Hope
Chapter 02: Future Imperfect
LOS ANGELES
FRIDAY 22ND MAY
12.42PM
Box 14b. This is the one…
Jason reached into the metal container but his fingers found only empty space. He checked every corner but could find nothing. Pulling the lid of its hinges, he stared into the box, but was again presented with the same result. God damn it! he raged and hurled the container across the room, startling Sophie as it crashed against the wall. She cast him a bewildered look as he placed his hands on the shelving unit and kicked the bottom, causing several ammo boxes to cascade around him.
"Oooookay…" she remarked as several 9mm rounds scattered across the floor at her feet. "I take it something's wrong then?" she asked to his back. Jason sighed and turned to face her, leaning against the shelves as he considered the mess he'd made.
"My Glock is gone", he explained.
"Soooo… find another one", she suggested with a bemused smile.
Jason rolled his eyes, knowing she'd missed the point entirely.
"This was the one I've been working on for weeks now, remember?"
Sophie's eyes glazed for a second as she scanned her memory for his mention. A second passed before she remembered to what he was referring. "Oh, you mean that Glock", she realised. Jason nodded, casting the empty box a dark glare. He had been trying to modify the weapon to be more adaptive to different magazine types, and to improve accuracy. So far he'd succeeded in altering it to allow the use of both a normal 17 round clip and a 34 round clip, the latter being capable of rapid fire.
Another addition was a laser sight and a suppressor, both of which he had intended for quiet sniper kills. Sophie knew how adverse Jason was to relying on a variety of weaponry, and that he would create a single gun capable of fulfilling all his needs didn't surprise her, though she had never actually seen this new toy of his. Silence engulfed them as Jason watched a single round roll in circles on the floor. He seemed entranced by it to her eyes, and when it came to a stop, he continued to stare at it in an almost expectant manner.
He was fixed upon it.
Sophie waited for him to redirect his attention to something else, but when a full minute passed she realised it was happening again. A deep sadness welled inside her as she was presented with his flaws again. Ever since his mind was turned into raw software and uploaded onto a CPU he had been increasingly unstable and detached. He would spend hours performing the same repetitive task over and over until she finally snapped him out of it. Jason would have no knowledge of his OCD, and was dazed every time she brought him back.
But this was the least bothersome flaw they had to deal with. His senses, his capacity for feeling, had slowly started to erode over time. When at first he could feel everything around him, smell the air, taste food, and enjoy her touch; he could now barely feel the things he touched; he couldn't smell anything; and his taste buds were practically non-existent. He had become numb to the world, and though he rarely spoke of it, she knew he would give anything to be able to feel the fire he so often put his hand into.
"Jason?"
He did not respond.
Sophie reached out and cupped his cheek in her hand, dragging his face away from the shiny bullet and back to her ocean blue eyes. His expression was almost child-like as he stared into those depths. Slowly, his mind moved on from the metal bronze and explored her face; the face of a human he once knew. Cameron. Even to this day he still struggled to differentiate between Sophie and Cameron. The girl's genetic data had been used for more than just the replication of living tissue for the TOK715 that now guarded John.
Sophie possessed many of Cameron's features, both in her appearance and mind. Though Skynet had made sure to alter her where appropriate, vainly believing that blue eyes and blonde hair was the most attractive female trait. But as similar as she was to Cameron, Sophie was just as different. There was a side to her that Cameron never possessed. She was a seductress, a siren, a liar, an extortionist. But she too was a lover, a soldier, an infiltrator, and the only person in the entire world that Jason trusted completely.
The world seemed to suck him back in as he realised his surroundings. Blinking for the first time in minutes, Jason read the concern on her face and instantly knew what had transpired. He didn't need to say anything, she just held him and nodded silently, offering a weak smile of assurance that everything would be fixed one day. He wasn't going to stay like this forever.
"Did… Did you find my gun?" he asked, still dazed from the experience.
She sighed and shook her head as she replied, "If it's not where you left it then Derek must've taken it the last time he came here."
Jason let out another sigh as the idea of Derek toting his pet project burned him.
"When will that son of a bitch learn to leave well enough alone?" he growled.
"Well maybe you should show him that you're not his pet", Sophie suggested.
"Maybe I should just kill them all right now and be done with it", he countered.
"Jason..." she crooned. Though she knew he was kidding, Sophie couldn't help but wonder if he would make good on his word one of these days. She had thought he'd put it all behind him, but after seeing John with Cameron the last time he visited the Connors', a part of him had ignited into what she believed to be jealous rage. He could not abide the thought of John enjoying life when he was losing his. He never spoke of what he saw, exactly, but she knew it had something to do with their current predicament.
"I know. I know", he sighed, pushing her away gently. "I haven't exactly been successful in the past, have I?"
Grey images of his past failures flashed in his mind, showing himself falling onto a rebar, being crushed by machinery, and being obliterated by a burst of plasma. Not in the least, he mused. He had died three times in his life, none of it stuck.
"I remember the first time you tried…" Sophie began, flashing him a mischievous grin.
"I know", he replied.
"You got your ass handed to you by John", she reminded him.
"I know", he sighed.
"And then the second time-"
"I know, Sophie!" he barked.
She simply giggled and wrapped her arms around his waist, looking up into his eyes and kissing his chin playfully.
"You're such an easy mark", she laughed.
Oh, so now she thinks this is a game? Grabbing her arms, Jason pushed her roughly against the shelves behind her. Sophie let out a small gasp at his aggression, her eyes lighting up as he took the side of her neck in his palm. "Where's the switch?" he asked her, his lips inches away from hers.
"Behind the grenade box on my left", she whispered back.
Jason closed the gap and pressed his lips to hers, allowing her to melt into the embrace while he pushed the box aside and felt up the switch. Slowly, she pulled away and leaned back enough to look into his eyes. Her smile did not last, however. "You didn't feel any of that, did you?" she asked miserably. Jason didn't answer, pressing the switch and stepping back instead.
