Chapter four: Road Trip part 1
Apology: I'm sorry, but this chapter was just too long to finish in one week. There were too many things that I wanted to do, and you guys sent me too many great suggestions. So, I divided Road Trip into two parts. I figured that you would rather get half now, than wait for the whole thing to be finished. The second half should be up next week.
"No! I'm not going." Cameron stomps her foot.
Derek replies, "We're taking you to be fixed."
"I don't believe you."
Sarah is already waiting in the drivers seat. Derek thinks, 'I don't know why the job of getting the terminator into the car falls to me. John would be a more sensible choice; but when I tried to point that out to Sarah, she simply said that John was already spending enough time with the terminator.'
"And why don't you believe me?"
"You wanted to smash my chip! You're trying to kill me."
"How can I kill you? You're not alive!"
"I may not be human, but I'm a life form; have a soul, though you may try to take!"
"No you don't. You're just a machine and a malfunctioning one at that. Now get in the car." Derek grabs Cameron's arm and tries to pull her over to the car, but his strength is no match for a terminator's. Cameron remains were she is and continues refusing to get into the car.
John walks into the garage. "Problems?"
Cameron easily twists out of Derek's grasp. She runs over to John. "They're trying to kill me." Cameron grabs a hold of an imaginary steering wheel. And pretends to drive an invisible car. "They're going to drive me into a junk yard." Cameron stops driving the invisible car. "Then, they'll use a giant magnet to hoist me into the air." Cameron lays one of her hands down and makes the other one float over it. She slowly lowers the second hand until her two hands are touching. Then she raises the second hand and moves it away from the first. "Once they have me helplessly suspended in the air, they'll drop me into the car flattener and crush me." Cameron slams her two hands together and makes a crunching noise.
John turns to Derek. "What did you say to her."
"All I said was that we were going to take her to be fixed. I don't know where she got the idea of a junk yard and a car flattener. Maybe the viruses are making her paranoid."
Cameron says, "I can't trust him. He's been trying to get rid of me since we first met."
John turns to Cameron. "You trust me, right?"
There's a slight hesitation followed by, "Yes."
"I promise that we're not going to hurt you. We're just taking you to someone who can fix the viruses. Okay?"
Cameron is still unsure. She can't stop thinking about how humans tend to get rid of whatever is no longer useful. They are always throwing away their broken electronics. And even the pets, that they claim to love, don't fair much better. They are abandoned or taken to a vet and put down once they're no longer useful. Cameron wonders if humans even possess the capacity to really care about anything other than themselves. She knows that she's malfunctioning, and she can't help worrying about what the humans will do to her. But she does trust John. He's always there to defend her, always there to help her along. "Well, all right."
Cameron follows John to the car and gets into the backseat. John starts to get in next to her.
Sarah doesn't like the idea of John and Cameron sitting next to each other for the long ride. She turns to John. "Why don't you ride shotgun?" Most people just mean that as an expression, but in the Conner's case there really is a shotgun on the floor next to the front passenger's seat.
John starts to get out of the car and goes to the front passenger door, but both Cameron and Derek protest.
"No. I trust John. I want him next to me. Besides if we get attacked, I can protect him better.
"Yeah, I'm not overly thrilled about sitting next to the crazed killing machine either."
Sarah is outnumbered and Cameron dose have a point about protecting John. Sarah relents. "Fine. Sit wherever you want." However, she determines to use the rearview mirror to keep tabs on her son and the terminator.
So Sarah will drive, Cameron will be behind her, Derek will ride shotgun and John will be behind him. With the "family" packed into the car Sarah drives out of the driveway.
Cameron asks, "Are we really going all the way to Montana?"
John replies, "Yes. Newton Crosby worked on the S.A.I.N.T. project. Skynet would later model it's hunter/killers after the S.A.I.N.T. robots, and the HKs were the forerunners to the terminators. If anyone can help, it should be him."
