Chapter 9: Rock and a Hard Place
Raider house near Valencia mall
John pondered over his dilemma for a moment, then he switched back on his transmitter.
"Blue team, remain with Alpha squad until further orders."
"Copy that sir." Blair's voice quickly responded.
"All other teams, eyes on hostiles, we may have been compromised. Hostile leader has escaped from house and is headed to main camp. Advise if situation around the camp changes."
"Copy that sir." The three other teams and other half of the squad answered back.
John took another look towards the brush and trees, but saw no sign of the large man in the dim evening light. Nightfall had come quickly making it more difficult to track the leader in unfamiliar territory.
John swore to himself, turned away from the door and headed back down the hallway towards the front of the house. He bolted down the stairs, taking two steps at a time, his mind racing a mile a minute as he tried to form a new plan of rescue.
"I'm exiting the house from the west entrance, Blue team and Alfa squad, stand down." John barked out. He was in no mood to be greeted by a dozen weapons trained on his chest.
"Copy that sir." Was heard over his earphone.
...
Blair and her team had moved in from their vantage point, soon after she had taken care of the guards outside of the house. It was her understanding that once the house was secure, she would help in shuffling any of the captives back to the vehicles and then re-join the main force to move in on the main camp and repatriate the rest of the prisoners.
Once she had heard from John that the leader had escaped, she knew they would probably be in big trouble. Timing was of the up most importance now, if they hesitated, the rescue could turn into a shambles.
It had been only a few minutes from when Blair had fired the shots and killing the guards to her team arriving at the front of the raider house. It was a typical suburban home with an attached garage from the early twenty-first century, but now showing its age from years of neglect and abuse.
Paint was peeling and the front driveway had been smothered by a blanket of plants and grasses. Besides remnants of the curb stubbornly poking out from the fresh growth, there almost no sign of a drive having ever been there.
Outside of the house a small group had gathered near the front door.
Small boys, teens, women, soldiers and Derek were all standing in the front yard as Blair and her team approached.
"Hey there Reese, nice to see you made it out in one piece." Blair smiled at Derek as she strolled closer to him.
"They had no chance, most were already half in the bag from drinking home made booze." Derek replied.
Even in the dim light, Blair noticed something different about Derek. He seemed more relaxed and most of the tension in his face had disappeared.
"So what's got you all smiley?" Blair gave him a weird look as she asked.
"We found Allison and her best friend Amanda." Derek beamed.
"So where are they?" Blair looked around.
Derek called over to two young girls sitting in the grass with two older women.
"Allie? Mandy? Can you two come here for a second? I'd like you to meet someone."
Blair noticed right away that both girls looked like they hadn't eaten in weeks, their hair and clothing were a mess. Other than their appearance, the girls seemed to be quite happy, despite what had happened to them. When they got closer, Blair noticed the one girl with dark brown hair was wearing a jacket way too big for her, if she had wanted to, the girl probably could have wrapped it around herself twice.
Upon closer inspection, Blair noticed it was Connor's jacket, his name on the left breast pocket. Hmmmm…I wonder what that's all about? Blair mused.
Allison and Amanda got up as soon as Derek had called them, they had been intently watching Derek talk with the attractive woman that had just walked up. Allison had noticed the woman right away.
The woman had long dark hair, most likely black, but it was hard for Allison to tell, since it had become very dark. She had on some military clothing, a backpack, various items attached to a belt slung around a narrow waist and a huge rifle leisurely draped across one shoulder.
As Allison and Amanda got closer to Derek, they could see the woman was quite beautiful. She had an exotic look about her as if she was part Asian or something like that. Allison could see the woman was smiling at Derek and he was smiling back.
Hmmmm…I wonder if they might get together. Allison thought to herself.
"She looks really pretty." Amanda quietly whispered to Allison.
Allison looked over to Amanda and nodded in agreement. Both girls then grinned, they were happy to see Derek looking a bit more relaxed and talking with the woman.
Derek began introductions as the two girls came up beside him. "Blair, I'd like you to meet Allison Young and her friend Amanda Dale. This is the biggest reason for me asking for Connor and the rest of you guys for help." Derek pointed to the two girls.
