Chapter 2-Decay of Social Order

"Kasumi? Kasumi what are you doing?" Nabiki asked, getting scared.

Kasumi tried to crawl out of bed rather than get out the normal way. This naturally made her upper body plop on the floor before she pushed herself up, and kept crawling slowly. Nabiki backed away out the door and against the hall, eyes locked on her sister.

"Kasumi, this isn't funny."

The housekeeper merely kept making those animalistic growls, like a sick predator wanting food. And she crawled more, slowly, like her limbs had lost coordination. But she was making progress, getting closer to the door.

On impulse Nabiki reached forward and closed the door. She looked for a lock, only to realize how stupid that was. Who would put a lock on a bedroom door on the outside?

"Somebody get here now!" Nabiki called out, hearing her sister banging against the door. With her hand or her head, Nabiki wasn't sure. "Something is very wrong with Kasumi!"

Rushing footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs, with Nodoka and Soun appearing just as quickly. Though for some reason Nodoka acted slightly out of breath.

"What's wrong with Kasumi?" Soun asked, tears already decorating his cheeks.

"I have no idea. But it's bad."

Nodoka reached for the door handle, hearing banging from the other side as well. Slowly she opened it, just enough to peek inside. Kasumi's hand lashed out, grabbing part of her kimono under the belt. Nodoka backed away quickly, Kasumi not having enough to secure a good enough grip.

"Kasumi?" Nodoka asked, seeing the aforementioned girl use her arm to push the door open. Kasumi was on her hands and knees now and trying to force her way out the door. Nodoka pushed her arm back and closed the door. "What's the matter with her?"

"I have no idea, but she really needs a doctor." Nabiki replied.


Back at school Kuno was practicing with the kendo club outside by the front of the school, where he felt most comfortable showing his skills. He led the exercises with his fellow club members mimicking his motions, some better than others. Then, a couple of them stopped.

"Why have you stopped?" Kuno asked, then looked in the same direction everyone was looking. By the entry gate to Furinkan, there was someone slowly and awkwardly walking towards them, like they had a hard time balancing themselves, and was constantly holding their arms above them as if to fend off the sunlight. After a bit they collapsed and rolled over towards a tree, relieved to be in the shade.

Kuno and the others came up to this person, gasping when they got a closer look. The person was covered in bites and bleeding profusely, bits of their clothes missing as well. It was also a student, probably coming this way just to get to safety.

"Take this man to the nurse's office!" Kuno ordered, and two club members obeyed, picking him up.

"Wait..." The victim wheezed out. "Get... somewhere... safe..." He warned before he was carried off.

"I see more coming." Another club member pointed out, gesturing to a few more students slowly heading their way with similar behavior.

"Be ready to help them everyone." Kuno told them.

The students got closer and the kendo club went to approach them, but closer look made them hesitate. These other students were bleeding as well, but the bite marks on them were more severe. One had their whole left shoulder ripped open, and another was crawling because there didn't seem to be enough flesh left on their legs to let them stand.

'How are these poor souls not in agony?' Kuno asked himself. 'And why do their bites look... human in origin?'

One of the kendo club members tried to approach a girl that had blood dripping out her mouth and a missing ear with some skin and hair by it gone too. "Is there some kind of wild animal out there attacking-?" He started, only for the girl to get in close and chomp down on the space between his neck and right shoulder.

Other kendoists rushed in to try and pull her off, but the other injured students came in and attacked as well.

"What is going on here?" Hinako, in her child form, came out seeing a fight. "Stop fighting!" She held up her five yen coin and did her ki absorption, turning into an adult. However, the fighting didn't stop. The kendo club members collapsed, but the already injured students were completely unaffected and actually ripped off pieces of flesh to devour.

"They're eating each other." One of the club members who wasn't in the fray said with disgusted horror, standing beside Kuno and the others who didn't get in close enough.

"I said stop!" Hinako repeated, holding her hands together and creating a ki blast that she fired. It hit the students like a harsh projectile, the kind she always used that were meant to stop a fight with just one blast. When the bodies went still, it looked like it had worked.

Until they got back up and made this strange shrills that sounded like a hiss and a screech at the same time.

"I hate those that don't learn the first time." Hinako, back in kid form, tried to absorb their ki again. But this time, she got nothing, making her eyes go wide. "What? That's impossible. You can't have no ki for me to take."

The sickly students started coming towards her, their squinting eyes locked on her. Sweating in fear, she tried to absorb their ki again, and got the same results. Not having any other tricks up her sleeves, she ran away screaming and waving her arms with the sick following her.

Kuno and the remaining kendo club members gathered up their injured and too drained to scream clubmates, and took them inside the school to the nurse's office.

"Everyone, head home. And be careful how you get there." He ordered. No one was in any mood to refuse.


