Nice quick update for you all to enjoy. I have some great plans for chapter 12 and I really wanted to get this one out of the way sooner rather than later.
Thanks to reviewers kaotic2, fullhans1, jojobevco, The1Russter, CloudyShadows, TSCCandTwilightarehebest and olischulu.
The terminator stood in the middle of the room with its eyes wide open. It saw everything and nothing at the same time. A Terminator in standby may as well be a statue until something triggers it 'awake'. That something in this case was a text message received on the cell phone in its pocket.
Standby sequence terminated...
Rebooting in 15 seconds...
Primary directive – Terminate John Connor...
Secondary directive – Terminate rogue model TOK-715 cyborg known as 'Cameron'...
Tertiary objective – Prevent future assets from aiding John Connor...
Reboot sequence complete...
The machine looked around for a moment to ensure the area was secure. Finding the room exactly how he left it upon entering standby, he reached in to one of the pockets of his grey cargo pants and pulled out the phone. He opened the text message and read the contents:
Time displacement detected, co-ordinates Longitude 118.15⁰ W, Latitude 34.04⁰ N. Investigate and prevent any possible aid from reaching John Connor.
The machine pocketed the phone and picked up the 9mm from the table. He left the apartment, not sparing a glance at the previous owner currently crumpled up in the corner of the room.
Occurrence number 38...
Initiate standard reply...
"He will be fine with a long period of rest"
So far today Cameron had been asked 'How's John' or some variation of those words on thirty eight separate occasions by either Sarah or Derek. The latter of which was currently sporting a rather angry looking bruise around his right eye where Sarah had decked him earlier. This time it was John's mother that had entered the room and was currently fussing over the bandages on John's wound.
I've just redressed his wound, leave them alone!
Cameron found herself somewhat perplexed by her internal outburst, but she put it down to not having entered standby since John had been shot. She hadn't analysed the panic and anxiety she felt yet and had found it made her 'cranky' as humans would say it. Derek had made an abrupt u-turn on his earlier 'good job' comment when Cameron snapped at him for having the gall to not close the door behind him as he left the room. She didn't want John to be cold.
Cameron watched silently as Sarah proceeded to reapply a fresh bandage to John's wound, in Cameron's opinion, to a worse standard than what was there previously.
Does that woman even care about her son? God dammit I swear if he catches an infection...
Cameron stopped herself mid thought.
'God Dammit I swear?' What is wrong with me?
Cameron watched as Sarah stood back and admired her handy work. She seemed to be proud of the crappy dressing she had just applied.
"Happy now?" she found herself saying in a harsh tone.
"Excuse me" Sarah said, slightly confused at the Terminator's sudden outburst.
"Are you happy with that dressing?"
She found herself pointing at Sarah's work for emphasis.
"Well, yeah" Sarah responded in a confused tone.
"It is sub standard. John deserves better. He could get an infection, the bleeding could start again, he..."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Who the hell are you to tell me how to look after MY son?"
"I already told you, are you deaf too? I am his best friend"
Cameron barged past Sarah and knelt down next to the bed and started to carefully remove the bandages she had applied. Sarah merely watched, flabbergasted, as Cameron practically shoved her out of the way to tend to her son. She watched as the cyborg very efficiently replaced the bandage to what looked to be pretty much the same as how she had applied it. She also noticed the almost loving fashion in which she did it. When Cameron stood, seemingly satisfied with her work, she turned to face Sarah.
"Happy now?" Sarah said, throwing Cameron's earlier words right back at her.
Cameron looked back at her work for a moment before replying.
"Yes"
With that she brushed past Sarah and sat down on the chair facing John where she had been a few moments ago.
Really? Well two can play at that game. Here's something you can't do.
Sarah tried to hide the smirk from her face as she casually stepped over to John and bent down near to his face. She watched out of the corner of her eye as she placed a motherly kiss on John's forehead. Cameron actually looked like she wanted to rip Sarah's head off for daring to make contact with John right in front of her. Sarah stood and smiled sweetly at Cameron as she moved past her.
"Nice bandage"
That was probably the first moment that Sarah had gotten one over on the young cyborg, and it made her feel damn good! She left the room with a genuine smile on her face for the first time in a long time.
Cameron meanwhile was still struggling to understand what had just happened.
I'll ask John when he feels better.
