A/N Hey guys, it's been a while but I'm back so things are certainly heating up, and Adam will see the cruelties of Skynet in this chapter so without further ado, let's begin.


The next time I opened my eyes, a clear clouded sky was the first thing I saw when I noticed that the factory, the wreckage, and even the hooded guy with the ski mask were gone as the smooth concrete floor Jacob and I had been laying on had been replaced with the rocky blacktop of a...road?

There were still buildings around but they were small, nothing like what I had seen in the warehouse district and there were people, but I was still out of it as the shadowy figures rushed over to me and someone next to me that I assumed was Jacob but it was only after blinking a few times that I realized that they were Ryan and the others as their faces were hovering over me and Jacob but how the hell did we even get back to the hideout in the first place?

"Jacob, Adam, what happened?" Erin asked as she took out a small flashlight and shined it right into my eyes before checking on Jacob next as she added, "How did...Jesus, Ryan, don't move Jacob's head!"

"What? I'm just trying to get one of them off the ground since all that gravel can't be good for...damn son, you and Adam must've taken one hell of a beating," Ryan said in shock as he lowered Jacob's head back down and Erin focused on making sure that Jacob and I didn't move.

Yeah, we did get the shit kicked out of us by that infiltrator but unfortunately, all Erin had for the pain was some long-expired Tylenol that had been found in one of the drawers while Jacob, Colin, and I were out when I realized that Jacob and I had to give everyone the bad news about Colin so I don't see that helping the group's morale.

After a long process of examining us, Ryan and Erin worked together to carry Jacob while Jennifer helped me up by putting my arm around her shoulder and gripping my belt while Jacob and I were taken to the hideout, where Jacob was put on an old couch and Jennifer had me lay down on an old bed after helping me remove my tactical rig and leg holster.

Erin had checked me out first and I was told that I had a few bruised ribs and a black eye so it wasn't anything serious, but I was going to be sore for a while, and at least the Tylenol was dulling the pain slightly so I should be good as long as I don't strain myself.

Jacob wasn't as lucky since the hit he took from the infiltrator broke his nose and it had to be reset back into place, though he thankfully didn't have a concussion or anything but I was more focused on what that infiltrator said before I passed out.

From what it said, Skynet wanted me alive and I didn't know why, but it couldn't have been for anything good and a cold chill ran down my spine at the thought of the malicious AI having something planned for me since for whatever reason it had to want me captured wouldn't be good, which was all the more reason to stay alive in this hellhole as Jacob had recovered enough to where he managed to sit up and break the news about Colin.

"So, he finally got himself killed, did he? Honestly, I'm surprised he lasted as long as he did," Erin scoffed as she took another look at Jacob's head and I was shocked that she didn't seem to care so even though Colin wasn't exactly a nice guy, you'd think she would feel something about his death.

"I know Colin wasn't a good guy, but you don't seem all that torn up about it," I pointed out and Erin looked at me with amusement in her eyes.

"What do you want me to tell you? That I feel guilty? That I care? Right now, I'm a little more concerned with the living than the dead and something like this happens all the time, so it's best not to dwell on it for too long," Erin told me, and I couldn't argue after that since she did have a point.

Still, this was another thing that proved just how horrible the future war really is and that you could die at any time, some deaths being more gruesome than most and it was the camps that Skynet put POWs in that showed how cruel the AI had become over the years since judgment day so the thought of being captured and put in one of those camps to be tortured or used as slave labor made me sick.

Erin continued chatting with Jacob while I was lost in thought about my situation, still not sure how I even arrived in this universe in the first place since the last thing I remember was walking home from school but there was nothing but a blank after that and the next thing I know is waking up here so it's unknown how I got here but I do understand one thing.

I was now in a world where death lurked around every corner and Skynet wanted me alive for some unknown reason, so my first priority was to survive this hellish nightmare and then my next course of action is to figure out how I got here once the war ends, assuming I don't somehow find myself back in the past.

The one good thing about this is that I know about what's going to happen so that'll be a big advantage against Skynet, though I prayed that the AI doesn't find that out and I shivered at the thought of my prior knowledge of this universe being used by Skynet to win the war.

I saw Erin having Jacob lie back down and telling him to rest before she got up and went to check on Mark while I spotted the new survivor by the name of Laura looking after him, the woman Jacob rescued keeping Mark calm as Erin went over to them and I decided to go out and get some fresh air since Jacob is out of commission for the moment and I wasn't doing any better either.

The rest of the day had gone by and I waited tensely for the infiltrator to show up, but it never did and the stranger who saved me and Jacob was also nowhere to be found so that peeved me a little bit since the least he could've done was stick around to give us answers.

Either way, I had spent the entire time just taking it easy and Jacob was out like a light throughout the rest of the day when the sun had gone down and now it was nighttime as the pain had dulled up and my ribs felt better, so Ryan had me be on watch throughout that time until I decided to report in that we were okay for the moment.