'Airen wants to talk to me.' Shampoo thought happily as she rode her bike back to the Nekohanten, her delivery finished. She could hear some shouting and yelling in the distance, but she ignored it. With this being Nerima that wasn't exactly uncommon background noise.

'Wonder what he want talk about. He seem so... strange.' She thought, turning a corner and having to come to a quick stop.

Up ahead she saw two complete strangers, an adult man and woman, involved in a fight, and judging from the bloodstains on their shirts and collars it was anything but the normal kind of fight in Nerima. Some people were trying to stop the fight while others were staying back.

'What this about?' She asked herself, surprised to see some non-martial artists fighting in the streets. It was clear from their movements they were not trained for combat, that and more made it clear that this wasn't really something she had any business interfering with.

That was until the woman bit the man at the collar like a vampire. Bit hard enough that blood was visible even from a distance in just a few seconds. The man screamed, and so did some of the onlookers.

Shampoo was so surprised she briefly lost balance on her bike and had to catch herself from falling to the sidewalk. It had been a while since she had seen a fight that resulted in bloodshed. Even the worst of Ranma's fights never went that direction.

Whether it was her business or not no longer mattered, Shampoo had a responsibility to stop this before it went even further. She got off her bike and rushed forward, while a few others who were being brave tried to pry the man and woman apart too. They weren't having any luck, but fortunately Shampoo's strength made it possible.

"Are you alright?" Someone asked the man once he was freed.

"She bit me! Do you think I'm alright?!" He yelled back, pressing his hands on his wound to stop the bleeding. "What's her problem anyway?"

Shampoo looked to the woman who was wobbling a bit and trying to close the gap. There were blood stains on her blouse and all over her mouth, likely none of it hers. Her hands were reaching out and her eyes were blank, almost like she was blind.

"What wrong with you?" Shampoo asked, shielding the injured man as others ushered him away to get him to a hospital.

The woman came at her like an animal and Shampoo reacted by instinct in dodging and throwing a punch, though since the woman wasn't a combatant the Amazon withheld her strength and aimed for a shoulder. It was enough to at least make her stumble back. More so than expected, she completely lost balance and fell on the pavement.

Shampoo and several others still there jolted when they heard the sound of bone breaking upon impact.

"Did she just kill that woman?" An onlooker asked.

"She must have been more frail than she looked." Another onlooker commented.

The purple-haired girl immediately knelt down to check the woman. "Please speak. Shampoo sorry do that. What broken?" She helped turn the woman on her back, and one of the woman's hands grabbed her hairlocks, the only part of the Amazon she could reach. She pulled Shampoo down and made biting motions, like the purple-haired girl was going to be her next victim. Shampoo pulled back, and had to grab the woman's hands to try and break free, pulling up the woman in the process.

When she did, it became apparent that the woman's neck was at a painful angle, yet she was ignoring it. Some blood was even dripping out of her left ear. Despite all that, she didn't seem to even notice. The only thing she did seem to notice was Shampoo, who was still trying to free her hair, and the woman was still trying to bite into the Amazon.

Pressing her foot into the woman's abdomen to keep her at a distance, Shampoo strained against the volatile woman with surprising difficulty. The unidentified woman was pulling hard enough that the teen girl could feel her hair getting ripped out of her head bit by bit. After a few seconds, Shampoo pulled her head back and broke free, letting the hair be ripped out by the roots. She immediately exclaiming her pain and pressing her hand on the sore skin. The deranged woman ignored the hairlock in her hand and tried to reach for the teenage girl again, but Shampoo backflipped away. The woman was having a hard time getting back up, but how she moved at all with an obviously broken neck was strange in it of itself.

"I no can handle this." Shampoo muttered to herself, getting back on her bike and rushing back home, trying to ignore her throbbing head.


"Just hold on there Yuka." Akane said as she carried her friend who was groaning like she was about to throw up. Motion sickness combined with whatever disease she had was not good, but right now they had no other choice.

"Are you sure this is the way to the hospital?" Sayuri asked, keeping an eye on her friend.

"Ranma once had to go there, I'm sure I remember the way there." Akane replied.

A scream made them stop and look around. From one of the buildings out ran several screaming people, running like what you'd expect people in horror movies to do.

"What the heck's going on?" Sayuri asked, getting closer to Akane since her friend would be better at handling any problem that came up.

Akane had to set Yuka down with Sayuri's help. If any trouble was going to come, Akane needed to be mobile. Yuka coughed some more blood and wheezed very weakly, but when she was on the ground she seemed more comfortable and slipped into silence. Akane looked at the building, seeing it was a street pharmacy, and saw someone come out, this time not running.

"Hey, doesn't he look like Yuka?" Sayuri asked. It was a man who was looking rather pale, making the blood on his clothes and face all the more apparent. He looked around like he wasn't sure what to look at, and held onto the door frame for support.

"Maybe he's got what she's got." Akane suggested, feeling it was rhetorical to do so.

