Chapter Nine: …Call For Desperate Measures
From a distance, John can hear a faint whining noise and decides to investigate. He follows the noise to its source: Cameron's room. It's only when he stands in her doorway that he realises the noise is in fact words, and smiles silently as Cameron clears her throat, her back to him.
"Seek me… call me… I'll be waiting."
Cameron's voice, though beautiful, was not grasping the resonance needed for this particular song. John could have told her that the song was originally sung by a man, and therefore would be somewhat difficult for her duplicate, but he can't resist the chance to hear more.
"This distance… this dissolution… I cling to memories… while falling... Sleep brings release… and the hope of a new day… waking the misery… of being without you."
Perhaps it was John's imagination, but he could've sworn her voice was slowly adapting to the lyrics…
"You know me… you know me all too well… My only desire… to bridge our division."
…and then she turned around and faced John, a single tear running down her cheek. She knew he was there all along. She'd done this for his benefit, to show him how much she needed him, to illustrate just how sorry she was for accidently getting him run over at school. She slowly approaches him, her voice now perfectly tuned; turning what was originally a hardcore rock song into a beautiful melody.
"Seek me… for comfort… Call me… for solace… I'll be waiting here… for the end of my broken heart… Seek me… Completion… Call me… I'll be waiting… I'll be waiting here… for the end of my broken heart."
She was very close now, mere inches away from him. He became lost within those eyes, and no other thought but her entered his mind as he pulled Cameron closer and kissed her brow. He held Cameron close, gently stroking her hair, a silent forgiveness for her sin.
But no amount of singing would make up for this betrayal. John couldn't think of anything that could absolve her of this particular sin. She had abandoned him, despite her admission of love. And that was beyond his capacity to forgive.
He stood in her doorway, staring at the empty bed with a feeling of mingled wrath and regret. He wanted her back, but whether or not he wanted her alive was an entirely different matter. Maybe seeing her damaged body would ease the pain, maybe having her leave him upon his own accord was what he truly desired. In truth, he didn't know what he wanted.
"John?"
John turned around to see Ethan standing there, his eyes lingering on Cameron's room for a second, before darting back to John.
"Something's happened. You might wanna take a look."
John nodded and, after giving a final glance at her room, followed Ethan into the living room. Sarah, Derek, and Charley were gathered around the TV, which had pictures of John and Sarah on it. The pictures faded to show Ellison standing behind a podium, giving a speech:
'These fugitives are extremely dangerous and I would advise anyone who sees them to avoid contact and call the authorities immediately. Do not try to approach them, both are mentally unstable and will harm you without reason. Thank you.'
The picture switched to a reporter who seemed to be in the midst of a riot:
'Chaos has swept the once peaceful streets of Los Angeles tonight, after FBI agent James Ellison gave his startling speech earlier today; revealing that a high-tech organization led by a fugitive known as John Connor has been researching and building unbelievably advanced robots for one purpose: assassination. Though at first dismissed as a ridiculous delusion, agent Ellison has since provided indisputable proof of Connor's activities, including a plan to, and this is the truly horrific part; a plan to wipe out the whole of the world by infecting USA's defence systems and triggering a nuclear apocalypse. Now you can't help but imagine; what kind of a human being could do this. Well, the entire world is asking that question as millions are vying for Connor's blood, as you can see behind me…'
The reporter suddenly screamed and ran as the crowd swarmed them, one man grabbing the camera and shoving his face at it:
'If we're going to hell, we're gonna drag you down with us, Connor!'
Sarah switched off the TV and let the remote slip from her grasp, shattering on the floor. A deathly silence hung on the house for a whole ten minutes until the sound of distant shouting reached their ears. Derek peered out of the window and craned his neck to look down the street.
"Shit! There's a whole crowd out there, flaming torches and all, they're searching every house. We gotta go, right now."
"Go where? The whole world is after us, there's no where we can hide."
Sarah's voice was flat and quiet, she had lost all hope, nothing would ever be the same again. Their lives, if not already, were now utterly destroyed. John closed his eyes and started banging his head against the wall behind him, softly at first, but gradually increasing. Charley leapt to his feet and pulled him away from the wall before he did any real damage. Ethan joined Derek at the window and scowled.
"I'm going to kill Ellison, I swear to God."
"First things first, now we need to focus on getting the fuck out of dodge. Maybe find somewhere remote, like in the desert, someplace we can hide."
"Or we could stay right here."
Everyone looked at John with looks of varying incredulity, but it was Charley who spoke first.
"Are you really insane? They're coming to kill us! How do you expect us to survive this?"
John regarded Charley without expression.
"We go underground, link up with the local criminal factions. If we can convince some of them of our innocence then we can maybe form an effective resistance."
"That's insane. We'd be less welcome than Saddam and Bin Laden combined."
