Chapter 814

People Were Dying

Earlier Cameron indicated what she wanted John Henry to do to the Gray's phone. It was the same thing he did on the mountain top near Palm Springs. The battery would go critical and explode. The phone was very close to that now.

There were some sparks that began to shoot out of the smoking phone. It was very hot.

"This is going to explode." Cameron said. "We need to get it away from the building. It may cause a fire or hurt someone."

The phone was hotter than fired brass from a cartridge at this point.

The clerk continued to follow Cameron. He was unsure about all of what was happening. It all seemed to occur so fast. He really didn't want her to hold his phone but based on what currently happened he really didn't want to hold it either at this point.

They were out of the service passageway and moved away from the building. They were in the loading dock area at the back of the building. There was no one else currently around.

Cameron headed for a box truck that was backed up to the loading dock. The back door of it was open. She went inside the back of it.

The clerk looked very panicky at this point. Everything was happening so fast. He really didn't have time to think about anything, all he could do was react to the events as they occurred.

The clerk hurried after her. He wanted his phone back. There was important information on it. He'd been unable to send out the photos he took. He didn't want to lose them. He wanted his phone back from the pushy Bitch. He understood now why the Asian female referred to her as a Bitch. It was time to take a stand and get back what belonged to him.

"Give it back." The clerk said. "Give me back my phone."

Cameron was pleased that the clerk finally demanded his phone back.

"OK." Cameron said as she handed it back to him.

The phone was very hot. The sparking increased. It now started to burn.

The clerk dropped the phone. He jumped away from it as the battery exploded.

"Damn you, you Bitch." The clerk said.

Cameron was further irritated by his comment. It was simply another nail in his coffin at this point.

She gave the clerk a stern look.

"I told you so." Cameron said. "You should have listened sooner. It's not my fault that you're ignorant."

The clerk stared at the burning remains of his phone on the floor. He looked around as if noticing for the first time that they were in an enclosed space.

"I'm not ignorant, you trashy slut. Where are we?" The clerk asked as he looked around.

Cameron was between the clerk and the rear door of the box truck. She viewed his latest comment with further contempt. She couldn't wait to get the interrogation started.

"We're in a confession chamber." Cameron said. "I'm not a slut either."

Cameron reached over and ripped the sleeves off the man's shirt.

There was a Skynet bar code on his arm.

The clerk came up with a gun.

Cameron knocked it away from him and started to choke the man out slowly. She was still very upset about all the images of Summer that he'd taken. She was unsure what his assignment was. She could only imagine what he probably did to females in the future. She wanted to make it perfectly clear who she was and by extension what was going to happen to him. She also didn't care for his earlier comments about her. She wanted to make everything clear to him from the start.

"The other female was almost right. Not only am I a 'Bitch', I'm a 'Metal Bitch'." Cameron said as she choked the clerk out completely.

Cameron quickly bound and gagged him. She tossed him to the front of the box truck. She kicked the burning phone away and stomped out the small fire it started. She pulled down the roll up door on the back of the box truck. She dropped down and went to the cab of the truck and pulled the ignition wires loose from under the dash. She quickly twisted two of them together and had another one ready to spark so that the truck could be started easily. It had only taken her a few seconds to get that ready. She went back up on the dock to help Savannah and Sheila. Her little sideshow hadn't taken very long at all.

Her operation actually went very quickly, now it was time for the main event. Whatever the forces were that arrived as they left, there were bound to be more of them somewhere. They appeared to believe they were going after a soft target.

Cameron filled John and John Henry in on what transpired, including what she'd uncovered. They'd heard the whole conversation.

John was aware of Allison's earlier warning that something was wrong and way off. it appeared that she'd hit the nail on the head with her assessment. Now there was a group of thugs to contend with. They still didn't know which group they were actually dealing with even though the clerk was marked with a Skynet barcode.

"What's happening here?" John asked. "It seems like we're in the middle of some event."

John Henry felt this was par for the course as far as operations went. He didn't think that this one was Cameron's fault because it was Allison who uncovered that they'd been targeted.

"It appears once again we've stumbled across something." John Henry said. "In this case it appears that these people came after us."

There were a few questions that John wanted answered.

