Predaking50ae Scenes 191-200
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Scene
191: Old Friend
1:33pm Dilapidated one story building - Outside
The truck comes to a stop on the front lawn of the 'doctor's office'.
Cameron's attempt to break the landspeed record has paid off.
John is still alive.
Sarah's concentration had been affected by the sleeping pill, but she was able to fight the effects well enough to keep John alive.
Cameron leaps from the truck and opens the door to the backseat.
She lifts a screaming and kicking Sarah out and sets her aside, then grabs John and sprints to the door.
"What are you doing?! We need to get him to a hospital!"
Sarah hadn't been conscious when she was taken to or from the building.
"This is where Derek brought you!"
Her HUD tells her that John is still alive, but it continuously estimates his probability of survival. The highest it has given her is 17%. She does her best to ignore it.
She kicks open the door, and sees the unnamed doctor treating the victim of a gunshot wound to the leg.
The man does his best to stand and move aside, allowing her access to the operating table.
Cameron places John on the operating table.
"Get out of here, now!" she orders the wounded man.
"Not a chance! Don't waste time with an appraisal, just get to work!" the man says.
The doctor shrugs and changes his gloves, before looking over the new arrival.
"It may have struck the heart. If it did, I can't help him."
"If you need a donor-" the man starts.
"Does it look like I'm setup to perform transplants, idiot?! If you want to help, then shut up!"
Sarah staggers in and orders the wounded man to leave.
"Not even for you." he says, flashing a barcode tattoo.
"Resistance? Who are you?"
"I'm nobody. Just doing my job."
Sarah looks ready to pass out, and the man helps her into a chair.
"I guess that the doc fixed you up pretty well, huh?"
"Yeah..."
Cameron is too focused on John and his treatment to listen to the conversation going on behind her.
The doctor cuts away John's shirt, and sees a Glock 17. Using his index finger and thumb, he picks it up by the receiver as though it were something disgusting.
"I don't want this thing on my table." Cameron takes it and puts it in the back of her pants.
The doctor keeps his voice down.
"That man, he made such a fuss over such a minor wound."
"I don't care about him. Just fix John."
"What about you?"
She notices for the first time that she's been shot several times.
"I'm fine, help John."
He watches how slowly the blood runs from her wounds.
"Whatever. 'AB' negative?"
"Yes."
"First fridge, second shelf. I need four units of 'A' or 'B' negative."
Scene 192: Heroine Addiction
2:11pm 'Doctor's office'
Sarah finally lost her battle with the sleep aid a few minutes ago.
The injured man had then limped outside.
Cameron's HUD tells her that John is now 79% likely to survive.
Ordinarily, probabilities above 60% are reassuring, but with John even 100% leaves her worrying what the margin for error might be.
As she addresses the doctor, Cameron doesn't take her eyes off of John.
"Is he going to be okay?"
The doctor removes his gloves.
"The bullet grazed the brachiocephalic artery. It didn't sever or puncture it, but it was weakened. He may develop an aneurism if his blood pressure is allowed to remain too high. He'll need morphine for the pain anyway, and that'll keep it down. As soon as he can handle it, you'll need to put him on something weaker... Codeine, Vicodin, Oxycodone, whatever you have access to. Then ween him off of that as quickly as you can."
Cameron tilts her head at the doctor who had been so heartless when John had come for his mother.
"I'd...
rather not see a kid this young become a junkie."
He smiles
slightly, not looking at John, but looking past him. Regret fills his
eyes as he absent mindedly runs his thumb over a wedding band that's
on the wrong finger.
Snapping himself out of it, he turns to Cameron.
"Well, what about you? Why aren't your wounds bleeding like they should? What kind of hemostat works this well?"
"I-" Cameron starts.
*clink* *clink* *clink*
Cameron takes rounds in the back.
She covers John with her body as the doctor is torn to pieces by automatic fire.
When she realizes that the shooting isn't going to stop, she carries John over to his mother and lays him on the floor at her feet.
'You won't die today, John.'
Cameron knows that Sarah was feeling the effects of a sedative, and doesn't try to wake her.
'You won't lose your mother, either.'
Knowing that she can't carry John and Sarah at the same time without them getting shot, she takes the Glock 17 from her waistband. She can tell by the weight that it has a full magazine, plus one in the chamber.
She remembers John handing her one like it when he brought her back after she went bad.
She had thought at the time that John had either forgotten to unload it, or had known that she could weigh the weapon.
That was until Sarah had confronted her about her relationship with John.
During the argument that night, John had told his mother that he had expected Cameron to kill him, but that he would have preferred death to facing the future without her.
