Where the dead things Bloom [Chapters 8, 9]

8 Basic Questing

Stepping from the storage room into the main shop, we discovered Calvin there standing by the counter. He wore an oversized forest-green backpack that made him look like a peculiar Santa Claus who'd wandered into the wrong holiday. His tinfoil hat gleamed under the flickering fluorescent lights, reflecting tiny fragments of silver across the room.

"Ah! Good tomorrow, sleepyheads!" he announced, his silver-blue eyes twinkling with genuine delight. "Just in time too. I've returned triumphant from my morning quest with bountiful treasures!"

“Did you discover the city’s name?” I asked.

“Not exactly,” he replied. “I did find out that our city is being infested with another city called Eureka though, so there’s that… but I refuse to call it Eureka because that would just make Eureka win and that’s probably a bad idea since Eureka is a dastardly, extra-Syntropic entity.”

“I see,” I said.

Nessy's tail wagged enthusiastically behind her as she padded forward, her makeshift T-shirt dress swaying around her knees. Calvin began rummaging through his backpack with exaggerated ceremony, the sticky-note eyes adorning his jacket seeming to watch us.

"For you, good Knight Alecai," he declared, pulling out a pair of bright green sneakers and tossing them to me. They were slightly scuffed and spotted with dark, oily residue but otherwise in decent condition. "Found these in the ruins of what was once a glorious temple of commerce—or as we used to call it, the nearby mall."

I caught the shoes, examining them with surprise and gratitude. My feet, bare until now, had been increasingly uncomfortable on the debris-strewn floors. "Thanks. These look like they might actually fit. How’d you know my size?”

“My eyes can see many things,” he grinned. “Basic measurements are especially easy to note thanks my level of Wisdom and Intelligence.”

“Uh-huh,” I put on the shoes. They felt… comfortable, far better than the muddy construction worker boots I had on yesterday.

"And for Lady Nessia," Calvin continued, producing a folded bundle of fabric with a flourish, "something more suitable than just a touristy T-shirt, perhaps?"

Nessy took the offering, unfolding it to reveal a dark skirt with an elastic waistband. Her ears perked forward as she examined it, nostrils flaring as she sniffed the garment thoroughly.

"Smells like mothballs and perfume," she announced, but her tail continued its pleased swishing. "But I love it! Thank you!"

As we donned our gifts—me sitting on a nearby stool to lace up the sneakers, Nessy ripping a hole in the skirt for her tail and then simply pulling it on under the shirt—Calvin bustled about, arranging newly procured foodstuff cans on the counter like game pieces on a board.

"You didn't merely find these clothes at random," I observed, noticing the methodical way he moved. "You went looking for them specifically."

“Ofcourse,” Calvin tapped his tinfoil hat knowingly. "Got up at 4:44 AM to stare at a newly procured mirror in the moonlight and then gave myself a quest! 'Find suitable attire for my guests.' The System rewards those who create purpose, you see."

“Why?”

“The System is an extra-Entropic Omni-entity masquarading as an extra-Syntropic Omni-entity,” Calvin explained. “At least that’s what my drawn mouths whispered to me. Like a wicked witch villain masquarading as a hero! Trying to do her Goodest through often rather questionable, nefarious means.”

“Uh-huh,” I squinted at him, not sure whether he was just making random shit up or actually somehow blessing me with an artifact-divined truth about the new nature of reality. “And how did the System get here to begin with?”

“The Wormwood Star carried it home when it arrived,” Calvin explained, sounding like a biblical preacher ranting about the end of days. “And upon its tail it carried Hunger, Pestilence, Infinity and Entropy!”

“Wheee,” Nessy twirled in her skirt, completely ruining the doomsday atmosphere produced by Calvin’s words, the fabric flaring around her thighs.

"So you can give yourself Quests," she said. "Like video games?"

