Chapter 26
The war was over! Everyone around her were jumping up and down and hugging each other but Cameron could only stare in the direction of the final blast that had destroyed Skynet. She tried to focus her binoculars on the rubble and had a sudden surge of hope as she saw movement and soldiers began to emerge from the debris. Turing to her own personal squad of snipers, she ordered a search and rescue party to look for survivors, "Get down there and look for survivors, help the wounded, GO!" They immediately obeyed her order and disappeared down towards the rubble. As they moved, she had only one thing on her mind, which of course was John. He had been at the centre of the blast and every bone in her body screamed that he was dead but Cameron refused to even consider that option. He couldn't have left her now, not like this. They'd been through so much together; falling in love came top of the list. She didn't come all this way to lose him now. As Cameron's snipers moved in closer to the blast site, they realised that the job had already begun. Cameron was joined by Perry, who quickly realised by the look on Cameron's face that something was wrong and he followed her down in to the crater towards the remains of Skynet's complex.
As the site of the ruined and burning pyramid came in to sight, Cameron was relieved to see that small number of Delta squad were free from the rubble and already mounting their own rescue mission. Bedell was leading the team, as well as a hundred others. "Bedell!" Cameron was relieved to see him alive. She knew that he had been fighting with John in the thick of the battle and therefore if he was here, then John must be close by. "Where's John?" Bedell looked at Cameron and his face was strained with pain and distress in what he was about to tell her. "Cameron…I'm sorry, I don't know. Most of his squad were killed in the blast. You'll have to speak to one of the survivors". Cameron knew he wasn't telling her the whole story, because he didn't once look her in the eye, but couldn't press the issue because Bedell turned away. Perry watched Bedell for a moment and the realisation of what Bedell was not telling them hit him. Cameron moved swiftly towards the survivors of Delta squad who were being treated by nearby medics for their injuries. Cameron was surprised to only find seven left from the group John took inside with him. Covered by sheets lay the bodies of the six men who hadn't survived the blast.
One of the members of delta squad, being treated for a broken arm saw Cameron approach and immediately tried to stand to salute, but he groaned in pain with his broken arm. Cameron waved him back down and he did so, allowing the medic to continue with her work. No-one would look Cameron in the eye. "Where is he?" she asked her eyes begging for the answer that she desperately wanted to hear. The silence was deafening. "I'm sorry, but we got cut off from him. We couldn't get through to him and then the place began to explode. We only just got out. I don't think he…" He stopped talking and refused to speak anymore. Bedell and a large crowd of soldiers had formed a circle around Cameron and heard what had been said. The news that John Connor was missing presumed dead was spreading like wildfire throughout the ranks behind them. Cameron resisted the urge to break away and look for John herself, she knew that in his absence everyone was looking to her to lead them and she struggled to remain focused. With John not around, she was in charge, and that made Cameron feel more uncomfortable then ever, Without looking to Perry, Cameron spoke to him, "Perry, how many machines do we have left?".
Perry, not having the faintest idea, looked all around him for answers. Men and women shouted random numbers at him, telling him how many machines they could see. "About a hundred, no more then that". Cameron heart dropped. A hundred machines was no where near enough, but it would have to do. "Start digging! Get them to move the debris and find John!" There was sudden surge of murmuring amongst those around them. "Connor, I don't want to be disrespectful, but you heard him yourself. John was cut off from them when the place exploded. The chances of him surviving are slim to none". Cameron now turned to him; the feeling of anger mixing with the realisation of what she was being told was most likely true. "I haven't spent all these years with him to lose him now like this. Even if there's only a one in a billion chance that he's still alive, then that's enough for me.
He's still alive, and I'm not resting until we find him, understand?" Perry stood to attention and instead of looking angry or upset by Cameron's outburst, his face showed a renewed hope. He turned to the awaiting soldiers "You all heard her, now get to work!" There was no reply, only the sounds of people hurrying towards the burning wreckage to dig out their leader. They all too had fought so long for John Connor, and they too were not going to lose him now, right at the end. "Perry moved to go and join the rescue group but he was held by Cameron. "If he was dead, I'd know, I'd feel it, but I don't, he's alive, I'm sure of it". Perry gave a respectful nod and gently touched Cameron's arm and smiled. "We'll find him. We'll do what ever it takes, but we'll find him". Cameron smiled gratefully and moved to help move the rocks, not wanting to stand idle while John's life hang in the balance. With every rock she moved, she felt she was moving ever closer to finding John, hoping that they'd find him as quickly as possible. She wanted nothing more then to hold him again.
Having no means to put out the burning fires and only having a low number of reprogrammed machines to move the larger bits of debris, progress was slow. It had been over a day now and Cameron could feel the strain of the work and despite pleas from the soldiers to stop and take rest, she refused, her mind focussed on finding John. With fighting a large battle against the machines, the Resistance had taken many casualties and many soldiers were wounded, and there weren't enough medics on hand to attend to them all. A large convoy rushed from Serrano point, carrying medics and medical supplies to the mountain crater, providing much needed aid to the wounded. Among the medic's present was a heavily pregnant Lauren and Allison. Cameron for a moment stopped moving the debris and marched over to Allison, half relived, half furious.
