Cameron quickly scanned Tom's injuries; the bullet had sliced through his throat. "He's losing a lot of blood. He will become unconscious soon," Cameron observed.
"Can you help him?" John asked.
"No, there is nothing I can do," Cameron said emotionlessly.
"What about it?' Derek asked referring to the Terminator.
"It will restart soon," Cameron said. "Its chip could give us information on its activities," Cameron said.
John nodded as Tom lost consciousness and died. Cameron took out a knife and sliced into the Terminator's head. Finding the port she opened the Terminator's head and took at the chip. Putting the chip into her pocket, she then lifted the Terminator over her shoulder and put it in the back of the jeep.
"What about the body?" John asked.
"Leave it. The authorities will not have records on him," Cameron said.
Derek was about to protest but realized it would not be practical to hull a dead body around. "It's time to leave," Cameron said as more police sirens could be heard in the distance.
"That guy gave me an address to Katherine Brewster's house," John said as Cameron drove off.
"He was delusional, the address could be a trap," Cameron judged.
"This could be the break we need. If we find her we can talk to her father," John argued.
"It's too risky," Cameron replied.
"I think the kid might be onto something. I think we should check it out," Derek agreed.
"You're human curiosity is not tactically sound," Cameron pointed out.
"Let's just see where this place is. If it's bad we can turn back," Derek suggested.
"No, any interaction between John and Katherine Brewster at this time could threaten the timeline," Cameron objected.
"You know what? I don't care for your attitude. I am taking the wheel," Derek said grabbing the wheel.
Cameron resisted causing the jeep to swerve. Cars honked as the jeep swerved into both lanes of traffic. "Cease this action," Cameron told Derek.
"Give me the wheel metal bitch," Derek yelled.
Cameron elbowed Derek hard to the jaw and regained control of the wheel. The jeep suddenly hit a car and came to a stop. "See what you did?" Derek said while rubbing his jaw.
"That was not helpful," Cameron pointed out.
"It's your fault. You wouldn't follow my orders," Derek said angrily.
"I do not take orders from you," Cameron said.
"I thought you did whatever John told you to do," Derek said smugly.
"Not this John," Cameron clarified.
Derek ran out of things to say. He looked into the backseat. "Where is John?" Derek wondered.
Cameron quickly looked behind her and saw that John was missing. "He must be trying to get to the address on foot," Cameron concluded.
Derek looked around and could not find John anywhere. "This is just great," Derek exclaimed.
"Take the jeep back home and dispose of the Terminator. I will find John," Cameron said giving Derek the keys.
Cameron hopped out of the jeep and ran down the street; she had also memorized the address. Derek activated the jeep and took off down the street.
Cameron crossed a green field and went through the gated community; she was at the address. Her eyes scanned the field and found John a distance away. Cameron calmly walked towards John walking past trees and flower gardens.
John was standing still looking down as Cameron approached. "Why didn't you tell me?" John asked Cameron softly.
Cameron stared at what John was looking at; it was a tombstone. They were in the middle of a giant cemetery. The tombstone in front of John had Katherine Brewster's name engraved into it. It stated: "Here lies Katherine Brewster. 1984-1996."
"She was killed by a Terminator unit in 1996. Two Resistance fighters were sent to intercept the Terminator and protect Katherine. They failed, Tom was one of those two," Cameron answered.
"And the Terminator backed there is what killed her?" John asked.
"Possibly. I will have to analyze the chip," Cameron said.
"How is this possible? If she died in 1996 then how was Sean born?" John asked confused.
"This timeline has no effect on my timeline. Katherine Brewster is dead in this timeline but not in mine," Cameron explained.
"No effect? Wait, it affects everything. What we do today changes the future," John said.
"Your possible future perhaps. My future will remain the same regardless of what happens in this timeline," Cameron said.
"So, I am not John Connor, savior of mankind?" John asked.
"That depends on events that occur in this timeline. You don't have a destiny John. You choose what you will do with your life," Cameron answered.
"You are not even the same as the John Connor of my timeline. Your fathers are different. You are the biological half-brother of John Connor of my timeline," Cameron said.
John stared at Cameron. "So, why does Skynet want to kill me if I am not even the real John Connor?" John asked.
"Even though you are not exactly the same as John Connor of my timeline, Skynet sees you as a symbolic figure. If you were to die it would demoralize the Resistance. That was the rational in 1984. But now things have changed since then. Your mother destroyed a T-800 series and you destroyed a T-1000 prototype. You have also had the benefit of knowing ahead of time the reality of Judgment Day. In many ways you are more dangerous than the original John Connor," Cameron explained.
"Every unit of time corresponds to a universe. Every universe is exactly identical to the other, but they are progressing at different times. Every timeline that has or will reach August 29th, 1997 will face Judgment Day except this one," Cameron said.
"Why this one?" John asked; he was trying to absorb all the information.
"In every possible timeline that has or will exist Skynet will lose. Skynet created the time displacement generator so that it would be able to win in this timeline. It thought it could secure its survival by killing your mother in 1984, but it failed. Your mother and a T-800 series delayed Judgment Day by destroying Cyberdyne in 1994. That is why this timeline is different than mine," Cameron said.
"So, why do you care what happens in this time?" John asked.
"The Resistance sent a lone Terminator and a dozen fighters to this time to prevent Skynet from winning in this time. And there was a slight chance that this universe would be different than the others. I desired a peaceful world without Skynet," Cameron answered.
"This timeline has life and creativity. There is more to study and observe here than anything seen in my timeline," Cameron said.
John sighed depressed. "My mom thought it would be my destiny to be a military leader and save the world. Now, none of its true. It was never true," John said.
