CH 5
A week into the school year, Cameron found that Kalyee was no Reilly. In homeroom and lunch, Kaylee talked to her, hardly giving John a glance. Cindy calmed down and stopped being so nervous around Cameron. Although Cameron did not want to be part of the circle of Kaylee's friends, they did get along. To keep the peace and appear 'normal', Cameron and John began sitting with Kaylee's group during lunch.
Sitting at lunch, Lynn was talking about her new pet kitten. She even had pictures so everyone could see how cute it was.
"I was thinking about a dog," Cindy offered.
"A dog?" Lynn asked with a frown. "Why not a cute kitty?"
"Dogs are protective," Cindy stated.
"Are not, unless you get one of those biting monster dogs," Kathy said. "Sides', dogs go after the cute kitties."
"I think your pet should be suited to you," Kaylee said. Glancing at Cameron, she said, "I can see Cam being a dog person."
John smirked but kept quiet.
"Animals hate me," Cameron stated.
"No! You just haven't found the right one," Kathy assured her.
"Yeah, there has to be some animal that will like you," Cindy agreed, and announced, "Even Dracula had bats and wolves."
The group looked at Cindy, then burst out laughing.
"Well, he did!" she said defensively.
Cameron knew that dogs and cats gave her a wide berth. She had to wonder if there was any animal that could tolerate being near a terminator. Mostly, they ran away from her.
"Beach party this weekend?" the red headed Kathy asked.
"Good idea!"
"Let's do it!"
Cameron looked at John as other girls voiced their approval. He shook his head. They had a Kaliba place to scout out.
"Hey, Cam, what about it?" Kaylee asked.
"I don't think she can get in the water," Cindy offered.
"We can't. We have a previous engagement," Cameron stated.
"See?" Cindy said.
"Cindy, stop it!" Kaylee scolded. "Cam, hon, come with us, it'll be fun."
"We really can't," Cameron told her.
"In case you can make it, we're going LA. We'll meet at the school Saturday morning at eight," Kathy told her.
.
Saturday morning at 5 AM, John and Sarah finished breakfast as Cameron got the van loaded.
"Remember, Mom, this is scout and find only. We don't need to shoot anything," John stressed.
Sarah eyed him and asked, "What's the point of finding it if we don't destroy it?"
"We're after Skynet, not just a facility. Kill Skynet and the facilities won't matter."
"If we don't get Skynet, then they will matter, very much," she countered.
"And we'll still know where they are so we can hit them fast," John replied.
Sarah thought John was either loosing his nerve, or somehow, Weaver was convincing him not to take these places out. They had confirmed locations on seven Skynet facilities now, and he'd yet to organize a strike. Sarah had to wonder just what Weaver's plans were. "Is Weaver going to use the places you've already found?" she asked.
John shook his head and ate the last bit of Cameron's blueberry pancakes she'd made. "No mom." He got up and put his plate in the sink. "We take those out after we get Skynet, or it is clear we can't take Skynet out."
"We're packed, ready John?" Cameron called.
"Coming."
It was afternoon by the time the van drove up the dirt road through the wooded area near where this place was suppose to be. Cameron pulled over onto a 4 wheeler trail and parked. John pulled the satellite map of the area out. "The building is down here, near the valley floor. We hike up this hill, it's public property, no reason for anyone to give us a second look. We go downhill and get the best view of the place we can. Telescopes and audioscopes. We look, we listen. Cam, put the laser audioscope on windows, walls, find a conversation. Mom, keep a watch out around the area. If we're discovered, we want to look innocent."
Cameron noted Sarah didn't seemed too enthused about the mission since there was no explosions or gunfire planned. Cameron herself was liking these spying expeditions. John was doing some vital intelligence gathering and the danger level to him was low. It was pleasing to Cameron to sit by John as they studied targets. She liked him near her. If Sarah wasn't here, they could do more than just sit.
