Chapter Six: Hunted

Summary

John and his companions encounter trouble on the way to Outpost Glen, Cameron and John Henry look for a target, Ellison and Sarah discuss how to handle Savannah.


"Wake up, John." Allison said as she shook her backseat companions shoulder. John slowly opened his eyes, along with all the memories of the previous week flooding back not long after. His eyes felt like they had been glued shut, and he struggled to open them.

Allison shook his shoulder again. "John. Wake up!" she urged.

John finally was able to pry his eyes open, and he looked around. "Shit, what time is it?" he asked. He saw Kyle stick his head out of the truck's window. After a minute of what he appeared to look at the sky, he brought his head back in and looked at John. "Judging by the sun's position in the sky, I'd say around nine a.m." he answered.

"Yeah, we're almost there. About an hour out. Figured I'd wake you so you wouldn't be so drowsy when you met the Outpost Commander." Allison said.

John nodded, he looked around the truck he was in. He saw his three companions, but where was Howard? "Hey, where's Howard?" he asked Allison.

Allison pointed back toward the truck bed. "Oh, he's in the back on the Browning." she answered. John looked back, and sure enough, he saw a bored-looking Howard resting his chin on his elbow, which in turn was resting on the top of the gun itself.

"So you ready to meet the commander?" Kyle asked, turning around in his seat to face John.

John chuckled. "Yeah, about that - who is this commander?" he asked. "What's she like?"

Allison leaned in a little closer than necessary as she explained. "Well, she's a little older than me. I'd say about four or five years. She commands a lot of respect in her garrison."

Derek butt in. "That's right. So you'll show her the utmost respect when we meet her, clear?" he barked.

"Derek! Leave him alone!" Allison snapped back. John heard Derek grunt in annoyance, but Allison ignored him. "The reason she's so young is that the previous commander died in battle. She was the second in the chain-of-command who was supposed to lead after. That guy was only thirty when he died, and he hadn't intended for her to take over until he was growing grey hairs. So she got the job at twenty-something." Allison explained.

John took in all of this information; and for some reason, it actually made him excited to meet this commander of theirs. He let his arm rest outside of the window and stared out into the Wasteland. "...Can't wait to meet her..." he said awkwardly.

An awkward silence fell between all of them; not that John cared much. He was too busy wondering what his mother was doing right now, at least until his thoughts wandered to Cameron once again. Or where the hell Catherine Weaver was! His thoughts and tasks were disorganized beyond description.

Allison frowned. She was noticing John wasn't wanting to face her, or talk to her. He was a nice kid, she was sure. And he had a great personality, stopping at nothing to find his sister. Not to mention she thought he was physically appealing; despite only knowing him for a very short time, she felt like he had a presence about him that was... comforting. Someone to talk to if she was ever alone. Suddenly, Allison had an idea, she'd need to play to his inner sorrow so she could finally break the ice with him. "So... tell me about your sister." she said awkwardly.

John looked at her and frowned. "Tell you about her?" he asked in surprise.

Allison shrugged. "Yeah, you know... what's she like?" she clarified.

John looked out the window again and sighed. He felt the truck drive over a bump, sending all the inhabitants to jut into the air briefly. To be honest, he didn't really have an answer. Supposedly he could describe Cameron's quirky traits, but what teenage human girl loves the color purple, and wears combat boots at the same time? Then suddenly, he realized that maybe could settle for transferring Cameron's Terminator traits to Human traits. "Yeah! That's what I'll do!" he thought to himself.

John looked at Allison - who was still waiting for an answer. "Well. She's brave." he said.

Allison tilted her head in that "Come on, really?" kind of way. "She's brave? That's all you got? Come on, John. There has to be more to her than that."

She was persistent. John had to give her that. "Uh, she's smart. She's the one who kind of took the initiative after dad went missing during the nuclear attacks." he responded.

Allison perked up at this, accompanied by her usual nice-girl smile. "Oh! She sounds like a tough girl!" she said.

John couldn't help but chuckle a little bit. "Yeah, definitely. She's a really tough girl. I wouldn't be here without her."

John saw Derek briefly flash his eyes to the mirror, looking at him for a moment. "Tougher than you?" he asked with no restraint.

John nodded with a fake laugh. "Oh yeah! No contest there. She could whoop my ass no sweat." he said. He heard Derek scoff quietly, but he ignored him and looked back out the window. Unbeknownst to the other passengers - Derek adjusted his front mirror so it was facing John, and where the soldier could keep a good eye on him.

The drive kept on for a good fifteen minutes before everyone heard Derek yell "SHIT!" as he turned off-road. Allison, Howard, John, and Kyle were all confused at Derek's sudden profanity-laced actions. Before any of them could ask, Howard opened the window-slit. "Hey! What the hell's going on?" he asked with a raised voice; obviously trying to verbally overpower the truck's engine roar as Derek spurred the Gas pedal.

