CHAPTER 16

The darkened hallways were lit only by the dim glow of a few flickering incandescent bulbs. Cold moisture, a clammy sensation that would chill any living thing to the bone filled the inside of these dismal tunnels. Huddled in small groups along the hallways were civilians desperately seeking warmth by whatever means possible. A few groups had fires going; others just clung to each other attempting to share their body heat. Distant coughing mixed with crying echoed in the darkness. A cloaked figure slowly walked down the bleak and winding corridors. The individual wore a tattered, faded, black trench coat with the hood pulled up over their head and a bag slung around their left shoulder. The hood made it difficult for anyone to see any recognizable characteristics in the person's face. Carefully moving past the huddled refugees the dark figure progressed deeper into the resistance's base.

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"How many viable locations have our scouts found?" Kyle asked as he leaned back in his chair rubbing his temple with his right hand.

"Viable?" Derek responded in a defeated tone as he pulled his jacket closed. He ignored the fact that it was still stained with some of John Connor's blood.

"None…Desperate enough to use, one or two maybe." There was a moment of silence as both Kyle and Derek quietly reflected upon the events confronting them inside their makeshift command and control center.

"What'd you think this kid's game plan is? What's Skynet's plan? We're long overdue for an attack." Kyle said finally breaking the silence.
"I don't know…" Derek responded, "But he is up to something, they're both up to something. I can feel it. There is something about him that's definitely not right." Kyle nodded his head.

"There would have to be something wrong with him, he's doing all this for the machines."

"Is it really that simple though?" Derek asked. "I never understood what would possess someone to turn to Skynet."

"Greys have been around for awhile now." Kyle added, "We know some people do it because they think it's the easiest way to survive, while others do it because they are…"

"…Evil" Derek finished Kyle's sentence.

"Yes…" Kyle responded in a lower, monotone voice.

"Which one do you think he is?" Kyle took a slow breath as he thought about Derek's question.

"I'm not sure…but something is driving him to do all of this. And it appears to be much more than just mere survival for him."

"Cameron?" Derek asked

"Whatever the hell it is, it's definitely there." Kyle responded.

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John's upper torso was limp and he leaned forward slightly as if there were no life in him. Had it not been for the restraints that secured his arms and legs to the chair he would have fallen forwards to the ground. His clothes were cut and torn. He could feel the sensation of sticky, dried blood caked onto a face that was also swollen from to the beating he had taken. He could still feel some of his blood running down his face and dripping off of his lips. John's clothes were stained with his blood and for the moment he stared aimlessly at the ground in front of him, his vision blurring in and out. He was unsure exactly how long he had been interrogated or how much time had passed since Derek and Kyle had left him due to his sporadic loss of consciousness. He suspected that it had been at least two hours. The incessant questioning had almost been worse than the beating he had taken. Although he possessed very little useful information, the precious knowledge he did have could not be shared for fear that it would only make a now horrible situation worse. John now assumed that the next time Derek and Kyle came for him they would surely kill him. He had indeed made the worst tactical decision of his life by coming back to this place. If he had been privy to more information about the events at hand he would have tried something very different. Maybe he would have stayed with Weaver, but possibly not. She was after all completely content to allow Cameron to die. But, it appeared that none of it mattered now both he and Cameron would soon be gone. He took a labored breath, feeling the pain in his rib cage as he inhaled.

There was a sound at the door, and John slowly exhaled preparing for the inevitable. He heard the door swing open. In his exhaustion and pain he did not even bother to look up to see who might be entering. One executioner was the same as any other. Several seconds of silence drifted on as he tried to prepare himself for the worst. Suddenly, John felt a soft hand cup itself around his face. This surprised him. He felt the gentle touch lift his head, and he panned his gaze upward.

"S-a-v-a-n-n-a-h…" John stated in a weak voice as he looked upon his friend.

"John…" Savannah Weaver responded as she leaned him back into the metal chair. Her tone was one of noticeable concern mixed with some anger.

