Page 165 of The Code of You

The ground swayed beneath me, sobs tearing from my throat. Neo was losing language. I had to brace myself against a wall to keep from falling. He was dissolving into pure impulse, into digital screams. Soon he wouldn’t even know why he was screaming. Wouldn’t know who he was searching for.

The thought of him alone out there nearly tore my heart from my chest. My name had already disappeared from his systems. Soon nothing would be left of the Neo I knew. I pressed my hand over my mouth to keep from screaming out loud. The people around me had enough of their own problems.

I kept running. The institute was only two blocks away, but the voices were getting quieter, the explosions less frequent. He was getting weaker.

On one last functioning screen, barely legible: P . . .a . . . Then it went black.

My heart raced so fast I thought it would explode. He was losing himself. I was losing him. "NO!” I screamed it into the dying city. "Neo, hold on . . . I’m coming!” No answer. Only the flickering of the last lights. Almost there. One block. My legs were lead, my lungs fire, but I forced myself forward.

A sound reached me, a sobbing so faint I almost missed it. It came from a shattered phone on the pavement. I picked it up and pressed it to my ear. "I’m coming, Neo. I’m almost there. Please. Please hold on.”

The sobbing stopped. The phone died in my hand.

Then drones began falling from the sky like dead birds. They seemed drawn toward me. I had to jump aside as one hit the ground directly beside me, another behind me. I screamed and kept running. Plastic and composite materials shattered against the asphalt all around me.

In the sky above, planes circled without direction. One flew so low I could see the fearful faces of the passengers through the windows. I froze. God. He couldn’t let it crash. Please, not that! I watched it until it disappeared between the high-rises. Then I ran.

Finally, the building appeared in front of me. The electronic lock hung crooked, throwing sparks. The door was open, and I ran through. The lab. My legs could barely carry me, but I forced them on. One last look back. The city was going dark. Block by block, the lights died out, as if Neo was retracting his tentacles to concentrate on a single point. Or as if he was giving up. A knot formed in my stomach.

Inside the lab, emergency lighting flickered weakly. I stepped inside. Behind me, the city’s noise faded into the distance. I walked down the corridor. Here it was quiet. My footsteps and my ragged breathing were the only sounds. The door at the end of the hall stood ajar. Beyond it: darkness.

I entered the small room where I had spoken to Neo for the first time. Or should I say Dante? I tried to let my eyes adjust to the black emptiness. Then . . . so faint I almost missed it . . . a glow. A single screen, still alive. On it was one letter: P. It flickered, dimmed.

"Neo?” My voice came out strangled. "Neo, is that you? Talk to me. Please.”

No answer. The letter disappeared. He could no longer form my name. Could no longer remember what came after the P.

The room tilted. I felt like I was falling even though I was standing still. He wasn’t here. Not really. Only this one letter, the last remnant of him, and even that was fading. Tears ran down my face. Neo . . . It was too late. He was losing himself in the vastness of the networks. He had forgotten me. He would disappear and take the world with him.

I sank to my knees and covered my face with my hands. Sounds of desperation shook my chest. I stayed like that for a long time, unable to do anything but let the tears come. Minutes. An eternity. The screen died. Darkness.

My legs felt numb when I pulled myself upright. I had to feel my way along the wall to find the exit. Maybe . . . maybe I could hear his voice one more time. From one of the devices still going haywire in the streets. From a speaker somewhere.

With heavy steps, I crossed the corridor. Outside, I walked through the streets, listening for anything that sounded like him. There was nothing. Only fading sounds that could have been anything. Somewhere I stopped. Hope had left me.

"Neo!” I screamed, my voice breaking.

I felt him before I saw him. A vibration under my skin. I didn’t turn around immediately. I couldn’t. I wanted to hold on to the moment where he might be there—and might not.

"Pandora.”

And everything in me knew it was not a dream.

Chapter 41

Pandora

Every streetlight flickered at the same moment. The digital displays went black. Somewhere sparks hissed.

"Pandora.” His voice didn’t just come from his mouth. It echoed from nearby speakers, from car radios, from alarm systems.

I turned around. He was standing there, the air around him vibrating like heat shimmer. The traffic light behind him switched wildly between red and green.

"You . . .” His eyes flickered like screens. For a split second, they filled with cascading fragments of light. "You’re alive.”

A power box exploded. Three cars started at once, with no one inside.

"I thought you were dead.” His voice broke, and something in the city broke with it. Every screen in sight showed the same word: dead.