Sayuri glanced back at her friend, expecting her to be either passed out or showing some kind of pain. She saw Yuka struggling to get on her feet, looking worn out since her limbs shook and her head hung like her neck couldn't support it.

"Don't push yourself Yuka." Sayuri said, coming over to assist her friend. When she put her hand on the girl's shoulder, Yuka looked up and Sayuri gasped. Her eyes were fogged over, not exactly like she was blind, but definitely not natural. "Yuka?"

The aforementioned girl lashed out her left hand and grabbed Sayuri's hair. Sayuri naturally tried to get free, but Yuka leaned in quickly and chomped down on where her neck met her shoulder. Sayuri screamed in agony and tried to shove her friend off her, but she could only feel the teeth digging in.

"Sayuri?" Akane asked, her friend's scream getting her attention, and she was horrified to see what was going on. She had seen a lot of attacks in her time as a martial artist, but never a bite like this.

"Akane, get her off me!" Sayuri pleaded, struggling to break free. She only got free when Yuka tore a chunk of flesh off her, and began chewing it, though her friend refused to let her go.

Akane broke out of her shock and rushed forward. "Yuka what are you doing?" She asked as she grabbed her friend and pulled her back. Being the stronger one, Akane succeeded, though Yuka's fingers left good scratches on Sayuri. Akane then pinned Yuka down and then slapped her, not in an angry way but more of a 'Snap out of it' way.

All this did was make Yuka snarl and try to grab onto Akane for something to bite. Akane had to back away.

"What happened to-?" Akane started, but was cut off by Sayuri screaming again. Turning around she saw the other sick person, the one who had been coming out of the pharmacy just a moment ago, clutching onto her friend and digging his teeth into her right arm. She tried pulling free and punching back, but with the injuries she's already taken Sayuri just couldn't do much. She looked like she wanted to pass out from bloodloss if nothing else.

Akane came in and threw a punch at the man's face, hearing the sound of a snapping jaw as she did so. This shocked her and made her tremble a bit. "I... I didn't... that never happened before."

The sick man had to let go of Sayuri, who dropped to her knees and clutched her arm. But he looked to Akane, and despite a broken jaw and some teeth falling out he still looked dangerous to her. Behind her Akane could hear Yuka getting back on her feet and making raspy sounds, like she was choking on something.

"C'mon Sayuri." Akane said, grabbing her friend and running off with her trying to keep up. Yuka and the sick man slowly tried to follow, like their feet were asleep or something.

"What... about... Yuka?" Sayuri asked, feeling herself get tired very fast.

"There's nothing we can do. We have to get you to the hospital now."

"Don't bother... I'm a goner... we both... know it..." Sayuri choked out.

"Don't say that. You can still be helped." Akane protested.

"Akane... I can't... it's getting cold... please... leave me... save... yourse..." She passed out before she could finish.

The youngest Tendo came to a stop and set her friend down, wanting to see if she could patch her up and stop the bleeding. Maybe that would save her. But looking at Sayuri, she had to admit her friend's odds of living were low. The space between her neck and shoulder was torn open and one of her arm bones was visible. Akane checked for a pulse, and found none.

Then Sayuri's eyes opened, already fading, and she let out an inhuman shrill that made Akane jump back.

"No... not you too." Akane said, shaking with fear. She saw her friend try to rise up, spitting out some blood as she did. Another shrill caught her attention, and she saw a girl wearing the uniform of Kodachi's school lumbering closer, pale and bleeding and missing a whole arm. Behind her were Yuka and the man that came out of the pharmacy, with all three heading her way.

'I'm sorry Sayuri.' Akane thought before running off as fast as she could, wishing she could jump from roof to roof like the others could.


"I wish I worked in a more peaceful district." The Furinkan school nurse said to herself as she worked to administer help to the students that were still there despite the school day being over. Members of the kendo club had been brought in, with witnesses claiming that other injured students had tried to eat them. The injuries certainly matched that, but no one could explain why.

"I still can't get the phones to work." One of the teachers who was still here, a man named Toshigi who taught one of the classes Ranma and Akane took, said to the nurse as she wrapped bandages on the last injured student.

"Damn. These boys should be in a hospital, not here." The nurse said. "At least they're being quiet."

"They're still breathing, right?" Toshigi asked, not seeing any chests rising or falling to implicate they were.

Concerned, the nurse leaned in and put her ear on the chest of a student. She heard a barely audible heartbeat. "They're still alive, but..." She couldn't finish, not sure what to say.

"I'll try again." Toshigi said, getting out of the office to find another phone.

In the hall he saw Hinako run, followed by the sickly students and passing one of the custodians. Said custodian barely had time to react before the students ambushed him instead and proceeded to devour him.

"What the hell?" He said to himself, backing into the nurse's office. When he did, he heard a scream and saw one of the boys biting her hand like he was trying to rip it off, clawing at her face with his free hands. Another boy slowly rose from his bed, making a weird hissing shrill.

