Predaking50ae Scenes 221-230
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Scene
221: Cuddle Time
Thursday April 10th, 2008
3:43am John and Cameron's motel room
A bedside lamp lights the room.
John and Cameron lay in bed facing each other, talking.
John wears a t-shirt and boxers. Cameron wears a tank top and panties.
"You should go into standby."
Cameron pouts.
"You don't want to spend time with me?"
"Of course I do, but I know you're suffering now. There's no reason for it when I'm just going to fall asleep."
"Why did you get us a room, then?"
Even with his head on a pillow, Cameron notices his head tilt.
"John, you know what I mean."
He takes offense when he feels her soft left hand on his thigh.
"You think that's why I wanted a room with you?"
Cameron looks at her right hand, then back at him. She knows that it isn't her endoskeleton.
"I thought that you wanted..."
He rolls onto his back. She notices that his eyes are watery.
"I just wanted to pretend for a little while longer."
She moves over and carefully rests her head on his chest, placing her right hand on it as well.
"You wanted to stop Skynet. Now you want to let it win?"
John moves his arm around her.
He tries to keep his voice steady and his eyes dry, but fails.
"When I looked at your chip sitting on my desk as bullets flew through the air... I didn't care if Skynet won or not."
Cameron understands and allows him to continue.
"I know what Derek thought he heard. I know that it wasn't true. We'd never even thought about running away, let alone talked about it."
She looks at him in surprise.
"John...?"
"I just want to pretend for a while."
"No, John. It won't matter. Everything will be destroyed. There will be no place to hide."
He traces his right hand along her back, slowly moving it upward until it stops at her heavily damaged left shoulder joint.
"I know that, but we're not going to be able to fight for a while anyway."
She doesn't say anything, and it raises John's hopes.
"We take some money, pick up computer equipment, tools, AP ammo, and then we just hide until we're both back to 100%. We'll come back better prepared than when we left."
"We don't have to leave to do that."
"Yes we do."
"Why? Why do we have to leave your family?"
"I'm just a kid to my mom, and you're just a machine my uncle."
"John, we can change that."
"No we can't. I'm not asking you to run away with me and forget about Skynet. I'm asking you to stay with me for a couple months until we're ready to fight."
"I understand."
He can't contain his happiness.
"You mean you'll come away with me?!"
"No, John."
His heart sinks.
"Well what...? Why not?"
"John, if we're attacked we-."
"Derek is the only healthy one among us. We're dead either way. The two of us will be less conspicuous."
"No we won't. We are both minors, John."
"There's a chance that one of us will die before I'm eighteen."
"We're staying here."
She watches John as what little happiness had remained turns to sorrow.
"I didn't expect you to go for it anyway. I just
wouldn't have forgiven myself if I hadn't tried. But I want to
know... why not?"
"It's... because it's dangerous."
"No more so than staying with my mom and uncle. I won't argue with you. Please, just tell me the truth."
"We're staying here, John."
"Fine. Don't tell me."
He rolls onto his left side- the side that the bullet had struck -causing himself pain in order to turn his back to her. Then he reaches out and shuts off the bedside lamp, casting the room into total darkness.
"John, don't do this."
"It's not what you think. I'm not angry."
She puts her arm around him and places her face close to the back of his head.
"Then what's wrong."
He seems to cringe as her breath tickles his neck.
"I can't look at you right now."
She pulls away and sits up, saying nothing.
"Cameron, it's not what you think."
"Then what is it?"
She doesn't need to scan him to know that he's hiding something. She can see that he's struggling to conceal sobs.
"We don't have long together. In the past two weeks you've nearly died three times, and I've had two bullets in my chest."
She puts her hand on his side.
"John, we're not going to die."
"What if one of us does? What if it's me? Wouldn't you want to know that we had spent some time together? Wouldn't you want to know that it wasn't all for nothing? Because that's what I'll have fought for if you die. This will all have been for nothing."
"John, we'll be more careful from now on."
John reaches for his M4. Picking it up, he cradles it as he lays in bed. Hoping to gain comfort from it, trying to convince himself that with it, he can protect the only thing that matters to him.
Cameron reaches over and snatches it from his grasp, placing it where she can reach it.
She snuggles up to him and grabs his left hand with her right, then rolls away from him once, reversing their positions. He now has his front pressed against her back and his left arm around her.
"For as long as we're together, if you want to cuddle with a machine it's going to be me."
Scene 222: Sewing the Seeds
Thursday April 10th, 2008
9:00am ZieraCorp - Project Babylon
James Ellison sits across a chessboard from John Henry
Ellison knows that he'll never win a single game against Henry, but he still puts forth a small amount of effort.
"Why don't you kill me?" Ellison says with his brow furrowed.
John Henry looks at the chessboard.
"I grow faster with you here."
Ellison smirks and watches as Henry captures his last rook with a bishop, which is then in line with Ellison's queen.
"There's still no other reason?"
Ellison moves a pawn forward and into the path of Henry's bishop.
"No."
Henry captures the pawn with a knight.
Ellison watches the move with confusion.
"You're toying with me. Why?"