It was one of the many times that he'd made it absolutely clear that he needed her.
Cameron recalls the numerous times when John had told her that she was all he'd ever need.
That he couldn't live without her.
That he needed her.
'You need me. I won't leave you, John.'
She remembers the times when he had comforted her. Telling her that she was a person, that she would always be beautiful to him, that she was his armor, that she was the source of all of his strength, that she was the only reason he was still fighting.
As she stares at John, she remembers that this human has told two machines on two separate occasions that he wouldn't let them take her away from him. She remembers how he described his confrontation with the T-888. How he had stood his ground against it for her. For her.
'You need me... and I need you. I promised I wouldn't get myself killed. I don't know if I can keep that promise, but whatever condition I'm in... I'll come back to you... if only to say goodbye.'
With an incomplete HUD constantly flashing statistics about John's likelihood of survival, she smashes through the door.
Scene 193: Almost too Easy...
2:18pm Outside the 'doctor's office'
The front door has just splintered.
Cameron has plowed through it and has come face to face with a team of 16 grays.
4 of them were trying to reach the door when it had exploded and been replaced by a pissed off cyborg.
There are two black vans parked in the street, each providing cover for 4 grays
The remaining 4 grays are on the lawn using the Connors' Dodge for cover as they fire into the side of the building.
Even without her HUD partially offline, she is able to recognize the weapons and is surprised that the grays have come so poorly armed. More 9mm submachineguns and shotguns.
Cameron herself has only 18 rounds of 9mm Parabellum. Her targetting system is offline as well.
'Didn't they know that he'd be protected by a terminator?'
Her perplexity doesn't slow her down.
Identifying the four closest humans, she sees that they are close enough that she doesn't need waste ammunition.
"The T-880 knew how to deal with your kind!"
She grabs the nearest gray by his weapon arm, bending his forearm to a 90 degree angle, breaking the radius and ulna then jamming the broken ends into his own chest.
She casts his body aside and rushes to the next as the remaining grays open fire on her.
She ignores the impacts and bends the barrel of the next gray's shotgun as he fires. The chamber pressure rises beyond what the weapon can handle and it splits, sending shards of metal into his face.
Taking her hand off of the destroyed weapon, Cameron straightens her fingers and strikes him in the chest with the tips, piercing his entire body before using that hand to grab the gray standing behind him.
She pulls him closer and brings her other hand- in which she holds John's Glock -down onto his shoulder with crushing force. The impact alone is enough to stop his heart.
The fourth gray has started to run, and she fires 4 rounds into his back.
She picks up the third grays MP5 and fires on the four grays near the truck, managing to hit 1.
Cameron takes numerous rounds in the torso and limbs as the begins to charge at the 3 grays near the Dodge.
She runs a diagnostic as she moves, knowing that her HUD won't tell her on its own if she's been damaged.
It completes as she reaches the truck and tells her that she has only received damage to her biological covering.
As Cameron fires at the grays during her advance, they duck down against the side of the truck. It's a mistake.
Rather than simply firing her weapon through the truck's thin body, she improvises to save ammuntion and to reduce damage to the vehicle.
Placing her hands under the frame of the Dodge, she rolls it over, crushing all 3 of the grays beneath it.
Running around the side of it, she places a round from John's Glock into each of their heads.
She's hit in the shoulder and chest with buckshot.
"You should have brought better weapons!"
Opening fire with the last rounds of the MP5, she manages to walk the rounds across the side of the closest van, ripping into the bodies of 2 grays.
Discarding the empty weapon, she sprints toward the van and rams it with her shoulder, pushing it against the remaining 2 grays, and sending them to the pavement.
She immediately rolls it, then rolls it again, killing the 2 grays.
She's struck by 9mm rounds as the last 4 grays spread out, having witnessed the price of mistaking concealment for cover.
She feels rounds strike the side of her head and face, as she turns toward one of the grays and fires the remaining 11 rounds in the Glock, striking him only twice, but killing him.
'This is no good. I can't hit anything.'
Dashing toward his fallen body, she takes his Remington 870- it's a civilian model, rather than the police version she's used to -and shoulders it, receiving pain signals.
She runs a diagnostic, and finds that not only is the flesh damaged, but that ramming the van had caused minor damage to her shoulder joint.
She fires the shotgun once, twice, three times, striking a gray with the second and third blasts.
'I'm better with this.'
The remaining 2 grays fire at her with their MP5's, but seem to be aware of their uselessness.
Carefully, she fires the last round into one of them, then drops the empty weapon and reaches for the sidearm of the gray she'd taken the shotgun from. It's a SIG P229, 40S&W.
