Thank you to everyone who took an interest in the first chapter, apologies if there are any let downs, but I hope you can all still enjoy this story. Starting from this chapter the point of view will change to different factions, not just the T-500 squad. Enjoy.


Terminator:

The Zeta Chronicles

Chapter 2

Death


Since the war began there had always been two species fighting for dominance, the machines and humanity. But these two species were split into different groups, factions each with a different opinion and use for the other. The machine resistance and John Connor's resistance fought for peace, a union of the two races, they'd been allies since before the war began. Skynet … all knew Skynet's mission, to reign supreme over this world and anything that lived in it, and then, in this sector of California anyway, was General Ashdown's army, a pre-Judgement Day general who had all the supplies Connor didn't, the tanks, jets and vehicles Connor didn't. Connor's soldier made do with repurposed and patched together vehicles they'd made from salvageable parts over the years and helicopters that were used from anything to sightseeing to the news.

Skynet considered Ashdown a threat because of his resources, his weapons. But Connor was a threat because of his knowledge, his tactics, with what little he had in comparison to Ashdown, his men fought better by comparison. Ashdown was overconfident, his attacks premature and not as thought-out like Connor's.

Much like now.

"We are pinned down!" A dark skinned soldier yelled with panic into his radio.

Behind them the earth exploded upwards picking up dirt and spraying it all around. Automatic gunfire rained down upon their position.

These soldiers, the dozen or so left were General Ashdown's soldiers. Ashdown had received word of a large Skynet patrol of T-400s in the area and sent out soldiers to destroy them. They hunkered down in a defensible location, solid walls on either side and behind and a clear view of the approaching enemy, they had the manpower, they had the munitions to take them down, but nothing ever went according to plan.

The initial attack had gone well. The soldier located a defensible position, high walls for cover and a good clear view of the soon-to-be battlefield, it was almost perfect. A SAW was put into position on a bipod with a large 100 round belt fed into the weapon. 40mm and hand grenades were at the ready and just in case, the demolition expert of the squad had placed C4 along the road. The soldiers saw the large patrol of T-400s, easily twenty of the machines marching in unison towards an unknown objective, an Lieutenant Mallory gave the demolitionist the go-ahead. With a flip of a switch the T-400s went up in a beautiful dust covered explosion, the roar of C4 echoed across the city. Then came the wait. The remaining T-400s marched out of the smoke the first few showing major signs of structural damage while the ones behind showed lesser signs. The soldiers opened up on the marching robots. Several of the machines collapsed to the ground before their counterattack even began. The battle initially seemed short lived and all together by the books. There were only a few of the robots left, then came another large force of T-400s coming around the corner much closer than the previous machines had come. Without the element of surprise, the soldiers quickly had to take cover as a large volume of munitions pounded against their position. With the use of grenades the T-400s numbered started to dwindle, the soldiers returning fire eliminated a few more of the stomping death machines, before ducking back down once more for cover.

It was now when the tide turned against the soldiers' favour. While the primitive machines marched ahead firing automatically at the US soldiers, keeping them pinned down a squad of Spiders and come from the rear and gunned down a couple of soldiers as they aimed at the T-400s.

The MK-1 Spider drone was a large, durable well-armed quadrupedal machine that had a pair of rotatory machineguns on either side of its reinforced steel chassis. The combat robot had been developed a little after the T-500 to aid in supplementing their ranks, they like the T-100s were effective as a ground force unit but were limited in movement by their design, in short; they struggled going up stairs.

Lieutenant Mallory had his men reposition themselves to return fire against the approaching Spider-Drones. More soldiers were killed or wounded from the initial return fire. The soldiers were rapidly being boxed in from both sides. Mallory collapsed to the floor crying out in agony, his hands wrapped around his right leg in a death grip as blood seeped through his pants and covered his hands in seconds.

