Sarah awakes with a start to see John looking at her. Pain quickly follows but she shoves that aside. She asks in her emotionless super soldier voice "John Are you Ok?"
'It is just so like her to worry about me first. Sometimes she seems so like the Terminators. I just wish could be my mom. Just for a little while.' John thinks while hiding his frustration and disappointment. Instead of showing his pain, John laughs and replies "I am fine. You are a mess Mom so just lie back and rest. We are safe."
John's comment reminds Sarah to check her surroundings. 'I must be in pretty bad shape since I didn't even think to look around when I woke up.' she thinks to herself. With John's help, she sits up cautiously on an army standard issue cot. She can see they are in some sort of bunker. Cameron and a stranger are cleaning various weapons at the far side of the room. Weapons line the wall in front of them. The arsenal is very impressive. A massive door seals the room. It is the only exit she can see. "Is that the only exit." she asks.
"Glad to know you are going to be ok." John says smiling to himself. The fact she is right back into warrior mode is a great relief to him. The look she gave him when she woke up spooked him. There was only his sacred mother in that look. He prefers the warrior since at least he understands that version of his mother even if he doesn't like that version.
The stranger adds in a gravely voice "There are two other exits. They are concealed but I showed Cameron how to open them should the need arise."
The stranger's voice reminds John of a movie about a guy in mask and cape. 'This guy sounds a lot like him.' John thinks to himself.
'He never took his eyes off the weapon he is working on' Sarah notes to herself. "Thank you for helping us but we should probably get out of you hair now." she says not even sure she can stand.
"The bullet that hit your arm went straight thru so that was a simple stitch up. Your body armor stopped the ones that hit your torso but the impacts broke two ribs. The bones in your leg will need several weeks to heal. I would advise against moving you for at least the next 3 days. You should stay here while you recover. There is plenty of food and supplies. You may as well take whatever you need since I will be abandoning this site once you have left." the stranger says still working on weapons with Cameron.
"Just who are you? How did you beat the Terminators?" Sarah asks in a challenging tone.
"My name is unimportant. As for the cyborgs, I have encountered them before. With the proper tools, they are not too much of a threat." the stranger replies.
"How many have you destroyed?" Cameron asks with her innocent seeming curiosity.
"27" replies the Stranger.
"Wow" says John.
"Well, I have been engaging them for sometime now." the stranger says matter of factly.
John and Sarah share a look. They have not destroyed that many in all the years they have been fighting.
"What I am curious about is why 5 went after you? I have never seen more than 3 assigned to any one objective and those 3 were trying to take over a military base in New Mexico. So what makes you so special?" his tone makes it clear he will insist on being answered.
Sarah tries to think of a good lie but Cameron surprises her by answering "John will be the future leader of human's resistance against Skynet an advanced AI bent on wiping humanity out. Their mission is to kill him so he cannot become this leader."
"Fair enough" the stranger replies.
"My daughter suffers from delusions and" Sarah says starting to lie their way out of Cameron's mistake when the stranger cuts her off.
"One thing I will not tolerate is being lied to. She is not your daughter. She shares many features with the Terminators as you call them. He is your son but his DNA is unusual. So why don't you try again." he says coldly. He fights a smile while thinking they are just like the files described them.
"Cameron told you the truth. I am supposed to save the world some day." John says while silencing his mom with a hand gesture. John continues with "I really appreciate you saving our lives but I don't understand why. Do you mind explaining?"
"The simple truth is you got lucky that night on the road. I was tracking the unit that attacked you to see if it had a home base. I was trying to find out where all these units are coming from. When it attacked you, I was intrigued by her. It was clear she was trying to protect you. I have not seen any unit do that before so I planted a tracker and followed you home. I was very surprised to see the four units staking out your house. I had ambushed one and was trying to cut out its CPU when the others engaged you. Not sure why they wanted you dead so bad, I decided to protect you." the stranger replies. It is not one of his best lies but lying has never been one of his strengths.
His tone is so similar to Cameron's. Everything he says is to the point and very straight forward but Sarah still does not trust him. Her sixth sense tells her something is not right.
"You won't be able to find their home base. It has not been built yet. Skynet sends the Terminators back thru time with specific missions to ensure its victory in the future." Cameron explains. Cameron goes over the whole time line while the stranger listens intently.
"That explains a lot. My analysis of their remains has shown alloys not only never seen before but with chemical ages that made no sense. Time travel makes perfect sense." the stranger notes. That sounds good he thinks. 'They seem to be buying me story. Just keep it simple.' he reminds himself.
