I truly hope I get this finished for Christmas 2017 as you all have been ever so patient with me it would be a sin to not get it finished.
I cannot apologise enough for how late I am nor how lazy I have been this year in getting this story updated, I am trying but it has been a rough year for me in terms of inspiration, I hope you can all truly forgive me.
As I said in my note previously, I am updating and making some minor changes to chapters, one change I will be making is the upgrades I had made to Cameron, that is being deleted but the idea is staying, Cameron and John just haven't gotten around to it yet, but John will have made steps into starting her upgrading process. Just not yet implemented into her. Also the segments where the teams split up will be changed. Something more along the lines of what is believable rather than all three groups ending up in a massive fire fight.
Why am I making the changes? Well for futures readers but mostly for myself, I look to the older chapters and I grimace at how bad some of them are written, or how dated they feel, I feel my skills have improved since starting this story and I want a constant level of skill throughout, thus the need for changes.
Terminator
Bond of Steel and Bone
Chapter 32
Fields in trouble.
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 2ND 2008 10:43am
Danny came running through the front door of the Connor's old safe house door followed quickly by John and Cameron. Inside was Sarah standing in the living room, cell phone in hand, a grave expression upon her face as she thought about the situation.
"What's going on?" John asked as they came to a halt in the living room.
"I just got a call from Lauren Fields, the Triple-Eight's found them." Sarah replied as her eyes came to focus on him.
"Who's Lauren Fields?" Danny asked.
"The Fields are a family we met several months back, Lauren is the eldest daughter, their name and their location was written on the wall, a Triple-Eight has been hunting them." Sarah replied, turning her attention to Danny.
"What for?" Danny asked.
"We don't know, originally we thought the father; David, was the target because of his link to a company called "Sindine Cybernetics", but when he got close to it, the Triple Eight didn't want him." Sarah explained.
"So what's the plan?" John asked.
"Lauren says she and her mother are held up in a warehouse, we have to destroy the Triple-Eight and find Lauren and her mother."
"Just Lauren and her mother?" John asked, noticing the father not being mentioned.
"We can only assume the worst." Sarah exhaled sharply then looked as Derek came running into the house followed by Susan Jones, who had gone to fetch him.
"What's wrong?" he asked instantly.
"We've got a problem, we need to get moving a.s.a.p." Sarah replied then started moving for the door. "Derek, Cameron, Luna, and I will look for the cyborg and try and find Lauren and her mom. John, Danny and Susan will finish cleaning the wall." Sarah finished.
"I've got to go with you." John countered.
"You've got to not get killed John." Sarah replied turning to him. "You've had it rough lately, you need to take a step back, keep yourself out of the line of fire. Please."
John stopped any argument he had when he saw the look his mother was giving him, not commanding, not ordering, the look of a mother truly afraid for her child's life. John looked to Cameron for assistance.
"She's right John," the cyborg girl replied.
"But what about you? You've been through hell too." John whispered with concern.
"I'll be fine," Cameron replied in a soothing tone, and placed gentle hand on his cheek, "we'll bring Tony with us." Cameron added.
The gas mask wearing T-800 stepped forward. "My mission is to ensure the survival of John and Cameron Connor. I will not fail." The machine-man said with his fluctuating voice.
John seemed hesitant but nodded in agreement. "Alright, just be careful, okay?"
"We will be." Cameron smiled at him affectionately.
"We'll finish up here then head back to the new safe house, that okay?" John said as he focused back on his mother.
"Good plan, try and take anything else we'll need with you, kay?" she replied.
John nodded in confirmation then watched as they exited the building, taking with them more firepower and entered the jeep before reversing out of the driveway. Cameron raised her arm and waved to John before vanishing from his view.
"Is this safe," Danny asked with a worried tone, his eyes slowly panning to John, "us just being left here?" he asked.
"It's never safe." John muttered automatically in reply, he shook his head then looked to Danny, "We'll be fine, the quicker we finish the quicker we get back."
"I uh, found some bleach and some good rags." Susan muttered in a scared yet optimistic tone.
John exhaled sharply. The worry was still gnawing at him, but they were right, he hated to admit, but they were right, after the last few days, hell the last few weeks, he felt like his nerves were shot.
"We'd better get started." John exhaled as he picked up a bucket of water and moved outside followed by Danny and Susan.
Minutes passed. The walls was starting to look cleaner, all evidence of Well's information was slowly fading, a part of John wondered if, with the ever changing timeline, that Wells may still be alive in whatever future awaited them. He glanced to the side to see Danny and Susan animatedly chatting to one another while scrubbing the blood from the wall. They seemed to be getting on well together, likely due to their similarities, they were outsiders pulled into this whole mess, Susan more than Danny admittedly. She may not even be the Susan Jones the Terminatrix was after, he could possibly ask Tony or Luna now that he thought about it.
He exhaled quietly and continued his work, he knew what he was doing to himself subconsciously to himself, thinking pointless thing to distract himself from his worry, he was worried about the others, not just Cameron, but for all of them. From what he remembered his mom and Cameron saying, the T-888 had suffered minimal damage in their last encounter and now with Cameron damaged …
His line of thought trailed off, the only comfort he found was that they now had two additional fighters, one of which was a T-800.
'Please be okay.' He internally pleaded.
"Hello?!" he heard a familiar woman's voice from outside.
"Shit," John muttered and looked to Danny and Susan, "I'll go talk to her, you two keep going." He whispered and quickly rushed outside.
Once outside he heard her call once more.
"Hello? Anyone home?"
"Hey Kacy, over here!" John called out as he walked up to the pregnant woman as she stood by the driveway.
"Hey John," she smiled greeting the young man, "long time no see, how's things going over here?" she asked
"Uh you know, not bad not bad," he paused, Kacy Corbin was their landlord and a good friend to his mother.
"Say is your mom around I wanted to talk to her?" Kacy asked curiously
"No sorry she, my uncle and Cameron just stepped out with some friends, what did you need?" he asked with a charming smile.
"I just came catch up and check on you all, Trevor has been so stressed out lately with all those murders going on," she started rubbing her stomach, "my god John were you at that party on Halloween at your school?" she asked.
"No thankfully," he lied perfectly, "I uh, did something I shouldn't have, and mom grounded me, Cameron didn't go either since it's not really her thing."
"Lucky there," she said with a deep frown on her face, "I don't know what's going on with the world these days John, people have been killed left and right for the past week or so it's insane, it's terrifying," she looked down from John and stared at her stomach, a solemn expression coming over her face, "I don't want to think I'd bring this baby into such a crazy world."
John couldn't help but look at her pregnant belly as his thoughts went to the up-coming war, thoughts of the unborn child fighting and/or dying against the machines. "Crazy doesn't even begin to describe it." He replied quietly, then looked to her, "I'm sure the police will get who ever has been doing this." He once more lied, hoping to raise the woman's spirits with some shred of false hope.
"Me too, me too." Kacy replied.
"Oh hey Kacy before I forget," John began as something just came to mind, the woman looked at him, "speaking of, you know, after everything that's been going on mom didn't feel it was safe so, we're moving out."
Kacy looked at him in shock, "You're moving, wh-when?"
"Soon, I'm sorry, we've already got a new place so we'll be moving out soon." He explained and watched as the woman before delve deeper into sadness.
"Oh, I guess she's got the right idea," she replied, "I'm really gonna miss you guys though."
John put on a comforting smile and placed his hand on her arm, "Hey you're my mom's friend, I'm sure she'll wanna keep in touch."
Honestly however he wasn't sure, she'd loved Charlie and still she left him never intending to see him again back in 1999. Kacy was a nice woman, and just by being around her had brought the Triple-Eight Cromartie to her doorstep. In truth it was too dangerous to get close to her, for her own safety as well as theirs, it was best they leave.
"I hope so," she smiled in return, though John noticed it didn't quite reach her eyes.
"We'll pay off the rest of our rent and leave you the keys, I'm sure mom will want to say goodbye." John added.
"Yeah, I'd like to see her too before you all go," she exhaled sharply, "maybe we'll catch up and go out some time, maybe after the baby is born?" she offered.
"Sure, we'd love that, get a chance to meet the little guy, or girl." John replied.
Kacy looked John in the eye, then looked him over, from head to toe then back again. "You've changed a lot John." She commented.
This gave John a moment of pause, he looked at her curiously a single brow rising ever so slightly, "Oh yeah, how so?" he asked.
