Predaking50ae Scenes 121-130
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Scene
121: Hero's Welcome
2:40am John and Cameron are lying on John's bed talking about their 'childhoods'.
Each seems to be doing a perfect job of filtering out the bad.
John has been able to tell her about growing up in the '90s without mentioning his delinquency, the murder of his foster parents, or the birthdays and Christmas' spent without his mother.
For her part, Cameron has been telling him about her life in TechCom HQ, filtering out any mention of the war, the diseased, the destitute, or the lives he'd have to sacrifice in order to win.
John is laughing hysterically at the thought of Cameron having arrived at one of General Perry's briefs completely nude, before announcing to all those in attendance that it was because:
'John fell asleep on my jumpsuit.'
Their happiness was short-lived, however as they heard a loud knock at the door, followed by a crash, a bang, and thud.
They ran downstairs, a SPAS-12 toting Sarah met by an equally prepared, Remington equipped Cameron, and a typically unarmed John.
Looking around they saw a broken door, a smashed coffee table, and Derek slumped against a far wall with the T-880 rapidly approaching him.
"STOP!" Derek barked. It was an order, not a plea, there was no fear in his voice.
The T-880 grabbed him by the ankle and was about to smash his body against the brick fireplace like a human smashing a beer bottle in a bar fight, when John and Cameron intervened.
"WAIT!"
The T-880 stopped mid-swing and chose instead to hold him upside down.
"What are you doing here?" John asked.
"What do you think! I'm here to help you!"
Derek hit the floor with a solid *thud* as the T-880 dropped him without warning.
"General Connor predicted your defection."
"I was never working for the Grays! I didn't know that she was!"
"Grays? John, do you know what he's talking about?" Sarah asked.
"Humans who work for Skynet." Cameron answered for him.
As tough as he was, Derek couldn't quite stand yet. The piece of paper, still clenched in his fist, he hurled it toward his nephew.
"The plot this machine thinks I'm part of? I've brought you the one responsible."
"I'm glad that you're back, Derek." John was instantly trusting, which unnerved his mother.
"Why should I trust you with my son's life?"
Cameron walked over to him.
He was up in the air, a hand around his throat. 'This is getting old.'
You will answer my questions only with a 'Yes' or a 'No'. Do you understand?"
"YES!" he struggled to force out the word.
"Are you working for the Grays?"
"NO!"
"Are you here to hurt John?"
"NO!"
"Are you here to protect John?"
"YES!"
John spoke up.
"Are you here to hurt Cameron?"
"NO!"
"He's telling the truth." Cameron announced as she placed him on the couch, loosening her grip but keeping a firm hand on his throat.
She used her hand to continue monitoring his biomarkers for any hint of dishonesty, and to be certain that he didn't try anything foolish.
John handed his uncle a beer as he finished relating the events since his unceramonious eviction from the 'Baum' house.
"If the machine hadn't told me what I had been accused of, I wouldn't have suspected her. Jesse saved my life more than once. I love her."
John and Cameron cast each other an understanding glance.
"I tried to get her to tell me what she knew. I couldn't make her talk."
"Then what are we going to do with her?" Sarah asked.
"I brought her here because she can get her to talk." he nodded at Cameron.
"NO!"
"John-" Sarah started.
"SHE DOESN'T TORTURE PEOPLE ANYMORE!" his mother hadn't seen the torture sessions on Cameron's chip.
Derek tried to reason with him.
"If we don't find out what she knows, you are going to die. Sarah will lose her son, I'll lose my nephew, and..." He trailed off as he motioned toward Cameron. He couldn't believe what he'd almost said.
"I'll do it..." Cameron was disgusted with the thought. Whatever she had done in the past, she wasn't herself when she did them. Now she was going to have to do those things as herself, unless she wanted John to die.
"Cameron, you can't..."
"I have to. I won't let anything happen to you!"
John had to think fast. There had to be something that he could say. Something that he could do.
