Her dino-beak filled with sharp teeth approached my face. I stepped back, not feeling like getting my face bit off.

  “Girlfriend?!” Nessy growled.

  “Alec, what’s going on?” The raptor-girl demanded, hand on her gun belt.

  “I–ummm–yeah, sorry, I have no idea who you are,” I addressed my unexpected ‘girlfriend’.

  Amber eyes framed by yellow sclera flashed from me and struck Nessy, handgun out and pointed at the husky-girl’s head. She pulled it out so fast my eyes could barely focus on the motion.

  “You!” the velociraptor growled. “You must have done something to him!”

  I stared at the raptor-officer pointing a gun at Nessy, my brain struggling to process what was happening. Girlfriend? My heart hammered against my ribs. The afternoon light caught on her scales and feathers, her tail thrashed around sending iridescent reflections across the limestone path, beautiful and terrifying all at once.

  "Wait, stop!" I stepped between them, arms outstretched. "Nobody's doing anything to anybody!"

  The raptor-woman's eyes narrowed, her pupils constricting to thin, vertical slits. Her gun remained steady, as she tried to aim past me at Nessy. "Move aside, Alec! Something's clearly wrong with you, and I bet this dumb dog has something to do with it. She’s always been jealous of our relationship, raving and ranting about you two being a pack or whatever.”

  Behind me, I could hear Nessy's breathing turn ragged, a deep deep growl building in her chest. The sound vibrated through the air, primal and possessive.

  “Please lower the gun,” I said. “Sorry, I don't know your name…”

  "My name is Officer Krysanthea Liss Strand," the raptor-woman hissed out, her voice dropping to a dangerous register. "I'm the chief ranger here and we've been dating for four years! If you don't remember that, then something is very, very wrong."

  "Four years?" I echoed.

  "She's lying!" Nessy bubbled with righteous indignation, stepping closer until I could feel the heat of her body against my back.

  “Ness, I wasn’t even bloody here!” I waved my hands. “I’m not from this reality, not from this planet!”

  “W-what,” amber eyes flashed at me. “The fuck are you on about, Alec?”

  “You know, Nessy, it would be helpful to let me know that your world’s Alec dated a raptor!” I snapped at Nessy.

  My words seemed to strike Nessy physically. She recoiled as if slapped, her voice faltering momentarily as if she wasn't sure who was right now.

  "You never dated a lizard. You would have told me… I… oh no… I didnt… I swear I didn’t know!” She whined.

  "Please listen to me, Officer Strand," I said, turning back to the gun-toting raptor trying to defuse the tension.

  “Officer?” Krysanthea sputtered. “You… You normally call me Kristi! Alec! What happened to you?!”

  "There's been a kind of... A misunderstanding." I let out.

  "No misunderstanding," Krysanthea responded, eyes flicking down to the bucket containing our Sandwichu Tree. Her nostrils flared, taking in its scent. "What I do understand is that this... cur... has brought an abomination into my forest. And you've been compromised, mentally messed with."

  She lowered her aim slightly, her violet scaled face wavering between anger and concern. When she was just a few inches away, she inhaled deeply, her nostrils flaring wide.

  "You smell…" she muttered, then her eyes widened in horror. "Like… salmon sandwiches and eggs… Fuck. You've eaten it, haven't you? The fruit from that... that tree-thing."

  Nessy shifted defensively, holding onto the bucket, ears tilted back.

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  "You did! God damn it! Don’t you get it?!" the raptor growled, her gun rising again. "This is why system-corrupted flora is strictly prohibited in Ferguson county. It alters minds, changes memories, rewrites reality." Her voice cracked slightly. "What did you do to him, dog? What the shit did you feed him? What is that, some kind of sandwich that erases memories?”

  The accusation hung in the air between us, heavy and damning. I could feel Nessy trembling behind me, her breath coming in short, agitated bursts.

  "It’s… nothing!" Nessy protested.

  “Nothing?! You’re a shit liar!” Kristi barked.

  "It's… medicine! It heals! It helped his wounds!" Nessy backtracked.

  Krysanthea's eyes flickered to the dried blood on my clothes, the hastily bandaged cuts on my arms. Her expression darkened further.

  “A likely excuse,” she growled.

