Author's Notes: The final 3 chapters of this story will by far be the most shocking, however I had to split them up because to combine everything into 1 or 2 chapters would have simply been far to long. I will compensate for the "shock" value by posting these final 3 chapters in a much more rapid succession (instead of waiting my normal 2 weeks I will only be waiting a few days). Due to the content I only ask that you stick this through till the end and I believe you will not be disappointed.
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Chapter 31
The top section of the Centurion HK exploded into a massive spark filled orange and red fireball after being struck by a Javelin anti-tank missile. Its legs immediately buckled under their own weight and the HK came crashing to the ground. A large dust cloud erupted around the massive Skynet creature as it smashed into the ground creating a deep rumbling sound throughout the entire area.
After watching the Centurion HK collapse, Lance Corporal Sharman and three other resistance soldiers ducked back into the large crater where they had been hiding. It was just before dawn and the sun's light had barely begun to illuminate the area around the enormous Skynet base. Night vision would be useless while unenhanced vision would also be obscured. For once humans actually had the advantage, at least when it came to a visual acuity.
While Sharman and the rest of his squad remained concealed the huge plasma cannons located on top of the perimeter walls around the Skynet base began to fire randomly out into the distance; large explosions immediately began to light up the surrounding area. Suddenly, there was loud pop and a second Javelin was fired just yards away from Sharman's group. A split second later the missile's primary booster rocket ignited and it streaked through the air before descending on one of the plasma cannons atop the defensive wall. It instantly exploded into a large fireball. Bits and pieces of debris rained down on the area surrounding it. Spotlights burst to life and began to sweep the perimeter as the remaining two Centurion HK's moved away from the base in search of targets. There would not be many, but enough for the initial distraction. At this same time the massive front entrance doors to the Skynet encampment slowly swung open allowing bare metal T-888's and ground HK's to pour out onto the battle field.
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Cameron and John walked at a deliberately even pace through the brightly lit hallway headed for the elevator which would have taken them to Fischer's command center. They avoided any sign of a particular rush to minimize the attention that might be drawn to them. They hoped that Skynet was already diverting its "attention" to the resistance's assault and that some minor inconsistencies with their behavior would at least for the time being go unnoticed.
"We must hurry, the attack has already begun." Cameron said quietly to John as they progressed further down the hallway.
"I know..." he responded in an equally subdued voice. Rounding a corner they came to the hallway which would have taken them directly to the elevator. Before they reached the entrance, however, Cameron and John moved through a small side door and into an adjacent room.
The out of the way, barely monitored, and dimly lit interior space was small and unassuming. It was an area mainly used to house circuit boards, fuses, and for maintenance upkeep, nothing to terribly important. John estimated that the room had to only be about 8x12 feet in size. Gray circuit boxes were positioned all along the walls and in the center of the room was a rectangular shaped column with a computer display located on one side. Below it was a touch panel display along with what appeared to be both USB and serial port jacks.
"In there." Cameron stated as she tilted her head towards one of the serial ports. John nodded in response as Cameron sat down next to the center support column and rested her back against the metal. She then slowly lifted her eyes to look at him.
"John..." She said, her voice resonating with a hint of sadness. "It is time..." Retrieving a knife from his pocket John knelt down to the right of Cameron. A clicking sound bounced off the metal interior walls as he unfolded the blade and it locked into place. Other than that initial noise there was absolutely no sound inside the room, no computer fans humming, no sound of air conditioning, nothing at all except the sound of John's breathing and heart beat which was growing more rapid by the second.
John slowly brushed back Cameron's brown hair with his left hand as his right hand brought the knife closer. As it approached her head he hesitated briefly and Cameron's brown eyes darted upwards to look at him.