The machine stalked down the back alley located at the coordinates that were provided to him earlier. His head was scanning side to side, taking in every detail with his cybernetic eyes. The rain was pounding down to an extent that it was starting to flood the alleyway slightly. But he didn't care, he had a mission and he was determined to find out who or what had been sent back.
He rounded a corner and took in the scene in front of him. There was a large circular indentation in the ground. A nearby dumpster has a similarly shaped section missing from it. A handful of scorch marks adorned the brick walls of the two nearby buildings.
Initiating scan...
Residual temporal energy detected...
Switching vision modes...
The machine scanned the area using it's multitude of different visual spectrums, trying to find any signs of where the time traveller had gone, or if it was still in the vicinity. He found nothing.
He turned to leave the alley, intent on monitoring the media for any signs of activity, people having their clothes stolen for example. His progress was halted as he heard a soft sobbing noise emanating from behind the dumpster. He approached slowly, pulling out the 9mm as he did. Instead of merely walking around the dumpster as any person would do, he did what any other Terminator would do and simply grabbed and hauled the dumpster out of his path.
He discovered where the sobbing was coming from when he found a small girl cowering against the wall, hugging her knees up to her chest. She had a pretty, yellow, flower patterned dress on that was now soaked through and she wore nothing on her feet. She had her blonde hair set in pigtails which was now plastered to her skin. She looked up upon hearing the dumpster being tossed aside and saw the big man holding a gun at his side. She appeared to be no more than eight years old.
"Please don't hurt me" she sobbed.
She pulled her legs even closer to her chest and tucked her face in behind her arms.
Deeming the girl to be no threat, the machine tucked the gun in to the back of his waistband and set about finding out what this child was doing here.
"Who are you?"
She didn't answer and seemed to flinch at his strong and mechanical tone.
Seeing that being blunt wouldn't get him any answers, the Terminator accessed his database on the correct way to talk to children. He processed the information and kneeled down near the girl. He started talking in a much softer tone.
"I won't hurt you"
She peered up from her arms and looked at him through red and puffy eyes. She sniffled once before replying.
"Do you promise?"
The machine smiled a very crooked and obviously forced smile at her.
"Yes, I promise. What is your name?"
She tucked her head away again.
"My daddy told me not to talk to strangers" she said from behind her arms.
Realising that children do not have the mental capacity of adults, the machine formulated a plan to confuse the girl.
"If you tell me your name then we won't be strangers anymore"
The girl raised her head again and seemed to reach the conclusion that the strange man was right.
"My name is Amy" she said quickly.
The machine smiled again.
"Hello Amy. That is a very pretty name"
Sniffle "Thank you"
"You're welcome. What are you doing here Amy?"
Amy looked around, as if noticing her surroundings for the first time.
"I, I don't know. I was with my mommy and daddy a little while ago. But now I don't know where they are"
She sniffled again and tried to wipe her nose and eyes with her soaking wet hands.
The machine reached in to his pocket and surprisingly pulled out a handkerchief. One which obviously belonged to the poor Kaliba employee that used to own the pants he was currently wearing. He offered it to Amy with a smile.
"Here"
She tentatively unfolded her arms and reached out to take the handkerchief from the nice man.
"Thank you"
She softly wiped her eyes, clearing the tears, followed by her nose.
"There, all better. Did you see what happened here?" he waved his arm in the general direction of the crater and the scorch marks.
Amy peered past him to where he was pointing and slowly shook her head.
"No. I just want to find my mommy and daddy. Will you help me?"
Realising that this small human knew nothing of the time displacement, the machine stood and turned to walk away.
"Wait, where are you going?"
Amy shouted after him, confused as to where the nice man was going, and why he was leaving her alone like this. She received no reply and got up from the ground to chase after him. She trotted up next to him and tugged on his hand lightly to get his attention.
"I thought you were going to help me" she practically begged.
The machine turned to regard her for a moment before shaking her grasp off his hand and shoving her to the ground.
"Owww"
The machine ignored her cry of pain and continued to stalk away from her.
"Wait. I want to tell you something"
Upon hearing this, the machine turned around and looked at the young girl as she slowly stood from the puddle on the ground. Perhaps this human had been lying to him about how much she knew.
Amy fixed the machine with a glare that would have put fear in to the hearts of most humans and spoke in a flat tone.
"That wasn't very nice"
She slowly raised her finger and pointed at the machine's chest.
Alert...damage to primary power cell detected...
