GoodButSomething – I understand some of where you're coming from, but not everyone is going to agree with John. I'm not sure if you're American or not, but take 9/11 and the terrorist attack. If one of those terrorists suddenly decided to offer his help to America, would you not be suspicious? Would you not be leery to trust someone who helped cause the death of so many people? Wouldn't you think that perhaps he's spying for the enemy by trying to get on the inside? It's the same idea with the machines. People like Derek and Dietze lost everything because of the machines, so when one tries to turn and help, they immediately think the worst.
Kaotic2 – Um, thank you? :) Yeah, Cameron gets sent back but, hey, I did say that there is a Jameron ending, though.
Luke777 – I like your thoughts on Solo. Even I never thought of him like that. :)
ScarlettFitch – Actually I had forgotten about Zion in the Matrix. I was thinking of the Biblical Zion when I named the city – since Ellison was the founder of it.
Previously on Born to Fight: SARAH: (on tape) We've been working on a new strategy to defeat Skynet II. Ellison is going to take the plans with him to the new secret base. [Logan flees the Gray base into the Amazon rainforest. He looks up to see a man standing over him] ELLISON: You'd better come with me if you want to live. SARAH: (on tape) There's a chip designer named Logan whom Danny has recruited to help us find a flaw in Skynet. LOGAN: Skynet must have traced my last call to you. They found our secret base. JOHN: We've received an SOS from a hidden city in the Amazon. JESSE: Connor, this is a risky campaign… DEREK: You can't seriously expect us to risk our lives for a Gray. JOHN: I expect you to do your part to rescue human beings who are in trouble. DIETZE: I can't believe you guys! You're all metal lovers! Every last one of you! That's not a real girl! JOHN: Return to your rack, now. DIETZE: Fine. Go right ahead and listen to your little metal second-in-command. Get even more of us killed.
Chapter Thirty Seven:
Born to Rescue
USS Jimmy Carter
Berthing Room
No matter how much he wanted to, no matter how hard he tried, Dietze couldn't get that image out of his mind. He'd been sitting in the corner when Connor had entered the mess hall, joking around with some of the soldiers, sitting down with the metal cyborg to eat his pancakes. Right from the start, Dietze had been ticked off with the entire situation, with the easy-going way the rest of the crew had accepted the machine, talking and laughing and joking. But it was John's face that proved to be the final straw, the look on the leader of mankind's face when he looked over at the Terminator that he called Cameron.
Dietze had seen that look in Connor's eye, the friendliness, the desire…
The love.
Dietze was laying in his rack, still stewing over Connor's irrational behavior when Seth, Derek, and Jesse entered the bunk room, finding their respective beds. Seth started to climb up to the bunk above Dietze but stopped when he saw the dark look on Dietze's face.
"You okay?" he asked tentatively.
Of course I'm not okay, Dietze thought to himself bitterly. Instead, he directed his question to everyone. "What's going on out there?"
Derek Reese scowled. "John Connor and her are planning what to do."
Dietze watched Derek's face curiously. He knew how Reese felt about the Grays, but apparently he harbored resentment toward Connor's cyborg as well. Jesse remained wisely detached from the conversation, but Seth Kohl bristled at the way Reese was talking. "You know, you should really lay off Cameron," he advised.
Dietze scowled bitterly. "Don't you start calling it by name too. Just like Connor."
"Connor knows what he's doing," Seth retorted.
Dietze shook his head. Seth was one of the people who still saw John Connor as the hero, the savior of mankind. Which he was, Dietze wasn't going to lie. Connor had led them through some of the hardest times in the war. He had come up with brilliant maneuvers that had crippled and even defeated Skynet.
But John Connor was not infallible.
"Connor's been corrupted," he muttered darkly.
Seth wrinkled his nose. "I don't think—"
Dietze leaned back, recalling the moment in the cargo hold where John and the machine had been playfully arguing about the new weapons. He'd seen the looks, the smiles, heard Seth's words echoing in his mind.
