Chapter 299

Trying

Young Allison and Summer wanted Cameron to stay longer. She assured them she would be back soon and bring Savannah too. She could see Young Allison's eyes light up when she said that. That pleased her greatly. The bond was already there and getting strong everyday.

Hanna was left to assist Holly and Allison. The person that seemed most pleased by that was Claire. Cameron liked to keep everyone happy. Maybe she could work a new angle into all of this.

Cameron departed Palmdale with Cam and Ally. She'd obtained the genetic material she wanted from Summer and Claire and would process it when she returned to her base. She now possessed their DNA and some decisions were going to have to be made about what to do with them.

She knew she wanted to try a few things in the months ahead. She was not sure of the order to proceed with them. She knew whatever she did that it was going to cause a problem with John. It seemed everything did anymore.

Cameron's thoughts were interrupted.

"Is it wise to leave Hanna with Allison?" Ally asked.

Cameron could see where this was going.

"It was Holly's choice." Cameron said. "She thought it would be the lesser of three evils."

Ally looked upset.

"I'm not evil." Ally said. "Besides, I know Allison would want to be with me…. I would take that gig in a second."

Cam wanted a piece of the action too.

"Or me." Cam said. "She would want me too."

Ally was jealous that Hanna got Allison and most likely Claire. Cam got Vanna. She felt that position should have gone to her. Not some new creation.

"We all know she wants Cameron. We all do…." Ally said. "You have a choice assignment."

Cameron didn't want any more problems.

"Enough." Cameron said. "I don't want to fight with you two."

Ally wanted to try out her skills.

"Do you want us to try an infiltration mission on John?" Ally asked. "I think I can pull it off. I'm getting better at looking Tight."

Cam looked at Ally and thought she still needed to go a long way for that.

"I think I could better pull it off." Cam said. "I'm more 'Cameron' than you."

Ally didn't like the challenge.

"I'm more 'human' than you and know what he wants." Ally said. "I'm a better infiltrator than you are."

Cam wasn't backing down. She felt she was on firm ground.

"I'm YOU and Cameron." Cam said. "I'm superior. I'll be the one that can seduce him."

Ally wasn't about to be usurped by a new comer.

"You're on." Ally said. "I bet I'll have him before you do."

Cam felt she would win.

"You're a 'Cameron' wannabe." Cam said. "I'll take that bet. He'll be mine first. We both know it."

Ally and Cam stared each other down.

"Game On." Cam and Ally shouted at each other.

The SUV lurched violently for a second.

Cameron took her left hand off the steering wheel. She was highly agitated right now. Her glitch was back.

"ENOUGH!" Cameron said angrily. "SHUT UP! I'm sitting right here."

Ally wondered what Cameron's problem was. They were discussing what they were supposed to do.

"Isn't that what you want?" Ally asked. "It's for us to replace you."

Cameron couldn't see how they missed the point.

"YES." Cameron said. "That's if I am terminated BUT with my spare chip. Not as 'Bitch Whores'."

Ally felt that getting the mission started now would make it easier in the long run.

"I think we should practice anyway, first." Ally said. "Practice makes perfect. I want to be perfect."

Cam was still upset about the challenge.

"You want to be a 'Bitch Whore'." Cam said.

Cameron tried to keep her temper. She glared at both of them.

"You won't fool John." Cameron said.

Cam felt she possessed the edge with 'three' programs.

"I bet I can." Cam said. "I'm better than you now, Cameron. I'm superior to you."

Ally laughed.

"Yeah, right." Ally said.

Cam looked at Ally.

"AND I'm definitely superior to her." Cam said.

Ally was irritated by Cam's smugness.

"You are not." Ally said. "It's you that's a 'Bitch Whore'."

Cameron just about put up with all that she could right now.

"STOP!" Cameron shouted. "I'll dump both of you in the desert."

Ally wondered what the point of that was.

"Why? Then we'd have to walk home. That will take all day." Ally said.

