It was the master plan of someone... the people of back then just had no idea of whom. It was too late for early humanity, their fate was already sealed.
A virus broke out, transmitted through the air. Without warning, humans the world over suddenly transformed into stone pillars. The few who survived the outbreak, the people immune to the virus, were devastated, many of them having lost loved ones to the infection.
When the people back then got infected, its effects laid dormant within them at first. Then, one by one their bodies grew 15 feet tall, shredding their clothes to smithereens. Then their skin would swell and turn to stone, encasing them in a pillar of impenetrable stone, preserving their bodies for ages and ages. The pillars were featureless, save for the petrified faces of their captives, forever twisted in a state of horror and confusion. The virus transformed its victims in a matter of minutes. Cities were destroyed by this mass transformation, and the world was laid to ruin, with only the handful of people immune to the virus left to inherit it.
Decades passed, centuries passed, and the pillars still stood, some of them moved around to different places over the years. The survivors begat descendants, and the descendants attempted to rebuild the world.
That's when the pillars began to crumble, and the victims inside awakened. These reawakened humans had become so much more than their previous selves. They were stronger, sexier, and angrier. Their flesh turned gray, but their blood still red, these pillar men and women sought to reclaim their old world, and it would be a dark day for anyone who stood in their way.