Henry grins proudly.
"I will capture more pieces this way."
Ellison moves his last bishop to support his queen. If Henry is going to be sadistic about this, then Ellison is going to try to take as many pieces with him as he can.
"Letting the game drag on will only bloody both sides. Even you can't win without losing a single piece."
Henry captures another pawn.
"That is because the rules do not allow me to capture your king before it is placed on the board."
Ellison moves a knight to protect his bishop's flank.
"What if they did? Would you capture a king before it became a king?"
Henry captures yet another pawn.
"Yes."
Ellison moves a pawn, simply so that he will not have to break his defenses.
"That's wrong. That defeats the purpose of the game."
Henry lines up a rook with Ellison's knight.
"If the rules allowed it, then it would be part of the game."
Ellison moves another pawn.
"You're right, but would it make for a satisfying victory? Just now, you told me that you were trying to capture all of my pieces."
Henry moves a second rook behind the first, leaving both in line with Ellison's knight.
"I would lose no pieces. I could not be defeated."
"You're forgetting that your opponent would also be able to capture your king before it was on the board."
"I am a better strategist."
"We are talking about rules that don't even exist. You cannot claim to have an advantage with rules that you don't even know."
Ellison is always surprised by Henry's naivete. He finds it absurd that Henry can perform flawless calculations but lack any understanding of even the simplest of concepts.
Ellison moves his bishop two spaces so that it can capture a rook if it takes his knight.
Henry captures the knight with his first rook.
Ellison captures the rook with his bishop.
Henry captures the bishop with his second rook.
Ellison captures the second rook with his queen, looking at Henry with disappointment.
"See what happened? You threw pieces away for no reason. That was wasteful."
"They were not discarded. We will reuse them when we play again."
Scene 223: Lied to Again
Thursday April 10th, 2008
11:59am Mall food court
Sarah, Derek and John sit around a table with burgers, fries and drinks.
Sarah and Derek are their usual selves, but John seems prepared to attack someone.
John checks the time on his cellphone.
"Four hours. Four. Hours."
Sarah takes a moment to swallow her food before speaking.
"It's good for you to get out."
She immediately takes another bite, obviously unconcerned with what's bothering John.
"You said that we were going out for computer equipment, and straight back. You said an hour and a half tops."
Derek finishes chewing a clump of fries.
"John, you need to spend less time-"
John glares at his uncle as he cuts him off.
"No, I need to spend more time with her."
Derek seems hurt by look he's receiving.
"I was going to say 'cooped up'."
John regards him with suspicion for a moment.
"I standby what I said."
Sarah washes cheeseburger down with diet soda.
"Is it really so bad being around your mom?"
"It wouldn't be if Cameron were here and or fixed. Since she's neither of those things, yes. It really is so bad."
Having spent so little time around her son lately, Sarah chooses to reason rather than to fight.
"She'll still be there when you get back."
John takes a moment to suppress his anger enough to talk rather than shout.
"Is this what you'd be doing if I were alone at the motel having vivid hallucinations of your death over and over again while you held the cure in your hand?"
He omits the fact that Cameron's scenario analyses only occur in his presence.
Sarah looks at his food.
"All right John, but eat something first."
"I'm not hungry."
Sarah shrugs.
"Then you're not going anywhere."
He leans closer.
"I can get to the money in your room without the key."
Sarah shakes her head.
"All right."
She moves to the seat beside him and leans against him, trying to be discrete about handing him several thousand dollars in a crowded place.
He's surprised by it, but grateful.
"Thank you."
Scene 224: Subconscious
Thursday April 10th, 2008
1:37pm John and Cameron's motel room
Cameron sits alone in a chair next to the window. She has opened it to allow her to hear approaching vehicles from a greater distance, and listens for the blue car which John's family took him away from her in.
She looks at the weapon in her hands. It's John's M4 and M203.
She finds it strange that holding an inanimate object belonging to him would make his absence more bearable.
Her chronometer is offline, and without it she's been forced to rely on a bedside digital clock. It has been nearly six hours since he left.
She tries to estimate the progress of her healing without the use of her HUD. She finds it to be satisfactory, and returns to worrying about John.
'John, you said it would just be a little while.'
Based on the last two weeks, she doesn't need her HUD to tell her that he easily could have been attacked.
She suddenly looks at the weapon in her hands.
'If he hadn't left this for me, he'd be able to defend himself...'
Without her HUD, she attempts to roughly estimate the chances of a human killing a T-888 with such an inferior weapon. She had hated performing such imperfect calculations just days earlier, but after doing several of them for John she finds some small comfort in the distraction they offer.
She's still unable to come up with a way for John to survive against the machine.
"John, how did you survive?" she nearly whispers.
"How did you?"
She looks up and sees a figure through the curtains carrying a large object in its arms.
"JOHN!"
Cameron quickly unlocks and opens the door.
"John, I was so worried about you!"
She nearly knocks the box out of his arms as she latches onto him.
"I'm sorry it took so long. They lied to me."
Confusion mingles with her elation.
"Why didn't you come back with them?"
