author's notes: Sorry this took a little longer to post. I haven't had time all day. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!

flydragon21 - No, I'm not from China. Not sure what you mean by the "youku logo" but I'm not Chinese.

Sedgie - Thanks for the review. No, this Kyle Reese is not John's father. It's a different Kyle Reese, like the other two Sarah Connors and two Martin Bedells who were targeted by Skynet.

Chapter Six:

Some Things are Best Left Unseen

All of the campers were called to congregate outside to receive their team assignments. John was one of the first to arrive, waiting for Cameron and the rest of the girls to come from their cabins.

To his dismay, wimpy Kyle showed up first. At first, the young boy looked disappointed when he didn't see Cameron with John, but he soon brightened and came to John's side.

"Hey, John," he greeted. He looked around wistfully. "Cameron's not here."

John rolled his eyes. "Wow, your powers of observation are remarkable."

Kyle didn't take offense. Instead, he actually laughed cheerfully. John sent a desperate look over at his uncle, who was waiting with the other counselors to assign teams.

Derek simply smirked back.

"What does Cameron like?" Kyle piped up.

John wrenched his gaze back to the young teen. "What do you mean?" She likes tattoos, leather jackets, and nine-millimeters. Ask what she doesn't like and I'll add you to the list.

"You know, like…what's her favorite food?"

John opened his mouth and closed it. Did Cameron have a favorite food? "Um, pancakes," he supplied.

Kyle appeared thoughtful. "Huh. That's convenient, cuz I hear that's all the new lunch lady knows how to make. Hey, do you think she likes me?"

"The new lunch lady?"

"No, Cameron!" Kyle replied, rolling his eyes in exasperation. "She's so hard to read…it's like she's a mystery. A good mystery, though."

People die in good mysteries too, John thought with a scowl. "Let's just say she tolerates your presence."

"I can live with that," Kyle replied easily.

John ground his teeth together in frustration. If he keeps this up, I'll help the Triple 8 snipe him.

Finally he was saved from further conversation when the rest of the campers arrived and Derek stood up in front of the crowd to read off the team lists.

"Alright," John's uncle began. "The leader for Team One will be John Baum." He proceeded to call out a bunch of names. John only recognized two: Jessica Duncan and Riley.

Cameron spoke up beside him. "I'm not on your team."

John scowled in his uncle's direction. "Yeah. And I think I know why."

"Team Two," Derek continued, oblivious to John's death glare, "will be led by Jason Reynolds. Jason, your team consists of Kyle Reese, Cameron Phillips…"

Cameron turned to John and gave him the most pathetic look he'd ever seen. If he could have put words to it, they would have been: save me!

John knew exactly what was going on. Derek had purposely stacked the teams this way, putting Riley with John and Cameron with the two boys who were infatuated with her, all in a desperate attempt to keep the two of them apart.

And John hated it.

After the crowd dissipated, heading towards the first team activity, John stormed up to his uncle. "You did that on purpose," he accused.

"Did what?" Derek tried to look innocent, but John knew him too well. Derek knew exactly what he was talking about.

"You put Cameron and me on separate teams," John growled angrily. "On purpose."

Derek's face betrayed how disgusted he was with John. "John, that's just the way it worked out. Your last name is Baum, or Connor, depending on who we're talking to. Riley's is Dawson. Cameron is registered as Phillips. We split the teams by last name."

"I'm not stupid, Derek," John insisted. "I can see what you're doing and it won't work. You didn't have to split it up that way."

Derek pursed his lips. "Okay, think of it this way. Did you see the list of events? Scavenger hunt, climbing wall, archery, canoeing, BB Guns…you two can't be on the same team, it wouldn't be fair."

Since when was his uncle concerned about fairness? "You don't think any of these other kids know how to shoot a BB gun?"

"None that can hit a bulls-eye every single time," Derek replied seriously. "With their eyes closed."

John simply glared at his uncle and Derek's face heated up. "You're getting too close to it, John. It's not healthy."

"You drink beer. That's not healthy."

"What? That's completely different."

"I don't care," John retorted.

"How are you supposed to lead the human race against these monsters if you let yourself fall for one?"

John stiffened. "Sometimes to beat the enemy you have to understand them."

"It's hypocritical, John. It's sick. You bring the enemy into our camp and how do you think your soldiers will react?"

"She is not the enemy," John replied darkly.

"Yes, she is. Listen to me, John—."

"No you listen!" John snapped. He took a step forward, feeling bolder. He was done listening to Derek, done with his uncle's hate-fest. "Think of the humans. There are billions of us, lots of us are thieves, criminals, and murderers. If you're trying to destroy the evil ones, does that mean all humans are bad just because we're part of the same species? Would you try to kill the good ones as well as the corrupt? What if some of the humans want to help you weed out the evil ones? Would you turn your back on them too? Would you want to kill them just for calling themselves human?"

"John, that's not--."

"Yes it is. It's exactly the same!" John insisted angrily. "Just because some machines are out there to kill us doesn't mean they all are. It doesn't mean we should destroy them all. Should they all be condemned for the acts of one? Skynet's our enemy. Not her."

Derek opened his mouth to speak, but John shook his head and stormed away. He'd stated his case, won his argument, defended his actions, stood up for himself and the machines.

Cameron would be proud.

*******

John made his way to the BB gun station where the rest of the campers were already waiting. Three from each team were chosen to shoot first. John sighed as he loaded his BB gun, glancing down the row at his competition. For his team, Derek had chosen John, Riley, and some other kid whose name John couldn't remember. One of his opponents was Cameron.