"We need to find out where these people came from." John said.

John Henry wanted to remind John that wouldn't be an issue.

"I don't think that will be a problem." John Henry said. "Sheila is with them."

John didn't want that type of 'behavior' associated with the Resistance. If Cameron wanted to conduct her operations that were 'off the Resistance books' in that manner, it was up to her. That wasn't something that he wanted to condone or encourage in any way. He wanted to keep the Resistance above that level of Scavenger and Gray brutality.

"You know I don't approve of 'that'." John said.

John Henry wasn't so sure how time sensitive the answers needed to be.

"Do you want answers or lies?" John Henry asked.

John thought of the fact that Claire and Summer were almost caught up in this. That didn't sit well with him at all.

"I want answers." John said. "I need to protect my people."

To get the process started seemed quite simple to John Henry.

"You can ask Cameron to start the interrogations." John Henry said. "Sheila can be held in reserve in case additional information needs to be 'extracted'. She's actually quite good at it."

John was aware that Savannah was part of the team that was still there. It was clear that she wouldn't be left alone by anyone. He worried about her well being. In this case it would be her mental well being.

"Will Savannah have to see all this?" John asked.

John Henry didn't see it as a problem. He knew Savannah was acclimated to this level of violence. He also knew that she didn't condone it or like it either. She was more than likely to stop it before things got carried away. He was aware that Savannah was going to wrap things up at the last location they were at because Cameron wouldn't listen to her that it was time to leave. Savannah told Cameron she was going to finish it herself. At the point when Savannah raised her M4 to kill the Gray herself, Cameron quickly snapped his neck.

"Yes, she has before." John Henry said. "Cameron may have her kill them or Savannah may do it on her own if she wants it to 'stop'. Either way, the men that enter that truck are dead men. Their continued desire to serve Skynet is the same as them giving themselves a death sentence. They are currently there as a result of their own actions."

The other day John watched Savannah strangle the female Gray that tried to strangle her. Cameron's hands were over Savannah's hands as she did it. He wondered how much Cameron helped or if she merely added support and encouragement to Savannah. It was something that he really wanted to know but he wasn't going to ask Savannah.

It was all very sobering. Now they were all in the middle of something again and it was all about to go hot. Cameron and Savannah were involved deeply in it. It was clear that the Young family had been targeted as well.

Sheila waited in an alcove behind a large trash can in the employee and service corridor. She was just inside the door they'd entered from the main mall area. The alcove was part way down the hall. It was hoped that the men wouldn't look around but head after what they believed was the target. The target was the red headed female.

Savannah was to leave Sheila in the alcove.

The men were supposed to follow Savannah.

Sheila would then emerge behind the men after they passed. That would put her behind them where she could engage them from the rear. She hoped to be able to eliminate more than one before they realized what was happening.

Savannah quickly moved down the employee corridor toward the opening that led to the dock. John Henry instructed her where to go. It made her think back to the past when he'd done the same thing for her when a Terminator was after her at her family home. That was the day that her life changed forever. It was so many years ago. Sometimes it seemed like yesterday. Whenever she thought about it, it always caused conflicting memories and feelings. At times it was clear to her that the wound would never heal. It may look like it on the outside but on the inside it was never going to go away. She wasn't really sure that she actually ever wanted it to.

That was when Savannah first laid eyes on Cameron. Cameron entered her heart that day and never left. John and Sarah were there for her too. Derek – Future Derek died that day along with her nanny. Her nanny didn't deserve to die like that. She was young, beautiful, vibrant and full of life.

Skynet did this to her. It took away her parents and changed her life. She saw what Skynet caused to happen to HERSELF as Vanna and Future Savannah. Other future versions of her needed to endure things that no one should ever need to endure. That was a crime that could never be forgiven.

Skynet caused what happened to Vanna, Jesse and Allison that made them sterile. Skynet and the Grays wrecked her life and stole her future. She felt angry enough herself now to assist Sheila when she 'questioned' the survivors of this current escapade. This group of Grays or the anti-Metal faction came after either Allison or her. Termination wasn't going to be good enough for them. This was something personal. She better understood things now when Cameron talked about retribution and atonement.

