(Present day: 2 weeks later)
Lena awoke with a start, haunted by her own dream in a dream. She remembered her old life, but now this was her new.
Her throat was sore from coughing up so much blood, and sometimes she still did a little, but not as much. She was almost recovered, so was Mike. She longed for the day when she could again be herself. But right now, she was in no condition to fight. With Cassie and Justin on the roof scouting, and Mr. Sullivan agent proofing the house, it was just herself and Mike.
"Mike?" she asked. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, still recovering though," he relied with a yawn. He looked around strangely. "Where are Justin and Cassie?"
"They're on the roof scouting," she said. "You were sleeping forever and I needed the company.
Knock knock, said the door. It opened, and Mr. Sullivan walked in. His face broke into a sad smile.
"You guys feeling better?" he asked. Lena was sure he was probably mad at them for living when his wife didn't.
"Definitely," Mike said.
"Can you walk?"
"Most definitely, are we going somewhere?" asked Lena.
"Yep, we're heading out to a refugee camp," said Mr. Sullivan.
"Just give us a little more time to get up," said Mike, "and we'll be ready to go."
Mr. Sullivan turned and walked out of the room.
Mike stretched out and began making those stretching noises that people make. Lena kinda just tried to get up a bit.
She regretted it, a little bit. Taking the red pill, and going to Zion and the Real World. She knew it was better, but think what might have happened if she and her friends had just stayed in the Matrix. They would've flirted, fought, and fell in love, no doubt about it.
Lena had never thought much about love through her life, except maybe like the occasional crush on a popular guy or something. Who did she love, because there's always someone special…
Lena pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind. This was no time to worry about lovey dovey stuff. This was the time to get ready to leave, which she did with punctuality.
Justin
Justin was scouting on the roof with Cassie, or they were supposed to be. It was sunny out, so they were mostly just taking naps and reading on the roof. He never had the chance to do something like his at his old house. His parents always expected the best out of him, so he tried to live up to their standards. Still though, all that never happened, so he could now start over. And If what Lena said was true, that the Matrix was becoming more and more real, then what happened to Zion and the real world? He tried to push those thoughts out of his head as he read Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage. He had started to read it for school, but ever since he left, he hadn't gotten to finish it. It was to concentrate though, he kept catching himself glancing at Cassie, who was sleeping. She looked so pretty, even with a cast on her leg. Justin felt like that was his fault for some reason. He had watched enough movies like that to realize that wasn't true. Nevertheless, he felt like that anyway. The nice person, Ben Parish, had rescued them. He was worried about Ben. Not his safety, but his feelings for Cassie. Half of him didn't really care what Ben felt about Cassie, and the other half wanted to blast him with all the bullets he had. He was all alone in his thoughts when Cassie nudged him.
"How long have I been out for?" she asked with a yawn
"I can't tell," he answered. "But I think we've been up here for almost six hours. Chips?" he asked hopefully
"Sure," she said, and took a large handful.
"Is there anything else?" she asked
"Not right now, but in a sec," he replied. "Wait while a make a call."
Justin yelled down into the pipe they used to communicate with the lower house. Soon enough, Mike showed up..
"Hey, can you please bring up some bread, meat, cheese, and cookies to us?" he asked
"Sure," Mike said. "FYI, we're moving out in a little bit."
"Where?" asked Justin
"I don't know," Mike replied. "But Cassie's dad said so."
"Roger that."
He hung up then explained to Cassie that they were moving out soon.
"Where?" she asked; "And who said?"
"Your dad."
They were then interrupted by Mike. He brought them four slices of sourdough bread, four keebler cookies, swiss cheese, and oven roasted turkey breast slices.
When they finished their food, Justin jumped off the roof.
"How did you do that?" Cassie asked amazed; the drop was almost thirty feet off the ground!"
"It's just something we can all do, I mean, Mike Lena and I," he responded.
The truth was, he did it to impress her. He wanted her to be his girlfriend, not Ben's. That boy would never have her. Slowly he realized, the dark side was taking him over.
Justin walked into the house to see Mr. Sullivan and Mike loading up food and water into backpacks. Lena was building a First Aid kit out of random stuff found around the house. Cassie was nowhere to be seen.
"Hey," said Justin. "Anything I can do to be helpful?"