Well, he thought optimistically. At least I'll get second place.

Before John could start shooting though, he overheard Riley talking to Derek.

"I don't know how to shoot a gun," she said, staring at the weapon with a hopeless expression on her face.

"John," Derek shouted. "You're team leader. Help your teammate."

John narrowed his eyebrows before dropping his own gun and walking over to Riley's position. "First of all, you're holding it backwards…you're gonna shoot Derek…"

Not that he would mind that right now.

Riley turned the gun around, but still seemed confused. John sighed and put his arms around her to show her how to properly hold the weapon. A sudden barrage of gunfire from Cameron's rifle completely blasted through Riley's paper target.

John ripped off his safety glasses, staring at Cameron in shock. "Cameron, what the heck?"

"I'm okay," Cameron replied calmly, reloading her gun.

John's mind whirled. What was going on? Was this some sort of reaction to him helping Riley? He sighed. "I thought you said you wouldn't overreact," he reminded her.

"I didn't," she insisted. "If I were overreacting, everyone would be dead."

John groaned. "Comforting."

Back at her own firing station, Riley calmly lifted the rifle and accurately shot the corner of her paper target, causing it to flutter to the ground.

***********

John was waiting in line for the climbing wall when Cameron came up to him, holding her wrist and looking troubled.

"I need you to do something for me," she stated.

"Like what?"

Cameron gingerly held up her hand. "I need you to fix me."

John frowned, eyes trailing up and down her arm. He didn't notice anything unusual. "Why? Is there something wrong with it?"

"I'm broken."

"What?"

"I've been experiencing involuntarily movement," she replied, flexing the fingers of her hand and studying the motion. "Back in Canada, I smashed the glass in the chocolate shop. Today, I accidentally held down the trigger on the gun. If it's a danger to you, I need you to fix it."

John gently touched her hand as she flexed the fingers again. Everything seemed to be working, but there could be internal damage. He glanced over at his uncle, who was too busy trying to push wimpy Kyle up the wall to notice John.

"Okay," John said. "Let's go to the mechanics lab."

He started off away from the group, making sure none of the counselors noticed his absence. He thought he saw Riley briefly look his way, but if she noticed him and Cameron sneaking off, she didn't say anything about it.

When he got to the mechanics lab, he moved some of the camper's projects aside and Cameron sat down on the stool, picking up a sharp scalpel.

John cringed, shifting uncomfortably in the corner as she sliced into her wrist, cutting a neat rectangle in her arm and peeling back the flesh. Deep down, he knew she didn't feel the pain from it, but that didn't make it any easier to watch.

She looked up at him expectantly and he swallowed hard, coming closer and peering inside at the metal circuits in her arm.

"Hand me that penlight, will you?" he asked. Cameron grabbed the light and he placed his hand on top of hers, using the penlight to examine the metal inside her arm. "Okay, clench your fingers," he said. She did, her fingers wrapping around his and holding. He felt his breath catch, and he swallowed hard, trying to focus on the task at hand. The servos in her arm moved when she clenched her fingers, and he couldn't see a problem. "Huh, that's strange. Everything seems to be working properly."

"No, it's broken," Cameron insisted.

"No, it's really not," John replied, pointing to the metal inside. "See? Everything's connected right."

Cameron studied it, seeming puzzled. "Then why would it do that?"

"Maybe it's some kind of emotional response," John suggested. "Do you remember what you were thinking about when it happened?"

"In Canada, Riley kissed you at the chocolate shop."

"And at the shooting range, I had to help her…" John chuckled softly, shaking his head. "Cam…you're not broken. You're just jealous."

"Jealous," she repeated.

"Yeah. That must be some kind of reaction to me being with Riley."

Unknown to both John and Cameron, Riley had followed them from the climbing wall, suspicious of their behavior. She'd first believed that they simply wanted some alone time to do…well, anything they did together would probably make her sick just thinking about it. Riley shuddered.

But then she'd seen them enter the mechanics lab, and all her previous thoughts faded. Why would they be going in there? Unless…the machine was broken.

And if Cameron was experiencing some technical difficulties, well, then, that was lucky for Riley. She'd been extra careful sidling up to the window, aware of Cameron's hypersensitive hearing.

What she'd seen inside the window spooked her more than anything. She'd seen the metal. The metal workings that lay beneath Cameron's arm. The machine had actually cut her own wrist, yanked back the flesh and exposed the metal endoskeleton beneath. Riley felt nauseated.

But what revolted her even more was that John was right there, hand in hand with the machine, seeing with his own eyes what she really was on the inside…and still looking at her with the same loving expression.

How could he be so blind?

Suddenly Riley realized that her own fate was at stake here as well. Her life was on the line.

She'll kill me. If she knows what I saw, she'll kill me.

Riley could feel the terror rising inside. She was usually able to keep it in check around Cameron, to keep both her and John from realizing that she knew all about Judgment Day, about Terminators, about Cameron being a machine.

But she'd never seen the metal before.

And if Cameron found out, she may never see it again. She may never see anything again.

Riley was suddenly moving unconsciously, shoving herself away from the window and towards the climbing wall, making sure she would not be in view if John or Cameron were to look out the window.

Back inside, Cameron's head had snapped toward the window and a second later, John had heard the crack of someone snapping a twig. Someone running, he realized.

He bolted to the window, staring out, but seeing no one. He felt his breathing quicken. Someone had been there, alright. The question was, what had they seen?

He turned back to Cameron. Had she seen more than he had? "Who was that?"

Cameron stared back at him coolly. "Who do you think?"

Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think!