"You have the potential to be better than you are. You have attributes and resources the original John never had. You and your mother are the only ones that know about Skynet. You can still change this timeline," Cameron said encouragingly.
"I will not allow you to fail John. I value this world and what it offers. I will not allow Skynet to succeed," Cameron promised.
John smiled weakly. "Why didn't you tell me this earlier?" John asked.
"You thought you had a destiny. I didn't want you to lose hope," Cameron answered.
"I need to know I can trust you. If you hide this kind of stuff from me I don't know what will happen," John said seriously.
"I understand," Cameron replied.
John turned to the tombstone. "So, Sean will never be born," John assumed.
"You can end the war for him," Cameron said.
John smirked at that. "This really sucks. I met her in tenth grade. I thought there was something there and then you guys showed up," John said almost resentful.
"Make your own decisions John. Mate whoever you want," Cameron told him.
John blushed embarrassed by the comment. "We should get out of here," John suggested.
"I will call your mother," Cameron said pulling out a cell phone.
"Wait, I don't want you tell her what you told me," John stopped her.
"Why?" Cameron wondered.
"It will shatter her world. I don't think she would be able to take it," John explained.
"She would lose her effectiveness?" Cameron asked.
"Yeah," John confirmed.
"Understood," Cameron said preparing to dial.
Cameron saw something through the reflection of the cell phone screen. Putting the phone away she looked up and saw a figure approaching her. John also saw the figure walking towards them but thought nothing of it. He was a Chinese man in a black suit, typical for a cemetery visit.
"Get down," Cameron ordered John.
John and Cameron immediately hid behind a tombstone as the Chinese man scanned the cemetery. "What's wrong?" John asked.
"We might have a problem," Cameron said vaguely.
Mr. Lee walked through the cemetery carefully assessing the situation. "We must move," Cameron advised John as Lee came closer.
Cameron and John crawled on their hands and knees to avoid Lee's gaze. "It's a cyborg created by AsianNet," Cameron told John.
"Can you beat him?" John asked.
"Unlikely," Cameron assessed.
Cameron cocked her pistol. "You must run as quickly as you can," Cameron told him.
"I am not leaving with you," John protested.
"If we stay together we will die together," Cameron said somberly.
John continued to hesitate. "Go," Cameron insisted.
John nodded and took off toward the exit. Lee spotted John immediately and ran towards him. Cameron emerged from hiding and stuck Lee hard to the gut in a surprise attack. Lee backed away but was seemingly unaffected by the attack.
Cameron pointed her pistol at Lee and fired into his face. There was a flash of light as the protective energy field disintegrated the bullet before it reached the metal endoskeleton. Cameron backed away and fired her clip into Lee's chest. There were small glows as the energy field destroyed the bullets.
Lee retaliated with a hard kick that sent Cameron against a tombstone cracking it. Cameron got back to her feet and confronted Lee. Lee blocked her punches and kneed her in the gut and smacked her hard to the face. Lee then elbowed her to the back dropping Cameron.
Lee stomped on Cameron keeping her in place on the ground. Lee then took out his sword and prepared to stab Cameron through. Just as he was about to swing down with his sword, Lee was suddenly hit to the shoulder and head with a shotgun blast.
The energy field around Lee glowed as it blocked the small pellets. Lee turned and saw Giff walking towards him with a police issued shotgun. Lee stepped off Cameron and walked toward Giff with his sword.
Giff fired into Lee's gut but it simply glowed as he was hit. Lee continued to walk toward Giff as he was hit with several shotgun shells. Lee suddenly swung at Giff and sliced his shotgun in half.
Giff dropped the broken shotgun and sliced downward on Lee's shoulder with his arm which resembled a blade. The force field glowed as it prevented Giff from hitting the endoskeleton underneath.
Lee ignored the slash and punched Giff hard with his left hand. There was a sudden flash as a plasma burst blasted through Giff's chest and destroyed a tree on the other side. Giff swung down on Lee's left arm with his left hand but it could not hit Lee. Lee used his sword in his right hand and slashed Giff several times.
Giff backed away with multiple slash marks. Liquid metal oozed from his wounds. "Before I terminate your existence I would like to ask. What is your connection to John Connor?" Lee asked.
"Terminate my existence?" Giff questioned as his body slowly healed from the attacks.
"You are obsolete and no match for me," Lee said.
Giff smirked. "Maybe so. But I have friends."
Lee looked around him and saw four other police officers coming towards him. They were all identical in appearance, T-1000s all. Lee analyzed a potential danger as the T-1000s surrounded him.
Cameron stared at the scene in front of her. Five T-1000s had Lee surrounded. Realizing she would not be able to fight any one of the participants, Cameron sneaked away.
Note: I thought I explained the whole time travel stuff in this chapter but if not here's the deal. Every possible unit of time, and science says there is a finite unit of time, is a universe. There are universes that are microseconds ahead of us and microseconds behind us. In all there must be near an infinity universes but they are all exactly the same except that some are behind and others are ahead. All time lines will inevitably lead to Judgment Day except one, which is the Terminator movie universe.
John was conceived by Sarah and Kyle instead of John's original father who we don't know. In order to avoid the paradox, John is simply the half brother of the original John Connor. An interesting side note is that for John Connor to be the same as the original John he would have to be conceived in exactly the same way as the original down to the microsecond which is improbable.
If you go back to some of the previous chapters you will get hints of this revelation as Cameron tends to say "my time" all the time when referring to the future. Also Cameron is a bit vague on Katherine Brewster whenever the subject comes up. Don't worry, it will all make sense eventually. I have been waiting literally months to write this plot line down.