A Japanese physician at Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Dr. Shiro Nagai was travelling through Kentucky for an international conference hosted by the team at Cortman Medical. Pausing for fuel and to buy some cigarettes at a Fossoil petrol station, a petrified scream from the rear storage room prompted discovery of the Knoxville virus and it’s newest victim. Shiro fled, clambering over a wooden fence behind the station with the re-animated victim and aggressor in close pursuit, falling into an American suburbia starkly different to televised portrayals in Japan.

Shiro is academic and intelligent, but health sacrifices made during his time as a physician result in an aversion to combat and an unremarkable level of fitness. Driven by a will to unite any survivors of the pandemic, and with little experience of American culture, Shiro may seem an easy target for manipulation – However, his intelligence, language skills gained from private study and attentive nature regarding the world around ensure that any mistakes made will be quickly rectified.

Coasting from job to job while selling the occasional "art piece" with the boys made sense to Tyler, almost as much sense as going to a New Year's rave in rural Kentucky in the middle of winter. When the attendees began to ring in the new year by gnawing on each other, somebody clearly must have been passing around some bad party favors. Left with no transportation and some ill-tempered party animals on the loose, Tyler followed the river to the nearest road and started walking. Even in Kentucky, a road has to eventually lead somewhere...right?

Japanese Salaryman Street Racer. Ishida Tatsuya is the model Japanese citizen- a wealthy salaryman working for one of the largest automotive companies in the world. He was born, as far as he is concerned, in the wrong time- too soon to enjoy the limitless expanse of humanity to the stars. He was born too late to enjoy the incredible car and racing culture that permeated the Tokyo highways and rural mountainsides of the early 1990's. But he was born just in time to come to America and sample its roads, muscle-cars, and long silent stretches of highway where speeding tickets are few and everything in the country is excessive. If he could not enjoy car-culture in Japan, he would try to do so in America. When the initial medical lockdowns occurred, he was stuck in the bible-belt of America. Ishida took it as an opportunity to drive faster cars on even emptier roads. He travelled to all the States with the lowest rates of traffic-tickets, paying his fines from near-limitless corporate finance accounts. Then he hit Kentucky, celebrated New Years in a sports bar, and stumbled back to his hotel. When he awoke, the city was dead. His limitless wealth became worthless. His car had been stolen. All he was equipped with was a poor grasp of the English language, a suitcase of clothes, half a bottle of strawberry blond hair-dye, and his lucky wrench. Now Tatsuya optimistically hopes that if he can just survive the current crisis, he can head West back to the Rising Sun- but not before testing out his drifting skills around the many car-wrecks that dot the otherwise empty highways of Knox County.

In the past, Ishida was a Corporate Raider for Zaibatsu Automotive Industries- a rapidly growing conglomerate bordering on a monopoly of Japanese business. Blackmail, seduction, illicit activity- anything short of murder and assault were the tools the young Suit utilized to increase that ever-coveted market share. He sank his bottomless funds into The Midnight Club, of which he was Primary Chairman and President. He was the silent partner in Porsche Autowerks, the garage which tuned his infamous Black Bird to perfection and made him the Emperor of the Wangan Racing Circuits. He suppressed his humanity during the day to unleash his obsessions at night. For a third of his life, he chased after a Ghost- the 'Golden Fairlady.' His chance encounter with that car on the Kyushu coast a decade ago shaped everything in Ishida's life- including the fated second encounter with the Fairlady and his vacation to the United States. Now, after months of surviving with those native to Kentucky, he has replaced one obsession with several others. What is love except an obsession that never dies? Now he is an erudite mechanic, foster-parent to a lost teen, and a future father. Prior experiences have caused him to develop combat-aversion indoors. Despite what all the other may say about the infection, military involvement, science, and medicine, Ishida remains a deeply superstitious lady-loving street racer that cannot help but think that Shinto Kami have made their way to America, too.

Mitch Kruger 35 Years Old. Born and Raised in Rosewood. Member and Co Founder of the Knox County "Red Eagles Motorcycle Club" Has been in and out of Jail for Armed Robbery, Aggravated Assault, Distribution of Illegal Substances. Date of Parole 26th of December 2021.