"Not necessarily."
Everyone turned to Ethan who stood with his back to the window and his arms crossed.
"In the future, John managed to get the allegiance of a criminal organization who'd survived the bombings. Their leader was convinced that John was working with the machines, but he managed to convince the leader otherwise. It's possible that John could pull this off in the here and now."
"Exactly, so let's go."
John made to leave but Sarah stood up and grabbed his arm.
"John, listen."
"We have to go, Mom."
"No, just listen."
"There is no discussion. We have a plan and we're gonna give it a shot."
"John, just shut up and LISTEN!"
John held back his retort and everyone went completely silent at once. There was a distant sound of helicopters approaching. Ethan looked out of the window to see the crowd dissipating.
"They're leaving, they're afraid."
"Afraid of what?"
"The half dozen vans that are currently heading straight for us."
Several SWAT vans roared down the street and came to a stop outside the house, their heavily armed occupants pouring out and taking defensive positions. Ethan ran a quick threat assessment before closing the curtains and turning to the rest.
"Okay, we got at least thirty guys out there, all with automatic weapons. We need to decide right now: what are we going to do?"
John put his hands in his pockets, apparently unconcerned by their predicament.
"That depends on who's leading them."
"Who do you think?"
John gritted his teeth, that familiar hate rising in him again.
"He's out there?"
"Bold as brass."
"That settles it then; we fight our way out. Derek, we need all the guns, everything."
Derek bolted for Sarah's room, Ethan close behind. Sarah grabbed John by the shoulders and looked him in the eye, desperately trying to see what was going on inside his mind.
"John, do you honestly believe that we can win against all of them?"
"We have Ethan; he can take them all out while we make a run for it."
"Run where, John? Where can we go?"
John pulled away from her grip, his face betraying no emotion.
"I told you; we'll go underground. We'll disappear while the world sorts itself out."
"That's it? That's your plan? Do you have any idea what you've done? You've let that machine destroy our-…"
John suddenly slapped her across the face, surprising Charley. Sarah took a step back in utter disbelief.
"Don't you ever mention her ever again! Do you understand me? I don't ever want to hear her name again."
Sarah touched the side of her face and shook her head, tears welling in her eyes.
"I don't know you anymore, what has she done to you?"
Before John could answer, Derek and Ethan returned with the guns and began handing them out to everyone, including Charley. John checked his pistol carefully; making sure a round was chambered. Ethan handed Sarah her favourite shotgun, giving her an encouraging smile in the process, which she didn't seem to register. Once everyone was armed and ready, they gathered together in the living room.
"Alright, here's the plan…"
The front door suddenly burst off its hinges and a single SWAT officer entered, gun raised, safety off.
--
The men shouted in surprise as the first man to enter was violently thrown back out again. Ellison had seen this once before, and knew exactly how to react: overwhelming force. He signalled for five additional men to support the three, now two, at the door. Ellison led the remaining twenty-two men closer to the house, fortifying a new position with greater proximity.
With a flick of the wrist, he signalled the seven men at the door to proceed inside, but all were obliterated by shotgun fire. Frustrated, Ellison signalled ten to go around the back while summoning another ten to his side as he advanced towards the door. Once the other team radioed in, confirming their position, Ellison sent three men through the door and had six smash their way through the windows.
--
"Crap! They're coming from both sides!"
Ethan cocked the shotgun and began reloading in quick succession.
"We can't hold this position. Derek, Charley, Sarah; take John and get out. I'll keep them distracted."
Five more SWAT members stormed through the front door and let loose a flurry of bullets, catching Derek in the shoulder. Ethan stood in their line of fire, taking a dozen hits before blasting them all to hell and back. Derek fell against the wall, clutching his wound as Charley opened his bag, ready to treat the injury.
"Hey, you got a ride nearby?"
Charley looked up at Ethan and nodded.
"Yeah, around the corner. Why?"
"I want you to take everyone and get them out of here, right now."
Sarah tore a piece of her shirt and wrapped it around Derek's shoulder to slow the bleeding.
"What makes you think we'll make it? In case you haven't noticed, they're all over!"
Ethan picked up one of the men's weapons and quickly checked the magazine before slapping it back in place.
"Yep, and if you stay here you're as good as dead. In case you haven't noticed, they're not looking to take prisoners."
Suddenly, three more men burst through the door, with six more ploughing through the windows. Ethan peppered the first three with bullets before turning his attention to the other six, but another three filled the gap. Everyone began shooting, John making two headshots, while Sarah blasted another two with her shotgun. The rest where dealt with by Ethan and Derek, who made short work of the window crashers.
Sarah pumped her shotgun and helped Charley lift Derek to his feet.
"John, you have to go, now!"
"Mom, I'm not leaving."