The red, metal roofed building turned out to be another way-station. Trucks came in and left, the only conversations, besides personal ones, were the routing of cargo to three separate locations. A bunker to the north, the 'cage', and a lake. Outside, John found the material for a tower being collected. A future Skynet communications tower. They hadn't fired a shot or blown up anything, but they did learn where to find more facilities.
On the way back, Sarah wanted to talk to John 'alone'. Threat level in the area was low, so Cameron didn't argue. She took a different path back to the van. It helped that Sarah and John weren't exactly quiet. She listened to them as she picked her way along. Sarah was arguing her point that a c-4 party was needed here.
Cameron also picked up an unusual noise. It was a soft rattling growl. Tipping her head slightly, she turned to find the source. Soft cracks accompanied the noise. It sounded like an animal, but nothing she had ever heard before. Stepping slowly towards the noise, she saw movement on the ground.
An animal the size of a medium sized dog, around 30 pounds, was busy with something on the ground. The cracks were bones breaking as this animal fed. It had long dark fur flared along it's sides, and long bear like claws on it's feet. It also had big teeth for it's size. It paused feeding to look right at her, then went back to ripping the bloody carcass apart.
It saw her and didn't run. Cameron came closer. She stopped twenty feet away. The animal now eating a knuckle of a thigh bone down to nothing glanced at her again before going back to eating. It didn't run upon seeing her. It could not care less that she was watching it.
Cameron smiled. She stepped closer, just to test it's reaction. The furry mammal paused to watch her until she stopped fifteen feet away. Once she stopped, it returned to eating. Amazing. It didn't show it's teeth, run or threaten her. This animal was ignoring her. She walked a little closer.
A louder rattling growl sounded as it looked at her again. This time it's bloody lips curled back to show long canines. Only ten feet away, and it was just now warning her to stay away. That was not fear, that was protecting it's food. This animal wasn't afraid of her. Cameron studied it's shape as she backed off. Once she had backed away to about 17 feet, it returned to it's meal.
Whatever this was, she wanted one. A pet that would not be afraid of her. A pet fit for a terminator.
"Cameron ... there you are!" John announced. He walked towards her, then saw the animal. He visibly gulped and held his hand out to her. "Cam, come back this way slowly. No sudden movements."
"He's eating, John. What is it called?" she asked as she turned and walked to him.
Nervous, John kept his eyes on the animal as he said, "Something you do not want to mess with. It's called a wolverine. Come on, let's get out of here."
"Are there tame ones?" Cameron asked. She tried to walk up to John, but he kept backing away.
John cast her a look like she was crazy. Slowly, he said, "Cam, those things make grizzly bears back down. They steal kills from wolf packs. Outnumbered ten to one, or something 20 times their size, wolverine's don't care. They still win! They are the most vicious, bad tempered animal alive. You. Don't. Want. One."
Cameron tried to get John see her point. "It's not afraid of me," she said.
"Wolverines are too crazy to be afraid of anything. Let's get out of here," John said heavily.
Cameron went with John, a little surprised he was obviously afraid of an animal that was only eating it's kill. Apparently, wolverines had earned a reputation to be feared. Just like terminators. "I still want one," she said quietly.
John stared at her and shook his head. Letting her get close enough now, he clasped her hand and towed her away.
Cameron sadly looked back at the wolverine that was now crunching down some ribs. Meat, bone and all. She wondered where she might find a baby to raise. Wolverines seemed to be a perfect match for her.
.
A truck from the warehouse was headed back into town. Cameron followed it at a discrete distance. This truck turned into the city zoo. It went around back into a gated off area.
"A zoo?" John asked.
"Skynet did make animal shaped terminators to try and fool the dogs," Cameron said. "Possibly, they are using this zoo to collect animal DNA to do the same."
"So they can look like anything," Sarah said with a snort.
"Yeah," John said in a breath. "That squirrel you think is innocent might be a metal spy."
Cameron noted a sign in the zoo that pointed out what animals were where. She zoomed in on it. 'Bingo', as John would say. "John, I think I should take a closer look later tonight."