"Cameron, if you do this... I'm leaving."
Sarah spoke up before Cameron's mouth could move.
"John! She has to do this for you! Because she loves you!"
"No. If she can do this, then I don't want to have anything to do with her."
Trying to keep a poker face, he began heading for his room. The most painful part of all was needing to step out of a devastated Cameron's reach as she tried to get him to turn his head to look at her.
He couldn't risk being scanned.
Derek and Sarah were talking about what had to be done.
Cameron was trying not to cry in front of them. She had to go to him. She had to explain to him that she was protecting him. That she would truly do anything for him.
Just as she began heading for the stairs, there was the sound of squealing tires. Through the destroyed door, they Sarah glimpsed Derek's car taking off.
"NO! DAMN IT! WE HAVE TO STOP HER!" Derek lost his composure.
"She's heading west. Is your cell in the car?"
"Yeah."
"Good. Cameron! Stay here with John, tell him to track Derek's cellphone."
She tossed Derek a few Beretta magazines from a drawer, under some potholders.
"We're going hunting."
Sarah and Derek began heading for the door. When a distressed Cameron shouted to them.
Scene 122: Human Shield
2:56am 'Baum' residence, John's room.
'I'm not going to let her do this to herself.'
He grabs his small toolbox.
'I may be weaker and slower, but I can still protect her.'
He tucks his Glock 17 into his waistband.
'I can protect her from this. I have to. No one else can. I saved her from this life in 2027. Now I have to make sure that means something.'
He drops his cellphone on his desk.
'I have to do this.'
He climbs out his window and heads for Derek's car. Opening the door, he starts hotwiring the car.
He knows that Cameron- or the others -could have figured out what he was doing.
At any moment they could grab him, and pull him out of there. He didn't have time to make sure that Cameron wasn't already following him.
'I won't let this be on your conscience.'
The car starts. He stomps on the gas, not knowing if anyone has discovered him or not.
Scene 123: Dirty Work
3:01am 'Baum' residence, John's room. Cameron is seated at John's desk attempting to use his laptop to track Derek's cellphone.
John had left his cell on the desk as a message and to avoid being tracked.
"Cameron, stay here, tell us where he stops. Derek, let's go."
Derek stood his ground.
"Derek! Move it!"
"Sarah... you aren't going to be able to stop him."
"We'll see about that."
Derek grabbed her shoulder, and barely dodged a swipe from her SPAS that would have knocked him unconscious.
"You need to stay here, Sarah."
"HE'S MY SON!"
"Cameron is the the only one who can talk him down."
"Fine, then you stay here!"
"I have to go for Jesse. Cameron has to go for John. He thinks that we're going to force Cameron to torture Jesse if he doesn't do it for her."
Sarah felt like she was going to be sick. For the first time, she stopped to think about what this was all about- her little boy torturing another human being.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no... This isn't happening, this can't be happening... not my baby... no, no, no..."
Derek saw her breaking down, but he knew that she'd do her job. She'd track John.
"Come on, Cameron. Let's get him back."
'While we still can.' they both thought to themselves.
Scene 124: The Abyss
3:28am A familiar loading dock, with familiar trucks.
Standing here, he could still smell the tires of the truck smoking.
He could still hear the roar of the engine.
He could still hear Cameron's pleas.
He could still see her face.
He could see her begging him not to remove her chip.
It had been a trick, but she had also been telling the truth.
'It wasn't me.'
It wasn't her.
'I love you, and you love me.'
She loved him, and he loved her.
"I'm doing this for you."
John had had to hit Jesse quite a few times before she stayed still enough for him to duct tape her to the metal chair.
She was bleeding from her nose, scalp, left eyebrow, and mouth.
John stood out of sight. Trying to think- without thinking.
He had no idea what he was supposed to do next, but he knew that if he let himself think about it, he wouldn't be able to make himself do it.
He thought of Cameron's face when she begged him not to pull her chip.
