CH12 Woodland battle :Allison VS Sky Net
Allison had that funny knot in her stomach again. Besides some clothes in stuffed in her book bag and her blanket rolled up atop of it on her back, she carried three large boxes of canned goods floating beside her with her invisible Hands. They walked along through the woods just like Gramma Sarah said, at an easy pace and watching all around them. Gramma Sarah was up front, Allison's class were gathered around her, following Gloria. Being short, Allison couldn't see very far, so she listened.
Right after they left all she could hear was their footsteps. Now, jet engines raced by and she heard occasional explosions. She couldn't see anything through the tree tops other than a very brief glimpse of something. A loud explosion came from behind them. She turned and saw a large fireball rise up. Many people turned to look at it, a few screamed.
"Keep moving!" Sarah yelled from the front.
"Was that the school?" Byron asked in a hushed tone.
Calculating the distance they had gone and where the explosion was, Allison said, "It's possible. It is the right distance, though I'm not sure about the direction."
"Move!" Sarah commanded.
Coming to a dirt road up ahead, Sarah had everyone stop and get down as she went on to check for anything waiting for them. Allison listened closely. She picked up soft noises, like the sound of tracks, but no engine noise. She recognized it as the sound of the things that took her. They were coming from the direction Gramma had gone.
Heart in her throat, Allison dropped all her packs. "Everyone, lie down!" she barked, then grabbed a couple trees with her Hands and slung herself after her grandmother. Using the trees, she flew up to land in front of her Grandmother and said, "They are coming, Gramma! Get behind a tree and lay down. I'll stop them."
The sudden appearance of Allison, as well as her statement, made Sarah's jaw drop. "Allison! What's coming? How will... how did you do that?"
"Just get down, PLEASE!" Allison begged, then launched herself for the road. Coming toward her fast was a long line of those tracked vehicles, and every one had a gun. Heart pounding in fear for her Grandmother and all her friends, Allison charged, all her Hands out.
She hit the lead one, then one behind it, and the third one, splitting them in half. The next one she grabbed the barrel as it rolled under her, planted Hands on the road, and lifted it up to fling it over her head and bash it down into another one. Not wanting to get shot, she flew off to the side as an impressive train-wreck effect occurred. Behind her, pieces of machines, wheels, track sections and body parts flew as the ones behind rammed the destroyed ones in front. Others tried to stop just before impact. Once farther back did get stopped off turned off into the woods.
Allison flew through the trees and came back at the road. She passed over the road, splitting five more with her Hands, then slung herself over one trying to escape in the direction her friends were in. She split this one in half, then threw the halves back towards the road. One piece bounced between a few trees, loosing parts before it landed. Her aim was better with the other half, coming down on the road and wrecking another vehicle.
Multiple gunfire sounded in a deafening roar. Trees she passed exploded in splinters, throwing bark and wood everywhere. Ducking down on the ground, Allison shielded herself from the onslaught. A peek up showed more machines were coming through the woods.
Allison fought with everything she had, flying through tress, slashing out at machines and blocking the bullets they shot at her. She lost track of time as she destroyed machine after machine. Every time the ones around her were wrecked, she searched for more. She could not allow any of them to get to her friends!
An inspiration hit her. She ran through the woods, slicing down trees to form a barrier. Cut through the trunk, then knock it down on others so the vehicles could not get by. As she was doing this to prevent them from getting to her friends or Grandmother, bullets came at her from the sky. Looking up, she saw the triangular craft drop a bomb from only a hundred yards up. She shot out a Hand and caught the bomb, and flung it away. Grabbing a tree limb, she threw herself in the air and smacked the machine hard. The body folded and the air craft spun to the side, then exploded.
Returning to her task, Allison raced around the area, looking for any more machines that were still moving. Not finding any, she went back to where she'd left her Grandmother. Coming to the area, she grabbed for another tree trunk, but her invisible arms failed her. She tumbled to the ground, bouncing a few times before she landed on her back.