"What did they do to you?" She asked as she dropped her bag to the ground and retrieved a rather large pocket knife from her back pocket after which she began cutting John's hands and legs free from their rope restraints. Once this task was completed Savannah's hands again returned to John's badly bruised face. Holding him tenderly she looked into his eyes, one of which was blackened and swollen.

"Are you okay?" She asked, "Can you move?" John moaned in pain before responding.

"I thought you were dead…" he said, his voice still weak.

"I thought the same thing about you." Savannah responded

"They think I killed Martin." John replied.

"I know."

"I didn't." he added.

I know…" The despair in Savannah's voice grew more obvious. "Can you walk?" She asked.

"I…I think so." Savannah helped John to his feet and then quickly retrieved a black cloak from the bag that was lying next to her on the ground. She placed it around John's shoulders and pulled the hood up over his head until his face was covered.

"We have to hurry." Savannah said as she wrapped her arm around John's waist and helped him over to the exit door, opening it for him. To John's surprise he noted that there were no guards standing watch. This slightly confused him, but due to his current state of mind, he did not pay it much attention.

John and Savannah moved quickly through the doorway and cautiously began to make their way down the dark tunnels.

"Did you tell them anything?" Savannah quietly asked.

"I didn't have anything to tell them." John responded, "Well nothing that would have made any sense." He added. As they hurried along Savannah kept her arm around John trying to support some of his weight.

As John and Savannah worked their way further and further out of the core of the resistance base the number of people milling about began to grow. At first there were only small groups scattered here and there, but as they neared the exit the groups grew in number and size. Savannah sensed her anxiety growing as she sought to hide John's identity from the increasing number of individuals that were wandering around them. And then the inevitable happened. Savannah saw a guard armed with a plasma rifle approaching them. She dropped her head slightly attempting to further obscure her face with her hood.

"Keep your head down." She whispered to John as they continued to walk onwards. John's eyes glanced downward. He was not armed and in his current state he doubted he would be able to disarm this particular individual using nothing more than his hands. Still he knew that something along those lines may soon become necessary. John continued to search his mind for ideas on what he should do if the worst were to happen.

As the guard passed by he glanced over at them briefly before continuing on. Savannah breathed a quick sign of relief, but it was a premature one. A few seconds went by before,

"Hey…" The guard called out as he turned around.

"Shit…" Savannah said under her breath. "Keep walking." The pair picked up their pace slightly as the guard began to walk after them.

"Hey!" The soldier yelled as he increased the speed of his pursuit.

"Hey!" The guard shouted again, "I'm talking to you." Savannah and John immediately stopped dead in their tracks in the center of the corridor. The soldier walked up behind them carelessly pointing the barrel of his rifle towards the ground. That was a mistake.

"Lemme see your faces." He demanded. Neither John nor Savannah moved. "I said; let me see your faces." The guard spoke in a more annoyed tone as he moved a bit closer.

Savannah quickly spun around pulling her hood off of her head revealing her face. At the same time she reached inside of her trench coat and drew her Smith and Wesson M&P .45. Before the guard could react she pointed her weapon at his head.

"Holy…" The guard's words were cut off the moment Savannah pulled the trigger. His head jerked back as blood splattered everywhere. His body went limp and collapsed to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Almost immediately there were shrieks and screams of fear as civilians began to scatter in every direction.

Savannah quickly moved to retrieve the downed soldier's plasma rifle. After doing so she turned and hurried back toward John.

"Run!" She yelled as she grabbed him by the hand and pulled him along. Savannah's gunshot had transformed the hallways into a mass of confusion. Civilians mixed with soldiers as each tried to figure out exactly what was happening.

Coming around a corner, John at last saw the exit, a simple concrete stair case that would presumably lead to the surface. However, it was guarded by two soldiers. But in the all the confusion they had not yet noticed John and Savannah approaching their position. Savannah raised her plasma rifle and squeezed the trigger. A plasma bolt streaked down the hallway and struck the first guard in the chest knocking him back against the wall before he slid down it. The second guard immediately opened fire.

