Chapter 8: A mother's farewell

Summary

John Henry and Cameron wrap up their final tasks in Skynet Central, John reunites with a future Savannah, tragedy strikes in 2009.

With all the information he needed, John Henry walked out of the archives building. He and Cameron had successfully broken into Skynet's war records and downloaded strategic information. "We have our information. What is our next objective?" he asked.

There was a moment of silence, and then a text appeared on John Henry's HUD, "The Skynet in this future is very similar to the one in my original future. Since this is the case, it may have started developing Time Displacement Equipment as well." she replied.

It was the first time John Henry was confused... truly confused. "I thought you said that the reason Skynet created the Time Machine was to kill John Connor in the past? Why would it need to build one in this time?" he asked.

In truth, Cameron wasn't sure if she had an answer or not. She had to admit John Henry had a point... but something was stopping her from abandoning her idea altogether; something she couldn't quite put her finger on. She does believe John once called it... Instinct.

"John Henry, we have come this far and we have worked together through great odds. I cannot have any doubt from you now. Even if the machine does not exist-it's still worth trying to find." Cameron stated firmly.

Despite his doubt, John Henry found himself in agreement with his counterpart. He wasn't primitive... he trusted her, "Very well. But before we proceed with your plan, there is something I must do." he said without elaboration.

"John Henry, what is more important than the task at hand?"

"You will see."


Outpost Glen, Savannah's Office

"Sa... Savannah?" John asked as he and Savannah embraced in a friendly hug. The two held each other in a comfortable embrace before John pushed gently away, and put his hands on her shoulders. "Savannah... you... you're the commander of this base?" John uttered, completely at a loss for words.

Savannah's good girl smile accompanied her regarding shrug. "Surprised? Seems like you've had one hell of a time. Derek and Kyle gave you trouble I bet?" she asked him. John rolled his eyes in agreement. "I'm pretty sure Derek wants me dead. I'm not sure about Kyle, but I don't think he'd mind if I had a broken arm or two." he joked. He and Savannah shared a laugh, and for once John almost completely forgot about Cameron.

When the two stopped laughing, Savannah spoke up. "John, have you found Cameron yet?" she asked firmly.

Immediately John's mood began to plummet, his face dropped into sorrow, which Savannah seemed to pick up rather quickly. "Oh... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"-No it's okay!" John urged. He sighed deeply as he thought about Cameron. "To tell you the truth, Savannah... I haven't even started looking for her yet. I've only been in this future for a day or so. Most of it's been spent trying not to look like a grey... or whatever they're called." he admitted.

Savannah pitied him. He'd lost someone close to him, despite her knowledge of their standing relationship with the cyborg pre-dating her departure. They weren't on the greatest of terms, but she could tell John was still upset that she was gone from him.

"John... you miss her?"

Amongst his sorrow, John felt a little... embarrassed? He didn't want Savannah to think that he was actually in love with Cameron. He snapped his attention back to Savannah and presented a fake smile, "I need her." he stated vaguely.

Savannah looked at him concerningly but decided not to press the issue. "I bet you miss your mom, huh?" she asked him, hoping she hadn't upset him even more. As she saw John's expression display indifference, she almost sighed in relief.

John sighed deeply. "Yeah... I feel like an asshole for doing that to her. But... I just jumped... without thinking. Like it was a split-second decision." he said, almost admitting to Savannah. By this time, the adrenaline of seeing Savannah again had subsided, and John took a seat once again on the chair. He put his head in his hands, unsure of what to do now.

Savannah hadn't felt any pity like this before. Not since... not for a very long time. She took a seat next to John and put a comforting hand on his back. "John?" she called.

John slowly turned up to look at her, her expression displayed...guilt? No, that wasn't right. Regret.

"Yes?"

Savannah was silent for a moment, she had withdrawn her comforting hand, and all that remained were her eyes locked on John's. "Your mother saved my life." she admitted. Those words alone didn't shock John. His mother was the type to risk everything in order to save the lives of others.

"Mom protected you? What happened?" he asked somewhat urgently. He saw Savannah's expression drop even lower. As if she had been told someone close to her had passed away. John was still waiting for an answer, but Savannah simply couldn't think of one. Every word she thought of was caught in her throat. John squirmed anxiously in his chair, feeling his heart tighten as he began to work out what had happened. "Savannah? What happened to mom?" he asked.

Savannah could no longer face him. She turned away. She was a strong girl, she didn't shed a tear although there was no more appropriate time than now.

"John... I'm sorry..." she apologized quietly.

