Chapter Three: Devil on His Shoulder

LOCAL STUDENT FOUND DEAD

The papers called it a tragic accident, that she must have tripped and fell. No one was to blame. But John knew the truth; Cameron had murdered the girl, for kissing him. What kind of a person can do such a thing? I forgot, she's not a person, she's a machine. 'Wherever they go and whatever they do, they carry death'. Derek was right all along, I was just too stubborn to see it.

Cameron had made tentative attempts to talk to John since that night, but he had given her the cold shoulder. He wanted nothing to do with her, but she was persistent. Somewhere in that chip of hers, she felt the need to regain his trust, to go back to the way things were before Chloe's death. But John wasn't going to forgive her for adding another senseless death to his conscience; he'd had all he could stomach with Morris and Jordan. This was too much for him to handle; and it was all her fault.

Cameron appeared at his door and watched him for a moment. John was pretending to have not noticed, but she knew better.

"John?"

He slammed his pencil down and glared at her, his eyes darkening.

"I told you to leave me the hell alone."

"John, please, I-…"

"Shut the damn DOOR!!"

Cameron struggled for a moment before slowly closing the door, sealing his hatred within those walls. She leaned against the door and stared at the ceiling, fresh tears running down her face. She couldn't understand why John refused to even talk to her. Many terrible things had happened to them in the past, Cameron's rampage among them, but John had forgiven her for that. He'd forgiven her for letting Jordan die, and he'd forgiven her for almost killing his mother. So why couldn't he forgive her for accidentally killing Chloe, what made it any different from her past sins.

She sobbed even harder as confusion set in, and all of her advanced logical reasoning failed her utterly. Sarah came around the corner, a look of concern on her face.

"What's all the shouting about?"

Then she saw the tears on Cameron's face and her concern increased.

"What's going on between you two; you haven't been the same since that party."

Cameron glanced at Sarah before going to her bedroom. She had never seen the machine this upset, so it must be serious. Sarah knocked on John's door and received a rude dismissal.

"John Connor, don't you use that language with me."

The door opened and John stood there, a look of annoyance on his face. He looked down the hall, checking to see that Cameron was no where near.

"Sorry, I thought you were Cameron."

"Which begs the question: why would you use that kind of language with the girl you proclaim to love?"

John looked at the floor and mumbled something that sounded like "she doesn't love me".

"No? I find that surprising coming from you, especially when you fought so hard to keep her from being scrapped."

"Yeah well, maybe I made a mistake."

A distant cry echoed down the hall, followed by the slamming of a door, Cameron had obviously been listening in. Sarah decided she'd had enough and wanted answers.

"Right, what the hell is going on? What happened at that party that's so bad that you two won't talk to each other?"

John crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame, a defensive gesture.

"It doesn't matter."

"I'll be the judge of that. What happened?"

John sighed and went over to his desk, Sarah followed him. He handed her the paper, which showed a picture of a pretty blonde girl who'd died at a party. And then it clicked.

"You were at this party?"

John nodded, his eyes glued to the picture.

"Her name was Chloe."

Sarah dreaded what was coming.

"What happened? What did Cameron do?"

"She… found us kissing, Cameron. I didn't mean for it to happen, Chloe just… jumped me, you know. Cameron pulled her away from me and pushed her. She tripped and fell… down the hill. Cameron killed her."

Sarah took a deep breath. Part of her was glad that she knew the reason behind it all, but another part wished she had maintained her ignorance.

"Did you… leave any evidence? Finger prints, anything that could lead the cops to you?"

John glowered at her. Sarah knew she sounded more concerned about his involvement than the death of the girl, but she needed to know.

"Did you?"

"No. They ruled it out as a 'tragic accident'."

Sarah nodded slowly and reached out to stroke her son's chin, but he recoiled.

"Mom, can you just… leave me alone."

Sarah removed her hand and made for the door.

"What about Cameron?"

"What about her?"

"Aren't you gonna talk to her?"

John sat down behind his desk and continued to stare at the paper.

"I have nothing to say to her."

--

The day was like any other, except for that silence, the silence that separated him and Cameron.