"I'm outta here." Toshigi said before he made a run for it.


Ranma sat at a booth in the Nekohanten waiting for the purple-haired girl to return. At the same time he was waiting for someone else to go away.

"If you're going to be here Saotome you might as well order something." Mousse told him, a hint of a hiss to his words.

Ranma shrugged. "Can you promise you wouldn't tamper with it if I did?"

Mousse sneered. "Do you really think I'd sink so low as to potentially poison you?"

Ranma rolled his eyes. "Let's see, there was that time you were more than happy to attack me when I was at my weakest. There was the whole Mask of Weakness thing. There was that time you and Ryoga both stabbed me in the back when we were dealing with Herb's gang. There was the time you were willing to curse Akane and a crowd of innocent people to turn into ducks just to spite me. Hell, I think the only time you and I were ever on the same side was when we were fighting Pantyhose Taro. So can you blame me for thinking you're not above doing something like spitting in my ramen? Or worse?"

Mousse growled lowly in his throat, but other than that he did nothing.

The door chimed opened and both boys saw Shampoo rush in. To their surprise, she immediately closed the door and locked it, looking out the window as if she was worried she had been followed.

"Shampoo, what has you acting so worried?" Mousse asked, not expected to see her act like this.

"Something wrong, too too wrong out there." She replied.

From outside, sirens could suddenly be heard blaring. The kind of sirens that told people to seek shelter and brace themselves for trouble.

"What is going on here?" Cologne asked, coming from the back. She and a few other employees had been trying to work on the food for the customers already there.

"People die outside." Shampoo answered.

"Die? How? What did you see?" Ranma asked, getting worried. He had only ever heard sirens like that when an earthquake happened as a kid and he saw a building collapse later on.

"I saw... woman try eat man." Shampoo answered slowly, as if still in denial about it. "I saw woman break neck, and still walk."

Both teenage boys and the elderly Amazon were speechless.

"There more than one. I saw more on way here. People... eating each other. So much blood. It chaos out there."

"People are eating each other?" Ranma repeated. "What, like in a zombie movie or something?"

Shampoo nodded. "Yes, just like that. But real."

"But how? Zombies aren't real." Mousse questioned, adjusting his glasses.

"Mousse can tell them that." Shampoo muttered.

"What's this about zombies?" One of the customers asked, not paying attention but hearing the word.

"There are no zombies outside." Cologne stated.

"Yes there are Great-grandmother. I fought one myself. It rip out my hair." Shampoo argued, showing her missing front hairlock and a trickle of dried blood on her cheek from where it was torn out.

"Let's go take a look. I mean, whatever is out there, it can't be a bunch of walking brain-eating dead guys right?" Ranma offered.

"For once Saotome I hope you're right." Mousse commented.

"Fine, go ahead. I'll stay here and mind the store." Cologne said, sounding like she wanted to include 'Someone has to' in there somewhere.

With hesitation, Shampoo opened the door.


"Please, you have to help us!"

"Welcome to Ucchan Okonomiyaki, what can we get for you?"

Ukyo poked her head out from the supply closet, seeing Konatsu at the counter greet an obviously terrified woman holding her young child close to her.

"I'm not here for food! You got to help us! People outside are killing each other!"

"What are you talking about?" Ukyo asked, coming closer.

"Look outside if you want to know!" The woman stated, trying to soothe her crying son. Thanks to some banners and signs the front windows weren't exactly the best way to see outside the store.

"I'll do it." Konatsu offered, jumping over the counter and poking his head out the door, looking left and right. Almost just as quick he came back in, shaking a bit, and locked the door.

"See what I mean?" The woman asked.

The gender-confused kunoichi could only nod, then looked to his employer. "Miss Ukyo, we should barricade the store."

"How bad is it?" She asked.

There was a frantic pounding on the door. "Help! For the love of Kami-sama let us in!"

Konatsu opened the door, and four more people poured in. Two male adults, a female student of Furinkan that Ukyo didn't recognize, and a young boy that stayed close to the girl. Konatsu closed the door and locked it again.

"What is going on out there?" Ukyo asked.

Everyone ignored her in favor of barricading the store. Chairs, stools, anything they could grab they shoved in front of the door and windows. Konatsu went into the back and grabbed some of the lumber they kept around for repairs and got to work boarding up the ways in.

"Konatsu, what is out there?" Ukyo asked.

"Miss Ukyo, maybe you should go upstairs and look. I don't know how to describe what I saw."

Not liking this, she nodded and went up to the residential portion of the shop. Going into her bedroom, she looked out the window, and saw rioting in the streets, with people attacking each other. Blood was all over the streets. Someone held in their hand a bottle with a burning rag sticking out of the top and threw it at a cluster of slow moving people. It exploded upon impact and they along with the building across the street from Ukyo's shop caught fire.

"What is going on?"

Not having any better ideas, she went back downstairs and grabbed the phone, dialing for help.

