Chương 26: Hom, Sweet Hom

The bathroom door in the candy shop was broken open when we arrived, and Tanya was missing. I stood in the doorway in shock for a moment before noting the drag marks among the candy littering the floor. I looked to Addy. She took a whiff.

"They're not far." We burst through the back door, taking it off of its hinges and gunning it down the alleyway. The trail of candy turned into a trickle, but there was enough to show us a general direction. Addy's nose did the rest, finding Tanya wrapped up in pink tentacles and currently being carried away by four 3kg mimics and a pair of leapers. They stopped once they saw us, bodies quickly taking on the color of the surrounding asphalt. We killed them. Quickly.

I tore away the coarse tendrils wrapped around Tanya's face before helping her back up. She was shivering too much to stand on her own. After all the shit she'd gone through, I didn't think that she could look any worse. The rows and rows of red ring-shaped imprints around her skin, like tiny sharp octopus suckers, revealed that there was always room towards the bottom. I turned to Addy.

"So, any guess as to why the mimics are abducting people?"

"Besides as subjects to study and copy? Some mimic types need special ingredients to be created. And some people are born more special than others," she said, as if the idea of live people being an ingredient in making that type of mimic wasn't a terrifying revelation in the slightest.

"It'll take them over a week until they're unrecoverable. It's been five days. We have to find that nest by tomorrow."

"Haha. How quaint," I squeaked out, patting Tanya on the back.

"You good?"

"No," she said with a shaky voice.

"I wanna leave. Please."

"That's the plan." It was high time we left this mimic infested part of the city and delivered her somewhere safe. My neighborhood was only a short walk away. I kept her steady as we walked, turning to Addy after some time spent stewing in my own thoughts.

"The mimics want something on Earth," I said, eventually. Addy gave me a side eye.

"Some people think of them like a piece of runaway malicious code, constantly changing, adapting. Some think planetspanning superorganisms like them are the endpoint of evolution. Some say they're running out of resources on their home planet, that they're running away to a new one.

""Seems legit, considering we've basically run out of helium for MRI machines and superconductors." Addy paused.

"You serious?"

"Oh yeah. I know a guy who's into environmental sciences. He claimed that basically no matter how much we move forward with technology, some critical resources are lacking, can't be replaced, and have no substitutes. Phosphor for fertilizers. Cobalt and Lithium for batteries. The Arctic wasn't hiding the promised oil and rare earth reserves both Canada and Russia were hoping it would, causing a huge sunk cost for little to no gain for both of them.

Despite thirty percent less oil being produced than ten years ago, the gasoline price hasn't gone up much since more electric cars have lowered demand. Isn't that a funny coincidence?"

"I don't drive a car," Addy said.

"The sound they make makes me nervous."

"How do you get anywhere though?" I asked. In response, she opened a part of her stat sheet and flicked a glowing number over towards me. [Body: 152]"I run places," she said with a wry grin.

"Very fast." I squinted with all extra eyes and shook my fist at her.

"Darn those overpowered stats. Though I suppose you're the most environmentally friendly form of transportation. Cheap too if I can fuel you with store-bought snacks."

"I eat lots of sandwiches." I blasted a trash can that had been rolling after us uphill until it turned into soulcoins. Addy meanwhile explained to me the details on mimic physiology and nests. Mimics wanted to mimic. That was their whole thing. The ability, which they gained from their precursor species, a sort of carnivorous coral, was part magical, part physical in nature. More complex objects required more time to 'mentally digest' as she put it.

Ergo, living creatures had to be restrained, perhaps even actively kept alive if a collection of mimics wanted to gain any accurate blueprint of even isolated bodyparts. Once a mimic did, the usefulness of the modifications was assessed and, if deemed an improvement, that mimic would then become the progenitor of a new class of mimics.

"How do nests fit into this scheme?" I asked.

"They're… well, this isn't entirely accurate, but my mentor once compared normal mimics to sterile individuals in a hive of eusocial insects," Addy said, tossing her now knife-sized sword at a traffic cone, resummoning it into her hand before the mimic even knew that it was already dead.

"Some mimics aren't sterile. They're fed differently, made differently, or maybe some other outer factor changes them to become hive seeders. They're sneaky buggers. You probably won't even see one in ten years, if your career lasts that long. A nest that can produce those is a big problem, even inside a convergence barrier, since hunting every one down is such a huge investment of time."

"Huh. So, if we hunt the small ones, the big ones just produce more seeders, but if we hunt the nests, the other seeders will have time to disperse and cause problems in the future. Doesn't that mean no matter what we do, we're playing into their hands?" Addy pointedly remained silent after that. It was as damning an answer as any. Best to address the situation quickly then. So, a place few people visit, where a little mimic can grow slowly and unbothered… There were many places that fit the bill.

The old gravel pit was unused and partially flooded. Some old docks were rotting on the shores of the great lakes. There was the odd abandoned or empty shop, but most of those had been inside the mall, and that was already cleaned out. … unless it wasn't, and the mimics had moved in right after I passed out. That did sound like something they would try. But given that Addy or Medusahead were always nearby, they had probably already dealt with it. I dared a short glance at the big muscled tanukigirl.

