Chapter 187

Drone

John wanted the teams to split up. He was sure they were being led on a wild goose chase. He wanted one team closer to where they started from if the helicopter turned around and went back the other way. He thought maybe that the drone did not originate too far from that location.

Cameron, Bob and Holly were currently headed east on Highway 58. They were headed back toward Walong and the Tehachapi Loop.

Bob did not like splitting the two teams up. He would have preferred that they all stay together. He did understand that there was a possibility the helicopter would double back. This way they could better cover all the bases. If they ran into trouble with Cameron incapacitated, they would be at a disadvantage.

Bob wondered about Holly and what she thought about right now. He looked at her.

She looked down at Cameron as she cradled her head.

Bob looked at Holly for a long time, he finally needing to ask something.

"Do you?" Bob asked.

Holly said nothing for a long while. She was not ashamed of how she felt.

She knew what he was really asking her.

Holly turned and faced Bob.

"Yes. I love her." Holly finally said. "I love Cameron."

Bob nodded. He understood.

"Everyone does." Bob said. "It is impossible to be around her and not fall in love with her. She is the most special 'person' in the world."

Bob believed that all the Terminators felt the way that he did.

Holly was not bothered by it, she was proud of it. What finer person than Cameron was there to love? She was not sure if she knew she loved Cameron before they shared her chip for fifteen months. She was sure of it as soon as their programs could 'share' and explore each other. She'd never experienced beauty like that. None of it was physical. It was all 'emotional'. Sharing with Cameron for all that time allowed her to grow as an individual and greatly develop her own feelings and emotions.

Gail and Holly both started out as Restorators created by Mrs. Weaver. Over time it would be evident that she was much more 'advanced' than Gail in personal interactions and even in her presence. That was from her long term exposure with Cameron on her chip. She felt it made her a better infiltration unit. Everyone else thought it made her more 'human'. She believed in what she felt.

"Bob, I love - love her." Holly said. "I am in love with her. I can't help it. I'm not ashamed of it."

Bob suspected as much.

"She has done so much for all of us, everybody." Holly said. "She has made all our lives better and have true meaning. I feel I have true purpose because of her. I value life itself because of her. I would do anything for her. I WILL do anything for her. I will make sure she can go on as John's wife as she was meant to be."

"You are a true friend." Bob said. "You're willing to sacrifice your own 'future' for Cameron and her future."

Holly looked down at Cameron and back up to Bob.

"When you love someone you will sacrifice anything for them, ANYTHING." Holly said. "I don't care. I want Cameron to be happy."

Bob understood. Sacrifice was the true test of love.

Holly looked back down at Cameron.

"I will fix you. I promise, Cameron." Holly said softly. "I promise."

Bob heard her but did not say anything. He understood.

Bob could hear Holly cry softly and said nothing else as he knew the infiltration units contained different programming than he did. He knew they could 'feel' things much greater than he did. If that were the case, he could not even imagine the pain and hurt Holly must currently feel. His pain was already intense. A single tear slid down his cheek. He only wondered at the pain and torment Cameron must always experience….

He also knew that most of it was not Cameron's fault. It was the ones who were around her that were to blame. They were the ones who did this to her. He was not angry at them but he did blame them. Every action had a reaction. Cameron was the one who seemed to pay the price for the actions of others. It did not seem fair.

John Henry continued to monitor the progress of the tracker on the HK drone under the helicopter.

"The helicopter with the drone is headed towards Bakersfield." John Henry said.

John just had a bad feeling about this. There was the threat too of them being led into an ambush.

"Keep an eye on them." John said. "I expect a possible double play coming up."

John Henry could not disagree with that statement.

"It is flying very slowly." John Henry said. "It is too slow. It may be about to stop."

The helicopter should have been long gone by now.

"I don't like it." John said. "We will continue to follow it."

It seemed the helicopter wanted to keep them 'hooked' to follow it.

"It is like when Sarah lured those two vans into the ambush." John Henry said.

