Three days of traveling through woods and barren neighborhoods, killing anything that came her way — anything that tried to rip the man on her back out of her grasp. Three days without food or sleep, forcing herself not to see the radioactive animals she killed as meat, or the blood of Radions as water.

  Three days without rest. But she couldn’t. She didn’t deserve to.

  To make up for what happened, her legs needed to keep moving — no matter how heavy they got. Keep moving until she reached the destination Jason marked on the Status Board.

  Central Islands.

  Jerome never let Sunshine come with him on his trips there, but she’d heard the stories: that the Central Islands used to be one giant park in the heart of Manhattan. Then came the bombs, twisting it into a cluster of floating islands suspended over a lake filled with nuclear energy.

  At her current walking pace, the phone estimated Sunshine would reach her destination in another twenty-four hours, but that wasn’t gonna cut it. If she didn’t hurry up, Jerome’s condition could worsen.

  Then again, would hurrying up even matter? Once her dad woke up… If her dad woke up, he'd still be pretty angry. Would doing this even make up for what she did?

  Of course it would, Sunshine thought, finally closing in on something that wasn’t full of trees and grass.

  According to the map, Hallowsville used to be an Old Earth city called “Jersey City”, and the only way to get to Manhattan was through a bridge called the 78. Why was it called 78? Was it 78 miles long? Have 78 people died while crossing it? Was there a 78% chance of dying there?

  The answer to her questions quickly became clear. Ahead stood the entrance to the 78 Bridge — a massive metal gate crowned with barbed wire, as if daring anyone to try and pass. Wooden boards were nailed to the gate, blocking her eyes from seeing the interior. From beyond it came cheering, screaming, and the sharp clang of metal on metal. The sounds blended together, like a stadium full of people celebrating something they shouldn’t.

  Either the humans inside were fighting Radions or their own kind. Sunshine hoped for the former, setting Jerome down and getting ready to knock. Two taps on the wood. No one answered. Four knocks. No one answered again.

  Usually in rowdy environments like these, there was a bouncer or security guards to uphold the peace. On the other hand, hoping for a peaceful environment was wishful thinking. Hoping they’d hear her tiny fists knocking through all this noise was even more wishful thinking.

  So she transitioned to banging, hopefully irritating the shit out of anyone who was the closest to the gate. About two minutes passed, and the sheer annoyance of her banging eventually got someone behind the gate talking.

  “Stop banging on the fricking door!” the woman demanded, hitting the gate.

  “I wanna pass through here!” Sunshine shouted, hitting it right back.

  The woman Sunshine assumed was security struck the gate even harder than before, as though this was a competition. “What’s the password, kid!? We don't just let anybody walk through the 78!”

  Password? Seriously? I don’t have time for this. “I don’t know the password! But I’m not here to hang out! I just wanna get to Manhattan!”

  “If you don’t know the password, then you’re not getting through!”

  “But I want to get through? I need to, ok!? It’s for something important!”

  “That’s not how it works! If you want something, you better be prepared to offer something in return. If you can’t do that, then figure out what the password is!” The security guard paused for a bit before continuing. “Besides, a little girl like you wouldn’t survive the 78 – let alone Manhattan. But if you wanna get there so bad, then you’ll have a safer time swimming the river under us. Good luck!”

  Sunshine didn’t want that to be the end of the conversation, but annoying the woman with a shit-ton of knocking wasn’t a good move. Glancing up at the barbed wire, she thought about the dangers of climbing something that clearly didn’t want to be climbed.

  Jerome wouldn’t care though. He’d laugh and jump right over it.

  I’d kill to hear that laugh again.

  After considering how useless the other options were, Sunshine saddled the Type Two on her back and started her ascent up the gate. The thin cracks between the boards gave her just enough space to wedge her boots in. The cold metal beneath Sunshine’s palms stung like ice. Strands of hair — too long and too curly to manage — kept falling over her eyes, blocking her view of the top. Blowing it away didn’t help. The wind pushed the strands right back.