Geez, you guys argue like a married couple!
Dietze's eyes narrowed as the implications of that finally struck him. Seth had been perfectly legit in saying it. "You said it yourself, Kohl. Married couple."
Seth's mouth dropped open, recalling the instant immediately. "That was a joke!"
"But it's true," Dietze insisted. "He's in love with it. Can't you see? Connor's a metal lover."
He hadn't been expecting Jesse to be the one to react, but his commander rose from her bunk, a calm but furious expression on her face as she ordered him, "Dietze… enough."
Dietze held her stare for a moment, trying to figure out her own motives. She used to dislike metal. Not as avidly as he did, but she hadn't been overjoyed with the reprogramming idea. Now suddenly she was all buddy-buddy with Queeg and defending Connor to her last breath.
She was a metal-lover too.
Reese spoke up in a low voice from the other side of the bunkroom. "You know what happens when you question Connor's machine?" he asked, a bitter laugh escaping his lips. "You get demoted."
*************
USS Jimmy Carter
Command Deck
John felt the submarine slow to a stop and begin to emerge from the water, guided by Queeg. Jesse turned away from the sonar to look at John.
"We're here."
John tried to pull information from the readouts, but couldn't. "What's the situation look like on surface?"
"Leira?"
The young officer instantly reported from the periscope. "Hard to say, Connor. This is the Amazon rainforest. I can barely make out some things through the trees. Looks like laser fire coming from deeper within. I guess Skynet's trying to surround the place. It seems overrun with metal."
"What's the plan, General?" Jesse questioned, waiting for his orders.
John paused, still processing the situation report. With that many machines, they wouldn't be able to make it into the hidden city. He had two submarines full of soldiers and machines but they needed something to tip the odds.
"We need the element of surprise," he muttered, more to himself. "Is there a way we can rig up an EMP?"
Jesse raised an eyebrow curiously. "An EMP?"
"Electro-Magnetic Pulse," Queeg supplied.
"Yes, I know what it is," Jesse replied, furrowing her brow in thought. "Sure, I think we can do it. What do you have in mind?"
"We rig up some equipment that is capable of sending out an EMP. Then we take it and get as close as we can to the city and set it off. The machines will be powered down, giving us time to sneak into Zion and maybe take them out from the inside."
"Element of surprise," Jesse agreed with a broadening grin. "Sounds like a plan."
***********
South America
The Amazon Rainforest
They'd been hiking for at least ten minutes before John spotted a mountain up ahead. Well, it was less of a mountain and more like a rocky hillside, but he guessed that was most likely where Zion was. The forest wasn't as dense near the mountainside, but John still couldn't see much through the heavy rainfall and the darkness, but he took comfort in the fact that the machines would have a bit more trouble as well, having to rely on infrared.
As he approached, he spotted movement up ahead and suddenly the darkness exploded into light as the attacking Terminators began firing rapidly, some of them using some kind of electrical weapon he'd never seen before.
Cameron, as usual, had pinned him down as soon as the shooting broke out and John lifted his face out of the muddy water puddle, crawling forward across the wet ground to a cover point.
"There," he whispered, gesturing to a cave-like opening. "That's probably the entrance to the city. I need to get close to that in order for the EMP to take out most of the machines inside."
They'd have two minutes to sneak into that hole and hopefully meet up with Logan's militia who were still trying to prevent the Terminators from gaining further ground in the city.
As John watched from his cover, he saw several of his rogues keeping the Terminators busy.
"Now or never," John murmured. "I'll go to that hole and set this thing off."
Kristin shook her head adamantly, speaking up loudly to be heard over the continuous gunfire. "It's too hot. We'll have to find another way to get them out."
John didn't say a word, merely steeled himself and charged forward towards the hole, barely hearing the exchange behind him.
"John does these things," Cameron explained.
John slid to the ground near the entrance, no doubt attracting the attention of several Terminators, but before they could turn to shoot, he pressed the EMP. Almost instantaneously, he could see dozens of dark shapes collapsing and all gunfire and plasma blasts ceased.