"This is a recording. You have reached the 110 emergency line. All lines are currently busy, please stay on the line or call back later."

"Seriously?" She asked, then the recording repeated itself. She hung up.

"Is help coming?" One of those taking shelter in her restaurant asked.

Ukyo's depressed look said it all.

"Sis, I'm scared." The young boy said while crying. The schoolgirl knelt down and hugged him protectively.

One of the men leaned against the counter. "Damn, I never needed a smoke more in my life."

"Everyone just stay calm. How long can this last?" Ukyo told everyone.


"I don't hear anymore banging." Genma said, standing by the stairs. The others were seated at the dining table, none of them looking comfortable.

"What is wrong with my Kasumi?" Soun asked, tears pouring down his face like faucets.

"I can't get ahold of any doctors. The phone lines are jammed. It's like everyone in town is on the phone at once." Nodoka added.

"Judging from the ruckus outside, I'd say some kind of big fight is going on out there." Nabiki noted, hearing a lot of shouting and some cars crashing but nothing distinguishable. To be honest it really didn't sound any different than one of the bigger fights Ranma and others could get into.

"Do you think Kasumi's flu is causing some kind of brain damage?" Genma asked. "Is that even possible?"

A shattering sound was heard upstairs.

"What was that?" Nabiki asked, jumping to her feet. Soun and Nodoka were quick to follow.

"It sounded like..." Genma paused for a moment, looking like he just realized something he should have realized sooner. "...glass."

The other three connected the dots too and went outside, quickly seeing shards of glass in the grass. Looking up, they saw Kasumi struggling to get out of her broken window, looking like she could fall at any moment.

"Kasumi! Please stay inside! You're not well!" Soun shouted, though he got in position if he needed to catch her.

His oldest child ignored him and continued out, making strange noises in the process. They were a sort of pained growl, like a predator that was injuring itself. After a bit she was able to tumble onto the roof, but she slipped before she could catch her footing and rolled towards the edge.

"Kasumi!" Everyone shouted, moving to catch her, including Nabiki. Kasumi tumbled and came down, caught by Soun and Genma more than anyone. Genma caught the upper half of Kasumi while Soun caught her legs.

"You okay Kasumi?" Soun asked, looking over her. For a brief moment he saw her clothes ripped open in random spots and bleeding cuts with some large pieces of glass sticking out of her skin. When that brief moment ended, Kasumi snarled and lashed out, trying to grab at or even bite anyone.

"Yow!" Genma yelled, dropping Kasumi and letting her head hit the ground with a loud clunk. He clutched his upper right arm. "She nearly ripped my skin off with her nails!"

"How could you drop her like that?!" Soun yelled, setting down her flailing legs.

"I just told you, she attacked me!" Genma yelled back, moving his hand. Kasumi's nails had ripped open his sleeve and there was some redness on his skin. No cuts, but the fact that she could get him this bad said a lot.

"Kasumi doesn't attack-whoa!" Nabiki argued, only to halt when her older sister moved to try and bite Genma's leg. The bald man jumped back. "Somebody subdue her. I don't know what's wrong but she's only going to hurt herself here."

"And us." Genma added, moving to pin down the housekeeper's arms while Nodoka went to look for some rope.

"Kasumi would never try to hurt us." Nabiki protested.

"What do you think she's trying to do right now? Hug us?" Genma asked.

Nabiki looked at her sister, seeing her struggle to get free and growl inhumanly. Her eyes were so dull, almost lifeless, and there was still blood coming out of her mouth like she had an open sore inside. The glass shards in her body were being taken out by Soun, resulting in Kasumi's body being blood-covered too.

"I don't know what's wrong with her, but there has to be a way to fix it. With everything that's happened to us, there's always been a way to fix things. We just need a clue." Nabiki said.


'Whoa, this is the worst thing I've seen since... I can't even think of an analogy for this.' Happosai thought as he sat perched on the edge of a roof looking over the chaos in the streets, his bag of stolen underwear safely next to him.

"Someone help me!"

He looked below him, seeing a panicked young girl pressing her back against the building, with another girl getting in and grabbing her arms, effectively pinning her.

'Now's a good opportunity.' Happosai thought, jumping down onto the assaulting girl then squirming onto her front, squeezing her breasts. He knew this would stop her and effectively give the other girl a chance to run, though his main priority was getting a little extra ki from a young woman.

The glomped woman was surprised and struggled for a bit as most women would, releasing her prey who ran off immediately. In that time Happosai's eyes widened.

'No ki... none at all. She's empty. And cold.'

Her hand managed to find his neck and wrap around it. She tugged, but Happosai kept his grip. She tried to bite down, her teeth dangerously close to ripping off some of the skin on his scalp. He released her and tried to soothe his scalp, but she did not release him. Instead she grabbed him with both hands and tried to bite him again. He squirmed enough that she just barely missed biting off his left ear.