"Indeed," Calvin nodded sagely. "Except, you know, with real consequences and the possibility of horrific death." He said this with such cheerful nonchalance that it took a moment for the gravity of his words to register.

I finished tying my new shoes, appreciating how they fit almost too perfectly. "So you just... decide to do something, and that becomes a quest?"

"It's a bit more complex than that," Calvin replied, leaning against the counter. "Intent matters. Specificity matters. Challenge matters. The System seems to recognize and reward purposeful action, especially if it involves change, growth, exploration, or simply overcoming deadly obstacles. I think that she feels bad about the whole breaking the world business.”

“Systemmy broke the world and she feels bad about it?” Nessy chortled.

“No,” Calvin shook his head. “Our Earth was already doomed, in freefall towards oblivion before the System came. The System did break some stuff when the Wormwood Star collided with our planet, but she’s also trying to fix stuff, in her own, alien, eldritch way.”

“Can you bless us with a starter Quests, oh wise Sensei?” Nessy bobbed. “I’d like a Quest to smother Alec in a big hug!”

I squinted at her.

"The System won’t accept such a mundane Quest,” Calvin said with a smile. “But, I did foresee your desire for Questing and prepared a starter quest for you two, if you're willing."

“Aww heck. Welp I’m gonna do it anyway ‘cus I wanna,” she rapidly circled and engulfed me in a floofy, still somewhat damp hug.

"What’s our starter quest?" I voiced out of her embrace.

"Nothing too dangerous,” our bearded guru said. “Just a little task to help you learn the ropes."

He led us to the window, pointing to the parking lot in the front.

“Procure some fluid concrete with a bucket, avoid the nippers and plant a tree in the back.”

“What kind of a tree?” I asked.

“I smell that the System gave you a low level reward recently,” Calvin said. “Learn how to make it bloom before it dies.”

“Uhhh…” I blinked.

“Plant it in my back garden,” he clarified. “Nurture it with your love and concrete-life-fluid and sunlight from a living lamp. Defend it from small, pesky predators until the little tree gets strong enough to defend itself. That is my quest.”

“Yay!” Nessy commented, still clinging to my side.

“A hearty quest for a hearty pair!” He grinned at us. “The base goals of every couple should be to plant a tree, procure a house and produce strong kids!”

I felt my cheeks burning at his words as Nessy’s tail went ballistic with the wagging.

“Eeeeeeeee,” she squeed into my ear. “Sandwichu is going to be a mom!”

"A piece of advice before you venture forth, young questers," he added. "Stick together out there. Watch each other's backs."

He tapped a shelf where several small, crude eye drawings clustered. "My domain reinforces reality around it—makes things more... stable, more predictable. But that stability weakens the farther you get from here. Even low-level things lurking nearby can still take out an eye or a finger if you're not careful."

Nessy's ears swiveled nervously at his words, her tail curling slightly between her legs. "Low-level things like…?" she repeated, glancing at me with concern.

"Little ankle-biters," Calvin explained, wiggling his fingers in a grasping motion. "Tiny conceptoids, partial manifestations, reality hiccups. They don't have enough substance yet to kill you outright, but they can chip away at you, bit by bit." He smiled suddenly, the serious moment passing like a cloud across the sun. "Nothing you two can't handle, I'm sure! Just keep your wits about you, yeah? I’ll be about, reinforcing my wards. Yell if you get into a situation you can’t resolve and are dying horribly.”

“Yes, sir!” Nessy saluted our ‘guru’, finally letting go of me.

“Why are you helping us? What in this for you?” I wondered, the usual people-mistrust gnawing at my metaphorical heels.

“Oi, Alec, don’t be rude to our sagely Systemfall Sensei,” Nessy elbowed me.

“No offense taken,” Calvin laughed. “One of my current Quests is to make you ‘bloom’.”

"Bloom?" I echoed, staring at Calvin with suspicion that I couldn't quite suppress. The word carried unsettling connotations after my bathtub rebirth experience.

