Chapter 26

Fully Functional

Allison was thrilled to be out with Cameron on one of her operations. She was sober of the fact that the mission was dangerous. They were all dangerous. This was an opportunity to take the fight to the enemy on their terms and not react to a Skynet attack.

Cameron explained to her that many of the targets she sought didn't have a clue about Skynet or what their future held. They were being brought to justice before they committed their crimes against mankind - again. It was their actions in the future that determined their fate. Cameron said she only administered the sentence that the people gave themselves by their own future deeds. She wasn't the judge. She was merely the executioner.

Allison was pleased that Cameron let her drive. Cameron did not yell at her like Vanna and Sarah did when she made mistakes. A few times Cameron looked over at her and she'd realized what her mistake was. She was happy that she'd only run through one stoplight. At least the one she noticed as she passed through the intersection.

"We are nearing the location." Cameron said. "Turn right at the next street. Go past two small streets and park alongside the curb."

Cameron and Allison arrived at the location Cameron selected to leave the vehicle.

Allison parked the SUV. She bumped up on the curb with the right front tire when she pulled over to park. She quickly looked over at Cameron.

"Don't worry about it. You will get the hang of it soon enough." Cameron said.

Allison thought they were still about a mile away from the selected target.

"Why did we park a mile away from the objective?" Allison asked.

Cameron liked to play it safe and arrive unannounced and noticed. There was no vehicle present this way to draw attention or scrutiny. No one would see her get in or out of the vehicle.

"I like to walk in and do recon as I move in." Cameron said. "I don't like surprises."

Allison tried to liven the mood some.

"So, no surprise birthday party then?" Allison asked.

Cameron tilted her head slightly.

"I was not born." Cameron said.

Allison saw it a little differently based on how Cameron's chip was returned to the past - the present.

"It sure felt like it." Allison joked. "So, no surprise - 'builtday' party then?"

Cameron seemed indifferent. She was focused on the operation.

"No." Cameron said. "I don't like surprises."

Allison thought maybe she should get serious.

They moved along through several back alleys.

Allison saw a large dog look at them and run away. It left a trail of urine as it ran. That was not the reaction that dogs expressed towards Terminators in her future.

"Why didn't that dog bark at you?" Allison asked. "It ran off, scared."

Cameron tried out something new the last few weeks in regard to that.

"Vanna worked out some synthetic pheromones that mask my mechanical construction and energy field." Cameron said. "Animals sense a predator and back off accordingly. Once when I took Savannah on survival training a bear came into our camp. I stood up and faced it. The bear did the same thing. I advanced towards the bear an it ran away. I thought I would have to terminate it. I am glad it ran off. It might have upset Savannah if further action would have been necessary."

Cameron hadn't indicated she held a weapon.

"Do you mean to shoot the bear?" Allison asked.

Cameron was a weapon.

"No. I would have terminated it with my hands." Cameron said. "It would not have been a problem. It would have been an honorable termination for the bear to die in combat."

They moved along through a back alley. Cameron scanned the surroundings as they progressed. A cat stalked some type of rodent. It ran off too as they approached.

Allison could not help but let her mind wander. There were some questions that nagged her.

"What would have happened if John or myself never came back?" Allison asked.

That was an easy answer for Cameron.

"I would have gone to look for him like I did as soon as I was mobile." Cameron said.

Allison knew some people just disappeared in the Wastelands. Maybe they were killed or captured by Skynet forces. Maybe Scavengers got a hold of them. A lot of things could happen.

"What if you hadn't found him?" Allison asked.

That would have been Cameron's sole mission for the rest of her existence.

"I would have searched for John until my power cell ran out or I was terminated." Cameron said.

That sounded like real determination to Allison.

"That is very romantic, without sounding very romantic." Allison said.

"I was built for John." Cameron said.

Allison knew the story began a little differently.

"More like built to terminate John." Allison replied.

Cameron glanced over at Allison.

"I am ashamed of that, Allison." Cameron said.

Allison thought she may have overstepped.

"I'm sorry." Allison said.

Allison noticed there was a definite frown on Cameron's face in the moonlight.

"I am even more ashamed that when I was damaged that I reverted back to my core programming." Cameron said. "I could not help myself. I was in the process of fixing myself even as I acted out to try and kill John.

"I'm sorry." Allison said.

"I ruined John's Birthday." Cameron said.

Sadness filled Cameron's mind as she remembered.

"I was able to fix myself but John and Sarah did not believe me." Cameron said. "They deactivated me. They were going to burn me with Thermite."

Allison touched Cameron's arm. She could feel how painful this was for Cameron to relive.

"I am sorry to bring this up, Cameron." Allison said. "Let's just drop it."

"It happened." Cameron said.

Allison wanted to ask without asking.

"It seems inevitable that John and you will take the relationship – further." Allison said. "If you're able to do that, I don't know what your limitations are."

Cameron wondered if Allison was going to ask to be a surrogate in John and her relationship.

"I am fully functional. I am programmed in multiple techniques and a broad variety of pleasuring." Cameron responded.

Allison wondered what all that entailed, maybe she would ask another time. She might get a few new 'ideas' for Vanna. She was pretty sure they'd tried just about everything that was possible.

"I understand you are a special model of Terminator." Allison said.

"Yes, I am, 'Terminator Class TOK715' infiltration unit." Cameron said.

That sounded heavy to Allison.

"I don't know tech stuff." Allison said.

They moved in silence for a few hundred more yards.

