Chapter 13
John found himself standing alone on a large hill, overlooking the sea. Looking towards the sky, he found it to be completely clear, not a cloud in sight. John knew at once that he was dreaming, he knew he was asleep in century work camp, lying next to his sleeping daughter Allison, who every night, huddled up to him for warmth. John knew he was dreaming because there was no such thing as a clear sky anymore in the real world. Their hadn't been a clear sky since before Judgement day. John looked down towards the sea below.
His eyes followed the coast line, a large beach full of people could be seen below. Before he could move, someone walked right through him. Looking own, he saw a small child. The child turned around and called for his mother, who also walked through John, as I he wasn't there. The child was excited to see the beach. His mother took the boy down a small path towards the beach. John, not knowing where to go, followed them. As he went, he saw other people heading towards the beach.. They were all families, parents taking their children to the beach on a nice day.
John followed the people to the beach. They all went in different directions, the children running towards the sea while the parents set down blankets and setting up beach umbrellas to keep out the sun. John walked along the beach, watching as the children played in the sand, building sandcastles. John kept walking along the beach, until he spotted something he didn't expect to see. He saw his daughter Allison, with a bucket and spade, building a sandcastle. Sitting next to her with his own spade, was a young boy, little older then two years old. Allison laughed with the young boy as he knocked down some of the castle with his spade. "Now, you've got to build it again, get some more sand!".
The boy clapped his hands together in excitement. He began eagerly using his spade to put sand in to Allison's bucket. Half of the time he missed the bucket altogether. Once the bucket was full, Allison tipped the bucket upside down. She lifted it up, leaving a pile of san in the shape of a castle tower. John knelt down opposite the two, neither of them looked up at him, John guessed they couldn't see him either. Something about the boy caught his eye. His hair was the same shade of browns that John's was. His eyes on the other hand, were brown, and not just any kind of brown, they were a chocolate brown. Allison took a small flag from the sand behind her. She carefully placed it on the top of the tallest tower. Allison smiled at the boy clapped his hands and began laughing, happy at their achievement. "Come on, lets go get mom and dad, they can see our castle". Allison stood up and took the boys hand, leading him away from their castle. The boy swung his spade threw the air, as if it was a small sword.
John followed the two as they made their way around other families towards a tent with two beach chairs in front of it. John could see the outline of two people sitting in the chairs. Allison struggled to walk fast as the boy kept stumbling on the uneven sand. John walked past the pair as the boy fell over and Allison helped him back up again. John made his way towards the chairs. To his complete shock, John was looking at another version of himself, sitting in one of the chairs. In the other chair was Cameron, who also to his shock, was heavily pregnant. "I think its another boy, has to be, he kicks like his brother did". Cameron continuity rubbed her hands across her stomach, a large smile on her face. "Wait, he's kicking now, here!". Cameron took the other John's hand and held it to her stomach, both smiled as the baby kicked. "It can't be a boy, its lying differently, its definitely a girl". The other John removed his hand from her stomach and held Cameron's hand. "We're going to have to wait and see then aren't we?, if it's a boy, then your doing the dishes for a year, if it's a girl, your still doing the dishes for a year".
John laughed as the other John and Cameron turned their gaze to their son and Allison. The boy ran for John, who picked him up and sat him on his lap. He kept swinging his spade with a huge smile on his face. "We've build a castle finally, he kept knocking it down so we had to start over, you wanna come see it?". The other John stood up, still holding his son. "Okay Allison, lead the way, Cameron, you coming?". Cameron pulled herself out of the chair, holding her lower back in pain. "I'll catch you three up, go on". Allison led the way back towards their sandcastle, the other John carrying his laughing son on his shoulders. Cameron stopped rubbing her back and rubbed her baby bump. "Your going to have to stop kicking like that, it hurts you know". She smiled at herself and walked slowly after the others. John didn't follow her. In his mind, this is what he and Cameron had wanted if Judgement day hadn't of happened, a family of their own. He didn't want to follow them and watch, as it hurt him in his heart that he and Cameron couldn't have a family of their own.