The wall slid back, revealing a small man-sized compartment in deep cold, steam rolling off the walls and gathering around their feet. Sophie shivered as her bare toes were engulfed and bitten by the frost, forcing her to recoil towards the opposite wall. Inside was a metal table and a single glass incubator sat upon it. Its contents stared back at them with dim red eyes, and as Jason approached, the eyes lit up blood red. He reached for it and caressed the glass, feeling as if the part was calling for his touch.
"You know that if you go through with this, you won't be in any position to oppose the Connors", Sophie informed him.
He nodded in response, not really caring all too much. Even if he did kill the Connors, what then? If he had no means of enjoying his victory, what would be the point? Jason had no desire to waste such a pleasure, should the need ever arise to see it through. I would prefer to feel the kid's neck snap in my hand, he reasoned.
"I guess that's the price you pay for being a little more…"
"Human?" she offered.
Yes, he thought. Jason stepped back from the endo-skull, salvaged from his former body, housing his barely living brain.
Human…
-----000-----
TESLA HOTEL
APARTMENT 101b
1.05PM
The door burst open, smacking the wall as Derek dragged his captive onto the threshold. She did not struggle, but neither did she appreciate being handled in this way. Derek did not especially care; as she would be in far worse straights should his suspicions be confirmed. Were it not for the circumstances of her appearance, Derek would've been overjoyed to see his lover again.
"Derek…" she began, but Derek was not interested in hearing her speak right now.
"Shut up", he replied, slamming the door shut behind him and frogmarching her into the lounge.
Once free of his grip, she turned to face the man she'd known through the worst years of her life. But it was not the face she was familiar with, as he pulled his Beretta and levelled it with her chest, aiming for the heart. His eyes burned like coals as they burned into her, familiarising himself with her features. The last time he'd seen her was in 2027, just before she left for a mission aboard her submarine, the Jimmy Carter. During her supply run to Perth he too embarked on a mission, only for him it was a one way trip.
"Derek… I can explain", she offered, her hands half raised in surrender.
"Start", he curtly replied.
"This is a misunderstanding", she started.
Derek was not easily fooled, however, and knew that when circumstances such as these arise; there is no such thing as coincidence.
"I see. So you just happened to be jogging in the middle of nowhere, 16 years before your time, just as someone attacks our perimeter. Help me here; I'm confused", he retorted, still keeping his gun on her chest.
Jesse Flores, 2nd Lieutenant and first mate of the Jimmy Carter, knew she couldn't lie her way out of this situation. Despite what they had both been through, she didn't doubt for a second that Derek would make good on his threat if she failed to explain herself. But a level of discretion was needed, and so the truth would only be told where appropriate. That said, it was always tough to lie to the man she loved.
"I didn't plant the bomb, okay? That wasn't me", she told him.
"You expect me to believe that?" he replied.
"Derek, if you believed for even a second I was responsible, you would've pulled that trigger by now", she reasoned.
She was mindful to choose her words carefully, for even the slightest slip of the tongue could spell her doom. Derek frowned at her reply, and she could see his mind working away to make sense of her presence there. It was unlikely, if promising, that she was not responsible for the explosion. But he needed more proof, and so questions listed themselves in his mind.
"What were you doing in Arrowhead?" he asked.
"What do you think? I was tracking the bastard who set that explosive", she replied.
"If that's the case, why didn't you say something? Why didn't you stop them? And why then did you run from me?" he pressed.
"Because I needed to keep a low profile. Because I didn't arrive in time to stop him", she answered.
"He?" Derek echoed.
Damn it, she thought. Derek was always sharp, but he also had a way of luring people into a false sense of security, allowing them to naively believe their secrets were perfectly hidden from him.
"You know who this guy is?"
Jesse didn't answer right away; the question required a moment of analysis. She was skating on thin ice, and if she made one more mistake, she'd most certainly fall through.
"No… I don't know. It could be any one of them", she replied.
"One of who?" he asked.
"It's complicated", she explained.
Keeping him within reaching distance of the carrot was not the wisest idea, considering the gun still pointed at her frantically beating heart. There was too much she had to hide from him, however. Her mission depended upon her secrecy, which she had already irreparably compromised so far. It was now only a matter of limiting the damage. Perhaps a little more truth would in fact be beneficial.
"Look; I'm not here to harm you or John Connor, or his mother, or even the metal carrying his child…"
"How do you know about tha-", Derek began, his grip on the Beretta tightening.
"But what I am here to do is to make sure that that child remains safe", she revealed.
A moments silence engulfed them as Derek digested her words. At first it seemed ludicrous that Jesse, his Jesse, would give a damn about the offspring of a machine, and he still found it hard not to link her to the bombing. But as he chewed on this revelation, his opinion began to waver and the scales tipped to one side.
"You didn't set the bomb?" he asked again.
"No."
"You're saying someone else is responsible, and you're here to stop him?"
"Yes", she answered, hoping he would read her sincerity.
"Then why didn't you warn me or John?"
"I made a decision to keep it a secret, so I could catch him in the act and know who he was. I guess that was a mistake", she sighed, casting him a sorrowful look. Derek considered her carefully as he weighed everything she'd told him. He knew her. In the past he'd trusted her. But her presence here was pushing his boundaries of belief. Of all the soldiers in all the Resistance, why did John send her? And why not send a metal to hunt the assassin? These were all important questions, and he intended to find the answers… one way or another.
"No…" he replied, lowering his gun. "No, you made the right call. I would've done the same."
A sigh of relief escaped Jesse's lips as he tucked the weapon in the belt of his jeans. This wasn't the end of her troubles though.
"Did you get a good look at the bomber?" he asked.
"No, he was wearing a hood. I couldn't see his face", she replied, crossing her arms defensively.
"So what are we dealing with here? Metal?"
"No. Worse", she told him.
The rabbit hole runs deeper than you can ever be allowed to know, she mused.
"I want to know everything. You hear me? Everything", he demanded.
