“Asphyxiation!” shouted Jason, ripping his way through a horde of zombies with his bare hands. He took off his gloves beforehand, which was pretty idiotic considering that one bite from a zombie would either kill him or turn him into a massive, masked zombie that I’d have to flee from. He punched the head of a zombie clean off and it flew towards me, radioactive ooze dripping out of its mouth.

“Watch it, asshole!” I said, spawning a forcefield around the severed head before it could come near me. I blasted the head back at the bastard, frustrated that he was still ignoring me while I could’ve died from his recklessness. To my disappointment, the bubble hitting his back didn’t even make the guy stumble. It was like I just threw a ball at a wall and it bounced it back apathetically.

We were on the path back to the secret entrance to Underground City A, but a pack of zombies had somehow flooded the area, filling the air with a putrid scent that reeked of sulfur, shit, and guts. The Radius had tasked a couple of resource adventurers to clear out the area a while back so the road would be an easy walk. However, here they were giving me and my thick forcefield so much trouble! How the hell did they even come back here? A zombie horde at this size was unusual unless a Type Two Radion had recently passed by. They had a smell that normal zombies were attracted to that only came out once the Type Two left.

There was a giant crater a few miles back… That might explain it. I knew I was fine thanks to my sturdy forcefield, but I was sure Jason would have a lot more trouble than I anticipated. Enough trouble for me to finally see his Radius ability in action. I heard how overpowered it was. However, if I could find a weakness, he was beatable. I just had to make sure he didn’t see my weaknesses.

I formed a bubble around the swarm of mindless freaks clawing at my forcefield, and threw them towards Jason, who was now twirling a zombie in the air as though it was a dancer’s ribbon. “Hey Jason! Go for a home run!”

His attention locked on to the sky upon hearing me, and he began to cackle like a hyena on crack once he saw my forcefield of zombies. Then, he grabbed another zombie, jumped into the air, and held the monsters by their legs like a baseball bat. With a powerful swing, he batted down my bubble at the group of maneaters, excitedly screaming, “AIDs” as he did.

A tsunami of green blood and rotten flesh washed over the desolate forest, a pair of radioactive squirrels jumping onto my forcefield as a desperate attempt to escape the devastation. Before they could be washed away, I opened up two holes for the animals to fall into and closed them right after. As I waited for the blood to pass, I heard growling from below me. The squirrels were piercing through me with their emerald eyes, and they were ready to pounce. Without hesitation, I created small forcefields—the size of pearls—and chucked them at the squirrels, capturing them.

Little bastards must’ve forgot I saved them! Now they’re trapped in the balls I just shoved in my pocket.

Once the sound of ooze dropping to the ground ended, I deactivated my forcefield, and I was immediately hit with this foul stench of death that violated my nostrils. I punched my nose and was left in awe of the absolute bloodbath that Jason caused. It was like standing in a pool of green.

“Death by Firearm,” said Jason, menacingly approaching me.

“I don’t understand a word you just said, but that was some real good batting out there,” I said, mimicking Jason’s earlier attack. I then patted him on the arm and said, “You really gave those cocksuckers aids. You played sports before the nukes hit? Like back in high school or something.”

He gave a thumbs up.

“That’s killer, man,” I said, trying to make my fake smile look as real as possible. “Wish I could’ve gone to high school, you know. This whole shit started when I was thirteen. Ten years later and sometimes… I still wish-”

Before I could finish my sentence, I noticed that Jason had already walked a couple feet away from me.

“Hey!” I yelled, speedwalking towards him. “I try to connect with you and you leave me hanging like a desperate virgin in a bar? Just because I can't understand you, doesn't mean you can't understand m-”

Suddenly, a zombie emerged from the sea of blood and chomped down on Jason’s arm. Quickly, I slammed a forcefield on its body, ripping its teeth out of the man’s wound. “He bit you real good there, Jason. Pretty surprising to see you get caught off guard like that.”

It wasn’t just surprising though. It was flat out suspicious. This was the same guy that could crash through walls like they were paper and move out of your line of vision in the time it takes you to blink. There was no way a goddamn zombie could get past his Energy Sense either—assuming he still had it activated. So why the hell would he let one get a bite out of him? Unless… Holy shit! Was I able to get him tired!?

This was perfect. In that case, I can just-

My plan was shattered upon the sight of Jason slicing off… his own arm with a machete. As I stood frozen in shock, Jason’s gaze locked onto the severed arm, his eyes flashing with a fierce determination. Blood was spilling out of the stump like a fountain, and the guy attempted to close his wound with his bare hand. I snapped out of it and decided to close his injury myself with my ability. The small forcefield surrounded the bleeding stump, blood squirting inside of it while the bubble closed and closed until it was sealed shut.

“Drowning,” he muttered, hovering his hand over the forcefield.

“Was that a thank you because that's what you owe me for saving your life,” I remarked, scratching my scarred scalp.

