Terminator: Return of the Fallen
Part XXXII
I spent most of the day walking back to the Safe House. It was quite peaceful: no one was trying to yell at me or kill me. Occasionally, I would stop by the side of the rode to just sit and look up at the sky. The desert can be quite beautiful when machines aren't trying to kill everything in it. Part of me didn't want to go home. Not because I didn't miss Catherine, but because I knew I would get yelled at. Granted, I didn't kill anyone that mattered; only a T-600. I wonder if the news cameras caught my good side during the fight?
When I reach the Safe House, I expect to be blasted for being AWOL for the last twenty four hours. Instead, I find everyone basically pacing back in forth in the living room. Well, almost everyone. Something has happened. It takes Catherine a few moments to realize that I am back.
"Oh, hello Charley. I was wondering when you would come home".
"What's going on?"
"Sarah is overdue from the store". That can not be good.
"Have you sent anyone to look for her?"
"No".
"May I ask why not?"
"You know as well as I do that everybody except for our two Johns is expendable; even Sarah Connor".
"Bullshit! I'm going to look for her". As I grab my M82 and a bag of hand grenades, John walks over to speak to me.
"You do know that if my mother was here, she would order you to let her go".
"Can you do that, General?"
"No, I can't. Good luck, Captain".
"I'll get her back, General. I promise. Could you hand me those extra clips of ammunition?"
"Here you go".
"Thanks. I'll see you in a few hours".
I jump into one of our cars and head into Los Angeles. The first place I check is the store that Sarah frequently visits for groceries. I drive around the back of the store and discover Sarah's car, deserted in a nearby alley. As I move in closer to investigate, some jackass tries to take me out with a taser. Infuriated, I grab his arm and crush it.
"Would I be correct in guessing that you are responsible for this woman's disappearance?"
"AAA! OH GOD MY ARM!" I throw the man into a nearby wall.
"Where is she?"
"If I tell you, they will kill me".
"If you don't tell me, then I will kill you".
"So, I'm dead either way?"
"Fuck this!" I punch through his chest and slam my fist into the wall behind him. If I am correct, then I would not need him alive.
He didn't walk here, so there must be a vehicle nearby. I spot a van around the corner; bingo. I smash in the window and open the door. As I had expected, there is a GPS in the van. I hotwire the GPS and discover the van's point of origin. That must be where Sarah is. Might as well take the van, they just might mistake me for one of them.
I follow the coordinates on the GPS to a compound on the other side of Los Angeles. Without a second thought, the people there open the gate and let me in. They actually think that I am the man from the alley. A second van pulls up alongside me, with two men in the cab.
"Howdy, friend. Anything to report?" I reach behind me and pull out a grenade.
"Yeah, I've got something to show you. Catch!" I pull the pin and throw the grenade into the cabin of the other van.
"OH SHIT!" The grenade explodes, destroying the cabin and killing both men.
Now, there is no doubt that I am not with them. We are in a courtyard that is full of similar vans, with heavily armed men jumping out of them. Men with AK 47s leap out of the van cabins and begin to fire at me. I find a good vantage point and engage my enemies in a gun battle. Using the scope on my M82, I manage to score head shots on all of my targets. Some men realize that this battle is lost and flee from their posts. I am not merciful, and I kill them all before they can escape. The courtyard is now filled with over a dozen corpses, each one with a bullet hole between his eyes. The two men that operated the main gate come out of their blockhouse and shoot me with their AK 47s. I shoot them both in the chest, killing them instantly. These men are all wearing body armour, but I am using armour piercing incendiary rounds.
I get back into my van and drive it just outside of the gate, where it should be out of reach of the enemy. Then, grab my grenades and extra ammunition cartridges and shut the gate. I throw a grenade into the cabin of each van, to ensure that no one escapes. After the vans have all been destroyed, I head inside the compound.
After smashing down the front door, I am confronted by a metal gate that is blocking my path. I attempt to tear through it, only to discover that it is electrified. I have no idea how many volts are surging through my body, but it hurts like hell. I release the gate and fall to my knees; in pain but not damaged. There has to be a junction box nearby, supplying the electricity to this booby trap. After examining the area, I locate the junction box and shoot it. The box is destroyed, the current is disabled, and I am tearing the gate apart. That is when I notice an open doorway near the gate. The enemy must have been waiting for the current to disable me. No such luck boys, I throw my last grenade through the doorway.
"GRENADE!"
The explosion is followed by the screams of men in pain. I walk into the room, and shoot everyone that it still moving. Then I move further into the compound. In one of the hallways, five men leap out with AK 47s and attempt to kill me. I kill them and move on. The hallway ends near a door leading to the next section of the compound. If I were defending this building, I would place a heavy machine gun directly behind this door. Rather than accommodate the defenders, I pick a spot on the hall and charge through it like a bull.
"WHAT THE HELL?"