"John..." she said in a now weaker voice. John pushed his knife forward and began to cut into the skin of Cameron's scalp. He cringed when he saw the blood begin to trickle down the side of her face from the wound he was inflicting upon her. An eternity seemed to pass for John as he cut a crescent shaped incision into Cameron's head. Once the act was finally completed he slowly slid the skin back exposing her chip port cover. John's breathing and the thumping of his heart were still the only things that could be heard inside the room. With his knife he slowly pried the chip port cover open exposing Cameron's chip. His hands were shaking now and he struggled to fight back his feelings as his left hand reached for Cameron's chip. When his fingers were just inches from it he suddenly froze, a visible look of horror upon his face. Cameron's brown eyes continued to gaze at him.
"John..." she said again. "We have to hurry."
"I can't..." He replied in a hoarse voice.
"The resistance does not have much time..." she said and then added, "...We do not have much time." Cameron watched as John's hand gradually began to move away from her chip.
"There has to be another way." He said.
"There is not." Cameron answered her voice growing more desperate. The subtle undertones of her emotions were rapidly beginning to disappear.
"I can't lose you...not again, not like this." he whispered.
"You must do this...it is the only way." John moved his hand even further away from Cameron's chip port. It appeared he was now completely committed to his actions.
"John please!" Cameron cried out. John nearly jumped, he was so startled by Cameron's unexpectedly emotional plea. Looking into her eyes he could see tears beginning to form in them. Not since she had begged for her life while trapped between the two trucks had John seen such a visible display of feelings on Cameron's part. John gazed into her sad eyes for several seconds before finally surrendering to the inevitable reality that was before him. Gritting his teeth he moved his hand back to her chip and grasped it with his fingers. He began to pull. A split second before her chip broke free Cameron managed to utter one last statement.
"I love you..." she whispered. There was a "click" as John extracted the chip. Her eyes flashed blue behind her brown irises and her body went limp. John felt a sickening feeling roll over him as he stared down at Cameron's lifeless body. His body and hands were shaking and he felt as if he could not move from his position. His vision was becoming blurred as his own tears obstructed his eyesight. For the moment he remained in his frozen position over Cameron, he could neither move nor speak. He could only kneel silently on the floor next to her limp body.
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Using their crablike legs the two remaining Centurion HK's moved quickly across the dimly lit terrain spraying the battlefield with plasma cannon fire. Coming rapidly up behind them were the regular tread driven Ground HK's and numerous T-888's. Several SUV's, Pickup Trucks, and a small handful of Humvees which had been outfitted with heavy machine guns darted quickly across the battlefield, constantly firing at the much more heavily armored and well equipped Skynet units. The resistance had few if any armored vehicles that could stand toe to toe against the much better protected Skynet machines. Whenever one of the Centurion or Ground HK's weapons managed to find their mark these thin skinned resistance vehicles were obliterated almost instantly.
The Aerial HK's which had been launched early on in the battle were making quick work of the few Blackhawks and "Little Birds" that had been assigned to provide air cover for the first wave of the assault. Ground units scurried about the area each one trying to find a different position where they could find cover and still manage to mount some sort of offensive. Even though the sun had yet to rise completely its illumination was already being hindered by the thick clouds of smoke and debris that were now mixing with the smell of burnt flesh, sulfur, and gunpowder that hung in the air. While the Bedell Faction did have weapons such as the Javelin anti-tank and Stinger missiles that were strong enough to damage the Skynet forces, the casualties that the resistance were taking far outweighed any amount of damage they had been able to inflict upon Skynet. It would only be a short amount of time before the first wave was completely overrun.
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The Blackhawk Helicopter jolted to one side from the air turbulence and Savannah felt her body pushed into Livie's who was seated next to her. She stared out the helicopter's window. In the distance she could see the brightly colored streaks of plasma fire and the occasional explosions from the far off battle. Savannah felt and unsettling sense of guilt as she watched the distant combat rage. She almost found a certain beauty in this abhorrent scene. The dark smoky plumes, mixed with the brilliant purple and blue flashes of plasma bolts, accented by the bright explosions and the soon to be orange and red morning sunlight. She was almost drawn to it, though she never fully understood why. Death and destruction were certainly not things that she enjoyed or even wanted to take part in, yet for an unknown reason Savannah garnered some sort of odd peace from the situation. She knew not whether the serene calm came from the knowledge that this would indeed be her last battle, or because that one way or the other she would be leaving this horrifying place behind.