"Allie, Mandy, this is Blair Williams, she is one of John Connor's command elite." Derek looked back over to Blair and grinned.
"I'm pleased to meet you Allison and Amanda." Blair smiled and warmly extended her hand out to shake.
"Nice to meet you too Ms Williams, you can call me Allie." Allison shook Blair's hand, her bright eyes eager to take in every detail of this new mystery woman with Derek.
"You girls can call me Blair, no need for formalities."
"Well then, you can call me Mandy. It's nice to meet you Blair." Amanda shyly smiled and looked down after shaking Blair's hand.
"Nice jacket Allison, did Connor give that to you?" Blair questioned.
Allison looked down for a moment, her face turning a little pink from embarrassment. Then in a quiet voice, she spoke.
"John Connor gave it to me after he helped rescue me from Blain, the leader of the gang. Blain had torn off my shirt and I had nothing to wear."
"Ahhh…that's Connor for you, always there to help someone in need." Blair nodded her head and gave Allison a wink.
Allison looked from Derek to Blair for a moment.
"Are you two an item?" Allison looked first to Blair and then Derek as she asked with a wry grin.
Blair smiled and looked over to Derek and lifter her brow in question. "I dunno, are we?"
If it had not been so dark out, the girls would have noticed Derek turning multiple shades of red, but what they did notice was his sudden uneasiness at being cornered on a touchy subject. Caught off guard and at a loss for words, Derek did his best to answer.
"I…um…we…Blair and I are friends, we just met the day before yesterday." Derek quickly answered as he glared at Allison. She's always trying to match me with someone. He thought to himself.
Allison saw Derek's evil look and smirked. She decided to press the issue. "I think you're really pretty Blair and I bet Derek does too. I think you two would make a great couple."
Allison clasped her hands behind her back, swayed a little back and forth and looked from Blair over to Derek, eager to pick up on anything leaning towards them becoming an item.
"Why thank you Allie, are you Derek's matchmaker?" Blair liked seeing Derek squirm and so chose to go along with what Allison was doing.
"Yeah, Mandy and me think he needs a girlfriend. Maybe he won't be so crabby around us, if he has one." Allison looked over to Amanda for support.
"Yep, he needs a good woman. Us two, can only do so much to keep him in line." Mandy replied with a mock serious tone in her voice.
All three girls burst out laughing at Derek's expense.
Derek knew he was outnumbered so he wisely chose to remain silent, if he spoke any more words it would just get him deeper in trouble with the three women.
Blair stopped for a moment and tapped her headpiece. "Copy that Sir."
"What is it Williams?" Derek inquired.
"Connor's coming out the front door, my team is to stay with you guys and the leader of the gang has escaped." Blair replied bluntly.
"What do you mean the leader escaped?" Derek was livid.
"Hey, don't shoot the messenger. I'm just tellin' you what he said." Blair answered back with a hint of irritation in her voice.
It was at that moment John burst out the front door of the house, all eyes fell on him as he advanced toward Blair and the others. His lips were pressed into a thin line, his eyes had a hardened seething look about them, even the scars on his face seemed to stand out when he got angry.
"Everybody listen up, we have a serious problem here. Hawkins is dead, the leader of the gangsters has escaped and I am pretty sure he is off to the main camp to sound the alarm." John spoke loud enough so that he had everyone's attention.
"The leader killed Hawkins? But I thought you had shot him." Blair was shocked at what she heard.
"I shot him in the shoulder and Amanda here booted him in the balls. Hawkins must have been goofing off and the leader took it as an opportunity to escape, he slashed Hawkins throat."
Allison and Amanda gasped at the news, both of them rekindling their fears of what may happen. Others mumbled amongst themselves, an air of uneasiness had taken over the freed captives.
Derek was furious, his fists were clenched so tight the knuckles were turning white. "Just what the hell are we going to do now?"
"First, we get these people to the safety of the trucks. I'll need two volunteers to take this group to the trucks." John looked around at the crown around him.
Porter and another man stepped up. "We'll take the group back. I'll be able to check them over and make sure they are all okay for the trip back."
"Good idea Porter." John slapped Porter on the shoulder, then looked over to the group of captives.
