I had no family left. The five headstones made that terribly apparent.

  My mom — Beverly Hunter — was seemingly too tired of my lil brother and I’s shenanigans and decided a rope would treat her better than family. Ever since that really shitty day, her hanging body was the only memory of her that remained in my head.

  Not the laughs we shared or the fun we had.

  Just that.

  I didn’t know what problems Mom had that would make her commit such a fucked up act, but what was I gonna do about it? If that’s what made her happy, then she could do it a hundred more times for all I cared. She left me. My brother. The whole goddamn family.

  Screw a hundred times. Do it a thousand times.

  Despite my frustrations, Mom’s death didn’t hurt my brother and I as much as it did our pops — Jerome Hunter Sr. I only cared about how much damage it caused our family.

  And yeah, that’s right. I was a junior, but most of my character didn’t come from him.

  In fact, Dad and I couldn’t be any more different.

  He’d take out his anger on everything around him — our cheap furniture, the stray cats that chilled outside our apartment building, my teachers who wanted to fail me, my principal who wanted to expel me, my high school basketball teammates, my wrestling teammates, my brother, me, and all our other family.

  No one was safe from his daily rage and seasonal depression.

  If it weren’t for the potential success I could have in basketball, Dad probably either would've kicked me out or ended his own life.

  I never knew how he died. Dad never spoke to me again once I hit my thirties and no one ever sent me letters or e-mails about his health or lifestyle. Then again, there was one truth that was certain: no old man was getting far in an apocalypse.

  While my lil brother — Dayvon — wasn’t old, he damn sure felt like it. Everyone knew him as the geek of the family, and I always had to protect him from those street bums and kids with nothing else better to do. Him and I weren't close, but he was still family.

  And it wasn't like Dad was helping him.

  I didn't know if Dayvon was dead or not, but if he couldn't fight off normal people, then I knew the zombies would tear his ass up.

  My wife — Victoria — didn’t need much details about her death. It stung my heart whenever I thought about it. And it hurt even more remembering who had to put an end to our relationship.

  That brought me to the final and most recent headstone: my daughter — Sunshine Hunter.

  Death by betrayal.

  Now, it was only me left in the cemetery, cold breath washing over my face, grieving the losses, punching myself for my failures. I kicked the snow covering my brown boots onto Dad’s headstone, shoved my hands into the pockets of my green parka jacket, and began walking to the exit.

  But before I could pass by Sunshine’s headstone and put her life behind me, something hard hit the back of my skull. Shivering, I rubbed the snow off my head and turned around to see who ruined my moment of quiet melancholy.

  It was myself. And I wasn't saying that in the sense that I looked down, saw the remnants of the snowball in my hands, and came to the realization that the self-harm curse might’ve passed down to me.

  No, another me was in front of me, balling up snow between his green palms. He looked like me as a child — a zombie child. But I wouldn’t be eye level with a kid, which made me realize I had also turned into a kid.

  My brows furrowed as I checked my trembling hands.

  Eyebrows? Skin? Yeah, that confirmed it. “I’m human again.”

  The thought this was another State Between Absorption situation popped up in my mind. However, there weren’t any Type Twos I absorbed recently to experience this. Maybe this was a State Between Release? I couldn’t be sure. Sunflower didn’t seem to know any specifics about it. Only the basics.

  Maybe this was the afterlife. Did that tighty whitey horse prick kill me?

  Just then, my train of thought was interrupted by a snowball to the face. I staggered for a second, though I held myself up using Victoria’s gravestone.

  “What the hell?” I muttered, shaking the snow off my face. “We got a problem? Why would you even do that?”

  Mini Jerome snickered. “It’s ’cause you’re a bitch.” He threw another snowy attack, but I blocked it with my arms. “If you can’t even dodge that, then no wonder you screwed up in the family department.”