And so they talked.
-----000-----
ARROWHEAD
1.22PM
John… Thump… John… Thump… John…… Thump…
Tiny vibrations coursed through his hand as he spread his fingers across Cameron's soft belly. Little did he know that the child was responding to her constant stimuli, intentionally providing him the proof he needed to be sure the baby was okay, not that he didn't believe Cameron when she told him as much; but he couldn't trust her not to shield his feelings should there be something wrong with the child. Her concern for his mental wellbeing often pushed her to lie to him on occasion, to spare him the agony of knowing too much.
But on this occasion her reports were correct as John once again felt the baby kick beneath his palm.
"He's a fighter, isn't he?" John mused, smiling at the force behind each kick.
"You think it's a he?" she asked, patently confused by his expression of clairvoyance.
John shrugged, however, and started rubbing her stomach. "Just a guess", he explained.
"Your guess might be inaccurate", she informed him.
John looked up into her eyes and raised an inquisitive eyebrow at her as he asked, "Oh? Is there something you're not telling?" Cameron shook her head and drew a finger across her mound, analysing the texture of her skin and the increase of density since her last scan. A small increase of 0.23 of a pound was all that greeted her, however. Slow progress.
"I do not possess sufficient scanning capabilities to make such an assumption", she lied.
In truth, she had decided not to find out until after it was born. Something Sarah had told her about never having that element of mystery and surprise about John's birth had convinced her to seek ignorance in that regard. So every time she ran a scan or the like, her sensors blocked that data, while simultaneously recording it into her equivalent of a subconscious, just in case she needed to know in an emergency. She hoped such a situation would not arise. That would be unfortunate for John, but convenient for her.
John continued to massage her belly in silence for several long minutes while Cameron watched him and double checked her readings. During the course of her scans, she detected an elevation in John's pulse and his breathing had become heavier. His face had become dark and his mind was clearly elsewhere. "What is it?" she asked.
John cast a glance out of the window where pale smoke continued to rise from the smouldering remains of the car, and his expression turned from brooding to tenacity in a heartbeat. "I won't let this happen again", he uttered quietly to himself. Cameron, still nestled upon a pillow, tipped her head slightly to one side as she was known to do when confused.
"This wasn't your fault", she told him.
"But it was", he shot back, meeting her eyes. "I should've been there to keep you safe."
The corner of her lip twitched into a small smile at his remark.
"That's not your job. I have to keep you safe", she reminded him.
"Since when? You don't follow any orders anymore. You have no mission directives, right?" he asked, his brow creasing in confusion.
"I don't… But I make it my mission", she replied with that small smile once more.
"Fine, be stubborn then", he smirked, poking her stomach playfully. "But that's not gonna change my mind. What happened today should never have happened in the first place. I'm… I'm the father. I have a responsibility to it, the baby, and to you. I have to protect you both", he explained.
Cameron took his hand and returned it back to her stomach, holding it there with their fingers entwined.
"Then stay here with me for a while. You were gone for so long. I counted every second."
"Every second?" he asked.
"Every other second", she admitted.
They stared each other down for a lingering moment before John burst into laughter and a bright smile lit up Cameron's face. They hadn't had a moment like this for many months, ever since she announced the pregnancy, in fact. It was these moments that convinced him it was all worth it. She rarely laughed, for her capacity to appreciate humour was still notably limited, but her eyes sparkled all the same.
Their eyes drew closer as John leaned over her, but before their lips could meet; they were interrupted by the familiar creak of the floorboard outside, followed by the clearing of a throat. John closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh as he felt two eyes boring into his back, and forced himself to sit upright and turn to acknowledge his mother's untimely presence.
"I take it everything's in working order then", she observed, trying to ignore the scene before her.
"Yes, Cameron's okay. The damage is superficial", he informed her.
"That's sweet, but I wasn't actually talking about her", Sarah replied.
"The baby is fine too", John added; giving her the answer she sought.
Cameron's expression remained blank as she stared back at Sarah, giving her the distinct impression that she was being assessed by the cyborg. Though she had come to accept the fact that Cameron had surpassed her base purpose to hunt and kill, and that she was capable of some measure of feeling and that John was the sole recipient of this, she still remained hesitant to believe that Cameron could ever be counted as a human being. She was a person, perhaps; but never human.
"Good. Cos' the last thing we need is an emergency c-section with metal on our ass. Tin-Miss, you didn't happen to get a look at the guy in the bushes, did you?" she asked.
"No, and it's difficult to determine if the attacker was male", Cameron answered.
"What about Derek? What did he turn up?" John chipped in.
Sarah's brow creased in what he guessed was concern, though it surprised him she would even care.
"Derek hasn't returned yet. If he caught the guy, they're either dead and heavy, or alive and feisty", she replied.
Images of Derek dragging a kicking and screaming ninja popped into John's mind and a small chuckle escaped him. Meanwhile, Cameron was visualising Derek lying face down from a gunshot wound to the chest. Sarah, on the other hand, had no opinion either way.
"I want you two to stay indoors until this is dealt with, you hear me?"
"Yes, mother", they answered in unison.
Oh, that's all I need, Sarah thought as she turned back to the door.
-----000-----
3.34PM
Black soot settled on all that remained of the charred vehicle parked in the Connors' drive. The flames had since been extinguished, but the raw heat of the explosion still resonated from within the heart of the car. The air was thick with the fumes of petroleum and twisted metal sticking out at odd angles. Running his hand across the soot encrusted hood, Jason tried in vain to recall the feel of dust and sand.
"You did a bang up job here. But the next time you decide to light up a cigarette whilst checking the gas line-"
"Cut the crap", Sarah snapped.
Brushing the refuse from his hands, Jason turned away from the wreckage and met Sarah's not-in-the-mood-for-bullshit glare.
"You know, a little appreciation wouldn't go amiss. You call me out here to do your dirty work, and this is all I get?" he replied.