  She reached the gate’s highest point, but didn’t cross it yet. The mayhem below had her attention in a chokehold.

  Purple, black, and red painted the 78 bridge. Around a hundred people in dark purple leather jackets lined with spikes and black pants were having the time of their lives. Laughs were shared and drinks were drank. Walls as tall as the gate stood at the right and left of the 78, preventing anyone from being pushed off by the chaos within.

  It would’ve been the perfect place to have fun if it wasn’t for the bloodshed taking place in the middle.

  Bloodshed that they found uncomfortably hilarious.

  The blood shed by the ones swinging knives and broken bottles shocked her.

  The blood oozing from her nose shocked her even more.

  Sunshine wiped her nose, then smeared the crimson mess across her tank top, adding more to the bloody artwork. Did she get hit by something? Was this from overworking herself? Or was this the Sunvirus making a return?

  The third option seemed least likely. Her disease hadn’t been active for days — not since she ate those plants Jerome gave her. Eating all of them in one sitting must’ve made the Sunvirus dormant. If that was the case, the nosebleed was probably from how tired she was.

  Her father wouldn’t care though. Exhaustion wasn’t a problem for him, and that meant it shouldn’t have been a problem for Sunshine.

  Sunshine’s grip around the metal tightened. Her legs bent down, her body stretching like a rubber band ready to snap. Every muscle in her arms screamed, but she ignored the pain. With the last bit of strength she had left, she launched herself. The metal gate groaned under the sudden burst, and then she was flying, hair whipping, lungs burning, Jerome still in her arms.

  Sunshine slammed into the 78 Bridge with a sharp crack that silenced everything for a moment. Every pair of eyes turned toward her.

  Their devilish face tattoos were cool until she realized those were probably a reflection of their character. Bad people tended to hide their faces as much as possible. Jason, Jesus, and now these… gang members?

  Sunshine didn’t wear a mask, so what would that make her then? A girl about to be bad or a girl who still had a chance?

  A big guy picked her up with one arm, but she made sure to hold Jerome close. “Who the frick is this crashing the party, bruh!?”

  “That's a kid!”

  “One of ours!?”

  “Heck nah, dummy! She don't got no tats!”

  “Maybe it washed off or sumtin!?”

  “Since when do tats go away from sum gosh darn wata!? Are ya stupid or a dumb butt!?”

  “No, you're a dumbbutt!”

  The two raised their fists and collided in a clash of drunken foolishness — a battle to decide who could be the biggest fool among fools. A shout cut through the ruckus, sharp enough to slice the laughter clean in half.

  Everyone froze and scrambled to the walls — everyone except the brute still holding Sunshine. The silence was louder than the cheering had been, like disobedience itself could get you killed.

  They were already bloodied and battered from all the fighting they themselves started. How more messed up could their boss make them?

  Stomping toward them came a man with locs as long as his trench coat and an axe that scraped his boots. People trembled at the sight of his gritted teeth. Sunshine wondered if his bite could rival the crocodile he’d skinned to make that coat. The hood — its mouth of sharp teeth stretched across his forehead — made it a tough call.

  With a presence like this, he must've been the leader. However, the voice was feminine, so unless this guy was actually a gal, someone else was calling the shots.

  That would immediately be proven right as Crocodile Man was launched to the right by a kick. The one behind that kick was a girl gritting her teeth even harder than her victim.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Her hair was styled in a thick, braided mohawk that looked like it was dunked in blue and violet paint. Her attire matched everyone else in the gang with the addition of the phrase “ONE DIRECTION” on her white bra.

  “What’s this fart I’m hearing about a kid landing in our spot?” she said, tilting Sunshine’s face up by the chin, squinting her eyes. “If it wasn’t for that skin, I would’ve thought she was a man-chomper.”

