Chapter 32: Shattered Hearts

Summary

The Connors prepare to re-locate, John learns how to reprogram machines, Jade closes in.


"Death is the one true equalizer for us all, it's a cold, mysterious thing that we both fear and embrace. Humans, mankind; we all die. Often I wonder if Cameron ponders death, her own destruction. I once compared her to a succubus, a Demon that fed off the desires of men. But even I know it's unfair to compare her to such a creature. She protects, but also destroys, she speaks but is also silent. She's a machine, but flesh and blood. Her existence is parallel to my son's own. Mysterious, and almost unbelievable."

Sarah hastily packed her things. Clothes, Records, Weapons, anything of value. She told Cameron to keep watch on the rooftop and to pack John's stuff quickly in case the FBI agents returned. Derek was the muscle, he carried whatever he could into the back of James Ellison's car. Aside from the Lincoln MKX that Catherine Weaver had, it was the only vehicle they had access to. Unfortunately, the Lincoln SUV was the vehicle Catherine Weaver decided to drive with John and James Ellison to Zeira Corporation - so they were stuck with the very small trunk on Ellison's car to store items in. They'd have to make a second trip.

"Reese, grab the C4, it's in the closet in a box." Sarah said to Derek.

The Resistance fighter grunted in response and opened the closet door that was next to the entrance door of the house. He retrieved the explosives and placed them in the backpack he was carrying. "We've got the room for a couple more things in the trunk. It's already full of clothes and shit."

Peter Henderson arrived downstairs, carrying a box of miscellaneous items inside it. "Yeah... speaking of that, couldn't we just buy more clothes when we get to the new location? There's not really a reason to take up all the space is there?"

Sarah shot an annoyed glance at the man as she forcefully took the box from his grip. "We can't leave traces like that behind. Clothes have DNA, if something were to go down, like now, and we had to leave in a hurry, the last thing we'd want to leave is a trail. I'm taking the clothes with us so we can dispose of them properly later." Sarah explained.

Peter nodded in understanding, but before he could continue his tasks, Sarah stopped him. "How did you manage to stay so quiet while the FBI was here?" Sarah asked him.

Peter smiled humorously. "Dark places and Bathroom doors work wonders." he joked.

Sarah gave the man a warm smile. Despite all that he had been through, she was happy he could throw around a joke or two. She pointed her finger in the direction of the Kitchen. "Grab as much as you can from the table and cupboards. We're going to have to make a second trip." she requested.

"Is James still at Zeira?" he asked her.

Sarah nodded. "Yeah, he left with Catherine."

Peter nodded and trotted away to perform his task. As the 'pitter-patter' from his shoes touching the carpet turned into 'pat-pat' from the tile that replaced it, Sarah realized she hadn't heard from Cameron in a few minutes. She had previously assigned her the task of gathering up whatever valuables they could manage to pack upstairs. The woman peered up the stairs as if to find the Cyborg standing there, looking back - but obviously saw nothing.

When the door opened, she saw Derek Reese returning from putting whatever he had collected into the back of James Ellison's car. The older man stopped and glanced at Sarah, taking note of her sudden bewilderment.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Sarah frowned. "I haven't seen Tin-Miss in a while. I sent her upstairs to pack, but she should've been done by now." she explained.

Derek's right brow rose in confusion. "Tin-who?"

"Tin-Miss. Cameron." Sarah clarified.

Upon hearing her words, the Resistance fighter groaned quietly under his breath.

Sarah heard this expression a lot from her son and on occasion the "old" Derek. It happened whenever he wanted to protest something but did not want to incur her wrath. Not that she could blame him. An angry Sarah Connor wasn't much different from a Rampaging Ox.

"Is there a problem?" she asked, clear frustration in her voice.

Derek fumbled with his arms at his side, anxiety briefly gripping him. It was clear he didn't want to upset John's mother, but he figured that was too late already, so might as well come out with it. It needed to be said anyway.

"It's just... you. You seem so comfortable with that thing around us and I just don't get it." Derek said, pointing up at the staircase where Cameron supposedly was.

"Here we go..." Sarah thought.

"Your son is supposed to destroy these things, to protect us! Your son! My Neph-" Derek stopped himself, not wanting to say the words out loud. He hadn't meant to bring it up, he didn't want Sarah to know he found out; he just wanted to avoid the drama.

Sarah took a deep breath as if inhaling all the reasonable thoughts that she could put into words. "He told you, huh?"

Derek's emotions threatened to run wild, and he barely had the strength to keep them in check. The Resistance fighter took in an even deeper breath than Sarah did, summoning the will to respond. The last thing he wanted to do was talk about Kyle, but it was a hard subject to avoid when talking about his brother's son.

"I found out. It wasn't hard." he answered.

