Chapter 277

In Some Future

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In Some Future:

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Action continues From Chapter 103

Resulting From Events Involving

A TDE Malfunction And Temporal Error

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Cameron and the three girls bounced through time as the TDE malfunctioned or was reset.

Cameron knew things were not 'right'.

The time bubble appeared. The arcing and flashing was done.

There was fighting going on all around them.

Plasma rifles fired along with automatic weapons.

The four naked women hunkered down in a crater.

"We're in the future." Cameron said.

"Whose?" Vanna asked.

"I don't know yet." Cameron said.

"Nice." Allison said.

"Let me get us some clothes and weapons. There are a lot of dead around here." Cameron said but didn't move. "Everyone wait here together."

Cameron waited. It seemed like the TDE tried to pull them back for a fraction of a second but now there was nothing.

"Everyone stay here while I look around." Cameron said as she moved out.

The weapons fire slacked off in the background. That could mean one side got the upper hand or one side retreated. It was too early to tell. The battle appeared to move away from them. That seemed like a good thing.

Cameron returned with a pile of clothes. Some were burnt and some were slick with fresh blood.

The girls rummaged through the clothing to find something to wear. It looked like they were in it deep right now.

"I don't think any of us will look very Tight for awhile." Allison said.

Vanna picked through the clothes and found a pair of pants.

"Not in the future we won't, nobody does." Vanna said. "At least if you run into another 'future me', you should be able to tell us apart…."

Allison and Jesse both watched as Vanna pulled her pants on. They knew what she meant. That would apply to all of them. It would probably draw attention in any setting where they were unclothed. The current lack of sores on them might also raise questions. Maybe that depended on the future.

Cameron continued to scout around. When she returned this time she brought weapons and some better clothing as well. It was clear all the clothing was taken from dead people who died in combat.

"Do you have any better idea of the time?" Vanna asked.

Once the girls were dressed, Cameron took whatever clothing was left and put it on.

"Not yet but I don't think this is a future that I've been too." Cameron said. "I need to go back…."

Cameron was clearly upset. She looked very worried.

The girls knew it was because of more than just where they were currently at.

Jesse decided to address the issue head on.

"Look, Cameron, we're all here for you." Jesse said. "We all saw her too."

Cameron felt very frustrated. Events occurred that were unforeseeable as they 'left'.

"It was that 'Bitch Whore' Riley wasn't it?" Allison asked.

Cameron knew it wasn't the same one. She felt John would see her as 'his' Riley.

"Yes." Cameron finally said. "It was some version of her."

Jesse looked at a knife in the pile of weapons Cameron appropriated.

"A 'Bitch Whore' is a 'Bitch Whore'." Jesse said.

Jesse took the knife for herself. A knife made 'it' up close and personal. It was a way she could feel the other one die in front of her.

Cameron was aware that depending on what future this was, would be what determine their fate. She needed to return to the past.

"I need to find a TDE and get us back." Cameron said.

Vanna was aware that there were differences in her future from Cameron's future. They didn't know how many timelines there were or how many futures.

"What happens if a TDE doesn't exist in this future?" Vanna asked. "I don't mean to sound negative but it's a possibility."

That was a grim prospect for Cameron to contemplate. She may need to construct one. Materials may be hard to acquire and some massive power source would be needed.

"I don't know." Cameron said. "I need to go back…."

Cameron was aware that every future would be different in some way even if Skynet never took over. There could be other worse things.

There could be a bigger Scavenger problem. Skynet could be bigger or stronger. There may be an even more bitter and non-understanding anti-Metal faction to contend with. The Terminators here could all be early models or something more advance than the Liquid Metal Terminators. There could be more than one Skynet.

She wanted to go back to stop John from pursuing Riley, whatever version that was of her. Any version of Riley was bad enough. It didn't really matter. John was the weak link in the chain of events. He was the one who buckled and did what he did. Just thinking back on it angered her even more. She still remembered the morning she caught him after he spent the night in Riley's arms. He rubbed it in her face. Did he really need to smirk at her on top of it all as he went up the stairs?

