If there was one thing I hated most about a post-apocalyptic world, it was raising my beloved daughter during the whole thing. With man-eating zombies and rabid animals mutated by nuclear energy along with radiation poisoning in our new environment, you’d think surviving would be the number one struggle, but my child had a way of taking the top spot pretty easily. After all, the only thing my six year old was worrying about right now was how she was gonna love and care for that giant doll I just got for her.

It only took traveling a couple of miles to an empty Walmart to get it for her, but at least she finally got it. Well, I also had to crawl and slide through tight spaces, run away from a pack of radioactive dogs, shoot a couple of zombies, nearly die… and yet seeing my daughter rub her adorable little cheek against that plastic doll’s face made it all worth it. She was the sun that illuminated a world now filled with darkness. That’s why her mom and I named her Sunshine!

“Hey Sunshine, don’t you think your old man deserves something in return for taking you here?” I asked, curling my lips into a cheeky smile. We were sitting against an aisle in the store, taking a break before the long journey we had ahead of us. The place reeked of death and despair, but of course my daughter couldn’t care less about any of those scents.

“Uh… you want a BoBoBo Baby doll too?” she replied, raising an eyebrow. “You’re way too old for one of these… but I guess I can give you some recommendations.”

“What? I’m not old. I’m in my thirties,” I said back, widening my brown eyes in embarrassment. “C’mon… What do we say when someone gives you something that you wanted?”

“Oh, thank you for the doll, Jerome!” she said, shoving the toy’s face into mine.

I laughed softly. “Saying thank you to someone is an essential part of life, kid. Especially in a world like this one… being kind to others when resources are down, trust is out the window, and enemies are lurking in every corner… is the best thing you can do. I wish more people were like that back at Woodshaven.”

“It’s hard for me to say things like ‘thank you’ or ‘please’ or ‘how are you’ ‘cause you never let me talk to anyone.” She twirled the doll’s blonde hair around her finger. “Not the other survivors, not any resource adventurers… I’ve never even talked to any other kids before. I like reading those old books you get for me, but it can be frustrating knowing I’ll never experience all those stories in person, you know?”

My daughter was well articulated for her age, so it wasn’t hard for her to express how she truly felt about certain aspects of our lives. However, there were many thoughts in the depths of her mind that I knew I had to dig out to get her to say them aloud.

“Sunshine, are you worried about your disease?” I asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. “Because you don’t have to worry-”

“But I do have to worry!” she said with a raised voice, clenching her doll’s head. “What if I… die without ever experiencing everything or anything a normal person should be able to do?”

I grabbed both of her shoulders. Her body felt tense and warm under her pink hoodie, despite how cold it was outside. “Hey, what did we say about mortality talk? You’re not gonna die. You’re never gonna die on my watch. This disease is gonna fly by like a bi-monthly cold, and if it doesn’t we’ll find a cure.”

“But you said my mom died with a disease like mine, right?” She licked her dry lips. “Or was it the same disease and she passed it onto me?”

I sighed, afraid of what I had to say next. “I… lied about that. She got bit by a zombie. Happened when she was pregnant with you, but she was able to give birth before we had to… take care of her problem.”

Her brown eyes bulged upon hearing this. “Bitten by a zombie…? But then how come what I have is so different from hers? Shouldn’t I have become a zombie too?”

“I don’t know to be honest,” I replied, removing my hands and caressing my bald, sweaty head. “Maybe yours came about during the whole nuclear event. It’s not radiation poisoning though, that I do know. The only reason I didn’t tell you for this long was ‘cause I didn’t want you thinking death was the only thing you had in store for your future. You’re not your mom. I hope you know that. There’s definitely a cure for you out there.”

“My mom couldn’t find a cure, and her problem was well known,” said Sunshine, her tone a little darker than before. “You don’t even know what caused this disease in the first place.”

“Kid, why do you think I named you Sunshine?”

“Because I illuminate your life or something like that.”

“Yeah, but it’s also because I know you’re capable of illuminating your own life.” I flashed a smile at her. “If you plunge yourself into darkness this early in your life, you’ll end up as zombie meat in no time. Then again, since I’m here that won’t happen anytime soon.”