An agreement of silence fell between the two. Derek didn't want to pursue the subject further, neither did Sarah. The woman returned her attention to packing items for the trip out of the city. She had left Catherine Weaver a voicemail asking for directions to their next destination... she hoped the machine responded soon; Sarah Connor didn't like being kept in the dark.


Green trees, birds chirping, and cars passing by... these were sounds that Cameron Phillips had gotten used to while staying with the Connors. The ambiance of nature was something she was rather indifferent to, as she couldn't experience that caliber of comfort like Humans did. She never understood why people who were comfortable with the woodland life would sit out on their porches and listen to animals all day when there were surely more productive things to do.

Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard something fall over from under her. She looked down to see what it was, but couldn't see anything due to the structural design of the second-floor balcony. An inquisitive caution about her, the machine rushed downstairs, passing by Sarah Connor and Derek Reese.

"Tin-miss, did you pack our stuff like I told you to?" Sarah barked.

Cameron didn't bother answering as she marched outside, although her facial expression went from carefree to a very-obvious frown after Sarah spoke to her. Sarah Connor, not appreciating being ignored, but also intrigued at what had the machine so spooked, followed her outside. Before she opened the door, she gave a nod to Derek Reese, silently asking him to continue packing.

Once they were both outside, Sarah found Cameron quietly investigating an area under the second-floor balcony. She watched curiously as Cameron performed her work, taking apart poorly-stacked objects like sheet metal and unused firewood.

Sarah sighed. "Tin-miss, what are you doing?" She asked in frustration.

Cameron stopped what she was doing, but this didn't seem to be triggered by Sarah's question, more so from a greater intrigue from something in the forest beyond - as if the Terminator heard something or someone among the trees. Cameron's eyes scanned left and right, and she attuned her audio receptors for any sound that seemed out-of-place but heard nothing other than the sounds she would expect to hear in any wilderness.

Finally, after some silence, Cameron responded to Sarah's question. "Someone's here." she said.

Sarah's eyes followed Cameron's. She looked for anything to catch her eye but saw nothing. She began to wonder if Cameron was starting to "go mental" for lack of a better term. She cautiously approached the machine, placing herself next to Cameron's left shoulder, following the machine's gaze.

"Cameron... what?" Sarah asked as she tried to feed her eyes the input Cameron's seemed to have.

Suddenly, Sarah felt the full strength of Cameron's arms toss her aside, just as the sound of gunfire cracked from the trees and bullets whizzed past her head and impacted the house.

Cameron shielded Sarah with her body. "Go. It's the one from Zeira Corporation. Take Derek and Peter and go to the new location. I will meet you." the machine insisted as bullets impacted her back.

"But-" Sarah started.

"She is reloading! Go!" Cameron ordered.

Sarah did as she was told, and she sprinted for the front door, not looking back.

When Cameron heard the front door open, she turned around and gazed upon her opponent. It was the same Mimetic-Polyalloy machine from Zeira Corporation. It stood tall, an Uzi in her right hand. They circled each other briefly.

"John here?" the machine asked.

Cameron locked her eyes on her rival. Although she was smaller, she knew she was capable of holding her own with her.

"No." Cameron deadpanned.

The Terminator gave Cameron an arrogant smirk as if laughing at a sadistic joke only she knew. "It doesn't matter, anyway. He'll be dead soon enough. But Lieutenant Reese and Sarah Connor? That can be done now. After I'm done with you, of course." the fair-haired machine threatened.

Cameron refrained from speaking, instead, she locked her glare on her opponent. She made sure all of her surplus power fed her combat protocols. The two machines, both on rival sides of the War, stared each other down, daring each other to make the first move.


Derek jumped and gripped his holstered Ruger twenty-two when the front door burst open, sending the sound blasting through the house. He saw a clearly upset Sarah Connor run-in with absolute haste and the determination to match.

"I heard gun-shots, what the hell-" Derek started.

"We need to go." she barked.

Derek's eyes opened wide. "What's going on?"

Sarah bolted past him, grabbing one of the bags on the table and throwing Derek the other. "Machine. Cameron's holding her off. Where's Peter?"

Derek slung the bag over his shoulder before he answered. "Upstairs I thi-"

The Shattering of the front window cut Derek off completely, sending Cameron's body flying through the open wall it created. A towering female figure walked in after Cameron landed, and both Sarah and Derek watched as she raised her right hand, Uzi gripped tightly and ready to fire.

"Crap!" Derek yelled as he and Sarah bolted in opposite directions, each of them taking cover around the wall on their respective sides. Bullets whizzed past them, most of them impacted the corner right next to their shoulder. Once Derek heard the machine drop her empty magazine, he turned the corner and opened fire with his SR22 pistol. Several rounds impacted her torso, liquid metal contorting around the impact points.

Derek huffed in anger. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me." he turned back to cover and loaded another magazine into his Ruger. "Another one of these things?"