Jennifer had gone out on a scavenging run since Jacob had mumbled about a university hospital that might be a resistance outpost, and Erin needed antibiotics for Mark since his injury was starting to become infected, so Erin had Jennifer volunteer and now she was gone but I wasn't sure about the university hospital because there was a good chance that it might've been overrun by Skynet's creations and now they could already have taken the place over.

"Hey, any signs of the tin cans?" Ryan asked as I approached him while holding my rifle that had been found next to me earlier.

"No, it's all clear for now so I'm going to check on Jacob and see how he's doing," I said before I went over to where Jacob was still sleeping and saw Patrick sitting on the bed across from the resistance fighter.

"Hey Patrick," I greeted as I went to see how Jacob was doing, noticing that the swelling had gone down and leaving nasty bruises on his face until Jacob stirred and I went to sit down next to Patrick as Jacob woke up.

"Ugh, my head," Jacob groaned while he opened his eyes until he saw us.

"You're awake," Patrick greeted as Jacob sat up and gently rubbed his eyes.

"How long have you two been sitting there?" Jacob asked.

"I just sat down and I think Patrick has been here a little bit, so not that long," I replied as Patrick perked up.

"Hey, I know that you're going to that hospital tonight, so I went on my first scavenging run and I found something for you and Adam," Patrick said as he opened his hand, then I was surprised to see two bullets resting in his palm.

"Oh, thank you," Jacob said with a look of surprise as he took one of the bullets and I took the other one.

"Yeah, that was decent of you so thanks for that," I added as I pocketed the bullet, Jacob doing the same.

"You're welcome," Patrick said as I wanted to ask him if he went with his sister when Jacob beat me to the punch.

"Did you go with your sister?" Jacob inquired, then Patrick started looking a little nervous and that caught my attention.

"N-No, as soon as Erin heard that there's a hospital nearby, she asked Jennifer to go look for some medicine so I went alone...but don't tell her that, okay?" Patrick explained, shocking me as I started feeling very scared at the thought that Patrick could've gotten seriously hurt or worse as I recalled the nightmare I had of him getting killed.

"You went off on your own without telling anyone? Patrick, that was incredibly dangerous and you could've gotten hurt so please don't do something so risky like that without notifying someone first," I lectured sternly as Patrick flinched and started looking guilty.

"I-I'm sorry, I just wanted to help," Patrick told me meekly, then I sighed as I rubbed my eyes.

"Look, I do appreciate that you wanted to help, but there's a time and place for that so please try not to do something so dangerous next time because I don't even want to think how upset your sister would be if something were to happen to you.

Don't worry, your time will come eventually so you just need to be patient is all," I reassured as I rested a hand on Patrick's shoulder and smiled at him, relaxing the kid just as Jacob cleared his throat.

"So, your sister, she's already at the medical district?" Jacob asked and Patrick nodded.

"Yeah, and Ryan wanted to talk to you," Patrick said as he got off the bed and walked away, then Jacob looked confused.

"What could Ryan want with me?" Jacob wondered as he stood up and I did the same.

"I don't know, but you probably shouldn't keep him waiting any longer," I pointed out as I slung my rifle and gestured for him to follow me.

We moved through the hideout and I sent a single nod at Erin and Laura, who were still looking after Mark as the poor guy quietly groaned in pain so I felt bad for him since god only knows what happened for him to wind up like that.

Still, Jacob and I went upstairs and exited the building as I saw Patrick trying to teach the puppy how to sit or rollover, causing me to smile as I simply watched the nice sight when I decided to walk over to Patrick and he looked at me.

"Hey, how are you liking the puppy?" I asked and Patrick smiled as I noticed that Jacob went over to talk to Ryan.

"He's so cute, so thank you for finding him for me," Patrick told me and I nodded.

"No problem, I figured you could use a new friend after everything that's happened so I'm happy to do this for you," I replied warmly.

"Now, what should I call him?" Patrick wondered and I started thinking of a good name, then I recalled the dog's name in the second Terminator movie and I smiled.

"How about Max?" I suggested and Patrick perked up.

"That's a good name so I like that," Patrick said.

"Then it's settled, he'll be called Max from now on," I declared and I chatted with Patrick for a little bit after that until I saw Jacob gesturing for me to come over and I ended the conversation before I walked over to him.

"Hey, what's up?" I asked curiously.

"Hey, Ryan told me that Jennifer hasn't come back in a while and wanted me to go out to have her come back here, so you want to come with me?" Jacob offered and I was surprised by that until I nodded.

"Sure, I'd be happy to help and it would probably be a good idea if you had someone backing you up out there," I replied logically.

"Okay, I'll go get geared up and meet you back out here so I'll be back in a second," Jacob said before he made his way back to the hideout and I waited for him after that.


Pretty soon, Jacob had left the hideout fully armed and we had started to make our way to the medical district as I had noticed that the ruins were much creepier at night than during the day, then there were Skynet's creations that were lurking around so Jacob and I had to be extremely careful since it would be a lot harder to spot the machines in the dark.

Still, my mind was on other things as I kept my eyes and ears open for any possible threats because the first thing on my mind is that I somehow wound up in a fictional universe without any memory as to how it happened since something like that shouldn't be possible, then the second thing on my mind was the stranger who saved me and Jacob a few times since our first radio conversation in Pasadena.