"What are you doing here? Where's Kyle? You're supposed to be looking after him". "Mom, he's fine. Sidney's looking after him back at Serrano point. Where's dad?" Cameron felt her heart miss a beat she thought Allison would have already heard of what happened by now. "He's… we're looking for him". It was all she could think of saying to Allison at this moment, and with knowing that Kyle was safe, she wanted to get back to finding John. "What do you mean your looking for him, where is he?" Allison eyes caught sight of the ruins behind Cameron. Her eyes filled with tears as she feared the worst. "He's not dead, he can't be dead. Please don't tell me he's dead". Cameron pulled Allison in to a hug and held her tight. "He's not dead. We're going to find him and he'll be fine, I promise". Allison nodded her head and quickly composed herself, wiping away her tears with her hand. Cameron spotted Lauren making her way over and let Allison go. Lauren stopped before Cameron, looking exhausted and holding one hand over her large belly.
"Allison, there's plenty of wounded that need your help!" Allison nodded and after giving Cameron a concerned glance, she reluctantly headed off to collect a medical kit to help the wounded. "Lauren, make it quick, I've got to get back". Lauren shook her head, looking both angry and disappointed. "No, you don't. I can see from here that there are plenty of people working to dig John out, you on the other hand, need to rest". Lauren had obviously heard about what happened to John already from someone else. Cameron now felt her anger begin to rise, she wasn't going to be told what she had to do, especially now when John needed her most. "I can't. I've got to find John, he needs me". Lauren again shook her head. "Have you forgotten what happened last time you were pregnant. You nearly miscarried. If you don't calm down and rest, there's a good chance it could happen again". Cameron resisted the urge to tell use her superior rank to force Lauren to leave her alone, but Cameron held too much respect for Lauren to do it, but she was getting angrier by the second.
"I'm fine, I feel fine. I'm going to find John, okay. You, Bedell, Allison, none of you can stop me from looking for John, I love him and I'm not going to give up on him". Lauren walked forwards and held both of Cameron's arms. "You're not fine, have you seen yourself? Look at your hands!" Cameron did look and was shocked by what she saw. Her hands were covered with dried blood and blisters, but she couldn't feel anything. Her hands felt numb and she'd been so focussed on finding John, she hadn't noticed. "Look at yourself. Your so obsessed with what you've doing, you've done this to your hands. You're very pale and you look exhausted. I'm telling you now, stop before something happens!" Cameron had already turned and was making her way back to the ruins, shaking her head. No one was going to stop her looking for John. Within an hour, Cameron had moved a ton of debris by herself, but not without cost. The pain in her hands had returned and every time she took hold of something, she gritted her teeth in pain. Allison approached and tried to convince her to stop but to no avail, Cameron refused to listen. After another hour, Lauren, Bedell and Allison approached her. "Mom, your killing yourself, you need to stop now". Cameron still remained defiant and Allison looked surprised and disappointed by Cameron's response. "No, that's final! I'm not going anywhere!" Allison shook her head and raised her hand to some nearby soldiers, who immediately surrounded Cameron.
"What are you doing?" Lauren held out a needle to Allison who took it and turned to her mother. "I don't want to do this mom, but I love you too much to do nothing and let you do this to yourself". She nodded her head at the men behind Cameron and they grabbed her by the arms. "What the hell are you doing, let me go now!" Allison shook her head again moved forwards and as Bedell helped to hold Cameron's arm still, Allison pushed the needle in to Cameron's arm and injected the liquid. Cameron was shocked by what Allison was doing but almost instantly, she felt her eyes get heavier and the last thing she saw before she passed out was Allison's tearful face. Allison watched her mother pass out and felt a surge of regret, though she was confident she had made the right decision. "Take her to the field hospital. I'll be there soon. Be careful with her". The men holding Cameron obeyed the order and after lowering Cameron on to a stretcher, carried her off. Allison turned to Bedell and Lauren, her hands shaking with what she had just done. "I can't believe I just did that. When she wakes up, she's goanna kill me". Lauren shook her head and smiled, making Allison feel at ease. "You did the right thing. She's just as stubborn as your dad". Allison was at least glad that both Lauren and Bedell agreed with what she did. "Bedell, can you take charge, don't stop looking for my dad, please!" Bedell nodded his head, turned to Lauren and kissed her, before making his way over to lead the men. Allison, still shaking by what she had just done, headed towards the field hospital.
Over the next hour, Allison bathed and bandaged Cameron's damaged hands. They weren't as bad as previously thought as the blood made them look worse then they actually were. But there were still many cuts that needed attending to, so Allison, tenderly cleaned each cut to prevent them getting infected and bandaged them up. Allison was still tending to her mother when she heard a rumour that they had found John's body in the rubble. With tears in her eyes she raced to where Bedell was working and almost collapsed with relief when he told her it wasn't John at all, but the body of one of John's soldiers from delta squad. Allison just kept herself busy, trying not to think about her father and only hoped they'd find him alive soon. For another day, Allison helped save the lives of dozens of soldiers who were dying of their wounds, not sleeping herself and feeling even more terrible for what she did to her mother. Cameron herself, slept peacefully, even after the drug had worn off, she continued sleeping, under the watchful care of both Lauren and her daughter. After another hour, Allison heard a lot of commotion from outside. Stepping out, she saw a large crowd walking towards the field hospital. They were all surrounding two men, who were carrying a third on a stretcher.