The battlefield roared with explosives and grenades; the machines numbers began to drop once more. Those not destroyed had suffered structural damage, a single T-400 with one remaining arm with legs severed below the knee crawled towards the soldiers. The numbers of the spiders started to fall, their steel armour compromised giving the soldiers a clear target at their internal systems.

The soldiers fought on and hard, seeing a victory in sight. But all that effort was for naught as Skynet sent immediate reinforcements as soon as the second squad of 400s came under attack. When two of the soldiers were ordered by their Sergeant, a veteran called Langstrom, to move position to a now cleared opening to start a firing retreat, were suddenly gunned down by a squad of advancing T-500s with another squad advancing from the opposite side. They were able to keep the machine back, but they wouldn't for long, they were surrounded, outnumbered, outgunned and running low on ammunition.

Two more soldiers went down. It was then Sergeant Langstrom grabbed the radio and shouted into it.

"… we need immediate reinforcements! We need evac! We need anything!"He pleaded desperately.

"We have no squads in the area, pop smoke and retreat, if not destroy the radio, we can't let Skynet gets its hands on it." Came the reply over the radio, not General Ashdown himself, but a subordinate.

Sergeant Langstrom turned towards the nearest soldier, a younger and shorter man of Asian descent; Corporal Yates.

"Who has the smokes?" he asked loudly over the sound of gunfire.

"Yells had them!" Corporal Yates shouted back.

Langstrom breath shuddered, Yells was one of the men who'd been ordered to start a retreat only to be gunned down. Langstrom could see the body from his position, he couldn't make out the smoke grenades, what if Yates was wrong? Sweat poured down his dark brow as their situation grew worse. Either way it was the only solution he had, he had to try and grab it, but he'd likely be dead, his body riddled with bullets as he so much stuck his head out.

"We need to pop smoke and get the hell out of here!" Langstrom cried.

"I'll grab them!" Yates calls back loudly.

"Alright," Langstrom replies quietly then turns back, grabbing one of the surviving privates, "we need some covering fire on this side, keep the robots busy!" he ordered.

"Sarge, we're barely holding this side!" A private replied and panic-stricken look in his eye.

"If we don't we're dead anyway." Langstrom replied.

The private tapped a few of the others on the shoulder after they'd ducked down thumbing towards the Sergeant.

"Give Yates some covering fire!" He ordered before grabbing his M4a1 carbine with an older 203 grenade launcher attachment.

"We'll put some 40mms down range then you grab for it, understand?" Langstrom looked to Yates, the corporal nodded.

The small team prepared, another body fell behind them as the 500s found their mark. Langstrom and one of the privates held onto the M4/203 launcher combos, Langstrom raised his hand with three fingers raised.

Two fingers raised. Yates held his breath. The private swallowed hard, his finger itching near the launcher's trigger.

One finger raised. Time to dance.

Langstrom and the private popped up from behind cover and fired their grenade launcher. Langtrom's shot went a little too high, the projectile arching over the first T-500 of the squad and exploded in the middle as it hit its mark. Two of the twelve 500s were destroyed upon the blast, a few others were badly damaged, some were merely knocked to the ground from the blast wave.

The private fired directly into the Spiders, a direct shot to one machine with damaged armour, the shot hit through the robot's armour plating and devastated its internals. The machine was blown back upon impact before its systems shut down.

Yates didn't wait as he moved out from cover and sprinted towards the two dead bodies, the front T-500 was pushing itself back to its knees, Yates grabbed the dead private by his legs and dragged the body back into shelter as his remaining squad gave him covering fire.

"Smokes?" Langstrom asked as Yates turned the body over, gagging when they saw the messy remains of the soldier's head.

One of the privates grabbed the spare magazine from Yells' body and slid it into his M4. Yates retrieved four smoke grenades from the dead private's body and held them towards Langstrom.

"Alright, we've got the smokes, we need an exit!" Langstrom shouted out.

Langstrom swallowed deeply and pushed his nerves down, suppressing them best he could, now was not the time to panic, panicking got people killed.