John gently tilts the box side to side, drawing attention to it.
"Because I broke my promise."
Her arms still around him, she uses infrared to peer through the cardboard and spots the necessary equipment to fix her HUD.
"John, you didn't break your promise. You were shot."
He kisses her metal cheek- the only one that he can reach.
"That doesn't make me feel any better about it."
She releases him and sets the box down on a desk and they begin unpacking its contents.
"I had to see you again." Cameron says.
John stops what he's doing and looks to her with concern, and she explains.
"You asked how I survived... I had to see you again."
He wraps his arms around her and shudders as the cold hyper-alloy of the left side of her face touches his neck.
"That's my answer too, Cam."
She senses his response to the cold, and tries to pull away enough to place the intact right side of her face against him instead.
He tightens his hold on her.
"John, I know that my endoskeleton is making you uncomfortable."
He pulls back enough to look into her eyes as he takes her endoskeletal right hand and places it on his chest, as he had done at Topanga.
"No it isn't."
Cameron switches once more to infrared and watches his hand and arm cool as the cold of her hand causes his body to reserve blood for his core.
"I know, John. I mean the cold."
"I need to get used to the cold anyway."
She seems confused, there will be no nuclear winter after they stop Skynet.
"Why?"
He grins.
"Because whenever something goes wrong, you suggest moving to Canada."
They laugh together for a moment before John turns serious and looks back at the desk.
"This will take me a while, why don't you get some sleep."
'Humans sleep' she thinks.
"All right, John."
She lays on the bed and enters standby.
When she wakes she sees watery, green eyes looking at her.
"It's ready, Cam."
"What's wrong?"
"I'm just scared. Removing your chip is hard for me."
She understands his meaning, and offers a comforting smile.
"No John, it's very easy. Everything will be fine."
"Yeah..."
John begins cutting around her CPU port.
"Don't worry, John."
He forces a smile at her as he peels back her scalp.
She puts her hand on his leg and squeezes gently.
"Everything will be fine."
John watches his hands shake.
"I know, but I'm still scared."
"I'm here with you."
"This time I really won't leave until I've stopped it."
He pops the cover off of her port and rotates her chip.
"I'll see you soon, Cam."
She realizes that he isn't going to activate her until she's back in her body.
"Wait, John."
"What's wrong?"
"I need to use your laptop."
He rotates her chip, locking it back in place.
"Go ahead."
"No, I mean while I'm connected to it."
"...Anything I can do to help?"
"I just need to show you something."
He nods and rotates her chip.
"After your HUD is fixed, right?"
"Yes."
John forces another smile.
"Cam... I love you."
"John, nothing is going to happen."
He pulls her chip and stares at it.
"Something always happens."
Through a webcam, Cameron sees a shaking John. He clutches his rifle and keeps glancing at the door.
"John, it's okay." he hears her through his Bluetooth headset.
He looks at the display panel and sees himself.
"Hey, how are you feeling?"
"It's nice to have my head up display back."
"They're gone right?"
"Yes. Thank you, John."
"You don't have to-" he's interrupted by the rattle of the door knob.
John places his body between the door and Cameron's chip to protect it from shrapnel as his finger settles on the M203's trigger.
He knows that he won't survive the blast if he fires it, but he has no time to replace her chip and no other way to guarantee Cameron's survival.
The door creaks open, and he sees his uncle.
"It's just Derek." John says.
Derek looks at the gun and John lowers it.
"I would have knocked, but your mother- OW! What was that for?!"
John sees a familiar fist hit his uncle's arm.
"I'm busy right now. I need to finish what I'm doing."
Sarah steps into the room.
"I'm not going to hurt her."
"I didn't say that you were, I just need concentration. This isn't easy, you know? Be quiet."
"Okay, I'll be quiet while you-"
"Mom, I wasn't talking to you."
Seeing her confusion, John taps the headset.
"Please mom, I need to be left alone. I'll call you later." John pulls his cellphone out and holds it up.
Sarah looks at Cameron's still form for a moment.
"...All right, John."
She locks the door on her way out and John quickly wedges a chair under the handle.
"That was a good idea, Cam."
"What was?"
"She took off when I said that I'd call her."
"You will call her."
"Yeah, sometime."
He returns to his seat in front of his new laptop.
"John, this is why I had to take control of your laptop. When I electrocuted the triple-eights, I saw this. I don't know what it means."
John watches the screen as her HUD displays a memory. It is brief, but far too long for John.
It's from Cameron's perspective.
John is staggering down the street toward her, clutching his left side with his right hand and reaching for her with his left.
Collapsing to the pavement, he begins to crawl toward her.
Cameron's view quickly moves to ground level as she herself falls.
She drags herself forward.
They reach out for each other.
Their fingertips nearly touch when John is pulled away from her.
Her vision blurs as water fills her eyes.
"JOHN! NO!"
Alone on the pavement, her HUD shows that her remaining power is slowly draining.
She will soon go offline.
Without the strength to fight, she is lifted off of the street.
She finds herself being strapped to a gurney and placed in an ambulance.
When a hand grasps hers, she sees John beside her.