"Dad!" Allison darted forwards in the oncoming crowd. She pushed shoved her way through; some men recognised her and moved out of the way. Bedell was one of the men carrying the stretcher and he was screaming at the crowd to get out of the way. On the stretcher, found at last, was John. But to Allison, he was almost completely unrecognisable. His face was covered in blood, both fresh and dry, and his clothes were both badly torn and covered in both dust and blood. Allison could only recognise him by looking at his left hand to see his wedding ring. Their were two medics at either side of John, and one was holding an oxygen mask, squeezing the artificial lung over his mouth forcing each breath into his lungs. "Dad, can you hear me? Dad!" John couldn't reply, he was unconscious. Bedell finally managed to push his way in to the medical hospital and lay the stretcher and John on to a make shift bed. Lauren immediately leant over John and began to examine him, while every one around her went quiet, waiting for news.
"He's alive, but only just. I need to operate now or he'll be dead within twenty minutes. Everybody out now!" Bedell again was forced in to action and ordered everybody away, while Allison was one of the few not to move. Lauren spotted her and immediately pointed at her to move. "Allison, no way. You can't stay here. You can sit with Cameron, but you're not helping me here". Allison was taken aback and shook her head. "No, he's my dad. You know I can help, so let me". "I'm telling you to go because he's your dad; I can't have his daughter here while I'm trying to save his life, and you'll just get in the way, now go and look after your mother". Before Allison could argue again, Bedell cut across her and pushed her away. "Come on, you know she's right. Let her do what she needs to do and he'll be fine". He didn't sound confident at all, and like Allison, looked worried. Lauren ordered a screen to be placed around John and Allison's view of what was happening was taking away from her. Reluctantly, she went to the other side of the hospital and sat down next to a still sleeping Cameron and grasped her bandaged hand. Tears fell silently down her cheeks as she waited and hoped more then ever that her father would be alright. It wasn't long before she fell into a restless sleep.
Cameron finally woke up, feeling tired and groggy. The last thing she remembered was Allison pushing a needle in to her arm. At first, she felt angry and betrayed by Allison's actions, but after taking a long deep breath, her anger faded away. She knew Allison only did what she did because she cared about her, and that was enough to earn her forgiveness. Opening her eyes, she turned her head and saw Allison fast asleep on the chair next to the bed. Cameron pushed herself up and felt her hands were a little different and looking down, she saw that both were bandaged. Recognising Allison's handy work, she couldn't help but smile and be thankful for what Allison had done for her. Cameron looked around the hospital and spotted some screens blocking out the view to a single bed and guarding the screen, were two soldiers. Not wanting to wake up Allison, Cameron quietly edged herself off her bed and quickly moved through the many make shift beds, all full with sleeping wounded soldiers. Coming to the screen, Cameron looked in side and to her complete relief, she saw John. Pushing herself past the screen and nearly knocking it over, she grasped John's hand and sat on the bed next to him. "John, please be okay, please be alright!" John was hooked up to a heart machine, and Cameron could hear a weak but steady heartbeat emitting from it and there were bandages across his skin. "Cameron, you awake", about time!".
Lauren walked in, looking more exhausted then ever, but happy never the less. "What's wrong with him is he going to be alright?" Lauren raised her hands to calm Cameron down again and took a seat on the other end of the bed, looking at the heart monitor. "He'll be fine. I've put him in to an induced coma so that his body can recover. His left lung was punctured, I had to operate. It was touch and go at one point, I didn't think he'd pull through at all, but he did. He just kept getting stronger again". Cameron smiled in relief, tears of joy flowing down her cheeks. "Thank you; I don't know what I'd do with out him". Lauren smiled and sat back in her chair, running her hands over her belly. "I'm sorry by the way, for what we did. You wouldn't listen to us and we were worried about you, so". Cameron shook her head and smiled. "It's alright, I understand why you did it and right now, I don't care, John's going to be alright and that's all that matters". There was a sudden loud surge of cheers from outside the hospital, loud enough to have woken up everyone within ten miles. Cameron looked to Lauren with confusion, "The party's started. Everyone's celebrating now, especially as John's been found.
They're celebrating all over the world. They all say that you and John are heroes, you're quite the celebrity now". Cameron shook her head. "I'm not a celebrity. The war's over now. All I want to do is raise my children, watch them grow and I want to do that with John. It's all I ever really wanted". Lauren gave a smile herself and slowly stood up. "I'm off to find my husband and get some sleep. I'll be back in the morning. Medics will check on John through the night so you should get some rest and if there are any changes someone will come for you. Cameron nodded but had no intention of leaving his bedside. In a few days I can wake him up, okay?"
