25 DAYS BEFORE THE REMATCH IN HALLOWSVILLE

  If these bandits were all about traps, then I’d just have to get rid of them. All of them. Through my movie watching experience, I knew the smart thing to do was to throw something in the area you believed traps were set in. Like a rock or something else small. That way if there were any spikes hiding beneath the ground or ropes waiting to wrap around our necks, they’d already enact their wrath on the decoy.

  We didn’t do that.

  With Sunflower riding on my back, I charged toward the apartment, helping those murdering bastards know exactly where we were.

  Cars near the entrance exploded after my toes grazed a rope tied to a street lamp. That didn’t stop me. Bullets rained down from the windows above. They couldn't catch me. The ground in front of the door broke beneath me. Gravity thought it could have its way with me. My legs shattered that thinking, shooting me back up to the building’s entrance.

  Sprinting through the door, we realized the bandits had more traps in store for us. Bear traps chomped down on my foot, but their teeth broke on contact. There were plenty more bear chompers on the apartment’s first floor.

  They weren’t used. I didn’t give them that satisfaction.

  Instead, I jumped straight through the ceiling. The wall ripped like wet paper, and the sound of commotion got louder the closer we got to our targets. Eventually, my body’s speed dropped, though that wasn’t a worry for me.

  Luckily, the floor Sunflower and I stopped on was where the thieves were, looks of shock plastered across their faces. They all chose to hide out in this one living room instead of scattering themselves across the entire building. Maybe there were traps set in the hallways?

  They all wore red bandanas around their mouths, like the cowboys in those movies did. Except cowboys were a lot cooler than these pricks.

  “What’s up, guys!” I bumped my fists together. “Just a heads up — I’m gonna beat y’all up, and some of y’all might die.”

  “Fuck that,” Sunflower muttered angrily. “They hung those guys like they were slaves. They’re all gonna die.”

  “You know what? You’re right, kid. Screw you guys for that!”

  “What do we do? This fucker’s got superpowers,” the red-eyed bandit said, pointing his revolver at me. “He ran through our traps like they weren’t shit.”

  “He ain’t the only one with superpowers,” the balding bandit said. “Ooooh, Big Bo-”

  The balding bandit caught a punch to the nose before he could finish his sentence. Just as he went crashing through an empty refrigerator, something big crashed through the living room wall.

  Debris and dust flew out. Panic erupted while bodies fell to the floor. And when the room cleared, a giant was standing in front of me. I thought he was wearing a gray crop top and tight jorts, but the torn fabric at the ends of both suggested the tank top and the jeans he got were way too small for him.

  “I am Big Bobby!” the giant roared, spinning his arms.

  “And you’re also a… huge bitch!” Sunflower shouted confidently.

  “That sounded cooler in your head, didn’t it?” I asked.

  “Y-Yeah, it did.”

  Big Bobby charged at us, his fist tearing through the floor like a buzz saw. I grabbed the attack, a shockwave reverberating through my body. Throwing his hand away, I countered with a punch.

  Surprisingly, my arm bounced back, as though I just hit a trampoline. No, Big Bobby’s skin was much harder than that. It was like hitting a rock, and yet rocks weren't hard to break for me. So this was like a rock plus steel plus whatever the hell was harder than those two. And then multiply that by two or something.

  “Jesus Christ!” I exclaimed, jumping backwards.

  “That’s Big Bobby,” the black hair bandit snickered. “His skin’s so tough, not even bullets can harm him. Good luck not getting your heads crushed, you green freaks!”

  “Don’t tell me that hurt you, old man,” Sunflower said as I dodged a tackle from the giant. “I know you’re stronger than that.”

  “Strength doesn’t matter when his power makes him indestructible,” I said, kicking the refrigerator at Big Bobby. The object broke in two, and the bandit I had knocked out earlier was sent flying out the window. “At least, I think it does.”

  “Isn’t the one thing that Radius Ability users can’t defend against a zombie bite?” she asked. “Just bite him where it hurts. You’re still a zombie, right?”

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  “Well, I still don’t have a heartbeat, so-” I jumped up before Big Bobby could ram into me. He tripped, and I landed on his falling body.

