Thud! Thud! Thud!
Three darts sharply whistled through the air with their pointed tips, slamming against the tiny inner ring center of magnetic dart board with faint thud sounds echoing through the quiet tavern.
"Ohhh!"
Cheers of laughter erupted out from the previously silent crowds of people within the pub. Banging noises also resounded, the customer's banging their beer glass cups on the counter in cheers and laughter
"Dammit! How is that even possible!?"
A middle-aged man had a look of disbelief on his face as he stared at the perfectly lined darts on the dart board and then towards the young man who had thrown it.
The young lad was more than ten meters away from the dart board but he didn't just throw one bullseye which might have been considered luck, but he threw aIl bulleyes with three darts at the exact same time, how could he not be surprised.
"Hehehe, pay up!" The young lad rubbed his hands with a sly grin on his face, stretching them towards the middle aged man.
The middle aged man's face flushed red from embarrassment of having lost to a young lad, but he brought out a hundred dollar note bill and slapped it against the outstretched hand of the young man.
"Hmph!" With a snort, the middle aged-man angrily pushed through the crowds and turned to leave the pub.
"Little Will, you might get into trouble one day if you keep swindling new customers off their money."
A particularly old man seated before the counter turned towards the young lad who was now heading behind the counter.
The handsome young man turned out to be the bartender as he placed his apron on his neck and then proceed to tie it around his waist.
"It ain't swindling if I worked for it. Moreover, you taught me how to flick, remember?" The young Will smiled mischievously. He was young and appeared to be 19 years old. Refilling the empty beer cup of the old man and the others.
"Everyone knows of your talent in throwing dart is now as good as your talent in Archery, no one would dare bet with you in future, I know I wouldn't." Another middle-aged man chuckled, chugging his glass of beer down his throat.
"Throwing is easy, flicking them though, that's the hard part, new customers will keep coming and once they see the 100 dollar challenge placed on the large board, who wouldn't be tempted?" Will smirked.
"Hehe, what a swindler." a different customer snorted which elicited various chuckles from the customers seated before the counter.
Placing a sliced cayenne pepper at the edge of the mixed cocktail glass, Will served it to the customer who had ordered it.
The pub wasn't a particularly large one but it was doing alright considering the rate of customers per day.
Will was mixing his nth amount of cocktail when suddenly he implicitly felt dizzy and slightly short of breath.
Withdrawing his inhaler from his back pocket, he turned back towards the bar filled with numerous alcohol and drinks and shook the inhaler as he inhaled while clicking the topper. A few secunds later, he turned to face the counter.
"Still having the attack I see." The old man munched on a rhombus shaped fruit.
"Just once in a while, it nothing to be worried about." Will muttered quietly, grabbing a clean cloth wiping the glass cup neatly with it. This was one of the reason while he couldn't pursue his future as a professional Archer.
"Who said I was worried?" a snort escaped the old man's lips as he retorted.
Will smiled at the cute old man, but didn't say anything to respond. It was then something strange started happening.
The old man who was munching in the fruit suddenly collapsed, the chair saving him from hitting the floor.
"Old Tom?"
Will had just seen this and was about to move to help when the others started collapsing to the ground, spilling drinks, table and chairs to the ground.
"W-what's happening?"
Will's eyes opened wide in nervousness. He staggered backwards in alarm and was about to retreat when he felt his brain buzz as though an entire truck had slammed into his brain. Then everything turned blank.
From a spectator's point of view, Will collapsed, his head unceremoniously slammed at the edge of the counter, drawing blood and then his body bounced backwards as he collapsed to the ground.
The pub instantly turned quiet. People lying on the ground like corpses, as though dead. If it weren't for the fact that their chest rose and fell, one would think they died. Only the sound of piano ringing out from the speaker resounded within the Tavern.
The silence seem to swallow all sound frequency until what seem like forever, a middle-aged man suddenly jolted awake from the ground.
A muffled groan escaped his lips as he tried to stand up. It was then others started waking up from their fall.
"What happened?"
"Were we attacked?"
