The tires squealing in protest on the pavement is the only thing I hear besides Sarah yelling as she hangs out of the window. The wind rushes through the window, and out of instinct my hand goes to her to help her back into the truck. She fights me, though, and it takes only a second to register what's wrong as I look past her and to the mirror beside her. As I've leaned over towards her, the angle is just right to see something hanging onto the side of the truck.
The terminator. It's at the back of the truck's trailer and slowly climbing along the side.
I mentally curse to myself and fight away the dread in the pit of my stomach. But then I change tactics altogether. My hand weaves around to the seat between us where the bag is. Inside, I grab the first gun I can find and hand it to Sarah. Our eyes meet, and for a second we have a moment where we linger just a little too long.
In that connected moment, we share an unspoken acknowledgement that this could be it. I want to tell her that I'm still fine with whatever happens. I want to let her know that while it isn't fair, I'll still be in John's life when she can't be. That if there is anything after death, I'll be with them. The moment lasts for a little more than a second. After that, we focus on everything that needs to happen to clear ourselves.
"Keep him occupied," I tell her.
Her only reply is a nod as she takes the gun. Speeding up, I hear Sarah fire off a few rounds into the machine. She doesn't fire them off all at the same time in a panic. Instead, she picks and chooses when to fire. She's a trained soldier; it took me years not to panic and waste ammunition.
"This isn't powerful enough," she yells to me.
I look around her to the terminator. It's halfway to us.
"Tell me something I don't know!"
Suddenly Sarah jerks forward and further out of the window. I only register that she's being shot at as she ducks her head and tries to fire back. I respond by grabbing her and pulling her into the truck. The mirror is hit, but the bullet only catches it enough to crack it. The terminator is still advancing; it's three-quarters of the way to us.
Jerking the wheel first to the left and then to the right while gaining speed, I can only hope the machine will just take part of the truck with it as it gets thrown. But the movement at this speed only makes it pause in its course of climbing closer to the cabin. I don't stop the maneuvers though. Noticing the machine's position, I spot a truck merging onto the highway. Veering towards it, I see the driver's reaction first to someone hanging off the side of our truck but then as he realizes what I'm about to do.
The truck is quick to adjust, but not quick enough. I slam the terminator into the car, but it doesn't let go. I keep the steering wheel adjusted so that we're running side by side with the car for as long as we can. Still, the terminator doesn't budge from our vehicle. Not even when Sarah again hangs herself out of the window to fire a few shots does he move.
Finally, the truck has slammed on its brakes. The tires scream in protest, and my eyes look at the terminator in the mirror to confirm it's still there. It now is at the point where the truck and the cabin connect. It's too close.
"This isn't working, Reese!" she yells as she climbs back into the car to reload. I hear a gun fire, and Sarah leans back out of the window.
"What happened?" I ask, but I already know the answer.
"He shot our tires," she tells me. "We're losing speed!"
I realize our tires are going before she says it. The truck is getting harder to steer, and everything feels a sluggish to respond. We were hitting 60MPH, but now it's declining steadily. Every time we lose speed, my heart seems to find it.
My eyes search for anything that I can hope to use to defend us. Sarah has maybe another clip of ammunition left, and I'm running out of ideas. The terminator is at Sarah's window finally, with a gun drawn and pointed at her. Switching from gas to brakes is an easy maneuver, but I swear I can't do it fast enough. The terminator is thrown from the car, but it manages to grab onto the side of the car between the windshield and her mirror. Straddling the hood of the car, I can see the damaged machine's red eyes glowing as half of its face is missing.
I speed up again, and as I do, I take the gun from Sarah and point it to the terminator. Its gun dropped when I slammed on the brakes. Both of its hands are holding it on, and for once I've got the upper hand. I fire a few shots directly towards the eyes. I know there's a weak spot there. If I can damage the way the computer sees, I damage it enough to reprogram it. The machine must know what I'm thinking because it suddenly lets go as soon as I slam on the brakes again.