  “Uuuuh, boss, there’s actually a…”

  The big guy pointed at Jerome’s body, prompting the boss to take a closer look. Suddenly, a shriek erupted from her as she jumped up and down like a kid who’d just seen a ghost.

  “Get it out! Get it the frick out of here!”

  The big guy flinched, and then nodded. “You got it, boss!” He then whispered to Sunshine, “You fricked up bringing man-chomper in here. Boss has got a big fear of ‘em.”

  When she says ‘get it out of here’, does she mean… the water!?

  Sunshine clawed through the man’s arms. He reeled back, wincing, releasing Sunshine from his grasp. Blood seeped from his new marks. A “frickin’ batch” snuck past his lips while his glare snapped toward her.

  She jumped back in. The big man attempted to dodge, but her arms had already reached him. Sunshine hooked her arms around the brute’s neck, locking tight. It was a chokehold Jerome once showed her, back when he could nerd out about wrestling without something life-threatening getting in the way.

  She didn’t know if it looked good. Maybe when her dad woke up, he could demonstrate it again. And again. And again. Until their movements became slow and ragged, and sleeping was all they wanted to do.

  Slowly, the man’s thrashing dulled. She kept squeezing.

  “Tap out! C’mon, you know you wanna!” Sunshine said, ramping up the intensity. “No one here… is gonna touch my dad!”

  He tapped her arm once. Then again. Harder.

  Sunshine let him go. Kicking him off of her failed, though he got the message and crawled away in shame.

  “Poppers, she did you like that!?” Crocodile Man yelled, his mouth gaped. “God, you’re such a batch!”

  “Yeah, she made you her batch!” a section of the gang said in unison.

  “She’s tougher…” The big guy coughed, caressing his neck. “than she looks, guys!”

  The boss quickly shifted from her terrified demeanor to a boisterous laugh, slapping her tummy as if it were fifty pounds larger than what it really was.

  “Gosh, this lil girl gave you a run for yo money, Poppers!” She wiped a tear from her eye. “You frickin’ suck, dude!”

  These people talk very uniquely, Sunshine thought, rushing back to Jerome.

  The boss crouched down and leaned in uncomfortably closer to Sunshine’s face. “I ain't never seen someone choke a man out over a man-chomper before – especially in that man’s territory. You got balls, lil girl. Bigger balls than me even.”

  “But girls don't have balls!” someone in the crowd shouted.

  A vein popped out of the boss’s head. “You know what the girl version of balls is!?”

  “No, I don't!”

  “Then shut the frick up!” After shutting down that correction attempt, she turned back to Sunshine. “You earned my respect, so we not gonna touch yo dad. We'll even be nice and let you leave here in one piece. Isn't that right… Death Riders!?”

  “Yeah!” everyone said altogether, throwing their fists into the air.

  “Now run along before we change our minds and kick you out. Painfully.”

  “I'm not going anywhere except forward.” Sunshine pointed to the path ahead. “I wanna go to Manhattan. Is that ok?”

  The boss furrowed her blue brows. “No can do.”

  “Why!?”

  “You barged in here – no, you flew in Death Rider territory without knowing the gosh dang password. You brought in a man-chomper. And if that wasn't disrespectful enough, you then choked out one of my guys until he had to tap out like a little batch.”

  “You found that last part hilarious though. You said I earned your respect.”

  The boss scoffed. “Respect don’t mean I like you, lil girl. In my dictionary, showing respect is not bashing your skull in with my boots. Respect is letting you leave here in one piece. I don't like you. You hurt one of my family. I should never like you. Buuuut, I'm known to forgive easily as long as I'm getting something out of it.”

  Oh shoot. Was that her brother?

  “And what’s that?” Sunshine asked, backing away from her face.

  She squinted and then smirked. “Guns!” The gang members cheered like a crowd in an arena. “Pistols, Rifles, Machine Guns, fricking RPGs maybe! Riders don't got guns anymore, so that's what we want. If you can tell us where to get ‘em, then we'll let you through.”

