Chapter 313

Are You Ready

Cameron and John spent more time together.

John felt ashamed for wanting to alter Cameron's programming. Cam was right, it was wrong to change Cameron's files for what he'd done. How was that fair? He knew what he was doing when he did it with Future Riley. It was what he wanted to do. He was pretty sure he would still do the same thing again if he was back in that same place. Maybe if Cameron hadn't caught him with Future Riley it would have been different. Maybe he shouldn't have rubbed her face in it. He still remembered that look of hurt, disappointment and betrayal on her face as he went up the stairs. To make it worse he even smirked at her.

John needed to get back to the real world.

John Henry and John identified targets for Cameron and their Terminators to eliminate.

Cameron made sure John, Kyle and Derek stayed out of any potential combat. Recon or surveillance was fine but if it was for an outright assault, only Metal was going in PERIOD. She'd learned her lesson from the future on that.

She made sure everyone understood this. She wasn't going to get John killed or assassinated in the future by needlessly 'spending' human lives. That was what Metal was for. They were all expendable and replaceable, no human was. As long as their chip or a copy of their program existed they were eternal. She made sure she copied of all of their programs. Nobody was being terminated on her watch.

Cameron wanted to obtain some more female Metal. There were now several future projects she needed to take care of. So far they hadn't encountered any. She possessed enough chassis 'parts' to construct one with some additional fabrication. She'd planned on using those as spare parts for her Metal girls and herself. There was a pretty good chance she was going to sustain more damage.

She tried to make John happy as often as she could and spend more time with him. Her schedule was busy. It seemed that it was non stop, twenty four hours a day. Every second needed to be planned to get everything done. She found if she was busy and always rushing that she didn't glitch or malfunction. She tried to fill every second with activities. The more she hunted, the less she hurt. It could be too that the more she killed, the better she felt….

Cameron would always make extra time for John and cut anything else short for him. All of her plans slowed. She needed to search for the Duplicates 'in some future' and Mrs. Weaver. She needed to process Summer and Claire's DNA as well as make another clone of herself for Gail and Young Jesse. She needed to find out where the drone came from that could have attacked John and work on her Neural Interface. She needed to monitor the girls and find a way to help Riley as well.

Cameron needed to go visit Allison and Holly also. Cameron monitored all the scans from Gail on Jesse and Holly from Allison. Cam's scans of Vanna didn't look good.

There was just so much to do….

Cameron took Savannah out for additional weapons training. She went over every safety detail several times. She provided Savannah with combat instruction as well as simulated combat training. She tried to make everything as real as possible. She wanted to make sure Savannah was ready for anything. Savannah took everything with the utmost seriousness. She told Savannah that she would have to kill at some point. She explained that the more she needed to kill, the less she would 'feel' it. She hoped that Savannah would never enjoy it. She really hoped Savannah wouldn't follow a path similar to what Jesse followed. She'd worked long and hard with Jesse to brighten the darkness within her.

Vanna asked to accompany them but after Cameron scanned her, she told Vanna to rest instead. She didn't like the readings she received from her scans of Vanna. She'd already been alerted by Cam that things weren't looking good. They weren't the way they should be. It appeared as if this pregnancy was about to be 'terminated' by Vanna's own body. This was the second time she was aware first hand of Vanna's 'trouble' with carrying an embryo. Duplicate Vanna also experienced this problem. It appeared Vanna was incapable of reproduction. This only increased Savannah's importance for the future.

Cameron thought after a few months she would try again with Vanna. If that failed too, then she would follow a different route.

Cameron was pleased to see Savannah's beautiful smiling face.

"Are you ready, Savannah?" Cameron asked.

Savannah's smile brightened.

"I'm ready for anything." Savannah said. "And 'everything'."

Savannah and Cameron stared at each other. Cameron frowned and Savannah giggled.

Savannah knew what she 'said' without saying it,

So did Cameron.

Cameron did notice her choice of words. She didn't want that for Savannah, at least not yet.

She felt at some point she would need to yield to Savannah as she knew she would need to yield to Young Allison when she matured. She wanted that to be years away or 'never'. If she could keep Skynet or any of its illegitimate offshoots from taking control, then things could be different.

Cameron made sure Savannah wore her eye and ear protection as well as body armor. She wasn't taking any chances with Savannah. She instructed her on the use of several weapons and also on some explosives. She noted that Savannah was quite proficient at everything. Savannah seemed to be a natural for anything she did, was instructed on or tested on.