"You used to be so, I dunno, introverted," she said then gave him a little shy smile, "no offense I mean, you just seemed really closed off from your family, from everyone, maybe even a little upset or moody. Again! No offense."
John considered her words as she spoke, she was right, he had been moody, closed off, things changed, people changed, he had changed, he just hoped it was for the better, seemed to be with what he'd learned recently.
"I hope I'm better company now." He jested with a carefree grin.
"Yeah, you've changed for the better, it's actually nice to see you smile, like really smile. It's a good look on you." She replied in a pleasant tone. "Anyway, I'm sorry to bother you, I'd better get back," She quickly added, "tell your mom to come see me when she gets back." She said as she started walking away.
"No worries, I will." He gave her a friendly wave then watched her disappear from view. Once gone John couldn't help but groan then headed back to the basement.
10:59am
The tension in the jeep was suffocating, no one had said anything to each other since they'd driven away from the old safe house and several minutes into the drive, the silence was only broken by the growl of the engine as they raced towards their location.
For Sarah and Derek, too much had happened in such a short space of time that both felt like they needed some quiet to work their heads around it all.
For Luna she mostly felt awkward, she knew the stakes of the situation but even glancing at Derek's and Sarah's faces she could tell neither were in the mood for conversation. She turned her attention to the gas-mask wearing, heavily over-clothed Tony.
"How you feelin' amigo?" she asked quietly, hoping to strike up some conversation.
"Systems are functioning at a more acceptable level." He replied while staring out the window, his still damaged voice muffled somewhat by the mask, he turned around to face Lieutenant Luna, "I'll be okay." He quickly added.
Luna stared through the tinted eyes of the mask, just noticing the faint red glow of Tony's exposed optics. "Does it hurt? Not having skin after you've had it?" she asked.
"I sense its loss; the data could be described as numbing sensation." He explained in a simplified way.
Luna looked her commanding officer as she drove the jeep then at the other two humans in front of her before looking back to Tony whom had yet to look away from her.
"You think we can stop the Triple-Eight?" she asked.
"We have numbers on our side." He replied then looked back out the window.
She only hoped they got there in time.
"Do we have a plan?" Luna asked as she looked towards Sarah.
The elder Connor seemed to snap out of whatever had her so focussed and glanced over her shoulder at the younger woman.
"First things first, our priority is finding Lauren and her mother." Sarah replied, "once we know they're safe we take care of the Triple-Eight."
"It may be better if we split up," Derek suddenly commented, jumping into the conversation, he turned his gaze towards the two women, "one of us should be enough to make sure they're okay, while the rest of us deal with the machine since we've got the advantage for a change," he said and looked at Tony then to Cameron, "two machines on our side,"
"Both who're damaged." Sarah countered.
"I'm functional enough to combat a Triple-Eight." Cameron spoke up from the front, a slight hint of annoyance leaking into her monotone delivery.
"See? She's fine and she's done it before, and this time we've got him." Derek argued to Sarah while pointing at Tony.
"A previous model that's damaged," she refuted, "no offense." She said towards Tony noting Luna with her mouth partway open, likely about to jump to the 800's defence. "We'd need all the extra manpower we can get."
The T-800 remained silent.
"Even still two metal against one is in our favour." Derek concluded.
Sarah didn't reply, she glanced at the machine behind her, noting he was still staring out the window, she thought she saw a dim red light looking right at her through the tinted eye socket, then turned her focus to Cameron. How should she go about this? What should she do?
"With General Connor's assistance we will be able to disable the Triple-Eight." The Tony finally spoke up turning his head towards Sarah.
"John's not …" Sarah began only to trail off. General Connor, he meant Cameron, she really wasn't used to that thought yet; General Cameron Connor. By the looks of it Derek still hadn't come to terms with it either.
"Ensuring Lauren Fields safety is the objective for this mission," Tony continued when Sarah didn't, "I suggest Lieutenant Luna accompany you to find her." He suggested.
Luna wanted to complain but Tony's suggestion had merit and it seemed Sarah was taking it into consideration too.
"Alright fine." Sarah relented.
"Yeah, but a small change," Derek spoke up, "I go instead of Sarah."
Sarah looked to Derek, she was about to ask why when she saw the look upon his face, the determination, the need, if she did argue it would be an argument he didn't back down from.
"Alright, Luna and Derek you find Lauren, me, Cameron and …" she looked to the 800 having forgotten its name.
"Tony." The machine stated.
"… and Tony, will hunt down the Triple Eight." Sarah looked between them, minus Cameron, watching to see if anyone had any problems.
"It's a tight plan." Cameron spoke up from the driver's seat.
10:30am
Riley was terrified. She was beyond her mind terrified. She felt like she hadn't stopped shaking since last night. She shuddered with fear and exhaled shakily. The Terminator hadn't gotten so close to them last night. So close. She knew it was a machine. Oh, she knew! She knew! It wasn't just some costumed psychopath going on a rampage! She'd come so close to death once more at the hands of the enemy.
Her foster family had given her some space, especially after finding out what had happened, her foster father and mother had told her how worried they were for her, informing her they would listen if she needed to talk.
She didn't feel like talking, she wanted to feel safe. John's words repeated in her head, they're never safe. She would never be safe. John couldn't protect her, the machine wouldn't, maybe if she just told Jesse the mission was over, that they'd failed. John and the machine were together, maybe, maybe Jesse would figure to retreat and maybe, maybe just ride it all out. Go somewhere else, far, far away from the Connors, somewhere that could actually be safe.
Her phone buzzed behind her. She turned slowly and looked at it as it laid on her small desk beside a forgotten meal from the previous night. She moved with a sluggish pace towards her desk and picked it up noticing she'd received a new message; from Jesse.
10:29am
Jesse didn't know how the hell a machine had found Connor, but it had. It was obviously metal the way it stalked up to them. She'd watched how the Grim Reaper had strode towards Connor and crew before opening fire with an automatic weapon, after the shooting she quickly retreated from the scene, returned to her room, locked the door and kept her shotgun at the ready, call it paranoia, call it survival instinct, she didn't want to be caught off guard, not like that.
She wondered if Riley has made it out alive, knowing the tunnel rat, she'd have likely gotten away by the skin of her teeth. She'd need to make a call to Riley, and Derek … again. She'd tried calling him earlier but he hadn't picked up.
'Not the time to go radio silent love.' She thought with frustration. Sarah Connor probably had him on a tight leash after finding out about the school shooting. She could only guess what the Connors may be doing now.
Damn it. There was no point in staying cooped up in her room like some scared little girl, she needed to call Riley, whom was likely cooped up in her room like some scared little girl.
She pulled her phone from her pocket and brought up Riley's number.
We need to meet. Café an hour, don't be late.
Riley knew which café, it was a usual meeting spot for the public.
After taking a shower to freshen up and quickly dressed in clean clothes, she saw her phone had a new message.
C u thn.
Jesse rolled her eyes at the short text and pocketed her phone, holstered her pistol in the waistband of her jeans before heading out.
10:53am
She waited at the café, nursing her cappuccino, glancing around to see if she could see the girl, she raised the cup to her lips and sipped. She knew they'd have to step up their game, things were getting to problematic now, perhaps now was the time to try and initiate her first plan, she stared down into her cup as she thought of her next move.
"Hey," came a sudden voice. Jesse looked up, startled and saw Riley looking at her with a strange expression, "did I really just sneak up on you?"
"I didn't sleep much last night," Jesse replied defensively, "sit down." She ordered.
Riley sat down immediately, "I didn't sleep much either."
"What the hell happened last night?" Jesse asked.
"We were having fun," Riley began with a shake of her head, "then one of the guys we know at school started making trouble, next thing I know," Riley went quiet for a moment as her mind drifted back, Mike Tyrone causing trouble for John once more before a volley of bullets stopped him dead in his tracks moments before he fell to the ground, then came the screaming, the running … "the machine just started shooting."
Jesse groaned, "It's what they do love, they shoot us, they kill us, it's all they're good for." She spoke with frustration.
"Which is why we've got to save John," Riley added on automatically in a whisper as her mind focussed on Cameron's face. It was then she wanted to tell Jesse the truth, but then she stopped immediately, what would happen to her? Jesse wouldn't take her betrayal so lightly especially knowing the John and Cameron both now knew of her existence and her mission here. After a moment though she decided to keep her silence, not for Cameron, not for John but for her own survival.
