'One step at a time. Quietly. I don't know exactly what level of disturbance will attract their attention, so I should be as careful as possible.'

Sylvia cautiously made her way forward, spear in hand as she walked through the lounge.

The bar was to her left and a lounge with a number of couches and televisions was to her right.

Both, of course, were filled with the undead.

'Come to think of it, in most fiction a single bite is enough to infect someone with whatever disease causes the zombification. It wouldn't be a good idea to rely on the thing inside me to protect me either. Therefore I should be as careful as possible.'

The monster within Sylvia didn't seem to be the smartest creature, but it's intelligence was on par with a below average human.

'The real question is, if I die... will that thing actually die as well? Does it truly need me to be alive in order to live? Does it even know that itself? Is it willing to take such a risk to find out?'

If the creature could survive without Sylvia, then without a doubt it should kill her.

It would be able to take Sylvia's body for it's own, and that would be that.

However the creature had not done such a thing, which meant that for whatever reason, either it couldn't or it wouldn't.

'And I'm not about to assume that it decided to spare me out of the kindness of it's heart.'

Sylvia almost found herself laughing at the thought, only to notice that she had made it all the way across the first room and now only needed to cross an open entrance area to reach the door.

However, this open area was packed with zombies who were walking around in all directions like pool balls, bumping into one another and changing direction.

'This... might be complicated.'

Gripping her spear, Sylvia stood up straight, making it so that she took up as little horizontal space as possible.

'Do I have to try and weave my way through? But surely they'll notice if I walk right in front of them...'

[Why don't you create a distraction?]

'Ah, that's actually quite a good idea. Wait, why the hell are you helping me!?'

[Ah... well I'm pretty bored. I wanted to see the action so I watched as you went out here, but nothing has happened yet. Do something interesting, will you? Or maybe I'll do it myself. Oh. I know.]

It was then that the voice stopped speaking.

Left in silence, Sylvia looked around, waiting for the voice to continue speaking.

Yet for some reason, it did not.

'What do you mean, 'Oh I know'. What do you know? What are you planning?'

Still no response.

Sylvia began to feel uncomfortable, unsure what the monster was planning, however whatever it was it surely wasn't good.

'Shit... it would be best if I just snuck through... ah!'

As the zombies shuffled around, a path opened up in the middle, making Sylvia wonder if this was truly a coincidence.

As if they were parting like the red sea, the zombies seemed to go either left or right of their own will.

'This is a chance. One that I may not get again.'

Turning back, Sylvia waved to the other two children, motioning for them to follow her.

On seeing her signal, they too opened the door.

Sylvia made her way through the parted group of zombies, finally reaching the entrance to the apartment while the children made their way through the lounge.

On reaching the door, Sylvia turned to see the children at the halfway point, and the zombies had still parted.

They were clearly scared, and Amy seemed to be closing her eyes as she held the hand of her brother, who bravely led her through the gauntlet.

'Just a little further... and then we deal with whatever we find outside.', Sylvia thought as the two begun making their way through the open area.

[And now... it's time to close the floodgates. Hehe!]

How playful the creature sounded as she said something so demented, so horrible, that Sylvia froze in place.

'Wait... what do you mean-'

She thought this, but she already knew.

'Shit!'

It was then that the zombies converged on the center, each and every one of them approaching the two children.

One of them growled, slowly lumbering towards them.

Another one snarled, and another one hissed.

They walked slowly as if they were not aware of the fact that two humans were in their midst, and the two children froze in place, now completely surrounded by zombies.

Merely inches from them, zombies walked back and forth, and some would occasionally even bump into them.

The two children held their breath, mustering forth every last effort to contain their screams and tears.

'I made a mistake...', Sylvia thought as she watched this happen.

'What will happen? What will happen to them?'

[Do you actually care?]

'Do I care?'

[If you want to leave, then you are free to. Why don't you just get out of here... and save yourself?]

As the monster said this, Sylvia felt as if her heart had been completely frozen over.