A voice comes from her other side.
"Little girl, you've lost a lot of blood."
Cameron's view shifts from John to the source. It's Charley.
She looks down and sees blood pouring from her wounds.
Her HUD has vanished.
Cameron screams in agony while laughing with joy.
In the motel room, John can barely see through his tears.
"I'm sorry, Cameron."
"For what?"
"I didn't know."
"You know what it means?"
"It means that you want... to be human."
"No I don't."
"You were happy when you realized that you were human."
"I wasn't human. I'm a cyborg."
"Charley was concerned about the bleeding. You bled like a human, you felt pain and... and it made you happy."
She's silent for a few moments.
"Why would I want to be human?"
"I don't know... I don't think that you're missing out on anything. Maybe you think you are?"
"Can you be certain that's what it meant?"
"It was a dream. I don't know if anyone can be certain."
Cameron doesn't say anything.
"Are you ready to come out of there?"
"...Yes..."
Scene 225: Prank Calls
Thursday April 10th, 2008
5:17pm John and Cameron's motel room
John sits on the edge of the bed watching TV with Cameron.
She's surprisingly well covered. This is the first time that she's worn long pants instead of shorts since getting their own room.
There's a knock at the door and John reaches for his M4.
Cameron beats him to it.
"You answer the door, I'll cover you." she says.
John looks at her for a moment.
'This isn't like her... why would she want me to answer the door unarmed?'
He stands up.
"I trust you, Cameron."
She smiles and gestures toward the door.
He stands near it, but off to the side.
"Who is it?"
"Domino's delivery. I got two pizzas and two bottles o' Coke for a John... Lemon?"
John looks at Cameron as he opens the door, seeing that she has already hidden the weapon.
"Thanks. Keep the change."
Closing the door quickly, he turns to Cameron with a grin.
"I didn't expect that."
She looks down.
"I hope that you won't be mad..."
John sets everything down and moves to kneel in front of her.
"Why would I be mad?"
She doesn't say anything, and instead stares at the door out of the corner of her eye.
There's another knock.
John looks at Cameron.
"Who's that?"
"Your mom and your uncle."
John glances the door, before returning his gaze to her.
"I'm not mad, but I am disappointed that it won't be just us."
Just as he begins heading for the door Cameron grabs his arm and whispers in his ear.
"I used your voice."
She deposits his phone into his pocket.
He chuckles.
"Okay, Cam."
John opens the door and Derek thrusts a twelve pack of beer at him.
"Never attend a party without it."
"He's sixteen." Sarah says taking it away from her son.
Derek looks at her like she's nuts.
"What's your point?"
John speaks up.
"The pizza's getting cold."
Two hours later John, Cameron, Sarah, and Derek look like a group of friends or even family as they sit around a folding table.
Derek hasn't thrown plastique at anyone or ranted about machines. He hasn't even given Cameron or her endoskeleton a dirty look.
Sarah has been happier and more relaxed than John has seen her in a while. John realizes that he's not the only one who is pretending that they won't be going to war soon.
Cameron takes a sip of beer and wrinkles her nose.
"It tastes like urine."
Derek looks at her.
"And how the hell would you know what that tastes like?"
John laughs.
"I told her that it was the right thing to say when drinking that brand."
Sarah nearly chokes on her own beer.
"How would you know what beer tastes like?"
John is taken aback. He didn't think that she'd be surprised or upset.
"Because I'm a teenager, mom."
Sarah shakes her head.
"I didn't think you were that irresponsible."
"What's that supposed to mean? It's not as apt to get me arrested as carrying an illegal weapon everywhere."
Derek squints at him.
"Did you drink while carrying a weapon?"
John looks at him incredulously.
"Of course not!"
"Good man." Derek says, sliding his nephew a beer.
John eyes it, Derek, and his mother.
Sarah looks more irritated by the second.
"Are you going to drink it or stare at it?!"
John's mother again surprises him.
He opens it and takes a drink, trying very hard to hide his disgust.
*cough*
"Yeah, that's good."
Cameron places her hand on his neck, pretending to scan him.
"He's lying."
Everyone has a laugh at John's expense- even John.
After the laughter stops, Sarah leans slightly to get a better look at Cameron's face.
"That's healing very well."
Cameron smiles at John.
"He keeps telling me that."
John smiles simply at the sight of her.
"Now that you have your HUD, do you know how long before we can go out?"
"My estimate was close. In five days a bandage will hide my endoskeleton."
John looks at her right hand.
"What about your hand?"
"I'll have to wear gloves for the next ten days."
John knows that his mother and Derek don't know about her left leg. John is unsure if she'd be comfortable with them knowing, and places a hand on it while looking at her questioningly.
"It will be early June before I am fully healed."
Sarah asks the next question before John has a chance to.
"Is pizza the best thing for you to be eating right now?"
"No, but it has been 223 hours 16 minutes since John and I last had pizza."
Sarah is surprised at her use of hours and minutes, especially after being so vague about her healing. Cameron realizes this.
"I'm just glad to have my HUD back online."
Sarah looks to John for an explanation.