"Yes!" Calvin clapped his hands together excitedly. "The Systrmfall-bound world is a garden where dead things bloom. Don't fret, for it is my quest to help you unlock your full potential! Nurture your growth! Every teacher needs students, every guru needs disciples, every wise man needs someone to impart wisdom to! Otherwise, what's the point of all this accumulated knowledge?" He gestured expansively at his sticky-note covered domain. “I don’t just get rewarded for learning new things about the universe, see, I also get experience and rewards for teaching you things so that you can stand on your own four legs and impart knowledge to others, help humanity survive Systemfall!”

I glanced at Nessy, who seemed entirely unfazed by Calvin's words. Her tail swished with anticipation, blue eyes bright with excitement at the prospect of our first "quest." 

"Before we go," I said, turning back to Calvin, “I wanted to know about the whole attributes thing. For example, the System says that Nessy has only one point in intelligence, but I can clearly see that she’s not stupid.”

“Aww you don’t think that I’m as dumb as a brick,” Nessy commented. “How nice.”

“Attribute stats are NOT mundane rankings of your intelligence or strength levels,” Calvin explained. “They are numerical quantification of one's soul potential."

"Soul potential?" I repeated. 

“Yes!” Calvin nodded. "Your stats don't necessarily correlate to your physical body, but rather to your soul's capacity to tie itself to particular artifacts, concepts, and realities."

"So souls… exist," I mused sarcastically. "With… numerical values attached to them."

“Alec!” Nessy gasped dramatically beside me, her ears flattening against her head. "How can you not believe in souls? Every living thing has one!"

"Well, you would think that," I replied. "Coming from a world where animals talk and work at the post office."

"It's not just a belief," she protested, her tail bristling slightly. "I mean, yes I’m a goodly Nazarite and used to go to church every Sunday, but it’s also a sniffable reality! Every pradavarian knows their soul is connected to their pack!”

“Nazarite?” I asked.

“I’d show you my little steel cross-sword but the Magnetic-lynx ripped off my necklace,” Nessy clarified. “Many prads worship the leviathan’s slayer.”

I stared at her, wondering where Christianity had gone sideways in her world.

"Pre-Systemfall, souls were definitely a matter of faith or philosophy. But now?" Calvin spread his hands wide. "Now everything has a quantifiable soul—not just people and animals, but objects, concepts, even locations. Tools like my Identifier and eye-notes make the immaterial quite measurable."

I stared at the tinfoil-hat man wondering the weight of a human soul.

“Negative zero, zero, zero point four grams,” Calvin answered, as if he saw my thoughts with his note-eyes. "The journey is the destination! Now off with you both! I’m expecting a Celestorm by mid-afternoon, and the nippers grow more numerous in the gloom."

He thrust a cereal box into my hands. “Snack on this while you Quest.”

[Quest: Make it bloom! Grow a tree from your first basic reward item.] Silver letters danced across my eyes.

We returned to our room. I chewed on a few handfuls of cereal and then retrieved my stop sign from where I'd propped it against the wall.

"Are we really going to treat this like a video game quest?" I asked, watching as Nessy rummaged through the shelves, apparently looking for something.

"Why not?" she replied, her tail wagging as she stretched up on her toes to reach the top shelf. "Quest-thinking provides purpose. A direction." She made a triumphant noise and pulled down the half-eaten sandwich she'd stashed. "Found you, Sandwichu!"

I stared at her. 

"Don't judge me," she commented, carefully tucking the wrapped sandwich into her bag. "Calvin said we need to plant a tree! Sandwichu is our reward from the System, remember?"

“Right,” I agreed.

The husky-girl grinned at me, tail wagging as she grabbed the orange bucket from the blue kiddie pool.

"This is my life now," I mumbled, more to myself than to Nessy. “Planting sandwiches with a dog-person.”

“Could be worse,” she shrugged, putting on her bag with water bottles. "Come on, big smile now. It's our first syn-pack quest! Yay!"