Walking steadily toward the remaining gray, Cameron stops.
She stands her ground while being fired at, and carefully aims.
This is the first time that she has ever used iron sights, but the inhuman precision of her motor skills allows her to place the weapon on target.
She fires 13 times until the slide locks back, and she watches the man crumple to the ground.
Placing the pistol in her waistband, she picks up the empty Remington, an MP5, and then recovers John's Glock intending to return it to him.
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Scene
194: ...Attacking the Real Threat
2:27pm Outside the 'doctor's office'
Cameron has rolled the Dodge back onto its wheels and tossed the weapons into it.
She walks toward the destroyed front door of the building.
'I'm coming John. I'm fine.'
A black two door car screeches to a halt behind her.
Whirling around, she sees two men get out of the car.
"You won't take him!"
She dashes toward the nearest man as he raises a handgun and fires it into her chest.
Cameron strikes the man in the head with all of her might.
*clink*
'No! I'm sorry, John...'
She wrests the gun from the machine's hand and empties it into the T-888's face, destroying one of its eyes.
The machine grabs her arms and slams her against the car, then against the pavement before throwing her at the overturned van nearby.
The vehicle's body crumples from the impact and she struggles to free herself from the twisted metal.
Running a diagnostic as she frees herself, she is surprised to find that she has received no further endoskeletal damage.
The second machine arrives and Cameron ducks a punch, kicking the machine away.
The first machine grabs her right arm, she tries to overcome it, but the machine is stronger.
She remembers how humans fight one another, as well as the movements from her ballet practice.
Spinning 360 degrees her arm slips free of the machine's grip, and she strikes its chest with both palms, sending it through the air.
The second machine closes a hand over her neck from behind, but she twists free and throws a punch at its face.
The T-888 is inexperienced and less intelligent, but has the advantages of a HUD and greater strength.
It catches her arm and begins to beat her with its other hand.
She can't break free, and hears the metal of her forearm begin to groan.
She strikes the machine's grasping wrist twice dislocating it, and rips the hand off.
The first maching grabs her from behind and the second one picks up a sewer grate and begins to beat her with it.
She tries to block with both of her arms, but her left gives out after a few blows.
Lifting her legs, she is able to push the second machine away.
The first machine moves its grip to her left arm, having scanned her and found the damage to her shoulder.
It swings her around by it and smashes her against the pavement repeatedly.
'I'm going to shutdown if this keeps up.'
The machine tires of its current attack and throws her to the other side of the street.
The two triple-eights begin advancing together.
She looks around for a brief moment.
'I can do this. I'll see you soon, John.'
Cameron kicks the nearest telephone pole twice, severing it.
The cables stretch closer to the ground, running to the next she breaks it down as well, and the lines reach the ground.
Cameron's left arm won't respond, so she uses her right to rip the insulation from the line and turns to face the two T-888's
They stop and tilt their heads at her, then look at each other for a moment before continuing their advance.
She accesses memories of her time with John.
'I'll come back to you. I won't leave you. I promise.'
The machines grab her simultaneously and she clamps her right hand over the exposed wire, not knowing if the shock dampers given to her by the T-880 will protect her chip.
Cameron's sees mostly static as her vision scrambles, the two machines go limp after several seconds, but she maintains contact with them.
She runs a diagnostic while she electrocutes herself and the T-888's.
She finds that her left shoulder joint has been badly damaged and will no longer move.
'I knew that.'
Her right forearm has been crushed slightly, and functions only slightly better than any human's.
'I already knew that, too.'
Her biological covering has been damaged severely.
'...It'll heal.'
Her system is only receiving 13% more power than optimal.
'What? That can't be right.'
Cameron breaks contact with the triple-eights. If her diagnostic is correct, she could fry them without being 'damaged' herself. Doing so however, would literally cook her infiltration sheath.
She considers attempting to kick the machines onto the exposed cable, but her chronometer is among the many features of her HUD which isn't currently available and she's afraid to waste time.
'That won't work a second time.'
Cameron sprints at top speed toward the building, picking up the T-888's hand along the way. She needs the hyper-alloy since her supply was in the shed at the 'Baum' residence.
She lifts John with her right arm and carries him out to the truck, placing him in the backseat.
'I told you I'd come back to you.'
She returns moments later with Sarah and places her in the front seat.
Having only one hand and no idea how much of the T-888's 120 second reboot time has passed, she opens the bag that Sarah had taken from the house when they had fled.
She looks for the C-4, but it's gone.
She had intended to throw it at the T-888's.
Cameron abandons hope of destroying the machines.
Getting behind the wheel, she leaves the machines behind.