37 years, taxi driver from Louisville. She went on a camping trip down south with some friends. The last stop for gas and smokes felt strange. She knew people in the south of the county don t see people of colour that often, but the guy at the gas station behaved somehow strange. People on the streets seemed to be sick and in a bad mood. After the friends set their tents near some trees, Shana fell in a dreamless sleep. As she woke up, something was different. Her friends were gone and the grass was coloured in red. Maybe a bear attacked the camp? But where s everyone? Shana packed her backpack, took a bottle of water and her machete, to head towards the town and find her friends.

A plucky law student from a wealthy family, Penny was vacationing for the holidays with her fiance, Harry, in Kentucky. They had returned from NY to celebrate with old friends and family back home. After a drunken bender with friends at a New Year's Eve house party in West Point where everything was right with the world, she jolted awake with the worst fucking hangover, only to find Harry chewing on her childhood friend's face. The place was trashed, but not like after a wild party. More like after someone had thrown everybody else into a woodchipper. Before it sank in what was really happening, Harry lunged at her, and she ran. Didn't even feel the pain when the glass broke and cut her flesh. And she ran, and ran, and ran. She only stopped running when the sound of snow crunching underfoot drowned out the beating of her heart, and the frozen tears staining her face with the running mascara had dried up.

Height: 5'7" / 170 cm Weight: 151 lbs. / 68 kg D.o.b.: August 29th, 1966 (27 y.o.) Blood type: A negative

"She is an optimist on the outside, and a pessimist on the inside." —Tatsuya Ishida

Ruby Reece, 36, detective of the LVPD, homocide department. After the outbreak she managed to get out of Louisville with nothing but her luck and her badge. As she arrived at the outskirts of Riverside, she started to search for her sister Shana. Last time she heard from her before electricity and with that the communication broke down, Shana was on a camping trip in the south with some friends. She won t stop until she finds her sister, everything that s left in this end of the world.

37 years old - After a long night shift at the bar, June took a cab home to avoid more stupid drunk people. Customers have been annoying this night and her boss didn't pay her well enough for these stupid conversations she had to listen to at the counter. Only a few more months and she would have enough cash to go back to university. While hanging in these thoughts she didn't recognize the traffic jam they went into. The cab had to stop and the driver got out for a cigarette. Suddenly people started screaming and running towards their direction. She heard gunshots and the next moment someone jumped on her driver, dragging him down on the floor. Without realizing the scope of the situation, she jumped onto the front seat, set reverse and hit the pedal to the floor. In the rear mirror she saw her driver covered in blood, some guy hanging above him. In the next minutes the whole city seemed to fall apart, people were fighting screaming and eating each other on the streets. June decided to take the highway and leave Louisville city borders behind. As she was searching for something to keep her awake besides the adrenaline, she found a pistol and some bullets in the glove box. Better than nothing June thought heading further south.

Eliza, 37 y.o. As the daughter of an veteran, Eliza knows how to use a rifle. During her childhood she went hunting and camping in the southern forests with her father. She is able to orient herself and survive on her own in the forests. While the outbreak struck Louisville and the situation got out of control, Eliza took her rifle and backpack, headed towards the woods and turned her back on former civilization without looking back. She roams the woods quietly, avoiding groups of infected to stay in the shadows and trying not to drag too much attention on herself. …One of the soldier’s bullets hit her badly in return. While Eliza sneaked through the trees to flank him, the soldier jumped into her corvette, heavily bleeding and raced down the narrow road. Eliza was sure that the soldier would somewhere around, only waiting for a good shot. So she decided to drag his attention away from Westpoint and the other survivors and hurried, still heavily wounded, to the Louisville highway. At the first junction she abandoned her car and strayed into the forest. Complete exhausted and her clothes soaked with blood she ran into a horde of infected that lounged between the trees. She killed some of them with her hunting knife but she knew that in this bad condition, she wouldn’t have a chance. In an act of despair, Eliza threw a bottle with burning gasoline into the horde to distract them. What seemed to be a chance to escape this situation, turned into a death trap when Eliza fell while running through the remaining infected in her way. One of them grabbed her and pulled her to the ground. Attracted by the fighting, the burning horde rolled towards Eliza and embraced her in their flaming circle, setting the forest on fire.

Repairman and part-time electrician in his past life. Now? Barry is an alcoholic. First his wife left him, then his wife became a zombie.