He picked up a screw driver, walked over, and brought it down on Jesse's thigh as hard as he could.
She screamed, but it wasn't loud enough to mask the sound of metal scraping on bone.
"WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING?!"
Screams and laughter.
"So this- urk -is what the grEAT- hmmph -John Co- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
He began twisting it side to side. If she didn't want to answer his questions, she could scream.
"WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING?!"
She didn't answer. She just made noises. So he twisted some more.
"Go fuck yourse-" He slammed his palm onto the handle of the screw driver.
He remembered how Cameron had asked the same question, over and over, until she got her answer. If he could do that, maybe she'd tell him what he needed to know.
"WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING?!"
She only made noises.
He began to pry the screw driver back and forth. It made squishing sounds.
"You- hmmph -know, it.. starts to go numb aft- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
He stomped on the handle.
"I have all night." he said as he began looking into his toolbox.
He noticed a tiny white packet, it had come with another item to keep it dry.
"You know, I don't go to school much anymore."
He ripped open the packet.
"But while I was going, I learned a little bit about hydrates. Enough to know that this is salt." He poured it into her thigh wound.
She screamed, but didn't tell him anything. He pulled another item out of the toolbox.
"When the T-1000 tortured my mom, he did THIS!" John jammed his switchblade under her collar bone and began to twist.
Scene 125: Double Date
3:41am
A Dodge pickup flew in through the garage door and stopped. John trained his Glock on the driver's side half of the windshield.
"JOHN!" Cameron stepped out of the driver's side, Derek stayed in the passenger seat.
"Cameron? You're not supposed to be here!"
"John, look at what you're doing, this isn't you!" She ran toward him.
"STAY BACK!" She wasn't surprised that he pointed his gun at her.
"I know how you feel John, believe me, but I can't let you do this."
"I'm doing this so that you don't have to!"
"I know, but I'm the one who has to."
"I WON'T LET YOU! I HAVE TO PROTECT YOU!"
"No you don't! I don't need your protection! John, I need YOU! Put the gun down."
"You're just going to pick up where I left off. It doesn't matter."
Derek hopped out of the truck and ran toward Jesse.
"STOP! You won't make my Cameron do it! I won't let you."
"John, look at what's happening to you! You aren't protecting me by doing this to yourself! Whatever you think that you're protecting me from, THIS IS WORSE!"
"Wha-? I have to do this so that they can't make you do it!"
"Please John. Get in the truck. Derek will take you home."
He brought his gun around toward Jesse.
"MY CAMERON DOESN'T TORTURE PEOPLE!"
"NEITHER DOES MY JOHN!"
*BANG!*
Derek fell to his knees clutching his stomach, his Beretta clattered to the floor.
Cameron and John gather around him.
"Why?" John asked.
"Because you're my nephew." Derek answered.
Jesse is dead.
When Derek saw that John was about to pull the trigger, he reacted.
To protect his nephew form killing a stranger, he had killed a lover.
Scene 126: No Regrets?
7:30am 'Baum' residence.
Sarah had been terrified of what would walk through that door, wearing her son's face.
When he assured her that he was fine, her fear had grown.
'If he did what I think he did, then he shouldn't be fine' she thought.
Derek was passed out drunk on the couch. The T-880 watched over him. Fearing that he may hurt himself, Cameron and John had ordered the T-880 not to let him leave the room.
Cameron and John, as always, were on his bed together talking.
'Atleast, that's what they'd damned well better be doing', Sarah thought to herself.
Unable to get the thought out of her mind, she went to check on them.
''Them'? Ha, I actually care about the mach-' she couldn't complete the thought.
Now, just thinking about calling Cameron a 'machine' made her feel guilty.
Sarah opened John's door. She began to wonder if she would ever be prepared for what she'd see behind it. Everytime it shocked her.
Cameron was sitting against the headboard, John was asleep with his head on her lap while she stroked his hair.
