Author's Notes:

* There will be very few Original Characters in this story. They will typically go unnamed and exist for the sake of story progression. (RIP OldMan).

* I try to keep personalities as faithful as possible to canon, but there are bound to be some discrepancies. Do not complain about them.

*I don't know how to use tenses.

Trivia in Footnotes.

Five Hours.

It's been five Hours since the streets of SouthTown fell silent. The air was humid and sticky, and the smell of rotting flesh hung in the air. A low thudding reverberated through the floor, constant, like a metronome or a heartbeat. The morning sun peeked over the horizon and shed a dim opaque light over the empty town.

It was 5am, and Kyo Kusanagi sat on the edge of a building surveying the scene beneath him. He had not slept well, and stared tiredly down the streets of the desolate city. He spotted a few figures shuffle out of the building next to his. Two men and a woman. Two of them looked physically sound, however one them had twisted his ankle nearly all the way off. He staggered forward on exposed tendons and bones. Kyo winced- the sight reminded him of his own past injuries. Tournaments were viciously brutal, but there was always medical personnel at hand during the events. The true danger usually stemmed from whichever evil organization hijacked the competition for their own goals.

Or from that shithead Yagami.

It wasn't so much when he fought his rival. Kyo was no slouch, the proud Scion of Flame could hold his own against that red- haired nightmare. When they clashed, they were usually interrupted before anybody was seriously hurt. Mostly because they fought with fire, and someone always called the police.

No, it was when Yagami caught him by surprise.

That asshole had behaved himself relatively well while they were a team: Yagami, Shingo and himself. And just when he had gotten used to the idea of trusting his worst enemy to watch his back, Yagami just had to completely lose his mind. It is terrifying to fight somebody who has no regard for their own welfare.

Later, in the hospital, Shingo told him that Yagami would have eaten him alive had Ash not stolen the Yakasani Jewel. Kyo didn't doubt it.

Crk. Kyo started out of his reminiscing. He had inadvertently balled up his fists and cracked one of his knuckles. Rousing himself, he stood and stretched, knocking over the steel baseball bat that had been his constant companion since yesterday.

Kyo stepped over his bag - packed with water and granola bars - and walked over to the hatch that led inside the building, the previous evening he had pushed a heavy oil drum over it. As he approached the thumping grew louder and more frantic - he could make out faint sobbing. The person on the other side of the hatch was a pretty young lady. She had a blue headband and had an eye gouged out. And, like most of the remaining citizens of SouthTown, she wanted nothing more than to sink her teeth in him.

But she wasn't dead. No, had she been a zombie Kyo would be having a field day, running about torching the shuffling hordes. He had always imagined such a scenario, from video games or horror movies, being the hero and exterminating the undead. However, these people, these 'infected', were alive, and were under the influence of some - disease? or curse? Kyo was no detective, and he didn't care to discover the source of the infection. It already hurt him enough to kill unarmed civilians, all he wanted was to get out of SouthTown.

Kyo imagined the city people understood this - these people were not zombies. SouthTown was in America, the land of the free, the land of the armed. A true zombie apocalypse would be put down really quickly here. Shooting corpses was gross, but nobody carried guilt for doing so. However, killing a sentient person screaming at you to stay away, and sobbing as they approached you was a whole-nother story. Nobody liked to do that sort of thing - so they ran. They would rather run than kill their neighbors. That's why the infection spread as much as it has.

The only reason Kyo was even here, was he had gotten lost during evacuation chaos. His English was spotty at best, and he had planned to get around using old tournament allies and charades. But the government warning was issued, and suddenly everyone willing and able to help him fled.

The outbreak had become rampant late last night, there was chaos in the streets, people. Cars. Bicycles. Helicopters, all meshed in a frenzy. Naturally, not everyone was able to leave in time - many people had been asleep in their beds when the warning came.

It had been five hours since rescue operations ceased and the people stopped clamoring. Everyone was either dead, or infected. Maybe there were a few survivors left, but Kyo hadn't encountered anyone else.

He was standing on top of a building with no idea where he should go. The labyrinthine city stretched out before him in every direction. To make matters worse, Kyo only had a Japanese SIM in his possession - calls and texts only, no Internet. No news. No translation. No GPS. His battery was running low.

