King of Spades
Out of the frying pan and into the real world
A short story by Shadow Hunter-a different look on the "Matrix"™
Have you ever had a dream that seemed so real that you thought you were awake? These words were the key basis of the Matrix. A real dream. Oh, how rude of me not to introduce myself. My name is Matt. I'm a five-foot tall raccoon. I love steak, ice cream and I'm currently sitting in front of about five agents holding a bomb and detonator.
I know I'm most likely going to be toasted pretty soon so the whole "my life flashing in front of my eyes" thing is happening. While you're here I'll go ahead and take you along for the trip. Before I was brought into this near literal hell, I was working at an auto assembly line with a jerk boss. But it put what my brain perceives as bread on the table. My life went on and I eventually bought an apartment in the crap hole known as downtown. I lived there for about a month when the "fateful" day came.
A package was delivered to my door. I ripped open and a disc dropped out. It had a label. "Look and listen." I stuck it in and it opened up a video player. A black panther came on. "Hello Matt or should I say, "King of Spades", I know your wondering how I know your alias. You've become popular with my "employers". The little secret you were able to get from the C.I.A. was a remarkable task. And you've made some enemies. I'm here to guide you out of the barbwire. They know Matt is an assembly line worker and they know K.O.S is a well-known hacker. And they know your working life was a ploy to keep people off you. But the ploy has failed and they are after you. If you want to ignore this then do so but I plead that you listen and meet me at 5th and Green St."
Needless to say I was flabbergasted, but was curious. The Excalibur incident happened 2 years ago and I sold it to the Russians for a hefty price. Also he didn't give me a time. But I looked at my computer's clock and it had 28:44 on the clock. I wasn't running it on military time and it was 5 in the afternoon. I watched it for a minute and the time was going backwards! It was a timer. I had 28 minutes to get to them. Luckily it was right in front of my house. Coincidence, I think not. It was raining hard so I grabbed a hat and my trench coat. I set my watch to timer mode and waited. The one-minute mark passed and slowly counted the seconds. Right when it hit zero a black Cadillac pulled up. This was too precise and planed. The back door popped open and an, if I may say beautiful, white fox beckoned me in. I was tired of being rained on so I got in. The door slammed shut and the Caddie drove on. "Alright, I came so where's that black panther?" I asked. "We need to check for bugs first," the fox said. She pulled a, what looked like an airport metal detector and ran it up and down my body. I don't know if this was a good sign but it didn't make any noise. "Holy god, he's not bugged." The, whatever he was, said in the front seat. "You're either one of them or, something else." "Then I say we blow his brains out to be sure." The Iguana said in the front seat pointing the business end of a double-barreled shotgun at my face. I closed my eyes and clawed into the seat. "No, Tiberius feels he's special." The fox said, pushing the shotgun down.
We drove for about 10 minutes when we came to the old textiles factory. It had been vacant for about 13 years. It was from what I heard a popular place for Drug lords and criminals. We pulled up to the loading dock where some what looked like a cat and a badger stood with smgs and rifles. The door was open but was barricaded with trash and metal plates. The fox motioned me to get out and the iguana kept the shotgun level with my face. I finally got sick of it. "Get that thing the hell out of my face!" I was about to shove the gun out of my face when several guns stared at me from all angles. "Or not" I said. Then he came. Tiberius walked out in a black trench coat hands behind his back. "I see curiosity killed the cat. Or is about to." The men and one woman put their guns down. The panther stepped down from the loading dock. I see you are curious, are you not?" "More Afraid than curious." The Tiberius turned to go inside. "Wait!" He stopped "Will I regret this?" "It all depends." They all walked in after him. Inside was a small armies worth of weapons ammo and explosives. Even vehicles.
They then grabbed me and injected something in my arm. Thoughts and images raced through my head. It was all too quick and I fell to the floor. The knowledge, the living, the machines, Zion, The Matrix. "Imagine a world where people are used for nothing more than a battery. Where you dreams are reality." "Who in the hell do you work for?" "You'll see." They started to set up a chair with equipment I hadn't seen before. Then some of the other men's phone rung. They answered but did not speak. Instead they were transformed into bodies of green scrolling code. Then they were "sucked into their phones. Amazing, but then I didn't say that. Bullets whizzed past as men I black suits and sunglasses appeared. "Damnit! Gears didn't say anything about agents! Get Out!" Tiberius said. Instead the remaining men pulled out their guns and fired back. I watched as I saw the agents dodge the bullets with ease. Two were hit flat in the face and 5 square in the chest as they gunned down everyone As Tiberius and fox pulled out their phones Tiberius said "I'm sorry it had to be this way." He was then engulfed. Three more of his men were still alive. I ran over to grab a gun when I was shot in the leg thrice. I fell and caught the rack The three were gunned down and only I remained. The five agents then approached me as I grabbed a huge bundle of what looked like C4. And here I sit bleeding and in agony. But I take to my grave what in the last 30 seconds of my life taught me. So fast, so quick, I will never understand the matrix, but at least I know why I'm here and what I was destined to be.
The timer slowly ticked, 5 the agents approached, 4 they pulled out their guns, 3 they reloaded, 2 they cocked, 1 three shots and then a blinding light. 0 five well-done agents and a destroyed factory.
Tender 53LO-8857-H6 received a message that Tube #63771727467's inhabitant had expired. It popped the plug on the deceased and through some mis-calculation flushed him instead of sending the flesh bag to the grinder. It ignored this and moved on to its job.