CHAPTER 7

The gunfire echoed down the dimly lit winding corridors as John and Savannah moved cautiously onward. After hearing the first few shots John found that he was aware of something quite odd. He recognized that the rounds that were being discharged were not in fact plasma rounds, but rifle rounds; more than likely of the 5.56mm or .223 caliber family. While he had never heard a plasma rifle fire, he had been around and heard many M-16's, AR-15's, and M-4's and he immediately recognized the distinctive crack of the rifle fire. For a moment this confused him as he continued to move forwards listening to the sound of gunfire emanating towards him. The only logical solution that John could come up with was that plasma rifles and ammunition were in short supply in this timeline. So when doing battle with other factions the humans would resort back to conventional weapons. People were after all much easier to kill than machines. But, this presented a very dangerous situation. If Skynet chose to attack the two warring factions while they were in battle, both human sides would be virtually defenseless against the machines due to their choice in weaponry.

"This way…" Savannah stated to John as she rushed down an adjacent corridor located to their left. As John and Savannah continued down the tunnel the sound of gunfire grew more heated. John saw soldiers running past them and towards the gunfire, while at the same time civilians were running in the opposite direction. John could now smell the pungent aroma of gunpowder and sulfur that was lingering in the air. Chaos was enveloping the underground caverns.

Savannah and John eventually came to a "Y" shaped junction in the corridor and he could hear the growing sound of gunfire echoing down the hallway to his left. However, Savannah motioned with her head for John to follow her down the right hallway.

"Where are we going?" John asked.

"I told you, we need to get you a weapon." Savannah responded as she began to walk slightly faster. After another few minutes of progress, they rounded a corner, which lead to a short hallway with a doorway located at the end. Two rather large guards armed with plasma rifles stood on either side of the door.

Cautiously, Savannah approached the two men. John assumed that they recognized her due to their lack of an immediate reaction upon seeing someone walking towards them. As Savannah grew closer one of the guards spoke,

"Yes, Ms. Weaver?" There was a certain snide contempt, mixed with distrust in his voice.

"I need a weapon for my friend here." Savannah responded. To which the soldier to Savannah's left shook his head and spoke.

"I'm not letting you into the armory…at least not as long as you're with him." The guard spoke angrily as he looked over Savannah's shoulder at John.

The gunfire was now growing closer, and John could sense his heart rate increasing as the danger continued to approach. Savannah clenched her teeth slightly in annoyance at the soldier's dismissal of her request.

"Let me in Matthews…" Savannah stated a somewhat more annoyed voice. "Bedell has already vouched for him." Amid all the hatred that he had felt in this new timeline, John found it slightly consoling to see that at this point someone actually appeared to be defending him. Nevertheless, the rapidly approaching gunfire and explosions did little to soothe his mind.

"I don't care who vouched for him, he's not getting inside. For all I know he's working with Skynet." Savannah dropped her head slightly mumbling something under her breath that John wasn't quite able to make out, nor was he sure he wanted to. Looking back up at Matthews, Savannah took another breath to speak. However, before she could do so, John suddenly heard the crack of a rifle come from behind him which was quickly followed by the hiss of a round as it streaked past him. Startled, John naturally ducked and sought cover behind some of the concrete debris located around him.

Savannah flinched, briefly closing her eyes as the bright red blood spattered across her fair skinned face. At the same moment Matthews's upper body lurched back after being struck in the throat by the high velocity round. Grabbing his throat and gasping for breath Matthews fell back against the concrete wall and slid down it, leaving a streak of blood behind to stain the wall as he did so. Savannah ducked slightly and turned, drawing her handgun from its holster as she did so. The second guard standing to her right immediately raised his plasma rifle and began to fire. When the plasma rifle discharged John noted that there was a much higher pitched, almost screeching sound to the weapon.

Diving behind some sandbags that had been placed in the corridor for this very purpose, Savannah and the remaining soldier quickly took cover and opened fire with their weapons at the enemy soldiers who were advancing down the hallway.

"John, stay down!" Savannah called as she knelt behind the sandbags, replacing the empty magazine in her handgun with a fresh one.