"I think so too," Sarah agreed.
John frowned, "I don't think it's worth the risk."
"John," Sarah said firmly, "Skynet could be making animal duplicates to find where to strike first. This IS critical."
"She's right, John," Cameron agreed. And maybe they had baby animals here too.
John looked at his mother, then Cameron. The security here was not super tight, and he only saw a few pole mounted cameras.
"I'll ask John Henry to help me get in," Cameron offered.
John thought for a moment. If they couldn't stop Skynet then hobbling it however they could in the initial phase of the war was the next best thing. "All right, but try not to kill anyone, and don't get caught," he conceded.
.
Driving around the zoo, Cameron picked up the general layout of the place. Roads, parking lots and animal cages were where the cameras were directed. She took John and Sarah home. That night she made sure Sarah had beer, and John was well fed, then wore him out with sex. It was fun and made him sleep deeply afterward. She went on a perimeter tour, planning her break in as she scanned for threats.
When Cameron left, she visited the grocery store first and got a package of ribs. She changed clothes to dark colors in the van and slung a large purse at her side. She returned to the zoo and parked down the road.
The zoo had several large buildings. One was very close to the perimeter fence. The fence was common chain link with a few strands of barbed wire atop it to discourage anyone from climbing over. Cameron took her shoes off and tied the laces together and hung them around her neck. She climbed the fence with her hands and feet. At the top, she broke the wire strands, then got up on top of the support bar and jumped up to grab the roof and climb on.
From the roof of this building, Cameron went to the sky light she'd seen. Inside were the back side entries for some cages, across the floor were bins of food and refrigerators. She went over to a ventilator and pulled it off. Leaning down to look in, she saw more bins and cage entrances. What she didn't see were any cameras. She put the ventilator back on.
The next building was attached to this one and had windows. It was an office building. She leaned over the edge of the roof to look into that next building. Few lights were on. The building also had a flat roof. Cameron went over, dropped down onto the flat roof and went in the roof door. Using a piece of card stock from her bag, she put it in the latch when she shut the door to keep the door from locking shut behind her.
Cameron crept though the building listening. No one was around. She pulled her cell phone and called John Henry. He told her what she needed to know.
Down to the first floor, door with the cyberlock on it. Cameron pushed the door in, breaking the lock and frame. Inside was a lab. Cameron went over to the stacked server and pulled the can of acid from her bag. She sprayed the noxious fumes into the cooling fans. Heavy green smoke came out the vents as the acid are away the circuits, and any knowledge on them. Sprinting back out, she found the entry to the young animal enclosures.
Ignoring the roars, barks and other cries of fear from most of the animals within, she found what she was looking for. One young animal, looking like a very toothy and clawed puppy, only looked up at her from it's bedding.
Cameron ripped the door off. Making the rattling growls she'd heard, she gently scooped the baby wolverine up, dropped it in her bag and continued on to the data transfer center. There, she opened the relay panel and ripped all the wires out of one end, then the other. She took the bundles with her as she returned to the roof.
A jump back onto the top of the fence and climb down – she didn't want to injure her pet – and back in the van. She left and found another parking lot to stop at and opened the rack of ribs.
Cameron retrieved the young wolverine from her bag as she made the rattling soft growls the other animal had. The little furry thing with claws and teeth bit right into the rack of ribs and made it's own tiny noises. She got it to settle down on her lap, gnawing on a piece of rib bone.
Yes, her pet rocked. Now, she just had to get him home and think of a name for him.
.
John awoke to find Cameron sitting by him, a satisfied look on her face. "Morning Cam. Last night went well?" he asked as he stretched.
"Yes. Any data they had is gone, and transfer won't be possible for a while if any did survive," she said. "There is one odd thing that happened."
John looked at her expectantly. Cameron shifted slightly and said, "An animal dropped into my bag when I was leaving."
John eyed her. "It just dropped in?" he asked.
