Running through Hallowsville was like being in Manhattan back in the old days, except it somehow managed to be even crazier. Looking for them on foot wasn't working, so I needed a way to regroup that wouldn't waste any more time. Flare guns were something survivors used for others to find them, but if I did something similar, that could potentially attract Jason to me.

  “Fuck it,” I muttered, jumping to the roof of a near me. It'd be a high risk, high reward gamble, though if Sunshine and Jesus were faster, then it would be worth it.

  I fired a blast upwards. Despite all the fireworks covering the sky, the explosion I created completely dwarfed them. About thirty seconds later, the sound of footsteps behind me made my fists tighten.

  If it was him, I'd be ready for it.

  Thankfully, it wasn't, and the only thing I had to be ready for was how long my daughter and I would hug. But when I spread my arms out, Sunshine didn’t run in like she usually did. My daughter just stood behind Jesus with a stern expression. It was like when you’d accidentally respond to someone who wasn’t talking to you in the first place.

  Awkwardly putting my arms down, I asked, “What’s wrong? Your father can’t get hugs now?” I added in a chuckle at the end to mask my hurt and confusion.

  “I sensed you’ve gotten weaker, hombre muerto,” Jesus said. “You went from rock hard to a squishy soft. What happened?”

  I disregarded his inappropriate analogy and explained to him everything that happened. Sunshine’s eyes widened when I mentioned what went down with Sunflower, but I assumed that shock was more about the zombie made of fire than anything else.

  “Well, that about covers it,” I concluded. “And if Emmy’s able to do her part, then I have a feeling we’ll be alright. It’s a good thing you helped level up her power, Horse Head. If you didn’t, we’d be screwed.”

  “Ah, that sucks to hear about your power boost, but nothing you can do against water, I guess,” Jesus replied. “And to think you were almost as strong as Jason. We would’ve been an awesome duo.”

  Wait a minute… Almost as strong?

  “If I remember correctly, that Afro dude’s Radius Ability didn’t really have limits, right?” I asked the two, scratching my head. “I mean, he created some absurd rules and punishments back when he wasn’t just… a head. So why did I only ask to increase my power to the level of Consequences? And why did I make it only until we defeated Jason? It would’ve been smarter to just keep that strength.”

  The swordsman tilted his head. “Neeeeigh! Maybe the Radius Ability became limited once the original user died and we started using it. There’s still so much we don’t know about the mutations the bombs granted humans. Preserving Geremiah’s head in order to use his powers was just a theory based on some research. Don’t think too hard about it.”

  “N-No, I have to think hard about this. In fact, I should’ve already been asking myself this. I mean, am I stupid? My kid’s life is on the line here. I should’ve made myself as strong-no, stronger than Jason. I gotta be stupid.” I grabbed my head. It felt like all these new thoughts were gonna make it pop. “Nah, I can’t be. I think once I activated his ability, something or someone was, like, manipulating me.”

  “Dad, I don’t think this is as important as you think it is,” said Sunshine. “Losing the head was a big loss, but-”

  “No, it is important,” I interrupted. “Actually, aren’t you usually the one to question stuff like this? You’re not ok, are you? I’ve been getting this weird vibe from you lately. And not the endearing kind.”

  “Wha-What? No, I just…” Sunshine’s face softened as she ran up and hugged my leg. “I’m just worried, ok? And scared. Jason isn’t like who I thought he was.”

  For the first time ever, my daughter’s body felt cold. Even during the winter or those random windy days, the warmth she had never went away. What the hell happened in the short time we were separated. And scared of Jason? Seriously? She fought that killer one-on-one and didn’t complain.

  I grabbed her shoulders and gently pulled her off of me. “Sun, if there’s something wrong, you gotta tell me. Your eyes are red.”

  Sunshine rubbed her eyes, though she didn’t respond.

  “Your kid had a scary encounter with our masked friend, that’s all,” Jesus cut in, coming closer. “Do you know what ‘fear haxxing’ is?”

  “No, what's that?”