John did his best to crouch behind the concrete debris as the battle raged on. A brief moment or two passed before he realized something. He did not particularly like the idea of hiding at all. Before, he had come to this timeline; hiding was virtually all he had ever done. Albeit primarily due to the advice of his mother, the thought of letting others do his fighting was no longer acceptable. Looking around John immediately noticed the now dead soldier's plasma rifle. It was still strapped to his chest but John knew he would be able to loosen it with ease.

Moving carefully from behind his position of cover John made his way over to Matthews's body all the while hearing the bullets streak past him. Glancing over her shoulder Savannah noticed what John was doing. Moving slightly father out from behind the sandbags, Savannah fired her Smith & Wesson .45 more rapidly, attempting to draw some of the fire away from John, who was now pulling the rifle from the dead soldier's body.

Gaining control of the weapon and a spare magazine John quickly moved back behind the concrete rubble. He quickly examined the firearm so as to get a feel for the weapon itself. While he had received no formal training on the use of a plasma rifle, he was reasonable certain that the mechanics of most firearms were relatively similar with only design changes due to manufacturers or styles. Noting that there appeared to be no trigger safety John surmised that the weapon was ready to fire.

Carefully leaning out from behind the debris, John aimed the rifle and squeezed the trigger. He heard the plasma rifle discharge and was somewhat surprised to feel the lack of recoil. While this weapon was highly advanced compared to what he had been trained with, John had still assumed that there would have been a stronger jolt when firing it. Due to this mistaken assumption John was forced to catch himself upon leaning forwards too much in anticipation of a more significant recoil. Immediately readjusting his position and stance John fired again, this time striking the corner of the wall where the enemy soldiers were located. Upon impact the plasma round produced a large grapefruit sized hole in the corner of the concrete wall.

The weapons fire grew more intense around John as the battle inside the corridor raged. While only a few enemy soldiers were actually located in the immediate area their position made dispensing with them relatively difficult. John carefully leaned out from behind the concrete debris again, taking aim at the 90 degree corner that was in front of him waiting for the enemy to emerge. A few seconds went by and then John saw a young male emerge from around the corner with what appeared to be an M-4 assault rifle. A split second later John squeezed the trigger on his plasma rifle and heard it fire. He watched as a purplish colored plasma bolt streaked through the hallway striking the enemy soldier in the chest. There was a brief yelp before the man's body jolted backwards and then fell to the ground in a crumpled heap.

John held his position waiting for the next enemy solider to emerge. Seconds drifted on and the hallway remained quiet. Glancing over at Savannah John watched as she and the other resistance soldier slowly stood, still holding their weapons at the ready. John hesitated slightly before he too rose from behind cover, but Savannah quickly motioned to him with her left hand to stay in his current position. John responded with a quizzical look, to which Savannah shook her head in a "no" fashion.

"Not yet…" She whispered to him in a quiet tone. She then turned to the male standing next to her,

"Richardson, come with me."

With their weapons still raised, Savannah and Richardson slowly began to make their way forwards towards the turn in the corridor. The echoes of gunfire could still be heard in the distance, but for the moment this particular corridor itself was silent.

Richardson, a young male soldier who could be no older than 25, slowly stepped ahead of Savannah and made his way around the corner of the hallway, leading with his plasma rifle. Making ever so slow movements he was finally able to clear the hallway.

"They're gone…" He replied to Savannah in a somewhat uncertain tone.

Slowly glancing around, Savannah turned to look back at John and motioned with her hand for him to follow her.

"Come on…"She replied as she quickly took a step forwards towards the sound of battle noise.

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Alison Young ran quickly down the darkened concrete corridor gasping for breath as she did so and cradling her now bleeding left arm. She heard the sudden hiss of a bullet as it streaked by her. Now gripped with fear, she struggled to keep her composure. She fought to keep her tears back as she rounded a corner and heard bullets ricochet off the concrete wall as she did so. The wound in Alison's arm throbbed and the pain increased exponentially as she continued a desperate flight.

Suddenly, a large Hispanic male stepped out from a side doorway striking Alison in the throat with his hand and nearly lifting her off her feet as he did so. Collapsing to the ground with a thud, Alison coughed and gasped for breath feeling her trachea constricting from the blow. Looking up, she could see a man now standing over her. She could also hear the footsteps of other soldiers approaching from behind her. Still struggling to breathe, Alison tried to crawl away from the enemy soldier. But when she looked up, she saw two more soldiers approaching her, both carrying assault rifles. There was no place for her to go.

