John laid back on his bed, staring up at the ceiling. Cameron was gone. He took a breath. Cameron was gone.
There was a knock on his door. He shot up, practically jumping to the door. Irrationally he thought that it might be her. She might have come back, maybe she—It was his mom.
She crossed her arms across her chest, "You want to tell me what that was downstairs?"
He turned around, and flopped back on the bed. "Can we not, right now?" he asked, staring at the ceiling.
"I'm worried about you," Sarah said softly, shutting the door behind her.
He sighed. "What are the chances Cameron will make it?"
Sarah was quiet for a moment. "Not so great. She's taking James' stash of c4 to level the place once she uploads her software to international mainframe."
John sat up. "I thought the whole point of this was getting Cyberdyne to create machines like John Henry, not blow up the building."
Sarah nodded, "And they will make machines like John Henry, in their two, smaller buildings in Chicago and Austin, but they have some prototypes in this one that are too dangerous. We have to destroy them completely."
"What about the people?" John demanded.
Sarah looked at her watch. "In 45 minutes at 11:35, once Cameron bypasses the security and makes it to the back part of the lab I'll call in a bomb threat. We'll give them 4 minutes to escape while Cameron monitors the computer system to make sure no prototypes are removed, and then she'll detonate."
John swallowed, closing his eyes. So there really was no chance. He felt pin-pricks under his eyes and kept them closed. No need for his mother to see him crying.
"Look," she said, "I know I've been hard on you. And I know that it can be a little… daunting, being John Conner. I just hope you know," her voice waivered. "I hope you know that I love you and I do want you to be happy."
John pressed his lips together and nodded.
"You really do love her, don't you?" she asked, her voice full of bewilderment.
"Yes," he said coming out in a half sob. "I do."
Sarah nodded, and opened the door. "Then you should know, that I think that Cameron is the most human machine that will ever exist. And that she lied to you when she gave that little speech downstairs."
John looked at his mother quizzically. "Mom?"
"1254 Freemont way. The address for Cyberdyne," she said slipping out the door.
John took a breath. Then another. His feet knew what he was doing before his head caught on. Hastily he grabbed his boots, shoving them on. He pulled a baseball cap over his head. Running down the hall he found James' room, and in the back of his closet his FBI jacket. In the hall closet he pulled out two handguns, tucking one into the waistband of his jeans, the other in his boot.
He bolted down the stairs and out the door. Sarah was waiting on the front porch.
"I think I might do some weeding tomorrow, it might actually be a nice place to grow vegetables someday," she said nonchalantly, staring out at the would-be garden by the shed. Reluctantly she turned. "So you're going then." It wasn't a question.
John nodded, tears flooding his eyes. "I don't think we'll be coming back." Even if—once he got Cameron out, they would have to leave. Cameron was right, his mother needed to be safe, and if leaving was the only way to keep her from dying from cancer, well…
Sarah pulled him in for a fierce hug, "I love you my son," she whispered.
"I love you too, Mom," John choked.
She pressed car keys into his hands.
"You're still going to need to call in the bomb threat; hopefully I'll be able to get Cameron out in time, but there's no other way for me to get in," he said.
She nodded against his shoulder, then pulled back to kiss his cheek. "Go."
John sped down the road, cursing the traffic, and silently thanking his mother for having GPS in the car. Watching the minutes tick by on the dashboard while he was stuck at a crawl through downtown was a nightmare.
11:23
11:24
He had 11 minutes until his mom called in the threat to evacuate everyone, and then only 4 minutes to get Cameron out before—He honked at a slow moving truck. Was everyone out to get lunch right now?
11:28
Cursing, he pulled down a side street and parked. The GPS showed that he was 4 blocks away. Feeling like he was in some cheesy romantic comedy, he ran down the sidewalk. But there was nothing funny about this situation.
He reached the building and glanced at his watch.
11:32
He took a breath, running his fingers through his hair. It was a sleek, silver 5-story building that practically screamed 'we're building terminators here'. He stepped behind a car, out of the view of the building.
11:35
John wondered briefly how long it would take for the building to evacuate once his mother called in.
The double doors on the building burst open and a stream of panicked people poured out. John stood quickly, running around the side of the car and grabbed the first dweeb in a lab coat.
"FBI," he said authoritatively, "Where's your prototype lab?"
The man must have been in his 50s and looked thoroughly shaken. "Second floor, room 239."
John nodded and took off at a brisk pace into the building. A few people almost stopped him, but once they saw his jacket just kept moving. Thank you James. He thought to himself, walking through the now empty reception area. He found the entrance to the stairs off to the right and took off up them to the second floor, praying to a god he wasn't sure he believed in that Cameron would be there.