Chapter Two: Not My Future

"But… that's impossible. We were on a beach. I couldn't just…"

Cameron looked around the house, desperately searching for an answer, but found none. All evidence pointed towards a time displacement, but that was most unlikely as there were no TDEs in the area. Besides that; she would've needed to be within a time sphere, and she seriously doubted that one could be concealed on a beach.

Confusion and hopelessness threatened to override her systems again. She began pacing erratically, unable to grasp what had happened. Everything had gone so wrong.

"I don't understand… I don't understand… Oh… John… Please tell me he's safe…"

Derek holstered his weapon and regarded her with some measure of disbelief; he still found it hard to believe that she was here, after all these years. He couldn't say why, but Derek felt the need to comfort the distressed machine.

"John is alive, if that's what you mean, can't say he'd be particularly happy to see you though."

Cameron stopped her pacing and looked at Derek with an expression of incredulity.

"Why? Why wouldn't he be happy to see me?"

"Because you abandoned him!"

Cameron began shaking her head, tears brimming in her eyes as Derek continued.

"He woke up and you were gone. I've never seen a guy so distraught. And when he finally realised you weren't coming back… he snapped. A part of him died. You broke his heart."

Cameron fell to her knees, unable to handle the reality of what she was hearing. Every atom of her being screamed in pain and torment; she had failed him; she had failed John, in every possible way… again. He needed her, but she wasn't there, she was no where. Three years. Three years he had been alone.

"No… No I… I have to see him… Please… take me to him… please…"

Derek regarded her for a few agonising moments before nodding in agreement.

"He'll probably wish you stayed gone… but he'll still want to see you. Who knows, he might even kill you."

Cameron slowly got to her feet and wiped the tears from her face, smiling a sad smile of gratitude. Derek merely shrugged and headed for the door, but as soon as he left the building Derek suddenly stumbled back inside, three bullet wounds in his chest. Cameron watched in dismay as he fell to the floor, twitching and coughing up blood. She knelt by his side, assessing the damage, but there was nothing she could do, and he died seconds later.

"Derek…"

She wanted to ask him how to find John, but knew that he was in no condition to answer. A harsh voice called out from outside, magnified by a megaphone.

"Come out with your hands up! If you resist, we will shoot you! Come out, NOW!!"

Cameron felt every bolt in her body shake with pure rage and despair; too much had happened to her in the last hour for her to feel any different. She took Derek's gun and thumbed the hammer back… then she did as she was told.

--

"Please… No!"

Machines do not feel remorse or mercy, not when their whole life has been snatched away from them. Cameron pulled the trigger, killing the last of the Anti-terrorist unit, despite his pleas. Her grip on the empty gun loosened, allowing the weapon to clatter to the floor.

Human Casualties: 10.0... All subjects terminated….. Threat neutralized…..

Cameron let out a deep breath, though she never needed to breath, and began the long search for her beloved. She walked down many roads, once again catching movement in her peripheral; someone was following her. Cameron pretended to be ignorant, waiting for her stalker to make a move, she desperately needed someone or thing to focus her anger on.

Her wish was granted when a timid teen girl suddenly jumped out in front of her. Cameron grabbed the girl and pinned her against the nearest wall. The girl screamed in terror, but did not fight back.

"Please don't hurt me. I just wanted to talk is all."

Cameron let the girl down and glared at her.

"Well, I have no interest in speaking with you. So leave me alone."

The girl dropped to her knees and grasped Cameron's trousers.

"Please… I need… I'll do anything you want, so long as you can get me… Please…"

Cameron placed her hand on the girl's face and detected the tell-tale signs of drug addiction; the girl was in withdrawal. Cameron was suddenly struck by an idea; perhaps this girl might yet prove useful, she thought.

"You answer my questions… and I give you what you crave. Deal?"

The girl nodded enthusiastically, like a dog begging for a bone.

"What happened here? What has happened to Los Angeles?"

"But, how can you not know?"

Cameron took a step closer, towering over the youth.

"Answer the question!"

The girl gave an audible gulp and seemed to shrink slightly.

"It… It began th-three years ago… A man told everyone that… the world was going to end… and that… machines were going to… kill us all."

"And the whole world believed this?"

"Umm, hmm, he had ev-evidence; a piece… of the machines… He used it to… Everyone believed him… the world became… so dark… so very, very dark… and we… we had to hide."

"Hide? Hide from whom?"