John stumbled to his feet, rushing back to where he'd left Kristin and Cameron. Kristin was staring up at him, stunned, and John suddenly saw why.
Cameron was collapsed on the ground, perfectly motionless, her eyes open but dead. John's mouth opened in panic. He hadn't been thinking about her when he set off the EMP. He hadn't remembered that it would take her offline too, because he didn't even think of her as a machine anymore.
Derek approached quickly, spotting Cameron lying motionless on the wet ground. "That's the first good thing you've done this trip, Connor."
"Back in line," John scowled.
Seth Kohl's eyes widened in worry. "How long?"
"One hundred twenty seconds," John said hastily. "But the others will come back online too." He forced himself to stop thinking about Cameron, standing up quickly. "Listen up! I want a squad of you to get inside the building, try to meet up with the militia and help them hold off the Terminators. Go!" The first squad went running into the city as fast as they could.
"That thing probably has enough charge left to send out one more EMP, so that'll give you extra time. Shoot out their chips when you go in, the less of them we have to deal with the better. When they come back online, you can attack them from behind," John finished. He handed Derek the spare IFW. "Derek, use this."
Derek nodded. "Thanks, Connor."
Derek's squad moved out towards the city entrance as well, several of the members blasting out Terminator chips on the way.
"Seth," John said. "I want you to go set off the EMP again as soon as they start to reboot."
The young private nodded and hurried off to his position. "Hamilton, both you and Dietze keep your squads here and keep that entrance clear. Tell us if any more show up."
"Affirmative, Connor," Kristin said before retreating to a better position, leaving John alone with Cameron's unmoving body. He bit his lip, suddenly feeling horrible for not warning her. What was it like for her? Was it like dying?
Her head jerked and her saw the life fill her eyes once more.
"I'm sorry," he whispered. "It'll be okay," he assured her before Seth set off the EMP again, once more dropping her back into that death-like state.
John winced, hoping that Derek and the other squads had been able to get far inside Zion and take out a lot of the metal inside. Those 120 seconds seemed to be endless for John until Cameron came back online, staring up at him blankly.
"EMP," he explained hastily. "I should have warned you."
"I knew," she replied, sitting up.
Right, of course, John thought to himself. She would have known that him setting off the EMP would have rebooted her. "Why didn't you say something?"
"It had to be done," she replied.
John hesitated, ignoring the sounds of the restarted battle. "What is it like? Do you feel… is it like dying?"
"It's like when you get knocked unconscious," Cameron replied. She frowned. "It is not pleasant."
"Wouldn't think so," John murmured, lifting his IFW and turning to the battle. The machines were still fighting and John could see Solo leading the other reprogrammed Terminators. One of Skynet's machines fired a blast of his electrical weapon at Solo and the machine dropped, twitching.
"What is that?" John asked.
"It appears to be Skynet's Tesla Arc Gun," Cameron replied. "It shoots a stream of electricity to a nearby target at a maximum of twenty five feet."
"Does it reboot him?"
"It will incapacitate a Terminator for the one hundred twenty seconds and incinerate a human."
"Great," John muttered bitterly. "I guess Skynet's been upgrading too."
John moved toward the entrance, waiting for the isotope in his IFW to turn red before firing a blast at a nearby Terminator, decapitating it. He placed a new isotope canister into the weapon and continued for the entrance.
The rain was still coming down in sheets, though John was starting to get used to the feeling. His foot nearly slipped on the wet grass and Cameron caught his arm, helping him up.
"I got it," John growled.
She backed off at his tone and he quickly dispelled some of his anger. "Sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I'm just on edge."
She nodded as if she understood. "It's the adrenaline."
He didn't say another word, charging forward through the opening and into the underground city. Cameron soon moved ahead of him, keeping an eye out for threats as they proceeded through Zion's tunnels and down deeper into the city. John couldn't stop to sightsee, but it seemed to be a lot like the bunkers, only not as tight and on a much larger scale.