  That light in her eyes showed how serious she was, but asking a kid for information demonstrated her desperation. “Why are you assuming I know anything about guns? As far as you know, I'm just a kid.”

  “The fact that you just asked that shows you're not just some innocent kid. Besides, I can see it in your eyes.” The boss inched closer and grabbed Sunshine’s face. “You saw things. Bad things, haven't you? And you've done things. Bad things, haven't you?”

  Sunshine didn't answer those questions.

  “But underneath all that sadness in your eyes, there's a lil crazy in there. The type of crazy that lets you carry around your dead daddy around like a backpack. So what do you say? You tryna tell us some info?”

  He’s not dead. She wanted to say that out loud, but getting into a long tangent about that would be a waste of time. “Hallowsville, maybe. I saw some dudes there with rifles. You guys could probably steal-”

  “Yeah, we done here,” the boss interrupted.

  If there was anything else Sunshine wanted to say, the boss clearly didn’t wanna hear them. Her legs were already moving in the opposite direction.

  “Huh? Why!?” Sunshine slammed her fist down, the sound echoing like a gunshot. “I told you what you wanted!”

  As if to challenge the girl’s anger, the boss slammed her feet down, the charms on her spiky boots shimmering in the sun. “No, you told me the easiest way to get the Death Riders fricked beyond repair! We ain’t scared of nobody, but word’s going around that Jason’s been on a rampage for the past three days. We might ride on death like it’s the road, but torture ain’t death.”

  “Yeah!” some random dude in the gang agreed.

  “Also, if you actually knew fart about Hallowsville, you’d know those motherfrickers have less guns than they do murders, and more knives than they have guns. You ain’t do proper research, and now you wasted our time with your fart-baked info.”

  “Look, I’m just trying to save my dad, ok!? Why is that so complicated!? Why is that so bad!?” She brought Jerome closer. “I don’t care about anyone or anything else. Just him. If I can bring him to this place in Manhattan… then maybe someone could fix him. So just let me through so I can do that.”

  The boss began chuckling, which then transformed into a huge laugh — a laugh that infected all of the Death Riders.

  “Y-Y’all hear this batch!?” She nearly tripped on her own feet. “This lil girl don’t know my name. This lil girl don’t know any of y’all’s names. She ain’t even ask for them. She don’t know our rules, our motto, how we fricking role. Does she know any of that!?”

  “No!” the gang roared.

  “And yet, she making demands like she strong, like she mean anything.” The boss turned to Sunshine. Her glare felt like a knife had just stabbed the girl’s throat. “You don’t care about anyone or anything else? You not getting far thinking like that, girl. No wonder your daddy’s dead.”

  Sunshine’s chest tightened. The boss’s words echoed in her skull like they were being shouted through a megaphone pointed straight at her brain. Something inside her twitch. Her breathing quickened. Her heartbeat grew louder and louder, rising over the laughter. It thundered in her ears until it drowned out everything else.

  Thoughts fell away. Even the weight of Jerome on her back faded behind a red haze.

  Sunshine stepped forward, then another step, then she was sprinting, fist clenched so tight her nails dug into her palm. She didn’t care who the boss was. She didn’t care about names, rules, or mottos. All she knew was that she was going to shut that woman up.

  She swung.

  The world flipped sideways as a boot smashed into her face. The punt cracked the air like a whip, sending Sunshine slamming into the ground. Dirt filled her mouth. Blood seeped from the newly formed gash on her cheek.

  Everything was fading. Quickly.

  Sunshine wanted her body to move, but it disobeyed. Her Radius Ability would've been good here, but it stopped working ever since she left Hallowsville.

  She couldn’t control her powers, her body, or the situation. She couldn’t control time.

  She couldn’t control anything.

  Including her eyes.

  ******

  Sunshine’s stomach growled, as though a pack of lions took shelter inside of her. Hatred filled every part of her, but that hate couldn’t be directed toward the Death Riders — not when they were kind enough to leave Jerome’s body next to hers when they could’ve easily tossed him into the river.

