The lit room in front of them turned out to be a storage facility. A massive storage facility that was one complicated maze built with crates, lumber, spare parts, a couple of forklifts, and surplus supplies. The crates were almost always double stacked and some of the stacks were twice as tall as John was.
John and Alison were both laying on top of one of these stacks. Alison had to half drag John up as his leg was refusing to carry the weight. John was beginning to think that they had been a little hasty in making this attack. He could have used more time to heal and regain his strength. Still, what was done was done.
Looking over the edge of the crate, John watched as a dozen soldiers began spreading out in their search to find them. Their officer seemed to be an older man. He was sporting a goatee that was beginning to turn gray. Despite his age, John could tell that he was not a man to cross. He was strong, he was healthy, and he was armed to the teeth.
"What are we going to do?" Alison whispered.
John crawled back slightly so the Kaliba soldiers wouldn't accidentally see him should they look up. After a quick inventory, John was disappointed to find that they only had one grenade left. They both still had ammunition for their rifles but they had burnt through a lot of that during the firefight. They each had a sidearm that they had yet to use. All together, they had enough that they could try and take on these guys, but doing so would limit their ability to do anything else once they left the room.
"The forklifts." John said pointing back to them. "They run on gas."
"Right, so?"
John pushed himself up so he could see a little bit more. He slowly scanned the room until he found what he was looking for. Shoved in the far corner were drums of fuel. He smiled slightly.
"Ok, here is what we are going to do." John said as he pulled a wedge of C4 out of his bag. "We are going to take this over to the fuel." He pointed the drums out to Alison. "There is enough equipment, fuel, other things that go boom that it would be a mistake not to take advantage of it."
"That is a great plan, except for one problem." Alison said. "That doesn't help us with the Grays roaming around below us."
"You are going to move as quietly as we can. Try and avoid making contact with them." John replied.
Alison raised an eyebrow and shook her head. "You can hardly move right now. Your leg is not holding your weight. There is now way we are going to be able to move fast enough and quiet enough to make it past them."
"I know." John reached out and took her hand. "I said 'you,' not 'we.'"
"John?"
"Listen, Alison. We can't stay here forever. We are not going to make it far with my leg acting the way it is. So this is how it is going to be. Take the C4 and get it armed and ready to go." John reached into his pack and pulled out his copy of the map, his extra munitions, and the detonator for the C4. He held these out to Alison. "I want you to do what I cannot. Set the explosives and then move on to find Skynet's brain. I'll be alright."
"But, sir…"
John shook his head and began crawling off the crates. He stopped long enough to flash her a smile before he dropped to the ground. As he feet touched the floor, John's leg threatened to give out under him. Growling softly at the pain, he moved back toward the doorway that he had entered from. Choosing a location with some good cover and no real way for the Gray's to flank him, John took a deep breath and pulled the trigger on his rifle. A single shot rang out.
"Over this way!" Someone shouted.
He didn't have to wait long before he saw the Gray's moving though the maze towards him. John took aim and began firing at them. The first two died fairly quickly. The others, learning from the mistakes of their comrades, dove to the ground in search of cover. John was forced to duck himself as they returned his fire. Waiting until their gunfire had slowed down, John popped back up and shot another man. He was able to get off another two shots before he was forced to duck again.
This exchange of gunfire lasted for only a few minutes before John's rifle ran out of bullets. John abandoned the rifle in exchange for his Glock. John had managed to kill six of them when he found that he was no longer in a position to continue.
"Hey!" John shouted.
"I hear you." One of the Grays responded.
"I'm coming out now. Don't shoot."
"Ok. Come out slowly. We see anything we don't like, we'll kill you. Toss out that weapon of your's first."
John ejected the clip and removed the final bullet from the chamber. The gun he tossed out towards his enemy. The bullet, John tucked into the inner pocket of his jacket. Slowly, he stood up and raised his arms. The six remaining Grays moved towards him and their leader reached for a set of handcuffs that were dangling from his belt.
"Who are you, boy?" The man growled.
"Connor." John said. "John Connor."