What still had me confused was the fact that this stranger always knew exactly what to do each time he appeared and how he seemed to know me and Jacob, even though I've never met the guy before and I most certainly would've recognized his voice if I had.

At that moment, I recalled how time travel was always a thing in the Terminator universe so was it possible that this unknown person was from an alternate future and if so, why did he travel back in time and how did he know me?

There were so many questions and it was frustrating me that I couldn't figure out the answers to them, which gave me a headache more than anything so I decided to file it away for now, at least until I encountered the stranger again and demanded answers from him.

Right now, I was more concerned for Jennifer since no one was watching her back at the moment and I didn't want anything to happen to her, especially since she had Patrick to look after so I just wanted to make sure that she was alright but it'll be more difficult now that it was dark as Jacob and I had arrived at the medical district.

Like Pasadena and LA's warehouse district, this area of the city had suffered extensive damage from the nuclear devastation of judgment day with only the empty concrete shells of most buildings still intact while the sidewalks were mostly untouched, at least the parts that weren't buried under rubble and burned cars but the streets themselves were missing large patches of blacktop.

Broken glass was fitted into the top of each street light so there would be no illumination even if the city had power, but the moon was bright so that would help until Jacob and I had to go into a building and once that happened, we would have to rely on the small flashlight attachment on my rifle and that would cause an even bigger risk of being detected by Skynet's creations.

So far, there didn't seem to be any signs of Skynet patrols, or at least none that I could see as Jacob and I moved towards the largest building off in the distance, which had to be the hospital so at least we were close when a sound reached my ears and it made me crouch down as Jacob did the same and we looked around for possible threats.

I wasn't sure what it was or where it came from since the sound was muffled as if it came from far away, and along with the soft blowing wind, made it so I wasn't even sure what the sound was in the first place so Jacob and I moved over to behind an old mailbox and a wrecked car until we listened, but the sound didn't repeat itself for a few minutes so we stayed low and continued down the street when I squinted my eyes and noticed that some of the hospital's windows were dimly illuminated as if it wasn't empty.

Suddenly, just as Jacob and I were passing between a couple of buildings, something struck me in the back of the head and I was taken completely by surprise by the hit as I was in the middle of taking a step so there was no way for me to stop myself from falling on my face right there on the broken street as Jacob called out for me.

Instantly reacting to the fact that I was ambushed from behind, I rolled onto my back and pulled out my beretta to aim at whatever attacked me when I saw that it was Jennifer, who was holding a broken piece of wood.

"Jennifer?! Christ, I nearly shot you!" I hissed as my head hurt from the hit while Jennifer froze when she saw it was me.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry because I heard something following me and I thought, I...I don't know, I'm sorry so are you okay?" Jennifer asked, trying to keep her voice down as she helped me up and I holstered my beretta before I went to get my rifle off the ground.

"I'm fine, just took me off guard is all," I reassured as I touched my head to see if I was bleeding.

From what I could tell, I seemed to be okay and the broken piece of wood that was in Jennifer's hand had fallen apart on impact so if I hadn't been off-balance, then I probably wouldn't have fallen in the first place.

Still, I was glad to see that Jennifer was okay and that means that half of the job is done for me and Jacob so all we had to do was have her go back to the hideout, and then we would locate the resistance next when that sound from earlier had come back but it was closer and clearer this time while still muffled a bit, so if I didn't know any better, I could've sworn that it was a scream.

"Did you hear that scream just now? It's been happening every few minutes since I got here and it's one of the reasons why I didn't go any further," Jennifer said as she moved closer to me and Jacob.

I honestly didn't blame her for that since whatever the source of that noise was sounded chilling and it wasn't like when I heard those poor people getting gunned down by the machines so I wasn't sure how to describe it, but it was definitely a good idea for Jennifer to go back to the hideout.

"Hey, maybe you should head back to the hideout," I suggested uneasily as I started staring at the old hospital warily since it felt like I was about to step into a horror movie.

"And what about you and Jacob?" Jennifer asked.

"We have to go there since that could be the resistance," Jacob spoke up and Jennifer sighed.

"I understand, and I feel stupid for asking you both this, but Erin wanted me to find some antibiotics for Mark so I know I'm not making it easy on you two but if you're in there and you were to find some, she...well, we would appreciate it," Jennifer said hesitantly and I nodded.

"Don't worry, we'll see what we can do and we might get lucky while we're in there," I replied.

"Thanks, just remember your guns won't do you two any good against T-800s so when you see one, do what I do and sneak past them so I'll be waiting for you both back at the hideout and one more thing, watch out for silverfish since they are all over the place," Jennifer warned and hearing the name silverfish confused me.

"What the hell is a silverfish?" I asked in confusion.

"You must not have encountered them outside the city so let me give you a piece of advice, silverfish are a new breed of terminator that act like walking mines and they respond to sound so any kind of noise from organics will get their attention," Jennifer explained as I thought about how this might be another change because of my presence.

