Number Seven woke with a start from a nightmare.
It was still dark, and the snow outside was falling especially heavily.
Number Seven lay in bed, but she could not get back to sleep.
An inexplicable sadness welled up in her heart.
Somewhere beyond her awareness, an unknown terror was slowly eating away at her.
Over the past few days, Herta had had a series of very strange dreams.
In her dreams, she had returned to Giantwood City with Chu Mu and Number Seven.
By then, Giantwood City had already fallen to the Redemption Army, and Commander Ena had relocated all its residents to the Southern Region.
Apparently, only one or two in ten had reached the Southern Region alive.
Giantwood City, a metropolis of four million people and the Alliance's industrial base, had actually become an empty city.
That was why the Herta in the dream had chosen it as a hideout.
Once a city lost the people who maintained it, its facilities began to decay.
Herta could clearly sense that this city was dying.
They barely managed to feed themselves with supplies from the shops.
Herta could not understand why this strategist in her dream never went to meet up with Ena.
In the dream, she kept hiding from something with Number Seven and Chu Mu.
One day, she heard on the radio that the Redemption Army had caught up with the fleeing enemy on the ice fields of the Northern Region and shot dead the Alliance's bandit leader, Number One.
When the Number Seven in the dream heard that broadcast, she wept silently.
After that, the Number Seven in the dream grew even quieter.
And the Chu Mu in the dream had been that quiet all along.
He seemed to have barely spoken since their escape.