The Gates of Oblivion – Suicide Commando
It hadn't been long after Trinity fell asleep, for the nightmare to descend.
Running harder, faster…the sound of her feet pounding furiously on the metal grate flooring echoing all around her.
Trinity's chest felt like it was burning, she was breathing hard punishing breaths, the metallic smell invaded her nostrils and the smoke from all around hurt her lungs.
She needed to get away! Now!
As she continued to run, twisting and turning through the various dark corridors of the Nebuchadnezzar, she swore she could still hear the machines on her tail; they were relentless.
No matter which way she went or how fast she ran she just couldn't escape them.
Her legs were in agony, the brutal pace she had to push her muscles to was starting to really hurt now, and she didn't know how long she could keep this up!
Her arms swung hard as she ran, driving her further with the momentum, the clanking and metal whirring noises coming from behind her were helping fuel her adrenaline to push on further still.
Trinity did not dare turn around to see how far…or close the machines were, she had done that once already to be greeted by the terrifying sight of a sentinel almost on top of her…
Its horrific tentacles which extended from its dark body gave the creature a strange almost octopus like look whilst its numerous red 'eyes' (for want of a better word) made it look quite spider like, it truly was the stuff of nightmares.
And it was after Trinity…
'Come on keep going!' Trinity cried to herself, forcing herself onwards away from the ferocious creature drawing up behind her.
Trinity knew however that whilst the Neb was a decent sized ship, it wasn't huge and at some point she was going to run out of places to run and then she would be in trouble…big trouble!
'Where is everyone?' she screamed out loud, as much as she tried to remain calm to try and focus on a solution (which was what Morpheus had always taught her) Trinity could not deny the painful surge of fear working it's way through her mind.
She was alone…
Turning sharply down the port side corridor leading through the maintenance deck, Trinity heard the machine slam loudly into the wall before it could stop itself at the corner turn. Quickly dodging tools, crates and other pieces of engineering littered around the deck as she ran, she could feel the tentacles swiping at her legs attempting to knock her over, it was gaining on her!
Driving herself forward with everything she possibly had, she spotted the doorway at the end of the corridor, Trinity knew that after that door there was an engine room with very little space to manoeuvre but she had no other choice but to run through it, hoping the lack of space would slow the bigger machine down.
Holding her arms out in front of her Trinity quickly raised the latch on the door to unseal it and practically fell through the doorway with a yell…
Quickly regaining her balance before she fell over completely she prepared to run through…the…busy street?
'What the hell?' This wasn't the Neb…
Trinity stood stunned in the middle of what looked like the busy downtown district in the Matrix, in fact people were walking past her looking at her, pointing and whispering to their friends as if she was a crazy woman loose on the streets. An elderly lady stood on the sidewalk giving her an unimpressed glare before shaking her head, tutting and walking off down the street.
It appeared to be early evening; the sun hadn't quite set yet but the city was thankfully a little bit cooler now that it was nearing the end of the day. Folk were either rushing to get home after a busy day at work or off out in town to hit the bars and clubs.
Turning quickly to look in all directions, Trinity could see that yes she was definitely in the Matrix but how the hell she got here she had no idea!
Where was the Neb? Her crewmates? Was she plugged in or not? She couldn't be…she was on the Neb when the Sentinel…
'Oh shit!' Trinity panicked, where was the Sentinel?
The faint metallic whirring noise caught Trinity's attention and caused her to spin around in the other direction, finding the cause of the noise waiting on the other side of the street from her.
The Sentinel was there…in the Matrix!
'That's not possible!' Trinity stuttered anxiously as she nervously watched the machine wave it's tentacles around menacingly, the whole activity going completely unnoticed by the city dwellers walking on past it. It was obvious they could not see the horrific mechanical monster at all.
Turning quickly Trinity took off like a shot and began running away from the sentinel as fast as she could.
With no idea where to go or what to do she just kept on going, dodging pedestrians and cars as she weaved through the busy streets, she could still hear the metallic noise not too far behind her.
The only consolation with this whole scenario now was that at least she had more options to run to, more space to move than in the Neb.
Although what good that would do if she couldn't shake off this thing chasing her.
Maybe she could find somewhere to hide? No the machine was relentless and not far off her heels.
Or maybe find somewhere small she could crawl in to where the sentinel could not reach, like somewhere in a building maybe…but then the tentacles would drag her out and tear her apart.
Rapidly growing more and more tired and running out of options, a dark morbid thought crossed Trinity's mind as she quickly turned off down an alleyway.
'Why not just stop? Just stop and be done with it'
A huge overwhelming sadness rushed over Trinity as the feeling of defeat surged through her body. She knew she couldn't run forever and realistically she knew there was no way she could 'fight' the machine especially considering she was completely unarmed. Either she figured something out quickly or…
Tears had begun to form in her eyes.
