"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God."

- John 1:19

2009

FOUR DAYS UNTIL UNIVERSAL COLLAPSE

Malcolm Young walked into the expanding police perimeter and pushed the yellow tape over his head. The night sky was in full bloom with a full moon complementing the stars and lights that were shining millions of light years away. He could hear police dogs barking, orders being given, men being dropped off from a variety of different federal vehicles, and the thundering chatter of the media and general public behind the thin yellow tape that was barely restraining them.

They wanted blood, Malcolm could smell it. It was in the air.

"We're here tonight at central park where Sarah Connor, now currently the FBI's most wanted after her recent escape from authorities, is reportedly being cordoned off." A female reporter eagerly spoke into a nearby news camera. "Earlier tonight, Connor and several unknown accomplices reportedly launched a full-scale attack on the incoming governor Wyman's recent speech right across from Friedman Plaza. It is unknown at this time of Wyman's current status, but it is now assumed he is being held hostage in a desperate standoff between Sarah Connor and the authorities. More to come, after these messages."

Malcolm cursed under his breath at the woman's findings as he continued further into the perimeter. A quick flash of his federal insignia bought him more and more access by personnel until he was at the front of the ordeal.

"Special Agent Malcolm Young. This perimeter is officially mine."

"About time you got here." The police captain said as the two man shook hands. "What took you so long?"

"It's a frenzy out here, traffic was pretty bad – even for LA standards."

"I hear you."

"Have we sent in any negotiators yet?"

"Negative."

"What are we waiting on, then?"

"SWAT, FBI, DHS, National Guard. They're all hear. We have all the firepower in the world in this one spot. I don't think talking would be the best play here. We need to go in blasting. You know Connor will not negotiate with anyone."

Holy cow. Malcolm thought. Hundreds of law enforcement, military, and federal agents on site were here for one reason. And he was in charge of it. This was it. This was the breaking point he needed to secure his future in the department for good.

"Alright, let's get started." Young said. "First let's see some schematics. I understand we're working with only a handful of exits..."

"They're sure are going crazy out there, aren't they?" The voice of Charley Dixon made itself known again in Sarah's mind. "How are you going get out of this one, I wonder?"

"I've been through worse." Sarah retorted.

"I don't think so." Charley strolled around the vault with his hands loosely in his pocket. "This is it. This is the big one. This has to be the biggest can of whoop-ass in U.S. history and you're about to have it dumped right on your head."

"You think?"

Sarah Connor feverishly rubbed the wrist that she had stuck into a machine a few minutes prior.

"What do you think that was about anyway?" Charley inquired about Sarah's recent injection.

"No idea. I'm more worried about the girl on that screen."

"Looked just her. Cameron, I mean. Except she was…"

"Human." Sarah concluded.

"This just keeps getting better! You couldn't make this stuff up! How do you do it, Sarah?" Charley kneeled down next to Sarah. "How do you keep putting up with this BS for so long?"

"I drink. When I can… What's that?"

Sarah walked over to a lone object that was clothed by a dusty sheet.

"Looks expensive, I wouldn't touch it." Charley said.

Sarah gently pulled back the cloth to reveal something unexpected.

"I've seen this before." Sarah said as she picked up the Isotope Cannon. "We used it in 1999 to blow away Chromartie in that bank vault."

"It didn't do its job every well."

"No, but it's very powerful. I'm sure it has a variety of… applications." Sarah said with a devilish grin.

"There's the Sarah I know. I knew she was in there."

"Look at this, nine millimeters, AKs, C4, stun grenades… this place has everything."

"Well, would you look what we have here…" Charlie approached a large cyclical device in tucked away in the corner. At its top was a big red button with a complete lack of subtety.

"I wouldn't –" Sarah's voice was abruptly stopped when she saw Charley's hand press down on it. "Charley, I said wait!"

A large buzzing noise, followed by a large round burst searing with electric compounds. All the light bulbs around Sarah burst without a second thought. The whole room went dark, there was only silence.

"Whoops." Charley said plainly in the black.

"You idiot. I told you not to touch that."

"Well, technically, since I'm a figment of your imagination, YOU touched it. Am I right?"

Sarah shook her head. "I hate you so much right now."

Malcolm Young was finishing the straps on his bullet proof vest once he received the final sitrep from the captain at his side. The growing crowd behind him was growing increasingly restless. It wouldn't be long now.

"Alright, we have all our teams in place. We just need the order."

"Okay, tell them to hold on for now. I'm coming up there myself, and then we can start." Malcolm said.

Suddenly, everything in a one block radius went dead. The street lights, search lights, radios, television cameras all went out. There was a few moments of eerie silence before the screaming started.