You're overworking yourself, clearly, but you also have enough Body to endure it. You think you need to do more, always more. Even when you try your best, you can't be everywhere at once, and it's eating you alive. Once this is all over, I think I need to get you a vacation. Assuming I'm still alive by then. It was well into the afternoon when we arrived at Saintsbury Road.

The ancient Victorian era houses around Clem's place were entirely absent here; they'd been bulldozed in favor of a new suburban area in the 70s and 80s, as homes for the workers working in the old steel mill — though it was the new steel mill back then. The neighborhood had benefited greatly from that source of jobs and thereby wealth, pretty english lawns and wide gardens accommodated by the plentiful land.

All you had to do was put an axe to some deciduous trees and bam, there you had space for a home that was worth a fortune. Of course, many of them were abandoned by now. I shot a nervous glance at a house that didn't quite look right. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Please don't be a house mimic.

It was as normal as a house could get: two stories painted off-white, a newer, white picket fence, green lawn with garden gnomes and abandoned kids toys. Trash that had been taken out but never picked up lay strewn about in front of the driveway. There was a sign in front of it. Paddlers Lane. Jerome Street, where my home was, was just around the corner of Paddlers Lane. The street sign wasn't mispelled, and it was exactly where it always was… or, maybe I was misremembering that.

Did it always have that little off coloring around the bottom? Did I just not notice it become more weathered over the two years that I'd spent away from home? I sighted my Toothpick and singed the edge of the sign. It didn't flinch at the very least.

"What was that for? Tanya asked, thoroughly spooked at the loud crack.

"A-are they coming back?" I scrunched my nose. My mind was telling me one thing, but my instincts were telling me another. Maybe I was just being paranoid. And paranoia was a mix of anticipation and fear. Hopefully that didn't mess up my big spell. I'd been charging it for a while now. [Spell charged: 73% Fear, 25% Anticipation, 2% Anger] Well, no two ways around it. Better clear the charge to make space for when I really need a realistic double."

Illusory double," I whispered, a crackling fake-Samantha peeling off of me like a digitized old skin. The first thing off about fake-Samantha was in the way she stood: her feet were hovering at least a solid inch or two above the ground. The image was constantly jittering and shifting, as certain of her place in space as the average electron. Her body had an audible buzz to it. I touched it and the double gave me an electric shock.

"OW!" I shook my hand.

"Geez. This is, like, the weirdest miscast I've had so far."

"Your double is lagging," Tanya noted, hiding behind me. Addy snorted.

"That's because your other spells weren't that strong to begin with. The stronger the spell, the worse the possible miscasts. On the plus side, experimenting with different ratios can sometimes give you a hint at possible future upgrades."

"So, potentially, I could make my doubles zap people?"

"Could be anything else electricity-related. You won't find out until you get offered your first set of upgrades." Addy shrugged.

"Now, what's your plan?"

"It's very simple," I said.

"Alright, fake-me. Go stand over there." Fake me saluted, turned around, and walked straight through the picket fence and the nearby sandbox. It was obvious to anyone with half a brain cell that this thing was a hologram. But that didn't prevent the ceiling light affixed on the patio from shifting colors and slowly snaking a long tongue-like tentacle down behind my double's back. It was terrifying to watch the scene unfold without a single sound. Watching it approach from my blind spot.

Imagining that it wasn't a body double, but just a normal person minding their own business. I aimed my gun, but Addy stopped me, pushing my hand down.

"Wait," she hiss-whispered.

"Why?" I hiss-whispered back. The mimic took its chance. It dropped from the ceiling, all pretense at camouflage thrown away as it tried to wrap around my double, failing even as the 'hom-sweet-hom' mat coiled up and around its legs. Both phased right through the double. Both got a small electric shock. Both died as I blasted them with my Toothpick. [Soulcoins: 187->200]"3 kilo and some sort of 7. 5 kilo tangler mimic," I reported.

"That's more than enough to incapacitate the average person," Addy said.

"And they were waiting. Stay here. I don't want to have to deal with stragglers." The weretanuki stepped forward, my little drone right on her heels. I sent it up. It accepted mental commands as well as verbal ones, same as the illusory double. Actually, could I connect its video feed with my system display? I'd barely finished the thought when half of my vision was suddenly taken up by a birds-eye view of the quaint house.

Addy walked up to the front entrance, casually stabbing the trashcan as she walked past, and the sand castle, and the mailbox. One out of three writhed before dying shortly after. Her katana was glowing like a heated knife. She walked up to the door and stabbed it. The door caught fire. Burning sword. Very cool. We have to make some pics for a reel later. Addy disappeared into the house with barely a whisper, awfully quiet for a girl her size. The few sounds I did hear were eldritch death-warbles.

Judging by just how many there were, the house was practically filled with the pink aliens. At least the house itself isn't a mimic. The peak came when the entire winter garden, glass panels and metal framework all collapsed inwards on Addy, shortly before a [Get off Me!] exploded it in every direction.

"That the last of them?" I asked, wiping a droplet of black blood off my face as Addy came stomping back.

