CHAPTER 17

The Chevy Avalanche rocked back and forth as it bounced across the rocky terrain. The roadway was dark, and the vehicle ran with its headlights off so as to better hide itself amongst the ruins of the city. It had been nearly 30 minutes since John's escape from the Reese faction and in that entire time no one inside the cabin of the SUV had uttered a word. In silence they drove quietly along.

The seats creaked as the Avalanche struck another pothole and was jostled from the impact. Everyone in the vehicle was jerked slightly to one side upon the impact. Still no one spoke. The interior of the vehicle remained strangely quiet. Only the droning sound of vehicle noise was audible until Savannah at last broke the silence.

"Are you…Are you okay?" she asked as she looked over at John, who did not immediately respond. Instead, he stared out of the left side rear passenger window, a blank expression on his face. Another few seconds drifted by before Savannah tried again.

"John…" She said, "Are you okay?" Her question was again met by several more seconds of silence before John finally responded.

"What the hell is going on here Savannah?" he asked not bothering to look over at her, still staring out the window with the same lifeless expression. Savannah gave John a puzzled look.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"I thought you were dead?" he added. Then without pause he followed quickly with, "How did you know I was there? How did you know they were…" John's voice trailed off. Savannah took a short breath before answering.

"Shortly after you returned to the Reese Faction, Sergeant Spears made contact with me and informed me of the situation."

"Why?" John asked a deadpan expression still on his face and a complete absence of any emotion in his voice.

"Why did he do that?"

"Sergeant Spears has always worked for us. He has consistently reported on numerous situations within the Reese Faction." Savannah glanced at Spears as she replied and then back over at John who sighed slightly.

"I thought they were your allies?" John's voice continued to lack any feeling, or even genuine curiosity. It was flat with an almost eerie numbness to it. Savannah flicked her eyes down momentarily and then back up at John.

"Just because someone is your friend doesn't mean you trust them in all things John." Silence returned to the cabin briefly before Savannah continued.

"If I had not done all that I did, you, I, or both of us would be dead." There was another pause before she continued.

"This world is very different…different from anything you have ever been told about." There was a remorseful tone in Savannah's voice as she spoke.

"What do you mean?" John demanded. Savannah sighed and shook her head slightly.

"It wasn't supposed to be like this. It wasn't supposed to be anything like this; it was not supposed to happen this way. You...you were supposed to unite the factions. I think that's what is unique about you, John. You're some sort of Nexus. When you do something, everyone tends to follow your lead." John failed to respond except to continue to stare out the window of the SUV as they drove on.

"We can not win…" Savannah said as the despair in her tone grew, "…we won't win. And humanity doesn't have much time left. Bedell estimated a year maybe, two tops. This world is lost John. When you left, you took our only chance of survival with you. And even though you are here now, it is too late for us." Silence encompassed the passenger area for a brief moment.

"There was chaos after Judgment Day." Savannah stated breaking the still. "Almost no one knew what was going on or what exactly had happened. At first everyone tried to blame each other. There were many different theories flying around. Some thought it had been a terrorist strike; however it quickly became obvious that no terrorist organization had the resources to carry out something like world wide thermonuclear war, so the blame shifted to the world powers. What was left of America and the western world blamed the Middle East, Russia, North Korea, or China. Those countries blamed the US, and England. No one really knew who did it. And in all those ensuing arguments and battles between what was left of those governments Skynet gained the perfect opportunity to secretly build up its forces. By the time anyone was able to figure out what had actually happened it was already too late." Savannah shifted uncomfortably in her seat before continuing.

"I was just barely a teenager then and…" She hesitated. "I had no one. With Mr. Ellison gone, I had no one. But I saw what was coming."

John continued to gaze out of the window of the vehicle, still not looking back over at Savannah.

"At first whatever remained of each country's military tried to band together to fight Skynet, but with command and control broken down it was difficult to keep the lines of communication open between all of them. As the situation grew worse factions began to break off. Eventually, the entire system virtually collapsed and it created what you see today. Each faction seems to think its own way is the best and while we do work together from time to time, especially when it comes to fighting Skynet nothing is coordinated. Alliances between factions come and go, and we continue to fight amongst ourselves."