"What the hell was that?" Malcolm yelled out into the captain.

"No idea! Some sort of power surge! We just lost all of communications!" The man yelled back. Inside his mind, Malcolm's military background connected the dots as to what just happened.

"Dammit! We just got hit by an EMP!" Malcolm shook his useless radio as it to confirm that fact. "We need to move on Connor, now!"

The crowd was in utter chaos, knocking over barricades, fences, TV equipment, and even themselves. Malcolm drew his pistol and joined the captain as they ran to Sarah's location. She was not getting away.

"Alright, don't panic. The comms are down. We need to assume that Connor is ready to run. Let's stay frosty, people."

The door to the basement was completely covered by two eight men SWAT teams, complete with breaching equipment. Each man took a second to check over their automatic weapons a final time before the team leader spoke again.

"Set all weapons -"

A large explosion came from the door, interrupting the man and knocking all sixteen trained warriors to the ground in a one large concussive motion.

"Target sighted!" One of the men yelled as he tried to get off the floor.

He would be the first, Sarah thought.

From the flames of the doorway, Sarah emerged with a large duffel bag strapped to her back. As the man uselessly tried to train his weapon on Sarah, she sent him back on the ground with a calculated shoulder slam that allowed her to keep running as the rest of the men struggled to their feet.

"She's on the move!" One of the men said behind her as she made her way up the stairs.

She was greeted by two regular police patrol men next. They couldn't make her out in the darkness, but Sarah's years of self-discipline and training made them easy prey.

"It's Connor, take her down!" One of them reached forward with nine millimeter in hand. It was too easy for Sarah to break his wrist. Launching the man's entire body into his partner using a variety of leg movements was a different story. But there was so much adrenaline coursing throughout her system that it took very little out of her and both men flew down the stairs from where she just came.

She kept running.

The darkness was her advantage here. It was her tool to stay ahead of the voices that were yelling for blood behind her.

Climbing up the ladder, Sarah finally made her way to the stage where Wyman made his speech. But her good fortune and reckless pace could only get her so far. Sarah had to squint her eyes as she was suddenly enveloped in light.

"Sarah Connor! Do not move! Throw down your weapons or you will be fired upon!" The familiar buzzing of a police helicopter clouded Sarah's senses. The helicopter had its searchlight training completely on her along with a man on board with a minigun trained on Sarah.

This was getting harder.

"Tear gas out!" A voice on her level yelled out. Three open gas canisters joined Sarah on the stage and began spilling their contents. The stage became a large cloud in a manner of seconds.

These boys had their toys. But Sarah had hers. She already slipped on the gas mask she kept in the duffel bag as various National Guardmen stormed the stage. Already, she had torn off the pins of every stun grenade she had. But she couldn't stop the butt of an M4 against her cranium by one of the faster soldiers.

"Hands in the air, Con-" The grenades had already gone off on the stage before he could finish. The gas masked National Guardsmen clawed useless at their eyes as Sarah parted from the fog of gas and light and made her way to the general public. It was her best shot.

"We need to get this place tied down!" Malcolm yelled over the ensuing chaos to the captain. "She's going to use the crowd to escape!" Years of experience took over as cops, soldiers, and field agents struggled to regain control all around them.

Malcolm stopped. Normally, he wouldn't. There was so much going on. But right in the corner of his eye, something peculiar stuck out. Something of interest. A woman, who was hurriedly walking as scores of people were buzzing in every direction. A woman with auburn hair and drenched in sweat.

"You four come with me. Now. I think I have her." Malcolm motioned to four Army National Guard infantrymen as he gripped his nine millimeter furiously.

Malcolm made it ten steps to get a better view before confirming his suspicions.

"Sarah Connor!" He yelled out.

Sarah's luck was starting to run out. She knew she was made and started running again without giving a backwards glance at her pursuers. It was all or nothing now.

"Alright, she went in here. This library has three floors, eight exits, and a roof. I need you to split up and find her. We need her alive." Malcolm ordered his men as Sarah watched them enter the building from the ground floor.

Sarah had already made it up the flight of stairs leading to the second floor. Outside, she could hear thunder and the light taps of rain on a nearby window. If her phone hadn't been fried in the EMP, she would've called Ellison for advice. But she knew what needed to be done. It was them or her.

She could see all of them dispersing below into various directions. Two remained on the ground floor. Malcolm and two others began walking up three different staircases – one of them was near Sarah.

The sergeant continued to climb up with an M4 at the ready. Sarah snuck up and grabbed him by the neck while silently bringing him to the ground. The man struggled silently with Sarah's free hand over his mouth. As he became limp, Sarah carefully placed his body on the ground and hid him in the nearby shadows.