With effort, Happosai freed an arm and got out a firework. "Happo Fire Burst!" Igniting it with his ki, he threw it at her, and it exploded in her face. The shockwave pushed them both apart, with Happosai crashing into the wall of the building before sliding to the ground. The worst of the blast was darkened skin and some burns.

The woman however was flailing on the ground covering her eyes, as if acid had been thrown in them. Ignoring this, Happosai climbed back up the building back to his bag of treasures. He grabbed them and dashed off.


"Away you heathens! You have no business here at the house of Kuno!" Tatewaki declared as he used his bokken to fend off the sickly that had followed him home. Behind him were dozens of people that he had corralled into coming to his home, offering them security in the brink of this disaster.

The downside was while the gates were holding up, some of the more determined maniacs were trying to scramble over the walls. In the backyard Kodachi's pet alligator was getting frantic, like it was hoping one of them would be lucky enough to get in.

One of the sick got close to getting over, only to be hit in the forehead by a blunted kunai, making them fall backwards and off the wall.

"Good work Sasuke." Tatewaki praised, grateful to be supported by his family's helper.

"Brother, I'm not sure what defenses we can bring outside." Kodachi said, standing by her brother. She coughed a bit, still under the effects of her cold but willing to defend her home. She threw a few of her bouquets over the wall, resulting in some poison gas clouds covering the sick. But to her surprise there was no effect except for the paralysis gas.

"As long as you can make them remain still we have time." He told her.

"Master Kuno, Mistress Kodachi, should we alert your father?" Sasuke asked, standing ready to keep fighting beside them.

Tatewaki frowned. "Knowing him, he's unaware anything is going on. And even if he was, he'd be of the opinion that a haircut would put a stop to these poor souls. No Sasuke, he is no priority right now."

"What do you think is causing this brother?" Kodachi asked.

"This reeks of dark magic. Saotome must be responsible, he is turning Nerima into a hell on earth."

"My darling Ranma is not responsible for this, brother." Kodachi argued.

"I don't care who's responsible for this, as long as it doesn't kill us." Sasuke interjected, throwing some more blunted weapons at some sickly people trying to get over the wall again.

"Sasuke is right, for now we must focus on keeping the threat at bay." Tatewaki said, then got up to the gate when a bunch of shrieking people were trying to tear it down barehanded. He thrust the bokken at them in between the bars, at best shoving them back.

"Master Kuno, perhaps we should get inside the house and use the lockdown features before any of them do manage to get over the wall?" Sasuke asked when the kendoist pulled back, unwilling to use deadly forced against civilians that were clearly suffering.

"A good idea Sasuke. Fortunately there are enough provisions to keep us well for two weeks."

"But what of those we gave sanctuary to?" Sasuke reminded him. "That will reduce it down to days."

"Then we must evict them at once." Kodachi claimed before getting back into the house.

"Kodachi no!" Tatewaki protested, following her, with Sasuke following him.


The screams Akane heard as she ran down the streets would haunt her nightmares for the rest of her life. People everywhere were running in any direction, trying to get home or the nearest shelter. The sickly people with bleeding mouths and open wounds were chasing after them, dragging those they caught into the shadows. One that was dressed as your typical salaryman tried to attack Akane, but a swing from her trusty mallet saved her life.

'What is happening? It's like all hell is literally breaking loose.' She thought, looking around herself but refusing to stay still. Staying still had only gotten people killed.

"Someone helped me!" She heard down in an alley, and peaked around the corner since the voice was familiar. She saw her math teacher, a man named Toshigi, trying to defend himself against three unrecognized sick people using a metal pipe as a weapon. He showed no signs of injury, but he wouldn't last long unless he got help.

Akane didn't react immediately, her eyes briefly locked onto one of those ganging up on her teacher. 'His torso, it's missing a whole side. I can see his organs trying to fall out. How is that man still standing?'

The man in question made a swinging grab for Toshigi, who blocked with the pipe. In that moment the two other sick people pounced at his unprotected side. The teacher swung the pipe back, hitting one of them in the eye and just barely keeping the other from grabbing him.

Akane snapped out of her panic and came charging. "Hold on Toshigi-sensei!" Her shout got the attention of the sick people and she hit the closest one to her with her mallet, resulting in a domino effect and sending all three into the air.

Toshigi sighed in relief but kept a tight hold on his pipe. "Tha... thank you Tendo."

"What's going on Sensei? Why are people acting like this? They're... it's like they're not human anymore."

The teacher tried to straighten himself out, look professional again for his student. "I... I don't think they are human anymore. I think... they're the living dead."

"You mean... zombies?" Akane croaked. She had seen a lot over the past year. Ghosts, giant animals, body-snatching dolls, but this was too much.

Toshigi put his hand on her shoulder. "Get home Tendo, find your family and get somewhere safe. Stay away from the school, it's happening there too. Whatever you do, don't let these things get to you."