The girl looked to her left and right, as if she were afraid that someone might be listening to their conversation. She leaned forward and spoke in a small whisper.

"The Connor man!"

Cameron stared at the girl with such intensity that she expected her to burst into flames.

"The Connor man? What do you know about him?"

"H-He is the one who brings the robots… everyone hates him… everyone wants him dead. The cops… the mobs… the mafia… even the bureau… They will never find him though… he has evil men working with him…"

Cameron's eyes lit up with interest; John was being hunted by the world, they believed him responsible for the machines.

"Evil men?"

"Y-Yes, some are robots… people say… One is very; very nasty… he does terrible things to people… We call him… the Dragon!"

Searching Archives…. Dragon: mythological serpent commonly portrayed in myths as a powerful winged beast.

"This… 'Dragon', who is he exactly? And why do you call him that?"

"No one knows his real name… But he spits fire at people… He burns them to the bones… and his eyes… red they say… the eyes of the devil…"

Cameron suddenly felt slightly better; this 'Dragon' the girl was referring to had to be none other than Ethan, it fit his modus operandi. At least my brother is still alive, she thought.

"Where are the cops? Why are the streets like this?"

"The city is… no longer under their control… The mafia… took over… Just gangs and cults on the streets now."

"But I encountered some cops, heavily armed, lots of guns…"

"Y-Yeah, the bureau, they only hunt Connor and his evil men… they never help us…"

Cameron nodded slowly; John was being held responsible for the machines. They believed him to be behind it all. John, you must be so lonely…

"How… how can I find Connor?"

The girl's eyes widened to the size of saucers.

"You can't… he is hidden… always hidden… deep in the city… no one can be sure where… but deep in the city."

Cameron had heard enough; John was somewhere in the heart of Los Angeles, and that's where she'll start. She turned around and began walking down the road, but was waylaid by the girl.

"No! No! NO!! You promised me… You promised me…"

Cameron just stared back, her face completely devoid of emotion. Not because she couldn't feel, just that she was reserved at the moment. Her icy demeanour did nothing to reassure the girl.

"I lied."

It was a simple admission, but one that provoked a crazed response from the girl, who hurled herself at Cameron, trying to claw out her eyes. Cameron grabbed the girl by the throat and applied a small amount of pressure before hearing a tiny crack. The girl dropped to the floor, completely immobile. Cameron felt a flicker 

of regret, but then she considered that, given the girl's addiction, she would only have died slowly and painfully at a later date. Cameron put the thought aside and continued down the street.

--

Her long walk eventually brought her to a row of shops she recognised, one of them having previously sold firearms. A brief scan confirmed the presence of weaponry, despite obvious signs of looting. She entered the store and found clothes that were better suited for her current situation and decided to gear up. Cameron took off the plain shirt and trousers she'd recovered before and slipped the ragged shoes off her feet.

She then cherry-picked the best clothes she could find and gathered them all together. Cameron started with the underwear, and as she slowly slipped into them her thoughts drifted back to John and the day at the beach. It had been such a beautiful day, and it had ended beautifully, for both of them. But now this; this nightmare, this terrible disaster, was all that she knew.

She had been torn out of his arms and separated by three years, wherein the world fell into chaos and John had become public enemy number one. She cried silently as she fastened her brassier and then covered her upper body with a grey tank top, like the kind that Sarah used to wear. Sarah. Whatever happened to her? Derek made no mention of her to Cameron. Had John lost his mother? She hoped not. Such grief would crush his already broken heart.

Cameron placed each leg into her black tracksuit and pulled it up to her waist. She then placed her arms through the sleeves and zipped it up to just beneath her chest. Cameron sat down and put warm socks onto her feet, her red toe nail polish bringing painful memories to the surface, before encasing them in steel toe-capped boots. Once her boots were securely fastened, Cameron stood up and faced the life-sized mirror. She looked exactly as she did during her tenure in the Resistance, and couldn't help but think it appropriate that she had come full circle.

She rummaged through the weapons, though there was little left for her to scavenge, she did find two Desert Eagles, both with a full magazine. She also found a particularly vicious-looking combat knife, which she decided to bring along for close encounters. Her final discovery was a pump action shotgun but could only find ten shells for it. Cameron placed both pistols in holsters on each leg and sheathed the knife on the back of her belt.

She stepped out of the store and walked into the middle of the street. Cameron scanned the environment around her and pumped the shotgun, loading a shell into its chamber.

I will find you John. I promise you. I will find you.