Chapter 2

Warning: Death up ahead.

Disclaimer: Prototype and One piece are not mine.

2 weeks later.

1500 hours

Orange town. Used to be known as the quiet sea port of the city. Nothing in particular was stunning about it, so one would probably dismiss it for a settlement of elders.

Not now as the once quiet but charming town was now a place of stillness and ashes. Ashes that were formed by incineration of the infected.

Thundering steps roared throughout the quaint village as a girl with orange hair rushed into one of the buildings, a small one story house. Grasping her chest she quickly made her way to the back of the house far away from the door that she had used to enter.

Soon the reason was made clear as loud thumps were heard against the door and the woman visually paled and looked around frantically. Spotting a small window in one of the rooms, she rushed towards it and hurriedly scrambled out of the house she had taken refuge in.

Moments later, the door broke from the strain and in tumbled in a horde of people, scrambling over each other as they looked around frantically.

If one were to look at them from a distance, they would have thought that one of them was a young man or woman, staring at the sky or admiring the architecture but it was not the case.

Observing them closely revealed that for one, they had horrible wounds, all rotten and open for all the world to see.

Second, most of their bodies were covered by a blackish substance, which would some time twitch when their bodies moved.

Lastly was the unholy sounds they would make if they spotted you. With a loud wail, one would turn and rush at you.

Even if their skin was rotten or their gaze was vacant, they could in fact see and hear so overall they were pretty sensitive.

All in all, these were the infected, class walkers. Standard procedure stated, dealing with these required decapitation or incineration. If the body can't move, they won't be able to spread the infection.

But if it were that easy, these walkers wouldn't have overtaken the entire country in a simple month.

The reason; simple.

They possessed abnormal strength. Due to their feeling of touch having been destroyed, they never felt anything. So even if they exerted force to tear their body apart, they would ignore it.

Thus they were stronger and faster than most normal humans.

But most troublesome was their resilience and numbers.

Numbers that were effectively cutting off the escape route of the girl.

Seeing that she was trapped in between two crowds of walkers, the girl stopped and relaxed her muscles.

The walkers, seeing that their prey had stopped resisting, roared and rushed forwards.

But this was what the girl had been waiting for. Crouching down, she leapt spectacularly and stretched her arms towards an overhead pole. Grasping it, she pulled herself easily before she quickly made her way towards the roof of one of the houses that were connected by the rod.

Seeing as the walkers had fallen to her trick, she sighed before turning around and ran off.

A couple of minutes later, she had managed to reach the boundary of the town.

She stopped as she looked from behind a building towards a large fence and a checkpoint. Soldiers called 'Marines' dressed in white shirts and navy blue pants. They were fully armed and wore chest armor.

Along with them were a few scientists, decked out in a full blue colored body jacket. Along with gas masks and a visor, they were mainly checking out the somewhat small number of people that were huddled near the entrance of the checkpoint. Armed with a small portable scanner, they could at least perform some prerequisite checks.

Suddenly one of the scientists yelled out. "Code yellow! Code Yellow!" As the hurdled people separated to show the figure of a woman clutching a child to her chest.

From behind the marines, stepped out a black clad soldier. This one was completely different from the others as his uniform completely covered his body. For his pants were clips that attached the helm of them to the boots completely sealing them. Hands were covered by gloves and the head was protected by a full face mask.

The mouth was shielded with a gas purifier while over the eyes were a set of goggles. Having three lens, on the right side and a single one for the left.

"Sir, infected sighted. Description, three feet and seventeen inches. Currently dressed out in a yellow sweat shirt and shorts."

The man walked forward and the people held their breath. The man gazed at the woman and the child before his voice came out of the mask in a muffled sound.

"Step away from it."

The woman shook her head as she stuttered. "No, this is a mistake. My son isn't infected. He just is sick." She turned the child and showed him to the soldier in front of her. "His stomach didn't agree with something he ate so he has a fever. I swear that he isn't infected."

The man didn't even seem to hear her and removed his gun from the hostler. The people around him inched away but were stopped by marines who looked on stoically at the scene.

The mother flinched as she pulled the child back to her chest as the soldier ordered once again.

"Step away."

The woman started crying as she tried to negotiate with him.

"No, no I am not lying. He is not infected. Just let us in and let the inspection team run tests on him."

The man took aim for the child as the woman whimpered.

"NO, Stop please. Just check him once agai…"

'Bang.'

Moments later a body fell to the ground. Not of the child but the woman.

The people screamed and the marines tried their best to contain them. The soldier walked up to the corpse and using the toe of his foot, turned it around. The child protected by the woman's arm was revealed once again and the girl winced as she saw blood contrasting with his pale skin. Patches of red and blue were also visible on the skin but the child was still alive.

The soldier wasted no time and discharged his gun several times into the infected.

