Authors Notes: I think this is where I begin to significantly depart from the stereotypical season 3 fan fic. Enjoy!
/././
CHAPTER 10
John's head ached and he felt sensations of both dizziness and nausea. Upon trying and failing he found that for an unknown reason he was unable to open his eyes. But even in darkness he felt as if the room were spinning around him. There was a certain grogginess that seemed to hang over his consciousness as he lay on a cold hard surface. Attempting to move John immediately found that he could not. His hands and legs had been secured to whatever he was currently lying on. The area around him was eerily silent, except for an unusual clicking sound that seemed to wander about in no apparent direction. The air was cool and had a strange odor, one that John could only describe as formaldehyde and something else that he could not immediately identify.
Despite being unable to open his eyes John still tried to ascertain exactly where he was. His final few memories were a jumble. He remembered the helicopter crash, and the ensuing battle, however his recollection of events after that remained to be at least for the moment somewhat fragmented. He again attempted to move, but continued to find that he was securely restrained. The strange clicking and scratching sound began to grow in volume and frequency as the time progressed onward. John felt his heart rate increasing as he lay on the cold metal surface. Then he heard the voice, one which was weak, barely audible, but strangely familiar.
"John…" The voice came from John's right and even though he could not see, John immediately snapped his head over towards the location of the sound.
"John…" The voice spoke out again. Each time John heard the voice it grew more familiar to him. It was feminine, soft, yet unmistakably sinister and disturbing. John took a breath so as to speak, but suddenly found that he could not.
"John…" The voice said a third time. It was at this moment that John recognized the voice, though he knew it was impossible. He felt his heart drop into his stomach and he began to struggle against the restraints that were holding him in place. Pulling and pushing on his arms and legs against the metal, he began to feel his wrists and ankles throb with pain as he struggled.
"John…don't struggle." The voice was still soft and feminine, yet it grew more frightening each time he heard it. John struggled to open his eyes, but continued to find that he was unable to do so.
Suddenly, John felt a soft hand gently touch the bare skin of his ankle. So startled by the touch John instantly thought that if he could move, he would have leaped away from the gentle caress almost as if it had hurt him.
"Don't fight it John…" The voice said as John felt the fingertips of the hand begin to slowly slide up his leg. Struggling more fiercely now John attempted to pull away realizing exactly what it was touching him.
The soft hand gracefully danced up John's outer thigh as it continued on up his body. John tried to speak, but to no avail. The hand moved up past John's hip.
Even closer now, John suddenly heard the voice whisper in his ear.
"John...Why fight them? Why fight us?" The voice now unmistakable produced a sense of terror in John as he felt the soft hand move up his stomach and then continue on over his chest. John's battle endured as he lay on his back, held down by the restraints.
"John…" The hushed female voice said as John felt the delicate touch of the hand begin to move around his throat.
"John…I'm sorry." He felt the hand close around his throat and immediately found that he could not breathe. A hopeless sense of inevitability swept over him as John fought to free himself. Struggling to both breathe and speak at the same time John sensed his consciousness begin to slip away from him again. Realizing his last few seconds were now upon him, John finally ceased his struggle. He relaxed his body back against the metal table and waited for the inevitable.
.
.
.
John's eyes shot open to a blinding white light above him. Coughing and gasping for breath he finally managed to speak,
"Cameron!" He called out between breaths. Attempting to move John immediately found that he was secured to a cold steel table.
"Cameron!" John cried out again between his rapid gasps for breath. After a few seconds of terror drifted by, John finally began to feel his heart rate slow and he rested back against the cool steel surface that he was lying on. The examination light above him was nearly blinding and at least for the moment, John found it difficult to make out anything that was around him out.
Blinking and squinting his eyes John's vision slowly came back into focus. Looking around he found that he was inside some sort of examination room. Scattered about the room were several steel tables similar to the one he was on. Some of the examination tables had people who appeared to be either unconscious or dead lying on them, while others were empty. Each table had an examination light fixed over them. The room itself was circular was large glass windows located around it at regular intervals. Several large computer towers were scattered about the room and located next to these were small mobile tables with wheels. Each one contained various medical utensils, none of which actually appeared be clean. The walls of the room were stainless steel and once John saw what was smeared on them, he immediately recognized the unknown smell from earlier, it was blood.
"John…" A voice said from a darkened corner of the room. John quickly snapped his head over in that direction, waiting for whomever it was to emerge from the darkness. He did.