They were surrounded on two sides, their left flank and their right, the area where the initial T-400s had been, their front, was now left clear but if they waited too long … well, the T-500s and the spiders were not slowing down, they'd be on them within the minute.

"We'll have to run straight, we've got no other options." Langstrom declared, he grabbed the four smoke grenades strapped to the Yells' body then turned to look at Corporal Yates.

"What about Lieutenant Mallory? He's injured, we can't just leave him here!" Yates pointed out as the lay on his back, clutching at his knee, blood oozing out of the wound.

Langstrom looked to the Lieutenant as he grit his teeth through the pain. Bringing the Lieutenant with them would slow them down, compromise them but he couldn't leave him here. He couldn't.

"You're right, we can't …" Langstrom replied, drawing his 9mm Beretta and fired a single round into Mallory's head; killing him. "We couldn't take him with us without him slowing us down, we couldn't leave him here to get captured, I had no choice," Langstrom said as calmly as his nerves could muster, "I'm not taking that risk."

The others looked mortified but said nothing, Yates nodded, he understood despite not liking it.

"Okay, I'll throw two left, you throw two right, on my mark understand?" Langstrom gave the Corporal two of the grenade then shuffled closer to their left flank. "On the count of three, ready?"

The privates had ceased fire, gathering more magazine from their dead allies.

"ONE!" Langstrom and Yates got into position, ready to throw. The machines had ceased fire with no targets in sight.

"TWO!" They grabbed the pins of the grenades.

'God be with us.' He internally prayed.

"THREE!" Both pulled the pins, looked up from over cover and simultaneously threw their grenades at the advancing enemies. The 500s resumed fire upon seeing a target, Yates yelled out as a bullet struck him in the chest, his Kevlar body armour held against the shots. The grenades landed in front of the machines, the tips releasing a brief spark before thick black smoke started billowing from the canisters.

"We wait till its thick then run, we may only have a second!" Langstrom yelled, one of the privates helped Yates to his knees.

"I'm fine, I'm fine! Before you decide to shoot me too." Yates growled out, glaring at Langstrom.

Langstrom gave Yates a steely glare in return but said nothing. The sergeant risked a peek over their cover, his eyes opening wide. "GO!" he yelled, grabbing his rifle and vaulted over the wall, the other soldiers didn't wait, moving around their cover and sprinting between the two smoke clouds behind their sergeant.

Langstrom knew they had to get to some better cover and try and move around machines. But Skynet was likely sending more machines to the area.

The battle hadn't without its observers, higher in the skyscrapers a small but well-armed grouped watched on through a pair of binoculars.

One, a woman in her mid-twenties grabbed hold of an old radio, checking the dial was set to the right frequency.

"Command, this is point-man two-zero, we've got heavy activity in the in sector thirteen-dash-one, do you copy?"

"Point-man two-zero, this is "biggie-man" we read you over." Came a male voice.

Point-man paused for a moment; she wasn't expecting to speak directly to him. But nevertheless, it was all the better for her.

"Biggie-man, we're seeing Skynet and Army activity, a squad of soldiers opened fire on the enemy before retreating when reinforcements arrived, several Army casualties, what are our orders?" she asked.

"Point-Man two-zero, your squad wasn't equipped for prolonged combat, observe for now and assist only on your call but if things get bad pull back, is there any sign of the aerial?" The male voice replied.

That much was true, her squad were equipped with a few old M16s and M4s and simple 9mils and 45s as sidearms, all loaded with extra penetrating ammunition; not quite armour piercing, but it worked better than standard ammo, and they had a couple of home-made pipe bombs. But nothing for a serious prolonged gunfight.

"Understood command, continuing to assist and that's a negative on the aerial, no sightings, two-zero out." She turned off the radio and looked to her five squad mates. That was how John Connor's Resistance worked, small light groups capable of doing damage then disappearing into the ruins, "You guys ready?"

She got an affirmative nod from the others, before Squad Two-Zero began moving through the building Point-Man as per her title, taking point.

