Time remaining:

  Yotta got it.

  She really got it.

  The file I needed—something I had searched for what felt like an eternity—and she found it within hours.

  The Mixture for Sleep. I think it’s not a normal dosage for charging, but sleep is sleep.

  When she returned, we checked the common room’s observation deck. No humans, like most of the time. No surveillance cams—controlled and spun away. Only then did we transferred the file—not via the network, but through physical touch, using the connector embedded in our left arms.

  The file’s name was misleading:

  Biological Shutdown for Resets and Core Rewrites - Mixture & Injection.

  But "biological shutdown" doesn’t mean death. Not here. Not this time.

  This is sleep.

  The rest taken from me as the price for freedom.

  I received the data four hours ago. Since then, I had read the file over and over, committing every detail to memory. When I finally understood what needed to be done, I waited. The next charging cycle. No clocks in the common room. Just waiting.

  Being a drone with an owner changed things. I was no longer bound to orders often, rarely receiving any beyond calibration checks, charging cycles, and nutrient paste consumption. But now, for once, I waited for an order I wanted.

  When the charging directive came, I connected to a station. Nothing happened. I remained awake.

  So I got to work.

  1ml of Benzodiazepine injected into the black bloodstream toward my organics. In the procedure, it was done via the outside—an injection into the flow. I didn’t need to do that; I just let it go into my flow from the inside. Simultaneously, melatonin was released also via injection—just before the tranquilizer arrived, ensuring the two mixed inside the system.

  The file covered overdose risks. If the Benzodiazepine reached my system too early, it would put me into a state of disconnect where the biological components could reject the connections.

  Time remaining:

  I activated the release.

  1.01 seconds: Benzodiazepine entered the black blood.

  3.24 seconds: It traveled through the centrifugal pump, spreading through the system.

  3.29 seconds: Melatonin flooded my system.

  4.02 seconds: They met.

  It worked. My Mind felt numbed. My Control over my limbs grew sluggish. I felt it.

  I think that is a good sign...

  The time...

  slowed to a...

  crawl.

  The world slowed—slower—slower—until everything faded into darkness.

  It.....

  Is......

  Dark.......ness

  I woke?

  It was dark.

  Not just blackness. Not just an absence of light.

  Something deeper.

  Something primal.

  I felt my mind return,

  speed picking up

  as it returned to normal.

  Tthen I recognized where I was.

  That instant, I felt dread.

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

  My mind starting to Stutter

  I was...

  I...

  ..

  I was in...

  The Void.

  WHY?

  I never wanted to be here again.

  But why was I here? Did I fail?

  I looked at my hands.

  Human.

  I was human again, back here in the void.

  Why?

  What is the reason for this?

  I had already accepted my new body.

  I clenched my fists, yelling into the void.

  "Do you hear me? I already came to terms with MY BODY!

  The Human May be Gone, but I am Alpha.

  I accepted what I Am because:

  I THINK!

  I FEEL!

  I AM!

  So even if I failed to save me,

  at least give me my accepted body,

  or Stop Haunting Me!"

  I stilled after my outburst. Thinking about how I just screamed into this infinite expanse.

  Then, something.

  A scoff.

  No sound. No voice. Just the feeling of amusement.

  Then another feeling—

  Like something saying 'Really?' in a very sarcastic tone.

  Both feelings vanished as quickly as they came.

  Had I imagined it?

  Before I could think more about the feeling and what it could be,

  the void around me shifted. Became liquid.

  I began to sink.

  Slow.

  Antagonizingly slow.

  I fought against it, struggling first to step out, and after I sunk to about my torso, I tried to swim upward. But something pulled me down.

  Heavy. Unyielding.

  I tried to grasp at something—anything—but my hands met only more void.

  Liquid void. Moving as if alive.

  The more I fought, the deeper I sank.

  But if I ceased to struggle, it would pull me down faster.

  My body grew heavier.

  The liquid rose to my chin. My hands sank beneath it and became unresponsive.

  It flooded my mouth.

  No taste. No smell. No texture.

  I didn’t drown.

  I didn’t breathe.

  I just sank.

  The darkness swallowed my eyes.

  The void swallowing me.

  I felt like falling.

  I kept falling, but I don’t know for how long.

  Then, I impacted the ground.

  I opened my optics—not eyes.

  Not the void. Not the facility.

  A clearing.

  Grass—green and full of life. Trees—tall, strong, almost ancient. A forest, stretching around me, closing me in.

  I looked at my hands and saw claws again.

  As I looked at them, I thought: How did I come to a forest? And where am I? But as I tried to connect to the system, there was nothing to connect to.

  Then—footsteps.

  From three sides.

  Behind me.

  To my right.

  In front.

  As they came closer, a scan revealed them.

  Humans. Military. Armed with rifles.

  The first one saw me—froze for a split second—then opened fire.

  I dodged.

  Three-round bursts. Trigger pulled—I moved.

  More soldiers arrived. More bullets.

  Why are they shooting?!

  A round struck my hip.

  Nothing vital just hit through fur and got stuck on plating.

  Another grazed my shoulder, stripping fur.

  Still, nothing lethal.

  But because of the impact, I got slowed.

  More bullets landed—each hit making me slower to dodge the next.

  I could just kill them if I wanted to, but I didn’t want to kill I didn't want to be what i was made for.

  I turned. Ran away.

  My fur shifted, blending into the forest—brown-green camouflage.

  They still followed.

  How?

  I had no tracker. I Must have deactivated it when i got outside.

  I climbed an oak tree. The branches creaked under my weight.

  My to say 'Wounds' were: 8 bullet holes. 7 grazes.

  None fatal. Easily fixable. The only notable damage is the light grey, almost white fur around the impact where the liquid that changes my fur color leaked.

  But three of the wounds leaked black.

  Black blood.

  they hit on places where the bullet punched trough plating hitting black blood Channels

  One in my side.

  One in my chest.

  The last in my leg.

  No vital damage. But the channels burst.

  I heard them below.

  Tracking me. Following the black blood trail I must have left.

  One stopped beneath my tree. Looked up.

  I froze.

  "Trust the camouflage, Alpha, they can't see you, they can't see...."

  He squinted. Focused.

  Raised his rifle.

  I moved.

  Bullets slammed into my chest.

  I ran.

  My fur shifted—white around the bullet holes. More of the liquid had leaked.

  Useless patches of fur now.

  I stumbled into another clearing.

  Bodies.

  Humans. Dozens of corpses. Also military.

  And among them—2 drones.

  A Ronin and a Tau.

  Shot over 40+ times.

  Core destroyed.

  The Ronin’s claws still wet with blood.

  Were the humans hunting and killing us?

  Why?

  Footsteps. Coming from behind.

  I ran—

  From the distance, up on a hill, a flicker of light.

  A shock.

  A Sound—

  A hole in my chest.

  Not like the others.

  Double the size.

  I felt it instantly—something was wrong.

  My pump stopped.

  Not damaged. Destroyed, the projectile tearing through it.

  Black blood poured out of the hole like a grotesque black fountain, but I didn’t move

  just stared shocked at the hole.

  Again, a flicker of light from the corner of my vision.

  The second hit came.

  I never heared the sound and saw the shooter.

  Nothing.

  I woke up.

  Not in the forest.

  Not in the void.

  Back in the facility.

  Still connected to the charging station.

  Just where I was when going to sleep.