He spotted several Terminators on the ground with their heads blown off, which indicated that Derek had been through here already with the IFW, taking out all the resistance.
Soon enough, John heard the sound of battle coming from a large chamber up ahead and entered to see the Zion militia shooting at the advancing Terminators. John instantly dove behind cover, charging up the isotope in his weapon. While he waited, he observed the other soldiers. The Amazon militia members were wearing some type of body armor and camouflage gear and they were all equipped with standard MP5s and another kind of gun John didn't recognize. Obviously whoever had helped them build this fortress had also been at work designing new weapons.
As he watched, one of the militia lowered his gun, obviously out of ammo. John was about to move to help when the man reached down and picked up a small metal scrap and shoved it in, waiting ten seconds before firing. The metal scrap blasted away part of the Terminator's face with as much power as the shotgun shells Cameron had used when they'd killed Cromartie in Mexico.
"What is that?" he asked in awe.
"It appears to be a kinetic based weapon," Cameron replied, studying the design. "It relies on the speed of the object to inflict maximum damage which is why is does not require bullets, just a simple metal object. It must use electro-magnetics to spin the metal at a high velocity and release it when the trigger is pulled."
He glanced down at his own weapon to see that the isotope had turned red. He jerked up above his cover point and fired at the Terminator, blowing it apart before ducking back down.
Cameron fired her own IFW, taking out another Terminator. John quickly slid to another cover point next to Derek, seeing his uncle talking on his radio unit.
"Hammy, are you there? Hamilton, do you copy?"
"Copy, Reese," Kristin replied. "We've still got Skynet outside, but most of the refugees have been evacuated towards the subs. I have a feeling more Terminators will be coming. How long are you gonna be?"
Derek glanced at John once before stating, "Not long. We'll be there soon." He put his radio back and nodded to John.
"Connor," he greeted, speaking up to be heard over the noise. "They say this Logan person is in the heart of the city, the inmost location."
John glanced up at the rest of Amazon militia who seemed to be doing a decent job holding off the Terminators. John waved Cameron over before saying to Derek, "They can hold off the rest of these guys. Let's go."
***************
The Amazon
Zion Underground City
John headed to the door of the room the militia men had talked about, the one right in the middle of the city. Derek burst through the door ahead of him, his gun instantly trained on the lone figure in the room. John stepped in after, watching as Derek turned the gun from the human to check the rest of the room for threats.
John kept his weapon handy as he approached the figure. "Are you Logan?"
The man nodded, and Derek's head snapped back around, his eyes narrowing. "You're the head Gray?"
"Yes, I was but-."
Derek's gun was instantly trained on Logan's head, a look of murder in his eyes.
"Derek!" John snapped. "Stand down."
At John's commanding tone, some of the determination left Derek's eyes though the hate and suspicion remained as he backed away.
Logan sighed heavily in relief. "Thanks for –"
"Save the gratitude," John interrupted quickly. Whether this man had helped his mother or not, he had still joined with Skynet. He'd still caused so much death. "What has to happen for the head Gray to get a termination order?"
Logan attempted a half-hearted smile. "It's kind of a long story."
John studied him for a moment before deciding, "Well you can explain on the way. We need to go before more of them show up."
"Wait…" Logan protested, heading for the backroom. "I have to get the others."
John saw a flash of annoyance and mistrust on Derek's face. "There's more of you?"
"This place is an underground city," Logan replied as he continued walking. "Not a huge population but a lot."
"Great," Derek mumbled under his breath. "It's a whole colony of Grays. Is it too late to blow the place?"
"Shut up, Derek," John ordered.
Logan unlocked and opened the steel door to the other room. "There's some friends of yours here, Connor."
"Friends..." John trailed off when he saw who came out of the door. Miles Dyson. No… not Miles, though he could have sworn it was Miles back from the grave. John's mouth dropped open and he stared in utter shock. "Danny?"
Danny gave him an easy going smile. "Hey, Connor." He laughed. "It's weird seeing you young again."
