A/N Hey guys, it's time for Adam and Jacob to finally put down the infiltrator for good this time so let's hope nothing bad happens or anything like that, so without further ado, enjoy.
Jacob and I kept moving through the ruins of LA as the day passed by, using our high-tech goggles to search for the messengers' GPS signals and it wasn't until we went down a path at night and arrived at the warehouse district that I started picking up the two signals on the hud of my goggles.
"Okay, got eyes on two GPS trackers so those must be our guys, but what the hell are they doing all the way out here?" I wondered quietly and Jacob shrugged.
"No idea, though I have a bad feeling about this," Jacob admitted as we continued forward and I kept an eye on the aerial that was flying around in the distance.
We kept moving and I was tense by how quiet it was and it being night didn't help either since it just made things a bit more eerie, which was why I kept my eyes and ears open when I spotted a T-808 flamer using a flamethrower up ahead and that caused me and Jacob to stop.
"A flamethrower...Adam, if either of us could get close enough to take a picture..." Jacob trailed off and I nodded in response.
"Yeah, though we should probably split up to find those soldiers since it would make finishing this mission even quicker, and I'd rather not be out here any longer than we need to be," I stated and Jacob looked thoughtful until he nodded.
"Okay, we'll meet back here once we're done but until then, let's stay in radio contact so that we can let each other know when we've found the soldiers," Jacob suggested and I couldn't argue with that.
With that said, we headed up the hill and avoided T-800s and an armored spider before we arrived at the train yard I remember hiding in that one train car from the patrol since I didn't have a plasma rifle at the time, now I was better armed as Jacob sent me a nod and we went off into different directions.
I went right and made sure to stay out of sight as I spotted a few machines patrolling and noticed a different turret scanning the area, the turret looking like it fires purple plasma but I assumed that it didn't have an audio sensor like the others so I kept moving.
I continued down the tracks and made a left, using rubble or wrecked cars as cover to avoid the machines because even though they won't shoot me, that didn't mean they wouldn't chase me to the ends of the earth if they were to spot me so I still had to be careful since I didn't want to lure any of them back to the shelter by accident.
With that in mind, I kept my head down and avoided any patrols while cutting through a few buildings to locate one of the messengers when I was forced to take cover against an old van to avoid a T-800 patrol that was coming.
I stayed hidden as the patrol was walking past the van and I made sure to get my rifle ready if I did get spotted, but they thankfully passed by without spotting me and I let out a quiet sigh of relief since that was too close, then I kept moving but came to a stop when I heard what appeared to be music coming from nearby.
"Where the hell is that coming from?" I muttered as I tried to figure out where that music was coming from, then I looked around and noted that it was coming from a nearby building.
I decided to check it out but stayed cautious since this could be an ambush set up by the machines to lure any human survivors as I made my way over to the building, heading inside as the music got louder and could hear that it was coming from upstairs.
"Sounds like it's coming from upstairs," I murmured as I looked up at the ceiling with a thoughtful frown.
I knew there had to be a way up somewhere so I started to search the old store and found a set of stairs in the back, making my way up to the second floor and using my goggles to search for any hostiles that may be here.
My goggles picked up two T-800s walking around in one room where the music was blaring away so I slung my rifle and took out a termination knife, a makeshift knife created to kill T-800s but it only had one use so I needed to do this quietly.
With that in mind, I saw one of the T-800s pass by the door and slowly made my way into the room before I saw the machine stop to scan the area, giving me the opportunity to sneak up behind it until I rose with the knife held up.
I grabbed the T-800 from behind and stabbed it right where the CPU was located, causing it to shut down and my heart raced while I couldn't believe that I had actually killed this thing with just a knife, though I still had the second T-800 to deal with so I took out another termination knife and quietly headed over to where the bathroom was.
The second I arrived at the bathroom, I spotted the T-800 as it scanned the area and snuck up to it before I used the termination knife to kill it, then it shut down because of its CPU being destroyed and I let out a shaky breath.
'Jesus, I really hope that I don't have to do anything like that again because that was terrifying,' I thought as I tried to calm my nerves by letting out slow and deep breaths.
Now that the two machines were dead, I made my way over to where the music was coming from and was surprised to see that the source was a boombox that was blaring away, wondering how the thing was still functional after all these years but that didn't matter since I knew that Ryan would be happy once I gave it to him.
"This better be worth it, Ryan," I muttered as I shut off the boombox and put it in my backpack.