The beach went quiet suddenly. John looked around and saw the entire beach was empty. He headed towards where Allison and her brother had build the sandcastle but found nothing except a flag, half buried in the sand. "John!". Turning on the spot, he found himself face to face with his Cameron. Her skin was a very unhealthy white colour, she looked like she was very ill. "John, you need to break out soon, if you don't, they will find me". John took a step forwards, but as he did, she took a step back.. "Who will find you?". Cameron began taking multiple steps back, away from him. "I can't wake up, only you can wake me up, I need you John, I love you". She began to fade. "John!, JOHN!, HELP ME JOHN, HELP ME!". She screamed in desperation as she disappeared. "CAMERON!", he shouted her name but to no avail, she was now gone. In the distance, John could hear another voice calling out. He listened hard to find out what the voice was saying. "Dad!". He could hear that word getting louder and louder, until he was thrown out of his dream.
"Dad!, wake up". John opened his eyes, and sat up quickly and unintentionally, right in to the arms of Allison. "Dad, its okay, it was just another dream". John's breathing was erratic, he was having trouble controlling it. "It was her again, it was mom wasn't it?". John didn't answer till he was able to breach normally again. "It was a little different, we were at the beach this time, but she still cried for help. Its getting worse, she sounds more frightened every night". Allison moved away from John, wiping the sweat off his forehead with her sleeve. "It was just a dream dad, it will go away eventually, they always do". John shook his head. "They always come back, worse every time, Is it time to get up already?". Allison sighed loudly. "No, we've still got about an hour, you kept saying her name, woke me up". John moved himself, learning against the back wall, stretching his arms outwards. "I'm sorry, you know I don't do it on purpose".
Allison smiled sweetly and sat next to him, resting her head on his shoulder. "I know you don't dad, you miss her, but it wouldn't hurt to miss her quietly once and a while, especially when I'm asleep". John was able to laugh a little as she closed her eyes. He wrapped his arm around her and she fell back to sleep instantly. John laughed again at Allison. He didn't know how she did it, but she was able to go to sleep as soon as she closed her eyes, unlike him, she never had problems falling to sleep. He moved his blanket to cover them both, but made sure she had more then he did. Allison had changed a lot from the seven year old she once was. She was now a thirteen year old teenager, who spend more time looking after John then he did to her.
Allison was headstrong, refused to back down in an argument and was able to read John like a book, able to predict what he was going to say and do, much to his amusement and annoyance. She reminded John a lot of his mother and even more of Cameron, which gave him a sense of pride when watching her grow. She had now grown twice her height and was now at John's shoulders when she stood up straight. Her hair which was once completely brown was now fast becoming a mixture of light brown and blond. The only thing that had physically stayed the same was her eyes, which still remained a bright blue.
John didn't even bother trying to get back to sleep, he instead went over the dream he had in his head. He had had similar dreams to it, all ending with Cameron calling for help and him calling her name. He was woken up by Allison every time as he said her name out loud and shook violently. This dream was different from the others because it showed him and Cameron together and having a family. John remembered before he was brought to century, he remembered countless nights when Cameron would cry herself to sleep in his arms, the desire to be a mother one day but never being able too be one getting to her as time went on. It didn't matter how many times they talked to each other about it, she would still cry herself to sleep some nights. She never, not once turned away from John when she did cry, she always held on to him, allowing John to comfort her until she did fall asleep.
John, even if he tried knew he couldn't get back to sleep as today was an important one. Today was the planned day for their breakout. Everything was now in place. They had stolen enough weapons and build some of their own to fight their way out. Explosives were set in certain places to cause maximum damage and confusion to the machines guarding them. As the years went on, John was able to get hold of a radio, and was then able to contact people in hiding outside of the camp. One of the people he managed to contact was Liz's brother, William Anderson. They had arranged for William to set up fireworks somewhere to the south of the camp.
He would set them off to lead everyone who escaped in to the tunnels there, which lead in to the underground tunnels William and the men with him had dug. They led to a large bunker beneath Beverly hills which is where they all agreed would be where John would lead the resistance against Skynet. On John's orders, William had recruited hundreds of people to build the base and tunnels. He also raided the old US military bases, which were all now just ruins, for weapons, vehicles and explosives. William, also on John's orders, had hidden these in the base, making sure he wasn't notice by the machines. John thought it impossible that the machines or the greys didn't notice that they were stocking weapons and setting explosives in the camp. John could only guess that some of the greys had noticed, just not saying anything out of fear of being killed by the machines they work for because of their failure to stop John from stealing the weapons in the first place.