The body of the child and the woman shook front the barrage of bullets before he stopped firing.

Blood pooled around him as he turned and glanced at the collected people.

"You monster."

A man stepped out as he pointed towards the black clad soldier.

"You are with Blackwatch right? Just wait, when I get to the other side, I will personally complain to your superior."

The man looked at him with a black stare before raising his gun and killing his opposer in a single bullet.

As a new body fell, the man spoke up. "Ha! You think Castle will give a fuck between you people and a couple of dead bodies just because they thought they were above the rules. They don't have the liberty to listen to your yapping."

The crowd fell silent as the soldier holstered his weapon and turned away.

One of the scientists stepped in sync with the soldier and after a couple of words, he stopped. Turning back, he issued a command.

"Marines!"

The marines cried out a 'Haaa' as the blackwatch soldier continued on.

"Exterminate the remaining infected."

He turned and started walking back, leaving the scientist behind who had seemed to voice his opinion against the man in the dust.

The woman swallowed her salvia before she turned around, not wanting to see the massacre.

"Yes, Commander."

The screaming of people was drowned over the ring of bullets.

XXXXXX

1600 hours.

The girl from before ran like the wind. Seeing people butchered in front of her seemed to have struck a chord in her resulting in her running aimlessly.

When she regained her bearings she was in a closed off alley. Breathing rapidly, she whipped off the sweat on her forehead before resting it against the cool bricks of a wall.

Suddenly the groan of a walker forced her to twist around. Seeing five walkers, she shivered before she removed a collapsible staff form under her skirt.

Putting up a stance, she waited before she stepped forward, smashing the first who dared to get close, on the head. As the head burst open and the body dropped, she spun and the staff collided with the second walker's leg. AS it fell, the woman straightened up and swung the staff at it's head.

Fluids spewed out as the staff was knocked out of the girls hands by one of the other walkers. The girl backed away as the walker seemed to understand that their prey could go nowhere.

Shivering, the girl saw them creep forward so she shut her eyes, awaiting her demise.

Instead of feeling rotten hands or teeth, she heard a crash and then felt something splash on her clothes.

Raising her head, she came face to face with a man in a white an' black hooded jacket and blue tattered jeans, before she blinked to process the information accurately.

The man, who had his back to her, had his hand sticking out of one of the walkers chest.

She stared at the man who then proceeded to place his other hand on his victim's neck and proceeded to separate the head diagonally to connect it with the hole from the chest.

As rotten blood rained down, he turned around and smashed his fist into the oncoming walker.

It went through the infected head like it was paper and the man shifted his weight to kick his supporting partner.

Its head sailed clear of the body and the girl wondered if she was dreaming or was already dead.

No wasn't possible as she could still feel the dampness caused by the soaking blood on her black shirt.

After gaining his stature, the man turned around, and the girl got a first look of her savoir.

She managed to keep herself from vomiting as she stared into the blood covered face of the man. Black hair stuck out from the hoodie and the girl found herself staring into the eyes of the man.

The man stared at her before he blinked and tilted his head.

"Hey."

The girl snapped from her staring and looked at him again.

"Do you have something to eat?"

She almost collapsed from the shock as she stared at the man in disbelief as his stomach let out a synchronized gurgle.

The man frowned as he used his hand to wipe away the blood from his face and place one hand on his stomach.

Looking at him frowning, she stood up and dusted herself off.

"NO, I don't have anything to eat."

The man Pouted, and blinked before he turned away and started to walk. "Oh, sorry then."

Yelping at his sudden departure, the girl hurriedly caught up to him before pulling at his sleeve.

The man turned back and frowned.

"What?"

The girl swallowed her spit before she spat out the words.

"But I know where we can find something to eat."

The man's eyes lit up and he grabbed her hand as he basically begged her.

"Really. That's so good. I have been starving for days."

The girl nodded before she started to lead him to an abandoned house.

A while later, when the man was chomping down on some bread, the girl stepped into the kitchen with a new shirt. Sitting across the man at the counter, she looked at him scoffing down bread in his throat.

Clearing her throat, she introduced herself.

"I am Nami. Thank you for rescuing me back then."

The man swallowed as he nodded before he opened his mouth to speak.

Only to shut it with a frown.

Nami looked at him expecting his name, but he started to scratch his head.

"I don't have a name."

Looking as he abandoned the thought of his identification and went back to scoffing bread, Nami frowned.

"What?"

The man looked at her but didn't stop eating. "I don't remember it."

"You remember nothing."

"Yeah, only that i was supposed to do something but don't understand it."

"So what were you doing when you woke up?"

The man gulped down the last piece of bread and smiled. "I was naked on a metal bed and there were sirens and alarms ringing."

Nami stared at him eyes wide. The only thing that could fit his description, was either a mental hospital or a prison.

