Predaking50ae Scenes 231-240
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Scene
231: Technologically Disinclined
Friday April 11th, 2008
1:40pm Motel parking lot
John walks toward room three, but a door opens before he gets there.
He's surprised to see his mother.
"Mom?"
Sarah walks away from the doorway and further into her room.
"Come here."
He follows her in and sees her stop next to a desk with a computer case and two thick binders.
"What's with the tower?" he says, gesturing to the case.
"I need you to take a look at what's on it."
John tries not to allow his amusement to show as he looks at the aluminum case.
'It's called paint.' he thinks.
"All right, I'll take a look."
He removes the fasteners from the back of the case, then slides off the side panel.
Sarah smiles.
"You really know what you're doing."
John smiles back.
'A monkey could do this.' he thinks.
He notices that this style of case is tools free.
"Oh." he says, unplugging the SATA and power cables and removing the hard drive.
"What?"
"Nothing, I had just expected to need a screw driver. So where exactly did you get this?"
"From a team of Resistance fighters."
John smiles faintly. He knows that his mother is the only person in the world who would take an entire case when the hard drive could be removed in under 20 seconds without tools.
"All right. Well, I'm going to head back- don't want the food to get warm, now do we?"
Sarah seems hurt.
"Well I'm sorry that it isn't still hot."
"No you aren't." he points at the freezer portion of her rooms refrigerator.
"Joh-"
"Don't lie to me. I've gotten that from you my whole life. What really happened today?"
Sarah sighs, realizing that she hadn't given him enough credit.
"Derek and I hunted down a gray."
He can tell that she's hiding something.
"What else happened?"
"We also ran into a triple-eight."
John turns angry.
"With Cameron the way that she is you want to lead one here?! She's dead if they find us!"
"Don't worry. We destroyed it."
John scowls.
"How stupid do you think I am? We don't have anything that can-"
"Derek has C-4."
John seems skeptical.
"Are you sure it was a machine?"
She furrows her brow.
"Yes."
"You saw metal?"
"John, I shot it in the face."
John lets out a sigh of relief.
She narrows her eyes.
"Why?"
He looks away for a moment.
"...Derek... blew some people up."
"Grays?"
"No. They were security. He just... went nuts."
Sarah remembers Derek's trancelike state when he nearly executed two cops in the tunnels beneath City Hall.
"John, he's nothing like your father."
"What?"
"I just want you to know that you can't get to know Kyle through Derek."
John looks down. Derek was nothing like his mother had described his father, but he had still felt that he might find Kyle in him.
"John, be careful around him."
He looks at her in confusion.
"You think that he might hurt me?"
Sarah shakes her head.
"Not intentionally, but you can't let your guard down."
Scene 232: Damn it Jim!
Friday April 11th, 2008
6:51pm A gray and white house - Living room
Derek sits in a dark corner of the room.
He quietly bounces his Beretta on his thigh while watching the front door.
Hearing a car enter the driveway, Derek adjusts his grip on the weapon and watches the door.
After several seconds James Ellison enters, unaware of Derek's presence.
Derek's voice is calm.
"We need to talk."
A startled Ellison nearly falls over an end table.
"What in God's name?! ...Derek?"
Derek stands and walks over to him, producing a photograph and speaking in a sarcastically friendly manner.
"Hey Jim. What do you know about this?"
It's the picture of Ellison showing Cromartie's body to a red haired woman.
Ellison knows that he can't lie at this point.
"I'm helping you stop those things."
Derek smiles.
"Oh yeah? How's that?"
Ellison has calmed, but doesn't know what to expect form Derek. He knows how it looks.
"The people I work for-" Derek cuts him off, but his tone remains friendly.
"Who do you work for?"
"...Catherine Weaver."
Derek furrows his brow.
"Who?"
"Her husband was killed by one of them. She's spent years trying to stop them."
Derek is unimpressed.
"I've spent years trying to stop them. Sarah has spent years trying to stop them. What has this 'Weaver' done?"
Ellison realizes that she hasn't really done anything to stop them.
"She hired me to find one and bring-"
Ellison is interrupted by the slide of Derek's Beretta hitting his face.
"You did this for money?!" he shouts while holding up the picture.
Ellison touches the side of his head then looks at his hand confirming blood. He shakes the dizziness from his head.
"No! I'm trying to do my part!"
Derek grabs Ellison's throat with his left hand and pushes him against the wall.
"You stupid son of a bitch! We're trying to stop the end of the world! You've undermined everything we've tried to do!"
"What?! She wants to stop those things!"
"Judgment Day comes closer with every single piece that survives! You gave her a whole damn machine!"
"She's on our side!"
Derek returns to his calm demeanor.
"Tell me where to find her."
"She has a little girl!"
Derek smirks and releases Ellison as he begins heading for the door.
"A lot of little girls lost their mothers in the war. I have a name. I don't need any more from you." he says without looking back.
"What are you going to do to her?"
Derek answers while reaching for the door handle.
"If she's a gray, then she dies. If not, well... she might die anyway."
"NO!" Ellison screams as he jumps Derek.
Being larger, Ellison appears to have the advantage.
Appearances can be deceiving, however, as Derek is not a career pencil pusher like Ellison.
He elbows Ellison in the ribs until his grip loosens, then spins around and delivers a crushing blow to Ellison's face with the muzzle of his Beretta.
As Derek tries to strike him again, Ellison grabs Derek's weapon hand. He should have grabbed the weapon itself.
Derek uses his other hand to grip the muzzle of his weapon and twists it from his own grip.
