A new challenger approaches!

After eating, a tense silence hangs over the room as neither of you have anything to say. Hina fiddles with some straps on the hilt of her katana while you sit next to her on the couch, with a wide gap between you. "Suppose it's time we head back?" You ask tentatively. Without a word she picks up the bag of food, to which she added a few change of clothes. You grab the machete she brought.

Hina doesn't wait for you, storming off down the stairs leaving you behind. Yeah, this could be a problem. As you exit the apartment Hina attempts to open the car door setting off the alarm. "Shit." You mutter, scrambling to get the key out. Turning the alarm of she turns to face you sheepishly.

"Sorry. I forgot it was locked." She doesn't look at your face however.

"Can we talk about this?" You offer your hand to her causing her to shy away. "Hina, please?" A loud crashing sound rings out from up the road. Scraping of metal grinds as a massive, bulky man clambers out of a crushed car. Bits of metal hang off his body as he marches towards you and Hina.

The man is huge and only gets bigger the closer he gets. Easily taller than six foot, his broad shoulders and bulging muscles effectively enhance his size. He looks like a giant made up from pure steroids... and then you notice the blank eyes on his face, the darkened blood dripping from his mouth and his hands drenched in a dark crimson. He stomps down the road, his footsteps ripple down the dead street.

"Hina pass me your phone." You whisper without removing your eyes from him. She complies silently having noticed the same thing you did. That's a big infected. As she hands you her phone you pass her the keys for the car. "I'm gonna distract him, drive back to the house once I do. I'll send a message later when I'm safe."

"W-what? No lets go now." She argues. You point to the crumpled car.

"He just squished that with his body, our car won't hold up if he gets to it. Even with a few upgrades on it." You start to stamp out to the middle of the road. The man follows your steps and turns away from the pavement he was following. "Wait till I lead him away!" You call over. This sets the brute off. His steady walk shifts into a blindingly fast sprint.

Thankfully everything slows down early enough that you can dive out of the way, as you barely avoid being grabbed. He charges straight past you and through the wall in the building. Upon hitting into the bricks he slams his face, with a wide open mouth, into the ground. He crunches some stone before letting them drop from his mouth. You back up the street, from where he came from. "This way big boy!" You call over to him. He charges again.

You run to the crossroad and narrowly miss his next charge as you dodge when arriving. He's fast than me, stronger than me and probably won't run out of breath as quickly... Or at all. Great! Once more he slams his face to the ground and crunches through a few more stones. Facing back down the street he blindly eyes your car, the one Hina just started. His muscles tense as he prepares to sprint again, without thinking you pull out your handgun and unload several shots into him.

With the sudden sound his new target gets decided as you run down the junction you dodged to. This time you unsheathe the machete and dive to the side while swinging the blade into his leg. The blade snaps from the ****, like you just tried hitting a really hard rock. Again it smashes into the ground and takes a mouthful of road. A bit more down the street lies a black and red naked motorcycle, abandoned but with the keys still inside the ignition.

If you could get to it, you could easily lose the brute in the city. As it stands you're not fast enough. You move towards the pavement as he recovers. I don't need to be faster if he goes inside again. "Hey, hey. I'm over here this time!" Snapping to you in an instant, he rushes you and straight past you as he barges through the wall. With the small window you've made you sprint for the bike, picking it up and turning the key.

The engine sputters and dies. "Shit!" You curse and try again. The engine roars but dies all too quickly. The crumbling of bricks warn you of the brute as you spy him in the side mirror. You turn the key in a last **** hope and it jolts back to life, as does the brute. Without thinking you rev the accelerator and speed forward; literal seconds from being grabbed.

Your heart pounds as the wind whips around your face. With a long, straight, wide open road ahead of you; you zoom along while easily breaking the speed limit - by three times the amount. "WOOHOO!" You happily scream through the city.