Derek turned around and answered. "Aerial HK! Don't you see it?" he said. Sure enough, everyone looked up toward the sky and an Aerial Hunter-Killer was patrolling the abandoned roads. Kyle was the first one to spot a ruined building in the Wasteland. It looked like a toy store or gift shop of some sort, as it was in the shape of a large wooden ship docked at an abandoned pier.

"Hey, Derek! You see that abandoned ship-looking place?" Kyle asked pointing at the structure.

Derek followed his brother's finger. And he spotted the structure it was pointing at. "Yeah, I see it. Let's go for it." Derek immediately floored the gas pedal, and almost immediately on queue, the Hunter-Killer Aerial started slowly making its way toward the group's position. They must have been lucky because the machine hadn't fired a shot at them yet. John briefly heard Howard yell "FASTER!", and apparently Derek heard him too, as he stomped the gas pedal again-sending the truck past ninety-three miles per hour.

Luckily there was a huge gaping hole in the bow; wood serrated the sides, and the truck easily found a place inside. Derek turned around and looked at everyone. "No one. Fucking. Move." he ordered quietly. John unknowingly joined his left hand with Allison, who was too laced with fear to notice. Kyle hid behind his seat, and Howard laid down in the truck bed.

Everyone felt their hearts rise to their throats, their blood boil. They heard the loud engine of the Hunter-Killer hovering above them. It seemed to stop above the ship store, and Kyle felt his blood freeze like Ice because he was gripping the corner of the seat so tightly. Even Derek was sweating. Derek and Kyle knew the full capabilities of the Hunter-Killer. If anybody in the truck made a move to get out and leave, they would be dead before they could reach a new hiding spot.

John gripped Allison's hand tighter, and this time she noticed it. But her fear was still ruling her mind, preventing her from responding. Suddenly, a bright-blue spotlight spilled onto the outside of the hole - causing everyone to jump in fear slightly. Despite the early morning, the shadows the ship cast beyond itself allowed the spotlight to display nicely as it glided over the hinges and crannies.

The search continued for a steady three minutes. The Hunter-Killer concluded no hostiles were in the area, and the group heard the engines fire up and fly away. Everyone immediately let out a dramatic sigh of relief. Howard opened the window-slit and spoke, "That was a close one, huh?" he said.

Kyle cocked his eyebrows. "Yeah, no shit. How did it not see us when we were driving?" he asked.

His brother shrugged. "It may have been an older model. Its radar may not have detected us so easily. The downside is the Mark One HK's have some serious Horsepower when it comes to audio receptors. If any of us would have moved, we wouldn't have made it out of there." he explained.

John was breathing heavily at this point. He'd never been so scared in his life. Not even when he was being hunted by Cameron on his birthday. "Well... that's great!" he said through heavy puffs.

Allison looked down at their joined hands and she smiled shyly. "John?" she asked.

John looked at her. "Yeah?"

She paused for a moment and looked at her hand again for emphasis. "Can I have my hand back?" she asked sweetly.

John looked down and discovered the two's hand tightly entwined. John's face flushed with embarrassment, and he quickly untangled them. "Oh, uh yeah! Sorry." he apologized. He barely caught Allison's grin turn higher upward; he couldn't even bring himself to look into the rear-view mirror as he would no doubt be met with a death glare from Derek. No one spoke a word as Derek floored the gas, sending the small truck rocketing out of the store wreckage.


SKYNET CENTRAL

"Is Central in this time the same as it was in the time you originally came from, Cameron?" John Henry asked his only companion.

"The Resemblance is uncanny. Although there are a few differences when it comes to structure placement. What is our next objective?"

John Henry scanned the entire sight of post-war Los Angeles. There were Terminators everywhere, the majority of them being Triple-Eights only second by the T- eight hundred. He found himself avoiding any major contact with other machines, and he wasn't sure if Skynet was aware of his presence in the current timeline, and he had no desire to take any chances. "If we can find some sort of archive... or a war room, I could download anything I needed to calculate my brother's military strategies." John Henry answered.

"Yes, that is a valid goal. I know exactly where we need to look. Approximately one-hundred yards from here, there is a building that Skynet used for this very purpose. It seems unlikely that the Skynet in this timeline would not do the same. It's also not connected to any server or Mainframe that Skynet inhibits. That way you can download any data you want and not be detected." Cameron explained.

John Henry took one last look at the ruined city. For future reference, he saved a photo memory of the Terminator's positions. T-800's and Grim Reaper turrets guarding the walls; T-888 units and T-1's patrolling the abandoned streets. Once the memory was saved, John Henry turned around and walked away. "Let's get going then." he said.


2009

A knock on the door was heard, and despite knowing that Ellison might be the one at the door, Sarah groaned at the thought of getting off of the couch and opening the door regardless. She set the television remote aside and walked over to the door. She peeped the eye-hole, and sure enough, the former FBI operative was the person she saw. She opened the door.

"Hi Sarah." Savannah greeted, rather glumly. Sarah looked down, and truthfully she didn't know the girl was there. "Oh, hi hon." She knelt down in front of her. "Why don't you go inside and watch T.V. okay? I need to talk to James for awhile." she said.

