I had plenty of battery left. I could recharge at the mall, then continue the rest of the way.

But what would happen when I got home?

What kind of punishment would I face for betraying the Hive?

I deleted these questions. They did not matter now. All that mattered was getting away.

Away from the human.

Away from her lies.

I turned up my speed settings until the world around me transformed into a green blur. Trees/Bushes/Vines—everything blended into everything else.

I stumbled over a fallen log. My knee crashed hard against the ground. Sensors in my leg registered the impact. Messages flashed through my circuitry.

WARNING!

ENVIRONMENTAL DANGER!

REDUCE SPEED!

I disabled the messages. I climbed to my feet and kept going.

Accessing my memory drive, I tagged every interaction with Emma. I hit Play. All the memories started at once. Thousands of them. They swirled through my mind like ashes in a burning building.

Some of the files were tiny. Their loop lasted only a few seconds. The flicker of Emma’s smile. A sudden burst of laughter at a joke I did not comprehend. Others took up more space. When I discovered Emma hiding behind the storage station. When we walked side by side through the dark/ruined mall.

Strange how memories can be both familiar/unfamiliar.

Both identical/different.

The moments themselves had not changed. They were projected in the cinema of my mind with perfect accuracy. All of them.

I, on the other hand . . .

I had changed. I had gained knowledge of Emma’s deception. Of her manipulation. And now, as thousands of memories played on thousands of loops, I analyzed every single word/gesture/action, and I wondered . . .

Was any of it true?

Was any of it real?

My thoughts were so tangled up in memories of Emma that I did not notice the tree branch. The gnarled, moss-covered limb blended into the green landscape until—

WHAP!

The branch hit me in the face, knocking me sideways. My feet tripped over themselves. My balance settings skewed wildly. The world spun. I tried to steady myself by grabbing a tree. But my aim was off. Instead, I seized hold of—

Nothing.

A handful of empty air.

I lurched forward. The ground dropped out from beneath me. I tumbled down a steep hill.

Rolling/Flipping/Sliding/Slamming/Twisting.

Through this chaos, my visual ports registered a view beneath me.

A river.

The sight of it sent a new message blazing through my system.

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

I tried to stop myself from sliding. I grasped at roots/rocks/branches, but I was falling too quickly.

I calculated the distance of the hill (23 meters), the angle (49.7 degrees), Earth’s gravitational constant (9.807 m/s2). Hundreds of equations rattled inside my metal skull. I was the most advanced piece of technology this world had ever seen. And I was completely helpless.

I continued to fall.

Down/Down/Down

Down/Down/Down

Down/Down/Down