Sarah unholstered her Sig-Sauer. "Yeah." she cocked the slide. "Except this one isn't on our side."

"Yeah? What gave it away? The charismatic way she says Hello?" Derek quipped.

The bullets started flying again, but they were cut short as Cameron picked herself back up, grabbing the taller machine's right arm, slamming her figure into the wall - leaving an indention where it landed. As she attempted to grapple the machine, it gripped Cameron's arms and slammed her forehead into Cameron's nose. Before Cameron could recover, the other machine put a burst of rounds into Cameron's chest, staggering her briefly.

Derek glanced around the corner he was in cover behind. Once he saw the brawl before him, he looked at Sarah and waved for her.

"Now's our chance. Come on!" he yelled. He and Sarah then rushed out of their cover, not wasting a second and sure to avoid the clash of titans next to them. Sarah stopped, aimed her gun at the rival machine and waited for an opening.

Cameron tore the Uzi from her opponent's hand, and slammed the weapon grip-first into her cheek, shattering the weapon into metal pieces due to the force and speed at which Cameron swung. Bullets were then fired by Sarah, each of them hitting the machine's upper torso and lower jaw to no effect. Cameron then grabbed her rival by the shoulders, using all of her might, threw her rival as hard as she could into the wall where a large hole was torn.

While her opponent was staggered, Cameron turned around and gave Sarah a harsh look. "I told you to go!" she paused, watching Sarah hesitate. "GO!" she yelled.

Sarah nodded in acknowledgment before turning her gaze up to the stairs. "PETER! WE NEED TO GO! NOW!"

On cue, Peter rushed down the stairs but stumbled in horror seeing the tall, blonde-haired Terminator battling Cameron. He stared bug-eyed at the brawl before he was pulled away from his hypnosis by the scream of Sarah Connor.

"PETER! NOW!" she screamed.

Peter jumped at Sarah's words before realizing he was frozen in fear. He rushed down the stairs after Sarah, who bolted for the door with a very impatient Derek Reese already waiting.

"What about her?" Peter asked as they ran for the car.

Sarah opened the door to the driver's seat. "She can handle it. Get in."


John had fallen asleep on the table where Penny was at. Catherine decided to stay at Zeira Corporation to pull overtime; thus leaving him without a ride home. He had already texted his mother the previous night, and she had been fine with it, at least it was a safe place for him to stay until they moved somewhere else. When he woke, the first thing he did was run a hand through his hair that had been dyed black, stretching his sore muscles.

He heard the door to the room click open and watched as Ashley walked in. The man looked worse for wear like he hadn't gotten enough sleep.

"Rough night?" John asked.

Ash yawned as he retrieved the second chair from the mess of computer equipment near the entrance door. He took a seat and ran his hands over his face. "Yeah." he pulled himself closer to the desk and faced the monitor. "I'm one-hundred percent sure Braveheart up there is watching me. I saw three cameras inside my room."

John smirked. "Yeah, privacy isn't really her forte." the teenager commented.

"Tell me about it." Ash replied as he began dancing his fingers over the keyboard.

"Alright sweet cheeks; rise and shine." he said as he input the command to awaken Penny.

Her reactivation was much more swift than last time. The machine's eyes opened steadier, and she sat up with more grace.

Ash gave John a satisfied smile. "I think we should work on motor functions today. Get her up and running, after that, I'll teach you how to input orders and then we'll go from there. Sound good?"

John sighed heavily. He wasn't a fan of the amount of work he was going to have to do, but if that got him more protection - then all the better.

"Sounds great."

Before they could get started, the phone that was placed next to Ashley began to ring. The older man quietly groaned in annoyance before picking it up and holding it to his left ear.

"Hello!" he greeted cheerily

"..."

There was silence as Ashley listened in, his expression went from uncaring to alert in quick succession.

"Oh.. yeah, sure." he handed the phone over to John. "It's for you."

John nodded in thanks to Ash before taking it. He held up the phone to his left ear.

"Hello?"

"John? June-thirteenth. The house has been compromised. FBI cased the place yesterday and then a Terminator showed up! Are you okay?"

John's eyes opened wide in fear. "Oh shit! Did everybody make it out?"

"Almost. Cameron stayed behind to hold it off."

"WHAT!" John yelled, standing up with the haste to rival a Mongoose.

"Cameron stayed behind to hold it off! We had to go John - we couldn't help her! It was the one that attacked her at Zeira."

John began to breathe faster but kept it quiet to keep his heart rate in check. "How long?" he asked.

"Five minutes maybe."

John began to hang up the phone, his plan to head straight for the Cabin but he heard his mother yell his name.

"John! Don't you dare think about going back there! I want you to stay at Zeira until I come to get you! Are we clear?"

"But-"

"ARE. WE. CLEAR?"

John strained his teeth, the tension causing his jaw to hurt. "Yes." he hissed.

