This story is my personal tribute to the Terminator saga. It's my second story in English, so take it easy and sorry for any mistakes ;)
John Connor's Thoughts
Los Angeles, 2029 A.D.
Death. One single word capable of easily describing the scenario in front of John Connor's eyes. Yes, death, naked death, absent of any light or shyness, dancing mockingly right in front of the leader of the Resistance against the Machines. It lacked a defined form, but was very clear and cruel on the piled up ruins of buildings and human skeletons, all joined in a macabre carpet that extended itself for miles in the place where in the past the great U.S. West Coast metropolis was located. The old City of Angels. Connor laughed. A name totally opposed to that awful world full of pain and horror…
A morbid wind touched John's body, and he sighed. Walking carefully, the commander crossed a pile of debris, the night sky that used to offer some protection to the Resistance combatants above his head. Right ahead, the abominable Skynet's war machines were covered in flames at the same time Connor's brave soldiers pushed forward triumphantly. Far away, some sudden light blasts revealed that violent battles were still engaged by the human forces. John was leading an entire race to victory. He showed the sons of Apocalypse how to fight, how to resist, making them see that they shouldn't fear the Machines. If the survivors of the nuclear war wanted to become free of annihilation, they would have to combat their enemies. And freedom was very close, at last.
In that glorious moment, the leader of the Resistance believed that it was also an occasion of thankfulness and prayer. Yes, he should recognize the efforts of all the people that protected his life, both in the present and in the past. At first, Kyle Reese, great friend and his best soldier. When John discovered Skynet's plan to send a Terminator back in time with the objective of eliminating his mother, Sarah Connor, before she conceived him, he also send Kyle to the past to protect her against the cybernetic menace. However, Connor knew that keep Sarah alive was just part of the mission. Reese ended up falling in love with the young woman and John's conception resulted of the relationship between the two. Son of his own soldier, born in the future and killed in the past during the final battle with the Terminator. But Sarah survived, allowing the future humanity's savior to come to the world.
While remembering his mother, a lone tear gone down trough John's face. The brave and wise Sarah Connor. Considered an insane person due to her efforts to prevent mankind against its horrible destiny, she protected her young son with her life when Skynet sent a second Terminator to the past ten years after John's birth. She taught him how to be a great warrior and strategist, making him ready for the dark years. Before seeing the two Skynet's cyborgs face to face, fighting as invincible titans, John, until that point a problem child, hasn't believed in her mother's words and also considered her a lunatic, regretting his posture when figuring out that everything was for real. Closing his eyes, Connor could see Sarah Connor's face once again, her looks full of kindness, courage and intelligence. He remembered the hope in her eyes when she and John thought have extinguished Judgment Day by destroying Cyberdyne Systems. Suffering of leukemia, Sarah resisted until the last moment, hoping that the nuclear holocaust would not occur on August 29th, 1997. The rise of the Machines didn't happen in that day, but Sarah's efforts were in vain. She died little time later, without know that the Apocalypse was only postponed. Nothing could change mankind's terrible future…
Suddenly, two female arms surrounded the warrior's body, making he smile. He should not forget about her. The woman that helped him during the worst years, always by his side on the most difficult situations. A fearless combatant, capable of everything to protect her husband and children. She learned about her destiny little before Judgment Day and didn't understand it at the beginning, but now she was the most wise and brave woman alive on Earth.
Kate... – John whispered, touching his wife's soft skin.
Katherine Brewster also smiled, gently kissing his cheek. The blasts in the horizon continued, the soldiers heading forward almost out of sight. Felling the beautiful and warm body of his wife, Connor remembered when she met her. It was on the night before the second Terminator was sent by Skynet. They had kissed each other during a party. Katherine's first kiss... After that, they lost contact for many years, until she found John again in 2003, hours before the beginning of the war, when the young man broke into the clinic she worked looking for drugs. During that night they were reunited by a terrifying destiny. Both protected by a T-101 cyborg, they had to confront the Terminatrix sent from the future, part of Skynet's third attempt to destroy Connor.
Terrible memories invaded John's thoughts: the desperate radio transmissions about the first cities destroyed by the missiles, the screams of those who survived to be violently hunted by their own creations during a mortal nuclear winter… Connor faced all that always having Kate by his side and she helped him to overcome the awful felling of impotence due to the impossibility of changing the course of events. Judgment Day was inevitable. "There is no fate, future is uncertain". The message he gave Kyle Reese before sending him to the past was worthless. Three billion people died in the day Earth burned…
John's wife then held his right hand. The two lovers started to watch the remaining battles, the felling of triumph already inside their hearts. Connor failed in saving humanity once, but not twice. The Machines' menace was about to be extinguished forever. Earth would once again be a beautiful planet to live, with green fields and blue seas. The mistakes from the past would never be repeated. A long age of peace had started, John's greatest dream. His children were going to live in a free and fair world…
Then, three kids, more precisely two boys and a little girl, joined the couple. Their heritage. While Katherine hugged the two boys with great love, John put the girl on his arms, raising her so she could also see the explosions in the horizon. The end was near. Skynet was almost finished, smashed by the incredible strength of human spirit. Connor's daughter, amazed by the intense lights, asked her father with an ingenuous smile:
What are those things, daddy?
John took a long breath and answered right after, looking deep into the little girl's eyes:
Those are the signs of liberty, my little Sarah… The signs of liberty…
Another tear gone down trough Connor's face, falling on the ground full of debris, ashes and bones, in the middle of the pieces of destroyed Terminators. This time, however, it wasn't a symbol of sadness and disbelief. It was a tear of hope and happiness...
Written by Luiz Fabrício de Oliveira Mendes – "Goldfield".
I'LL BE BACK.