It had been just over six years since John came to the camp. It had been just over six years since he met his father and just over six years since he had met Allison, his adopted daughter. As time went on, it became obvious that the machines had little need for anyone to work at the camp anymore since their factory was build. It became a common occurrence for the machines to round up hundreds and march them to the slaughter houses. The greys made sure everyone in the camp could hear the terrified screams of the people as the machines opened fire and killed everyone in a matter of minutes. Allison cried herself to sleep for weeks after hearing the screams for the first time. Skynet also used the camp to experiment on people, fining out what the best ways were to kill humans. The machines experimented with many methods, including shooting, stabbing and gassing. It didn't matter what methods they used, the results were same, everyone used in the experiments died. Their screams could be heard for miles outside the camp.
As John sat their, an hour went by without him noticing. The alarm went off and everyone began getting up. Usually, when everyone in warehouse seventeen awoke, they all moaned and groaned. But today, not one person, man, woman or child made any sound of annoyance. Everyone was both excited and scared about what was going to happen. The possibility of being out of the camp sounded like paradise to most, especially the children. But also, the possibility that the plan won't work, that they would all be killed for trying, brought fear to everyone, including John. Even he didn't know if they would succeed or not.
He made a move to wake Allison, "Five more minutes". John grinned, Allison had said that every morning since adopting her. He got up , putting the blanket back over Allison, who carried on sleeping. Stretching his arms, he stepped out of his little house and on to the hill. John watched as people began getting out of their own houses, dragging their feet along the ground to get some food. Liz appeared behind him and handed him a box of food, enough for himself and Allison. "Is she still asleep?". John nodded before taking some off the food and eating it. "I had another dream, I woke her up again, I hate waking her up, its not fair on her". Liz put her hand on his shoulder.
"She refuses to sleep anywhere without you, she kept sneaking out of my house and back to yours. Don't feel bad about it John, its not your fault your dreams are bad". John didn't feel much better about it. He gave the side of his house a firm kick. "Allison, get up or I'm eating your food". Both him and Liz smirked as they heard Allison, moaning while getting up. She appeared at the door of the house, looking less then pleased. "You know dad, if I wasn't starving, you'd be welcome to eat that stuff for me anyway, and I'd have a rat burger instead". Liz laughed as Allison took to box from John and began eating.
John and Liz looked around confused as the whole warehouse began to shake. Everyone stopped what they were doing and look around at the shaking walls, dust being thrown off them. John moved quickly back to the house, taking a radio that was hidden in the corner. He turned it on and held it up. "Kyle, what's going on, can you see anything?". After a couple of seconds, Kyle responded. "I'm in the tunnels, I can't see anything from here". John looked up as the catwalk above them began to shake violently. "Bedell, what about you?" Bedell's voice was full of concern. "You better check yourself Connor, outside the warehouses, heading for number seventeen". Liz and Allison followed as John ran towards the wall near the warehouse doors were. He opened a small hole which he had made years ago and looked outside. Two HK tanks were moving towards the warehouse, along with hundreds of T1s and other machines. HK aerials took formation above them. John watched as they stopped outside his warehouse and turned to look at it. The machines aimed their weapons at the warehouse and remained still. Liz moved behind John and peered out also. "What the hell are they doing?". John shook his head. "I don't know, something's not right".
Bedell spoke on the radio again. "Connor, I can see the overseer, he's on his way". John looked to the side and saw the overseer, flanked by two machines, marching forwards. John held up the radio. "I see him, we might have to do things early, get everyone ready now". Bedell replied with pride in his voice. "Yes, sir". John looked around behind him. Everyone that was left in the warehouse was looking at him, waiting for instructions. Before he could say a word, the overseer, using a microphone, called out to the warehouse. "John Connor!, surrender yourself now and no one else will be harmed". John froze, it couldn't just be a coincidence that the machines would try and take him the day they were breaking out. "You have one minute to step outside, if you don't, you and everyone else in that warehouse will die, including your daughter". John looked straight at Allison, seeing the fear in her eyes. He wasn't going to let Allison die, he would die first. "Get to the tunnels now, all of you, we're getting out of here now". Everyone moved quickly, John had no intension of surrendering himself to the machines. He first made sure that everyone got in to the tunnels before he did, the children went first followed by the adults.