This heinous and debased existence was all that Savannah had ever known; she had grown up in a life inundated by death, twisted sexual affairs, and steeped in extreme loneliness and abandonment. Although she had from time to time managed to temporarily elude the worst parts of her life through different avenues of escape such as sex, drugs, alcohol, or any combination of the three; these were just temporary distractions. The relief was always short lived and the harsh reality of her life had always come screaming back to her with even more ferocity each time she managed to momentarily free herself from it. Yet, there was a damaged part of Savannah that seemed to revel in all of this chaos and despair. The excitement, the intrigue, and the pure rush of adrenalin from whatever the uncontrollable situation might be. This warped side of Savannah had cost her dearly on quite a few occasions. She had tried to bury that twisted part of her psyche but she had never truly been able to rid herself of it. Her dark proclivities haunted her constantly.
The Blackhawk jostled to one side again, and Savannah was shaken out of her daze. She immediately noticed that the skyline was growing brighter. If all went as planned the sun would be rising just to the rear of the Blackhawks as they made their final approach. Hopefully this would further impede the enemy's optics. Savannah could hear the cross communications and the screams which were being broadcast over the resistance's radios as the attack force grew closer to the Skynet base of operations. However, there was little anyone could do at this point until John was able to download John Henry into Skynet's mainframe. It was only after Skynet's operations had been disrupted that the second wave of the attack would be dispatched. Savannah knew that the sad reality was that if John failed in his mission the resistance would be forced to abandon any support of the first wave; allowing them to be completely wiped out. The Blackhawk Helicopter continued its slow approach of the distant battle and everyone waited quietly for what was to come next.
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There was a quiet beep which signaled the completion of the download and John carefully removed Cameron's chip from the serial port. He briefly watched the small screen in front of him which for the moment only displayed mathematical formulas. The figures moved across the screen so quickly John was unable to make out any type of discernible detail about them. After removing Cameron's chip John watched as the display flickered a few times and then went back to what appeared to be its "normal" operation. Quickly moving his attention back to Cameron, John knelt down next to her and prepared to replace her chip. His hands were still shaking almost uncontrollably as he placed the chip back into its port. He heard another "click" as he carefully locked it back into place; he then replaced the chip port cover. John carefully moved Cameron's scalp back over the port and smoothed out her soft brown hair. He then began his excruciating wait. It was his understanding that if her programming had not been damaged she would automatically restart as if nothing had happened. John held his breath as he stared into Cameron's lifeless eyes...waiting.
As the seconds drifted by John's anxiety grew worse and he felt the nauseating feeling growing within the pit of his stomach. His whole body tensed in response to the sheer terror of the idea of losing Cameron again. His emotions began to take hold of him. He wondered if this was his destined punishment for all that he had done? While he readily accepted that he deserved whatever condemnation that might be imparted onto him, Cameron herself deserved none of it. John clenched down hard on his jaw as time continued to drift by. While it had only been a few moments since Cameron's chip had been placed back, it felt as if it had already been an eternity. John continued his wait and still nothing happened. Panic was now setting in as he gazed into Cameron's lifeless eyes; they remain unmoved. John asked himself the simple question that if she did not wake up would there even be a point in him leaving? By this time he had concluded that death was a more desirable option than a life without her. Tears were making their way back into his eyes and his breathing was becoming more rapid and shallow as the inescapable reality began to set in.
"Please..." John whispered aloud. There was no response, just the still and quiet solitude of his own broken soul. He felt all the strength draining out of him as he nearly collapsed next to Cameron, resting his back up against the central pillar. As his heartache consumed him, he allowed his head to fall backwards and it collided with the steel support producing a slight clank.
"Please not to her..." he whispered.
"John..." a weak voice said breaking the silence of the room. John's head immediately snapped over to look at Cameron. He was met by her own brown eyed gaze. Quickly turning to face her, John was now crouched on both knees next to her.