Cameron nodded and watched Lauren leave before turning her eyes back to John. He looked so pale and weak; it upset her to see him like this, but knowing he was on the road to recovery made her feel better again. "I'm here John, I'm here for you, and I'm not going anywhere". Leaning down, she pressed her lips against his and kissed him, and she swore that she heard his heart beat pick up pace on the heart monitor. All throughout the night, the men and women of the Resistance celebrated, laughing, shouting, singing and dancing with each other. It had been the first time since Judgement day, well over sixteen years ago; that they could do what they were doing, just having fun. Cameron sat the entire time at John's bedside, watching with a smile as his heartbeat got stronger and colour returned to his skin. Two of Laurens medics arrived as promised on two occasions and both times, they told Cameron to her delight that John had greatly improved. Allison eventually woke up and made her way over to John's bed.
Cameron looked up as she arrived and saw the nervous look on her face, thinking Cameron was going to be angry at her for what she did. Cameron, showing no anger at all, lifted her arm and beckoned Allison too her. Allison took a seat next to her and Cameron wrapped her arm around her, showing her that she had forgiven her. Cameron kissed her on the forehead and Allison rested her head on her shoulder. "Is he alright?" Cameron smiled and squeezed John's hand with hers. "Yes, he'll be fine, he'll wake up soon". When morning finally came, Lauren returned, still looking exhausted but pleased with how quickly John seemed to have recovered. Lauren, taking a deep breath and keeping a close eye on John's vitals, injected him with a clear liquid which would bring him out of his coma. For a while, nothing happened and there was no change in John's vitals.
Cameron thought it hadn't worked and John would never wake up, she pinned her hopes on that the drug hadn't taken effect yet. Cameron jumped as she felt John's hand grip hers and he slowly began to awaken. At first, John just peered upwards to the roof of the large tent which was the hospital trying to focus his eyes. His grip on Cameron's hand tightened and his head very slowly tilted in her direction. When his green eyes fixed in the deep chocolate colour of his wife's eyes, the beeping sound emitting from the heart monitor which represented John's heart beat picked up pace. All three women watching John couldn't help but smile, but Cameron's smile was biggest of them all. "Hey there beautiful!" he managed to croak, his throat dry and in need of water. Cameron laughed and learnt forwards to kiss John, who eagerly kissed her back. John was going to be fine. After what seemed like an hour, Cameron and John parted. Lauren pulled John's head towards her and used her small flashlight to check his eyes. "How are you feeling?"
John shrugged his shoulders. "My head feels like it was hit by a ton of bricks". Lauren turned off her flashlight. "Your head was hit by a ton of bricks". John laughed, but groaned in pain, prompting Lauren to hold him still. "Try not to move. Your lung was punctured. Luckily, you were found just in time. You'll be on your feet in no time. All you have to do is stay in bed until I say so". John smiled gratefully as Lauren left again and turned his head back towards Cameron and spotted Allison out of the corner of his eye. "Allison!" Allison leapt up from her seat and moved to the other side of the bed and hugged her father, "You promised you'd come back. You kept your promise; you're the best dad anyone could ever have". John, despite the pain, managed to wrap his free arm around his daughter, before they parted, allowing John some breathing space, "Where's Kyle?" Allison explained where he was and that he was safe before giving John and Cameron some privacy by leaving to help Lauren and the other medic's with the wounded. With Allison gone, John turned his head back to his wife. "Is it over? Is it really over?" Cameron nodded her head. The look of relief on John's face was enough to push any other worries from Cameron's mind.
"Once I can get out of here, I'm stepping down from command. I'm not needed anymore. I'll give authority to Perry until he can set up some sort of government to run things. All I want now is to live my life with you, Allison, Kyle and the twins. I don't want anything else but that". Cameron again kissed John, this time more deeply and passionately. This was everything she wanted, to raise her children with John in peace. Before John or Cameron could do much else, Lauren returned, looking angry. She was followed by Bedell, Perry and Allison. "I'm sorry John, but they said it's important". She turned to her husband and Perry, red in the face. "You've got five minutes, no more. He needs to rest. Any longer and you'll both be in hospital beds at the other end of the hospital, understand?" They both nodded, both looking taken aback by the bluntness of Lauren's words. Lauren stormed out and both Cameron and John could see she was standing not to far away, waiting for Perry and Bedell to say what they had to say. Bedell stepped back and folded his arms, and Perry stepped forwards to speak. "I'm sorry sir, but this can't wait, it's important". John and Cameron's hopes of living in peace with their children seemed to be slipping from their fingers with every passing second.
"What is it Perry?" Perry took a deep breath before responding. "When you destroyed Skynet's complex, all the machines shut down. Here, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, every machine in the world shut down except the ones you reprogrammed. But we've just got word from Serrano point, some of our scouts found an active Skynet bunker just outside LA. The machines have set up a small defence grid around it". John tired to sit up, but he was quickly forced down again by Allison, "You have to stay in bed dad, for now at least". John reluctantly lay back down. Cameron stood up, disappointed that her and John's dream was once again being put on hold, looked to Bedell. "You go. Take our reprogrammed machines and surround the base. Don't engage the machines, use our scanners to find out what's going on, and report back to us".