“Because you’ll pull me out yourself?”

“Exactly, but you have to learn to do that yourself too. I mean, imagine if I ever became a zombie. At that point, you’ll probably have to protect yourself from me.”

A smile finally came back to her face. “I guess for now painkillers will have to do.”

“Yeah.” I stood back up and checked my backpack to see if all my survival items were where I left them. “We should be heading back now. We got a long walk ahead of-”

The sound of shattering glass and a loud thud cut off my sentence. Without hesitation, Sunshine and I cautiously checked to see what caused the noise. To our surprise, we found two men breaking into the Walmart, nearly tripping over the rock I assumed they had thrown to get inside. Behind them were a horde of zombies in pursuit of them, sauntering towards them like lazy kids on their way to school. They pulled pistols out of their belts and began shooting at the man-eaters, their bullets echoing across the store.

Judging by their camo jumpsuits and heavy amounts of gear, they were resource adventurers–survivors deemed skilled enough to venture out into the world and find food or other materials for any surviving civilization in need of them. They also were used to “deal with the problems of the apocalypse” such as getting rid of any zombies or radioactive bears in a peaceful area. Unfortunately for my daughter and I, they were doing a really bad job at doing that.

“What are those idiots doing?” I muttered, keeping Sunshine from sticking her head out too far. “If you're gonna use guns, at least have silencers on them to avoid attracting more zombies.”

“And they trapped themselves in here too… with no easy way to escape probably,” my daughter added. “Once more radions start coming through that door, they're screwed.”

Radion was a term that nerds… smart people used to describe zombies. Mostly because their bodies were filled with radioactive ooze that could infect anyone with a simple bite. Casuals like me just call them zombies. And Sunshine wasn't wrong. The more they shot, the more zombies came near the door, forcing them to move back. They're definitely about to trap themse… Wait!

“We're gonna be trapped in here,” I said worryingly, immediately grabbing my kid’s hand and creeping away from the aisle. “There's usually an emergency exit in these kinds of stores, so we just have to find one.”

“Jerome… my stomach doesn't feel-”

Suddenly, a loud cough burst from her lips, and her legs wobbled. I caught her just before she collapsed, quickly checking her mouth for any signs. As I feared, it was filled with blood, staining every corner. I picked her up and continued sneaking away from the scene, taking out some used paper towels from the pockets of my coat.

“I don't think they heard you, Sunshine,” I assured her, wiping away the blood. “With the gunshots and the zombie’s groans, I'm sure you'll be fi-”

“It hurts…” she murmured, gripping her torso.

“I know baby, I know. I have. I have a few painkillers in my bag, so we'll make sure you take that, ok?” I placed the bloody tissue back in my pocket as I came across an employee’s room. “And the sleeping pills will put you to sleep real quick. You won't even feel a thing. And I'll even carry you the whole way like I did last time.”

“No… it's not that,” she said in a pained tone. “It hurts being such a burden to your life. Things would be so much easier for you without me. You wouldn't have to keep getting all these medicines for me. You would be fine if I was never bo-”

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

“Hey, over there. I think I found another exit,” I interrupted, approaching an emergency exit that was at the back of the employee room. There was no way I was gonna let her finish that sentence. It was my duty as a father to never let her feel that way about herself, and I intended to keep doing that.

“You sure there won't be any zombies back there?” she asked, gripping her doll.

Taking her question into consideration, I placed my ear against the white door, checking for any incessant moans or groans behind it. Once I was confident we wouldn't meet any terrifying zombies upon opening it, I pushed the door open and took a step out. However, that confidence would soon be broken as a pair of zombies lunged at me, one of them attempting to take a bite out of my face.

Luckily for me, my daughter had somehow placed one of my extra knives from my backpack in her hoodie pocket, and stabbed the monster in its temple. The second zombie stepped over its fallen partner, and continued towards me. I swiped the knife out of Sunshine’s hands, and I was about to attack when a hole appeared on its forehead, green blood splashing on our faces while the zombie fell in front of us.