  And if they weren’t deserving of her anger, then the only one left was… herself. Pride, ego, selfishness — Sunshine chose these over keeping Jerome in her arms, and now she lay on the grass with even more pain than last time.

  She gripped her dad’s arm. It was colder than the gate.

  Wisps of her weak aura coated Sunshine’s hand as she slowly brought it to his mouth. His jaw slacked open and she slipped her hand inside. The blood of mutated animals and the ooze of Radions couldn't revive him.

  But maybe… just maybe her dad would react to this. Even if the offering was small, even if she risked losing a hand, there had to be some kind of reaction.

  Nothing happened.

  “Dad, I’m sorry…” Her face crumpled, tears slipping down her cheeks. It stung like hell. “Mommy, I’m sorry for doing this. Daddy… I’m sorry… for killing you.”

  Even if he could be revived, even if she kept denying it, Sunshine had done irreparable damage to what they had. But while it couldn't be denied, she could at least think about other things.

  Like the Radions staring at her from behind a tree.

  Their signature groaning had caught her attention. Although, they didn’t attack. That hunger that was supposed to be in their eyes wasn’t there — replaced by a childlike curiosity.

  Drool escaped from her mouth.

  Rotten flesh never looked so good.

  She crawled toward them, bringing Jerome with her. They didn’t move, though her hunger didn’t want them to.

  Her teeth sunk into the foot of one of the Radions, the delectable taste sending a wave of euphoria crashing down on her. The meat embraced her tongue, and Sunshine embraced the wonderful feeling it provided.

  Sunshine tore another strip of flesh from the Radion’s foot, letting the taste melt through her body. She wanted more. She needed more.

  Her fingers dug into the Radion’s ankle, ready to drag its other leg closer to her mouth, but the chance vanished in an instant. Arrows from the right pierced through the skulls of the undead, dropping them like stones. She snarled, jerking her head back up to see who’d ruin a perfectly good meal.

  A quintet of people in camo uniforms were the culprits, and Sunshine recognized who they were affiliated with.

  “Resource Adventurers,” she whispered, her body trembling.

  Three of them were wielding bow and arrows, aiming at her.

  “There’s still one more. Do we shoot, Garlic?”

  The man in front — who Sunshine presumed was Garlic — raised his hand, prompting the questioner to lower his weapon. “We don’t shoot until we do the human test, rookie.” His face looked like he’d been attacked by a pack of cats. “Girl, what's your name?”

  Sunshine didn’t answer, and went back to eating.

  “Ah, what the fuck?”

  “I’m gonna be sick…”

  “I thought I was seeing things at first, but she’s really eating that shit.”

  “That’s not a ‘she’— that’s some kind of… monster.”

  “Don’t make such baseless assumptions, rookie,” said Garlic. “Not until we finish the test. For all we know, she could just be a kid down on her luck or going mad — who knows? Girl, if you can hear me, raise your left pinky finger.”

  Once again, she didn’t respond.

  “Girl… this is your last chance. Say a single word. Anything that’s intelligible. Or we will give you the same kind of treatment we gave those zombies.”

  Thirty seconds passed, and Sunshine just now got to the bone.

  Blood exploded from her hip, knocking her back a few meters. Her stomach began to burn, though it wasn’t the same warm feeling the food filled it with — it burned. She hovered her hands over the arrow lodged deep in her body.

  “You should've gone for the head. You wasted a perfectly good arrow.”

  “Shut it, rookie.”

  The Resource Adventurers rushed to Sunshine’s side. Not to tend to her injury, but to finish the job.

  I deserve this. I deserve this. I deserve this.

  Her dad didn’t.

  She let out a cough, which shocked the group. Then, the words began coming together.

  “Don’t hurt… my dad.”

  For the second time that day, she couldn’t control her eyes.