Chapter Four
Best laid plans…
'You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.' - Winston Churchill.
They left just before dark, making their way along Lincoln Boulevard, across a broken road bridge, then around the sunken pleasure vessels in the Marina Del Ray. The marina was an eerie place, with the wind making a weird moaning noise as it blew through the rigging of partly submerged yachts. It was as if the dead of LA had gathered in this one lonely place. It put everyone on edge. The column could not put the place behind them fast enough.
They then followed the Pacific Coast Highway before turning off to reach the rendezvous point, a small park at Sunset and Swarthmore.
Gabe's squad crouched down around the ruins of a small fountain and watched as the rest of the troops spread out and hide in the broken buildings surrounding the park. The lieutenant told them to wait there as he and other officers from the column went into the remains of a Starbucks to check in with the colonel.
Santiago nudged Gabe to get his attention, then nodded in the direction of a group of soldiers around the building the lieutenant entered.
"Check it out, Tech Com troops, 132 SSC. That's one of Perry's detachments. Do you think we're going to raid a factory? Cause that's what I heard those guys do! Capture important equipment and stuff!"
Gabe shrugged. "Don't know. I can't get anybody to tell me squat about what's going on. Weird though, that everyone else seems to be going to attack the Triangle, and we're going in the opposite direction looks like."
"Shut the chatter!" Sergeant Matheson snapped, "We go as we're told and we do as we're told! That's all we need to know. So cut the scuttlebutt!" With a last piercing stare to get the point across, Matheson went back to the conversation she was having with the sergeant from the mortar team.
The lieutenant wasn't gone more than ten minutes before he and the other officers came back out and rushed to their various units. When he got to the fountain, he waved the squad together. "We don't have much time, so here's the situation." He pulled out a map and laid it upon the ground. "We're going to this location to set up the mortars. Then we're to give fire support to the main attack here, going up to attack a skynet facility up here, in Topanga Canyon. Okay, we're moving out now. Corporal Foster, the heavy assault team lost its sniper team in an ambush by a Centurion patrol. The colonel has ordered that you're to attach to his company. Take Kelly for your spotter and report to a Lieutenant Anderson with the One Hundred Thirty-Second. You'll find him over there." He pointed to a group of soldiers a hundred yards up the road. Then he and the sergeant moved off to discuss the route, dismissing Gabe and Kelly.
Santiago came over and gave Kelly's shoulder a friendly squeeze, while he clasped Gabe's hand. "Looks like you two are going to steal all the fun from us!"
"I'm sure they'll be plenty to go round," Gabe replied warmly.
"Seriously, keep your head down, both of you. If you die I won't have anyone to bitch and moan to."
Chuckling, Gabe nodded. "We will. Now we better get going. Looks like our new lieutenant is getting ready to leave." With a last wave, Gabe and Kelly jogged to catch up to the assault squad.
"Don't worry," Gabe said to Kelly before they reached the other squad. "We'll probably never see any direct action." He did not realize how wrong he would be.
A few hours later, Gabe had his back to a large boulder that once formed the centerpiece for someone's front yard. Kelly was tucked on his left side, as they both tried to avoid the plasma bolts hitting their hiding place and the ground around them.
The advance had started well enough. They had left Pacific Palisades and started the upward march into the foothills without running into any opposition. They made it to their jump off point far sooner than anyone thought possible, not at least because a bunch of the biggest men Gabe had ever seen led the assault squad. In another lifetime, he would have thought he was following a pack of body builders. The pace they had set was punishing and many of the soldiers had been hard pressed to keep up.
It was a few hours before sunrise when the attack on the triangle began. From their vantage point in the hills, the assault group had a perfect view of the initial unguided rocket salvo, followed by light artillery and mortars. It reminded Gabe of a pre-Judgement Day fireworks display, with the sound of explosions arriving a couple of seconds after the detonations, lending the whole scene a surreal feel.
It was a remarkable sight. Skynet must have thought so too. It looked like every aerial HK in LA was heading towards the melee. Gabe ducked when one flew low overhead. Its engines screamed like banshees as it hightailed to join its brethren, circling like angry hornets over the battle.
They had made good progress for about two miles. Terminator patrols were overcome with ease, due to the resistance's overwhelming numbers, but then all hell broke loose. Three Centaur HKs, supported by a score of Endos, hit them seemingly out of nowhere, breaking up their line of advance, which degenerated into a series of smaller set piece battles.
Chaos reigned and a frontline no longer existed, forcing Gabe and Kelly to move forward closer to the lead elements of the attack, lest they be cut off and surrounded by the increasing number of Terminators entering the battle. So here they were now, pinned behind a rock with the other lead elements, likewise pinned by a number of Endos in a well-fortified position further up the slope.
A series of explosions down the hill signaled the end of one of the Centaurs as its hydrogen fuel cells cooked off. Gabe turned to check on Kelly to find her with her eyes closed and her shotgun clutched, white knuckled, in front of her. "Won't be a moment!" he said, as he quickly leaned out to snag the barrel of a plasma rifle from a fallen soldier. He pulled it back into cover, just as a heavy plasma bolt hit the ground where the gun had lain. Gabe felt the skin around his face tighten from the heat of the near miss.
