The ground around John was rocky. He was on his belly moving across the ground. All around him, John could fell plasma bullets and explosions missing him by inches. Stopping to catch his breath, he looked over his shoulder. Alison was right behind him along with thirty soldiers that they had managed to collect as they moved through the trenches. John had ordered them to climb up the walls of the trench and crawl towards the trenches that were filled with T-600's and Grays. So far, the plan was working quite well.
"How much further?" Alison asked as he crawled next to him.
"My guess would be another dozen yards that way." John replied as he pointed at the set of trenches he was heading for. "If we can retake that position, Derek can hold out."
Alison nodded and then rolled over so that the soldiers behind her could see her. She raised a hand and began gesturing for the troopers to spread out in a long line. "We are ready, General."
"Good. Move them forward, slowly."
Alison gave the signal and the soldiers started crawling again. John pulled himself forward his his arms and legs. Somewhere behind the terminators was one of their HK tanks. It was raining shells down on the panicking humans. One of the shells landed a yard in front of John. He stopped and curled up in a ball as the earth shook from the explosion. As the dirt settled, John checked himself to see if he was hurt. It didn't look like it. Alison has crawled over to him and was running her hands frantically over him to see for herself if he was alright.
"I'm not hurt." John said quickly. He pushed the button on his mic and said into the radio, "Derek, we are almost in position. When I tell you, have your people begin pushing back. We'll clear out these trenches and you take them."
"Roger that." Derek said. "Standing by for your signal."
John gave the signal for the soldiers to move into position. Once they were lined up along the top of the trench, John reached into his pocket and pulled out two more grenades. He handed one of them to Alison and pulled the pin on the other. He took a deep breath and then tossed it into the trench before him. Alison followed his example. The few soldiers who had grenades of their own did likewise.
Within the trench, John could hear someone attempting to call out a warning when the explosions cut them off. Moving up to the very edge of the trench, John began firing down upon the survivors. There were a handful of humans and many Machines.
"Derek, move your people forward." John said into his mic. "We should have this trench emptied soon."
John dropped down into the trench and picked off the last few Grays. He advanced down the trench and fired upon the T-600s that were now bunched up in the tight space. It made it real easy to pick them off.
"Alison, take half the men and cover our six. Derek should be pushing a whole lot of them right into our position before long. I'll take care of these one."
"Right." Alison said before she called out orders to the soldiers.
John pulled a couple of dead Grays on top of each other to build a makeshift barricade that he could hide behind as he fired upon the terminators. Another grenade was tossed down the trench and John ducked to avoid getting dirt in his eyes.
"Reloading!" John shouted as he dropped his empty clip and shoved another one into his rifle.
"Sir." Alison was crouching next to John. "We've got a lot of Grays tripping over each other back here. I've got them pinned down but I don't know if we will be able to keep them at bay for long."
"Do the best that you can!" John fired a burst at the closest T-600 and took its head clean off. "We are going to hold this spot until Derek can join us. He will clear out the trenches behind us. He will be here. Just hold on."
"Sir, permission to speak freely?"
John dropped another empty clip and rolled onto his side so he could look at her. "Don't be so formal with me. You don't need my permission to speak."
Alison nodded her head and leaned down to kiss John.
"Just in case we don't make it through this. I want you to know." Alison tucked a few loose strands of hair behind her ear.
John was shocked as he watched Alison move away from him and back towards her troops. He was surprised that Alison would kiss him but at the same time, he liked it. Shaking his head to clear it, he turned back to the battle at hand.
Ammunition was running low. John was down to his last chip. Some of his men were digging though the bodies around them to find weapons and ammunition. It had been almost an hour since John and his little band had taken this section of the trenches back and there was still no sign of Derek. Every time John called him on the radio, Derek would promise that he was close and would ask them to just hold on a little longer.
John dropped his empty clip and tossed his rifle away. "I'm out, someone take my spot."