"Or poisoned?"
Murmurs began to fill the tavern as people kept waking up.
Suddenly, an intense flash of light pointed towards the tarven half-brick, half-glass walls, penetrating into the tarven with its intense brilliance.
Will had just struggled up from the ground, his head bleeding slightly as there was a slight cut at the edge of his forehead, and his smooth face showing a line of red as the blood dripped down his face. He felt slightly disorientated.
A penetrating bright light shone at him, feeling the sting in his eyes due to the brighteness, he covered his eyes with his hand and peeked through.
The bright light was coming closer to the tarven. As his eyes seem to get used to the bright light, he was finally able to see what was pointing the bright light on them, it was an heavy large truck. Heading towards the tarven with accelerating speed.
Will's eyes changed drastically and he shouted. "Everybody move!"
There wasn't enough time to drag the still unconscious Old Tom from the counter. But even then, he grabbed his arm, pulling and there was a sudden silence before a loud bang.
Rumble! BANG!
The large vehicle rammed into the pub, clearing everyone and every thing in its path like a demolition vehicle, sweeping effortly through a pack of straw houses.
Chairs and table were pressed like down like cheese. Some unfortunate fellows had their life's literally squeezed out of them by the tires of the large vehicle like sponge as they spewed out blood guts and bones.
Screams of panic and fear echoed through out the bar. On reflex, Will hurriedly threw himself towards the store room, not minding the pain he was feeling from the fall he had experienced.
Screeeech! Bang!
The sounds of brakes been pressed sounded and the truck finally slowed to a stop right after the counter had been destroyed.
Will's ears were like the body of a bell, ringing so loudly he could hardly hear a word, as though he was in shock. Ever so slowly, he stood up and walked towards the destroyed counter and the truck. He stared blankly at the an old wrinkly hand, twitching and sticking out from under the large truck with reddish liquid spreading towards where he was lying.
Old Tom was like a grandfather to him. Taught him how to throw darts, throw knives, flick blades, play cards and other stuffs. He thought of Old Tom like a legend. But never in his wildest dream did he expect the old man to have died in such a way.
"This isn't real." He shook his head and sat upright but the pain stabbing into his body made his expression change. All of sudden Will's face morphed and he seem to have snapped from his initial shock. Panic beginning to show from his face but he knew it wouldn't help. He stood up and headed towards the large truck and tried opening the door, but it was locked. He then climbed the two step running board of the truck and look through the window only to see a wooden stick impaling through the skull of the middle-aged driver from his eyes. He was dead.
Will staggered backwards and his face turned pale as he gazed around the store. Death was everywhere!
Some customers have had their hands or feet crushed while some had their brains and chest crushed. Their bodies still jerking from their previous impulses.
Blerghhh!
Unable to cop with it, Will reeched, falling to his knees as he vomited, tears and mucus streaming down his previously handsome face.
"I-I need to leave here!"
Wiping his face with his hands, he was about to stand up, but as he turned, he came face to face with old Tom.
Will jerked backwards in fright, but suddenly stopped. Old man Tom had somehow managed to crawl from underneath the truck, which meant that he wasn't dead.
"You're alive!"
His joy overcame his fear and he wanted to help the old man up when he noticed something wrong.
Will's eyes involuntary darted to the old man's waist and saw that there wasn't any apart from his chest, his lower body including his legs were gone, intestines covered with red blood dragging out from his body.
His eyes droppy and entirely white with no trace of the iris nor the pupil. Drool dripping from old man Tom's mouth as he struggled with his only hand to crawl toward Will.
"Old Tom?" Will 's heart raced in panic and he began retreating backwards in fear as his intuition told him that he should run. He back soon hit the truck and he was stuck.
This momentary pause had given the old man enough time to eagerly lunge at him.
Trepidation filled Will's mind and he reflexively kicked backwards.
Bang!
The old man's body flung backwards to the air, slamming against the wall, but as it fell forwards, the old man's head landed right at the sharp edge of a broken bottle.
Puchi!
