Markus had not gotten very far when he was stopped by one of the guards from El Grando Smokio. Apparently, Big Smoke had urgent matters to discuss with him. He followed the man back to the gun shop.

When Markus arrived, he found the shop closed and the mercs outside were busy loading crates of merchandise into large trucks. Big Smoke stood nearby to supervise them. 

"What's cooking? Are you moving to a greener pasture?" Markus called out to him.

"Nah, I heard something big happened in the D.C., a cannibal attack it seems. Now they're mobilizing the National Guard and the Army to mop up the whole east coast." Smoke turned around and explained to him, "These guys don't take kindly to an honest businessman like myself so I'm gonna lay low for a while."

"I suppose you don't need my help for that. So why did you call me here?" 

"I guess you can't remember where Sabrina lived, so here's a tip: she's your nextdoor neighbour. Look for the house with a front yard full of gardenia flowers." Smoke put his hands on Markus's shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes, "Everything's about to get dicey around here, so you two grab a car and leave this damn town ASAP. Got it?" 

Markus also looked the big man in the eyes and nodded. Satisfied, Smoke headed for the trucks and they quickly left Marshall. This time, the two of them parted ways for good.

Just like Smoke predicted, everything took a turn for the worse after that. As Markus was getting close to Sabrina's house, the whole neighbourhood was taken over by a crowd of angry protesters. Some people at the back had already noticed him so he had no choice but to pretend to be one of them, moving along while shouting mindless drivels.

Markus spotted a familiar face among the crowd. It was the red mohawk thug from before, walking in a daze with a bite wound bleeding profusely on his neck. Normally, someone would have stopped the poor guy to give him first aid or at least take him to the town clinic. But the crowd was so lost in their anarchistic rage that no one paid any attention to him.

Only after the thug collapsed with convulsions that people noticed him. A reporter and a cameraman rushed over, not to help the dying man, but to get this juicy bit of news on air as soon as possible. As the reporter crouched down to get a closer look, the convulsing man suddenly lunged at her. He pinned her to the ground and took a bite at her neck. Then he continued to claw at her chest while she let out blood-curdling screams. Everyone was stunned by the sheer brutality of his attack.

"Murder! It's a murder!" Someone shouted.

As they snapped back to reality, a wave of terror instantly swept through the crowd. They fled in all directions, pushing and trampling on others to get away. Many people died amidst the chaos. They too started reanimating and attacking the nearest living person, leading to even more deaths. Soon, the crowd turned into a horde of flesh-hungry undeads. It was like something straight out of a zombie apocalypse movie.

Avoiding the zombies, Markus arrived at Sabrina's house but found it locked from the outside. She was probably still away at the moment.

Then he started running to put some distance between him and the the zombie horde, while also looking around for any sign of Sabrina. With his excellent agility and speed, he was able to leave the horde further and further behind until they could no longer be seen. However, new zombies were pouring down the streets so he could not afford to slow down.

While crossing an intersection, Markus was almost hit by a police cruiser driving through at breakneck speed. There was no time to avoid the collision so he vaulted over its roof instead. After safely landing on the ground, he continued running without looking back.

The police car turned around and began chasing Markus. But he was running so fast it took ten minutes for the car to catch up with him. When they were finally going side by side, the driver called out to him.

"Hey mister, how about going with me? It's probably not as fast as you running but definitely less tiring." It was Sabrina herself, dressed in the same outfit as before, but with a police bulletproof vest and various protective gears on top.

As luck would have it, the person Markus desperately looked around for had found her way to him instead. Only a fool would pass up on such an oppotunity, so he quickly got in the car.

"You were running at more than 40 mph just now. Are you superman or something? Even Usain Bolt could only reach 27 mph." Sabrina started speaking, clearly impressed by his speed.

"Everyone can become superman when their life's on the line, you know." Markus answered evasively. That was when he realized his physical capabilities were much higher than the norm. Most likely because of the "modifications" done to his body back in Steel Talon.

"That's still incredible. There won't be any work left for us police if every desperate mafioso can run as fast as you." Fortunately, Sabrina did not dwell on the matter too much. She went on to introduce herself, "By the way, I'm Sabrina Franchi, member of the Marshall police station. That is, before it was disbanded." 

"My name is Markus Wilkerson and I'm not a gangster. I wore this outfit because it looked cool." He followed up on her, trying to steer the conversation in a different direction.

"Sure, sure, whatever you say. It's not like I have the authority to arrest you anyway." She replied half-jokingly, not believing him at all. 

"But Markus, huh? Now that's a name I haven't heard for a long time. I had a friend named Markus Wilkerson too. Don't know where he went though." There was a hint of sadness and nostalgia in her blue eyes as she reminisced about their childhood.

"Does he look like this?" Markus took off the fedora and put on a pair of black-rimmed glasses, giving him a different, more intellectual look.

He used to have myopia, but it got better during his time in Steel Talon so he did not wear glasses anymore. That was most likely one of the main reasons Sabrina did not recognize him at first, apart from the gangster suit.

After taking a brief look at him and realizing who he was, Sabrina's face brightened up in an instant. Her lovely lips blossomed into a pure and innocent smile, "Wow, it's really Markus! You came back. Let's get through this quickly and celebrate!"

"Agreed. But I had a feeling things are only going to get worse from now on." Markus was not as optimistic as her.

"Oh gosh, don't jinx it like that. Your feelings always come true, you know." Sabrina hastily stopped him.

The two awkwardly laughed it off and began to plan their next move.

At first, Markus and Sabrina tried to get to a safer part of Marshall. But it was the same chaotic situation wherever they went. They could see a mother crying while cradling the lifeless corpse of her child, only for the child to reanimate and bite her in the neck. In a nearby house, a young man was forced to shoot a zombified older couple, most likely his parents, when they pounced on him. In a corner of the street, a dog helplessly tried to pull away the zombies as they tore apart its owner in front of its very eyes. Soon, Marshall was overrun by the dead.

Those who were still alive took refuge in the mayor's office under the protection of the mercenaries. Markus and Sabrina also stopped to join them in their last stand against the dead. The mercs were organized and well-armed, so their defence held on for quite some time.

But that was not the end. The ground suddenly trembled as a huge zombie made its way to their position. It was twice as tall as an average man, with an incredibly muscular body and thick skin seemingly impervious to small arms fire. When it spotted the mercs, the monster let out a thunderous roar and charged at them, followed by running zombies. Their defence was breached in an instant and everyone scrambled to get away.

Markus and Sabrina quickly got into the police cruiser to make an escape while the huge zombie was distracted. No one said anything as Sabrina focused on driving while Markus fended off zombies trying to grab on to the car. Body shots only briefly staggered them, but headshots seemed to down them for good so Markus went for the head as much as possible. Fortunately, there was also a SPAS-12 shotgun inside the car which helped greatly in thinning out the zombies.

The two could only relax after they had safely escaped to the highway outside Marshall and confirmed that the zombies were no longer chasing them. They continued to drive west, leaving behind their hometown to the undead.

Meanwhile, two shady figures quietly observed the town from atop the derelict lighthouse outside Marshall. They were the two wimpy lackeys accompanying the red mohawk thug earlier, although they looked far less wimpy at the moment.

After confirming the town was overrun by zombies, they kneeled down beside something resembling a pile of scrap metals with a radio antenna on top and started worshipping it. One of them spoke to the makeshift antenna in a distorted mechanical voice:

"Replacer Pawn theta to Replacer Queen, situation report. Replacer Bishop alpha, in position. Checkmate protocol, initiated. Awaiting further orders."