"You're alive..." He managed gasp out in a hoarse voice. Glancing around the room briefly Cameron's eyes again returned to look into John's.
"It would appear so." she responded in a very matter of fact way. John laughed for the first time in longer than he could remember.
"You're alive." he said again as he brought his hands up and cupped them around Cameron's face. Before she could respond to his statement John moved in closer to her and pressed his lips against hers.
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The doors to the small maintenance room opened and John and Cameron immediately stepped out into the hallway.
"How soon will we know?" John asked as they walked in the opposite direction from where they had just been.
"Unknown..." Cameron responded as she picked up her pace so she could lead the way in front of him.
"I am not even certain if John Henry was able to fully download into the Skynet mainframe." John gave her a puzzled look and was about to speak again as they rounded a corner, but suddenly Cameron came to an abrupt stop. Her impromptu halt was so immediately that John nearly ran into the back of her.
"Oh good you two are here." Charles Fischer stated as he momentarily stopped in front of them. He was still flanked on both sides by two bare metal T-888's. They both appeared to be looking intently at John and Cameron as they stood silent and at the ready.
"I'm sure you've heard by this point that the resistance is mounting an ill fated assault on this facility?"
"We are aware." Cameron stated with no discernible emotion in her voice, "That is the reason we had come looking for you."
"How convenient..." Fischer immediately responded in a somewhat cryptic tone. While he showed no visible sign of distrust John still wondered if he suspected something.
"Please join me..." Fischer said as he waited for John and Cameron to both turn and walk back towards the Grey CNC's elevator. He and his Terminator escorts followed closely behind them.
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The double doors to the elevator opened; John and Cameron followed by Fischer and his Terminators guards walked into the room. It was sparsely occupied with only a few other Greys and doozers walking about the area. John assumed that due to the attack most of the humans had been relegated to assisting with menial tasks within the base itself. Fischer proceeded down the small set of metal stars at the center of the room and over to the touch screen display table. John and Cameron followed after him. The monitors which hung down from the ceiling and encircled the center of the room all showed images of the ongoing battle that was raging outside. A large computer generated map of the Skynet base and the surrounding area was shown on the touch screen display table in front of Fischer, John, and Cameron. Different icons of blue and red triangles dotted the map. They signified human troop or Skynet machine movements. John quickly ascertained that the resistance attack was not going well at all.
"As you can see John, Skynet has things well in hand." Fischer said in a smug tone as he pointed to the display. John only nodded in response, his eyes then quickly moved over to Cameron searching for some clue that she might give him as to the "whereabouts" of John Henry. Knowing nothing more than he knew, Cameron could only look back into his eyes.
Fischer touched the glass surface of the table. As he did this he "slid" the computer displayed map to one side. John was now able to see quite a few more blue triangular icons positioned just outside of what would have been the main viewing area of the map itself.
"It appears that this initial attack is only a diversionary attempt on the resistance's part to distract us from a much larger attack force." John felt his heart rate increasing. If John Henry's download had not been successful it would only be a short time before Skynet was able to completely encircle and then wipe out the Bedell Faction's army. Fischer produced another arrogant smile and continued with his smug tone,
"This should all be over relatively quickly." he said.
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The battle taking place just outside of the Skynet walls was not going well at all. Led by the two Centurion HK's the ground HK's, Aerial HK's, and T-888's were easily pushing the first wave of the resistance soldiers back and it would only be a matter of minutes before they were forced into a full retreat. Human bodies mixed with destroyed Terminators littered the hilly, debris strewn battlefield. The sun was just beginning to rise, but most of its light was being blocked out by the dark smoke clouds that hung in the air; the most brilliant displays of illumination still came from plasma fire and explosions. The ground HK's were sidling up next to the Centurion HK's forming a complete line so as to more effectively push back the resistance. The Bedell Faction's soldiers were being forced to flee all of their locations to avoid being immediately killed by the advancing forces.
Lance Corporal Sharman and the two remaining resistance soldiers from his squad hunkered down in a crater watching the unstoppable force coming towards them. His group only had one Javelin missile left, and it almost seemed pointless to waste it unless it became absolutely necessary to do so. The unstoppable Skynet hordes grew closer to Sharman and his team as they could only watch as their fellow soldiers were so easily cut down.
