Chapter 73

Evaporated

Cameron and John were on their honeymoon. They were tailed by two Resistance Terminators. They were there to offer support, or protection, if they ran into trouble.

John drove the SUV along Route 1. It hugged the coastline for much of the way. He took in the scenery and clean fresh air. There was just something about ocean air which 'touched' him. The view was often quite spectacular as well.

He wondered what Cameron really thought about it. Could she actually see the beauty in it, or was it like anything else she looked at? He thought about asking her. He never knew if she would tell him what he wanted to hear, or what she actually 'felt'. Then again, he was afraid it would mean nothing to her and spoil it for him.

John knew for a fact Cameron was much more 'evolved' at this point in time. He believed her response and desire to make love to him now would have been totally different if they'd made love when he was still fifteen. He was sure at that time Cameron would have gone more through the mechanical motions of the act, as opposed to the emotional ones she experienced now. It made him really wonder what was 'erased' from Cameron's chip by Future John.

John spotted a sign which notified travelers there was food, lodging, and fuel ahead. There were little communities like that along the way. They were very infrequent on the current route. Most were little more than one gas station, one restaurant, and one or two small motels. They usually commanded a good view of the ocean and coast. Some actually possessed a sandy beach. Much of the coast at this point consisted of cliffs, where the water broke at the base of them. There were a lot of rocks.

There were several old spectacular bridges along the way which they crossed. Next to some of them were an even older bridge which still spanned a ravine with a small stream at the bottom. There were also occasional traces of the original route which would go around some of the landscape features, rather than through them, as the road currently did.

He noticed occasional wisps of fog, as well as several fog banks. He recalled a Naval incident. It was more of a disaster really. It was somewhere along the coast where they were at now. He remembered seeing a TV report one time where a squadron of destroyers ran aground in the fog in the Twenties due to bad navigation and course plotting. He remembered it was about seven of them. They were going around twenty knots. Some of the wrecked ships were still there. There were sailors who died during the event. He decided if they ran into heavy fog, they would slow down, or even stop, if necessary. Even if Cameron could 'see' to drive through the fog, the other drivers on the road couldn't.

Strangely enough, he learned people tended not to slow down much in adverse conditions. He didn't want to be knocked off a cliff by a box truck, or a speeding driver. The multiple patches in the fencing along the seaside of the highway, was testament to many other people over the years who didn't do as well. They hit the guardrail or went through it, and off the side down a cliff. They would end up crushed on the rocks in the waves below.

John pictured it happening. He'd be trapped in the smashed vehicle with his legs crushed and pinned. The seawater would rapidly envelope him and he would be only able to hold his breath for so long as the water covered him. It would all end as he took in the first lungful of seawater. His body would struggle and convulse violently as the darkness overtook him.

It was a very unpleasant thought. Since the idea was in his head now, he remembered the last few times he was near the ocean where some bad things happened. He tried not to think of them. There was the event with the Coltan at the harbor, Cromartie at the pier, and Charlie at the lighthouse.

The last incident he thought of with Charlie really bothered him. Charlie was a really good guy. He was pretty sure everything would have been different if his mother would have stayed with Charlie instead of running. At the time, he believed it was because his mother was scared about being in a committed relationship. In retrospect he knew he was wrong. His mother left Charlie to protect him. She knew being around him endangered Charlie's life. He didn't see it at the time. His mother needed to sacrifice the happiness she found, to protect Charlie from the danger which stalked him. It was all his fault Charlie was dead.

Charlie lived a risk free life as far as Skynet went, until he looked up Charlie and visited him. It ended up putting Charlie back in their lives again. It ended in the death of Charlie's wife, as well as Charlie's death. Skynet may have been directly responsible, but the blame all pointed back at him. He was a death magnet.

Cameron snapped him out of his thoughts.

"There's a Terminator!" Cameron said.

John was instantly alert. He'd been lost in thought. He'd been lost thinking about the departed. It was time to refocus.

"Where?" John asked. "Is there more than one?"

Cameron already moved her foot back inside the window.

"I only saw one. He was at the gas station we just passed." Cameron said. "I've seen his 'model' before."

John was glad there were two Resistance Terminators behind them. They needed to take action. They were already north of where the Terminator was spotted. Bob and Al were still south of his location. There was currently a team of Resistance fighters on either path the Terminator would take once he left the gas station.

"Call Bob and tell him to be ready to block their path if they go back the direction we came." John said. "We'll park and wait here to see where he goes."

John pulled off to the side of the road.