She knew what he was doing and why. It seemed almost as if his inability to harm them, if only to ensure his own future, was all that kept him from putting a bullet in them right then and there. But he wasn't about to roll over and sing kumbaya with them either. As Derek put it; "The bastard is like that last piece of steak that decides it won't be swallowed without clawing down your throat first." Jason didn't like being their ally any more than she liked having him still breathing, but they couldn't kill him and he couldn't lay a hand on them either.
So they were both stuck with each other, the irony of which was not lost on them.
"Derek went after whoever did this and he hasn't come back yet or contacted us at all. I called you because I can't risk leaving John alone while I look for him", she told him.
Jason glanced up at the upstairs window, catching a glimpse of John moving around inside.
"He's a big lad. He can take care of himself", he replied.
John stopped at the window, catching sight of Jason, and a dark scowl crawled across his features. Jason smirked back at him, a wordless goad for the boy to come down and try his luck. Sarah followed his gaze to the window and narrowed her eyes at John. After a long moment, John spotted his mother's attention and turned away from the window, disappearing from view.
"You have a job to do. So do it", she ordered, having had enough of Jason and anything to do with him.
Without a second's hesitation, Jason reached into his jacket and pulled out his gun, levelling it with Sarah's head as she stalked away, completely oblivious to his actions. It was so tempting to just pull the trigger. A large percentage of all his worries would be wiped away in an instant. But he waited for too long, and Sarah disappeared inside.
With a sigh, he placed the gun in his jacket and turned his attention back to the matter at hand.
Time to trade one asshole for another, he mused as he set off into the trees.
-----000-----
3.55PM
Footprints, matching those of Derek's favoured boots came to a stop by the roadside.
Jason knelt down and pressed his fingertips to the impression, taking a long list of readings to determine the length of time it had been there. Within less than two seconds he was presented with the data he sought, informing him that Derek had been here almost three hours ago. The track ended there, however; replaced by the prints of tires from a car. The tires sped down the road as far as Jason's enhanced vision could determine. Looking back at the footprints, Jason could see no signs of a struggle.
Derek left by his own accord, unless he was held at gunpoint, in which case he would've had no choice.
Closer examination revealed a second print, different to Derek's. This was smaller and bore the motif of Nike footwear. Judging by the grip pattern on the sole, Jason guessed it belonged to a pair of jogging shoes. A woman's jogging shoes, no less. Derek was captured and manhandled by a woman? Sarah is gonna love this, he thought to himself. The question now was whether or not he could use what he had to find Derek. Mud tracks only led so far, and the road would connect with the main soon enough, which would make following it useless.
This is going to be a long day, he sighed.
-----000-----
LOS ANGELES
FOOD COURT
7.11PM
Derek loved these places. He loved the energy of it. The raw feeling of life around him, which painted a stark contrast to the world he'd come from. People, normal ignorant and happy people just sitting around eating crappy takeaways and jabbering about their day; completely devoid of any concern beyond that which meant nothing in the larger scheme. Like the serenity of the park, these places symbolised all that he fought so hard to protect. The end was coming and he would give anything, including his life, to save it.
"You're very quiet", Jesse remarked as they sat down with their Chinese food.
Derek drew himself back to reality and looked down at his meal, wrinkling his nose at the tray of what he could only describe as grease and noodles. Jesse caught his expression and smirked. "Hey, wait until you try it before you turn your nose up at it", she said. Derek stirred the contents unenthusiastically and raised an eyebrow at her as she tucked into her meal without hesitation.
She looked just as he remembered her. The same raven black hair, the same quirk of the lips. The same brown eyes and tinted skin, somehow unblemished by the war. He used to wonder whether she was really metal, given how perfect she always seemed. He knew, however, that this was certainly not the case. He'd seen her inside and out, and what he saw was 100% pure woman; a rarity in his time.
"I prefer cheeseburgers", he replied, jabbing his fork into the 'grease'.
"I bet you do", she smirked.
Derek found himself watching her again. He watched as she ate her food, taking her time to relish every mouthful. This was something new to him, for he had only ever seen her shovel the food into her mouth from starvation and prolonged gaps between each meal. The future was somewhat lacking in takeaways, and as he observed the others around him wolfing down their food, he realised just how privileged they truly were. He too was lucky to be where he was, to eat what he was reluctant to eat.
He spent so much time spying on them, that he almost forgot the reason they came here in the first place. Jesse found the confines of the apartment to be ineffective when it came to explaining the story of her past, especially since it had a bed and soft pillows to test out between them. Derek was not ashamed to rearrange his priorities like that, especially since it had been months since he'd last been with a woman, Sarah not withstanding. He and Jesse needed some time to reconnect before any stories could be told, but now that it was done…
"You said you'd tell me why John's child is so important. We're here now, so talk", he said.
Jesse sucked the noodle into her lips with a noise like a plunger on a sinkhole and wiped her lips with a napkin before clearing her throat.
"There was a virus; a disease. I dunno exactly what it was, but it was wiping us out. All of us that survived the war", she began.
Derek's heart skipped a beat. "Survived? You mean the war was over? We won?" he gasped.
Jesse's eyes twinkled as a smug grin spread across her face. "You're damn right, we won", she confirmed.
Derek couldn't believe it. During his entire time as a soldier, the chances of prevailing against the machines were little more than a pipedream. They didn't fight to win; they fought because they had no other option. If they were to go out forever, they were to take every metal bastard they could down with them. That was the plan. But now Jesse was telling him they won, and he couldn't imagine feeling so happy to be wrong for once.
"How?" was all he could come out with.
"We got a lucky break. You see, Skynet got ahead of itself. It made these things, these… half human hybrids called I-950s", she explained.
Don't I know it, he mused, his thoughts drifting to Jason momentarily.
