Chapter Ten

That Hurt

John Henry was the first to get up. He stood up slowly surveyed the area, taking in the damage to everyone else. John watched with disbelief as John Henry calmly and stoically slid the rod back out of his head. He looked at it for a second before dropping it. He held that position for a moment. "You should be dead," John muttered. John Henry didn't answer but held stiff. Was he damaged or shutting down finally? He had been stabbed in the T-888's weak spot, which should have terminated the AI instantly. John Henry suddenly stood properly and walked towards John.

"I am suffering from structural damage," John Henry noted calmly. "My diagnostic recently indicates that my programming is intact and undamaged. I would like to repair my structure, however. I believe I will be unable to observe other humans if there is a hole in my head with a 1.75 inch diameter."

"But you just got hit in the head, in the weak spot."

"Before my programming was transferred over to this unit, they made changes to my infrastructure, to ensure my programming would not be damaged. The former weakness you mentioned is one mistake they corrected. Did they know I would be fighting?" John Henry asked him. John had nothing for him but blank gaze. John Henry memorized it before going to Joseph, who was attempting to drag himself over to the group; Joseph grunted painfully with each drag. He looked up at John Henry reached him. John Henry picked him up by the arm and placed Joseph on his back, and then returned to the group.

Sarah went to speak to her son when his eyes bulged in terror and remembrance. He darted away towards Cameron's unmoving form before she could open her mouth. Sarah sighed; she would have to wait her turn to get John's attention. That is all kinds of wrong and frustrating. Instead, she focused her attention on Derek as Mark and Fred carried him over. "Put me down; I'll be fine," Derek grunted. He's been shot three times, and he's saying he can walk? Derek can't be that stupid; why is he trying to save face? He'll heal faster if he doesn't walk on his own. Better let him learn that on his own, at least; his 'male pride' can take a sting when he falls over.

"If he wants to fall down, let him," Sarah told them. Mark and Fred shrugged and let him go. Derek wobbled and then stood just fine. He pulled up his shirt to reveal the body armor to Sarah. The impact had only bruised him. Sarah only glanced at his ridiculous grin before tossing him a magazine. Derek went to catch it, and watched as his hand bumped into the magazine. He watched with a frown as it dropped to the ground. He held up his hand again and strained to move his fingers; they twitched. There was a terrible look on his face, as though he'd lost his entire arm. He'll live; it could be worse.

"I can use my other hand," Derek tried.

"Even if it wasn't your dominant hand you hurt, you still couldn't grip a gun to steady it. You're out of the rest of this," Sarah ordered. Derek looked ready to argue, and she raised a hand warningly. He eventually shut his mouth, upset but not about to fight back; she had both hands. Derek taken care of, walking away with bruised pride, she turned to Joseph, who Jack was helping hold on his feet. John Henry stood nearby, ready to catch Joseph should his legs fail again or if Jack let go. "I'm sure you're done," Sarah muttered. "Unless you have super healing as well."

Joseph shook his head. "No," he replied. "I can still fight, though." Men.

"Walk on your own," she challenged. Joseph looked ready to try it. He started to push Jack away. As soon as he was free of Jack, John Henry was holding him up. Joseph shot him a frustrated look. He looked down at the flowing deep red that colored his legs before sighing. He let the Resistance fighters and John Henry take him to the cars with Derek. Joseph growled and grumbled alongside Derek. They were stubborn, but likely that was one of the reasons they were still alive. Being stubborn meant never letting the enemy kill you. In a war against Skynet and machines, that was a very good trait to have. But not here.

Ellison approached Sarah, looking around. "What do we do about all these Terminator bodies?" he asked. Sarah spared them barely a glance. She hated them, and wouldn't mind blowing them up along with the institution they were in. Ellison seemed to sense her mood, looking ready to take a step back.

"Leave them. We can come back and destroy them after we've destroyed Skynet," Sarah muttered, picking up her gun. "If we don't stop Skynet, it won't matter what we leave behind. No one else will come in here anyway."

"And them?" Ellison asked, pointing towards where John and Cameron were. Sarah looked over at her son as he cradled Cameron. A darker urge to end the machine entered her again, but she couldn't hurt her son like that. She wanted him to be happy and as normal as he could be. Cameron isn't a normal girl, but she makes him happy…

"Wait a second," Sarah promised, as Cameron's foot moved.