With the boombox secure in my backpack, now I can get back to my current mission as I made my way back down the stairs and exited the building, continuing to make my way to where one of the GPS signals was as it got stronger the closer I got.
I continued forward while avoiding any patrols when I saw on my HUD that I was really close, just before I heard a beeping sound nearby and started making my way to the source when I found it, along with the dead body of a resistance solder as it looked like his heart had been ripped out of his chest.
"Aw shit," I muttered as I grimaced from what I saw and shook my head at the awful sight, though dead bodies didn't affect me as much as they did before but it wasn't something I didn't think I would ever get used to as I knelt down to check the body and didn't find his radio.
'Fuck, they took his radio so Baron was right, Skynet has been listening to our communications,' I thought as I stood up, reaching for my radio so that I could contact Jacob.
"Jacob, come in," I said and waited for him to respond.
"Adam, did you find one of the messengers?" Jacob asked and I sighed.
"Yeah, he's dead and I have even more bad news...his radio's gone so Baron was right about Skynet listening in on our communications," I replied grimly.
"Shit, I guess we know what happened to one of them but if he's dead, then the other one might also not be in good shape," Jacob pointed out while I started looking pensive.
"Okay, I'll make my way back to the trainyard and wait for you there but Jacob, this guy died recently so watch yourself because whatever killed him could still be lurking around," I warned tensely.
"Will do, I'm close to the second tracker so I'll let you know what I find," Jacob said and we stopped talking after that.
I started making my way back to the trainyard and used the darkness to my advantage as I was on edge, having a bad feeling about this since the body of the soldier was definitely still fresh so he's been dead for a couple of days at least from what I could tell.
Still, I wasn't liking this and it was making the possibility of the infiltrator still being alive more and more likely, which is something I prayed wouldn't be true since the thought of that thing still walking around sent a cold chill down my spine as I soon made it back to the trainyard and made sure to stay hidden while I waited for Jacob to contact me.
"Adam, you there?" Jacob spoke up several minutes later and I reached for my radio.
"I'm here, did you find the other soldier?" I inquired and Jacob sighed.
"Yeah, he's dead," Jacob replied and I wasn't happy when I heard that.
"Dammit, that wasn't what I wanted to hear," I stated in displeasure.
"It gets worse, the poor bastard's goggles were still intact and he managed to take a picture of his killer...Adam, it was the infiltrator that was responsible for this," Jacob told me grimly, confirming my worst fears.
"Fuck, I was hoping you weren't going to tell me that so what now? That thing is still walking around and sabotaging our operations so we need to put it down permanently before it can cause any more damage," I pointed out with a scowl on my face since I was pretty much sick of that thing not dying and just wanted to destroy it at this point.
"Well, I'm currently destroying a Skynet outpost so once I make my way back to you, we'll contact Commander Baron and let her know what we've found," Jacob told me, just before I heard a large explosion happening in the distance so I assumed that was him taking down the outpost he mentioned.
"Okay, just don't take too long getting back here because standing around in the middle of a hostile environment is making me nervous," I admitted tensely while looking around from time to time so that I could keep an eye out for any of Skynet's troops that were patrolling the area.
After that, I continued to wait but I was on edge and feeling a bit twitchy from standing around in a very dangerous location while the thought of the infiltrator being alive and possibly hunting for me and Jacob right now didn't help either when I heard something coming and quickly aimed in the direction of whatever it was.
"Jesus, Adam, it's just me!" a familiar voice hissed in alarm and I saw that it was Jacob, making me lower my rifle.
"Sorry, just a bit jumpy," I said quietly and Jacob sighed.
"I don't blame you, not after what we've just discovered so let's give Commander Baron an update on the mission and get the hell out of here," Jacob stated and I nodded as I reached for my earpiece.
"Commander, come in," I said.
"Talk to me," Commander Baron responded.
"We tracked down the messengers and discovered that they're dead so everything turned out the way you said it would," I explained and Commander Baron sighed.
"Copy that, now get out of there...let's meet at the docks so that we can figure out our next move, now get there as soon as possible," Commander Baron ordered until she stopped talking and I looked at Jacob, who looked confused.
"I don't get it, why the hell would she give out our location like that?" Jacob wondered and I looked thoughtful since that did seem strange of her to do that but one thing I could think of is that it might be to lure the infiltrator there so that we could finally destroy it.
"I don't know, but looks like the docks are our next destination so let's go," I said and we started making our way out of the warehouse district, much to my relief since I'm glad to leave this area.