"You people need to go with these two men. They will take you to a safer spot by where our vehicles are parked. After we rescue the rest, we all will be headed back to Crystal Peak. Once we reach Crystal Peak, you will need to decide if you want to remain with us, or leave, but I will fill you in on the details once we get there."
The crowd remained quiet, older women nodded their heads in understanding, while the children just stood by not knowing what was going to happen. John tried to smile reassuringly at them, but he knew he had his work cut out if he wanted to get everyone back to the relative safety of Crystal Peak.
Allison spoke up. "Mandy and I are going with you guys." She had a determined look on her face.
"Excuse me?" John looked down at the young girl. He was a bit peeved over her wanting to come along, he didn't need the two girls slowing them down.
"Mandy and I can fight, we can shoot guns. We want to help." Allison looked straight into John's eyes. She did her best to stand straight, square up her shoulders and look brave, despite wearing a jacket way too large.
Amanda stood right beside Allison, mimicking Allison's stance.
John looked over to Blair for help.
"Don't look at me Connor, we need all the help we can get." Blair calmly spoke out to him and shrugged her shoulders.
John knew she was right and so nodded his head in agreement. "Okay, you two, can come with us, but first go with Williams to get some fresh clothes and weapons." John looked down at Amanda and Allison. "Oh, and Allison?"
"Yes sir Connor." Allison cheerfully met John's gaze.
"I'll need my jacket back, when you return." John winked at Allison and grinned.
"I'll think about it sir, I've grown quite attached to it." Allison gave John a sassy look and twisted her mouth into a crooked grin.
"Get going ladies, time is wasting. Meet us back here in five minutes." John pointed off in the direction of the hidden vehicles.
Blair and the rest gathered up the group and quickly moved out towards the trucks.
John, Derek and the rest of the rescue group remained at the house.
...
Walking back towards the vehicles hidden away, Allison and Amanda quickened their pace and caught up to Blair in the lead.
"Hey Blair?" Allison called out to Blair as both she and Amanda ran up behind Blair.
Blair turned her head around but didn't stop. "What is it girls?"
"Are we close to the vehicles?" Allison inquired.
"Just down this way and around the bend." Blair pointed ahead.
"Blair?"
"Yes Allison?"
"What happened to John's face?"
"You mean the scaring around his left eye?" Blair looked down at Allison's questioning face.
Allison looked up to Blair. "Yes"
Blair thought for a second as she plodded along the path. "He had a run in with an 800 series, it almost killed him. He was inside Skynet central trying to save the people trapped there." Blair explained.
Allison and Amanda's eyes widened with awe.
"He's a very brave man." Amanda commented.
Allison nodded her head in agreement.
"Connor wants to stop Skynet once and for all. He wants to see mankind brought back from the brink of extinction and rebuild humanity. It's just hard to do when you have gangs of marauders killing people and the resistance suffered a huge loss when Skynet central was destroyed."
"Really? What happened?" Allison was all ears, taking in all what Blair had to say.
Blair sighed and continued talking. "We thought we had a way to finally shut down Skynet, a signal that if broadcast would shut down Skynet's machines, kinda like an off switch. It was a trick cooked up by Skynet and the signal we broadcast was like a homing device, leading Skynet right to the Resistance leaders and enabling Skynet to destroy the top brass in the resistance."
"But John is a leader, why wasn't he killed along with the top brass?" Amanda questioned.
"John is not the type to sit back and give orders, he fights with his troops. He was a thorn in the leadership's side and was passionate about saving people. The leadership was not always on the same side as John and it lead to some heated arguments. If John had not disobeyed direct orders from the leadership, we probably would have all died." Blair proudly replied.
"Oh my God. So what happened to the resistance then?" Allison asked wide eyed.
"It fragmented, fell apart. Only a few scattered groups still keep in touch and fight, but with Skynet in hiding now, most think we have won. John doesn't think so." Blair answered with as much honesty as she could. It wasn't in her to lie about what may still happen, besides, she believed in John.
Allison and Amanda pondered what Blair had just said and remained quiet for the rest of the trip to the hidden trucks.
Upon arrival at the site, Blair walked up to John's Hummer and removed her back pack from the vehicle. She rummaged through for a couple of shirts the girls could wear, since Allison's was missing and Amanda's had been torn up to the point of basically being useless.
