chuckle.

"Heh..."

Holding out his hands, he spread his arms as he motioned to the world around him.

"Look at this. Look at everything. Everything has been ruined because of the one inside me. Everything has been destroyed. I should hate him more than anyone in the world for ruining my life and my body like this. And yet... haha... I cannot bring myself to do such a thing."

"And why would that be?", Sylvia asked as she casually walked over to a swingset, taking a seat.

Taking a deep breath, Marcus walked over to the swingset and took a seat himself.

The two slowly began to swing side by side, in perfect sync with one another.

"I suppose what I saw made me wonder if Number Seven was truly the source of the rotting status of this world… or if he was merely a symptom."

Looking up to the sky as he swung back and forth, the short hair of Marcus lightly wavered in the wind as he spoke.

"Perhaps this world was already rotting into nothingness even before this."

"Are you saying that this was inevitable?", Sylvia questioned without looking to the side as she swung.

"Perhaps.", Marcus replied heavily.

"You know... I guess you didn't really get to see it. But Number One showed me some of the memories of that teacher. And the fact that a person like that could exist... Well… even I was surprised. It makes me wonder... just how many more people like that are there?"

"Aren’t you sick of it?"

Stopping himself from swinging, Marcus dug his feet into the ground as he came to a stop.

Looking straight into the eyes of Sylvia, who stopped swinging as well, he spoke once more.

"The entire world has been destroyed. On one hand... this is a calamity. But on the other hand... don't you think this is a chance?"

It was at that moment that the solemn expressions of the two became anything but.

"Ah. I see."

A seductive smile slowly drew itself across the face of Sylvia as she said this, thinning her eyes in realization.

"So you wish to consider these horrid things as nothing more... than an opportunity?"

"Exactly."

Feeling inside his pocket, the man pulled out a single penny as he flipped the coin into the air with the flick of his thumb.

"After all... regardless of how horrible our luck has been so far... regardless of the unsightly cards which we have been dealt..."

Then, holding out his hand perfectly flat, the man caught the penny such that it landed perfectly on it's edge, not wavering in either direction.

"We are professionals. And we are expected to obtain results."

Grabbing the coin from the hand of the man, the woman gave a light smirk as she walked forward with newfound confidence.

"Heh... I see. That sounds... interesting."

"We can die."

"Indeed, we can."

"If we were in the old world, would not every man and woman with the fear of death have paid a fortune for such an ability?"

"Indeed."

"Then why don't we make use of it?"

"It will be painful."

"Oh, it will be painful."

"We will likely want to rip our throats out from all the suffering we will have to endure."

"Of course we will."

"It will be enough to the point where we will likely lose our minds in madness... just like the girl. And we may very well become the monsters that we despise."

"And at that time... will you not be the one to fall into such madness alongside me?"

As the man asked this, the two began to smile to themselves in a horrible manner.

Evil tainted their expressions, and they both began to laugh quietly to themselves.

"Heh..."

"Heh..."

Then, looking at the man with a wide grin, the woman responded.

"I will."

"Then... we will overcome this."

With confidence, the man said these words as he put on a sinister smile.

"First... we will overcome the undead.", the man said.

"Then... we will overcome whatever horrid situations we find ourselves in.", the woman added.

And then, speaking in unison, the two walked forth with power in their stride as they spoke.

"And finally... we will overcome this entire rotten world."

----

[Hey One, did you get all that?]

[I sure did! Hehe! It looks like things are going to be veery interesting from this point on.]

[Perhaps we should cease our interference for a while.]

[I suppose so.]

[Let's sit back and watch. We've done enough work to take a break.]

[Alright, Seven! Hehe!]

Thus, the two humans played right into the hands of the experiments who had invaded their minds.

----