"... I'll call you, John. Just stay there."

John didn't bother responding. He slammed the phone back onto the receiver before burying his forehead in his hands. Ash looked at him empathetically, it wasn't exactly a mystery that the conversation with his mother wasn't pleasant. Before he could say anything to comfort him, John shot up from his seat and marched vigorously for the door.

"Hey! What's going on?" Ash asked.

John punched in the code to open the door. "They found us." he answered.

"Who did?"

"Everyone apparently. You coming?"

Ash glanced between Penny and John, looking like he was truly considering John's offer. "I would but... I have to stay here if we want to make any progress with her." he answered.

"... But don't worry. Do what you need to do; we can do this another time."

John gave him a parting nod, earning one in response before he opened the door and left the room - his steps echoing down the hall until he exited the building.


It was a long drive, especially with how terrified John was. How terrified he was of losing Cameron. Twenty minutes felt like twenty hours by the time he arrived back at the house. It was obvious there had been a conflict; a violent conflict. The building had several holes in its outer structure, bullet holes everywhere. John opened the door to the car he had taken and rushed inside the house without bothering to close it.

"CAMERON!" he yelled as he ran inside. He looked inside the bedroom. "CAMERON!" No answer. His next target was the kitchen. "CAMERON! WHERE ARE YOU?" he yelled again to no avail. He was about to go upstairs before he heard the sound of another car pull up in the driveway. He looked out the window to see a luxury sedan being parked next to his own car and was slightly relieved to see James Ellison step out.

John rushed downstairs to greet him. "James?"

The man's eyes focused quickly on John, he gripped his sidearm tightly as he scanned the boy. "John? Catherine called me, told me what was going on. She really doesn't like it when you're alone."

John rolled his eyes in frustration. "Yeah, her and everyone else. Listen - have you seen Cameron?" he asked.

Ellison shook his head. "I haven't." he looked around the ruins of his home, there was debris everywhere, and it was made clear to him that two machines had fought here. He guessed Cameron was involved.

Before either of them could say anymore, a cell phone ring was heard from inside the kitchen. John and Ellison's eyes swiftly relocated to the direction the sound originated from. John swallowed anxiously before taking a step forward.

"John..." Ellison warned.

The Teenager ignored him. However, his steps became more cautious as he approached the kitchen until his foot touched tile. The cell phone was laying on the kitchen table, placed there by someone. Upon closer inspection, he realized the phone belonged to Cameron. With his eyes locked firmly on the object, he reached his left hand out and picked up the phone. He paused and took a deep breath before holding it up to his right ear.

"Hello." he started, his voice quiet and anxious; his tone unstable as he was barely able to control himself.

"John Connor? Finally, I've been trying this damn number for twenty minutes." a soft, silky voice replied.

"Who is this?" John asked as he unknowingly tightened his fist.

"You can call me Jade. I don't believe we've met before, although I've run into Cameron a couple of times."

"Where is she?" John demanded.

"Your girlfriend and I had a disagreement earlier. But we've taken a road trip to clear the air. I would let her say hello but... well she's sleeping right now. Guess she's tired."

John barely kept himself under control, his breathing became heavy and his fists clenched tighter. "What do you want?"

"I'm a businesswoman, John. Do you know what makes this country great? Capitalism and free-market. The market itself is a simple concept: I have something of value, and you pay me something with equal value in order to make the trade. In this case, I want you."

"Keep dreaming, bitch." John sneered.

"Now that's no way to talk to a lady. Tell you what, meet me at Warehouse six on June-fifteenth at two o' clock p.m. Los Angeles Pier. We'll negotiate."

John stopped to think, he took his time, longer than necessary. His love was gone, Cameron had been taken from him. He found her, and now he lost her all over again. When Anger and Sadness mixed, it created a feeling that was worse than death. This is what John Connor was feeling right now.

"I'll be there." John said hesitantly.

"I know you will, Johnny-boy. It's your great fault, your downfall. Future-you was stupid to send her back. Personally, I always thought you were a bit overrated. But I guess we'll see."

With that said, the call disconnected. A moment of silence passed by, and then another. James Ellison had been there listening to the whole thing and could feel the hatred from John. It was radiating like a Nuclear Plant; an unstable one. The comparison came full-circle when John suddenly threw the cell phone as hard as he could against the wall, watching it shatter into a dozen pieces. The boy then fell to his knees as he surrendered to his grief.

All James Ellison could do was look on.


I hope you all had a happy fourth and I'm sorry for the wait. I know I said I was going to update my Orville story but... OH, I just couldn't wait. I'm doing a REDUX project of the earlier chapters. Changes include adding summaries for each chapter, as well as some basic grammar edits and plot-hole fixes. The first five chapters have already been edited with the sixth one well on the way. I'd give it a read, I personally think they're a lot better.

Thank you!