  “I am Big Bobby!” the big bandit yelled while I tied a dirty wash rag around his eyes,

  “Screw it! Let’s test it out.”

  My jaw slacked, ooze dripping out of my mouth onto Big Bobby’s neck. There was this monstrous urge surging through me, whispering to my ear to chomp down on more than I needed to. I didn't listen. I yanked the voice out of my mind and crunched on his shoulder.

  Skin broke, blood painted my teeth, and his scream told me one thing: zombies were overpowered as shit!

  And so were these zombie urges of mine, tempting me to swallow the chunk of bandit meat in my mouth. It was one thing to block that vicious voice whenever I saw a person. It was another when all it took to cross that line was the movement of a few muscles.

  But my insides were like a vacuum, pulling the meat further into my body until I couldn't hold it back any longer. Strength coursed through me as I stood back up, wiping the giant’s blood off my teeth.

  It was disgusting. It didn’t taste disgusting, but it still was. And yet, a realization dawned on me.

  I was stronger now. I thought an entire human needed to be devoured to gain a permanent power boost, but I only swallowed a piece of Big Bobby. Looked like Kofi’s plans for me could thankfully be modified.

  “Shit! That pervert took down Big Bobby!” a female bandit screamed, dropping her rifle.

  My eyes widened. What could possibly make her think…

  The answer hit me like a speeding car. I had totally forgotten Sunflower was technically… naked this whole time. But she never complained about or mentioned it, so the fact never crossed my mind. I really had to get her some clothes…

  But before that could be handled, I needed to deal with the rest of the bandits first. It turned out that wasn’t necessary as they were all already on their hands and knees, surrendering and begging for me to spare them.

  “Well, that was easy,” I said as Sunflower got off me. “Guess we’re done here.”

  My daughter gave me a confused look and asked, “What do you mean? The fight’s not over yet.” She picked up a handgun near her feet and aimed it at one of the thieves.

  Without hesitation, I slapped it out of her hand. “I said we’re done here.”

  “Geez, you must really have dementia, you old fart,” she said, rubbing her hand. “You literally said we could kill them.”

  “No! We’re sorry!”

  “We give up! Please don’t do it!”

  “I am Big Bobby!”

  At first, I was gonna make this whole speech about how we shouldn’t kill enemies smart enough to surrender. If the fight was already over, then there was no reason to continue it.

  After hearing their pleas, I realized that idea was total bullshit. Those Resource Adventurers they killed must’ve also begged for their lives, and yet these assholes gave them such cruel deaths. I didn’t spare Kevon or Rosalina for what they did. Why should they be spared?

  “You know what? My bad,” I said, patting Sunflower’s back. “This stupid shit was about to come out of my mouth, and then I realized it was stupid. Do whatever you want with them, Flower.”

  She gave me an approving nod, pursing her lips. “Cool.”

  The second Sunflower picked the gun back up, the bandits started to scurry off like rats. The bullets were faster, taking down each one in quick fashion. The only one she didn’t shoot was Big Bobby, which didn’t surprise me considering the bullets wouldn’t harm him anyway.

  But my daughter had a different reason — a reason I didn’t think about. Since I bit the giant, he was on the path to become a Type Two Radion, meaning once or if my powers came back, I could absorb him and take his Radius Ability.

  Pretty good plan, assuming things go our way. I wondered if Sunshine would come up with the same idea…

  Disregarding that thought, I propped the weeping giant on my shoulder and took a bite out of everyone left in the room. If it was for the sake of my family and I, then I’d swallow anything.

  Once we finished up, Sunflower and I left the gory mess of a room for someone else to clean up. Or just discover.

  The teen had a pissy look on her face, so maybe she was more affected by her murderous actions than I thought she was. Her next comment shattered that thought. “I’m starting to think this dementia thing is becoming an actual problem.”

  I groaned. “What is it with you and this d word? Did I even say anything just now that would make you say that for the third time today?”

  “Not now, but before, yeah. You called me ‘Flower’.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  She squinted at me. “My name is Sunflower.”