"Gramma! Gramma, where are you!" Alison called as she got to her feet. Tripping over a steel wheel from the wreckage, Allison fell face first on the ground. Getting up, she noted her strength was gone. Her head hurt and it was getting hard to see. She saw Gramma appear in front of her. Her mouth moved, but Allison couldn't hear anything other than the ringing in her ears.
"What?" she asked. She stumbled again.
Sarah hurried over and caught Allison. The child's face was blank and she was sweating profusely. "Come on, let's get back to the others," Sarah coaxed, guiding Allison along with an arm around her.
Allison turned her blank gaze to Sarah. Weakly, she said, "Gramma ... you look fuzzy."
Sarah knelt down and steered Allison behind her, tapping her back. "Come on hon, I'll carry you."
"Huh?"
Sarah took Allison's arms and put them around her neck. Allison got the idea and climbed on. By her movements, Sarah could tell she was getting weaker. Sarah got up with a strained grunt. "Holy GOD you're heavy," she complained as her face turned red.
"I'm tired, Gramma," Allison mumbled.
"Just hold on to me hon," Sarah coaxed as she trod along back to the group. She was amazed at the massive destruction Allison had caused. Much of Allison's fighting was beyond her sight range, but she did count thirty vehicles Allison had destroyed as well as chop down a portion of woods and downed an H/K. Not bad for a six year old.
Sarah grew a crooked grin as she walked along under Allison's weight. Sky Net was in for real trouble when Allison grew up.
.
In the skies over the Air Force base, Navy attack drones had arrived to join the fight. Between the remaining fighters and the drones, the rest of the H/K's were downed. A radar plane picked up another large flight of H/K's inbound. The drones shifted to face the threat head on as the fighters climbed high to come down from above. Also joining the fight, a squadron of high power lazer armed F22's came at the H/K's from behind. With no radar lock on them and the concentrated beams of high energy light they fired, the H/K's did not know where the attack was coming from as F-22's began dropping H/K's one after the other. With the drones attacking from in front, and fighters from above, the cloud of H/K's broke apart, shedding unit's that fell burning. Keeping up their high speed, the Navy fighters screamed into range, took a shot, then flew away. The drones got in closer. Many were downed, but took H/K's with them. From behind, the F'22's were taking out H/K's almost at their leisure.
With over half of it's aerial force gone, and only seven ground units left after the ambush in the woods long before either had even gotten close to the base, Sky Net knew the battle to destroy the AI's was lost. It sent out a new mission priority to it's forces. Find and destroy communications and all humans they encountered.
.
In the command center, Major Franklin watched intently as the airmen worked the limited video feed from the last operating camera they had. The ground outside looked tipped due to the tower being hit, but it hadn't fallen down. Yet. One underground emergency generator was still in operation. They had power for lights, the camera, and a circuit to the useless communication equipment they had. All the antennas were gone. From what he saw from the video feed, anything above ground level was wrecked. He did see a couple of the Sky Net mini-Stugs roll past.
"Generals, we've got nothing left," Major Franklin told them. "The only thing moving up there are Sky Net machines."
"What about our AI's?" General Abram asked.
"No word, no sight of them. For how strong they are and how intelligent, I am sure they are hiding in the rubble someplace," Major Franklin told him.
A banging knock sounded on the doors into the bunker. The guards turned to face the door. One guard keyed the speaker. "Identify yourself!" he commanded. The camera looking down on the outside showed one man standing at the entrance.
"Fire and rescue squad from Palmdale. We are looking for survivors," a reply came over the speakers.
A sign of relief passed through the room.
"No!" Major Franklin said quickly. "There is nothing but Sky Net over us. It's a trick!"
General Wakefield eyed Franklin with a grin. "Apparently you're wrong, Major." Going over to the speaker, he pushed the talk button and said, "This is General Wakefield. How many are with you?"
"Two rescue trucks and four groups of searchers," came the reply. "We're busy and would like some help, if you are able."
"Did you see any combat units?"