She also put Savannah through strict physical training. Sarah helped conduct that training when she was absent or needed to be elsewhere. She valued Sarah's input and assistance. Without it ever being spoken, both women knew what Savannah was being groomed for. It was to be at John's side in the future. It would be the same as in future that Cameron came from. This is the same training Young Allison would receive soon as she matured. That wasn't that far away. In Cameron's absence, Holly and Hanna would see it was carried out and then with Summer as well. It never hurt to have an additional 'backup'.

Claire became Cameron's 'close' friend. She knew that Claire loved her. She always tried to make sure the ones she cared about 'loved' her. She worked hard at it to find what it took to 'reach' someone and then never let go. She did this instinctively without knowing it. It seemed to be part of her programming. She only knew that everyone soon loved her. This seemed to happen after her being in contact with John Henry's program on the server and on her chip.

'You're not MY Cameron.' Were words that slammed into Cameron's mind.

It wasn't a 'rejection' but a statement of fact. Cameron needed to remind herself it was Duplicate Cameron that loved River, even though she felt those same feelings now. She wondered if she would have to fight Duplicate Cameron for River in the future. That might not be a smart Idea. River would be on Duplicate Cameron's side.

"Stay with me, Cameron." Savannah said.

Savannah needed to tell her to remain focused and keep her head in the game.

NOW Savannah was instructing her…. Savannah always looked out for her.

"I'm fine." Cameron said.

Savannah doubted that. She would need to keep an eye out for Cameron as well as the objective. It would be a further challenge.

This training session was in a wooded area. They were in a remote part of a National Forest.

At Savannah's suggestion they'd switched from live weapons and ammunition to MRX Paintball 'markers'. These were very similar to an M4. This necessitated the use of a full face mask for her.

They were up against an 'unknown force' in a series of some abandoned cabins and some out buildings. They would use party poppers to represent Claymore mines and baseballs to represent grenades.

The Terminators she was to go up against represented Grays. They needed to reduce their Terminator abilities to that of what a human would be. These were all suggestions made by Savannah. She didn't like using live ammunition against their Terminators, even if they used blanks against her. There was no need to cause sheath damage to anyone.

The first scenario was to infiltrate an outpost:

Savannah left Cameron behind. She was on her own for this one. This was a new training location that was unfamiliar to her.

She moved from tree to tree. She kept a watch on the ground. She needed to look for trip wires. They could be connected to flares or Claymore mines.

Savannah was unsure what she would face and even exactly where it was at. She was only instructed of the general vicinity. It was as if she'd received a report from someone who'd stumbled upon something and was not sure about any of the details or an exact location.

She stayed low as she moved. She moved like a deer. She would advance a few paces and pause to look and listen for danger.

It wasn't long until she came across the first trip wire. It was connected to a 'Claymore mine'. It was set to detonate down the trail. She was off of the trail at this point. She'd spotted some footprints earlier. She deactivated it and took it with her.

She spotted a sentry. She must be getting close. She moved around the sentry and soon spotted the first building. She rigged the 'Claymore mine' a hundred feet behind him on the path it seemed that he would use. It would keep the sentry from pursuing her if things went bad and she needed to evade. She needed to remember this location.

There were several men around the buildings. She kept to the side and bypassed them. There were some more buildings. They were all small but were supposed to represent bigger structures.

She moved up and looked inside of the first one. It was marked as 'weapons' inside. She moved to the next one and it was marked as 'communications'. Someone was inside and speaking.

Savannah came across another one and there was a guard in front of it. Inside she could see Cameron.

'What was this?' Savannah wondered.

She quickly realized that Cameron changed the scenario. She was a 'prisoner' now.

Savannah now needed to make a choice. Was she to try and free Cameron or finish her mission?

"Let me go." Cameron said.

"Shut up, Bitch." The first male voice said.

"I'll tell you nothing." Cameron said.

There was a loud slap.

"Shut up, Bitch." The second male voice said.

There was the sound or a struggle and ripping material.

Savannah tried to move closer.

Wait.

She needed to maintain situational awareness. She didn't want to end up captured too.

"Get your hands off of me." Cameron said.

"Shut up, Bitch." The first male voice said. "Tie her down."

There was the sound of laughing inside.

There was more struggling and more ripped clothing sounds. The screams were muted.

It sounded like Cameron was gagged.

"Hurry up and get her stripped." The first male voice said. "We need to all take a turn before that Zombie gets back."

That was a new problem. There could be Metal here. That wasn't in the original scenario either. She checked her Taser.

She checked her two 'grenades'. She checked her sidearm and knife. That was in case she needed to remove a Terminators chip. Savannah rigged a Claymore mine of her own. That was the only one she carried. She was able to peek in a window and saw that Cameron was stripped naked.

'Is this for real?' Savannah thought.

Both of Cameron's arms were stretched out over her head and secured to a single post. Her legs were spread apart and secured with a stake for each of them.