“Lethal Injection.” Shockingly, Jason turned around, picking up his severed arm, and continued walking. His movements were slow and heavy now, as if he'd just fought the hardest battle of his life. He turned back and gestured for me to follow him. “Decapitation!”

“Don't you think you should see a doctor?” I asked, failing again to smooth out of my white hair. “And I don't mean in the Underground. I mean, somewhere up here.”

He turned back around and lumbered forward.

“Seriously Jason, the only reason you're not passed out here is because I was here to close your wound. Imagine if I wasn't here. You'd be dead without me, you know that?” I started walking. “Even now, my ability could deactivate at any random time, and once that happens, you're fuc-”

A flash of pain erupted in my cheeks, and I realized that Jason had closed the distance between us and grabbed my face tightly, holding me in the air. “Woah, woah, woah! The hell are you doing to me!?”

“Eaten by a Shark!”

“You like grabbing onto things, huh? Why don’t you try grabbing onto this, you motherless fuck!?” I hissed, tugging at my crotch. The comment only helped in making Jason angrier as his grip on my face had grown stronger. “Jesus Christ! Do you really think going back to the Underground is more important than treating your arm? I know a doctor there that specializes in-”

“AIDs!”, he growled, cutting me off with an ever growing fury.

“No, not AIDs you fool! Limb reattachment! I can get you fixed if you just follow me.”

Jason’s grip didn’t loosen. He didn’t say a word—just turned and kept walking, dragging me along like my arguments didn’t even matter. There was only one way I was gonna hit this guy where it hurt the most…

“Jason, do you really like being forced to stay in the Underground?”, I asked softly.

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He stopped, as though my question had actually paralyzed him.

“You’ve been down there for so many years, and my dad rarely lets you go to the surface. And when he does, he promises that every time you do all his dirty work that he’ll let you have more freedom, but your freedom still isn’t there. He’s using you.”

His hold on my head softened, and his eyes became a little less intimidating.

“My dad don’t give two shits about you. Hell, he don’t even give one shit. You could call him right now and tell him that you lost an arm and he’d just tell you to continue with your ‘mission’. Guess what? People like us don’t matter to him. We’re replaceable because our abilities don’t fix the effects of the apocalypse. If we ain’t captains, then we ain’t shit to anybody. Is that the status you wanna go by for the rest of your days? ‘Not worth shit?’”

Jason still didn’t say a word, seemingly considering what I was suggesting. His hand was lowering by the second.

“I don’t really know you, Jason. But I do know what you want. You don’t really care about being respected, however, you do care about having unlimited options, right? As long as my dad has you on a leash, you’ll never get that! What matters more, your health and freedom or following my dad’s orders like a little bit-”

Jason dropped me into the pool of blood and guts before walking off in the opposite direction. I quickly surrounded myself with a forcefield and shook my body erratically, trying to fling the disgusting ooze off my clothes. The only upside to being covered in zombie remains was that it made them think you were one of their own.

But who cares if you shared the same scent now? Screw that! This was a really good damn suit and now it smells worse than elephant shit! And my hair… my beautiful, black hair. Well, only one half now, but still… my hair!

At least there was one thing I could be satisfied about. It looked like Jason’s gone rogue. Whether that be temporarily or permanently… who knows. For now, the first step to my plan on getting the money back had succeeded. Fortunately, I managed to get a lead on the money’s whereabouts. The tortured guy’s murder had shaken me up too much to remember it right away, though I’d recorded what he said before my mind went blank. Obviously, Jason didn’t know any of this.

Even though my scarred face prevented my lips from curling into a smile on that side, I still smiled anyway.

My normal half could do it just fine.

*****

We had made it to the outskirts of the Woodshaven civilization, and I had informed Jason that a doctor that could potentially fix his injury was in the small town we hadn't entered yet. In actuality, I was in search of a slave owner named Elias who was the ringleader of the whole money stealing operation. There was an auction taking place in this town today, and those bastards were gonna use our cash to enter it. Only way to stop them was to crash the event. The problem was that the two of us had faces a person could easily remember after we were already gone so we couldn't go in unless we wanted my dad to find out about this last minute plan of ours.

It was a good thing a man like me had connections with a lot of pathetic guys trying to make it big in our apocalyptic world, and my loan shark goons were one of them.

“Yo Dante, we got the masks you asked for,” a man whispered behind me.

I turned around, and I saw that one of my loan collectors was approaching me with a black ski mask and a demon mask. Something didn't feel right upon seeing that demon mask. Was that prick… mocking me!?

Without hesitation, I stomped towards the smiling bastard and grabbed him by his sweaty chin, his smiling fading in exchange for a confused expression. “You think you're funny, Matt? You think I'm some kind of joke?” He tried to rip my hands off, yet he failed miserably. He was a pathetic weakling–of course he failed.

“What did I do wrong!?” he asked fearfully, gritting his teeth. “You said get you masks–that's what I did.”

“I'm out for a week and I'm getting disrespected and insulted by my own men. Embarrassing.”