Cam figured they could commandeer a car.

"Less, if we appropriate a vehicle." Cam said. "I will terminate the driver."

Cameron was near the edge.

"Not if I tear your heads off first." Cameron said.

Ally saw that as another inconvenience and time waster.

"We'll just find them and put them back on." Ally said. "Unless you crush our chips too."

Cam was aware that Cameron might do that.

"Don't give her any ideas." Cam said.

Cameron was fed up.

"I give up…." Cameron said. "Do what you want. I really don't care…."

Cam and Ally looked at each other and wondered what Cameron's problem was. They both decided to remain quite for the rest of the drive.

Cameron smiled to herself. They get it, finally….

After twenty minutes of silence Cam wanted to change the mood.

"We're on the way back now." Cam said. "We can hit another target before we return back to the base."

Ally thought maybe that would get her back on Cameron's 'good side'.

"I have a whole list of targets still." Ally said.

Cameron was still worried about the mother that was willing to 'sell' her daughters.

"I'd like to speak with the mother we saw earlier." Cameron said.

"Hanna gave her a card for professional help." Ally said. "We actually carry some around. We can't help everyone ourselves."

Cameron knew that CamNet covered the cost of treatment for some of the people who sought assistance.

"We help out where we can." Cameron said.

She checked in with CamNet and wanted an update on the ring they'd uncovered and that she'd ordered to be taken down.

The report back from CamNet was less that complete. There were still more targets to take down. Cameron received some target updates.

"It looks like we have a few more things to deal with before we go back." Cameron said. "Are you both up to it?"

Cameron didn't want to be responsible for any damage done to them since she wanted all females out of combat. This wasn't really combat even though the end results could be the same.

"I'm in." Ally said.

"Me too." Cam said.

Cameron didn't expect anything different.

"Do you want to call Sheila?" Ally asked. "If we have time to 'work' on anyone you know she likes to do that."

Cameron did know what Sheila liked to do. She wasn't sure if she was disturbed by what Sheila did or the fact that she seemed to enjoy it so. Jesse warned them there was a lot of darkness inside of her when they did the 'Neural Interface'. It really seemed to manifest itself in Sheila at times.

"I don't want to spend a lot of time on this." Cameron said. "We will see what we can do and then go back to the base. I need to get Cam back to Vanna."

Cam didn't want to be a problem.

"I'm fine." Cam said. "Vanna will understand that things need to be taken care of. Issues related to this subject matter to her."

Cameron didn't want any complaints to come back to her.

"If any issues come up or any damage occurs, I want you to take care of it on your own." Cameron said.

"It won't be a problem." Cam said.

Cameron drove to the target location that CamNet gave her. It was a small industrial building in a dumpy part of town.

"This may be a 'holding pen'." Cameron said.

Ally knew what that meant.

"We really should call Sheila." Ally said.

"We'll manage." Cam said.

There was a van that looked identical to the one that they'd sent over the side of the small cliff earlier. There was a new Escalade parked next to it.

"There's another 'meat wagon'." Ally said.

Cameron, Cam and Ally left their Tasers behind for this part. Everyone here was going to die. This was a non Skynet related target.

The three girls exited the SUV and moved up to check the Escalade and the van. Both were empty. In the back of the van they could see there were undergarments from several females. None of them look very large.

"Everyone dies." Cameron said.

Ally really wanted to call Sheila. There needed to be some street justice here.

Cameron moved up to the side of the building. There was a heavy metal door. It was locked. She continued around the back and looked. There was a ladder that led up to the roof with a metal cover over the first eight feet of it. There was a large loading door for the dock. It was locked.

Cam looked at her phone.

"I have a satellite image of this area." Cam said.

Cameron and Ally looked at it.

"This building has skylights. That's what those angled structures on the roof are." Cameron said.

From the ground to the top of the wall on the side of the building was about twenty two feet. There was probably a short wall or parapet above the roof.

Cam moved to the ladder and went to break the lock off the cover.