"Earth to Riley, wake up." Jesse droned waving a hand before the young girl's eyes.
Riley's gaze snapped back to Jesse, "sorry I was …"
"Get over it," Jesse interrupted, "when you've seen the Machines kill as many as I have then you can start complaining."
"What do we do now?" Riley asked.
"We end this, once and for all. We need to get rid of the metal now."
Neither noticed the pair of eyes watching them from inside the café.
SERRANO POINT RESISTANCE BASE 2027
He was exhausted, sweat fell from his face, the gear and the weaponry he was still hauling wasn't helping his condition any either, all he wanted was something to eat and then some sleep, but first he needed to debrief his commanding officer.
"Reese!"
Speak of the devil.
Derek Reese groaned as he looked to his right. There was the man himself, marching right towards him. A little over six-feet tall, dark cocoa skin and the same amount of emotional expression as the older T-800s; Major Justin Perry was an old veteran of war, in his mid-40s and still looked as tough as nails.
"I just got back, I was looking for you, sir." Derek Reese spoke up as he met the Major half way.
"What happened out there Reese?" Perry demanded to know.
Derek's face twisted into a sneer, "We got ambushed," he began, "we thought the area was clear Johnson even scouted out the area and said he saw nothing, then when we're walking through god-damn T-700s and a Trip-Eight break through debris and start firing."
Perry gave a pause, "The Triple-Eight likely set up the trap, off-the-line 700s aren't smart enough for ambushes."
The two men began to walk and talk.
"We were able to take them out but Milles got hit, there was nothing we could do," Derek continued.
"Standard procedure?" Perry interrupted.
Derek frowned, what Perry was alluding to was one of Connor's rules of war, if a soldier falls in battle take what you can carry from the body and leave the rest, tools and weapons were the first thing to take, then clothes and finally anything else.
"Yeah, we stripped him down, felt like a fucking scavenger doing it, but yeah." Derek replied and looked ahead, he eyes came to focus on one of the guards they were approaching; an older T-600 infantry unit or "600 Tank" as the Resistance called them, made of Titanium-Alloy and standing over seven-feet-tall, compared to modern units these things were dumb but they had made for a terrifying enemy years back, before plasma weapons.
"It's not going to attack us Derek." Perry spoke out noticing Derek staring.
"Sometimes they go bad." Derek replied, his thoughts drifting back to the Triple-Eight infiltrator that had reverted to its original programming.
"Not the older units Derek, this has explained." Perry replied.
Derek didn't reply at first, they passed the T-600 before Derek continued his debriefing.
"Anyway, after that we continued with our mission, Atwater base's info was good an Aerial HK was downed but there was already Skynet forces converging on it, we would've intercepted but there were too many." Derek replied.
Perry nodded, "Alright good work, go stow your equipment and weapons then get some shut eye."
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 2ND 2008 11:19am
The jeep slowed to a stop in an industrial area of the city, the whole area was abandoned, price cuts from the recession had left this place without an owner nor anyone with the spare cash to purchase it. From what could been seen several small warehouse were dotted around the area, possible no more than a hundred feet in length each, there were an assortment of abandoned vehicles, delivery trucks, buses, forklifts, it was like a graveyard of machinery.
"Alright, Derek, Luna keep your eyes peeled and stay sharp, contact me when you find Lauren, she said she'd be around here somewhere." Sarah told them as both resistance fighters climbed out of the jeep.
"Don't worry about us, just find that Triple-Eight." Luna replied as she pulled out her Colt 1911, pulling back the slide to chamber a round.
"Happy hunting." Derek commented before he and Luna made their way to the various warehouses.
"Alright let's go." Sarah spoke up tapping Cameron's shoulder, the machine girl nodded in compliance as they started moving again. "Lauren said they lost the Triple-Eight before they got around here."
"It is likely the Triple-Eight will eventually come to this location, we should hide the vehicle stay within the area's proximity." Cameron added.
"Alright, Lauren's hotel isn't too far from here we start there and quickly work our way back" Sarah spoke before looking over her shoulder to Tony. She was in a jeep alone with two cyborgs, her brain had just registered that fact, she took a moment to regather her nerves, "we'll drop you off on the edge of the compound, look around for the Triple Eight but do not engage unless you have to, if you find it call us."
"Affirmative." Tony replied immediately.
The jeep stopped once more and the T-800 climbed out, Cameron popped the trunk where the longer weapons were located. The 800 picked up a Mossberg 500 with an extended magazine tube, a leather strap and several shells which he pocketed in his thick rain coat.
Wordlessly the Terminator closed the trunk and marched off, no one would see him, the area was abandoned, price cuts from the recession had left this place without an owner nor were there any companies looking to buy it.
Tony grabbed a chain fence and tore it open before stepping inside, scanning the area slowly as the sound of the jeep grew fainter and fainter, he shouldered the weapon and marched ahead.
LOS ANGELES 2027
"Come on Luna lighten up, it's been a simple straight-forward op with signs of Skynet." The lieutenant spoke up.
Sergeant Catherine Luna ran a hand down her exhausted face and looked to people before her.
Lieutenant Douglas, leader of the squad, a six-foot even man with short dark hair and brown eyes.
James Murphy, Corporal, tall at six-foot-two-inches, and a shiny bald head, with blue eyes, he was physically the most imposing man on the team.
Private Michael Zander, a young man in his mid20s with light blonde hair.
There asleep on the floor was Private Antonio Vasquez, a scruffy black beard and moustache with uncombed hair.
Beside him was his twin sister; Private Camila Vasquez, the only other woman of the team. Short brown hair and a three-inch cut along her left cheek.
These people were her family, her closest friends. They'd seen their share of deaths, of comrades and of loved ones, they'd been together a long time.
She and her team were currently deep within the ruins of L.A. heading back to Serrano Point after a resupply mission for one of the less secure but still integral bases deeper in the Los Angeles territory. They'd been running low on munitions, food and medicine and Luna's team had been selected for the drop. Currently they were taking a break from walking the long distance, huddled up in the ruins of what was once a small grocery store.
"Murphy I swear to god if you don't shut the fuck up I'll put a bullet in you." She growled and stared at Murphy.
"Hey come on Sarge, I'm a merry man and I have a song in my heart." Murphy laughed in reply.
"Maldito idiota," she cursed in Spanish, getting a laugh from Camila "your singing's gunna attract metal, then what're we gunna do, eh?" she shot back.
"I say we use his dumb ass as a meat shield." Camila snickered.
"Hey! Come on give me a break." He shrugged but hummed quietly to himself.
"Alright, alright you guys give it a rest, Luna's got a point." Lieutenant Douglas spoke up a gentle smile on his rough face.
Zander spoke up from his position against a wall, "He's just happy because he's getting some tail."
Murphy laughed while Luna rolled her eyes, "Who'd have thought even you could get lucky Murphy." Luna groaned.
"Can you all be quiet, I'm taking a nap here." Came the fourth person in their squad; Antonio.
"Shouldn't be napping anyway private, we're just resting," Luna replied glancing down to the Mexican.
"We'll be moving on again soon." Douglas spoke up, but likewise closed his eyes as he slumped against the counter of the ruined store.
"Ah just give me a few more minutes, eh?" the Mexican closed his eyes and snorted.
Luna closed her eyes and laid her head against the wall behind her. 'Fucking idiots.' She thought but couldn't stop the tiny smile from growing over her face.
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 2nd 2008 11:25am
After dropping Tony off, Cameron and Sarah drove on a little further before deciding to hide the jeep and travel on foot to the Triple-Eight's last confirmed location.
After barely a minute of walking they found the hotel, the area hadn't yet been cornered off by the police, that either meant the body hadn't been found, or they were just investigating it now.
"We move quickly," Sarah told Cameron as the pair made their way closer.
Looking at the hotel once more, it wasn't anything fancy, plain simple, relatively small, perfect place to hide away.
"Sarah." Cameron spoke up and grabbed the woman's arm.
Sarah paused and looked at her before turning her attention to where Cameron was looking to.
Paramedics loading a body into an ambulance while someone spoke to the police.
"We're too late, the Triple-Eights moved on, call Tony tell him we're heading back to him." Sarah ordered before the pair turned and rushed back to the jeep, Cameron reached for her phone.