"They decided they were done taking orders from a computer, so they rebelled against it and joined forces with us. And with their help and the help of an entire factory of reprogrammed metal, we took out Skynet's central base. I was there, Derek. I was there when Connor single-handedly blew the crap out of its primary processor", she recalled, her eyes misting over as she looked back at those times. "But that wasn't the end of it. Skynet escaped into a body, some kind of super machine called a Vessel, and it launched an attack on our HQ."
"The Vessel?" he repeated.
"Yeah, it tore through Seranno Point and used the last bubble tech to escape. We don't know where it ended up, but it was gone and the machines fell under the command of the I-950s. Their leader ordered them to stand down, and the war was over, just like that", she finished. "I wish you could've been there to see it", she added in a softer tone.
"Well, I caught your leftovers", he replied.
Jesse's brow creased at his comment and she let her fork drop into the tray. "What do you mean?" she asked.
"The Vessel, the machine Skynet controlled; it came here, to this time. We destroyed it", he told her with much satisfaction.
"You serious?" she reserved.
Derek nodded and Jesse let out a restrained laugh, impressed by this revelation. The two of them fell into silence as Jesse imagined him blowing the head off the Vessel in some epic one-on-one fight to the death. Derek, however, knew it was Cameron who single-handedly defeated the machine, but he was adverse to mention that small detail.
"You mentioned a virus?" he remembered, bringing her back to the present.
"Right, the virus… yeah, it struck us about a year or so after the war ended. People started to die all over. No one could find a cure for it, until Connor's kid showed up. She was a doctor, you see; worked on injured soldiers. She patched you up pretty good one time", she told him.
"She did?"
"Yeah, don't you remember? You got a shard of shrapnel stuck in your back. You almost died", she explained.
Derek couldn't recall ever suffering such an injury, nor did he have any memory of John's child or a scar on his back from such an incident. But then it occurred to him that the Derek she knew was not necessarily him, which also meant she was not the Jesse he knew. Swallowing this harrowing fact, Derek turned his attention towards learning more about her future.
"What does John's kid have to do with this?" he asked.
"Well… she came up with a way to inoculate people from the virus, but it came at a price. And some people weren't willing to pay that price. Another doctor claimed to have found another way to overcome the virus, but the girl insisted that her method was better for mankind in the long run. The others disagreed", she replied.
"And there was an argument, I guess", he said.
"You could say that", she muttered, her face falling into morose as she looked back on that day. "A civil war broke out. It was short and bloody, lasting only a few hours, but it cost us everything, Derek. Everything", she informed him.
"What happened?" he pressed, leaning forward a little in his chair.
Jesse took a deep breath before continuing, and Derek knew he wasn't going to like what she had to say.
"They killed the girl; murdered her in cold blood. John was killed in the crossfire and the metal, Cameron, it… it went berserk. It picked up a rifle and didn't stop firing until everyone in the bunker was dead, then it disappeared into the wasteland, never to be seen again. We were fragmented, scattered. More and more people started to die from the virus and the doctor making the other vaccine was killed by Cameron, so there was no cure for anyone. Luckily, I had been injected before all of this, but for most it was too late", she recalled.
Derek was couldn't believe what he was hearing. All that she told him was playing itself out in a little diorama in his head. He could see the blurred image of a girl in doctor's garb being gunned down by desperate insurgents, and John taking three bullets to the chest in the process, then Cameron, eyes wide but face blank, picking up a rifle and riddling the terrorists with bullets until their bodies were peppered. Dying people in the halls croaked for help as Cameron gunned them all down without mercy, her eyes a deep blue…
"Derek?"
He snapped out of the nightmare to find Jesse staring at him with concern in her eyes. She reached out and took his hand, squeezing his fingers reassuringly. "There were a few of us left. We knew about the TDE and we knew it still worked, so some of us wanted to go back and kill the girl so there would only be one option for us to choose. But I couldn't let them murder an innocent child, so I followed their assassin back in time to stop him. I don't know which one of them it is, but I'll know once I see them", she explained.
Derek took a moment to digest everything she had told him, vaguely aware of the flies settling in his food. He knew the child of John Connor would hold great importance one day, but he never expected it to inherit his responsibilities as a saviour of mankind. A saviour, it seemed, who was destined to die for trying to save humanity. Suddenly, all misgivings about Jesse evaporated in an instant. She at least was trying to right the mistakes without resorting to child murder.
"Let me help you", he said.
Jesse gave him a sad smile that told him she wasn't going to accept any help with this.
"The more people that get involved, the harder it will be to draw this guy out. I need to do this alone, Derek", she implored.
He nodded in silence, looking down at her hand enclosed around his on the table. Suddenly, a whirring noise came from somewhere close. Jesse frowned as she reached into her pocket and retrieved a cell phone, flipping it open and examining the screen carefully before snapping it shut again and pocketing the phone.
"What was that?" he asked.
"Nothing, it's just an advert from the network. That's the only bad thing about these places, right? You can catch all kind of crap from the air", she joked.
"I never get anything", he commented.
"Well, I guess I'm an easy mark then", she smirked. Derek snorted and shook his head, imagining lines of code darting through the air, dive-bombing peoples' phones all around him. Jesse shuffled in her chair and let out a sigh. "I gotta go to the John. I'll be right back", she winked. Derek smiled without a word, and Jesse climbed out of her chair and navigated through the other tables in the court.
Pulling her phone back out of her pocket, Jesse turned the corner and pressed the redial button, but instead of heading straight forward to the toilet block, she ducked into a nearby alley and waited as the phone dialled her caller back. Several long seconds passed as the dial tone repeated over and over, all the while she paced back and forth in impatience. Finally, the call connected, and the sound of a man's annoyed sigh came from the other end.
"Yes?" he asked.
But before Jesse could open her mouth to ask why the man had called her earlier, an almighty bang deafened her as a nearby fire exit burst open. Before she could react, a hand was around her throat and lifting her aloft. Choking from the pressure, she let out a gurgled cry as the attacker slammed her against the wall, her phone clattering across the floor. Jesse kicked against him, but all she succeeded in doing was stubbing all ten of her toes against the man's body. He was tough… and strong.