"How will we know what they look like?" Jacob inquired.

"Trust me, they mostly spend time in containers buried in the ground so you'll spot them easily," Jennifer replied as another muffled scream occurred from the hospital and that made me flinch.

"Hey, we should probably go so we'll meet you back at the hideout once we find what we're looking for and also locate some antibiotics for Erin," I said nervously, then Jennifer nodded before she started going back the way Jacob and I came from until she was gone.

As if the threats of machines that walked, crawled, and flew weren't enough, Skynet had apparently developed a new type of model that was both easy to produce while also making up for that one tactical quality that most machines lacked, patience.

Instead of being dispatched on patrol routes like the HKs, drones, and T-800s, the silverfish were simply placed on the ground and laid in wait to be triggered by the noise of something passing close by but ambient sounds from the environment didn't activate them such as wind and thunder or noises produced by Skynet's creations.

No, only sounds that come from organic creatures such as speech, heavy breathing, or even heavy footsteps were enough to activate a silverfish from what I understand and judging by the mangled remains of scavengers that Jacob and I found near empty containers during our trip to the hospital, it was clear that these things were dangerous so the slightest noise could get us killed.

With that in mind, Jacob and I tried to be as quiet as possible since there seemed to be plenty of containers scattered along the broken streets so we had to take longer routes to avoid them and we were in a store when a familiar voice came from Jacob's radio.

"I see you two are on your feet," the stranger whispered, trying not to alert the silverfish and it took me and Jacob by surprise as the resistance fighter went to get his radio.

"You again?" Jacob asked quietly.

"I left you two a hacking device so it's in the basement of a building off the main street and it will help you both get inside that hospital, just watch out for the silverfish," the stranger replied when I snatched Jacob's radio out of his hand.

"Hey, you need to start talking because we want answers, like how you seem to know us or why you're helping us," I demanded quietly.

"There will be a time for that but right now, you and Jacob need to help the people that are being held captive in that hospital and as for Colin, there was nothing I could've done since it was either him or you two and it couldn't have been you two," the stranger told me until he suddenly hung up before I started gritting my teeth.

"Okay, this guy is starting to irritate the hell out of me," I grumbled as I handed the radio back to Jacob.

"Yeah, I know what you mean so we should keep moving and find this hacking device that guy was talking about," Jacob suggested and we continued forward after that.

Pretty soon, after avoiding a few more silverfish and a single aerial, we found a building that had a basement and searched it when we discovered a portable device that must be what the stranger was talking about, as well as a few pipe bombs and lockpicks so we took them with us while I heard the scream again and shivered since god only knows what was going on in that hospital and I really didn't want to find out either.

Using more burned-up cars and partial walls for cover, Jacob and I quickly moved up the broken street as we finally reached the walls of the hospital and the place looked surprisingly well-preserved, at least compared to the other buildings around it.

Sure, the concrete was cracked and the glass in a lot of windows was blown out, but the whole place seemed to have been mostly spared from the destruction of judgment day so either the building was really durable, or Skynet wanted to keep this place intact for some reason.

Moving around the hospital in search of an easy entrance, Jacob and I traveled around the whole perimeter and discovered that the doors have been barricaded not with metal and wood, but with something similar to what I had seen at the beginning of the movie Genisys.

What was blocking the doors were shaped kind of like the bars of cell doors that were usually seen in police stations or prisons, only the bars were going sideways and they glowed like red plasma as the immediate area around us was illuminated dimly and the barrier hummed loudly as we approached.

"I've never seen anything like this before outside the city so what the hell is that?" I asked, pretending to not know what this was to keep my cover story intact as Jacob shrugged.

"No idea, but feel the heat near it? I think that's the same plasma the T-800s use in their rifles," Jacob pointed out just before another awful blood-curdling scream came from inside the building, only it was louder and much clearer than before as it came from somewhere up above.

"My God, what the hell is going on in there?" I questioned as the scream sent a chill down my spine so I don't even want to think about what the machines were doing to the human captives right now.

"I don't know, but we can't let those people suffer so we need to get inside quickly," Jacob replied grimly, his expression in a determined frown as we continued to make our way around the building and passed a few more of the barriers until we stopped in front of a possible way inside in the form of an entrance that led into an underground parking lot.

The entrance was dark, making me think that I might have to use my rifle's flashlight attachment but that was apparently not the case since beyond the broken concrete of the tunnel's entrance were a few ceiling lights that still worked, spaced out really far from each other and yet bright enough for us to see the underground parking lot clearly as we went down the tunnel and made our way into the underground parking lot.

We made it to a corner and I peered out before widening my eyes and ducking back, seeing what appeared to be a gun turret that was set up in a corner at the far end of the parking lot as a bright searchlight was rotating around, keeping an eye out for any intruders as I looked back at Jacob and mouthed 'gun turret' to notify him of what I saw.

"An automatic gun turret? Don't worry, it doesn't have any audio sensors so we're good as long as we keep our heads down and try not to let it spot us," Jacob reassured, then I let out a relieved sigh at that as I noticed an old ambulance ahead of us.

