I opened the note. The note app loaded the text.

"Hi Alec," it began. "If you're reading this then I died and you lived... which was sadly an inescapable inevitability at this juncture. Sorry, I should have told you but I wussed out and didn't want to make you sad and ruin our vibes. This happened because I am finite and you are not. Know this—I did sniff a way, a sideways way of sorts out of this mess. Not for me, but for everyone. But... it will undo many things or perhaps nearly everything. Everything, including what I did looking for you. Everything, except for you and our lovely RV domain..."

My hands trembled as I continued reading, my heart pounding in my chest.

"I've been having dreams, Alec. Dreams of rainbow wings and a white citadel by the North Sea. Dreams where I'm not just a dog-girl mechanic, but something, someone more. An Omnid girl with a Fractal Engine heart. An idea that stretches across worlds. A triangle we made. Vastness. Us. Our trio. Me, you and her, who is also me… just a different me who took a different path. And in these dreams, I've seen many deaths and many possibilities—branches of time like the branches of your soul-tree."

I scrolled down. The note continued:

"I only had a week or less to spend with you. I tried to make the best of it, to spend as much time with you as possible. Sadly, our relationship was doomed to end because the lynx was going to find me sooner or later, catch up to me. She's very high level, very capable, stronger than all of us. But… she is not stronger than you can be if you keep going. I know that you can keep going, because you are our tree, because the Magnetic Lynx cannot end you like she can end me. I do hope that Kristi is with you. If she's not… which is very likely because she's a dummy who rushes headfirst into danger, then you have to save her too."

I scrolled down, my breath catching.

"There was no straight path to save me, Kristi or her sisters. No way to save Ferguson. I sniffed this too. Number Two, Insurance is too strong, too old. She does not return souls. She does not let people out of her domain, once she seals the way out, there is no way back home for a finite, linear prad or human. She takes and keeps things and people, forever, fucks with those who leave her store. The Strand Sisters' debt cannot be repaid. The vegetables and supplies stolen from the superstore already damned the people of Ferguson, tagging them as 'thieves' for the high level hunters and executioners. This was going to be our last trip regardless of what I did. You have to survive, get stronger and then you have to return to Ferguson. Leave Bulwichu parked inside the Superstore to preserve her so that you can find her again. Go on foot to Ferguson. It won't be pretty. I trust you to do this for us. There, use the watch to go all the way back to the beginning of everything. Spin the dial as far as it can go. Don't be afraid. You will carry Systemfall with you wherever you go, survive death and absolute entropy because you are liminal."

My hands shook so badly I nearly dropped the phone.

"I am dead and partially bound to the Supercenter because I used her artifacts. This path forward is my gift to you, Alec. I trust you to catch me before I fall. It's up to you to save all of us. A chance to try again, to do it better. Just know that whatever version of me you find in that new timeline... she might not remember the 'us'. Not right away. But she will sniff the 'us' and become me. In time. Maybe after you show her your drawings and Bulwichu. Maybe sooner. Because some things are constant across all possible worlds, all possible paths. Like how I'll always dream of you. Because I love you. Always and forever."

The note ended with a simple line that broke my heart anew:

"Thank you for being my tree. For giving me your shade to rest under in a doomed world gone mad. Whatever happens next, remember I chose this path. I chose you so that you can save me, save us, save everything. ~ Your Nessy.

P.S. I recorded all of the songs I wrote for us on this phone as a Pawsome Playlist. The phone, like you, has a battery that cannot die. Don't cry and listen to 'em n' get motivated n' stuff, you butt. Leave the phone in the RV playing the songs and flipping through the photo gallery when you depart, 'kay? The selfies will feed the bulbees, keep the vibes alive."

I stared at the screen, tears blurring my vision. Even from beyond death, she was so sweet, caring about me and also keeping secrets from me to protect me.

I slammed my fist into the metal floor.

"Go back… to the beginning?" Officer Lavros asked as she had read the note along with me. "Like… before we ransacked this place? Is that… really possible? I thought that the watch operated within the shop aisles only?"

"I don't know, but I trust Nessy. It's a way forward," I sighed, running my fingers through my grimy hair. "I don't know how long it will take for a new watch to bloom, but it's something to hold onto, something to work towards. You in?"

Officer Lavros nodded, her fox ears twitching slightly. We sat in silence for a while, the weight of everything pressing down on us.

"Hey," I asked her. "Sorry, what's your first name? I can't keep referring to you as Officer Lavros."