There was nothing useful to a one armed cyborg in the bag, but she had seen something that stunned her.
Something which Cameron had left on the couch before leaving with Derek for LA Harbor.
She looks over at Sarah, who sits unconscious beside her.
'My purple jacket... why would Sarah have saved it?'
'It was right beside the bag, but... I thought that Sarah hated me...'
She adjusts the rear view mirror until she can look between the front seats at John laying in the back.
She tries to ignore the new 87% probability of his survival. It simply isn't high enough to bring her comfort, even if it is an improvement.
Cameron tries to ignore the scenario analysis telling her John's chances of survival and the best course of action if she strikes an anti-tank mine with the Dodge.
'I came back to you, now you have to come back to me.'
Scene 195: Emotionally Drained
April 1st, 2008
5:34pm Strathmore, California - Small motel parking lot
150 miles NNW of LA.
The Dodge has been parked near a group of trees in order to cover the cab with shadows.
John is unconscious in the backseat.
Cameron has been trying to wake Sarah from her drug induced slumber.
"Sarah? Sarah?"
Cameron shakes her.
"Sarah?!"
She begins to wake.
After a moment, she remembers what has been happening.
"John?!"
Cameron answers with her now rarely used monotonous voice while staring straight ahead through the windshield.
"He's fine, Sarah. He's in the back."
Looking back she sees that her bandaged son appears to be sleeping. She calms quickly.
Turning to Cameron, she sees a lot of blood on her shirt and pants.
"What happened to you?"
"The man you were talking to was a gray. He was waiting there for us."
"One man did that to you?"
"No. Sixteen men and two triple-eights did this to me."
Sarah is speechless.
"Sarah? I'm going to need medical attention."
"Of course, but... you don't usually ask... why are you asking now?"
Cameron turns to Sarah to answer, but sees an expression of pure horror and looks away to hide her face.
"That's why."
"I'm sorry... I just haven't seen anything like that since..."
"Since uncle Bob?" she offers.
"Will you heal?"
Cameron looks down at her right hand. The flesh has been badly burned by the power line.
"With treatment. Otherwise, my tissue will begin to die."
Sarah sees the way that Cameron feels about her current appearance, and places a hand on her shoulder.
"I'll get some supplies."
"If you get a room for us, I can move John inside without being seen."
Sarah looks back at John.
"All right."
After several minutes, the room is unlocked and Cameron quickly moves John inside.
She lays John on the bed. Moving him in his condition with only one functional arm to support him was dangerous, but Sarah still didn't have the strength to carry him.
Cameron reaches out to touch John's face, but pulls back when she sees what her hand looks like.
"Sarah? I need tools. Pliers and a hand sledge should suffice. I can restore atleast some funtionality to my left arm."
"Is there anything else?"
"There are no other repairs that can be done here. This arm needs to be heated and bent." she holds up her slightly misshapen right forearm."
"Okay. Take good care of him until I get back."
"I will. Sarah? Thanks for saving my jacket."
"I didn't want to blow it up."
Cameron tilts her head.
"I don't understand."
"The house was full of triple-eight endoskeletons and chips. I found the chips in John's room and tossed them into the freezer with a brick of C-4."
"Thank you for explaining."
Sarah smiles.
"Thank you for saving my son."
Cameron turns to John.
"I hope that he doesn't wake up for a few days."
"Yeah, he'll be in a lot of pain."
Cameron looks at her hand.
"Yeah..."
Scene 196: Appearance is Everything
5:47pm Motel room - bathroom
Cameron has just finished removing her clothing.
A large piece of her thigh had come off with her pants.
Several chunks of flesh had fallen off of her shoulders and torso as she removed her shirt.
Looking into the mirror, the right side of her face appears as though nothing ever happened.
'John will still see me.'
She sees that the left side has little remaining. Her eye is intact, but from the curve of her jaw to her temple, the only tissue remaining hangs in strings. She can see her molars and the three pistons which actuate her mandible.
'Won't he?'
Turning her head, Cameron sees that her ear is intact, but a third of her scalp around it is gone.
'John said that he would still love me...'
Without her HUD for reassurance, she's left to wonder if she can recover.
She turns on the shower head and steps under the water.
Running her functional hand over her skin, the burned flesh begins to peel off.
Cameron stops to look at it for a moment.
Continuing, she tries to wash some of the dirt out of her wounds. There's more endoskeleton exposed than she had imagined.
She counts 14 places where she was hit with buckshot. Once the damaged tissue is cut away, each will leave a 3 inch diameter section of exposed endoskeleton.
Her right elbow is exposed, as are both shoulder joints.
She was still most concerned with what the MP5's and triple-eights had done to her face.