"We saw one leaving the base. It was a low, tracked vehicle."
General Wakefield cast a triumphant grin Franklin's' way. "See, Major, that mini-Stug you saw was leaving. They are headed someplace else."
"General, DO NOT open that door!" Major Franklin warned. "The one I saw wasn't leaving, it was coming this way. Sky Net has terminators that look and act human! That is what Mrs. Connor was before the programming was removed from her. I'm telling you, it's a trick."
General Wakefield motioned to the guards and said, "Cover this door. Then we'll see who's out there."
"Don't," General Abrams said. "The Major is right, if that is a terminator out there, it will kill us all."
The six guards made a semicircle around the door, pointing their M-16's at it.
"I am the commander of this base! Open it. It's only one man," General Wakefield said.
Major Franklin dove down and crawled behind the monitoring station. A guard hit the button to open the door, General Abrams ran over to shut it. He hit the button too late. The door was made to complete a cycle in one direction before working at the next command. The door opened.
.
John laid behind a pile of rubble with his machine gun aimed at the back of the mini-Stug across the street. To his left, Cameron held her RPG aimed and ready, John Henry was beyond her. To John's right was the man with the TOW launcher, three others with the rest of the RPG's beyond them. At each end were men with the M-14's they had salvaged. The guns were old, but shot .30 caliber rounds, and not the .22's the M-16's used. The heavier rounds would go through the Stug's hull.
"FIRE!" John barked loudly, then opened fire on the back of the Stug in front of him. Grenades, a missile and gun fire blasted into the backs of the machines. The one John faced tried to turn briefly before he put enough rounds into it to destroy the power plant. The one the TOW missile hit and exploded, sending shrapnel into the ones beside it.
Six Sky Net machines were destroyed immediately. One tried moving with a broken track, the other banged into it's smoking neighbor as it turned to return fire. John shot this one until it quit moving, then turned his gun to help finish off the last one.
"Let's Go, NOW!" John roared, and charged across the street. A quick glance at the sky showed nothing overhead. Thank god for small favors, John thought. From within the building he heard gunfire and screams.
"Let me!" Cameron called, and held out her hand. John gave her the machine gun. Cameron took the lead charging into the building.
"John Henry, go with her," John commanded. He then guiding the others into setting up guards to watch for approaching machines.
.
The fight at the open blast door was short. The T-800 strode in, killed a guard by snapping his neck and grabbed his gun. The other guards all opened up on him, ripping away flesh, but the bullets bounced off his endoskeleton. One by one, the T-800 downed each guard them shot the men trying to hide. General Wakefield raised his hands and announced his surrender just before bullets ripped through him.
The rifle empty, the T-800 picked up another from a dead guard and kept killing men who cried for mercy. Once there was no more movement, it stood, listening. Behind the bank of monitors, it heard ragged breathing. It moved toward the monitors and heard fast footsteps on the stairs. It turn to see Cameron They both shot at the same time.
Like the T-800, the M-16 bullets penetrated Cameron, but bounced off her endoskeleton, doing no real damage. The thirty cal machine gun Cameron had pounded the T-800 hard enough to knock it backwards. Aiming for the T-800's eyes wanting to punch through to the electronics beyond, Cameron kept up a solid stream of fire as she walked forward. She was successful, destroying the right eye, and driving bullets into the base of it's chip. The T-800 collapsed, deactivated.
"Do you need help?" John Henry asked from behind her.
Cameron turned and stated, "No, I got him."
John Henry tipped his head slightly and said, "Not you, Cameron. The man behind the monitors."
Cameron pulled the monitor bank out with one hand to reveal Major Franklin lying on the floor,gapping at her. Scanning him, she didn't see any apparent damage. "Come, we must leave." she said flatly.
Although they found plenty of M-16's beside soldier's bodies, John's 'scavangeing' group only found one more machine gun and a half a box of belt ammunition. Moving out to the south, they passed dead lying everywhere. Keeping to higher ground to avoid possible gas pockets, and moving from cover to cover, the band of survivors made the perimeter fence. Once outside the base, John had them struggle though high, dry brush to break up their outlines. It wasn't prime cover, but it was something.