It took a while but we made it to the docks and started searching for Commander Baron, being extremely cautious since there was a pretty good chance that the infiltrator was already here and looking for us when a resistance soldier came to meet us and he took us to Commander Baron, who was in a small building and she saw us approaching her.
"You two are still alive? Good, Skynet's apparently got a real hard-on for you two so we figured why not use you both as bait?" Commander Baron spoke up and I wasn't all that keen on being used as bait as I frowned slightly.
"Aren't you even just a little concerned that Skynet will bring a shitload of firepower if it knows that all three of us are here?" I questioned while looking tense and Commander Baron turned her attention to me.
"Concerned? No, but prepared for that eventuality? Yes, we've got eyes on the ambush sight from every angle so if anyone shows up, then that means they were listening," Commander Baron replied and Jacob looked uncertain.
"I don't know about this, what if whoever shows up is one of our guys or just a scavenger?" Jacob asked.
"Tough shit, we can't have anyone or anything sabotage our operations, not this time," Commander Baron stated and that got my attention.
"What do you mean by 'this time'?" I inquired and Commander Baron scowled.
"We were very close once before because we've been preparing for the final attack for years, but all it took was just one man to fuck everything up so that day, Perry...our previous field commander died and I inherited control of South Division.
Since then, I've been making sure that no one fucks up again," Commander Baron explained and I recognized the name Perry, who Kyle Reese had served under for a few years before he was chosen to be John's right hand man so to hear that Perry died made me wonder just how much has changed the longer I'm here.
"We've got movement," a soldier informed us on the radio in a quiet tone of voice and that prompted us to move into cover.
"Take positions," Commander Baron ordered as she got a high-tech sniper rifle ready while Jacob and I unslung our rifles.
"What do you have eyes on?" Commander Baron inquired quietly.
"A hooded man's walking down the street," the soldier replied.
"Might be a scavenger," another soldier whispered as Jacob and I peered outside and saw who the soldier was talking about as the figure was walking out in the open without a care in the world apparently.
"Rivers, Sullivan, you two saw him so is it the same model? Is it the infiltrator?" Commander Baron asked us as we watched the person just walking through the ambush site we set up.
"I can't tell," Jacob admitted with a look of uncertainty.
However, I was staring at the hooded person suspiciously and noticed that something was off about the person like the way he was walking out in the open far too calmly or how he didn't seem to care that he was fully exposed in such an extremely dangerous environment where any of Skynet's troops could kill him so that had to be the infiltrator since no sane person would be that stupid.
"That's definitely the infiltrator, no human would just walk out in the open like that far too calmly in this kind of environment unless they have a serious death wish," I said and Commander Baron aimed her rifle at the hooded person.
"Good enough for me," Commander Baron agreed before she fired a single shot, the red plasma bolt hitting the hooded figure and the person was knocked to the ground from the hit.
"Target down! I repeat, target down," a soldier said over the radio as we all popped out of cover.
"Go check him!" Commander Baron ordered, prompting me and Jacob to jump down from the hole in the wall as everyone else started leaving their own cover as well.
We slowly started approaching the hooded figure that was laying on the ground motionlessly, keeping our weapons trained on the person just in case he wasn't human as I focused on the body when it suddenly sat up with a second-generation plasma rifle aimed at Jacob.
"Watch out!" I shouted as I grabbed Jacob and threw ourselves out of the line of fire as purple plasma fire shot at where Jacob used to be.
"Take cover and return fire!" Commander Baron yelled as we all quickly moved into cover and started shooting back at the infiltrator.
"He's in the open!" a soldier shouted while I was firing at the infiltrator and hitting it as its clothes started getting torn from the constant plasma fire.
"It's a fucking machine so it's in the open!" Commander Baron corrected loudly as we kept firing.
We kept the fire up and didn't give the infiltrator any breathing room while its clothes started getting destroyed and its living tissue began to peel off in some places, showing the metal monstrosity underneath as one of its false eyes was destroyed by me shooting it in the head and its glowing red optic was revealed as it backed up into a dead end.
"It's backed against the wall!" a soldier exclaimed but I knew that the infiltrator would find a way to get out of this.
"Don't let your guard down because this fucking thing is built to take a beating!" I warned over the sounds of plasma fire, and just as I said that, the infiltrator ran to the wall on our left and smashed right through it.
"Shit, everyone on me!" Commander Baron yelled before we all darted out of cover and ran over to the large hole in the wall.
