Jason Zoorhees was going on a rampage across America, and he was coming for Underground City next. I had a good feeling he was. Our “beloved” leader who could do “no wrong” kept him down here — despite Jason’s desire to be free — and only let him go up to the surface to do certain deadly tasks.

  Obviously, it wasn’t deadly for the big guy.

  It was going to be a dumb move from the masked psycho. After all, Daemon Williams would've quickly shut down any invasion or mass murdering plan that freak had.

  Well, that would’ve been the case if he was going to Underground City A — the main city, the one Daemon cared about the most.

  Jason’s next target was Underground City B. That was where the B Team were based — the group of fellas too strong to be lieutenants, but not important enough to be on the main team. Which was funny considering we were only ones discussing what to do about the bastard.

  Only three out of the six of us were present at the round table. There used to be eight, but after Jason and that electric nut got axed, the A Team handed out a few promotions.

  “Where the hell is Vak?” I asked, clinging to my orange staff in suppressed rage.

  No, the staff wasn’t some ancient object I found while adventuring through a cave nor did some powerful sorcerer give it to me after I fulfilled my destiny. It was a part of a wizard costume I stole in a Party City. It even had a fake beard you were supposed to tie around your face, but I already had that covered.

  “The kid’s in hiding. That’s what he told me,” said Flamazing, tying her shiny black hair into a ponytail. Her name was a combination of flame and amazing, although I didn’t know what was so amazing about the woman.

  I always felt dizzy and sick whenever she was next to me, but Ponytail was never going to wear anything other than that flame design tuxedo.

  I sighed, sliding my hand across my face. “What? Vak literally said he’d be here.”

  Flamazing’s eyes shifted to my staff, and then she snickered. “Woah there, boss. If you keep holding your toy like that, it might shatter.”

  I took a deep breath, my grip loosening. “I’m sorry. I’m just worried about-”

  Chimp’s growling stomach interrupted my words. “Oh, I’m so hungry.”

  “Does your stomach have something important it wants to say?” I asked the shirtless man, who was scratching his hairy belly.

  He didn’t answer, his face turning red from embarrassment.

  Flamazing fanned the air in front of her nose. “You’re still hungry? Did those burgers not satisfy you enough?”

  Chimp flinched. “What? I didn’t eat any burgers!” He looked at me, mouth quivering. “Honest.”

  “Oh, yeah? I can smell ‘em. All three of ‘em.”

  “What are we going to do about Jason!?” I shouted, banging both hands on the round table. They might've wanted to avoid the topic, but I wasn’t. “According to Resource Adventurer Squad Thirteen, we have reason to believe that his next murder spree will happen here. That’s why I sounded so urgent on the SBs this morning.”

  Flamazing leaned her chair back and rested her legs on the table. “The crazy fuck took his tracker out, so whatever the RAs said is based on predictions and speculations or whatever. We don’t have a way to track his location or movement.”

  I picked up my staff. “So in other words, you think this is a waste of time?”

  She shrugged. “I say we accept defeat and get the fuck out of here. Preferably to LA. I heard the zombie levels there have gone down. Hell, we can even bring Chimp along.”

  “Really!? Ah, sweet!” Chimp exclaimed, beating his chest.

  “And be quitters?” I scoffed, shaking my head. “Did you two forget the duty we have as members of the B Team? We might not mean anything to the A Team, but we do mean something to those civilians out there.”

  “Those KB civilians?” The woman chuckled. “As if City A won’t make more of them by next week.”

  “And that makes their lives worth any less than ours!?” I growled, shutting her amusement down. “Our powers don’t change the world like Daemon would want it, sure, but they can be used to save others who can’t save themselves.” I gave both of them a long glare. “If you’re on this team for any other reason than that, then you don’t belong here.”

  There was a long pause in the conversation.

  Until Flamazing spoke up. “If you’re going to speak like that, then why not try and get that zombie-daughter duo here?”

  “That’s a total death wish, dude,” said the hairy man.

  “You mean Sunshine and Jerome Hunter?” Those two were probably good people, but working with them was way too risky. “I have to agree with Chimp. We’d endanger ourselves, along with them.”