Cameron suddenly looked off to the south the same time John Henry did.
"Trouble?" John asked. He looked too, but didn't see anything moving on the horizon.
"Help," Cameron told him.
Off in the distance, a line of their mini-Stugs appeared, rolling towards them. With the machines nearby, Cameron and John Henry were able to connect radio communications back to the Zeita factory, and in turn to other places to get the word out about what was happening. With something to fight with now, they made plans to remove the remains of Sky Net from the base.
.
Allison awoke with a splitting headache. She let out a whimpering moan and covered her face. The bed she was in was uncomfortable, and sagging badly down the middle.
"Ally, you OK?" Byron asked from right beside her head.
"I hurt," she whined and tried to hold her pounding head together.
"Hon, sit up and take these," Allison heard her Gramma say. She cracked her eyes open to see she was not in her room, but outside on a cot made from a blanket and a long pair of sticks that looked like someone had used tree branches. In front of her, Gramma was holding a paper cup of water and two pills.
Confused and hurting, Allison asked, "Where are we?" She did take the pills, and downed all the water.
"Safe as we can be, Hon." Sarah said soothingly. "Lie back down and get some rest."
Allison gazed out her painful eyes at the scenery around them. They were in the woods on a hill, it looked like a town in the distance. She also puzzled over Gramma's remark about being safe. "Did something happen?" she asked. Byron, Gramma and Becky stared at her. Dan, barked out a laugh.
"Happen?" Dan asked, gapping at her. "Did you ask if something happened? Come on Ally, you don't remember?" he asked.
Irritated at him, Allison asked, "Remember WHAT? We were having lunch ... and now we're out here in the woods."
"It doesn't matter right now," Sarah told her. "Lie back and get some rest."
Allison nodded and laid back down and closed her eyes. She swore someone had beaten her all over, and her head was pounding.
Dan said in a laugh, "She wipes out a whole column of panzers by herself, and she doesn't remember?"
"Dan, stop it," Gloria said firmly.
"Yeah, leave her alone!" Byron added.
"Shut up and let her sleep!" Becky snapped.
"Sleep, Ally, I'm right here," Byron said as he held her hand. She squeezed his hand gently in gratitude.
"Everyone, over there. Give Allison some peace," Gloria told them.
Sarah left Allison with Byron kneeling beside her, and returned to watching the outskirts of Palmdale.
So far, she did not see the signs of the devastation she had been expecting. There were attacks, an H/K in the distance was shooting down on something until a missile streaked in and destroyed it. Police, ambulances and fire crews were out in force. Fighter planes would cruise by overhear, but there were no massive explosions or gas attacks. It was quite possible that Allison had single handedly destroyed the force sent to do those things.
Sarah had trouble believing Allison could move that fast, and those invisible Hands she had were that powerful. Mr. Ellison had said that the woman who made it possible for Cameron to be able to bear Allison, held the nickname of 'wind of death'. She could easily see Allison deserving that same name. All Allison did was jump over the road in incredible leaps, and all the machines below her broke apart and flew around like the wind alone was destroying them. Sarah was sure not even the most advanced terminator ever made would stand a hope in hell against Allison.
Using all that immense power had drained her granddaughter. Once she was done, Allison was in sad shape. She'd passed out for five hours and even when she woke up, Allison had amnesia and was obviously hurting from the effort she had expended. If at all possible, Sarah was going to do her best to make sure that Allison would never have to suffer like this again.
"What do you think?" Miss Jacobs asked as she came up beside Sarah.
"Not what I expected. The town is still there, and it seems like Sky Net is beat, at least for the moment," Sarah told her. Pointing up, she said, "The H/K's must have gotten beaten by our planes. Overall, I think we did pretty good. We survived."