I turned around in shock as I realized that one of the adventurers had a gun in his hand, pointed at us.

“Where you two from?” the man asked, lowering the gun a little. His face was dripping with sweat and he took a heavy breath each time he said a word. “Forest Hills? Van Wyck?”

“We're from like… near Woodshaven,” I answered, holding Sunshine close.

“Ya’ll’s a long way from home then. Anyone know y'all out here?”

“Uh… yeah,” I answered, sensing how suspicious the guy was. “I got a couple resource adventurer friends back there. I let them know where me and my daughter were heading right before I left.”

The guy chuckled, showing off his bloody teeth. “You got adventurer friends in Woodshaven, eh? Explain to me how that is when that civilization don’t got any resource adventurers stationed there, you lying bitch?”

The moment he saw through my bullshit, I attempted to make a run for it, but he fired a warning shot near my foot before I could even move. “Listen man, if you want any of our stuff, just take it, alright?”

“We don’t want any of ya’ll’s shit. Just shut up and come on over here—nice and slowly of course,” he demanded, slowly backing up. “Jerry, I think I found the perfect escape plan! Get the hell over here already!”

At that moment, the other man who had initially broken into the Walmart ran into the room. “It’s getting bad out there, Ronald,” the adventurer said, pistol in his hand. “There’s way too fucking many, and I ran out of-”

“You blind? You don’t see the path to our freedom right behind you?”

The man, whose name I learned to be Jerry, looked behind him and his face lit up the moment he caught sight of the door. He didn’t even seem to realize that we were being held at gunpoint.

“Oh yeah, an emergency exit!” He began to walk over to the door. “Why the hell didn’t I think of finding one?”

“Maybe if you two stopped wasting our time, we can all get out of here!”, I shouted, subtly backing away.

The other man, whose name I learned to be Ronald, fired another warning shot that was dangerously close to my cheek.

“You move one more time, and the next bullet’s going in that kid of yours,” said Ronald, now aiming the gun at my daughter. “Gerald, grab ‘em!”

Before I could react, Gerald’s iron grip seized my arm like a vice. I twisted and thrashed, desperation surging through my body, but he was stronger, dragging me step by step toward the horde of zombies. I knew what these assholes were trying to do. As long as the zombies were distracted by trying to devour me, they could escape with as much noise as they wanted. The growls grew louder, and Sunshine screamed for the guy to let go of me, however, not even she could bring out any form of empathy out of these pricks.

They pushed me to the ground, my kid still in my arms, and they rushed out of there. I jumped back up and charged towards the door. Unfortunately, when I tried to open it, it felt like something sturdy was behind the door.

“Damn it,” I said under my breath. “They made a damn barricade to lock us in here.”

“What do we do now!?”, asked Sunshine, tugging at my coat.

I turned back, and… they were everywhere. Zombies had completely flooded the building and they were all staring at me. Their eyes were a bright green, and yet something about them looked so hollow and devoid of any emotion. It made sense considering they were dead versions of us, of humans. And if I didn’t think of something quick, Sunshine would be one of them. Or just dead. Both were equally bad.

“Sunshine, here.” I gave her a knife and set her on the ground. “I’ll distract them so you can get out.”

“What!? I’m not doing-”

“Now’s not the time to argue with me!” I shouted, rendering her silent. “I’m your father, remember? You’re not gonna survive this if we try and survive this together. That’s the truth of the situation here.” I pulled out a large machete from my backpack and hurled the bag at a zombie’s face, causing it to fall on a zombie behind it. They were getting closer, and the time to escape grew shorter. “Sunshine, if there’s help out there, send them to this location. I swear to you… I will not be dead by then.”

“No! Da-Jerome, I’m not-”

“Hurry up and run!” I screamed so loud that any zombie that had their disgusting eyes on my daughter immediately shifted their attention to me. Thankfully, she finally got the message and ran towards the exit. She was going to be safe… I knew she would. She was a smart girl. I got way too lucky with a kid like her. It was too bad that was probably the last time I’d ever see her face.

Well, now wasn’t the time for mortality talk… It was time to finish what I started.