"Again?"
"I mean, you're supposed to be a lot older than me," Danny corrected. He glanced back into the other room. "You can come out now."
John watched, his smile widening as Ellison stepped out. Feature-wise, he didn't look like he'd changed that much. What really made him look different was the fact that he was wearing body armor and camouflage gear, completely opposite of his usual suit and tie.
Behind him came a young woman who could only be Savannah. She bore a striking resemblance to Weaver and she smiled brightly when she saw him.
"Savannah," he greeted. "You look… older than me." He leaned over to whisper to Cameron. "I feel really weird."
"Hi, John," Savannah said with a playful smile. "I can tie my own shoes now."
Despite his awkwardness at the whole age difference situation, John grinned back. "Well, I should hope so."
Savannah's eyes locked on Derek who was looking from Ellison to Danny to Logan to her with suspicion. John saw her brow furrow as she took in Derek's appearance and he understood her momentary confusion.
"Not the one who was killed in your house," he said, purposely making sure Derek didn't know they were discussing him.
Savannah nodded in understanding and turned to another young man who stepped out of the room. "This is Cody Phillips," she explained. "He's my best friend." Cody's eyes locked on John's and stared, his mouth dropping open.
John felt a strange flash of irritation. "What?"
"You… you're John Connor…"
Right. Meet the legend. "Yeah, who exactly is this?" he asked Savannah. He'd never seen the young man before. Maybe he'd been helping Sarah with her research.
"We'll explain after we get out of here," Ellison replied.
At that moment, one of the militia men burst through the door, clutching his side. "We were swarmed," he panted, struggling over the words. "There's more coming. You don't have… much time…"
John whipped out his radio, dialing the Carter. "Jesse! There's a large group of Zion refugees waiting to board the Carter. It's getting hot in here. I want you to fit as many as you can on board and take off."
"Understood," Jesse replied crisply.
John switched the radio frequency over to the smaller of the two submarines. "Jacobsen, load up the Seawolf with those refugees and wait in the harbor for the rest of us to get out."
Brian's voice seemed worried. "Is everything okay, General?"
"Yeah, we're great," John muttered back distractedly. "Just have to deal with a little Terminator ambush problem and we'll be heading your way. Cut the chatter and start loading those people."
"Aye sir."
John shoved his radio back into his pack and barked out, "Derek! Quick! C4 charges!"
As he and Derek worked to plant the charges around the large room, Cameron was at the door, keeping watch for the coming Terminators. The rest of the room seemed to be motionless.
"Will this work?" Cody spoke up quietly.
"This is the central point in your city," John replied. "If we lay enough, it should take out most of the machines while we escape through that tunnel."
"We have C4 charges throughout the entire city, too," Dyson said quietly. "We had them set up just in case. The explosion from this room will set them all off in a chain reaction, blow the entire place."
John could see the distraught looks on everyone's face. Everyone except Derek and Cameron that is. And he understood why. This city was their home, had been their home for many years. And there would be nothing left but rubble after they flipped the trigger. Not to mention all the militia or other refugees who would die in the explosion.
Ellison spoke up softly, his voice troubled. "What can I do, John?"
John turned and looked at him with a grave expression.
"Pray."
*************
The Amazon
Zion Underground City
Less than two minutes later, John and Derek had finished the last charges right as Cameron lifted her IFW and reported crisply, "They're here." She fired a blast into the hallway before turning and running to John's side, in position to protect him properly. The rest of the humans inside dove for cover as the first wave of Terminators bottlenecked in the doorway, firing their machine guns rapidly.
Danny didn't get under cover fast enough, at least three of the bullets hitting his body. Savannah cried out in horror and Cody clapped a hand over her mouth, hunkering down even further behind cover.
Cameron was shielding John from bullets and John desperately looked toward where Danny lay panting and gasping for breath.
"Cameron…" he whispered.