Both shirts were a similar olive drab color and were a t-shirt style, a little big but more suitable for two young girls to wear.
Allison and Amanda quickly changed in the Hummer and were ready in under a minute.
Blair had found the girls a couple of rifles and handguns to use, well worn but still able to do the job.
Allison, Amanda, Blair and a few others made their way back to the house, the rest of the refugees remained behind with a few resistance soldiers, including Porter. He had organized a line up of the new arrivals so he could give them a quick check over to make sure they could make the long trek back home.
...
John had been busy getting updates from the other teams stationed around the main raider camp. The gang leader had not come in contact with the main camp yet, John was hopeful the man had collapsed from loss of blood and was unable to alarm the rest of his gang.
Derek sat down on a clear patch of overgrown grass and begun to go through his pre-battle check, he wanted to make sure he had everything in order.
Derek had checked and re-checked his weapons, making sure nothing was going to jam and that he had enough ammunition. Fiddling with the weapons helped him deal with the stress of waiting for the attack and kept his mind off of worrying about what may happen.
"Reese, if you keep doin' that you'll wear out the rifle before you get to use it." John gave Derek a crooked grin. He had noticed Derek kept checking his weapons and figured it was bad nerves.
Derek looked up and lifted an eyebrow. "Just double checkin' sir. I wouldn't want to get caught out there with a jammed gun or no bullets."
"Well I just got off the radio with Williams, she and the rest of the available fighters are on their way back to us." John sat down beside Derek as he spoke.
Derek finished checking his rifle and placed it beside himself, he muddled over some thoughts before looking over to John. "Williams is tough as nails when it comes to fighting."
John had picked up a piece of grass and was twiddling it between his fingers as he looked off into the distant darkness "Yeah, she is tough, but she has a kind heart. Williams has been through a lot of crap and like most of us, she has suffered loss too."
"So what's the big idea of her and Webster makin' a bet about me?" Derek looked to John.
John broke into a big smile and shook his head. "Ahhhh….Webster had seen Williams was feeling a bit down when we were headed for Hammerhead, so she decided to cheer Williams up by bugging her about snagging a boyfriend. So they made a friendly bet over who would get a boyfriend first.
Unfortunately for you, well, you were their first victim."
"Not Kyle?"
"God no, Melissa would eat him alive." John chuckled.
Derek nodded his head and smirked. "Yeah, Kyle would be in over his head."
"Webster is a good person too, but she tends to move around a lot, if you know what I mean." John winked at Derek.
"Ohhhh….she likes to stay single then." Derek had just realized something and looked seriously into John's face. "She did this to get Blair to maybe move on?"
John locked his eyes with Derek's. "I think she feels she needs to help Williams move on, she doesn't like to see Williams depressed. They are good friends and Webster wants Williams to be happy." John paused for a second, his face seemed to harden before he spoke again. "I've seen too many people lose it and end up eating the barrel of a gun or go off and find some other way to end it all. I wouldn't want to see Williams wind up that way and neither does Webster."
"I agree with you Connor, I like Williams and I don't want to see her suffer." Derek thought for a moment and smiled. "I'll go along with their little game."
John slapped Derek on the shoulder. "That's the spirit Reese, somebody has to do it and it may as well be you."
Both men sat back and had a good laugh. For a moment the two men forgot about where they were, things actually felt normal to them.
John sat up and tapped his head phone. "Copy that Blue team."
"What's up?" Derek asked.
"Williams and the others are almost here. We need to get everyone ready." John replied.
John stood up, called out to the others and rounded up the squad to leave the house.
Seconds later Blair and her group arrived, with Blair in the lead.
Derek looked over, taking in the sight.
Thoughts of Zena Warrior Princess came to mind, as Derek admired Blair's form.
Allison and Amanda followed closely behind, looking more like waifs or hobbits than warriors, especially since Allison was still wearing John's jacket.
"Ladies, so nice of you to join us." John greeted the three with a smirk. "Miss Young, will you be so kind as to return my jacket please." He extended his hand out to grasp the garment.