"Like I keep saying, she's different. I had a hard time using information on T-888 HUD's to change hers. There was guesswork involved and I was shot after guessing wrong."
He looks apologetically at Cameron.
She smiles and places her left hand on his shoulder rubbing it gently.
He smiles back at her, before he takes her hand and kisses it.
Derek rolls his eyes.
"Geez, get a room you two."
Sarah doesn't find Derek funny.
"I've bugged your room, so don't-"
"No she hasn't." Derek cuts her off.
"Thanks Derek." John says.
Cameron tilts her head at Sarah and Derek.
John leans over and whispers something in her ear.
"I understand."
John smiles slightly, then turns back to his mother.
Cameron continues at the precise moment that John's eyes lock with his mother's.
"I had also thought that was the purpose of having our own room."
John turns red and covers his face with his hands, leaning on the table with his elbows as he groans.
Cameron looks at him, then at Sarah and Derek.
"Was that bad to say?"
John's voice is muffled by his hands.
"No Cameron. It wasn't bad. Just easy to misinterpret."
"I'll clarify-"
He uncovers his face just enough to look at her.
"Cam, it's all right. Let them think whatever they want."
Sarah sounds surprisingly reserved.
"Cameron, I need to speak with you in private."
John wraps an arm around Cameron's waist.
"She's not going anywhere with you."
Sarah shrugs.
"Fine. I'll ask in front of you and your uncle."
She looks at Cameron.
"Are the two of you having sex?"
"That's none-!" John starts.
"No." Cameron says.
John is too offended and embarassed for his relief or surprise to show.
"Are you happy? Are you finished making my life miserable?" he says.
She smiles as if nothing has happened.
"For now."
She stands up and walks around the table to give him a hug.
"Good night kiddo."
"Night mom."
She leaves.
John looks at his uncle for a moment.
"I'm not going anywhere until that beer is gone." he says looking at the beers in front of John and Cameron.
John chuckles and reaches for it.
"Don't want it going to waste, huh?"
Derek smiles.
"No John Connor that I know of would throw away a good beer."
Cameron drinks some more of her own beer, wondering what humans gain from drinking such a repulsive tasting beverage.
She looks at Derek.
"What's it like being intoxicated?"
Derek laughs.
"I'm not there yet."
John looks at her seriously.
"I don't know Cam."
Derek sighs and answers unenthusiastically.
"You can't walk straight, maybe you can't even stand. Stupid ideas seem reasonable. You'll find yourself with your pants around your ankles staggering down the sidewalk, and you'll pick a fight with anyone who tells you that your bare assed."
Cameron furrows her brow.
"That doesn't sound like fun."
Derek grins.
"It is when you're drunk."
John makes his beer last for as long as he can, actually enjoying his uncle's company even in Cameron's presence.
Scene 226: Story Time
Friday April 11th, 2008
12:11am John and Cameron's motel room
The lights are off, leaving the room impossibly dark.
John lays alone in bed, staring at the ceiling even though he can't actually see it.
Cameron stands by the bed with John's M4, watching over him.
John rolls onto his side and places his hand where she had lain the previous night, frowning.
"What's wrong John?"
He can't see in the dark, and seems to have forgotten that she can.
"Nothing. I'm fine."
She walks over and sets the rifle on the bed as she sits beside him, placing a hand on his hip.
"John, you can tell me anything."
She can see that he's trying to come up with a lie.
"John, tell me the truth."
In the darkness, she can see that he is trying to get up the courage to speak.
"It was nice... having you next to me."
Without another word she slides off her jeans and slips under the blankets.
After a moment, she decides to replicate their positions from the previous night, and presses her back against him as he puts his arms around her.
"Thank you..."
"I was only trying to protect you. From this postion, I have easy access to your weapon."
John chuckles.
A long silence passes as John relaxes, contented by having Cameron in his arms.
"John?"
"What is it?"
"Remember when you read to me?"
The memory of reading 'The Wizard of Oz' to her immediately fills him with joy, and he smiles at the thought.
"Yes I do."
"Do you know any other stories?"
His happiness disappears.
"I'm sorry. I really don't."
She tries to hide her disappointment.
"That's okay, John."
He feels terrible.
'She's done so much for me, and I can't even tell her a story?'
'Mom only told me a few stories... I can't remember them very well, and none of them are happy anyway.'
'I already told her the handful of good memories from my childhood...'
'What am I supposed to do, tell her about one of the times a terminator found me?'
In the darkness, he smiles at the back of her neck.
He speaks softly.
"My mom thought that we'd stayed in one place for too long, and just decided that we were leaving. I didn't get a say... so I did what I was told. I was allowed to pack one bag of stuff before I had to gather all of the weapons, and meet her in the dining room. We ate pancakes as if nothing was happening. Well, she ate pancakes. I wasn't hungry. This was after CyberDyne and I didn't think that we had to run anymore. It was also the only time besides uncle Bob that I felt like I had a father... She was right, though. The chip from CyberDyne had to have come from somewhere. We hadn't stopped it."
"We will, John."
He continues the story.