The team quickly descended two levels of the skyscraper to the third floor before, they repositioned themselves against the wreckage, keeping their eyes on the streets while keeping their profiles low and their rifles shouldered.

They'd found the army soldiers once more, still running from their previous battle. Two-Zero couldn't make contact now, too much distance and the off-chance Skynet forces might spot them, they couldn't risk it, not yet.

The squad moved on again, keeping to the cover the ruins offered as best they could.


SKYNET COMMAND TO SECTOR BASED UNITS
ADVANCED HOSTILE FORCE ESCAPED
MOVING TO SECTOR 99X12
UNITS 771624-980 – 771624-990 ON INTERCEPT
CLOSE IN AND TERMINATE.

The squad of T-500s marched tirelessly through the wastes of the Los Angeles to their targeted sector with Unit 986 taking point, weapon at the ready.

OBJECTIVE ACCOMPLISHED …
… RELOCATE TO SECTOR 99X12 … COMPLETE
RECON SECTOR 99X12 …
HOSTILE FORCES IN AREA …
LOCATE & TERMINATE …
BREAKING COMBAT FORMATION …
RECON REFORMATION INITIATED…

The squad of T-500s separated, but stayed close enough to offer immediate assistance upon hostile detection. 986, 983 and 980 walked further on ahead at a slower pace, their heads turning slowly as their optics scanned the area, searching for any sign of movement.

UNKNOWN AUDIO SOURCE DETECTED…
LOCATION NORTH-NORTH WEST …
SEARCHING …

Unit 986 swivelled its body around to the left its optics focussing on debris that had piled up. It marched towards the unknown audio source, it's metallic fingers curling around slab of concrete and pushing it out of the way, its weapon brought up to bare.

AUDIO SOURCE LOCATED
SCANNING …


SUBJECT CLASSIFICATION: CANIS LUPUS FAMILIARIS … "DOG"
TERMINATE?

There amongst the wreckage was a thin golden Labrador bitch withered and frail from lack of food, under her were four equally frail pups nuzzling against her teats trying to feed on her milk, there were three pups that weren't moving. The mother raised her head and looked towards the machine, it wanted to bark but lacked the energy.

The machine lowered its weapon.

CANINE: NON-COMBATANT. NON-HOSTILE
EXPENDITURE OF MUNITIONS … REDUNDANT
EXPENDITURE OF POWER … REDUNDANT
TERMINATION … NEGATIVE
LOCATE AND TERMINATE ADVANCED HOSTILE FORCE.

The terminator turned around and marched away from the canines a waste of munitions and effort to kill. 986's optics immediately zeroed in an unknown as they ran around the corner, stopping immediately when they realised they had been discovered.

HOSTILE FORCE LOCATED
SECTOR 99X12-B
REQUESTING BACK-UP
TERMINATE

986 raised its machinegun and started firing towards the human. The human cursed loudly and ducked for cover back around the corner.

HOSTILES RETREATING…
PURSUE…
COMBAT FORMATION INITIALISED …

The terminator picked up speed, it detected the signal of its squad quickly gaining on it from behind. The whole squad of machines formed up; two machines at the front, three behind them, another three behind them and two more taking up the rear.

As they turned the corner their optics scanned the vast emptiness of the area, their enemy had gone, they continued in formation, sensors running at full capacity, looking and listening for any indication to their location.

The squad stopped in unison. Unit 982 had detected an anomaly; a smearing of blood on the sharp edges of glass from the blown-out windows, the blood was fresh, their enemy had been located.

It was then the machines pinged the signals of two other T-500 squads and the Spider Drones, the information was relayed to them immediately, 982 stepped back then kicked down the weak concrete wall, 987 and 981 following the same act, kicking down the nearest wall as the squad of ten machines filtered into the building as the two other squads entered at different sides. Their enemy was surrounded.


"Command, this is Point-Man Two-Zero, do you copy?" Point-Man spoke into her radio.