Bedell looked more then happy to be able to leave the area finally and saluted before marching out and began having a heated discussion with Lauren. Cameron next turned to Perry. "You get back to Serrano point. Contact our generals and get them to check all of Skynet's facilities for activity, we need to know how many machines are still active". Perry nodded and then saluted before leaving as well. The moment Perry left, Lauren came back in. "The wars over one minute and back on the next, you two really need to make up your minds". Allison smiled but Cameron and John both looked at each other with concern. If all of Skynet's machines shut down when it was destroyed, why were these machines still active? This question was on both their minds while they waited for news from Bedell and Perry. John felt helpless as he lay in the hospital bed but knew that he had no choice but to lie back and let Cameron and Allison fuss over him till he was well enough to get out of bed.
Three days later, John was finally able to leave the hospital. Lauren expressed her amazement on how quickly he had recovered from his wounds but also warned John to take things easy. Stepping outside in to the light, which John didn't think he'd be able to do again, he was almost deafened by the screams and shouts of joy and relief from hundreds of soldiers, overjoyed that their leader was still alive and well. They were even more overjoyed when John ordered them to get ready to move out, because they were going home, back to their families. It wasn't long until the Connor's were in the back of one of hundreds of trucks taking them back to Serrano point. They arrived quicker then expected, mostly because they were no longer fighting off machines trying to destroy them all the way. John and Cameron were given an unwanted heroes welcome by the solders and civilians when they disembarked. They were greeted by hundreds of people, and the Connors had to push their way through the crowd to get inside the power plant. At the bottom of the ramp, Sidney was waiting with Kyle in her arms and Cameron ran ahead and took her son in to her arms. John and Allison caught up and Cameron turned to allow John to hug his son.
John turned to Sidney, who like her sister Lauren, looked exhausted. "Thanks for looking after him for us". Sidney smiled, he's a brilliant baby and a joy to have around, but he has been a little restless, he knew there was something up," John hugged Kyle closer and said "Hey Champ, Mommy and Daddy are home now." The Connor's made their way to the command room, Cameron carrying Kyle in her arms and Allison and John wrapped their arms around each others shoulders. It was a challenge to get there, the corridors been more packed then usual with civilians wanting to see their savours. Finally reaching the command room, John looked to Perry and saw he looked worried. John, let go of Allison's hand and sat down in his usual seat and looked to Perry for news, "Anything?" Perry stood up from his chair and looked like he was going to salute, but he stopped himself, much to John's relief. "I've been in contact with our generals overseas. They all report that no machines are active anywhere else. The only machines that are still active are reprogrammed machines and the ones at this base". John at least was relived by this. This meant that the only machines that were still a threat were in LA. The rest of the world was finally safe.
"Has Bedell been in contact?" Perry nodded and pointed to the wall screen. "The screen came to life and showed a video recording, which was showing the entrance to a small Skynet base. Outside, were around fifty machines standing guard, most were T eight hundreds. "Bedell sent us this about two hours ago. Fifty two machines and something else. Bedell said one of the reprogrammed machines with him told him it was some sort of advanced prototype. Luckily, Skynet never got a chance to use it before you destroyed it". John watched patiently and then he saw it. The T one thousand that tried to kill him as a child stepped out and began looking around, looking for threats that the T eight hundreds might have missed. The machine wasn't wearing the police uniform that John remembered, but was wearing the usual combat clothes which were common with Resistance soldiers. John closed his eyes and remembered how close it had come to killing him and his mother. John felt sick, knowing what he had to do. History could not be rewritten he had to let the machine go back in to the past because the machines actions had led to him and his mother being reunited, which in turn, led John on a path to become who he needed to be. Watching the screen, John saw the machine seemed satisfied that nothing was out of the ordinary as it turned and disappeared back inside the base.
"It's a T one thousand and I know what its doing. It's building a time displacement machine. Its goanna send itself back to try and kill me. If I'm not around, there's no Resistance to fight Skynet. The war we've just won will be lost". Perry and everyone else present gawped opened mouthed at him, all except Cameron, who already knew the story. Perry shook his head in disbelief. "Well, if that's true, I'll order Bedell to move in, destroy the machines, destroy the T one thousand and destroy the time displacement machine". John shook his head, stopping Perry as he raised his radio. "I already know what's going to happen. I know it's hard to understand sometimes, but I've already lived through this. That machine did attack me as a kid and it failed. I survived. Perry went quieter then ever and lowered his radio, "Err, okay, I get that. But how did you kill it?" John looked to Cameron, who gave him an encouraging smile as she sat with Kyle on her lap, keeping him entertained while John and Perry talked.
"I sent another machine back to protect me. That's what we've got to do, send a machine back". Cameron looked from Perry to John, waiting for the argument which seemed to never come. Perry himself looked both angry and disappointed, much to both John and Cameron's surprise, as they had never seen Perry angry before, "I've never doubted you before and I'm not goanna start now. This better work Connor, for all our sakes". He threw his radio to John, who caught it with ease and he held it up, "Bedell, hold position and wait for me to arrive. Don't attack the machines until I say, understand?". "What ever you say Connor!" was the only reply John got.
