Born To Live

Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to the Terminator properties in any format. This story is purely done for fun and is my own creation. I wanted to see if I could write out a continuance of the television series while being faithful to both the series' tone, and that of the first two films.

Permissions: If anyone wants to use elements of the story please feel free, I only ask that credit is given at some point in your story.

I would like to thank Josh Friedman for adapting the story of the Terminator universe into a T.V. Format, and all of the cast and crew of the show for the wonderful 2 seasons they made. And lastly, James Cameron, who without which my life would be pretty damn boring.

Prologue:

In 2011 Skynet, an Artificial Intelligence, became self-aware. Humanity became an unwilling participant in a war triggered by a near thermonuclear apocalypse. Survivors were scattered and on the verge of dying until they were united by a man; John Connor, my son.

I, Sarah Connor, tried in vein to protect and defend the world from the horrors laid out to me by a lone fighter from the future; but I failed that mission. Try as I could, I couldn't prevent Judgment Day...it was inevitable.

I was once under the belief that there was no hope for the human race. How can you battle an enemy that doesn't feel, eat, sleep, and spends every moment of its existence devoted to your extinction? It took me a long time to truly understand the message given to me by a fighter from the future; There is no fate but what we make for ourselves...

When it hit me, it did so with enough force that my world collapsed around me. All of the bravado and walls of mirrors I had built around myself came crashing down from the unyielding pain caused by the messages meaning.

My son was prophesied as the savior of mankind by Kyle Reese, his father from the future, and I had always treated him so. But he abandoned that path when he jumped forward in time to rescue his protector, a reprogrammed machine. He left with what little training I had given him in the past, and was thrust into the harsh realities of the future.

December, 2027

ZeiraCorp Basement

11:01PM

A faint crackle of electrical energy danced in the thin cold air of the crumbling basement of what was once ZeiraCorp. Its bluish-purple aura illuminated the decaying concrete scattered around the room at the same time of another spark of dazzlingly bright energy gave way to a hazy blue ball. Screaming arc's of electricity shot out of the sphere before the energy disappeared just as quickly as it had arrived leaving two bodies laying within the area where the electricity had originated. A teenage boy who looked to be on the cusp of adulthood and a slightly more-mature looking woman. Both of the figures were in a low crouching position but where the woman had an equally balanced posture the boy looked like he was about to topple over and sprawl out on the floor.

The red-haired woman stood upright with perfect ease while the boy by her side continued to hunch over and struggle to keep his balance. Both of them were bare-skinned in the concrete jungle basement letting them feel the cold air began to penetrate the warm aura of the air surrounding them. With a few quick breaths and bringing his arms up to hug his chest, the boy seemed to compensate for his lack of clothing against the elements while the woman looked absolutely unaffected by the drastic change in temperature they had experienced.

Another chill ran down the boy's spine causing him to tightening his arms across his chest and look frantically around the scarce room for something to shield his body from the damaging cold. He saw nothing at first but the frost speckling the edges of the broken pieces of concrete, even the makeshift wire rigging for the light-bulbs out in the hallway had frost clinging to them.

We're definitely in the right place, John told himself as he exhaled and saw his breath create a dense fog in front of his face. Fuck, it must be near freezing in here...

In part John was not surprised by the bitter cold that welcomed them into the future, much of his life had been spent preparing for the harsh environment that had awaited him ever since his mother first told him of his predestined path. The effects of thermonuclear weapons had been part of that case-study, especially when a cyborg by the name of Uncle Bob had explained it to him and the Dyson's a few years prior. Even with that preparedness though, he still reeled from the cold when it nipped against his skin.

He took a step forward and checked his surroundings again while the woman by his side made this odd sweeping motion with her head and neck. It was a movement that, to John, resembled a motion controlled security camera, or the swishing motion of a shark as it hunted its prey. Her eyes moved from left to right scanning the contents of the room and her head followed in unison only a split second after, missing nothing and seeing everything.

John looked back at the woman to see her fully dressed in some garb that resembled a more hard edged version of an indie-punk-rocker look. Her hair was tied up into a bun and her face was bare of all the makeup she had been wearing prior to their arrival. The long overcoat and messy pants coupled with the torn shirt lead him to believe that she had copied the look from someone in the future before her original travel back in time.

Desperate to find something of his own to wear, John looked across the bleak interior of the basement again but saw nothing other then broken pieces of concrete with wires for electric lighting darting across the makeshift ceiling of the hallway. The remains remains of the gleaming white concrete now had twisted pieces of iron rebar protruding from the walls and a few skulls littered the ground around his feet. Hollow eyes stared back at him from the bleached white recesses of the human remains as he tried to peel his eyes from looking at them.