"But I didn't want to stay there so I ran away." he finished and Nami suddenly was wary of him.

Seeing her on the defensive, the man frowned before he rummaged in the jacket for something. Withdrawing a wallet, he handed it to Nami as he grabbed a glass of water.

"That was something I found in this jacket I took off a guard."

Nami stared at him, fears confirmed that he was an escapee. But still looked inside the wallet only to be surprised.

The man who he claimed to have stolen the jacket form was a Genteck employee.

"Why were you in a pharmaceutical building?"

The man's eyebrows scrunched together before he spoke.

"A what building?"

Shook her head as she muttered nevermind before she focused on one thing.

"Say, how were you able to defeat the walkers?"

The man looked confused for a moment before he beamed.

"Hahaha, well they were pretty weak."

Gaping at the man, Nami shook her head as she countered him. "Weak! But the walkers have abnormal strength and senses. How did you just kill two of them using only your fists?"

The man smiled before he flexed his muscles through the jacket. "I just punch them pretty hard, I guess."

Nami hung here head as she confirmed that she was talking to an idiot.

Instead she focused on the contents of the wallet.

Skimming through, she overlocked the few crumpled notes and instead extracted a business card.

'Hmmm… Dr. Alex Mercer. Specialist in genetic research.'

She glanced at the man sitting in front of her. Comparing the photo on the card and the person, Nami concluded that they were a slight match. Both had the same black hair and black eyes.

But Alex Mercer's completion was white, while the man's was dark. Even then the facial features of both men were completely different. While Alex Mercer's face spoke volumes of his maturity, this one face betrayed one's eyes. Almost looking to the point of imitating a boy's face, the only thing that marked the man different was the small two stitched crescent type scar underneath the man's left eye.

Sighing, Nami called out to the man.

"Say what if I give you a name as a thanks."

Beaming, he left the table and held her hands as he pleaded. "Yes, I want a name. Oh! Get me a cool one. Something robotic or maybe something that can be eaten…"

As the man went on babbling like a child, Nami placed a hand on his mouth to silence him.

"No, none of those name will do." Looking into his eyes, Nami breathed out before she spat it out. "Alex."

The man now called 'Alex', cocked his head before smiling and nodded.

"Alex, that's a good name. Thanks."

Nami breathed out before she saw the almost dried blood on Alex's jacket.

"Alex, your jacket is dirty."

Alex looked down before frowning, "Yeah, I have had it for two weeks."

Suddenly, Nami understood that the stench form Alex, wasn't of rotten blood but of his own body. Holding out her hand, she spoke though a closed mouth.

"Take it off, and go take a bath. You stink."

The man looked at himself before shrugging and peeled the jacket in one go.

Nami gasped as she caught sight of a large X shaped burnt tissue on Alex's chest. Hearing her, looked at her before following her line of sight to his scar. Smiling, he placed his jacket on the table as Nami questioned him.

"What happened?"

Alex, smiled as he outright denied knowledge of it.

Nevertheless, Nami directed him to the bathroom before she dropped into the living room to fetch the jacket. Making her way to the sink, she grabbed a washcloth and started to scrub off most of the blood before it dried. But even if it dried, there wasn't much point of it as their color would be hidden by the jacket's darkness.

A couple of minutes later, Alex wandered in wearing the tattered pair of pants. Blinking, Nami sighed before she looked around to find a spare change of clothes.

So after a while, Alex was decked out in a red button down shirt and blue jeans. Not finding appropriate, footwear in the house, Alex settled with the sandals form the bathroom. Last off all came the jacket, but Nami told him to wait for it to dry.

So now they were sitting on a sofa as Alex kept bouncing on it sitting down.

"So Alex, once again, Thank you for saving me."

He nodded but he asked her. "What were you doing there then?"

Nami winced as she recalled the brutal massacre a few blocks down but pushed it away. "I was trying to get out of this town."

Alex cocked his head as he asked. "So why are you still here?"

Nami sighed before she looked down. "The marines have the entire town in quarantine. If they so much as suspect you of being infected, they shoot you down on the spot." She kept silent about the fact that she had just now witnessed the remainder of the town's survivors get shot.

The man's face went dark at the mention of death before it transformed to one of confusion. "Infected?"

Nami stared at him before slapping her fore head. 'Of course, he has no memory of the pandemic'

So she started to give him a rundown of the situation.

Right now, he was in the city, east blue; known for being the poorest among the six other cities or islands: West Blue, North Blue, South Blue, Grand Blue, New World and Mariejois the capital. All of these cities were separated by the sea and connected through long bridges and underwater tunnels.