  “You know calling me a bitch is basically calling yourself a bitch, right?” I asked, grabbing a small lump of snow from the ground. Were zombies weak to snow? Even if it was frozen water?

  “Yeah, that’s right! We’re both bitches!” Mini Jerome exclaimed, jumping for joy. “You failed everyone you called family, and I failed you.”

  “No… not everyone. We still have Sunflower, don’t we?”

  “You still think that? Don’t you sense what’s wrong here? What's missing?”

  Before this moment, my body felt full. But as I watched the zombie kid make another snowball, it slowly became more apparent to me that something within me was missing, something was wrong, like a blizzard in Florida.

  Not only was Rosalina gone, but Sunflower too. Whether they were erased the moment Jesus defeated me or were just stuck to fend for themselves didn't matter.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  I failed them both. Add them to the growing list.

  My jaw tightened while the cold wind blasted my skin. “You said that you failed me, but this is the first time we’re meeting.”

  “No, it isn’t,” he replied. “We’ve met before. It was right after we embarrassed that weak ass girl you call a daughter now.”

  “You… You!?” I gritted my teeth, hurling the pile of snow at Mini Jerome.

  He spun with his arms out like a Beyblade, but his attempt at deflecting the attack failed. He wasn’t in pain — only laughed like a clown.

  “You’re the reason I’ve done all the fucked up shit in my life!” I released an onslaught of snowballs at him. “Everything was your fault. If you didn’t exist, then I wouldn’t be here right n-”

  “Are you dumb!? I am you!” Mini Jerome screamed, shielding himself from the snowy barrage.

  “No wonder everyone around me dies. No wonder Sunshine did what she did and left me for dead. It’s because of you!” My voice became shaky, eyes watering. “I tried everything to make the best of what we had. I tried to make everyone happy. I tried to keep everyone from hating me. But I could never do what was expected of me. How the hell was I supposed to be a good dad when no one ever showed me what one looked like!?”

  I stopped once the boy’s body was entirely painted in white. He didn’t retaliate with his own flurry of snowballs — just watched me with those black, soulless eyes.

  I looked down at my red hands, tears dripping onto them. “My own daughter lost hope and gave up on me… They all did. That’s why I’m all alone here. Nobody believes me. Nobody loves me. I don’t have anyone left. I’m completely alone…”

  The silence in the air was thick and long. Not even the cold could cool down the heat in my tense muscles. I hadn’t felt this human in a long time, and I hated it. I’d give anything to be a zombie again, to exchange all these human feelings for the empty husk that my undead body blessed me with.

  At that moment, a crack in my jaw reminded me of another thing I’d forgotten: pain.

  Pain from being punched in the jaw by my mini me.

  “Are you stupid!? No, am I stupid!?” he shouted, scratching his head.

  “Huh?”

  “Don’t ‘huh’ me!” Mini Jerome forcefully tugged at my shirt’s collar. “What do you mean ‘I don’t have anyone left’? You do have someone.”

  “Who?”

  “You have me!” There wasn’t any anger in his voice. He sounded disappointed, as though this was something I should’ve already known. “Weren’t you listening the first time we met? If you don’t have, if we’re not together, then we’re never gonna get through anything. I don’t care about your failures. I don’t care about what you did wrong in the past or the present. I don’t care if you’re not the best, or if you’re the worst, or if you can’t do it at all.”

  He paused, gritting his teeth. “Even if everyone else stops believing in you or loving you… I will never stop! I am… Jerome Hunter!”

  He hugged me. It was rough, though I didn’t focus on the pain. “There’s nothing wrong with loving yourself. Nothing!”

  A bright light dispersed the dark cloud that was raining on me. There was warmth in my body, but not the intense heat from before. I wanted to stay like this with him.

  No, with me.

  Although, the world cracking around me suggested that wasn’t gonna be the case.

