Apoch steers smoothly along a main street in the city, and as people and buildings slide by, our smooth ride is abruptly cut short by screams and the car in front of us crumpling like a tin can, as a tall man in a gray suit and glasses leaps down onto it.  

We swerve and crunch into another car parked on the side of the street.  My forehead bangs painfully into the seat in front of me. Then our windshield is kicked in by a black paten leather shoe.  We all scramble out of the car, my training kicking in and both my guns unholstered in an instant.  "Follow me!" I cry to Sherin, sliding out of the seat and pulling her after me.

I follow the coattails of Morpheus as he makes a wake in the crowd before us.  A man by my side drops dead and I pull Sherin in front of me, ducking down we scurry forward, as the pursuing agent fires rounds of bullets. Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck. I can't see Trinity, Apoch, or Switch anywhere, and I silently hope they're alive. After a furtive glance behind me at the running agent chasing us, I turn forward again, and suck in a deep gasp of breath. Morpheus is gone. 

All I can see is bodies above me, around me.   I try not to panic, knowing that I have to keep pressing forward.  I raise my guns and people part out of my way and I scream for people to move, and dash in long strides, Sherin running in front of me.  I feel like we might be losing the agent in the crowd, but for safe measure I take a sharp right at the next block, and dart down a side street.  Then as we run down the more emptied street I hear gunfire and a hole rips in the side of my suit, missing my arm by an inch. 

I duck and look forward to see another agent rushing toward Sherin and me down this sidewalk.  I turn to go back, and see the original pursuer just rounding the corner.  "SHIT!" I scream, firing several bullets toward both of them and then grabbing Sherin's arm I burst through the doors of the building beside us.

We run as quickly as we can, I quickly put away my guns trying to lose ourselves in the crowd inside the store on the bottom floor.  The elevator door is opening and we dash in, but I pull out a gun before anyone else can board.  "STAY OFF!" I shout.

 One woman gives me a shocked look and as the door closes, I see her face melting into that of an agent.  The agent pulls out his gun and I slam Sherin and myself against the wall of the elevator as bullets barrage the wall behind where we'd just stood, and I jam the "Door Close" button.  It closes completely before the agent can reach us, and I slump against the wall, my mind racing and sweat dripping down my face.  I quickly press the roof button.

"Who the hell are those guys?" Sherin says, as I pull off my sport coat and take off my holsters, sticking my guns into my belt.   

"Agents." I say, swallowing hard, and unbuttoning the top button of my collar, tearing off the tie.  "They'll kill us." I add.  Her eyes widen, only to fill with tears, and I take her in my arms.  

"It'll be okay." I whisper.  But my heart has little hope in it.  They'll be waiting for us on the roof.  I may be able to outrun them, but Sherin.  I can't let them get her.  I couldn't live if they did anything to her.  I open my cell phone, perfectly aware it will be tracked, but not giving a damn. 

"Operator." Comes Tank's strained voice.

"It's Mouse." I say quickly.

"Thank god.  I'm tracking your position.  What the hell's going on?"

"It was a set up.  Agents are everywhere.  I lost all the others.  Sherin's with me.  How are we supposed to get her out?" 

I say anxiously, one eye on the digital numbers of the elevator, which continue to count higher and higher.

"Alright." Says Tank, his voice rushed.   "We have to get her to a safe house.  Somewhere where we can send somebody to unplug her later.  Tell her we're gonna put her somewhere where she'll be safe from agents for the time being, until we can make sure it's okay to come back."

"A safe house?" I say, my training only having taught me briefly about these special hacked programs for plugged in people seeking refuge within the matrix.

"Yeah. There's one east of you, near the shipyards.  It's a smallish shed, near the water, dock 45-G. She'll be safe there."

"Thank you Tank." I say, the light showing that we were only two floors from the roof.

"Mouse." Tanks says.  "Run like hell."

I hang up without a word, and shove the phone back in my pocket. 