Savannah and John ducked into an adjoining corridor for cover and Savannah fired back at the remaining guard. As this was occurring John glanced back down the hallway behind them. To his surprise he saw someone he immediately recognized. The Asian male soldier that had first found him, the one that had helped Derek and Kyle torture him. He was now running down the hall towards them. Due to the distance in the dim corridor the soldier had not yet recognized John and Savannah, but it would only be moments before he did.

John reached around the right side of Savannah's body and pulled back her trench coat and drew her sidearm from her thigh holster. He quickly turned down the hallway and away from Savannah and aimed his weapon at the soldier who had now grown close enough to recognize him. The soldier was the first to fire. The plasma round streaked by John's head. It was so close that he could actually smell the sulfuric scent the plasma bolt produced. John responded by squeezing the trigger to his firearm. The first round struck the soldier in the right shoulder pushing him off balance, but not knocking him down. John immediately fired a second round this time hitting the Asian male in the upper chest. The man lurched backwards and fell to the ground, dropping his rifle as he did so.

Unbeknownst to Savannah, John slowly and deliberately moved away from her over towards the now fallen solder. As he moved through the crowd of fleeing civilians that were running in every direction around him, John's battered face took on a dark and sinister complexion. When he reached his target, John found that the soldier was still attempting to reach for his plasma rifle which was located beside him. The soldier's fingers were just about to grasp the pistol grip when John stepped on his hand with his boot producing a sharp cracking sound as he applied pressure. The soldier grimaced in pain and fear as John raised his gun towards the man's head. John paused momentarily before he felt all of the anger and hatred that had been accumulating in the past hours manifest itself inside of him. All that he had been through, all that Kyle and Derek and this faction had done to him seemed to burst forth. John squeezed the trigger to his firearm. The soldier's head snapped back from the impact of the bullet striking his head and his blood spattered across John's face. The soldier's body went limp. For the next few seconds John stood quietly over the dead body just looking at it, examining it with an almost clinical detachment.

"John!" Savannah shouted, but John did not respond, he stood perfectly still just staring down at the man he had killed.

"John!" she shouted again this time breaking him from his trance.

"Let's go!" John quickly retrieved the soldier's plasma rifle and moved away from the body and over to Savannah who was now rounding the corner after dispensing with the guard that had remained at the exit.

As they reached the exit staircase a plasma round sudden streaked over Savannah's shoulder. It struck the concrete wall next to her producing a minor explosion and leaving a small crater in the wall. John turned and saw several more soldiers running towards their position. He started to raise his plasma rifle to return fire, but before he could he was grabbed by Savannah.

"Go!" she yelled as she pushed John up the stairs as they began their race towards the surface. As the pair made their rapid ascent Savannah retrieved a hand held radio from her belt.

"East side entrance!" she shouted into it before sliding it back onto her belt. She then produced a grenade from her pocket. Pulling the pin she tossed the explosive back down the stairs.

"Run!" She yelled as she and John burst through a doorway and onto what was the ground floor of a burned out building. A split second later the grenade detonated. The force of the explosion knocked both of them to the ground. John moaned in pain at the moment of impact against the hard concrete surface. Lying motionless he did not immediately attempt to rise. Savannah scrambled to her feet and grabbed him by the arm.

"Get up John…You have to get up!" She yelled as she dragged him to his feet.

Moving through an open door in the building they made their way out into the cold night air. Moments later John heard the roar of a vehicle engine and saw a dark colored Chevrolet Avalanche pull around the debris of a collapsed building before sliding to a stop in front of them.

"That's our ride." Savannah said as she pushed John over to the beat up SUV. Savannah opened the rear passenger door, John nearly jumped back in amazement. Seated behind the wheel of the Avalanche was Sergeant Matthew Spears. John's eyes widened slightly with surprise upon seeing him seated there.

"It's okay John..." Savannah stated, "…he's with us." Still in somewhat of a state of shock John climbed into the back passenger area of the SUV, followed closely by Savannah. Once the door of the vehicle was closed Spears immediately accelerated and the SUV sped away into the night.

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Authors Notes: Review! Review!