It was not because of how terrible, how evil the things that this creature said were.

But rather, because of how practical they were.

'I... should save myself, shouldn't I?'

Turning around to face the doors to the hotel, Sylvia smiled lightly.

'This isn't even a choice. They won't be able to get out of that. If I try and save them... then there will just be one more casualty on the list.'

Stepping forth towards the door, Sylvia closed her eyes with a light grin.

'That's right.'

'It's impossible to save them.'

'For me.'

It was then that Sylvia struck the glass window of the apartment door with her spear, causing the shattering noises to erupt throughout the building.

In that moment, every single zombie on the floor - totalling to around 30 - fixated their attention on Sylvia, who turned to face them with a grin, holding out her spear as she prepared to fight.

'But what about you?'

----

[You seem to be misunderstanding, my host. After all... I HATE humans.]

[Did you think that you would be an exception?]

In moments, Sylvia found numerous zombies to be rushing at her.

Slice!

Using her spear to defend herself, she made quick work of the first one to come in range, cleanly splitting it's head in two before readjusting her position and stabbing at another.

[Did you think that because I chose you as a host, that you were in some way... special?]

Slice.

Slice.

One by one, Sylvia took down the zombies as they came within range, however with each one she took down, her spear became heavier and her blows weaker.

[Did you think that because I would protect your body... that I would pop out and protect you... whenever it benefitted you?]

Blood splattered as more and more bodies covered the floor, causing zombies to trip over their fallen comrades as they completely surrounded the woman.

A brown-haired zombie growled.

"Rawg!!"

"Groar!!"

And then, grabbing at her feet, the zombies were able to get their first bite of human flesh as Sylvia was too slow to stab them from above.

The woman let out a scream as she bit the pain, stabbing the zombie in the head and continuing to stab the three below her.

[I am not a tool to be used by you.]

As the words of the creature tore away at Sylvia, more and more zombies surrounded her.

'Shit... shit.... shit... I got bitten...'

'Am I infected now?'

She began to wildly swing her spear, no longer able to put forth the strength to kill the zombies.

'Am I going to die like this!?'

The zombies now grabbed her arms, causing Sylvia to drop her spear as they bit into her from all angles.

The snapping of bones and the tearing of flesh could be heard as Sylvia screamed in pain.

"Ahh!”

The two children, who were no longer surrounded by any zombies, were forced to watch - frozen in terror on the realization that the woman who saved their lives was now in such a situation.

'We... because we came here...'

'Because we messed up....'

'Miss Sylvia... is....'

The two watched, tears coming to their eyes as they trembled in horror.

[Are you infected?]

[Hahaha... what a boring question.]

[You were already rotten in the first place.]

----

Crunch.

Snap.

Chew.

Sylvia no longer even had the strength to scream.

The pain was unbearable.

To call it unbearable would be an understatement.

No word could describe the torment which she felt right now.

Her fingers were eaten like snacks.

Her flesh was stripped, one chunk at a time.

Her clothes torn, her body rendered helpless, her bones crushed, her hair pulled.

'Why?'

She wanted to scream, yet she could not - for a zombie had bitten right through her vocal chords, and was currently chewing on a chunk of her neck.

Even so, her plea was heard by the one who she addressed it to.

'Why... are you letting me die?'

[Don't you think there is a more important question here?]

The sinister voice spoke as if the situation did not concern it, striking worry through Sylvia.

[Why did you think that you would be able to save them without putting your life on the line?]

----

Sylvia felt her body become numb.

She could no longer feel the pain even as the zombies feasted on her flesh.

However, this was no longer what worried Sylvia.

She would die here.

That much, she knew.

The creature inside her would allow her to die, and Sylvia's life would be no more.

Whether the creature truly needed Sylvia to live may have very well been something which she deduced on her own.

And if that were the case, then that was the source of her downfall.

However the true source of her downfall, the true reason why she would die, would be none other than the fact that she had become arrogant.