I recalled that Erin needed antibiotics for Mark so there was a good chance that there might still be some in that ambulance as I looked at Jacob and motioned my head at the old emergency vehicle, and he seemed to understand what I had in mind so I waited for the searchlight to rotate over to its left and ran over to the ambulance before taking cover against it and turned to look back at Jacob.

"Hey, I'm not going to be able to break into this ambulance while the turret is in its current programming so see if you can use the hacking device we found to try to reprogram the turret so that it'll register us as friendly," I suggested and Jacob perked up.

"Well, I'm not as good as some of the older members of the resistance when it comes to hacking, but I can give it a try so wait there," Jacob told me and I nodded.

Jacob immediately went past me and peered around the back of the ambulance before he went around the corner, leaving me alone for the time being as I made sure to stay in cover and checked my rifle just in case when Jacob soon came back.

"Okay, I used the hacking device to reprogram the turret to register us as friendly and register the machines as hostile so we should be good to walk past it without any trouble," Jacob informed me as I looked at him in surprise.

"Damn, are you sure you're not as good as the older members of the resistance?" I questioned and Jacob chuckled in response.

"Come on, let's see if we can't break into this ambulance," Jacob said before we headed to the backdoors of the old emergency vehicle, then I tried to open the doors but they were locked and I frowned at that but then I recalled that I had those lockpicks with me and I read that book on lockpicks so I decided to give it a try.

"Hold on, I'm going to see if I can get this open so keep an eye out for me," I said as I took out a lockpick and bobby pin while Jacob nodded before keeping watch for any machines that might show up.

I started inserting the pick and bobby pin into the lock and fully focused on trying to unlock the doors, recalling what I'd read in the book to help me as I carefully worked on the lock and slowly turned it until a click happened and I smiled as I removed the pick and the pin from the lock.

"Okay, I'm done," I notified Jacob as I opened the doors of the ambulance and inwardly cheered when I saw that it still had bottles and packets of medication so this was certainly a good find.

"Nice work," Jacob said and I nodded back at him as I climbed into the back of the ambulance and started searching for any antibiotics.

"Thanks, now see if you can locate any pill bottles that have the word penicillin on them since those are a priority," I instructed as I removed my backpack and unzipped it as Jacob blinked at the names.

"How do you know all this?" Jacob asked as he got in and started searching as well.

"My, uh, dad used to work at a pharmacy before judgment day happened and he taught me the different kinds of medication that would be used for infections or would work as painkillers just in case I would happen to come across any of them," I explained, telling a half-truth since my dad did work at a pharmacy store in my world and he did teach me different kinds of medication but the part about judgment day was all made up just to keep my cover intact.

"That reminds me, what happened to your parents? You appear to be on your own so I figured that they aren't around anymore," Jacob pointed out and I paused at that, racking my brain to come up with a good lie that sounded believable until I came up with something that would work.

"They're dead, mom died from an aerial when I was really young and my dad was killed by a T-600 a few years ago so I've been on my own since then," I lied, making sure to sound quiet while I was speaking but I did feel guilty for lying to Jacob since trust was really hard to come by in this world.

"I'm sorry to hear that," Jacob told me with sympathy in his voice as I found several bottles of what we were looking for and started putting them in my backpack while also grabbing bottles of painkillers.

"It's fine, I've learned that I can't afford to focus on the what-ifs or I won't last long in this world," I reassured as I zipped up my backpack and turned to see that Jacob had found a few small bottles with clear liquid in them.

"Hey, I've found a few bottles of morphine," Jacob told me and my eyes widened.

"You found morphine? Holy shit, that's extremely rare these days so good find and I know that Erin will be happy that we found morphine, now make sure to put those someplace safe and secure since we can't afford to lose them," I said as I put on my backpack and I noticed Jacob putting the bottles in his shirt pockets and making sure they were secure.

After that, we left the back of the ambulance and made our way to the turret that didn't react when it spotted us, the two of us passing it and I saw a secure door that was open and led deeper into the parking lot.

We continued forward and had to stay low after spotting two more turrets up ahead, then I heard the faint sound of an armored spider patrolling nearby and knew that getting in wasn't going to be easy while there was also the fact that more dangerous threats would be lurking inside the hospital so we would have to be very careful.

I heard another scream and winced since it sounded really close this time so I wasn't looking forward to seeing what was happening to the poor bastard since it sounded like he was in pure agony from whatever unimaginable horrors the machines were doing to him.

Even so, I tried not to let it get to me as Jacob and I snuck past the turrets but not before Jacob hacked into them to reprogram them to see us as friendly so that they wouldn't shoot us on our way out, then we had to deal with the armored spider and two more turrets after that.

Still, we managed to sneak by the armored spider while Jacob reprogrammed the two turrets and they instantly fired at the armored spider, the machine not having a chance to defend itself as it was rendered into scrap while Jacob and I moved on.

I could hear another scream but what alarmed me was how weak it sounded now so I knew the person making it wasn't going to last long as Jacob and I passed through another security door that was open and entered a morgue.

