Chapter 61

Trapped

Cameron was in standby. She was in a hidden compartment of a building. Unit Two and Unit Three were with her. They were currently deactivated. She waited for the appointed time to reboot. She'd only been disturbed from standby once. It was when she'd fought the Terminator with the temporal error. It happened on one of the upper floors. She thought about going up to help her other self. She figured it would cause more of a problem than it would be of assistance. There would be too much explaining to do. She remained where she was at. She remembered the entire building shook once before she returned to standby.

Today was the day. It was the day Cameron left to go on her mission into the past and from there into the future. It was the mission to save Her Allison - Future Allison, and reunite her with Future John. It was a mission to right a wrong. It was a mission to atone for her sins. It was a success.

Cameron was successful in her quest on several levels. She was very happy and satisfied with the outcome. Future John would have Future Allison and Future Savannah. She was gone from their lives and their future. They could have a family and a real life together. Future Allison was alive. It was what mattered the most to her. She canceled her debt to life. She canceled her self termination order. Cameron felt at peace to live with herself. Now it was time to live life for John and herself.

She was very satisfied she'd been able to be with John before she left. She wanted to make love to John since the first moment she saw him at school in Red Valley. She loved John as Future John. To see and share with his 'past' self, was very exciting and alluring to her. The past version of John wasn't as flawed or damaged as Future John was.

It always bothered her to know when she was sent back, most of her files related to Future John were gone. She wasn't sure what was missing, other than there were many blank segments in her dealings with Future John. Most of them were missing during the hours of darkness.

Her biggest worry was of the erased parts from her chip after her immediate capture. She only remembered being taken down with a large group of Resistance fighters around. She'd made a mistake of some kind and they pegged her as a Terminator.

Her first awareness afterwards was seeing Future John next to her with his hand gently resting on her cheek. There was a terrible look of sadness in his eyes. It was 'that look', and moment, which would haunt her. She realized later on she was the one responsible for 'that look'.

Cameron never felt good about herself when she caused other people personal grief. It wasn't her intent or goal. It just seemed the events happened on their own without her purposely attempting to do them. It didn't matter. In the end, she was still the one responsible for whatever transgressions occurred. Skynet was the one who should be blamed, not her, even if she was the one who was the perpetrator. It seemed some things in life weren't very fair.

She needed to stay out of her past when she went back to the future. She desperately wanted to see what happened at the time of her capture. She wanted to know what the true nature of her 'association' with Future John was. She needed to force herself not to go and 'look'. If she changed anything before she was sent back by Future John, it would create a different timeline. She may not be sent into the past at that point. It was more important to her to be able to get back to John, than find out her true history.

She was pretty sure her true history was nothing to be proud of. She felt ashamed to even 'think' about it. They weren't good thoughts to have before she went into standby. She tried to think of her special time with John. Instead, it seemed she thought about everything that happened since her arrival in the past the first time, and all the plans she put into play if she was terminated. There were plans and backup plans. They were all set to be put into play. She tried to cover all the bases and variables. She knew it was impossible to do with one hundred percent certainty.

Cameron programmed herself to reboot at a specific time. She wanted to arrive back at the Resistance base right after she left. If she did, no one would be too distressed over her mission. There would be no problems. She would collect her things. Life would go on as if nothing happened. It was a foolproof plan. She didn't see how anything could disrupt or alter it. Being sealed in the hidden room should further guarantee she wouldn't be disturbed. If she remained undisturbed, nothing should change.

The only thing left was a simple reboot. Cameron would be back at the base in no time. It would be as if nothing ever happened, and she was never gone. Cameron wanted to arrive there right as the TDE powered down. She wanted to make sure there weren't any problems for John Henry, Bob, and Jim. She'd asked the three of them to make sure her temporal mission wasn't interfered with when she left. She did warn them she may not return. If she wasn't back at the point she left, she was most likely terminated. She told them they wouldn't be deactivated, even if they thought they would be.

The time was here now to reboot and come out of standby.

Something was wrong.

Cameron rebooted:

She looked around the chamber she was in. She removed the hunting knife from the door. She looked back at the empty chamber. She headed for the bunker and home, the Resistance base.

Cameron entered the base. She went to John's room, their room now. She silently entered. She was going to surprise him. It was a big surprise alright. The surprise belonged to her, not to John.

She noticed a large painting now on the wall. It was similar to one she'd seen before with John. She didn't remember if it was on a school field trip or at a sleep clinic. It bothered her. The painting was disturbing in itself. The abstract view seemed to represent some type of mental illness.