A car passed the alley, briefly casting its light down the length of the passage, and Jesse caught a brief glimpse of her attacker's face.
The face she saw made her blood run cold.
"You?!" she gasped, continuing to wiggle free from his steely grip.
Jason simply smiled at her vain attempts and held her in place with ease.
"I'm sorry, am I supposed to know you?" he replied.
"You will when I blow your fucking head off!" she screamed, reaching for the gun she had tucked in her belt.
Jason detected her movements, however, and grasped the weapon before she could get a grip on it. He drew the weapon and tossed it aside, rendering her completely unarmed. Jesse let out a cry of frustration as Jason chuckled at her distress. It had been a long time since she last saw his face, and she had hoped she would never have to look upon it again.
"What do you want with me?!" she gurgled, still suffering beneath his hold.
"I want to know why you and Derek are so chummy. I want to know why you were at the Connors'. And last but not least, and since I just spent the past three hours breathing gas fumes to find you; I'd like to know just who the hell you are and what you and dear old uncle Derek were talking about", he answered, increasing his grip on her throat.
The pressure on her neck threatened to snap her like a twig any moment, but she refused to give this freak the satisfaction of cooperating.
"Fuck you!" she replied in defiance.
"So be it", Jason accepted, slowly squeezing his hold to the point of fatality. As her vision began to blur into nothingness, Jesse could see a dark shadow move over Jason's shoulder. Two red orbs flashed in the dark, and the earth seemed to explode as Jason gave out a cry of surprise and she felt herself hit the ground hard, fresh air finally pouring into her lungs unhindered. With a shuddering gasp, Jesse felt life return to her, though her head felt like it was made of cotton wool.
A distant boom echoed from the other side of the passage and shattered pieces of brick and mortar showered her. Jesse flattened herself to the ground as the two shadows hurtled towards her, one pushing the other as they both ploughed through the wall with a deafening crunch. Sounds of screaming and smashing followed, but Jesse wasn't going to wait around to find out what was happening, so she staggered to her feet and limped down the alley, a stray thought of Derek dropping into her mind as she fled.
-----000-----
Stuart couldn't believe his luck.
Stacey had always been every guy's dream in high school, and the thought that he would be sitting with her on this couch, watching her unbutton her blouse for him was something he'd never have believed would happen to him. Stacey flashed him a mischievous grin as she slowly exposed her bra-less chest to his wide eyes. He was not alone in his joy, for all around him were several couples in varying states of undress who, like he and Stacey, were using the security of their friend's basement to practice their misdemeanours.
Nobody cared that they could see each other, for that merely added to the reckless adrenaline of their experience, and as Stacey pulled back one side of her blouse to reveal a single nipple, Stuart only had eyes for her. Amongst the sound of heavy breathing and giggled moans, a dull boom echoed from the left wall and dust fell from the foundations. Stuart glanced at the wall for a second, but Stacey pulled his chin back in her direction. He smirked at her feistiness and slowly extended a hand to sample the soft skin before him…
An explosion of bricks and mortar stopped him short of touching her as two dust-caked figures came crashing through the wall and into their midst. They landed at Stuart's feet, one atop of the other; the man underneath squinted up at the couple, catching sight of Stacey's exposed chest. "Hey there", he said slyly, giving the girl a wink. Stuart had no idea what was going on, and even as he reached for the nearby lamp and held it up as a weapon, he still had no idea why he wasn't running for the exit like the half dozen other couples.
Girls screamed as they hastily threw their clothes back on and bolted for the stairs, their partners following suite. Stacey screamed louder than the others and scrambled over the back of the couch, abandoning Stuart with the mess before him.
"Stacey! Wait!" he cried to no effect.
Following her lead, he leapt over the couch and chased Stacey's tail up the stairs, still clutching the lamp for dear life.
Having enjoyed his temporary and rather unexpected peep show, Jason turned his attention back to the urgent matter at hand. Looking up at the man atop of him, Jason drew up a deep scan of the balding guy, revealing the leer of a T-888 skull staring back at him. It was pinning him to the floor, but as Jason tried to throw him off, he found his arms weren't responding. Suddenly, his mind went completely blank and all thought abandoned him. He lay there, staring blankly at the exposed metal on the Triple-8's forehead… transfixed.
Several agonising seconds passed as the T-888 assessed the best method of terminating its superior enemy now that he was otherwise incapacitated. Deep inside Jason's CPU, however, a subconscious part of him was desperately fighting the corrupted code to restore his cognitive and motor functions. A second later it found a bypass and repaired the route, and awareness returned to Jason like a gasp of air after minutes underwater. Coming back to himself, Jason could feel his arms flexing, and gripped the T-888's shoulders tight.
He pushed against the machine, but it shoved him back, so he tried again, but was again forced back. Frustrated, Jason applied all of his strength and the Terminator finally gave under his superior might. Jason lifted the machine enough to place a foot on its chest, which he then used to kick the Triple-8 off of him. It hit the wall with a crack and staggered from the impact. Jumping back to his feet, Jason delivered a single strike, smashing it back against the wall once more.
The machine was no match for him. As Terminators go, the T-999 was the equivalent of three to four T-888s in combat, which when combined with Jason's knowledge of all things combat reduced the Triple-8's chances of survival to a very low digit.
The T-888 charged Jason, planning to use sheer force to try and corner him, but Jason was too fast and side-stepped the machine, grabbing it by the scruff of the neck and hurling it across the room. The Terminator struck the stairwell and landed in a heap on the floor as the wooden structure collapsed atop of it, partially removing the stairs from the basement. It began to right itself but Jason closed the gap in a second and slammed his boot into its face, driving it into the concrete floor with enough force to smash right through.
