Chapter 1: Parker Young

Entry from Pescadero State Hospital

Patient name: Sarah Connor

Start of tape.

"Don't you get it!? It doesn't matter what you do to me, they will still continue to fight."

"Look, I get it. You just want to be listened to, understood, and helped. You want people to do things your way and continue to become frustrated when they do not listen."

"You're not listening to me! It's all real! Everything… it's real!"

"I know that you want to give the orders, Sarah. You are a born leader."

"No, you're not… just listen to me! I am trying to warn you!"

"What happens when your son rebels against you, Sarah? What will you do then? What if he fails?"

"He won't."

"But what if he does?"

"Then we all die!"

"Sarah, your son is a 10 year old boy with different gifts. And even if he were to get people to listen to him, they would not believe him."

"You'll be one of the first, Silberman."

"Sorry?"

"You will be one of the first to die, Silberman. Your ignorance will kill you."

"This session is over."

"Judgment Day is coming and you will regret not listening me!"

End of tape.

—

AFTER JUDGMENT DAY

LOCATION: UNKNOWN

TIME OF DAY: UNKNOWN

—

Fear was the only thing that pushed her forward. Tears blurred in her eyes as she continued running despite the fact that her legs were aching so bad they were trembling. She looked back constantly to see her entire squad dying so she could keep moving forward. She ran over the debris of a lost city no one could remember, hoping she could escape. She felt her boots tearing away as she ran and knew that soon she would have to run barefoot over the jagged stone, broken bones, and shattered glass that littered the dead ground.

She did what her commander ordered and blocked out all the sounds of war and continued to run despite feeling like she would collapse at any second. She came to a stop as she stared with fear at the large glowing pyramid knowing that Skynet was at its strongest there. Once you were in, there was no way out except by time machine and she didn't know if she would make it that far. She was only a small 12 year old girl. But as she looked back at the war behind her, she was filled with enough determination to continue moving forward.

Her squad leader, Jacobson, had said that they were in a broken and lost timeline. She didn't understand what that meant when he had told her but she had a feeling she would figure it out soon. As she ran toward the enemy, she couldn't help but think of all that could possibly go wrong. A thick, hot gust of air blew in front of her, threatening to knock her over, and she quickly pushed her wavy brown hair out of her face, staring down at her feet as she ran so she knew what was coming. She took one last glance over her shoulder before she passed through the iron gates but did not slow down.

She gasped with pain as her side began to cramp up but her attention was brought back to the mission when she heard a painful squeal. The thick metal doors of Skynet were closing fast and she felt a new burst of energy, knowing she had to get through. She turned to the side and squeezed through it as fast as she could; flinching as the doors slammed shut and locked behind her. She stopped for a moment, looking all around her with fear.

With every second that passed, her heart pounded faster and harder against her rib cage. She slowly walked forward, looking all around the well-light building and screamed as she heard a static crash behind her. She turned around quickly to stare straight into an overhead computer screen that was recording her. Red codes flashed above the camera's image and she watched as Skynet scanned over her.

Parker Young

She instantly turned her back to that monitor only to find another one straight ahead of her. Skynet knew who she was and she was trapped here, alone. Parker immediately started running, remembering that Jacobson had told her to reach a certain spot in the building and stay there. Then he had assured her that she would be taken back to the past to fight. She just had to figure out how to get to that spot before she would be murdered by Terminators. Parker heard all sort of mechanical equipment whirring around her and she assumed that Skynet could see every inch of this place meaning that there was nowhere to hide.

Parker's eyes quickly darted down every hallway and aisle she could then looked behind to see if she was being followed yet. She turned back and stopped with a harsh gasp looking straight ahead to see a shiny metal Terminator looking down at her with its red eyes. She turned around and began to run, dodging behind a wall just as it shot its plasma rifle toward her. Hundreds of scenarios passed through her mind and she quickly found that it was going to be impossible to escape without getting shot. She fought back tears of fear as her lungs struggled to draw in deep breaths.

Suddenly a spark of blue electricity appeared in the hallway in front of her and she watched it carefully, wondering if she had reached the spot. As the blue lightning continued to strike in front of her, slowly forming a blue bubble she knew she had made it and gasped with relief. She looked all around her for a place to go to wait until it was formed and turned to see the Terminator lunging for her. She dropped to the floor on instinct and scrambled up to run but not before the machine gripped her wrist, dragging her back down to the ground.

She grit her teeth as she tried to free her left arm as pain began ripping through it. The Terminator pulled her so that she was at its feet, looking up at the metal monster. She kicked at its legs, looking back to see the bubble almost ready and longed to be in there and free from Skynet for a minute at least. She felt the Terminator's gun push against her chest and wanted to scream but was too paralyzed to do so. Parker kept her eyes on the blue portal, watching it open in front of her and closed her eyes as tears fell down her cheeks, knowing she would be dead any second now.

Parker flinched violently as a shot rang out but felt the Terminator's grip loosen and let her go. She fell onto the ground and gasped with pain as she rotated her left arm slowly before turning to see her friend Alex holding a plasma rifle. She stared at Parker with wide eyes and shouted.

"Go now and don't even think about arguing with me!"

"But I…"

"Damn it, Young; just go before Skynet can kill us both!"

Parker rose to her feet and stared at Alex between the electricity.

"Alex…"

Another gun shot went off and Alex turned to look at what had caused it. Her eyes widened as she turned back to Parker, pushing her short black hair behind her ears and out of the way.

"GO NOW!"

Parker didn't hesitate any longer knowing the machines were closing in. She hated to leave Alex but knew that if they both died that their efforts would have been completely wasted. Parker grit her teeth with pain as she stepped inside the portal, feeling the blue lightning crackle all around her. The electricity continued to swirl around her, closing the opening, and cutting her off from the world she grew up in. She felt her chest constrict and she screamed in pain as she traveled through time.