"I'm Vivianne," she said. "Or Viv. You know, back in school Ness and I were sorta friends."

"Sorta?"

"We drifted apart because Nessy always picked you to hang out with," Viv shrugged. "And I was a stupid kid back then, and didn't trust humans, barely talked to you. I only got over my speceist bullshit at the Police Academy after they assigned me and a few other prad gals a human partner."

Calvin's words kept echoing in my mind, sounding more and more like a prophecy or perhaps a warning that we had foolishly ignored. "The infinite Superstore... You walk into a place like that, you do NOT walk out."

Days passed, then weeks.

Viv and I settled into a routine of sorts.

The Bulwichu tree continued to slowly grow, crystalline branches extending through the RV's interior, but there was no sign of the artifacts reforming.

We ventured out into the Supercenter's endless aisles to scavenge for food and supplies. Viv proved to be an excellent hunter, her pradavarian fox instincts giving her an edge when tracking the strange creatures or living things that roamed the store.

I tried to get her to join my pack, but the System refused to add her, responding with the same stupid, snarky excuse it used with the Strand girls:

[Pack Merger Attempt Failed: Target "Vivianne E. Lavros" is already bound to an existing pack: "The Superstore Rewinders." Cross-pack affiliations are strictly prohibited by the …]

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"How can I still be in a pack with the Strand sisters if they're dead?" Viv asked.

"Maybe the System sees them as existing here because parts of their souls are still tied to the store?" I shrugged.

No clarification followed from the System.

"What even is that?" I asked one day as she returned with something that looked like a cross between a chicken and a floor lamp.

"No idea," she admitted, showing her fangs. "But the meat parts taste like chicken, so a chicken-lamp, maybe? It's probably fine to eat."

The Bulwichu tree grew taller, stronger, its roots spreading throughout the RV as I kept the selfie roll and the Pawsome Playlist playing from Nessy's phone. Bulbees gradually multiplied, forming a protective swarm that attacked anything that came too close without our permission, chasing away predators.

Viv and I became more than just survivors—we became professional hunters. We tracked and killed the monsters that roamed the Supercenter's infinite expanse, partly for food and supplies, partly in an attempt to get stronger.

We fought side by side, learning each other's movements, developing a wordless communication that made us more efficient. I died countless times, my Reconstitution bringing me back again and again, while Viv relied on her speed and cunning to stay alive.

I listened to the playlist Nessy made for me over and over, praying, hoping that I would someday be able to get her back.

Days flew by in the endless shopping aisles. The only constant was our hunt and the slow, patient growth of the Bulwichu tree.

One day, Viv fell ill.

Whatever had infected her moved quickly, her fox-like features growing gaunt, her fur losing its copper luster. The store had somehow gotten inside her, gradually changing her fur and nails to the texture of tiles.

"It's alright," she whispered as I held her paw. "We knew this would happen eventually."

"I can fix this," I insisted, desperation clawing at my chest. "We just need to find the right medicine, or—"

"Alec," she cut me off, her voice gentle but firm. "Some things can't be fixed. Not everyone can reconstitute forever like you, stay unchanged, never age, never break. Just… keep going, yeah? For all of us. Until the end. Keep going… get that damned watch to grow or whatever and undo all of this. And if you can't, if you ever find your way back to Ferguson… tell my best friend Sage Noon about what happened to me. T-tell him that he was right about this damned place. P-promise?"

"Okay," I answered, blinking tears from my eyes. "I… promise."

She died three days later, slipping away quietly in her sleep as her body calcified into plastic tiles and her heart stopped. I carried her immobile, plastic body to the garden section, where God knows how many days ago I had created a memorial for Nessy and the others. I buried her beneath a twisted tree that grew flowers shaped like tiny crystal moons, placing her now empty ranger's pistol atop the fresh mound of earth.

I stood there for a long time, surrounded by graves, the weight of solitude crushing down on me. First Nessy, then Krysanthea and her sisters, now Viv.

Everyone I cared about, everyone who had made this hell bearable, gone.

"I'm still here," I said to the empty air, looking up at the flickering patchwork of lights overhead. "I'm still fucking here, you fuck… and I'm not going to stop till I get them all back."

I returned to the RV. The Bulwichu tree had grown to a size of a medium-sized oak, its crystal branches forming a canopy across the three meter-high ceiling, bulbees humming softly among its leaves. I reached up and touched one of the branches, feeling its cool glass-like smoothness against my skin.

