I expected a lot of messed up things I didn’t want to hear when discussing my daughter’s disease with a glorified scientist who couldn’t care less for human life, but I didn’t anticipate that I would be one of the messed up things surrounding it. Judging by the scar on Emmy’s leg when she took the form of Sunshine, it seemed like my daughter already knew about what I did.

Yet, she never told me about it nor did she have the slightest hint of anger towards me. I could’ve either hated myself for what I did or realize that my daughter wouldn’t hate me at all. Picking a choice was pretty easy. Especially when I had other things to worry about, like at what point in time would I have gotten a Radius ability that would seep into Sunshine’s DNA. Even though the first time I was aware of my absorption powers was when I became a zombie, she would’ve already been dead when that happened.

My ability would’ve had to awaken without my knowledge, similar to when Sunshine was using her mind abilities while unconscious. That was when I realized that the awakening must have happened when that zombie bit me three years ago. My body probably absorbed that monster’s ooze which might have caused me to act out of control at one point. Though, that memory of me biting wasn’t in my mind for some reason.

While Radius ability users were immune to the effects of a zombie bite, Sunshine already had her DNA corrupted by my bite so it just… remained there. It waited and waited for the perfect chance, the perfect idiot, that would challenge its stagnancy and cause it to move again. And that idiot decided to give her opioids—an ingredient in the painkillers I had always told her to take. Those opioids were the outside source that mutated the disease into something more unsettling, into a demon that was finally freed from its cage and wanted to go wild.

Seeing what caused the disease was one thing, but knowing why it was contagious was another. I had told Emmy that perhaps it was a flu or cold kinda thing–Sunshine’s germs spreading in the area. However, that idea was shot down once she showed me the locations of all the people infected in habitable states. New York, Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida, and a few more had tons of people who showed symptoms or outright died from my kid’s problem.

The deaths of these people weren't the last consequence of this as Emmy had something else she decided to show me. That was until she demanded something of me first.

“Tell me what the contents of that book you were reading were,” she ordered, pointing at the “Jokes for People Who Aren’t Funny” book I had placed on the table. She had this child-like expression that only a curious kid could have.

“Screw that! We were just getting to the interesting part, so tell me the rest.”

“You’ll never learn anything from me again if you don’t tell me what these ‘jokes’ are.”

I raised a fist up to her face. “I can just make you tell me.”

Emmy laughed, mocking my threat straight to my face. “You can punch this uncomfortably made forcefield all you want, but I’ve learned that it self-repairs after a couple of seconds. I’m the one in control, you stupid surfer! KB-124!”

I gripped the table in frustration, knowing she wasn’t wrong. I’d seen it for myself, after all. The book reluctantly ended up in my hand, and I started flipping through the pages for a joke that would knock her socks off… or energy feet off.

“Oooh, this is a nice one,” I muttered, stopping at page 151. “What do you call a group of wrestlers who never lie? R-Truth!” I chuckled to myself, glancing at Emmy to see if she got the funny joke. Clearly, she wasn’t a fan of real humor.

“Why are you showing visible amusement over a question that asks you to identify something or someone else?”, she asked, giving me a disapproving look.

“What you just heard was a joke, and you’re supposed to laugh at it,” I replied, shoving the book page on the bubble’s surface where her face was. “See? Funny.”

“I can’t find something I don’t understand to be amusing, but I do find it amusing that a small-brained–excuse me, no-brained animal like you thinks it is. I’ll consider this new information to store in my mind for later.”

Hearing my daughter’s voice through Emmy’s mouth made the insults feel a bit more worse than they should have.

“You know, when someone tells you a joke, just say ‘Haha! That’s pretty funny’ and you’ll get the approval of everyone you talk to. That’s guaranteed.”

“Hmph,” she groaned, pouting. “I don’t really care about the opinions of inferior beings, but perhaps I can use that information for the future.” She got on her knees, pressing her knuckles against her chin as she squinted at me. “Alright, look, I’m going to say something to you—something I don’t usually say to others. T-T-Thank… you.”

She put more effort into saying those two words than she did trying not to get caught by Dante and I. I almost wanted to say “you’re welcome”, but I didn’t think losing my intimidation factor was the best plan.

“I gave you what you wanted,” I said, tossing the book to the ground. I picked up the status board. “Now tell me the rest about this damn disease messing up my kid’s life.”

“A deal’s a deal, no matter how much I don’t want to do it.” Emmy gestured for me to bring the SB closer which I did. Then, she started shifting through images till she stopped at an image of a dead body in the ground. “You’re aware that when a human is terminated, their bodies slowly decay until they turn into Radions, right?”

“That’s basic knowledge, so yeah.”

“If that’s the case, then I’ll assume you know that unlike other Radions, these Radions don’t move, as though being an undead being doesn’t register in whatever brain they have left.” Emmy quickly drew a spiky circle on the screen and labeled it with my daughter’s name. “Pretend this is the disease. Watch what happens when fragments of it separate from the girl and come near one of these Radions.”

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

The circle glided across the screen under her finger, hovering above the sprawled zombie. The drawings she made weren’t that good, and yet a sense of shock struck me when the zombie began to move. It was as if the disease flipped a switch, somehow “reviving” the monster. What was even more weird was that the zombie was following the path the disease moved on, like a hunter following the footsteps of the eventual hunted.