Throwing the radio back to Perry, John stood up and looked one final time at the wall screen before walking out of the room, followed by Cameron with a playful Kyle, who was now waving at everyone they passed and laughing with glee as they waved back. Allison followed them, smiling at those who waved back at Kyle. John had hoped he'd seen the last of that T one thousand when it fell in to that vat of molten steel in the tunnel. John first took his family and despite Cameron's insistence that Bedell could wait a few extra hours, John was determined to do what he needed to do as quickly as possible. Kissing and hugging all three of them goodbye, John left to the armoury to collect a new rifle, the old one having been lost in Skynet's complex. John then met up with a squad of soldiers that Perry had assembled and then began the short journey to Long beach.
John looked out of the back of the truck he was in as it drove and as he looked over the ruins of LA, it all suddenly looked so different. The city itself was exactly the same as it was a week ago, full of destroyed buildings. The streets were all lined with the remains of cars, which in turn held the skeletal remains of many innocent people. But now, without Skynet's machines patrolling the streets and skies above it was eerily quiet. The journey didn't take long and the trucks stopped a mile from the machine base. John took the lead, trying to ignore the pain from his chest, while his soldiers followed. Up ahead, John could see soldiers from Bedell's squad crouched down behind some rubble, looking over it to what must have been the machine base. John raised his hand and then lowered it to tell his men to crouch down. They did so and still followed John as they joined with Bedell's squad. John moved along the long line of men, looking for Bedell and it wasn't until he had passed half of them did he find Bedell, crouched and aiming his rifle over the top of the rubble. "Over there Connor. Be careful, don't let them see you". John nodded and slowly moved himself upwards to look. About a hundred metres away, was the entrance to the machine base.
It was another underground complex, with only a single entrance in and out of the base. Around the base, were the machines. Most of them were T eight hundreds, standing completely still with Plasma rifles in their hands, ready for any kind of attack. Blocking the entrance, were three T nine hundreds and there was a single T six hundred, standing on the highest ground above the other machines, holding what looked like a mini gun. John moved back down quickly to not be seen and turned to Bedell. "Anything?" Bedell shook his head, "That advanced prototype thing comes out every hour on the dot. It just looks around and then disappears back inside. I haven't seen any other machines and I don't know if there's any inside, but I doubt it's alone in there". John nodded, doubting himself that the T one thousand would only guard the outside. The inside would most definitely be guarded by more machines. "How many of the reprogrammed machines did you bring?" Bedell pointed behind him, "Four!"
John turned to look and the first machine he saw, he recognised instantly. The machine which was destined to become 'Uncle Bob was staring right back at him, waiting for orders. The other three machines all looked different in appearance, though they were less imposing in stature compared to the Uncle Bob machine. Wishing he had brought more reprogrammed machines himself, John thought on what to do and after a few moments, pointed to the four machines, "You four move ahead to the other machines. Get as close as you can, we'll cover you all from here!" They all moved out with out reply and John turned and looked to Bedell again, "What do you think?" He merely shrugged his soldiers, "It's what I would have done, so let's get on with it!" Smiling at each other, they both turned and readied themselves to cover the four machines. Bedell waved his hand in and upwards motion and all the soldiers with them moved themselves to firing positions. John and Bedell seemed to be thinking the same thing, and both aimed their rifles to the T six hundred with the mini gun. The four machines, including Uncle Bob, came in to view in the clearing in front of him and John watched them walk towards the entrance of the base. The other machines aimed their rifles at the four but didn't fire. The four machines kept walking until they stopped right before the three T nine hundreds, the middle one having raised its metal arm to stop them. Then Uncle Bob and the middle T nine hundred began to talk to one another. Bedell, just as confused as John, turned to him, "Have you got any idea what the hell it's saying?"
John shook his head and just watched. The machines carried on talking as if having a regular conversation between two people, but then, things turned ugly. The T nine hundreds attacked the machines, throwing three of the four flying through the air, including Uncle Bob. John and Bedell opened fire on the T six hundred with the mini gun. Two plasma shots combined with their almost perfect aim took off the machines head and it fell to the floor, where its mini gun fired harmlessly in to the air. A fierce fire fight erupted between the machines and Resistance soldiers, sending echoes of gunfire and explosions through the surrounding area for miles. The machines despite having superior firepower didn't have any form of cover, unlike John and his soldiers. One by one, the machines were dealt with. There were screams from both sides of John in the distance as soldiers were wounded or killed by the machines weapons and John had to duck more then once to save himself from being killed. The fight suddenly stopped and John looked over his cover, and saw the three T nine hundred had vanished, leaving the Uncle Bob machine standing alone. Bedell seemed to know what John was thinking and stood up to see if it was clear.