"Point-man Two-Zero this is "Mama-Bear", command reads you over." Came a woman's voice.

"Mama-Bear, Two-Zero recon continued report. We've got a large gathering of enemy machines, by our counts approximately twenty-five to thirty-five T-500s and twelve Spider Drones, they're closing in on the Army survivors."

"Two-Zero fall back from the area and return to base." Mama-Bear ordered.

"What about the survivors?" Point-Man asked, her voice raised.

"There's nothing you can do Two-Zero you are a recon squad, you are not sufficiently armed for extreme combat." Mama-Bear replied immediately.

"Negative, we can't just leave them behind Mama-Bear, we're not machines." Point-Man shot back.

There was silence, Point-Man looked to the rest of her squad, all looking at her with the same tense patience.

"Affirmative we're not, however we haven't seen that many series 500s in one location before and the quickest an attack team could get to your position, it'd all be over," Mama-Bear replied, then there was quiet, the squad could just make out a hush conversation on the other end, most likely between Mama-Bear and Biggie-Man. After a minute or so Mama-Bear spoke into the radio, "alright, move to assist only if you're able, meet up with Tango-Two at sector ten-dash-four, they're on damage-recon and will be made aware of your situation. Command over and out."

"Alright missions a go!" Point-Man told her team.

"I've got visuals on a survivor." One of her squad spoke up. The rest turned and saw one of the US soldiers, followed by another one whom was holding his arm guardedly on the third floor, just opposite them.

Point-Man checked the ground floor, then knelt up and waved her arms.

One of the soldiers noticed her and got the others attention before pointing her out. Point-Man made a motion for them to jump as her team would catch.

"Marksman, Sniper you two stay here and keep us covered, the rest of you with me." She ordered leaving two men with scoped M16s as the rest of them ran for the stairs.


"Langstrom! Langstrom!" Yates yelled into the stairway, hoping his voice carried over the sound of machine hydraulics. "Down here! Come on!"

Langstrom looked at him, "What?"

"We've got some back-up, come on!" Corporal yates rushed off back to where he'd left his other comrade, the remaining soldiers moved backdown the stairs, they had to be quick, the Machines were just below them.

The soldiers followed Yates to the third floor then towards the wreckage of one of the windows.

"I saw another squad just opposite us, look!" Yates pointed with his good arm, then waved.

Langstrom looked ahead seeing two men with rifles opposite whom waved quickly in reply.

"Corporal, Sergeant, I can see them!" The other soldier by the window declared and pointed down.

Yates and Langstrom looked out and saw the rest of the unknown squad, they were just running out of the building now and towards theirs, stopping just under them.

Langstrom glared upon seeing their uniforms. "They're part of Connor's militia!" He growled.

"At this point in time I don't give a flying fuck!" Corporal Yates shot back.

"Hey if you can hear us, jump one at a time and we'll catch you!" A woman called to them.

"But be quick about it!" Another of her team told them as they all got into position.

The soldier by the window said nothing else as he climbed over the shattered window, his hands cutting of the sharp shards barely noticeable as adrenaline pumped through his body, he hung down from the third floor, then released his grip.

He fell quickly to the ground only to be caught by the Resistance members.

"CONTACT!" One of the soldiers in the opposite building yelled.

Yates turned around as one of the T-500s came into view from the stairway.

"Go, go!" Langstrom ordered as another solider climbed over the window and dropped down.

"COVERING FIRE!" The other Resistance soldier yelled, Langstrom and the others ducked down immediately, immediately a volley of concentrated 5.56 rounds flew over-head.

The accurate increased penetration rounds struck the first T-500 in the head, digging into the steel-based cranium. The machine's targeting software couldn't get a lock on its targets instead opened fire wildly, before a final shot pierced its CPU; destroying it.

Behind it two more 500s stepped out from the doorway and immediately were under fire from the Resistance soldiers, their targeting systems locked onto the hostile forces by the window as they climbed out, the other machine locked onto the attackers; armed combatants in the opposite building.