"No," said Mr. Sullivan.
Well that was rude, Justin thought to himself.
"Where's Cassie?" he asked.
"She's grabbing those guns we had upstairs," said Mr. Sullivan, "even though they're empty. The theory is that we can intimidate Twigs with them."
"But we have guns, loaded ones," said Mike.
"Five guns are scarier than three," said Mr. Sullivan.
"Point taken," said Justin.
Mr. Sullivan tossed a backpack at Justin, who caught it with an umph. He took his last loaded gun, a single TAC-45. He had used the rest shooting Twigs who had tried to attack. The TAC-45 had a total of one-hundred bullets left, spread throughout clips. Definitely not enough to last him an entire apocalypse. He'd have to find more guns.
Cassie and Sammy came in, and the rest of the group put their packs on. They headed out the door, seeking out a group of people to leave with.
Morpheus
The sentinel weaved through the air at top speed, heading straight for Machine City. Morpheus had lost his sunglasses due to the merciless winds blowing. His sides were pinched from the Sentinel's claws gripping. He was also exhausted.
In the distance, he saw the lights of Machine City, and wondered what would happen to him there.
(twenty minutes later)
The sentinel dropped down into the city, soaring with Morpheus in its grasp. It headed for a tower, eventually landing up top.
The Sentinel carried him inside, where he saw an odd looking machine. The sentinel dropped him on the floor and left him in the presence of none other than the Deus Ex Machina.
"Hello, Morpheus," the machine said. "We have been looking for you for a long time."
"Why did you fight us?" asked Morpheus. "Neo made peace with you before he died."
"Neo's bargain was empty of repeating reward," the machine responded. "He agreed to defeat Smith, but afterwards, we reaped no reward. Therefore, we attacked you again. Now, the only reward we could ever get is your destruction."
"But why?" asked Morpheus. "And why must you attack when those THINGS are attacking us as well?" asked Morpheus.
"They call themselves the Others," said the machine. "The Others are the best opportunity to take Zion for once and for all. Now, onto business. I want you to tell me who the seventh One is."
"The seventh… One?" asked Morpheus.
"Yes, you heard me," said the machine. "The seventh One. The One to make peace with the machines and save Zion, or whatever. The Sixth one failed, so therefore, there must be a seventh."
"I don't know, Deus," said Morpheus. "Even if I did, I would never tell you."
"Of course you know," said Deus. "The Oracle prophesied that you would find the One, so therefore you must know. And if you don't tell me, something terrible will happen to you."
"Oh yeah? What'll that be?" said Morpheus.
"You will be plugged back into the Matrix, and you will provide power for the machines until your dying day."
Woah, thought Morpheus, low blow.
"I already told you, Deus," said Morpheus, "I don't know."
"I'll give you one more chance," said the machine.
"I don't know."
"Fine," said Deus. "Dispose of him."
Four sentinels materialized out of seemingly nowhere. They grabbed Morpheus and bore him up, and carried him down a flight of stairs.
They entered the familiar Matrix power plant, where Morpheus had saved many a blue pill. There, he saw a single opened pod with his name on it.
I will not return to the Matrix, he thought to himself. And then it happened.
The pillar in the center of the room broke asunder, and a flash of light blasted through the room. It began to collapse, as the pods all fell and disintegrated into seemingly nothing. Suddenly, Morpheus was free, as the sentinels holding him were thrown backwards.
He laid on the ground, watching the ceiling come crashing down towards him. "I WILL NOT DIE HERE!" he yelled, and with unmatched force, he caught the ceiling and threw it up and out of the plant.
Morpheus stood there, dazed for a moment, before he realised what had happened.
The Matrix's power is here, somehow, he thought, and I can channel it. Neo wasn't the sixth one: the Oracle was right all along. She said that one day, I'd find the One. Neo was just a normal redpill with a very, very strong mind. I'M the Sixth one.
Morpheus smiled to himself. It was time to go kick some machine [censored].
Lena
Lena was suddenly slammed in the chest, flying backward into the ground; her breath was knocked out. She couldn't move.
After about four minutes, she finally rose to her feet, as did her companions.
"Lena," said Mike, "what just happened?"
Lena looked at Mike. "I think the Matrix just became real."
End of Chapter Seven