Lying near him on the stone floor of Solomon's temple, Kadar Al-Sayf glimpsed the Apple of Eden glinting. Looking up carefully, he crawled another few inches so that he clutched the Apple, he cried out, "Malik!" His brother stopped fighting for just a second to look at his sibling, before agony flashed across his face as Robert de Sable's blade sank into the flesh of his arm. Cringing, he managed to throw the Templar off for a moment and look back at his brother. "Kadar, what are you doing? I thought you were dead!"

The teenager shook his head quickly, and holding his nearly disemboweled side, curved his arm back to throw the artifact to the elder assassin. His eyes widened as one of his fingers touched a groove in the surface and it began to glow brightly. Dropping the sphere, Kadar tried to shield his eyes from the glow as the white blankness enveloped the world around him and grew eased away…

The next thing the novice knew was that it was dark. Dark with screams of agony, roars of things he had never even imagined, explosions, and the caws and croaks of carrion eaters. The world around him was filled with the sickeningly sweet smell of illness and decay and death. He opened his eyes slowly, not wanting to deal with the nightmare world he'd been thrown into.

The young assassin didn't see anything much prettier once he'd opened his eyes. The sky and streets were a blood red, with much of the street and buildings bathed in actual blood. The people were monsters; flesh eating, clumsy savages rushing after the few uninfected people left in this godforsaken place. Then there were the actual monsters. Fleshy pink or decayed gray in color, at least eight feet tall or more, and rampaging down the street like horrible mutated wild cats. These things didn't eat the people, they just ripped them apart, shredding them for the sheer 'fun' of it. The sight of it made Kadar nauseous with disgust and clutch his throbbing, bleeding side forebodingly.

Suddenly, one of the monsters peered into the small alcove where Kadar had been hidden. Its sunken eyes peered around for a second before letting out a low below and stalking toward him. Two others seemed to notice him, too, and stalked forward.

The teen's heart leapt in his throat. He was done for. He had seen how fast those things could run, and it didn't seem like his sword was going to do much, either. Unless Allah made a miracle happen, he was royally fucked…

Dr. Alex J. Mercer, or lovingly codenamed ZUES by the military trying to skin his hide, had evaded the strike team for what had seemed like the millionth time that day. Sitting on the edge of roof, he let out a sigh and rolled his neck tiredly. This place was horrifically infected with Hunters and all the other mutant remnants of the BLACKLIGHT virus, but it would have to do. He was exhausted to say the very least.

A few low grunts and growls from below caught his attention. Peering down, he spied three Hunters stalking toward what he thought was another trashed mattress or couch, judging from the color. However, that didn't make any sense. Beasts like these didn't fool around with anything that didn't have blood running through its veins and have a way to scream in agony. Looking closer, he saw a young man in tattered, bloodstained robes huddled against the wall.

The good doctor did a double take. "Robes? Not even the immigrants wore robes."

…Rest could wait awhile longer…

The novice let out a small whimper. It looked like Allah wouldn't be saving him after all. He closed his eyes, waiting for the impending torture. "I hope it's quick…" he thought desolately. Swiftly, he felt what felt like ropes of warmth and sick death-smell coil around his body and hoist him up. The novice risked opening one blue eye.

The beasts were in a frenzy, scrambling and clawing their way up the brick to try to retrieve their quarry. The teen's breath hitched in his throat at the foaming, snapping mouths and vicious claws and clutched the Apple closer.

He looked at the ropes he thought had snaked his way around him. They weren't ropes, but black and red tentacles; morphing and re-morphing into itself. As confused and frightened as he was, tentacles had to be much better than those monsters…right…?

Alex perched on the edge of the building, reeling his catch in as fast as he could. He had enough of these damn freaks and God forbid they had to be able to climb like King-fucking-Kong, too. Once the man was up, he clutched him close, using the biomassed tendrils to make sure he wouldn't fall, and sprinted up the nearest building. The demons were in hot pursuit until one of the nearby helicopters tried to kill Alex, but took out all the Hunters in the misfire. ZUES swung around into an niche and waited for the helicopters to pass, slumping to the ground in exhaustion. The biomass holding his catch sluggishly retreating back into his body. Resting his head against the brick of the wall, he studied the man he had just saved.

In this day in age, he would hardly be considered a man. He looked about sixteen; nineteen at the oldest. His hair was a midnight black; choppily cut and rather long, the bangs brushing over his eyes. He thought that the boy had light blue eyes, but he was barely conscious now so he couldn't be sure. That would be an odd contrast, considering his skin was a tanned olive color.

The robes he had on were very intricate. Alex fingered the tunic inquisitively, feeling the material under his fingers. Whatever the fabric, it sure wasn't from around here. He doubted it was even from this time period. Searching the front, he found the small ties that held it closed and undid one. He undid about three more before something collided with his face and knocked him back.

Mercer fell back and stared at the teen in awe. "Did he just slap me?" The teen was sat up against the wall, one hand pressed over his side and the other still wavering in the air. He looked like he didn't believe what he had done either. He pointed at Alex and shouted what sounded like complete gibberish.

The virus raised an eyebrow. Okay, he was definitely not from around here, unless they had turned the English language into a bunch of garbled consonants. "Come again?" he asked.

The teen spoke the same garbled sentence.

…Fuck it. Ignoring the screeches and protests, he scooted closer and removed the hand covering his side. There was a huge gash here, with blood still running freely. Was that why he slapped him? It looked like the poor kid was barely keeping his guts in…

Something collided with his head again, and as he was about to shout at the kid when a blinding light flashed. The virus stumbled back again, cursing and rubbing his eyes. "Why the hell did you hit me now?"

"Because it hurt, idiot!"

Whoa whoa whoa… Did he just start speaking English? Alex looked back at the boy, who was looking just as baffled as he was.

"…what just happened..? And who are you? And where am I?" he demanded, pulling a knife out from a pouch at his side, glaring suspiciously. Alex glared back and snatched the knife from his hand.

"I'll tell you when we get somewhere safer. Until then, I don't need you running around with weapons." he looked at the pouches at the teen's side for a moment before pinning him to the ground.

"What are you doing?" his blue eyes growing wide with fright, trying to shove the older man off. Alex just shoved him to the ground harder, not saying a word until he got the belt off, slinging it over his shoulder.

"I don't need you stabbing me while I get you to a hospital," he explained. Walking over, he picked up the boy again (who had now lost so much blood that he was barely conscious) and started for the hospital.