"Wait." Cameron said. "Make sure it's not wired."

Ally and Cam checked. It wasn't. Cam broke the lock off and swung the cover off to the side.

Cameron went up and Cam followed her. Ally brought up the rear. She swung the cover closed with her foot as she moved to the rung above it.

They all went over the parapet. There were four skylights. The glass was at a ninety degree angle to the roof with a sloping structure at a sixty degree angle down to the roof. The skylight itself was three feet tall.

Cameron moved to the first skylight and carefully looked in from the corner. She motioned for Cam to do the same from the other side. Ally kept a watch over the side they entered the property from.

The first skylight only revealed industrial machinery. None of it looked like it was in use. They moved to the second one. It was the same story.

The third one showed a little more.

They conversed at a low decibel level that only a Terminator could hear.

"I see two men." Cameron said. "They are almost under you."

"I can't see them from my side." Cam said.

Cameron called Ally over to watch the men as Cam and her moved to the fourth skylight.

"There are a series of beds below." Cameron said. "Mine are all empty."

"I have two females that I can see. They're getting dressed." Cam said. "They have no undergarments."

Cameron figured they were too late for those females. They were most likely 'broken in' and being transported to 'market'.

Cameron saw a female come into view. It looked like she carried a short whip and a 'cattle prod'. She was probably one of the trainers or handlers. They all disappeared from view.

"I don't think the juice from the prod can incapacitate us but it may." Cameron said.

There was a metal screeching sound on the side they entered the property from. Ally moved back over to the side and looked over.

"The two men are out with the females." Ally said. "The female handler is out too."

"Let's take them from up here." Cameron said. "We will jump land on them. That should terminate them."

The Metal girls all moved to the parapet and selected a target. They went over the side. They landed on top of the three people the two females were startled. The three handlers were dead.

Cam went to move the females away.

"How many more are there inside?" Cam asked them.

One female was unable to speak. The other one was a little stronger.

"There are two more men and three more girls inside." The scared girl said. "They're all by the front."

The female paused and kicked the female handler in the face. Her head rolled to the other side. Her eyes stared blankly.

"She's terminated." Cam said as she moved the females away.

Cam spotted two males approaching at a run. She pulled her Glock. She wished she'd brought her Taser. They looked like Metal.

"Blue." The biggest one said.

"Fish." Cam said.

It was two of Cameron's Terminators. She filled them in.

"These men will protect you." Cam said and hurried after Cameron and Ally.

Cameron and Ally went inside. They could hear laughing. It was the two men. There were three females cowering in a corner. They were scared.

"Wait until the start." One man said. "You can end up like that Bitch we just threw in the trash can."

"It will be twenty times a day." The other man said.

"Wrong." Cameron said.

Cameron and Ally moved up behind them and snapped their necks.

Ally got the girls dressed. Cam joined her.

Cameron made a sweep of the building. There was a dead female thrown in one corner. There were whip marks on her back and numerous burn marks. She saw an arm move.

Cameron checked her and she was still alive. She was a fighter.

Nothing was broken so Cameron carried her out. She opened her eyes and looked around.

"It's over." Cameron said. "You're free."

They found some better clothes for the female to wear.

The bodies were all drug to the center of the building and a fire was started. CamNet would block all emergency response.

None of the females wanted to go to the hospital or the police. They formed together in two groups of three.

Cam arrived with a cash box from inside. There was a hundred and twenty thousand dollars in it. They gave each girl twenty thousand dollars.

Cameron gave them the option to go to the hospital or police again. They all declined again. The girl that was whipped said she would take them wherever they wanted to go The left in the Escalade.

Cameron's Terminators would shadow them and make sure there were no problems.

Cameron, Cam and Ally took one look back at the burning building and left.

"We should have called Sheila." Cameron said. "Let's go home."

Cameron was back at the base. She wanted her 'family' and friends protected. She would rather put herself in danger and fight the battles alone to keep all of them safe.