John remembered how that ambush turned into a 'turkey shoot'. There was also an underlying fear that he could not shake.

"It is almost as if Skynet observed and learned." John said. "I still think Skynet is after Cameron and Allison."

John Henry thought Skynet would want to avoid Cameron. Contact with her always seemed to have negative results for Skynet.

"Why? Cameron has destroyed Skynet numerous times." John Henry said. "It should fear her."

"I think that is why it wants Cameron and Allison. It wants to make more of 'Cameron'. I think it wants an army of 'Camerons'." John said. "Like it made an army of Bob's model."

The thought of that did not set well with John Henry.

"It is possible." John Henry said. "An army of Camerons with her chip copied and modified for Skynet would be 'unstoppable'. It would be a cold and merciless force to contend with. She has adapted to many situations that Skynet has not."

John thought about that. THAT would be a force to be reckoned with. It would be calculating and ruthless. It would be the termination of mankind. He shook it off. Skynet did not have her yet.

It did occur to him that if Skynet were to 'copy' Cameron in her present 'condition' that they would have a very unpredictable and unstable series of clones. The clones would probably attack each other and even Skynet itself. He toyed with the idea of letting Skynet get a hold of a 'bad' copy of Cameron. It would be like infecting Skynet and its operations with a virus.

John attempted to contact Bob several times with no luck.

"How is Cameron's team doing?" John asked. "I can't reach Bob."

Since John hadn't sent his message as 'priority' he figured why Bob hadn't responded.

"Cameron is off line and incapacitated currently. She has shut down." John Henry said. "He most likely did not want to worry or distract you."

That was what John feared.

"Beautiful." John said in disgust. "What's next?"

John hoped she did not go on a rampage.

"Most likely it will be more bad news." John Henry said. "That seems to be the way these things unfold."

John decided to concentrate of the slow moving helicopter. Maybe the load shifted or was unstable. Maybe a 'sucker punch' was about to be delivered.

The helicopter with the Resistance team moved rapidly northward. The mood improved with Allison's song selections.

Sarah was the designated team leader.

"I want to pick up Cameron." Sarah said. "I want her removed from the battle zone."

Gail was ready to step up.

"I can replace her." Gail said as she volunteered.

Jesse and Gail exchanged quick glances. Jesse knew Gail would sacrifice herself for Cameron, just like they all would. Evidently it was like they'd done already with the Duplicate versions of them. They all perished to try and assist Duplicate Cameron.

Sarah contacted John and told him they would pick Cameron up and Gail could take her place.

That was a big worry for John.

"That leaves you without any Metal." John said.

John still feared that Cameron could go on a rampage at some point. They would need a Terminator to try and restrain her while someone Tasered her and then deactivated her.

Sarah saw it as an even trade.

"We will have Cameron." Sarah said. "She can protect us."

Evidently Sarah had more confidence in Cameron than John did.

John did not want to take any chances.

"Derek, will you go in Gail's place?" John asked.

Derek was ready to go. He actually expected to go in place of Gail from the beginning.

"Yes." Derek replied. "I will go with Bob and Holly."

Sarah gave Derek's hand a gently squeeze.

Allison, Vanna, Jesse and Riley all wanted to take Cameron's place. They would all try for the spot at the time of the 'exchange'. They all felt at least one of them should accompany Derek. It was hard to make up for a Terminator on the battlefield.

Bob received the new information from John Henry. They were almost to Keene. There was a fire fighting helicopter kept there. They'd seen it earlier when they passed by it to get back on Highway 58 from the Tehachapi Loop. There was enough room to land the Blackhawk near it. The two groups would meet there. At that point they would exchange Derek for Cameron.

He was worried about Cameron. Would she even reboot if they needed her in a combat situation? He was not sure they could count on her in this condition. Then again, every time she needed to rise to the occasion she did.

Bob was near his goal. He took the off ramp to exit Highway 58. They would be at the destination in less than a minute. He was not sure how far out the Blackhawk was. It should be there in just a few more minutes.