Then suddenly, something strange happened. Sharman watched as one of the Ground HK's that made up the Skynet line came to an abrupt halt. As the other Skynet units pushed forwards they left it behind. The Ground HK sat unmoved for several seconds until both of its plasma cannons rapidly turned towards another Ground HK located at a diagonal direction to it and fired. The still moving Skynet HK burst into a large explosion of sparks and fire. Before any of the other machines could respond the Ground HK turned its destructive fire on another HK. However, before it was able to move on to a third unit one of the Centurion HK's torso section quickly rotated around and opened fire; the "defective" unit was immediately destroyed. But soon something else strange happened, several more ground HK's stopped along with several T-888's. While the majority of the immobile units remained motionless some, like the first Ground HK actually began to turn on their Skynet counterparts. This unusual behavior began to spread rapidly across the battlefield with some machines completely going offline while others continued to turn on one another. Atop of the massive wall which surrounded the Skynet base one of the huge plasma cannons rotated around and fired on one of the adjoining turrets, destroying several before it was destroyed by another plasma cannon.
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Fischer stared down at the display in front of him, the look of arrogance had at first faded into a look of suspicion and was now contorted into total confusion. His face was marked with a permanent scowl as he looked down upon the computer generated map. He then quickly glanced up at the monitors and at the now rapidly turning tide of the battle. Intermittent static began to augment the screens around the Grey CNC and the images themselves began to become choppy, almost as if they were unable to receive a full signal.
Suddenly, there was a loud clank of what sounded like metal on metal and the entire room was plunged into darkness.
"What the hell?" Fischer said aloud. Almost as fast as the lights had gone off they immediately came back on. John and Cameron watched silently as Fischer worked furiously away on the touch screen display in front of him opening up numerous different windows and files as he attempted to diagnose the "problem".
"What the fuck is going on?" he said in an exasperated tone. The images displayed on the monitors were becoming more and more intermittent, but from what John was able to see Skynet was now having severe difficulty controlling a portion of its machines. While not all of the units had gone off line, or had actually turned against Skynet, there had been enough to throw the entire Skynet defense force into a state of confusion. Further compounding the issue, John watched as the second wave of the Bedell faction began to move onto the battlefield.
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One of the steel legs of the Centurion HK exploded sending shards of metal shrapnel in every direction, instantly killing a few resistance soldiers. The massive four legged machine stumbled and attempted to right itself on its remaining three legs as one of five Harriers quickly streaked overhead. The Bedell Faction's second wave was rapidly making its way onto the battleground and due to the ensuing confusion was actually making some headway. With more significant resistance air support the Aerial HK's, half of which had already been brought down by John Henry's incursion, found themselves fully engulfed in an air battle with Harriers, Blackhawks, and "Little Birds". While they were still better equipped for aerial combat than helicopters, it was apparent that the confusion that Skynet was now suffering from had appreciably impaired their abilities.
The Centurion HK's were a different story entirely. Able to function without communication and operate independently from Skynet the two remaining units had managed to sever their wireless connection before John Henry was able to inflict any type of harm upon them. With their ability to wirelessly seize control of other Skynet units the Centurion HK's were quickly working to bring their disabled machines brothers back online.
Lance Corporal Sharman squeezed the trigger to his Javelin Missile Launcher and heard the pop as the projectile was first ejected from the missile tube. An instant later the rocket's main engine ignited and Sharman saw the missile soar up into the air and then it quickly came streaking back down onto the top of the three legged Centurion HK. The entire top portion of the HK's torso exploded and moments later it crashed over onto its side. When this occurred Sharman observed several other Skynet Units released from its control. A few Ground HK's immediately came to a stop while several T-888's collapsed.