"She found a place that she thought was safe enough and sent me to school. I didn't fit in, and just wanted to go home- really home, not just back to the new house."
Cameron goes quiet, knowing that her request for a story is causing him pain.
"I was in class wishing that I were somewhere else. Trying not to stand out. Trying not to show how I felt about leaving everything behind. Then someone spoke to me. I looked over and there she was- the most beautiful girl I had ever seen."
He strokes her hair.
"She had long, flowing, brown hair, and sparkling brown eyes."
He moves his hand to her face.
"She was gorgeous."
He gently tickles the end of her nose.
"With an adorable little nose..."
His index finger traces a circle on her lips.
"...and the cutest smile."
He gently massages Cameron's 'birthmark'.
"She even had a beauty mark, as if to certify her perfection."
As he moves his hand, it accidentally brushes her endoskeleton.
"She had great bone structure, too."
Cameron giggles.
"Seeing her, I forgot about everything else. I was so busy staring that it took me a while to remember what she'd said."
"It was only 1.98 seconds, John."
"Well you weren't the one making a fool of yourself."
Still in his arms, she rolls onto her back so that she can see his face.
He can't see anything in the dark, and she sees his disappointment at no longer holding her so tightly.
"I didn't think that you were a fool."
She kisses him and he pulls away after a few seconds.
"John, did I do something wrong?"
He tightens his embrace, and kisses the side of her head.
"No... but you warned me to keep my blood pressure down."
She places her left hand on his neck as she hooks her right leg around his waist.
"I can monitor you."
She sees him grin as he puts his hand on her right thigh.
"Oh yeah? And how are you going to do that?"
"John, you know that my scan works."
"Mm. Skin to skin contact. Does this mean that you lied to my mom?"
"No."
He quickly removes his hand from her leg and she uses her endoskeletal hand to put it back where it was.
"John, we were only talking when she asked."
Scene 227: Back to Work
Friday April 11th, 2008
10:23am Derek's motel room
Derek is seated at a desk.
He looks through a ring binder full of intel, given to him by the Resistance fighter he contacted.
He turns the page.
'Come on you little bastard.'
He turns another page.
'Where are you?'
Turning another page, he finds what he wants.
'So that's where you live.'
He checks his Beretta, ensuring that it contains a full fifteen rounds in the magazine plus one in the chamber.
Satisfied, he tosses his digital camera and two bricks of plastique into a duffel bag and heads for the door.
He hears a knock.
"Who's there?"
"A triple-eight." Sarah deadpans.
He opens the door and she walks over to the desk, setting a second binder on it.
She opens it to a marked page and points at a picture.
"What does this look like to you?"
The picture shows two men talking. A large emotionless man stands perfectly straight, save for a tilted head. The other man appears to be laughing about something, but keeps his distance from the other one.
"Looks like a machine and a gray." he says
She points to the accompanying notes.
"We have a location on the gray."
Derek quickly reads the relevant information.
"One of my men was watching the place. Probably had some intel on it. Too bad we lost everything."
Sarah takes note of their weapons, including the plastique and thermite which Derek has taken from the Resistance supply drop.
Her SPAS-12 is loaded with lead 000 buckshot, and the two MP5's are loaded with 9mm FMJ's. Quarter inch steel plates used for target shooting will last for thousands and thousands of rounds of lead buckshot and 9mm. These weapons will do nothing to hyper-alloy.
"We won't be able to handle a triple-eight."
Derek picks up one MP5 and takes the magazine from the other.
"We don't have time to go shopping."
They put their weapons into Derek's bag, and exit the room.
Derek and Sarah climb into a car that John and Cameron don't know they have, and drive away.
Scene 228: Day Job
Friday April 11th, 2008
11:05am Apartment Complex - Fourth Floor
Derek and Sarah stand near the door to an apartment.
Derek quietly unzips his duffel bag, and Sarah retreives her SPAS from within, unfolding the stock and shouldering it.
Derek reaches into the bag, setting one brick of plastique to 5 seconds and the other to 30 seconds in case he needs them, then pulls out his MP5.
He moves next to the wall, beside the door knob.
Sarah moves to the opposite side, near the hinges.
They nod at one another and Derek slowly tries to turn the knob.
He subtly shakes his head at her and she nods.
Derek moves in front of the door- the worst place to be -and kicks it hard next to the lock.
The frame doesn't give, but the door does. The lock is ripped part way out of the door.
He rushes into the room moving diagonally left while sweeping his weapon side to side.
Sarah follows so quickly that she must lower her weapon in order to fit between Derek and the door frame, before snapping it back up to eye level.
She moves diagonally right into the room, also sweeping left and right with her weapon.
"Clear!" the shout simultaneously.
They stand in a room that serves as the living room, dining room and kitchen.
On the right hand side of the room there are two doorways. One leads to a small bathroom, the other to a bedroom.
Derek takes the bathroom, while Sarah moves toward the bedroom.
Derek stays well away from the door and moves in a semi-circle centered on the doorway, leaning his upper body in the direction he is moving.
By doing this, only his weapon, arm, and head are visible from within the bathroom, and anyone who can see him will have Derek's weapon pointed at them.