  “When the little lady encountered Jason today, she had to completely turn off all usage of her aura in order to avoid his Energy Sense. But because of that, her body was susceptible to the complete monstrous girth of his aura. The effect should wear off soon.”

  His explanation didn’t sound fabricated, and the fact he was more skilled at these topics than I was eased my worries a little. “Alright. Ok. Sorry for being hard on you, Sun. My dad alarms were going off like crazy.”

  “It’s cool,” she muttered.

  “Man, if Jason’s got you worked up like this, then I can’t imagine how Michael Corleone will make you feel.” I said. “He’s tricky. Honestly, I think the best thing to do right now is retreat and rethink our st-”

  “No!” Sunshine blurted out, grabbing me. “The Hunter family doesn’t run away! Not now. Not ever. I didn’t raise no scaredy cat.”

  “Only thing I’ve seen you raise was that rabid squirrel who nearly would’ve bit your face off if it wasn’t for Saveer.” I put my hand on her head. “It’s not cowardly to retreat. It’s smart, and that’s coming from me.”

  “We’ll be fine, Hunter. Don’t worry.” Jesus raised his hand for a fist bump. “We’ve survived this long. What could possibly go wrong?”

  I could think of a lot of things that could go wrong, but somehow bumping Horse Head’s fist erased my worries.

  It was weird.

  The swordsman really hasn’t been with us that long, and I was confident that I’ve had more meaningful interactions with people a lot more hostile than him. And yet, he’s been the most intertwined with our group out of everyone we’ve met.

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  Jesus was damn near a mystery to me.

  He used to kick it with the Underground Radius, and then left for unknown reasons. Apparently, he was the first Radius Ability user after the bombs dropped, but no one besides him has ever mentioned that fact before. If my ears weren't deceiving me, the man mentioned he was a father too. Although, I was left in the dark about where his son was or why he was missing in the first place.

  We haven’t even seen this weirdo’s face yet. Does he sleep with that shit on? He’s gotta be sweating under that.

  But the biggest mystery of all was… why would I leave my daughter alone with this mystery man for so long? What kind of father does that?

  My fear of devouring Sunshine plagued my mind at the time, but I at least could’ve left her with someone more trustworthy. Like Angela. She seemed knowledgeable enough to train the girl.

  Speaking of training, I didn’t remember a single time Jesus has trained me. It was like every time I had a moment to speak to or train with him, pick his brain a little, or just know him in general was stopped by some chaotic event.

  Jason showing up at Boomsbarrow, Sunflower taking me hostage, Afro Man’s Radius Ability separating the team, Daemon trying to kill us, sending Dante and I out to “revive” Afro Man’s head, and even today.

  There was always a voice in my head telling me not to pry any further, not to ask any questions, and to trust him wholeheartedly. And every moment I doubted that voice, it was like everything reset to zero and the cycle would continue.

  It was almost deliberate.

  Even now as I started walking towards the edge of the roof, getting ready to jump down, I had to ask myself one question.

  Why the fuck do I trust Jesus Hernandez?

  In that instant, something sharp entered my body, forcing me to stop right before I jumped. I looked down slowly, praying the cause of my pain wasn’t what I thought it was.

  Steel—the steel of a katana.

  Jesus’ katana.

  It hurt. Not just being stabbed. What hurt even more was that I let this man hang around us without realizing a damn thing. I raised my fist, ready to send an onslaught of attacks like there was no tomorrow. That was until I heard an unfortunate familiar voice.

  “Don’t move.”

  I gaped my mouth, my body becoming rigid until paralysis took me hostage. Sunshine said that. But she had to be saying that to Jesus. This literal backstabbing prick just attacked her father. Even when she walked in front of me with that cold look on her face, I refused to believe anything else.

  Nine years. There was no way in hell that bastard could undo what I built with her for nine fucking years.

  Her lips trembled. “Dad, it’ll be best if you don’t fight it.”

  Everything froze. That bad feeling I got when I first saw her came back with a painful vengeance.