She saw one of the men pull his pants down and move towards Cameron.

'Are you kidding me?' Savannah thought.

"I get to go next." The second man said.

"It won't take me long." The first man said.

It was time to act.

Savannah pulled her Taser and moved forward and into the building. She needed to get Cameron out of there. She wanted to keep it quiet as long as possible.

'ZAP!'

'ZAP!'

Both men fell.

Savannah used her knife and slit their throats.

She freed Cameron's hands.

Cameron pulled the gag out of her mouth, it was her underwear.

She went to free her feet.

Cameron only acted as another human at this point.

"Yeah man, they have her in here.'" A voice said. "We all get a piece."

At least two men laughed.

The Claymore mine she set went off.

She freed Cameron's right foot and gave her the knife.

The Claymore she'd repositioned by the sentry went off.

"Intruders!" A voice screamed.

There was random weapons fire.

The Gray's were shooting at shadows.

Savannah moved to the door to look for threats.

Cameron freed herself and took the shirt off of one of the dead men. Her clothes were rags in a pile.

Cameron took a pistol from one of the 'interrogators'.

"What do we do?" Cameron asked.

She put on her underwear and her shoes.

"We need to move." Savannah said. "Follow me."

Savannah led Cameron out of the building. There were two dead Grays alongside the building.

Savannah held her MRX – M4 in front of her.

One man came around the corner. She fired twice.

She looked behind her and another man lifted a rifle at them. She fired twice.

They quickly moved back the way that Savannah entered from.

There was some noise behind them.

Savannah tossed a 'grenade'.

There was a scream.

There was also the sound of footsteps running. Someone was moving fast.

Savannah put Cameron behind a tree and moved behind one herself for cover and sighted in on the sound. A figure appeared.

She fired twice. No effect.

The figure was nearing fast.

She flipped the selector to full auto and fired into the Terminators left knee. He dropped down on that knee but kept coming in a half crawl.

She pulled her Taser and fired.

He dropped down.

She retrieved her knife from Cameron and removed his chip.

Savannah was pumped full of adrenaline and sweating. This was pretty intense training.

Savannah and Cameron made it out of the danger zone.

"That was a little too real." Savannah said.

"That was the point." Cameron said.

Savannah looked at Cameron wearing a shirt, her underwear and her shoes.

"How far would that assault have gone?" Savannah asked.

"They were instructed to make it real." Cameron said. "I may have been assaulted if you hadn't acted."

"By everyone there?" Savannah asked.

"Yes. Everyone in the camp could have taken me." Cameron said. "My muffled screams would have forced you to act at some point."

Savannah looked at Cameron.

"Now you're just messing with me." Savannah said.

Cameron laughed.

"I almost fooled you." Cameron said. "The goal was to change the scenario to make everything unpredictable."

"It worked." Savannah said.

"Your hands are shaking." Cameron said.

"It will pass." Savannah said. "My body responded for real to everything."

"It will be different when it happens for real." Cameron said. "Training like this will help but the real thing is different still."

"This was pretty real to me." Savannah said.

When they reached the SUV Cameron removed a fresh set of clothes from the back.

"I see you planned to set me up all along." Savannah said.

Cameron dressed.

"YOU made yourself better today." Cameron said. "That was all that mattered. You met the challenge. You always do."

Cameron was very proud of Savannah.

After the training session Cameron took Savannah back and they cleaned and inspected the weapons. She then went over some cooking and seamstress skills with Savannah. That was followed by some dance instruction. She also made sure Savannah went to get music instruction from Claire and to be able to be around Young Allison as much as possible. Savannah seemed to master it all with minimal instruction and practice. She was proud of the woman Savannah was becoming. She looked at Savannah's perfect figure, her pure sweet beauty and changed it from 'becoming' to 'already was'.

For the first time, Cameron felt some shame and remorse for building up one life, while destroying another….

Cameron only hoped she would not take as much pleasure when this new test subject of the 'Neural Interface' was terminated.

She was worried what Savannah would think of her….

Cameron knew they didn't always like the way she did things. It bothered her a lot as to what Savannah may think of her, she knew why….

Cameron looked at Savannah and knew why.

The 'Natural Order' was calling HER.

Are You Ready

Each new moment in time offers change
No one knows what tomorrow will bring
Everything is always in motion or flux
The results may make one cry or sing

Things can get complicated
When there needs to be a decision
Often a last minute alteration
Will create doubt and indecision

There are always hopes and plans
They seldom seem pan out
What should be bountiful
Often ends in a drought

In the blink of an eye
Things can pass one by
There's no way to figure it out
All they can do is wonder why

Things can turn out great
They seem firm and steady
When the direction shifts again
Are you ready

Nobody