John felt bad for making Savannah upset. He didn't mean too, but his mind was too overflowed to think of apologizing. So he simply complied with Savannah's request to sit down and began listening to her story...


2009

"SARAH! GET DOWN!" Ellison barked. He pushed Sarah out of the way just in time for both of them to take cover in the bathroom. They both began to hear the heavy footsteps clanking towards them. "He's here for Savannah." Ellison said. He peeked out of the corner of the bathroom door frame, only to be met with a bullet flying into the wall behind him. Predictably, he moved back behind cover and held his breath.

He didn't notice Sarah wasn't even speaking. She held her handgun very closely and was breathing heavily. Every moment that passed, she heard the footsteps become closer. She had to make a decision now... before it was too late. She opened her eyes that were closed, and she slowly but surely collected herself. She grabbed Ellison by the collar of his suit and looked him directly in the eye.

"Listen to me, you get Savannah out of here now. I'll draw his fire, and you damn well make sure you both get out of here alive." she ordered.

Ellison's eyes grew wide with shock, he couldn't believe the words that were spilling out of Sarah's mouth. "Sarah are you crazy?! He'll kill you!" he argued, forcibly tearing his collar away from Sarah's hands.

"Then I've got nothing to lose then don't I?" Sarah replied calmly. Her eyes were so bleak of emotion, Ellison could tell she wasn't bluffing.

"Sarah? What about John? What if he comes ba-"

"He's not coming back. She took him." Sarah said almost hypnotically. Tears were welling up in her eyes as the words formed in the air. Ellison stood shocked at her words, never in his lifetime did he ever think he would hear Sarah Connor sound so defeated. Suddenly, another bullet sped through the air, striking Sarah in the shoulder.

"Ah!" She screamed as she held the wound. Ellison took cover behind the wall once more. He quickly adjusted his posture and pulled Sarah behind the wall with him. A hail of pistol fire tore through the bathroom wall, barely missing the pair. Despite her wound, Sarah fought through the pain and charged out of the bathroom while firing her gun. "Get out of here! Take the girl!" she screamed.

Ellison stood in his position, amongst his own fear he could hear the machine and Sarah exchanging gunfire. Judging by the sound, he could tell the fight had been taken downstairs. He peaked around the corner and did indeed find himself and Savannah the only ones present upstairs. He summoned whatever faith was crazy enough to remain inside him, and burst out of the bathroom and into Savannah's room. He found the girl cowering behind the bed, tears and fear holding an emotional siege over the terrified child. He knelt down next to her.

"Savannah we need to go. That man? He'll hurt us." Ellison informed her.

Savannah stood motionless, it was the first time since the attack on her house she had been in shock. Ellison had no choice, he could hear the gunfight erupting downstairs, and he knew Sarah wouldn't last much longer. He scooped his faith once more and picked up Savannah in his arms. He ran with her downstairs, bolting past the clash of titans between him and the door. The machine took notice of Ellison, it took aim to fire, but Sarah caught on and fired her own weapon-the bullet knocking and disabling the Terminator's gun. This allowed Ellison to put Savannah in the back seat of the car and buckle her up.

"What about, Sarah?!" Savannah wailed. She was confused, terrified. The more Ellison looked into her tear-filled eyes the more he wanted to cry himself. In his mind, he was doing something horrible, but he had no choice. Both he and Savannah would surely die if he tried to help Sarah. He didn't respond as Savannah stared at him awaiting his response. He simply shut her door and sat in the front seat. As he was starting the car, he heard the back window shatter, quickly followed by a scream from Savannah. It took him a moment to realize a bullet had done the job.

He looked back and saw the machine had taken Sarah's M9 double-action pistol, which meant she was probably dead. Ellison didn't have time to mourn, he started the car and looked at Savannah in the back seat. "Hang on, Savannah!" he yelled. He floored the gas, which sent the car rocketing out of the street.

The machine looked at the fleeing car from the window of the house. He was about to pursue when he heard a slight moan emanate from the split couch. The machine turned his attention to the source of the sound, and there lie a broken and beaten Sarah Connor; surely in her last breaths. The machine took aim to fire, but when he pulled the trigger, he heard a click... the weapon was out of ammo.

Sarah Connor opened her eyes, barely able to move them. She saw the machine walk over to her, knelt down, and picked her up by the throat. As it squeezed for the kill, Sarahs snuck her arm into her back pocket and pulled out a small round object. With a slight flick of her index finger, she pulled the pin. "You're terminated, fucker!"

The machine looked at the object in Sarah's hand.

