Chapter Sixteen:

Something Wicked This Way Comes

John Connor kept pace with Cameron, feeling his adrenaline start pumping with anticipation. He's here. Now, she had said. A Terminator was coming.

"It's not Cromartie," Cameron reported as they hurried up the path. "It's here for Kyle Reese."

Kyle? John slowed to a stop, frowning. Where the heck is he? "Why aren't you protecting him?" he demanded.

She gave him a patronizing look. "My mission is to ensure the survival of John Connor. I had to make sure you were safe."

He appreciated her concern, truly. "But the reason we came to this place is to save him," he protested.

"He's not the right Kyle Reese," Cameron reminded him. "You are a higher priority for the Terminator to target. I had to make sure you were safe first."

"Then you were going to save Kyle?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

Cameron stared at him. "I don't want another name on my list."

John swallowed the lump in his throat, understanding perfectly. He kept a list to. A list of everyone who died for him, same as Cameron did. He cleared his throat, focusing on the task at hand.

"Where's Mom and Derek?"

"Getting the weapons."

"So where's Kyle?" John asked. "Do you have his schedule? We need to get to him before the Triple 8 does."

Cameron's eyes focused internally for a moment, probably calling up a database of camper schedules she'd illegally downloaded during a night patrol. "He's participating in the evening arts and crafts project."

John snorted in disgust as he started walking towards the crafts hall. "Great, that's real soldier's work. If the tin cans weren't so dense, they'd probably figure out he's the wrong Reese."

Cameron stopped short and John turned around, confused by her reaction.

"The tin cans…" Cameron stated.

His brow furrowed, puzzled. What had he said? "What? What's wrong?"

"In the past, you've always said 'you' when referring to machines. You didn't couple me in with them this time."

"That's cuz you're not one of them," John replied, knowing full well she would argue him.

"I'm still a machine."

"You're Cameron," he corrected. The Terminators didn't have feelings; they couldn't love. They didn't have morals, didn't keep lists of people they'd killed, didn't try to wash their hands free of blood, didn't write notes of remorse to people they had killed or hurt.

Cameron did.

He reached out and took her hand, squeezing it gently. "You're just Cameron."

She tilted her head to the side before nodding. "Yes. Thank you for explaining."

John's mind quickly snapped back to the seriousness of the situation and he started running again towards the crafts hall. Less than a minute later, he burst through the door, earning several sharp gasps from startled campers. His eyes scanned the crowd, locking on Kyle Reese who was sitting at a table in the corner, hard at work painting a ceramic bunny.

John would have rolled his eyes if they weren't in mortal danger. Ignoring all the other campers, he ran over to Kyle. The young boy glanced up at him and Cameron with a smile that soon faded when he saw the urgent look on John's face.

John held out his hand. "Come with me if you want to live," he ordered.

Kyle's eyes widened and he quickly looked from John to Cameron before he grasped John's hand.

John yanked him out of the seat and out the door, turning to Cameron as soon as they were outside. "I'll get him to safety," he said. "You take out that Triple 8. Keep my mom safe."

Kyle's eyes widened it utter shock as Cameron withdrew her nine millimeter from behind her back, loading it smoothly.

"Promise," she agreed.

********

Derek Reese waited in the shadowy forest, crouched next to Sarah and Cameron, his eyes focused on the gravel path the Triple 8 would be coming from. His hands tightened around his sniper rifle. It wouldn't be long now. He heard some twigs crunch behind him and turned to see John approaching, his face barely visible in the moonlight.

Sarah and Cameron both turned to face the young future General, both with expressions of worry. "What are you doing here?" Sarah hissed.

"You were supposed to get Kyle to safety," Cameron added.

John held up his hands in surrender. "I did," he replied. "I locked him in the kitchen's storage room and ordered him to be quiet until I come back. He was pretty stunned. He's not going anywhere."

Derek lined up his sight again on the road. "You shouldn't have come," he said, purposely keeping his voice low. "You're a much higher priority target for the Triple 8 than Kyle is."

John's eyes were determined, serious, when he responded. "I want to help."

Derek knew that look, knew that face. This was the John he knew in the future. This was the face of the leader of mankind.

The face of John Connor.

He remembered asking John on the way home from Presidio Alto whether he was talking to John Connor or John Baum. He hadn't realized it then, but now he suddenly knew for sure.

John Baum had been gone for a long time.

Maybe he had never even existed.

Derek tore his gaze away from John before focusing back on the road. "We should all split up," he suggested. "Us being together in the same spot makes a bigger target."

He didn't wait for Sarah – or John's – permission before creeping off to a position up the room a few paces, crouching behind a large rock and gripping his rifle tightly.

It was deathly quiet in the woods, with only the occasional cricket chirping and owl hooting to break the silence. Derek listened intently, waiting for something, anything to announce the Triple 8's arrival.

A twig snapped up on the path and Derek saw a moonlit figure walking down, a gun in hand. Derek couldn't see enough of its face to confirm that it was the Terminator that had killed the security guards, but he didn't need to. He aimed his sniper rifle and shot.

The Terminator's head kicked back and the machine fired, hitting dangerously close to Derek's head. Infrared vision, Derek thought with a curse. He ducked behind the boulder as the Triple 8 drew closer. It paused near his hiding place and several shots rang out, coming from Sarah, John, and Cameron.