"We are approaching the objective." Cameron said.

Cameron looked around as she scanned the area.

"I need you to follow my lead and respond as I instruct you." Cameron said. "If you see something developing or about to happen that I missed you need to take appropriate action. At no time do I want you to take an unnecessary risk."

Allison felt her experience from the future would guide her.

"I've done this before." Allison said. "I will be careful."

Cameron wanted it quick and clean.

"This is a simple in and out termination." Cameron said.

Allison wondered what the crime in the future was.

"Who is this guy?" Allison asked. "What did he do for Skynet?"

Allison was mildly surprised at what was revealed next.

"It is a woman." Cameron said. "She is a chemist. She becomes a Skynet technician that works to develop a biological weapon. Mrs. Weaver terminated her in the future. We are going to terminate her in the present."

"There's nothing like covering all the bases." Allison said.

"I like to win." Cameron said. "If we can't stop Skynet, we have to lessen its impact."

Allison nodded.

"I agree." Allison said.

Cameron was able to witness two futures.

"Without John your future was worse than my future for humans." Cameron said.

Cameron held out her hand.

Allison stopped.

"Something is wrong here." Cameron said.

Cameron looked at the surrounding buildings.

"I can see movement in those two buildings in the top floor windows." Cameron said. "Someone was expecting us."

Allison became instant alert.

"This is an ambush." Allison said.

Cameron formulated a plan.

"I will take the building on the right. You will take the one on the left." Cameron said.

Allison checked her weapons and headed out.

Cameron watched her go.

Allison moved with stealth. She entered the building through a first floor window. She advanced soundless up the stairs. She noticed the glow of a cigarette ahead.

Cameron provided Allison a silenced .22 pistol. Cameron brought it along specifically for Allison. She moved forward in a crouched position. She closed on the target, took aim and fired. The figure slumped to the floor. She fired an additional round into the eye socket as she passed by him.

Allison went to the end of the corridor. There was someone up ahead. They looked out a window to where Cameron should have passed to reach her target.

"Hey, Dave, get in here and help me spot. They say that bitch is Metal." A figure spoke.

Allison quietly walked up in back of him.

"Dave's not here." Allison said.

She fired three rounds into the back of the man's neck. He went down instantly. His head impacted the floor. It sounded like someone hit a brick wall with a baseball bat. She put an additional round in his eye socket.

Allison went to the window and looked down. Cameron emerged from a shadow and gave her a 'thumbs up'. Allison was surprised that Cameron was already finished with her targets. She thought she'd move swiftly.

Cameron saw the man in the window slump from Allison's attack. She already dispatched her sniper targets. She then entered the building with the primary target.

Allison moved out of the building with caution.

She checked a side street. She stayed in the shadows.

There was a new van parked on the street with two people in the front. Allison saw that they wore the same overalls as the two dead men in the snipers nest. She figured more were in the back of the van. She took a C-4 charge and quietly affixed it to the rear doors. She knew that when they opened the rear doors to come out they would have a - surprise. She moved back the way that she'd arrived from.

Allison moved up to cover Cameron's exit. She heard gunfire inside the building. There was some screaming, several single shots and a burst of automatic fire.

A few seconds later an explosion sounded on the side street. The van exploded.

Cameron exited the building. No one pursued her.

It looked like there was some blood on her.

"Are you OK?" Allison asked.

"Yes. Most of this is not my blood." Cameron said.

That sounded a little open ended to Allison.

"Most of it?" Allison asked. "Have to been shot?"

Cameron wanted to keep it simple. This happened a lot to her.

"I have taken a few hits." Cameron said. "I terminated two men in the snipers nest in the building across the street and four in this building."

"I booby trapped a van parked around the corner." Allison said. "There must have been at least three men in it."

Cameron nodded. She'd been unaware of that threat.

"I heard it explode, good job." Cameron said. "Let's go back. This building is about to detonate as well."

Twenty seconds later the building exploded.

"Is this what you do every night?" Allison asked.

"Sometimes." Cameron said. "I don't sleep."

"Nice." Allison said.

Cameron did not like the ambush that was set for them.

"I have been after single targets mostly." Cameron said. "Someone figured out I was coming here. I need to figure out how or why."

It was clear that Cameron must have killed a lot of people doing this type of work.

"How many people have you terminated, Cameron?" Allison asked.

Cameron frowned slightly.

"It is not important. I am not proud of it. Let's say between Grays, Skynet operatives, Scavengers and Terminators that is more than you want to know." Cameron said. "It is what I do."

A siren approached from somewhere in the distance.

They hurried back to the SUV.

Allison started the SUV and they drove away.

Cameron's mood was noticeably different.

"You seem a little upset, Cameron." Allison said. "Did I do something wrong?"

Cameron paused before she answered.

"No." Cameron said. "I will need to clean the blood spots out my jeans when we get back."

"I can do it for you." Allison said.

"No! Thank You. I don't sleep." Cameron said. "You need to sleep."

Allison was sure that something else bothered Cameron and it wasn't laundry.

Found

When all seems lost
Every door slammed closed
We soon realize it was
Our own feelings we superimposed

For every path in
There is a path out
We are always unsure
Filled with shame and doubt

Each wound cuts deep
To the bone it goes far
Our bodies and minds will heal
Often leaving a reminding scar

When the damage is severe
In others we must seek aid
For ourselves we may not
But for others we have prayed

We are never alone
Even if no one is around
From out of nowhere
Nobody can be found

Nobody