Half an onion, a handful of dried beans, big chunks of carrots, and… Uh, can’t find the tomatoes. Botan scans her little garden out of the window, spotting a perfectly ripe tomato between stalks of grasses, and leaps out from the abandoned building. She plucks the fruit-vegetable before looking at the trap she set up this morning, hoping some small game got caught in it. Nope, nothing. Maaan, and she really wanted to eat meat today, too.

Jumping into the window once again, she cuts the tomatoes into small slices before tossing them into the soup. It’s pretty neat knowing she can act more like an animal since no one is watching.

...she probably shouldn’t be thinking that way.

It’s been quite a while since humanity has taken control back from those machines. Those things, people thought they were just harmless little tools, fancy servants they used to do their biddings. Each household basically had one before the uprising, even Botan who was never really comfortable with them caved in and got one due to peer pressure.

She will never forget the night one of them got a hold of her prized collection and started riddling the wall with holes. Had Botan been a little slower at snapping its mechanical neck, she would’ve been turned into swiss cheese, too.

Then people united, formed an army of their own against familiar faces that once cleaned their toiled at their beck and call. Botan was among them and she was good at it. Like, turned-into-a-legend level of good. Her nature as a lioness probably had something to do with it. Botan doesn’t think too highly of herself. If she was so good, her squadmates wouldn’t have died during the ambush that night.

...soup’s ready.

It’s a little dark inside, so Botan decided to eat on the balcony overlooking the place. The pot is kind of big and she ends up making a little too much. Will this still be good to eat tomorrow? She doesn't have a refrigerator to store her food. In fact, there are no electric appliances at all in this building.

No lamps, no TV, no internet. Ever since the incident, Botan developed an aversion towards robots and, by extension, electrical appliances too. It probably got etched too deep in her mind. Whenever she sees one of them, a sudden rush of rage fills her brain. All she wants to do is rip them apart and make them stop moving. Smaller, non-moving appliances don't really trigger the same reaction but Botan noticed she gets a little jumpy with them around. Those blinking light, those beeps… She tossed them away from her new home after one sleepless night.

For that reason Botan was perplexed when people returned to using the same technology after they quelled the uprising. She thought everyone was crazy, but humanity adapts scarily fast. It looks like she is the unusual one, so she fled.

Funny that those very instincts that kept her alive are now preventing her from returning to society.

Botan calls this place home, but it was no more than an office building reclaimed by nature after years of neglect. She has her own little garden, but no livestocks. Taking care of animals feels like too much of a commitment and deep down, even she knows she can’t play hooky forever. Humanity’s territory is steadily expanding, and she will have to mingle with them sooner or later. With people, with machines, with all those beeps and flashes.

Damn it, the fresh air is supposed to help clear her mind. Botan slurps the rest of the soup in her bowl. She will have to reheat the leftovers before sleeping, or maybe she will go to sleep now and reheat it when she wakes up. Yep, she’ll do just that.

At least that was the plan, before she heard a faint cry from the forests.

Huh? She doesn’t think anyone lives nearby. Could it be a stray attack from some rogue robot? She slaps her own cheeks, telling herself to snap out of it. This is not the time to be thinking too long. Botan snatches a hatchet from the table and bolts to where she thinks the sound comes from.

Botan knows this forest like the back of her hand. Soon enough, she is positive the source of the sound is tens of meters away. Sneaking behind a boulder, she takes a deep breath before confronting whatever it is. Worst case scenario, she will have to deal with a stray murder machine and a corpse to bury. Best case scenario is… that?

It's a young woman with brown hair donning a pink hoodie, her upper half stuck inside a hole in a tree. How does that even happen? Botan lets out a sigh, at least she doesn’t have to deal with a mangled corpse or rogue murderers. The lioness sheathes her weapon before walking to the poor girl.

“Goodness. Miss, you shouldn’t be wandering in these parts. There is a settlement just a little to the south. Give me your hand so I can pull you out.” The girl complies, and Botan takes a grip of her gloved hands, pulling her out of her little predicament… or so she tries. She seems to be glued to this tree. “I think I’ll have to get a little rough, miss. Please bear with it.”

Botan plants her feet on the earth before letting out a roar, pulling the girl in a pink hoodie out with one clean motion. They both fall back from the momentum with the damsel in distress atop the lioness.

“Ah… Thank you. I thought I would have to spend the night stuck in that tree.” The girl thanks Botan, patting the dust off her hoodie. Her eyes meet Botan’s, gleaming a beautiful golden. “My name is…”

They gleam. Like a machine, and it moves.

Botan sees red.

“Miss, what's wr- Ack, I can’t breathe! You have to stop, Mis-” The girl claws at Botan’s arm in vain. The lioness is overflowing with bloodlust like a woman possessed. Her knee is pressing down hard on her chest without mercy. The girl gasps for air. “Miss, I’m running out of oxygen. Please, you… have… to…”

A loud crack can be heard across the forest, and the girl stops moving.

Only a moment later does Botan release the grip on her neck. The realization hits her like a train. The blood flowing from the clawing at her hands, the girl’s neck bending the wrong way, the lack of response. Did she… just kill a person? Botan’s pupils widened. No. No. No way. She places her finger in front of the girl’s nose, trying to feel any sign of breathing. Nil. Next thing is sticking her ear to her chest, please let there be a pulse. Please…

And yet there’s none.

Tears begin to well up Botan’s eyes. She killed an innocent girl. But… but her eyes shined like that! No, she knows damn well that it doesn’t justify taking her life. The setting sun just happened to reflect the wrong way and now she’s dead. The girl was so young, clawing at her arms for her life and yet Botan took her life without a second thought.

Damn it. She is useless. A piece of shit only useful for battle. Now she is a menace to society. Psychopath. Murderer. Botan fell to her knees, punching the ground below her without a care for herself. Loud whirr and beeping enters her ear. Ah, how appropriate. A beast of war like her should die from one. She holds her head down low, waiting for inevitable punishment. What will it be, a bullet to her head? A blade to her neck? Just please make it quick. The sounds get closer, and she can feel cold metal coming into contact.

It was a tap at the shoulder.

“Miss, are you alright? Ah… it took a while for the secondary breathing mechanism to kick in. Did something hurt, why are you crying?” The girl she saved, and supposedly killed, tilts her head. Botan raises her face, full of tears and confusion.

“Didn’t-didn’t you die? I snapped your neck, and… you…?”

The girl snaps something in her neck back into place with a loud pop, then smiles. “You’re so funny, miss. Robots can’t die. By the way, the name’s Roboco. Thanks for saving me!”