We went through it and found ourselves in a hallway but the purple plasma being shot at us forced us into cover as I heard Commander Baron yelling about how she wanted the plasma rifle the infiltrator was using, though I was more focused on killing the thing first as it took many hits from plasma fire until it bolted again.
We continued to chase after it as we ran into the shipping yard and took cover again as the infiltrator fired at Jacob and the others, missing me on purpose because of its orders to capture me while I was shooting at its head and hyper alloy combat chassis while it was barely having any effect.
"Goddammit, just fucking die already!" I shouted in complete frustration as I was more than pissed that this thing just wouldn't go down when I spotted a gas canister near its location.
I shot the gas canister and it went flying before colliding into the infiltrator, causing a big explosion that made us instinctively duck back into cover and I peered out before my eyes widened at the sight of the infiltrator coming out of the fire with its clothes as nothing more than rags and most of its living tissue gone while it went down a path to our right.
We chased after it for the third time as we passed by old semi-trucks and cargo containers while the infiltrator went into a section of the shipping yard, then Jacob and I went first before I quickly spotted the infiltrator up on a container to our left and it started firing at us.
"Jesus, get to cover!" I exclaimed in alarm before we darted into cover, just as the plasma fire caused one of the containers to fall and block the way we came in with a deafening crash as it prevented Commander Baron and the other soldiers from getting to us.
"Rivers, Sullivan, we're trying to find another way around so you two can't let it get away!" Commander Baron stated urgently on our radios as the plasma fire stopped and I peered out to see that the infiltrator was gone.
I knew that we couldn't let this thing get away or it might attack us again when we least expect it, so I moved out of cover with Jacob right behind me as we continued forward with our rifles up when we turned around a corner to our left and were forced to duck down from the plasma being shot at us.
Jacob signaled for me to move and I ran as the plasma fire stopped once I was out of cover, Jacob covering me with suppressive fire and I noticed that we were in a location that had an old office and a rusted out semi-truck but I didn't pay much attention to it as I rolled into cover and fired at the infiltrator to cover Jacob.
Once he made it to my location, I noted a few gas canisters and had an idea so I signaled to Jacob that we should flank it from both sides in a pincer movement after using the gas canisters to damage it, then Jacob nodded as we stayed down from the plasma fire and waited until it started reloading its rifle.
Jacob and I popped up while it was reloading and shot at every gas canister we could see, the canisters flying around before they all flew into the infiltrator, causing a chain-reaction of explosions that made us duck down and cover our ears from the deafening sounds.
My ears were ringing after that but I shook it off as Jacob and I went in different directions, the two of us circling around to flank the infiltrator from both sides and Jacob and I alternated between shooting and tossing pipe bombs at it as the machine was getting overwhelmed when my last pipe bomb flung it to the ground and it was reduced to crawling on the ground while Jacob and I slowly approached it, then I aimed my rifle down at it as the machine looked up at me with its glowing red optic.
"You're terminated, motherfucker," I said coldly before shooting it in the back non-stop until it got destroyed and stopped moving, though I made sure to kick it a few times just to make sure it was dead and reloaded my rifle as Jacob went to contact Commander Baron.
"Commander, the infiltrator is down so we finally got it," Jacob notified the commander as I let out a sigh of pure relief.
"Good job, we're on our way so you and Sullivan stay there," Commander Baron told us before she stopped speaking and I looked at Jacob.
"I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to taking a break after all that," I commented breathlessly and Jacob nodded in agreement as we waited for Commander Baron and the other soldiers to show up.
It didn't take long for them to show up and we started lugging the machine back to the shelter when we made it back after a few hours and I was dead tired at that point, though the others couldn't deny that Skynet had created a cybernetic organism anymore and people started getting paranoid that there were infiltrators among us as most of the residents in the shelter got scared of this terrifying new revelation.
It got so bad that some of the residents left the shelter out of fear for their own lives, even though we hadn't seen any other infiltrators show up but that didn't matter as paranoia and distrust had settled in so I knew that Skynet had won for now by turning people against each other and that would make winning this war much harder so I prayed for a miracle since we could really use one right now.
A/N Well guys, the infiltrator is finally dead but it came at a cost since people don't know who to trust anymore and that's going to lower morale greatly while Adam is becoming colder, jumpy, and more distant the longer he's trapped in that world and it wouldn't surprise me if he has PTSD from what he's experienced.
Still, I hope you're all excited because Adam will meet Kyle Reese in the next chapter so I can't wait to see how they will interact in the next chapter, now let me know what you think and stay tuned.