"Please," I whispered. "I need the damned artifacts, Bul. Grow them already! What's taking so bloody long? I'm going fucking insane here!"

The tree didn't answer, bulbees fading with blues and violets and golds.

Many days after Viv's death, I came across a strange entity in the electronics section—a creature made entirely of flat lines and angles, moving through the world as if it existed in only two dimensions. It sliced through shelves and products as if they weren't there, leaving perfect geometric cuts in its wake.

I tracked it for days, studying its movements, learning its patterns. When I finally confronted it, the battle was brutal. It cut through my flesh countless times, my Reconstitution barely keeping pace with the injuries.

But in the end, I prevailed, trapping it in a swampy section of the store where the hard tiles suddenly turned to liquid. As the creature suffocated in the mire and flailed, coming apart into a pile of lines and angles, something manifested afterwards as my Systemfall reward—a black knife blade sticking out of the floor. Flat as absolutely nothing when viewed from the side, yet impossibly sharp, a round hexagon–textured handle at the base.

[Fractalizer knife reward granted!] It commented. [Be careful not to chop yourself in half with its two dimensional blade, it'll divide anything, even things that definitely shouldn't be divided!]

I retrieved the knife from the plastic floor mire with some effort and a makeshift grappling hook.

Killing things with the Fractalizer knife became easier. Necessary. The only thing I knew how to do in this endless retail nightmare. I hunted monsters, concepts, entities—anything messed up and hostile that moved through the infinite aisles.

My experience gradually ticked up.

Eventually, I found a way back to Bedshire thanks to meeting another friendly human-ish employee with a patchwork blue vest.

Bedshire welcomed me as an immortal hunter who kept the worst threats at bay. I took jobs from its residents, clearing infestations, retrieving lost residents, defending their borders.

I also finally met the Cartographer who vaguely assured me that I was on the right path forward, her hair made from what looked like twisted miniature car GPS screens.

An uncountable number of days after losing everything, Bedshire fell too.

A swarm of spider monsters made from paperclips and staples overran the town's defenses. I fought alongside the residents, my blade cutting through hundreds of the creatures, but there were thousands more.

"Get to my RV!" I shouted to Jim and the others, but it was too late. The paperclip spiders swarmed over them, consuming everything in their path, firing paper clips right through everyone with machine gun staccato.

A paperclip struck me in the heart and a few paperclips went through my skull and then darkness claimed me.

I awoke amidst the shredded ruins with blood all around me. Bedshire, the last outpost of humanity in this infinite nightmare, was gone. The spiders had taken nearly all of the bodies with them, wrapping up a few remaining dead.

I found myself being wrapped up by a medium sized spider and stabbed it in the head with my knife, carving through staple-web with a howl.

I hunted the paperclip spider swarm relentlessly after that, tracking them through the aisles inside the RV, killing them by the dozens, then hundreds. It took an ungodly amount of time, but eventually, I located and destroyed their paperclip web nest and cut up the last of them, standing amid a field of twisted metal where the toy section met the gardening department.

After the spider hunt, I returned to the RV to find something miraculous.

On one of the Bulwichu tree's branches, a small silver spider was forming, its mechanical legs twitching as it took shape. The watch—a new version of the calculator-spider—was blooming.

Over the coming days the other artifacts appeared. A glass bead containing a tiny blue eye formed on another branch, then another, until a bracelet of them hung from a crystalline twig. Finally, a small compass bloomed, its red and blue needle spinning wildly.

I carefully harvested each artifact, holding them with reverence. These weren't just tools—they were my last connection to Nessy, to everyone I'd lost and hopefully a way back to them all.

"Thanks, Bul," I said to the tree, running my fingers over the artifacts. "I know what I have to do now."

I strapped the bracelet to my wrist, feeling its power immediately—the urge to accelerate, to move faster than time itself. I hung the compass around my neck, its pull guiding me toward something beyond the confines of the Supercenter. And finally, I attached the watch to my other wrist, its mechanical spider legs digging into my flesh, binding itself to me.

I was ready to go back to the beginning now.

To save them all.

To try again.

"Bye Bul," I said to the RV. "I'll be back for you, okay?"

The Bulbees flashed violet and gold.

I put Nessy's phone facing the tree and made sure that the playlist was playing and that the gallery of pack vibe images was circulating.

I hung my grandfather's guitar on the wall.

Then, I put on Nessy's backpack and stepped out of the RV, following the direction of the compass' arrow.

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