"Where's Cameron? Where's her body?" John asked, flashing the woman standing by his side a questionable look after not finding anything to wear again.

"It doesn't go through," she replied clinically, though the expression across her face seemed to resemble an almost sympathetic stance. Within another second she resumed her methodical sweep of the barren basement.

With his strange curiosity taking over again, John cast one more look across the room before seeing some form of cloth resting on the far side of the entrance to the hallway outside. His ears and eyes kept themselves busy with discerning other signs of life as his body ran over to take the coat and drape it around himself. The friction caused by rubbing his arms furiously against the cloth caused his skin to warm up slightly, but still did nothing for the shocking cold against his legs and feet.

"Be on your guard," came the woman's voice by his side when she peered out of the doorway and into the hall. In the distance she could hear a man conversing with another human a mere twenty-or-so feet away from them.

A quick scan of her surroundings revealed the dialect to be of Spanish origins but the canine barking in the background seemed to be emitting with enough tone and frequency to suggest it came from a large breed.

"We have visitors, Mr. Connor," she explained while taking a step back inside the basement as John peered out of the doorway and down the hall to where the voices were originating.

John crouched for cover just as a black female came into view escorting a large German Shepard by her side. He peeked out over the boulder he was hiding behind to see the woman and dog round the corner and continue down the hallway. She was brandishing a large and bulky looking rifle that appeared to be way too large for human usage.

No sooner had she and the dog passed his position then along came another person following behind her closely. Like the woman, this man also carried a large rifle with a German Shepard trotting alongside him and they too rounded the corner and continued down the hallway. He paused for a moment to double-check their rear flank before turning around and following the woman in front of him again.

Anxiety and tension built itself to a peak within his body until John felt a compulsion to get out of the room as quickly as possible. Taking one final look down the corridor to his right to make sure the coast was clear, he stepped out into the hallway at the same time that two men appeared from a hole in the basement wall in front of him. One of them, a man of mixed complexion, called out to others that were gathered in the area behind the recessed hole in the wall.

"Got one!" The man raised his weapon and aimed it squarely at John's chest.

The man didn't seem to be taking any chances with his appearance in the cold dilapidated hallway, he could already hear the low hum of energy beginning to charge within the large rifle pointed at him. John didn't blame the man, though he really hoped that soon the mistake would be realized and he would lower the weapon. If the time coordinates were right he had arrived in 2027, just before the arrival of the T-800's according to his mother which would explain the paranoia surrounding unknown persons skulking around.

"GOT ONE!" the man repeated in a yelling manner. He took another step closer towards John, the dull hum of energy growing slightly louder in the close space of the hall.

John instinctively held his hands up in a surrendering manner as a sign of good faith, it always went over well in the long run. Very rarely in his experience did pushing the issue in a tense situation pay off, and with that he decided to play along with the man for now.

"Got one?" John asked in his best surprised facade, "One what?" He looked over his shoulder for Weaver, his companion in this time-traveling debacle, but was taken by actual surprise when he saw that she had vanished from the basement entirely.

Guess I understand why he only thinks he caught 'one', John thought as the man took another cautious step toward him.

John looked one more time over his shoulder to confirm Weavers absence before turning back to face the man in front of him, Well great going. Haven't even been here two minutes and already I'm being held at gunpoint. His mind searched for something to say to the man in front of him, anything that could help him out of this situation.

There had been a time after his uncle had nearly died in his home when he heard a few stories from him about his time spent in the future. John had never really given it much thought but Derek had always referred to Cameron as the 'metal' or another derogatory term coined from that phrase. Now might be the perfect time to try it out, especially if it got the man to lower his gun.

"Please, I'm not metal," he said rather convincingly, even throwing in a fake cowering stance to let the man feel as if he controlled the situation.

"Don't move!," the man ordered, still not lowering his weapon but John had seemed to have stopped his encroaching march forward.

Damn, ok not a free thinker, John told himself as he threw in a wince to let the man continue to believe he held the upper hand. Guess I'll have to convince his superior when he shows up.

"I said don't move!" The man snapped as John winced, his eyes narrowed and trained themselves on the center of John's chest as the hum of energy still continued to grow.

Ok John, make it count, he told himself as he spoke to the man in a pleading tone, Please! I swear, I haven't got anything! I...I...I'm human!"

"Because I will blast you!" the man threatened as he continued bearing down on John with the large rifle.