  *******

  “BABABABABABABABA!” Sunshine didn’t understand the language of a Spider Baby, but if his thrashing underneath her aura-coated body was a sign, he probably didn’t like it. She didn’t blame him. Having your dark liquidy essence extracted from your mouth by a syringe must’ve felt like crap.

  It wasn’t so bad for Bibby though. Angela was there to caress his smooth skin as Dr. Banana finished up with the procedure.

  Sunflower sat on a chair next to Jerome’s body with a sour look on her face. She wasn’t as shocked to see the Spider Baby as Sunshine thought she’d be, but she must’ve already seen him in the zombie’s memories.

  “Alright, you can stop crying now, Bibby,” Dr. Banana said in an irritated voice, sitting back on his office chair. The liquid in the syringe was black and glittery, like he took a piece from space. “Alright, Sunshine, how about you do the honors?”

  Her mouth gaped a little. “Me? I can’t do that. What if I screw up?”

  “You can’t screw something up so bad that it’s unfixable,” he said. Sunshine already had a few contentions to that statement, but she didn’t say them. “Besides, he’s your old man. If you love him, then you won’t screw up.”

  “If you say so,” she said worriedly. Once Bibby calmed down, Sunshine climbed off of him and received the syringe from the banana man. If only she read more medical books than supermarket magazines and comic books, then there wouldn’t be this fear something would go wrong.

  But Sunshine walked to Jerome anyway, gripping the item tight. After wishing he’d be ok about twenty times in her head, she brought the needle closer to her father’s chest.

  “Wait,” Sunflower said, placing a hand on the girl’s wrist. “If Jerome wakes up-”

  “When he wakes up,” Sunshine corrected.

  “When… Jerome wakes up-” she whispered. “You’ll have to apologize. You can hide what you did from everyone else and make them think you’re an innocent girl who can do no wrong, but it won’t work on him. So… just apologize. It’s the first thing you have to do.”

  Sunshine’s eyes squinted. Her “sister” underestimated her. Of course she’d apologize, and once Dad heard that, everything would go back to normal. They’d train together, get stronger together, and stop anyone else who wants to screw their life up.

  Together.

  She pierced the needle through Dad’s oozy chest and pressed down on the plunger. The black glittery liquid entered and darkness immediately surged throughout his body. His ooze solidified, turning into muscle. His skeleton became less visible. Limbs twitched like he was being electrocuted.

  And then, he jumped.

  Jerome landed on the floor, fists tightened, looking around.

  Alive.

  Sunshine froze. She wanted to run up and hug him, feel his warmth on her body, and make sure she wasn’t hallucinating.

  Sunflower did it first. Dad didn’t hug her back and that relieved Sunshine a bit.

  “What… happened? Where am I? Why am I here?” It took a couple more seconds for him to realize who was standing in the room with him. “Sunflower? You’re alive…?”

  “I’m alive? You’re alive, you dummy!” Sunflower laughed softly. “You’re alive… You scared me there, old man.”

  “And is that… A-Angela?”

  Angela waved at him, smiling. “Hey there, friend. Didn’t think you’d see me again, huh? You don’t look a day over… deceased.”

  Sunshine clawed at her own skin. It felt disheartening she wasn’t the first person the zombie noticed, but a twinkle in her eyes appeared once his head turned to her.

  It wasn’t the loving look a dad would give his daughter. It was a blank expression that tore that little twinkle she had into shreds.

  Her mouth opened to say something. The words never came out.

  Jerome looked at his body, ran his fingers through his returning beard, and said, “I look different. Can someone tell me what happened?” Dr. Banana caught his attention. “Maybe this banana guy. He looks smart.”

  “I like this man already. He’s got a good eye,” Dr. Banana said, satisfied with that response.

  Everyone each recounted their own events from the past week to Jerome, including Sunshine who left out certain details of her lonesome journey to Manhattan. The mention of Jason and what he’d been doing was heavy enough to make her dad sit back on the bed.

