NIGHT 1

  The sky had turned dark, and it was the perfect time for beasts that hunted better at night to come out and strike. And yet, the only beast starving at that moment was me, invisible knives ripping me apart the longer I went without a meal. The funny thing was that the one time I tried to eat some normal food, my body rejected it instantly. The only thing it wanted me to consume, was the human child sleeping next to me.

  My… daughter.

  ”No,” I murmured painfully, hugging myself tightly while I lay on the grass. Ooze seeped out of the cracks of my teeth like saliva as I desperately tried to crawl away with one arm. The zombie didn’t want me to. No, why was I thinking as though the zombie was some separate entity. I am the zombie.

  Eat… her

  “No.”

  I’m so hungry…

  “No… I’m not…”

  “Look at you, Jerome,” someone said in a low tone. It was Dante, crouching down to me with a scowl. “I almost thought you’d got stronger. Strong enough so that you wouldn’t feel this type of shit. It kind of satisfies me realizing I was wrong.”

  I tried to glare at Dante, which wasn’t actually possible since I couldn’t really express with my new face. “Get the hell out of my face. I can handle this, and I’m not gonna let some guy who knot my friend killed say this shit to me.”

  “No, you will,” he said, grabbing my head and pulling it closer to his face. “You want to know why? It’s because your brat’s life could end at any moment because you don’t know how to keep your monstrous, zombie desires in check. Look at you struggle to keep that disgusting drool in your mouth. If that kid ends up in your mouth, then we’re both fucked. You’re fucked because then you’ll have no kid. I’ll be more fucked because then I might not be living anymore.”

  I ripped the grip he had off my skull and threw his hand back. “Like I said before… humans aren’t on my daily diet and that includes Sunshine. Hell, maybe I’m only feeling this way ‘cause you’re here.”

  “Oh yeah,” he snickered. “Then why aren’t you eating me now?”

  That was a good question. Why wasn’t I eating this asshole now? My body wasn’t attracted to the idea of eating him at all for some reason.

  Dante nearly got my daughter killed, and he’s still threatening her life with that bubble around her head. Even though he didn’t pull the trigger, he still got my friend killed. If he had never threatened Saveer for info on our whereabouts, then the guy wouldn’t have felt so ashamed to a point where he needed to help me out.

  And yet… why wasn’t I sad about it? Not a single bone beneath my ooze, not a single fiber of my being, not a single fragment of my soul showed any sadness for my friend of one year…

  It wasn’t like my anger was smothering the sadness so much that I couldn’t properly feel it. Hell, anger wasn’t inside of me either.

  What kind of feeling was this? No… this wasn’t any kind of feeling.

  Saveer died, and yet I do not care. Why should I care about the death of a hum-

  No!

  ”Hey, I asked you a question, Jerome.” Dante sighed. “No need to leave me hanging anymore. I already know what you’re thinking.”

  “I’m only here ‘cause this Underground place you were talking about intrigues me a bit,” I said, continuing to hold onto my body. “If it’s the same place that hospital was three years ago when you saved me, then I don’t mind the idea of going. They were able to fix my arm, after all. As for why I’m not trying to kill you right now, it’s only ‘cause I need you to get into the Underground. I would absolutely destroy you in any other circumstance.”

  “No, that’s not the reason at all.” Dante ran a finger on my arm, collecting ooze on his finger. “You can’t attack me. I mean, you can attack my forcefields just fine, but me… I’m immune to you. Your zombified body doesn’t allow you hurt me, doesn’t it?”

  “Think what you want, Dante. Just get out of my face.”

  Dante stood back up and walked away, smoothing out his hair. “This is gonna be very interesting for me.”

  *****

  NIGHT 2

  “Hey, Sunshine,” I said, sitting next to my daughter on a small hill. “Are you… sad at all about what happened to Saveer?”

  Sunshine crossed her legs, giving me a confused look. “Um… I don’t really know. Why do you ask?”

  My left hand began to twitch, and I placed my other hand on top of it. I was a little surprised by her response, but I was pretty sure that wasn’t why my hand was twitching. “Well, ‘cause of that right there. You’re not, you know, sad about him being gone now. Is there something you wanna talk about?”

  “I mean, I understand he’s dead and I’m aware that sadness or anger is something that other people would feel when someone they know dies. For me… I don’t think I really care that much. I think it only took me a few minutes to get over it when it happened.”

  The nonchalant tone of that reveal set me back. “A few minutes,” I gasped. “You don’t care? How can you not care? He was a good friend to us. He even babysat you a couple times. Were you two not close or something?”