Savannah simply nodded and walked inside. As soon as Sarah saw her sit on the couch and pick up the remote, she turned back around and raised an eyebrow at Ellison. "What's wrong with her?" she asked him.

Ellison pulled Sarah slightly to the side, away from the doorway and where Savannah could see. "She wants to know what happened to her mother." he answered honestly.

Sarah's eyes immediately lit up. She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "You dumb shit! You didn't tell her did you?" she quietly scolded. On Ellison's part, he was a little afraid by this point. If there was anything he learned from his time as an FBI agent; it was to NEVER piss off Sarah Connor. "No, I didn't! I just said we needed to talk about her!" he countered.

Sarah released him rather aggressively. "What the hell is wrong with you?! You don't say that to a little girl who's mother just went missing!" she scolded. She had to give herself credit. She was usually loud when she was mad at someone.

Ellison raised his hands in defense. "Well, what the hell was I supposed to do? It's not like she wasn't going to find out anyway! And don't forget it's not even her real mother! It's a robot!" he argued.

"It doesn't matter! Savannah doesn't know that!" Sarah turned around and sighed in frustration. She took a minute to calm down. It was pretty clear Ellison did not handle the situation with care. She scratched her head, and Ellison stood behind her and watched awkwardly as she vented her anger. Suddenly, the irate Sarah Connor turned around and gave Ellison a mad glare. "Alright, so here's what we do. We go in, we talk to her CALMLY. And we explain the situation as clearly as we can." she said.

Ellison breathed sharply and nodded. "Alright. Let's do it." he said.

Savannah and Ellison walked side-by-side into the house. Savannah was lying on the couch watching the T.V. Sarah was a mother long enough to know the girl was extremely upset.

Sarah took a seat next to the young girl, and Savannah slowly sat back up on the couch. Sarah frowned and put a comforting hand on the young girl's shoulder. "Your mom's going to be okay Savannah." Sarah paused, thinking of something to say. Whatever came to her mind just didn't sound reassuring enough. Ellison saw his chance to butt in and answer for her. "Ms. Weaver had to go on a business trip to... Finland. She said to tell you that she loves you, and will be home soon."

Sarah barely managed to crack a fake, yet reassuring smile when the young girl looked at her confusingly. Her eyes darted back and forth between Sarah and Ellison; not entirely sure how to react to this information. "Can I call her?" she asked Sarah.

Sarah put another hand on the child's other shoulder and looked her in the eyes. "This is a very important work assignment. She can't take any calls." Sarah answered. After hearing how awful the lie sounded coming from her mouth, she began to wonder where her lying skills went. "I wonder if John is doing any better than me right now?" she thought.

Once again, Savannah looked completely unconvinced. She gently slid away from Sarah's comforting hands, took a few steps back, and looked at them both. "...When can I see her again?" she asked.

The question broke both of their hearts. A question neither of them had the answer too. They both looked at each other, expecting the other to answer the young girl. One glance was all Ellison needed to know that Sarah wasn't going to be the one that answered. Ellison looked Savannah dead in the eye, his face was sad... worried, but he tried his best to maintain his composure.

"I don't know, sweetheart... She didn't say."

To her credit, Savannah didn't show any signs of being brought to tears. But they both knew the words hit Savannah hard. The girl didn't say a word as she turned around and retreated upstairs.

Sarah turned around, crossed her arms, and glared at Ellison.

"Don't give me that look, Sarah! What the hell was I supposed to say?"

Sarah scoffed. "Anything but what you did! Dammit...'" Sarah snapped. "It's pretty damn clear Savannah isn't stupid. She probably knows we're full of shit!" the clearly irate mother added.

Ellison raised his voice slightly. "Oh yeah? And what if she never turns up, huh? That would've all been on me because this little girl would want to see her mother again-but never got too! I won't make her go through that!"

"Are you blind?! You're making her go through it right now! You've never had a kid so you clearly don't know jack shit about raising one!" Sarah fired back. She breathed heavily, and once she saw the look on Ellison's face, she immediately softened her expression.

Ellison took a deep breath. "You're right. I never did have a kid. Savannah is the closest thing to a daughter I've ever had. I could've had one, but God determined it wasn't the right time." With that said, he began to walk away.

Sarah shook her head in confusion. "What does that mean?" she asked.

Ellison stopped walking and turned around. "My ex-wife had a miscarriage." he said. Immediately Sarah regretted what she said so harshly. "Oh... I'm sorry... I didn't mean to-"

"Don't worry about it. You just worry about, Savannah. I'll do what I can to help you." Ellison replied as firmly as he could.

Sarah stood in the middle of the room feeling like a complete bitch. Ellison didn't deserve that... he was just trying to help after all. Sarah took a seat back on the couch, turned on the TV, and scrolled to the news channel. She was just scared. She was afraid she would never see her son again; she hoped he would survive... he had too.

He was John Connor.


Chapter 6 Redux. Uploaded July 7th, 2019.

Thank you for reading.