Cameron continuously plays memories of herself and John.
The shock from seeing herself begins to wear off, and she begins to cry.
'You said that you'd still love me... even if I were... just an endoskeleton...'
'You said that I'm only a machine on the outside... that I'm a person underneath...'
She looks at her hand again.
'You said that I'd always be beautiful to you... and that you'd never be frightened of me...'
'I didn't sacrifice my life, and I came back to you...'
'I kept my promises... but I don't think that you can keep yours...'
'Please don't wake up... not for a while...'
She looks at herself.
'I have no purpose without you...'
'Please don't send me away...'
Scene 197: Gone in a Flash
8:24pm Motel room
All of the weapons have been brought into the room from the truck.
Sarah has picked up clothes for all three of them. Twice as many for Cameron, knowing that she'd get blood on hers.
Cameron has used the tools Sarah bought. Her left arm now has 100% mobility, but like her right, it is little more effective than a human arm. Too much force will dislocate it.
Several garbage bags have been torn along the seems and spread across the floor.
On them, a significant amount of Cameron's damaged tissue lays, having been cut away by Sarah.
Cameron had needed so much disinfectant that it had to be poured onto her in the shower.
Sarah has just finished stitching and bandaging what she could.
Cameron looks at her bandaged hand, knowing it is mostly endoskeleton beneath the bandages.
She seems on the verge of tears.
"Thank you."
Sarah sounds reassuring.
"Cameron, you'll be fine."
Cameron looks wistfully at John.
"I don't know."
Sarah looks over at John.
"You're afraid that he won't like what he sees?"
Cameron looks at the floor.
"I'm afraid that he won't know what he sees."
"You knew about the other machine's appearance, before he lowered himself into the steel."
She looks at Sarah.
"John told me."
"Did you know that John hugged him and begged him not to go?"
"Yes."
"Did you know that he was covered in blood? That the machine wiped away one of John's tears with the exposed metal of his fingertip?"
Cameron looks back at John with tears in her eyes.
"He was a friend. I don't want to just be friends."
Sarah doesn't say anything.
"I promised that I'd come back to him. I'm not sure that I should have."
"Why would you say something like that? Are you trying to be cruel to yourself... or to John?"
Cameron turns to her tilting her head.
"You weren't there when John was being shot at. With a bullet buried in his chest he was fighting me. Fighting to save you. That kind of... dedication... doesn't just go away."
She remembers John saying that he wouldn't allow the machines to take her away from him.
"I didn't come back."
"What does that mean?"
"I can barely recognize myself. I don't know if I can regenerate this much. I've never done it before."
"John will recognize you."
She looks at the floor.
"I hope so."
"Keep an eye on him, Cameron. I need to go pick up some food."
"I'll need some in order to heal."
"What would you like?"
"I don't care. I just need to heal. For John..."
'...to love me.'
"All right."
Sarah leaves Cameron staring at John's sleeping form.
After a short while, Cameron sees the rises and falls of John's chest speed up.
'No... he's waking up...'
She shuts off the lights.
"Where am...? Cameron? Cameron?"
She hides what remains of her face and begins to cry.
"Cameron? Is that you? Are you there?"
She tries to hide the pain in her voice.
"Yes, John. I'm here."
"Why are you over there?"
"You need rest. Go back to sleep."
"I need to see you. I need to know that you're okay. That this isn't another nightmare."
'It is, John... it's just not one of yours.' she thinks.
She tries to hide the sorrow in her voice.
"This isn't a nightmare. You're in a hotel room. You're safe now."
He grunts in pain as she hears him move.
"My notes showing how to fix you are still here. I'd like you to look at them and remember them. I might lose a piece of paper, but I won't lose you."
More tears run down her face.
'No, but you can throw me away...'
"Okay, John."
Several seconds pass and he doesn't hear her moving toward him.
"Cam?"
"Yes?"
"I'd feel better if you looked at my notes. And I'd feel a lot better if I saw you."
"Just rest now."
He begins to plead with her.
"Can you atleast come over here?"
She stands and walks over to his side.
"I'm here, John."
"I can't see you."
"I know."
"...Please Cameron. I just need to see your face. I need to know that you're okay."
"I'm okay."
"What did I do?"
"You were shot. You nearly died."
"No, what did I do to you? I don't remember doing anything to you, but I'm sorry. I'm sorry if I hurt you."
"You haven't done anything to me."
"Then what happened? You've never been so cold."
It takes her a moment to realize what he means.
She places her intact left hand on his face.
"I'm here with you."
With difficulty, he takes her hand in his and kisses it.
"I was afraid I'd lost you."