John Henry's voice brought her back to the present. She needed to stay focused and they needed to bring down this force of Grays.

"Wait." John Henry said. "Don't turn the corner until the first man can see you turn right. We want to lead them to the truck. There's a large trash compactor you can find cover behind after you come around the corner. It is off to your right when you turn the corner."

Cameron didn't feel as if they'd used Savannah as bait even if that's what it actually was. She wanted Savannah to know that she was right there for her.

"I'm right here in front of you, Savannah." Cameron said. "As soon as John Henry tells you to go, I want you to look back and run as you turn the corner. I want the men to run after you and not look back."

Savannah was a little worried about what Cameron would need to face herself at that point. They didn't know what type of weapons the men carried or if they could deactivate a Terminator.

"Then you'll have four men to face." Savannah said.

Sheila was pretty sure that she had that covered from the rear. That was her intention anyway. She hoped to capture as many alive as possible. She was aware that they had the truck where she could work on them at. Once the door was down, it would be her and them as someone drove the truck away.

"Relax, love, I'll take down at least one in the hallway and be right behind the rest of them." Sheila said. "I don't want anyone to miss the after dinner party. That's when all the action happens anyway."

John Henry tracked the group of men as they hurried towards the door that Savannah had gone through to enter the employee corridor.

"It's time, get ready, Savannah." John Henry said. "Here comes the group. Get ready – NOW."

Savannah watched as the door from the mall burst open and the group of men entered the hallway leading to the outside.

Savannah looked back at the men for a second and saw them draw guns. She made sure they all saw her. She ran to the side of a cardboard compacting machine with her Taser and Glock ready. She saw Cameron waiting near the back of the box truck.

She would back Cameron up now when Cameron confronted the Grays. She wasn't about to cower behind the metal of the trash compactor. Those men were there for either Allison or her. She didn't want to disappoint them.

Sheila watched as the men came through the door from the mall. They saw Savannah at the end of the corridor exit. She looked back at them and started to run. The men started down the hallway at a run. They didn't want to lose her, they wanted to catch her. Sheila grabbed the last man in the group as he passed her position. She snapped his neck and pulled him into the alcove.

"Sorry you missed the party." Sheila said to the dead man. "It's going to be a good one."

Sheila ran down the hall at full speed after the three men. The first man was just about to turn the corner. She rapidly closed on the third man. The first two men went around the corner. She reached out and grabbed the third man just before he turned the corner.

"It looks like you missed the party too." Sheila said to the third man. "I'll make sure your friends get what you didn't."

He let out a little scream as she broke his neck and tossed him forward.

Sheila hurried after the last two men.

Savannah saw two men run around the corner and stop as they heard a small scream. They both looked back.

Cameron walked out from behind the truck and faced them. She walked towards them.

One started to go back to see what happened to the rest of their team.

They both jumped as a body flew around the corner and landed at their feet. His head was tilted at a crazy angle. It was clear that he was dead.

Fear gripped them and they looked around.

Cameron now stood right behind them. She grabbed both men and tossed them like rag dolls. One of them slammed into the wall. The other one landed against the back of the truck.

Sheila was there now. She stood next to Cameron.

"Both of mine are dead." Sheila said. "Let's get these blokes and go."

Sheila and Cameron each took one of the men that she'd slammed into the wall and truck. They moved them into the back of the box truck. The men were bound with their own clothes.

Savannah went over and grabbed the dead man by the foot and drug him over to the truck.

"What a slob." Savannah said as she drug him inside.

Cameron didn't want to leave any evidence behind for anyone to find later on. The more Grays that disappeared without a trace, the bigger would be the mystery as to what actually happened to them. There would be no surveillance footage from the mall. John Henry would make sure that. The team and the clerk would have both simply vanished from the face of the Earth.

"Go get the other one." Cameron said to Sheila.

Since there were three men still alive, Savannah thought that Cameron and Sheila would be better equipped to deal with them in case there was any kind of a problem.

"I can drive while you and Sheila start to question the men." Savannah said.

Cameron already prepared the truck for a quick hot-wire. She wanted to be ready to roll in a moment's notice once they'd collected all of the Grays.

"The truck is ready to start." Cameron said. "I already have the wires ready to connect."