Tony moved with a machine's equivalent of caution, shotgun at the ready as he searched his environment, he hadn't heard anything nor seen anything, the area around the warehouses was large, the Triple-Eight could be hiding behind any corner or in any complex.
A few minutes into his search he felt his cell phone buzz in his pocket, letting go of the foregrip of the Mossberg he dug his phone out and answered it.
"Hello?"
A few moment as a code was put in, he replied with his code.
"Tony, the Triple-Eight has moved away from the hotel there is a high probability it is somewhere in your area," Cameron informed him, "we are making our way to you now."
"Affirmative, I am near warehouse twelve and moving in a clockwise pattern." He replied, as his optics glanced to the large white painted #12 on the side of the structure.
"We'll meet with you as fast as we can." Cameron replied before handing up.
Tony put his phone away and stepped into the twelfth warehouse, scanning slowly as he moved around the perimeter.
Something clattered to his left, he turned and aimed; nothing, but a distraction. Powerful hands took hold of the shotgun and pulled it from Tony's grasp, Tony turned and punched the attacker causing him to stumble back. The Triple-Eight looked at him briefly obviously running a quick scan then pointed the Mossberg at him and fired. Tony recoiled as the heavy buckshot slammed into his chest, then another shot, then another and another and a final before he was knocked off his feet, more buckshot pounded against him tearing open his gasmask revealing parts of his skeletal face and glowing red eyes before the shotgun ran dry. Tony picked himself up quickly only for the Triple-Eight to grab him and hurl him across the ground making the older model impact the ground heavily and skid a foot or two.
Tony rolled on to his back as the Triple-Eight approached him, Tony didn't move, the Triple-Eight reached for him, the T-800 quickly raised his leg and booted the more advanced cyborg away causing it to fall back a meter away. Tony got to his feet quickly as did the T-888.
By Tony's calculations he had a 38% chance of terminating the enemy machine by hand, with an error margin of 8%
The two powerful machines stormed towards one another with Tony suddenly tackling the machine across the waist and down to the ground once more before kneeling over the Skynet assassin and repeatedly brought his powerful fists down upon its face, one strike, two strikes, three, four.
The Triple-Eight retaliated grabbing Tony's fist by the wrist and squeezed, the Machine wouldn't have enough strength to sever the but it could cause damage. Tony grabbed the offending arm with his free hand before the Triple Eight grabbed his other arm and shoved him off.
This wasn't going very well. Even in a fully functional state a T-800 would have difficulty facing a T-888, and in his damaged state his chances were further diminished.
Tony reached for his two Mark 23s and rolled onto his back, aiming the 45 calibre pistols at the machine and fired rapidly aiming specifically for its face. The 45 rounds though powerful did little to deter the Triple Eight, causing tear in its organic sheath and blowing away the top of it left ear before it reached Tony, grabbing the pistols and forced them from his grip before throwing them out of his's reach, before pressing its knee to Tony's chest and repeatedly struck Tony's throat looking to sever any connection from the chip to the body.
Tony grabbed it limb, the Triple Eight retaliated, pulling its hand away, then grabbed Tony's arm, the T-800 slugged the Triple Eight under the chin, his arm got grabbed, the assassin moved its knee and pressed it against Tony's throat and pushed down.
Tony tried fighting back shaking his body to knock the machine off. An idea quickly formed in his head, he kicked both feet up the steel tips of his boot kicking the enemy cyborg in the back knocking it off balance, Tony felt his own body tilt backwards. With sudden force Tony kicked himself up sending the Triple-Eight sprawling against the ground.
It was no good, he couldn't win like this. Tony glanced around, his optics focusing on a nearby crowbar, it would have to do. He grabbed it and charged the Triple-Eight as it got to its feet, and swung the curved end towards the Triple-Eight throat. The machine moved out of the way just in time, the crowbar instead slashing it across the jaw revealing the metal-alloy underneath.
Tony brought the crowbar back quickly, not willing to lose his only weapon.
The assassin attacked immediately, Tony swung the crowbar which was blocked by the Machine's arm, the crowbar pierced through the flesh and scraped across the armoured piece of the Triple-Eight's arm, Tony immediately grabbed the crowbar with his other hand anticipating the enemy cyborg to grab it, he was proven correct as the Triple Eight other hand grabbed it. Tony wrestled the crowbar back and swung it across the Triple-Eight head sending it stumbling to the side.
The T-800 didn't wait and continued its assault.
11:27am
"Me and Luna found a warehouse that's been broken into, any sign of the Triple-Eight yet?" Derek asked through his phone.
"Nothing yet, we're heading to Tony." Sarah replied, though the connection was bad.
"Sarah you're breaking up, Sarah!" he called as the phone lost its signal, the warehouse may have been interfering with the connection. "Damn it." He grumbled.
"I got a bad feeling about this." Luna replied cursing herself for not bringing something bigger than her Colt.
Suddenly the resistance fighters hear a loud scream of pain, they move with cautious haste towards the sound, pistols at the ready.
Are a few twists and turns, the pair found a girl in her mid-teens watching over an older, and very pregnant, woman whom was laid across a table, the younger woman heard their footsteps as they approached and spun around, a nickel-plated Colt 1911 in her hands pointed right at them.
"Whoa, whoa! Sarah Connor sent us." Derek replied as he raised in hands in surrender.
The young woman, Lauren, lowers her pistol and turns back to tend to her mother, Derek and Luna approach them quickly. It quickly becomes apparent moving Anne Fields now will be near impossible without further aid.
'Damn it.' Derek mentally curses as he looks over them.
"The cyborg's been tracking us for six months now." Lauren explained to the two seasoned fighters.
"How do you know Sarah Connor?" Derek asked as he started looking over the injured woman.
Lauren begins to explain their first encounter with Sarah, how she and her family came back to their vacation hide-away and found the place broken into with muddy footprints on the floor, Sarah introduction and then the Triple-Eight.
"Sounds like Sarah's usual welcome." Derek commented.
"Yeah," Luna spoke up as she placed her ear gently to Anne Fields' stomach. "Baby sounds strong," she commented, "damn it Derek we don't have any medical equipment."
"I know, I know! Look we've just got to make her as comfortable as possible." He replied, he could already feel the panic setting into the both of them, he pushed the feeling down and concentrated at the task at hand.
SERRANO POINT RESISTANCE BASE 2027
Gun fire, screams and gun fire. Derek Reese sat up suddenly, black Desert Eagle in hand, he looked around panting slowly, he didn't hear anything. Just a nightmare, just a nightmare. He exhaled and stepped out of his bunk holstering his pistol in his thigh holster, opened the make-shift constructed of scrap metal and stopped dead in his tracks. A malicious cruel grin and the devil's eyes met him on the other side, his breath caught in his throat as he stared back.
'Do it, just fucking do it.' He screamed mentally tempting the machine in to attacking him, in to killing him, he didn't fu …
The Triple-Eight endoskeleton turned its head and continued its path.
Derek calmed his nerves then stepped out of the tiny room and closed the door behind him. He hated scrubbed metal, hated them. He didn't know what he hated most though, skin-job or endos, the cold deathly appearance of the endos or the facsimile of humanity, of life.
"Yo Reece, Reece!" a young female voice called to him. He turned towards the voice and smiled.
"Allie, what's up?" Derek greeted Allison Young, as she ran towards him, Allison was a young private of around nineteen years of age, but she was an excellent scout.
"Perry wanted a word with you, told you to meet him at the shooting range." Allison told him as she stopped in front of him.
"Right, what're you doing?" he asked.
"Perry told me General Connor wanted to talk to me, never said what about." Allison replied with a shrug of her shoulders, the pair then started to walk further into the base.
"Connors' really got it in for you." Derek chuckled dryly.
"I suppose, I'd rather be out in the field, but you know how it is, can't say no to Connor." Allison put her hands in her pockets. Both knew it to be true.
As the got further they started noticing more machines,
"Hey Ali," Derek whispered and looked to her, "it ever bother you how much metal is here?"
Allison looked to the nearest machine, a T-700 holding a 5.56 NATO light machinegun, it stood by a corridor as the area's sentry. A lot of the older units were used as guards in the lower level security areas.
"Yeah, more than a little bit." She whispered in return, and looked back to the series 700. Her breath hitched when the dark metal endoskeleton glanced in her direction, she looked away immediately.
"I don't get why Connor keeps so many." Derek wondered
"Well they're better at fighting their own kind one-on-one than we are." Allison reasoned.
After walking silently the pair had to split up.