“How am I disrespecting you, boss? I did what you asked.”

“Shut up. Heads or tails.” I pulled out my gun. “Make your choice.”

“Woah! Calm down, Boss. I ain't do nothin’ wro-”

“I swear to God, Matt…” I pointed the gun at his forehead. “Make a choice or I'll blow your brains out.”

“Ok, ok!” he said with shaky hands. “Uh… Tails!”

I sighed as I shoved the gun back between my belt, disappointed that my goon was able to live another day. “Lucky choice. Cherish it till the day you die. I let go of his chin and he stepped back, holding his chin in pain. “An asshole would've just killed you immediately. You're lucky I like to give people choices.”

“What the hell, boss,” muttered Matt, furrowing his brows. “We don't see you for a whole week, and now you start acting crazy? You haven’t been the same since fighting that talking zombie.”

The second I heard that, I let go of him and he nearly tripped on his own feet stepping back. Talking zombie? There's no way something as unbelievable as that exists. My memories were gone, though I think I would remember something crazy like that.

“You calling me crazy, Matt?” I chuckled. “A talking zombie sounds like nonsense to me.”

“I'm serious, boss. It was right after we took that kid away from that black guy. What was his name…?” He scratched his head. “Jerome, right?”

Jerome’s kid? If I recall correctly, her name was Sunshine. The last thing I remembered before I woke up with this new look was me holding her up in the sky while I was pointing my pistol at her terrified face. My dad had assigned me a mission to retrieve that girl and take her to the Underground so that her ability could be thoroughly examined. Since I was a Radius, her contagious disease didn't affect me. Although, I couldn't say the same for the men who were with me that day. I would apologize for not letting them know about that sooner, however, there was no way I was gonna lose even more respect now… Not after I've already lost so much.

No matter how hard I searched through my mind, I couldn't find a single moment where Jerome opposed me that day. And yet, not even five minutes had passed before my dad said that I “failed to capture Sunshine”. None of them would tell me who took her away from me. Was it Jerome who saved her… No, there’s no way he’d beat me. Then again, my dad once told me that the strength of a father increased when trying to save their kid from harm. Maybe Jerome tapped into that strength.

Although, what about the zombie? There was the one I captured, and now apparently there’s a talking one as well. This is all too confusing… Screw this shit. There are other things more important right now.

I gestured for Matt to give me the masks and he quickly tossed them over to me. I ran my thumb across the demon mask— a cold and plastic feeling. I really didn’t want to wear this, but Jason needed the ski mask more than me. The weirdo never wanted to take off the one he already had on.

I looked back and noticed that Jason was… gone!

“Shit! Hey Matt, where the hell did the big guy go?” I asked, clenching my head in disbelief. “He was just here, wasn't he?”

“I guess.” He sounded unsure, like he never even saw him in the first place. “I wouldn’t know since you were threatening to shoot me!”

“Calm down. I already apologized for that,” I replied, pulling the demon mask over my face. I had to stab through the mask with the shard of glass in my forehead to actually put it on.

“Y-You didn’t apologize for anything!”

I didn’t bother responding to his whining. Instead, I rushed into the town, knocking down a few nosy bystanders in the process. I used my Energy Sense and scanned the entire town for Jason’s aura. The technique came easy for me as my forcefields were activated in the exact same way—borrowing the energy from the area and using it for yourself. It should’ve been easy to find the weirdo’s aura considering no one in this town had the abilities of a Radius. If they did, we would’ve already tracked them down.

That fact was soon proven wrong once I realized that there were multiple auras in the town. Three or maybe four in the supposed auction building, one in some random tool shop, and two in a small house in the distance. All of them had the same appearance, yet there was one that shone more brightly compared to the others. It was as though a piece of the sun escaped from the star’s fiery clutches and decided to gift me with its beautiful presence. Would someone like Jason really have such pretty energy surrounding him?

Well, I wouldn’t know until I found out. I ran towards the direction of the bright aura, ignoring the shocked expressions of the townspeople who looked confused that a masked man was running through their civilization.

After a couple more minutes of running, I was finally able to reach the house and the aura was even bigger than I thought it’d be—and brighter. I had to turn my Energy Sense off just to focus. Then, I activated my forcefield and took a couple quiet steps forward, pulling out my gun. The air was weirdly heavy, like the gravity had increased immensely. I was forced to change the conditions of my forcefield to ban gravity from the inside, causing me to float inside my bubble.

I opened a hole in my field and grabbed the doorknob. The door was unlocked. Slowly, I pushed the door open, reluctantly deciding to turn my Energy Sense back on. Jason was there, but the bright aura… wasn’t his.

There was still some light in the room, so I was able to get a decent look at who the energy actually belonged to. The aura came from… a little girl!? She was sound asleep on a bed and Jason was standing over her, salivating like a hungry dog.

Wait a minute—her face… I know that face! The last person I remember from that day.

“Sunshine!”