Kneeling down beside the machine, Jason placed one hand on its chest, pinning it down; then drove his fist just below the neck area and above the chest plate. Using his deep scan, he located the power cell and grasped it. The T-888 twitched and tried to struggle free, but it was too late. Jason, with very little effort at all, tore his arm out of the machine, taking the power cell with it. The Triple-8 shuddered, its eyes glowing erratically before going completely dull. The body ceased moving a moment later, and the lights on the power cell dimmed shortly after that.
The air seemed to clear as warning messages ceased reporting their useless data to every corner of his conscious mind. Jason held up the power cell, a chrome pentagon the size of a music box with red lights along the side, and examined the device with mild interest. His attention was not fixed on the cell, however, but more upon the artificial blood that covered it and his hand. It looked so real, but as he stared at it, he could detect the differences. Does it really matter in the end? he wondered.
"What the-?!"
Jason snapped out of his reverie and gunned his attention to the hole in the brick wall to see Derek standing there with a dumbfounded look on his face that Jason likened to a deer in the headlights. His gun was in his hand as he examined the scene before him and upon seeing Jason kneeling over the machine; he instinctively raised his weapon and stepped onto the threshold.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" he yelled.
"I might ask you the same thing", Jason replied, idly dropping the cell to the floor.
Derek's eyes darted from left to right, checking for any other threats as he slowly advanced.
"Where is she?" he asked.
"The woman you were talking to? She's gone", Jason told him.
Derek's focus turned to the deactivated T-888 at Jason's feet and he started putting two and two together.
"I have a few questions about that, by the way", Jason added.
"Yeah, well you can forget it. She's none of your business", Derek snapped.
Jason snorted, having no intention of respecting Derek's wishes. He pulled a small pot out of his jacket and started sprinkling it on the machine's body, lit a match, and dropped it on the body; setting it alight. The endoskeleton flashed and disintegrated as the incendiary did what it does best, casting a blinding red light onto Derek's face as he watched. Jason stared down at the body, his eyes glowing crimson, but not from the fire. Several broken pieces of the stairwell also caught fire, but did not burn for long and the fire failed to spread further.
"That takes care of any evidence. Mission done. I have to get your ass back to Sarah ASAP", he explained.
"What makes you think I'm going anywhere with you?" Derek spat.
"What makes you think you have a choice?" Jason replied.
Before Derek could open his mouth to retort, Jason drove his fist into his jaw; knocking Derek out cold.
"God, I've been waiting to do that…" he chuckled, grabbing Derek by the ankle and dragging him out of the basement.
-----000-----
ARROWHEAD
7.59PM
"…and he's alive, I trust?"
Sarah had never been relieved to hear Jason's voice… until now.
"Yes, he's alive… unfortunately. I'll have him delivered to your door within a few hours. You want him gift-wrapped?" he replied.
"Leave that to me. Just bring him back safe", she said, snapping the phone shut without another word.
Despite what she might project in the company of others, Sarah was just as concerned for Derek's safety as John. For all his flaws, many of which pushed her close to killing him herself, Derek was still Kyle's brother; which made him family in her eyes. With a deep sigh, she chucked the phone on the bed and took a moment to compose herself before setting off down the corridor to John's room. Stopping at his door, she watched as he tapped away on his laptop, illegally downloading movies onto disc.
"You could get into trouble for that, you know", she remarked.
"What? More so than blowing up a research building and supposedly murdering a brilliant computer scientist?" he smirked.
Sarah chuckled and shook her head, happy to see the jolly side of her son for once.
"I just got off the phone with Jason; he found Derek", she informed him.
John stopped typing and swivelled around in his chair to face her, apprehension in his face.
"Is… Is he okay? What happened to him?" he asked, almost fearing the answer.
"I dunno, he wouldn't say. Jason's bringing him back as we speak though. Alive and in one piece", she assured him.
John too let out a sigh of relief, and half turned back to his computer, pausing from indecision. Sarah scanned him closely for a moment before stepping into the room and sitting on the edge of his bed, concerned for the look on his face.
"What's up?" she asked, reaching out to smooth his hair down.
"Ah, it's nothing. I guess I just…" he began, stopping in mid sentence. His eyes fixed upon the door and Sarah followed his gaze to see Cameron standing there with a rather large carrot in her hand, a sizeable chunk already bitten out of it. She just stood there, munching on the piece in her mouth before swallowing it. Sarah was sure she hadn't chewed it properly before forcing it down her throat, given the size of the lump it created as it descended. Cameron stared at them with an air of bemusement, tipping her head at their attention.
"What are you doing?" John asked with a hint of amusement.
"Nourishing", she replied matter-of-factly.
"Really? Cos' it looks to me like the machine equivalent of the pregnant munchies", Sarah quipped.
No accounting for taste, she mused.
Cameron did not reply, but simply took another bite out of the carrot and proceeded to crunch it in her mouth.
"Why are you eating anyway?" Sarah added.
Cameron swallowed the piece, again without chewing it properly, making Sarah flinch a little.
"I need to sustain my organic components. Carrots help", she explained.
Glancing down, John spotted a wooden spoon in her other hand and frowned.
"What're you doing with that?" he asked.
Cameron held up the spoon for them to see as she explained; "I was about to make dinner for you."
"Nothing with carrots, I hope", he joked.
"We haven't much else…" Cameron replied in a small voice.
Standing up from the bed, Sarah took the spoon from Cameron and flashed John a reassuring wink before brushing past her and disappearing downstairs. Cameron watched her descend before turning back to John with a slightly confused expression on her face. "Why doesn't she want me cooking for you?" she asked. John chuckled and smiled at her, rolling his chair closer to the desk as she approached with that innocent curiosity on her features.
"She probably knows I don't fancy carrot soup right now", he sniggered.
"But carrots are good for you. They increase your retina's capacity for low light environments", she explained.
"Maybe, but they don't taste as good as that", he replied.
Cameron sat down on his bed, idly placing one hand on her stomach while taking another chunk out of the carrot, still confused as to why humans were so averse to eating all the things their bodies needed for superior growth and development.
Prodigal creatures, she panned.