  “I wouldn’t say we weren’t close. I liked him. But, something in my brain and my body tells me not to… care about it. It’s not that I don’t want to care about it. I just don’t at all. What do you want me to say? I’m sorry?”

  Something tells her not to care about it? That reminded me of what I was going through. Although, I was a zombie. My child was a human.

  “Sunshine, you have to learn how to properly process grief or, at least, feel some of it. I mean, that’s how normal people act and feel.”

  “I’m a kid whose dad is a talking Radion. I’m way beyond normal at this point,” she chuckled. “Besides, I don’t get why you’re on my case about it. You’re not sad about Saveer dying either. You’ve rarely talked about him these past few days, and you even talk to Dante pretty casually. I was surprised you never tried to punch him. I mean, you can’t ’cause he technically has me hostage, but still…”

  “That’s not the…” I stopped my response prematurely. I gave myself a couple seconds to think of a question I really wanted the answer to. “Would you be sad if I died?”

  “Well, you already died,” Sunshine said bluntly. “You’re a Radion now.”

  “I mean if I died like as a zombie.”

  “Type Two Radions are hard to kill.”

  “Just answer the question,” I groaned.

  Sunshine looked up at the stars. “Of course I’d be sad. You’re my dad. Plus, I was pretty sad when I thought you died in that dumb store. I didn’t want you to see me like that though.” Her voice became a little somber. “And… when I thought the Mighty Terror ripped you to shreds, I was sad about that too. Then, I realized you actually did die and became a Radion. I was… I was…”

  I prepared to give her a hug, predicting what she was about to say. That was until…

  ”Excited,” she exclaimed quietly, nearly jumping on top of me. “I mean, what kid wouldn’t be excited to see their dad was a strong, cool, talking zombie. I was like ‘this guy is the coolest dad ever’.”

  I laughed softly. “Thanks, kid. That, uh, makes me a feel a lil better.”

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  Whatever problems this shitty zombie mindset was gonna input into my mind, I was at least gonna make sure it wouldn’t affect me when it came to my kid.

  Forget… Saveer.

  Huh? N-

  Forget… Saveer. Forget Saveer. Forget S…

  “Who were we talking about again?”

  “Um… what?”

  *****

  DAY 7

  You know, for someone who was only nine years old and could've been killed by the forcefield around her head at any second, my daughter didn't seem to have the slightest care in the world for her current conditions. Actually, she was more concerned with my new appearance than anything regarding her or the man walking in front of me that threatened her life.

  No. Concern wasn’t right. More like this nerdy fascination over me. Now that I think about it, Sunshine always seemed to be so interested in the world around us, even with how broken and desolate it all seemed. What was the zombie transformation like for a dying human, could zombies survive off a “no-people diet”, could we create another nuclear bomb… Geez, that one scared me. Doesn’t she see how withered down this forest already was?

  I guess if she was given the option to save the world, she’d probably say no. Mostly ‘cause she would care more about this shitty world of ours than the happiness of other survivors.

  She asked me tons of questions I was perfectly fine with answering like “How'd you survive being eaten alive?” or “How’d you use that attack to kill that giant bird?” and the one that scared me a bit…“How was it like being dead?”

  Even though I was a zombie now, I never actually felt dead. I could think, move even better than when I was a human, and thankfully, talk. It didn't matter that I didn't have any of my human organs inside of me. As long as I could still be a father to my adorable little Sunshine, I was completely alive.

  I looked down at my crotch. Well, maybe not completely...

  Although, out of all the things she told me the past week that we've traveled to wherever this place Dante talked about was, Sunshine never asked me if I missed being a human. Or if I wanted to turn back into a human. I didn't even know if she wanted me to turn back into a human. It seemed like the human version of me had left her mind entirely, and now this... Type Two Radion was all she saw now.

  Maybe this weird fascination she had for my form was her way of showing love. That was fine with me. Besides, it wasn't as though this new form didn't have its perks.

  “So,” Sunshine started. “Just how much farther do we have to walk to this

  ‘Underground’? I'm tired of having this thing around my head. And I’m tired of walking, sleeping, eating, and peeing in this forest.”

  “As long as your dad doesn't do anything stupid to delay our trip like yesterday, then we should be there in about an hour,” said Dante, speeding up as if he assumed I would try and attack his stupid forcefield again.

  “I only did that ‘cause you provoked me. And let’s not forget-“

  “Jerome,” my daughter interrupted. “You rolled his forcefield into a crater of Radions and it took us hours to get him back up. We could’ve totally been there by now if you didn’t do that.”

  “Hey, why are you taking that villain’s side over your own beloved father?” I said in a defeated tone. “Besides, if his forcefield wasn't just some big bubble around his body, then I wouldn't have been able to roll him like that. So if you put it that way, I didn't do anything wrong.”