  “What… What are you talking about? Sunshine, why-”

  “We have been preparing for this day for a long time,” Jesus said in a chilling tone. “Ever since your daughter and I met. And, hombre muerto, you made this so much easier by being obedient up until this point.”

  “Obedient? Sunshine, what the hell is he talking about!?” I asked angrily, desperate to hear an explanation. I didn’t want to hear it from this horse headed prick. Only her words mattered.

  My daughter aimed a finger gun at my head—the same kind she used for her ability. “My Radius Ability lets me trick the minds of others into thinking something else, which I guess is like mind manipulation. I used a special technique called ‘Mind Trick: Obedience’ to… well, make you obedient. The only order I made you subconsciously follow was to trust us.”

  “When did you-”

  “Back in Boomsbarrow,” my daughter answered, lowering her hands. “Back when I passed out in the cave.”

  “In your hollow, soulless eyes, hombre muerto, I was your friend. A good friend. Someone you could trust alone with your child. Someone you couldn’t bring yourself to question or be suspicious of. And when you were suspicious, there would be trigger words that would reset it.”

  Shit. Trigger words? What was something he said a lot? Explosion? Neigh? Yeah, those horse sounds. It had to be that.

  “Any word that implied my betrayal would reset it. ‘Underground Radius’, ‘Daemon’, etc.”

  If I still had human eyes, they would've bulged upon hearing that. That time at the beach, and after we defeated Ricky his partner—he said it all clear as a sunny day. Even Emmy was trying to warn me.

  “Sunshine, what… what the hell?”

  “Dad, let me ex-”

  “You’re a fool!” I shouted. “You’re the smartest girl I know, so why the hell are you on the side of the same people who want you dead!? Or do you want to die? Is that it!?”

  “If you would let me explain, then you’ll under-”

  “No, I understand very well. My daughter’s clearly being manipulated by a bunch of bastards, and it’s my job to fix it. The Sunshine I know would never be this stupid, this cold to her own father!”

  Her eyes widened. “How could you say that…?”

  “Don’t worry, Sun,” I said, putting all the energy I had into escaping the paralysis. “I’ll save y-”

  “Stop speaking.”

  I tried to speak, but my jaw clamped shut against my will.

  “Jesus isn’t gonna kill you. He doesn’t even wanna hurt you,” Sunshine assured. “But he does need to change you. And once you’re changed, we won’t have to fight Jason or people like him anymore. This way we’ll be safe. I’m trying to help you.”

  “It’s no use explaining it, kid. He'll have a better understanding once we show him.” The swordsman drove his blade further through my body. “Hunter, do you want to know what my Radius Ability is?”

  Isn’t it just those explosions?

  “No, they’re not the explosions,” he answered, as though he read my mind. “While my ejacu-splosions are fun to release, they’re only a small part of something bigger, something more powerful. It’s been years since I last activated since this world is full of selfish pricks, including me, because there's a condition I need to fulfill before using it. Take the life of someone unapologetically good.”

  I felt something flip inside me. It was white-hot anger that wasn’t just fear anymore. Strength surged through my limbs the same way it did when I absorbed normal energy. For a second I knew, with a certain clarity of instinct, that whatever Sunshine had done to my body was feeding me strength. Her energy was being swallowed by me, and with each tiny gulp I could feel stiffness uncurling, fingers loosening, voice returning.

  “Woah, Luz Solar, what’s going on?” Jesus asked with concern in his voice.

  Sunshine raised her eyebrow. “He’s absorbing… my energy. Molecular energy. But I thought he couldn’t absorb that.”

  “Well, if he breaks out, then you know what we’re gonna have to do, ri-”

  “Stop…” My daughter flinched as the words I wanted to say were finally coming out. “Stop… talking to her!”

  The floor cracked like glass. The chains holding me down shattered, and a beam tore out of my mouth, causing the traitorous bastard and my daughter to recoil. I spun, landing a punch on Jesus. Not even his guard could prevent his body from spiraling across the roof.