  “We are, uh, not in a good position,” Jerome said, rubbing his head. “Jesus Christ, I’ve been thinking it was February this entire time.”

  “Yeah, I guess you could call Hallowsville a total loss,” Sunshine said. “But no worries, right? Jason gave us a month to get stronger, and I know we’ll be able to do that.”

  Her dad didn’t respond. He didn’t even look at her.

  Jerome patted Sunflower’s arm. “Sorry about your Mom, Sunflower. We’ll get her back.” Her “sister” nodded. “And I’ll have to check up on Emmy too. I’m the reason she’s in danger, after all.”

  “Yeah, yeah, we’ll do… all of that.” Sweat ran down Sunshine’s face. Now it felt like she was barging into a conversation no one wanted her to be a part of.

  He bumped his fists together. “I’ll get Kofi to make us the strongest fighters who’ve walked this Earth. And then we’re gonna beat Jason, and then I’m gonna personally destroy that tighty whitey wearing prick.”

  “Dad!” Everyone looked at Sunshine, aside from the one she wanted to look at her the most. “I wanted to talk to you about, uh… you know, I feel about what happened.”

  Dad glanced at her, resting his hands at his side. “What happened?”

  “Wha-What do you mean ‘what happened’? You don’t remember?” To be honest, that would’ve been the preferable outcome.

  “Oh, I know what happened,” he replied dryly. “I was just asking you what happened.”

  “I think it would be more beneficial for us to not mention anything specifically, but I do feel bad about what happened.”

  “So, you’re apologizing?” Dad asked, turning his whole head to her.

  Sunshine’s eyes widened slightly. “Yeah, I’m sorry.”

  “Ok, I don’t forgive you.”

  “Um, Dad, I said I’m sorry.”

  “Yeah, and I don’t forgive you.”

  Sunshine chuckled awkwardly. “Uuuh, you might still be a little dazed from being revived. We kinda have bigger fish to fry, so it would logically be better if you-”

  “Forgive you? Give you closure?” It felt like listening to a volcano about to erupt. “No, you don’t deserve that. You have to live with the shitty thing you did for the rest of your life. You have to know that it never was and never will be ok.”

  She hesitated to keep speaking. Then she realized how stupid his words were. “Don’t you think we’d both feel better if we put this aside-”

  “Feel better? I died, Sunshine. I’m not gonna feel better after experiencing some shit like that. And you’re not gonna use my forgiveness to make yourself feel better.”

  Sunshine gritted her teeth. “You think you’re the only one who suffered? I haven’t eaten or drunk anything for almost five days. I took care of you for almost a week!”

  “I’ve been taking care of you for nine years.”

  Her heart pounded, thinking of any response that would put an end to this. But everything she thought of were just things Jerome could easily counter. Except… for one thing.

  “Remember when we were alone in that car? You said sorry for things I didn’t even care about, and I forgave you in an instant. Why is this any-”

  “Sunshine, I do not forgive you.”

  The girl stepped back, gripping her arm.

  “Wait, Jerome,” Sunflower said, grabbing his shoulder. “She’s just a kid. Maybe she didn’t know any better.”

  “You and I both know Sunshine’s way smarter than you think she is. She saw a future in her mind where doing what she did would benefit her and only her. And she chose that in a heartbeat.”

  This isn’t right. This isn’t how it’s supposed to go. She lied to me. Apologizing didn’t do shit!

  “Angela, I'm assuming my daughter hasn't told you this, so I'll tell you for her. She has a tracker surgically planted in her back. From the Underground Radius. If anyone here can, I hope you can get that removed.”

  “A tracker!?” Dr. Banana shouted. “And you brought her here!?” He took out what looked like a walkie talkie from his lab cost pocket. “Rachel, I need you here immediately! We got a case 404 over here.”

  “Once your tracker is out, Sunshine, I’ll make sure we train hard-”

  “Fuck you!”

  Sunshine ran out of the room.

  Jerome didn’t run after her.