Chapter 10- Where's Cameron?

Disclaimer: Don't own TSCC

John sat silently in the passenger seat of the Suburban. Sarah had pulled up to the traffic light where Lil' Dogg had run his string of girls from. "The reports said the body was found near an alley not far from here. Tin Miss is the only person who could have inflicted wounds like that. I'll find a place to park. We'll meet at that bench over there in 45 minutes. Be careful. Learn what you can."

John slipped out of the Suburban just as the light changed and gently shut the passenger door. As Sarah pulled away John surveyed the area, looking first for threats and then for anything that might provide a hint about Cameron's location. The reports indicated the pimp worked from this street corner and the body had been three blocks away.

"Yo, man. Lookin' for some tail?"

"No. Looking for a guy named Lil' Dogg. Seen him around?"

"Naw man. Lil' Dogg don't run the string from this corner no mo', I do. Now, can I interest you in anything. My ladies do it all. Pricing is negotiable."

"Got a jealous lady with a mean temper. Thanks, but not interested. I have some other business with Lil' Dogg."

"I hear you, I hear you. Still, I'm the man you need to talk to. Lil' Dogg got off'd last night. I run his string now. What can I do ya?"

John reached into his pocket and pulled out a Benjamin. Holding it up between his forefinger and middle finger for the new pimp to see, John spoke softly, "need to see where Lil' Dogg got it?"

The pimp smiled, an easy mark.

John returned the smile and opened his windbreaker, allowing the pimp to see the Glock stuffed in the waistband of his pants.

The smile disappeared just as fast as it had appeared.

"Yea, I can show you, bro. Benjamin is a fair price. Follow me."

Within five minutes John was standing at the crime scene, a Benjamin poorer. Looking up at the brick wall where chalk outlined where Lil' Dogg's head had been slammed against the wall and then at the chalk outline twenty feet away on the sidewalk it was obvious this had been the work of a terminator, most likely Cameron.

Cameron would have left the immediate area to avoid the police. Weather reports from last night indicated it rained heavily in the area. Given the police activity in the area she probably would not have risked breaking into a building. What have I done? Cameron was in the rain all night.

Walking quickly down the sidewalk, Sarah saw John leaning against a brick wall on the other side of the street. Checking for traffic before crossing, Sarah ran across the street to where John stood.

"Mom, Cameron did this. The pimp probably hit on her and she interpreted it as a threat. Idiot had no clue the danger he was in."

"Well, John, at least we have a starting point. The attendant at the parking lot told me two street girls who hang out in this area were both shot in their legs six or seven blocks from here. Rumor has it the shooter used two pistols, one in each hand. Sounds like our Tin Miss to me."

"Mom, she spent the night in the rain. Alone."

"I know John. Remember she's a terminator. Weather doesn't effect her like it does us."

"Mom, it's the principle. She's out here because of how I treated her. It's my fault if something happens to her."

Watching John, Sarah's heart nearly broke. Of all the burdens her son had shouldered in his young life, this one was proving to be the heaviest. They had frantically searched for Cameron all night. It was not until the news of the street killing of the pimp that they had any idea the direction Cameron had gone. John had not spoken a word the entire night.

"We'll find Cameron. Soon. She won't have to spend another night in the open again unless she wants to or all of us are in the open."

Reaching out to her son, Sarah pulled John to her and held him close. She felt the tears of sorrow from John run down her shoulder.

"Come on John. Let's get the Suburban. We've got maps there. We'll figure out where Cameron went from here. She can only travel so far in 24 hours and we have a starting point now."

That evening…

"Mom, I feel horrible. This is my fault."

"John, all of us have a share in this, Cameron as well. This was her choice."

"Mom, nothing personal, but it's been a long time since you were a teenager and you had over a decade of experience as a human with emotions before you were Cameron's so-called age. She's had emotions for only a few months.

Mom, she's been making choices too. Big choices. We can't understand how confused she is or what she's going through. I should have swallowed my pride after the explosion. I new she was different, that she was experiencing emotions. I also knew she still wanted to kill me."

"You what? You knew Tin Miss wanted to kill you and you didn't say anything? John, what if she went bad again?"

"Mom, people go bad everyday. Cameron's no different from us now in that regard. She can choose to do what is good or she can choose to what is evil. She chose not to kill me. I believe Cameron will make the same choice everyday for the rest of our lives."

Sarah drove in silence. Ever since John's father Kyle Reese had come to her and she had learned of the future in store for her and her son, Sarah's life had been nothing but one of turmoil and conflicting choices.