  “Hey, you’re the one who wants to play hero, Zandalf,” Flamazing said. “Can’t think of a better hero than a zombie who deliberately chooses not to eat people. I mean, guys, they fought Daemon himself and fucking survived. If you’re really serious about confronting Jason, then the Hunters are your best bet.”

  My jaw tightened as I caressed my long white beard. A plan like that was high risk high reward. And that high reward wouldn’t last long anyway.

  “Doesn’t the zombie have one of Corleone’s favorite worker girls on his team now?” Chimp asked. “Garlic said Hunter calls her his daughter now? I’m not getting involved with someone who made an enemy out of that sick man.”

  He usually had dumb words to contribute to the conversation, but Chimp was on fire today. I didn’t even consider the boldness of Jerome’s character and how insane it was to perform such an act. I had never met Michael Corleone before, but the cruel things he’s done have been heard more times than needed.

  “Maybe you’re right, monkey boy,” Flamazing said, pointing at him. “Apparently, someone touched her in the wrong way, and he got his hands and feet cut off. Then his hands and feet switched pla-”

  I gestured for her to stop, not wanting to conjure up that disgusting image in my head. “If there’s anyone that’s going to help us, it’s going to be members of A Team. Or at least one.”

  “A Team? Helping us?” The woman laughed, fixing her seating position. “Who? Granny? Daddy’s little girl? Or do you mean that greedy traitor? Because I know you’re not talking about Daemon.”

  “Maybe not Daemon, but someone like Teresa or Lyra maybe,” I said. “They know how Jason works — his mind and counters to his abi-”

  “Zandalf, I like you, but you’re sounding like a real monkey right now,” Chimp said. Calling me a monkey was his way of saying I was being stupid, and perhaps he was right.

  But surrendering everything we’d built was not an option. It never would be.

  My brows furrowed. “So that’s it, huh?”

  Flamazing shrugged. “Boss, we’re the expendables. Just face it already. Why do you think only three of us decided to come here?”

  I stared at them for a while, and then I smiled. “You know, I want to thank you two.”

  They both raised their eyebrows.

  “For what?” the two said at the same time.

  “You showed up when no one else did. You guys might not show it much, but you guys like me very much. At least, uh, I think.”

  “Watch out, Chimp,” Flamazing chuckled. “Old man’s getting emotional again. He might spray you with the waterworks. I know how much you hate showers.”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  “What!? That’s not true. I showered this morning.” The hairy man looked at me with a worried face. “Honest!”

  I patted his hand. “Don’t worry. Even if you didn’t, I’m desensitized to bad smells at this point.”

  Half of me wanted to go out and fight Jason, ending my life in a blaze of glory, letting the civilians know that there was still hope in a world that wanted it erased.

  The other half wanted these two to live, to still have moments where they could laugh and have fun. I wanted Chimp to eat until his belly couldn’t take it anymore. I wanted Flamazing to violate our ears with her horrible singing. Vak was still young, so I didn’t want him to go before he could figure this life shit out.

  Hell, even the others deserved more time in this world.

  An old man like me didn’t need to be a part of that. My life was already lived and my old family was gone.

  But now I had a new family, and I wasn’t going to fail them this time.

  “Hey, Chimp, you should stay and fight Jason,” the woman suggested. “Maybe then you’ll finally find something strong enough to shave all that disgusting body hair.”

  “None of you are going to fight him. I will,” I said, walking to the door.

  Flamazing jumped out of her seat. “By yourself? Fuck that! We can’t have our boss making dumb moves. It sets a bad example for the rest of the B Team.”

  “Then I’d like to formally resign from my position,” I said bluntly, shocking my two teammates. “It was an honor to be by your side these past three years.”

  “What!? You can’t just-”

  I left the room before she could finish, readying my mind for the upcoming battle.

  My final battle.

  ********

  The alarms were blaring, painting multiple sections of the city in a deep, terrifying red. Civilians had raced from far and wide to the already crowded James Barney Center, desperate to figure out what the heck was going on. And I was in the middle of it — alone, carrying the weight of on my back.