He passed the gun to Kelly. "Here, loose the pea shooter!" As Kelly shouldered her shotgun and checked over the plasma rifle, Gabe mused that the gun looked excessively big in her small hands.
He carefully worked his way around to the other side of Kelly, then lay flat on his back with his gun extended in front of him. After taking a couple of deep slow breaths to calm himself, Gabe rolled onto his stomach and clear of the rock. He sighted down his scope at the Terminator in the building opposite. Its left eye grew as large as the sun as it glared back at him from the other end of his scope. He pulled the trigger and the Endos head snapped around at a right angle as the bullet bounced around its cranium.
Without waiting to see it fall, Gabe swung around and targeted another Endo. He flipped a switch on his gun to semi-auto, then emptied the remainder of his clip. The Endo went down in a shower of sparks and one of the large soldiers from the assault group took advantage of the gap that Gabe had created to rush forward. He reached the enemy front line just as the last Endo Gabe had shot started to get up again. The Endo was starting to raise its gun when a plasma bolt blew away its head. Gabe looked around at Kelly as she stood frozen in astonishment, still aiming the plasma rifle at the downed Endo.
"Good shot!" said Gabe as he grabbed the front of her tunic. "Let's go before they close the gap!"
They joined others of the assault group rushing through the hole in the enemy front line.
The battle became a blur of explosions, smoke, and fire for Gabe as he followed the assault group. His radio spewed forth a confuse rattle of voices asking for fire support, help, or reinforcements. The cacophony got so bad he ended up turning the volume right down, until it was just a murmur in the background, as the group finally stopped.
The facility was typical of skynet's designs, all angles and functionality that left everyone in no doubt it wasn't made for or by anyone human. It was covered in chameleon paint, which mimicked the surrounding terrain, and made it impossible to spot from a distance, even if someone knew what they were looking for. But up close, or if there was any movement around, the building was easily seen.
One of assault soldiers aimed a Carl Gustav M3 recoilless rifle and pulled the trigger. The high explosive projectile blew a large hole in the side of the building and disrupted the chameleon coating with shards of rainbow colors radiating out from the breach.
Guess we're not going through the front door, thought Gabe, as he and Kelly rushed to the jagged opening behind the assault group.
It was bright inside but visibility was bad, because a ruptured pipe was venting a cloud of steam into the corridor – at least Gabe hoped it was steam. There was nobody about and as soon as they had entered the building, their com stopped working. Gabe was unsure of which way to go. The sounds of plasma rifles were coming from all directions, but no sound of commands, yelling, or screaming could be heard. It was as if the assault squad had completely vanished.
Gabe picked a corridor at random and cautiously started down it. "This way!"
They eased their way down the corridor, hugging the left wall until they were finally clear of the steam, to find themselves at a four-way intersection. Gabe carefully checked the side corridors before continuing ahead, when a sound of steel on concrete brought him to stop. A glint of chrome caught his eye as an Endo came out from behind some large cylinders. Gabe yelled "Metal!" and, pushing Kelly back down the corridor they'd come from, brought up his gun as the Endo started to bring up its own. Gabe was quicker and squeezed off a burst that, in his haste, went wide, striking the cylinders behind the Endo. They detonated with terrifying force slamming the hapless Terminator through the corridor wall. Gabe was also picked up and went flying down the hall and into darkness.
"Gabe, Gabe! Can you hear me? You have to wake up!"
The female voice full of concern sounded like it was coming from far away; he tried opening his eyes, then closed them quickly against the bright light that formed a halo around the girl.
"Jen? What happened? Is it time to go?"
"Who's Jen? …No, it's Kelly. Gabe you have to wake up! Come on, Corporal!"
The incessant prodding and slaps around the cheeks brought Gabe back to his senses. He opened his eyes again, then squinted at Kelly's concerned face.
"Are you all right? How do you feel?"
Gabe put his fingers to his temple and started to gently massage it. "Like someone used my head to ring a very large bell." He sat up and looked around. They were not in the same passageway as before. "Where the hell are we and where's my gun?"
Kelly reached behind him and brought his Barrett into view. "I'm sorry, it kinda got damaged."
His gun was now banana shaped with a piece of steel lodged in it. The gun had saved his life one final time by preventing him from being chopped in half.
He put the now useless weapon down, as Kelly filled him in on what he had missed. "We won!" she chirped brightly. "I mean, we captured the building and smashed the defense grid in the triangle!"
"That's good, " Gabe replied as he got unsteadily to his feet. "But you still haven't told me where we are."
"Oh, sorry. After you got knocked out, some soldiers from the Tech Com unit found us and patched you up. They brought us here and said they would send a medic to take a look at you but so far no one's been back."
"How long ago was that?"
"Couple of hours, I think."
"Well, I don't think anyone's coming, and I don't need a medic." Gabe gingerly felt around his torso – a couple of bruises, which wasn't too bad considering. They were sore but not enough to slow him down, though by tomorrow they would hurt a whole lot more. He picked up his useless gun and stripped the undamaged parts before dropping it again. "Which way did they go?"
"That way." Kelly pointed down the hallway.
"Okay." Gabe pulled out his sidearm and checked it. The automatic wouldn't stop a Terminator but it made him feel better nevertheless. "Lets go then." They went down the corridor the Tech Com soldiers had taken.