THE STRANGE WRITINGS

"let's rest here guys" Mark said as he stopped beside a big tree.

We were all exhausted so we wasted no time as we sat round the tree and brought out our water.

I gulped down the entire water in my bottle as I dropped the empty bottle beside me.

I inhaled and exhaled deeply.

This is really exhausting.

We've been walking for hours non stop. Not even a five minutes stop to drink water. We just kept walking and I can't believe the sun is already settling down.

I looked over to Mark and he was sitting a bit far away from the tree we sat beside with his tablet in his hand as usual working on it.

My mind went back to the writings I had been seeing on signboards since we stepped feet into this dangerous city.

Many questions ran through my mind regarding the suspicious sign post.

Who could have written it?

Are we been monitored?

I tried hard to understand what's going on but I couldn't and I couldn't tell anyone either.

"Here" I heard a voice beside me and I looked up immediately to see Martins sitting close to me while handing out a bottle of water to me.

I hesitated for some seconds before finally smiling and taking the water from him.

"Thank you" I said as I finally took the water from him.

"It's okay" he said as he heaved out a sigh while staring up at the sky.

"What do you think about this place?" he asked all of a sudden making me to stare at him sharply.

"Huh?"

"I mean, don't you find this place fun? Or is it boring to you?" he asked as he stared at me.

He had a huge smile plastered on his face as he stared deeply at me.

I looked down staring at the bottle in my hand.

"At first, when we first came here, I hate it in here. I found this place boring then and even now, it's still very scary to me. Trust me it's no fun" I said as I broke the seal of the water he gave me and drank out of it then covered it back and place it between my thighs.

"You are right, this place is kind of boring and scary for real, atleast, that's what I thought when we first got here but now, I find it more fun" he said smiling.

Seriously, how could a normal human find this place fun and interesting.

I stared at him for a while and then nodded looking away.

"I guess am the only one that find this place creepy" I finally said as I scanned through where we were.

Everywhere was dark except for the torchlights that was with us which was all turned on.

We both fell silent after the words I said as none of us broke the silence and I was happy about that though.

I looked over to Vera who was sitting a little bit far from us with a necklace in her hand.

She was staring closely at the necklace and I wondered what it meant to her.

"Guys!!" Mark suddenly shouted as he stood up with his shotgun in his hand. "They are heading this way and judging from what am seeing here, they aren't one and they aren't five either. We've got to get out of here as soon as possible" Mark said as he started packing somethings.

We all jumped to our feets immediately as we started packing our weapons and things.

I took two shot guns from my weapon bag for safety.

Not long after that, we started hearing heavy footsteps behind us and we knew for sure they were approaching.

"Guys, we have to leave now or we won't make it out alive" Mark screamed and we all abandoned whatever we were doing and ran for safety.

For close to forty five minutes, we kept running and stumbling on eachother periodically but still, we didn't stop as the heavy footsteps also didn't stop.

The footsteps was also approaching so we couldn't stop as we kept on running like our lives depended on it. And truly, our lives depended on how far we run away from these blood sucking creatures running right behind us.

Though we couldn't see them judging from the footsteps we were hearing, no doubt Mark was right, they weren't two nor were they five, they were running in dozens.

After what seemed to us like eternity, we finally stopped. The footsteps also has stopped so it was evident, we are safe from them.

"Okay, that was some kind of scary incident there" Juliet said breathing heavily and everyone agreed to that.

The run was just too scary.

We sat on the grass there as we were all panting heavily.

Everyone brought out their water and drank from it.

I brought out the leftover water I had left and gulped it all down.

I threw the empty bottle beside me as I made to lay down to rest but something caught my attention.

My eyes went to a big signpost standing a bit far from us and I stared at the words on it.

I gulped down my saliva as fear gripped me.

On the signpost was NONE OF YOU IS GETTING OUT ALIVE written boldly on it.

My body trembled in fear.

Who could this be?

Could this be anyone of us here?

Or is this someone else entirely?

Like someone we haven't met.

Like someone we don't even know existed here?

I looked over to the rest of the team and they were all busy talking about the incidents that occured close to one hour ago as they were still trying to catch their breath and get over the incident.

Looking at us right now, I don't think we are fit to do the mission that is set right in front of us.

I mean, we are still not trained enough.

Only Mark seems to be the most experienced one out of all of us here, the rest of us are just a novice to this.

"Hey" I heard the femine voice I have grown so familiar with and I couldn't mistake for anything ever again, Vera.

"Uhm...hi" I said as I stared at her just in time to see her sitting closely beside me.

"You were running so fast back then that I almost took you for usain bolt" she said as she giggled.

I smiled too.

She was right though.

Running was something I like doing and I'm a pretty good runner.

"Is that a complement?" I asked smiling.

" Well...maybe " she said as she drank from a bottle of coca cola.

"Is this place fun to you?" I asked and she stared at me then sipped from her bottle.

She nodded slowly smiling.

"It's fun here" she said.

And that's it again! Everyone here is just weird.

"What about you? What do you think? Isn't it fun here?" She asked.

" Nahh, it's scary and creepy here. Just wish we get the cure as soon as possible and get out of here" I said.

" It's not easy you know. We still been welcomed here. You and I know getting the cure from the lab is somewhat suicidal" she said.

She was right, that's where they said the beast species resided.

"But either way, we are getting the cure. I'm tired of here already and just wish we can get the hell out of here as soon as possible."

" You're just too scared. Wasn't expecting an handsome guy like you to be this scared." She joked as she giggled.

I smiled at her joke though I could sense something about the way she said it.

"Handsome guys are the most scared human on earth." I jokes too while she laughed.

"I'll agree to that because you just proved it right!"

I stared at her as she laughed hysterically.

"What?" She asked as she noticed I was staring at her.

"Uhm. Nothing. You just looked like someone from my school." I lied.

"how is she like?" She asked showing interest in my lie.

Okay! This is another problem.

"She was pretty, funny and get along with everyone even if they were stranger. She was very brave and finds scary and creepy places fun. She's kinda weird but she's the best." I said.

Everything I said there was all about her.

I was defining her.

"What is her name?" She asked unexpectedly.

" Uhm..oh.. Winnie. Her name is Winnie." I lied.

She smiled.

" Why do I have this feeling you are talking about me." She laughed. " But my name isn't Winnie so I'll agree it's someone else."

"How did your brother got infected?" She asked all of a sudden.