Chapter 37: Long Distance Care
"So I could really go for a chicken sandwich." Mark said as he reached for the radio in the car. He turned on a country music station and turned up the volume.
"Playing music at that decimal level could damage your hearing if listened to over two hours." Cameron told Mark as she turned the volume down.
"Awesome, I will turn it down in about an hour." Mark tuned the volume back to his liking.
"I don't understand why you would want to hear it louder than normal optimal levels. Doesn't that give you a headache?" Cameron asked.
"Not really, I usually only get headaches when bullets are flying past my ass." Mark joked with Cameron.
Cameron pulled into the parking lot and asked John want he wanted.
"I'm good with a chicken sandwich and some waffle fries." John said groggy in the back seat.
Mark watched Cameron walk inside the building to get them something to eat.
"John, does Cameron seem a little different lately?" Mark asked.
"She seems like Cameron. Why do you ask?" John turned the conversation back to Mark.
"Well, no offense, but she seems pissed off lately." Mark tried to choose his words carefully.
John sort of smiled to himself. "What did you do?" he asked.
"Nothing! I swear!" Mark told John.
"Well Mark if you didn't do anything I wouldn't worry about it. She might be a little mad that she was pretty much killed by a terminator the other day. I am not really sure what goes through her CPU." John answered Mark.
Mark was going to talk to John more about it, but Cameron opened the door carrying a big sack of great smelling food.
"Here, I will let you hold the bag." Cameron told Mark as she handed it to him.
Mark tried to be sneaky and eat some fries on the way home but he felt the disapproving stare coming from Cameron, so he closed the bag and behaved himself.
They arrived at the house and it looked luxurious. Weaver walked out of the house and met Cameron, John and Mark.
"I have completed all the necessary paperwork for this house, it is officially ours." Weaver informed them. "There are 4 bedrooms and a grand office. John Henry will stay in the office with me. You can figure out the bedroom assignments among yourselves.
Mark got out of the car and looked around. "This is a nice place. Oh shit, is that a pool?" he asked.
"Yes, it is." Weaver replied.
"Nice, this is like a vacation house I stayed in a few years back on spring break." Mark explained.
"What are the best exit strategies and patrol information in case of an attack?" Cameron asked Weaver.
"I'm sure you can figure that out yourself Cameron." Weaver told her condescendingly.
John overheard the conversation and didn't like Weaver's tone of voice to Cameron.
"I must leave for I have other matters at hand that need my full attention. Please try to maintain order here Cameron. Moving around and these random surprises are getting rather tedious."
"You acting like a bitch to Cameron is also tedious." John said looking at Weaver getting out of the car.
Weaver glanced at John limping his way towards her.
"Last time I checked we are a team. Teams communicate with each other. If you have a problem or something you would like to get off your liquid metal chest Weaver, now is the time to say it. If not, then for someone as advanced as you, I would take a guess that even you understand respect. We will lose this war divided. Dan is out there gaining strength in numbers and we are all here licking our wounds and trying to recover. Bickering among each other will not win the war for us." John explained to Weaver and everyone else that was listening.
"Fine." Weaver spoke. "I just finished the paperwork about fifteen minutes ago, I have not done a patrol route yet and only saw about half of the house so my analysis is incomplete. I shall be back later tonight Mr. Connor." She continued and walked off to her vehicle and took off.
Cameron popped the trunk and started to unload the car while Mark and John headed in the house. Mark quickly claimed the room with the bathroom and door headed to the pool. John walked in and explored the house a little bit before his leg started to bother him. He picked a room with a full bathroom inside the room.
"I see you picked a room for yourself." Cameron told John.
"I picked a room for us, yes." John replied to her. "I figured Ellison would have a room, my mom would have her own room, Mark needs his space, which only leaves one room left. Besides, it's a new, big scary house. I would assume that someone needs to protect me while I sleep." John explained to Cameron.
Cameron returned the smile and put down a few bags in John's room. "I need to change your bandages and check your injuries." She told John
"That's fine, but after you get done I am going to go to the hospital." John informed Cameron.
"Only if I go with you," Cameron demanded.
"That's fine, you can drive then." John told her.
"Deal." Cameron said as she removed and tossed John's old bloodied bandages on the floor. She analyzed his arm and leg and treated his injuries accordingly. After she was done she pulled out an injector kit from her pocket and injected John with antibiotics.
"I want to go on a patrol route before we go see your mom, it will only be about an hour." Cameron told John.
"That's fine, I am pretty tired and I could use a nap." John informed Cameron.
She walked outside to see John Henry pulling into the driveway.
"Hello Cameron. The hotel has been cleaned. Where should I place the two disabled machines?" John Henry asked.
