According to the afro man, whose name turned out to be Geremiah, we would be forced to play in a game that was a combination of a regular race and tag. Except the rules, restrictions, and conditions for the participants seemed a little unnecessary to me. The path to Hallowsville from our current location would take us about a week to traverse, not including any obstacles we’d have to face on our way such as any random fights we might have.

Obviously, there’d be two teams for the game. Team B, which consisted of Sunshine, Jesus, and me. Then, there was Team A, which had Dante and Geremiah. You’d think that since we had more manpower, Dante’s team would be at a disadvantage, however, I had a strong belief that that wasn’t the case. I was pretty sure Geremiah didn’t consider Sunshine to be a participant he needed to take seriously, and I… agreed with that. I wouldn’t tell her that to her face though. It was either that or the guy was confident he could win a two-on-three. He did make “G.O.D” his nickname, after all.

During those seven days, we could use three as rest days if we chose. If we used four or more days to rest, then Geremiah would inflict our team with a “penalty” or “punishment”. I had no idea how the man would be able to know whether we did that or not until he raised his hand and summoned two referees from nothing. They were shaped like humans, and yet their bodies were metallic. They also had robotic, yellow eyes that stared at me, flashing at random times. That moving red dot on Geremiah’s status board was Jason’s tracker, and the refs had that information installed in them like a GPS.

He said there were other random rules, but since Geremiah had come up with the game on the fly, he couldn’t tell us what the rules actually were. Well, it shouldn’t have been too bad or unfair if he didn’t know the rules too. Although, it would be bad if he was lying about that…

While the two teams would have to move on different roads to Hallowsville, Geremiah assured us that none of us would have an advantage over the other.

Even though that was all the information we needed to know, I still had one other question I needed G.O.D to answer.

“Why did Jason go along with this stupid game?”, I asked Geremiah. “He wouldn’t be the type to do that.”

Geremiah’s disapproving frown stretched down further as his eyes dilated even more, piercing my soul. “I thought the answer was obvious. It’s because Jason fears me.”

“Huh? So you’re stronger than him? If that’s the case, then how the hell can you know the type of person Jason is and let that guy live!?”

“That’s enough questions, zombie man. I didn’t think a brainless animal could store so many questions inside its head,” he retorted, the tips of his afro falling over his eyes. “I think it’s time we start this game already.” He placed a hand on the referee’s head—the one he had next to him. “Start the timer. Make it two minutes.”

The robot began to tremble, as though G.O.D had hands made of lightning. Then, its mouth opened, and it started a countdown.

119 seconds!

“Jesus, what were you thinking including us in this shit?”, I whispered to him. “And you never told me you had a son.”

“Have. My son’s still alive,” he asserted. He sounded like I just committed a great offense but was trying to contain himself. “And don’t you think I’ve told you enough about my identity?”

“No, you haven’t,” I answered. “Me and my daughter know nothing about you besides you being a former Radius member. We don't even know what you look like under that mask. For all we know, you could be a sp-”

“Ya basta, sheesh.” Jesus sighed, rubbing the mane on his horse head. “I see what the little lady means now. You really don’t have a lot of faith in anyone.”

My voice raised a little bit. “Sunshine would never say anything like that! I don’t even know why you think she’d be up for this game. She’s obviously on my side about this.”

“You sure about that?” he asked, pointing at my daughter. She was stretching her legs like a track runner, and then started practicing her bat swings a couple seconds after. “Your kid wants Jason out of her life just as much as you do, but she’s smart enough to know you can’t just yell out some words or throw some punches and think people will do what you say. Sometimes, you gotta find a way to win using another method. Follow the rules perhaps.”

“How about they follow my fist going into their face after I change those rules!?” I said that so confidently that I almost thought Jesus would change his mind about the whole thing.

“Hombre muerto… that was really corny. I know guys get cornier with age but damn, man.”

“Shut up! Just give me a good reason why we have to do this.”

“Listen, since you yourself are a papi, then you should be able to understand my situation here. Our self-proclaimed God here made it personal and involved my family. That got me intrigued to go along with all this. You can't tell me if you were in my boots and the only way to find your daughter was to win this game that you wouldn't do it.” Jesus placed a hand on my shoulder. “Jerome, I'm asking you as a fellow papi to another, let's run this race so we can both get what we want.”

I paused, thinking of how I wanted to respond back to him. For someone who always spoke like a man who didn’t take anything seriously, his voice was different this time. He sounded like… me. “Alright, I’ll do it. It’s not like I had a choice anyway. We’re all going to the same place.” It’d be hypocritical to care so much about Rosalina’s problems, but not help out Jesus with his.

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Jesus shook my hand. “I hope you can keep up with me. After all, I am a horse man.”

“Well, I have one thing I need to discuss with my kid before we do this, horse man. I got a lead on a potential cure for Sunshine all the way in Philadelphia.”

“Philly?”

“Yeah, and if she thinks it's more important to check that out first, then that’s what we’re gonna do.”

“Well, with a reason like that then it wouldn’t feel right to stop you. But doing that would be forfeiting the game, and I’m sure you won’t be allowed to pursue Jason as long as Geremiah’s around.”

I began to approach Sunshine, patting Jesus on the back. “Then I’m sure you’ll be able to kill Jason for us, right?”

He chuckled softly, leaving the question in the air.

99 seconds!

“Sunshine, you look pumped for this,” I said, crouching down.

“Of course I am,” she said, hopping in place like a bunny. “Geremiah’s ability is tricky, but it shouldn’t be too challenging as long as we’re together.”

“I don’t really care if it’s tricky. I’m more worried about the danger of it.”

“You don't have to worry about any danger,” she assured. “From the time I spent with him, he didn’t really give off any sinister vibes.”