  It was a bad attempt at trying to convince myself out loud that I wasn't in the wrong at the time. Especially since the only thing he said to me was “So, how's it feel being dickless?” I know it wasn’t a serious question but seriously though…wasn't the answer obvious!? I'm sure that asshole was just trying to make fun of me.

  Clearly, Sunshine didn't share the same belief as she gave me the same exaggerated raised eyebrow that she only did when she could tell I was being disingenuous. “Jerome, I get you don’t like the guy, but out of the two scenarios that could’ve happened at that moment, the one that got us to our destination faster is the scenario where you didn’t push him.”

  “Yeah, guess you’re right,” I agreed. “Although, you can’t tell me seeing the guy getting his face bitten off by a pack of zombies wouldn’t be satisfying to witness.”

  Sunshine snickered to herself. “Yeah, that would be pretty satisfying.”

  I heard Dante chuckle ahead of us.

  “What’s so funny, Dante,” I said, raising my voice a little. “A man who’s laughing like that surely has something he wants to get off his chest.”

  “It’s just that… it must be so hard being a daddy’s girl knowing your father is as pathetic as you. You lied about being a Resource Adventurer, repeatedly embarrassed yourself at Woodshaven just to pay off your debt to me, and you let her get kidnapped by me. So it’s no wonder she doesn’t call you ‘Dad’. She doesn’t see you as one.”

  “Huh!?” He turned his head and showed off this really overconfident smile that nearly made me kick his forcefield one more time. The only thing that stopped me was Sunshine beginning to speak.

  “That’s not why I don’t call Jerome ‘Dad’,” Sunshine muttered. “But I don’t really wanna talk about why I don’t either. It’s just something I don’t feel like… saying.”

  Dante stopped near what looked to be the entrance to a sewer embedded into the ground—dirt and leaves nearly obscuring it. “Whatever the case is, you can’t deny how pathetic he is.”

  “That’s stupid. Why would I think he’s pathetic when he risked life just to save me? It doesn't really matter to me what he was really doing with you and your group. He was doing it to buy things for me like food and medicine, keep me safe. No matter what I think of him as, he's still my dad. I just don’t call him that.”

  ”You don’t have to explain yourself to this prick,” I said, patting her shoulder. “He just wants to rile you up.”

  “Well, if he’s gonna keep calling you pathetic, then I’m gonna keep explaining why you’re not,” she replied, covering her face with her hood.

  I’m sure anyone else would be pretty offended at their own child calling them by their first name but not me. As long as she still thought of me as her really cool dad who’ll beat anyone up who causes her trouble, then that was all I needed to be satisfied.

  However, there was only one person I needed to beat in order to further solidify that fact. It was too bad keeping him around for now was the only way of keeping Sunshine alive. Plus, while I didn’t exactly believe he knew anything about her disease, the fact he was so adamant on bringing us to this secret place piqued my interest a little.

  So I was pretty confused when we just stopped in the middle of the forest, standing around this sewer-like entrance.

  “Hey Dante, why did we stop here?” I asked, poking his forcefield. “You and Sunshine already stopped to eat so let’s keep moving.”

  “Use your brain for once. Oh wait, I forgot you technically don’t have one anymore.”

  “We’re standing in front of a damn sewer. Wherever we're going, humans can’t make refuge in a damn sewer system. It’s too toxic in there for that.

  “Oh, so that’s why it’s called the Underground.” Me and Dante turned to my daughter. “It’s literally underground.”

  “Exactly. Jerome, you must be pretty happy having a daughter in the apocalypse who’s so smart. Especially with how stupid you are.”

  “You want us to believe a human civilization can survive down there? After I just explained why they can’t? You do know that radioactive energy would be abundant underground, right? The only things that could live down there are radioactive animals and zombies like me. My daughter would die down there.”

  Sunshine folded her arms. “Well, there’re probably people down there that are like you, Jerome. People that could fix my problem. Is that why you’re confident in going down there, Dante?”

  Dante pointed his fingers at Sunshine. “Bingo. Another point for the smart one in the family.”

  “But will your forcefield be able to protect her body down there?”

  “I assure you, this power is all mine. And she’ll be fine. Promise.”

  Like that was true.

  “I’m not too sure about that,” denied Sunshine, rubbing her hand on her forcefield. “Even though this power could protect you from my dad’s punch, my head can still feel things like the wind, heat and cold. Why are those three excluded? And since those things don’t have a physical form, why should we believe it should protect me from something also non-physical like radioactive energy or nuclear energy?

