I slipped down the stairs and surveyed the wrecked storage room. There were half a dozen Model Threes clumsily climbing over the shelves, sniffing at the wreckage.

  As I raised the woodpecker at the closest target, the reticle appeared in my augs. Despite all my combat experience, the reticle hovered just above the beast’s left shoulder, instead of the creature’s center mass, like I expected.

  I considered going with my instincts, just for a moment, before adjusting my aim and pulling the trigger. Despite the pistol having little to no recoil, the round hit the monster with enough force to knock the Model Three off its feet.

  The remaining Model Threes immediately reacted, turning towards me and stumbling over the wreckage in one of the slowest charges I’d ever seen.

  I adjusted my aim slightly, lined the reticle up with the head of another Three, and pulled the trigger again. The heavy round easily punched through the alien’s thick skull, causing it to explode and spray the area in gore.

  Before I could take out a third alien, Jennifer joined the fight. The girl stopped halfway down the stairs and dropped into a crouch. Her brow was furled, not out of fear but concentration, as she carefully aimed the oversized firearm.

  Even though it took her far longer to aim than I did, her shot was no less devastating. Her shot caught a third alien in the shoulder, blowing the right forelimb clean off. The Model Three scrambled around, whining in pain for several seconds before finally lying still.

  I sighed and casually double-tapped a fourth monster before lowering my weapon. I hadn’t expected this simulation to be difficult, but this was absolutely embarrassing.

  Real Model Threes would have been able to navigate through the cluttered room almost as easily as flat ground, bounding across the debris and engaging us in close combat already. These fakes were barely halfway across the room, and I could tell that Jennifer wasn’t going to have any trouble dispatching the last two models before they became a threat.

  Jennifer didn’t dispatch them quickly; she took her time to line up her shots, but she did put down the last two creatures with plenty of time to spare.

  Once everything was dead, she let out a long, unsteady breath and lowered her weapon.

  “That wasn’t so bad,” she said, with a small smile.

  “You did well,” I replied lightly, patting her on the head. “How do you feel?”

  “Anxious and stressed out,” Jennifer replied. “But I guess that’s better than dropping to the ground, screaming in terror until my voice is hoarse.”

  “Honestly, it’s a valid response to having a wave of killer aliens bearing down on you,” I said.

  Jennifer frowned. “Maybe, but I’d rather do more than curl up into a little ball and wait to get eaten.”

  “Also understandable,” I nodded.

  Jennifer rolled her eyes and stepped past me, slowly making her way down the stairs, only to pause right before the landing with the pair of dead Threes on it.

  Being so close to the creatures was really affecting her, and she was trembling again, but she didn’t shy away. Instead, she just stood over them, staring. I considered asking if she wanted me to move them out of the way, but before I could, she raised her pistol and fired a single round into each of their heads.

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  Even though I jumped slightly at the unexpected action, Jennifer didn’t even flinch. Instead she seemed to draw confidence from the actions and the knowledge that the creatures were truly dead. She boldly stepped over the corpses and made her way down into the storage room.

  “Nyx, you said you were adjusting the simulation, right?” I asked.

  “I said it ramps up once everyone awakens,” my AI clarified. “I could adjust it to be as realistic as possible, but that would require me to adjust the base code, which would affect all the other simulations too. Although you might want something more difficult, the Andersons in the room next door might not appreciate the sudden spike in difficulty.”

  I glanced at my AI’s panda-colored avatar. “Is there actually an Anderson family in the room next door?”

  “Does it matter?” Nyx replied. “The simulations are run by a single server, and any major changes would affect not only you but the entire complex. I’m not going to traumatize a bunch of kids in order to challenge you.”

  “And I one hundred percent support that stance,” Jennifer yelled up the stairs.

  “Alright, I get it, no changes to the base program. How does the difficulty ramp up then?” I asked.

  “Larger waves and more varied types of Antithesis,” Nyx replied.

  “So… the same as usual, just with more incompetent versions of the Antithesis,” I grumbled. “I can’t wait.”

  I descended the stairs, hopped over the mess on the landing, and jogged over to where Jennifer was standing.