  Arms from behind coiled around my neck. “Dad, stop! I’m trying to save-”

  Adrenaline flared. “Get away from my child!” I roared, preparing to strike whoever was trying to stop me. But when I pulled the prick off of me, I realized that “prick” was Sunshine. My hand froze half an inch from her cheek. Not from her power. My fingers that should have been hard as steel became soft as wet tissue. My arms trembled and sagged.

  Before I could process what to do next, a familiar pain filled my leg. And then my other leg. My fingers uncurled around Sunshine’s face as I collapsed with a thud. Getting back up was difficult, but that “difficult” turned into an “impossible” once I realized my legs had been cut off.

  If that traitor thought I only needed my legs to kick some ass, then he had another thing coming.

  A snap cracked through the air.. It registered in my bones before the pain did. For a second I thought I thought the floor had cracked again Then the world tilted and the truth came like ice: my arms weren’t behaving. They weren’t following me.

  Then the shock hit.

  Another snap, and pain leapt up like fire. Both elbows were bent unnaturally, wrists dangling. My hands went numb, the energy that was humming at my palms dying like a fire with no wood to feed it.

  The hands gripping my broken arms were soft… and small. The hands that were used to hold my hand, to grip my clothes when she was scared, to fist bump me or give me a high five, to pat my head… The ones I’ve been taking care of for years.

  My daughter’s hands had now turned against me.

  I remembered what Consequences told me about Sunshine dying. After defeating Ricky and his partner, I assumed those words were false—words he only said to throw me off my game.

  It wasn’t until Sunshine’s face cursed my vision that I realized how right that man was.

  “My daughter… is dead.”

  “Sun, why are you-”

  Another stab to my back destroyed my words, but the swordsman didn’t leave me down this time. Instead, he picked me up into the air, displaying the shameful and regretful zombie for the entire city to see.

  “Oh, this part requires me to remove my mask,” the swordsman said, grabbing the hose of his horse head. “Don’t let my appearance shock you too much.”

  This was the moment I’d been waiting for. The one chance to see the face that ruined everything Victoria and I built. I thought a monster would be behind that mask.

  It turned out Jesus looked completely normal. Light brown skin, curly hair, brown eyes, and the face of someone who looked to be in his late twenties. Compared to Michael Corleone and Daemon, this man didn’t have a hint of evil in his looks.

  I gritted my teeth. It wasn’t like I didn’t have any energy to spare. But what was the point? If my kid wasn’t on my side, then who the hell was I even fighting for in the first place?

  Did I fail from the very beginning?

  “I’ll kill all sorts of savage beasts… with no fear of dying… and gladly live this hellish life to keep our sun shining,” I sang softly, praying my daughter would hear it.

  “Hey, kid, isn’t that the song your mom made?” Jesus asked dryly.

  Sunshine said nothing, staring at me with trembling hands.

  “C’mon, Sun.” I forced a laugh. “You know the words, right? No raging dog, no smelly beast, not even a hungry lion… will have my love rotting… ‘cause when I look up to the sky our sun is still…” I stopped. I waited and waited for her to finish the lyric, but after about thirty seconds, the realization that wasn’t gonna happen hit me like a truck.

  “This sad shit isn’t good for your resolve, kid. Let’s get this over with, ok?”

  It started small. A pinprick that detonated behind my ribs and sent a flare of pain ricocheting outward. I bit down so hard my teeth screamed. The next one detonated at my shoulder stump. Then another burst at my hip, then at the places where my legs had been, each pain a single, focused explosion.

  They didn’t come all at once. They triggered in sequence, like someone setting off a line of tiny grenades under my skin. With each mini-explosion I let out a sound that wasn’t a word anymore: a raw, animal shriek that clawed out of me and kept going until the whole street felt it.

  “Suuuunshiiiine!” I was gonna die. I didn’t wanna die. This was it. “Tell me… What did I do wrong! Why are you doing this to me!?”

  She didn’t answer. Of course she didn’t.

  “Jesuuus, you bastard! I will never di-”