CHAPTER 9

John's head ached, and at first he could see nothing but blackness. The only sensory input seemed to be the incessant ringing in his ears, and what he thought might be distant sounds of shouting, accompanied by echoes of repeated gunfire. He then began to feel other sensations in his body and he realized that his hands were suspended above his head. At first this puzzled him until he began to feel blood trickle "up" his face, soon after which John came to the conclusion that he was actually hanging upside down inside of the wreckage of the Blackhawk. Moving his head around slowly, blurred images began to make their way into his vision. At first he could not actually identify anything in particular; it all seemed to be dark blobs that were loosely grouped together. Gradually he realized that what he had initially regarded as distant shouting and gunfire began to grow louder and more obvious. He struggled to focus on his surroundings and to regain his consciousness.

Blinking several times John's eyes slowly regained focus and he immediately saw the lifeless eyes of a dead soldier staring back at him from across the wreckage of the upside down helicopter. The man appeared to have been impaled by one of the support struts for the tail of the helicopter. The soldier's body hung limp much the way John's body was still hanging. Slowly moving his head around John could make out the crushed and mangled bodies of several more of Martin Bedell's men. The sounds of battle continued to grow ever closer as John's consciousness gradually returned to him. The ringing in his ears was beginning to subside, but not so much that it was no longer noticeable.

John could hear someone calling to him,

"Hey kid…" The voice still seemed to be somewhat distant to John, but upon hearing it he slowly turned his head to the right to ascertain who might be speaking to him.

"Hey kid…" The voice called out again, this time becoming clearer. After a brief moment John was able to locate the individual who was calling for him. Leaning into the wreckage of the helicopter was another solider that John recognized as one of Martin's men. A male in his older twenties he wore relatively dirty military fatigues. Stitched upon the breast of the BDU jacket that he wore was the name D.L. McDonald. However John realized there was no way he could actually be certain if this was the soldier's actual name or if he had just come upon this particular jacket by chance.

"Get your ass out of the chopper!" McDonald yelled as he looked at John. Shaking the confusion from his mind John tried to move but soon realized that he was still harnessed into his seat. Reaching for the release located at his chest John attempted to unlock the clasp, but he soon realized that this was something easier said than done. Twisting and pulling on the release John discovered that the mechanism must have been damaged in the crash. John also noted that the shouting and gunfire was growing closer. He also realized that the sounds of explosions and what appeared to be the creaking of tank treads were growing closer. He also immediately suspected that these were not likely to be the treads of any human tanks. Pulling on the latch a bit harder John continued to struggle to free himself.

"Hang on kid…" McDonald stated as he unsheathed a knife from an ankle holster and leaned into the wreckage of the helicopter. Placing the blade under the shoulder strap located across John's right side McDonald quickly cut the fabric away and John felt his body jerk momentary as his weight shifted down to the strap across his waist. Wasting almost no time McDonald moved his knife down to that particular strap as well and quickly cut through it. Immediately John fell from his suspended position and crashed into what was the ceiling of inverted helicopter.

"Come on lets go!" McDonald shouted as he moved out of the small crumpled entrance that had been the door of the Blackhawk.

John's head now throbbed even more after the impact with the metal surface of the helicopter. Righting himself from his crumpled position he had been in due to his fall John momentarily looked around partially searching for the bodies of either Martin or Savannah. Not seeing either John breathed an all too brief sigh of relief. As he slowly began to crawl out of the wreckage he could hear the sounds of battle as they grew louder and more intense.

Breaking the plane of what had been the helicopter door John saw Martin Bedell, Savannah Weaver and a few other soldiers in front of him. All were crouching behind debris for cover and the purplish flashes of plasma fire streaked over all their heads. John was immediately able to ascertain that this was in fact not an attack by a rival faction as he had experienced before. This time they were in battle against Skynet and its forces.