  “What? I can’t give you a nickname now?”

  She froze, cheeks turning a deep green. “Nickname? Like the one my mom gave me?”

  I stopped walking, enjoying her stunned reaction. “You don’t like it?”

  Sunflower paused, avoiding eye contact with me. “Nah, it’s-it’s cool. I mean, I don’t really care.” Her feet started moving again. “You can call me whatever you want. It’s not that big of a-”

  I rested my hand on her hand, putting an end to her rambling. “I’m proud of you, Flower.”

  “… For what? I didn’t really do anything back there — if you exclude the gun-play at the end. I still need a better handle of my aura.”

  “I know. I’m still proud of you,” I said, smiling softly.

  Just the fact she was there with me, talking with me like a normal kid, and being comfortable in my presence was worthy enough for my respect.

  Her usual dim eyes sparkled for once. “Oh, uh, yeah.”

  “Just say thank you.”

  “Eh.”

  “We’ll work on that.”

  Kofi was in the middle of shooting down a flock of non-mutated birds with lightning bolts when we exited the apartment building. When he noticed us approaching, he flashed a smile, but words didn’t accompany it.

  A beam of electricity did. But things weren’t gonna turn out like last time. The attack looked slower this time, so I took the chance. My head weaved to the side, lightning buzzing in my ear.

  But my moment of confidence was halted when the beam curved. After another round of electrocution, I fell to my knees.

  “Woah, Jerome, you ok?” Sunflower asked, crouching down to my level. Her stare turned to the laughing Kofi, and she gritted her teeth. “Zapping people gets old after a while, you jerk!”

  “I oughta punch you in your face, you prick!”

  “But you won’t. Because you’re weaker than me.” He stepped closer to us. “But you were able to dodge that a little. You had a feast in there, didn’t you? I’m not sure why you left this guy alive though.”

  “I had pieces, but I didn’t eat any of those bandits in full. Turns out I can get by just fine by eating parts of someone rather than the whole package.”

  “Huh? Impossible,” Kofi said, furrowing his brows. “A Type Two needs to eat someone down to the last limb to get stronger. And yet, you… Impossible! Amazing! Cool!” I couldn't tell if he was angry or amazed. “Are you special or something? How is a fraction of a human for you the same as an entire human for another Type Two? And what happened to the other bandits?”

  “I handled them,” Sunflower said.

  “I hope I am special so that I can teach you a goddamn lesson,” I growled, shaking my fist at him.

  “Oh, God, please let that be the case,” Electro said, clasping his hands together as though he was saying a prayer. “Please let this weak ass bitch amount to something, so I can be given a proper challenge!”

  This kid really pissed me off, and it pissed me off more that I couldn’t do anything about it.

  “Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask-” Sunflower pointed to the basketball court in the distance. “What’s that?”

  “That’s a basketball court,” I answered. “I’m surprised you don’t know what that is. Haven't you seen my memories?”

  “I couldn’t see memories you purposely locked away. But I’ve heard the term ‘basketball’ before. It’s, like, a game, right?”

  “A game and a type of ball, yeah.”

  “Oooo, I love basketball!” Kofi shouted happily, cuffing his hands. “I haven’t played in so long though. None of the peeps underground wanted to play with me.”

  “You used to play back in the Old World?” I asked.

  “Yeh man, mi did di best! Used to play with my pops a lot. I remember a few months ago, Jason was giving me a run for my money.”

  It was hard to imagine Jason shooting threes and playing defense without killing the opposing player.

  “I’d ask if you wanna play a quick game, but there’s no ball around.”

  Kofi jumped in excitement. “You mean it, old man? You’d let me completely embarrass you in ball?” He created an orb of electricity in his hand and began dribbling it between his legs like a basketball.

  “Hey, I said a ball!”

  “This is a ball.” The dude smiled cheekily. “What? You scared a young bull’s gonna expose your age?”

  I scoffed, gesturing for him to pass the electric ball. “I’m just worried about getting electrocuted constantly, but that doesn’t mean you won’t get schooled.”

  If he couldn't be beaten in a fight, then a game would have to do.