"About Allison," Miss Jacobs said hesitantly. "What she did back there was ... beyond incredible. We heard guns firing, but she came back without a scratch. Her mind powers are that strong?"
"I was shocked too. Pleasantly," Sarah admitted. "If it wasn't for her, we could all be dead right now. I am hoping that Cameron did as well against the forces that attacked the base. She's pretty tough also."
"You have an amazing family, that's for certain," Miss Jacobs said with a grin. "So, when do you think it will be safe to go back to the school?"
"In the morning, I'll go back and recon the school. If I don't find anything, I'll drive back down that road down there," Sarah said, pointing at the dirt road below them. "If you don't see me by noon, assume the worst and stay here. Unless you recognize someone, don't trust them. No matter what military vehicles you see, stay away from them. Cops too. Triple eights can look like anyone."
"You sound paranoid," Miss Jacobs noted.
Sarah eyed her and said, "I've been fighting Sky Net's machines for the past twenty four years. I've got good reason to be paranoid."
.
The remaining Sky Net mini-Stugs got a rude surprise when they met the camo-painted, turtle backed mini-Stugs. The first was being shot at and destroyed from ambush points after human resistance had been eliminated. The second was their machine gun bullets deflected harmlessly off the heavier armored hulls. The third was tactics. If a turtle back Stug missed or didn't destroy it's target, it backed up into cover. The Sky Net Stugs would go after it to kill it, and get destroyed by another Stug hiding nearby, waiting for them. In a couple hours, the Sky Net Stugs were gone. Cameron also found another triple eight on the base. It was no match for a shot from a rail gun. The high speed, armor piercing rounds blew the terminator apart.
Sitting up against the badly painted mini-Stug, Cameron controlled the units as John did his best to pick out the bullets and bandage the holes in his wife and cover up all her bare-metal areas. Leaning against the front of the Stug, John Henry took the duty of being the radio as Major Franklin talked to his next highest superior. Around them, the rest of the group sat looking for threats and trying to absorb the day's events. This morning, they were techs in a nice workplace concerned mostly about their projects and how they were going to spend their paychecks and planning their weekends. As the sun set this afternoon, they were battle-shocked survivors of a brutal fight they never imagined would happen here.
John had worked his way down, and finished wrapping Cameron's ripped up leg. She looked like she should be in intensive care with all the blood on her and covered in bandages of whatever John could find, including his T-shirt he'd riped up.
"I can find no other Sky Net forces, of survivors," Cameron said blankly. "All units returning to this location."
Louder, John said, "Did you hear that, Major? The base is clear. Mini-Stugs returning."
Major Franklin came around from the front. "Good news," he said. Seeing Cameron, he added, "Will she be OK?"
"Everything still works, right Cam?" John asked.
Cameron took on a brief look of surprise. She looked down art herself, then cast a blank look at John. Her lips trembled and her voice quavered as she said, "No. My normal function are operating one hundred percent, but the bullet that hit my womb destroyed the flesh holding our babies."
"Babies?" John asked. "You're pregnant?"
"Not any more. Both were killed." As Cameron spoke, a tear welled in her one good eye.
John's face fell. "OH... god, Cam," he said and pulled her into a hug.
"I'm really sorry," Major Franklin offered.
Cameron held onto him, staying quiet until the mini-stugs all returned and ringed their position. She then burst out crying.
It was the most mournful sound John ever heard.
.
John found out the top speed of the new mini-Stugs was 52 miles per hour as he followed the one ahead of him to the school in the pre-dawn before the sun came up. Cell phone service was down, so he and Cameron went to check on Allison and Sarah. In the passenger seat beside him, Cameron was blank faced as she controlled the mini-Stug in front of them. At least she had stopped her crying fits.
Four times last night, John had woke up to Cameron's grief. She offered to go and let him sleep, but he wouldn't have it. His wife was having a very hard time with loosing her babies, and he wasn't about to let her face her grief alone. John felt terrible also, but he held himself together for her. The possibility of having any more children was gone, and he knew that devastated her.