One of the soldiers crawled next to him and began using an enemy weapon to hold back the Medal. John moved towards the bodies and began looking for anything that could be used. Much to his disappointment, almost anything that could be used had been used. Grunting in frustration, John gave up his search and moved over to Alison's side.
"How are you fixed for ammunition?" John asked once he was close enough for her to hear.
"Almost out." Alison responded. "I'm down to my last clip. Most of them are as well. Where is Derek?"
"Last time I checked, he told me he was close." John hit the button on the mic again. "Reese, we need you here now! We are out of ammunition. In less than a minute, we will all be dead."
"Hold on John." Derek's voice crackled over the radio. "I just need to clear though these last few Grays…"
John watched as the remaining enemy forces on Alison's front were cut down. A moment passed before a couple of TechCom soldiers rounded the corner and stopped as they called out for John's men to hold their fire.
"Those are Resistance fighters." John said to the soldiers round him. "If you have any ammunition left, get down to that other end and help them out."
The soldiers began deploying themselves and giving John's worn-out troops a breather. Derek and Kyle quickly moved so that they were standing beside John and Alison. Both brothers were covered in blood and looked exhausted.
"You made it." John said.
"Told you we would." Derek answered back.
"We are holding them." John said as he pointed towards the makeshift barricade of bodies.
"Good." Derek said. "I spoke with Colonel Huss not twenty minutes ago. He has his troops deployed and we are digging in. I don't know how much longer we can hold them, but it should be long enough to buy you some time."
John nodded. "Keep the pressure up. Thank you for everything."
"It has been an honor, John." Derek smiled. "Take care of yourself."
John turned to look at Alison when Ellison's voice crackled into his ear. "John Connor, we need you back at Command. Mrs. Weever is finished. It is time."
Pushing the button on his mic, John said, "Roger that, Ellison. I'll be there shortly."
The whistling sound should have been enough for John to guess what had happened, but for some reason he just couldn't understand how one moment he had been talking to Ellison and the next moment he was laying on his back. He tried to take a breath but found that he had forgotten how to breath. He just sat there for several seconds gasping.
"John!"
He heard his name being called. He looked around until his eyes found Alison. She was kneeling over him and calling out his name. It was only then that he realized what had happened. He took a deep breath.
"Where is Derek? Where is Kyle?" John wheezed out.
"They pushed us out of way." Alison said as tears began dripping off her cheeks. "One of the HK missiles dropped right on top of them. They're…"
John tried to sit up. Once he did, he felt the blood leave his face as he looked upon the mangled remains of his leg. His left foot had been torn to shreds by the explosion. The leg up to the knee was mangled as well.
"Ah, shit." John said as he looked around. "I'm not walking out of here on this. I need to move now if I am going to make it back to Command in time."
"Come on." Alison said as she stood up. She wiped away her tears and then held out her hand. "I'll help you."
John gasped in pain as Lauren examined his leg. Alison has managed to half carry John back to the bunker and into the Command Room. Ellison had taken one look at John' leg before he sent the sergeant to find Lauren and bring her back to John. Due to the lack of time, Lauren was simply throwing a bandage on the open wounds.
"You will need to have someone look at it once you get back to your own time." Lauren said. I can't do anything about the broken bones at this point in time. Just get back and have it looked at."
John nodded his head.
"We don't have much time." Ellison said as he checked his pistol. "We need to move now if we are going to get John down to Mrs. Weever before this place is overrun. Alison, help me carry him."
Before John could protest, the two had pulled his arms around their shoulders. Ellison had Lauren and Savannah clear the way in front of them. The hills of the bunker were packed with wounded soldiers attempting to make it to medical or soldiers setting up makeshift defenses in an attempt to hold back the Machines when they broke in.
They had reached the final flight of stairs before they would reach the basement when Martin met them. He was covered in blood, sweat, and dirt. In his right hand he held his sidearm and he was favoring his left. Most of his left shoulder looked like it had been blown away. Lauren tried to examine his wounds, but he waved her away.