"I'll catch you later Allie," Derek waved to the late-teen.
"Later Derek." Allison called back and waved.
Reese strode the opposite way towards the shooting range which was part of the training area, he past by other soldiers some whom greeted him and he greeted in return, he past by more older metal units; 600s, 700s, even saw an old clanker of a T-400 noisily sweeping the floors.
Reaching the training area, which was guarded by a T-800 endoskeleton wielding a plasma rifle, he stepped by the machine, then headed to the shooting range where he found Perry training new recruits albeit with mixed levels of success.
"Major!" Reese called out over the sound of gunfire. Recruits were given standard M4s or M16s, loaded with .223 rounds for training.
Perry turned around, Derek saw the levels of frustration the man was feeling as the vein on his forehead looked ready to burst, Perry turned back to the recruits, "CEASE FIRE! CEASE FIRE!" he yelled, the firing stopped and all eyes turned to him, "take a break and start figuring out why you are all the lousiest shots I have ever seen in my whole god damn life!"
"Bad?" Reese asked.
Perry grabbed him and pulled him out of the shooting range, "bad doesn't even begin," Perry muttered through his teeth.
"You wanted to talk to me?" Derek asked as they stopped just outside the shooting range.
Perry took a moment to collect himself, "Right, we need recon of the area around Eagle Rock bunker, it's been hit by an unknown pathogen, likely a bio-weapon that Skynet created, everyone inside the base in dead, except for one girl, we need to get her back here to create an anti-virus in case Skynet tries the same thing elsewhere."
"And you want me to go get her?" Derek asked.
"No, the virus would kill anyone who went inside, I'm sending a machine to go retrieve her." Perry replied.
"No way, a scrubbed metal might go bad and kill her, send someone else on recon and I'll get her back here." Derek argued.
Perry stared at him long and hard, "You realise that once you're exposed there's no telling how long you'll survive."
"I don't care, as long as the girl ends up here." Derek replied.
"Then you'd better get suited up, I'll find someone else for recon, dismissed." Perry ordered, Reese snapped a salute and ran towards the armoury. 'You were right again Connor, he went for it.' Perry thought to himself.
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 2ND 2008 11:30am
Sarah and Cameron stalked around the area, Remington and Mossberg respectively in hands, hunting for the Triple-Eight or to regroup with the T-800, their current target was to find the warehouse labelled with a #12. They spotted it and moved quickly towards the rear entrance.
As they approached the side of the wall banged loudly, they paused shotguns raised as they started circling towards the entrance. The wall banged again, denting outwards, then again denting even further, again the metal began to buckle, a final time as the metal gave way, Tony fell through the hole and landed harshly on his back, Cameron took a moment to look over his status, the gas mask was shredded open revealing his skull, there was a scattered of buckshot across his torso, and gashed in his clothes seemingly from a bladed weapon.
Cameron immediately stormed forward shotgun raised, she saw a figure through the hole and fired, it recoiled slightly before retreating.
"The Triple-Eight." Cameron called to Sarah.
"Go," Tony spoke as he rose up from the ground, "I will follow."
Sarah and Cameron rushed past the damaged cyborg and chased after the Triple-Eight while the T-800 retrieved his weapons and started reloading as he too gave chase.
Cameron saw the Triple-Eight duck into another warehouse.
"In there!" she called loudly to Sarah.
"Wait," Sarah called back, Cameron slowed as she came to the entrance, Sarah caught up to her, "if we keep working like this it'll be just a game of cat and mouse, we need to corner it, I'll head in this way you go to the other side, we'll meet in the middle."
"That is highly unadvised." Cameron quickly replied with a slight shake of her head.
"My mission, my say so, now get going." She pointed of to the opposite side of the warehouse, "the longer we discuss this the less time we have."
"John wouldn't like this," Cameron commented before sprinting to the other side of the warehouse.
'I don't like it either.' Sarah mentally replied with distaste before entering the building, Remington at the ready, her little comfort was that the T-800 was right behind them, she hoped it … he met up with her before she encountered the Triple Eight.
Sarah exhaled slowly, she was getting flashbacks to the Triple-Eight she and Derek had tackled some time ago, her 3" 000 buckshot had proved useful back then, shame she didn't have any now and Cameron's exotic munitions had run dry, they were back to basics now which wasn't a very comforting thought.
Sarah exhaled quietly, keeping low and hoping to see the Triple-Eight before it attacked, she reached for her shotgun's stock and began to unfold it from the top, with a snap the stock extended, then a second snap signalling the shoulder rest was down, she placed it against her shoulder and crept around a large stack of crates, shotgun pointing down range. Nothing. She swallowed the lump she felt in her throat then pressed on, she had to be quicker in case the Triple-Eight got past Cameron.
She heard a blast of a shotgun come from further into the warehouse, Sarah steeled herself and rushed ahead, another series and blasts sounded throughout the building getting louder and louder as she drew closer. Stepping around a left-over forklift she saw Cameron and the Triple-Eight grappling for the Mossberg, Sarah acted immediately bringing her weapon to bear and fired into the enemy cyborg's side.
Her assistance aided Cameron as buckshot pounded into the assassin's cheek, she pushed the Triple Eight away, using the Mossberg as leverage then pulled back quickly as she raised her leg and kicked it away from her.
The Triple-Eight landed on its back, it glanced to Sarah whom was reloading her weapon, it reached into its jacket and drew a Glock pistol, Sarah quickly dived out of the way moment before it started firing in her direction. Buckshot hit its hand and the Glock, damaging the pistol and knocking it from its grasp. The Triple-Eight looked to the female cyborg, whom continued reloading the shotgun, the assassin grabbed the Glock pistol just as the cyborg reached to grab another shell and threw the disabled pistol at her getting to its feet immediately after the weapon left its hand, she raised her arm to block the thrown projectile just as the cyborg tackled her to the ground.
The Triple-Eight got back to its feet after having tackled Cameron to the ground, grabbed her by her jacket and threw her at the stack of shelving Sarah was behind, causing the whole thing to fall over towards her. Sarah went to move only for the shelves to come to a sudden halt, still Sarah blocked herself as various boxed items came tumbling down like rain, once the sound of crashing had ceased she looked back seeing the T-800 using his body stop the shelving from falling on her.
"Go." Tony spoke plainly.
Sarah crawled out of the way before the T-800 stepped back letting the frame completely fall to the ground.
From the wreckage Cameron brought herself back to her feet and looked to where the Triple-Eight had been, it was gone and with a quick scan, so was her shotgun.
"The Triple-Eight has my gun." She announced.
"We've got to get after it!" Sarah ordered. The three quickly regrouped and continued the chase for the assassin with Cameron taking point along with Tony with Sarah bringing up the rear.
Out numbered and outgunned by the enemy, the Triple-Eight needed to escape, or set up an ambush, looking at the immediate area around it a plan quickly formed.
11:32 am
Luna watched over Anne as Derek talked with Lauren.
"So, tell me what happened." He asks gravely.
Lauren groans and runs her hands through her hair, her nerves a clearly wrecked and she looks exhausted, "We were just checking out of our hotel when the cyborg attacked us," she shook rubbed her tired eyes, "it's my fault," she admits and looks Derek straight in the eye, "I wanted to call our friend Roger and just tell him what's been going on."
Derek looks at her then turned his gaze towards Luna and Anne, his eyes locking on to the mother particularly, he gave Lauren credit for her story it sounded plausible, but he knew better that kids could adjust better than parents and Lauren, from what he'd heard already Anne was likely the one who made the call just to hear Roger's voice like some lovesick puppy, Lauren seemed too smart to make such an amateur mistake.
"Yeah, I'm sure." He commented and walked over to Luna and Anne, Lauren right behind him.
"How she is doing?" he asked.
"Stable for the moment," Luna replied regretfully, "but she needs medical attention, like professional medical attention." She muttered a curse in Spanish then looked Lauren.
"D-David went after it with a t-table lamp and a … curtain rod, do you think, he … he'll be okay?" she asked through stammered breaths.
"Anything's possible." Derek replied not knowing of David's untimely fate.
'And pigs could fly.' Luna thought gravely, fighting a Triple-Eight with anything less than a shotgun was suicide. She looked away and walked off to the corner of the room to clear her head.
Anne suddenly cried out in pain.
"She's getting worse, we need to move her." Lauren yelled panicking.