Cameron discussed it with John and told him what she 'wanted'. She said it would be best if he were to relay the information. She knew how stubborn Sarah and Derek could be.

John was surprised at the request Cameron made for Riley and why. Cameron really must have 'grown' to be so thoughtful. She'd done so much for Derek and Riley. That was even after everything else as in what the other future versions of them did. Cameron was a bigger and better person than he thought she could ever be and she was still 'growing'.

John was also aware that Cameron was way beyond him. He knew what Cameron wanted. It was what she said she wanted for him…. This now seemed to cause her to glitch even more as all the forces inside of her fought with themselves. Events and people were now competing against each other and themselves. It was the very people Cameron wanted for herself that she tried to force onto him.

What Future John must have programmed into Cameron was now HER desire more so than it was to provide the girls to John. It caused her great conflict in her mind.

John figured he would worry about that later and get back to what Cameron 'discussed' with him or basically 'ordered' him to do. He decided it would be best to meet with each couple separately at first. That would produce less flak.

Sarah and Kyle were out with Jan so Derek and Riley would be first.

John explained to them Riley would no longer be involved in any combat operations as Cameron removed all females from combat except herself. He explained that Derek and Kyle would be used only if an emergency arose. Cameron wanted everyone protected and safe.

Derek didn't like the new restrictions.

"John, it's our duty to fight with you." Derek said.

John wasn't sure how to say this other than to just say it.

"Please, Derek, listen." John said. "Cameron wants you and Riley to start a family."

Riley wanted that too. There was a problem.

"We've been trying." Riley said. "One of us may be sterile."

Derek and Riley were afraid BOTH of them were sterile.

"Either way, Cameron wants both of you safe and out of harms way as much as possible." John said.

Derek heard what Cameron wanted. He wanted John's 'two cents'.

"What do you want, John?" Derek asked.

John did want what Cameron wanted. He cared about his family too.

"I want my family, my mother, father and sister safe. I want my aunt and uncle safe as well as my future cousin." John said. "We are staying ahead of Skynet and any of its evil offspring. We all deserve a future too…. Cameron wants you to have a family as well."

Later Sarah and Kyle returned and joined them. John went over everything again as well with them.

After the initial protesting by them, they all seriously considered what John and Cameron were asking of them and that she was truly concerned for their future and well being.

Sarah knew Cameron was genuinely worried about all of them. She also knew Cameron wished for them to have another child if possible. Sarah previously told Cameron that they'd been trying but nothing seemed to 'stick' for more than a month or two. That bad news deeply troubled Cameron. She'd increased her monitoring of her.

John was unsure what to tell Cameron about Derek and Riley and their 'trouble'. He debated it for awhile and decided he would do the right thing and tell her the truth. He knew Cameron could monitor both of them and could gain access to medical equipment as necessary.

If anyone could help them, it would be Cameron.

Cameron told John there were millions of dollars in cash lying around and she controlled billions of dollars from appropriating funds from drug lords and organized crime as well as manipulating the stock markets. She would hire the best doctors and get started on the 'problem'.

She knew Derek and Riley would need to beat Judgment Day if they ever hoped to have a child…. She was worried about them and now worried about the girls. They'd been exposed to all the same harsh conditions and toxins, especially Jesse and Vanna. She would tell Gail and Cam to increase their monitoring of them.

Cameron didn't want this to get away from her.

She knew only Savannah and Young Allison might have a chance after Judgment Day. The males and females from the future would not.

She didn't need to remind anyone that Savannah and Young Allison were part of the 'Natural Order'.

Trying

Is what one does
Ever going to be good enough
If the goalposts keep changing
It will surely end in a rebuff

That seems to be the way
That everything turns out
It does no good to shout
Complain, mope or pout

We take the blow
We rebound from the hit
If we want to endure it
We always need to submit

Why are they the one
Who gets to decide
Honor and pride collide
As wider grows the divide

We go on denying
As we keep on crying
The other choice is dying
So we hang on and keep trying

Nobody