Almost an hour passed before darkness fell upon the Mojave, as a rare glimmering moon took reign on the night sky. The torches of the Legion base sprouted across the area, like a hastily gathered set of candles shining in the blackened desert. The cage had remained silent and motionless as the quiet strokes of the Colorado river could be heard a lot clearer, now that things seemed to have become still. Don and Dana had not spoken within the time that had passed, their presence nonexistent to either one of them let alone the Legion soldiers. The old man coughed with a wrecked voice, his eyelids twitching as he sat himself up under a pain filled groan. He looked at the two of them, watching them for a time as he began to see the tension growing like a root. The blood from his nose had dried against his lips and face, but the pain was merely dulled since his nose had been broken. "Hey..." He said in a croaky tone, but he was ignored. "Youngster. I'm talking to ya." Don took a deep breathe before he dragged it out through his nose, turning his head as his eyes darted into the old mans'. "Don't suppose you can forgive an old man can you?" He asked calmly with a tiny smile, but Don was obviously in too ill a mood to take any consideration into it and turned his head away from him. The Old man sighed with a small laugh, "Fair enough. Just for the record, they don't actually look when a fight breaks out in the cage. It's when everyone is calm that get's them cautious."
Don scoffed quietly, catching a glimpse of Dana in the side of his view. "So that was what? An exchange. Doesn't seem to be any use right now." He said plainly, a lack of care developing as he spoke. But the Old man could see through his mask, hissing a little as he tried to move his hand. "Trust me, youngster. That thing could be your way out, depending on how you plan to hold it." Dana glanced up at him, hurt lingering within her eyes. "So how come your not out?" She asked with little concern. The Old man blinked as he tried to sniff through his smashed nose, "Never had much reason. I kind of got used to being in prisons, or correctional facilities as those NCR shits call it. But I take one look at you, and I know neither one is gonna let them take you willingly." The Old man had said, but they both took their point of their interest else where. "Who was that other guy? Big strong looking one?" Don snapped his view back to him, his eyes widened with surprise. "You saw him? Where?" He asked in subtly demanding way, a sly smirk growing on the Old man's lips. "Ah, knew something was going on. Should have seen those fools dragging his heavy ass down here, figured he was dead." Dana sat up as she became greatly concerned with what he knew, but Don was not going to take the light approach. He moved quickly toward him, grabbing onto the Old man's shirt as he gripped it tightly almost tearing it off. "Where did they take him?" Don spat quietly between his teeth, staring into the Old man's bittered eyes. "Wish I could say kiddo, really. But I don't see what good it's gonna do ya?" He replied with sleazy tone, causing an angered reflex from Don as he grabbed his broken nose with his hand. "I'll snap every limp off your wrinkly body if you don't tell me." Don threatened as he squeezed the Old Man's nose, causing him to wince and squeal under it. Dana glared out towards the center of camp, noticing a few Legion soldiers were heading towards them. "He...ah! He's next to the quartermaster's tent, but-" Don squeezed even harder, cutting off his words momentarily. "Don, they're coming this way." Dana whispered as she leaned forward, realizing from the different apparel the soldiers wore could mean they were of a higher position than those they had met so far. Don spotted them shortly afterwards, letting go of the Old man's nose as he backed away from him whilst the Legion officers stepped in front of the gate. Dana gulped quietly as she had noticed that all four of the soldiers were fixated on her, rattling the key between the lock until it had at last shifted to allow them access. Don could see what the Legion officers were about to do, their reputation vastly proceeded. The two of them met eyes for a split second, acknowledging that a terrible fate was awaiting Dana but it was not enough to keep Don compelled. He suddenly stepped forward swinging his fist at the first officer who go close, which in turn caused them to attack him. The small scuffle had caused them to with strain both Don and Dana, but the Old man had leaped into join the struggle. Nearby Legion soldiers spotted the activity inside the cage, watching as Don and Dana were both thrown to the ground as where the Old man had stolen a handgun from an officer.
A bellowed laughed drummed from his gut as he fired a couple of rounds into one of the officers, striking him dead before his body hit the dust. A wide opened smile was forged on the Old man's face, noticed only for a moment by Don until several gun shots rang out close by. Dana yelled for a second upon hearing it, before the thudding sound of the Old man's body cued the end of the struggle. Don met eyes with him as he laid there bleeding, unable to move as Dana was dragged away from the cage along with the former Legion officer. The gate slammed shut before being locked into place, as Don hurried toward it as if he were being pulled by Dana's grunts and tethered yells. Watching for only a short duration, Don was itching to tear down the chain link between his fingers if it would mean getting to her. But as the yells faded away with her, he was drawn to the weakened breathes of the Old man who was quickly on his way to his death. Blood was flowing from the entry points of his frail body, coating the small space of sand that he occupied. Don gently knelt down next to him, helping him move onto his back so as to be at his side. "I...waited a long time, to do that." The Old man weakly spoke, but Don was hollow in his expression as if he were cynical in nature. "Do what? Do what you son of a bitch?" He replied in a tempered voice, but the Old man smiled with blood on his teeth as he revealed a bobby pin in his finger tips. "Tell me you know...how to use this." Don grinned slightly as he carefully took it from him, concealing it with his own hand. Despite their initial meeting, Don had begun to take a quick change of impression of the Old man.