'Get it together.' Cameron told herself.

She needed to focus and concentrate.

Right now she was responsible for the girls who followed her into the unknown. That was done as an act of love and support. Her concern for their safety helped prevent her from glitching out over Riley.

Cameron needed to act like what she was. She was a Terminator. She was designed to kill.

She started scouting in larger circles from around their position. She always promptly returned to the girls. She wanted them to remain where they were until she could find a better place to stash them. There was no telling when the battle would sweep back their way or who would emerge to claim this battlefield.

Cameron found some small supplies of food and water as well as more weapons and better clothing on each trip. She scanned the food and water. It was consumable but still contained high levels of pollutants. She worried what this would do to the girl's reproductive tracts and their general health. They'd already experienced enough toxic exposure in their own future. Now to add this on top of it could expose them to different toxins. They could be at greater risk than those already in this future.

She was more worried than ever that she'd made a major mistake. She should have asked one of the girls to stay behind. She KNEW she could have ORDERED one of them to stay but she wanted it to be their choice. Now in hindsight she wished it would have been Jesse. She saw Jesse look at the knife and knew she thought of using it on Riley. Jesse would have claimed John for her own. Jesse would've helped to protect John from 'himself'.

Cameron almost tripped a plasma mine. She needed to think about where she was at now. The plasma mine would have destroyed her. She needed to be functional to keep the girls alive and from harm. If Scavengers got a hold of them now with their pristine bodies, they would literally be abused to death.

She disabled the plasma mine. She would like to come back for it later. It would make a nice booby trap for someone who tried to breach their hideout location once she was able to establish one. There was a preliminary one picked out but it was real estate that belonged to someone. They may come back to claim it at some point.

Cameron came in low and fast to rejoin the girls again. She didn't want to be spotted by anyone still alive on the battlefield and pinpoint their location.

"I found a bunker not far from here. I'm moving you there for now." Cameron said. "There appears to have been a major battle fought here. There is evidence of Metal fighting Metal. There are dead and weapons everywhere. I don't know why there aren't any HK drones flying around. The sky should be full of them in a battle this size."

Allison wondered about that herself. She'd needed to avoid plenty of those in her future. Their power plants gave off a whine that any dogs could detect long before they could hear them. That gave them and edge to get under cover if there was any. Sometimes there wasn't any so they would need to scatter. That usually meant one of their squad would be 'selected' by the HK drone to attack. The rest of them could fire at the HK drone and hopefully bring it down. The person that the HK drone selected to attack usually was killed.

"Maybe there's a bigger battle being fought elsewhere now." Allison said. "They may have gone there."

What Cameron said about the evidence of Metal fighting Metal made Vanna wonder about her 'mother' - Mrs. Weaver.

"Is this where my mother is at or is it Future John's Metal?" Vanna asked.

Cameron tried to ascertain those very questions herself. She would need more time to determine that. There might not be a 'Mrs. Weaver' or 'Future John' in this timeline. She just wanted to go back at this point.

"I don't know yet." Cameron said. "This all seems different. I need to find a TDE."

Allison looked around. They were in the Wastelands of whatever future this was.

"What if there isn't one close by?" Allison asked.

They all saw Cameron fight her glitch.

Allison was sorry she said it immediately.

This was an issue that Cameron already contemplated. She worried about what was going to happen to the girls too.

"I'll have to construct one." Cameron said. "I don't know where we can get the power to run it. We may be marooned here fighting for our lives. I'm so sorry."

Cameron tried to hold it together. She was devastated Riley was alone with John but she needed to keep these girls alive. They'd risked everything to come with her. Now she must protect them at all costs to herself. She knew she'd made a major mistake. If she could have thrown up, she would have. She was sure that was the feeling that she currently experienced.

Now it was about surviving….

She'd already come to the conclusion that it was most likely that she would never see John again. This did not look like any future she'd ever visited. The Skynet equipment that she'd looked at so far did not seem as advanced as that from either future she'd fought in. That was not a good sign for returning 'home'. That was to her home with John. That was to return home to John who was now in the arms of Riley. He would seek comfort and solace from her. They were probably making love right now.

