Title: No Escape
Summary: Kyle's frightened that what he dreams about isn't just a dream, but a look into the future – his future. It seems that there is no escape from the nightmare that he lives and fights to survive everyday. [Terminator Salvation].
Rating: T – I think that covers it.
Film in series: Terminator Salvation
Warning: Spoilers. Depends on how many you can find. I'm not counting – I just warn others of the fact they are there.
Disclaimer: I do not own, *cry*, and never will, *cry harder*.
A/N: This story is just an idea that popped into my head whilst I was watching the movie.
But anyway, give it a read and I shrug my shoulders at reviews. I don't read them any more – lol. It's amazing what I give up doing simply because I can't be bothered. It's a few levels below a smoker giving up smoking because he can't be arsed to go to the shop to get some more.
But anyway - read and enjoy.
...
Kyle sat with his back to the wall with Star curled up close to his side. The darkness that engulfed the landscape and could only be penetrated by the return of the sun pressed down heavily on him and his mind. The only light was that of the fire that Marcus had built before he had stalked away into the night, the light emitted dancing on the wall creating entrancing patterns and reflecting in his eyes as he looked at it burn and crackle in the middle of the floor.
As he sat he could feel his eyes becoming heavier as sleep began to overpower him. It had been a long tiring day running from the machines that just happened to stray across them and he had earned his rest. He had grown fond of sleep in years gone past, a chance to forget all that was going on in the world, to leave it all behind and to have a peaceful existence, even just for a few short hours before reality came crashing back in and threw him back into a battlefield of war for survival against the machines.
He had fought this battle for as long as he could remember and his instincts told him that he probably would not see the war out. Get killed fighting? Running? Defending? Something else? All he knew at that present time was not to dwell on such a thought for it could hinder him, make him freeze in terror when he should be running or fighting.
The idea when dwelt on in such a fashion could also send a person insane.
So many if's and but's and so many times that one could second guess themselves and their actions that it seemed like a person could go on doing this for eternity, or near enough to it. Kyle had accepted long ago that what was done was done and the only way to move on and stay alive was to learn by his mistakes, but more importantly by others mistakes, especially if that mistake had gotten that person killed.
Another thing he had learned and come to terms with was his own mortality. He never considered himself invincible. Those who he had known who considered themselves invincible were the first to be killed by Skynet.
Radical ideas and illogical strategies born out of fear and desperation were also a people killer. Keeping calm and thinking logically always increased person's chances, but nothing with Skynet was ever certain. All were to be learned from so he would not copy them out of ignorance.
As Kyle sat waiting for the sandman to make an appearance he allowed his mind to drift. What would happen when they found John Connor? Win the war? This thought allowed a small smile to be displayed on his face. There was no doubt behind the idea that it would be incredible to end the reign of Skynet once and for all, but when considering how many men and women had died trying to end Skynet, the idea that him and Connor could end it together decreased in probability till it virtually reached zero. Kyle did not think of himself in anyway special and the question of what had he achieved apart from removing a couple of machines from the world only added evidence to his case. He was nothing special, so he acted accordingly.
He finally slipped in to a micro sleep before long term sleep took him into its blissful embrace, a simple but powerful bliss that this night would not last till the morning light.
Kyle woke up laid on the floor of a room that looked like that of cell construction. The door was ajar and with curiosity getting the better of him, he took his chance and darted out into a corridor that showed a long line in both directions of cells that looked identical to the one he had woken up in. He looked around, the first direction he looked in was clear, but when he looked in the opposite he saw the machines coming towards him, filling the corridor from one side to the other as far as he could see, their blood red eyes striking instant fear into him.
His eyes widened with the fear and his adrenaline raced. He turned and ran in the other direction, occasionally bouncing his shoulders against the walls in his blind panic to get away. He tried to launch himself forward by using his hands pressed against the wall to aid himself but to no result.
Everything he did slowed down, but the machines seemed to get faster, and faster and faster. There was a door in the distance that was half open and his only way out so he put everything in to reaching it. One of the machines reached out to try to grab his arm and Kyle managed to move it out of the way in time, only to get his other arm caught in another machine's vice grip.
Kyle screamed out as the machine threw him to the ground, breaking his arm. As he looked up he saw that he was next to the door that had only seconds before seemed too far away to reach. He used his one good arm and legs to pull his body weight towards the door, cradling his broken one against his chest. The pain shooting through it was excruciating. Looking back at the machine's he saw that the closest one to him was bending over and reaching a metal hand towards his neck, the others further behind and still moving towards him and their speed only increasing.