Rotating it in his hand, he moves it back near his hip pointed at Ellison's body.
Six shots ring out.
Ellison doesn't stop fighting for control of the weapon, and Derek fires four more times.
Ellison collapses to the floor.
In such a calm neighborhood, Derek knows that must leave immediately.
He rushes out the door with a name in mind.
Without looking back he crosses the street, and climbs into his car before speeding away.
Scene 233: Mincing words
Sunday November 8th, 2026
9:54pm TechCom HQ - General Connor's private quarters
John Connor sits across a chessboard from Allison Young
John looks at her sympathetically.
"How are you doing?"
She smiles at his concern.
"It was months ago. I'm fine now."
He watches her closely for a moment.
"Are you sure? That was quite a blast."
She chuckles.
"Yeah, I know. I was there remember?"
He smiles and moves his queen.
She frowns at him and moves it back.
"Don't do that." she says.
He feigns confusion.
"What?"
Allison is genuinely offended.
"You're letting me win. Don't."
John sighs and begins making the move he deliberately avoided.
"I wasn't letting you win, I was letting you play. Checkmate."
She's still upset about the previous move.
"Why would you do something like that? You don't think that I can beat you?"
He looks at her seriously.
"Allison, I've been playing this game for twice as long as you've been alive."
Allison crosses her arms.
"So you don't think that I'm smart enough?"
John laughs.
"Of course, but you need more experience. I believe that you are smart enough to learn from your mistakes without being punished." he gestures to her fallen king.
She regards him with suspicion for a moment.
"Fine. Just don't make me play for both of us, okay? I have enough trouble keeping up with you without needing to make sure that you don't throw the game."
"Okay Allison, but making intentional mistakes is part of the game. Don't jump to conclusions in the future."
Allison considers the number of games she's played against John without ever actually winning.
"Why don't you ever play against one of your machines? They're good with calculations."
John turns sorrowful.
"You're right, but chess isn't about the pieces or the moves- it's about empathy. It's about getting inside your opponent's head and predicting what they'll do. I've yet to meet a machine with the empathy required for an enjoyable game. Ironic, isn't it? They have been built to hunt us, yet possess so little empathy."
She looks at him in confusion, and he explains.
"Allison, predators- including ourselves -are almost always more empathetic than their prey. When anticipating the actions of another, empathy is more important than pure intelligence. Empathy is why we are winning this war."
Allison smiles.
"I thought that we were winning because of you."
He looks down and shakes his head.
"I have many people under my command, and many have died for me to be here. It's unfair to give me so much credit."
"No one else gets your results."
John picks up his queen and looks it over.
"No one else had the chance to prepare for the machines before Judgment Day."
Everyone knows about Sarah Connor.
"How did she know about all of this?"
He sets the piece down and looks at her.
"I'm sorry Allison, but I can't tell you that."
She looks surprised.
"You don't know?"
"I do, but I can't tell you."
Her eyes widen.
"There's pre-war stuff that's classified?"
John looks at the board.
"No. It's not classified. It's secret."
She furrows her brow.
"What do you mean?"
He smiles faintly.
"At present, I'm the only person who knows the exact answer to your question. It's imperative that it remains that way."
"I understand."
John walks over to a small bureau. When he returns, he hands Allison a bracelet.
"Take this. When the time comes, you'll get your answer."
Allison looks at the bracelet as she accepts it.
"What is it?"
"It's a pass."
She looks up at him.
"To what?"
"To my main base."
She's incredulous.
"This is your main base."
John smiles.
"It won't be for much longer."
"...Are we going to be attacked?"
"Probably, but that has nothing to do with it. Please understand, I can't answer your questions now. I will at another time, but not now."
Allison looks at the bracelet.
"Thank you... for explaining, and for trusting me."
He turns grave.
"Don't mention it."
She smiles.
"I mean literally. Do not mention this to anyone. That bracelet will let you past a security system that hasn't even been completed yet- let alone installed. I've given it to you because I don't know when the move will take place. It will be fast, taking just a few hours. If you're on the surface... you'll be left behind."
"I won't tell anyone, sir."
"I know that. I trust you with my life." he checks the time, "It's after twenty-two hundred, Allison. You'd better get going or you'll be late for duty."
She sighs.
"You're right. I'll be back- I mean, if that's okay, sir."
John chuckles.
"Of course. I'm looking forward to it."
As she stands she gestures to the board.
"I'll be able to beat you eventually."
He smiles.
"I don't doubt that."
Scene 234: Rumors
Monday November 9th, 2026
8:00am TechCom HQ - Mess Hall
Sergeant Kyle Reese, First Lieutenant Derek Reese, and other soldiers are seated at a table.
Regulations against fraternization between officers and enlisted men are technically in place but are not enforced. Many groups of men and women fought for the Resistance before it became a formal military force, and telling groups of volunteers that they could no longer speak to their friends, family, or lovers was something which no one seemed willing to do. The harm caused by these bonds was nothing compared to how many would refuse to join simply to remain with their friends or loved ones.
Specialist Allison Young stands in the chow line.
In just over a year she has come within a single rank of leading her own fireteam.
Derek notices the patch on Allison's jumpsuit. He knows who she is from the rumors that surround her.
"Young already made Specialist?"
"She took out a tank." Kyle explains.
A soldier snorts.
"No, she just set the mines. Connor had to blow the tank 'cause she was balled up in the corner crying."
Kyle glares at him.
"Don't be an ass."
The soldier shrugs.
"I heard that she was just bawlin' her eyes out and he gave her a promotion 'cause he felt sorry for her."