-----000-----
Aint found a way to kill me yet. Eyes burn with stinging sweat. Seems every path leads me to nowhere…
The music seemed so far off as Derek slowly came to in the backseat of a car. As the music grew louder, so too did the dull ache in his jaw and the pounding drums in his head from whatever had hit him and put the guy in this state. Raising a hand to rub his temple, Derek groaned against the pain and the noise, vaguely realising he was lying down with a seat belt clip digging into his back. Reaching underneath himself, Derek moved the clip so it was at a flat angle, relieving him of that annoyance.
Wife and kids. Household pet. Army green was no safe bet. The bullets scream to me from somewhere…
He was still pretty out of it as he slid a hand into his jacket, feeling around for his Beretta, only to find it gone.
"Looking for this?" a voice asked.
Derek's eyes snapped open to reveal the grey felt ceiling before him. Rolling onto his side, he saw his gun being held invitingly between the front seats. He grasped for it, but it was snatched away at the last second. A glance at the rear-view mirror revealed the face of Jason, and Derek knew his troubles had only just begun. He was too tired to provoke, however, and simply slumped back down onto the seats, knowing he would arrive home soon enough anyway.
Derek closed his eyes and allowed the music from the radio to flow over him. Part of his mind tried to discover where he'd heard that song before; whilst another part fell back to Jesse and all that she had told him that day. It had been enough that she was here in the flesh, but the harbinger she turned out to be was far more of a mind-job than he could possibly have anticipated.
"What happened?" he asked aloud.
"You hit your head", Jason replied, believing Derek was talking to him.
Reese tentatively prodded his cheek and flinched from the sharp stabbing pains from the contact.
"If I hit my head, why does my jaw hurt like hell?" he pointed out.
"Because your jaw is attached to your head", Jason answered simply.
The car started to shudder and Derek knew they were on the mountain road to the safe-house. Just a few more minutes, he assured himself. Just a few more minutes before he could be free of Jason's company and could lie down on his bed with a nice cold beer. But he was awake now, which meant that Jason had only a few minutes to work up an appetite for violence.
"Who was that woman and how did she know me?"
Derek ignored his question. He wasn't going to be interrogated, not when he was so close to home. It will all be over soon…
"Fine. But how do you think Sarah will feel when she hears you screwed up your mission to go chasing some tail?"
Again, he refused to indulge Jason's attempts at provocation. Almost there…
"Do you think she'll be jealous or just plain pissed? Sounds like quite a toss-up to me."
Please God…
"But whatever she does to you, I just want you to know…"
Deep breaths…
"I love you, man."
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" he finally roared, causing himself more pain from the strain on both his brain and his jaw.
Jason burst into a fit of laughter that smacked of deep satisfaction, having finally gotten what he so dearly desired. His day had now become totally worth it, and with that victory in his clutches, Jason turned up the volume on the radio to deny Derek any semblance of peace between now and the not so distant confrontation with one Sarah Connor.
You know he aint gonna die. No, no, no, ya know he aint gonna die…
-----000-----
LOS ANGELES
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
9:33PM
Agent Carlson was new to the job, but he majored in all the right courses. He earned all the right degrees and passed all the right tests to get where he is now: a junior agent. The case file he held in his hand, which he was also charged with delivering to the leading agent, was one he had not seen before. Case file 1#B561J: Unexplained Basement Homicide. He had read it through carefully and had already begun working on his own theories as to what happened and why, though many of the reports, especially from eye-witnesses, were baffling.
Perhaps the LA will let me do some actual detective work this time, he mused as he stepped into the corridor towards the elevators.
The elevator door slid open and Carlson's day seemed to brighten, for standing inside was the beautiful records clerk he'd been recently courting. With a smirk, he stepped inside and stood with his hands behind his back, purposely not looking at her as the doors closed. An uneasy silence fell upon them as the unnaturally cheerful elevator music kicked in, adding to the already tense mood.
"What floor are you heading for?" she asked to break the silence.
"All the way to the top", he replied with a sly grin.
She raised her eyebrows in mild surprise as she pressed the button for the highest floor.
"What're you doing going up there?" she enquired.
Carlson suddenly felt very smug as he held up the case file and adjusted his tie a little.
"I have a case for one of the seniors. Real interesting one too, I'm gonna help him crack it", he told her with a wink.
"Well good luck with that", she sniggered.
They fell silent again as Carlson struggled to find something else to say. After several long moments, he decided to go for broke.
"So, how you feel about getting dinner later?" he asked.
To say she was shocked would be an overstatement. In truth, she'd been expecting something like this for a long time, and she already had her rebuff ready for deliverance. It wasn't that she didn't like him, but he simply didn't appeal to her in that way. "I'm sorry, I'm already involved with someone", she lied, looking everywhere but at his eyes.
Carlson didn't make a scene, however, and simply nodded in defeat. She felt like she should say something to soften the blow, but right at that moment the elevator doors opened, silencing her once again.
"Your floor", she mumbled.
"Yeah", was all he could manage before casting her one last look and stepping out of the small square prison.
We should all be machines, he thought as disappointment took hold. Machines don't feel rejection or remorse or any of that negative stuff humans do, or at least that's what he believed. Without really thinking about where he was going, Carlson approached his destination, still thinking about the woman in the elevator. Is it really worth feeling these emotions when you could just careen through life without a care? he asked himself.
Dragging his gaze up from the floor, Carlson saw a fancy blonde stroll past, and as she did so, an innocuous wink greeted him.
I guess it isn't that bad after all, he mused whilst watching her from behind, oblivious of the fact that he was walking straight into a door frame. With a rattling thud, Carlson smacked face first into the frame and staggered back, clutching his nose. Salvaging what little dignity he had left, Carlson stepped into the office and held up the file for the agent to see. Without a word, he set it down on the desk, to which he received a "thank you" before promptly leaving to tend to his nose.
Upon his way out, he happened to glance at the name stapled on the door:
JAMES ELLISON
To be continued…