Derek questions, "So if this Crosby's so good, how come he's living on a farm in Montana?"
John answers, "I don't know. The files were incomplete. All I was able to get from them was that something went wrong with one of the robots and Crosby was fired."
Cameron says, "Well, Montana's pretty far away." She seems to think about that for a moment, then she brakes into song. "Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer. Take one down. Pass it around. Ninety-eight bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-eight bottles of beer…"
An hour later:
Derek can't take it anymore. Cameron had run out of bottles before they even got out of town. Then she'd sung Jimmy Cracked Corn, John Jacob Jinglehimer Smith, The Farmer in the Dell, Three Blind Mice, I'm a Little Teapot and There Was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly. Finally Cameron had settled on The Song That Never Ends. She has been singing this for the past thirty minutes.
Derek has never felt a stronger compulsion to blow his own brains out. 'Maybe that is her plan. If she kills me then she'll blow her cover and everyone will know how dangerous she is. But if she just drives me off the deep end and I off myself, she can get rid of me without the repercussions.'
Sarah and John aren't doing too well either. John doesn't say anything because he doesn't want to take the chance that he will hurt Cameron's feelings again. Sarah has developed a mantra and just keeps repeating it in her head. 'We need the terminator to fight the other terminators. We need the terminator to fight the other terminators.' The mantra helps to keep her temper under control and tunes out most of Cameron's song, but Derek has simply reached his wits end. He turns his head towards Cameron.
"Stop singing! We all know the song by now! In fact, I can guaranty you I'll never be able to forget it! Just stop!"
"But it's the song that never ends. It just goes on and on my friend. Some people started singing it, not knowing what it was; and they continued singing it simply just because…" Cameron wasn't initially trying to annoy anyone. She was just doing what her research told her was appropriate human behavior for a long car ride.
However, now that she knows that it is bothering Derek, she has no intention of stopping. This is the man who wants to destroy her after all. If she has the opportunity to annoy him, why let it pass by? It's not like anyone else is complaining.
Cameron just keeps on singing. Derek turns to John. "Would you do something!"
Sarah shouts, "Don't yell at him! It's not his fault!"
"Some people started singing it, not knowing what it was…"
"If he'd just gone along with my hammer idea, we wouldn't be in this situation!"
"Your idea sucked, and you said it were she could hear you! A brilliant tactical move there. I guess that's why John's the leader of mankind, and you're just a foot soldier!"
"It just goes on and on my friend…"
John finally snaps. "Everyone shut up! Like I don't have enough stress in my life. Running from robots. Trying to learn how to become some great military leader and save mankind! Dealing with an insane terminator, who just keeps repeating the same song over and over and over again! Now I've got to play the grownup to my mom and uncle? I don't need this. I can't take it." As soon as John's outburst is finished he regrets it. He knows that he shouldn't of blown up like that. But he doesn't know what to say to make things better. He just lets his head fall into his hands and tries to calm himself. At least everyone is quiet.
Time passes by, and the silence is eventually broken by Cameron. She turns to John and, in a very demure voice, says, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to start a fight."
"I know. It's okay." John holds her hand.
Sarah sees this and isn't very happy about it; but after John's explosion, she decides that it isn't the best time to bring it up. Thinking of John and explosions so close together reminds Sarah of when Cameron sent the toilet through the wall. Now that she is looking back on it, she has to admit that it is kind of funny. A subtle smile begins to spread across Sarah's lips.
Derek notices the smile. "What are you thinking about?"
"Just where we should eat. I'm getting hungry." Sarah lies.
They pull into a McDonald's drive through. Sarah orders a ranch Snack Wrap. John orders a Bigmac. Derek tries to order a Whopper, only to find out that McDonald's doesn't sell Whoppers. Sarah orders him a Quarter Pounder with cheese. Cameron is insistent on a Happy Meal. Sarah tries to tell her that those are just for kids; but when Cameron starts hopping up and down in her seat and repeating over and over again, "I want a Happy Meal. I want a Happy Meal. I want…" Sarah decides that it will be easier to just get the terminator a Happy Meal. Sarah pays for the food and the family gets on the road again.