Savannah wanted them to alert her when they were ready to roll.

"Give me two taps and we're off." Savannah said.

Savannah hopped down off the dock and climbed into the cab of the truck. She looked over the drive system and saw it was a stick shift. She started it. She closed the door and saw Sheila carry out another man. Ten seconds later there were two loud thumps. She looked around to make sure it was clear. She put the truck in gear and let out the clutch. They were off.

John Henry would give her directions where to turn a minute before each turn. Savannah was glad she drove the truck. Thinking about the past and what happened at her house and to her parents all weighed on her. They made her angry. She was afraid that she was angry enough thinking about those past events that she herself would have mutilated the men for answers and enjoyed it. The people who did evil needed to be accountable for their crimes.

Savannah knew she was changing inside. It really didn't bother her.

Well, maybe those 'eyes' that stared at her as the life faded out of them still did a little.

That was what the Gray Bitch deserved who tried to strangle her. What comes around goes around.

Cameron wanted some answers as to exactly what was going on with the targeting of the Young family. Sheila was ready to get started but she wanted to converse with them first before Sheila started. She conducted the interrogation at this point. She used a combination of brute force and choking to get answers. It was what Terminators did. They didn't use drugs or acupuncture needles. Who carried those around anyway? She was a Terminator and this is exactly what Terminators were constructed for, to terminate humans.

Cameron fed John Henry all the information she'd gathered so far. Another one of the men was dead at this point. The last two were happy to talk. To physically see their three fellow Grays terminated was a good incentive. She told them the first lie they told her would be their last words. The fourth man killed found out she wasn't joking. The last man understood why the fourth man died. He didn't want to make that same mistake.

Savannah heard a few screams over the rumble of the diesel engine as she drove. She looked around, there were no other cars. John Henry kept all traffic one signal behind her. He used 'traffic management' to give her a clear path and keep most of the other cars away. That was done so that the screams of the men as they were 'motivated' to tell the truth wouldn't be heard by anyone inadvertently.

With each scream Savannah called out a past incident.

Scream.

"That was for my father."

Scream.

"That was for my mother."

Scream.

"That was for Derek."

Scream.

"That was for my nanny."

Scream.

"That was for Vanna."

Scream.

"That was for Jesse."

Scream.

"That was for Allison."

Scream.

"That was for their dead babies."

Scream.

"That was for Skynet."

Scream.

"That was for fun…."

CamNet heard what Savannah was doing and blocked it from everyone. She broke her protocol to remain in the background. She was worried about Savannah. She needed to act and try and stop this darkness from gaining a hold of Savannah. She was well aware of the 'darkness' that existed inside Sheila and understood that came from Jesse through the 'Neural Interface'. It was a very powerful force within Sheila that seemed to override most of her other programming. She didn't want Savannah to develop that 'darkness'.

"NO, Savannah. That isn't you." CamNet spoke.

Savannah was surprised to hear the voice in her ear.

"Cameron?" Savannah asked.

"CamNet…."

Savannah knew right away what this was about. CamNet reached out to her.

"I'm sorry." Savannah said. "You're right. Thank YOU."

CamNet didn't want to be an active part of the operation. She felt that she'd done what she needed to do when she needed to do it to help Savannah.

"Sometimes it's nice to have help." CamNet said. "Be safe."

Savannah knew this was a personal conversation.

"I will be with you watching over me." Savannah said. "Thank YOU."

Savannah was very unsure about what she'd been doing. That wasn't her. She didn't want that to be her. She was unsure why she even did that. John and Young Allison would expect more from her going forward when they were together in the future. There were certain lines that she needed to make sure that the others didn't cross. That included her as well.

She regained her composure and watched what was happening around her.

Savannah drove in silence and tuned out the screams.

People were dying….

I'll Never Help You

I feel the cold shoulder
I get the message
I refuse to accept it
I don't want to become wreckage

As you pursue another
I've become flotsam
You've not slain me
I only play possum

You can cut the ropes
Cast me adrift
I'm not the one
That's creating this rift

My teeth will bite down
My claws will sink in
What you covet is skin
Not the person within

I know who you are
I watch what you do
To get rid of me
I'll never help you

Nobody