"You're an asshole." Kyle says.
"That's the story."
Another man speaks up.
"I heard that she jumped a T-888 when it got close to Connor."
"That's what I heard, too." another says.
Kyle nods.
"He said she was holding onto it when it was hit. She got pretty banged up in the blast."
"I doubt that." the first soldier says.
Kyle smirks.
"What? You think Connor gives out promotions just-"
The man cuts him off as he turns to look at Allison.
"For a piece of ass? I would."
Derek scowls at the soldier.
"That would hurt the Resistance. Why don't you think before you open your mouth?"
"Like she did? Nah, I have trouble staying on my knees for that long."
"That's too far." Kyle says.
"Is it? Some of the guys have seen her leaving his room late at night."
Kyle smirks.
"If it were what you're thinking, then shouldn't she be entering his room late at night?"
Another soldier speaks up.
"He has a point, though. Some say that he's been giving her gifts."
"Maybe they're just friends." Derek says.
The first soldier watches Allison as she bends over to pick up a dropped utensil.
"Yeah, maybe he says please before he orders her to polish his 'brass'."
Kyle slams his fist on the table.
"That's enough!"
Derek looks at his brother for a moment. Although the two of them aren't this disrespectful, they had long ago gotten used to hearing comments like these.
"What's so special about her?"
Kyle realizes that he doesn't know himself.
"I have no idea. Somehow she's earned Connor's respect."
Derek furrows his brow at him.
"What about you and Connor?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why does he still talk to you? You're just a lowly sergeant and he's the only five star general in TechCom."
"Thanks a lot Derek. You always know just how to brighten my day... You fuckin' prick."
Kyle leaves the other soldiers expecting a fight as he glares at his brother.
Suddenly he flashes Derek a smile, and the two begin laughing.
"You had me there for a second!"
Scene 235: The Good Die, Young
Thursday November 12th, 2026
2:12am Wasteland - A two day march from TechCom HQ
Specialist Allison Young and her platoon have been sent on a long range recon mission.
They walk along the edge of what used to be a city street. It is now flanked by ruins which stand a fraction of their original height. Nothing but the brick, concrete, and steel portions remain. Everything else was destroyed in the fires of Judgment Day.
The soldiers stay close enough to the ruins to take cover at a moments notice, but far enough that concealed machines or explosions from plasma striking the walls can't reach them.
The platoon doesn't know it, but they are searching a possible location for Skynet's time displacement equipment.
Allison feels the plasma carbine in her hands. After John saw first hand that her plasma rifle was too large for her, he had seen to it that she was issued a more manageable weapon. That alone had saved her life several times.
'Thanks John. You're always looking out for me.'
'Maybe someday I'll be able to return the favor.'
She snorts at her own vanity.
'Yeah right. Maybe when you were a kid you could have used my help, but not now.'
She remembers the bracelet.
'If no one could enter HQ without one of these, we'd need hundreds or even thousands of them.'
'Half of your troops would need one... Where will this really let me go?'
'I know you don't lie, but you don't always tell the truth. What did you leave out?'
'I don't have the rank to be in your inner circle...'
'Maybe this will give me access to classified files? No. I don't have the rank for that either.'
'It must be a mission. That's the only way I'd find out something so far above my rank.'
"Specialist?"
'Wait... you said it's not classified, so this isn't about rank. Where could I go? Where could I go, where I'd need to know something that you said no one but you knows? This doesn't make any sense. You told me that no one else knows, and that it has to stay that way. How can you tell me if I can't know?'
"Specialist?!" her squad leader shouts.
Allison is snapped back to reality.
"Corporal?"
"Nice of you to join us. The Lieutenant wants mines there." he points to where fallen ruins have narrowed the road.
"Yes Corporal."
She sets two mines and begins moving back to her squad.
Something catches her eye.
Turning toward it, she raises her carbine and looks through the scope.
Firing without hesitation, everyone her platoon scrambles to take defensive positions as her squad mates move to support her.
Her squad reaches her side and they see nothing.
"Specialist, what the fuck was that?" the squad leader asks.
"T-600 in standby, Corporal."
Weapon still shouldered, she walks into the ruins to confirm the kill.
The corporal follows and notices the machine's most distinctive feature- its glowing red neck where its head used to be.
"Good initiative Specialist."
"Thank you Corporal."
He motions for his squad to search the area.
"Must have been a rogue, sir" one of the PFC's reports after finding nothing.
"Don't call me 'sir', Private. I work for a living."
"Uh, yes Corporal." he says.
Allison hides her amusement. As a PFC, she had also made the mistake of referring to an enlisted man as 'sir'.
Several minutes later the platoon has finished scouring the area.
"Whatever Connor wants, it isn't here sir." the platoon Sergeant tells the Lieutenant.
"All right Sergeant. We're going home."
As the Sergeant begins to give the order, high yield plasma strikes.
Allison and her platoon mates are showered with gore as the Lieutenant, platoon Sergeant, and an entire fireteam begin raining down on them.
"OGRE!" someone shouts as they spot an H-K Tank smashing through the ruins.
The remaining 4 fireteams run for cover with no leadership.
They all know, however, that there is no cover from a centaur. Its weapons don't run out of ammunition, and they can blast through almost anything in seconds.
Allison isn't the only survivor with explosives.
A member of another fireteam pulls a satchel charge out and hands off the detonator to one of his squad mates.
Before his friend can ask questions, the soldier begins running for the tank.
'No! No one's fast enough for that!' Allison thinks as she watches him try to make it to the machine.
He's struck before he gets close enough.
