I was in a deep, dark abyss, unable to find any sort of light to lead me to an exit. Something trapped in here, and the hunger it made me feel sent my mind into a frenzy. My eyes couldn't tear away from the horrifying sight, and my mouth wouldn't pull away from the flesh.

  I hated how good it tasted.

  I hated that I wanted more of it.

  I hated that I couldn't do anything about it.

  All I could do was watch as Horse Head snatched his hand from my mouth. My hands slammed into his bare chest, sending him crashing into the other side of the cave. That’s when my body… No, I took the chance to draw in closer to my daughter, wrapping my hands around her neck. She didn’t react, as if a spirit was attacking her.

  I wanted her to run away, or at least fight back, but all she did was stand there with a face full of fright. It was my fault. If Sunshine was strong enough, she could’ve given me a good punch to the face. Maybe even put me down temporarily, or anything that would prevent me from doing the unthinkable. I knew about her mysterious power this whole time, and yet I never helped her bring it out.

  No, I’ve never trained her in anything combat wise. Protecting her innocence was my way of being a good parent, but… maybe I was just protecting my ego. In an attempt to make up for all the things I failed to do, I made this journey all about myself.

  How could I forget that my daughter was a part of that journey too!?

  A guttural scream tore out of my mouth, every fiber of my being working to stop these zombie urges from running amok. Then, when my hope was about to be crushed to bits, my body stopped. Pain exploded in my torso once I realized what I achieved.

  Both my arms had impaled through me, rendering me immobile for the time being. Although, that wasn’t enough. I was still way too close to the girl. I needed my legs to move. My mouth needed to close.

  I needed… help.

  Fortunately for me, Angela had somehow read my mind. She jumped into the scene, grabbing Sunshine mere seconds before I chomped down.

  The woman pursed her lips while she stared at me. There was an aura around her body that I didn’t notice till now. “Jerome, I warned you about this, didn’t I?”

  They’re right there! Eat her! I want to eat them both!

  No! She’s my daughter, and that one is my… friend!

  Horse Head appeared before me next, gesturing for Angela to leave. Once she did, he quickly sliced off the hand that I bit, blood squirting onto my body. It felt like knives were stabbing me with every second I didn’t run my teeth through that human essence.

  I remember the taste! I want more!

  No, just shut up already! He helped my daughter! I can’t do that.

  The man chuckled while he gripped his injury. “I bet this is making you go insane, huh? C’mon, just try and eat it, Jerome.” His voice had a crazy tone behind it, and him waving his newly made stump in front of me didn’t help my situation. “Do it like you were about to eat your own kid!”

  My imaginary heart froze. “No…”

  Yes, yes, yes! I’m so hungry! All I want is to eat her!

  Horse Head stopped, gasping seconds after. “How are you… How in God’s name are you crying?”

  “She’s… she’s my precious and only daughter!” I cried, ooze leaking from my eye. “I don’t want to eat her… I love her so fucking much.”

  How am I doing that!? I’m a zombie, aren’t I?

  I gritted my teeth, desperately trying to drain that voice out of my system. “I don’t want… to lose her ‘cause of me. Please stop me… before I do anything else. Please!”

  The swordsman nodded, aiming his katana at me. “I was wrong about you, Jerome. Maybe there’s still a chance for you.”

  He slashed.

  I couldn’t see anything after that.

  ******

  Awaking with my body tied up in chains wasn’t totally ideal for me, but it was perfectly understandable after the danger I put those three in. They even dragged my body into this wooden shack when they could’ve just left me outside.

  Did I really deserve such kindness?

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  “Jerome, you’re awake.”

  I tried turning my head, but the chains prevented me from doing so. “Hey, Angela. I’m glad you’re ok. Where’s Sunshine? Is she-”

  “She’s alive, yeah,” she said, resting her feet on my back. “Thankfully, she wasn’t bit.”

  “And where is she?”

  “Right behind me, sleeping on a table I found outside. Fun fact about me: Today was actually the second time a friend of mine has nearly gotten me killed. I was really scared, you know.” Her voice began to tremble as I felt something wet hit my body. “Not just for myself–for Sunshine too.”