  Then again, I wouldn’t want it any other way.

  After gathering up all the courage needed, I started the announcement.

  Just as the B Team discussed, Jason was indeed heading towards Underground City B, and we only had an hour to prepare. Reports from our Resource Adventurers stated that the killer’s murder were moving in a straight line moving up from Florida all the way back to New York. Fifty murders each in the states of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, and Pennsylvania.

  Two hundred and fifty kills in just five days.

  We didn’t know what Jason’s reasoning behind these mass killings was. Maybe a mental breakdown? Revenge for what Daemon did? Eh, what was the point of scouring through the maze that was his brain to find the answer?

  All we knew was that the daily massacres started after the Hunter family foolishly invaded Hallowsville. That info was given to us by one of our RAs — Garlic Pepprowski. Although, the little girl didn’t go into details as to what happened with him.

  As expected, the crowd went into a panic, demanding answers, begging for all the Underground Radius to join together to neutralize this monster.

  When I scanned the room, my blood ran cold. The kids who had paused their game of soccer to listen to me ramble, the mother holding her baby twins, the office workers in their nice suits, the elderly clinging to their canes — each of them had terrified expressions.

  It was at that moment where I realized my duty wasn’t to just protect these humans or these KBs. It wasn’t to just be a symbol of strength for them.

  Lord knew I wasn’t living to see tomorrow.

  But that was exactly why there was another duty way more important — reassuring them that everything would be ok.

  Pointing my staff up, I made one bold declaration. “I will defeat Jason and protect this city with everything I have!”

  Silence came right after. Did I choose the wrong words? Did I mess up?

  The cheering shredded my self-doubt.

  “You got this, Zandalf!”

  “We believe in you!”

  Those ones made me smile.

  “Make sure to hit him where it hurts! I’m talking down there!”

  That one made me chuckle.

  “Don’t let us down out there, Zandalf, ok!?”

  My worried eyes were hidden in the shadow my pointy hat created. My smile forged from insincerity was the only thing they saw. If this was going to be my last fight in this world, then going out smiling sounded like a splendid idea.

  Many more words of encouragement filled my ears as I walked to the Elevator — the only way to get to the surface from underground. Lyra Williams created it years ago, combining iron and mutated crystals with the ability to float.

  The Elevator scanned my entire body, bathing me in a bright, blue light. While there were certain Underground Radius members that couldn't access the surface world, all of the B Team didn’t have the crutch. Our presence here wasn’t considered to be that necessary to the growth of these cities, so the doors let me inside.

  To my surprise, Flamazing was there waiting for me, crossing her arms like a silly bad boy.

  I gritted my teeth. “What are you doing here?”

  “You might be our boss, but you can be a real idiot sometimes,” she said. “I’m going to help you, obviously.”

  “You’re not obligated to, you fool. I’ve resigned from the B Te-”

  “I thought about that, and then I realized something. We don’t need to be on the same team for me to help you. You’re my friend. That’s reason enough, isn’t it?”

  The trembling in my hand ceased. I already didn’t want her to die. That feeling now grew tenfold. Yet, I couldn't let Flamazing see that.

  “You’ll die,” I told her bluntly.

  “Then so be it.” She pulled out a stick she kept hidden in her cleavage and pointed it at me. “If I die landing one good hit on Jason motherfucking Zoorhees, then I’ll die happy.”

  A resolve like that didn’t deserve to be wasted on me… or for this. But I conceded anyway. “No… we won’t die.”

  “Huh!?” Flamazing exclaimed as the light from the sun hit our faces.

  “If it was just me, then sure,” I said, grinning. “However, since you’re so serious about this, then I’ll have to make sure that you live. No, that both of us live to see the day to knock that man off of his high horse.”

  The doors opened, and we were immediately greeted by the sight of a dust cloud quickly approaching us. We leaped out of the Elevator, our aura blazing across our bodies like fire. It sounded like land mines were being stepped on with each footstep the big figure made in their pursuit.