The question was, why was there a Terminator there? Where did he come from, and what was he doing? Or even worse, what had he already done? He knew they weren't too far from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Serrano Point, and Avila Beach.

It was what could happen at the nuclear power plant which caused them the most concern. There'd already been an incident there once in the past. It was possible Skynet would attempt again to disrupt operations there.

John Henry was contacted and informed to closely scrutinize all operations at the nuclear power plant. Mrs. Weaver gained control of the facility before her untimely journey into the future.

They'd taken steps to ensure the power plant could be shut down on relatively short notice to prevent a catastrophe. They hoped they wouldn't need to implement them. Right now there was a more immediate concern.

Cameron called Bob and went over the plan with him.

"Affirmative." Bob responded after being briefed. "We'll move up. We won't engage at this time unless we need to."

Since there were few turnouts along the road, Cameron wanted to stay in front of the unknown Terminator with Bob behind him. She told John how she wanted to play their hand. It would be a slightly different technique than they usually used.

"We'll 'follow' him from in front of him if we see him head our direction. We'll have him sandwiched. If not, we'll turn around and join you." Cameron said. "I want to try to keep one vehicle in front of him, as well as one behind him. I don't want him to get away from us."

Cameron started to put her combat gear on, including body armor. She didn't want any damage to spoil her 'alone time' with John. She thought of the extra months it took before for her shotgun damaged right breast to fully regenerate after some violent combat one time. She was sure after the second incident, the missing nipple, and damage to the breast, was permanent. After she re-infused her DNA with a fresh sample from Allison, everything finally regenerated. She'd basically programmed her sheath to 'Resequence' to a 'new' appearance, even if it was the 'old' appearance.

Allison was the same individual as Future Allison, they were just from different futures.

Cameron wanted to make sure John was protected too. She got behind the wheel as John 'geared' up.

No sooner than John was 'armored up', than they were informed of some activity.

"He's on the move." Bob informed them.

It looked like events were about to pick up.

Allison wasn't happy with the news she received from Sarah that Jesse was there now with Derek. She sought out Vanna to tell her.

"I hate that 'Bitch Whore' Jesse." Allison said. "She really is too."

Vanna didn't know Jesse. It made her wonder how Allison did. She knew Allison was in the future for a year longer than she was. A lot could happen in a year. A lot could happen in a second.

"How do you know her?" Vanna asked.

Allison didn't like what she'd witnessed. She could see Jesse was 'trouble' from the first day. Jesse was very aggressive and clearly a predator, especially with females.

"Derek brought her into the base one day. She hits on all the females the Resistance brings in to protect." Allison said. "She abuses all of them."

Allison's description of Jesse sounded more like a 'predator' to Vanna, than Derek's 'girlfriend'. She wanted to make sure she understood everything.

"I thought you said she's Derek's 'squeeze'." Vanna said.

Allison could only see trouble with Jesse.

"She is. She's a snake. She's trouble with everything she gets involved with. I hate her." Allison reiterated. "She looks HOT, and brings all the trouble which goes with it. She's very seductive for both men and women…."

Allison didn't mention Jesse tried to hit on her multiple times. Some of the incidents were just more than verbal. There was some physical contact involved as well. Some of her private parts had been touched, even if she didn't want them to be. She didn't want Vanna to overreact when she found out.

Bob spoke with John.

The Terminator was on the move. He was headed northbound on Route 1. He continued in the direction of John and Cameron.

John tried to think of the best course of action. He was aware of how Terminators operated. They may not do everything exactly the same, but they still did a lot of things which were.

"We've got it." John said. "We'll stay out in front of him. You guys fall back. He'll check for a tail."

Cameron wanted a 'harder hit' if necessary. She wanted to give the Resistance team an advantage.

"If you see a 'bobtail', or other medium sized truck, I want you to commandeer it and have it ready. We may need some extra stopping power." Cameron added. "I want something with enough mass to take out a car."

Cameron pulled out onto Route 1 ahead of the approaching Terminator. She put some distance on him.

"I don't want him to get suspicious." Cameron said. "I can still track him on the curvy roads. There are almost no turn offs. There's nowhere for him to go."

John was worried about whatever was actually going on. There was no way for them to tell exactly where the nature of the threat originated from.

"After the new Liquid Metal Terminator we encountered, and two timelines, we don't know what is happening anymore." John said. "There's more in play than we know."

The reminder brought up another 'issue' for Cameron. It was a very unpleasant one.

"What did the 'Bitch Whore' Liquid Metal Terminator really do to you, John?" Cameron asked.

