"Good shot ! Let's go guys !" the commanding officer shouted.

Everyone instantly hurried to the spot where the cyborg was lying still, its eyes still open, surprise written all over its face.

Derek Reese instantly reacted. "Damn me, it's Lewis!"

This earned several exclamations from a few soldiers.

"What !"

"You mean the Lewis?"

"Carter Lewis ?"

"Enough !" the Lieutenant said. "You, you and you, help me, we're taking him. The others, secure the area ! Now !"

Everyone complied, including Allison, who hurried away from him as fast as she could.

She knew that was the only thing to do… He would have wanted her to do so…

But… she just shot him.

Him.

How would she be able to look him in the eye now ?

Maybe it would never happen again. Worse, maybe he would not become himself again. Maybe she would have to kill him.

But if it had to happen... she would not back away. Ever. She would take a last look at his face and blast his corrupted brain clean off.

"We got him !"

"Okay, everyone back in the choppers ! Mission's complete, let's go !"

40 minutes later…

Right as the choppers landed on the tarmac of Bakersfield Resistance Base Carter had been taken to the laboratory where some engineers had been instructed to try and see if he could be reverted to his original self.

His human self.

Allison was in front of the lab's door, sitting on a bench and looking at the floor.

She did not move, did not speak. She was as still as a statue. And after all, what was there to say ? Or to do ? She could only wait. And that… was one of the worst thing she had to bear. Right now she would have preferred to fight some 740s bare-handed instead of just sitting here, waiting for something that may never happen.

Damn… DAMN ! Why did it have to happen that way ?

Why did it have to happen anyway ?

Carter… I'm so sorry.

…

RATATATATATA !

Allison instantly jumped on her feet as the burst of automatic fire rang… from behind the door. From the Lab. Where Carter was. Her eyes widened. What the hell was that ? The two guards in front of the door seemed to be asking themselves the same question as the racked their rifles. One of them opened the door, asking: "Hey, what's…"

He never finished his sentence.

A second burst rang and the soldier was suddenly thrown backward, blood splashing out of about a dozen of entry wounds. His body hit the ground with a dull thud. Half his face was torn off and blood gushed out of his chest.

"SHIT !" The second guy jumped backwards and fired back, inside the lab. Then turned to Allison and shouted: "RUN !". Only a second before a few bullets slammed into his right temple, ripping half his skull and spraying a fair amount of blood and brain matter.

Allison backed away and reached for her Desert Eagle. With trembling hands she pulled the slide back and released it. For the first time since she was almost shot by this clone or whatever it could be called, she was truly scared.

Because she knew exactly who had shot these men.

No one else could have done it.

Oh God, oh my God…

And, at this very moment, he walked out of the lab, and turned on his heels, mechanically. Facing her.

Carter had a CIS SR-88 assault rifle in his right hand. The barrel was still smoking. And his now impassive face was covered with blood splatters.

Not his blood.

But the worst were still his eyes. Empty, like glass balls. Expressionless.

Lifeless.

Just like this day when he went bad and almost strangled her to death.

But, this time, he had a gun.

He just could not miss.

Carter, no… No…

"NO !"

She raised her gun, tears flowing freely on her cheeks now. She had to do it.

"I'm sorry !" she screamed before pulling the trigger.

The bullet bounced harmlessly on his head, and she shot again and again.

Until there was nothing more than a small metallic click.

And she had no spare magazine on her.

And he was still here. Blood dripped from his forehead and chest where the bullets had hit him, but his eyes were still trained on her.

Examining her, as if she was just some object that could be analyzed.

This feeling was strange.

Right now she realized what she was.

Just a target.

Just a fragile assembly of molecules that only a few grams of metal could definitely break.

The rifle's barrel level up until it was trained on her head.

She closed her eyes. Seeing this… thing with his face… she could not bear it. It was not him anymore, and this time there nothing she could do.

This time was the last, and seeing his face as she would die from its hands was just too much.

"I'm sorry…" she whispered one last time. She had failed. She had fucked this up, and now it was backfiring on her.