Movement over the mans shoulder from the hole in the wall grabbed John's attention as another figure stepped through the haze and fog to stand by the cautious soldiers side. The frame on this figure was tall and well built, being very muscular all around, showing signs of someone who knew how to take care of themselves even in an apocalyptic wasteland. At first he reminded John of Uncle Bob from the way he carried himself but where Uncle Bob had been very muscular in his chest and arms, this man was an imposing figure of a different kind. He looked like he could kill you with a properly placed punch as well as a kick. He wasn't the top-heavy human tank that the T-800's were.

"Stand down," called the new figure, who stepped into the light and looked John over before patting the soldier on the back to let him know everything was under control.

The soldier in front of him lowered his weapon and the hum emitting from it slowly resided. He took an at ease stance next to the man, who was clearly his superior officer. A group of new soldiers appeared from the hole in the wall behind the two figures as John stood in shock from the sight of the SO standing in front of him.

He's here...It's him... he had to remind himself to pickup his jaw from its slacked position but he couldn't help himself from saying out loud, "Derek?"

Men gathered to John's rear but he didn't pay them any attention as he lowered his noticeably trembling hands. He was no longer concerned with keeping up a false image in front of the soldiers, if it really was Derek standing in front of him John wouldn't have to.

Derek too two steps forward with his arms tucked behind his back in a stance that John recognized as his 'studying' style. It was something he'd noticed about his uncle, especially from their time spent at the ROTC academy when looking after young military cadets. John picked up his sneaky side from Derek, the man liked to appear calm and relaxed as he watched your every move like a hawk.

His eyes bore down into John's studying everything about his face. There was something familiar about him, but at the moment he couldn't place him. One thing was obviously clear to Derek about the young man though and he called out to the troops to the boys back.

"Look in his eyes. He's got about as much metal in him as you do," Derek turned with a slight smirk on his face and addressed the first soldier who had been in the hallway.

John dry-swallowed air down his throat as he stood in front of his uncle in awe, "Derek?"

The man turned back to face John, studying him again. The kid knew him from somewhere and this feeling in his gut gave suspicion that he knew the boy as well, but whenever he grasped at something in his mind he returned with nothing but air.

"Yea?" he replied bluntly, hoping the boy was just confused from being stark naked in the middle of a freezing cold hallway with nothing but a trench-coat on.

"John...J...John Connor," John explained, hoping the name triggered a response from the otherwise stone-faced Derek.

Derek gave one final look over the 'Connor' person in front of him before stating very flatly, "I know a lot of people kid, I don't know you."

He decided to ease the tension in the air with a joke to calm down his comrades who were still visibly on-edge from the boys sudden appearance, "anyone ever heard of the name John Connor?" He chuckled out loud in jest as he turned to the men at his back.

Then men all shook their heads at Derek's question and waited for him to resolve the issue at hand. They watched as he turned back to John and gave a slight sigh, "Well...you know what? I think you're gonna be famous. My brothers back and you're wearing his coat."

Derek's eyes flew over John's shoulder as the crunching of small rubble under the soles of combat boots filled his ears. A rigid chill went down his spine as he exhaled and turned around nervously. John had seen his father only once before, and even then he had been no more then a child playing baseball with his older brother in a park. His mother had no pictures of him from his adulthood that he had ever seen before, only stories of their one night spent together.

A man who he assumed was Kyle came to a halt while eying John curiously. He bore a slight resemblance to John, both of them having a slim yet athletic build and a short stature. John inhaled slowly as the realization dawned on him that he was looking at his father for the first time in his life. He didn't know what to say...how to respond...

Kyle Reese eyed John with the same vague expression and curiosity that his older brother had. He didn't have the faintest clue as to who this shitstain who stole his coat was, but something about him was familiar...something he couldn't quite place.

John caught his breath after nearly tearing up at the sight of the man standing before him. He noticed movement over his father's shoulders of a teenage girl, who looked to be about his age, coming up to pet one of the German Shepards that the officers had leashed by their sides. Her face was in the shadows for the moment and he couldn't see who she was, but something about her was oddly familiar until she stepped into the light and he knew exactly who she was.

She was very graceful, even in an apocalyptic world, she carried herself with poise. The girl smiled as she leaned forward and took a knee to scratch the ears of the closest German Shepard. The animal whined in delight as she continued scratching. With a flick of her neck the long hair that had obscured her view of the boy in the tunnel moved out of her way and she caught a better look at him, just as perplexed about his arrival as everyone else seemed to be.

John was on the verge of a panic attack as her hair parted ways and he got a clear view of her face, Cameron?...Its...Its really her. He stared down at her in shock-and-awe until he regained control of his senses.

The past carries into the future. If Derek doesn't know who I am then I never existed because I jumped time...which means there was no reason to create Cameron...or the T-800's...or the time machine... The thoughts rushed through his mind all at once, causing his expression to fade and his shoulders to sag.