It was becoming hot. The humidity had soaked into his clothes and the sun grew in strength, beating down on his black jacket. Kyo was wearing long pants and long sleeves, and he wished to take them off, but dared not. He couldn't afford to be infected. He was the Kusanagi heir. He wouldn't be taken down by some zombie disease.

He saw a person fall under the curse yesterday, an old shopkeeper. The poor old man had been set upon by a group of teenage thugs, Kyo stepped in to help and sent them off with a sound beating, noticing they behaved strangely - but thinking nothing of it. Perhaps they were druggies.

The shopkeeper was mostly unharmed, but had sustained a light scratch down his arm, enough to draw blood, but was not nearly deep enough to bleed as much as it did. When Kyo questioned him, the old man said the blood wasn't his, it belonged to one of the assailants. Kyo was surprised that the Mexican man knew enough japanese to communicate this to him. The old man bandaged himself up, and handed Kyo a can of soda for his troubles.

Hours later, Kyo saw the Shopkeeper in the park. He was breathing raggedly and staggered about. It reminded him of a rabid dog - or rather - a rabid dog trying not to attack his master. Kyo's gut told him to stay well away. His instincts proved right. The shopkeeper's will seemed to visibly cave, and he attacked a nearby businessman. The old man cried as he did so.

As the sun rose higher, more and more people populated the streets. All of them infected. They shuffled out of buildings and into the sunlight. Some cried, simply stared listlessly, others cursed under their breath. All of them were conscious and seemed to be driven by an unseen force, the force of routine maybe? He couldn't think of any other explanation for why they all went inside for the night. Kyo averted his eyes from the sad, shuffling crowd. He had to get moving.

The fighter grabbed his duffel bag, stuffed his baseball bat inside it, and eyed the building next to his. The roof was sealed off and there were no people visible on it, they might be hiding behind the air conditioner, or the various tanks that littered the building top. It was about ten feet away, he would make it- He had to. The infected always knew where he was, perhaps they hunted by smell? Who knows. The people in the street had already begun congregating around the building he was standing atop. Soon they would crowd up the stairs, and push through to the roof.

Kyo made the leap, landing soundly on the roof of the next building. He pulled out his baseball bat and checked the area, preparing to smash the legs of any infected he found. He had his leg broken before, it was awful, but it was better than being killed - especially if a cure was to be found. He could use his fists, but he didn't want to get up close and personal with the unwilling assailants. Besides, most of them had blood on their fingertips and teeth, should they get too near and scratch him… well he wouldn't let that happen.

Kyo had just finished checking the rooftop when his cell phone beeped. "Finally some news" Kyo muttered to himself, he sat in the shade of the air conditioner to escape the heat and the sun's glare.

Kyo, this is Terry.

Me, Mai and Andy and are out. US Army has city under quarantine. I overheard them say infected are too violent and too few non-infected. Military not there to help, stay sharp - guns. You need to get out, cannot wait it out. Infection is local to ST, don't worry about family in JAP. Just finished calling everyone I know in ST, most are safe, KOF ppl OK. US is blocking outside comms soon, this is last message. Yag still in city, told me to shut the fk up+ Hung up, guess I woke him lol clueless fkr.

Sorry 2 say, since you are tourist your best bet is find Yag and sneak out city together. He knows way around+speak japanese. ST very easy to be lost. Try not kill each other. Good luck. His number: X(XXX)-XXX-XXXX. If he is in quarantine, you can contact. Otherwise go to City limits. Don't be spotted.

Kyo stared at his phone, then shut his eyes. 15% left in his battery. 5:06 AM. It was going to be a long day.

He fixed his eyes on the adjacent building.

NOTES:

* According to SNK Wiki, fans have concluded South Town to be in Florida, USA or somewhere nearby. The climate there is exceptionally humid.

* Air rescue operations would probably still be running. I've ceased them prematurely for the sake of story.

* Signal jammers can cease all communications via introducing interference, but creating a 'communications barrier' is not possible with commercially available equipment.

* Police interfering in Kyo's fights is not canon. But is very possible.

* Reference to Team Ending (Kyo/Shingo/Iori) in KOFXI