The rounds did minor damage to the Triple 8. It simply stalked forward and raised its weapon, shooting at the area where the Connors were. Derek saw Cameron take a few hits for John as his nephew and Sarah retreated toward the camp.

The Terminator started following them.

No! Derek thought. I can't let that thing get near John! He leaped out of his hiding place and fired at the Triple 8's head. It turned and Derek fired again as the Terminator started coming for him, raising its weapon.

Derek took off into the woods, making sure the machine was still following him. It must not have been close enough to recognize John otherwise it would have completely ignored Derek and continued after its primary target, ruining Derek's entire plan. Sarah had made him leave the grenades, but he didn't need them. He'd set up charges in the woods, just like he had with the Bedell Terminator. All he had to do was lead it into the explosives.

The noise would draw attention, definitely, but at least it would take the Terminator down long enough for Derek to cut out its chip. He kept running, hearing the Terminator's methodical, running footsteps behind him.

He heard a rifle cock and instantly took a sharp turn, narrowly avoiding the bullet shot that rang out. The metal was closer than he'd thought.

Unfortunately, when Derek took the sharp turn, his foot slipped on some wet leaves and he went down hard, smacking his head and groaning.

Get up! He urged himself. We're almost there! He had to keep moving, had to get up, had to get the Terminator into the charges, had to save John...

On your feet, soldier! He shouted at himself. He rolled to his knees and froze, spotting the boots standing no more than a foot in front of him. His eyes rose to stare into the impassive face of death. The Triple 8 cocked its head, studying Derek, identifying him, then raising its gun.

Derek closed his eyes. Do it! Do it, kill me! he screamed inside his head. He'd failed. He was going to die. He would die never getting to apologize to John, never getting to tell his nephew that no matter what had happened between them, he still loved him. John would always remember the way Derek hadn't trusted him.

Derek squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the shot, the pain. He'd failed John Connor.

He heard the blast from the rifle, but surprisingly, he felt no pain. His eyes opened slowly, his mind scrambling for an explanation. Am I dead already?

No.

He glanced up at the Triple 8. A small chunk out of the right side of its head was missing, just deep enough to effectively destroy part of its chip. The Terminator's eyes were dead and its body slowly dropped to the ground heavily, revealing Cameron standing behind it, her Remington 870p shotgun in her hand, the barrel still smoking.

How did she get here? Hadn't she run off with John, to protect him? There was only one explanation for her presence and it was blowing his mind.

She'd followed him. She'd come after him and saved his life.

Derek's mind was a whirlwind of confusion. "Why'd you do that?" he demanded. That was the big question. Why would she have saved him? Why would she have actually come after him? "You could have just let me die," he continued. In fact, everything would have been better for Cameron if she'd let him die. He was the one who was constantly berating her and accusing her. "You know I hate you. You could have easily gotten me out of the way." He shook his head, still unable to comprehend her bizarre behavior. "Why save me?"

Cameron's eyes remained locked on his as she replied calmly, "Because human life is sacred. Your life is sacred."

Derek's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open in stunned silence. She'd saved him because she chose to? Because he was worth it? After all he'd done to her?

"Sacred…" he repeated, swallowing hard. "Did John teach you that? Morals?"

She nodded briefly. "Yes."

"You didn't just listen though," Derek added, talking more to himself at this point, reasoning with himself. "You…you did it." Cameron remained silent, watching him, and he shook his head, frowning. "John's tried to teach Terminators the value of life in the future. They understand, but they don't comprehend. They don't put it into action." The machines didn't respect human life beyond what they were programmed or reprogrammed to do. None of them had ever chosen to save a life just because. They just didn't work like that.

He hesitated, a small part of him appalled at what he was about to say. "Maybe you are different."

She didn't speak, but he did see the corner of her mouth turn up slightly. Then she turned to walk away, back toward John and Sarah.

But he couldn't let this go unaddressed. "Hey!"

She turned back around, seeming mildly puzzled. Derek offered her a small, reluctant smile, in that one gesture apologizing for pretty much everything he'd ever said, everything he'd ever accused her of. Because after what had just happened…none of it really mattered anymore. Because John Connor had been right. John Connor was always right.

"...Thanks," he said.

She returned his smile. "You're welcome."

As she walked away to join John, Derek poured out a package of thermite onto the downed Triple 8's body and lit the flare, watching the metal burn and melt into vapor, his mind still trying to decide what to think.

John was right. If he could turn a stone cold killer like Cameron into a hero who could appreciate the value of human life, maybe he was trustworthy after all. Maybe he wasn't corrupted in the future, just misunderstood. Misunderstood because no one in the future could even imagine the impossible, the fact that John would be able to instill morals in his reprogrammed Terminators. But John knew better than anyone, because he'd already done it.

John Connor would be trusted.

Derek stared out into the woods, surprised at his own change of heart. Here he was, and just an hour ago he'd been just as eager to kill Cameron as Jesse. But both Jesse and Connor could not be right. John could not be both trustworthy and corrupted at the same time. Cameron could not be evil and good at the same time. So if John Connor was right, Jesse was wrong. He could only trust one of them. And if there was one thing Derek Reese knew for sure, it was this:

He no longer was okay with Jesse's plan.

author's note: So, this chapter focuses more on Derek's development and how he's starting to come around. I hope you all enjoyed it!