"I'm still here. I'm still me."
Sarah returns and flips the light switch as she enters.
John starts at the sight of Cameron.
"What the hell?!"
Cameron starts crying and heads for the door.
"Cameron? Cameron?! Please don't go! Don't leave me!"
After his surgery John's chest is barely held together with anything.
He tries to get off of the bed.
"Stop! Don't leave!"
He falls to the floor. He should scream in agony but doesn't. Instead he screams for Cameron.
Sarah rushes to him.
"Leave me alone!"
"John, you need to get back into bed!"
"No! I'm going after her!"
"You can't even stand!"
He can barely see through his tears, or speak through his gritted teeth.
"I don't need to stand!"
John crawls for the door.
He nearly makes it before his body refuses to move any farther.
All he can do is call to her.
"Cameron?! Cameron, please don't leave me!"
'She left me. She's not coming back.'
He realizes that he's laying next to the bag of weapons.
'I won't do this without you.'
'I'll end it.'
Reaching inside, his hand closes around something familiar.
Something that his hands have held many times recently.
Ordinarily, it would offer him comfort and protection.
He feels the familiar texture.
The familiar weight.
The familiar smell.
"I can't do this without you."
He places it to his head and squeezes.
Nothing happens.
There's nothing in it.
It can offer him no comfort.
He cries even harder.
It's Cameron's purple jacket.
Sarah moves the bag of weapons away from him, fearing that the next time he reaches in he may not settle for something of Cameron's.
"She'll be back, John. She didn't leave you."
"I'm not going to fight anymore. Not without her."
"You're my son! I need you, too!"
"You don't even make it until Judgment Day. You don't have to fight."
"Who told you?!"
"The machine."
"Cameron?"
"I would never call her that!"
"I'm not going to fight for a future where Cameron isn't with me. I'm not going to see that future."
He tries to crawl toward the door, he can only make it a couple more feet before passing out.
Scene 198: Hiding in Plain Sight
Wednesday April 2, 2008
7:29am Motel room - Floor
Sarah knew that she couldn't pick John up with her own injuries. She didn't try.
She had rolled him onto his back and then placed a pillow under his head and covered him with a blanket.
He has just begun to wake. He no longer has any anesthetics in his system.
Opening his eyes, there's only one thing that matters.
"Cameron?"
John remembers her leaving.
Then he feels the pain in his chest, but decides stand anyway.
He succeeds. Barely.
Searching his mother's jacket, he finds her key to the Dodge.
'I'm coming. I don't know where you are, but I'm coming.'
Opening the door, he staggers outside.
Looking around he sees no sign of her.
Reaching the truck, he opens the door and tries to pull himself in.
'I'll find you. No matter where you are. I'll find you.'
His weak grip slips off of the wheel and he falls, chest first onto the floor board of the truck.
He screams in pain, but doesn't hesitate before trying again.
As he reaches for the wheel he's startled by movement in the back.
"Cameron?!"
She's hiding in the back seat of the truck, wearing a hooded sweatshirt.
He opens the back door and tries to reach her, but she moves away and tries to hide her face from him.
Tears fill his eyes.
"Please Cam... don't do this to me... I need you, Cameron."
"You're scared of me."
"Never!"
"You were scared of me."
"I thought that you were fine until the light came on! If you'd told me that you were injured, I wouldn't have reacted that way!"
John begins having difficulty thinking clearly.
"Cam, please don't do this to me... I'm begging you. I love you... please..."
He loses consciousness again.
As he falls, she grabs his arm to save his head from the pavement.
Pulling him into the back of the truck and closing the door, she lays him on the seat.
Scene 199: Improvisation
12:54pm Motel parking lot - Dodge
Cameron has watched John sleep.
He begins to wake again.
John's eyes open, and instantly fill with water as he remembers Cameron leaving him.
"Cameron? Cameron?!"
Crying as hard as ever, he quietly pleads with her to return. Not knowing where she might be.
"Please come back to me. Please don't leave me alone. I need you. I nee-"
"I'm here, John."
He's startled by a voice from the floor of the truck, but quickly recognizes it.
"Cameron, you stayed with me? I thought you'd left me. I was afraid that I'd never see you again."
Cameron remains on the floor, and John can't move well enough to look down at her. He feels numb.
"The way that you reacted... you were scared of me."
His eyes won't stop watering.
"You surprised me. After all we've been through... how could you leave me like that?"
"I couldn't stay with you."
"Why not?"
"When I'm not around you... I stop seeing you die."
"I'll fix that, but when you aren't around me I want to die. I would have understood if you'd just told me that you needed a break."
