<div class="floatleft">(https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRPzOxVV9Qzz7Rl5dLVeB66Aglzhl129ZUd3vZI-heXzJw9OMx08w)</div><strong><span class="bbc_u"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: andale mono;"><em>Marcus Gray</em></span></span></span></strong>+ (http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=164668.msg7670606#msg7670606)<br/><strong>Tags:</strong>Open<br/><hr/><hr/><strong><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: andale mono;"><em>T</em></span></span></strong>here was something different about today. Something sad but at the same time, grim. Odd, Marcus thought. The only reason he had when he began the three days hiking trip into the woodland not too far away from town was to find peace, to find a sense of tranquility within nature and to get a break from work. Yet, the closer he got to the final day of his tracking expedition, a surge of something unpleasant gradually washed over him. Blown by the approaching evening's breeze, as if carrying with it a message from Doom itself, Mark sensed something dire. Instead of returning to the workshop with a clear mind, he now carried the burden of tremendous uneasiness.<br/><br/>Slowly, the retired boxer pulled his gaze away from the horizon as well as from his deep thoughts. He shut his eyes and took a deep breath before swinging the truck's door open. Calmed by nature's fresh air, even when it's temporary, Mark slid into the vehicle and inserted the ignition key, cranking up the engine a couple of times before it roared to live. He retrieved the water bottle from his waist bag which was laying across the desktop and took a couple of gulp down to wet his throat, leaving it half full as he warmed the engine up. Mark pushed the disturbing notion to the back of his head and focused on getting back to the workshop. Soon, the man was negotiating the bumpy dirt track towards main road.<br/><br/>Oblivious to the state of the town and the quarantine, he leisurely drove. As he made his way out of the woods, Mark spotted a couple of men walking towards his campsite from the trees. There was something peculiar about them but he couldn't quite grasp what it was and so he dismissed them. Once he got the town in his sight, the boxer straightened himself up in his seat, bringing the resting hand by the window to the steering wheel and easing off his foot on the pedal.<br/><br/><em>Something's not right...</em><br/><br/>The roads and buildings weren't how he'd remembered them to be from three days ago. There were in a mess but the most disturbing factor was that this section of the town seemed to be somewhat deserted. Boards, planks and furniture were seen barricading the doorway and windows. It was almost like a war zone. Marcus continued to drive slow, turning his head left and right every time he passed by a building. That lump of worry within him resurfaced.<br/><br/>Suddenly, he heard something from the junction ahead. The sound of a vehicle fast approaching and it's tires screeching reached his ears before he noticed the white car dashing across the road in front of him. It crashed into a tree at high speed, causing the leaves to fall like snow all around it. Mark responded as calmly as possible like any other calm citizen could under such a situation. He drove up to the site, shifted into neutral and pulled the handbrake up before stepping out of the vehicle. Seeing a woman resting her head on the air bag by the steering wheel moved slightly, Mark knew she'd survived. The man hurried to her side, yanked open the car's door and reached over to unbuckle the safety belt. There was blood on her forearms and shoulder. She needed medical attention, fast; thought Marcus. Swiftly, he hooked an arm under the woman's knees and another around her back before pulling her out of the car. Thankfully, her feet didn't get pinned down in the wreckage. Mark turned around and hastily returned to his truck. He carefully set her down in the seat before ensuring all her limbs were inside. It wasn't looking good. He could hardly hear her breathing. Chunks of her flesh by the shoulder were missing and the blood profusely poured. Mark grabbed a piece of clean cloth and made a quick but basic countermeasure for the nasty wound. He then leaned closer to the woman, bringing his ear over her mouth to listen as he searched for her pulse on the wrist.<br/><br/><em>It's getting weaker... Not good..</em><br/><br/>"<strong><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: andale mono;"><em>Hang in there! I'll get you to a hospital!</em></span></span></strong>" exclaimed the clueless man as he strapped the bitten lady with the safety belt. "<strong><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: andale mono;"><em>Hang in there!</em></span></span></strong>"<br/><br/>Doors slammed, gears shifted and rubber burnt as Mark floored his foot on the gas. He turned at the junction and sped off towards the hospital. It didn't take him long to notice the destruction of the town and it's soulless residents. But before he could absorb what was going on, the inevitable happened. The woman beside him first groaned and then opened her eyes before reaching out for him frantically. What he thought was a reaction of panic soon turned to a gesture of threat when she attempted to bite him. It was her animal like lust to feed that'd managed to strike fear within the retired boxer and those distinct pupils that'd told him she wasn't who she once was. Mark struggled with one hand on the steering wheel and the other at keeping her face away from him.<br/><br/>The truck weaved, screeched and then crashed into the building opposite a campus. Mark also managed to take a glimpse of a man, or so he'd thought it to be, in front of his truck before the truck's air bag was deployed. Glass shattered and crackled, the engine hissed but there was no more movements made. Marcus Gray was dazed for a while. He gritted and groaned as he leaned his head back before panting. He turned his head to the woman... or thing beside him and thought her to be dead when he saw her chest was punctured by a wooden stake. But he was wrong, as if recovered from a moment of shock, she went for him again like a crazed woman. Mark's eyes widened as he tugged on the door's handle. With one hand unbuckling his safety belt, he didn't take his eyes away from the woman until he's out. Fortunately, his waist bag had fallen onto his lap during the accident thus providing him with the items at hand.<br/><br/>A low growl caught his attention as he stepped out of what appeared to be a bookstore. Mark turned around and saw the man he'd seen earlier crawling towards him with the same hunger in it's eyes. The state of the man then forced the boxer to assume that he too was a threat. It was merely his upper torso that was coming for Mark.<br/><br/>"<strong><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: andale mono;"><em>What the fuck?!</em></span></span></strong>" he cursed before he moved away.<br/><br/>That's when his peripheral vision relayed the danger that was about to surround him. There were more of "<em>them</em>"... So he instinctively ran for the campus nearby.