  “I'm sorry, Angie,” I muttered. “I lost control and went way out of line. Without that swordsman guy, who knows what would've happened. How is he, by the way?”

  “Looked fine when he brought you here.”

  “That's good.” I attempted to rotate again, but to no avail. “You don't have to take out these chains. I get it. But… can you at least let me see my daughter? It’ll give me some comfort actually seeing her.”

  She didn’t respond.

  “I’m not gonna hurt her. I promised you that years ago, and I don’t plan on

  breaking it now.”

  Angela sighed, placing her feet on my head. “Remember that time you got arrested back in high school for breaking into your own house? The whole neighborhood saw you thrashing and screaming like a big baby.”

  “I’d rather you not talk about memories in front of my child that I don’t find very fond?”

  “Now that I’m seeing you as a zombie, it made me realize that you’re always getting into deep trouble after doing something stupid. Let me guess… you were taking a shit somewhere in the woods, and after you finished, you wiped your ass with some leaves since you couldn't find any toilet paper. But then the leaves turned out to be poison ivy, so you started itching uncontrollably. Unfortunately, that left you distracted enough for a zombie to come in and bite you, right?”

  “I died trying to protect Sunshine from some bad guys, and I ended up turning into this,” I said, switching to a serious tone. I knew Angie was my friend, but I despised the idea that she thought I’d be that careless. “Ever since then, all I’ve been doing is protecting her.”

  “Hmm, so if I take you out those chains, what happens?”

  “I leave my daughter in your care for the time being, and go back down that cave to stop that horse guy. That's the only way I'll be able to meet this traveling doctor the town’s king was talking about.”

  Suddenly, Angela flipped me over. Her eyes were red. “I don't know who this traveling doctor is, but who needs them when you have me. But just a heads up, I can’t help with a zombie bite if you’re already a zombie…”

  “Oh yeah, you are a doctor! I’m not looking for one for myself. It’s for Sunshine. You see, she had this life threatening disease, and-”

  “The Sunvirus!?” she exclaimed, her eyes widening in shock.

  “Yeah! How’d you know?”

  “A good amount of people are getting it, man. What do you think I’ve been doing the past three years? Someone has to research it.”

  I felt an immediate relief knowing she’s been studying up on my daughter’s disease this entire time. Even though the Underground Radius said there’s no cure, Angela wasn’t the type to give up so easily. “So, is there a way to fix it? That is why I came here in the first place.”

  She avoided eye contact with me after I asked that question. “Um… no. To be honest, I only travel around looking for people with the virus so that I can ‘heal’ them.”

  “Huh? If there’s no cure, then how are you healing them?”

  “Do you remember that red heart that came out of the Ageling’s wound? That’s my power. Basically, I can take the pain away from someone’s body and transfer it to either myself or others.” She pointed at each gray mark on her face. “As you can tell, I’m usually transferring it to myself.”

  When I assumed that was the extent of the self harm she committed, the marks under her orange plaid shirt proved me wrong. “How long have you been doing that? The pain transfer thing?”

  “Three years,” she replied. “I don’t know if this how all these superpowers work, but after using it a few times, it felt like my brain was being fed info about my ability that I didn’t even know I could do.”

  Woah. I was ninety-five percent sure that happened to me too. “I’m sorry you had to go through all that… pain. Although, I don’t really understand why you do it. I guess the cash you’re raking in makes the act worth it.”

  “I’m not doing it for money.”

  “Well, that’s a waste of your ability. Why not?”

  Angela laughed softly. “Do you wanna know what my dream is? To create a world where pain doesn’t exist. To create a world where a person having good health is specifically decided by how much money they’d lose by pursuing that. I believe this New World allows impossible dreams like that to come true. That’s really the only good thing out of all this.”

  “I’ve never heard of a doctor who’d want to do their job for free. Besides, a pain-free world is pretty impossible if you ask me.”