"His expiration is imminent," she replied, firing back at the Terminators. He suppressed a frown. She usually wasn't so cold or blunt with her comments, not anymore, but perhaps it was just because she was in the heat of battle.
John watched from across the room as Danny reached over and grabbed the trigger for the explosives, giving John a determined look even through his evident pain.
"G-go… without me!"
Derek charged his IFW and fired at the first Terminator, blowing his head off and sending both flying backwards, knocking into some other Terminators. Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, Derek grabbed John by his sleeve and yanked him towards the exit tunnel.
"Let's go!" he shouted. Savannah, Ellison, Logan, and Cody all hurried into the escape tunnel.
John heard Danny speak up as loud as he could. "desk…d-drawer…"
Derek was still trying to shove John into the tunnel, but John braced himself. "Wait!" If Dyson thought there was something important in the desk…
"Go, John!" Cameron ordered, heading towards the drawer herself, taking several bullet rounds along the way. John hesitated, but Derek shoved him down into the tunnel, rushing to catch up with Ellison and the others.
"What's in the desk drawer?" John demanded as they ran for the exit.
"Your mother's research tapes," Ellison replied.
Comprehension dawned on John. Those must have been the tapes she said she'd be hiding with Ellison, the ones that would chronicle their research on stopping Skynet II.
Finally they reached the entrance, stumbling as far away from it as they could. John instantly felt the difference as the rain began pelting him in the face again. He spotted three shapes running up to meet them, eventually recognizing them to be Dietze, Seth, and Kristin.
From behind him, he heard the explosion and whipped his head around to see the flames roaring out from escape tunnel. The first explosion was followed by a series of others that grew louder and louder as all the other charges throughout the city were set off as well, causing the entire place to go up.
It was like the entire mountain was collapsing.
John felt a pang in his heart because he knew who had flipped that switch. Danny Dyson. Like father like son. Both had sacrificed their lives to help him escape, to help stop Skynet.
The rest of the crew was watching the scene with horror and grief. John felt those things too, but he also felt fear.
Where was Cameron? She should have been out by now, right?
Come on, Cameron. Blast it! He wouldn't even consider the possibility that she was dead. She would have grabbed his mother's tapes and rushed out through the tunnel. She'd be coming, walking out of the rubble at any minute…
Derek noticed him standing as still as a statue. "Connor, we have to move!" he said adamantly.
"Not yet," John murmured back, never taking his eyes off the scene. The heavy rainfall had already put the fires out, but he could still see the smoke and the destruction. Maybe she'd just exited the tunnel when the explosion had knocked her offline and in two minutes she'd reboot and then come back to him…
"What is it?" Seth asked. "What's wrong?"
"Cameron's in there," Savannah replied.
John could imagine the look on Dietze's face. Fury at realizing what John's hesitation was for. As if he would risk all their lives staying in one place just to make sure a machine was alright. "Leave it, Connor!"
John turned angrily, staring into the faces of all the people waiting. Dietze was breathing heavily, glaring at John and willing him to leave Cameron behind. Derek's face was expressionless. Logan seemed uncomfortable while Ellison's face was a mask of sadness at Danny's sacrifice. Both Savannah and Cody were staring at the collapsed city, eyes wide with horror, hoping as much as he was that Cameron would emerge from that wreckage.
"Connor!" Dietze demanded, more urgently this time.
Is this right? John asked himself. Am I really putting all these people in danger by waiting for Cameron? He told himself it didn't matter. Most of the Terminators would have been blown up in the explosion. And no one else knew they had escaped it.
He turned back to the ruins and saw a figure emerge.
"Cameron…" he breathed.
Cameron approached, the rain falling almost softly on her. When she was close enough, he saw the damage she'd taken. And he sucked in his breath, his heart wrenching. The left half of her face had been partially burned off in the explosion, her blue eye glowing brightly. For a moment, he felt nauseous. The last time he'd seen her like this was when she'd been taken from him, when her chip had been missing, displaced in time and he'd started his daring quest to get her back.