He managed to get his foot up in time and kicked the machine's head as hard as he could muster in the small space between them, but the machine remained undamaged and immediately turned its attention back to Kyle, its hand still going for his neck. The machine suddenly curled its fingers into a fist punched the ground leaving a hole. Kyle had rolled out of its way on pure instinct and fought to find his feet while the machine reclaimed its hand, its friends finally catching up.
Kyle through himself through the door and slammed it shut with his last good arm with as much force as he could muster. A simple mechanism for locking the door was in place and he turned the wheel till he heard the noise that signifying that it was locked and secure. There was a window not too far up the door and he looked through it. He was met by a pair of red mechanical eyes. Kyle gasped at their sudden appearance and took a few panicked steps backwards. Feeling a bit braver after several seconds of deep breathing, he ventured back to the window and looked again to find what seemed like a hundred pairs of eyes staring at him - maybe thousands.
When he backed away from the door slightly he noticed for the first time that he had tears running freely down his cheeks. He chocked back a sob of fear, but mainly relief, and wiped the tears away with the back of his hand.
Looking around, he saw that he was now stood in a second corridor of which was identical to the one that he had just narrowly escaped from. He looked in both directions fearful of seeing more of Skynet's soldiers approaching him once more. His relief of finding none gave him the courage needed to hold his broken arm against his chest in a protective manor and to pick a direction to walk in. He went to his right, following the corridor for a short distance before coming across a new door that for some reason caught his eye.
Peering through the doors window, he found himself looking upon hundreds of Skynet's soldiers, their red eyes burning into him. Backing away from the door he began to walk once more in the direction he was originally travelling with a little more urgency in his stride. Within a few paces he came to a new door, and once more he peered threw the window to what ever laid beyond. This time hundreds of human prisoners of Skynet were grouped together, their faces covered with dirt, grime and blood.
Kyle searched the door for any possible way to get the door open, but none was there. The door showed no way to be opened, from his side at least. There was no way he could get to those people to help them from where he currently was. Just as he was about to start shouting to gain attention from someone in the room, a terminator stepped into his view, blocking his view of the entire room. Kyle backed away from the door once more. The machine stood still as stone and continued to watch him from is position. Kyle slipped out of the machines sight and stopped a few paces further down the corridor, his mind already focused around getting those people out of that room with that machine and to safety.
Suddenly Kyle got this feeling that something was watching him, or approaching him, something that his senses and instincts considered a threat. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up on end and his muscles tensed as he strained his ears listening for any form of movement behind him; of which none came.
Just as this gut wrenching feeling began to leave him, he felt two solid, powerful hands on his shoulders that spun him around to come face to face with a man that had the power of a machine.
In the few seconds that Kyle got to look at the man he could sense that something wasn't quite right. The mans strength, the hatred in his eyes, the fact that even though the man looked human he moved as though he was a machine.
Then suddenly the man's eyes turned bright red before returning to their original colour.
"You're a machine." Kyle whispered in disbelief.
Kyle could feel one of the machine's hand on his shoulders tightening its grasp on him, but instead of stopping the fingers continued to puncture the skin and tear through flesh, tissue and muscle making Kyle cry out. The crunching and grinding of bones, the blinding agony, his cries that made his throat feel like it had a thousand white hot pokers puncturing and cutting it, and the machine's hand continued to close even tighter. His blood surged out of the wound and saturated his clothes down his left hand side and he could feel its warmth spreading across his skin as it soaked through the layers of clothes he wore.
Suddenly the machine picked him up off the ground and threw him into the opposite wall, releasing its grip on Kyle shoulder. Kyle pressed himself up against the far wall and watched with wild terror as the machine moved towards him. He started to slide along the wall, pushing with his legs and gritting his teeth whilst using his broken arm in an attempt to aid to his legs, the machine following him all the while.
Kyle's vision started to go blurry around the edges from loss of blood when the machine closed the remaining distance between them and thrust a hand around his neck. Kyle's vision went blood red as the capillaries in his eyes burst. The machine began to shake him violently before it raised its free hand into Kyle's sight and curled it into a fist. Kyle watched horrified as the machine brought its fist down upon him…
Marcus had grabbed Kyle's shoulders and gripped hard trying to restrain him while his limbs copying his nightmare and sweat broke out onto his brow; his breathing came in gasps. Kyle screamed out in desperation, fear and pain, his eyes screwed shut, sobbing between his screams. Marcus swung Kyle to the floor hard and fought to restrain him even further by pinning him there, securing the young mans arms to his side. Suddenly Kyle began to choke and splutter. Marcus did the only thing he could think off – he shook Kyle as hard as he could before he struck Kyle hard.
Kyle's eyes flew open with the brutish contact, but still believing that he was being attacked by the machine in his dream he tried to fight Marcus with nothing more than his legs of which came to nothing.