The Plasma fire was intense as John crawled out from the wreckage of what had once been a Blackhawk Helicopter. Unable to stand due to the incoming rounds, John looked about the area that surrounded him. There was debris and rubble everywhere, both from the helicopter and from what John knew was the remnants of buildings that had been destroyed on Judgment Day. The scene was still dark as it was still currently the middle of the night. The only illumination now came from the moon and stars which periodically broke through the clouds from time to time, and from the onslaught of fire coming from the attacking Skynet army. In front of John and ducked behind some concrete rubble was Martin Bedell, Savannah Weaver and a few other solders who had survived the crash. Each individual took turns coming out from behind the protection of the debris where they were crouched to fire their plasma rifle.

"John, get your ass over here!" Martin shouted as he momentarily leaned out from behind a crumpled concrete pillar and fired his rifle. As John grew closer to the group along the sounds of plasma rifles being discharged and the squeaking of tank treads grew louder. John concluded that this was the sound of an approaching Skynet Hunter Killer.

John carefully made his way the short distance across the battlefield to reach Martin. When he finally managed to do so, he quickly peered over some of the debris so as to see the oncoming Skynet forces. He immediately understood that there was no way Martin and his men could repel or fight back what was approaching them. Along with at least one Ground HK, John could see several more T-888's approaching the group's hopeless position; their silverish endoskeletons gleamed in the faint light as they moved inexorably forward.

Martin and Savannah took turns leaning out from behind cover and firing their plasma rifles at the oncoming Terminators. Their position and the distance to the enemy it made it extremely difficult for them to place any type of accurate shot. However, every so often one of their rounds would manage to find its intended target.
"You've got to get John out of here." Martin said in a raised voice so as to be heard over the plasma fire as he looked over at Savannah who ducked down behind the concrete debris.

"What?" Savannah responded.

"You've got to get John out of here. We'll cover you as you leave." Savannah looked back over at Bedell with both a confused and concerned look on her face.

"I can't leave you here. We need you…you're too important." Martin momentarily broke from speaking with her to fire several more rounds from his plasma rifle before returning to his original position.

"John is the key to everything." Martin responded. "We have to keep him safe and you of all people know this." Savannah searched her mind for some type of argument to offer, but could find none. Glancing back at the ground she nodded her head in concession to Martin's statement.

Martin moved carefully away from the concrete bolder where he had taken cover to make his way over to John. Suddenly, there was a loud crack and a plasma bolt struck the corner of a fissure in the crumpled concrete wall they were all behind and ricocheted. There was then a loud pop and Martin arched his back and shouted in pain as he fell forwards in front of John.

"Martin!" John yelled as he attempted to reach for Bedell as he impacted with the stony ground.

"Colonel!" Savannah shouted as she too began to make her way over to Bedell and John.

Martin grimaced in discomfort as he rolled over so that he could look up at John who was now kneeling over him.

"John…" Martin groaned as he was helped into the seated position with his back against some debris by both Savannah and John.

"Savannah is going to take you out of here." Martin continued attempting to fight back the pain in his voice.

"Me?" John stated in a confused tone and then asked. "What about you?"

"Don't worry about me; I can handle myself, just go with Savannah she'll know where to go from here."

"But I can't just leave you here!" John remarked a growing sense of concern in his voice. Martin grimaced as a shot of pain streaked through his back from his injury. He then reached over and grabbed John by his shirt pulling him closer.

"Listen to me…We don't have anymore time…" Martin stated between labored breaths. "None of this was ever supposed to happen. You were never supposed to be here…not like this. This place…all the people left…the war…it was never supposed to turn out this way." Bedell paused for a brief moment fighting back his pain. "We are losing John…we are going to lose. No one can save us except you." There was another pause on Martin's part to take a breath as his pain grew worse.

"You need to go back…You have to fix all of this. Nothing is as it is supposed to be in this future." John could only to kneel speechless next to Martin not knowing anything that he could say or do.

Martin then turned to Savannah and reached inside of his shirt pulling a metal chain with a titanium key attached to it from behind his body armor. The key itself resembled a handcuff key, except for the fact that it was much larger and had two individual teeth on it as apposed to the single tooth a handcuff key would have. Pulling on the chain it broke free from his neck with a pop. He then handed it over to Savannah,

"Take it…" He said, at which point Savannah nodded and gently removed the key from Martin's hand, as her icy green eyes glistened with tears. Martin moved his body closer to the concrete block which he was now leaning against, he then looked back over at John.