Pulling up to the school building, John grabbed the M-14 he brought and Cameron grabbed the .30 cal machine gun. Cameron parked the mini-Stug pointing out at the road away from the building far enough that John could pull up to the steps behind Sarah's jeep.
Wearing sunglasses and bandages across her forehead and left side of her face, Cameron was not dressed in the required formal wear. Carrying the .30 cal, she had on a long sleeved black shirt, her purple leather jacket, jeans and boots, all her clothes showing holes and blood splotches. John, in his brown leather jacket, was also dressed for combat instead of visiting. The first think they noticed was the place looked empty.
The noise of a door being slammed open got their attention.
"Upstairs," Cameron noted. They went up, guns trained.
John brought his rifle up to his shoulder, watching ahead of them as they slowly climbed the stairs, being as quiet as possible. From the hallway ahead came the sound of heavy footfalls, punctuated by another door slamming open.
Getting to the top, John laid on the stairs and peeked around one corner over the sights of his rifle. Cameron looked the other way. Seeing open doors, John whispered, "Down here."
A large, solidly build man stepped out of the last open doorway. He held a machine pistol in his hand. He raised his gun to fire, John took aim and his right eye and shot. Right after his shot, Cameron opened up on him.
The man jerked and fell back in the room from the pounding. Cameron raced to the doorway. John had time to get up when the man, now showing metal endoskeleton, appeared to knock Cameron's gun aside, grab her by the throat and slam her hard into the opposite wall. John aimed at his chip port and shot again. The bullet skipped off his skull, but it did allow Cameron to knock his hand away and kick him back into the room. Cameron took aim fired. A crash of breaking glass was heard. She ran in, John followed.
.
Sarah peeked up from behind a low wall. Seeing the rounded hulled, tracked vehicle in front of the school, she assumed Sky Net was here. Shifting to get a better look at the driveway, she saw John's car.
"Shit," she hissed. John was here, and Sky Net had followed him.
A crash, and a man tumbled from the second story, landing in the drive with the broken glass and window frame.
Another figure jumped from the window. Sarah watched Cameron land on her feet in a crouch, then knelt over to the downed terminator.
Sarah broke cover and ran over to her. "Where's John?" she asked.
"Inside, he's coming. Where's Allison?" Cameron replied.
"Up the road, hiding in the woods."
"I need to destroy this chip. Then we'll go get Allison."
"What is that thing?" Sarah asked, indicating the vehicle.
"Mini-Stug, it's one of mine."
.
It was Gloria's turn to watch the road below. Sarah wasn't around when they woke up. Miss Jacobs told all the staff Sarah had gone back to the school to see it it was safe to return. Although Gloria hadn't seen much yesterday with her head on the ground and praying none of them were going to die, she'd head about what Allison had done. She really hoped that Allison would wake up this morning feeling somewhat normal. If more of those thing came back, Allison was the only defense they had.
Seeing a vehicle on the road, Gloria at first felt relief, knowing it had to be Sarah. They she noted the barrel sticking over the front and saw it was tracked. Her heart went in her throat. She fled back to their camp site. Running up, she yelled, "They're here! More of those things came back!"
Blankets erupted and people scrambled to gather their things. Allison was dead asleep, Byron lying on the ground with his own blanket beside her. Byron raised his head.
"Everyone calm down and keep quiet," Miss Jacobs said. "Gloria, How many and where?"
"On the road, right where you told me to watch. I only saw one," Gloria said as she pointed behind her.
"All right, listen up," Miss Jacobs said sternly. "Gather your things and sit tight. We'll go watch where that thing is heading. It may pass us on by. Gloria, show me where you found it."
"It might see us!" Gloria complained.
"Quiet!" Miss Jacobs said firmly. She looked over to see Byron was up, watching them. Allison was sound asleep.
The sound of snapping sticks and crunching undergrowth came to them. Everyone got up and looked around.
"They're coming!"
"HIDE!"