Cameron needed to fight within herself to focus so that she could fight to protect the girls. She needed to allow her love for them to come to the forefront to keep her focused on them. They were the present. They would provide her with love and comfort. John was now the past….

Her future would now take a different direction.

Cameron moved the girls into the bunker along with the weapons and food she'd collected. She went out on patrol again. She needed to get some intel or a live person. She came across some destroyed Metal but most of them were missing their heads. On the ones that weren't missing their head, the chips were all pulled. Someone removed them to keep anyone from getting a look at the chips.

It appeared someone wanted to either glean information or keep anyone else from getting it. It was an effective strategy.

Cameron soon came across a pile of Terminator heads. It appeared that once someone felt secure, they took the time to remove the chips from every one of them. Cameron looked at the faces to see if she recognized any. She did not. She was almost glad she didn't…. It would have bothered her to see the 'heads' of the Terminators she served with in the Resistance. She was even more relieved not to see one that looked like her. They were all males anyway.

Cameron didn't know if these were Mrs. Weavers Restorators or Skynet Terminators. She'd never seen any of their faces before. Somehow she thought that wasn't a good thing. It further reinforced that she was dealing with the unknown.

The girls were alone in the bunker. Cameron previously set out from the bunker to try to get some answers and more resources.

Allison was on watch along with Jesse.

Vanna tried to rest. She was too keyed up.

"This is useless." Vanna said. "If one of you thinks they can sleep, go ahead. I'll take the watch. I can't even relax let alone sleep."

Jesse was on edge herself.

"We're all pumped full of adrenaline and scared." Jesse said. "I want to remain on alert until Cameron comes back."

Allison felt the same way.

"We all do." Allison said.

Vanna got up and looked outside the entrance opening. She noticed movement in the distance. Those were the first living people they'd seen.

"Look, there are two figures moving with a dog." Vanna said.

Allison and Jesse were worried now as well.

"Are they Grays or the Resistance?" Allison asked.

No one wanted to consider they were Scavengers. If they were Scavengers there would be more of them.

"How do we tell? The clothes they have on seem to be a jumble of everything." Jesse said. "Just like ours."

The girls all looked at their ripped and blood stained clothing. What they wore now were the 'good clothes' that Cameron found later on.

Vanna retreated inside the doorway.

"Great, they're coming this way." Vanna said. "We need to hide."

Jesse looked around.

"There's nowhere to hide." Jesse said. "We're trapped in here."

Allison knew it was useless. There was a dog with them. They needed to go on the offensive.

"We can't all hide anyway, the dog will find us. I will distract it." Allison said. "You two try to conceal yourselves and I will talk to them if they come in here. I will try to get them into this corner so you can move in from behind them."

Jesse was worried they were Scavengers.

"Do we kill them?" Jesse asked. "I think we should to protect ourselves."

Jesse held her knife in her hand.

Vanna didn't want to kill any Resistance fighters.

"We don't know if they are from the Resistance or not." Vanna said.

Allison didn't want to run into Grays or Scavengers either. Maybe because they had the dog they were from the Resistance.

"I don't know." Allison said. "I'm not sure what to do."

It seemed any choice they were about to make was going to be the wrong choice. It would be anything but a good choice.

If it was Grays or Scavengers they planned to fight.

They all really wished that Cameron was here right now with them.

"We fight." Jesse said.

Unknown

Whatever isn't known
Is the known as the unknown
It makes it hard to face
When one is all alone

Some meet the challenge
Above others they have grown
The rest that are left behind
Only complain and groan

Some will forge ahead
Many will end up prone
What will be remembered and said
On their cold tombstone

Uncertainty creates character
Some will grow a backbone
Those who choose to lead
May one day sit on a throne

The unknown is empty
It leaves many to moan
Few provide comfort and strength
Some are willing to loan

Thoughts move like a cyclone
Many things one will postpone
In the end they still must atone
Or let the unknown remain unknown

Nobody