  “Well, I’ve never heard of a zombie taking care of a child before, but here we are.” I didn't say anything as she removed her feet from my head. “Jerome, I can’t cure your daughter. What I can do is take away her pain, her trouble sleeping, and all that other stuff. However, you need to answer just one thing for me.” She leaned in closer to my face. “Are you still human under that monstrous exterior?”

  “Angela… I-”

  “I’m gonna be blunt, Jerome,” the woman interrupted. “From what I’ve seen today, you will kill Sunshine one day. Whether that be tomorrow, or next month, or next year, it’ll happen as long as you’re near her. And since I don’t want that to happen, I’m fully willing to take her under my care until you can figure yourself out. But right now, I want you to be honest with me.”

  I pondered that question for a moment, realizing whatever I said next mattered a lot more than I thought. “You’re wrong about one thing, Angie. I won’t try and kill Sunshine next year ‘cause she won’t live that long anyway unless I find a cure for her disease. It’s that purpose, that dream of finding a cure that keeps my humanity intact, and my desire to fulfill that dream is way stronger than my desire to eat her.” I paused again, thinking of my next sentence. “I’m not a human. I’m just someone who wants to see their child living happily.”

  That was the most genuine speech my mind could spruce up. All it took now for me to continue being with my kid was Angela’s approval.

  Then, I heard a crack. Another one followed, and I realized that she was actually breaking my restraints.

  “Thank you, Angie!” I said happily.

  “I’m only doing this to test out one more thing from you,” she said, destroying the last of the chains.

  “What’s that?” I asked, standing up.

  Sunshine was still unconscious, but the blood she had on her had been cleaned off. I wanted to touch her, though Angela beat me to it. To my surprise, a red heart emerged from the girl’s body, following the doctor’s hand while she slowly lifted it up.

  It wasn’t the same one that came out of Spider Baby. The heart’s size was similar to the length of the shack’s walls, and it looked like you could fit about ten grown adults inside it.

  Even Angela looked surprised by its appearance.

  “This is… insane,” she murmured. “How could one little girl have this much pain inside of her?”

  “I don’t know,” I answered calmly, stepping back a couple inches. “So what now?”

  Sweat ran down her forehead. “Now, you step inside. I’m not gonna force you to do anything, but if what you said before was true, then you’ll do this because you want to, not because I told you.”

  “Step in, and then the pain transfers to me, right?”

  “I bet your zombie brain is telling you not to do it. Taking in the pain of a human is the exact opposite of what it wants you to do. But that’s exactly why the only way to prove that you’re fit to be around her is to-”

  Angela didn't get the chance to finish her sentence. Knowing my daughter's suffering could be lessened or even erased was all the motivation I needed to thrust myself into the heart.

  It was instant.

  The agony hit me like a thousand swords and spears had stabbed me all at one. Like the ooze of my body was replaced with fire hotter than the hottest fire. Like I was forced to watch my wife die again over and over til whoever was putting me through that punishment got tired of laughing.

  My jaw clenched hard enough to crack teeth. The extreme pressure of it all wanted me to fall to my knees, but I remained standing. I screamed through grit teeth. I remained strong. My body writhed within the full mass of suffering that had the audacity to take the shape of something so innocent as a cartoon heart.

  I did not surrender.

  Instead, my body absorbed it… literally. I was the only one who could. There's no way anyone else wouldn't die from this. If my sun was still able to shine whilst going through this, then I had to do my part too.

  After all, if we were gonna be on this journey together, then we both had to keep our sun shining.

  After an agonizing one hour, the pain stopped.

  My legs wobbled, ooze forming a puddle underneath my feet like blood. I slumped forward, but I forced myself to stand straight.

  Angela was now sitting on the floor in awe, wiping a tear from her face. “Jerome, I'm sorry. I should've never-”

  “When Sunshine wakes up and notices her pain is gone… don't tell her what happened. Don't tell her what I did. She thinks of herself as a burden to me and other people, but she's not.” I gave Sunshine one last look before I began walking to the door. “Tell her that the pain went away ‘cause of her own strength, ok?”

  “B-but-”

  “Angie,” I said, turning my head. “Nothing happened.”