"Why?" John asked to which Savannah shrugged.

"Why does any country go to war against another? Resources, land, power, control, revenge...after awhile, it all becomes the same. And like I said, we don't have much time left." Savannah took a long look at John.

"Nothing here is what it was supposed to be. Everything has changed because you left." John still did not show any emotion. There was another brief pause before a suspicious look gradually made its way across John's face.

"How…How did you survive after Judgment Day?" John asked. Savannah eyes shifted around the passenger area of the vehicle.

"What…What do you mean?" She asked stuttering, nervousness encroaching on her.

"You said you were just barely a teenager after Judgment Day. How does a teenager with no help from anyone survive in a shattered world?" Savannah was becoming visibly uncomfortable with this line of questioning.

"How could you leave us?" She said quietly in an almost accusatory tone.

Finally, breaking his gaze away from the outside John turned his battered face back towards Savannah.

"How did you survive?" He asked in a slow, low tone. A visible look of fear began to make its way into Savannah's eyes. This was a departure from her previously cold and callus demeanor. Savannah hesitated briefly and now seemed unable to look at John.

"It's complicated…" she responded.

"How?" John asked again.

"I told you, it's complicated..."

"Savannah!" John barked in an angry voice. Savannah nearly jumped out of her seat, and Spears's head momentarily whipped around to look at both of the individuals seated behind him.

"Danny alright!" Savannah finally shouted back. "Danny Dyson..." Her voice grew quieter and John looked at her with a curious gaze.

"I told you…" she said, "After he killed Mr. Ellison he came and found me." Savannah was becoming visibly shaken.

"He wanted me…" Savannah balked, "both he and Skynet wanted me because of who I was." Savannah's eyes began to grow glassy as tears filled them.

"I was taken to a Skynet base where the first Greys were located."

"The first Greys?" John asked.
"Danny, Charles Fischer, a few others. Over time their numbers would grow." Savannah swallowed before continuing.

"They did things to me…trained me. It's where I learned how to be a pilot, it's where I learned how to…" Savannah cut herself off in mid sentence.

"So you were a Grey?" John asked point blank.

"I was a kid!…" Savannah shot back. "I was a scared kid trying to survive." Her voice grew a little quieter.

"I didn't have a choice. They never gave me a choice. Danny NEVER gave me a choice." Savannah's voice trailed off. John wrinkled his brow slightly.

"How did you escape?" he asked, "How did you end up with Martin." Savannah repositioned herself in her seat again, still visibly uncomfortable.

"It was several years after Judgment Day. I was…" Savannah paused thinking momentarily, "…16. I was assigned to a small interrogation facility. I was supposed to observe, to learn. They were training me to eventually become one of their own human interrogators. Skynet has found that they are quite effective given the correct set of circumstances." John fought to hide his own uneasy facial response at the mention of this.

"Skynet had captured a soldier and an Infiltrator was interrogating him…torturing him. I had to watch." Savannah voice grew quieter.

"At the time we didn't know, but Martin was planning an attack. After the battle Martin found me hiding in what was left of the Skynet base. Several of his soldiers wanted to kill me, said I was nothing but a Grey." Sadness continued to grow in Savannah's voice. "I don't know why he didn't." She then added.

"I guess he saw something in me worth saving…" Savannah glanced back down at the floor of the vehicle as she spoke.

"He brought me back to his faction and I've been with him ever since." Savannah paused, "Right up until the time he was killed." Savannah looked away from John and back out her window. An uncomfortable silence fell over the passenger area yet again. Finally, John spoke,

"I'm sorry…" He said in a melancholy voice.

"Damn you John…" Savannah quickly responded her voice quaking with emotion. "Damn you for making me tell you all that." The Chevy Avalanche drove on into the night. The occupants of the vehicle no longer speaking as they made their way further along their journey.

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