"No can do, your mother is in no shape to move." Luna immediately replied.
"Yeah and with that Triple-Eight still out there the safest place right now is right here and will be until Sarah Connor walks through that door," Derek quickly agreed, "so it's best if we just stay put until then."
LOS ANGELES 2027
"Hey Antonio, lend me a smoke?" Camila asked her twin.
"Vete a la mierda," he replied sleepily, making his sister punch him in the side making him grunt loudly, "uh! Puta." He groaned.
Luna meanwhile tuned them out as she rested against the back wall.
What was that?
Luna turned her head more and placed her ear to the wall, she could hear something.
A noise.
… she knew that noise …
"Guys," she whispered.
"Yeah Sarge?" Murphy asked and looked to her, his smile faltering when he saw the look on her face.
"We may have company." She whispered in reply.
Everyone was immediately on alert.
Luna took a glance to the wooden door beside her then looked to the others. Lieutenant Douglas have her a nod of confirmation. Luna stood up and wrapped her hand on the door knob, slowly and carefully she opened it; the area was clear on the left, just another wall. She hefted her Resistance Plasma Bullpup and turned cautiously around the door's frame, the rest of the wall had been destroyed, but there several meters away, with its back facing her, was an old T-600 infantry unit a "600 tank" it must have been among the first few thousand units as the machine was still equipped with the old customised minigun attached to a large backpack of ammo, and was covered in war torn and shredded clothing, with the remains of an early style rubber infiltration mask, this particular unit was missing its left arm just below the "bicep" hydraulic as well as showing other signs of damage.
"Sarge?" Zander asked cautiously his eyes flicking from her to the wall towards whatever may be there.
"Zombie." She replied; a zombie was what the older 600 infiltrators had been called before the dedicated 600 infiltration units. Zombies were labelled such because they looked as such, torn clothes, rotting face, near mindless. While the 8XX series' were vastly superior infiltrators the early 600 zombies were much more creepy looking and nightmare inducing. The Resistance didn't typically see zombies anymore.
The zombie turned its head slowly, its hydraulics mechanically growling; that was the sound she'd heard, that familiar animalistic growl of the early 600s made worse from lack of maintenance and its age, the early infiltrator turned its whole body around looking further down the dilatated hallway.
Luna stepped back quietly as Corporal Murphy made his move, he raised his Skynet rifle and aimed towards the machine's head. Luna shook her head mouthing "no" repeatedly. Murphy just grinned at her and fired a single shot, bolt of plasma erupted from the barrel cleaved a nice clean hole through the 600's skull, the zombie dropped to the floor with a loud thud.
Murphy turned to say something, before the wall next to the 600 suddenly burst open, Luna immediately pulled Murphy out of the way and closed the door till it was open only a slither, she held her breath and peeked through the crack.
From the wall stepped out another machine, much smaller than the seven and a half foot 600 and much newer. Luna swallowed with fear. It had been an elaborate trap, the 600 was bait, and this was the trapper. The endoskeleton glanced down at the fallen 600 before scanning the area around it, Luna closed the door quietly as its gaze continued towards them, she looked towards her comrades.
"Eight-fifty." She whispered.
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 2ND 2008 11:42am
We end this, once and for all. We need to get rid of the metal now
Those had been Jesse's words and Riley didn't know what to do anymore. After her meeting with Jesse the young girl just went straight home, her foster parents asked how she was holding up to which she replied.
"Better, better."
She'd smiled at them before going back to her room, the plate of food she'd left was missing, likely in the garbage by now, neither had mentioned it so she guessed they understood, or at least tried to.
Riley lay across her bed staring up at the ceiling, her nerves, she felt, were in a better state. Right now though, she found herself in a conundrum where her very survival was at stake.
What should she do?
On the one hand, she could inform John about Jesse's plan to get rid of Cameron once and for all or she could keep quiet, let Jesse do her thing and get rid of the cyborg perhaps after that John would go back to her. Though she realised the likelihood of that happening being very low.
She looked at the two options she had and weighed the pros and cons. She hated this, this whole fucking situation, she closed her eyes and tried to calm herself. Then her phone started buzzing, she groggily opened her eyes and look at it beside her bed, she reached for it and looked at the caller I.D.; it was Morris. She looked at her phone curiously before answering the call.
"Hello?"
"Hey Riley its uh, Morris."
She knew that, caller I.D. and everything.
"Hey what's up, you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, I've uh, just been trying to relax you know, try and put it out of my head." He replied, by the sound of his voice he was like she had been; nerves shot, heartbeat erratic, sweat pouring off the skin.
"I know how you feel, I don't think I've eaten since yesterday, my stomach can't take it." She replied.
"You sound like you're dealing with it better than I am." He replied.
"Not really," she half-lied, "I just think people deal with it differently."
"yeah I uh, I guess so. So um hey listen, my parents think it'd be best if I get some fresh air and hang out with friends, you uh, you wanna go to the arcade of something?" he offered.
That made Riley stop for a moment, Morris called her to hang out with her? They barely knew each other, right? She reasoned it was because they were both friends of John, but even then that reasoning sounded lame.
"I guess, sure," she replied, "I'll head over there and I'll see you later, kay?"
"Okay yeah great, I'll see you there." Morris replied. Was that excitement? Then hung up.
Riley pulled the phone from her ear and looked at it strangely. That was weird. She supposed she should see a friendly face, something not about the war or about machines or secret missions and assassinations. Maybe if she could just be a kid for a little while, she'd feel … something.
Roughly twenty minutes later she met up with Morris at the arcade, the Hispanic boy waved to her as she approached, not knowing what else to do she waved in return.
"Hey Riley, glad you could come." Morris spoke up as Riley came into hearing distance.
Riley was initially shocked upon seeing him, to be bluntly honest; he looked terrible, he looked like he hadn't slept and had been up all night panicking, not that she blamed him, the first time she'd come close to a machine well … it still haunted her.
"You sure you should be up Morris?" Riley dared to ask, truly concerned for his state of self.
"Uh yeah, well no maybe not," he admitted reluctantly, "but I feel I need to be around friends you know?" he added giving her a tiny sad smile.
She then pondered if he'd called John, but from the looks of it he either hadn't or John had declined.
"Yeah, I can understand that, how're you holding up?" she asked hesitantly.
"I think my whole body is just running on Red Bull right now." He deadpanned.
Riley winced audibly through gritted teeth, "Yeah, sounds bad."
"Hey listen I got a couple of bucks in my wallet, why don't we just go do something, I could um … I could do with the distraction." Morris said sheepishly.
Riley didn't really know what to make of the situation, but any distraction was a plus to her. "Sounds great lets do it, just promise me you're not gonna fall over at any point." She half-joked while looking at him with genuine concern.
"No problem, I'll be fine if not I'll give you a heads up." He gave her a dorky smile that she actually found rather, dare she say, cute.
11:37am
Finally the wall was cleaned with no signs of blood remaining on it, John exhaled and took a step back watching as Danny and Sofia Jones ate some cookies from the pantry accompanying a hot chocolate beverage, Danny had made one for John too; it was nice.
"I thought this place was gonna be our final safe house." John whispered to himself.
Danny Dyson turned towards the younger man, having heard him, "You okay John?" he asked.
"Uh yeah sorry. I'm just being dumb." John replied.
Danny looked at Susan then back to John, "Why do you think that?" he asked.
John shook his head, he didn't want to sound stupid, it was an emotional thing, probably his hormones. John opened his mouth to speak but stopped when he looked at Danny whom gave him a reassuring nod. John sighed and looked to the wall, not wanting to meet Danny's gaze.
"It always happens when we get to a new safe house," John lamented, "I'd think this would be the place, where we settled down and lived the rest of our lives, or until the bombs fell. We've been here for a while now and I just thought," he trailed off and looked away.
"You thought this would be home." Danny concluded.
"Yeah." Was all John could reply with.
Danny puckered his lips and nodded his head in understanding, "My dad used to move around a lot with his folks, before the settled down where we live now," Danny started explaining, "My dad told me about the different places they ended up in, just to find somewhere called home, they went all over the country, Indiana, New York, ended up in Texas for a few months before they came to L.A." Danny started recounting, remembering spending time with his father, "He told me he hated it sometimes, because he just started making friends or, he thought "now this is it, now I'm home" but it never came to be."
Susan had listened silently as Danny spoke, "When did your dad end up in L.A.?"