Cameron had decided to leave him alone. She hoped that, given time, he would find it in him to forgive her. But John knew this wouldn't happen any time soon. He sat down for lunch and gave Cameron that cold look, which told her to find another seat. She stalked off, looking utterly miserable. John took a bite out if his sandwich and was lost to his thoughts.

"Mind if I sit?"

John came back to his senses and looked up to see a boy standing there, holding a brown bag.

"Err, sure. Go ahead."

"Cool."

The boy sat down and placed the bag on the table.

"My name's Kevin, by the way."

"John."

Kevin nodded and took an apple out of his bag and eyed it with little enthusiasm.

"Man I hate it when my mom makes lunch, it makes you wonder whether taste skips a generation."

John laughed.

"Yeah, tell me about it. My mom is always making me brown bag it. I keep asking her for lunch money instead, but…"

"What are you gonna do? You can't say you hate her sandwich, that's a one-way ticket to Bust-Ville."

John laughed again. This guy was starting to grow on him already, like Morris.

"You okay?"

"Huh? Uh, yeah, I'm just tired, you know. A lot of late nights."

Kevin looked over John's shoulder, seeing Cameron in the distance, watching them.

"Cute brunette at six o'clock, looks like she's checking you out."

John looked behind him to see Cameron there and scowled. He turned his back on her and focused on his sandwich.

"You're not interested?"

"No, it's… she's my sister."

"Oh, sorry, that must have conjured some freaky images. So why is she burning a hole in your back instead of sitting here instead?"

John shifted in his seat.

"It's… complicated. We're not getting along at the moment."

Kevin sniggered and eyed Cameron for a moment before turning his attention back to John.

"I had a sister once, a real head case, you know. God, they really know how to screw with your head, don't they? They crawl inside… play with your feelings, and then SNAP… they take away everything good in the world."

"You've been there?"

Kevin sighed.

"Oh, yeah, I've been there. Thank God she was hit by that bus, or I might have thrown myself in front of one."

John considered his words. Here was a guy who knew exactly what John was going through, it was no wonder they were becoming fast friends.

"We should all be so lucky."

--

"What did you say his name was again?"

"Bobby, I did a bit of digging and found his address. I was wondering whether you fancied doing a little field work, help me check this guy out."

Jason smirked.

"What? Like a date?"

"No, not a date, just a… just business."

Jason laughed and held his hands up in mock surrender. Sarah felt a little rattled by his boldness.

"Okay, okay, just kidding. When do you want to do this?"

"Right now, if you're not busy."

"Not at all, I'll just get my coat."

Jason retrieved his coat and opened the door for Sarah, who muttered as she passed.

"It's not a date."

He smiled and closed the door.

--

"What class you got next?"

"Chemistry."

"Gutted mate. You wanna ditch?"

John seriously considered the offer, but decided against it.

"Nah, maybe another time."

"Suit yourself. Watch out, psycho sister at three o'clock."

John slammed his locker door shut and glared at Cameron, who stood hesitantly, wary under his gaze.

"John, can we talk?"

John felt Kevin's eyes on his back and remembered what he'd said.

"I already told you; no. Now leave me alone before I do something you'll regret."

John bumped past her, leaving Cameron even more forlorn. She looked at Kevin, her eyes glassy. He just smirked and chuckled as he walked away, leaving her alone in the corridor.

--

"C'mon, it'll be a laugh."

"I don't know, my mom's pretty uptight about me hanging around after school."

"So is mine, but that never stops me. You can't remain under her heel all your life. You have to break free once in a while, c'mon."

John was hesitant about Kevin's offer to hang out in the town. Sarah would freak if he didn't return home as soon as school ended. Kevin was getting impatient.

"Look at it this way; you'll seriously piss off your sister. Isn't that incentive enough?"

John considered for a moment before smiling. It would be nice to make her crazy for a change.

"Well, when you put it like that."

--

John was no where to be found. He had left without her. Abandoned her.

This was all becoming too much for her to handle. Cameron didn't know how much more she could take. No doubt John was with that meddlesome friend of his. She had detected something odd about Kevin, something behind his eyes, an insanity that troubled her. She forced herself to walk the distance back home, her mind awash in misery. She wished everything could go back to the way it was.