  I had only seen him twice since joining the Radius, but his appearance was etched into my mind and that permanent bloodlust was burned into my soul. So I instantly knew who it was running toward us.

  “Jason!” I shouted, holding my staff high. “He’s here faster than I thought!”

  A bulb of flame sprouted at the tip of Flamazing’s stick. “Well, here goes nothing, boss!”

  As the maniac got closer, a cloud of fear spawned above my head. It felt like the weight of everything was going to crush my spine before Jason could. The woman’s presence made my body a little lighter. However, if there was any chance I would’ve let my friend fight by my side, it was incinerated the second I saw her hands.

  Shaking.

  It made me chuckle, aura enveloping my staff. “You’re not the best liar, my friend.”

  “Wh-What!?”

  The ground came alive, extending upward, morphing into a giant hand. Flamazing never expected it, and she couldn’t dodge in time, ending up in my construct’s grasp. She pleaded for me to let her go. I didn’t listen or talk back. Jason wouldn’t give us time to talk.

  “Don’t forget the civilians!” I shouted. “Just be good to them, ok?”

  The hand threw her back to the Elevator. The doors were still open, and closed right before my friend could jump out. Flames filled the interior as the machine began to send her back down. But I was already focused on another sound.

  The sound of Jason’s voice. “AIDs!”

  He swung his machete down at my face, his arm moving like a blur. The Earth protected me, sending blocks of rock in between us. They shattered. Dust got into my eye, though I wasn’t bothered. It was under my control, after all.

  Jason backed away — probably to avoid the dust getting into his eyes. Taking that chance, I gave the giant hand construct a tap with my staff. It exploded, covering the area in a cloud of brown. And using my Radius Ability, I made sure it couldn't be blown away.

  Unlike my opponent, this didn't hinder my sight. I had a sort of “night vision” in these conditions. Although, while Jason couldn't see me, he could sense me using Energy Sense.

  In order to avoid that possibility, I turned my aura off completely. It was a very risky move, which was why I expanded the distance between me and him as much as possible.

  After running for a minute, I ended up sitting behind a large, collapsed tree. A small cave of my creation would've been a better hiding spot, but that would've been too obvious. Jason had already seen my powers.

  Speaking of powers, the killer had yet to show off his to me. I was aware that he could kill someone with certain words or phrases, but the conditions to do that and how he activated it were unknown to me.

  Obviously, he had to say the word to activate the ability, but how would I know when to counter it specifically? Now that I thought about it, why didn’t Jason just kill me in front of the elevator? He had the perfect chance too.

  “Perfect chance…” I whispered, my eyes widening.

  Thinking about those two words for a moment, a realization flashed in my head. I just gave that bastard the perfect chance to target someone else — someone in Underground City B.

  The earth burst beneath my feet, launching me into the sky. Chunks of the ground followed my movements as aura surrounded my body. It wasn’t until pain detonated in my hip that I understood how foolish my thinking was.

  Reactivating my aura was exactly what Jason wanted. His kick that sent me out of the air proved that.

  The chunks of earth avenged me, ramming into the killer’s body, bursting on contact. My body spiraled, but I was able to stop my momentum with a bowl of concrete.

  Upon regaining my bearings, I climbed out of the bowl. My moment of peace didn’t last long. One blink and my enemy was already approaching me. His clothes were dirty, and yet he didn’t even seem affected by my earlier attack.

  Standing in front of the man - no, the monster felt like drowning in a dark ocean.

  Even so, I stood tall, enduring the pressure, and made my intentions clear. “Underground City is my home, and you shall not pass!”

  “Decapita-”

  I sprinted out of his line of sight, terror taking over my limbs. Jason’s bloodlust — one already large enough to fill an entire damn stadium — had spiked. And it spiked the second he began to say that word.

  The way to tell when he activated his ability used to be unknown to me. It was even harder when he only spoke in ways people died.

  But now I knew.

  Jason appeared next to me.

  “Drowni-”

  I interrupted him with a rock to the face. Unfortunately for me, that didn’t faze him,

  “Decapitat-”

  A barrage of earth constructs crashed into Jason — fists, bullets, orbs, anything to shut the fucker up.

