Name: Marcus D Charles
Age: 26
Occupation: 2016-2017 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Tight End.
Family life: Father/Mother/2 Sisters/4 Nephews. Unknown status.
Height: 6'6
Weight: 120kg
Blood type: A
Immune: No
Gear: Not conforming to the stereotype of football players, as a man with somewhat of an interest in science fiction and horror, Marcus has adhered to the zombie survival skills detailed by one Max Brooks. He carries a machete along with three water bottles (two currently filled) and enough dry food to last him a few weeks. In the way of firearms, he currently possess a Colt Python, along with 24 rounds. He currently wears a hiking pack to carry his equipment in, which also contains a bedroll and wind protector. He still carries his pads and helmet with him, simply for added defence.
Bio:
One of the few British players in the National Football League, Marcus grew up in the city of Canterbury. His father a teacher and mother a successful author, his background was hardly a tough one. Throughout all levels of education, Marcus took sport very seriously, preferring it over academics, although he remained very much on the positive side of average in that regard. It was basketball, rather than American Football, that first earned his interest, to which he played at a national level from a young age. Eventually, his talent earned him an international scholarship at the University of Texas, studying English Literature while playing for the Longhorns basketball program.
It was during this time that his powerful build and general interest in sport drew him to American football, or at least, developed his interest in it. Halfway through his first year, he was eventually convinced by the coaching staff to becoming a redshirt for the team, spending the first year simply at training, while playing basketball, before switching fully over to American Football when his second came around and he could at last play for the team. Playing two successful seasons at tight-end, Marcus would enter the draft in place of earning his degree, being drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Earning a somewhat inflated degree of renown for joining the limited ranks of British players to reach the NFL, Marcus played somewhat above the more realistic expectations of his ability, although didn't quite measure up to the level of hype surrounding him. Nevertheless, both of his seasons were considered reasonable successes.
When the Rising took place, Marcus, along with most of the team, were away to play the St. Louis Rams, the public spectacle increased greatly in an effort to draw attention away from the impending disaster. What occurred instead, was a large mass of humans sitting in one place. It remains unknown, and likely always will be, where the first infected came from, if a member of the crowd fell to the plague while attending, or one broke in from the outside, but soon the stadium erupted into panic and anger. Marcus, along with a number of players, cheerleaders, staff and fans escaped on the coach that had shuttled the team from the airport, narrowly escaping both the zombies and the violent mass of people. The unity of this group of survivors soon broke down, along with the coach. Marcus again engineered a narrow escape, along with his current travelling companion, Maela Alba, as a number of players turned violent, the loud conflict attracting a nearby hoard. The pair have no idea if any of the group survived, but none escaped the same way as them.
Since then, the pair have been wandering, Marcus' brute strength newly developed affinity for firearms offering protection, while Maela, somewhat surprisingly, provides both survivalist and self-defence capabilities.
Name: Maela Hernandez de Alba
Age: 23
Occupation: Tampa Bay Bucs Cheerleader
Family Life: Sprawling Latin family, status unknown.
Height: 5'7
Weight: 63kg
Blood type: B
Immune: Yes
Gear: Composite hunting bow and quiver, with 12 arrows, trailmix and a couple of weeks of dried food. Like her male companion, she also carries a hiking pack with her, containing a bedroll and another wind protector. On top of that, her pack contains a limited amount of lighter fluid, unless she's given it to Marcus to carry. She has three water bottles, one is currently full, along with a pack of sterilization tables.
Bio:
Growing up in rural Florida among a family of lower-middle class Cubans (second generation), Maela, despite being fairly typical for a head cheerleader in her public mannerisms (high school Queen Bee etc) she was both intelligent, and had a less than usual upbringing. With a father and uncle who continued to hunt, both for fun and for meat, she was taught to do so as she grew up, becoming somewhat of a survivalist, even if it never manifested in her public life. A state champion in regards to cheerleading, Maela continued to do so when she attended USF to study Finance. Not entirely a prodigy, Maela was nevertheless a successful student, in most aspects of student life, becoming somewhat more open about the non-linear interests she possessed, still remaining very much a social butterfly at the same time.
Through the last year of her degree and consequentially completing it, Maela auditioned for the Tampa Bay Bucs cheerleaders, earning her place on the squad even as she earned her degree, for the present, sticking with cheerleading rather than going into the professional world of finance. Despite a mediocre, if improving, performance by the Bucs in football, their cheerleaders remained a particular highlight and Maela enjoyed her time in spotlight, even if it eventually placed her in one of the most dangerous situations during the early days of the rising. Her short-term boyfriend, a friend of Marcus', was among those who managed to escape with them, although more likely it was Maela acting swiftly that saved all three of them, getting to the coach in time to avoid being ripped apart, by both living and dead. Unfortunately, her lover was rather less level headed than both herself and Marcus, being one of the players starting to turn violent in their panic, and she opted to not wake him to flee with the pair. His fate is unknown, but after witnessing his stressed actions, she cares little or less.
It was with her guidance that both Marcus and herself located the gear they currently carry despite the chaos of the immediate rising, before keeping their heads low, Maela providing food beyond their emergency dried rations through her ability to hunt, while Marcus provided some much needed muscle and intimidation. Recently, they have grown close enough that Maela has began to teach Marcus how to survive himself, previously having avoided doing so for fear that he'd feel he no longer needed her aid, not that he could ever catch up with her so quickly, only that is how he would perceive it.
