"Look here." Cameron was pointing towards the ground.

Slowly, John knelt on the ground. Using his index finger, he traced the outline of a boot track. Despite the floor being built out concrete, there was a thin layer of sand and dust everywhere. John followed the tracks with his flashlight.

"Someone was here, not that long ago." John said as he pushed himself to his feet.

"Multiple people." Alison said as her own light fell on a few more prints.

"It's a chess match." John said as he moved next to Alison.

"Huh?"

"That is why we are not meeting any resistance right now." John said. "Think of it as a giant chess game. When the games opens, both sides maneuver their pieces in an attempt to gain an advantage over their opponent. Skynet knows we are here. It is moving its followers around to gain an advantage over us."

"Then they are ready for us." Cameron said.

John nodded his head.

"Sir, you should probably stay behind us." Alison said as she stepped forward. "If this is an ambush, we need to make sure that you can get out if everything goes south."

John shook his head and stepped up next to her. "Hell's no. Cameron, take point. Alison, watch out six. We can't wait for them to come to us. We have to go to them."

Cameron nodded her head—her left hand twitching. She raised the shotgun she was holding and started into the dark. John glanced back at Alison and gave her a small smile before he followed after Cameron. The hallway was on a decline that ran deeper into the ground. Every dozen yards or so it turned and went deeper.

The hallway soon began to grow wider and ahead it opened into a small room that was filled with desks and bookshelves. John tapped Cameron's shoulder and signaled for her to stop in the room. John walked up to one of the desks and pulled open one of the drawers. It was empty.

"Looks like there is nothing here." Alison reported from another desk.

"They must have cleared this place out." John said as he dumped a few pieces of paper out of the wastebasket. "Looks like they took anything that we might be able to use."

"The footprints end here." Cameron said. "They—"

The wall behind Cameron exploded out. John ducked behind the desk to avoid the chunks of concrete that flew through the air. As the dust began setting, John coughed as he looked up over the desk. Cameron was laying on the ground under several large pieces of concrete. As she pushed the slabs off of her, a massive man walked across the room and picked her up by the front of her shirt. The man's eyes glowed red for a moment before returning to a dull blue color. the man turned and threw Cameron through the hole in the wall and then started after her.

"Cameron!" John tried to jump up and follow but his left leg gave out under him and he fell to the ground.

"John." Alison had moved to his side. "Are you ok?"

"We need to go after Cameron." John said as he pushed himself off the ground. This time his leg supported the weight. "Don't worry about me. Just—"

A burst of bullets tore into the desk next to John. Coming up behind them was at least three men in military garb. Each was caring automatic rifles, each were firing into the room. Before John could attempt to return fire, Alison had shoved him back behind a desk. It seemed that the maneuvering of chess pieces was over.

"Alison!" John shouted.

"I'm alive." She shouted back. "They are shooting at us, sir."

"Well, shoot back." John said as he pushed himself to his knees and rested the rifle on the desk as he pulled the trigger.

"We are sitting ducks here, sir." Alison screamed as she dropped an empty chip and replaced it with another.

"Yeah." John looked over his shoulder at the hole in the wall. "We can stay here and fight it out, or we go through the wall after Cameron."

One of the Kaliba soldiers dropped to the ground from one of Alison's bullets. "Personally sir, I would say let's go through the wall."

"Ok," John said. "I'll cover you. Get to the other side and then cover me. Ready? Go!"

John switched his weapon to fully automatic and began laying down as heavy of suppressing fire as he was capable of. Dropping an empty clip, John shoved another one in and dropped another soldier. Once Alison was through she called out to John. He took a deep breath and took off at a run for the hole. He dove through just as Alison tossed a grenade.

"You hurt?" John screamed over the explosion.

"No, sir."

"Good. Let's go this way. We can't stay here."

Alison nodded. Together, they both took off at a run. John grunted with every step that he took. His leg was really hurting now. It wasn't long before Alison was several feet ahead of him. Behind them, John could hear the sound of feet running in the darkness. It wouldn't be long before they would be able to over take them.

"John!" Alison had slowed down. "I think I see a light a head of us."

"And I hear an army behind us."