"Probably not. But I did what I could. It gets hard to smell them after the first few kills. Their blood is acrid as heck."

"They're getting better at this whole game of deception for sure," I muttered.

"Still dumb as bricks though."

"D-did you find any people?" Tanya asked.

"None. Their smells are weak. They haven't been here in three or four days."

"They c-could be at the safe zone," Tanya said.

"You were talking about that one earlier." Addy stayed silent. Her ears were turning on a swivel and she was sniffing the air at quickening intervals.

"Right?"

"I didn't evacuate this area yet. I'm not sure how they would have gotten past all the crap the mimics flung at us on the way," I said.

"Medusahead was right, this place is infested with the worst of them."

"But why?" Addy and I shared a glance.

"Nest."

"Dammit." And so close to home too. I couldn't see a purple gooey dome anywhere, nor anything else that could be construed as a nest. But that didn't mean I wasn't terrified of the possibility of my home turning into one.

"We need to move." And move we did. Addy kept up a quick pace, and I had to reel her in a few times to make sure Tanya could keep up. The weretanuki looked like she was debating carrying her, but we were basically home already. I was basically home. I could feel my hands fidgeting again. With 31 in Mind, they wandered much less. Even then, restlessness had a way of multiplying all on its own. Was my family alright? Or was I going to arrive home to a literal ghost town?

I almost cried in relief when we turned the corner and I saw Jerome street. It looked fine, almost suspiciously so. Addy took a step forward and immediately hit her forehead against an invisible wall.

"Stupid thing, I never know where it starts," she muttered, rubbing her nose. I stared at her dumbly.

"What was that?"

"The barrier. Or ward. Or whatever you want to call it. Covers the entire street, three hundred feet radius." She nodded towards the impeccably kept road.

"It's an old one, really old."

"How old?"

"Old enough that it doesn't discriminate between an alien and a wereperson," Addy grumbled.

"At least it isn't shocking us." I wound up a haymaker to end all haymakers.

"Maybe it hasn't heard of werespiders yet and — nope, nope, ow, that's solid."

"If this is the kind of ward that just keeps everyone out, then we might have a problem…" Addy stared as Tanya took a step, then two, and then she was on the other side. She turned around, looking nervous.

"D-did I hit it yet?" The weretanuki closed her mouth and cleared her throat.

"You're through. Very good. Now invite us in."

"Oh, are we going by vampire rules now?" I asked.

"What? No. Every barrier needs an entry and an exit condition. The harder one is to fulfill, the easier the other has to be. I have a list of common methods I'd like to try, this is just the first one." Well. Tanya invited us in. It didn't work. Addy made her do it again in a dozen different languages.

"It's pronounced in-vi-ta- re not in-vi- tair."

"But it's got an -re at the end!"

"This is latin, not english." When that also didn't work, she asked Tanya to do a little dance. At that point I was starting to think that she was making her do this for laughs and giggles, when suddenly Tanya stumbled, bonking right into my back as I was leaning against the barrier. Immediately the force propping me up stopped, and I toppled over backwards with a surprised squawk.

"... you have to physically invite someone inside by touching them," I said.

"I was going to try that next," Addy mumbled sullenly. I popped to my feet and pulled Addy through the barrier, patting her arm.

"I'm sure you would have figured it out." She grumbled, growing quieter as I continued to stroke her arm. Addy was getting used to me the same way a wild animal did. Now all I needed to conquer her trust was biscuits, er, brownies. As if. Things were never that easy. But things were going better! I was this close to finishing one of my personal little sidequests too. There was no harm in a little hope, was there? And to top it off, my home was just ahead, and looking mighty mimic-less.

The people inside this bubble had gathered a bunch of trash to mark the edge of the invisible barrier, so someone inside here could be counted on for thinking on their feet. And look, my home looked exactly the way it left it, minus Clem's car, and plus our own. Mom's SUV was parked right next to Dad's old Honda Civic. Foggy's catflap was boarded over, Dad's work by the look of it.

The elderberry tree was free of birds for what felt like the first time in decades, and the Rhododendron he'd planted last year was taking nicely. It looked the way home always looked. Inviting. Peaceful. I could have stared at the entire scene for hours, existing at the edge of my old life while my extra eyes took in details I would never have appreciated. The trashcan still had a crack in it despite Mom repeatedly asking Dad to order a new one. Evidently, it still worked fine. That was Dad's argument as well.

The south side of the wall looked like it would need a new coat of paint in a year or five. Mom wanted to wait for a bit longer, then do the entire house in one go. She couldn't help painting it, so if we had to get a contractor, it would be worth getting them for one cohesive job. I looked down at my extra arms, at my extra eyes reflected in a puddle. Did I even still belong here? Would they even recognize me, after all the changes I'd gone through? Would they approve of who I was and who I thought I wanted to be?

"Thank fuck, your place looks safe," Tanya said with an exhausted sigh.

"Look, they're even waving at us." I looked up, eyes going wide.

"Oh crap."

"What is it?" Addy immediately went tense.

"Mimics?"

"No." I scrambled to hide myself behind her.

"Those are my parents."