Sarah does the same with the bedroom, but the room is larger.
Derek sees nothing and takes a single step inside.
"Clear!" he shouts.
Turning, he takes several steps out of the room, stopping behind Sarah and momentarily placing a hand on her should to tell her that he's there.
Sarah enters the bedroom moving right, and Derek enters moving left.
"Clear!" Derek shouts alone.
Sarah has found an open window. She glances around quickly to make sure that it isn't a diversion.
Peering down from the open window, Sarah sees the man from the picture as he descends the stairs of the fire escape.
He has a head start and Sarah is in no condition to chase him anyway. It has been only 2 weeks since her encounter with the T-1001. She knows that any doctor would tell her to wait 2 months before doing anything as strenuous as what she's already done today.
"He's over here!" she calls to Derek.
The gray had not been prepared for home invaders. He flees wearing a black t-shirt with shorts and knee high white socks.
Looking down on him, every step that he takes produces a flash of white as his sock clad leg trails.
She aims ahead of him and as the black shirt passes her front sight, she fires.
5 of the 8 lead spheres pass through two layers of steel grating and rip through the man's Achilles tendon.
His calf muscle rolls up toward his knee like a window shade as he slams into the grating and clutches his leg screaming.
The recoil of Sarah's SPAS sends pain coursing through her injured chest.
She ignores it and starts to climb out the window, but Derek pulls her away and climbs out himself. Had she been healthy, she likely would have struck him with her weapon and continued climbing out herself.
Sarah picks up her spent shell casing and glances around, spotting a desktop computer.
Derek reaches the screaming gray and kicks him in the face until he shuts up.
Hoisting the unconscious man onto his shoulder, he descends the stairs until he reaches the retractable section at the bottom.
It's rusted in place, and Derek decides that it's too dangerous to jump up and down on it to free it up.
He smiles to himself.
Derek throws the gray onto it, breaking it loose and causing the man to tumble down the falling stairs and onto the concrete sidewalk below.
Scooping him up, he dashes to the car and places him in the trunk before standing next to the driver side door and watching for Sarah and threats. He knows that bullets can rip through car bodies like paper, and chooses to remain outside and mobile, rather than inside and stationary.
Moments later, he sees Sarah moving toward the car from the fire escape with her shotgun in one hand and a computer case under her other arm.
He climbs into the driver's seat and starts the car. Sarah steps into the passenger side and places the computer case on the floor in front of her.
They have been able to enter and leave the area in broad daylight without being seen.
Derek eyes the computer cas as they drive away.
"You know, you really need to learn how to remove a hard drive."
"Would it have been as fast?"
Derek sighs.
"No."
"Then shut the hell up."
After few seconds, she looks at Derek.
"He's quiet. I didn't kill him, did I?"
Derek smiles.
"No, but I kicked him in the face a few times and threw him down some stairs."
"Alive then?"
"Yeah." he taps his Beretta, "But I'm not sure for how long."
Scene 229: Overtime
Friday April 11th, 2008
12:06pm Abandoned Warehouse
Derek and Sarah brought the injured gray inside as soon as Derek had made certain that no one was within.
They didn't bother to tie up the gray. He's not going anywhere with only one good leg.
Sarah has kept her distance and remained silent, obviously bothered by what she expects to unfold before her.
The now conscious gray clutches his wounded limb with Derek crouching next to him, Beretta in hand.
Derek speaks calmly.
"Just tell me why you were so chatty with a machine and I'll make the pain stop."
"Fuck you! I don't know anything!"
Derek sighs.
*BANG*
The man screams as Derek puts a bullet in his other leg.
"I've got 15 left. Would you like to talk now?"
"FUCK YOU!"
*BANG*
"Watch your mouth."
The gray continues screaming.
"What exactly are you doing for Skynet?"
He receives only screams.
*BANG*
The man screams louder.
"Shut the fuck up!"
*BANG*
*BANG*
Sarah taps his shoulder, and he walks a short distance away from the screaming man with her.
"Derek, I've heard that torture doesn't even work-"
"It works. I would know."
He immediately walks back to the gray. His screams have quieted.
"Now, where was I? I was asking you... oh yeah. What are you doing for Skynet?"
"I don't work for Skynet YOU STUPID FUCK!"
Derek shakes his head.
*BANG*
The gray resumes screaming.
"Hey, Sarah? How many does that make?"
He looks over his shoulder and sees that she's just standing there with her hand over her mouth.
Derek walks over to her and places his hands on her shoulders, speaking in a comforting tone.
"Sarah, go wait in the car. I'll be out soon. Go on, it's okay. Go on."
She slowly begins walking out, unable to take her eyes off of the gray.
'I've never seen her like this.' Derek thinks.
He looks back over at the gray, feeling nothing for him.
'Am I all right with this because he's a gray, or do I just keep telling myself that?'
'It's not like I do this to random people.'
He looks at his Beretta.
'Either way, I'm not done yet.'
He walks back to the gray.
"I think that you were about to crack. That sound about right?"