"If you ever see Alison again…" Martin grimaced still struggling to breathe and fight against the pain. "…I want you to give her a message for me." John nodded his head.

"Tell her…" Martin paused, and what John could only describe as a slight smile danced across his face. "Tell her... Me too..." John gave Martin a slightly confused look not quite sure what exactly this particular phrase meant.

"Now go!" Bedell shouted over the sounds of battle.

Still in somewhat of a state of shock John did not initially move until Savannah reached over and grabbed him by the collar pulling him away from Martin who was now slowly attempting to lean out from behind cover to fire his plasma rifle at the oncoming Terminators.

"Come on!" Savannah yelled to John as they moved back towards the wreckage of the Blackhawk.

"Go through the Blackhawk and back out the other side." Savannah ordered as she pushed John ahead and further away from Martin and the few remaining soldiers. Before John began to craw through the doorway of the helicopter, he looked back at Martin one last time, and then led the way through the wreckage with Savannah following after him.

Martin pressed back up against the concrete debris and groaned as the pain in his back grew worse. Skynet forces were nearly on top of them now and there was no escaping the inevitable. Now with only a few men left alive Martin watched proudly as McDonald stood and fired off a few rounds from his plasma rifle before kneeling back down behind cover. He had trained his men well.

"They're almost here sir!" McDonald yelled as he looked over at Martin who nodded his head. No emotion was left on his face as he stoically endured the excruciating pain he was suffering. There was another loud pop as a plasma round struck the soldier kneeling next McDonald. After a slight yelp of pain immediate silence came from the man as he fell to the ground dead. McDonald swallowed and then looked back over at Martin again.

"It's been an honor serving with you sir." He stated a certain solemn tone in his voice.

"The honor has been all mine..." Martin responded. There was a momentary pause while the two men looked at each other. Then both men leaned out from behind the concrete debris and began firing their plasma rifles.

John and Savannah sprinted over the rocky terrain keeping their bodies low to avoid being seen or hit by the random plasma fire. Even though John believed that they had not been directly observed by any of the Skynet forces the incoming fire around them was still relatively intense. Suddenly, John heard a loud explosion from behind him and momentarily turned to see a fireball rising from what would have been Martin Bedell's location.

"Martin…" John stated almost in a state of shock, momentarily standing motionless, stunned.

Stopping in mid stride Savannah spun back around and quickly made her way back to John grabbing him by the shoulder when she reached him.

"Come on!" she shouted, pulling John onwards. The pair took a few more steps before the entire area around them was suddenly illuminated by a spotlight and wind began to whip around them while the deafening roar from the jet engine of a Skynet Aerial HK thundered in the sky.

"Run John!" Savannah yelled as she quickly turned and pointed her plasma rifle towards the HK and began to fire her weapon. John took a few steps away from Savannah and then there was an explosion. John felt his body being flung through the air and was able to note the strange weightless feeling this produced before he came crashing to the ground with a thud.

Coughing and attempting to breathe John struggled to remain conscious as pain raced throughout his entire body.

"Savannah!" He shouted knowing full well that he should actually stay silent in an attempt to avoid further detection. Struggling to get to his feet John began to search the area around him. There was still the deafening sound of the HK, but for the moment no light illuminating John's immediate position.

"Savannah!" John shouted again as he continued to look around.

The sound came from behind John and he spun around to see the burning red eyes of a Terminator. John tried to move, but it was too late. The T-888 quickly grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the ground. John felt the crushing force begin to close around his throat as the Terminator looked into his eyes. Then there was a momentary hesitation on the machine's part as it gazed upon John. It slightly cocked its head to the side almost as if it were studying John. Then it resumed its pressure around John's throat. As his world began to grow dark, John actually managed a slight smirk as he noted that the Terminator's action's had been extremely similar to that of Cameron. Blackness then consumed John's vision.