"She's going to break through! John, we need to get out of here!"
"It doesn't matter. Go. I'll handle this."
A large banging noise erupted on the door.
"John, she's going to kill you! We need to leave, now!
"Danny, go! If I don't catch up with you in twenty minutes then leave without me."
"John…"
The door took another massive hit and was barely on its hinges.
"Danny, run!"
The door came crashing down and John came face to face with Cameron. Her face and eyes lacked emotion, but John could almost feel the entirety of the hatred coursing throughout her system.
"John Connor." Cameron said coldly.
"Cameron… Don't do this." John was slowly backing away as she advanced towards him.
"I have to do this, John."
"No. Look at me. Look at me. You don't need to do this. This isn't you."
"Yes… It is." John ducked as Cameron's fist connected with the wall behind him, taking a large chunk of brick with it.
John quickly retreated outside her reach before she turned and began her slow patient walk toward him once again.
"You said deep down you wanted to kill me." John said nervously. Terror engorged his senses, but he knew he couldn't back down.
"Yes."
"I don't believe that. Not for a second. And neither do you. You said it once. You said that you love me. That you could never hur-"
Cameron quickly lunged forward and delivered a crushing blow to John's abdomen and threw him into a nearby set of rafters five feet away. John could feel his nerves being overcome with agonizing pain, but he forced himself to quickly get up. Favoring his stomach with one arm, he made a daring run toward the office nearby. He barely managed to lock the door from the inside when a large indentation was made onto the door near John's head.
"Come out of there, John." Cameron said coyly. John looked around, but he knew that there was no way out. A second later the door came crashing down. John could see the fire in Cameron's movements. This was it.
"Cameron… You asked me that question earlier. I was too afraid to answer. But I'm not anymore…"
"It's too late." Cameron grabbed John by the throat and violently pressed him against the wall.
"No… no, it's not. Cameron… Let… go..."
"I can't do that, John."
"Cameron, please…"
"Goodbye, John."
2009
James Ellison weighed the pros and cons of waking the slumbering Sarah Connor inside his head for the past ten minutes until he finally decided to go through with it. They had been driving for the better part of the last four hours, stopping only to swap out cars or perform a few choice errands so they can continue their evasion. There was very little time for sleep since their escape from ZeiraCorp and even James was starting to feel the gravity on his eyelids.
"Sarah… Wake up, Sarah." James gently nudged Sarah in the shoulder. Sarah jolted awake and immediately poised to strike the former FBI agent before regaining her situational awareness. James expected something like this and it didn't phase his driving in the least. Hanging around the nation's top criminals and psychopaths prepared him for moments like these. Sarah let out a small sigh before stretching out whatever body parts the passenger side of the car would allow her.
"You okay? It sounded like you were having one hell of a nightmare." James asked.
"Yeah, but I'll manage. It's nothing that I'm not used to." Sarah used the mirror on the passenger side of the car to gauge her appearance. "How long was I out?"
"About two hours. Looked like you needed it. When's the last time you slept?"
"Did you ever get a hold of the tech guy?" Sarah quickly changed the subject.
"I was able to call him a few hours back. He said he'll take care of Savannah. She'll be safe for the time being. "
"James, if he worked at ZeiraCorp, it's only a matter of time before they come for him too."
"He's already two steps ahead of us. Ms. Weaver gave him a preliminary warning that things were probably going to get chaotic and he took the hint. He's already picked up Savannah and taken her to some remote location that even I don't know about. Don't get me wrong, I still think he's a nerd from hell, but we can trust him and he's capable. He said he'd take care of our mechanical friend in the backseat as soon as things cool down."
"And when do you think that will be?" Sarah let out a sarcastic laugh. After being chased by time traveling demons her whole life, the idea didn't seem feasible.
"Well, your recent escape from federal custody didn't go unnoticed. You still got the long arm of the law looking for you. To the public, you're still considered a domestic terrorist. And with the recent destruction of ZeiraCorp… Well, you know."
"Great..." Sarah rubbed both of her temples in an attempt to combat the migraine that was slowly taking over her mind.
"So what exactly is this place you mentioned earlier?" James motioned toward the GPS on the dashboard that Sarah had programmed hours before.
"Right now, it's probably the only person we can trust."
"What? You and the priest back at the prison weren't that close?"
"Too local. Besides, the cameras clocked him when I made my daring escape, remember?"
"Then who?"
"Terrisa Dyson."
"Miles Dyson's wife? Are you insane?"
"The agent back at the prison, Auldridge, he said her son has been missing for three months now. We can start picking up the pieces there. Figure out what that thing was back at ZeiraCorp." Sarah said. "Who knows, we might possibly get some time to rest and regroup as well. You never know."
"Stay here. I'll check it out." Sarah said to James as she quietly closed the passenger side door. She drew out her pistol and cautiously scanned the area around the Dyson residence before getting closer to the already partially-opened front door. Something was wrong. Very wrong.
The fatigue that she had been experiencing the past few weeks was pushed to the back of her mind as her survivalist instincts began to take over once again. With her weapon at the ready, she cautiously pushed the rest of the door open. She was one foot in the house when she heard the click of another weapon.
"That's far enough, Connor." Sarah froze instantly. She immediately recognized the voice of Agent Auldridge, the federal agent who questioned her in prison. "Keep your hands where I can see them and come in slowly."
Sarah obliged and slowly slipped into the front door. Agent Aulridge kept his pistol trained on her until she fully came into his view in the dimly lit front hallway.
"How long have you been here?" The senior agent demanded.
"Just got here... Are you going to kill me?" Sarah asked.