"We don't have anything that can take it down!" her squad leader shouts over the weapons fire.
Allison reaches for her remaining two mines.
"These'll do it, but we have to draw it closer!"
The Corporal looks at the mines for a moment.
"Do it!"
He turns to the other members of his fireteam.
"All right boys, lets make it happen!"
Allison throws the mines as hard and as far as she can.
The moment that they land, her squad mates run into the street and begin to run around the ruin Allison hides in.
The H-K's fire reaches them, and through broken walls of the ruin, Allison sees them die.
She smells blood and charred flesh as unrecognizable chunks of meat land all around her.
She sheds tears for them, but she doesn't make a sound. The machine will investigate the source of the fleeing soldiers when it runs out of targets, but if it knows that she's there it will destroy the structure from afar without nearing the mines.
There's nothing that she can do. Only her mines can stop it. She hears the last members of her platoon scream as they see their deaths coming.
She holds her detonator as the machine slowly inches forward, searching for survivors.
Allison sees through the crumbling wall that one of her squad mates is still alive.
There is just enough of him left to suffer.
The humane thing to do would be to shoot him, but if she does the tank will find her.
She closes her eyes so that she won't have to look at him anymore.
When she hears the machine get close enough, she holds the detonator close to her chest.
"There's no place like home." she whispers.
*click* *click* *click*
The blast shakes the ground as all four of the mines detonate. Mercifully, the ones planted earlier are close enough to kill the dying soldier.
She sprints out of the ruin as the blast causes it to start coming down, and she sees that the ogre has been destroyed.
Allison looks around for any sign of survivors. She expects someone to come out of the ruins. No one does.
"Is anyone out there?!"
She walks along the edge of the street, counting the scattered remains.
"Did anyone else make it?!"
Allison is getting closer and closer to accounting for every member of her platoon.
She screams at the top of her lungs.
"IS THERE ANYONE LEFT?!"
The only answer comes from the crumbling of the ruins and the crackling of the burning H-K.
A red mark and a rifle warped by intense heat accounts for the last of her fellow soldiers.
Allison collapses to her knees sobbing when reality hits her.
"They're all... they're all gone... all of them..."
She looks at where the platoon leader and the sergeant had been standing minutes earlier.
"They're all dead... every single one... it killed them all..."
Looking back at the burning H-K, her grief slowly turns to rage as she thinks of what Skynet did to her parents, to her platoon, and what it's trying to do to everyone.
"No! We're not all dead! Not yet!"
She stands.
"You haven't killed all of us yet!"
She grasps her carbine and takes one last look at her fallen brethren, before she begins to run in the direction of TechCom HQ.
Scene 236: Nothing Much
Saturday April 12th, 2008
4:19am John and Cameron's motel room
John and Cameron are sitting against the headboard of the bed.
John has his laptop connected to the gray's hard drive.
Suddenly, John slams his laptop closed.
"What is it, John?"
"Huh? Oh, it's nothing."
She places a hand on his shoulder.
"John, I-"
He knocks her arm away with his elbow.
"Do you need to scan me every time I open my mouth?"
She moves away from him slightly.
"I can't scan you with that hand..."
Even realizing what he has done, he keeps his distance.
"I'm sorry. I thought that you were only touching me so you could scan me."
Cameron looks down.
"Is that why you think I stay close to you for?"
"Of course not! I just want you to trust me once in a while."
"What did you find?"
"Nothing. The hard drive was blank."
"You didn't spend the night decrypting nothing."
John disconnects the hard drive from his laptop and carries it to the door.
"I'm telling you that there's nothing on it."
He leaves the motel room without even putting his shoes on.
A short time later he returns without the hard drive.
Cameron hasn't moved since he left, and she says nothing as he returns.
John walks toward her.
Cameron is hurt but smiles anyway, anticipating an apology and an explanation.
Her smile vanishes as he stops short of her and picks up his M4 from beside her on the bed, making sure that it's loaded.
John sets it down even closer to Cameron than it had been before.
Retrieving magazines and grenades he folds several of each into articles of clothing and places them around the motel room, glancing back at Cameron to be certain that she is watching where he's putting them.
He picks up Cameron's Remington 870 and checks it, then places it where he can reach it- he wants Cameron to have the best weapon, and he'll take the left over shotgun.
He does the same with his Glock 17, but places it between the mattress and the headboard.
"John, what are you so afraid of?"
As he shuts off the lights and climbs into bed, she can see that he is keeping his distance from her.
"Nothing. This is just a stupid human thing. Don't worry about it."
Cameron receives no protest when she chooses to sit in a chair rather than remain by his side while he treats her this way.
Scene 237: Domestic Assault
Saturday April 12th, 2008
11:34am John and Cameron's motel room
Waking slowly, John feels comfortable and content knowing that Cameron is nearby.
Then he remembers the hard drive and how he acted after decrypting part of it.
"Cameron?"
Looking around the room, he sees her sitting in a chair by the window.
He knows that she has every right to be upset, but tries to justify lying rather than telling her what he's found.
"Cameron, how many times have you lied to me? How many times have you avoided telling me something?"
She ignores him and continues looking out the window.
"Fine. Have it your way."
She speaks quietly, still staring out the window.
"This is your way."
The subtle emphasis cuts him deeply.
"You'd do the same. You're just better at lying."
She looks at the M4 in her hands.
"You're putting me in danger by not telling me why I need this."
John knows that she is using his emotions against him, but he also knows that it's working.
"Grays might know where we are."
She looks at him in annoyance.
"I already knew that."
John had hoped that it would be enough.