"Y-Youngster?" The Old man battled to say, causing Don to lean down close enough to hear him as a tear began to well up between his wrinkled eyelids. "Burn every single one...that you find." Don felt a governing sense of motivation spring to life, that familiar feeling he had felt since the Bunker. Don nodded with a genuine notion of respect, causing the Old man to grin before his breathes weakened one after another. His eyes seemed to glued to the night sky, watching with awe and calm as if he had not seen it before. Don sat still a short while, long enough to realize that the staring look on the Old man's face could mean that he had fallen to his wounds. Don then gently ran his finger tips over the Old man's eyes, closing them so that he appeared to have died in a peaceful manner. Dana however was fighting against the two officers who were dragging her through the southern end of the camp, heading towards a small hut that was crudely restored to manageable condition. Dana's arms were growing tired as she desperately tried to move them between the officer's hands, but they were too much for her to break from physically. A trail of dusted footprints were all she could recognize as they moved her, her mind flooding with panic and terrorizing thoughts of what laid ahead. The door was swiftly opened before she was seemingly thrown into the hut, scuffling her body along the dirtied floor as the odor of musk and mud invaded her nostrils. A lantern glimmered thinly in the corner of the room, drawing barely any light within the hut. A lone tall officer stepped inside, closing the door behind whilst the other remained outside. "To the victor's go the spoils." He uttered smugly as he approached her, but Dana swung her fist across his face causing him to halt as soon it had struck. The tall officer chuckled with wicked laughter, turning his head down a little as he looked into her eyes. But Dana wasn't letting up so easily, as she threw another at him but this time it had hit him square against his throat causing his vocal cords to cease up. The Officer's eyes shot open as he choked, allowing Dana to advance her attack as she kicked him strongly in the gut. She then made a quick dash towards the door, but the officer extended his arm out to catch her leg which in turn made her fall to the floor. She then grunted and struggled to squirm out of his hand, as the officer had grown madly furious with her as he violently dragged her back. "Don! DON!" She yelled loudly as her nails clawed along the wooden floor, desperately trying to get free from the hut. Her hair was suddenly grabbed by a sturdy hand, as it seemingly pulled her up from the floor and back onto a table. The Officer then punched her ribcage with a vicious fist, knocking the wind from her lung with a painful effect. A few more punches was delivered to her ribs and guts, causing a definite fracture as well lung constriction. Dana could barely capture any more breathes, her arms falling to her sides as the officer pressed her tightly against the table top.
"Your a feisty bitch, I'll give you that." He spat with heavy breathes, before his hands tore apart the buttons on her vault suit, revealing her bra and semi nude torso. His eyes scanned along her features hungrily, knowing exactly what he would do with her before anyone else would come barging in for their turn. Dana weakly protested, but her words were not enough to be acknowledged by her abuser as she then began to feel disgusted by him. His mouth trailed along her neck and chest with a sinfully driven intent, his hands pinning her arms down against the table. Dana could put up but a glimmer of the resistance she once had, her lack of steady breathes making her feel as if she were suffocating with the combination of blows and body weight her chest had received. As her violation was about to begin, a jet of blood shot from the Officer's throat as it trickled down against Dana's face. The cutting sound of blade against flesh was quietly heard, but the recognition of who was administering it could not have been more welcomed. Don gritted his teeth harshly as he pulled the officer's body away from her, pushing the blade across his throat as blood splashed against the floorboards like an overflowing sink until he was certain of his kill. Don dropped the body onto the floor, as he stepped forward to tend to Dana whom had seemingly broken into tears upon seeing him. The two of them embraced each other, panting with the relieving thought that they were both fine. Don felt warm and safe to her, hurriedly pulling herself out of her storm of frightening thoughts. "It's okay, I got you." Don whispered in a comforting tone, pulling himself away from her a little, "Come on. We gotta get out of this place, all three of us." Dana inhaled a single breathe, expanding her hurt ribs but the pain was not noticed.