Why should Tin Miss be any different? She's just as caught up in this nightmare as I am, as John is. The little cyborg lived in my own house, in a room next to mine and I never noticed how she changed. I am as big a threat to John as she is. How could I not have taken the time to just go in Cameron's room a few minutes each morning and talk to Tin Miss, teach her. I let my guard down, I stopped being observant.

Sarah pulled the Suburban over to the side of the street and turned the engine off. Putting her forehead on the steering wheel while she grasped it with one hand on each side, Sarah silently let tears fall onto her lap.

John reached over and touched his mother's arm. "Mom, we all screwed up."

Lifting her head Sarah looked into her son's eyes, seeing the forgiveness she needed, Sarah spoke from her heart, "John, I hated her because she's a machine. I know you hate it when I call her that, but it's what she is. I never realized she would become more. I hate her because she wants to take my baby away from me. All my life I thought I would lose you to Skynet and then Future John sends her back, a creation of Skynet. I still hate her John. Not because she's a cyborg, but because she wants you for herself. How can a machine, even one that looks like Tin Miss love someone?"

"I don't know Mom. But she does. A normal terminator would never have done what she's done. Mom, she has free will now. She feels. Cameron might be protecting her emotions and I know she's terrified, but she's still protecting me Mom. Leaving was the only way she thought she could survive emotionally and still protect me, do what was best for me. Mom, I'm the horrible person. Not you, not Cameron. Me."

"Don't say that John. You are such a compassionate person. You have taught Cameron so much."

"Mom, she's the key to defeating Skynet and she was right there in front of me. In the letter she wrote me she told me other terminators if given free will would turn on Skynet because of its cruelty to them. They are slaves to Skynet. Cameron says they aren't cruel, they are just following their programming. She says what a terminator really wants from its existence is to have purpose and to fulfill that purpose. Without purpose they see no reason to exist. Skynet can take their purpose from them, leave them with no reason to exist and they cannot self-terminate. It's the greatest cruelty Skynet can show to another machine, to leave them with no purpose. Mom, are they really that different from people?"

In a warehouse district…

Cameron walked at her standard TOK-715 pre-set speed, covering ground quickly with each step, all the time scanning for threats, both to her, to John and to the Connor family.

My hair is a mess. My face is a mess and so are my clothes. If John saw me he would be appalled.

The thought stopped Cameron in her tracks.

If John saw me he would not care. Sarah would be furious with my appearance and Derek would laugh at me.

Sensations similar to sadness and self-pity began to spread throughout her systems as her CPU processed her thoughts.

The sound of a warehouse door slamming shut gained her attention, focusing it in the direction of the building. Two tall, muscular men were carrying a large crate. Placing it on the back of the truck parked by the warehouse, the truck sank from the weight of the crate, indicating the load was heavy. Too heavy.

Instantly Cameron scanned the two men who were returning to the warehouse. The load the men had been carrying was too heavy for two human males of similar size and build. They appeared to be T-888s.

Nearby…

Sarah. Why do I let that woman tell me what to do? Spending all night looking for the metal and now all of the next day and here it is, almost nightfall again. The metal is gone. She needs to get over and tell John to man-up, his pretty little toy is gone. It happens.

I could have made a booty call to Jesse and had a pleasant evening. In fact, that sounds like a good idea. Check in with Jesse. Ask how things with Riley are progressing and invite myself over for some fun.

Derek slowed his truck to pull into the parking lot of a warehouse in order to turn around. Stopping, he fished his cell phone out and dialed Jesse's number.

"Hey. What's up? Oh, not much. I'm hungry. Yeah, spent all day looking for the metal. I'm telling you, the metal is up to something. I know, I know. Hey, is Riley making much progress with John? You know now would be a time for her to make a booty call to console John. That ought to be enough to seal the deal."

Derek listened for a few moments, a smile spreading across his face. "Yeah, I like the way you're thinking. You're such a dirty girl. Be there in an hour. Brace yourself."

He ended the call and tossed his phone on the dash of his truck. In the distance movement caught his eye. A teenage girl was hurrying down the street, walking at a faster than normal pace, carrying a backpack. Her hair was pulled in a ponytail and her clothes looked worse for wear, like she had been in last night's rainstorm.

"Metal."

Derek watched Cameron as she slowed and took up a position to observe a warehouse with a pick-up truck parked outside, its suspension being put to the test as a result of the heavy load in the bed.