"I also know where they are."
Cameron furrows her brow.
"Then I will kill them before they find us."
John walks over to her and kneels in front of her. He takes her left hand with both of his, ensuring that he's being scanned.
"You can't."
Her confusion increases. Even with her damaged arms she can handle humans.
"They are only human."
John realizes that she doesn't understand what he had meant.
"Cameron, I know where all of the grays are."
"Then we will kill all of them before they find us."
"We can't do that."
"Why not?"
He looks down for a moment, unsure of how to convince her that force won't work.
"They live here. All over the city. They're allowed to have families and homes as long as they work for Skynet. It's sent back dozens of them to 2008 already, and there are hundreds more here."
Her eyes dart from his hands to his face repeatedly.
"How are you defeating my scan?"
John looks confused.
"I can't that I know of."
She pulls her hand away.
"Skynet doesn't allow such autonomy."
"It's tracking them with implants. When one of them doesn't do as they're told, or if they go somewhere without permission, a triple-eight or other grays will show up and kill them and their family."
Cameron quickly calculates that without any kind of rest- other than refueling a vehicle -it would take her approximately 42 days to kill as many as 500 grays in their homes in Los Angeles.
She smiles sweetly and innocently at John.
"Don't worry, I can still kill all of them."
He can't help but chuckle at the contrast between her words and demeanor.
"Maybe, but I'm not going to let you risk yourself."
Cameron tilts her head.
"John, we have to kill them."
"We can't Cameron. There are too many and they're too spread out."
She puts her hand on his shoulder.
"Listen to me, they will hunt us until they kill us. John, we don't have a choice."
"I won't let you kill yourself fighting hundreds of them. Besides, they can't all just be foot soldiers and spies. Some of them must be important enough to be protected by machines."
"John, this is the only way."
He stands quickly, causing her hand to slip from his shoulder.
"No! I'll kill them all myself before I let you kill yourself!"
She sets the M4 on the floor by the chair and stands as well, this time placing a hand on each of his shoulders.
"John, you're human. You can't kill all of them by yourself."
John cups her hyper-alloy cheek and smiles into her eyes.
His features suddenly darken, and Cameron is afraid that he's angry with her.
He peels his hand away from her face and glares at the exposed endoskeleton it had covered.
Then his glare moves to her slightly misshapen right forearm, before shifting to her damaged left shoulder.
She begins to wonder if he will strike her.
Finally he glares at her endoskeletal left leg, as if hoping to melt it with pure hatred.
Cameron fears that she has said or done something terrible.
He turns his back on her.
His tone carries all of the contempt that she had seen in his eyes.
"Yes I can. I'll kill them all."
He walks away from her without looking back.
"John, they'll kill you! Even uninjured you couldn't kill so many!"
He picks up his laptop and answers with no less hatred in his voice.
"I can kill every single one of those motherfuckers with this."
Cameron tilts her head, but he has his back to her.
After several seconds, he quietly answers her unasked question with sorrow and guilt instead of hatred.
"They're hunted down and killed when their implants move without orders. I can tell the system that they've all moved. At first, grays will kill other grays. Then, the machines will start killing everyone. They'll try to run, but the machines can track them anywhere in the world, and they will not stop."
"I understand."
John snorts and turns to face her.
"I just said that I'm going to murder hundreds of families with the press of a button! That's what Skynet does!"
She looks down.
"But you're going to save millions of families."
"And Skynet will prevent a lot of deaths by killing all of us! That doesn't justify it!"
She knows what he's referring to. The lowest possible number of human deaths is the number up until this point plus the number currently alive. By killing everyone, Skynet will technically prevent trillions of human deaths- far from a humanitarian endeavor.
"John, this isn't the same."
John scowls.
"Yes it is. It's murder. You don't feel anything for them, but I do. I do... and I'm going to kill them anyway."
"They work for Skynet."
"I feel nothing for them, Cameron. It's their families. How many kids don't know that their mother or father is trying to kill everyone?"
Cameron moves over to him.
"John? This will... change you... won't it?"
He looks at the laptop in his hands.
"...I've killed people before."
Her voice is soft.
"Let me do this."
He continues staring at the laptop.
"No Cameron. They deserve..."
She tilts her head.
"What do they deserve?"
He swallows and looks at her with watery eyes.
"They deserve to be mourned."
He feels her metal palm slam into the side of his face, knocking him to the floor.
"You would do this to punish yourself?! What about me?! What about when you aren't my John anymore?!"
He never imagined that he could be hit this hard, and certainly not by Cameron.
His cheekbone is broken, the skin covering it has split, and the inside of his cheek has been cut against his molars.
In the spinning and darkening room, John knows that he deserved it.
"Cameron-"
"I won't let you do this to yourself!"
He intends to stand but finds that his balance won't even allow him to remain on his hands and knees.
"You have-."
"No! I won't let you do this to me, either!"
He reaches for her foot.
"Listen to me Camer-"
"No, you listen to me!"
"Cameron, you have-"
"Stop it John!"
She won't let him finish a sentence, so he drags himself to the bed and sits against it with the left side of his face concealed from the door to his right.
"Okay, Cam. Just sit here with me."
She doesn't understand but sits beside him anyway.
John is uncertain if he will remain conscious.
"If I pass out, you need to explain this quickly."
As she tilts her head, the door flies open.
Sarah enters with her SPAS, but lowers the weapon when she sees the two of them sitting together.
"I heard shouting. Is everything okay?"
"We're fine, mom. Put the gun down."
John whispers to Cameron, and she moves to his left side. John is now between her and his mother.