"I had to get you this." she holds up a small bag, "I stole some opioid analgesics."
"You let me believe that you'd left me... just for some pain killers?"
"You didn't want me there."
"I begged you not to leave me. I wanted you with me."
"I saw how you looked at me. You were afraid of me."
"You surprised me."
"No, after that. Your face. You were afraid."
"I was afraid for you. I was afraid you might be damaged. You didn't even say anything. You just left me there. I would never have done that to you. Never have abandoned you. I needed to see you, and you left me."
"It hurts, John. Looking like this. Seeing you die over and over. Then, the way that you looked at me..."
"Are you still my Cameron?"
"Am I?"
"Do you feel the same about me as I do about you?"
"I don't know how you feel about me."
"Let me see your face."
She sits up and places her face inches from his.
"Cameron? After everything that we've been through. After everything that I've told you. How could you think that I'd feel differently about you? Do you have any idea how much it hurts knowing that you don't believe me?"
"When you looked at me the way that you did, I thought that you were afraid of me."
"When you walked out, it was as if you'd said that you didn't trust me anymore. You were ignoring everything that I'd ever told you. I thought that you were leaving me for good."
With tears in his eyes, he raises his hands to sides of her face. One on flesh, the other on metal.
"You'd never seen my face like this."
"Cameron, I love you. You're one of a kind. Can't you see that?"
"John, I just want things to be the same."
"I'll never feel differently about you. I don't know what more I can do to prove that to you. I thought that I already had... but you were just pretending to believe me."
Cameron's eyes begin to water.
"I didn't believe that you'd accept me like this."
John wipes a tear from her eye.
"I'll always love you. The night that I read your chip, I promised that I'd never leave you."
"Prove it."
He looks at her in confusion for a moment, before thinking of something.
"I love you, Cameron."
He pulls her lips to his. He hears the pistons move as she works her jaw, but isn't affected by it.
She pulls away, and John fears that he has done something wrong.
'It wasn't enough for her?'
Tears begin to run down the sides of his face.
"Cam, I'm sorry. I don't know how to convince you... I have nothing left..."
Cameron smiles through her own tears.
"You convinced me."
Their tears become ones of joy, and he pulls her close and hugs her.
"I love you, Cam."
"I love you, too."
He places several kisses on her metal cheek.
"Are you damaged?"
She pulls away and looks at him incredulously.
"You can see that I am."
"No, Cameron, damaged."
"Just my shoulder and arm."
"Can I help?"
"Not in your condition."
"What happened?"
"I wouldn't let them take you from me, either."
John's brow furrows.
"Who?"
"...Sixteen grays and two triple-eights."
Were Cameron human, she may have wondered from his expression if John were having a stroke.
"You came back from that? How?"
She smiles again.
"I improvised."
His tears of happiness return as he hugs her again, holding her as tightly as he can.
"Thank you. Thank you for coming back to me."
Scene 200: Downtime
Thursday April 3rd, 2008
12:10pm - Motel room
Sarah is out and John suspects that she's giving himself and Cameron some time alone.
John is back in bed where he should be. He shows no sign of discomfort.
Cameron is attempting to cook for the two of them.
'She's taking forever.'
'Mom only bought eggs and some stuff for sandwiches.'
'She wouldn't add non-food items... would she?'
'What if without her HUD she can't tell the difference between food and poison?'
'This could be my last meal...'
A proud Cameron arrives and hands him a plastic cup of juice and a paper plate on which sits something of indeterminate origin.
"Here."
John swallows hard.
"What is it?"
She smiles.
"It's an omelet."
He stares at her for a moment before looking back at the strange colored mound.
"Are these dark specks coffee grounds?"
She frowns.
"No."
'It can't be as bad as mom's... but what's in it?'
He takes a bite and is surprised by the flavor.
"It tastes great. What's in it?"
"Eggs, ham, cheese, tomato, onion, salt, and pepper."
'That sounds right, but...'
"I don't see any of those things..."
She tilts her head at him.
"That's because they've been diced."
He stares at the delicious but unrecognizable lump.
"You... diced everything too small to see?"
"No, everything is just mixed up."
"Thank you, but you didn't have to go to this much trouble. Where's yours?"
"Right here." she drinks from a glass of raw eggs and 'diced' meat and vegetables, tilting her head so that it won't run out through her left cheek.
"...Cam... it's not an omelet unless you cook it..."
"I know, but this is better for me."
"It's better raw?"
"Uncooked, my body will receive more nutrients from the same quantity of food."
"Okay... what about diseases?"
"My digestive system isn't human."
"Oh. That makes sense... I guess."
Several minutes later the 'omelets' are both gone.