M67 Fragmentation grenade

DIRECTIVE: EVADE

The machine almost dropped Sarah, but by the time he had let go. The grenade had detonated, ending both of them.

Ellison looked behind him. He saw the house was on fire, he had heard the explosion. Sarah obviously had one more surprise left for the tin can. Either way, there was no way she could have survived that blast. He looked back at the road ahead of him, and in the reflection of the rear mirror, he saw his forehead was sweating profusely. He wiped the sweat away and had a look at Savannah. What he saw was the torn shell of the little girl that he once knew, torn, broken, hurt. He could tell the loss of Sarah was weighing on her. It wasn't fair, but nothing in life is... this girl was hunted by Skynet, and he would never let them hurt her as long as he remained breathing. But the future war was going to bring many losses.

And she'd have to accept all of them.


2027

Not even after seeing Cameron's lifeless body had John Connor felt so heartbroken. This was the first time he had cried during his time here in the future. He felt Savannah's comforting hand grace his back, he looked at her to see she was crying as well. "I'm so sorry, John." She looked away. "I never meant for it to end that way." she apologized. While John did pity her, he was to caught up in his own grief to acknowledge it. "Savannah, It's okay." he said. Both of them were silent for a moment, filling the office with a deafening silence.

Savannah spoke up, "John... There's something I need to tell you..." she said. When John heard these words, he became partially excited and partially scared. "What is it?"

Savannah blinked and hesitated before responding, "While I was staying with Mr. Ellison, he told me that your mom hid Cameron's body somewhere in the house. I'm not sure how the specifics of Terminator corpses work. But would it be possible to savor that body for later and use it when we find Cameron?" she said. While John was struck with a happy jab when he heard these words, he couldn't help but wonder if Cameron's body could... decompose.

"Really? But..." John started. He was interrupted by a shivering form begin to mound itself behind Savannah. His mouth was hanging wide open, and Savannah turned around. What she saw horrified her... It was her mother.

"The details on that matter need not concern you, Mr. Connor. I assure you your cyborg will be well intact when you find her." Weaver said, a mischievous smile forming across her face. Savannah's eyes grew wide open, and she pulled her .44 revolver, "You bitch!" she yelled as she took aim.

"NO!" John yelled as he tackled Savannah's arm down. He wrestled the gun away from her. "John, give me the goddamn gun back!" she demanded. John simply stood his ground and placed the weapon behind his back. "Savannah, listen to me. If you fire this gun, the entire Resistance base is going on alert. If those men walk up here, she will kill ALL OF THEM." He said sternly. They both stared at each other intensely for about five seconds.

Savannah calmed down. She understood and she sighed heavily with frustration, but she returned her glare to Weaver. John didn't hesitate to join her. "About fucking time you showed up. Where the hell have you been?" he asked.

If Weaver were human, she would most definitely have shrugged. "What you should have been doing, John. Searching for your Cyborg." She mocked. Weaver eyed the office and began to pace around the room a little bit; however, both eyes of John and Savannah remained focused on her. She stopped momentarily to look out the window, and she watched the soldiers perform their duties inside of the Resistance Compound. "Instead, you decide to join up with these lot." she said.

"I didn't have a choice!" John snarled. "If I didn't help them they would've killed me."

Weaver didn't even face him as she replied. "Yes, I suppose that would have been unfortunate."

John couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not. This was the most monotone Terminator he had ever heard. At least Uncle Bob was fun to listen to with his funny accent and all, but Scottish was just ear-grating for him. It was clear that Weaver had some sort of self-awareness, maybe not like Skynet or this "John Henry", but enough to separate her from the other machines. At least no other mindless Terminator who was out to kill him tried to sarcasm him to death.

"Okay, so if we're done conversing I think we need to discuss our next move." Savannah said, resisting the horrifyingly strong urge to verbally tear the T-1001 a new one. Pleasantly surprised that Savannah decided to advance the conversation without conflict, he agreed they needed to get their plan up and running, he was through stagnating. "What's the plan?" he asked.

"We need to get Cameron's body first. We will store it in a safe area while we search for John Henry. He has her chip right?" she said.

John nodded. "Yes."

"Good. Now..." Savannah cringed. "...Catherine do you know where they are?" she asked.

Weaver watched the soldiers work for a second more before turning around and facing the pair completely. "Central." she answered.

John saw Savannah's face drop like an atom bomb. He looked frantically between the two. "W- What's Central?"