I was stunned and horrified to see body bags that look full and bodies on carts that were covered in sheets stained in blood, the sight making me feel like I was going to be sick as I trembled slightly and tried to keep it together since this was fucked up.

"Oh Jesus, what the fuck have they been doing to these people?" I wondered quietly as my voice trembled and Jacob held a dark expression as he gazed at all the dead people.

"I don't know, but I don't think we want to find out so come on," Jacob replied grimly and I followed him as I made sure not to look at the senseless loss of life anymore.

As we exited the morgue and started going down a hallway, I was worried about how this was going to affect my mental state since I knew that I wasn't going to be the same again even if I somehow were to find a way home while Jacob and I went up a flight of stairs before arriving at the next floor when the unknown person let out another sound, only he was gagging this time until he soon stopped and I struggled not to cry at the knowledge that he was most likely dead now.

"Oh god," Jacob whispered, sounding terrified and I didn't blame him since the bodies on the floor and carts while the screams made this place look like some kind of house of horrors as we were forced to crawl into a vent on our left since the path was blocked by lasers.

We made sure to keep our flashlights off since god help us if we were to get detected by Skynet's troops that have clearly taken over this entire building when Jacob suddenly stopped and looked back to send me a gesture to be quiet as I heard the chilling sound of a T-800 as it appeared to be dragging something, no doubt the body of the poor bastard who was screaming earlier when it was gone and Jacob signaled for me to keep moving.

We passed by a grate and soon made it into what used to be an examination room, then I was startled to see a person that had Robert Patrick's face when I got a good look and realized that it was the dead body of a resistance soldier that was strapped to an examination table, though the person having the face of a young Robert Patrick was freaky and his chest looking cut open didn't help as I quickly looked away and started gagging from the horrible sight while I realized that this guy's appearance must've been used to create the T-1000's default human form.

"Adam, he's from the resistance so the others have to be here too," Jacob told me as I managed to recover from the sight of the dead guy but I was still shaken up a bit as I looked at Jacob.

"Yeah, though this guy being dead is not a good sign so we should hurry," I stated and Jacob nodded in agreement as we left the room and I saw that we were on the other side of the lasers.

We went past them and turned down a hallway to our left that had windows, aiming our weapons down the hall but there was nothing there at first as we slowly made our way down the hall until I heard the sound of a T-800 approaching our location and my eyes bugged out at that.

I frantically signaled Jacob to take cover and the only place we could hide was next to an old vending machine that was crooked in a way that could give us some kind of cover, only we had to press ourselves against the wall as I held my rifle up against my chest and Jacob did the same with his shotgun.

I heard the metallic footsteps stop nearby and a long tense silence happened after that as I was completely terrified and prayed that the machine wouldn't find us, just as the footsteps resumed and they got louder when I saw the metal nightmare walk past us with a plasma rifle in its hand while not even noticing us and I held my breath out of fear of it hearing my breathing while I saw it walk down to where we came from and disappeared around the corner.

Seeing that it was gone, Jacob and I continued down the hall but moved quietly since the T-800 was still nearby as we went into a room that had a few beds and a dead body that was on a cart, just before we spotted another T-800 that was standing at the door ahead of us and we immediately took cover next to the cart with the dead body.

'Oh god, how many of these fuckers are in this place?' I thought anxiously as I peered over the cart and saw the T-800 looking around while it had its back turned to us.

Suddenly, it started turning around and I quickly ducked down in alarm as I heard it starting to pass by the cart, prompting Jacob to start moving to the doors and I stayed behind him as we snuck by the T-800 and proceeded even deeper into the hospital, avoiding a couple more T-800s until we started going through a vent.

"Do you hear that?" a voice questioned up ahead and it sounded human, but I wasn't sure if it could be trusted since it might be a machine mimicking a human voice.

"Someone's coming, make that two," another voice said as Jacob and I got closer to the source when we crawled out and I looked to see a few resistance soldiers being held captive in a cell with plasma bars as we were in what used to be a bathroom.

"Look, one of them's one of us and the other's a scavenger," a soldier pointed out as Jacob and I slung our weapons, just before we approached the cell and one of the soldiers stood up in front of the bars.

"I'm Private Jacob Rivers of the Pacific Division and this is Adam Sullivan, a scavenger," Jacob introduced and the soldier looked surprised to hear that.

"Pacific? The whole division went dark a few months ago so what the hell happened up there and why is a scavenger tagging along with you?" the soldier questioned as he stared at us with a critical look.

"It was wiped out and I'm the only one who survived but as for the scavenger, we met not too long ago and he's been helping me try to find you guys since I need to meet with Commander Baron," Jacob replied and the soldier looked shocked to hear that the pacific division had been wiped out and he started looking grim as he nodded.

"Okay, I'll make sure you get to do that but you two have to get us out of here first so follow that staircase over there, it will lead you both to the main generator so overload it and it should turn off the laser grid," the soldier instructed as he pointed to a nearby open doorway and I nodded.

