I had no idea what my daughter went through while I was out for who knows how long. Whatever it was, it gave her enough of a reason to not only say she loved me, but to call me ‘Dad’ as well. If I had still had a heart at that moment, it probably would’ve exploded. I was never the type of parent to get all fussy over their kid not saying such simple words. If they showed that they loved you through their actions, then who cared? Despite that, it still felt pretty damn good.

The greedy part of me would’ve asked her to say it again if it weren’t for the kid going to sleep seconds after. I wanted to ask her what happened to Daemon, or why we were in a cave now, but I didn't want to wake her up. She's been doing a lot for me lately. It was time for her to rest.

Although, it looked like answers might come as a group of animals led by a blue haired girl were approaching me. She looked… sickly and a bit zombie-ish too.

I sat in front of Sunshine. “Uh… can I help you?”

“Helping us is the last thing you need to do when that girl behind you is lying unconscious,” she said, trying to look behind me from afar. She had on a raggedy dress which contrasted greatly with her bright, blue hair.

“My daughter’s not unconscious. She’s just sleeping, so there’s no need to worry. What I am worried about is what a kid like you is doing alone in this giant cave.”

“I’m not alone,” she replied, one of the rabbits jumping onto her shoulder. “I have my family here with me.” I was gonna ask her where they were until I realized she was referring to the animals surrounding her. Geez, she must've been one of those ‘kids turned insane ‘cause of constant solitude’ cases.

“Uh, that’s nice, I guess,” I said, picking up Sunshine and standing up. “Anyways, do you know how to get out of here? We weren’t really in a hurry before, but plans have changed and we got somewhere to go.”

Suddenly, she rushed to my side and held onto my leg. She looked to be around my kid’s height. Probably a little shorter. “Are you crazy? After the fight she was in, she’ll need my medical attention and a day of rest, at least.”

“Listen, kid, you’re awfully cute, but I don’t really have time to play around with you.” I picked her up and placed her on the side. “I’ll be leaving now. You should leave here too or else you might get hurt, ok?”

“Stop speaking to me like I’m a child,” I groaned, walking next to me. “I’m not lying. I can actually help her. I’m like… a doctor around here.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m sure you are,” I chuckled. “Well, since you’re gonna follow me anyway, we can just find a way out together.”

“Nooo, I really am a doctor.” She stopped in front of me. “Look at this and it’ll change your mind.”

The girl began to squeeze her body, sweat dripping off of her strained face. I wanted to tell her to stop, though my mind changed when I saw an aura form around her body.

“You see,” she panted, wiping the sweat off her face. “I can do a lot more than you think.”

“That’s-That’s amazing. You’re just like my daughter here. Do you have a Radius Ability t-”. The girl started to cough out a green ooze out of her mouth—similar to the substance around my skeleton. I bent down and rubbed her back. “Kid, did you get bit?”

She covered her mouth. “Bit? By one of those walking deads? No hecking way I did. Apparently, I woke up one day two years ago and just started to feel bad. And then a couple of months passed, and I started to get uglier and uglier.”

“I don’t think you’re ugly.”

She paused upon hearing that, staring at me with eyes that looked like they would’ve been hollow in a few months. “Oh, uh… thank you. What was I gonna say again? Oh yeah. I don’t know what this is exactly. One of my family members told me that my pops had the same thing, but I don’t really remember him that much.”

“Ah, so you’re an orphan?”

“Hey, stop asking so many questions about me. You have someone hurt who needs to be healed.”

“Girl, there’s no need to worry,” I assured, shaking around her fluffy hair. “She’s just sleeping, and if there were any noticeable injuries on her, I would’ve noticed them by now.”

She placed her hands on her side. “It’s not just the damage outside you should look out for. It’s the damage inside too. Can’t you sense the energy around you?”

“Well, I’ve been told zombies like me can’t use those special aura based abilities that you humans can do. Something about me not being considered a living being.”

“Hey, stop distracting me with information about yourself.” An orb of energy formed around her while she closed her eyes. “I have to find the specific traces of radiation poisoning her body.”

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“Distracting? You literally asked me a question… Did you just say radiation poisoning?”

“Mhm. She got into a fight with one of my friends. Nothing too serious though. Just a little blood here and there. Broken legs. Screaming. That all got sorted out though.” She opened her eyes. “Radiation spots near the heart, one of her kidneys, and the muscle where her chin is. Looks like most of it has been expelled already.”

“Ok. So are you gonna take it out or something? Heal her?”

“Yeah… You know, you don't really seem to be that worried about her? Aren't you like her pops?”

I rubbed my head. “Well, she won, right?”

She pressed her hands against each other, energy encasing them. “Yeah. A very brutal win, in my opinion.”

“Oh, nice,” I said nonchalantly. “Bonus points for the brutal beating on whoever tried to mess with her.”

“But you guys are family.”

“And as her family, I decided to trust in the strength everyone that’s been around her kept telling me was inside of her. Seeing it come out right next to me was proof that I was wrong about my kid. Besides, all you gotta do is heal her and she’ll be fine.”

“Could you stop distracting me with long answers about your newfound look on your relationship? I’m trying to do something here.”

Then don’t ask me questions in the first place…

“Lovely Lovely Paradise.”

At that moment, the world around me changed in the blink of an eye. The hard surface under my feet became sandy, like the soft feel of the beach. The emptiness of the cave turned into a home littered with palm trees, chairs, blankets, and volleyball nets. The darkness was traded for the bright sun.