Shutting down while power is re-routed to backup systems...
Amy pulled the six foot metal spear from the chest of the machine and watched as it collapsed to the ground. The spear slowly reformed into a small blade as she watched it with a curious expression on her face. When it had fully reformed, she casually walked over to the machine and sliced a semicircle of flesh out of the machines skull. She popped the port cap open with her 'finger' and removed the chip with her other hand. She looked at the chip in her hand for a moment before watching the blade change back in to a finger. She placed the chip in to one of the pockets of her dress and stepped over the now deactivated machine. She reached down and pulled its cell phone out of its pocket and placed it in her own. She turned and started to skip away from the scene, humming the tune to 'We're off to see the wizard' to herself.
"Owwwwww"
"John?"
Cameron leaped up from her seat at the sound of his voice, a voice she hadn't heard in nearly two days.
"Yeah Cameron, it's me"
John opened his eyes only to have his vision filled with Cameron's beautiful face mere inches from his own. A goofy smile spread across his face.
"Hi"
Cameron's own smile faded and was replaced by a frown as John addressed her.
"Wait here"
Just as quickly as she had entered his vision she left it, her hair swinging round behind her.
Where is she going?
Thinking that he had done something to offend her, he tried to sit up to get a better look around and immediately regretted it, the pain reminding him of why he was flat on his back. He made an executive decision that he would stay put for now. He smiled at his own internal ramblings.
A moment later Cameron returned with a glass and a large jug of water. She placed both on the bedside table and filled the glass from the jug. She held the glass in one hand and slid her other hand underneath John's head, raising it slightly.
"Here, drink this"
She held the glass to his lips as he took a few small sips. He hadn't realised when he woke up that his mouth and throat were bone dry.
"Thank you"
She smiled as she placed the glass down by the jug.
"You're welcome"
He looked at her quizzically for a moment.
"How did you know I needed a drink?"
She tilted her head and regarded him for a moment before replying.
"I could tell from your voice when you said 'hi'. You were in need of lubrication, I provided it"
Despite the fact that John had lost a lot of blood over the last couple of days, what he had left still managed to find its way to his cheeks. I wonder if she does it on purpose.
"So, um, what happened?"
"You got shot"
John rolled his eyes at her obviousness.
"Well, yeah, I kinda guessed that. But what I meant was what happened after that?"
"Oh, thank you for explaining. A single round penetrated Sarah's shoulder and entered your abdomen. It did not hit any vital organs but you did lose a lot of blood, fortunately not enough to require a transfusion. When the shot hit Sarah I placed my body on top of yours to prevent any further injuries. We came back here and Derek treated Sarah's wound, I treated yours."
John did his best to nod.
"How's mom?"
"She is fine. Derek is a good field medic, though Sarah didn't really appreciate the help. They are not on speaking terms at the moment"
"What? Why?"
"Sarah did not appreciate Derek injecting her with sedatives to lower the risk of further injury occurring. He now has a black eye that will take eight days and thirteen hours to fully heal"
John chuckled and felt a sharp pain coming from his abdomen again. He winced and let out a strangled cry of pain.
"John?"
"I'm okay Cameron. Just help me to sit up a little would you?"
Cameron analysed the probability of his wound reopening if he was moved and deemed it safe enough to help him up.
"Of course"
She carefully lifted his head up and pulled the pillow out from underneath him. She propped them up against the headboard while still supporting his head with her other hand. Using unnatural strength, she placed her hands under his arms and hoisted him in to an upright position. He couldn't help but grimace in pain but managed to force a smile when she pulled away slightly.
"Better?"
"Yeah, thanks"
She smiled back at him and sat down on her chair again. The room filled with an uncomfortable silence as the two merely stared at each other. John was the first to break the tension.
"So, um, I guess I should thank you"
Cameron tilted her head at him for a moment.
"For what?"
"Well, for throwing yourself in the way of a dozen bullets for me. Again"
Cameron looked down at her hands as if ashamed. John noticed the action but decided to let her explain if she wanted to.
"I don't deserve to be thanked John..."
She looked up from her hands and her eyes met his.
"...You have been shot. I am supposed to protect you. I have failed"
She looked back down again. If John had the strength he would have hugged her and held her tight right then and there.