Slowing to a walk, the two men approached Alison.

"Found a good one didn't you Hector?" One of the men stated. The Hispanic male standing over Alison smiled slightly.

"Suppose so…" he responded and then began to laugh.

The man's laughter seemed to echo down the halls as Alison looked hopelessly around at the enemy soldiers now standing over her. She knew a struggle would be futile. There was virtually no hope of escape. However, Alison was still not willing to give up so easily. Kicking the man closest to her, she fought to get back on her feet.

Suddenly she felt a searing pain streak across her face as she was hit. Blood slowly began to trickle down her lip from the impact. The inevitability of the situation began to set in with Alison.

"Help me!" she cried out as she lay on the ground waiting for what was soon to come. And then she heard another voice roar.

"Cameron!" John screamed, oblivious to what he was actually saying as he raised his rifle. A split second later he squeezed the trigger feeling the weapon discharge. The Hispanic male who was still standing over Alison jerked his upper body forwards as he was hit from behind. The plasma bolt tore through his body, and exploded out from his chest and continued its travel down the corridor. The enemy soldier then collapsed next to Alison. The two males standing across from him jumped back slightly and tried to raise their weapons in response to this unanticipated threat.

Next to fire was Savannah, quickly followed by Richardson. One of the soldiers standing over Alison was hit in the shoulder by a plasma bolt, his body spun around and he quickly fell to the ground. The other soldier was struck in the chest by one of Savannah rounds. He too stumbled back and then collapsed to the ground.

John quickly moved towards Alison and upon reaching her position he glanced over her body. He saw the blood that was now running from her lip and from the wound on her shoulder. John could feel the rage grow within him. An almost blinding anger seized him as he saw what was in his mind as Cameron lying injured on the ground before him. Looking up he saw the wounded enemy soldier struggling to get to his feet. John quickly moved past Alison over to the man. The moment he reached him, he raised his foot and struck the soldier in the chest knocking him back to the ground. He then raised his rifle pointing it at the prone figure. There was a chillingly lifeless look on John's face as he squeezed the trigger to his plasma rifle.

The man's body fell back towards the ground, striking the hard surface with a fleshy thump. John remained over the soldier's body coldly studying it, his blank lifeless stare still gazing down upon the now dead body. John's anger grew unabated. He squeezed the trigger to his rifle again, and then again, and then again. He let out a blood curtailing scream as he fired. It was almost as if John's rage, hatred, fury, and despair were all bursting forth out of him.

"JOHN!" Savannah screamed, pulling him from what had become an overwhelming murderous rage. John glanced back at the group that was now looking at him with an almost terrified look on all their face. He then turned his attention to Alison.

"Are you…Are you okay." John asked, his voice somewhat quaking from all the emotions that were now coursing over him. Still stunned Alison did not immediately respond.

"Cameron…" John stated, still not paying any attention to what he was actually saying. Alison gave John both a scared and puzzled look.

"Who's Cameron?" She asked. John looked curiously at Alison for a moment. In his current state of discord, he could not completely absorb what Alison was now asking him. In John's eyes, Cameron was still lying injured on the floor before him. Another moment of silence drifted by as the group stared at John who looked back at them with his blank stare.

"Alison…" Savannah finally broke the silence. "Are you okay?" Alison turned her head away from John momentary looking up at Savannah.

"Yeah…" she responded, "I'm fine." She then turned back to look at John who still appeared to be in a daze. There was an unmistakable look of confusion about his face.

"John…" Savannah stated in a more direct voice breaking John's attention away from Alison and bringing it to her.

"We need to find Derek." She added. Pulling himself from the almost catatonic state that had overtaken him John nodded his head in response.

"Yeah…Derek…"

Savannah held out her hand towards Alison helping her to her feet. As she stood Savannah noticed the look that remained on Alison's face. While it was obvious that she was grateful that John had saved her life, his reaction after the threat had been eliminated seemed to greatly disturb her.

"Let's go." Savannah said as she slowly stepped past Alison and moved away down the darkened corridor. The group slowly passed by John as he stood silently still attempting to understand what had just taken a hold of him. While he could not fully comprehend what had just occurred John did deduce one thing…He seemed to like it.