She looked at him with her one good eye, almost hesitantly, as if she wondered whether this would remind him of what she was underneath. But the truth was, there was no sense of repulsion in his mind, no disgust. To him, she still looked beautiful.
He heard the gasps from behind him and knew exactly what was going through the heads of his soldiers. Seeing her like this had shocked them back into the realization that she was a machine. Even Seth looked away, his face scrunched up in confusion.
But neither John nor Cameron cared what any of them thought. John reached up, gently touching the undamaged side of her face. "I'll fix you…" he whispered, his face twisting in agony. He could feel the wetness on his cheeks but he couldn't tell if it was from his eyes or from the rain.
"There is no damage to my chip," Cameron replied. "It'll just take time to heal."
John swallowed hard and nodded before he turned back to his soldiers, who were all staring, waiting expectantly.
"Let's get to the submarine," he said quickly. The group instantly started moving back through the forest towards the shore, their pace quickening into a run.
John didn't stop running. They couldn't stop, not till they got to the Seawolf and were safely on their way back home. Finally, he reached the port and saw the submarine still waiting for him in the harbor.
Before he could take even one step closer, he heard the explosion and suddenly the Seawolf was blown sky high, hit underwater by a torpedo. John's eyes grew wide as he stared, shocked at the sight of the destroyed submarine.
"Kraken," Cameron informed. "It's in the water. It sent a torpedo."
Derek's face was pale as he stared at the submarine. "Connor… was that?"
John turned and gripped his uncle by the shoulders, knowing exactly why that wild look of fear was in Derek's eyes. "Not the Carter, Derek."
"Where… where is she?"
"Hey," John ordered, trying to snap Derek back into the present. "Hey, listen to me. Jesse was on the Carter. They're already gone, back towards Serrano, okay? They just missed the attack."
Ellison spoke up softly. "That submarine. There was a lot of people on it, wasn't there?"
John swallowed hard, lowering his gaze. "At least two hundred. They'd just loaded up some of the refugees."
Ellison closed his eyes in grief.
Cameron was silent before staring at him with her one good eye. "Sam was on the Carter, right?"
John nodded once, trying to decide what he should feel about her statement. On the one hand, she didn't seem to feel any pain from the two hundred people who had just died. On the other, she seemed to care about Sam's well-being and that was a start.
Dietze was fuming. "If we would have left when I wanted, if you hadn't waited for her, maybe we would have made it to the Seawolf and gotten out of here in time."
"If we wouldn't have waited, we would have been on the Seawolf when Skynet blew it!" Seth shot back.
"We need to go," John said, retreating back into the jungle. They needed a place to set up camp, far away from the destroyed Zion and any Terminators who had survived the explosion. And any that would be coming afterward.
"So," Cody spoke up hesitantly. "You didn't have a plan B?"
"No."
"What exactly did you come here for?"
John glanced over at the young man. "We came to rescue you."
Cody's eyes narrowed. "Good job," he replied sarcastically.
John didn't even have the heart to get angry at the young man. As far as John was concerned, Cody had every right to feel resentful. He'd just seen his home burned to the ground, seen a man he'd worked with sacrifice himself so they could escape, and seen a ship full of his friends and neighbors blown to pieces by Skynet's Kraken.
John understood why he felt bitter.
This rescue mission hadn't turned out at all like John had imagined. Not a simple "go in, kick Skynet's butt and go for pancakes" type scenario. And everyone had tried to warn him too. It's a risky campaign. You can't risk our lives for a Gray. You'll get us all killed.
John felt the unmistakable helplessness and despair close in around his heart as he realized Cody was right.
Yeah. Good job, John Connor, he thought bitterly.
Good job.
Next Week on Born to Fight: CAMERON: The loss of Seawolf is not your fault. JOHN: What if I said it was yours? [Cameron looks over] JOHN: What did you feel when you saw that submarine explode? CAMERON: I don't know. [John and company move through the forest] JOHN: We need a plan to get back. LOGAN: I have an idea. But you aren't gonna like it.