A middle aged male in a beige suit stepped out of the shadows. He was balding, with brownish gray hair, and a matching goatee, John wrinkled his brow slightly upon seeing the man who was now approaching him.
"Hello John…" The man said. John felt his anxiety increasing.
"How do you know my name?" He asked.
"I know a great deal about you John…For starters your name…John…Connor." John's eyes grew slightly larger as the male moved up alongside him.
"I'm very glad to meet you Mr. Connor…My name is Charles Fischer."
.
.
.
Alison felt her legs growing weak as she braced herself against the conference table.
"No…" she whispered quietly as her eyes widened slightly and began to glisten with tears.
"I'm sorry Alison…" Derek replied as he glanced down towards the ground. The make shift command center room was empty, save Alison and Derek and it quickly grew silent as the two stood motionless, neither one quiet sure what to say.
"How…" Alison's voice cracked as she struggled to keep from showing any emotion, "How long?" Derek sighed slightly before responding.
"Long enough to know it's not a delay." He paused and swallowed and then continued, "Long enough…" The room fell still again. The only sound came from the humming of a few laptop fans that were positioned around the room, and an ever so slight sniffling that came from Alison as she struggled to contain her feelings. She could only stare helplessly at the floor as the seconds drifted on. Then suddenly her facial expression changed from one of pain and sorrow to that of fear and anger. She quickly looked up at Derek, a tear now streaking down her cheek.
"It was him…" Alison stated, at first in a weak tone. Derek wrinkled his forehead confused for the moment.
"It was him…" Alison repeated. "John…John Connor." Derek's eyebrows perked up slightly with interest.
"He led them to him." Alison's voice became filled with an urgent hysteria. "He led Skynet to Martin!" Her voice cracked again under the near hysteria she now felt. Derek said nothing for the moment. Alison moved around the table closer to Derek.
"You know it's true…" She replied, "It makes perfect sense…it all does."
"But Martin trusted him…said John could be trusted." Derek argued.
"I know he did…" Alison replied the anxiety in her voice continuing to build. "Maybe Connor got to him, maybe he tricked Martin. Maybe John found out about the…" Alison immediately cut off her next statement, confusing Derek further.
"But Connor was on that helicopter too." Derek stated.
"We don't know that he's dead. Skynet could have rescued him. Hell, Skynet may have just killed him along with Martin." Alison took another step closer to Derek her eyes still filled with tears.
"Martin didn't believe me about Connor…Please…YOU have to…" Derek stood silently in the dimly lit room as Alison stared at him with pleading, tear filled eyes.
.
.
.
Savannah's body ached and her head throbbed. She found the rocky, debris scattered ground to be incredibly uncomfortable. Her consciousness gradually began to return to her and she found herself lying on her stomach. Forcing her eyes open she saw the burning crimson light of an early morning sun casting its light across the post apocalyptic wasteland that had once been a great city. Savannah slid her hands slowly in front of her and cautiously pushed herself up off the ground, dirt and debris falling from her clothing as she did so. Still shaken from the nearly fatal explosion that had knocked her unconscious, Savannah found that her thoughts were initially hard to come by. Shaking some of the confusion from her mind Savannah slowly looked around the area, examining the landscape that now surrounded her. Then suddenly something came to her.
"John…" She said at first in a whisper. Now quickly whipping her head around as she looked about the area, Savannah's search became slightly more frantic.
"John…" Savannah said in a slightly louder voice. Slowly standing to her feet she began to visually search the vicinity that lay before her, both for signs of life and for possibly threats.
Carefully moving through the rocky terrain, Savannah began to retrace her steps back towards the downed helicopter. Suddenly, she heard a noise and rapidly ducked behind a large concrete boulder for cover. She watched as a Skynet Aerial HK slowly passed by over her head, the loud jet engines blotting out any other sound that could have been heard in the immediate area. Once it had passed Savannah emerged from hiding and eventually resumed her trek back to the helicopter. While she was relatively certain what she would find upon reaching her destination Savannah pushed onward.
Now that she was not racing at a dead sprint fleeing from Skynet, it took slightly longer to reach the helicopter than it had to run from it. After the detonation of the massive Skynet explosive device Savannah could find little evidence of what might be recognizable as remains of a helicopter or human bodies for that matter. Standing at the center of a large crater she slowly panned her eyes over the area around here. Sadly, she found that there was nothing left, and no survivors that could be helped. Savannah momentarily closed her eyes as she struggled to maintain her composure as a torrent of emotions swept over her. Fighting them back she then began to move from her position and make her way south, towards her "home".