As the Terminator pulls off the door to General's safe as though it were made of paper, John starts rifling through its contents, feeling the press of time like a bomb ticking down. Behind him, he is aware of Kate sitting beside her dying father, cradling his head, even as the sounds of screaming and gunfire filter in from outside.
"Why are they killing everyone?" Kate wonders. Her voice is thick with tears.
"To destroy any possible threat to Skynet," the Terminator explains matter- of-factly.
It doesn't matter why, John thinks. We have to stop this. We need to shut down Skynet and prevent Judgment Day. Nothing else matters. Frustrated with the piles of folders he is searching through seemingly to no avail, he calls out gruffly, "Which ones are the codes?"
General Brewster manages to answer, his voice weak and pain-laced. "R-Red envelope."
John finds it, and hope rises, even as a fresh rush of adrenaline floods through his veins. They might just pull this off yet, he thinks as he shoves the folder into his knapsack.
"Crystal Peak . . ." the General mutters. "Y-You have to get to Crystal Peak."
Shouldering the straps to backpack, John approaches Kate. "What? What is he saying?"
"Crystal Peak," the Terminator calls from the window where he stands, ever- vigilant. "It is a hardened facility in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, 52 miles northeast, bearing zero-point-five degrees."
"That's the system core?" John asks the General, enunciating each word, much as an adult might speak to a child.
Brewster looks up at him, his face slack. He has barely the strength to lift a hand. Bleeding out will do that. At least it's a relatively quick death. "It's your only chance."
Kate spares a look at John, her pale face stricken and tear-stained. God, he wishes he could spare her this pain.
"You'll need a plane," the General tells them with the last of his strength. "The Particle Accelerator leads to the runway. Take care of my daughter." Though his eyes are on Kate, the last words are obviously meant for John.
In that next moment, for John Connor, it is as if time slows. Sounds fade and he feels as though he is looking at everything through a haze. He remembers then sitting at his mother's bedside, as Sarah lay dying of cancer. For so many years, she fought hard, even as her body destroyed her from within. When she no longer had the strength to keep the cancer at bay, she told John that she wanted no more of hospitals. She wanted to spend her remaining days in a familiar place, surrounded by friends and her son. And so he took her home to die. He learned what he needed to know about IVs and fluids and pain meds. Enough to keep her comfortable. Until there came a point where she could fight no more.
And so he had sat beside her, much as Kate was doing now, holding her hand. He remembered the way Sarah's breathing had become more and more labored, as though it was a struggle to merely draw oxygen in her lungs. He recalled sitting there silently, grasping her bony fingers in his hand, tears streaming down his cheeks, as his mother drew one last shaky breath, and then breathed no more. How he had placed his head down beside her and wept. He had wanted to die then along with her. But somehow, he managed to find the strength to go on. Or at least to get up, pack his things, and take off. He did not even stay for the funeral. He just got on his bike and started riding, never looking back.
Take care of my daughter.
John's eyes dart from the General to Kate and then back to Brewster. John sees the way the General is gazing at Kate. His little girl. His pride and joy. For her whole life, this man has lived to protect her, to nurture her, to love her. And now he can no longer do so. And so he is asking John to take over that role. To guard his most precious commodity--his daughter, his flesh and blood. John understands then that for Robert Brewster, there is no greater responsibility. Skynet be damned. Screw Judgment Day. With his dying breath, he just wants to know that his little girl will live to see another day. That she will be healthy, and happy. That she will be loved.
God help him, he wants to be the one to do so. Silently, John vows to fulfill Brewster's request. And in a split second, he realizes it is not only the General's wish, but also his own.
"Ah, Katie, I am sorry," Brewster tells his daughter.
"Daddy. . . ." she cries, voice thick with tears.
"I've opened Pandora's Box."
"Daddy."
"Get down!" the Terminator shouts, even as the air is pierced by the whining of a missile tearing across the sky. The Terminator shoots out the glass of the office window as an HK approaches.
John grabs Kate and throws her to the floor, covering her body with his own to shield her as the missile impacts the wall behind them. The explosion rocks the room, and John feels debris rain down on him, even as the air fills with thick smoke.
His ears are still ringing as he feels Kate struggle to extricate herself from him. He sits back, even as she rises and rushes to her father. The General is still, and John knows he is gone. She grabs him, and starts shaking him.
"No! No! No!" she wails, pain and denial filling her voice. The sound of her anguished cries breaks his heart.
"There's nothing you can do," John tells her. "Come on."
"We must go," the Terminator says. "It is not safe here."
"Kate, we have to go. Kate!" At his shout, she turns to face him. Her eyes are puffy, her nose red and running, her cheeks soaked. God, he wishes there was time to take her in his arms and hold her, to comfort her.
But there is not. If they want to live, they need to act. Now. But he needs to convince Kate, to get her to compartmentalize her pain, and concentrate on surviving. It's the only way. They can grieve later, after they are safe.
"He wanted you to come with me," John tells her. "He wanted us to shut Skynet down. Come on." Those last two words are soft, tender. Like a caress. He takes her by the waist, grabbing fistfuls of jacket as he pulls her to her feet. "Come on," he gently urges. "Come on."
She meets his eyes then, and he sees something shift. Kate tamps down her sadness as she sets her shoulders resolutely and gives him the slightest of nods. John feels a surge of pride. She's a fighter, this Kate Brewster. He realizes then there's no one else he'd rather have by his side.
Fin