"Sarah, come out now and you will not be harmed!" Malcolm's voice echoed throughout the building.

Sarah kept her head under the second floor's railing and continued walking silently toward the third floor staircase ten feet from her.

"We can talk about this! There's no need for anymore violence tonight!"

Another soldier almost made Sarah as she made it to the top of the stairs. He was scanning the nearby bookcases for her as she quickly too shelter behind another one adjacent to them. A crack of thundered ripped across the night sky as Sarah quickly struck him in the abdomen and used all her might to push him over the wooden railing, sending the man roaring two stories back down to main floor.

"She's over there! Move!"

Malcolm ran to Sarah's position but was greeted with a headbutt by Sarah en route. He had fallen into her trap and he knew it. He then received the embarrassment of being disarmed and pistol-whipped with his own weapon before feeling the cold metal being pressed against his temple.

"Don't move or I'll shoot him." Sarah said as she held the special agent hostage in front of her.

"Do as she says." Malcolm said to the two remaining men. "Connor, this isn't the answer."

"Yes, it is." Sarah growled. "You started this, now we'll see it through. Together."

The two remaining soldiers silently kept their weapons trained on Sarah as she slowly led her and Malcolm to the last staircase leading to the fourth floor – the roof.

"You can't win, Connor. They're everywhere."

"You have no idea."

"Listen. Give me the gun. I'll promise to do everything I can to make sure you get a fair trial."

"Shut. Up." Sarah squeezed harder on Malcolm's throat to further her point.

The two soldiers continued to cautiously follow her up the final flight of stairs, leading to a metal door which Sarah promptly kicked open without losing her gaze with the two men in front of her.

Sarah released Malcolm once they felt the rain on the roof and the metal door was closed behind them. It was just the two them now.

"Block it off." Sarah snarled as she kept Malcolm's weapon trained on his head.

The man complied and placed a nearby metal pipe in the latch to ensure the door would remain closed.

"Very good. Hands up. Now."

"What's the goal here, Sarah?" Malcolm asked sincerely.

He took a step closer to Sarah. "Let me help you. You have a federal agent as your hostage. Play this right, you can make it out of this. I promise."

"He's reaching for the knife on his belt." Charley remarked while standing behind Malcolm. "Sarah, watch out!"

In one quick motion, Malcolm unsheathed the blade and swiped at Sarah's neck. Sarah could feel the blade dig into some skin, but she was fast enough to avoid the bulk of the blade from tearing into her jugular. Using the opportunity, Malcolm kicked the weapon out of Sarah's hand.

"You wanna dance, little boy?" Sarah recomposed herself and put up her fists.

"Sarah Connor, you have violated over a dozen federal regulations and have openly attacked U.S. troops." Malcolm said as he wiped sweat from his forehead. "There's no way out of this for you."

"We'll see."

Another lunge, another swipe. Sarah felt a small cut form into her jacket as she smashed her open palm into Malcolm's face.

"Is that all you got?" Malcolm said as he wiped the blood away from his leaking nose.

Sarah was exhausted, but there was no way she was letting this man be the one to take her down. "You must be one of the slower ones. You really have no idea who you're dealing with."

Malcolm began his final lunge when Sarah intercepted his blade with two practices hands.

"What the-?"

Knocking the blade to the side, Sarah delivered a crushing blow to Malcolm's head before following it up with a series of multiple quick strikes to his abdomen. And then a knee. And then foot. And then another foot. And final knee to his face once he hit the concrete ground. Malcolm was down in a matter of moments and feeling every bit of Sarah's fury paralyzing his body.

"Oh, I think this belongs to you." Sarah picked up the knife and quickly jammed it in the man's leg. Malcolm gave one more groan before slumping into unconsciousness.

Sarah admired her bruised knuckles for a brief instant and loosened up her tight muscles. Lucky, old girl. Lucky.

There was banging on the door. Sarah was still panting and exhausted. She quickly determined her options before settling on the fire escape nearby. As the door slammed open, she was already climbing down to the alleyway below.

Despite everything, Sarah thought to herself, she felt good. The EMP blast had left most of the police force after her blind, deaf, and dumb. Tracking her at this point would be miraculous, to say the least.

Sarah pulled up the hood to her jacket and disappeared into the night.

Whew. This one wore me out. And the next one is going to be a doozy. I'll be tying all the concepts together so far as Act I of the story arc comes to a close. It will be three chapters of content squeezed into one. Lots of you have sent me messages so far; those haven't gone ignored. Everything you've seen so far will be revisited so if there's anything specific that you feel needs to be addressed or explored more - let me know.