"He's sleeping." she whispered to Sarah, who nodded before entering the room.
"How long has he been out?"
"127 minutes." Sarah was even more worried, now. They hadn't gotten there much more than two hours ago.
"How is he?"
"He suffered an acute stress reaction."
"He's in shock?" Sarah was relieved.
"Yes, he will take some time to get over what happened."
"What did happen?"
"He... tried to protect me."
"By doing what? He's my son. I need to know what happened."
Cameron looked at John sleeping on her lap, as if thinking of a lie. Some way of protecting Sarah and John from what he'd done. She wanted to lie, but John had been Sarah's before he was hers. Sarah was strong, she could handle it.
"When Derek and I arrived..."
Sarah held her breath. Cameron's pause seemed to last for an eternity as thoughts of what her baby boy might have done to another person.
"...Jesse was taped to a chair with a screw driver in her leg and a knife in her shoulder."
Sarah's chest felt tight, her eyes began to water. She moved her mouth to speak, to shout, to scream, but nothing came out. Not even air.
She
looked at her son, not knowing if he was still her son. She tried to
make the words to ask him.
When she couldn't do that, she
staggered out of the room, collapsing and sobbing just a few steps
outside.
'Are you... still my boy?'
Scene 127: Sleeping Beauty
John's eyes flutter open. The first thing he sees is Cameron's face, as she lays on her side next to him.
It was how wanted to wake up every day.
It filled him with warmth to see her like this. She looked so peaceful. So beautiful. So... perfect.
'She's sleeping.' he thought, as he reached out to gently brush her hair from her face.
Her hand caught his, and her eyes snapped open. He heard the popping and he felt the pain as she crushed his hand, her eyes glowing red.
"I don't sleep."
Scene 128: Moment of Weakness
12:19pm 'Baum' residence, John's room.
Cameron had been monitoring John's vitals as he slept for the last 416 minutes. In the last few moments, his heart rate, respiration, skin temperature and salinity had increased. He was having a nightmare.
She spoke softly as she gently turned him over.
"John? It's ok, now John. Everything's all right." she smiled warmly at his face as she her scan told her that he was waking up.
His eyes opened slowly and he saw Cameron smiling at him.
"NO! GET AWAY FROM ME!" with inhuman speed, he leaped from the bed.
It was reflex. His body simply launched itself away from a perceived threat. His back colliding with a wooden bureau, his knee and elbow reaching the floor.
He scanned the room as though he had never been there before.
His eyes were feral, looking for an escape route.
"It's safe now John, you're home." Cameron was surprised by his reaction to her, but not by his overall behavior. She knew that it would take time for him to get over the things he had done- if he ever could.
When he looked at her, he seemed to realize what was going on.
"Cameron, are you... you?"
She was confused. She didn't know about his dreams.
He hadn't told her that he had dreamt of a normal life with her nearly every night.
He hadn't told her that in ever single one she had harmed or killed him.
"I don't understand." tilting her head slightly.
She didn't see how the response she gave could have helped, but it did. He calmed down. Letting himself fall onto his back to catch his breath, the pain from his meeting with the furniture setting in.
"John, you're safe now."
'No one is ever safe' he thought. Her words, or maybe her voice, were comforting anyway.
"I'm sorry. You didn-"
"You had a nightmare, John. I understand."
'No, you don't', again only himself.
Sarah ran in. From her face, she may have expected a triple-eight to be in the room.
"What's going on?!"
"Nothing." John answered, not seeming to acknowledge the concern in his mothers voice.
Cameron took her concerned eyes off of John only long enough to make eye contact with Sarah.
"He had a nightmare."
Sarah's fear evaporated, being replaced by sympathy and understanding.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"No, I'm fine."
"John, I know a thing or two about nightmares..."
He looked at her like she had no idea what she was talking about.
"Are they the same thing? Night after night?"
He could tell from her face that they were.
Flashes of her son being killed in her last dream began to fill her mind.