Akane could only nod. "But what about you?"

"My house isn't far from here, don't worry about me. Get home."

Akane nodded again and ran off, keeping her mallet out and ready.


"Ryoga, what's going on?" Akari asked as she and Ryoga saw rioting in the streets from atop her giant pig. They had just gotten to Nerima, hearing the sirens blaring, and saw people running and others attacking the runners.

"I don't know, this is nothing like what usually happens here." Ryoga replied, used to seeing a crowd chasing Ranma. Not a crowd chasing everyone else.

Katsunishiki, the giant pig, looked like he wanted to get out of here, but Akari asked her ride to stay a bit longer. "What do we do? We still need my grandpa's medicine."

"We can try." Ryoga said, not certain if the drugstore she needed to get to still had anyone in it right now.

With trepidation, Katsunishiki continued on, careful to avoid the panicked people. The air was getting thick with the smell of blood and death, making the large porcine uncomfortable. If that wasn't enough, up ahead there was a pillar of smoke billowing, like a building had caught on fire.

"There it is." Akari said, pointing when a pharmacy came into sight. But Katsunishiki was afraid to get closer. The scent of blood was overwhelming, even the two teens could smell it. "Wait, are those people eating something off the ground?"

Ryoga leaned in for a better look, seeing some people were hunched over, covered in blood on the front, and indeed eating something. Not only that, but there was a dog covered in blood trying to do the same.

"Stay here, I'll see if I can get the medicine for you." He told his for-lack-of-a-better-term girlfriend, who nodded fearfully. She gave him the prescription and he slipped off the giant pig, careful to make as little noise as possible. Every instinct in his body told him being unnoticed was the best thing he could be right now.

He opened the door to the pharmacy and went in, smelling spilled medicine more than anything. Evidence of a fight breaking out at a counter was clear, and he could hear some muffled breathing.

"Is someone here?" He called out.

"Quiet, don't let them hear you." He heard someone answer quietly, frightened.

"What happened here?" He asked, trying to find whoever was hiding.

"That man, he tried to kill me. Please tell me he's gone."

"There's no one here but me." Ryoga assured.

Slowly, a click was heard and a door opened, revealing a man dressed in white with messy hair. He looked at Ryoga with cold eyes. "I don't see any blood on you."

"Good. Does it matter?" Ryoga asked, confused.

"The man who tried to kill me, he started coughing up blood before he went crazy."

Ryoga was feeling uncomfortable. "Here, I need some of this." He handed the man who he assumed working here the prescription.

The pharmacist reluctantly took it, looked it over, and found the requested medicine. "Here, but I'm only doing this because I haven't left yet. But now that the coast is clear, I'm outta here. You should get home too."

Ryoga pocketed the bottle. "Thanks." He went back out, and saw that the people outside were still eating whatever meat they found on the street, but each of them was looking at Katsunishiki. Like a wolf that already had a catch but could see something else worth hunting. Or at least, they were trying to, the sickly people were consistently squinting and covering their eyes from the sun despite it not being too bright.

With Akari's help he got back on the pig's back. "We better get back."

Akari nodded. "I don't like the looks everyone is giving Katsunishiki."

"I don't like the looks they're giving us."


"Whoa, this is a nightmare!" Ranma exclaimed, seeing the streets of Nerima after walking away from the Nekohanten. Most people had already left the area, but some were still there. Those who remained were knelt down in the street devouring other people like sushi at a bar. Multiple people dug in and ate from a single victim, like a pack of wolves dining on a deer.

"They... they really are zombies." Mousse said, checking to make sure his glasses were still on.

"How could this happen?" Shampoo asked, sticking close to Ranma and holding onto his arm for comfort. For once he did not refuse her.

"Those sirens..." Mousse noted, his ears bothered by the nonstop wail.

"We can't stay here." Ranma stated. "If people are acting like zombies, then we have to get as far away from here as possible."

"Why am I not surprised you want to run away Saotome?" Mousse sneered.

"Don't say that like you don't want to do it too Mousse." Ranma replied, looking at the myopic boy. "For all we know this whole area is about to get torched by soldiers or locked away so no one, dead or alive, can get out. Don't you think getting out while we can is a good idea?"

"Something's coming." Shampoo interjected, which got the two boys to look around and get back on guard since right now something coming was not a good idea. They couldn't hear anything other than the sirens and the chewing of the zombies, but they could feel the ground tremble a tiny bit.

Turning around a corner Ranma saw a giant pig. "I know that pig." He said before heading towards it, seeing two riders. Shampoo and Mousse followed him. "Hey, Akari?" He waved his hand to get better noticed.

Katsunishiki came to a stop. "Ranma, is that you?" Ryoga asked, dropping off the large swine.

"Ryoga? Ah good you're alright."

"Of course I'm alright why wouldn't I be?"

"Ranma, what is going on?" Akari asked, sliding down and getting off her companion.