The empty desert Eagle fell to the ground.

This… was how it ended.

BANG !

BANG !

"RUN, ALLISON ! RUN !"

Carter's assault rifle crackled again, but she felt nothing.

And then she realized someone had just shouted at her.

Another gunshot rang, another burst from the SR-88, and Allison ran. She ran as fast as she could, without looking back.

RATATATATA !

Something hit her hard in the left shoulder, and suddenly a sharp pain jolted in her arm. "AHHH !"

She fell to the ground, feeling like there someone was just jabbing a drill in her shoulder.

She realized it was the first time.

The first time she got shot.

The first bullet she took.

From what previously was a human. The only human that had succeeded in giving her hope.

Oh, the irony.

"NO !"

The male voice rang again, then another gunshot.

Allison began to crawl away, toward the shooter. That was her only hope.

She had been inches from being… terminated by it. At this very moment she realized how close she had been from death.

And how much she wanted to live.

She was not alone.

"HE'S HERE ! SHOOT HIM !"

Another crack of automatic fire coming from the wall she was coming forward echoed in the corridor, immediately mirrored by Carter's retort.

Allison knew it was her chance.

She put all her might in her legs, jumped at her feet and ran again.

The wall was only one or two meters away, a few Resistance soldiers were here, their weapons trained on the threat behind her.

Right as she reached the angle, she heard Carter's weapon again, and panic rushed over her as she turned and continued to run behind the wall.

Fortunately nothing hit her this time. There was only dust and the deafening crackle of the rifle. She stopped running until she was sure to be out of its sight and range of fire.

Then she turned back to the soldiers. One of them was Sergeant Derek Reese.

"You've been hit !" the young officer exclaimed, looking at the blood dripping from her shoulder. "You should go to the medical block !"

"No !" she replied. "I'm okay, I still can move my arm."

"What about the blood loss ?"

Without replying, she ripped a part or her jacket's left sleeve then tied as tight as she could it around her shoulder. "This should do."

Then she ran again. Blocking out the sounds of the screaming and crackling of rifles.

She needed to find a weapon.

She had to help.

She was a Resistance soldier after all.

[Scan structure…

DAMAGE TO EXTERNAL SHEATH : 32 %, INCREASING

DAMAGE TO MOTOR STRUCTURE: NONE]

Action : TERMINATE TARGETS ; FIND PRIORITY TARGET

The impassive Infiltrator fired again. This time the soldier wielding the M16A4 did not hide in time, and three bullets ripped through his head.

The machine kept walking forward, waiting for a new target to appear. Though it did not happen. When it reached the angle formed by the corridor it realized that the four remaining men were running away, two of them turning back to shoot at it.

Big mistake.

The cyborg locked on them in no time and fired its SR-88, riddling both humans with 5.56mm lead. And by the way emptying the last magazine

It then threw the now useless weapon and picked up the M16 rifle previously wielded by the soldier it killed before shooting the two others, took also a few magazines from the body's pouches and resumed walking.

The combat protocol had been initiated a little too early, but it did not matter.

The cyborg would find its target. Whatever it took, it was only a matter of time.

It would never stop before finding it.

That was how machines worked.

Allison stormed into the armoury where numerous soldiers were already loading various weapons. She spotted her own rifle, took it from the rack it stood on and loaded a fresh magazine of 7.62mm Armour-Piercing ammunition before putting a few others in her mag pouches.

Then picked up two M67 grenades and put them on her utility belt.

Now's the time to make things right. That's what you'd want me to do, Carter, wouldn't you ?

The fact that she would have to get rid of any chance of seeing him again was saddening her, but this time she had no choice. She could not plead him like she did the first time.

Her determination was even harder than any machine's armour.

It was him or her.

And she just was too attached to life to let it slip by allowing it to kill her without doing anything.

At least, if it happened, she would die on her feet.

Like a soldier.

Like a real, though fighter. Just what carter predicted I would become. In war sacrifices have to be made. It's time for me to make my first one.

With this last thought she cocked her rifle and ran out of the armoury.

38