The machine's grip falters, and it disappears underneath the truck. Breathing a sigh of relief, I look at Sarah. It's only now that I can check her if she's hurt. She doesn't seem to be. Sarah Connor certainly lives up to her reputation. She's got a few cuts and scrapes, but it's nothing life threatening. We may be able to limp back to town if I can coax some speed out of the truck.
"We need to find Pops," I tell her.
"I'm out of ammunition," she says.
"We'll find Pops and resupply," I respond. "Are you okay?"
She doesn't answer. Instead, all she does is keep looking out her window.
"Sarah," I say. Still, she doesn't say anything. The look on her face is the same one John always had when he was getting ready to give bad news. Troops lost, lives gone or some base discovered by Skynet. "Sarah!"
She responds when I yell and grab her by the shoulder.
"He never came out of the back," she tells me.
Glancing down, I realize our gas tank is slowly being depleted. We're already down to less than a quarter tank. And there are other things not working. Jerking the wheel to the right and left again, I feel things starting to fight me rather than go easily with my commands.
"He's underneath us!" I yell.
The words are useless, though. Up ahead about twenty yards, there's a sharp curve in the road. There's a sign about using caution due to the drop. I grab Sarah and point it out to her.
"We're still losing speed," I tell her. "But we might be able to make it."
Setting the cruise control, I take hold of the bag, and our only other loaded weapon spills out. No sooner do I do that than the floor underneath us gets ripped out. The glowing eyes catch mine, and I see the caught gun emerge before I can figure out how to get Sarah out of there. She screams, and I scream, too, at her.
"Sarah, get out of here!" I yell. "Go!"
She doesn't hesitate before she opens her door and jumps from the truck.
"It's just you and me now, you fucker," I tell the machine through gritted teeth.
Its gun aims at me, but its arm is caught in a way that it can't make a clean kill shot. I start to climb out, but the machine shoots. The sudden pain in my leg makes me stop everything I'm doing. I can feel the warm, wet blood already starting to fall down my leg. The terminator goes to shoot again, but as soon as it pulls the trigger, only a click sound can be heard. Realizing this is my only chance, I steer the truck to the cliff ahead and hold onto the wheel.
The terminator drops the gun and grabs my injured leg. Letting out an automatic yell, I grit my teeth and kick at the thing with everything I have. Its grip isn't secure enough around my leg, but I know it won't take long. With that kick, I feel my heel sink into the metal skull. One of the eyes stops glowing red, and the small victory is enough to release me.
Throwing myself out of the vehicle, I tuck and roll along the side of the road. I'm just in time, too. As I start to slide off the ravine, I manage to grab onto a small tree as I slide over the edge. The truck follows over me, and I see the red glowing eye as it tumbles down the cliff to its eventual resting place. I pull myself up to my chest and start to climb up over the edge when I see Sarah running towards me.
My leg burns every time I use it, and it throbs otherwise. But when she gets to me, all she does is frantically help me to solid ground. Her hands are shaking, but her grip is strong. Tears are on her face, but she can see. She's breathing heavily, but she still manages to say my name.
"Kyle," she tells me. "Give me your hand. Let me pull you up."
I take her hand, and together we manage to pull me up. As soon as my face hits the ground, her arms are wrapped around me to turn me over. Our lips meet in hurried, panicked kisses. Our hands run over every inch of each other we can manage to get to. I don't know how to breathe until I know she's okay. We reassure ourselves for a moment before I finally let my hands sink into her hair. Pulling her lips to mine, she meets me. We soak ourselves in this embrace.
It's not long before Sarah pulls away from me and releases a punch to my face. I'm waiting for it, though. Ducking to the side, I grab her arm as it comes at me. She twists, trying to get her arm back. But I don't dare let it go. Instead, I pull her to me and in for another embrace. The tears on her face are making her sobs get louder, and I know she thought she lost me. I thought I was gone, too.
"I'm here, Sarah," I tell her as I pull her to me. "I'm here."
She curses me, but we both look towards the ravine as I sit up to examine my leg. The sound of a fire below catches my attention. Standing, I wince in pain.
"You're hurt," she says. Sarah wraps her arm around my waist as I use her for support.