Barry roamed around different camps, undetected by all, consuming a seemingly endless amount of alcohol, before waking up with memory loss inside a portable toilet. It just so happened that Chris Burt was parked right outside. After helping Barry find his missing pants, he invited him to come stay at the UN camp.

17 years old. Supposedly immune to the virus. Hardly any memories of her past life.

Lisa was found stranded near the drop site of one of the parachutes that emerged from the shot down USMC helicopter. Although she could not tell anyone why she was with the marines and where they were taking her, it rapidly became clear that Lisa had been kept captive and under heavy sedation for a long time.

Lisa remembers her mother, with key moments usually coming back to her during times of similar experiences she can recall. She has not expressed any memories of a father, although there is one Colonel Irvin Gray, working with the military, who claims to have been her caretaker since she was 10 years old.

Now, Lisa lives at the Manor, thriving under Penny's and Ishida's care. Several attempts made by USMC to recover their lost test subject have already been foiled, be it through words and persuasion, or missiles and shotgun shells. Lisa is important to the survivors, as she may hold the missing key to a cure. To them, there is no effort too great for keeping her safe.

Maiwen is a Taiwanese medical doctor specializing in emergency medicine and intensive care who found herself in Kentucky when her and her closest friend and colleague Dr. Saphira Tsui flew in from Europe for a medical convention. They managed to make it through the first few days of the convention, attending different research panels, but being sure to spend part of their days exploring the city, treating part of the convention as a mini-vacation in America.

During a break for a new year's celebration, Mai and Saphira decided to rent a car and drove towards Fort Knox, when something exploded, flipping the car and knocking both women unconscious. Mai woke up hung inside the car by her seatbelt in time to see two canisters bounce on the pavement close by, emitting a thick gas, quickly rending her unconscious once again. The next day or so, Mai was in and out of consciousness; heavily sedated. Each time, she woke to blackness; struggling to breathe in the black bag that had been fastened to her head, her hands bound in front of her. She could hear the thumping of a helicopter, the sound of rain hitting a car's windshield, and men talking through radios. During her time imprisoned and under control of the military, Maiwen was transferred to various remote military bases where she was held captive and forced to do research relating to the virus along with many familiar faces from the convention, including her friend Saphira.

Maiwen is soft spoken and shy to those she is not familiar with, but as she gets to know people, a sarcastic, funny, and fun loving girl who loves to dance breaks out of the shell of the previously restrained girl. Trusting by nature, she struggles in this new world as she discovered there are more people out to kill or imprison her rather than help her. Thus, she is quiet and observant in new surroundings. She appears youthful; in her late twenties; but is wise well beyond her years. She is stubborn, headstrong, and confident, working well under pressure as her profession requires. Maiwen has long black hair and extremely expressive deep brown eyes. She is curious and inquisitive, wanting and willing to learn as much as she can about any little thing.

The tips quickly dry up as a bartender in the apocalypse. Battling out of Bowling Green in a survivors' caravan before taking up shelter in the outskirts of Elizabethtown, David learned to always keep one eye open on the surroundings as the days ticked by.

As the summer months arrived, a series of explosions in the vicinity of Muldraugh and the accompanying pillars of smoke went off like a beacon to the south, drawing David closer into Knox County to investigate just what the hell was going on and if there are any signs of life left to be recovered.

Rob Langdon is known also as Ranger Rob. Working as a park ranger out of state, soon after the infection started spreading Rob got out of dodge city in hopes the country would be less dangerous. Having to hike after his vehicle broke down, and knowing nothing about cars, he found himself arriving in Knox Country about two weeks after the infection started, life as we know it had already changed and Rob had to do what he could with the scraps leftover from societies collapse. He shortly finds himself well-equipped, both in tools and skills, and setting up something he can call "home". Spending his days doing heavy lifting work, and his nights tuning his radio, his only reason to keep going is his hope to build a community.

As long as she can remember Leticia was in love with classy cars. As she grew older she started working at the Westpoint chop shop “American tire” although she regularly ran into trouble with her boss. With time she developed some decent mechanical skills. According to rumors she was involved in illegal gun trades to get closer to her dream of owning her own chop shop one day. Maybe the apocalypse is just the right opportunity to make this dream come true.