His mother knows that something isn't right.
"John, what's wrong?"
"Put the gun down and we'll talk."
"Did she do something to you? Did she hurt you?"
"You know that she'd never hurt me."
"Then what happened to you?"
As the daze finally begins to wear off, he is able to think of a convincing lie.
"I accidently took too much morphine."
Sarah knows that he isn't even supposed to be on morphine. She also knows that an overdose can be lethal.
She rushes over to him and drops her shotgun on the way.
Reaching her son she moves her hands toward his face, intending to check his pupils.
His hands clamp down on her wrists as hard as he can, and he keeps his face turned away from her.
"Mom, listen to me. She didn't do anything wrong."
She rips her hands from from his grasp.
"What did she do?!"
"She didn't-"
"I hit him." Cameron says.
"What?!"
"Mom, it wasn't-"
Sarah turns his head so that she can see the side that he's been hiding.
His eye is already swelling shut, blood is running from near his cheekbone, and the entire side of his face is bruised and swollen.
Sarah runs for her shotgun, and whirls around.
John has recovered enough that he is able to stand unsteadily and has kept himself between Cameron and his mother.
"Mom, she was protecting me! You would have done it!"
"Get away from her, John!"
John looks around the room.
"Cameron, stay behind me."
Still facing his mother, he moves to his right until he and Cameron are opposite the bed from Sarah.
Sarah watches for an opening.
John doesn't take his eyes off of his mother as he addresses Cameron.
"Do you trust me?"
"Yes John."
"Lay on the floor, and go into standby."
"But Joh-"
"Cameron, if you love me, you'll do this."
"John... okay."
She sits on the floor, then reclines, then her world goes dark.
Scene 238: Ice Queen
Saturday April 12th, 2008
12:04pm John and Cameron's motel room
Cameron begins lays on the floor as John shakes her.
Cameron sees the last 15 seconds of her life play in real time as her system reboots.
After the fifteen seconds pass, she sees John's concerned and damaged face.
"John, I didn't mean to hit you that hard."
He laughs.
"I'm sure I deserved it."
Her tone is remorseful
"No you didn't. I've damaged you. I've caused you pain."
She doesn't sit up, so he leans the rest of the way down intending to hug her.
As the uninjured right side of his face passes hers, an iron grip closes on his shirt and holds him back.
"John, what did you do?"
"Mom wanted to destroy you, but I convinced her that everything was fine."
She looks at his right temple.
"How did you do that?"
"Don't worry about it, Cam. We negotiated. That's all."
Compensating for his emotional state, her scan says that he is telling the truth. However, she knows what he has done.
"John, I can see the mark on the side of your head."
He looks confused, then brushes his temple and sees eleven day old powder residue. His Glock 17 had not been cleaned since it was last used, and the barrel had left a black ring on his temple.
"I'm sorry Cameron. I knew that she wouldn't listen to reason."
"You think that putting a gun to your own head is reasonable?"
John leans back and sits.
"I think that it worked. Besides, my finger was outside of the trigger guard."
She gently squeezes his leg and says nothing.
"Why do you have to scan me whenever I try to make you feel better?"
"I do it because I want the truth."
John closes his eyes and takes a deep beath, exhaling slowly before looking at her.
"You want honesty? Fine. Not only was my finger was on the trigger, I also took up the slack."
John picks up his Glock. In on motion, he releases the magazine and locks back the slide before using his finger to make sure that the chamber is clear.
Hitting the slide stop lever, the slide slams forward and he begins applying pressure to the trigger so that she can see it.
"Cameron, I pulled the trigger to about... there."
He feels a sharp pain in his thigh as Cameron pinches him, and the Glock's striker falls on an empty chamber.
She looks at him with disappointment, but says nothing.
John's mother had taught him the dangers of placing his finger on the trigger when he was not prepared to fire. Being startled may cause the trigger finger to spasm, discharging the weapon.
"Cam, I already knew that. That's part of why it worked. My mom knew that even if I were bluffing, the noise from her shotgun would have caused me to fire."
She takes the gun and reloads it, but does not return it to him.
"You shouldn't bluff with a loaded weapon."
John looks away.
"She's my mother. She's as good at reading me as you are. Probably better. She's just nice enough to let me think that I've fooled her." he taps his head "She knows what goes on in here-" then pats the bed "-and on here. Why do you think she moved to the room next door?"
Her disappointment increases and John begins to wonder if she'll ever forgive him.
"You weren't bluffing?"
John closes his eyes, fighting the pain of imagining his own mother being the one to take his Cameron away.
"If I didn't come out on top, you and I would both have been dead anyway."
She looks at the firearm in her hand.
"I don't know if I can trust you with a weapon anymore."
John sits quietly for a moment then touches his face and looks at her.
"Why did you hit me?"
She's surprised, then concerned.
"I'm sorry, John. I swear I didn't mean to hit you so hard."
"I forgive you, now can you please tell me what happened."
Cameron quickly stands and holds a hand out to him.
"You have a mild traumatic brain injury."
John smiles and takes her hand allowing her to help him to his feet.
"That sounds like an oxymoron. It's easier to call it a concussion." his hand goes to his forehead, "Whoa."
Her concern and guilt increases.
"What is it?"
John chuckles as he answers her.
"The room is moving a little- that's my HUD saying 'equilibrium compromised: sit the hell down'."
She frowns.
"John, this isn't funny. You could have brain damage because of me."
"I don't have brain damage. I didn't pass out. And yes, it is funny."
"You only think that because I knocked some sense out of you."