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Cameron cautiously inched her way closer to John. When she was near enough for it to escape notice she reached over and ever so carefully touched his hand with her own. Anyone who might have been watching could have easily mistaken this for an "accidental" touch and with Fischer now completely absorbed in his attempt to determine what was happening outside there was little chance of him noticing. However, the moment she touched John his eyes immediately looked over at her. Making a slight motion with her head Cameron signaled to him that it was past the time for them to attempt an escape. It was now extremely apparent that John Henry had thrown the entire battle into a state of chaos. John carefully began to move away from the table.
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A flaming Harrier Jet spun wildly out of control and came crashing to the ground in a fiery explosion just as the last Centurion HK came crumbling to the earth's surface after being struck by a Maverick anti-tank missile from one of the few remaining fighters. While there was still a formidable amount of Skynet units still functioning on the battlefield enough machines had been disabled or confused that the resistance now had a chance to begin their assault on the actual Skynet base itself.
The sun continued to rise over the battlefield. Its light produced a beautiful orange and red aura to the rear of the Blackhawk Helicopters as they flew closer to Skynet's perimeter walls. Over the noise of the helicopter blades and crosstalk on the radio Savannah heard the deep resonating sounds of anti aircraft shells exploding around the helicopter as they flew ever closer to the landing point. The aircraft shuddered violently and its frame groaned as each detonation grew closer. Compounding the turbulence was the changing temperature of the air as both the sun and fire from explosions began to push away the cooler night air.
Suddenly, the Blackhawk was rocked to one side as another helicopter nearby exploded after being struck by one of Skynet's many ground based weapons. Savannah could hear several alarms going off inside the cockpit behind her. Due to her pilot training she found herself quickly trying to deduce which each alarm meant. She found it was extremely difficult for her to not be in control of the aircraft in which she flew. The Blackhawk shook again as another anti-aircraft round exploded nearby; immediately after the explosion one of the windows on the starboard side of the aircraft cracked in several places producing a spider web like pattern on the window itself. Everyone inside of the helicopter jumped when this occurred. Looking out the window it was easy to see that the sky was dotted with large black clouds, a byproduct of the anti-aircraft shells.
As the Blackhawks grew closer to the Skynet base Savannah felt the helicopter begin to drop every so often as it collided with small cold air pockets which had become trapped in the atmosphere. This turbulence caused momentary feelings of weightlessness, and was quite disturbing, but completely unavoidable given the circumstances. Savannah looked out the window and saw that several helicopters which would have been involved in the final assault had already been shot down. While John Henry had managed to greatly hinder Skynet, this would still not be an easy fight. The Blackhawk began to yaw to the left as the attack group began their final approach.
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John continued to edge his way away from the display table. As he did so, Cameron slowly made her way in front of him placing herself between him and Fischer and his Terminator body guards. For the moment Fischer was completely distracted by his work, however, given the layout of the room John and Cameron were eventually going to be forced to make an all out run for the door. John hoped that somehow John Henry would be able to help them with this feat, if not they would surely be doomed. He also took note that most of the Greys that had been inside the room had left, presumably going to other locations in an attempt to try and "fix" the problems that were occurring, or possibly just to flee the scene.
John was several feet away from the table located at the center of the room when he saw Fischer suddenly freeze as he stared down at the display screen in front of him. Fischer then slowly looked up at John,
"You..." he said in a low voice. After a several second pause he spoke again, "YOU did this..." Before either John or Cameron could move both of the Terminators located on either side of Fischer quickly raised their plasma rifles. One pointed its rifle at John while the other pointed its rifle at Cameron. The absolute fury on Charles Fischer's face was one of pure evil. He raised his upper body away from the touch screen display where he had been hunched over just moments before.
"Did you really think you would get away with this?" he asked as his eyes focused on John who was now staring back at him with a steely determination.
"Not sure..." he responded, "...thought I might though." Just to further infuriate Fischer, John was sure to insert a noticeable amount of arrogance into his tone.
"You could have had everything." Fischer said angrily, "Anything you could have ever wanted or desired Skynet would have given to you if you had just cooperated." John's eyes were narrowing with hatred as he glared at Fischer.