"Reese!" Marcus shouted. "Reese! … Kyle!" Kyle's wild eyes shot to Marcus' face.
Marcus was shocked to see Kyle's bottom lip trembling and that his eyes that were usually so calm and defiant exhibited nothing other than fear of which did not seem to be dissipating. Primitive fear was the first things that sprang to Marcus' mind.
"Marcus?" Kyle whispered.
"I'm here Kyle." Marcus confirmed. Kyle's fast breathing started to even out as he recognised Marcus while his eyes began to loose their wild, fearful look.
Kyle turned his head and looked at his shoulder, his eyes scrutinising it while relief wrote itself across his face as to the fact it was still there and no blood could be seen on his clothes. Marcus became convinced that Kyle was no longer a danger to himself or to him and Star so therefore released him.
"What did you see?" Marcus asked. Kyle's attention shot from his shoulder back to Marcus, his hands trembling as they hovered just above his stomach. "Kyle – what did you see?" Marcus asked again, placing a hand on Kyle's arm. Panic shot across Kyle's face, and this told Marcus all he needed to know. Marcus removed his hands from Kyle and left him laid on the floor breathing heavily.
"It's…" Kyle swallowed. "It was just a dream." Kyle closed his eyes trying to convince himself of this fact more than anyone else. When he reopened them he found Marcus looking less that convinced that it was as simple it was being made out to be. "I swear, it was just a dream!" Kyle said almost hysterical. Marcus continued to look at him and after a few seconds he shrugging his shoulders, but his eyes never left Kyle, even as he repositioned himself against the wall.
Kyle looked back as evenly as possible before looking over and saw Star for the first time during the whole incident stood with her back to the far wall and her hands by her mouth, clearly scared by what she had witnessed. Kyle sat and looked at her before diverting his attention back to the fire that had now become a pile of glowing ashes that gave of little light. The night sky was still pitch black and devoid of stars or moonlight.
Going back over his dream, Kyle remembered the machines chasing him, the near misses and that man that was actually a machine … it looked human, it's hands felt human, but the strength and it's eyes … those eyes … eyes that only held death and destruction in them. No feelings, no emotions, no nothing that could be considered a human quality.
The blood that he had bled in his nightmare seemed so real, the heat, the smell, the colour, the metallic taste it had as the blood entered his mouth in those final few seconds. The pain that broke the pain intriguer and the sound of bones breaking as his shoulder was crushed by the machine all played back to him in his mind.
Kyle suddenly felt himself go sick to the stomach and he found himself pressing his hand over his mouth hard whilst racing past Star and Marcus to get outside the deserted building to be sick. He fell to his knees and trembling on all fours he brought up what little food there was in his stomach. After a few minutes of dry heaving, he crawled the small distance to a nearly levelled wall and sat with his back to it, taking long deep breathes of cool night air. The night air relaxed him and he closed his eyes and took several more long deep breathe to settle his tense body and frayed nerves.
He leaned back heavily against the wall, his eyes half open and his nerves calmed once more. He spent several minutes like that before deciding that he had spent enough time outside in the open air. Kyle went back inside to be greeted at the door by Star who pressed herself up against him and burying her face in his jacket. Kyle found himself smiling down at her and her affection towards him as he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly.
Kyle sat himself down with his back to the wall once more, Star curled up next to him safe in his embrace. She quickly drifted off into sleep and he looked down affectionately once more at her, his arm that was already around her tensed, keeping her in the safe embrace. He could see Marcus keeping a close watch on him out the corner of his eye and he found this some what relaxing; after all Marcus was the one who had wrestled with him and woke him up with no regard to his own well being.
After a small while Marcus drifted off into what seemed like sleep to Kyle, leaving him awake on his own. Kyle spent the rest of that night awake, his mind obsessing over the nightmare. On one hand it could have been a message. He had never seen (nor ever hoped to see) a terminator that looked convincingly human. Was it something that Skynet was working on; a new soldier for its vast army of exterminators? Or was it what he secretly hoped it was – just his mind over reacting to an event that had affected him more than he had originally thought. So when the sun broke the horizon and chased what remained of the darkness away from the world but not from his mind, Kyle felt saddened that the sun did not have the desired effect upon his mind. He had hoped that the sun would lighten the memory with its rays like it had done so many times before, but there was something about this dream that allowed it to stay vivid in his mind. It gave him the feeling that he would never be rid of it; that it would not fade over time but instead continue to torment and twist his dreams to nightmares.
It seemed to him now though that there was no such thing as escape from the machines.
"No escape," Kyle muttered to himself; "there is no such thing as escape."
End.