James and The Unexpected Challenge?

Caption (to assist readers):

- Everything is good. - = speech of the character

"All good." = character thoughts (during certain scenes)

*boom* = ambient or scenery sounds (similar to using other types of comic fonts)

This chapter is told from James Heller's point of view.

I hid my new wings before returning to Dana's apartment, it's a new skill that I want to keep secret from my daughter, but that I intend to talk about with Dana and Ragland, as it involves the capabilities of the viral biomass and consequently, the virus itself evolving.

I glided until I managed to land without causing any scare the neighborhood, even if according to my senses, it is still empty, I feel that I must continue to improve my skills to become more and more silent, mainly thinking about my trip soon with Rooks.

- Dana, I'm going up, all right? - I informed Dana using my cell phone when I stopped just a few meters in front of the door of her building.

- The entrance is not locked, you can enter and go up, I'll wait for you at the door up here. - Dana warned me and hung up afterwards.

Two flights of stairs and I could feel Dana's presence behind the door before I moved closer, probably watching me through the peephole in her apartment door.

*Sound of two knocks on the door*

- Daddy! - I can hear my daughter as Dana opens the door, something

that makes me smile lately after all we've been through.

- Welcome back James. - Dana says with a slight smile on her face as she opens the door and gives me a light slap on the side of my left shoulder before turning her back and returning to inside the room.

- It's good to be back Dana, thanks. - I thanked Dana for welcoming me as I closed the door and also headed towards the living room.

- Daddy Dana made pasta for us! - Exclaimed my daughter as she pointed towards a pan above the stove, the smell seemed pleasant and by my little one's reaction it must have been good.

- Did you leave some for me or did you eat it all? - I questioned my daughter jokingly, as I approached, I could see that she still had a trace of tomato sauce on her chin, good to know that she was able to eat and rest while I was away.

- Dana cooked a lot and we already had lunch, you can eat too daddy! - Replied my daughter as she jumped off the couch and ran towards me, another request for a hug felt by my paternal sensor, one of the skills I didn't need a damn deadly virus to gain.

I crouch down, touching one of my knees to the floor in the middle of the room and open my arms, waiting for the best hug the world can offer me right now. The little girl jumps towards me with her strength and open arms, I grab her while closing my arms before her shoulders can touch my body, wrapping my baby girl in the best hug I can give her at the moment.

I can feel her love even without needing my heightened senses, I can also feel Dana's feelings, who watches our father-daughter moment with a slight smile, patiently awaiting its completion as she sits on the couch.

After about 5 minutes of a hug that could last much longer, we finally broke apart and I got up to talk to Dana.

- I'll give you more details later about the deal with Blackwatch. - I informed Dana, pointing to my daughter using my gaze, I could feel that she easily understood the message.

- After we ate, I managed to contact Ragland, he wants to meet you today, can you go? - Dana asked me while sitting on the sofa, the sofa now had two people on it, or almost two if my daughter doesn't count as an adult yet.

- Yes, I can, is the location marked on your map? - I answered while I asked Dana another question, pointing to the map of the room using the thumb of my left hand and with my back to the wall where it is.

- Yes, just search near the center of the Yellow Zone on the map. - Answers Dana pointing in the direction of the map with her index finger and right arm almost outstretched.

I turn my back and head towards the map getting close enough to be able to see it in full, I feel that memorizing this map could be very useful in the future. After finding the place where Ragland was, I decide to spend a few more seconds looking at the rest of the map, enough time to close my eyes and manage to recreate it mentally, probably another skill refined after the virus.

- Okay, I memorized it, thanks Dana. Can I go now? - I questioned Dana as I turned towards her, but before she could answer she was interrupted by the small person present between us.

- You can't Daddy! Daddy can't go out again if he doesn't eat! - Ordered my daughter as she got up from the sofa, crossed her arms and made an angry face, frowning as she looked me in the eyes. I was surprised and at the same time I had to hold back the urge to laugh, I could see Dana looking away to the side, but I could feel that she was also surprised by such a reaction.

I lost the argument against my daughter for the first time in my life, and she didn't even grow to be a teenager to achieve this, I'll have to eat the lunch or I'll be a bad example of a father, or worse, I might hasten the onset of her rebellious phase. Something I'm not ready yet, I not even want to imagine.

- Sorry my baby girl, your daddy forgot to have lunch, I'm going to get a plate and eat the yummy pasta that Dana made for us. - I replied calmly while I could see her small face return to normal for my relief, even though this is the first time I will feed after being infected, I felt that it was something I could still do.

After I was infected, I was so blind with revenge that I really stopped acting like a human being in many ways without even realizing it, I didn't eat, sleep or feel any need considered human physiological, I believe I just kept breathing. I could feel that consuming other infected and humans could be similar to the act of feeding myself, but I prefer not to consider and reject it as if such an ability is something normal, as I feel that otherwise I could never again be anything other than the monster that killed Mercer, a point of no return for the human James Heller.

- Can I serve myself here Dana? - I asked Dana despite feeling that she would have no problem, just to be polite.

- Make yourself at ease James, I'll check if I can recover access to the internet with my notebook, Maya takes care of your daddy so he doesn't leave without eating enough first. - Dana replied, winking her right eye at me when she finished and leaving the room in the direction of her room, I could feel that she had fun even without having to expand my senses.

- Come on daddy! You need to eat it all! - Exclaimed my daughter running towards me and pulling me by the hand towards the kitchen, sealing my destiny once and for all.

I put all the pasta I had in the pot on my plate, or rather, I was pressured to do so by my daughter, creating a small mountain of pasta inside a standard American-sized deep dish. I remember that I must have eaten a dish with so much pasta before in my life, but it was more than a decade ago that memory, a young James still a soldier.

- Only can leave after eating everything daddy. - Maya warned me, while we sat on two stools similar to the stools of a bar and I put my plate on the countertop that divided the living room and kitchen part of the room. Despite her orders, I could see her smile, this made the whole situation worthwhile and eat anything for it.

I started eating the same way I did before the virus; it really had become a very different sensation from the previous ones.

I could feel that after swallowing what I ate, the whole digestive process was much faster compared to before, I could still taste and smell normally, but I didn't feel hungry or feeling of a limit, all the pasta I was eating seemed to be absorbed before I even felt it could reach my stomach, I felt that I had no stomach anymore and could eat all that pasta, along with the plate, the pan and I still wouldn't feel full.

My instinct inside my mind compared my current eating with my ability to consume living beings, it was a result that I considered bad, but in a way, I was relieved, because my instinct did not consider the natural human way of eating as something unnecessary, he just considered it inferior compared to the one used by the consume skill.

A plate of pasta managed to make me feel more human than a monster again, I feel that my hope of returning to live as a human was rising in my consciousness. Less monster, less human, something closer to the balance between both and a James Heller closer to feeling like a good father again, my new personal goal when thinking about the future of our family.