She was absolutely exhausted now; the pain in her muscles, the fear coupled along with the initial surge of adrenaline fading away had left Trinity completely and utterly done.
The pace she had been keeping was quickly beginning to fade and as she slowed she knew the sentinel was right behind her. The stench of dirty fumes once again invaded her lungs as the tentacles began swiping at her legs once more.
'Ah!' Trinity cried out as one of the tentacles managed to hit its target and sliced a huge gash into the back of Trinity's thigh, she could feel the warm trickle of blood begin to ooze down her leg. She kept going.
This was it, she was going to die.
Her vision began to blur as a mixture of sweat and tears built up in her eyes, swiping at her face clumsily she looked on up to the next street ahead to see where else she had left to run.
Trinity felt a huge spike of adrenaline once again surge through her as she clapped eyes on the familiar black Audi parked on the street up ahead!
'Oh my god!' She couldn't believe it…
The Agents! They were in the car not that far up the street from her!
If she could only keep going, if she could make it to them then they would help her! After all the time she had spent with them recently and all the trust that had been gained on both sides she just knew they would save her from the sentinel.
Feeling her spirits boosted by the possibility of a chance at survival, Trinity gave it her everything and pushed her arms and legs harder and faster than she thought was even capable of, taking off in the direction of the Agent's car.
'Hey! Help…please!' She waved her arms and shouted as loud as she possibly could whilst maintaining her speed, the machine had fallen back a bit and did not seem to be as close behind her as it had been minutes ago.
As she ran, Trinity could see the three agents getting out of the car and walked out into the middle of the street turning to face her, she had never been so happy to see them! She was going to be ok.
Something odd had occurred to Trinity as she watched the agents.
First off she had noticed the complete lack of noise from behind her which made her turn to look over her shoulder to quickly gauge how close the sentinel was to her.
Only to find it was gone…
'What the…?'
A huge rush of confusion flooded her, what was going on? There was no way she had managed to shake off the machine, it had been on her tail from the moment she had left the Neb. Her head was beginning to spin.
Secondly when she turned around to look toward the agents, she felt an uneasiness come over her.
Something was not right. Not right at all.
Slowing down to a slow walk she stopped several yards away from the three agents watching her, breathing hard she could only look on apprehensively as the three men exchanged looks with each other.
Smith stood in the middle silently observing the exhausted woman whilst his colleagues turned to him.
'A rebel' Agent Brown stated in an old monotone voice, which startled Trinity, as she hadn't heard it in such a long time.
'Yes, appears to be alone, no other rebel activity has been logged recently' Jones remarked in an equally monotone voice.
Trinity could do nothing, she just froze; she was afraid to run but also afraid of what they would do.
She watched as Agent Smith left his colleagues and began walking slowly towards her, Trinity's heart thudded in her chest as she watched him step closer and closer.
Finally he stopped just a small step in front of her as he looked down at her, his shades guarding his eyes.
'Please...I don't know what's going on…I…I was being chased by that thing and I…' the exhausted woman stuttered out quickly, watching the agent carefully for his reaction.
The agent just remained emotionless in front of her; she wasn't sure why he wasn't talking to her.
'Smith please, help me' she pleaded with him as she raised her arms to reach out for him.
The agent finally spoke in a similar monotone yet menacing voice…
'You don't belong here rebel'
Trinity watched in horror as Smith slowly reached into his jacket and pulled out his gun and pointed it at her head.
Tears slowly tumbled down Trinity's cheeks as her biggest fear came to life.
The glitch must have been fixed…which meant the agent in front of her was once again…her enemy.
Their conversations forgotten about, the trust they had gained was now gone.
'Goodbye'
'Smith please…'
BANG!
Trinity shot up into a sitting position with a gasp…
Breathing heavily and covered in a sheen of sweat, she sat there feeling confused and slowly allowed her eyes to adjust to her surroundings, her brain still felt foggy from being awoken so abruptly.
Looking around she recognised the familiar layout of her cabin on-board the Neb, she was safely in her bunk with her bed sheets wrapped around her legs.
Slowing her breathing down to a more calm level, Trinity raised her hand to push the hair from her eyes; she could feel the wetness of tears still lingering on her cheeks.
She lay down and allowed her mind to process what had just happened.
'It was just a nightmare, it was just a nightmare' she repeated the mantra to her still anxiously racing heart.
Laying herself down shakily in her bed now fully wide awake, Trinity analysed her entire nightmare and realised that the bit that had scared her the most wasn't being chased by the sentinel…
It was the bit where Smith and the other agents had reverted back to their 'normal' selves and Smith shot her.
Trinity could not get the image of Smith standing in front of her with his gun pointed at her out of her mind.
It terrified her.
'Jesus that could actually happen' she muttered into the darkness.
The realisation of just how dangerous her mission to befriend the agents was, now felt more real.