Before there was Abe.
We begin our tale in the early morning hours of 50,703 BC. A thick ice sheet covers North America and every anthropologist will tell you that the first people were yet to arrive on the continent, but they'd be wrong. This icy landscape was already home to humans -- intelligent humans who used stone tools to establish their supremacy over other species. A tribe of these humans track a Woolly Mammoth through a frozen tundra, which would come to be called Nevada. They're about to go in for the kill, when the Mammoths spot the humans and run. The humans are ready to pursue, however, a thunderous scream redirects their attention -- the Mammoths had not fled from the humans, but rather, what was behind them: the tribe finds one of their own, Hok Kam, in the jaws of a giant short-faced bear. The tribe springs into action, chucking a volley of spears at the beast; one being fatal. The jaws of the bear are pried open, freeing Hok Kam from its frothy mouth. The young man's shoulder bleeds profusely, the leader of the hunters -- Chief Kowa Kowa -- wraps some cloth around the wound to stop the bleeding until they make it back to the village.
The journey was arduous but, Hok Kam was still alive upon their arrival. He is taken to their medicine man's tent, who manages to stabilise his condition, nevertheless, the entire tribe expected Hok Kam to die at first light.
Sunrise came and, who would wake the village, none other than Hok Kam. He was full of energy, too much energy. The tribe turned to the medicine man for answers: He had none.
Days would pass and the man who was once on the brink of death was only growing stronger. He would go hunting on his own and return with enough spoils to feed the tribe twice over. The women competed for Hok Kam's attention and the men admired him, even more so than the man who was supposed to be their chief -- Kowa Kowa.
One day, the chief could no longer sit idly by as his people turned away from him -- so he challenged Hok Kam to a fight to the death. The whole tribe circled the two men as they stared each other down, spears in hand. Chief Kowa Kowa lunged at his opponent. Gasps were let out in abundance. Hok Kam had caught the chief, midair, and was now holding him above his head at the end of his spear. Blood trickled down the spear's shaft. Those who gasped now scream as Hok Kam begins shaking the chief's body to extract more blood. He sticks out his tongue to catch the ruddy droplets. The women pick up their children and hold them close; the men pick up their spears and aim them at the man who they now saw as a crazed madman, unfit to be their new chief. But, the blood that landed on Hok Kam's tongue had an effect on him -- it turned him. The tribe's men found themselves confronted by a man who was more beast than any they had been faced with before. Hok Kam flung the body of their chief at one of the men, knocking him unconscious beneath the chief's corpse. Three men charged at Hok Kam. Hok Kam threw his spear into the skull of the first man; took the spear from the second man and broke it in two before using the broken ends to stab the necks of both the second and third man. The other men, after witnessing this brutality, all turned and ran, taking their families with them as they fled into the frosty desert. Hok Kam did not pursue them, as he became distracted by the body of the chief -- it appeared to be moving. He went over to finish him off, only to find that it wasn't the chief who was moving, it was the man trapped beneath the chief's corpse. The trapped man lay helpless as Hok Kam sunk his teeth into his face.
The frozen lands of ancient North America had a new predator to fear: One born from the bite of a bear, infected with an unknown disease. A bear that lay forgotten for tens of thousands of years.
Until...
