Title: What's In A Name
Author: gega cai
Pairings: Kate Brewster centric, eventual Kate/John
Rating: PG
Words: 1500+
Warnings: Blood
Summary: Judgment Day has come and gone. Kate Brewster struggles to find her new identity and purpose in a post-apocalyptic world.
Disclaimer: Characters and other likely inventive scenarios based on the world created by James Cameron and William Wisher Jr., and Michael Ferris (?)
Author's Note: This fic references some events from T3 and T Salvation. Fic takes place in 2009, five years after Judgment Day according to T3 (July 2004).
What's In A Name
Part 1
by gega cai
"What? What is it, Kate?" a voice called.
Kate's nose twitched at the smell of blood. Like so many times before, she ignored the shock of seeing the seriousness of the injury and began to work to stop the bleeding. She raised her head towards the voice, but her eyes remained on the wounded soldier who was now gripping her shoulder in protest. She could make out the static voices in the communication links around her. An aerial assault was re-approaching after disappearing into the night sky from its first sweep on them; she could hear the panic in their voice as the echoed sound of a hunter killer approached in the distance and buzzed in the ears of the soldiers.
"Kate?"
Kate looked away from the soldier to see the silhouette of a young man, crouched low against a curved trench, just ahead of her. He was featureless against a bright light as he caught his breath. Only his familiar figure outlined like a halo in the lit-up night sky gave away his identity. He let out a sigh of relief, she thought, at being acknowledged by her. His breath, highlighted by the bright search light behind him on the far side of the base, swirled above and around him. Kate did not answer him right away. She knew that he would not accept what she had to say.
The wounded soldier jerked and let out a guttural cough that sent a splatter of blood across Kate's right shoulder and cheek. Kate reacted before reopening her eyes and clenching her jaw in defiance. She spoke calmly, "Too much blood. I've got to stop the bleeding. You'll have to go without us, John."
John shifted his weight, an obvious gesture of annoyance at such a suggestion and spoke under his breath, "The hell you say..."
Kate furrowed her brow and shook her head at him.
"Givens! Help her. Grab someone to help you carry him," John yelled. His voice was lost as the sound of the aerial HK approached low. Now, instead of yelling, his voice hummed across the trench from the earpieces of the soldiers. The last thing Kate saw was the image of John Connor mouthing demands before the hiss and thumps of the earth being broken apart by the aerial HK's artillery exploding the ground between them.
The warm tickling sensation of the pain medication gave Kate her first indication that she must have been injured during the attack. That and she had no memory of how she got where she was. Her senses were dumb. Still, she tried to focus. The stench of lingering human perspiration and death had her imagining the unacceptable; a fate worse than death: imprisoned by Skynet.
The medication made it difficult to sit up or move at all. She sensed a blanket was covering her and gingerly fingered the fabric. Thick wool. A single tear swelled in her eye and fell down her temple into her auburn hair. This can't be Skynet. She was in a hospital with people.
"Hey --hey, it's Brewster! She's awake."
"Good. I'll send word. See how's she doing," a voice trailed off.
"Miss Brewster?" Kate could see the outline of a face as it peered down at her. She tried to lift her shoulders but her body protested. Suddenly, the room had a dimension; an up to it's down. Her head began to spin as it made sense of her surroundings. "Hey, hey...easy. Relax."
Kate swallowed hard and laid back closing her eyes to shut out the spinning room. "Where..."
"You're safe. Well, safe as can be. You're damn lucky, you know that? Inches from being blasted a part, they say."
"Survivors..."
"Only a few," the voice broke. "Connor carried you out of there himself. You got banged up a bit by shrapnel. Nothing too serious, though. You should recover in no time," the voice assured. Kate nodded and mouthed "Thank you" as she passed out from the injection.
John made quick work to have Kate transferred to his location once he heard her condition had improved. Only two weeks recovery and he already had her back in the battle it seemed. Inwardly, she was grateful to be returning to him so that she could get out of the hospital and away from the stolen glances and hushed whispers in her presence. Being Kate Brewster had its advantages. But, it was often a burden and tiresome.
Now, she rode in the open air in a fortified jeep. The sun was close to setting and she enjoyed the site of the earth lit up in a golden wash through the slats of the jeep. The driver yelled over the noise of the rusted Jeep's engine at Kate, "Just over the ridge," he pointed ahead, "We're almost there."
Before the jeep slid to a stop, men and women were already on the jeep opening the heavy doors for Kate and the driver to climb down. The driver had already been escorted away to be debriefed and prepare for his next route when Kate touched the ground. A man passed Kate and climbed into the back of the jeep and began handing miscellaneous crates to the others that crowded around her and the jeep. Never a moment to lose, she thought in her father's voice as she watched them. She imagined him smiling at her and taking some perverse enjoyment in his daughter living a life similar to his own.
"This way, Brewster!" a young soldier called. He jogged to meet her halfway from the barracks he appeared from. He looked annoyed and Kate understood why after he spoke, "You're limping? They said you were well."
"I'm sure Connor's insistence might have convinced them of that," Kate said with a credulous expression. The soldier smiled and nodded in agreement. John Connor wasn't as inspirational as he imagined he should be, but he had a way with getting things done.
"He's away. Recon. He's their favorite, you know," the soldier slid her arm around his shoulder to help carry her weight.
"He knows Skynet. He knows what to look for --umph," she sneered at the pain of her wounds stretching as they took a big step down to the entrance of the barracks. The soldier gave her an apologetic look and slid from under her arm to push aside the camouflaged netting, exposing the make-shift sliding door. The small view slat opened after two hard knocks and the soldier gave his number and rank before the door grinded open.
"Ma'am," a rugged man with a large, raised scar across his jaw said as he helped her across the threshold. Kate looked ahead and could see the outside of the barracks was misleading. The barracks clearly dipped down deep, under the rocky terrain of the desert floor. Soldiers in fatigues and combat gear mingled in large and small groups throughout. A few sat alone in quiet contemplation.
After a brief visit to the infirmary, she was led to a large open room with rows of cots. Looking above, Kate could see the blue-black night sky through the ventilation that reached the ground above.
Kate recognized John's things stacked neatly around a cot and saw that her things were waiting for her at the next cot over. He'd purposely stacked her medical books on the cot as a welcoming gesture. She sat beside the books, absently looking over the front cover of the one on top: Mosby's EMT-Intermediate Textbook 1999, Third Edition. It had seen better days. The hard cover's edges were aged with bent corners. It once had a bright red and orange cover, but the color had faded. A visible water stain had warped the spine and bottom-half of the book's pages and cover.
Kate didn't need the books anymore. She had them all memorized. John was better at letting go of things. He only had a few things from life before the bombs fell. His processions were mostly faded pictures, tapes of his mother, and, oddly enough, random music cassette tapes. Everything else was a necessity: weapons, rations, and first aid kits.
Kate had nothing of personal value. Nothing but medical books and magazines salvaged after the war. She felt silly for holding on to them. But, everything she knew or loved was gone. She had accepted Judgment Day and who John would be. In doing so, he was more grateful for her than he could ever express. He would never have to, of course.
Kate lowered the books to the floor and swung her feet onto the cot. She could feel the eyes on her. It made for a sleepless night knowing what they were thinking as she laid there fighting the throbbing pain. Katherine Brewster: That military brat whose father helped destroy the world. The female fighter who appeared out of the ashes of Judgment Day with that half-crazed John Connor.
There is never a dull moment when we're around, Kate thought to herself. If only she knew the worst was yet to come.