Her enthusiasm was infectious, despite my lingering skepticism. I found myself smiling as she bounced on her toes, clearly excited about our impending mission.

We stepped out of the mini-mart into the broken world beyond Calvin's domain. The air felt different here—thinner somehow, charged with a subtle electricity that made the hair on my arms stand on end. The parking lot stretched before us, cracked asphalt rippling like frozen waves. In the center, a puddle of liquid concrete held shopping carts in its embrace.

"There's our first objective," I pointed with the stop sign.

“Yeah,” Nessy sniffed the air, her nostrils flaring. "I smell danger," she muttered, her posture shifting subtly. Gone was the bouncy enthusiasm from moments before, replaced by a predatory alertness of a hunter.

"Where?" I asked, scanning our surroundings. The empty lot seemed devoid of threats.

"Everywhere," she whispered, moving closer to me, her shoulder brushing against mine. "Little things. Watching. Waiting."

“Where particularly?” I asked.

“The shadows, about nine meters out,” she said. “Don’t blink. Pretend you’re not looking at them.”

I did. After a minute of staring, I noticed movement at the edges of my vision—quick, darting shapes no larger than rats, skittering between cracks in the pavement and behind the rusted hulks of abandoned cars. Trios of red eyes, dark, glistening, ferromagnetic-fluid-like bodies with far too many tiny limbs.

“Nippers!” she whispered conspiratorially. “I think that’s the beasties that Sensei Calvin mentioned.”

9 Getting the nip

The nippers swarmed at the edges of our vision, their ferrofluid bodies shifting and contorting as they moved. Small, eldritch things with too many limbs and not enough purpose—like concepts that hadn't quite finished becoming real.

"So what's the plan?" Nessy whispered, her back pressing against mine as we surveyed the threat circling us. "We need that concrete for Sandwichu's planting bed."

"I'm thinking," I muttered, gripping the stop sign tighter. The creatures hadn't attacked yet, but their movements were growing more agitated, their trio of red eyes glinting with what seemed like malevolent curiosity.

One darted forward suddenly—a quick, testing lunge that Nessy met with a snarl, her canines flashing in the sunlight. The nipper retreated, but others grew bolder, edging closer.

"They're coordinating," I observed, watching their movements. "Like a hive mind."

"Or a pack," Nessy countered, her ears swiveling to track sounds I couldn't hear. "But without an alpha."

An idea struck me. "The concrete puddle—it's what they're guarding, not what they're after."

"How do you know?"

"Look at how they're positioned. They're not approaching the puddle; they're forming a perimeter around it."

Nessy nodded, her nose twitching as she processed this information. "So what do we do? Fight through them?"

"No," I said, remembering Calvin's words about confrontation. "We need a distraction. Something to draw them away."

My hand brushed against the cereal box Calvin had given us. I pulled it out of Nessy’s bag feeling the weight of its contents. Not much, but maybe enough.

"When I give the signal," I whispered, "run for the concrete. Fill the bucket and don't look back."

"What signal?" Nessy asked, her voice tight with concern.

I smiled grimly. "Trust me. You'll know."

With a fluid motion, I tore open the cereal box and flung its contents high into the air in the opposite direction from the concrete puddle. The multicolored bits scattered like confetti, catching the light as they fell.

The effect was immediate and unsettling. The nippers froze, their red eyes tracking the falling cereal with an intensity that bordered on reverence. Then, as one, they surged toward the scattered food, their bodies rippling with excitement.

"NOW!" I shouted, pushing Nessy toward the puddle.

She didn't hesitate, sprinting across the cracked pavement with a speed that reminded me she wasn't human. Her digitigrade legs carried her in graceful bounds, the bucket clutched tightly in her hands, black skirt flying.

I followed, keeping my eyes on the writhing mass of nippers now frantically consuming the cereal. They moved with disturbing efficiency, each piece disappearing into their amorphous bodies.