“I was more so talking about the danger you’ll be in. Sunshine, I really don’t think-”

Sunshine stopped jumping and put a hand in front of my face. “Hold it right there. I just really need to say this since I wasn’t able to before.” Her eyes lit up. “You look sooo cool now! How’d you get such a cool transformation in the first place!? You said you absorbed someone, right?”

“Yeah,” I answered, confused as to why she interrupted our serious conversation like that. “Got it today actually. But seriously though, I don’t think you’re-”

“Look at your hair! You finally have hair now. I bet that feels good since you’ve been bald for so long. And that smile is so cool too. I bet you’re like really strong now, right? Maybe we co-”

“Sunshine, why do you keep interrupting me?” I said, my voice now stern. “I don’t think you realize how serious this is. Your life is at stake here.”

Sunshine furrowed her brows. “I keep interrupting you because I know I’m not gonna like what you’re gonna say sometimes. And you just proved me right. Do you really think Jason could kill me? You saw me fight him.”

“But did you beat him? No, you didn’t.” I caressed her puffy hair. It’s changed since the last time I saw her. It was like basketballs were on top of her head–held together by rubber bands. “For your situation, you can’t just be satisfied with beating someone. You’re gonna have to do more than that if you want to be a fighter. I don’t know if the Radius want to capture or kill you, but I do know that they’re gonna ruin your life either way. Then, there’s your disease. There are two ways you could die, and you need to acknowledge those ways before you do anything else.”

Sunshine hesitated to reply, staring at her baseball bat. “Do you think I’m going to die from this disease?”

“Huh?”

“You said the last time we saw each other that I should keep going and keep fighting even if my disease makes me pass out. I also remember you saying that you wanted to see how much stronger I got once you see me again.” Her eyes turned to me, and I noticed that an immense determination had been lit in her eyes. “Well, that’s exactly what I did. Every time the disease punched me, I punched it right back. There was no way I was gonna let it stop me from getting stronger, and there’s definitely no way I’m gonna let it kill me either. You can believe that.”

I laughed softly. And here I was thinking I needed a direct answer from her. She already made her choice a while ago. I raised my fist towards my daughter, gesturing for a fist bump. “I better see you give it your all. You are stronger, after all.”

She bumped my fist, smiling from ear to ear. “We’re not gonna lose. I have to show you a few more tricks while we're at it too.”

“I'm sure you will. But first, we'll have to discuss a couple important things. Like what happened during the time we weren't together and why you guys are telling me an entire month passed out of nowhere. Plus, I was able to find a… medicine to help you with your-”

A hand on my shoulder caught my attention. I looked back to see who would dare interrupt my important father-daughter time with Sunshine, and I realized that it was… Dante!

“What do you want?” I hissed, glaring at him.

“I need to talk to you for a bit… alone.” I could tell he was trying his best to sound intimidating, which obviously didn’t work.

“Is it important?” I asked, standing back up.

“Yeah, it is.”

He turned to a car and began to walk towards it.

“Keep stretching those legs,” I said to my daughter. “Being able to run is-”

“One of the most important parts of survival. Yeah, I know that already.”

50 seconds!

“I’ll have you know that I wasn’t finished talking to my kid so let’s make this quick,” I said, approaching Dante as he took a seat on the car’s hood.

“I just have a question for you, and I hope you’ll answer it truthfully,” he said, taking out a flask container from his chest pocket. He took a swig of the drink, but since half of his mouth was stuck in a perpetual grimace, he could only stick the flask in the other side of his mouth. Once he was finished, he asked, “How did you become a zombie? I mean, obviously it's ‘cause another zombie bit you, but what were the events that lead to that shit happening?”

“It wasn’t just one zombie… It was a whole group of those monsters. They chomped on me and tore me limb from limb. I was pretty surprised when I woke up in this body considering there was probably nothing left of me.”

“That sounds painful.”

“And you wanna know who caused such a painful experience to happen to me.” I pointed a finger at Dante. “It was you.”

Dante paused, sighing. “I should've figured that. Last thing I remember was me holding up your kid in the air. I assume you tried saving her and your plan ended like… well, you know. No wonder you attacked me.”

“I know you lost your memory Dante, but that doesn’t excuse everything you did to try and make my life complete shit. And it definitely doesn’t excuse you from threatening my daughter’s life either.”

“You know, your daughter helped me realize some things about myself… and about the relationship she has with you.” He shoved the flask back into his pocket and gave me a somber look. He covered his scarred half and said, “It was wrong of me to try and trample on that relationship. I should have never-”

“I’m gonna stop you right there,” I said, holding my hand up. “I don’t have time for this shit.”

I started to walk away, however, Dante wasn’t finished just yet.

“I’m sorry.” The sudden apology stopped me in my tracks. I never thought I’d hear those two words come out of a loan shark’s mouth, and yet here the boss of them was doing so. “I think I finally understand how you felt all those years we clowned on you back in Woodshaven. How it feels to be looked down on, seen as weak… pathetic. This permanent scar is a constant reminder of that. I want to kill whoever did this shit to me, but until I find them, making right with the people I’ve wronged is my current goal.”

“I don’t forgive you,” I said, looking back at him.

He got up from his seat. “Jerome, I said I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, and I do not forgive you,” I repeated, hoping he’d get the message. “You want some kind of closure so you can move on to something else? You really think it’s that easy to get someone to forgive you? Trust me kid, it’s not. You’re gonna have to do a whole lot for that to happen.”

Dante gritted his teeth, clearly unsatisfied with my answer. “But that… ok… fine.” He walked back to Geremiah who was speaking to Jesus.

5 seconds!

“Finally…” said Geremiah, his lips curling into a mischievous smile. “Let the race…”

1 second!

“Begin!”