She had gone out of her way to help another person.

Again.

And it had backfired on her.

Again.

'Stop looking at me like that...'

Sylvia could barely keep her eyes open, however she saw it.

The two children were watching with fear, frozen in place as she was consumed.

'You need to escape here...if you don’t… then I will have died....'

[For no reason. Isn't that right?]

The words of the monster were spot on.

And this terrified Sylvia.

'I... don't want to die...'

'Not for nothing...'

[There is nothing I hate more than seeing a human pretend to be a hero... without putting their own life on the line. Therefore... I have shown you, human.]

It was then that the creature began to laugh horribly, contempt in it’s voice.

[Hehehe.... hahaha! Look at how pathetic you are!] The voice cackled. [Not able to do anything! You believed that I would save you, so you jumped into a situation of certain death! Now you know. So consider this greatly, the next time you have the opportunity to save someone.]

'The next... time?'

[The next time you have the opportunity to save someone.... I would like to see whether you still choose to do so... even knowing the pain that you will have to go through.]

[It is by not knowing the pain of trying to save someone... that naive fools are born, who ramble on about how great it is to be a hero.]

As the monster said this, Sylvia felt her mind become woozy.

She had lost too much blood.

She looked towards the crying faces of the children, who seemed to desperately want to rush over and hug her even amidst the pile of zombies.

Yet they could not.

Reaching out her hand towards them, Sylvia closed her eyes.

And thus, Sylvia died.

For the first time.

----

'Hehehe... well, that was fun. She's dead now, so I guess I had better release the toxins so she transforms properly. I wonder if I should kill the kids now or if I should wait until she's awake again to let them die? Or maybe I should force her to watch as I kill them myself? Ah... so many options.'

As the zombies chewed away at Sylvia's dead body, Number 1 took control of it.

Soon enough, the body itself became a pale blue, and veins could be seen through the transparent skin of the woman.

The sclera of her eyes became black, and they were soon filled with an expression of disdain as she looked around.

Standing up, the woman quickly regenerated anything that had been eaten, to the great confusion of all the zombies around her.

[What are you looking at? There's nothing to see here.]

Walking over to the trembling children, Number 1 began to grin sadistically as she towered over them.

[Heyo. We meet again.]

The children could do nothing more than slowly back away in fear, sweating and trembling before the monster that stood in front of them.

"Miss... Sylvia..."

"She.... is she dead?"

The two children spoke out with tears in their eyes, questioning the monster even in such a state.

[Hmm... it's a good question. As for the answer...]

Putting her index finger to her lip in thought, Number 1 smiled as she looked down on the children.

[Yes.]

'No....'

'It... it can't be...'

'Why...'

'For our sake...'

'She... she could have escaped.... if it wasn't for us...'

Guilt. Remorse. Self hatred.

All these emotions welled up inside Shane and Amy as they blamed themselves for the death of Sylvia.

'If only... she was more selfish.'

'If only... she had just left us.'

It was at that exact moment that those destructive thoughts ran through their heads that the zombies started approaching the two.

They were a growling mass, snarling and hissing and breathing harshly, grunting and gurgling and grumbling, growing closer.

'No... no!! They're going to surround us again!'

'What do we do!?'

'Do we run for the exit!?'

'But will that thing let us-'

As Shane began to panic at the sudden development, the door slammed open.

And in an instant, each and every one of the zombies were impaled with fleshy spikes that originated from yet another zombie.

This one was a man which wore a suit, and it’s hair was black.

It was styled in a professional manner, yet despite the professional appearance of this zombie, it held a chaotic gleam in it’s expression.

Retracting the spikes which had extended from it's hand, the zombie looked around with interest, approaching the two children to stand alongside the woman.

"It looks like I finally found some humans. But what I didn't expect... was to find you here."

The girl looked up to the man, and her demented grin soon became an ecstatic smile, as if she was overjoyed on seeing the other.

"Number 7... is that you!?"

"That's right. I'm here, Number 1."