“I’m right here, you pieces of shits!” I said with a dumb smile on my face. “You thought I was just gonna let you get a bite out of my kid, huh? Screw that and screw this whole apocalypse! You’re all about to die here!”

With that declaration shouted, I charged towards any zombie that looked weak enough for me to kill. With a tight grip on my weapon, I slashed and hacked, green blood filling the room and tainting my clothes. With each slice to their head, more of the undead monsters plummeted to the bloody floor. I stabbed, stabbed, and stabbed while my heart pumped intensely, adrenaline coursing through my veins.

However, every passing second felt like minutes, and I was growing tired. My breaths became heavy as the weight of everything I was currently doing and everything I had done in my past crashed onto me like a boulder. I slipped on a pool of green, falling to the ground. A zombie nearly bit my leg, but I was able to kick it away before it could. With a raspy roar, I hopped up and continued my zombie massacre.

That was until a pair of them grabbed onto me, allowing one of their undead allies to sink their black teeth into my arm. I shrieked in pain, mustering any kind of strength to try and rip the zombie off of me. I felt its radioactive saliva fill my arm, and I heard the growls growing closer. I didn’t have enough of a reach to cut the zombies’ heads. The only way I was gonna get out was… Fuck!

I summoned all of the willpower left in my soul and redirected it to my arm. Then, I gritted my teeth and brought the machete down to my arm, a flash of pain erupting within me. But I immediately shoved that pain down and continued to cut, cut, cut my arm. Blood gushed out like a fountain. The pain was getting worse. My determination was beginning to pierce the heavens. I had to keep going! What kind of dad would I be if I didn’t keep going!?

With one last slash, my arm and I were finally separated. My body crashed to the ground and, without a second thought, I brought myself back up, gripping my new stump in immense agony. Saliva spilled from my mouth uncontrollably and the world around me was spinning.

I was so tired… so fucking tired…

And yet… that didn’t change anything. I didn’t regret any of this.

I would never regret being a father. I would never regret being a father to Sunshine Hunter. Despair was not a feeling in my brain. Giving up was not an option in my brain! Regretting the life I chose to live would never be an option in my brain!

“You thought that was gonna kill me!?” I stabbed another zombie through its filthy brain. One of them punched me in my chin. I got back to my feet and punched it right back. “Jerome Hunter doesn’t die as long as Sunshine lives! The thing about the Sun is-”

A zombie pushed me to the ground. I got back to my feet and pushed it right back. “Is that it’s gonna outlive every single one of us, including ya’ll! Even after we die, its light is gonna is keep on illuminating our fucked up planet.” I slashed and slashed some more, nearly slipping on the blood again. “If I lose here… she’ll just come back and finish the job for me. ‘Cause she’s the light in our lives and she’ll shine over all of-”

My head was getting light… Damn it…

My legs trembled, sighing as I watched my essence spill out of my wound. Finally, after what seemed like hours, my knees gave out. Slowly, almost in surrender, I sank to the ground. The cold, sticky wetness met my back. I tried to get back up, but it was no use. My energy was tapped out.

The last of the zombies approached me at a speed that felt like a mockery to my efforts. These bastards were supposed to be mindless animals, and yet they knew they no longer had to try as hard to eat me now. I was easy pickings…

Who gives a shit though? I tried my best and got my kid to safety. That was all that mattered.

Dying wasn’t so bad… when you do it without any regr-

Unexpectedly, something crashed through the walls on both sides of me. Two massive green orbs smashed the zombies together in a thunderous collision. An explosion of blood erupted, splattering across the entire store like a grotesque canvas.

“Jesus Christ… they messed you up, man.”

The voice came from a man, clearly younger than me, who stepped off of the orbs as though he was the one who controlled them.

“Who… are you?” I asked weakly, trying to sit up.

He came up to me and crouched down. “My name’s Dante. Your kid ran up to me saying you were in trouble. You’re lucky I got here just in time. You would’ve lost way more than your arm. Good thing we’ve mastered limb attachment where I’m from.”

“Nice… I knew my daughter could do it.” I closed my eyes in relief. “She’s… strong.”