  He tore through them all with his blade and closed the distance in a single second. I didn’t have time to dodge before Jason assaulted me with a flurry of fists. Blood and teeth bursted from my mouth, yet the grip on my beloved staff never went away.

  The very fact that I survived so many punches from someone of this power level sent my aura into overdrive. These old bones of mine still wanted more. Even when another punch from Jason was inching towards my bruised face, my legs remained strong.

  The punch didn’t land. Time felt like it slowed down, and I was somehow able to dodge it.

  I spun — staff in hand, grasping tight. Then, with all my might, I slashed. Blood splashed on my face, though it wasn’t mine.

  It was Jason’s.

  A large gash was in the middle of his chest. All because of me.

  I laughed.

  Jason cancelled that joy, grabbing my weapon right as I was about to trip on his feet.

  “Headshot!”

  He broke my staff in half.

  For some reason, seeing that hurt far worse than any punch to the face, or getting my ribs broken, or the stab to my gut seconds after.

  Sure, it was basically just Party City junk, but it was my junk, and that junk was a part of me. It was the only reason, the only way I could use my Radius Ability. Without it, I was no better than a regular human.

  I fell to my knees.

  No wonder Daemon placed me in the B Team. How could I change the world if I needed a toy to do it in the first place? I was only human.

  Then again, what was wrong… about being human?

  I coughed up blood, beginning to stand back up. “There’s nothing wrong… with being… human.”

  “AIDs!?” Jason picked me up by my head and drove his machete forward. Straight for my neck.

  His blade bounced off. The ground shook violently beneath our feet as the killer’s crimson eyes widened. Trees plummeted, concrete cracked, and I gritted what was left of my teeth.

  “Crumble!”

  The Earth split open, sending us both into the deep, dark pit.

  “I will… defeat you!” A rush of energy erupted from me, culminating in an uppercut to Jason’s chin. He flew upward, my fist burning with power.

  Although, I didn’t feel like I won. Victory was way beyond my reach.

  Another strategy or plan never spawned in my head again. My enemy distracted me. Not with his fists or another part of a Radius Ability.

  Jason spoke. “Creating an earthquake without your little staff is very impressive. I think I want to try that.”

  As we fell, the walls blurred into a storm of stone and dust. Jason struck everything around us until the cavern ripped apart. Pain tore through me, but I forced it down and sent out pillars of rock, erupting outward in every direction.

  Jason clapped once.

  The shockwave shattered the pillars mid-rise and hurled me downward. My back slammed into the underground floor hard enough to crack it.

  I was paralyzed. The falling boulder took advantage of that, crushing everything I had down there.

  Everything was beginning to fade.

  I held on. My aura was now a fraction of what it once was, but as long as that murderer still wanted to create more victims, I couldn’t give up yet.

  Jason finally landed. His footsteps drew closer, however, he didn’t finish me off.

  “I won’t let you… kill anyone else…”

  The monster scratched his head. “I’m not going to kill anyone else. You were the last person I needed to murder today to fill my quota.”

  I felt relieved. I knew that was strange considering he could’ve been lying, but Jason sounded genuine. Truly genuine. Part of me believed someone like him wasn’t capable of lying.

  And if that was the case, I still wanted to know something. “Why… do you kill… innocent people?”

  “Because it makes me happy.” I gulped. “But recently, I found something else that makes me happy. Killing someone strong, someone capable of showing me a good time. I don’t know your name, old man, but you made me happy. You cut me, taught me a new way to kill someone, and showed me that the desire to protect another life other than your own could make you stronger.”

  I didn’t respond, trying my hardest not to smile.

  “You humans really are fascinating.”

  To think just a couple words could make me like a serial killer more than you… Daemon.

  “You’re a liar…” I muttered, smiling softly. “You held back that entire time. I never stood a chance. It wasn’t even a real battle. You… embarrassed me. I was just… too weak… Jason Zoorhees.”

  He walked away, never responding back, never denying or confirming what I said.

  Perhaps it was better that way.

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