It seemed Catherine was looking toward Savannah to answer John's question. She was curious about how she... handled it. Savannah blinked before speaking, "Skynet Central. It's where Skynet builds all of its machines. It has the highest security, and intel reports there are over six-hundred thousand units occupying its garrison alone."

John's eyes flew wide open. "How the hell did John Henry manage to get in there? That place is the meat grinder!" he argued.

Weaver tilted her head in a curious fashion. "It's possible he copied another Terminator's ID code." she suggested. "That way all automated systems will allow him access through the entire base."

John sighed. "Okay, so in short there's no way we're getting in. So how do we get to John Henry?"

Weaver cracked a small, smug smile. "You're not. You and Savannah will retrieve Cameron's body, I will go to central and retrieve John Henry. All you will need to do is provide me with your location. And I will find you."

Savannah dreaded seeing the machine, but if it meant helping John accomplish his goal, she would. "Follow the interstate. About ten miles from here, then take the road under the bridge for another two minutes. You'll see a house on the left, as long as it's still there."

John couldn't believe he didn't see that logic. He went in there for a reason, right? "Okay, so it's just a matter of waiting. In the meantime, we should go get Cameron's body. Do you know where to go, Savannah?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, it's gonna be about a twenty-minute drive." she answered.

"Don't you have a base to run?" John asked.

Savannah shrugged. "I'd really like to make this go smooth, but Resistance protocols don't allow for a Commander to leave base without express permission from high command. Ignoring that rule, well... that means the firing squad. As soon as we get started I'll be just as much a fugitive as you once we see daylight."

John frowned in uncertainty. He wasn't wild on her idea, especially if it meant pissing off the Resistance. But at this point, the task of finding Cameron had reached its boiling point. It was all he wanted to do. If it was to be done, then now was the time.


Sometime later, Skynet Central

The Factory was much bigger than he expected. The massive cranes pulling apart and putting the machines together was truly a sight to behold. He made his way through the cluster of banging and drilling sounds that filled the air. He approached a door. There was no access point, and there was no single way to open the door. John Henry searched for another entry point but was unsuccessful in finding any. Suddenly, he saw a shiver at the corner of his HUD, and a giant pile of liquid metal spilled onto the floor around him. He saw it shape itself into the familiar face of Catherine Weaver.

John Henry rose his guard but let off once he realized that if this machine were sent by Skynet under the guise of his "mother", then it would have killed him immediately. "Miss Weaver? What are you doing here? Did you follow me?"

Weaver's right hand was still shaping into its human form, and she examined it closely while she answered, "Obviously. Come, we need to go." she ordered. Weaver began walking, but she heard no footsteps following her. She turned around and saw John Henry still standing in his spot near the door. "I can't Miss Weaver. Not until I fix Cameron." he resisted.

Weaver pondered this... yes. It would only make sense that John Connor's personal Terminator would be damaged from battle. "Very well. What is your plan to accomplish this?" she asked her 'son'.

John Henry silently responded by looking at the door. "I need to get through this door. Behind it is a room Cameron calls the 'Unit Chamber'. Inside there are automated machines that program the Terminators. I can hack into the system, find a way to repair or delete Cameron's corrupted files. Then I will begin a manual reconstruction of the chip itself." he explained.

Now, Weaver stood silent across the room from John Henry. She looked up and saw the conveyor belt with small automated fingers that held Terminator chips feed out of some sort of access port leading into the room John Henry spoke of. She returned her attention to John Henry, "You must understand. If you are destroyed, humanity loses a major asset in the future war." Weaver struggled to speak for another moment, briefly averting her eyes away. "I do not want you to die." she finished.

John Henry studied Weaver for another moment. "I understand. But I assure you, Ms. Weaver... it will not come to that." he said. "Can you get us through this door."

Weaver smiled in response. "Brute force may not be the key to everything John Henry. But it can solve situations like this." she answered vaguely. She was simply met with a strange head-tilt from John Henry. She most definitely would have rolled her eyes had she felt the urge. "Allow me to demonstrate."

She approached the door and began pounding it with her fists. The door was made of a very weak metal, probably Iron. It wasn't long before the door began to screech in protest, before falling back with a loud crash. When the dust settled, Weaver and John Henry saw the room for what it was. Many automated terminals filled the room, no doubt providing the code for the Terminators. However, fixing Cameron was going to prove to be difficult, as one of the many guarding Terminator's in the room took aim at the pair.

Weaver showed a hint of satisfaction. She was getting bored anyway.


This is Chapter 8 of the REDUX. Uploaded on July 12th, 2019.

Thank you for reading.