Cameron opens up her box, unwraps the burger and takes her first bite. Cameron decides that the fast-food tastes pretty good. She wonders what would happen if a human ate a steady diet of the stuff. As the food rolls around in her mouth, her tongue's scanners analyze it's ingredients. She then runs a projection of the effects of a long term McDonalds' diet on an average human. Having arguably the most advanced CPU on the planet, it doesn't take her long to crunch the numbers. Cameron is horrified by the projection.
John is just about to take the first bite out of his Bigmac, when Cameron reaches over and grabs it out of his hand. John says, "Hey!"
Cameron replies, "I can't let you eat this." Cameron quickly rolls down her window and throws the Bigmac out.
John asks, "Why'd you do that?"
Cameron answers, "This food is terribly unhealthy. I can not allow you to poison your body with it."
"But that was my lunch!"
"It's for your own good." Cameron takes another bite out of her burger.
"You're eating it!"
"I have a cast-iron stomach. Well, actually it's coltan. But that's not important. What is important is that this food can't harm me." Cameron takes another bite.
John points at his mother and uncle. "What about them?"
Sarah responds, "Oh no, don't try to drag us into this." she starts chuckling.
Derek agrees, "Yeah, her insanity is actually directed at you for a change." He joins in Sarah's chuckling.
Cameron replies, "Protecting them is not my mission." John sighs, and Cameron messes his hair. "You'll thank me later." Cameron then proceeds to take a drink from her shake while she twirls a French Fry with her fingers.
John thinks, 'If I didn't know any better, I'd swear that Cameron's teasing me.'
Halfway to Montana, the car begins to run low on gas. The family pulls into a trucker's stop off the highway. Cameron gets out of the car and playfully taps one of the gas pumps. "Hello my fellow metal, our car seems to be running low on refined petroleum. If you would be so kind, we need input. Thanks ever so much." Cameron giggles as the rest of the family just stares. Then she puts the nozzle in the gas tank and starts to fill up the car.
There is a diner across from the gas pumps. John begins to indirectly make his way over there, and Cameron takes notice of this. Since John's protection is her primary objective, she always monitors his position. "Would one of you finish filling up the car for me?" Surprisingly it is Derek who comes over and takes the pump from Cameron. "Thanks."
"Don't thank me. I just want to get the unpredictable killing machine away from the highly combustible gasoline." Derek wants to make a point of the fact that he still doesn't like or trust the terminator.
Cameron decides to annoy Derek by deliberately misinterpreting his response. "You wanted to protect me?" She lightly pinches his cheek as she continues. "How sweet." She quickly turns around, whipping her hair in his face, and takes off after John.
John reaches the diner and steps inside. Before the door even closes he is sitting down at the counter. His quick movement tells the waitress that he's in a hurry. She comes over and asks what he wants. John responds quickly. "Iwantadoublebaconcheeseburgerholdthelettuceandalargechocolatemalt."
John ordered so quickly that the waitress couldn't understand what he said. "I'm sorry, honey. Could you please repeat that?"
A voice behind John responds, "He said that he wants a double bacon cheeseburger, hold the lettuce, and a large chocolate malt." John recognizes the voice. He turns around, an absolute look of terror on his face. Cameron is standing right behind him.
Cameron is tapping her foot. Her hands are on her hips; and her look is somewhere between disappointed and threatening, as she continues. "But I think that he's changed his mind. He'll have a salad, baked potato and water to drink."
"Come on, Cameron. Have a heart."
Cameron replies, "The tin man didn't have a heart. Remember?" John just keeps staring at her, and she finally sighs. "Fine." She turns back to the waitress "And a small low fat chocolate milk. At least it's got calcium for strong bones."
