The Terminator: A New Mission

Part 1

**************** Fishing ****************

"Here we go...here we go again,"...the soldier whispered to himself.

He was alone. It was only him, no one else. He liked it that way. He preferred to take these little excursions by himself. They helped him to clear his mind, returned his focus onto what was real, what was now. They also helped him, in some manner, to relinquish the past. There were things that he didn't wish to remember.

Being alone also meant that he wasn't responsible. He wasn't putting anyone else at risk. He had been cautioned several times by those who knew him that he was jeopardizing so much. Maybe even humanity's existence. Still, he felt that it was his destiny.

It was dangerous enough being out here even, with other soldiers. However, executing a patrol without back-up seemed insane. Still, in his own mind he felt that it was worth it. And, he didn't need the extra burden of having to look after others while rummaging through the ruins of what used to be Los Angeles.

"Old LA" that's what people called it when they were referring to this city in the past. Now they called it Apox-LA or Dead LA or just plain, the Dump. Whichever term was used they all seemed to fit the city as it was now. It was a desolate place, a lonely place, a place that was the perfect hunting ground for the machines. They seemed to wallow over the fact that, something which had taken humans a span of time to build...had been reduced by them to charred buildings and blackened neighborhoods in less than a day. It seemed as proof of their superiority.

Anyway, he brought himself back to reality. He knew that he could be discovered by HKs at any time...or worse the "T-Stalkers" (those lone assassins that prowled the cities searching for single targets or small groups of survivors). Yes, people caught by those metal MFers didn't stand a chance. Especially if they were found out in the open.

The machines didn't have a name for what that was called...terminators hunting people. However, the Resistance did. They called it "Fishing". When a terminator was out roaming the rubble of some big city or town looking for targets the Resistance called it "fishing" (Like when people used to take their boats out on the lake and catch as many of those swimming creatures as they could). Anyway, nowadays the "Stalkers" were having a harder time finding their prey, their fish.

*************** The Past ****************

After the bombs had fallen (and the smoke cleared), "fishing" used to be pretty easy for those metal bastards. Hell, they didn't even have to have fake skin. They could just go out and blow people away like shooting fish in a barrel, excuse the pun.

However, as time advanced survivors (those who'd lived through the holocaust), had learned how to hide. Then the body-count began to go down.

People found concealment...and, they also learned how to fight back. That was how the "Resistance" was born. That's when the human army came into existence. A group of survivors came together and formed a coalition...and it wasn't only in LA; it was all over the country, all over the world.

Humans weren't running anymore. They were standing their ground, returning fire. We became a threat.

Skynet had to do something. This wasn't going to be as easy as once considered. So, the power over the machines got clever. They developed an outer casing to encapsulate their metal killers...rubber skin that was molded around terminators to make them look human. It was like putting out duck decoys.

Anyway, that worked for the killer machines for a while, but after a time it became easy to spot them. The Resistance started dusting these terminators as well. It became almost like a chess game. They (Skynet) would make a move, and then we (the human Resistance) would counter that move. And then finally, we were making our own moves. We were becoming more aggressive. Now Skynet was on the defense as much as they were on the attack. A balance had been reached, but there had been no truce.

The terminators, the HKs, and every other configuration that could be concocted by Skynet were still trying to kill us. That was their mission, their goal. Exterminate the human race. Well, maybe not all of us, they still desired a slave cast, a small group of people that they could control and manipulate. But the rest of us were to be sacrificed. That's where I come in. I was one of the living, a soldier, a fighter, a survivor of...Scorched Earth.

************* Scorched Earth *************

That had been the plan, the scheme of the machines.

Torch the world, set it on fire so that there would be no place to live, nothing to eat. That's how they drove us out of our holes (we were starving). It's also how they planned to extinguish us, get rid of humankind. And it wasn't a new idea, or even their own. They had actually learned from us. That was one of the ways we used to kill each other. The machines were only doing what they knew. What we had done to ourselves for centuries. We had taught them, now they were teaching us.

It had been considered...what if they had won? What if the machines had succeeded in wiping out humanity? What were their plans next (after taking over the world)? Well, that was anybody's guess. Maybe rocket out into space. Take over the solar system, the galaxy...who knows. The thing of it was...that they were going to have to get past us first. And they weren't doing so well at that.

Me? My job was to see that it didn't happen. I had thirty notches on my belt (that was a joke. I really hadn't killed thirty terminators...it was just my way of keeping my sense of humor. I had to do something to retain my sanity).

Anyway, to continue...

**************** Notches ****************

The soldier had jumped behind a pile of rubble when the "T-Stalker" had detected movement. The terminator swung its weapons around and began to pulverize a pile of stone that was next to a building. The big stone blocks turned it into fragments. However, the soldier had seen the bastard coming, so he had taken shelter.

The T-Stalker had opened up with its M134G minigun. The rounds tore through the rubble like it was Swiss-cheese. The T-600 blasted the position for a full minute before the cloud of dust obscured its view. It stopped firing. It waited until the debris began to settle and the way looked safe.

(If anything these machines weren't dumb. They weren't smart either but they weren't stupid. They had learned to be cautious).

The T-600 watched as the cloud of particles floated down and came to rest on the thick pile of stone. It waited until it could scan the area and check for movement. It found none. Again it continued its march forward through the chaos of the street.

That was when I checked myself. I was Okay but I dare not move. The terminator might become aware. Although I couldn't see the Stalker (at this time) I could hear the creepy sound of the machine as it came closer. With each step the noise of the gears and hydraulics could be heard. It was really weird and also, it was one of the things that would freak some people out.

The noise that an approaching terminator makes was enough to drive some people into panic. They would go insane and make a mistake, and if you did that, you were dead.

I waited, listening to it get closer. I even held my breath as much as I could. The Stalker stopped. It was hesitant, but then it stepped past the pile of bricks and into my view. It saw movement.

The sound was deafening, its guns blazed away. There, I was blown to pieces. There was a loud crashing and then I came to the ground. The terminator ceased. It took its fingers off the triggers and silenced its weapons. It stood grinning. I think the locals called this one "Smiley". It always seemed to have that eerie look of happiness on its face (but didn't they all). It bent forward to get a better view of its handiwork. Then it seemed confused, unable to comprehend. That's when I chose to make my move.

I stepped from an archway on the opposite side of the street. I strolled right up behind the T-600. I raised my plasma pistol to the back of its head and then I squeezed off a round. Old "Smiley" tumbled forward like a sack of rocks. A clear, round hole fused straight threw his head.

What the terminator had actually seen was the mirror I'd strung up in the shadows of the archway that was on the opposite side. I had positioned myself so that my reflection could be seen and then I had thrown a rock to get its attention. It was an old trick; an aged folly taught to me by one of the seasoned troopers I'd befriended. It was used to get the drop on those buggers, and it worked.

(Hang a mirror, piece of window glass, something made of shiny chrome or anything that would reflect your image. Then get out of the way. The terminators would see movement and would shred whatever was hanging to pieces. They weren't programed to be able to tell real from a reflection)

Anyway, at that point you could walk up behind the asshole and take him out. It was called it "Baiting", and I had just baited this guy.

I looked down at the thing that had attempted to kill me. Now I grinned.

"I guess that you didn't know that breaking a mirror merits you seven years of bad luck. Of course in this case you didn't even last seven minutes." I was a bit of a smart ass, I admit it.

Anyway another one bites the dust. I actually did add a notch to my belt. 31...

End part 1