John was in their bed.

Cameron heard an infant whimper. She looked and there was a crib on the left side of John's bed. A tiny redhead infant girl stirred.

She quickly realized John wasn't alone.

Vanna was on his left side.

Allison was on his right side.

There was a crib on Allison's side also. It contained a baby girl who was peacefully asleep.

Cameron couldn't move. She attempted to process what was before her.

John stirred. He awoke and proceeded to fondle the naked forms of Vanna and Allison. They both giggled and gave him a kiss.

"Whose turn is it next?" John asked.

Everyone re-positioned. Vanna lay on her back in the center of the bed. Allison climbed on top of her on her knees as they started to kiss. John moved in behind Allison. She let out a small gasp….

Cameron rebooted:

The building around her was gone. There was nothing but rubble and debris around her. Bleached skulls littered the ground. An HK drone flew in the distance. Cameron looked around in disbelief. Judgment Day must have happened. It looked like Skynet did it again. She then noticed a large painting, now half buried in the rubble, similar to one she'd viewed somewhere before….

Cameron rebooted:

Teenage Savannah was in John's arms. She wore a wedding dress. Cameron recognized it as her wedding dress. It was the one she gave to Savannah to wear when she was older. She was to wear it when she married John. It appeared to be now. She noted the bulge in Savannah's abdomen. John carried teenage Savannah into their room. They passed the painting on a wall.

They stripped off each other's clothes.

Cameron could only watch.

Savannah looked over to her. There was a smile on her face. She patted her bulged belly.

"I kept my promise, Cammy. I did as you asked. I did as you wanted…." Savannah said.

John looked over at her and smirked. It was the same thing he did to her when he went up the stairs after she caught him out all night with Riley. It was the night he'd made love to Riley.

Cameron rebooted:

Cameron was 'human'. She was being held down by four men. Another one stood above her. He held a knife. She'd been taken prisoner by Scavengers.

"You're awake now. We can get started." The Scavenger said as he laughed. "We didn't want you to miss anything."

In the background she could see the painting sitting in a corner.

The smile on his face grew and he began to laugh louder.

Cameron rebooted:

Cameron was alone with Mrs. Weaver.

Mrs. Weaver's head moved back from hers.

"I don't see what is so great about kissing." Mrs. Weaver said. "Let me show you what it is really like to share."

Cameron looked around. She didn't see the painting.

Mrs. Weaver touched her arm. Her liquid form flowed around it and covered her hand. Mrs. Weaver touched her other hand to her other side, and her feet to her feet. Mrs. Weaver liquid form slowly enveloped her entire body. It joined in the groin area last leaving only her face uncovered. Her face started to be covered by the Liquid Metal. Before she was totally enveloped, she could see the painting was in back of Mrs. Weaver…. She tried to scream, but Mrs. Weaver was inside of her as well.

Cameron rebooted:

Allison helped Cameron walk. Most of her sheath was missing. She was heavily damaged. There was mechanical damage to her chassis. She needed extensive repair.

"Come on, Cameron, we can make it." Allison said.

Allison urged Cameron on as she helped her.

Cameron collapsed.

"I won't leave you. I won't go without you. You're all I have left." Allison said.

Cameron reached out her shattered arm and pointed for Allison to go.

"I'll never leave you, Cameron. You are me. I'm part of you. I won't go." Allison said.

The Terminator who stalked them appeared.

Allison scrambled to her feet.

Cameron could see the terrible scars which now covered Allison. Half of her face was unrecognizable.

The Terminator grinned slightly as it advance on them

Allison picked up a bent piece of rebar.

"I won't let you touch her. I won't." Allison said.

Allison used it as a weapon as she advanced on the Terminator.

"You'll have to kill me first." Allison said.

The metal rod she held slammed into the Terminator's face. It split his cheek open to the metal underneath.

The Terminator dropped the painting it carried to free its hands for combat….

Cameron rebooted:

"If I'd known you could do that years ago, Cameron, I would have gotten rid of John and Kyle a long time ago, myself." Sarah said.

Sarah rotated around so her head was now next to Cameron's head.

"To think I wanted you gone so many times." Sarah said. "What was I thinking?"

Sarah reached over and pulled Cameron's head towards hers.

"You are going to be my mechanical love doll from here on out." Sarah said. "You're going to pleasure me in every way possible. The best part is, you'll never get tired. You'll only stop when I tell you to stop. Move down and get started, now."

The picture was visible on the wall behind Sarah….

Cameron rebooted:

Cameron was slumped in a chair. Her hair was in her face, she tasted blood in her mouth.