John nearly doubles over laughing.
She continues frowning.
"John, that wasn't a joke."
She pulls back the covers on the bed, then picks him up and places him on it before removing his excess clothing.
She walks over to the bag of clothes and picks up her hooded sweatshirt. Putting it on and closing the hood, she places her right hand in her pocket as she walks out the door.
"Cameron, don't go!"
She stops and and smiles over her shoulder at him.
"I'll be back."
Minutes later, she returns with a bag of ice and several cans of soda from a vending machine.
John has noticed that his laptop is missing, and deduces that Cameron had snuck it out when she left.
"Why did you take my laptop?"
She begins to put some of the ice into a smaller bag.
"Your amnesia will pass. Sarah no longer intends to kill me."
John remembers not only holding a gun to his head, but also some of the things that he had said to his mother.
"You spoke to her?"
"Yes, she thanked me."
Cameron puts the rest of the ice into the freezer and all but one of the sodas into the refrigerator.
John smiles at her.
"Cam, it's no fun to drink alone."
She opens the refrigerator and takes one for herself, then walks toward the bed.
He expects her to hand him the ice pack, instead she lays beside him and holds it against his face with her endoskeletal hand.
She looks as if she is about to cry.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause you so much pain."
He places his hand on the back of her head, his splayed fingers going through her hair as he pulls her in and kisses her.
"Cameron, I'm feeling many things right now, but pain isn't one of them."
It doesn't cheer her up.
"You're just saying that to make me feel better. I know that you're in pain."
John smiles.
"Do I look like I'm in pain?"
Cameron thinks for a moment before giving him a mischievous smile that he's only seen once before.
"Not yet." she says, removing a piece of ice from the bag and popping it into her mouth.
John grins, thinking that he knows what's next. Instead, she begins to disappear beneath the covers. He stops her. He no longer remembers the events leading up to his encounter with his mother, but doesn't believe for a second that Cameron would have struck him unless it was necessary.
"Cam, you don't owe me anything."
She leans in and they pass the ice back and forth a few times, before she pulls away and smiles.
"We'll both feel better about today... after I reduce the swelling."
Slipping beneath the blankets, he recoils as her ice cold endoskeletal hand comes to rest on his thigh.
Anticipation causes him to forget about the pain in his face.
He feels hot breath, then he feels both the heat and the cold.
"Oh fuck!"
Both disappear, and Cameron's tone is playful.
"Be quiet. I don't think you want your mother coming through that door right now."
Scene 239: Taking a Punch
6:59pm Derek's motel room
There's a knock at the door.
"Who is it?"
"It's me." his nephew's voice answers.
Derek walks over and opens the door and lets John in.
He's surprised by his nephew's appearance.
"Jesus, she really fucked you up."
"She did me a favor. Where's the hard drive?"
"Uh-uh, you aren't getting it back."
John shakes his head, realizing that either Cameron or his mother has spoken to Derek.
"That isn't why I want it. I won't do that to Cameron."
His uncle looks at him with disapproval.
"What about your mother?"
John ignores him.
"The satellite the grays are being tracked with is privately owned. I need to find out who owns it."
Derek smiles.
"That's a nice story."
John tilts his head.
"You don't believe me?"
"I've told a few of them myself."
John snorts.
"That's because you don't know what you're talking about. I bet that you don't even know the difference between a program, and a virus!"
"Of course I do-"
"A virus is a program, Derek!"
Derek sighs, wondering if he'll ever win an argument against his nephew.
"I'm still not giving it back. I'll leave it up to your mother."
"She's computer illiterate! She thinks they're typewriters with pretty lights!"
Derek grabs John's shirt and pushes him against the wall.
"Hey! That's no way to talk about your mother! Not everyone is lucky enough to still have theirs!"
Anger flashes momentarily in John's eyes followed by resignation, and he looks down.
"You're right. I should show her more respect."
Derek releases him.
"You can start by not keeping her up all night."
John furrows his brow.
"What are you talking about?"
"You and that plaything of yours."
John scowls.
"She's not my plaything!"
Derek pokes John's swollen cheek.
"That's right, she's not a toy! She's dangerous!"
John seems prepared to attack his uncle.
"She isn't dangerous!"
Derek smirks.
"Your face proves otherwise."
"It was for my own good!"
His mother's voice comes from behind him.
"You really believe that..."
John turns to face her.
"So do you, mom! I know you do! You thanked her!"
Sarah is incredulous.
"Do you have brain damage?! You think I'd thank her for hitting you!"
"You did thank her!"
Sarah moves closer and lowers her voice. They've already made far too much noise.
"Listen to me, I thanked her for stopping you from killing people. She didn't have to hit you to do that."
The motion of his jaw and the increase in blood pressure from arguing causes the throbbing pain in his face and head to return worse than ever. There's only one person who is ever able to make his pain go away.
Derek speaks up.
"'She' isn't what you think 'she' is. Have you looked in a mirror lately, pretty boy?"
"I don't care. It's not her fault that she's a cyborg."
His mother grabs his shoulder and turns him toward her.
"I know how you feel about her but she isn't human. She's dangerous."
John glares at his mother through the pain.
"That's how you feel about Derek, too."
Derek assumes that he's talking about something she had said shortly after rescuing him from police custody.
"John, we're worried about you. You said that this one wouldn't be the machine that kills you. Look at the condition you're in. It came close."
Sarah speaks again.
"Listen to us. We're just trying to help you. I want you to be safe... that might mean keeping you away from Cameron."