Gloria turned and fled back the way she came, she'd past a thicket of laurel, she'd hide there. A form rushed up in front of her. The tracked vehicle was moving fast for coming uphill through the woods, the cannon was pointed down hill. A person carrying a big machine gun was riding on it. Frozen in fear, Gloria watched the machine stop, the figure atop it slid off and walked up to her. It was a woman with sunglasses, bloody purple leather jacket and jeans and a bandaged head. She looked like she'd been through a meat grinder. This was one battle hardened soldier.
"I've come for my daughter. Where is Allison?" Cameron asked.
Gloria gapped at her. "Mrs. Connor?" she asked in a squeak.
"Yes. Take me to Allison."
"Follow me," Gloria said weakly. When she usually saw Mrs. Connor, she was in a nice dress, bore a pleasant demeanor, and was very pretty. The Mrs. Connor in front of her was none of those. In fact with her blank face, bloody clothes, bandages, and toting that big gun, she looked scary.
Cameron marched into the empty the camp. People's heads appeared from their various hiding spots.
"The Army's here!" Dan yelled as he stood up.
Cameron stopped and eyed him. "I'm not in the army, Dan. Where's Allison?"
"Mrs. Connor?" he asked as his jaw dropped.
"She's here," Byron said, crawling out of a tent. He pulled the tent back to reveal Allison asleep on her make-shift stretcher.
Cameron went over and squatted down by Allison, not taking her hand off the machine gun or the trigger guard as she held it to the side. She petted Allison's hair and said, "Sweetie, Mommy's here. Come on, you have to wake up."
Allison moaned and dug her head around, then turned and opened her eyes. "Mommy, what happened to you?" she asked in a sleepy voice.
"We had a fight with Sky Net, sweetie. Can you walk?"
"It hurts to do anything," Allison complained weakly.
"I'll carry you. Daddy and Gramma are waiting for us," Cameron told her.
Allison sat up and put her arms around Cameron's neck. Cameron scoped her up with one arm supporting her butt and stood. Looking over the people staring at her, Cameron said, "I'm sorry, I do not have transportation for all of you. If you come down to the road, we will ferry you back to the school a few at a time."
"Mrs. Connor, what is that thing?" Miss Jacobs asked as she pointed to the mini-Stug.
"A way to fight back against Sky Net. Mine are better. I cleared a path for you to follow," Cameron stated, then walked back toward the machine. The machine started going down hill ahead of her.
Dan, bearing a goofy grin, said, "Wow, Allison's mother is a real bad-ass too."
"Dan!" Gloria barked, eyeing him.
"Well, she is!"
.
Miss Jacobs was not happy the Connor's had a firefight inside the school, but was pleased that they had gotten rid of the Sky Net machines and protected the students. Cameron took the 'dead body' with them and of course took Allison home to recover, which now was a motel room until the base was rebuilt. Cameron made sure Miss Jacobs had their new address and phone number before they left.
The damage from the firefight had taken place in and around Becky's room. The door and window were destroyed, the wall across the hall was cracked and pushed in, and bullet holes and shell casings were scattered around. Mrs. Jacobs put Becky in an empty room that was only missing the latch from being kicked in, as many other rooms were.
Thinking the excitement was done, Mrs. Jacobs tried to call parents to let them know their children had survived unscathed. That was when she discovered all the phone lines were down, and cell phone service didn't work. It was irritating, but she'd have to wait and try again tomorrow.
With the recent turmoil, she decided to stay the night with the duty teacher. In the staff lounge they turned the radio on, and learned the horrors of what had happened yesterday. Thousands dead in LA, and the Air Force base nearby had been destroyed. That was just local news. Other cities had been attacked, and there was an outbreak of war between the two Korea's, China and Japan, and in the middle East. Tensions were high between the US, England and Russia for the Russian gas attacks from their submarines, which the Russians flatly denied. Both the US and Russian presidents were trying to call a halt to the fighting, but their pleas were falling on deaf ears.
What was the world coming to?