“We’ve been getting reports from a few civilizations that unmoving Radions all around the New York State were rising up from the ground and walking towards one specific location. Although, they're traveling on a pretty unconventional path if you ask me.” Emmy showed me pictures of a convenience store, an apartment complex, a couple of forests and abandoned towns, and the Barclays Center. Not only were zombies walking in all of those photos, most of them were places Sunshine and I had been in.

“I recognize these places,” I muttered, fear seeping out of my voice.

“I know you do. These are all the places that Sunshine lifeform has been in.” She pulled up a map that marked the path the zombies moved in, and just as she said, it looked unconventional and random. “Once they all travel this path, it seems like they all head towards-”

“They’re all heading towards my daughter!?”, I interrupted, standing up.

“No, and don’t interrupt me! And even if they were, we’re all getting reports that none of these Radions have attacked anybody. It seems like they’re all heading towards a deep cavern in the State of Florida. That’s only a prediction based on the fact that they’ve gone to this area before.”

“So… they’re going into a cavern to… stay there? I don’t really see how this is a problem for the most part.”

“They’re not just going into a cavern. There’s something… building up in there, something growing. And when whatever is in there finishes growing, the humans and even you aren’t going to like it. Your daughter’s disease is giving birth to a potentially new apocalypse that’ll do more significant damage than those nuclear bombs a decade ago.”

I set the status board down and said, “Hmm… I see.”

“You see? Clearly, you can’t see at all if this doesn’t bring out a bigger reaction out of you.” She pressed her face and hands against the forcefield. “Do you still not understand the danger your daughter poses against humanity the longer you let her live? She’s literally a walking cancer, killing everything her presence comes in contact with.”

“Yeah, that might be true.”

Emmy gritted her teeth. “Why do you sound so calm!? How can you possibly sit there and think that this isn’t a problem?”

The answer to that was pretty obvious…

I folded my arms. “There won’t be a problem as long as we find a cure, and that’s exactly what we’re gonna do.”

“C-C-Cure!?” The sweat dripping off her face was a delight to see. “Are you-”

“Stupid? Sure, you can call me that. But I’d be even more stupid to think that there wasn’t a cure, and once we get Jason off our backs, we’ll have more time to find one.”

“There isn’t any cure, you foolish surfer!”, she shouted, hitting the bubble with an empty bottle. “It’s that kind of mindset that the apocalypse-”

“Screw the apocalypse! I said it once to those Radius guys and I’ll say it again to you. I don't believe an apocalypse will happen ‘cause I'm gonna stop it before it does anyway. The only thing I believe in is that Sunshine will live ‘cause she wants to live and I want her to live.”

“You little-”

*Clap* *Clap*

“Where did that noise come from?”, she asked, staring at the bathroom. “What is the son of Daemon doing in-”

The sound of a loud crack came from the status board, and then whooshing noise, as though something was being absorbed. I flipped the device over and noticed that the sounds were coming from the map that was tracking Sunshine. She was still on those mountains, and worry was beginning to take over me once again.

However, I had to shove that feeling down and replace it with belief–the belief that whatever was happening to her, she would get out of it. In a society that would seek destruction if they ever found out what was brewing inside of her, I needed that belief in her strength to remain in my soul.

And that belief would quickly be rewarded as I heard a scream from my daughter pierce through the walls of the status board and reach the bar, filling the room with a feeling of excitement I had never heard from her before.

“She won…” My fist tightened, vibrating. “I don't know how she did it, but she won!” I turned to Emmy with the happiest look my face allowed me to make. “You hear that, Emmy? That’s the sound of a girl who just made their dad proud.”

“What did I say about calling me that?”, she said, covering the red on her cheeks. “And this doesn’t prove any-”

“Hold on!”, I said, noticing Sunshine was saying something.

“I… actually won.” Sunshine’s voice sounded strained, as if she just fought in a weeklong war screaming nonstop. “Maybe my dad will… finally respect me…”

Respect her…? Has she really been around me this entire time thinking I never respected her?

The short silence was broken by the bathroom door on the other end of the bar creaking open. Dante emerged, his lax mood unchanged despite the absurdity of his appearance. Strung across his shoulders were several colorful Christmas ornaments dangling from two strings.

“Son of Daemon!”, shouted Emmy.

“Dante, the hell have you been doing there this entire time?”, I asked. I looked outside and noticed that the rain had finally stopped. “We gotta get moving, so hurry your ass up!”

“Oh shut up and stay right there,” he replied, swinging the ends of the strings. “I’ve been in there doing something very important.”

“Like what? Vomiting your guts out?”

“The first two minutes, yeah. But after that, I realized I could make some use out of this bar… other than all the drinks.”

“And what could that possibly b-”

Suddenly, the bar began to shake as the sound of concrete crumbling and falling echoed outside. Half of the bottles plummeted to the ground, shattering upon impact, and Dante tumbled to the other end of the room.

“The calamity! It’s finally happening!”, cried Emmy, tugging at her hair.

“Dante, what did you do!?”, I screamed, grabbing the broken table.

His laugh even with the situation at hand was starting to annoy me. “I call this ‘Dante’s Flying Bar’, and we’re going to need it for where we’re going.”

“Jesus Christ, did surround the entire bar with a forcefield!?”

“Speaking of Jesus, we’re heading over to his location right now. It looks like the third Radius Ability user wasn’t with us…”