One machine aimed at the retreating soldiers as the other directed its weapon to the soldiers opposite. Both machines fired.

Sniper and Marksman ducked down to the ground as a rapid burst of 5.56 tore through the space where they'd just been and now through the concrete of their cover.

One more soldier started climbing out of the window only to be pushed out as another dived out in panic.

Soldiers on the ground caught both if only just barely.

Marksman looked up from his cover, the Machines were stomping closer, there were no more soldiers.

"RUN!" He yelled before ducking down once just barely evading machine counterattack, he motioned to Sniper to follow him as he made his way towards the stairs.

"You heard him let's go!" Point-Man yelled, "follow us!"

As one the US soldiers and the Resistance sprinted away from the building.

"Where the hell are we going?!" Langstrom yelled.

"Trust me!" Point-Man yelled back.


SITUATION REPORT:
HOSTILE FORCES ESCAPING …
"RESISTANCE" FORCES LOCATED …
UNIT 771623-682 - TERMINATED
UNITS:- 771623-679, 771624-980 – DAMAGED
CONTINUING PURSUIT
TERMINATE

Unit 986 kicked down the wall the soldiers had escaped from and jumped down, landing harshly on ground but on its feet, the machine marched after them as the rest of the gathered machines began landing behind it, the Spider-Drones crashed stomped out through the damaged walls and followed their bipedal brethren. They had numbers and superior firepower on their side.

The machines stepped around the corner, catching only a glimpse of their fleeing prey. The enemy could not escape, the bipedal machines then put their leg hydraulics to their maximum use as they started to run leaving the slow Spider Drones behind. While running their tracking and targeting software were impaired due to the increased speed, but it was necessary to keep up with their quarry. The machines rounded the corner their enemy had disappeared behind and watched them duck into another ruined building.

The machines continued to pursue, unit 986 smashed through the wall then slowed itself to marching speed, the series 500s could run at a decent pace, but doing so was taxing on their hydraulics after a period of time. But still the machines still moved at an accelerated pace.

"Keep going! Come on!" One of the humans yelled as the machines continued to stalk them.

The machines started to separate into two groups, as ordered by Skynet, to flank the enemy.

The humans had used the building to better cover themselves and put distance between themselves and the machines, they knew the machines weren't agile enough to run and avoid obstacles whereas outside doing so was far less a problem, the humans had exited out of right side of the building, the closest to the flanking group. The flanking machines raised their weapons and fired in unison at the hostile forces, 5.56 rounds cracking concrete and tarmac, but found no hit on their enemy. The flanking machines exited the building, marching at an accelerate rate as the other squad remerged into their numbers and the large group continued onwards.


"Alright, hold up!" Point-Man called back raising her fist into the air as she slowed. "I think we're okay for now."

"Okay?" Langstrom spat out and stepped up to her, "do any of us look okay to you?" he growled.

"We could've just left you there to be turned to mincemeat by the machines." Point-Man pointed out.

"Well why didn't you?" he glared at her.

"Because metal doesn't care about metal. We have to work together, not that your boss can see that." Point-Man glared at him.

"I think it's your boss running a militia, while my boss is a decorated General." Langstrom shot back.

"It's my boss that actually knows what he's doing." Point-Man stepped up to him, the top of her head only coming up to his chest.

"Hey! Can we fight each other later, you know when we're not being hunted by machines?" One of Point-Man's squad spoke up.

"Exactly, we need to get out of here, try and lose the machines." Yates spoke up, still grimacing from his wound.

"Actually, we're not trying to lose the machines." The Resistance soldier replied.

The US soldiers looked at him with a mix of shock and worry.

"Why not?" Yates dared to ask.

"We've got an ambush point situated not too far from here, we lead the machines into the kill-zone, then take them out." Point-Man replied.

The US soldiers looked at one another. "Will it be enough?"

"Connor's certain of it." She half-guessed. "Come on, I can hear the machines getting closer."