"We need to keep moving," I say.
The ravine is steep. It's a ninety-five foot drop. The truck is on fire at the base of it, and I see the glowing machine as it moves through the flames. Its foot drags, and its skin is completely gone. At least it will be easy to spot from now on. Sarah sees the terminator, too, because her grip on me strengthens.
"Let's go," she tells me.
We make it about twenty feet before another set of squealing tires catches our attention. I recognize the vehicle Pops dropped us off in, and we wait along the side of the road. The machine stops for us, and we get into the back seat together. He gives Sarah a glance as if expecting a report.
"Another T-800," she says as she closes the door. "He's at the bottom of the ravine. We can catch him if we go now."
"Negative," Pops says. "Part of my missing files have been recovered. I have another high priority mission. My instructions are to take you and Kyle Reese to a location near here to await an arrival."
Sarah and I exchange a look between us, unsure if we trust this. Pops reaches to the seat beside him and hands Sarah a bag.
"Medical supplies are in here," he says. "The wound will be fine after wrapping. Tylenol is there along with water and food. We will be there in approximately five minutes."
She takes the bag and opens it. I notice her hands are shaking, so I gently take the supplies from her. Her eyes are still full of tears, but she doesn't protest. Instead, she watches me wrap my wound. As soon as it's done, I take the water and offer it to her. Sarah takes a long drink, and I manage to drink a gulp with the pills.
We arrive at our location. It's in the middle of a dense forest, and as we get out of the car I feel a change in the air. It feels electric. The wind increases, and bolts of energy come flying towards us. We wait, though. I realize someone else is traveling through time, but I have to wonder if this will be a friend or foe. I know Sarah feels the same way because she grips a gun at her side. She's ready to fight or flee, and she stands at a distance from Pops.
A ball of electric energy forms, and it takes out parts of trees and scorches the ground. As soon as it appears, though, it disappears. All that's left are two people. The woman stands first. She's a good bit taller than Sarah, but not nearly as tall as me. The man is also taller than Sarah but only slightly taller than the woman. Sarah's gun is on them immediately.
"Don't shoot!" the woman says.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't," Sarah says.
I stand beside her, and Pops immediately makes a move to disarm her. I try to stop him, but all it manages to do is make me his first priority. He pins me against a tree, but he doesn't kill me. Sarah aims her gun at Pops.
"No!" the woman yells. "Stop!"
At her command, Pops stops. We all do. She takes Sarah's gun and also aims it at Pops.
"Let him go," she says. "Now."
He does as he's told, and Sarah and I exchange nods as I walk closer to her.
"Who are you?" I ask.
"Sarah Connor, Kyle Reese," the woman says with a smile. "I'm Jane Washington, and this is Simon Harper. We are your reinforcements so to speak."
Sarah's gun raises again, but before she can do anything Pops stands between us and them. My mouth opens to say something to her, but I quickly shut it as Jane peeps around from behind him.
"Did you ever wonder who sent this guy to you in the first place?" she asks.
This disarms Sarah, and she watches the woman with a confused look. It has to match mine as I try to figure out who she is. I've never seen either of them before.
"We're all here for the same thing," the man – Simon – finally says. "To stop Skynet from being born."
"We're all on the same team," Jane says as she nods in agreement. "We can explain everything. All we need is a chance."
"And clothes," Simon says.
We all stand there for a moment. I don't even register that they're naked. All I register is that they look familiar, though I don't know who they are. She's got light brown hair with blue eyes, and he's got bright red hair and brown eyes. They have no features that would make them memorable for me. I see scars on their bodies, but nothing that looks like it's out of the ordinary. Pops puts out his hand to me, and Sarah nods for me to do it. I hand him the bag with all of our weapons and supplies. I make myself stay planted where I am for as long as it takes for them to dress. That's when I notice that Simon pulls a pair of glasses out of the bag. It makes me wonder how long Pops knew about this mission to get prescription glasses so quickly.
They hand the bag back to me, and I take it. My eyes meet Simon's as I stay between him and Sarah.
"So who are you, and how are you supposed to help us kill Skynet?"