Nessy reached the puddle, plunging the bucket into the iridescent concrete with a determined grunt. The liquid seemed to respond to her touch, swirling with colors that shouldn't exist in ordinary concrete.

"Hurry!" I called, noticing that some of the nippers were beginning to lose interest in the cereal, their attention returning to us.

"I'm trying!" she replied, struggling with the bucket. "It's... it's heavy and… fighting me! Arffff!”

I reached her side just as the concrete began to rise up from the puddle, forming tendrils that wrapped around the bucket like possessive fingers. Nessy let out a yelp of surprise, her claws digging into the plastic handle.

"Let go!" I shouted, swinging the stop sign at the tendrils. The metal connected with a sound like breaking glass, and the concrete recoiled momentarily.

Nessy yanked the bucket free, now quarter-filled with the strange substance. "Got it!" she exclaimed triumphantly.

Our victory was short-lived. The disturbed concrete puddle began to vibrate, sending ripples across its surface. From its depths rose a larger nipper—not simply a scaled-up version of the smaller ones, but something more evolved, more deliberate in its form. Its body was the size of a large dog, with many limbs that resembled twisted rebar and a head dominated by seven glowing red eyes.

"Alpha," Nessy breathed, her ears swinging back.

The smaller nippers abandoned their feast, scurrying back to form a protective circle around their larger kin. The alpha nipper fixed its gaze on us, particularly on the bucket in Nessy's hands.

"Run," I said quietly, placing myself between her and the creature. "Get back to Calvin's."

"Not without you," she growled, her free hand tightly gripping my arm.

The alpha nipper let out a sound—not quite a roar, not quite a hiss, but something in between that made my teeth ache and my vision blur momentarily sounding like a snapping staple-gun. It began to advance, its movements deliberate and predatory.

I raised the stop sign, ready to defend us, when a silver text suddenly flashed before my eyes:

[Quest Update: First blood drawn! Achievement unlocked: "Ankle Appetizer."]

“Ankle-whaa…. Ahhhh, shit, God damn it!” I yelped in pain, shaking a nipper off my ankle. The dark fluid critter’s tiny jaws sunk deep into my skin, drawing blood.

I swatted at it with the stop sign, batting it away from me. It hit the ground with a wet splat but immediately began reforming itself, its red eyes never leaving me.

The alpha nipper was now only fifteen feet away, its followers forming a living carpet of writhing darkness behind it.

Then, with shocking speed, it lunged.

I swung the stop sign with all my strength, connecting solidly with the creature's mass. The impact sent vibrations up my arms, nearly numbing my hands, but the alpha was knocked sideways, skidding across the pavement.

"Run, damn it!" I shouted again, already backing away. This time Nessy didn't argue, turning to sprint toward Calvin's mini-mart with the bucket clutched to her chest.

I followed, risking glances over my shoulder. The alpha was recovering quickly, reorganizing its distorted form. The smaller nippers swarmed around it, seeming to offer pieces of themselves to help it rebuild.

We were halfway back to Calvin's when the concrete in Nessy's bucket began to glow with an intense blue light.

"What the—" she yelped, nearly dropping it.

"Keep going!" I urged as I heard the distinctive sound of the alpha's pursuit behind us.

The glow intensified, illuminating Nessy's fur with an ethereal blue radiance. Streams of light began to escape from the bucket, forming intricate patterns in the air around her—symbols and glyphs that seemed vaguely familiar, though I couldn't place them.

[Quest Update: The Concrete has swiped right on your profile! Achievement unlocked: "Hot Single Minerals In Your Area." Warning: Commitment issues detected.]

"It's talking to me!" Nessy gasped.

"Keep moving, damn it!" I insisted, risking another glance behind us. The alpha nipper was gaining, its seven eyes blazing like angry stars amidst its dark fluid body.

Nessy stopped completely, turning to face our pursuer. Before I could protest, she thrust her hand into the glowing concrete.