He seemed satisfied and called the all clear before moving forwards. John followed, moving slowly as soldiers surrounded him to protect him. Bedell and a small group moved towards the entrance and aimed inside, looking out for any sign of movement. John stopped next to Uncle Bob, who looked completely unscathed. "The T nine hundreds have retreated inside. They are not acting as they normally do; they were not programmed to retreat from their posts. They have purposely retreated for the purpose of delaying our entry inside to the objective". John was taken aback by the heavy Austrian accent of the machine which he remembered from his childhood, but nodded his head to show it he understood. John then looked around for the other three reprogrammed machines, and could see them on the ground not to far away from him. Two of them had their heads removed and the third had been ripped in half. The one thing John hated about T nine hundreds is that they were very effective at fighting and killing both humans and other machines. Turning back and not having a good feeling on the fact that he only had one machine to take on three T nine hundreds and possible more machines that were waiting inside, John headed forwards and stood with Bedell, who turned to him, "I don't like the idea of walking in there when there's three of those machines waiting for us". John nodded, not liking it either and so turned around at the remaining reprogrammed machine. "You can see in the dark better then we can, what can you see". The machine walked forwards and peered inside for a moment, before looking back to John.
"The machines are waiting at the end of the corridor. I don't see any others and I don't detect any other movement in the vicinity. I will know more once inside". John nodded and looked to Bedell, who nodded back and turned around, "Rocket launchers!" John smirked as four solders came forwards, each carrying a rocket launcher". The machine turned to Bedell, looking slightly confused. "Your rockets do not have the yield necessary to damage a T nine hundred. Their armour was designed to withstand attacks such as this". Bedell smirked to himself as he took one to the launchers and began loading a rocket. "We already know that. These rockets are enough to knock them off their feet for you to destroy them". The machine turned back to John, and then again down the corridor. "This plan has only a twenty four percent chance of success". John shrugged his shoulders as Bedell and three of the soldiers knelt down and readied themselves to fire, "Twenty four percent is better then nothing, we'll take it. Get ready to move quickly to take them out".
"Affirmative", the machine moved itself to the side of the entrance and waited for the rockets to fire. John, seeing that Bedell was ready, raised his hand and lowered it quickly. Four rockets shot out of the launchers and in to the dark base. The moment the rockets past, Uncle Bob ran after them, not even waiting for them to hit the T nine hundreds. All John could see was four large explosions when the rockets hot the machines and then nothing, only darkness. John and Bedell waited and John thought he had just sent the machine that saved him in the past to its destruction, but the machine returned, again and much to John's surprise, completely unscathed. "The way is clear; I suggest we move quickly to secure the area". John nodded to Bedell who grabbed his plasma rifle and headed inside, followed by a dozen soldiers, before John followed also. It didn't take long for them to reach the sight of the destroyed T nine hundreds. The remains of two of them were on the ground. The third was no where to be seen. Both T nine hundreds had their heads removed, undoubtedly the handy work of Uncle Bob. "Where's the other machine?" Uncle Bob appeared behind John, and looked down each of the corridors.
"The third machine escaped before I could tackle it". John groaned. Now they had to hunt the machine in the confined corridors, which would undoubtedly be difficult. "Bedell, switch to isotope weapons and hunt that machine down. I'll take care of the T one thousand". Bedell waved his arm forwards and began to move forwards, closely followed by a dozen soldiers. The rest remained with John. As he was about to move to find the T one thousand, John felt a sharp pain in his chest and raised his hand to it, blood flowing through his fingers. "You require medical assistance!" Uncle Bob was watching John as he groaned in pain. "I'll be fine; I'll get it seen to when we're done". John then headed off in search of the machine, and tried to ignore the growing stabbing pain in his chest. It didn't take him long to find the room he was looking for. The main room of the base was in the centre and the moment John pushed the steel door open, he spotted the T nine hundred. Dropping to the ground on instinct, he expected to feel shot's fire over his head, but nothing came. Looking up, John watched as Uncle Bob walked forwards and stood before the motionless machine, its once red eyes dead and dark.
"It has shut itself down. A machine would only do that once its mission was complete". John stood up and walked inside, followed by Bedell, who for good measure, kicked the machine and knocked it over, "I hate machines! What the hell was its mission then?" Bedell looked to Uncle Bob, looking for answers. "Its mission was most likely to slow down our entry in to this base, to give the T one thousand time to complete its task. The T nine hundred has succeeded in its task". John looked around the room, and saw a set of shutters and only when seeing the shutters, did he hear a humming sound, which was slowly getting louder. Bedell followed John's gaze and moved to the shutters and pressed the button to open them. The shutters retracted upwards and through the glass, the T one thousand came in to view, standing in the centre of a sphere like room. The machine stared right back at John and in John's memory, he recalled the moment when the machine had come so close to killing him in the past.
"Why didn't you shut down like the others"? The machine didn't smile or respond in any way, prompting Bedell to raise his rifle and fire at it. His plasma shot hit the glass and was stopped in its tracks, leaving nothing but a black scorch mark on the glass. The machine looked to Bedell mockingly and then back to John, and finally spoke. "I was built to be an independent machine, not under Skynet's direct control". John thought as much. The T one thousand always seemed different compared to the other machines. "What are you doing?" The machine didn't answer and instead just stood there in silence. Then the humming sound ceased and the machine walked forwards, out of the centre. "You have killed Skynet and won the war in this time. I was designed with the purpose to do what ever is necessary to ensure Skynet's survival and dominance over this world. I was unable to stop you in this time, so I shall do it in the past".
