CHAPTER 4

The room had remained cool and the air still. The distant thudding of explosions could still be heard and felt through the underground, concrete walls which John remained with his back up against. He had barely moved since receiving the news of John Henry's destruction. In a small part it was because of his exhaustion due to the time lag, but the main reason was that John now had no where to go, or at least he did not know where to go. He did not know where he should go, or even try to go. He stared blankly at the wood and steel door which lay before him. An indescribable blankness had overtaken him. It felt as if all of his emotions had come into conflict with one another and then canceled each other out. He knew he should feel some sense of relief now that he was now with his father and uncle. But they did not know who he was, nor did it appear that they wanted to know. The horrible sadness that John felt due to John Henry's and in turn Cameron's death was being overridden by anger towards nearly everyone for destroying her. While John understood that the people in this timeline could not have known what John Henry was, this knowledge did little to console him.

John had begun to question all of his actions in the past several hours. Had he not come to this timeline John Henry may never have been caught, and in turn Cameron might still be alive. If he had stayed in the present, would it have meant that he could, at some point in the future have been able to get Cameron back? While John did not understand the intricacies of time travel, he at least thought this could have been a possible outcome. John exhaled slowly as the numbness continued to drape itself over him. Just then he heard the door open.

The room was so dimly lit that John was not immediately able to see who emerged through the doorway in front of him. A dark figure now stood in the shadows in front of John, motionless; almost as if he or she were studying him. John heard the person take a breath and then he spoke,

"John Connor…" John's ears perked up slightly and he glanced upward a bit more than he had been doing before.

"Or should I call you John Baum…" The dark figure stated. John's confusion and concern grew slightly worse.

"Who is this?" John thought to himself.

"That's right…I know who you are." The figure remarked.

Finally, the figure stepped into to the light. John did not immediately recognize him. After all, the last time John had seen Martin Bedell he had been a young man. It was easy to see that nearly twenty years of war had taken its toll on him. The weathered skin, scars, and overall look had changed Martin's appearance almost completely. After a few moments of staring, John at last began to piece the mystery together.

"Martin?' John slowly said in a somewhat timid voice. Martin smiled slightly, but still with a suspicious look on his face.

"It's been a long time…Well at least for me that has." John only managed a slight nod. He was still relatively surprised to see Martin Bedell standing before him. While he had used his name to escape imminent death, John did not actually expect to see his old friend ever again. Martin continued to look at John with a slightly distrustful expression.

"How did you get here?" Martin asked somewhat directly.

"That's a bit of a long story." John responded in a somber tone. Martin closed the door behind him and moved a bit further into the room.

"I've got some time." John took a deep breath preparing to explain the events of the last several days in his life. Before he had even started his tale he had decided to tell Martin everything. After all Bedell already knew a good deal of information from their time together at Presidio Alto.

Time drifted on as John told his story and Martin listened intently. At last John reached the point of John Henry's time travel. As he began to divulge these events he felt the lump in his throat growing,

"Cameron gave this new Terminator, this John Henry, her chip so that he could upload himself from The Turk into her own chip. We know that John Henry used Catherine Weaver's…" John thought for a moment not exactly what to call the Time Displacement Equipment, "Time machine to travel here. We're not sure as why he did this though." John then took a long pause searching for the correct words to describe his next actions.

"I uh…Then I followed him here to get back Cameron's chip." Martin's eyes perked up slightly. He had a look of both surprise and some empathy expressed in them.

"You followed John Henry here to get Cameron's chip back?" Martin asked.

"Yes…" John said in an emotionally rattled tone. "But, it…it changed everything. No one here knows who I am."

"You erased your past by jumping to the future. A world without John Connor continued onward after your jump. Now it's as if you never existed." John nodded in agreement.

"It was a mistake." he said sadly.

"Did you come alone?" Bedell asked.

"No, Catherine Weaver came with me…But I haven't seen her since shortly after we got here."

"What about John Henry?" Martin asked. John responded as if he were almost in pain.

"I think…I think they destroyed him shortly after I arrived here," John said in a bleak tone of voice, "Along with Cameron…" John's voice trailed off as he spoke. Martin's eyes widened slightly and then he spoke.

"Wait, HE was the Terminator that was caught right after you arrived?"

"I think so." John's voice was almost inaudible.

"Son of a bitch…" Martin whispered. John was so lost in thought he did not immediately notice the shock in Martin's tone.

"Get up…come with me." Martin said in a more excited tone. John looked at him somewhat surprised.

"Get up!" Martin stated in an even more urgent tone. "We may still have time." John rose to his feet not exactly sure what Martin was talking about.

Martin moved quickly over to the door in front of him and opened it, John followed behind him. The moment John stepped through the doorway the guard stationed there began to move towards him, but he was cut off by Martin,

"He's with me!" Martin barked and then motioned with his hand for John to follow him.

The two walked briskly through the dimly lit corridors passing by a few surprised soldiers and some raggedly dress civilians as they did so.

"Where are we going?" John asked as he strove to keep pace with Martin.

"The machine they caught, Reese said they had finished studying it and were going to destroy it." John instantly felt a pang of hope and terror at the same time knowing that there might be a slight chance that Cameron could still be alive. He began to increase his stride. The passage through the winding corridors seemed to take forever in John's mind and his anxiety grew with every step. Although Derek had informed him that Cameron's chip had already been destroyed, John now believed, now hoped that there may have been a slight chance he had been misinformed.

"The room is right up ahead." Martin remarked as he pointed to a doorway in front of them. No longer caring about pretexts John immediately sprinted ahead of Martin in a dash for the room.

"John!" Martin called out as he chased after him. John burst through the doorway and immediately his heart felt as if it had stopped. A crushing weight came tumbling down onto him and he almost fell to his knees. In the center of the medium sized room was a make shift brick fire pit. Inside the pit John could see John Henry's body. Or what was left of it. The brilliant orange glow of the Thermite made it almost impossible to look directly into the flames, but John was able to see the horror none the less. He watched as the fire consumed what was left of John Henry's face and endoskeleton. The smell of sulfur filled the room, as the grayish smoke rose through the make shift ventilation shaft located above the pit. Eventually nothing but fire was left inside of the pit.

John braced himself up against the doorframe trying to stay erect. So overcome with remorse and sadness he did not immediately notice the two soldiers walking towards him with their plasma rifles raised. However, Martin emerged from behind John and he immediately motioning to the two soldiers in front of John. His voice crackled with authority.

"Stand down…He's with me." Martin said as he looked over to the brick and mortar fire pit and the flames that now engulfed the body that lay inside.

"Damn…" Martin said with a long sigh.

John had to struggle to remain on his feet. He felt as if all his hopes were being violently pulled from him. As he stood in the doorway watching the fire burn with a nearly blinding light, he realized there was now, no longer any doubt left in his mind, Cameron…was gone.

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Authors Notes: Okay so before all my Cameron fans out there freak out and swear never to read another word of this story just keep in mind what I said at the beginning of this fan fic, which is that I am a die hard Cameron/Jameron fan as well. Just make sure to keep that in mind.