"What are you doing?!" I shouted.

"Trust me," she replied, her voice unusually calm. "I know what I'm doing… I think."

The blue light engulfed her arm, spreading around it in radial patterns.

"I claim you!" She inhaled and barked at the concrete. "Not as a prisoner, but as part of my pack. Will you choose us over them?"

The alpha nipper skidded to a halt just yards away, its smaller kin gathering around it. It seemed wary now, its attention fixed on the glowing bucket rather than on us.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then the concrete surged up Nessy's arm, coating it in a gleaming gray gauntlet of semi-fluid concrete that hardened instantly. 

[Alliance formed! Achievement unlocked: "Cement Mixer, Not a Heartbreaker." Your relationship status is now: It's Complicated (with Minerals).]

Nessy grinned, flexing her newly armored hand. The concrete moved with her, flowing like quicksilver yet solid where needed.

"Time to party, fuckers!" Nessy growled, her ears forward in a predatory stance.

The alpha nipper let out another of those unsettling staple-gun sounds. The smaller nippers pressed closer to it, as if seeking reassurance.

"You want this tasty concrete?" Nessy taunted, chicking the empty orange bucket towards the entrance of the Mini-mart. "Come and get it!"

She rushed forward to meet the alpha, her concrete-armored fist raised.

They collided with a sound like thunder, the impact sending shockwaves across the parking lot. The alpha's mass distorted around Nessy's armored fist, its form momentarily losing cohesion before reforming several feet away.

Nessy howled with delight, the sound so primal and canine it sent shivers down my spine. She charged the alpha, her movements a blur of speed and precision. The concrete fist bubbled around her hand.

A silver flash in my peripheral vision drew my attention:

[Quest update: Your companion fights valiantly! Achievement unlocked: "Spectator Sport." Would you prefer to A) Join the fray, B) [System error], or C) Run away screaming and sacrifice your loyal husky to the Nipper Alpha? Note: Option C comes with a complementary paper bag for hyperventilation.]

The question forced a decision. Nessy seemed to be holding her own, the concrete glove giving her an edge against the alpha. But, the smaller nippers were beginning to regroup, circling around to attack her from behind.

"Hey!" I shouted, drawing the attention of the baby nippers. "Over here, you little bastards!"

They turned as one, their red eyes fixing on me with malevolent interest. I braced myself, feet planted firmly on the broken pavement.

"Come on then," I muttered, twirling the stop sign like a staff. "Let's dance."

They surged forward, their tiny limbs propelling them across the ground with disturbing speed. I swung the stop sign in wide arcs, connecting with several at once, sending them flying in all directions. They were individually weak, but their numbers made them dangerous.

One latched onto my leg, its teeth piercing through the cargo pants to the flesh beneath. Another rapidly climbed my back, seeking vulnerable spots. I spun, dislodging some, crushing others beneath my feet.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nessy and the alpha locked in combat, swatting at each other with claws of dark, glistening fluid and concrete glove. The husky was panting, the concrete glove clearly heavy and unbalancing her slightly. 

Number flashed above both as time seemed to slow between the swing of the stop sign and its impact against the mass of nippers.

[Nessy HP: 83%]

[CreteGlove HP: 21%]

Nessy let out a battle cry that was equal parts human determination and canine fury. Her concrete glove crackled with strain as she swung at the alpha, the impact sending vibrations across the parking lot. I could see her muscles tensing beneath her fur, her eyes narrowed with single-minded focus.

[Nessy HP: 81%]

[CreteGlove HP: 16%]

The impact sent the Nipper Alpha flying backwards, but it was clear that each hit was hurting Nessy and damaging the precious concrete. If they kept at it, the CreteGlove would likely perish.

A nipper latched onto my shoulder, its teeth finding the gap between my collarbone and neck. Pain flared, hot and immediate. I reached back, grabbing its slick, ferrofluid body and tearing it away, leaving behind a trail of my own blood.