Allison pulled John aside as Liz lowered herself in to the tunnel. "How does he know about me dad, he said your daughter, I'm your daughter". "Allison, I promise I won't let him touch you, he's not getting anywhere near you, I'll make sure of it". Allison threw her arms around him, just as the overseer said, "Thirty seconds, surrender yourself or the warehouse will burn, will everyone in it". John and Allison moved to the hole to the tunnel. John grabbed her arms and lowered her down. He looked around the warehouse one last time, after all, it had been home for the last six years. He jumped down the hole, landing right next to Allison. "Lets go". John led Allison, Liz and the others threw the tunnels beneath the camp they had build, stopping under Bedell's warehouse.
John turned to Liz. "Lead everyone to the meeting point, get ready to run as soon as the slaughter house blows, okay". Liz nodded, picking up a young girl as she did. John turned to Allison. "You go with Liz, okay, I'll see you later". "No dad, I'm going with you". "No , your not, your going with Liz, I need you to look after everyone for me, okay". She opened her mouth to argue but John pulled her in to a hug. "Don't argue please, just do as I say, look after the kids, look after Liz". John gave Liz a long look. She nodded, saying that she would look after Allison for him with out saying a word. He turned on the spot and left Allison with Liz. "Everyone, follow me, come one kids, lets go, this way". As John climbed out of the tunnel, he felt a huge surge of pride for his daughter, listening as she and Liz got the kids to follow them. Bedell held his hand out to John and John took it. Bedell saluted John, who rolled his eyes. "Quit with the salutes Bedell, I can't stand them". "Sorry sir, you better come and see".
John followed Bedell to the wall of his own warehouse, many people were gazing at the two of them as they walked. "Its past the deadline, I guess he does really want you to go out and give yourself up". John peered out the gap in the wall and could see just past one of the HK tanks, the overseer was still waiting for John to leave the warehouse. He looked frustrated at John's refusal to come out. "JOHN CONNOR, LAST CHANCE, COME OUT AND SURRENDER!". John could hear the sniggering of everyone behind him. He turned to Bedell. "He looks a little pissed, you think I should show myself". John moved aside to let Bedell see outside. "Best not, he might faint". Bedell stepped backwards to allow John to see again. John held the radio up. "Kyle?, is the factory ready?". Kyle responded seconds later. "I'm in the tunnels, just give the word and we've got a firework show".
John lowed the radio and again look outside. "Fine, then you will die with all the rest, FIRE!". All the machines opened fire with deafening noise, with both bullets and rockets. The front of warehouse seventeen disappeared under the barrage, quickly followed by the back wall. The roof collapsed and the other walls buckled under the weight. Once the machines finished, warehouse seventeen no longer existed. Probably one of the only things John admired about the machines were how effective they were, it was if warehouse seventeen had never been standing when they had finished. The overseer looked pleased with the results but his grin was quickly replaced with a concern, most likely due to the lack of screams. "Bedell, ready to blow the tanks?". Bedell moved away from John, muttering "Way ahead of you", as he went. He began muttering in to his radio.
John did the same in to his. "Kyle, standby to start the firework show". John waited for Bedell, who eventually looked at John. "Ready when you are , sir". John gave a nod and seconds later, the two HK tanks exploded causing the front of Bedell's warehouse to shake violently. John watched as the overseer ran for his life away from the explosions. An HK aerial, which was hovering above on of the tanks, exploded as well, crashing down on top and crushing most of the machines that had destroyed the warehouse. "KYLE, BLOW THE FACTORY!". Another almighty explosion was heard, again causing the warehouse to shake. John, held the radio up again. "Everyone, time to get out of here".