"Got it, we'll get you guys out of there so hold on," I said and the soldier sent me a look of acknowledgment in response.

"One more thing, destroying that generator will make a lot of noise so, in case we get separated, where are you two stationed?" the soldier inquired.

"Just south from here, the place we're staying at has an old armored school bus parked by it so you shouldn't miss it," Jacob said and the soldier nodded.

"Okay, we'll find you since Commander Baron will want to meet you two, now go and watch out for those metals," the soldier told us.

"Will do," I replied before Jacob and I left the bathroom to find the main generator.

We made our way up a flight of stairs and entered a large room that had glowing cables going somewhere, which would no doubt lead to the main generator so I saw the number of metal crates stacked up everywhere, though we had to be extremely careful since there was a good chance the main generator was heavily guarded by Skynet's troops.

With that in mind, we started making our way through the room as I heard the faint sounds of a few T-800s patrolling so that's going to make this a little tricky since one of them was a serious threat, but a whole group of them would be a major problem if we were spotted and we didn't have plasma weaponry with us so we had to use stealth for this.

We made it to a security door that was closed and Jacob went over to the keypad, hooked up the hacking device to it, and got to work on the door as I kept an eye out for him until he was done and the door slid open, prompting Jacob to put away the hacking device and we made out way inside the heavily guarded area.

We looked around and I spotted an open vent, pointing it out to Jacob and we crawled inside it as we moved slowly so that we wouldn't make a lot of noise when I peered out and quickly ducked back inside when I spotted a turret that was nearby.

'T-800s and automatic turrets? Jesus, Skynet is not messing around but I suppose that I shouldn't be surprised since this area has the main generator so it would make sense for the AI to have this place heavily guarded,' I thought as I started coming up with a plan to deal with this latest problem.

Seeing that Jacob can hack into things with the device, it would be logical to reprogram the turrets and have them deal with the T-800s since the turrets would be able to blast the walking metal monsters into pieces, then I gestured for Jacob to follow me and made sure the turret wasn't looking this way before we quietly headed over to it and made sure we were right behind it as I looked at him.

"Okay, see if you can reprogram the turret while I keep an eye out," I whispered and Jacob nodded before using the device to hack into the turret and he finished reprogramming it.

With that done, we continued moving to our next objective and made sure to reprogram the second turret while avoiding the T-800s that were patrolling the area when we simply watched as the turrets opened fire on the T-800s, destroying them while the metal skeletons tried to put up a defense but it was futile in the end.

With that taken care of, we were free to take care of the main generator without any problems as we soon found what we were looking for and my eyes widened at the large generator that was connected to a big futuristic computer that had a lot of screens.

"Well, here goes nothing," Jacob muttered as he took out the hacking device and plugged it into the computer and got to work on sabotaging the main generator.

I recalled what that resistance soldier said about how sabotaging the main generator will make a lot of noise so, from what I can figure out, a large explosion will happen once Jacob is done with sabotaging the main generator so we were going to have to make a run for it and I saw that Jacob was finished as he put away the hacking device and the screens showed that the terminal was offline while the main generator started overloading.

I let out a panicked gasp before Jacob and I started running to get away from the generator as it crackled and sparked, the two of us bolting to an open vent and scrambling inside before we took cover and I heard a deafening explosion after that.

I was covering my ears so the loud noise wasn't that bad but my ears were still ringing from the explosion, though the ringing cleared up so I was thankful that I didn't go deaf from that since that would've been very bad, mostly because being deaf in this kind of hellish environment will eventually get you killed sooner or later since you wouldn't know if something was sneaking up on you until it was too late.

Either way, Jacob and I had to get out of here since there was no doubt that Skynet would be alerted to that so a lot of trouble is going to be heading our way soon as we crawled out of the vent and I saw two T-800s getting blasted to pieces so they must've come in here to investigate the explosion.

Still, they were no longer a problem as Jacob and I searched for another way out of the room when we discovered a path that wasn't blocked by the laser grid anymore, which we took and I noticed that it led down to a door when a familiar voice spoke on Jacob's radio.

"Are you two there?" the stranger questioned and Jacob went to grab his radio.

"We're on our way out," Jacob told the unknown man as I unbarred the door and opened it, seeing a familiar ambulance and I realized that we were back in the underground parking lot.

"Good job, I can see the soldiers leaving but don't think it's over yet because Skynet's sending reinforcements," the stranger warned and I took the radio out of Jacob's hand so that I could respond.

"Yeah, I kinda figured it would but we expect answers the next time we see each other in person," I stated and the stranger sighed.

"Fine, I'll tell you and Rivers what I can once we see each other again but for now, just try and stay alive since I can't exactly give you two answers if you're both dead," the stranger said before he stopped contacting us and we started to make our way back outside.

As I had expected, there was the sound of an aerial starting to approach the hospital as we left the parking lot and I caught a glimpse of a T-800 patrol approaching us, prompting me and Jacob to quickly take cover against a bunch of wrecked cars.

We waited tensely as the large group of T-800s started passing by our location and I sweated a little with my heart racing and my breathing trembling while I tried to stay quiet since that many T-800s would easily kill us if they were to find us.