"Yes, and since I didn't notice it until I was on my way back. Going back was not a viable option. I thought it would be best to take care of it until it could take care of itself," she explained.
John knew something was very wrong with what she just said. He was almost afraid to ask what she'd picked up. Then again, remembering yesterday, he didn't need to ask. "You got one, didn't you?" he asked with a huff.
"It was an accident."
"Right. Where is it?"
"Under you."
John suddenly had a vision of a small wolverine biting him someplace tender he didn't want bitten. He sat up and threw the covers back. Thankfully, he didn't see anything.
"Under then bed. He's sleeping," Cameron explained.
John flopped back down and rubbed his face in frustration. "Cam!" he moaned out.
"Shh! Don't wake him up," Cameron scolded quietly.
John glared at her. "No shit, he'll probably chew my feet off! Cam, those things are dangerous!" he hissed.
Cameron took on her best pleading look. "John, please! This is the only animal that isn't afraid of me. If it doesn't work, then it doesn't. I just really want a chance to have a pet like everyone else. Please, John?"
Seeing Cameron beg, John softened. As he got ready to tell her again how dangerous a 'pet' wolverine was, he realized his girlfriend was also the most dangerous thing he could have in his bedroom. Somehow, it fit. He shook his head and chuckled. He was probably going to loose a vital part of his body before this was over. In a moment of insanity, he said, "All right, BUT! You have to watch him close and Mom can't know about it."
Cameron brightened up and hugged him."Thank you, John," she said in a swoon. "Come look at him, he's really cute," she beamed.
John got down on his knees and looked under his bed, sure he was about to loose his face. In a pile of old clothes and a towel, the sleeping face of a pint sized wolverine and one clawed paw stuck out of the pile. A bone lay beside the little terror. "Tell me that bone isn't a piece of someone's cat," he said.
"I got him a rack of ribs on the way home. He ate quite a bit of it."
"I bet he did. They are eating machines."
"I named him George."
John coughed and mono toned, "And we will hug him and pet him and feed him ... Until he eats our hands."
This Sunday was starting to turn out well.
.
Thankfully, Sarah left to go ferry some guns and supplies with Mr. Ellison so John didn't have to try to explain right away.
One thing John was surprised at was when George got up, he acted curious. John and Cameron sat on the floor, legs crossed under them. Cameron rolled out a soft rattling growl. George made the same sound and ambled over to her. He mouthed her pants, then climbed up in her lap. He mouthed her shirt making the soft rattling growl. John was a bit relieved he didn't take a chunk out of Cameron's leg.
John found out everything George came in contact with, went in his mouth. In exploring the room, he mouthed the bed legs, chair legs did a tug-o-war with the throw rug, then mouthed John's pant leg. After a while, he went back under the bed and retrieved the piece of bone to bring it over by Cameron and knaw on it. To John, it sounded like he was breaking his own teeth. George laid down and ate the bone down to nothing. That little monster had some serious teeth.
"He identifies with the sound," Cameron said. "That growl is one of a kind. Try to do it, John."
John tried. He was able to get a rolling sound out, but it wasn't quite the same. It did get George to look at him briefly before sniffing around for more food. In the back of John's mind, a new priority came into being. Keep the wolverine fed so you won't be lunch.
.
Sarah thought Mr. Ellison was going to visit a gun runner to buy weapons. He took her to a Zeita test range and introduced her as Mrs. Collins, representing military procurement. Going out to the targets, the chubby Mr. Donovan showed Sarah the painted targets were two inch thick steel plates that were tipped back.
"This is to show the penetration ability of these guns, as well as their Accuracy," Mr. Donovan explained. "These plates are 50 millimeters thick and angled at 35 degrees. The thickness and angle of most armored vehicles. Effective thickness is 80 millimeters. Now, let me show you our guns."
Taking a golf cart, they rode back to the firing line .Under the covered shooting bench sat a long, bulky rifle. Mr. Donovan motioned to it. "The mark 1 electromagnetic rifle. Semi-auto, tripod mounted. It weighs forty pounds. Yes, it's on the heavy side, but two soldiers can carry it. There is no gas operation, recoil function of the barrel loads the next round."