"Medal has breached my lines. We blew the entrance as we ran. It will take them sometime before the can get in. My soldiers will hold them back as long as they can. Let's get Connor home." Martin looked at John and nodded. "I'm sorry for my drunken state and what I said."
"Don't worry about it. If everything goes the way we hope, you will never have to say those things." John nodded back.
"Well, I'm glad you two have kissed and made up." Ellison adjusted John's weight. As he did so, the sounds of battle had begun echoing through the bunker. Derek's lines must have finally crumbled. The enemy was coming quickly. "Let's keep moving. Martin, find someone and post them here. We need as much time as we can get."
"Right. See you down there in a second." The soldier turned and began barking orders at those around him.
Ellison urged the group to move as fast as they could. It was agonizing for John to descend the stairs. Each step caused his foot to bump against the ground and caused shooting pain through his body. Alison tried several times to stop and allow John a rest but both he and Ellison told her there was no time. No matter what they did, it was going to hurt. The best thing he could do was keep moving forward.
Finally reaching the door, Ellison transferred all of John's weight onto Alison and began unlocking the door. Mrs. Weever and John Henry were standing quietly by the Time Displacement Equipment when they entered. The two cyborg were quick to lend a hand to John and help him next to the equipment.
"Ok," John grunted as he tried to make himself comfortable. "Let's fix this mess. Start it up."
"As you wish." Catherine said. She walked over to the machine and began flipping switches and pushing buttons.
"Ellison, once we leave, blow this room. Nothing in here can survive if we hope to keep this future from happening."
"We will John. What about Cameron's body?"
John looked over at his cyborg friend. He felt a great sadness as her lifeless body lay there. "This body belongs with this timeline. When I return, her body will still be there. I came to find her chip. I have done that. When we return, we can activate her and all will be right."
John looked back at Command only to find Alison staring at Cameron. The blood had drained from her face. John swallowed and then gestured from someone to cover Cameron's body. John Henry was quick to respond and pulled a white sheet over her.
"So, the friend you came looking for was a Machine?" Alison looked at John. "A Machine that looked like me?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"She has saved my life more times then I can count. I had to return the favor. She was built to look like you because Skynet knew you and I were close. She was designed to kill me by impersonating you. Somehow she was discovered and reprogrammed. In a different timeline, I send her back to keep me safe and to help stop Skynet."
The girl was quiet for a moment before she said, "John, would you take me with you?"
Before John could answer, the door flew open and Martin was leaning heavily against the wall. "Get out of here! The Machines have broken though our lines. Ellison, Lauren, Savannah, we need to move now. Set the charges and let's do this."
"You heard the man." Ellison walked over to a cabinet and pulled out several things of C4.
Command divided the C4 among themselves and began moving around the room. Each placed the explosives far enough way that they wouldn't be caught in the equipment's radius but close enough that they would destroy everything. As they did so, Alison moved next to John.
As she knelt down, she said, "I know we haven't spent a lot of time together, but I love you John. Please, let me come with you."
"Alison, the world I am going to will be very foreign to you. The war is still being fought back in 2009 but it is more of a chess game then full on combat. Are you sure that is something that you want?"
She leaned forward and kissed him again. "Yes."
Ellison interrupted them and said, "Mrs. Weever, as soon as we close that door, go. We'll give you one minute after the door locks to be gone. After that, I'll hit the trigger."
"Very well James." Her finger hovered over the final button to activate the equipment.
"Good luck, and Godspeed." Ellison said with a smile. "I'm very glad that we will have hope again. Alison?"
Alison looked at John, her eyes pleading for an answer. Finally John grabbed her hand and pulled her closer to him. Ellison nodded and moved towards the door. He pulled it shut behind him and Catherine pushed the button. It was time to go home.