"Well I had grown attached to it, but it is a little large for me." Allison looked down at her side, the sleeves of the jacket going past the tips of her fingers. She slipped off John's jacket and gently passed it over to him. "Thank you for lending me the jacket John Connor." Allison gave John a huge smile, but quickly looked down once she met his eyes. She was glad it was dark as she was sure her face had flushed when she looked at John.
Derek had been watching the interaction with interest and took a moment to lean into John to whisper into his ear. "Connor, I think you have a new admirer."
John cracked a smile and whispered back. "Yeah, I kinda figured that out for myself… She's a good kid Reese."
Blair cleared her throat and spoke up. "Connor, we ready to go?"
"Yeah Williams, all we had to do was wait for you guys." John replied.
John clicked on the receiver and informed the other teams they were on the move.
Then he turned to the small group gathered and gave them some final orders. "People, listen up. The leader hasn't showed him self, so either he is dead or he passed out from blood loss. We will be headed in the direction he most likely would have gone in, I need you guys to keep your eyes peeled for him and use deadly force if necessary. Our group will join up with the other half of the squad and then we will move in to free the rest of the captives. Double check your weapons and ammunition, we leave in thirty seconds."
The group nodded in understanding and people went about checking their weapons before leaving.
John gave the order for everyone to move out, he also indicated talking was forbidden and to follow his lead. This was for the benefit of Allison and Amanda, as they were still a bit green when it came to going out on anything related to a mission.
Quietly the group made its way east towards the tree line, just before the open area of the mall parking lot. The lot was mostly covered with grass and shrubs, trees had not gained a foothold yet, making it still a tricky area to cross without being spotted.
At the tree line, John signaled the group to stop and crouch down. He peered through his rifle scope at the former shopping mall now turned into an internment camp for the women and children, but he saw nothing out of the ordinary.
It was as if the gangsters were totally oblivious to what was going on around them.
"Green team report." John whispered.
"All quiet here sir." Melissa replied in a hushed voice.
John did the same with Red and Black team and they both reported the same as Melissa's team did. All was quiet, a bit too quiet for John's liking.
Derek shifted closer to John to ask him what was happening. "So what's the plan Connor?"
"Melissa and the others are all set to take out the hostiles posted on guard duty. When they are neutralized, we move in towards the main holding cell where Allison and Amanda were taken from. Any hostiles shoot at us, we shoot back. Once we have the captives freed from the holding cell, we get to the gangsters trucks, taking any of them that are useful and blow up the rest of them."
"Simple, but a good plan." Derek remarked quietly.
"Make sure you let the two munchkins there know what's going to happen and keep an eye on them Reese." John tilted his head towards Allison and Amanda just behind him.
Derek nodded and slipped back towards the two girls. He leaned in and explained what was going to happen and what they were to do.
The girls nodded in understanding, stayed low and kept out-of-the-way.
Blair had set up her rifle and had targeted two men on guard at the gate to Club V.
"Blue team has two targets locked on at the main gate south west." Blair breathed into her com.
"Copy that. Green team is locked on three targets by the vehicle storage area." Melissa replied.
Red and black teams responded in a similar manner, picking out hostiles perched up on top of the mall to do away with.
At John's signal, all teams began picking off the hostiles one by one.
As soon as he received the message from his teams that the hostiles were down, John gave the order to his squad to move in.
Everyone moved at once, the squad was spread out along the tree line, but made its way towards the camp in one grand sweeping motion.
The camp itself was a sea of chaos, gangsters were running about not knowing what had happened or where the enemy was, thanks to the snipers hitting the raiders from multiple angles.
John's squad had no problem dealing with the hostiles as his group made its way closer to the camp. John gave the order for weapons free to his squad and the other teams, anyone in the camp that had a gun, was to be a target. Automatic weapons fire was heard from all angles, as well as shouts and screams from the hostiles.
...
Allison and Amanda stayed further back from the firefight, crouched down in the tall grass along with Blair. Derek had told the girls that they were to stay with Blair, listen to her orders and stay out of trouble.
Both girls were a bit peeved at being told to stay back, they wanted to help out too and felt they were being treated like kids.
"Blair? Why can't we just go with the main squad and help?" Allison whispered.
Blair shot Allison a serious look. "Allison…this squad has been together for a long time, they know each other. You two coming along could mix things up and throw off the squads' ability to neutralize the enemy… besides I have this big lumbering sniper rifle and need you guys to help protect me."