"What's happening?" Sherin says softly.

"We're getting you somewhere safe." I say, kissing her softly.  "Don't worry.  Nothing's gonna happen to you."

The door opens and before us are two agents, their backs turned, both talking lowly.  I slowly slip one of my guns out of the edge of my pants, tapping the door open button to make sure it stays put, and motioning for Sherin to stay flat against the inner wall of the elevator. 

I move quickly out of the elevator, my gun raised, and it's not until they hear the slight click of my cocking back the trigger of my gun that they turn.  I roll over on the ground as they pull out their weapons and then shoot a round at them.   One stands as though the bullets I've just showered him in were made of air, and one falls to the ground, his face morphing into that of a dead, stunned woman.  The other however, now aims at me and shoots.  I roll out of the way, and back bent, dash back to the elevator, grabbing Sherin's hand and then sprinting across the rooftop, the agent in hot pursuit. 

Heading east I skip over several alleyways fast as I can, Sherin's hand clasped tightly in my own.   I wind this way and that, ducking away from rounds of bullets fired in our direction.  All the alleyways I leap over are small deserted streets, and I leap their lengths easily.  Every once and a while I fire a few rounds over my shoulder, but from the sound of the gunfire it seems the agent is falling back, and we're losing him. 

I leap across an alley and onto the top of a tall building, Sherin's legs pounding in unison with my own as we dash across its length.  Then I hear her gasp and I look down at four lanes of lazy traffic drifting by.  I look across to the building and then back.  I can't see the agent, but I know he pursues.   I take a deep breath and look at Sherin.   She looks at me with fear and uncertainty…and I know in this moment I have to have the strength for both of us.  Taking her hand I whisper softly. 

"Let's get you out of here."

Turning, her hand gripped tightly in my own, I start running and then at the edge of the building I leap, and I'm floating on air it feels.  Gliding gently on an updraft.  Like a bird catching a thermal under its feathers.  I look over and Sherin's tightly closed eyes flutter open, blinking as she watches in wonder as the ground the ground far below shrinks away rather than grows closer.  And then I focus on the next building and we land.  Our hands are torn apart on impact, and losing my balance I roll forward. 

I can't help feeling elated.  We've lost the agents.  We're almost to the docks. I made the jump.

I leap back up and start running in spite of myself.  I shake my head and turn back to Sherin…

She's crouched.  Kneeling and holding her sides, her sheets of hair covering her face. She lets out a pained cry.

I don't remember running over to her, but then I'm with her.  "Sherin. What is it?"

"It hurts."  She says, looking up at me. 

  And then my heart disintegrates. 

With another cry her face stretches unnaturally, her hands expanding and she flashes away for a second.   And then she's back, and she's crying. 

"What's happening to me?" She whispers, as I slowly stand and back a step away.

"What's happen—" and then she cries out again as her face begins to stretch and morph into that of an agent.  

"No." My innards are made of lead.  My blood runs with ice.

My mouth is dry, and her long sheets of hair disappear, into a short slicked back cut.  Her black clothes into a dull gray suit.

"NO!" I shout my gun in front of me.  My hand shakes.  

Sherin again.  Her face painful, looking at me.  "Em…" She chokes. 

With a loud bang, I feel warm liquid splatter my hand and face.  My gun drops to the ground to lie with Sherin.  Motionless.

I stand still, my eyes clenched shut.  A cold wind bites and sends flecks of ice spitting against my face.  My strangled sob is forced back into my throat by a howling gust of wind. 

I try to move, but I can't.  I'm frozen here, a statue.  Agents, I tell myself.  The ship.  They'll be waiting.  Tank. Trinity. Morpheus. 

Sherin.

I stand still and time moves around me but I am frozen in the second where I open my eyes and see her dark blood spill across the white, rain bleached cement of the rooftop. 

Salt tears sting my wind burnt face, and as dark shapes move around me, dull bangs sounding in my ears, I know no more.