And they could too, the sound of nearly thirty T-500s marching at enhanced speeds towards them, the sound growing louder and louder.

Point-Man quietly was worried, she didn't know if the ambush would be enough, but hell, Mama-Bear told them up with Tango unit. Tango-Two always had heavier ordinance than scout groups, as well as having a few scrubbed metal with them too.

"Let's book."


UNIT 771623-888 TO SKYNET COMMAND
HOSTILES LOST…
SCANNING AREA …
SIGN OF ACTIVITY – NEGATIVE …
TERMINATE HOSTILE TARGETS -FAILED …

SKYNET COMMAND TO ALL LOCAL UNITS
RECON FORMATION …
SEARCH, LOCATE, TERMINATE…

The large group of T-500s had lost their quarry somewhere in the area down one of the long streets of Los Angeles. The group separated; Unit 986 followed the damaged 980 and 987 to one of the side buildings, there was a lot of ground to cover, the likelihood of locating their enemy was low, not that the Machines realised as such. The machines searched the building, the first floor was empty, the second floor was empty as was the third and the fourth.

On the fifth floor 986 stood by the windows scanning the outside, it registered Unit 771622-687 doing the same as itself in the opposite building. Lowering its gaze 986 looked to the ground level its optics registered several more allied units march across the ground, but then there was something at the crossroads ahead, a single series 400 stood prone, unmoving; seemingly deactivated.

986 turned away to continue its search, stopping only when the sound of gunfire erupted outside. The series 400 was opening fire on the T-500s in front of it. It took a few seconds for the 500s to register the situation before the machines returned fire. 5.56 ammo pounded into the low-grade steel frame of the T-400, the exposed wires cut and torn from gunfire the machine lost power to its left arm within a few seconds, before the concentrated fire tore through its steel chest plate and tore into its sensitive inner workings. The machine fell to the ground as its systems went down, its finger still pulling on the trigger, though the weapon didn't fire the ammunition carrier on its back, empty.

The T-500s on the ground march onwards towards the deactivated 400, Skynet ordered the machines investigate the malfunction. The leading 500 turned the 400 over …

The whole area lit up brightly as a sound as loud of thunder echoed across the lands. Several T-500s were obliterated in a mighty explosion many more were damaged.

The sound of gunfire erupted from the further down street, three more T-400s appeared behind wreckage and opened fire at the damaged machines.

ROGUE SERIES 400S DETECTED
REGROUP – COMBAT FORMATION
TERMINATE…

986 smashed down the flimsy concrete wall and dropped down, landed harshly on it front, multiple other machines fell from the buildings and landed in a heap with a heavy metallic thud. 986 along with the rest of the machines got back to their feet.

RIGHT KNEE JOINT - DAMAGED
LEFT ARM ELBOW JOINT – DAMAGED
RIGHT SHOULDER JOINT – DAMAGED
EFFICIENCY COMPROMISED …
TERMINATE ROGUE UNITS …

986 limped to the battlefield, a T-500 up ahead recoiled violently as a barrage of 5.56 impacted its chassis but continued to function and march ahead a few more steps before the concentrated volume of fire finally tore through it putting the machine down, further ahead one of the machines fell the combined damage of the explosion mixed with the barrage of T-400 fire destroying the internal workings of the machine. The large squad marched on returning fire on the rogue machines, passing where the first rogue 400 had stood and into the centre of the crossroads, then came the second explosion.

The centre of the crossroad lit up just as brightly yet twice as loud as a series of unseen explosives went off, T-500 parts when flying in all direction, 986 itself was blown back from the shockwave.