"I only wanted one thing..." John growled as he fought the urge to glance over at Cameron. He secretly hoped that while Fischer was distracted with him that she would flee. He knew, however, that she would not do that. The sad but inescapable truth was that Cameron would never leave his side. They would both die here...together.
"You'll pay for your treachery..." Fischer snarled.
"If you're going to kill me..." John said as he continued staring hatefully at Fischer, "...then shut up and kill me." Suddenly, and in a perplexing display of emotion Fischer began to laugh. Both John and Cameron gave him a confused look. As the seconds ticked by Fischer's maniacal smile only increased, finally his laughing subsided.
"Oh John..." he said still chuckling as he casually reached into his pocket and retrieved a small object from it.
"...I'm not going to kill YOU." Fischer said as his gaze shifted over to Cameron. Fischer then depressed a button on the remote control which was in his hand.
Immediately, there was a loud bang and Cameron's head jerked around as the small explosive next to her chip detonated. There was a brief flash of blue in her eyes before Cameron's body went completely limp and she fell to the ground in a crumpled heap.
"NOO!" John screamed as he immediately moved to her side though he knew it was already too late. As he knelt down next to Cameron, he lifted her upper body into his arms.
"No...Cameron..." he whispered as he stared into her lifeless eyes with his own tear filled eyes as he brushed the hair back out of her face.
"Cameron..." he said one more time. The crushing emotional weight of the situation was unbearable for John. For the moment he could see nothing else around him, but Cameron's brown eyes which stared unblinkingly back at him; desperately clutching her body John's vision blurred from the tears in his eyes.
"There are things in this life so much worse than death..." Fischer said in a low and malevolent tone as he moved across the room. Still holding onto Cameron's lifeless body John slowly looked up at Fischer. Both of his Terminator body guards now had their plasma rifles trained on him.
"Kill me..." John said in an infuriated voice while his body shook as he clung to Cameron. Fischer laughed.
"No..." he said, "...you live with it." Pausing briefly he then continued, "...you live with EVERYTHING you've done." Fischer then turned and began to walk out of the room with both of his T-888's in tow.
"Kill me now Fischer!" John shouted in utter rage, every muscle in his body bristling as Fischer walked further away,
"...because if you don't I will find you!" John heard the hiss from the elevator doors at the front of the room as they opened.
"I WILL FIND YOU AND I WILL KILL YOU!" John screamed, a split second later he heard the sound of the CNC elevator doors slam shut and the room was plunged into an eerie quiet. Nothing but the drone of computer and air conditioning fans could be heard. Still kneeling on the ground next to Cameron, John buried his head in her neck and sobbed.
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The Blackhawk Helicopter jostled slightly as it touched down just inside the walls of the Skynet base. At almost the precise second this occurred the passenger compartment door flew open and the soldiers inside quickly poured out of the aircraft. Reaching over next to him Captain Livie grabbed a medium sized duffel bag and swung it over his shoulder as he and Savannah exited the helicopter. The moment they were out of the passenger compartment Savannah heard the engines of the Blackhawk begin roar back to life as it lifted back off the tarmac. Confusion reigned inside the walls of the Skynet base. Plasma fire was everywhere and a thick haze of smoke hung in the air which smelled of sulfur and burnt human flesh and hair. Humans fought machines, some machines fought other machines, and some just stood motionless. Colorful plasma fire streaked back and forth and every so often explosions would burst forth from one particular location or another.
"Let's go!" Livie shouted to Savannah as he and the rest of the group began to run over towards a massive set of double doors attached to the enormous Skynet structure which awaited them. After taking a brief moment to stare up at the several sets of high towers all of which ascended from the same enormously rectangular base which lay before her, Savannah quickly moved in behind Livie. She followed him towards the large entrance doors.
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Author's Notes: I realize that many readers will be angered by Cameron's death and this seemingly cliffhanger type ending to the chapter. However, as I stated before, you will not have to wait long for the next chapter to be released. All I ask is that you follow this through to the end and I do not think you will be disappointed. I'm hoping for a lot of reviews and comments from this chapter on forward.