[Zouichi's memories begin as those of a small child, the eldest of about twenty, in a world that constists endless, rolling hills covered with golden grasses. Sometimes, this world changes, always according to the needs of the children's education -- a pristine beach, a crowded, confusing city, a pitted and desolate moonscape, a home. Through it all, a young human woman is there to look after them, guide them, teach the essential nature of humanity to children who will never be human. She does so, to the best of her ability.
When he awakens into the real world for the first time, it is within one of two black, towering skyscrapers, surrounded by a city made of countless levels of concrete and steel. There are few real forests left in the world, few animals that have adapted to the urbanization that has stripped away their habitat. A mission to Mars has turned disastrous, seeding the Earth with an incredibly infectious, almost inevitably fatal disease that transforms its victims into living corpses. Humanity is dying. Zouichi is immune to this illness; he has been designed to be so. He is the first to be released out into this new world of death and decay, and he is given his first mission.
From that point on, his life is spent pursuing objectives. If a human or ex-human is classified as enemy, he dispatches them efficiently and without remorse; it is something at which he excels. He has annihilated battalions without batting an eye, destroyed heavily shielded fortresses, vanquished monsters, but he is still unable to save a single human woman when she needs him the most.
When she becomes one of the monsters he is charged to destroy, he snaps her neck cleanly; it takes a fraction of a second. He holds her body for a long, silent moment before he lets go.
Then he returns to the mission.]
Zouichi reels back slightly as the memories hit him. "You..." he begins, but he's not even sure what he wanted to say in the first place. He wants to take a step forward, to -- but no. He forces himself to remain absolutely still.
sorry for the tl;dr
When he awakens into the real world for the first time, it is within one of two black, towering skyscrapers, surrounded by a city made of countless levels of concrete and steel. There are few real forests left in the world, few animals that have adapted to the urbanization that has stripped away their habitat. A mission to Mars has turned disastrous, seeding the Earth with an incredibly infectious, almost inevitably fatal disease that transforms its victims into living corpses. Humanity is dying. Zouichi is immune to this illness; he has been designed to be so. He is the first to be released out into this new world of death and decay, and he is given his first mission.
From that point on, his life is spent pursuing objectives. If a human or ex-human is classified as enemy, he dispatches them efficiently and without remorse; it is something at which he excels. He has annihilated battalions without batting an eye, destroyed heavily shielded fortresses, vanquished monsters, but he is still unable to save a single human woman when she needs him the most.
When she becomes one of the monsters he is charged to destroy, he snaps her neck cleanly; it takes a fraction of a second. He holds her body for a long, silent moment before he lets go.
Then he returns to the mission.]
Zouichi reels back slightly as the memories hit him. "You..." he begins, but he's not even sure what he wanted to say in the first place. He wants to take a step forward, to -- but no. He forces himself to remain absolutely still.