A month or so ago, an infection was spread in the West Blue (OHARA). Rumors were that it was a failed Bio Weapon as it had spread though out a single night, but that didn't matter anymore. Soon the people infected started to die, only to be resurrected as 'Walkers'. The local police were unable to deal with the infected and the military, nicknamed the 'Marines' due to their base being on an island not far from the capital, were dispatched to contain the situation.

They arrived on the island and did their best to contain the situation, but unfortunately, it went out of control and managed to spread to the nearest island, the New World.

As the situation escalated, a special branch of the marines, called "Blackwatch" were deployed and they completely sealed off the two islands and dubbed them 'The red zone'.

Even then the infection, now identified as 'Blacklight' managed to spread to the east blue and grand blue to a certain extent, causing them to put both of the islands under quarantine as 'The Yellow Zone'.

The remaining two residential islands and the capital are the only infected free places and were grouped the 'Green Zone'.

Now, in the east blue, many towns had fallen to the walkers and Blacklight, causing the marines to block off that area. In the past month, a couple of bases and Barracks were allocated for the military. Some separate bases were appointed for Blackwatch soldiers who specialized in the extermination of the infected, any way necessary.

Thus was their situation, surrounded by walkers and military, they would most likely be shot at if they tried to get through the checkpoint.

Nodding, Alex looked at the small map that Nami had produced from her backpack and thought. He had nowhere to go, and until he could remember anything, he was on the run from the military. Also, he kept silent about him having healing powers and the ability to 'consume' people, alive or infected as he had learnt in the first week.

Having escaped from killing Morgan, Alex somehow, found himself in the dumps of Goa district, where he managed to survive among with the people forced to live there in quarantine.

He closed his eyes to shake out the horrible impact of the week that had left him somewhat determined to find out what had happened to himself and why.

So he glanced at his companion who was now looking at the jacket, before deciding to take a risk.

"Say Nami," He began as the woman turned and looked at him. "What if I get you out of this town?"

The woman stared at him before cautiously asking him. "What do you mean?"

Alex, looked at the girl and took a deep breath. "Nami, I don't know why I have no memories, so I don't know where I should go. Apart from that, the military and the people at GENTECK seem to really hate me as they start chasing me the moment they recognize me."

As Nami heard that, she bit her lip. Her intuition was right. He was an escapee.

"But I know that I am somehow connected to all of this. I want to do something about Blacklight. So how about it, I help you get out of here and you help me."

Nami stared at him. He gave a pretty good choice of her to choose. Apart from the possibility that Alex was a bit weird, she understood that she couldn't get out of here in time.

So she smiled and held out her hand. "Okay. How about I team up with you for a couple of days. You get me out of here and I help you to try and find out your identity."

Alex smiled a full teeth smile, stunning Nami for moment before he grabbed Nami's hand and shook it.

"Thank you Nami. Thank you."

Now full of energy, he tossed over the jacket on his body before grabbing Nami's hand and led her out of the building. As Nami tried to get him to stop, Luffy walked straight towards a house overlooking a fence.

Pointing towards a group of marines that were stationed there, he asked Nami.

"Can you find me a wall where there are no soldiers?"

Nami glanced at him before turning away and led him to a part of the city that was enclosed by a natural wall. This wall was for an old bridge which had collapsed due to it's age to keep out people. But on the other side, there was the city where they had to get to.

Luffy glanced at the wall in front of him before he let go of Nami's hand. As Nami wondered how he would get them out of here, Luffy turned and smiled at her.

"Nami, let's go." Nami blinked at him before she yelped as Luffy swept her in his arms.

"Wha… What are you doing?" She asked him as he walked towards the wall.

Alex looked up as he smiled and replied. "I am going to jump over it."

Nami's eyes widened as she looked from the wall to Alex's smiling face. The wall was over twelve feet high, and Alex was getting ready to jump over it.

"No, no, no. You can't jump over it." Nami tried to get out of the man's arms but he kept adjusting her.

Frowning, Alex looked at her as he replied. "But I can. I have done it before."

Nami stilled before looking at him. Alex gave her a smile before he couched, causing Nami to close her eyes and grip Alex tightly.

The next moment, Alex jumped, causing the concrete to crack. As he gained air, he easily passed over the wall and was now falling towards the ground.

Meanwhile, Nami was screaming her lungs out convinced that she was about to die. But instead of the hard impact, came a surprising softer landing.

Meekly, Nami opened her eyes to see the back of the city's industrial area.

"See, I told you I could do it."

She stared back into Alex's eyes before she scrambled out forcefully of his arms. Dropping to the ground, she scampered away before pointing a finger at Alex.

"What… what are you?"

Hearing this, Alex's face fell as Nami drew her collapsible staff.

Giki here.

The Blackwatch soldier's appearance was taken from the second game; Prototype 2. Take a look at it if confused.

Lastly, yeah this story has deaths, gruesome as they are, part of it. Try and bear with it.

Reviews and Criticismappreciated.