(Eleven reviews for chapter three! I'm glad that you guys and gals are still enjoying this story. Once again I apologize for not being able to finish the road trip in one week. I hope that you enjoyed the first half at least. Next week, Road Trip part two. A fight breaks out in the dinner. Cameron makes an inappropriate joke, nothing dirty or raciest. And some pour fool makes the mistake of cutting the Conners off.
"Neko" I'm happy that you're enjoying the story, but please be careful. I wouldn't my story to be responsible for someone else getting hurt.
"Matt" Glad to see that you're still reading and reviewing. You've commented on every chapter so far. Thanks! I'm glad that you've been enjoying "Crazy Cameron" so much. The Mouse was named after the janitor, mostly because I suck at coming up with names for characters. In fact, I doubt that you'll be able to find one name in this fanfic that isn't base off of something else. I'm afraid that Scruffy won't be taking the trip with the Conners. As I said, I'm already having trouble with the Road Trip's length. I'm planning one last part with the mouse for the last chapter of the story, but I'm not saying what. Don't worry Scruffy doesn't get killed or anything. I really liked you're idea about Cameron going ballistic when someone cuts them off. I'm planning to use it at the end of the next chapter. I hope that you continue to send me ideas.
"Paul C. Gaunya" Well, maybe I misunderstood the term "fluff". I'm still pretty new to the fanfic thing, and I'm not familiar with all the terminology yet. Regardless, I'm glad that you are enjoying the story, as well as Cameron and John's relationship. P.S. Thank you for adding this story to your favorites list.
"GreyWolf D'ancanto" Congratulations! You were the first one to get the Short Circuit reference. I put a couple more in this chapter, including a slightly altered version of the one you suggested.
"Mishelle20" I'm glad that you "LOVE it so far." I hope that you continue to enjoy it, and I try to update once a week on Fridays. At least, until the story ends or the reviews stop.
"Dana" I plan to have a Cameron chocolate scene in the next chapter. Thanks for the idea. As for Derek, you're right. It wasn't smart. I even made a reference to that in this chapter, but I look at Derek as the spontaneous member of the "Family". Although, with all the viruses, Cameron's been pretty spontaneous too. Anyway, I think that Derek is likely to talk without thinking things all the way through. He certainly hasn't tried to hide his opinions in the show. So I don't think that what he did was out of character. At least, I hope it wasn't.
"Tpolich" I'm glad that you think the story's funny. The cam bear song was something that I remembered from when I use to watch Winnie the Pooh. It was slightly altered, but it came from Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree. Isn't it just amazing the ridiculous things that we keep stored in our minds. I've still got most of the cartoon Mighty Ducks theme song floating around in there too.
"Max" Great idea! No Bigmac for pour little John. Muwhahaha! Sorry. Calming back down again.
"Dark Duchess and Shadow Queen" Whichever of you wrote the review, thanks. And as you can see, I am continuing the story.
"Heth" I always enjoy it when someone says that one of my stories is the funniest or the best or something to that effect. It brings a real glow to my behavior core. Thanks! And if you think that Cam's funny here, you should check out some of the things the actress pulled off in Firefly, if you haven't already. I think that the funniest episode was Jane's Town. The actress who plays Cam tried to "Fix" the Bible and was scared half to death by a hairdo. "If the snow on the roof is too heavy, you see, the ceiling will cave in. His brains are in terrible danger." "River, please why don't you come out? "No. I can't, too much hair." "Is that it?" "River, honey, he's putting the hair away now." "Doesn't matter. It'll still be there. Waiting."
"bbaluver3" Wow! You not only added the story to your favorites list, you also added me to your favorite authors list. I guess that you've really enjoyed this story so far. I hope you continue to enjoy it.
To all of you: Thanks for the reviews, the positive reinforcement and that great ideas. I sincerely hope that you all continue to enjoy this story, as well as send me new reviews and ideas. Have a good day, and God bless.)