Over the sounds of the burning wreckage of the machine's in front of the warehouse, John could hear the screams of people charging out of the other warehouses and the tunnels and the firing of weapons, from booth them and the machines. Bedell, threw John a shotgun and charged out with the rest of the warehouse. John followed and was quickly flanked by well over twenty people, making sure he was shielded from the machines. In the distance, John could see the remains of the factory they had been forced to build six years ago. He was glad to see the flames coming from it as it lit up the early mourning sky. John could also see the lights coming from the guns being fired by both human and machine. John knew that the was to come, the resistance would be outnumbered, but right now, they had numbers on their side, Skynet didn't have an army guarding them, just a coupe hundred machines, which were being overwhelmed by the barrage of bullets. "Everyone, to the slaughter houses, now". Hundreds of people ran like they never had before, towards the slaughter houses. John with them. John could see in the eyes of everyone around him that they were free, even if they weren't out of the camp yet.
His heart did a summersault when he saw small black dots in the air, heading towards them quickly. "Drones, up high, fire!". Everyone looked up as the drones descended. Everyone aimed up and fired while still running. All the drones were torn to shreds by the barrage and fell towards the ground in pieces. More drones attempted the same tactic but met with the same fate, falling to the ground in pieces. Seeing machine after machine fall under their attacks gave everyone confidence. They all yelled out in triumph after each machine fell. As John moved forwards, a T1 came out from the shadows and aimed at him. Before he could react, three of his solders threw themselves in front of him, taking the barrage of bullets to keep him alive. Bedell, who had doubled back, quickly destroyed the T1 along with other solders. Bedell, helped John to his feet. John looked down at the bodies of those who had just gave their lives for his. "Connor, move, now!". John said, "Thank you", under his breath before following Bedell along the path.
Along the way, they destroyed another wave of drones before they got close enough to fire. John reached the slaughter houses and found Kyle standing guard with hundreds of people, waiting for him. John walked up to him held out his hand, Kyle shook it. "Good to see you, the bombs are set, just press this and the back wall goes. He held a detonator out to John and he took it from him. Pressing the button, the slaughter house behind them exploded, blowing apart the exterior wall of the camp. Once the dust cleared, John could see a clear path to the outside world. John marched with everyone to the border to the camp, and waited. Seconds later, they could all see the green and red sparks of fireworks in the distance. "There's the signal, everyone, RUN!, RUN FOR IT!". John was almost rendered deaf by the huge roar of relief and excitement from everyone as they charged down the small hill, out of the camp.
John stayed behind and watched as the men grabbed the children, carrying them to safety. John, Bedell and Kyle and a handful of solders moved back in to the camp, covering those running for freedom. People were still coming out of the tunnels, most of them children. Some however, came out covered in blood, including Liz. John ran forwards, grabbing Liz as she fell to the floor. "Liz, what happened?". She had a large cut on her head, it looked like she had been hit by something hard. "Tunnel collapsed, I lost Allison, I'm sorry John, I lost her, she's still in there somewhere". John's eyes widened in horror. He stood up and looked around.
The flow of people stopped coming out of the tunnels, Allison wasn't among them. "Connor, we've got to go, we can't stay here!". Bedell tried dragging John towards the exit but John threw his arms off him. "I'm not going, not with out Allison". Kyle appeared in front of John. "I know you love her John, but if you go after her, you wont come back, more machines are on the way, if we don't go now, we are all dead". John was torn, he knew it was his destiny to lead the resistance, to fight Skynet., but he had a daughter, someone he's spend the last six years raising. Kyle had given him a choice, Allison, or everyone else. To John, the choice was easy. Pushing Kyle out of the way, John ran as fast as he could away from their escape, back in to the camp. He could hear Kyle, Bedell and the solders calling after him to come back and leave the camp with them but he didn't care, he was getting his daughter out of here, or die trying.