"Yeah... I, um..."
She took a moment to force her emotions back down, she had to be strong for John.
"There's a reason I take sleeping pills, you know..."
Scene 129: All the King's Horses, and All the King's Men
The next day.
Sarah and John sit on a bench overlooking the ocean.
It had been so long since she had been able to spend time with her son, instead of the 'future leader of mankind'.
"I can't keep this up..." He stared into the distance, talking to no one in particular.
"I know." She reached out and rubbed his shoulder with a comforting hand.
"I can't keep this up, but I'm going to anyway."
When he turned to her, his eyes may have been focused on her, but they were looking somewhere else.
She knew what he was thinking about. She knew that he was thinking about the future.
Or, more accurately, the lack of one.
He had accepted his fate, and it scared her. She had always been afraid that he'd leave her, that he'd run away.
Somehow, she now felt the way she had when imagining coming home to an empty house and a note.
Her little boy was gone. It seemed like just yesterday he had turned sixteen. Now, looking into his eyes, he looked older. Much older.
She saw a combination of things in his eyes that she'd only ever seen in Derek's.
Hopelessness, regret, guilt, self-loathing and... resignation.
Where John had once had his father's kind eyes, she now saw the eyes a broken, 32 year old, TechCom officer.
Scene 130: House Arrest
'Baum' residence. John, Sarah have just returned. Having shadowed them without their knowledge, Cameron follows them in.
Derek is arguing with the T-880.
"What's going on here?" Sarah asked in the confident, demanding tone which she had lost for the past few days.
"Ask him." Derek pointed angrily at the T-880.
"I was ordered to keep subject 'Derek Reese' in this room."
"Well, it's ok for him to leave now." John said, feeling bad- but amused -that Derek had been held hostage by the machine.
"Thanks for your permission." Derek sneered as he started to leave the room.
The T-880 grabbed his shirt as he attempted to walk by.
"You must remain in this room."
"Let him go. I order you to let him go."
"Negative. I have been ordered by John Connor and Cameron Phillips to restrict the movements of Derek Reese to this room."
"Cam?"
"Let him go." she said.
The machine released Derek.
"This thing isn't a toy!" He shouted at John while pointing at the machine.
"It's built for war! You can't just have it babysit or do chores!" Derek was justified in his anger.
"You're right." John confirmed. "He's built for war, and we're going to war."
Before anyone could ask questions, he turned to T-880.
"Tell me everything you know about that T-1001. The one that looked like a woman in a red dress."
"The T-1001 is an advanced mod-"
"No, about that specific one. The one that Cameron was going to die fighting. How can we find it? How can we destroy it?"
"The T-1001 does not know our current location, nor is it aware of your appearance. It is unnecessary and tactically dangerous to engage it."
"It's here for a reason. It could bring about Judgment Day sooner. It could be assassinating Resistance leaders right now." John wasn't sure reasoning with the machine would work. It was obviously no Uncle Bob.
"I am unaware of its current location. However, between 4:00pm and 9:00pm on March 28th, 2008 it will terminate five opponents of the Automated Realtime Traffic Information Exchange program."
"I thought we stopped it." John cast an apologetic look at Cameron, having removed her chip for nothing.
"We did, that's why Skynet is stepping in." Sarah spoke up.
"So... we wait until the 28th?" John suddenly found everyone staring at him like he was a moron.
"What day do you think it is, John?" his mother asked.
"Wednesday..."
"John, it's Friday. Today's the 28th." Sarah said. For all of his attempts to take control he's still a teenager.
Sarah turned to the machine, her faith in her son's newfound maturity having waned slightly.
"Where?"
"I will take you. First, we must acquire the necessary equipment and weaponry to destroy it."
"Derek has an M-79." She thought that would be enough to convince the machine.
"I must acquire additional armament."
It began heading for the door.
"Wait. We'll come with you." John started heading to his room for his Glock.
"Negative. I do not require assistance."
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