Danny thought for a moment, "I think around eighteen maybe nineteen," he replied, "but I'm moving away from my point," he looked back to John, "my dad told me John, that despite moving he always felt at home because he was with the people he loved and who loved him back, he used to tell me, "home isn't a place Danny, it's a people, we find the people we love and we trust and they become home" at the time I thought it was silly, but it always stuck with me."
John pondered deeply on Danny's words and it hit something inside him, he did have people around him he cared for, whom he trusted, even Tony and Luna and he'd only known them for a few days, maybe Danny was right, maybe he should stop looking for home in places, in soulless inanimate things and find home in places that actually mattered.
"You're right Danny," John replied quietly, his eyes still focusing on the wall, "you're right. Thank man, I … I really needed to hear that."
"It's cool John, don't worry about it." Danny replied with a friendly grin, "I promise I won't tell anyone who isn't here that John Connor got sentimental over a house."
John actually chuckled, it was quiet, it was brief, but it was a chuckle nonetheless. "Thanks man, I don't want to ruin my street cred." John joked.
"Fo' real, can't be havin' the boys thinkin' ya'll got feelin's aight?" Danny replied, playing up the stereotypical "gang member" talk.
John laughed a little louder, Susan herself laughed as well. For the moment he felt a semblance of being home.
LOS ANGELES 2027
"Eight-fifty." Luna whispered in fear and warning while some of the others paled.
The T-850 was a relatively new machine, operational for only two years along with the Triple-Eight, and while the Triple-Eight was a better infiltrator, the 850 was superior at combat, with its heavy combat chassis and armour plating all reinforced with further withstand plasma attack, the T-850 was at the top of Skynet's food-chain. In its powerful hands was an oversized plasma autocannon, while the Skynet rifle could be held by humans with some effort due to their weight, this weapon was nigh-impossible to lift so most captured were placed on top of jeep.
Murphy had the Skynet rifle, Douglas had the Resistance heavy plasma rifle, while she and the others had the Resistance bullpup. The bullpups were the least powerful of the plasma weapons, while the Resistance heavy rifle and the Skynet rifle were about as powerful as each other. But even then, did they have the fire power to take it out? Maybe if they scored a headshot.
"We've got to move." Zander whispered. He had the right idea, no sense in fighting which could bring more Skynet down on them.
Douglas, Antonio and Zander slowly got up from the floor, trying to remain as quiet as possible.
Camila looked to Luna then to Douglas.
The lieutenant looked to his squad, "Alright, lets get out of here." He whispered.
A metal arm burst through the wall beside Douglas, wrapped its fingers around his throat and pulled him back through caving the wall in. The soldiers only had a moment to react before they heard a sickening crack.
"RUN!" Luna yelled. The Resistance fighters turned and started sprinting as fast as they could out of the ruined store, behind them the T-850 stepped through the hole breaking more of the wall with its chassis to fit through. Its optics landed immediately on the retreating Resistance operators and opened fire while it broadcast a signal to any nearby units to its location.
"OVER THERE GO!" Luna yelled pointing to a piece of fallen debris from one of the skyscrapers.
Plasma narrowly missed the resistance fighters as they dashed for cover, Luna dived over the four foot wall of debris and pushed herself up against it surface, moments later she heard her team following her own action with one calling out in pain.
The rain of plasma continued effectively keeping them pinned down. Luna saw they had a chance to escape by crawling along the wall to where the debris grew much large, from there they'd be able to escape but they'd need to be fast and time it just right, too soon and the machine would get a bead on them again, too late and well … they were sitting ducks, they would have to move quickly and as the Terminator was getting closer every moment they waited, it'd have to be soon.
"Come on follow me." She whispered.
"W-wait!" Antonio spoke out suddenly, "where's Camila?" he asked frantically, "where is she?"
"Oh god no." Zander gasped, Luna just barely heard him over the plasma fire.
The T-850 had scored a hit on the unlucky private, the top of her head above her mouth having been vaporised. The machine stomped closer crushing the remains of Camila's head under its foot without breaking stride, smearing its foot and the floor with blood, flesh and meat.
"NO! NOOOO!" Antonio screamed before making an attempt to get to his feet only for Zander to pull him back down.
"Have you gone nuts we gotta go, now!" the younger man shouted.
"Come on, follow me!" she ordered and crawled towards the other end, the other soldiers followed, Antonio being pulled by Murphy and Zander kicking, screaming and raging about his dead sister.
Finally reaching the larger sections of debris Luna rose to her feet and looked back to her remaining squad members.
"CAMILA!" Antonio raged.
Luna strode up to him wrapped her fingers around his jacket and back-handed him roughly.
"Listen to me Antonio! LISTEN!" Luna yelled, "She's gone! She'd dead we can't help her now, we've got to get out of here," she glanced upwards, the T-850 was still pounding the area above the short wall with plasma, likely not having realised they'd moved., though from the yelling, it'd figure it out soon, "now are you with me private, eh? We've got to go."
"Fucking metal got Camila." Antonio said in a mixture of pain and anger.
"lo siento mi amigo." Luna whispered softly; apologising to him, "but we've all lost someone."
The plasma fire ceased, the silence surrounding them became deafening. The survivors looked to Luna for guidance she nodded motioning them to follow her before she took off sprinting followed by the others. Not a moment later plasma fire started pounding against the debris some bolts tearing through weakened structure nearly hitting them; the T-850 had realised their plan and was following them from the other side.
Zander cries out in pain but continues running. The soldiers duck, dodge and dive around fallen debris making their way away from the machine as best they can, the plasma fire grows distant.
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 2ND 2008 11:35am
Anne wasn't faring any better, her condition continued to deteriorate, both soldiers were way out of their depth when dealing with this kind of wound.
Lauren looked over her mother with barely constrained panic, she turned to the two soldiers whom were also checking on Anne.
"What is any of this even about?" she asked, pleaded to know, "what did we do?"
"You and your sister; Sydney," Derek began, looking to Luna whom nodded, "in the future Skynet unleashes a bio-weapon that wipes out everyone in one of our bases, all except for your sister. I took up the mission of getting your sister back to base to make an anti-virus, in the process I ended up getting infected too, despite wearing a gasmask, your sister told me gasmasks don't work," he chuckled dryly, "wish I'd have known that before."
He left out the horror he had seen inside the bunker, bodies littering the floor, some clinging to loved ones as they died … the pregnant woman holding her daughter. There was little that unsettled him, but that … that single image forever burned into his mind. He could barely take it. The thought of pressing his pistol to his head had come across his mind, thankfully Jesse had been there to stop him. He also decided not to mention her either.
"And what about me?" Lauren asked cautiously.
"In Connor's base you were among the few senior medical officers we had, you saved a lot of people, did the best you could for a lot of us." He replied.
"And my mom?" Lauren asked.
Derek's silence was all she needed to hear, she wouldn't weep, not yet, not now, only when it was all over.
"Oh god!" Anne cries in agony startling all present, "its coming!"
11:39am
They'd lost the assassin.
They'd been able to follow the Triple Eight only so far into a plethora storage containers and abandoned vehicles before the machine got away. Though the trio still moved fast to try and catch the Triple-Eight, they knew it wouldn't be too far.
Sarah only prayed they encountered it before it found the others, she didn't know where the Fields were located and that put them at a major disadvantage.
Suddenly they heard metal grinding loudly followed by a loud banging and clattering of metal. The trio rushed towards the sounds origin, eventually they came to a collection storage units and delivery trucks left abandoned like everything else there. The T-800 took point shotgun at the ready scanning the area methodically, he paused as he located one storage unit with the lock twisted and torn right off the doors frame, the door swinging open the slamming against the wall may have been what caused the noise.
The trio converged on it, Tony gave Cameron his shotgun before he drew his pair of 45 pistols. He looked to Cameron and Sarah. Sarah positioned herself defensively and confirmed she was ready while Cameron raised the shotgun up and aimed down the sight. Tony slipped one pistol through the gap between the doors and …
Behind them a delivery truck's trailer doors burst open the Triple-Eight raised its weapon to Cameron and fired knocking her into Sarah, the pair hit the floor as the Triple-Eight racked the slide, Cameron immediately covered Sarah's body with her own to protect her. Tony spun around and fired at the assassin with his pistols. The Triple-Eight fired another shot into Tony making the T-800 recoil from impact, it racked the slide once more and fired making Tony fall back against the storage unit's door. The shotgun's slide was racked once more as it aimed at the unknown cyborg – click; the stolen shotgun was empty.