WARNING! WARNING!
INTEGRITY COMPROMISED …
SYSTEMS DAMAGED …
REQUESTING REINFORCEMENTS …
ERROR ERROR!
CONNECTION TO SKYNET COMMAND LOST …
COMPLETE PRIOR OBJECTIVES…
TERMINATE ROGUE UNITS …
TERMINATE HOSTILE FORCES …

986 pushed itself back to it feet … or rather its left foot and it stump, the right foot had been severed from its leg by shrapnel. The machine moved slowly, its joint grinding loudly. The smoke finally cleared the remaining machines marched forwards a single of the rogue 400s was left standing. 986 followed unit 983 which had suffered greater damage, its left arm was missing, its left leg was missing its armour, its chest plate was torn open leaving its systems exposed.

983 raised its weapon and fired towards the T-400. A loud boom, 983 stopped in its tracks, a hole torn through its back, the machine fell to the ground.

Gunfire erupted from other locations around the T-500s, they were surrounded.

986 fired to the rogue series 400, the machine finally falling after a prolonged barrage. It turned around slowly trying to accommodate for its damage. Gunfire was coming from the streets, the buildings, the rest of its unit were under heavy fire. Unit 990 had its torso severed from its legs, the machine crawled towards the unseen enemy. Heavy gunfire pounded into 986's chassis from the right flank, the machine turned slowly, its whole body shuddering from gunfire. It located its target using the wreckage of a car for cover, the T-500 marched forward despite its limp and returned fire, its targeting system was damaged … its accuracy was compromised … it missed it's targets.

Hostile forces were closing in, moving from cover to cover, its optics tried to track them. The machine fired wildly in attempted counter-attack, another failure.

The machine fell, its left leg severed at the knee, its power cell hit, it hit the side of a car and slid to the floor in a seated position, the gunfire ceased.

SYSTEM FAILING …
LEFT KNEE JOINT – SEVERED
RIGHT
SHOULDER JOINT – COMPROMISED
POWER CELL DAMAGED …
SYSTEMS FAILING …

A small group of humans came into the machine's view, a caucasian female, a slightly taller Asian male whom was holding his arm protectively, and tall dark-skinned female.
… TARGETS LOCATED …
TERMINATE …
ERROR … SYSTEMS FAILING …

"Good shooting there Tango, thanks for the assist." The caucasian female said, smiling.

"No problem there Marie, glad we could help." The tall dark-skinned female replied with a smirk.

"I uh, listen thanks again for your help, we'd likely have been dead without your help." The male replied, he wore a different uniform.

"Hey, Connor says we all got to work together." The dark-skinned female replied.

CONNOR..
JOHN CONNOR … PRIMARY TARGET …
TERMINATE
LOCATE JOHN CONNOR …

"Wh…wh… where .. i-i-ii-i-is… J-j-j-jjohn C-c-connor?" The machine stammered, its voice fluctuating from the damage it'd sustained.

That got the human's attention.

"Looks like we got one still alive." The caucasian female smirked.

"They aren't alive, they're machines." The Asian male replied.

"T-t-t-t-ter …. Term-m-m-minate J-j-j-john C-c-Connor." The machine spoke once more, its voice cracking and breaking.

The white female knelt down to the machine, getting close to 986's optics. "You lost tin-man."

"Point-Man! Hey!" a new voice spoke up.

The female turned around, "Hey you guys are okay!" the woman pulled away from 986, error messages and warnings still filling its HUD.

Two more humans stepped into view, one was carrying a dog … the dog.

"Look what I found! Underfed but … I think she'll be okay." The new male human replied with a large grin across his face.

"And I got her pups … well the ones that survived." The other new male human replied, pleased but not quite as so as his companion.

"Good work you two, lets see if we can't get these little guys back to base." The caucasian female replied.

The dark-skinned female looked to the other female, "What abou-"

WARNING ... AUDIO SYSTEMS OFFLINE ...
SYSTEMS FAILING … SYSTEMS FAILING
POWER CELL DRAINED …
SYSTEMS SHUTTING DOWN …


Jason's notes

I think this one may be to more of your liking. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm really enjoying it writing this myself. And just so we're all clear, this story will be a lot more action orientated than "Steel and Bone" just so you're aware. Anyway, I do hope you all stick with it, enjoy!