  The girl was cautiously poking one of the Model Threes with the barrel of her gun. Unlike the pair on the stairs, she didn’t appear to be all that concerned that this one might get up and attack her. Instead, she seemed to be nudging the limbs so she could get a better look at the creature. That could have been because she worked up a little confidence with her previous actions, or it could be because this particular corpse was missing its head.

  “Find something interesting?” I asked as I slipped up behind her.

  “Not really… I just wanted a closer look,” Jennifer replied. “I’ve seen versions of these things in my nightmares for months now, but now that I’m looking at them up close… they’re not all that impressive. They’re just giant plant dogs.”

  “Giant plant dogs with a horrific triple-hinged jaw,” I said, gesturing to the empty space where the Three’s head used to be. “That’s pretty horrifying.”

  “It’s not as bad as the entire thing unwrapping, becoming a wave of snake-like tentacles, or the entire body splitting down the middle and the entire body becoming one massive mouth,” Jennifer said.

  “F… reak! That’s what you’ve been dreaming of all this time? No wonder you've been afraid of these things,” I exclaimed. “Why didn’t you ever tell me about this?”

  Jennifer shrugged. “You’re usually busy trying to improve the neighbourhood, and Jane’s way better than you at dealing with the emotional side of things,” Jennifer said.

  “Hey, I would have made time to help you work through things!” I proclaimed.

  The girl stared at me for several seconds. “That’s it? You’re not going to say anything about Jane being better than you at dealing with the emotional problems?”

  “Pffffttt… No,” I scoffed. “I’m aware that I’m an emotionally stunted gremlin. Jane, Alan, and I had to work together to raise you kids. I worked myself to the bone, Jane provided the emotional support, and Alan… was there too.”

  Jennifer punched me lightly in the shoulder. “Be nice!”

  “Alright, alright… Alan saved, budgeted, and bargained his brains out to keep enough food on the table to keep everyone alive. He’s always been scarily good at numbers, even if his social skills leave something to be desired,” I admitted. “The point is, we all had different roles, and Jane took up the role of primary caregiver. She’s the emotional one. I’m just a stubborn asshole that doesn’t know when to give up.”

  I casually leaned on the Three’s corpse, an action that made Jennifer flinch. “That being said… I hope you know that even though I’m not amazing at this sort of thing, I’ll drop whatever I’m doing to help you kids. All you need to do is ask.”

  Jennifer smiled. “I know. And I’m pretty sure that both Eddie and Issi do too. We just don’t like bothering you with things that Alan and Jane can fix.”

  “Fair enough,” I said, pushing off the Antithesis. I grabbed one of its oversized paws and rolled it onto its side before leaning back against the creature and slapping it on the flank. “So… feeling any better about these fat sacks of foliage yet? You certainly seem a lot more confident.”

  “I’m not going to lie, they still scare the shit out of me,” Jennifer said. I raised an eyebrow at her language, but I didn’t want to say anything and interrupt her. The girl leaned forward and, after a moment of hesitation, touched the alien’s flank. “But seeing them up close… they’re not as scary as I remembered. They’re not the invincible killers that haunted my dreams--they can be killed.”

  “Yeah, they can,” I muttered. “Just… don’t take what we’ve experienced in the simulation as an accurate recreation of their abilities. They’re far more dangerous in real life.”

  “Come on, Evelyn, I’m not stupid. Nothing this incompetent would be considered a threat to humanity,” Jennifer said, rolling her eyes. “Besides, you've been complaining to Nyx after every single fight. You haven’t even been subtle about it.”

  “As long as you realize it,” I replied. After pushing off the Model Three for a second time, I gave the corpse a swift kick, sending it rolling over the toppled shelving units and assorted debris. “So, you’ve managed to face your fears and come out of it stronger. Now what? Want to continue?”

  Jennifer smiled. “Might as well. We still have most of an hour left, and I’ve always wondered what you go through during an incursion… plus, a little more exposure therapy can’t hurt.”

  “Well, I don’t know about that…” I muttered before turning towards the girl and shooting her a confident smile. “But if you want to continue, then I have no choice but to stick around and help you. Come on, I’ll show you how a true samurai deals with an incursion.”

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