Heading through the tunnel Liz came out of, he made his way through, quickly finding the tunnel which had collapsed. Half buried in the dirt was a woman and a child, both crushed by the rocks on top of them. Bedell was still on the radio, trying to convince John to come back. "Connor, more machines are coming through the camp, come back now". John, ignoring his words, turned around and followed the tunnel. He had helped dig the tunnels so he knew the way to go to get to the other side of the cave in. He couldn't hear anything anymore as he ran, his mind focused on nothing but getting to Allison. He quickly found the other end of the cave in, right beneath the warehouse closest to the slaughter houses. He climbed out of the tunnel in to the warehouse. Standing up, he headed out of the house the tunnel entrance was hidden . Looking around, he felt a surge of both relief and horror. The overseer was there, holding a gun to Allison's head. Allison was on her knees in front of him. Next to her were the bodies of three children, all had gunshot wounds to their heads. Allison herself had blood flowing down her face from a large cut on her forehead. The overseer, pressed the gun to her head as John came in to view.
"Drop the shit, or I'll kill her now". John had little choice, the overseer had John at a disadvantage so he dropped his gun, tossing it to the side. "I thought if I kept her alive, you would turn up to try and save her, Connor!". John thought he looked worse then he already did. He had a black eye, his nose was broken and he had numerous scratches all over his face. He noticed John staring at his wounds. "You can thank little Allison for my face, she wouldn't exactly come quietly, I'm guessing you taught her how to do that shit she does". John could see Allison grin beneath her blood stained face. He had taught her how to defend herself ever since the gang leader that tried to rape Liz came back for revenge against John, by trying to rape Allison. John killed him for touching her and he, Kyle and Liz dumped his body behind the warehouse. "Yeah, I taught her, doesn't mean you had to kill these three, they were just children".
The overseer just smiled and laughed. "I didn't need them alive, It's your fault their dead, you've ruined my life, I had something here, this camp was my life, Skynet will kill me for letting everyone escape. But first, I'm going to kill you, then, me and your daughter are going to have a cosy night together". John felt like he was going to explode in anger, he hadn't felt so angry since he killed the gang leader. He had to muster all his strength not to charge at him and beat him to death with his bare hands. Allison began to cry, causing the overseer to laugh slightly. John knew instantly that she was faking it. Allison bent down, he hand slipping in to her pocket and out again quickly, a knife grasped in her hand. She moved herself back up in to her knees, wiping the blood from her face as she did. She looked right at John for a signal to attack, a signal John was ready to give. A large explosion was heard from outside, HK aerials were in the air, Skynet's reinforcements had arrived.
John could see the next events happening in slow motion. Kyle, Bedell and over thirty others appeared from the shadows, surrounding the overseer. John raised his hand, showing Allison his ring finger. Allison moved just like he had taught her, she raised the knife over her head, stabbing the overseer in his eye. John ran forwards and grabbed Allison as she ran to him. The overseer, in his pain, fired at her. John turned on the spot, taking Allison with him, shielding her from the bullets. Kyle, Bedell and the others all fired at the overseer, and they all kept firing till they were forced to reload. The overseer fell to the ground and moved no more, his reign of terror over the camp had ended. Never the less, the damage was done. Allison looked up in to John's eyes, screaming in horror as John began to fall, two bullets having gone through his back and out of his chest. "DAD, NO, DAD, GET UP!". Everyone present yelled out in disbelief and horror. Allison tried pulling John to his feet, but he couldn't moved, he felt numb and cold. Bedell and Kyle pushed Allison out of the way and picked John up, holding him up by their shoulders. "Everyone, we're getting him out of here, both John and Allison Connor, we're not leaving them behind, if they die, we all die, UNDERSTAND!". "Yes sir!".
They all shouted in union with one another. John could feel his feet being dragged along the ground as they took him out of the warehouse. John was able to open his eyes for brief moments. He could see the HK aerials in the air, their spotlights looking for them. John could only guess that they didn't spot them because the next thing he knew, he was being lowered on to a stretcher, with century work camp in the distance. "This is John Connor, he takes priority over anyone else, he must live!". John felt his strength leaving him as he was taken through the tunnels to somewhere he didn't know, he could only guess he was being taken to the resistance base he had set up. He heard Bedell and Kyle giving orders to blow the tunnels entrance to stop Skynet following them. John opened his eyes on last time, above him he saw the one thing he wanted to see most. He saw Cameron's face, the face of the one he loved. She smiled at him and said, "You did it, you saved everyone, saved them all". John smiled as she disappeared and he passed out from the pain. The last thing he heard in his head was Cameron's voice saying, "I love you".