He glanced over to his left side. He picked up something in the side view mirror. Danger warnings went off in his HUD. He swerved violently.

The spot where the SUV should have been seconds ago was now a smoking hole in the ground.

The SUV spun and rolled from the blast that impacted behind it. On the second roll something caught on the body and the SUV flipped end over end. Bob and Holly were thrown free from the wreckage of the SUV. Cameron was not as lucky. She was still inside of it. It was on fire.

They were under an HK drone attack. It came in for a second pass to finish them off. They spotted it. The both saw that it was a big one. Holly and Bob scrambled out of the clearing and made for the SUV. It was now a flaming wreck. The drone passed over them once. They were not sure why it did not fire again on them. Maybe it tried to see who they were before they were blown to bits.

The big HK drone moved in to attack them again. Bob picked up one of the LAW rockets that he found lying among the scattered debris from the SUV. There were weapons and ammunition lying all over the area. The HK drone attacked the SUV again. It was hit with two rockets and it exploded. There was only a smoking crater where it once was.

Bob fired at the HK drone with the LAW rocket and hit it. It spun out of control and crashed into the hillside. It tumbled a half dozen times and then exploded in a massive fireball.

Bob and Holly were both damaged.

Cameron was gone.

The Blackhawk pilot informed them there were several explosions and a massive fireball where they were headed. They were almost there.

Gail moved forward to look. There was explosion in the air followed by another explosion against the hillside. Some burning object tumbled end over end. It looked like some kind of an HK drone to her. It was different than any she'd seen before.

She did spot one good thing. Well, two actually.

"I see Bob and Holly down there."

Everyone tried to look at where the burning debris was at.

"Is Cameron with them?" Allison asked.

Gail checked twice and still searched for her.

"I don't see her." Gail said. "At least not yet anyway I haven't."

The pilot looked at everything too. He could not see any of those other things. He wondered how good her vision was.

John's team heard the report relayed from the Blackhawk. He feared an imminent attack of them.

"Lean out the windows and check our six and three sixty for that matter." John said.

Dan and Three checked for any aircraft. They physically leaned out from the side windows and looked in all directions.

"I don't see anything." Three reported back.

"Affirmative, I don't see anything either." Dan said.

John wanted to turn around and go to the attack site.

"We need to go back and find Cameron." John said.

Three saw that endeavor as futile. He wanted to point that out to John and why.

"We should follow the helicopter with the HK drone. It is our objective." Three said. "Sarah and her group can assist Bob and Holly. They will be there in seconds. We are at least a half hour away."

Dan thought of another advantage they could have if they stayed with the current mission.

"When they land the helicopter we are tracking, we can commandeer it and fly back faster to their location than we can drive." Dan said. "We will also have the drone too at that point."

John thought for a minute. He told John Henry to keep him updated every a few minutes and they continued after the helicopter. It appeared to have landed. They were not that far away from it.

John was worried to death about Cameron….

Apart

Why do we run
Why do we hide
Why can't we say
What is inside

What are we afraid of
Is it to live
Or that we will never receive
But only exist to give

Tell me you can live
Forever on an empty heart
Together trapped in a void
Your being and feelings apart

Is not the past
To which we are a slave
Surely the path
To our grave

Nobody

Dagger To The Mind

It never changes ever
It is always the same
No one wants damaged goods
That I can honestly proclaim

It matters not when or where
It is always the same
The damage is in the brain
Always more and more shame

I am not good enough
It is always the same
It is like I do not exist
Why do I even need a name

To reach out is a painful sin
It is always the same
I have nothing anyone would want
I would if I were ANY other dame

I simply have nothing to offer
It is always the same
Am I nothing without money or wealth
Or beauty, pizzazz or fame

I really am NOBODY
It is always the same
Rejected, frustrated and thrown away
It does not matter if I maim

It is like a dagger to the mind
It is always the same
Born to lose; I can never win
No longer will I continue life's cruel game

Nobody