It was at that second that all hell broke loose around Blair and the girls.
Shots rang out from a pistol behind the three girls, Blair yelped and fell to the ground clutching her shoulder. Allison and Amanda turned to face their attacker, but were caught off guard when the lumbering figure burst through the grasses and brush.
Blain rushed in and quickly knocked Amanda to the ground with the butt end of his pistol.
Allison tried to bring her weapon up to fire, but had it knocked out of her hand faster than she could aim.
"Little bitch…thought you could get away from me and fuck things up." Blain spat out. His shirt soaked from him bleeding, his breath ragged as he spoke.
Allison looked up at her attacker, color drained from her face. "You…You're alive"
Blain staggered a bit, the blood loss taking its toll on his body, but he held his gun steady. "You're gonna pay for getting' me shot half pint." Blain wheezed.
He held the gun up to Allison's chest and was about to squeeze the trigger, when a dark blur rushed into Blain's side and knocked him off of his feet.
Blain grunted and dropped his gun as he was slammed to the ground by Blair's momentum.
Allison saw the moment, she grabbed the nearest weapon and stood up, aimed it at Blain and squeezed the trigger. Automatic fire burst out of the barrel as Allison screamed.
"Just die you fucker."
Blain's body jerked and twitched as the bullets hit their mark, blood spattered up and out from his large grotesque body, a look of shock and surprise in his eyes as he looked into Allison's brown orbs glazed over with hatred.
Blair had rolled over just in time to skirt the gunfire from Allison's weapon. She looked over in shock at the body riddled with bullets and then up to the half crazed girl clutching the still smoking gun.
Blair called out Allison's name, but got no response. She grimaced and placed her hand on her wound as she got up and staggered over to the young girl.
"Allison." Blair yelled.
Allison looked over to Blair, tears were trickling down her face and her body was heaving from her outburst.
Blair moved closer to Allison and talked to her softly. "Allison…it's over now…he's dead."
"Hhh…he was the one….Blair…he was the one that tried to rape me…. and now he was just going to kill me." Allison was sobbing, she dropped the gun and started to sink to the ground.
Blair sat beside Allison and wrapped her good arm around the girls shoulder, soft soothing whispers came from Blair's lips as she slid her arm along Allison's petite form. Allison leaned in towards Blair her shoulders shaking as she wept.
Amanda was just coming around from being knocked out and looked over to see Blain's bloodied mass lying still in the grass. She turned away in disgust, but was happy the bastard got what he deserved.
Looking towards Allison and Blair, Amanda noticed the Blair looked pretty banged up.
"Hey guys…is he dead for sure?" Amanda asked. Her eyes still a bit glassy from getting pistol whipped by Blain.
"YESSSS" Both Allison and Blair answered in stereo.
Amanda noticed Blair was in pain. "Blair…you got hit?"
"Yeah…but the bullet went through. My headphones fell off when I knocked the asshole down, get onto them and call for help Mandy." Blair winced in pain as she took her good arm off Allison's shoulder and put pressure on her wound.
"Here…let me help you with that." Allison looked over and leaned in to check out Blair's wound.
"My …packsack…there's a small med kit." Blair voice was getting weaker from her blood loss and she was ready to pass out.
"Hold on Blair… Mandy and I will help fix you up." Allison was still upset, but was now focused on helping Blair. She grabbed the bag and fished through the items to find the med kit.
Amanda grabbed the headphones and called into the microphone for help. "Anyone…Blair has been hit…we need a medic ASAP." Her voice was breaking as she spoke into the mike, the full weight of what had happened sinking in.
"Mandy…I need you to help me with Blair." Allison called out as she pulled various items out of the back pack.
Amanda stopped for a second, then she smiled and looked over to Allison. "John says he's sending someone back to help."
...
John and the others had taken the encampment over, virtually all hostiles had either been killed or wounded.
Derek had more than proved himself in holding his own against the gangsters, he showed a great willingness to fight along side John. That was something John found inspiring, especially since he now knew Derek was his uncle.
John smiled to himself as he saw Derek rush in to help remove the captives from their makeshift jail cell.
A desperate sounding voice came over the earpiece in John's ear.
