Left over life to kill, Nature Futures

KillMech 486.C5 had a name once.

It remembers this name as it walks through the shallow water lining a beach … she remembers the name, the word bubbling up deep in her cybernetically modified brain. A mumbling sound that forces its way to her lips.

Momma.

That’s what the boy called her. The one she is beginning to remember. She can’t recall his name, or his face. But she holds onto the sensation of his soft skin on hers.

Thirty feet above, a Hunter/Guidance Drone, Crow, issues a stern warning. Its metallic voice blares in her head.

Latent memories are forbidden!

KillMech steadies herself in a wave, holding her rifle above her head. Her body is damaged, mechanical components corroded from years without maintenance, her organic parts stinking with infection.

The humans are close.

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