An all metal Terminator stepped forward out of the shadows. He grabbed her by the neck as he lifted her.

"You lied to me." The Terminator said.

"I'll never help you get to John Connor!" Cameron gasped.

She could feel her neck start to snap.

"You already did." The Terminator said.

Cameron saw the Terminator's face. It was the painting….

Cameron rebooted:

Cameron opened her eyes. She tried to move but couldn't. She realized she'd been captured by the Resistance. Her mission failed. She'd been unable to terminate John Connor.

She looked to see why she couldn't move. She was chained to some type of metal apparatus. Her legs were chained as were her arms.

She could hear voices in the background. Suddenly a face appeared in front of her. There were others behind him.

"We wanted to wait until you rebooted before we started." One man said.

"We've reprogrammed all your pleasure sensors to feel pain instead." A second man said.

"We don't like complaints or crybabies either." The third man said.

They forced her mouth open. There was a sharp pain as blood filled her mouth.

She tried to scream. The first man dumped molten plasma into her mouth. It destroyed her voice box and fused her jaw closed. The second man quickly formed her face into a pleasant smile as everything became frozen in the new position. It was the look she would forever have on her face. She couldn't cry or close her eyes. They were forever open now too. She would be forced to see and feel everything that happened to her.

"Now it's time to see if a Metal Whore is as good as the real thing." The first man said.

There was a mass of laughter and jeering behind him.

There was a line of men as far as she could see. There were thousands of them.

The only screams she could hear were in her mind. They would never stop.

The picture hung above her. She would need to look at it forever.

Cameron rebooted:

The ground around her vibrated, it was like an earthquake. There was something behind her. She could feel a lot of heat. She turned around to look. It was a volcano.

She could see the area around her once was a lush jungle type area. It no longer was. Everything was scorched by heat and covered by ash. Nothing seemed to be alive there but her.

She could detect specific tremors in the ground under her feet. They seemed to come at a rhythmic pace. She attempted to determine what they were. There was some movement from behind the rocks off to her side. Something appeared from behind them. There was a Tyrannosaurus Rex standing there. It stopped and looked at her. The tremors stopped. She realized they were impact tremors.

She tried to remember what happened and where she was at. It started to come back to her in a disjointed fashion. She remembered she was about to embark on a temporal mission. There'd been some gunfire. It was clear the base she was about to leave from was under attack.

The energy bubble began to form around her. Something landed in the energy bubble with her. She tried to figure out what it was, and why it was there. It was as if someone threw it at her. In the arcing and flashing of the energy bubble she could see it was the painting. She didn't understand why her attackers would throw it into the energy bubble with her. There must have been a specific reason.

She noticed there was some type of electronic device attached to it. A red light flashed on it. there was a flash in front of her. She realized it was something to disrupt her transfer temporal location. It was to throw her off course. It evidently created a temporal error.

Cameron realized she wasn't paying attention. The Tyrannosaurus Rex had carefully approached where she was at. She tried to run. She couldn't move her feet. They were encased in solid rock. She'd evidently stepped in some lava and it hardened around her feet.

The Tyrannosaurus made a 'hissing roar' type sound. It's big mouth opened. It's sharp teeth glistened in the glow from the volcano. It moved forward to attack her….

Cameron rebooted:

John picked her up and carried her through the doorway.

Cameron pushed the door closed as they entered.

They stood facing each other.

"All my programming is off, John. It's just you and me now."

"Cameron, I've waited so long for this moment."

"As have I, John."

"I love you, Cameron, and you love me."

"I love you, John, and you love me."

They kissed.

Cameron removed his suit coat and shirt and pants.

John slipped Cameron out of her dress.

Each removed the other's underwear.

"I am ready, John, make me a woman."

They embraced and slowly headed for the bed….

John kissed her gently and deep.

John looked into her eyes, his right hand slowly moving down her left cheek. It continued down her neck and across her left breast. Its movement paused as he gently caressed her left breast. His fingers moved to the end. Things quickly stiffened….

Cameron Shut Down.

Closing monologue by Cameron:

Trapped

One's life can never move forward
If they remain living in the past
The shadow of eternal darkness
Seeps deep as its emptiness is cast

The happiness of living
Is only a cruel illusion
Being lead to believe it is real
Is only an illusive delusion

There's no freedom
There's no escape
Wounds to the heart and mind
Perpetually tear and scrape

When we have nothing
We want more
When we have more
We still want more

Time will show there's
Something worse than nothing
It's when one realizes
It's - less than nothing

Nobody