  Dante’s eyes widened once he heard all these questions. “Kid, your brain’s way too active for someone of your age. You can’t store all that brainpower in your underdeveloped brain. There’s info about you that I must not have yet. This feels… supernatural.”

  I gently grabbed Sunshine’s shoulder and asked “What are you trying to say, honey?”

  “I’m saying that all of this is just too fishy. A forcefield should block out anything from touching your body, right? So then why am I able to breathe or feel the wind on my face?”

  “If you didn’t already notice, I’m breathing too.” His tone was suspicious, like he was worried about something. “So whatever ideas you got in your head, shut it down, now.”

  “I also noticed something,” I added. “This forcefield was kept on your head this entire time and yet, every time we stopped to eat, the food and your hand went straight through it. Like it wasn’t even there in the first place.”

  “Hey! Father-daughter duo, I said shut it the hell down.”

  “Yeah, I noticed that too. My guess is that he can control whatever enters the forcefie-Ah!”

  My daughter’s sudden pained scream made me flinch, but I immediately regained my composure to assess the situation. Warm, dreaded flows of crimson trickled down each side of her neck from the edges of the forcefield, staining my finger as I cautiously touched it. Blood—the blood of my daughter, though minimal, was being spilled.

  And I knew exactly who caused it. My hands curled into tight fists, the ooze on me bubbling ferociously—like soda shaken a little too hard. I wanted so badly to release the strongest punch I could ever throw at that man’s face but I knew that he’d hurt Sunshine even more. I definitely couldn’t charge at him like last time when I first saw his power. I had to put up with this shit for now.

  “You and your stupid daughter talk way too much!” I calmly turned my head to Dante and he had his hand up toward Sunshine, his fingers curled. “I was trying to be nice and respectful this entire time but now you two are really pissing me off!”

  “Dante, when we go down there, what’s going to happen to her!? Is that radioactive energy gonna infect her or what!?” I could barely contain the rage in my voice or my body and I knew Dante noticed that given that confident smile on his face. “You’re not taking us to a damn doctor, are you? You’re trying to do something shitty to my daughter.”

  “Don’t be stupid! I already told you it won’t. Is it really that hard to believe!? I’m going in there with you for Christ’s sake!”

  “But what about the things she said about air and the cold-”

  “Your daughter’s cool and all, figuring out parts of my ability and all that, but I already made this apparent to you. I was only keeping the forcefield around her just in case one of you tried to do something I didn’t like. I kept the forcefield around me for my protection against you in case my theory about you before was wrong. I’m not keeping them activated to fucking trick you, you idiot.”

  “Liar!” my daughter cut in, holding her neck in pain. ”Don’t believe this guy, Jerome! He can choose to let all of that energy enter my forcefield while he’s perfectly safe in his! There’re no doctors in there! He has other plans in mind.”

  “Dante! Answer my earlier question! What the hell are you trying to do with my daughter!?”

  Even behind all the green covering his body, I could still see the sweat dripping down that asshole’s face.

  “Fine! Believe whatever you want. But like I said before…you try and absorb my shield or hers, she’s dead!”

  “Don’t listen to him and absorb my shield! It’s so obvious he’s bluffing. Why else do you think he wants me to go underground so badly? He or someone else down there needs me alive!”

  Even though Sunshine’s safety was my biggest priority, I had to believe my clever daughter at that moment. All her points made perfect sense!

  With that settled, I clenched her forcefield, the energy slowly entering my palms. But like Dante said a couple days ago, my power was just too slow to do it instantly and I could only watch as Dante expanded her bubble—now shielding her entire body.

  “Damn it! Dante, let her go! Do it or I’ll-”

  Before I could get my strongly worded threat off, Sunshine was lifted into the air and hovered to the loan shark’s side. I made a desperate attempt to charge at the man but I felt this sudden strong pain in my torso.

  It was a third forcefield, knocking me back a couple meters away. No…not a third one. In the second I was hit with it, Dante was completely shield free and he used that moment to open the entrance to the Underground.

  This was my chance! Or else it would’ve been if it weren’t for this damn shield pressing me to the ground! He was right there and so was my daughter, terrified by what was about to happen.

  I clawed at the shield, absorbing it once more. But I was too late.

  Dante kicked open the entrance and dropped in, momentarily disabling his ability so that Sunshine could enter too.

  “Jerome, don’t worry!” she screamed out, a look of determination and strength on her face. “I promise I won’t die! So don’t waste any time beating yourself up about any of this. Just hurry up and save-”

  I didn’t need to hear the rest of her encouraging words. With my body glowing with all this radioactive energy I’ve absorbed, I already knew what I needed to do.

  I’m gonna save you, Sunshine! And kill that piece of shit while I’m at it!