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He can’t breathe.
“My disk is everything Sam.”
Red and orange. All he can see is red and orange. Harsh light lines of the worst kind are reflecting in the city—his city—across the river.
“The way out. And not just for me.”
He can’t breathe.
“He can be out?”
He can’t move.
“With my disk it’s possible.”
Sam grabs the window and squeezes its frame until his hands ache. Small reflections of orange light are dancing over his fingers.
They got out.
They got out!
How?
How could they get out? He turned off the Grid! He sealed the system!
“And then what?”
Red light bleeds into the cityscape, a harsh crimson against cool grey. Sunlight is nowhere to be found.
“Game over.”
Sam wonders if anyone on earth will ever see daylight again.
The chain around his neck weighs heavy, binding, constricting like lead. The USB drive dangling at the end whispers of his promise, his responsibility, his fault—he’s why they’re here he didn’t do enough—and Sam’s chest constricts under the crushing reality of his failure.
A movement beside him breaks his thoughts.
Quorra.
She stares out of the window with a muted sort of horror. Her eyes are wide with unfiltered shock. Her mouth gapes open. She does not move.
Sam doesn’t want to meet her eyes. He doesn’t want to see the pain, the grief, the disappointment there.
But when she looks at him, there is only sadness.
He’s overcome with the need to speak, “I, I don’t know how…how this happened.”
Quorra shakes her head, and looks down, “This was nothing we could stop Sam. If they’re here, we had no chance of ever stopping it.”
Something like lead drops in his stomach. His heart feels cold.
Sam returns his gaze to the window. His knuckles ache from gripping the seal so tightly.
Angry lines of red are seeping farther out from the city, like a malignant disease spreading fast and furious through its victim.
If Sam closes his eyes, he can almost hear the screams now.
“We need help.” He rasps.
Quorra’s eyes don’t leave the window. She’s trembling, but it’s not from fear. He can see the way her fists have clenched at her side.
She knows what he’s saying.
It’s impossible
They’ve tried.
They’ve failed.
But they need to do this. They need this to work.
It’s their one last hope.
“We need Tron.”