Part 6: Parting Gifts
It takes only a second to decide to chase after Edward. He looks at Savannah, looks at Sarah, and Savannah has already caught his drift and crawled in beside her, clutching her hand, murmuring soothing things. Meeting his eye with a gentle nod. I've got it here.
He briefly winces, in his head, for her already fading innocence, but Sarah is right. He has to think like a soldier now, put sentiment aside in favour of skills, of information. He takes the stairs four at a time, nearly crashes into Edward.
"Figured you'd run," the boy says with a smirk.
He slams him hard against the wall, having his own stress reaction. "You did, did you? What, is this some kind of joke to you? Because I promise you, it isn't to me."
"Hey, hey, chill, it's not to me either. Look, I have orders here. There is only so much I'm supposed to tell you."
He tries to embrace this soldier mentality, embrace the concept of orders, and respect for doing only that. But it's like the cyborgs, isn't it? They are programmed to only follow one command, and that's what got them into this in the first place...
"No," he says. "People are different."
It takes Edward a moment to catch his drift. "Oh, yeah. Yeah, they are. And that's exactly what we're trying to protect. Let me ask you something. She ever tell you when it's supposed to be?"
"When what's supposed to be?"
"The end, man. J-Day. The big J."
"No. When?"
"Not as soon as she thinks. Not as far away as you probably do. Would it help you to know an exact specific moment?"
"Anything you can tell us about the future would help me."
"No it wouldn't. Because for you, it hasn't happened yet. And what choices you make now are going to change the way it plays out. The date he had in his head, when he jumped----that's not the date it happened. Me, standing here, telling you, that might bump it up or down some more."
"Then give me other dates," he says. "Dates other things happen. Things I need to know about."
"It doesn't quite work that way. Like I said, you kill off one bad guy and another will rise up to take his place. When it counts? You'll get your messages. But you've got to know too that there are some trials they'll need to endure make them who they're going to be."
"Give me a ballpark," he pleads. "The next year or so. Where do we go? Who do we look for?"
"Now, this," Edward says. "Is why she's got to be the leader."
"Because she'd know better than to ask you that?"
"Because she wouldn't need to. She has her lead already. I do have one for you, though. One freebie. Check your car, Ellison. I've saved you a trip back to the city."
Edward walks away. He lets him go this time. Then he pops the hatch of his trunk and finds the crumpled corpse of John Connor's cyborg. Cameron.
--
He goes back to their room, and she's sleeping again. It does not look like dreamless, easy rest. But for now, he'll take it. Savannah is curled up beside her, clutching the monkey and twitching every time Sarah moves.
"She's not a very good sleeper," Savannah says.
"No, she isn't. Would you like to come for a ride, Savannah?"
The desk clerk---the real one, now that Edward's gone---has told him of a strip mall just up the road. This is one of those fortunate interstate exits that has a town at the end of it. There is a Walmart, an ice cream parlour, a video store. If they are going to be holed up here for more than a day or so, there are some things he needs.
"Sure!" Savannah says. "Will she..."
"We'll be back for her."
He shakes Sarah's arm, whispers to her. He isn't sure she hears him. There is a pad by the phone, and he scribbles a short note, then packs up Savannah.
The Walmart is his first stop. He picks up some TV dinners, some protein bars, a box of fruit roll ups for Savannah. He lets her pick out a new colouring book. It has a small, square robot on its front, and a colourful Disney logo. The irony does not escape him.
They go to the McDonalds and he buys one of everything, not sure what Sarah will like. And on their way out, he stops at the video store, and picks up every movie he can find about robots.
--
She's awake when they return to their room, and she's dressed in a plain white tank top and black capris. She has a gun busted open on the bed, and she's putting it back together again.
"Well, this is nice," he says. "Seeing you up and about again."
He puts down the take-out, and she eyes it warily, a hand resting protectively on her apparently still-queasy stomach. He takes out a protein bar instead, unwraps it, offers her a bite.
"I see you want me to throw up again," she says.
He shrugs, wraps it up, sticks it back in the bag. "Good to have you seeing anything. You were pretty out of it."
"It happens. Looks like you've kept busy."
He passes the tv dinners to Savannah, who stacks them in the little bar fridge. "We needed some things. Edward suggested we might need a few things."
"And may I ask, out of curiosity, how you paid for those things?"
He realizes, as she sees it on his face, the mistake he's made.
"Wallet," she snaps.
He passes it over. She pulls out his bank card, his credit card, his employee ID from Zeira Corp. "Damn it, Ellison!"
"Sarah..."
"Damn it, damn it, damn it! You still don't get it, do you?"
"I get it," he says. "I just..."
"You didn't think! Because you haven't had to yet! Pack it up," she says, turning to Savannah. "Pack it all up. We're out of here."
"Sarah, can you just..."
"No. No, I can't. You follow my rules. You do as I say. Or, so help me, you will never see me...never see US...again. And when they destroy us, you'll die with the rest of them. Do you understand me? Do you understand what I'm saying to you?"
He tries to tell himself that she's still feeling out of sorts, that he needs to cut her some slack for what she's been through already. But he's getting very tired of hearing that threat.
--
They stop at the bank machine, and she makes him withdraw as much as he can from his account and his credit card before they start driving again.
"Do you have access to any of Catherine Weaver's money?" she asks him when they're underway.
"I don't know," he says. "I may, actually. Or Savannah might, at some point in time."
"Find out," she says. "As soon as you can. This disappearing of yours won't happen overnight, you know. We'll need to think about this. And I have been making a list..."
She pauses, sucks in a breath as they go over a speed bump. He pulls over and feels her forehead. "You're still warm."
"I'm fine. Drive."
"Sarah..."
"Look, you want to make me feel better? Put some distance between me and that trackable credit card transaction, okay? Just drive, Ellison."
She has given him a safe house. It will be half a day before they get there. He wonders if she'll hold up for the car ride...
"I have to go to the bathroom," Savannah says.
They stop again, at another gas station. Sarah goes in with her. They don't come out for a long time, and he isn't completely surprised when he goes in to check on them and finds Savannah throwing up too. He is relieved, actually. It means that it's only a bug they have to worry about.
--