[Health: 91% | Achievement unlocked: "Nipper Blood Donor"]

Pain blossomed across my shoulder, a crimson flower unfurling beneath my skin. I staggered, momentarily disoriented by the flashing silver text that seemed to mock my suffering. The smaller nippers swarmed around me, an undulating carpet of malevolence, their tiny teeth seeking purchase on any exposed flesh.

I caught sight of Calvin standing in the doorway of the mini-mart. He leaned casually against the frame, sipping from what appeared to be a chipped mug with a faded red heart design against a black square. 

His tinfoil hat gleamed in the fading light as he gave us an enthusiastic thumbs up, his expression that of a proud teacher watching students tackle a particularly challenging exam.

"Little help here?" I called out, my voice strained with effort and pain.

Calvin merely raised his mug in salute, making no move to intervene. His eyes—both the biological pair and the dozens of paper ones adorning his clothing—observed my suffering with academic interest.

Nessy was still locked in combat with the alpha, her concrete-armored fist landing blow after devastating blow. But I could see her strength waning, her movements becoming less precise, more desperate. The concrete gauntlet was cracking, small fragments falling away with each impact.

[Nessy HP: 78%] 

[CreteGlove HP: 11%]

Realization struck me with sudden clarity: I was accomplishing absolutely nothing with my sign swinging. The smaller nippers were essentially invincible, reforming after each blow. And Nessy's battle with the alpha was a war of attrition she couldn't possibly win.

I abandoned my futile assault on the smaller creatures and charged toward Nessy, my stop sign raised high. The nippers pursued, their tiny fluid-limbs carrying them across the broken pavement with disturbing speed.

"Roll!" I shouted as I reached her side.

To her credit, Nessy didn't hesitate, dropping into a crouch and rolling left out of my way. The alpha, momentarily confused by this new development, paused its attack—the perfect opening.

I brought the edge of the stop sign down with all my strength, cleaving through the alpha's amorphous form where its neck might have been if it had conventional anatomy. The metal edge passed through with surprising ease, like slicing through cold molasses.

The alpha's seven red eyes blinked in astonishment, its body separating into two distinct halves that slumped uselessly to the ground. A horrific, static-filled screech emanated from both pieces—not the sound of dying, but of outrage.

"Run!" I grabbed Nessy's non-concrete arm, pulling her toward Calvin's mini-mart. "Now!"

She didn't need to be told twice. We sprinted across the parking lot. Behind us, the alpha's halves were already stretching toward each other, trying to reconstitute.

The smaller nippers gave chase, their bodies flowing like liquid mercury across the cracked asphalt. One latched onto my sneaker and calves, its teeth and claws sinking deep. Another caught the hem of Nessy's skirt, another was climbing rapidly toward her thigh.

Pain flared with each step, but we didn't slow, didn't look back. The mini-mart's entrance loomed before us, Calvin still watching with that same infuriating calm from position inside, as if we were simply returning from a leisurely stroll rather than fleeing for our lives.

We stumbled across the threshold, collapsing onto the faded linoleum floor in a heap of panting exhaustion and adrenaline. I expected the nippers to follow, to surge into the store after us or for Calvin to shut the door. Instead the little monsters stopped abruptly at the entrance—a roiling, seething mass of dark ferrofluid that refused to cross the invisible line where Calvin's domain began.

I noted that the ones clinging to us washed off our bodies as we crossed the threshold of the doorway.

The ginger bearded man stepped forward, regarding the creatures with stern disapproval, like a principal confronting misbehaving students.

"Now, now," he chided sternly. "You know the rules. This is my domain. You are not welcome here. Shoo off."

The nippers responded with a cacophony of clicks and electronic whines that somehow conveyed both frustration and bargaining. The sound was incomprehensible to me, yet Calvin nodded as if understanding perfectly.

"I see," he replied, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "You want your life-crete back. You believe it belongs to you."