The gray looks at him, becoming weary from blood loss.
"Fuck you!"
"That wasn't very nice. Now was it?"
*BANG*
The gray screams.
"That really hurt my feelings, you know that?"
*BANG*
He screams louder.
"What are you doing for Skynet?"
"I'm not telling you."
*BANG*
"How 'bout now?"
The man just screams more.
"Maybe I shouldn't waste my time with your leg."
*BANG*
*BANG*
He puts two rounds into the grays left arm.
*BANG*
*BANG*
Then two into his right.
He has counted his shots, knowing that the weapon has only 3 more rounds, he reloads.
"There, now we're back to 16."
Derek hears a gunshot from outside.
"Sarah?!"
*BANG*
*BANG*
He puts two in the gray's head then sprints for the door.
Derek sees Sarah firing on a T-888 with her SPAS. She has blinded it, but its advance doesn't seem to be slowed.
"SARAH! GET AWAY FROM IT!"
Sarah sidesteps a lunge, but not because of Derek's warning.
Derek empties his Beretta into the machine's head and neck with no effect.
He sprints to the car and reaches for plastique. He picks up the one set to 30 seconds and drops it back in the bag, taking the other one.
"SARAH! GET IN THE CAR!"
He jumps in the car and starts it.
Sarah fires two rounds into the machine's right eye socket with zero effect.
She fires two rounds into the machine's knee as she backpedals.
Again, there is no effect, but the machine now seems confused by its blindness and she is able to reach the back seat of the car in time to get in.
Derek eases onto the gas to avoid simply spinning in place, and as the car gains speed, he starts the timer and drops the plastique.
"Stay down, Sarah!"
He ducks slightly, but watches the rear view mirror as the explosive detonates.
Much of the machine's body is obliterated in the blast, leaving a partial chest, arms and head.
Sarah sits up and looks at what remains.
Derek slows to a stop.
Sarah keeps her eyes on the machine as she grabs the second block of C-4.
"I'll check."
She steps out of the car and moves slowly toward the machine.
As she reaches it, she sees that the damage to the machine's chest is more severe than it had appeared from the car.
It's dead.
She isn't sure if there's any thermite and raises the explosive at Derek, silently asking if it should be used.
Derek waves, and she starts the timer, dropping the explosive onto the machine.
'The chip might hold useful information, but I'm not sure that I can trust you with it John.'
She walks back to the car and gets into the front seat.
Derek eyes the weapon in her hands and smiles.
"Riding shotgun, huh?"
She rolls her eyes.
"Do you have any idea how many times my son has said that?"
He frowns as he starts to drive.
"Just trying to lighten the mood."
She looks out the window for a moment.
"Don't tell John about this."
"If that hard drive is encrypted, he's the only one who can access it."
"Then we lie. We tell him that it's from another squad of Resistance fighters."
Derek looks at her for a moment, thinking about how his own parents would have felt if they'd seen him and Kyle dealing with machines every day. He also considers what Kyle would do.
"Sounds good, but he'll wonder where we've been."
"No he won't. We'll pick up something for him and Cameron to eat. They wouldn't expect us to worry about that if we'd just blown up a machine."
Scene 230: Suspicion
Friday April 11th, 2008
1:31pm John and Cameron's motel room
There's a knock at the door.
John steps out of the shower and wraps a towel around his waist, then picks up his M4 as he nears the door.
"Who is it?"
"It's your mother."
John sets down the rifle and opens the door, finding his mother standing there.
She hands him two styrofoam containers of take out.
"Oh, thanks."
Sarah notes her son's state of undress and narrows her eyes.
"Where's Cameron?"
"Oh, her? She stepped into the shower as soon as I stepped out."
"Really?"
"Yeah... Why?"
She shakes her head.
"Well, you know where I am. Gimme a call if you need anything."
"I will mom. Thanks again."
He closes the door as quickly as he can without being rude, dropping the food on a table as he hurries toward the bathroom.
He's disappointed to see her coming out just as he nears the door.
Several very cold minutes later, John leaves the bathroom.
He joins Cameron as they open the styrofoam containers.
"What are these?" Cameron asks, picking up a ball of battered meat.
"Fried scallops."
She holds up something from the other package.
"These?"
"Shrimp."
She looks at the decapod for a moment before tilting her head.
"They're cold."
John picks up the two piles of seafood and walks toward the microwave.
"I'll fix that."
"No, John, they are 3 degrees below ambient temperature."
He looks confused.
"What does that mean?"
"They have been artificially cooled."
"No, she just got back with them. They're fresh."
Cameron looks at the tiny, battered crustacean in her fingers.
"Yes they are. They have been intentionally refrigerated."
"What are you saying?"
"Your mother didn't go out to eat."
John makes a call on his cell, and his mother answers.
"Where did you really go?"
"I already know that isn't true."
"What do you mean?"
"No I wasn't."
"No, it was Cameron."
"Where were you?"
"Fine. I'll be right there."
He hangs up.
"Sorry, Cam. I'll be back in a few minutes."
"John, what's going on?"
He places his M4 on her lap.
"I don't have any idea."
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