Hearing the tell tale sound of an empty weapon Cameron rolled onto her back and fired Tony's Mossberg at the Triple-Eight as Sarah fired her Remington till both weapons ran dry, the double barrage of buckshot knocked the Triple-Eight off its feet.
Tony dropped his pistols and dashed towards the Triple-Eight grabbing its feet as it tried to get up and pulled it forcefully out of the truck's trailer and down on the ground.
Knowing its situation was dire, the cyborg tried to escape, rolling away and pushing itself to its feet, Cameron grabbed the cyborg by its jacket before it could flee, spun it around and threw it against another truck trailer, she advanced on the machine as it recovered and made another attempt to escape, she cut it off and raised her leg up, kicking it in the chest sending it stumbling to Tony, whom grabbed it by the arms and flipped it over his shoulder and down onto the ground.
Cameron strode over to assist as Tony pinned the machine face down on the ground, holdings it arms up behind its back; the machine was immobilised, she pulled out her knife and crouched down near its head.
11:42am
The baby cried loud and heartily as it was brought into this world.
"Easy, easy, careful there." Derek said softly as he passed the cry child to her older sister.
Lauren took hold of her baby sister and showed her to her mother.
Anne Fields looked at the crying blood covered baby like she was the most beautiful thing in the world, but then Anne Fields' breathing slowed, became shorter, her vision began to darken and soon her suffering ended, the last thing she ever saw were her two daughters.
Luna watched the life fade from Anne's eyes and felt herself choke up, she turned her attention to Lauren trying to soothe the baby in her arms.
"You'll have to come with us," Luna spoke up, "we'll protect you and Sydney, get you money, new I.D.s, train you for what's coming, the works we've got ourselves a good group, a great team."
Lauren fields didn't answer.
"She's right," Derek added, "There's strength in numbers and everyone is a good fighter … barring one or two, like Luna said it won't be easy out there, and hell raising a kid ain't no picnic, I think …"
Derek was cut off as his cell started ringing in his pocket, he pulled it out.
"It's them." He announced then walked away from the scene, he typed in his security code as did Sarah.
"Sarah hey, we were getting worried," He began.
"I'm touched," she said sarcastically, "things got a little dicey but I'm fine, we're all fine."
"You get the Triple-Eight?" Derek asked immediately.
"Yeah we got." Came the reply.
"You sure?" Derek asked insistently.
"CPU fried when Cameron pulled it out, then crushed it in her hand."
"Yeah, that does sound pretty sure." Derek replied.
"Give me a sit-rep." she ordered.
"The baby's fine, girls tough a kid. Me and Luna said she could stay with us." He reported.
"That's not a good idea Derek, things have been too dangerous lately especially if we have a baby around." Sarah rebutted.
"Things around really can't get much worse, can they?" he asked.
Sarah dwelled on the thought, or so he thought from the silence, "I guess not,"
"You call me Derek?" Luna spoke up as she approached him.
"Was telling Sarah you and me said Lauren and the baby can stay with us, like you said safety in numbers." He informed her.
"Listen, all of you meet us where we dropped you off okay?" Sarah instructed them.
"Alright, no problem, we'll see you there." He hung up and exhaled. "They got the Triple-Eight."
She nodded, "Thank god, come on lets get out of here."
The resistance soldier made their way back to Lauren.
"Alright, let's see about mov-ing …" Derek's voice trailed off finding the place empty.
"Lauren? Lauren?!" Luna called out.
SERRANO POINT RESISTANCE BASE 2027
Bruised, beaten and exhausted in all ways possible, the survivors of the 850 ambush finally made it back to base, Antonio hadn't said another word, Zander was looking ill and Murphy's joyful attitude was nowhere to be seen. The four of them all but collapsed onto the floor panting heavily.
"What's happened?" a voice asked them.
Luna looked up seeing Major Perry standing over them.
"We got ambushed by an eight-fifty," Luna replied between breaths, "Lieutenant Douglas and Private Camila Vasquez are gone." She reported.
Perry looked closed his eyes, his frown deepening. He looked back to the four before him. "I'm sorry, they were good soldiers."
"When you're ready you can debrief me in my office." He offered.
Luna grimaced as she fought against her aching body, "I might as well do it now, sir." She responded then looked to her squad, "dismissed boys, I'll meet you in the cafeteria for beer later."
Perry turned and walked alongside the limping Luna, keeping his pace slow for her benefit. As the pair walked through the base she noticed an abundance of activity in the medical area.
"What's going on?" she asked curiously.
Perry paused and looked to her, "Skynet killed everyone in Eagle Rock bunker using a bio-weapon,"
Luna looked at Perry in shock.
"There was one survivor, who had immunity. Derek Reese volunteered to go retrieve the girl,"
Luna blinked, she knew Reese well having met through his brother Kyle. "Are they okay?"
"The girl is fine, but Derek was infected with the virus along with another." Perry informed her.
Pushing down her pain Luna moved as quick as her body would allow her into the medical bay.
"Ma'am you can't," someone spoke up, Luna ignored them and brushed right passed them.
Luna was stopped from going any further by human security guards.
"You can't go any further ma'am could risk contamination." One of them said.
Looking past the guards she found Derek unconscious with a drip in his arm, beside him was some woman she'd never met, they both looked peaceful, if it weren't for the drip she'd think them dead.
"Derek?" Luna gasped breathlessly.
"They'll be fine." Someone said from behind her.
Luna turned around and saw a woman in her mid-30s wearing a mask-less HAZMAT suit with a tired but confidant smile on her face.
"Who're you?" she asked.
"I'm Lauren Fields, senior medical officer working directly under Brewster, I administered the anti-virus into your friend in there." Medical Officer Fields nodded towards Derek and the woman.
"What about the uh, the girl?" Luna asked.
A younger woman in her late teens to early twenties stepped closer to them.
"This is the one who is immune to the virus, she's my younger sister; Sydney." Lauren introduced her.
"Hi." Sydney gave Luna a timid smile.
SUNDAY NOVEMBER 2ND 2008 12:30pm
Sarah just got off the phone from John informing him they were on their way back, reassuring him they were all alright, the Triple-Eight was gone but Lauren and the baby had vanished, they looked for them but couldn't find them. Perhaps it was for the best, their mission was too dangerous, Sydney and Lauren Fields had to survive and their chances of doing so around the Connors dropped.
Luna glanced over to Tony whom was looking straight ahead, his gasmask having been reduced to shreds of rubber, his skull face and blazing red eyes revealed to the world, he must have noticed her looking as he turned towards her.
"Are you alright?" he asked with his damaged voice.
For a few moments Luna was back in 2027 staring down the eyes of the T-850 that had caused her family so much pain, she put that anger and sickness aside and smiled tiredly at Tony.
"Same as ever amigo." She replied.
Tony nodded and looked forward once more.
After her debriefing to Perry, Connor had ordered a retrieval mission of the bodies, Luna had volunteered to escort a squad to their location; a mix of human soldiers and some of Connor's veteran machines. They found the bodies, the weapons taken from them and anything that may have been of value scattered across the floor.
After retrieval Camila and Douglas had been cremated with a nice little ceremony with those that had known them.
It was of little comfort, but it was at the very least a sense of closure
12:09pm
The figure stood near the hotel head tilting from left to right as it analysed the layout of the building, the levels of security or lack thereof and the exits.
Her focus shifted to the woman whom finished climbing the stairs and strode towards her room, she paused as she put the key in and looked back then around, she didn't see the figure, then let herself into the room and closed the door behind her.
A small smirk grew across the figure's charred lips.
'Got you.' She thought.
Jason's notes
Well I didn't finish it for Christmas, I am ever so sorry.
Honestly I found this chapter really really hard to write because, we don't know how "Alpine Fields" played out when Sarah and Cameron were after the Triple-Eight while Derek was with Lauren and Anne Fields.
So I had to make up something decent and make it believable, hopefully next chapter will be easier.
Also added more future scenes, YAY! Maybe?
If anyone is confused all the future scenes took place in Luna's future, which is why events are a little different.
As I said I'm editing this story slowly, but I wanted to get this chapter out. I hope it was worth the wait.
Jason
P.S I had some problems upload this chapter as it's original file, so I had to copy and paste from a file already in DOC manager, has anyone else had this problem before and what it means?