But machines don't get wishes, she reminded herself.

--

"No! Not again!"

Sarah stared at the body of who she could only assume to be Bobby. He bore a single bullet wound on his head, just like Andy. Jason stepped into the room and examined the body.

"This is precision work. A professional hit. Someone wanted him dead, and no doubt took whatever he was working on. No luck finding out what, though. Most of his files are gone."

Sarah kicked the desk in frustration.

"Too late… again! Why must we always arrive too late to save these people?"

Jason frowned slightly.

"This isn't your fault. There's nothing more you could've done."

"I could've been more thorough with Andy's file. I could've found that letter before now, I could've saved him."

Jason sighed and sat on the edge of the desk.

"There are some things that we just can't change, trust me, I know."

Sarah looked up at him and wondered what he'd experienced to merit such a statement.

"Look, don't go beating yourself up about every person who dies because of Skynet. It's no more preventable than the sun setting. Just… learn to live with it."

Sarah snorted. She'd never be able to live with it. All of this would forever haunt her dreams. Jason cocked his head slightly, having noticed something on the floor.

"Hello."

He reached down and picked up a file that was poking out from beneath the desk. It had the word 'Singularity' printed on it. Jason flipped through a few pages, his eyebrows raised in interest.

"I think… we just found what we're looking for."

--

Cameron walked at a slow pace. She was in no particular hurry to get home. As she passed a house to her left, Cameron observed a quarrelling couple. The man was shouting at his wife, declaring his desire to leave her, while she begged him to stay. He strode down the path and slammed the garden gate shut, leaving the woman crying on the doorstep. Cameron knew what the woman was feeling and felt a deep rage well up inside her. She followed the man into an alley and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. She then proceeded to hit him multiple times, until he begged her to stop.

She held him by the throat and raised her fist, ready to cave his face in.

"Go back to her! Say you're sorry!"

"Please… I- I'll go back, just… please."

Cameron let the man stagger away. When she left the alley, the man was hugging his wife. Cameron felt a small sense of closure, but was also consumed with jealousy. She turned around and continued her slow journey back home.

--

"Where the hell have you been? School finished two hours ago, and where's John?"

Cameron just walked past Sarah and sat down on the sofa, quietly examining her blood-soaked knuckles.

"I walked home. John went out with his new friend. I don't know where they went."

Cameron spoke in monotone, devoid of any emotion. Sarah eyed the blood warily.

"Whose blood is that?"

"It belongs to the man I attacked."

"You attacked someone, why?"

"He was leaving his wife. He wouldn't listen to her, he just left."

Sarah pressed her hands together and covered her mouth. This was going too far; a girl had died, John was AWOL, and Cameron was attacking strangers. Things had to stop. She went to the kitchen to get a towel for Cameron's knuckles when John suddenly appeared.

"I hope you have a good excuse for going out when I explicitly forbade it."

John sighed and slammed the door.

"I was just hanging out with Kevin. Nothing bad happened."

"What if you were attacked? What if another triple-8 found you?"

"But I wasn't attacked, and I didn't see hide nor hair of any machines."

Sarah picked up the paper from a couple of days ago.

"You remember this little incident. A boy had his heart ripped out. You want that to happen to you?"

"It won't."

"How can you be so sure, without Cameron there…"

John's face darkened.

"I don't need Cameron; I can take care of myself."

He'd apparently not noticed her sitting there, tears running down her face. She sobbed, causing John to jump out of his skin.

"What have I told you about sneaking up on me?"

"She was already there when you arrived."

Cameron slowly stood up and faced John, she was very distraught and everything about her practically screamed for a hug, for some form of comfort. Sarah felt her heart twinge; she couldn't imagine how John could be so cold. What has happened to my boy?

"John…"

John held up his hand and glared at her.

"I've told you before; I'm not interested. When will you get that through your thick metal skull?"

Cameron whimpered and stormed off to her bedroom. Sarah was incredulous.

"What is happening to you?"

She received no answer; John just glowered at her and went to his room.

Sarah felt adrift; nothing made any sense anymore. It was like the whole world had been turned upside-down.