This isn't Cameron, she never existed, his mind told himself as the dog continued its whining from the girl's scratching of its ears.

Kyle grew restless and shifted his gear to his other shoulder before asking his older brother, "Who is he Derek?" He threw up his arm and smacked John on the arm, causing him to stumble backwards by a few steps despite his fathers relative small size and muscle mass.

The fighters saw the small weakness in his armor and decided to poke fun at John further by snickering amongst themselves before being given an icy stare-down from Derek. Everyone silenced themselves as his eyes fell over them, even the dogs stopped beckoning from the pleasure of the girl comforting them. The eyes in the hallway flirted between John and Derek, hovering on one for only a moment before darting back to linger on the other.

"I don't know, never seen him before. Thinks he knows me though, say's his names Connor, John Connor," Derek responded to his younger brother after he was satisfied with everyone else's silence.

Kyle turned his attention back to the scrawny boy in front of him again. Anyone in their right mind would know the kid posed no threat to anyone, even Allison could take him down if she had the proper purpose to do so. Yet even as he stood before the young man Kyle could tell that something was different about him then any others they had come across before, it was in the way he carried himself. All the other survivors would be cowering in fear or showering thanks for being discovered before they would be taken to the nearest resistance base and given safe shelter, but not this young man. He stood tall, even when hunched over, and something behind his eyes gave the impression of confidence even when or if the boy didn't see it in himself.

"Who the hell are you kid?" Kyle sniffed the air but didn't wait for a reply, "You ain't no tunnel rat. You AWOL? Or no, no maybe you're something worse. I think we got us a gray here boys."

The very last word of Kyle's speech set everyone in the room on edge again except for Derek who remained steadfast next to his younger brother. Every soldier in the hall noticeably tensed up and grabbed their weapons from their sides as Kyle mentioned the grays. Derek may have given the order for them to stand down but John saw something touch a nerve in them, something that would make them go above and beyond duty. Things like that were personal and would likely get him killed or would likely buy him some time to figure out what was going on, so on a bet with himself he decided to play the odds.

Feigning confusion by his father's question he returned with one of his own, "I'm not sure what that means." John inquired, "Is that a code or something? I don't see any gray on you guys."

"We ain't no metal-loving freaks," exclaimed the man who had been pointing his rifle at John a few moments before. His grip tightened on the rifles trigger as John heard the sounds of various safeties going off on all the soldiers weapons.

"Stand down," Derek said calmly, "Fucker's as much a gray as I am metal. All of you," he turned and motioned to the hole in the wall, "Get your asses back to base. I want a perimeter up before midnight."

Kyle took a step towards John as the soldiers behind him moved forward and began filing through the hole, "You have any idea how close you came to getting your head blown off? Who the fuck goes wandering around in the nude?"

John blinked for the first time in what felt like an eternity and answered his father, "No, no sir."

"Alright John Connor," said Derek mockingly, "you're gonna be in the rear. We can figure out what the hell to do with you when we get back to command."

"That," Kyle pointed at the coat covering John's body, "had better be spotless when its returned to me."

With a slap of the back and a suppressed laugh Derek turned and motioned for Kyle to head into the hole at the end of the hallway, leaving John standing by himself clutching at the coat that belonged to his father. A playful chuckled filled the air behind him, taking him by surprise. The young girl who had been tending to the dogs now stood by his side, the resemblance to Cameron was remarkable, they could almost pass as...twins.

"You might be the dumbest son-of-a-bitch we've ever found this far into the rabbit hole," she said, letting the leash in her hands go and letting the dogs trot ahead through the hole.

"At least I'm alive," John explained, speaking the first words to Cameron's twin.

The girl looked to be at ease in his presence almost as much as Derek had been. She stepped closer and scrunched her eyes at him, taking a deep sniff before standing back and letting him breath, "You smell funny...you smell clean, but burnt. Like you just got through firing off an entire cartridge of plasma into an endo."

"You'll have to excuse me," John coughed from the chill running through him, "I left my shampoo at home."

"Well you're going to be a handful aren't you," the girl burst out into laughter and bent over to pickup a pistol at her feet, "Names Allison, Allison Young."

"John..." he started to say before being cut off.
"Save it, we all heard who you are," Allison waved the gun between his and her face, "You try anything while I'm watching you and this is going up your ass. Now come on, I'm hungry."

"I'll keep that under consideration," John gulped and fell into step behind her as they ducked into the hole in the wall and exited out into a large open area that had once been a subway station.

I hope you all enjoy the rewrites!

There should be two new chapters every week until it is finished and I move onto Facing No Fate.

To Be Continued...