She held her breath as she walked past the line of corpses.
She counted.
One.
Two.
Skip.
Three.
Four.
Her four friends. Her family – cold and still.
She stared at Death's assembly line with blurry vision. Her lungs pleaded for oxygen but she denied their desperation. She couldn't breathe – she wouldn't breathe.
But Life persuaded her to give in, taking a quick shallow breath.
"That should have been their air, Trinity," a voice in her head told her.
"I know," she replied audibly.
Falling to her knees, an irrepressible sob shook through her. "Damn it!" she cried. "Cypher, God damn it! Why-?" her voice cracked and she whimpered softly.
Controlling herself, she whispered shakily, "I deserved it more than they did. Why couldn't you have killed me instead?"
"Because you needed to be here… To save me," said the soft voice of Neo, suddenly crouched protectively behind her.
She looked over her shoulder at the newly discovered One. She sighed and leaned back against him. "You should try to sleep. We've already contacted Zion; they've sent a crew to help us out."
"I can't sleep now," Trinity's raspy voice choked out. "Not while they're still here."
Neo glanced uneasily towards the cloth-shrouded corpses.
He wrapped his arms around the woman and pulled her closer. "Just go back to your cabin and lay down. You don't have to sleep, just relax," he said gently. "It's been a long day – for all of us."
Trinity closed her eyes and sniffled. "C-could you go with me?" she asked, clearly uncomfortable with a momentary dependency.
Neo nodded. "Sure. I have to go to the med bay first but I'll meet you there in a few minutes. Okay?"
"Yeah," she replied, standing up with Neo and parting from his gentle grip.
She started down the hallway alone, feeling haunted by her crewmates. The smell of death reeked in the hall.
She could see the Reaper coming toward her out of her peripheral vision. Getting dizzy from the stabbing sensation in her head, she dragged her feet across the metal, willing them to move to her room before the Reaper got there first. His scent was overpowering. He smelled like flesh rotting in humid atmosphere.
She wouldn't breathe. She couldn't breathe this time. She felt suffocated. Death was closing in on her and she wasn't able to stop him. She tried to escape, but her oxygen-deprived legs refused to carry on. Her heavy boots anchored her to the metal below her. Her vision became dark, and overwhelmed by Death's overture, she collapsed to the floor as he reached for her hand.
"Trinity!" Neo called, his boots thumping loudly as he ran to her.
The Reaper had disappeared for now, not one for company.
Her lungs relaxed again. Tunnel vision became a full view and her headache subsided to a dull throb.
Neo helped Trinity to stand up, walking her into her room. Neo unbuckled both his and her boots as Trinity rested her head on her pillow. She glanced out the open door, watching the Reaper peer inside.
Neo pushed the door closed, right in the Reaper's face. She smirked. Neo came back to lay down behind her, and nervously place his hand on top of hers. She stretched her fingers out to lace theirs together and squeezed his hand gently. "Thank you, Trinity," Neo said slowly. "For bringing me back."
She realized then, as long as they were together, the Reaper could never touch her. She would be invincible.
She acknowledged this with a smug expression as the Reaper stalked the halls, waiting for her.