John stops defending himself or Cameron. He just lets the two of them lay into him. The sooner he gets it over with, the sooner he can return to her, and the sooner the pain will stop.
Scene 240: Smooth Criminal
Sunday April 13th, 2008
3:24am John and Cameron's motel room
Cameron lays motionless. She's in standby.
John has just finished dressing and packing.
'She feels so bad about hurting me... There's no way that she'd have agreed to go into standby other than guilt.'
He smiles at the sight of her resting peacefully. Smiling causes pain, but he doesn't notice as he stares at her.
'She's so perfect.'
Moving over to her, he brushes a few strands of her hair from her face.
John leaves the room and sets a duffel bag near Derek's room as he walks to the motel's reception area.
He greets the man working there.
Seeing John's face, the man's eyes widen momentarily.
"What happened to you?"
He thinks of an answer and is barely able to suppress his smile. The game hasn't even started and he has already won.
"The walkway is uneven near my room... I tripped yesterday."
The man quickly becomes overly polite and generous, fearing a lawsuit. John declines additional programming on his television, a larger room at no extra cost, as well as a free extra night.
"I just need an extra key to room three and to room twenty-one."
The man quickly glances at his book.
"What's your name, son?"
John's ID is unnecessary, but he shows it anyway in order to make his story more convincing- mainly by making himself appear innocent and clueless.
"John Lyman."
The man sees John Lyman for one room, and Sarah Lyman for the other.
"Well... here's one to room three, but I'm sorry. I can't give you a key to room twenty-one."
John fakes a pained grunt, and places his hand on his injured cheek.
"That's okay. I'll tell my mom that she has to come get it herself. She's pretty upset right now, though."
The man seizes the easy way out- the one that John has herded him toward all along.
"Uh... no no, that's all right. Er, I don't want to inconvenience her. Here's a key for your mother."
'Checkmate'
John smiles.
"Thank you very much, sir."
"Oh no, thank you. Oh, and enjoy your stay!"
Key in hand, he reaches Derek's room and opens the door quietly. He had intended to borrow his uncle's lock picks in order to get into his mother's room, by doesn't need them now.
Having snuck into and out of many places during his childhood, he knows that he will not even wake his uncle or mother.
John takes a moment to glance around the room with a very dim flashlight, careful not to point it at Derek.
'If I were a paranoid war veteran where would I hide something important?'
He smirks.
'No, if I were a detached and nihilistic war vet, I wouldn't see it as important.'
Noticing the binders of intel, he walks over and opens one and closes it in disappointment.
'This is nothing compared to what's on that drive- which is right where I expected.'
It was simply placed with the binders. Treated as just another piece of intelligence.
He quietly leaves the room and places the hard drive in his duffel bag.
Entering his mother's room with the duffel bag, he's far more nervous. He knows that he won't wake her, but he's worried that her concern for him will cause her to wake on her own during the night. He also has no idea how long it will take him to find his laptop.
'She knows me. She would expect this. Where would she hide it? Where wouldn't I look?'
John scans the room.
'No, not looking isn't good enough. She's too smart for that. What place would I avoid?'
He stares at her as if she might tell him where it is.
She moves in her sleep, and John realizes that his mother is wearing only a bra above her waist.
He quickly covers his eyes and turns away.
'I really didn't want to see that.'
John notices his mother's bag of clothing and smirks.
'You never give me enough credit. I'm smarter than you think I am.'
Searching the bag, sure enough, the laptop is buried in undergarments.
Placing the laptop in his bag, he turns toward his mother.
'Now for the hard part.'
Setting the bag near her bed, he looks underneath it and sees two large bags.
'Damn it. Which is the right one.'
He gently prods one of them, finding metal. He doesn't want guns, he wants money, and slowly begins pulling the other bag out.
Moving the bag slowly enough to remain silent takes almost all of the patience that any human could hope to achieve.
After nearly two minutes, the bag is where he can open it.
Grasping the zipper, he takes another thirty seconds to unzip it enough to transfer some of its contents his bag.
He takes 25 bundles of money. Even if they are ten dollar notes, he will have $25,000- but he knows that the only bills his mother had given him at the mall were hundreds.
Closing the flap on the bag of money, he slowly begins to slide it back under the bed. He stays calm and listens to his mother's breathing to make sure that she is still sleeping. He only moves it far enough under the bed that it will not raise suspicion until someone actually looks for it.
Carefully, he lifts his duffel bag and moves to her leather jacket. Checking the pockets, he finds a key to the car.
As he reaches the door, he holds his breath and closes his eyes while turning the knob.
Even stepping outside and closing the door behind himself, he continues to hold his breath until he is several steps away.
Returning to his room, he picks up everything- including the sodas from the refrigerator -and carries all of it into the parking lot, and loads it into the blue car.
Hopping in and starting it, he finds that it is quieter than expected.
No longer fearing that the engine would wake his mother, he parks the car next to his motel room and leaves it running with the rear passenger side door open.
'You won't separate us.'
He walks into his room without closing the door behind himself, and looks at Cameron's still form. The sight does not bring a smile to his face this time.
John doesn't even know if she can be moved without waking, and fifteen seconds isn't enough time to put her into the car.
"Please Cam, please don't wake up." he whispers to her.
Pulling the covers off of her, he lifts her as slowly as he can. Without the injury to his face as a distraction, he wonders if the pain from his gunshot wound and related surgery would be too great for him to move her at all.
He reaches the car, unsure if she's waking up or not, and lays her down in the back seat and slowly shuts the car door.
After closing the door to the motel room as well, he gets into the driver's seat and begins to drive away slowly.
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