*****

Power cells distributing power………booting subroutines; running diagnostic………Powers cells operating at high efficiency; no threat detected in wiring………combat systems and algorithms unchanged and uploaded………processor is operating within 99.9% total capacity………checking infiltration systems………unknown code found within emotion simulator; taking pre-suggested action: ignore………WARNING VIRUS FOUND………activating firewalls and anti-virus programming subroutines………Virus unidentified; cannot be found………Recommended course of action: minimal boot, run lockdown………minimal boot successful, checking systems again for infected code………no infected code detected; virus is in sleep mode; eliminating………virus cannot be eliminated………detecting presence of heat and skin along epidermis: contact is human………processing………subject must be John Connor………analyzing………virus currently poses no threat………Recommended course of action: run chronic viral elimination subroutines, boot all systems………boot successful.

Cameron sat up and looked at John. He smiled as he saw something unmistakable in her eyes that marked her as his. "Hi," she said. She wanted to keep that smile on his face.

"Hey, Cam," John said back, smiling. Cameron could see Ellison and Sarah in the background, standing patiently. Ellison looked incredulous that she just got back up. She looked around the room before turning back to John. Anytime she didn't know something, she would ask John. He was better at explaining things than the others.

"What happened?" she asked.

"After you dropped?" Sarah replied, walking over. "Skynet shot Derek and Joseph; they're out of the fight. It jammed John Henry in the head and was eventually gone. We don't know where it went, but we're going to find out. Come on, let's go." Cameron stood up as Sarah helped up her son. Something in Sarah's explanation didn't make sense. Looking around the room, she confirmed what is wrong.

"Where is John Henry? Did you move the body?" Cameron asked.

"He's still alive," Ellison explained. Analyzing remark………does not compute with data files……….processing possible explanations Emotion simulator automating………no explanations found.

"How?" She was utterly confused. She had that weakness, and she was a newer model. How had John Henry overcome it?

"He said they improved his skeleton before they placed him in it," John explained, taking her by the hand as they left the building. It still made no sense to her; humans had been able to come up with an improved structure that was better than Skynet's? It had to be more costly of resources to cover that weakness, she concluded. After all, humans didn't have as much skill and accuracy in striking a particular spot with a sharp object during a fight.

As they left, she couldn't stop feeling safe and satisfied, as though she was in one piece. Despite the fact Skynet had gotten away to somewhere and there was a sleeper virus in her systems, Cameron felt…better. As she got in the car with John, she understood why. After nearly blowing her emotion simulator out searching for him, she had found him. John was safe and in one piece, even better than she was. Suddenly it was all Cameron's processes could do to not take John right there. She wasn't sure what she meant by that, but she knew part of it had to do with kissing him. And Sarah and Derek did not approve of her kissing John in front of him. She focused her processes on staying still until they reached the house.

When they returned to the house, feeling a similar sense of frustration and panic, Cameron had her eyes focused solely on John. Perhaps there was something in his features that would explain what she demanded of him. Instead her emotion simulator began to flare up again, filling her more. "What now?" she faintly heard Fred ask.

"You, machine," Sarah ordered John Henry. "Look for Skynet." She heard a chair squeak as he sat down. Sarah moved to Derek as Joseph began wrapping his legs with cloth. John looked around before heading to his room. Cameron was right behind him. One of her processes came up with how to express her feelings to John. She quickly confirmed the action.

John wanted to ask his questions in private. He was frightened of what might happen to her; the virus didn't seem to do anything, so either she had gotten rid of it, or it was sleeping and waiting for a trigger signal. Depending on which answer it was, John's panic level would go down or up, respectively. Plus, he didn't want his mother, uncle, or anybody else around when he asked about what Skynet had told him. His cheeks blushed just thinking about it. You're just asking about it, nothing else. So help me, if I do, and then Mom…You're just asking! If there is a heaven, please help me; I'm a hormonal sixteen year old boy. I can't deal with this.

As soon as John shut the door, he turned around, intending to ask if the virus was gone. Cameron's welfare comes first. He found her middle finger in his face before Cameron threw herself at him, knocking them onto his bed. John was shocked. For a minute as Cameron kissed him with more desire than they had before, his mind was pleasurably numb. He found it difficult to speak as she ran a hand down his chest. "Cam," he finally breathed, "what are you…you doing?"

"I missed you," Cameron mumbled in-between two kisses. "I want you." John's head sank back. Here I am, the human teenager, doing my best not to be bad and keep everyone else sane, and Cameron is the one who comes on first. Heaven believes in irony.

"Cam…this isn't…" John's voice faltered as she kissed again. Did she have to be straddling him? "…isn't…right."

She stopped kissing him and placed her head next to his. John had trouble concentrating on her voice; his body was deeply involved with noticing that she was pressed against him. "Why?" she asked. "You love me. I love you."

If it were that easy… "Do you know what morals are?"

"This is not morally correct?"

"Yes…people usually do this after they're married."