The two of them seemed to act out of instinct, as together they searched the officer and the hut for any weapons and equipment as they had done before but there was none to be found. It wouldn't be long until the base would become aware that something was wrong, as the two of them quietly opened the door to see the trail into the camp was unguarded. "We need to find the big guy, stay low." Don whisper with wide eyes, shifting them across the area as he began to move slowly with a low posture. Dana had spotted the second officer laying dead next to the steps, spitting on his lifeless body with hating revolt. Don then took her hand tightly with his own, leading her onward from the hut as Dana's' concerns matched the same as his own. Don slowed down until he reached the bend at the base corner of the hill next to them, peering his head with care to inspect what was ahead.
Faint voices and light coughing was heard coming from the field of red tents, amassed as if they were a few lines of crops that loomed as the lairs of the legion soldiers. It was obvious that they were not going to maneuver as easily through the camp as they had done the night before, not with several soldiers pacing across various spaces between the tents. Don took in a deep breathe, keeping a steady grip of the knife in his hand as they moved in the dimly lit trail on the southern end of the tent collections. Glimpses and momentarily images of sleeping Legion soldiers were caught in the corner of their eyes as they moved, that unsettling paranoia that if a single one were to spot them then the whole camp would descend on them both. Don's heart skipped in his chest, suddenly stopping himself as he spotted a restless Legion soldier climb out of his tent a few dozen yards ahead. Dana silently gasped, before Don pulled her behind the cover of a nearby tent causing her to gently against a wooden crate. The yawns of the tired soldier churned quietly despite being out of his field of view, Don steady his breathing as he kept the knife firmly in his had in case he were to venture too close him. Dana peaked her head above the crate, seeing a larger red tent with the door flaps opened. She blinked a single time before she squinted her eyes to clear her vision, spotting a laying figure that she recognized a split second later. It was the Terminator, his body vanishing from her perception as the Legion soldier inside had closed it before leaving it be. Dana gently tugged onto Don's shoulder, causing him to turn around as she then pointed with her finger at the larger tent. "He's in there." Dana whispered, almost mouthing the words as opposed to saying them. Hope stirred inside her chest as she couldn't help but keep her eyes on it, Don slithered across the sand to get closer to the crate she was hiding behind.
"Okay, okay." He quietly said as he squeezed his hands into a pair of fists, trying firmly to keep himself together as he developed his plan of escape. "We can't risk taking these guys head on, not even with the big guy backing us up. I need you to get him back on his feet, then meet me at the headquarters next to the cage." Don instructed as he softly rested his hand on her shoulder, but Dana was only made confused by his suggestions. "What? Why?" She responded with. "They're bound to have a radio transmitter in there that we need to use, I know some rangers that still operate in the local area. If we get in trouble in here then we'll need their help." Don said with a quiet but stern tone, making Dana only worry intensify. "How do you know that they'll even help? There had to be more than a hundred of these guys right here." She protested to him, squeezing her hand on his shirt so as to not let him go. "It's the only chance we'll ever have, you have to trust me Dana. You can pull this off, I know you can." Don's drive shined through his words, furthering the hope that rested in Dana's stomach as it allowed her to gently let go of his shirt before he went back the way he came. Dana watched only for a second before he was gone, turning her attention momentarily on her herself as she realized she was alone for now. But it did not kill away the fear that lingered, setting her eyes back onto the tent before took a couple of carefully placed steps which had brought her to the edge of center path. Her hair rested at the edges of her face, turning left and right to observe the tent rows for a short duration. So far she had not spotted anyone moving along or across it, yet she was helpless to feel that her exposure was noticed by someone. She leaned forward a little, but grew hesitant to take the risk of running across the pathway. Dana's mind was pouring with fear, her instincts burning out stress and mental fatigue causing her breathing to grow heavy. But she swallowed it down, taking a deep breathe before fixing her eyes onto the large tent as she leaped away from the edge of the crate and moved quickly across the main path.
The drumming her heart beat like that of a waring tribe, her arms swinging sharply as she moved as fast she could. The short span of time had moved slowly yet swiftly, before she realized she had made it across. Dana ducked down before turning back, glancing around almost panicking before she had concluded that no one had noticed her. The rush of her risky actions was coursing strongly through her veins, alerting and waking every nerve in her body. She exhaled one heavy time before making her way into the tent, carefully raising up the tent flap to step inside. The large tent was well lit, set up clearly for surgical and medical purposes as Dana took a second to take in what she saw before stepping toward an operating table. Laying ahead of her was the T-800, his body completely still with his eyes open as if he were blankly staring into the ceiling. It disturbed Dana to see him that way, but the knowledge that was he not a man but a machine brought some clarity to that puzzle. Dana then recollected herself before looking around the tent, scrambling without any sturdy understanding of the Terminator's robotic anatomy in her objective of reviving him. Don however had managed to reach the east end of the tent formation, replicating Dana's actions in a similar manner before successfully arriving at the Cottonwood cove HQ.