More clicks, more whines. The alpha had partially reformed now, its halves joined by thin strands of dark matter that were thickening by the second. Its eyes glowed with undisguised malice.

"Well, that's where you're wrong," Calvin continued, his voice taking on a lecturing tone. "The life-crete doesn't belong to you. It never did. A small shard of it chose them." He gestured toward Nessy's armored hand, which was now crumbling. Somehow the husky-girl knew exactly what to do and held her hand over the orange bucket, watching as the concrete flaked off, once again filling the container.

The nippers' response was a harsh burst of static that needed no translation. 

Denial. Rage. Threat.

Calvin's expression hardened, his silver-blue eyes narrowing beneath the brim of his tinfoil hat. "I suggest you reconsider your position," he said quietly. "This is my domain, and my word here is law. The life-crete shard made its choice. You would do well to respect that."

He pulled out his gun and pointed it at the Nipper Alpha.

"I suggest you leave," he commanded, his voice resonating with unexpected authority. "Before I decide that your existence is unnecessary to my purpose. Consider the following–unlike my apprentice’s sign-weapon which only momentarily stops you, my Syntropic bullets have the power to inflict ever-increasing pain and death on your otherwise limitless existence. What is worth more to you, finite life-crete which will expire and harden in a few days time or potentially endless pain from a wound that will never, ever heal?”

The nippers retreated slightly, their aggression dampened by something like uncertainty. The alpha's eyes dimmed fractionally, its newly reformed body tensing as if preparing for another attack.

Then, with surprising suddenness, it turned and slithered away, its smaller kin following like a receding tide of darkness. Within moments, the smaller nippers had disappeared into the cracks and shadows of the parking lot, leaving behind only small smears of ferrofluid that evaporated in the cold air.

The alpha snarled sounding like a hundred clacking staple-guns and then retreated back into the concrete puddle, vanishing in its depths. One of the shopping carts suspended in the concrete wobbled ever so slightly and then the view became perfectly still. 

Calvin returned his gun into its holster with a satisfied nod. 

"Well done, questers," he turned to us with a broad smile. "You've successfully procured the life-crete! And with minimal blood loss, too! Most impressive."

I stared at him incredulously, still half-sprawled on the floor, blood seeping from multiple bite wounds. "You could have helped," I managed, panting and wincing.

"Nah," Calvin shook his head emphatically. "That would have defeated the purpose entirely. Quests must be completed by the questers, or they hold far less reward value." He tapped his tinfoil hat knowingly. "Besides, I had complete faith in your abilities."

Nessy, who had been examining the procured concrete dog-like fascination, looked up at this. "You knew we'd succeed?"

"Let's just say the probability was favorable," Calvin replied. "You've not only successfully obtained the concrete but gained its allegiance. A rare achievement indeed! There’s some bandages and other medical supplies on that there shelf. Patch yourselves up and use the concrete before it… expires.”

“It’s gonna expire?!” Nessy barked, eyes growing wide.

“It is quite damaged and disconnected from the rest of the puddle,” Calvin nodded. “And slowly dying. It cannot exist long in its current state’. Use it to create new life before it hardens forevermore.”

“But it’s…” the husky-girl whined.

"The concrete chose you, yes," Calvin stated. "Formed a bond. Materials, especially transformed ones, have preferences now. Loyalties. The Nipper Alpha is feasting on it, guarding it because it recognized its value, not because it belonged to it." He smiled broadly. "And now it belongs to you, but it will not last long. Which means our quest can proceed to its next phase."

"Planting Sandwichu, yeah?" Nessy asked, panting, wide tongue out.

“Yes. Don’t be sad for the concrete,” Calvin said. “Its devotion will carry onto the next stage of the bloom when it dies.”

“Okkay,” Nessy smiled with renewed enthusiasm, her tail beginning to wag despite her obvious exhaustion and her bleeding hands and feet.