"Records show that—"

"That doesn't change the moral part, Cam." Am I seriously trying to talk us out of this? I am trying to stop this? What is wrong with me? He remembered everybody right outside the door. Oh, that's why. I won't live to enjoy it afterward.

"Then after?" she asked. John found himself tempted to say now as she bit her lip in anticipation. He weakly nodded, unable to trust his voice. His body wanted to punish him when she rolled off of him and sat up. I'll be dreaming about this a long, long, time. Focus on the virus…Cameron's welfare…your mother with an axe…

"Are you all right, Cam?" he asked. She gave him a blank, confused look. "Did Skynet do something to you? You just collapsed."

"I have a sleeping viral program in my system. It is countering my attempts to destroy it."

"What will it do?"

"I do not know," she honestly told him.

"What could it do?"

"It is designed to either alter my protocols and programming or cripple my systems," she stated. "If it is designed to cripple my systems, I will have to shut down and fight it. It may succeed."

"The other?" John asked hesitantly. Cameron's cool eyes met his.

"I would never hurt you, John Connor." Her statement hung in the air. Cameron felt a strange want to explain. "My programming now runs based on my own judgment and emotion simulator. It cannot override your commands; they no longer work. It cannot bring back Skynet's commands, either: they were overridden." John's face seemed to relax, and he smiled. He was happy again.

Then John remembered his other question. He felt his head burn red. "Um, Cam? Can you…um…give birth?"

"Yes," Cameron answered. "My system has the ability to start a period on demand." On demand? So could mean that we…stop! Stop it! Morally correct, John! Try!

"Uh, how?"

"I have original DNA developed that would match my appearance and average personality traits." She cocked her head to the side, trying to see why this was such an uncomfortable question for him. He was afraid she would see and that would start the whole thing over again. Someone knocked on the door.

*****

"Ow! Stop that!"

"Hold still!"

"What are you doing? Drawing more?!"

"Stop moving!"

"Hey! That hurt!"

Sarah glared darkly. "Derek Reese, hold still and stop whining like a baby," she ordered, gripping his wrist tighter to enforce her command. Making a fist with his free hand, Derek felt his pride get cut in two. Sarah had told him to stop crying while she removed the bullets and stitched up the wounds. How could he help it; she wasn't the best surgeon in the world. He could've removed them less painfully on his own. Either she had been working on metals too much or she was secretly enjoying his pain.

Derek heard a snicker behind them. He twisted around in his seat to see Mark, Jack, and Fred with suddenly diverted attention. A grin was splashed on all of their faces. He reached for a handgun with his free hand. "I'll shoot," he warned. Fred turned and faced him head on, a grin still on his face. The standoff went still as Derek kept the gun pointed squarely at Fred, and Fred dared Derek to shoot him.

"Put the gun down," Sarah ordered taking it from him and putting it on the table. Derek's face of disbelief and exasperation marked exactly how he was thinking. Who are you to tell what I can and can't do? Just because you insisted on stitching me up doesn't make me your slave. I can do what I what, when I want, how I—A small grunt and grimace escaped Derek as she poked him exceptionally hard. It was like she had read his thoughts. He heard snickers again, and his fist tightened once more. He tightened his fist for three reasons: one was to ward off the extra pain Sarah seemed intent on giving him; the second was because he imagined it making contact with each of the other TechCom soldiers.

The third reason had to do with the fact Sarah was studiously intent on taking care of his wounds. She had taken time out of her schedule to help him, and that was playing with Derek's head. He knew it was just his hope and imagination, but it almost seemed like Sarah cared for him. He knew that it was just Sarah taking care of those who took care of John, but he wanted it to be something else. Curse Kyle; if he had never been with my girl, we would have never had that rule. I can get back at him, can't I? I mean, I can't exactly go behind his back if my brother's…dead; ah shit that sounds absolutely terrible of me. Besides, she's already said she doesn't like me that way.

Sarah finished with him and left to go check on John; she was concerned that he went to his room. She reached a shut door and wanted a shotgun. What's this about? Her rap on the door was quicker than usual. John Connor, you better not be doing what I think this might be, or Cameron will get her answer in a magnesium bath. Fortunately for her," Cameron opened the door and revealed that John was sitting on his bed, waiting for what she had to say.

"Just coming to check on you," she said, standing in the doorway. Cameron watched the interaction between mother and son.

"I'm fine," John promised. Sarah looked him over. He looked physically fine, but with her son, a million things could be bothering him. "I'll be out in a minute; just wanted to relax a second."

Throwing one last, searching look, she nodded. "All right." She left. Surely enough, John was out right behind her after half a moment. He was getting tougher. Ironic; she wanted him to be happy now.