"Hello John Henry, please put the machines in the garage. Do you happen to have detail files on Sonya's model number. Her model reminds me a lot of the terminator I fought in the doctors office and elevator. John called it a pretzel terminator." Cameron explained to John Henry.
"I will have to look for a model number on her Cameron. I am afraid I do not know much about that series." John Henry replied to Cameron.
"Thank you. I am going on a patrol route and then taking John to see his mother in the hospital. Do you mind keeping an eye on things while I am gone?" Cameron asked politely.
"That sounds fine to me. When you and John take off, I will have Mark accompany me to the store to buy food and other things for the house." He said.
John Henry popped the trunk and grabbed the disabled machines and carried them to the garage. Cameron took off and started her patrol. She noticed that most of the area was very secure and the only potential hazard was a gas station nearby that its waste products did drain towards their house, but nothing that was a real danger. She scanned the house and it was in good shape. Everything seemed to be in order. She noticed Mark floating in the pool.
"Can you float?" Mark asked hearing Cameron walking around the house.
"No." Cameron answered him shortly.
"Sorry, I don't mean to be rude, I just am curious. I weigh more than you and I can float." Mark told Cameron.
"Yes, but your bones hold some air, as mine do not. Plus I don't have the lung capacity normal humans do and I do not have the fat levels that you have, so therefore I would sink.
"Nice, so in short. I'm fat." Mark joked with Cameron.
Cameron didn't reply to that as she knew it was probably not really a question. She walked inside to see John in his room watching television.
"How was your nap?" Cameron asked.
"Didn't really sleep, just sort of laid here watching some television." John answered her.
"Are you in pain? I could adjust your medication." Cameron said to John.
"No, I am fine, just my mind keeps spinning its wheels after what happened recently." John explained to her. He slowly got off the bed and walked up to Cameron. "But I am really glad you're back and okay." He continued as he planted a big kiss on her lips. "Are you ready to go to the hospital?" John asked.
"Yes, I am ready to go." She said. "I bought you something too when I was on my patrol."
"Where is it? What is it?" John told her.
"Well it is in my back pants pocket." Cameron said to John.
John without thinking slid his hand in Cameron's back pants pocket.
"Are you grabbing my ass?" Cameron told John teasing him.
John blushed. "Well." He started to speak as he grabbed the object and retreated his hand to a more appropriate position.
"Well, I guess since I like you I won't slap you for it." Cameron smiled at John. "How do you like your present I got you?"
"A webcam? What are we going to use it for?" John asked.
"I figured we could install it at the hospital so we could monitor your mother and Mr. Ellison from here. That way we could know what's going on at all times. The webcam is all wireless and I can install it when we get there." Cameron explained.
"That's awesome! Thanks Cam, that's really cool." John told her and gave her another kiss on the lips.
They both left the house and about fifteen minutes later got to the hospital. John grabbed some magazines out of the car and headed in the hospital.
"What are the magazines for John?" Cameron asked.
"You will see soon enough." John answered her.
John walked up to the receptionist's desk and waited for her to get off the phone.
"Hi, how can I help you?" the receptionist asked.
"Hi, my name is John and this is Cameron. I am working on a college study and I was wondering if it would be okay if I worked my study here." John explained.
"And what exactly is this study?" the receptionist questioned him.
"Well, basically we read about four or five current event articles to coma patients and when they wake up we see if they remember any of them. It is basically a study to see if verbal communication helps with coma patients." John explained.
"That sounds like a worthwhile study. Let me ask a doctor to make sure that they are okay with that. Please wait here in the lobby while I ask." The receptionist told him.
After about twenty minutes a doctor came out and introduced himself to John and Cameron.
"Hi I am Dr. Johnson. I heard you two wanted to do a study." He told John.
"Yes, sir." John said.
"Well that sounds great to me under one condition." Dr. Johnson told John. "No raunchy articles or war articles. Keep it clean and current. I would also love to hear about the results." He continued.
"Sure thing." John agreed with his terms.
The doctor lead them upstairs and pointed out 4 rooms to them. He explained each of the patient's conditions and how long they have been in a coma state. After he showed John and Cameron around he took off leaving John with his card in case he had any questions.
John headed towards his mother's room and saw her lying there on the bed. He walked up to her and gave her a half of a hug. Cameron started getting to work and installed the webcam on top of the room's television. With the angle of the camera, she could monitor both Sarah and Ellison and the vital signs. She plugged it in on the power strip along with the television. She jumped down and walked up to John.
"Are you okay?" Cameron asked.
John's eyes were misty and didn't say anything. As he was about to reply to Cameron, he heard screaming coming from outside the room.
"She has a gun!" someone screamed from the hallway.