"Anyone…Blair has been hit…we need a medic ASAP."
By the sound of the voice John figured it was either Allison or Amanda.
John's heart skipped a beat, after all this, to lose Blair to a stray bullet would be devastating. She was a good soldier, but she was also one of his oldest friends. Next to his wife Kate, Blair was his closest friend.
"Stay with Blair and try to stop the bleeding, help is on the way." John replied, his voice starting to crack from the stress.
At that moment, Derek came up to John, he could tell John was worried about something.
"What is it Connor?" Derek asked.
"Blair got shot." John replied, his face showing signs of distress.
"I can go back Connor…I can help her out." Derek looked to John as he spoke, his eyes too were failing to hide the worry.
"Go then….Quickly." John barked out.
Derek nodded and took off running back to where he last saw Blair and the girls.
John watched Derek race back towards the grassy field, then he turned to the camp and began to call out to his squad to get the captives rounded up and over to the trucks near by.
John then switched on his mike and continued with more orders to the teams still out in their positions to come in and prepare to leave. He wanted to make sure to get everyone out of the camp before any more raiders, or others came by to investigate what had just happened.
Tired, dirty and dressed in rags, the women and children from the jail still managed to smile and say their thanks to him, as they made their way towards the vehicles.
John smiled back, a small measure of relief that he had managed to save people from being used as slaves, but he knew they were still not safe, not until they got back to Crystal Peak.
"Peterson?" John called out to one of his troops.
"Yes Connor sir." A young man in his mid twenties answered.
"Make sure the trucks have enough fuel to get us out of here and back to Crystal Peak….ohh and if there are any useful items we can take right away, by all means get them on the trucks too." John nodded his head towards the trucks, thought for a moment and then added. "Peterson, anything that can be used against us, or to go after us with, I want it destroyed."
"Understood sir." Peterson nodded and rushed off towards the raider vehicles.
John sighed and began to walk towards the trucks.
They would take what they needed in order to get back to Crystal Peak, along with anything else useful to the resistance and then destroy this camp. Maybe blowing this place up will send a message to any others not to prey upon the weak and innocent.
It frustrated John to no end, that he had to fight other humans, instead of the real threat to humanity.
Skynet
...
Derek came running up to the girls.
Allison was hunched over Blair, desperately trying to apply pressure to the wound.
She looked up at Derek with relief as he tore off his backpack and knelt down to help out.
"Derek….the bullet…it went through her shoulder." Allison was nervous, but still managed to keep her wits about her.
Amanda was busy trying to hold the small flashlight up and over the wounded area on Blair's shoulder.
Blair was looking very pale, but was still able to talk coherently.
"Allie….let me look at the wound." Derek face was strained with concern as he bent over Blair.
Blair coughed a bit, and struggled with her pain. She looked up and managed to crack a small smile as she looked at Derek.
"So you wait until I hurt, before you try looking under my shirt…hey Reese."
"Never mind trying to sweet talk me Williams, I'm here to patch you up, not feel you up." Derek smirked, but his eyes were filled with concern.
Deftly, Derek started to work on patching Blair's wound and he soon had her ready to be moved.
Allison and Amanda had sat back, but paid close attention to what Derek was doing. He had always told them to make sure they watched and learned, just in case they might have to do the same thing some day.
"Is she going to be okay now Derek?" Allison asked.
"She'll be fine, as long as she takes it easy and rests." Derek smiled at Allison, then he stuck a needle into Blair's arm to help with infection and pain.
"Blair, this should help with the pain." Derek leaned in close to her and brushed his hand across her forehead.
Blair relaxed and smiled at Derek. "So now you're shooting me up with drugs….hey Reese." Blair looked over to Allison. "Allie… you and Mandy make sure he doesn't try anything while I'm drugged up."
Allison and Amanda both giggled and looked over to Derek.
"Oh don't worry Blair….we'll keep him in line. If he tries something, Allie and I will kick his butt." Amanda smiled at Blair and then looked over to Derek, giving him a menacing glance. Then the girls burst out laughing, unable to keep their serious look.
Derek just shook his head and smiled. Women can be such a pain sometimes.