"You did protect me Cameron. If it wasn't for you I would have had a dozen holes in me instead of just one. You also fixed me up pretty good, so yes Cameron, you do deserve to be thanked. Thank you"
She processed his words for a moment before looking up and treating him to a bright beaming smile which he returned.
"In that case, you are welcome John"
A somewhat more comfortable silence descended on the two before Cameron spoke again.
"Are you hungry?"
Just then, as if on cue John's stomach growled.
"I am according to growley down there" he said pointing to his stomach.
"I'll fix you something" she smiled at him as she stood from her chair.
When she turned to leave the room, John caught sight of her back. It was still riddled with holes and covered in her dried synthetic blood. Just then he realised that she was in the same clothes she was wearing the day of the attack.
She hasn't left my side all this time.
Up until that moment John had never truly realised the extent of her devotion to him, and just how lucky he was that his future self had decided to send her back to himself.
Wait...future self...back to self...yeah, that's right.
John was prevented from continuing his internal debate over the causality of time travel by the return of Cameron. She was holding a dinner tray with a steaming bowl of, something, on it as well as a couple of bread buns. She entered the room and placed the tray on his lap, taking care to avoid putting pressure on his wound. John looked down at the contents of the bowl and raised an eyebrow.
"Ooookay, what's this?"
Cameron let a proud smile show before answering.
"It is chicken soup. It is my understanding that when people are sick they have chicken soup. Did I do something wrong? I can make something else if you'd like"
She started to reach for the tray but John stopped her by gently grasping her outstretched hand.
"No Cameron, it's great. Thank you"
She smiled before slowly pulling her hand away from his and sitting back down on the chair to watch him eat.
As much as John usually enjoyed chicken soup, and Cameron had once again prepared a meal perfectly, he struggled to eat it. Sure the pain didn't really help, but the most distracting element was Cameron. Not the fact that she was sitting watching him eat, he actually quite enjoyed that part for some reason. It was those wounds on her back. Either nobody had offered to help her with them, or she had refused their help and would only allow him to touch her. He hoped it was the latter but accepted that it was probably the former. This thought irritated him to no end. Despite all that Cameron had done for him and his family, they still refused to treat her any differently than the rest of the machines. It seemed that he was the only one who could see just how different she was. The little things she did, like making meals for him, like asking questions about totally mundane things that humans took for granted. Along with other more overt signs like crying and experiencing what appeared to be mood swings.
As John finished mopping up his soup with the last piece of bread, he looked up at Cameron who was still staring intently at him. He looked at her innocent expression and decided to do something nice for her.
"Wow. That was delicious Cameron. Thank you"
He was rewarded for his compliment with a bright smile as she moved to take his tray away. Just as she turned to leave the room with the tray, John called her back.
"Hey Cameron, sit down a minute would you?"
He patted the empty spot next to him on the bed. She placed the tray down on the dresser and complied with his wishes. She perched herself very primly on the edge of his bed and waited for him to say whatever he had to say.
"So...I noticed your back is still full of holes"
She didn't even flinch as she replied.
"Yes"
"Well, did anybody offer to help you with that?"
She looked down at her lap.
"No..."
She raised her eyes to meet his again.
"...but even if they had, I would only trust you to do it"
Well how about that, it was both.
Feeling an immense sense of pride welling up inside of him, he ploughed on.
"Okay. Well, get the toolkit and the med kit out and let me take care of you for a change"
She leaped up from the bed and started shaking her head vigorously.
"No. I will not let you risk further injury to yourself"
Surprised, and a little amused, at her sudden outburst, John looked at her calmly for a moment.
"You okay?"
"I'm fine, why?" she snapped.
"Just asking" John said, slightly taken aback by her abrupt tone.
She suddenly looked very guilty and sheepishly moved to sit beside him on the bed again.
"I, I'm sorry John. I'm struggling to maintain control of my emotions. I haven't entered standby since...you were shot...it is, difficult"
John did his best to reach over and took her hand in his.
"Hey, emotions are difficult. Even the best of us struggle with them sometimes. Now, are you gonna let me help you?"
A light rub of her knuckles with his thumb sealed the deal as she slowly nodded. She stood and reached under the bed, pulling out the two boxes that John had used to repair her previously. She opened the boxes on the floor due to the current lack of space on the bed. She pulled out the needle nosed pliers and handed them to John. She turned her back to him and removed her jacket, deftly tossing it in to the corner of the room. Keeping her back to him, she reached for the hem of her shirt and pulled it off over her head, the shirt quickly joining the jacket in what appeared to be the room's new dumping grounds. She sat back down on the bed with her back still to John and reached around to unhook her bra. She once again threw it accurately in to the bathroom laundry hamper through the open door.