  Her gaze snapped to Nessy, pure hatred radiating from her amber eyes. "I should execute you on the spot for this," she hissed, her finger tensing on the trigger. "Ferguson has laws against System-corruption for a reason. We've managed to stay mostly normal here by enforcing those laws."

  “You’re wrong and you don’t know anything!” Nessy bared her teeth, hackles rising. "I saved him! I found him and brought him home!"

  “So you confess?!” The officer growled. “You went out, got him and fed him the fruit of that contaminated tree? Idiot dog! Alec moved on since our dance at the formal four years ago! He found someone who wasn't constantly clinging to him, suffocating him with endless neediness! But you clearly never accepted it, did you?!”

  Each word seemed to strike Nessy like a physical blow, her body flinching slightly. Her tail froze, ears drooping.

  “I freaking knew it! You always plotted to be with him, wanted to undermine our love, steal what was mine!” Kristi snarled.

  "Stop," I said, my voice hardening. "Just... stop. Both of you."

  The tension between them was suffocating, filling the space with a dangerous energy that threatened to explode into violence at any moment.

  "Officer, please listen to me," I said, taking a deep breath. "I'm not... I'm not who you think I am."

  "What are you talking about?" Kristi barked. “You’re Alec!”

  "I'm an Alec, yes, but I’m not your Alec," I said, realising how insane I sounded. "I'm not from this world."

  “That’s ridiculous!” Her clawed hand tightened around her gun. "She’s infected you with Systemfall-corruption shit! This is why we have the quarantine laws! This is why we burn the cursed flora!”

  She moved with startling speed, lunging not for Nessy but for the bucket containing our tree.

  Nessy reacted instinctively, snatching it away and ducking behind me. "No!" she yelped. "It's ours! We grew it together!"

  Krysanthea pivoted. "That thing is an abomination! A manifestation of the System's corruption! It doesn't belong here!"

  "Neither do I," I said, trying to distract the raptor from her goal.

  “What?!” She sputtered, momentarily halting her assault on Nessy.

  "I died," I continued, my voice flat. "In my world, in my Ferguson, I died. Drowned in a bathtub by cartel thugs looking for my brother. The System... reconstituted me. Brought me back. And Nessy found me. So if you’re gonna burn that tree, you might as well burn me."

  “Stop saying nonsense, you knob!” Krysanthea stared at me, her reptilian features rigid with irritation. "You're Alec Foster. My Alec. My boyfriend! You grew up here. You and I danced at the formal, then we started dating. Then you went to university and came back three years ago when your grandfather died and left you that stupid old RV! We’ve been seeing each other on some weekends and holidays planning to move in together!”

  The mention of my grandfather tightened something in my chest.

  "Your Alec is gone," I said "I don't know where he is. But I'm not him. We never dated.”

  “Yes you are!” Krysanthea snarled, nostrils flaring. “This rabid, clingy dog could never let you go! She poisoned you, erased your memories!”

  “Wait, didn’t you say that you thought I was dead? Who told you that I was dead?” I tried to derail her away from her anti-Nessy narrative.

  Krysanthea's amber eyes narrowed, her snout-beak twitching. "Officer Terras," she said through her serrated teeth. "A friend of mine… stationed near your university. I asked her to keep an eye on you. Two weeks ago, you disappeared. No calls, no texts." Her voice cracked with genuine emotion of sorrow. "She found that your lock was busted up, the door kicked in, signs of struggle, tried to sniff whoever did it… but the fuckers dumped pepper all over the trail. I've been out of my mind with worry since I lost you!"

  I felt cold amusement. This version of me had been cared for, worried about, sought after. Someone had paid to have me protected and yet it didn’t help save me from my brother’s debts.

  "I hired a private investigator," she continued. "Spent a quarter of my savings searching for you! He deduced that you were taken by the cartel since your brother borrowed a fuckton of money from them… and that you were most likely dead… executed or maybe locked up somewhere to show your brother that debts ought to be paid…”

  Nessy shifted behind me, a soft whine escaping her throat. I could feel her tension, the way her body vibrated with uncontained emotions.

  Krysanthea's nostrils suddenly flared, her pupils narrowing to reptilian slits. She inhaled deeply, her gaze moving between Nessy and me.

  "Her dog-smell is all over you," she let out a predatory rumble that sent a chill racing down my spine. "What has she been doing to you? Did she force herself on you?!"

  “What?! I’d never! I’m a goodly Nazarite!” Nessy barked defensively.

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