How long had it been since Dante was assigned to this recovery effort in Eastern Baltimore? Days? A month? A YEAR, even? To be honest, it felt as though he had been doing the same damn thing over and over again for the past century and every day, it was the same damn thing over and over again. More of these damn creatures shambling around in the middle of a busy street, some looking as if they were just reanimated just yesterday while others look as though they were nothing more than walking rotting carcasses. It was hard to discern what was what in this environment these days, and with so few survivors he had found, it was amazing that this part of Baltimore had even managed to live through the initial swarming. Never in his young 21 years of life had he expected it to be on this scale. To be honest, it was like out of some kind of twisted nightmare or worse yet - ironically - out of some kind of gory horror flick.<br/><br/>And to think that he was nearly amongst them. It honestly brought shivers up and down Dante's spine the more that he thought about it, even as hard as he attempted to put the events out of his mind. But the more that he tried to shake it off and try to focus, the more that he began to plan out how to take himself out before the infection were to take pure and complete control of him: Simply by taking the long-barreled .50 revolver, load the one bullet he had saved for himself if said event was about to take place, then pull the trigger without a moment's hesitation. He honestly couldn't bare someone else doing the deed. The burden, Dante figured, should be best suited on someone who knew he had nothing left to gain and nothing else to lose.<br/><br/>"Hey." Said a fellow bounty hunter off to Dante's right as he and an small group of survivor gatherers were on a routine patrol through Baltimore. "Dante." He said again, getting the young man's attention.<br/><br/>"Yeah?" Dante asked as he looked over to him.<br/><br/>"You look like you've got something on your mind, buddy. You wanna clue us in with the rest of the guys or are you going to keep giving us the same silent treatment?" He asked.<br/><br/>"Nah. It's nothing. Besides, I got enough to worry about with all this stupid bullshit." Dante remarked as he made a motion with his hand out words the general expanse of the area.<br/><br/>"I hear that, man." Said another bounty hunter. "Besides, what more can we do that hasn't been done already? I mean, we've been forced to sort out who's among those fucking things and who isn't? For all we know, this whole damn country could be graveyard. Makes it easier for me, because lately, it's just been point, shoot and hope for the best."<br/><br/>"We don't know that!" Dante growled. "There might still be survivors out here somewhere and we haven't found them yet!"<br/><br/>"Whoa. Easy with the aggro, man. No need for the hostility." The first bounty hunter said, looking back at Dante and arching an eyebrow at him. "I'm just tryin' to make some conversation with ya." He added.<br/><br/>"In any case," Dante answered with a roll of his eyes and a shake of his head. "We'll be heading into the DC area soon. I just hope and pray to god that there's someone left there. God knows the whole place could be teeming with undead."<br/><br/>"Heh. Just like old times." Said the first bounty hunter as he brought his AR-15 around to his front and cocked it. "Only difference? There ain't gonna be no old times anymore."<br/><br/>"You're telling me. Besides, last I checked, the only old times we had left were back about a few months ago before all of this began to take shape." Dante answered with a shake of his head as he spoke before reaching into his jacket and producing his signature .38 pistol, holding it off to the side. "We'll need to bring everything we have into this party. Because if those things are as quick as they seem, we're gonna need to be as quick as we can."<br/><br/>"How did they say it happened on the news?" Said the second bounty hunter. "Didn't hey say it was some bizarro accident in a lab or whatever?" He asked as he also took a weapon out, this in the form of a SPAS-12.<br/><br/>"Meh. Who knows. No one's around to answer those questions now." Dante answered with a shake of his head as his face became slowly grim.<br/><br/>Once the trio entered the outskirts of the Washington DC area several minutes later, they were treated to sounds of absolute silence aside from the occasional gust of wind howling across the area. There was no telling who or what was left here in town, if anything at all. One of the bounty hunters gave a whistle as he looked from side to side then shook his head in disbelief. "Wow, man. Place is a fucking ghost town. How are we supposed to look for any survivors here?" He asked.<br/><br/>"We look regardless. Besides, I heard there was bunkers around here we can take them to." Dante answered.