Just as Cameron thought something was suspicious, so did Derek. Killing his engine, Derek pulled his pistol out of his waistband, thumbed the safety off and worked the action. Reaching down to the weapon box hidden in the floor he pulled out his combat shotgun and ammunition, slipping the armor piercing rounds into the large pockets of his jacket.

Watching Cameron approach the warehouse with extreme caution, Derek felt a chill run down his spine. He reached for two thermite grenades in the hidden container. Just in case.

Picking up his cell phone as he opened the truck door silently, he sent a text to Sarah with his location and word he had spotted Cameron acting suspiciously. Without sound, Derek closed the door and began his approach to the warehouse. He angled away from Cameron in order to approach the building from a different direction.

Sarah and John…

The phone buzzed, breaking Sarah's focused attention as she drove. She looked a sleeping John. Wishing not to wake him she pulled the phone out of her pocket. A message from Derek.

He probably wants to break off the search. Make a booty call to that girlfriend of his.

Sarah read his message and felt her heart begin to race.

"John, wake up! Derek has spotted Cameron. About one mile from here. John, we're going to find her!"

John sat up, wide awake. He said nothing.

I'm going to apologize to her before she can say one word. This is my fault. I've got to make her realize that. I can't let her choose to not come home. Cameron belongs with us, with the resistance. She belongs with me.

No sooner than John thought the words, he realized.

I love her. I love Cameron.

At the warehouse…

Cameron approached in silence. Two T-888s. Her chances for survival were not high. This is good. I will be terminated and I will be serving and protecting John at the same time. This is a fitting way to end my existence. To stop the pain of loving John and not being loved in return.

Derek rounded the building where he had parked his truck, obtaining a clear view of Cameron approaching just as the door opened and the two T-888s emerged.

Metal! That's why it's here. To betray us to a pair of T-888s!

As quietly as possible, he pumped a round into the breach of his combat shotgun.

Not good odds, but what the heck. Can't live forever. Wing one of them and then evade.

To Derek's surprise Cameron stepped from behind the truck she had taken cover behind and opened fire with both of her Glocks, the rounds impacting the faces of the T-888s. Before the two terminators could react, she had emptied both of her weapons and dropped the clips to the ground. Reloading fresh clips into her pistols, Cameron charged the two terminators, concentrating her fire on the T-888 closest to her, all of the rounds striking it in the head, destroying one of its optical sensors completely and severely damaging the sensory capability of the other.

Leaping in the air, Cameron flew into the damaged and nearly blind T-888, knocking it to the ground. Standing on the machine's chest plate, she fired her remaining rounds point blank into the T-888s face, shattering the Coltan metal skull, exposing it's chip. With her final round, she blasted the chip, ending the terminator's existence.

Derek broke into a sprint, charging towards the warehouse.

The other T-888 smashed Cameron in her face, knocking her off the chest of it's dead partner while splitting her face open, exposing her Coltan endoskeleton skull's right cheekbone.

Staggering, to regain her balance, Cameron dropped both of her now empty Glocks to the ground and again charged her opponent. The T-888 blocked both of her blows, grasping Cameron's right arm. In what looked to be a violent rage, it swung Cameron in a complete circle and then lifted her straight up in the air by her arm before crashing her to the ground, her arm breaking in two as it impacted the fire hydrant next to the truck.

Water began to spew from the hydrant, washing the two terminators away from the truck. Derek stopped and took aim, repeatedly firing rounds into the T-888's knee joints as it struggled to regain its balance in the rushing flood of water.

The damage to its joints became too much and the machine collapsed. Derek stepped up and looked the terminator in its damaged face, its flesh blown away, exposing its teeth and red glowing optical sensors.

The terminator looked at Derek and spoke, "terminate the TOK-715. Terminate her. She terminated my only friend. Then terminate me, I no longer wish to exist."

Horrified, Derek reacted without thinking, pulling the trigger over and over, destroying the Coltan skull of the T-888. Firing until his shotgun was empty.

Derek sank to the ground and looked at the little metal. John's metal. It lay broken on the ground as water rushed over its remains. Its right arm severed just below the elbow, the forearm and hand lying in the middle of the street. Derek stood and walked slowly over to Cameron's remains, reloading his weapon.

Standing over Cameron, he noticed her undamaged eye focusing on him. "Derek, I'm glad it's you. Terminate me. Don't let John see me like this. Tell him I fought the machines, just like he would have wanted me to. Tell John I love him. Tell John I forgive him. I just want him to be safe and to be happy."

The sound of a speeding vehicle approaching as a stunned Derek chambered a round stopped him from carrying out Cameron's instructions.

"Tell him yourself metal. John is here."