“Holy crap! We’re on a beach,” I shouted, taken aback by the sudden change. “Is this your Radius Ability?”

“No idea what that is,” she answered, gesturing for me to follow her to a blue chair. If my vision weren’t fooling me, then there was a human-sized sleeping rabbit on the chair next to the blue one—its legs wrapped in bandages. “If you’re asking if I used my power to do this, then yeah.”

It reminded me of what that black haired girl did in the Underground Radius building. Although, this one was on a much grander scale.

Once we made it to the chair, I placed Sunshine on it to let her sleep comfortably. “So what now? I don’t see how changing the area is gonna get rid of those radiation spots.”

“My ability brings us to the happiest, chillest, vibiest, coolest place a person can think of.” She stretched her hands out and sighed happily. “And what better place than the beach? Even better… the Bahamas. Or what I think the Bahamas looks like.”

“The Bahamas was a lot more high salary, first class type stuff. At least, I think it did. I was never able to go, which I regret a fair bit.”

“The specifics don’t really matter,” she said, sitting next to the rabbit. “As long as it makes us all feel good, then the ones who need to heal will heal faster. My power kinda tells the body ‘hey, the person feels really good. How about you make them feel better so they can feel even greater.’ It speeds up the healing process for certain wounds and injuries.”

I sat down next to my daughter. “Sounds… impressive. And useful too. Would anyone that already isn’t here be able to find us?”

“Nope.” She started to draw bunnies in the sand with her big toe. “The only people allowed here are the ones I want in here. If they’re not someone I want or you want in here, then you’ll be fine. Did you ask me that because you’re running away from something? Or someone?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say running from someone. It’s more like preparing for a fight in the future that I probably won’t be able to win if I started one right now.”

“That still sounds like you’re running from someone,” she laughed.

“Ok, let’s skip indirectly calling me a coward and go straight to ‘thank you for saving my daughter’. Thanks for saving my daughter… Ah, what’s your name?”

“Moonlight,” she said, holding her hand out for me to shake. “Just a heads up, my family and I were already aware of your existence. Some of my friends who live down here saw you fighting that walking dead plant monster on the surface. That thing was destroying a whole lot up there, you know. Glad you were able to get rid of it somehow.”

Moonlight? It felt like I heard that name before, but from who? “My name’s Jerome.” I shook her hand. “And yeah, I just wanted to help someone I thought needed it. Turns out… I was helping the wrong person during that whole thing. But, maybe I was able to help them both in a way.”

“Speaking of helping, my family could really use some help right now. You see, our-”

I stuck my hand out in front of her face, cutting off her request. “No can do, kid. Sorry, but I already have a lot on my plate right now. There’s this really bad guy I gotta beat somewhere, and my daughter has a load of problems herself I gotta help out with. So whatever monster or psycho murderer you got roaming around here, I’m not helping with that.”

“Hey, can you quit distracting me with your really long reasoning that has nothing to do with what I was about to ask? You nearly made me forget my next line…” She pinched her forehead as if that would unlock a cage holding her memories. “Oh yeah! That fight you had up there with that big dude really did a number on certain parts of my family’s underground home. And since winter is coming up soon, those giant holes up there are gonna cause us some problems.”

I laughed softly, surprised at what I assumed she was asking me to do. “There’s no way you want me to rebuild parts of your home.”

“Of course not. I’m not cruel. But, you do owe us a new home, and you’re gonna find us one.”

“No,” I said bluntly. “Too much work and too much time. Ask me in like… a year when all this crap I’m dealing with is over with.”

She started to twirl her hair. “I’ll give you until the end of the week.”

“And if I refuse?”

“Then whatever damage your daughter took that I’m currently healing will be given back to her tenfold the moment I turn off my ability prematurely.” The calm, almost bubbly voice she had ominously disappeared. “The type of poisoning she received was already very painful. I couldn’t imagine even more of that.”

Jesus… And here I thought I finally met someone who was genuinely nice without seeming suspicious or wanting something from me. “You got a real deceiver vibe, you know that, right?”

“Jerome, I like helping people that are hurt not be hurt anymore. But, I like looking out for my family way more than that. Especially the ones who’ve been punished for something they didn’t start.”

I guess I could relate to parts of that. “Me, my daughter, and a few other guys I know are planning to get rid of a certain someone in Hallowsville. Apparently, he controls the area I think. The place is a few days away from here. We’ll handle him and your family can find something over there, I guess. The house should have some warmth in there.”

Moonlight scrunched her eyebrows, seemingly thinking of the offer. “Eh… that could be fine. You gotta make all the humans leave though. That’s my only condition.”

“Geez, ok, they’ll be out of there too,” I groaned. “Guess a bunny lover like you would fit in a town that only celebrates Halloween.”

“So who’s this someone you plan on getting rid of? Was it that man you were fighting before on the surface?”

“You probably don’t know him. His name’s Jason.”

The conversation took an eerie pause, silence filling the area. Her smile faded as an expression of shock and fear took her face hostage. Then, she finally spoke. “J-J-Jason Zoorhees?”

Zoorhees? Is that what Emmy said his last name was? “Yeah, sure. Jason Zoorhees.”

“Jason Zoorhees!?” The scream full of fear didn’t come from Moonlight. It came from…

“Holy shit! The rabbit talks!?”