"You can and you will. Me and Ethan will hold them off."
Ethan glanced back at her, a look of annoyance on his face.
"No, you go with John and the others. I can handle them."
Several more men came crashing into the house from behind, surprising the quarrelling group. Everyone turned to face the new threat, not noticing as Ellison entered through the front door and fired a single shot.
--
Despite the chaos in front of him, John tore his gaze from the men and spotted his mom clutching her chest, blood pouring through her fingers. John's sustained sense of emotional numbness was shattered in an instant as he watched, as if in slow motion, as Sarah dropped to her knees. She lifted her head and looked at her son for the last time before collapsing to the floor, her eyes going blank.
"MOM!!"
He knew he was crying out to her, but he couldn't hear his voice, he couldn't hear anything. He rushed to her side, feeling bullets whistle past him, but before he could reach out and touch her, he found himself moving backwards.
--
Ethan spun around to see Ellison standing there, a small trail of smoke seeping from his gun. In one swift movement, Ethan kicked the agent squarely in the chest, sending him flying back through the door. The sound of gunfire was almost deafening, even to his audio receptors. But he was able to pick out the sound of John's voice, crying out to Sarah, who lay dead on the hardwood floor.
Were he Kevin, Ethan would've revelled in John's anguish. Where he still Jason, Ethan would've been as stunned as Charley or Derek. But because he was Ethan, a combination of the two, he remained detached from the emotion of the situation and forced himself to be a heartless bastard and drag the screaming adolescent from his mother's side.
He kept reminding himself; it's what she would expect you to do. Keep John safe, no matter what. It's also what Cameron would expect from him, and that made separating a grieving son from his dead mother a lot less difficult. John clawed and tore at Ethan's grip, but to no avail as he dragged John out into the open, followed closely by Derek and Charley.
Ellison was the only remaining person out there; the others were around the back, scrambling into the house. Once they were all outside, Ethan threw John into the back of Ellison's car, where he was joined by Charley. Derek chose shotgun as Ethan jumped behind the wheel and hotwired the vehicle, pulling away in a cloud of smoke, the sound of gunfire becoming increasingly distant.
John was in hysterics, constantly screaming for his mother. Charley did all he could to try and calm the youth, with little success as he also bore the signs of grief, tears pouring from his eyes. Derek just sat there, taking
deep breaths, staring at the dashboard. Ethan finally lowered the walls around his emotions and felt genuinely distraught, so much so, that he had to lock his feelings away again to avoid giving into his grief and accidently crashing the car. There would be a time to grieve, but now he needed to focus on getting John to safety, silently vowing to never allow any harm to come to him.
--
Baltus sat back in his chair, unbelieving of the audacity of the seventeen year-old boy who sat opposite him.
"You cannot be serious."
The youth smiled, but his eyes showed no emotion, he just continued to stare at Baltus, only blinking once per minute. Baltus was not easily intimidated, and though the boy was accompanied by another, slightly scary, youth and a man who seemed to be morally distant, it was Connor who disturbed him the most.
"Do I look like I'm joking?"
Baltus could detect nothing from John's voice. It was just flat and devoid of emotion. Something within this boy had died, and Baltus was more than convinced that this was a person who is perfectly capable of the atrocities the media accused him of.
"You are wanted by every man, woman, and child on this planet. They all believe you to be a megalomaniacal psychopath who is building an army of machines to destroy the world, and they all want you dead. Why should I treat you any different?"
"Because I am not the enemy, Ellison is. He has used evidence to twist the world against me."
"And why would he do this?"
John narrowed his eyes slightly.
"Because I believed him to be behind the disappearance of a… former friend, so I tied him up and tortured him for information. His announcement was a lie used to get back at me."
"Pretty big lie, don't you think? The whole world is in chaos and everything up there…"
Baltus pointed at the ceiling.
"…is turning to shit."
John smiled again and leaned forward.
"I think he expected a less… destructive response. Regardless, the government is going to do its best to consolidate power, which means that people like you and me will become prime targets. They will no longer care about petty crimes and riots; instead they'll commit all resources into hunting us down. So it is in your best interest to keep me safe, because I can ensure you total anonymity."
It was Baltus' turn to smile as he leaned back even further.
"Oh, yes? And how can you assure my life will be guarded, when you could not protect your own mother?"
John leapt to his feet, drawing a knife from his belt, and in one swift movement, slit Baltus' throat. The gangsters made to attack, but John gave them a look that made their blood run cold, causing them to pause.
"You work for me now, and any good worker knows that attacking your boss is a one-way ticket to being… fired."
Ethan activated his ChemTech, creating a small flame in his palm. The gangsters took several steps back; their hands raised in surrender as John casually pulled Baltus out of his chair and sat down.
"Much better. Now, who do I have to kill around here to get a drink?"