John, to his eternal credit, did his best to keep his eyes from wandering and concentrated on the task at hand. He rolled over slightly onto his left side and grimaced in pain as his wound was stretched slightly. Cameron heard him and looked over her shoulder with a worried expression to see if he was okay.
"I'm fine. Really"
She turned back and John took that as the cue to begin his work. He worked methodically and quietly just as he had done for her before. He carefully and gently removed the bullets from her back one at a time, trying not to cause her any additional pain. He always remembered Uncle Bob telling him that he didn't feel pain, but come on, it can't be pleasant to have someone digging in your back with pliers. By the time he had reached the last wound he was starting to feel a little light headed, but he did his best to shrug it off and handed Cameron the pliers over her shoulder.
"Could you hand me the bandages please?"
She did as requested and tried her best to pass him the bandages while keeping herself covered up. Modesty didn't matter to her, but she knew that John would obviously be distracted by her bare breasts. She wanted him to finish quickly, the sooner he finishes, the sooner he can get more rest she reasoned.
John fought through the increasing pain he was feeling as he applied bandages to Cameron's wounds. He had to try so hard to prevent his voice from betraying the pain he was feeling when he asked her for the bandages. When he had only two holes left to patch up he glanced down at his own wounds and saw blood seeping through on to the bandages. John screwed his eyes shut tightly and took a deep breath.
Come on John, you can do this...for her.
He summoned up the last of his strength and shakily applied bandages to the last two wounds.
"There, all done. Cameron?"
"Yes John?
"I'm gonna be passing out now"
Her head swung around so fast, fast enough to see John forming a tight, pain filled smile at her and collapsing back on the bed. She looked down at his abdomen and saw the blood stained bandages and leaped off the bed.
"John!"
She frantically ripped away the bandages to reveal the wound. She performed a quick scan and found that his stitches had torn and the wound had reopened. She placed the palms of her hands, one on top of the other, over the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
"I'm sorry...please don't die...I'm so sorry"
"How's John...doing. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON"
Sarah had entered the room just in time to see a topless Cameron desperately trying to keep pressure on John's previously healing wound.
"Oh my god, JOHN!"
Sarah raced over to her son and placed her hands over Cameron's trying to increase the pressure, as if a Terminator's hands weren't sufficient.
"What happened?" Sarah bit in Cameron's general direction.
"He insisted on patching up my back. I said no but he was...determined"
Sarah looked back and noticed the bandages on her bare back for the first time.
"He gets hurt by helping you, AGAIN..."
Sarah was absolutely raging at the girl that had her son wound so tightly around her little finger that he cared for her welfare more than his own, the machine that walked in to their lives one day and was now slowly taking her son away from her.
"...move, get out, go. You've done enough damage already"
"What the fuck?"
Derek had picked that moment to burst in to the room with his weapon raised. He was ever so slightly confused at the sight of a topless Terminator being told off by Sarah Connor. Neither woman acknowledged Derek's presence as they engaged in a mini staring contest. Slowly Cameron removed her hands from John's wound and stood to her feet. She broke eye contact with Sarah and looked down at the ground. She demurely crossed her arms over her chest and turned to walk towards the door. She walked past Derek without so much as a glance as she left the room silently.
Derek merely stared in shock as he watched the machine leave the room. The next thing he heard was a soft click of a door lock being turned.
"Derek, get your ass over here and give me a hand"
Cameron closed and locked her bedroom door behind her. She walked to her closet and pulled out a black tank top. Forgoing a bra, she pulled the top on over her head, her fingers grazing one of the bandages John had applied. She brought her blood soaked hand around in front of her face and studied it for a moment. Lowering her hand to the side, she turned and walked in to the bathroom. She methodically washed her hands in the sink, making sure to remove every drop of John's blood. She dried her hands on a nearby towel and left the bathroom.
She walked over to her dresser and opened the top drawer. She reached in and pulled out a notepad and pen and sat down at the desk she had never used. She put pen to paper and started to write, in perfect handwriting, lines of computer code.
I hope you all liked it!
I think chapter 12 and part 2 are gonna be really good. I've had some really exciting ideas for them and can't wait to write them!