by Lady Kakarott
Summary:
Neo is stuck in his deadend job and lifeless existence. Trinity is newly liberated from the matrix but the fight for survival is beginning to sap her will to live. A dream could change it all for both of them.
He was swimming. Floating in a thick liquid. He felt light and heavy all at once. There was a slight tugging at his flesh, his neck, his back and chest, his arms and legs. It was cold. I was painful. But it felt real and sharp.
*Where… where am I?*
"Neo……" A husky whisper echoed in his ear and vibrated against his very soul.
He began to stir and open his eyes…..
BEEP!! BEEP!!! BEEP!!!
Mr. Anderson groaned and shut of the blaring alarm clock. He fell back into his bed, throwing one arm over his eyes.
*Why should I get up? Why should I ever move again? Why should I bother even living?*
His heart sank into the deep cavern of his chest. There was no point to life. He couldn't bear the thought of another day in that dreadful box they called an office. A numb grayness swept over him, taking its daily place in his soul. His whole life felt like a cold, cloudy, indistinct fog. He felt all did was muddle through life. 'there's no point in life' passes through his mind as he dragged himself out of bed and prepared himself for another tortuous day of monotony.
Trinity was dreaming. She knew it. It was the same fuzzy sense of reality that was much like what the matrix had been like. She saw she was in the control room of Zion. She was watching a Retrieval. A man was in a tank, connected to the matrix. He was starting to stir. The machine was ready to retrieve him once he had awakened. Almost there. Almost out and away from the Matrix. Like they had retrieved her only 8 short months ago. She knew this man. She had never seen him, nor heard his voice, but yet she knew him. Oh, how she knew him. "Neo…" she breathed.
"SENTINALS!!" Tank blared. "Approaching fast. Battle stations, now!"
Trinity leaped up from her position from the cafeteria room where she had fallen asleep. She slammed back the hatch and streaked out the door and through the winding corridors. She slid to a stop in front of her station. I was a small cramped closet with circuits and screnes covering every available surface and two big guns that were connected to the real guns outside the ship. She jammed her headpiece into place.
"Trinity at station 4. Waiting for orders."
Morphius's voice filler her headpiece. "6 sentials coming from the south. Take out as many as possible. We save the EMP as a last resort. Fire at will."
Trinity settled into her seat, positioning her hands on the two guns. Her heart raced, pounding against her chest like wild animal clawing to get out. A cold fear sweat began for form at her hairline and at the back of her neck. Before long, it was running down her back. The pounding of her heart became louder and louder until it filled all her senses. THUMP,THUMP… oh, god, THUMP..THUMP…..I'm going to die…THUMP..THUMP….. The sentinels are coming. THUMP..THUMP……..They're going kill me…THUMP..THUMP…...I can see it THUMP..THUMP…..Their long, mechanical tentacles… THUMP..THUMP… ripping the flesh from my bones THUMP..THUMP……. I watch them kill me…
Tank warned, "Sentinals in firing range in three," THUMP..THUMP ……..THUMP..THUMP "..two.." THUMP .. THUMP..THUMP..THUMP "..one.." THUMP THUMP..THUMP THUMP..THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP.
Trinity saw the sentinels and felt her fingers pull the triggers. She saw her body do it's job. But it wasn't her body anymore. Because her mind was gone. Elsewhere in the vast confines of her psyche. Her self was merely an observer, watching the horrors of war, as the Sentinals were torn to pieces in the very fashion she had imagine they would kill her. And when it was all over, her self surfaced from the deep well that was her mind and she wretched and vomited until there was nothing left. Nothing left of her soul.