In the next day, by the morning.
"Move that crate to the last truck. We are out of space here," Frank shouted when seeing the truck was full already and people kept bringing more things.
Mark noticed Frank because of his non-stop yelling and started walking in his direction, but while walking amidst the people on the streets and seeing how they looked at him, Mark felt uncomfortable, but he knew people were not trying to be rude, they were just curious. After all, from all those people, Mark was the only one known to possess an ability.
Still with bandages covering his wounded left shoulder, a backpack over his right arm, and a silver sword attached to his back. Mark was a glaring figure, even more because of his black long hair kept shaking on the wind giving him a image of freedom.
Mark didn't use to have long hair, but since the time he became a half-beast inside the lab, his hair didn't stop growing at an unusual speed.
It was not only his hair, his muscles, and his body became more developed too, but Mark still kept the slim figure of a tall man.
Mark approached the truck where Frank was and said, "Which truck I take?"
Hearing the familiar voice, Frank turned, and saw the 'warrior like' figure of Mark and could not avoid but whistling high, "Wow, it's no wonder why all girl's melt for you! Look at you! All grown up with long hair. Are you the same Mark that used to be shy when talking to girls?"
Mark furrowed his brows but knowing his friend was just trying to joke, he said, "The poor talking about the homeless.... tsk... I bet you got more woman in your bed than the number of woman I had seen in my life."
"Thats because I'm a man of culture!" Frank said while grinning.
"Culture.... Yeah... Big culture I bet! Poor girls.... having to deal with such ENORMEOUS vocabulary"
"Who are you to even talk about my VAST vocabulary? You have a mighty sword! Silver! I too wanted to have a silver sword! Just imagine, an ebony god like me, with a silver sword!" said Frank, pointing to the sword on Mark's back.
Hearing that, Mark laughed aloud, because he imagined the scene.
It was always the same with Frank and he always won in the end by making Mark laugh and letting him with no response.
Seeing that Mark was more relaxed, Frank said, "You can take the second truck. Jane will go with you there, hehe" Frank said, and a devilish smile could be seen on his face.
Mark's grin vanished in a split second. Jane was beautiful, a very charming and attractive woman, not only that, but she was a caring girl, but Mark knew her friend way too well to fall on that trap, because Jane was way too dramatic, and Mark was a quiet guy. He enjoyed the silence, and with Jane, on a road, for miles and miles? The travel would be anything but a peaceful one.
"Ohh come one man, I will take the last truck, ok?" Mark said while making pleading eyes.
"Nop, already full. You take the second truck!" Frank said while shaking his index finger, as if he was a tutor lecturing a child.
"But seriously.... We all will go on the second truck..." Frank said, coming closer to Mark and talking in a lower voice, "... because I don't trust everyone else yet. We need to be careful. After all, this is still the apocalypse, and people kill for less than a plate of rice."
Mark sighed heavily and prepared himself for a hell of a trip.
...
The preparations didn't take long, and after half an hour, the fleet of seven trucks departed.
Some people chose to stay behind and wait for the army, hoping to have a normal life again. While others choose to go their own routes in smaller groups, and because of that, Mark's group was now composed of only 48 people.
Not everyone shared the hate for the union that the rebels had, but not everyone was naïve enough to stay behind and hope that the union would not kill them, while others wanted to find their own luck hunting mutated animals. Even among the group of Mark, there were people who didn't care about the fight against the union. They just thought they had better odds of surviving by staying together with the rebels.
This way, the fleet of seven trucks, composed of all kinds of people departed, to the only place that the union could not control, the only place where life was even harder in the apocalypse.
The road to nowhere.
"So... they said there is nothing up north, but you said there is an abandoned temple?" asked Mark, seeing the dusty road through the window by his side.
"It's an ancient temple, but not the kind of temple you are used to.... do you know the Stone Circle of Stonehenge?" Frank said while still looking ahead, because he was the driver of their truck.
"The one in England? Yeah, I heard about it. Everyone knows it." said Mark.
"Well... this 'temple' we are going to is like the Stonehenge, it's just very less know... We are going there, because less than a month ago we found out that those ancient rock circles from five thousand years ago all around the world seem to 'scare' the beasts. No matter what you do, the beasts never come close to those circles."
"They fear those ancient circles, or is something else? This is weird.. why would they fear a bunch of rocks in circular formation? Unless..." said Mark, thinking about all the possibilities that this single fact could raise. Maybe things were not so simple as just an alien invasion as he thought. As if that was even simple to start.
"Exactly... We didn't figure things yet, but we believe... There is more to play than we originally thought about, and if you piece this together with the 10 years deadline that you talked about... Well... " Frank said, and both of them looked at the middle seat of the truck, where Jane was snoring heavily.
"At least the sleeping pills worked," Mark said, and Frank nodded.