"What are you going to do now, Cameron?"
She begins walking toward the bag of guns and ammuntion.
"I'm going to check our weapons."
"Would you mind bringing it over to the bed and sitting with me so that I can help you?"
She considers that he's talking about handling firearms while on morphine, but decides that she can keep him from hurting himself or anyone else.
"All right."
Cameron sits beside John with the bag of weapons and they begin to take inventory.
John picks up the largest weapon present. It was too long to fit completely in the bag.
"Remington 870? Is this your replacement for the one left at the house?"
"Yes. I hope to get a magazine extension for it soon."
John loads it with 000 buckshot for her.
"You also need some more depleted uranium rounds."
Cameron pulls out 2 weapons.
"Two MP5's. Both nine millimeter."
"Why don't the grays usually have anything better? They could have gotten several AK's for the price of just one MP5. I sure as hell wasn't shot with a 9mm..." he rubs the side of his chest "...the fuckers."
"I don't know."
Cameron reaches into the bag and retrieves John's Glock 17, holding the grip out to him.
"I wanted to make sure that you got this back."
He takes it and looks it over quickly, finding no damage.
"Thanks. Where was it?"
"I borrowed it when the grays attacked. I killed 5 of them with it."
John looks at it and then looks back at her.
"Cameron, I have grown attached to it, but don't do that again. Don't waste your time carrying an empty weapon just because you think I'll want it back."
She reaches into the bag and pulls out her new SIG P229.
"I didn't carry it. I dropped it, then went back for it. This one is 40 caliber. We have no ammunition for it, but a 9mm barrel is easy enough to purchase."
"So is 40 Smith & Wesson ammunition, if you want it."
"When my HUD is funtional, I'm more precise than any human. Extra capacity means extra kills. I prefer 9mm."
"My mom has never really used anything besides 9mm's and 45 automatics. It seems like just yesterday she said that my hands were too small for a forty-five with a double stack magazine. Now, I'm thinking about upgrading to a 10mm Glock 20. What do you think?"
She looks at him with disappointment.
"John, 10mm is very effective against humans, but terminators are made of metal. Only high velocity rifle rounds are effective against them."
He pulls out his M4A1 with M203A1.
"Speaking of high velocity rifle rounds..." John grins at Cameron.
She frowns at it.
"We need to replace that weapon."
John seems hurt by her statement.
"Why? I have good memories of my time with her."
Cameron pretends to be jealous.
"'Her'? I thought that you only had feelings for one machine."
He runs his hands over the furniture of the weapon and smiles.
"I do, but just look at those curves."
They laugh, then he turns serious.
"I protected you from two terminators with this. Twenty years from now, I might still have it."
"Unlikely, it's already obsolete."
He looks at her and shakes his head.
"Thanks. That's what I like to hear about a weapon that I have to trust my life to. Especially when I'm in no position to upgrade or replace it."
"John, there are more reliable, more accurate rifles that use more effective cartridges. I want you to be safe."
"I know that... I'm just... human. I get used to things and don't want to give them up."
Cameron dumps remaining contents of the bag onto the bed.
"I want you to be safe. When you have access to something better, I'll destroy that weapon if I have to."
He looks at the weapon wistfully.
"......I understand."
"11 spare magazines for your M4. 3 for your Glock. 42 rounds of 12 gauge buckshot. 23 grenades."
Cameron begins opening a few small boxes.
"200 rounds of 9mm."
John loads his M4 and M203.
"We're pretty screwed if they hit us again, huh?"
"Yes, we are pretty screwed if they hit us again."
He smiles at her.
"Thanks for being honest."
She starts filling one of the two MP5 magazines.
"There's no point in lying to someone who knows the truth."
John starts filling the second MP5 magazine.
"Cam, how long before you can blend in well enough to go out?"
Cameron sets aside a loaded MP5 mag, and starts loading the empty mag in John's Glock.
"I don't know if I'll ever be able to..."
"Have you looked in a mirror today? You're healing really well."
"It doesn't matter. I don't know if I can regenerate fully."
"You will."
A long silence falls over them as the weapons are placed back in the bag. Cameron keeps her shotgun.
"Remember when I said that I couldn't understand what pain felt like to you? I do now. The morphine isn't dulling the pain at all, but it doesn't bother me."
"That must seem very strange."
"Not really."
She tilts her head.
He smiles and explains.
"After time travelling, I find myself sitting on a bed with a bullet hole in my chest, a bag full of guns, and my cyborg girlfriend from the year 2027."
She looks down at her bandaged hand for a moment before smiling at John.
"You really don't feel any differently about me?"
He puts his arm around her.
"I really don't."
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