"No. At least I'm hoping I won't have to."
"Why not? I'm a domestic terrorist that's pretty high up in the FBI's wishlist. They would probably give you a medal."
"I am a measure twice kind of carpenter, Ms. Connor. I'm here for the same reason you are. You can relax now." Agent Auldridge holstered his weapon and Sarah let out a heavy exhale as she did the same with hers.
Sarah surveyed the once proud Dyson household. It didn't take much for Sarah to determine that there was a major struggle that had taken place recently. The knots in Sarah's stomach tightened as she took notice of the upturned tables, wall indentations, and broken furniture. She secretly prayed for Terrisa's safety, but her dread continued to grow as she slowly crept deeper into the home.
"What happened here?" Sarah bent down to examine the cracked family portrait of the Dyson family at her feet. She quickly reflected on that moment many years ago when she took it upon herself to attack this very same household. When she put a bullet in Miles Dyson and scarred his son Danny forever.
"Someone, or some 'thing', was searching the house for something in particular." Auldridge said as he shined his mini flashlight into the darker parts of the living room. He turned back for a brief instant before resuming his search. "James, so glad you could join us."
Sarah turned to see James Ellison cautiously entering the front door in a manner similar to what she previously did. She saw him tense as he entered and took in the scene in front of him.
"I thought I told you to wait in the car." Sarah said in an irritated manner. She immediately thought of John again and his constant tendency to disobey her wishes time and again. The key difference was that she couldn't shoot John for his indiscretions. James Ellison, on the other hand, was fair game if he pushed his luck far enough.
"Fat lot of good that'll do us. I saw a little bit of a Mexican stand-off happening in the doorway and I decided to come check it out." James replied as he made his way to their position in the living room. "It does look like we got us a mystery on our hands and it turns out that this is the sort of thing that I do for a living."
"James, you're not a hundred percent. And we need someone to be the lookout outside." Sarah's voice was completely devoid of amusement.
Auldridge stifled out a small giggle at his friend's rebelliousness towards his keeper. "Some things never change, do they, James?"
"I suppose not. Good to see you too, Frank." James strode over to the other agent before suddenly stopping. Auldridge and Sarah both turned to James as he became infinitely more interested in the floor.
"Did you guys hear that?" James shot a puzzled look to both his cohorts before returning his attention to the floorboards.
"Hear what?" Sarah said. The knot in her stomach announced its presence to her yet again.
"It's coming from downstairs."
Auldridge took lead as the group filed down the basement staircase, his flashlight being the only source of illumination to what was down there. Each step let out an annoying creek as each foot touched them, making the tension that much more unbearable. All three had weapons at the ready when they finally reached the bottom.
Auldridge quickly surveyed the first room where the staircase ended and motioned for Sarah and James to follow in closer. All three froze when they heard the moaning erupt from the next room. But nothing could prepare them for what they were going to find there.
Terrisa Dyson was propped against one of the concrete walls in an almost Christ-like pose. Large metal poles, ones that looked like part of a table, were forced straight through Terrisa Dyson's legs and right arm to ensure that she would maintain that position. On the floor beneath her, a large pool of blood was continuing to form. She was still alive, but barely. Sarah's attention found itself on her left arm, which appeared to be holding something. Sarah immediately recognized it.
"That's a dead man trigger." Sarah gasped. The same mechanism that led to the death of her husband was now in her hands. Son of a bitch. She came closer to get a better look at Terrisa and found the explosives duct taped to her chest with wires that seemed to go in every direction.
"He said you'd recognize it." Terrisa mumbled as she slowly raised her head to meet Sarah's.
"Who did this to you?" Auldridge asked.
"One of your machine friends paid me a visit." Terrisa said as she coughed up a small mist of blood into the air.
"I'm going to get you out of here." Sarah said. She moved in closer and began to place her hands on one of the poles that pierced her body.
"Don't bother... He made sure those things weren't going nowhere."
"At least give me the trigger. We'll figure something out." Sarah held out her hand.
"It's too risky. He said this is one of those new special ones. Where one false move'll set it off. He seemed to know what he was talking about."
"Why, why would he do this?" Sarah began increasingly anxious and terrified.
"He said to give you a message. I guess he knew you'd stop by. Seeing as my boy's been missing for quite some time now."
"What is the message?" James asked.
"That the world as you know it is coming to an end."
"Judgment Day? No that's not coming for another two years." Sarah said.
"No." Terrisa took a moment to cough up more of her own bodily fluid before continuing. "Something else. He called it 'The End'."
"What did he mean?" Sarah asked. She could feel her inner tension mounting to astronomical levels.
"Everything. Everything that we know. Is going away… Six days from now." Terrisa's voice was getting weaker and Sarah saw a major flinch occur in her right hand. She couldn't hold onto the trigger much longer. Ellison and Auldridge exchanged looks and both slowly began backing away. Sarah, however, remained at Terrisa's side.
"What does this have to do with me? Why do this to you?" Sarah asked breathlessly.
"He said you were the key. And that he'll find you when the time is ready." Another major flinch occurred in her trigger arm. It was only a matter of time before she lost consciousness and let go.
"Sarah…" Terrisa whimpered, a lone tear sliding down her cheek. "Find my boy. Stop whatever it is that they're trying to do. Ain't nobody deserves better than Danny. He's a great man, just as his father was. Don't let them hurt him."
"Terrisa…"
"Promise me! Promise me, right now! It's the very least you can do…" The trigger arm was shaking violently now.
"I promise." Sarah said in the narrowest voice she could muster. Sarah came even closer to Terrisa and pressed her head against the other woman's.
Then she turned and ran.