The T one thousand turned to the single console in the room and pressed a few buttons. Seconds later, the outlines of a blue sphere began to form in the centre of the room and the Machine took its place there, turning to look at John. Bedell fired twice more at the glass, without success before ordering Uncle Bob to get in there and stop it. Uncle Bob stepped forwards and punched the glass. Not even the smallest crack appeared in the glass, it was designed to not be broken. The T one thousand then knelt down and was engulfed in a flash of white and blue light. By the time John was able to look again, it was gone.
John sighed and turned away, drawing gazes from everyone around him. "The chances of the T one thousand succeeding in its mission are one hundred percent". John looked to Uncle Bob and again sighed, "What are the chances if I send you back to protect me?" At this, there were looks of horror from many around him, including Bedell. "Connor, if you want to send someone back then fine, but you can't send another machine back. I'll go, I'll go back". John turned this time to Bedell. "Yeah, If send you back, then your daughter grows up with out a father. And I doubt Lauren would be happy with me for sending her husband away permanently, she'd kill me. Too many families have been torn apart in this war; I'm not breaking up another. This machine is going back and that's the end of it". Bedell stood down instantly, looked once at the machine and then to the floor.
He seemed both grateful and disappointed at John's response. John then turned to the computers in the room and began to work. After a few minutes, everything was set and John turned to the machine. "I'm sending you back; you'll arrive before the T one thousand does. Do you know what you have to do?" The machine didn't show any emotion as it turned to stare in to the time displacement chamber. "To ensure the survival of John Connor", was all it said and it then walked in to the time displacement room, its door having unlocked itself after the T one thousand disappeared. It stood in the centre of the room and waited patiently for John to activate the machine. Bedell moved and closed the door behind the machine and stood next to John by the computers, "Are you sure about this Connor?, I mean, sending Kyle back the first time was one thing, but sending a machine back to fight another machine in the middle of LA, don't you think people would notice?. How do you know it will be able to kill it?"
John smiled and began to power up the machine and watched as a blue sphere began to form. "I've seen too many people die Bedell, way too many. Humans are irreplaceable; Kyle and Liz are prime examples. If I send someone back, they'd just be killed. I already know this machine will succeed because I've already lived through it and no, nobody really notices and if they did, they never said anything". Bedell rolled his eyes and turned himself to watch as the blue sphere could now clearly be seen by everyone. "You and this time travel stuff, I'll never understand it". John and Bedell watched as Uncle Bob knelt down and with another flash of white and blue light, it was gone. John, once he was able to look again, stared at the spot the machine had just been. That machine had been a factor in shaping him to be who he needed to be, to become the John Connor that the world needed. And now, with that machine gone, John had one regret, he never said thank you.
John ordered the base to be blown to hell and left the room and the base. Outside, he sat alone and looked at his wound. His torn stitches oozed blood but it looked worse then it was but he knew he'd get it in the neck from Cameron and Lauren He waited for Bedell and the others to leave the base and watched as it exploded, destroying the time displacement equipment with it. After the explosion, the soldiers with John erupted in to cheers again. With this base finally destroyed, the war was well and truly over. Bedell took a seat next to John and watched the cheering men and women. "Thanks for what you said before Connor. I didn't know what I was thinking when I said I'd go back". John smiled and patted Bedell on the back, "Not a problem, you've got a family and a daughter on the way, and you'll make a good dad when she's born". Bedell smiled gratefully and John stood up and began to slowly walk towards the trucks and he heard Bedell call after him, "What are you going to do now?
With the Resistance". John stopped and turned to him, looked towards the black clouded sky and hoped a ray of sunlight would appear but after a few seconds, it was clear no sunlight was going to break through those clouds. "The Resistance is finished. The wars over, people don't need the Resistance anymore. I'll tell Perry to shut down all the reprogrammed machines and then I'll give command to Perry. He's in charge now". Bedell's stared at John in surprise and before getting up and marching towards him. "You can't be serious Connor, we've all followed you to hell and back, you can't just hand everything to Perry and leave us". John shook his head and placed his hand on Bedell's shoulder. "I thought you knew me enough to know when I'm being serious. I've had enough Bedell. I've had enough of Skynet, machines and everything, I've just had enough. You've got a family and so have I so you know what I mean when I say I'll do anything for them. Well, I'm doing this for them because I've had enough and I love them more then anything".
John then turned and began to slowly walk towards the waiting trucks behind him. "Connor, where are you going?" Bedell's voice rang through the area but John wasn't paying much attention. His eyes darted upwards to a gap in the clouds and smiled as some sunlight punched through and shined down on them all. John thought of all those who had died, all the billions of people who had lost their lives, in particular, he thought of Kyle, his father and of Liz, his closest friend. But then he thought about those he had saved. All those families back in Serrano point and the many more scattered around the world. But in particular, he thought of his children, Allison, Kyle and the unborn twins and then he thought of Cameron. He loved her more than he ever believed was possible and would never love another like he loved her. It was only now when John replied to Bedell's words. "Home Bedell, I'm going home".