I emerge through the wall directly behind their defensive position. I shoot them all before they can react. Ten men caught off guard, ten more kills to my tally. There is another door at the back of this room, I decide to charge through the door and confront the defenders head on. There are five men in the room; one is manning a heavy machine gun. A short battle ensues, and I kill everyone in the room. Then, I smash through the back wall and head into another hallway.
The defenders have erected barricades throughout this hallway. Crates have been piled from the floor to the ceiling, with slots for their AK 47s to fire through. Five men stand behind every barricade, firing at me like their lives depended on it. Actually, their lives ended the moment they took Sarah. I charge straight towards the barricades, taking numerous hits to the chest and head. When the defenders realize that they are not going to stop me, they begin to flee. I smash through the barricades and shoot the defenders, killing one man with every round fired. They retreat, regroup, and fire on me. I just aim my rifle at their heads and chests, and blast them all to hell. I crash through five barricades before reaching the end of the hallway, leaving twenty five corpses in my wake.
Men leap out of hidden panels and attack me from behind. They fire AK 47s and M16s, striking me in the back, chest, and head. I spin around and gun them down. The further I travel into the compound, the more determined the defenders are to stop me. I reach a series of rooms were ten men have gathered to try and stop me. They throw grenades and then run, stunned by my survival. The grenades explode and rip my flesh, but they do not damage me. Five men regroup in one room and engage me in a fire fight. I shoot all five of them in the head. The other five men have spread out along the hallway, taking up defensive positions. I march down the hall, firing once at each man. I never miss; the five men are killed where they stand.
As I approach the rear of the compound, men begin to charge me in an attempt to engage in hand to hand combat. One by one, I fight and kill them. I break their necks, bash in their heads, severe their spines, and slaughter everyone in my path. The final defenders lean in and out of doorways, firing at me and then taking cover. Rather than wait for them to run out of ammunition, I level my rifle and aim at the doorways. When a man pops out to open fire, I blow his head off. One by one, I kill the last of the defenders. At the very back of the compound, there is a heavy steel door that is bolted shut. Jackpot! I smash down the door and enter the final room in the compound.
"HERE'S CHARLEY!"
Inside the room, I find Sarah Connor tied to a chair and being water-boarded by two men. I shoot them both before they can react to my entrance. A third man throws down his AK 47 and offers to surrender to me. Unfortunately for him, I can not take prisoners and I shoot him in the chest. Sarah, blindfolded and disoriented, has no idea that I am here. All that she knows is that someone is shooting the hell out of this place. As I stand behind her, I notice that her body is tensing up. Without saying a word, I shatter the ropes that are binding her with my bare hands and remove the blindfold from her eyes. She turns her head and spots me.
"What are you doing here?"
"Saving you. Get behind me and put your arms around my neck". As she does this, I reach behind my back and use my left arm to support her weight.
"Other than to let you grab my butt, is there a reason we are doing this?"
"Yeah! Them". Everyone that is left in the compound is launching a counter attack against me. "Try to use my body as a shield while I take care of these clowns".
I fire until I am out of bullets, then I hand my rifle to Sarah and begin to gather weapons off of the dead. I grab AK 47s, M16s, Uzis, and Magnums off of the men that I have killed, fire them until they are out of bullets, and then gather more weapons. With only one free arm, I can not reload any weapon that I am using. I can only use the cartridge that is already in the gun, then drop it and grab another one. As I mow down the last of the men in the compound, I am constantly using my own body as a shield to protect Sarah from the oncoming barrage of bullets.
"Who are these guys?"
"They work for SkyNet. Kidnapping me was a retaliatory strike for destroying their factory".
"What did they want from you, anyway?"
"They wanted to use me to get to John. But I would rather die than betray my son".
"So would everyone else. Stay behind me, they have to be running out of men by now".
Occasionally, one or two men would get close enough to engage me in hand to hand combat. I bashed their heads in, took their weapons, and used them to shoot their comrades. By the time we reach the gate at the front of the compound, over one hundred men lie dead throughout the building. SkyNet is going to have to do a recruitment drive to replace everyone.
"Careful, the last time I passed through this gate it was electrified".
"Electricity can short out normal Terminators. They must have been expecting Cameron or John Henry".
"I did not know that. I will have to keep that in mind the next time I am fighting a Terminator".
The electric current has not been restored to the gate, so we pass through it without incident. As we exit the compound, I pick up a hand grenade from one of the bodies and lower Sarah to ground. I walk over to the van, punch a hole in the side of the vehicle, and toss the grenade inside it.
"OH SHIT!" The van explodes, killing whoever was inside waiting for us.
"How did you know they were in there?"
"It's what I would have done. You rest up while I call someone to pick us up".
I pull out my cell phone and call Reese to pick us up. Everyone is overjoyed that Sarah is alright, more or less anyway. Though she has been abducted and tortured, she is alive; which is more than I can say for the men that work for SkyNet. Chalk up another victory for the Resistance. Sarah is safe, our enemy's henchmen are dead, and their base is completely trashed. When we get back, I am going to pass out for a few hours. I am completely exhausted.