Going over to the gun, he held up a thumb sized bullet that was sharply pointed in a teardrop shape. "This is the round. A fifty caliber solid steel exterior with a mercury based core. The heat of penetration is enough to explode the mercury after impact with any solid surface. There is no powder, the bullet is magnetically driven. Tests show this round will penetrate 100 millimeters of steel. Let us demonstrate."
An assistant passed out goggles and earmuffs. He then took firing position behind the rifle.
Having no gun powder, Sarah was expecting a mild report, if any. The gun shot, the barrel recoiled and the pressure wave from the muzzle blast hit her hard enough that she felt it in her bones. Three more times the man fired. He then stood up and nodded.
"Let's go look at the results," Mr. Donovan offered.
They climbed back into the golf cart and drove out to the targets.
"The advantage is this rifle is two fold," Mr. Donovan explained. "With each capacitive battery and one hundred rounds of ammunition, the whole package weighs less than a 30 millimeter gun doing the same job. The ammunition is also more compact, much more stable and readily made, unlike powder rounds."
Again they stopped beside the targets that now had burn marks and oblong holes in them. Showing Sarah the holes, Mr. Donavan explained, "The round penetrate with such force, it instantly heats the steel and expands the hole while blowing all that red hot metal into the interior of what you hit. Take a walk down the line and look at the damage it has done to some of the equipment behind the other targets."
Sarah was impressed. Besides the large entry holes, she found a ballistic gel dummy wearing a bullet proof vest was smoldering and half blown apart. An electronics box was shredded, and a 'crew' of four dummies were ripped apart. For a 50 caliber weapon that was very impressive.
"I like it," Sarah said as she viewed the damage.
Mr. Donovan then motioned to a warehouse that was just visible. "For military approval tasting, we have thirty rifles with rechargeable batteries, 30 recharging units and 30,000 rounds of ammunition ready for you. As well as a mold for making solid shot and training manuals for the troops," he said proudly.
'Thank you, very much. I'm sure we'll put them to good use." Sarah said.
"I will have the weapons and supplies delivered to General Connor's bunker," Mr. Ellison told her.
Sarah was happy, these guns would be able to take down terminators, and probably some of the heavier Skynet weapons as well. At least they would be able to fight.
.
Sleep, eat, explore. George had a set pattern. John had thought when he and Cameron left his room, George would crawl back under the bed and go to sleep. Nope. George followed them, his little feet running along behind them when they went to the living room. George mouthed everything in sight, then ripped a hole in the end of the couch.
Cameron made a lunch of chicken fingers and fries. While she was busy, George climbed up on the couch and wrestled a cushion, all the while making his soft growling noises. John got a little better at it, but still could not duplicate the sounds. It was close enough that George climbed over into his lap to lie down and nap for a few minutes.
That was until Cameron returned with food. She let out a rattling growl and George perked right up.
More food. John was sure this was going to be an ongoing habit for some time to come. The real fun would start when George got bigger.
Monday, John managed to shut George in his room so they could go to school. Everything in his room was picked up, unplugged and a bowl of food and water was left for George.
The school day went fine, and Cameron got to tell about her new 'dog' George. There was some mirth about the original name she picked. This time Cameron laughed a genuine laugh with the other girls. John was only hoping her 'dog' didn't eat anyone.
Coming home in the afternoon, John and Cameron found Sarah in a chair, waiting for them.
"Mom, we're home," John called just before he noticed her.
"That's good," Sarah said as she eyed John. "Wanna tell me what is in your room?"
Aww hell, John thought. He knew he should have admitted it right away.
"I got a dog. We named him George," Cameron said.
Sarah pointed to the hallway and said, "You might want to check on George. Today it sounded like he was destroying your room and George does not sound like a dog. I'm NOT cleaning up after him."
Cameron went to find George. John braced himself to explain to his mother.