Through the eyes, the bottle punctured the brain, instantly killing it.
The old man was thin and light to begin with and with more than half his body gone, his weight had considerably lessened.
Will gasped, his breath wheezing as he took rapid shallow breaths.
"I-I just killed Old Tom." He was panicking and his breathing getting shallow when something even weirder happened. A black goo ish flowed out from the old man's body, flowing on the ground like liquid, but without leaving any residues on the ground.
Will was immediately mesmerised. A sudden urge he couldn't ignore overtook his mind. Robotically, he stretched out his hands slowly as though wanting to touch it.
The black goo flowing on the ground suddenly stopped as though it had sentience.
Shrieek!
A muffled screamed came out from the black goo and it instantly leapt at Will's face without warning. Will's countenance changed drastically and he knew the situation had gone out of hand. He tried crawling backwards as fast as he could, but it was too late and the truck was behind him.
The black goo landed on his face, right on the open slash wound on his head.
A painful feeling stabbed at Will's brain as the black goo flowed right into his wound.
"Ahh!!!"
Will screamed, rolling on the ground in horror, clawing desperately at his face in a bid to remove the black goo, but it was to no avail.
Suddenly, Will felt a metallic sweetness hit his nose. The smell of blood and bodily fluid didn't seem to be disgusting any more. And as hia eyes locked on to the blood and flesh on the floor, a tiny impulse to feed on blood, flesh and intestines appeared in Will's mind, halting his rolling actions.
"W-what I'm i thinking?" Will shook his head. Quickly, he immediately crushed the thought and everything went back to normal. He wasn't some monster, vampire or zombie that would want to feed on a fellow human like himself. Or was he turning to a zombie? What did that black goo do to him. Even more fear gradually began to fill his mind.
The instant he crushed the thought, Will shivered slightly and he felt his muscles itch and heat up rapidly all over his body.
He could feel warm currents flowing through his entire body. His flesh trembling and his strength seem to be increasing in the process.
Will felt weird noticing this. Clenching his fist, he could feel that he had become at least one fold stronger than before. He glanced down at his Bio-Watch and checked his status.
[Status: INFECTED (Grade One Symbiosis)
[Side Effects: Slight cough, Chest pain, Attribute ×2]
[Strength: 14 (10)]
[Agility: 16 (10)]
[Physique: 10 (10)]
[Will: 10 (10)]
[Ramark: User has been infected with a virus. Unable to read through user's condition. Please, seek medical assistance immediately!]
Will was stunned by the information shown above his fitness Bio-watch. He was infected? Seek medical assistance immediately?
And what was that written as the side effect? The cough was a result of his Asthma, but what about the doubling of his attributes? He was certain his strength was a solid 7, how come it doubled, reaching 14 in the blink of an eye?
All this questions flooded Will's mind, but no one was there to answer his questions for him. He had gotten this expensive Bio-watch for free during a give away event, mainly to examine his health and know when he's working to hard.
Grrrrrrrrrh!
A loud sound that didn't seem human rang out from the other side of the truck, snapping Will's attention back to reality, It was the sound of another one of those monsters like old Tom.
"I-I need to get the hell out of here."
Repeating this words to himself, he wasn't about to deal with another one of those. He hurriedly headed outside the pub, placing his inhaler to his mouth as he felt his breathing becoming short.
Outside the store, he recovered his breath after what seem to be forever and then glanced at his environment, his gaze instantly turned blank in that moment and a wave of horror watched over his face.
The World seem to have plunged into chaos. Cars tumbled against one another, combusting into flames. Trucks and vehicles railing off road, slamming into pedestrian, climbing or pinning them to the buildings.
Smoke bellowed from smouldering buildings as they collapsed.
Corpses of pedestrians strewn about the floors like litters, those who managed to escape from the various incidents began running around for cover like fleas.
A young mind like Will who was still in college couldn't possible comprehend what was happening.
"M-other!" His body trembled violently. It was then he suddenly remembered something.
"Mother!" If things like this are happening everywhere, what about her mother in the hospital?