Still, they were gone after that and I peered up to see a couple of T-800s patrolling the area, though I knew there were more than two so we had to get out of the district without drawing attention so Jacob and I started making our way through the district while avoiding several T-800s that were patrolling and the aerial that was flying around above us, though we managed to get out of the area without drawing attention and began to make our way back to the district.


Pretty soon, we finally made it back to the safe house and I don't think I've ever been so relieved in my life since we were far enough away from that hellhole, now I can get some sleep since I was exhausted from trying to stay alive and witnessing very fucked up shit that I don't think would ever leave my mind for the rest of my life as Jacob handed me the bottles of morphine and we were heading to the entrance of the safehouse when I spotted Jennifer waiting for us at the front door.

"Thank god, you guys are finally here so how did it go? Did you two find the soldiers?" Jennifer inquired and I sighed tiredly.

"Let me put it this way, you don't even want to know what the hell's been going on in that hospital but the good news is that we found the soldiers and helped them escape that horrible place," I replied and Jacob nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, it was pretty bad in there but as Adam said, we found the members of the resistance and helped them escape," Jacob added and Jennifer sent him a smirk.

"You don't give up on your people and Adam risked everything to save a bunch of strangers...I like that, so what now?" Jennifer asked and Jacob sighed.

"They're supposed to come for me soon," Jacob replied and Jennifer perked up.

"Great, that means you're going home? Guess that means no more scavengers constantly nagging you to do things for them so I bet you like the sound of that and Erin's still up too so go talk to her since, while she won't admit it, she was just as worried as I was," Jennifer said and I nodded.

"Good, I was hoping she was still up since we found what she needed for Mark's injuries but before we go, anything you need help with?" I asked and Jennifer shook her head.

"No, I'm good and besides, you guys look dead tired after whatever you two experienced in that hospital so you should probably get some sleep before you two fall over," Jennifer pointed out and I couldn't argue with that since the adrenaline was gone and I was barely able to stay awake as I let out a yawn.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea right about now," I said as I walked past Jennifer and entered the safe house with her and Jacob right behind me, going down the steps and I spotted Erin nearby so I went over to her and cleared my throat to get her attention.

"Hey, no need to worry since Jacob and I are fine," I greeted and Erin scoffed.

"Who said I was worried? Anyway, I've been talking with Jacob and I've been thinking about joining the resistance if I can since I'll do more good there than here," Erin replied, taking me by surprise.

"Really? That's good to hear since they probably would be happy to have another doctor to help out," I pointed out and Erin nodded.

"True, though what about you? Are you planning on joining the resistance or will you go off to do things on your own like before?" Erin inquired and I blinked at that before humming in thought.

"I don't know, I've been on my own for the past few years ever since my father died so I have gotten used to doing things on my own, but on the other hand, the resistance could probably need another shooter to help with the war effort so I'm uncertain about it for the moment," I admitted, recalling how good I've become with a gun thanks to my uncle taking me out to the range every day to practice with a gun so I should probably sleep on it since I'm too tired to come to a decision right now.

"Well, I just hope that Jacob's people are better supplied over there than we are, and speaking of which, did you and Jacob find what I need for Mark's injuries?" Erin inquired and I nodded as I took off my backpack and unzipped it, taking out the bottles of antibiotics, painkillers, and morphine before placing them on the table.

"Yeah, we found what you needed and Jacob managed to find morphine so you should be pretty happy to hear that since morphine's pretty rare these days," I said while lifting my backpack.

"Yes, this should be more than enough so now I can call Ryan off and I actually asked him if he brought a shovel with him but if you think that's too morbid, he said that after judgment day, digging graves was one of few things that he actually got better at," Erin explained and I grimaced since I'm not actually keen at the thought of burying people in this environment.

"I can imagine, so if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna get some sleep since I need it after what I've experienced in that hospital," I said and Erin gestured for me to go.

After that, I walked away and headed to where my bed was before I removed my backpack and unslung my rifle, placing them against the dresser while taking off my hoodie so that I could remove my tactical rig, then I removed my leg holster and kicked off my shoes before I laid down and became lost in thought as I stared up at the ceiling.

After what I just saw in the hospital, I knew that I was never going to be the same again and I was afraid of losing my humanity the longer I was trapped in this dimension since no one experiences shit like this and comes out of it unscathed, even Kyle Reese suffered from severe PTSD because of the unimaginable horrors in this hellish environment and he grew up in this post-apocalyptic world not knowing what it was like before judgment day happened.

Either way, I just had to survive for as long as I could and prayed that Skynet didn't capture me since I haven't forgotten that it needed me alive for some reason, so I just turned onto my side and closed my eyes before drifting off into an uneasy sleep filled with nightmares.


A/N Hey everyone, hope you enjoyed the chapter since Adam saw some pretty messed up shit in that hospital so now the next chapter is when he joins the resistance and you'll be interested to know that Adam will meet Kyle Reese soon so I know you'll be excited about that.

Well, let me know what you think and stay tuned.