"You believe us?" Sarah asks. Her skepticism is clear in her voice. He did see the Terminators in action but no one has accepted the future part so quickly. His quick acceptance just puts her more on alert.
"I can tell when people lie to me. I know you are not. Also, the evidence supports what you say. Besides, I have encountered stranger things than time travelers." the stranger replies. 'Don't lay it on too thick.' he chides himself.
"You must lead an interesting life." John remarks.
"Some days are more interesting than others" the stranger replies.
Having finished working on his weapon, he holsters it. Next he gathers some gear and places it into a backpack. "It has been a pleasure." he says with a bow as he walks to the main door, opens it, and exits.
Once the door closes, Sarah says as she forces herself onto her good leg. "We should get moving. John hand me that." Pain shooting thru her cut off her words and she collapses back onto the cot. She tries to fight the pain and dizziness to get back up but it overwhelms her. She closes her eyes and tries to collect herself.
"We are not going anywhere till you have a chance to heal. Look around. This place is a fortress with tons of weapons. We are staying so deal with it" John states in a tone that for a moment lets Sarah glimpse the great leader he will become.
Cameron says as reassuringly as she is able "Don't worry we are secure here. I am certain he wasn't lying."
"John, he did help us but" Sarah starts to protest.
"Now, Cameron." John orders.
Panic overwhelms Sarah when she sees Cameron raise the gun she is holding and fires. A tiny dart hits Sarah in her good shoulder and ends her argument by causing her to black out.
With Sarah sedated, John rearranges her on her cot so she will be as comfortable as possible. With his mother taken care of he address Cameron "So what did he leave us?"
Cameron goes thru a long list of weapons which impresses John. A few items are of particular interest. There are 4 of the heavy pistols the stranger used to take the terminator down with several clips of armor piercing ammo, a bulky rifle which Cameron describes as a prototype railgun, several sets in different sizes even of ultra-light body armor and 200,000 in cash. "This guy must have crazy connections to leave so much behind." He says.
"He did not reveal much about himself or his mission. I believe he is an assassin. We had an interesting conversation about the best ways to kill a human while you both slept. Also, I suspect he is not human himself. While he appears organic, he displayed much greater strength than is humanly possible. He tore a terminator's head off. Even I would have difficulty doing that. Also, his body armor and weapons weighted about 300lbs but he was not encumbered while wearing them. Skynet experimented with purely organic terminators but was unable to create any effective enough to justify the enormous resources required. It would appear someone succeeded." Cameron suggests.
"I hate to say this but mom is right. This is way too easy on us. He shows up in the nick of time twice. Then he leaves us all this. Something more must be going on. He knows a lot more than he was telling. The questions is do we just take his gifts and run or try to find him to learn what he knows?" John explains.
"He could have killed us all or let the terminators. The fact he helped us suggests he is on our side" Cameron points out.
"Let's hope he stays on our side. Mom is not going to want to stay here when she wakes up so we need to find a place to move to. Also, we need to contact Reese. He must think we are dead after the mess back at the house." John says.
"Reese will know our bodies were not found there so he will know we are alive. He will be looking for us. I can go call him?" Cameron replies.
"No, you watch mom. I will call him." John states while taking one of the heavy pistols. He checks to make sure the clip is full, grabs two spare clips and heads to the door. When it opens, he waves to Cameron and heads outside. When he gets to the end of the drainage pipe which disguises the bunker's entrance, he is blinded by the bright sun. It is a nice day. Flipping open his phone he calls Reese.
After hearing the confirmation beeps, Reese says "Thank god. Where are you guys?"
"We found a safe house and are hold up. Mom wants to move but she is hurt. Can you arrange a new safe house and transport? Mom will be on a stretcher. Also, we have acquired a large amount of gear so make sure you get a van or a deliver truck." John tells Reese.
"Can do. I have a house in mind already. Transport will take a couple of hours. I will call when ready for pick up." Reese replies.
While John is outside, Cameron watches Sarah sleep. Studying her face, Cameron tries to understand what drives her so. She admires Sarah for that drive. No terminator can match that level of dedication to her mission. Cameron knows it has something to do with human feelings but even with her simulator chips she does not understand yet. She does feel she is learning though. Everyday with humans brings more insight.
When John reenters the bunker, Cameron holds one finger to her lips signal him to be quiet. He almost laughs out loud at the gesture.