"Okay ladies, lets get going. I'll carry Blair to the trucks and you two make sure to keep your eyes peeled for any hostiles." Derek leaned in to put his arms under Blair's slumped body and lifted her with a grunt.
Allison and Amanda picked up the back packs and weapons and split up to take point and rear of Derek and Blair.
Amanda switched on the mike and informed John that they were on their way and that Blair was stable.
A few minutes later, the four of them arrived at the camp, near to the vehicles. Blair was promptly loaded up into one of the trucks, along with Allison, Amanda and Derek climbing in to make sure she was as comfortable as possible.
Melissa stopped by to check on Blair and was relieved that she was stable and would most likely make a full recovery.
John had everyone organized and loaded up onto the trucks within minutes, anything else not required was wired up to be blown up.
John gave the signal to move out and all the vehicles fired up to leave. The small convoy of eight trucks snaked its way out of the camp and towards the other vehicles hidden to the west of the camp. Once they were far enough away, John triggered the remote and the camp behind them began to rumble form various explosions.
Plumes of smoke and balls of flames shot up into the air as fuel, ammunition and vehicles were destroyed. The sky lit up from the fireworks given off by the ammunition. Popping and crackling from stray bullets and shells filled the air
The convoy made its way west and soon met up with the military vehicles hidden away.
Vehicles were re-organized to make sure the military trucks were staggered in with the regular trucks. Protection of everyone was top priority, especially when they now had a larger group to worry about.
John would only breathe a sigh of relief when he and the rest of them were safely back at Crystal Peak. They may have crushed the raiders, but there was much more to worry about, they had more than a full days ride to get back to safety and anything could happen along the way.
It was now that John worried the most, for they now had much more at stake to lose. Not only his troops, but women and children too were depending on him to get them back to the safety of Crystal Peak.
John stared off into the darkness as he mulled over what he was up against. His truck bounced and rocked as it made its way back along the route they took to get to the camp.
The quicker they got away from the camp the better chance they had to make it to Hammerhead without incident. From Hammerhead they could re-group and decide what and who to take along and what to leave behind.
Melissa was sitting beside John, taking over Blair's spot as shotgun. Kyle was in the back seat, stretched out and sleeping, again. Melissa had looked back to Kyle and shook her head, then she looked over and noticed John was engrossed deeply in thought.
"Hey Connor….what's up?" Melissa questioned, her brow furrowing as she tried to get John to speak up.
"Just worried about getting us back to Hammerhead safely Webster." John answered curtly.
"I think we got away without a hitch Connor…we had the element of surprise." Melissa quipped. She put her foot up on the dash and leaned back to get a bit more comfortable, but still had her rifle nestled in her lap.
"We'll have to wait and see. I won't be happy until we are back home." John looked over to Melissa, his face looking tired and drawn.
"Yeah Connor….I'm lookin' forward to getting a nice hot shower at the base….make myself look good for Derek." Melissa smirked.
John smiled and shook his head. "Well seems your competition is out of the running, but Derek is playing nurse to her. So you might not have the upper hand Webster." He quickly looked over to Melissa and winked.
"Ahhhh…..maybe so, but I'm not out of commission." Melissa looked back at John, an impish grin on her lips and a twinkle in her eye.
"I'm glad you took shotgun Webster….you always make the ride that much more interesting." John chuckled and seemed to sit back a bit and relax.
Melissa looked away and smiled, she was happy she got Connor to lighten up a bit.
She didn't like it when he took things too seriously, the stress was bad enough without the extra worry of the new refugees on his shoulders. Melissa had seen too many of her friends lose it and snap, some of them just giving up and others running off never to be seen again. If she could help just a little, she felt like she made life a bit easier for him.
The two of them spent the rest of the ride to Hammerhead engaged in witty small talk, while Kyle remained in the back seat snoring, happily oblivious to what was being talked about.
Derek and the girls remained with Blair and took turns watching over her, making sure she stayed comfortable and out of danger.
The ride back to Hammerhead would turn out to be pleasantly uneventful.
Authors note-
A big thanks goes out to my Beta reader The1Russter !
This chapter is a bit shorter than the last one, but it sort of ties things up at the "bad guys" camp.
I hope you guys enjoyed it...please leave a review !
Thanks !
Moe