"I know how this sounds, but it's like zombies are here." He answered.

Akari squeaked, paled, and covered her mouth. "Z-z-zombies?"

"No time for jokes Ranma, what's really going on?" Ryoga protested.

"Oh you think I'm joking? Look behind me Ryoga and tell me what you see." Ranma replied, pointing behind himself.

Ryoga glanced over his rival's shoulders, seeing some people kneeling down and two coming their way. "I saw people like that earlier. Why do you think they're zombies?"

"Because they eat people and no feel pain." Shampoo answered. "I broke neck of one and they still walk."

"Umm guys?" Akari spoke up, pointing behind them.

Immediately Ranma and the two Amazons turned around, seeing two Furinkan students, a boy and a girl, that didn't look completely alive anymore lumber towards them. Ranma actually recognized these two, not enough to know their names but they both had been in his class. The boy had made perverted comments about what he'd do to Ranma's female form if he could ever overpower her, and the girl had always looked at Ranma like he shouldn't have been there. Now both of them looked like the walking dead, with blood on their clothes and bite marks on their mangled necks. The boy was even missing his left hand, replaced by a bleeding stump.

Right away Shampoo jumped forward and hit the girl with one of her chui, knocking her on the ground. Mousse waved his arms and chains flew out, entangling the boy and making him collapse.

"Good job guys." Ranma thought, looking at his hands for a moment. 'I don't think these guys are legit zombies, but if they can act like that, then how can I fight back? Wouldn't fighting barehanded be the worst idea? I have to find a weapon and quickly. A sword, a pole, anything.'

Thinking about his lack of a weapon made him remember there were others who also would lack a means to defend themselves.

"I have to check on my parents and the Tendos!" He declared loudly.

"Akane!" Ryoga yelled, worried for his first crush.

No words needed to be said, everyone headed towards the Tendo dojo as fast as they could.


"The phones are still busy. Even 110 can't help us." Soun said to those gathered in his house. He looked outside, where Kasumi remained tied up. With all her squirming and trying to bite, they couldn't bring her back into her room, not that it would have done much good with the window broken. Nor could they bind her fully to a tree. All they could do was use a rope to keep her confined to a limited area like a dog on a leash and wait and see if she tired herself out.

"Why is she by the tree?" Nodoka asked, seeing the oldest daughter of the family looking at them but staying by the base of the tree in the yard instead of on the walkway where they had left her. It was a fortunate thing that she didn't appear to be making an effort to untie or cut the ropes, almost like she didn't know how to anymore.

"I don't know, but it's better than her trying to break her way in." Genma said.

"This is bad." Nabiki said, looking at her laptop. She had brought it downstairs and immediately started looking for any hints as to what was afflicting her sister.

"What is it Nabiki?" Soun asked, waterworks on standby.

"The internet's going haywire with reports and videos of people going crazy all over the world. It says that almost everywhere, people are acting like Kasumi and mauling anyone they can get their hands on."

"Why is the internet working but not the phone?" Nodoka asked, unfamiliar with the technology.

"My guess is the mainframes are still doing their jobs, but look at this."

She clicked on a video, and everyone could see people running away in public streets in an unidentified Japanese town, with the recorder trying to get a good shot of a teenage girl missing half the flesh on her face eating the guts of a downed salaryman. Someone threw a rock at her and tried to start a fire with a torch, but it wouldn't work, so the schoolgirl zombie lunged at him and chomped down on his jugular.

"My Kami-sama!" Nodoka said, horrified and covering her mouth. She then made gagging noises like she wanted to puke, and rushed into the kitchen where everyone could hear her doing just that.

The video continued and showing the schoolgirl zombie eating her new prey, but then the first victim, the salaryman with his inner cavity exposed to the world, began to get up, making a sound like a scream and a hiss at the same time.

'That sound.' Nabiki thought, remembering the shrill that Kasumi made not too long ago. She glanced outside, but tore her eyes away. 'No, it's not possible. Not Kasumi, anyone but Kasumi!'

The video ended and she went to another site, showing other sick people going wild, but Nabiki ignored it and backtracked. Other sites mentioned severe rioting, people breaking into stores to get supplies and weapons. Property being intentionally set on fire to try and kill off the infected. Prisons practically becoming morgues with how quick the death toll rose inside. Hospitals not too far off when people went feral within.

"C'mon someone has to have an idea how to cure this."

"Does Kasumi want to...?" Genma started, but couldn't bring himself to finish, as he looked at the aforementioned girl struggle to break free.

"No!" Nabiki proclaimed fiercely, as if denying something offensive. "That is my sister out there and none of that stuff is happening to her! She's just sick and needs a cure! She is not one of those things!"

"But what if...?" Again, Genma couldn't finish.

Nabiki gave him a harsh almost unforgiving glare. "She is not one of those things. Period." She then went back to her computer, desperate to find out something that could save her sister.