John didn't like the direction the conversation just turned. It was something they'd been over multiple times. He hated talking about it. It was always the same thing, with the same answers. Nothing was any different. He wanted to try to nip it in the bud before it became a contentious issue, as it always did.

"Look, Cameron, we've been over this." John said. "I don't know. All I know is it was in physical contact with me. It used me and my thoughts somehow. It seemed to know about you, like it must have been in contact with you. It seemed to know some things but not others. It was like it only possessed some information from you but not everything."

Cameron wondered what it was all about. Maybe it was the result of something she hadn't done yet, and the events which propagated it were still to happen. Maybe at some point in the future, she was destroyed and her chip was damaged. Skynet may have attempted to glean whatever information about the Resistance from it they could. She tried to push those thoughts from her mind.

Something else bothered her. She wanted a better answer from John.

"Did you have sex with it?" Cameron asked. "Did you have sex with her?"

Cameron leaned over and kissed him. Her hand lingered on his neck as she scanned him.

"NO! I've told you I didn't several times." John said. "I only know what I remember."

She wasn't satisfied with John's answer. She could tell John 'thought' he did have some kind of 'sex' with it. She smiled at John and drove on. She took a quick glance at him from time to time.

Cameron knew John did have some type of 'mental sex' with the Liquid Metal Terminator who assaulted him. She knew John thought he was having sex with Allison when it was really her, even if he pretended it was her. She knew John WAS going to have sex with Allison and Vanna the night she returned. She also knew what John and Riley did the morning she caught him.

She couldn't fault her friends. She chose them to replace her. It was her choice. It wasn't something done behind her back. They were only doing what she asked and 'wanted' all of them to do. What bothered her the most, was because she disrupted the probable chance Allison would have become pregnant. She'd even asked Allison to stay in her place the night of her return to allow it to happen. She knew both Allison and Vanna loved John. It was what she wanted and worked so hard to accomplish. She needed people to replace her, REAL people. She wanted it to be the females SHE chose.

Cameron believed she was going to 'fall' soon. It stabbed her heart, but she didn't want to let John be denied a family of HIS own, or female companionship. The family 'Time' chose for him, the 'Natural Order'.

'Everyone sacrifices for John Connor.' Cameron thought.

She knew she was no different.

"Cameron, watch out!" John shouted as he reached for the steering wheel.

Cameron snapped out of it. She'd drifted across the narrow highway and was close to the guardrail on one of the high cliffs. The Pacific Ocean relentlessly crashed into the rocks below. She quickly moved back to her side of the road. She realized if there would have been opposing traffic she could have been involved in a head on collision.

"I'm sorry." Cameron said.

John knew what was eating Cameron.

What bothered him the most, was Cameron started adding poems to her Poem Book again. None seemed to be positive. Once again, he knew he'd 'hurt' Cameron. This time he didn't think it was his fault. With Riley he knew it was his fault.

John didn't want to get lost in his thoughts. They both needed to be combat ready and alert. There was most likely going to be a gun battle at some point. It would probably be sooner rather than later.

Jesse spotted Allison and headed in her direction.

"Hello, my pretty." Jesse said to Allison as she tried to touch her face.

Allison jerked her head away.

Jesse laughed.

"Hi." Allison responded as she tried to move off.

Jesse's hand touched Allison's face anyway on the second attempt.

"I hear the 'Metal Bitch' looks a lot like you, love." Jesse said.

Allison wanted Jesse to go away. She didn't like being around her.

"Maybe…." Allison said.

Jesse tried to pull Allison's face closer to hers.

"We still have some unfinished 'business' to attend to." Jesse added.

Vanna walked up. She saw what was 'happening'. She instantly became alarmed.

"Get your hands off her, you 'Bitch Whore'." Vanna said.

Vanna knew what Jesse was after. She was after her long term lover.

Jesse looked Vanna over from head to toe and back again. She liked what she saw.

"My, my, aren't we a little possessive?" Jesse asked.

Vanna was angry now.

"That's right." Vanna blurted out. "I am possessive. Keep your hands to yourself."

Jesse decided to broaden her 'attack'. The redhead was Hot. Two females were better than one. She was up for a 'three way', especially when they were females.

"There is enough there for all of us…." Jesse said as she looked at Allison and winked. "I mean for both of us at the same time."

Vanna could see things were going to get ugly.

"Don't push it." Vanna warned.

Jesse looked at Vanna.

"You can always hit on Connor's 'Metal Whore' again." Jesse said.

Someone approached from behind Jesse.

There was a loud 'thud'.

Jesse landed on the floor unconscious.

Sarah stood over Jesse's fallen form.

Allison was a little shocked. It was a severe blow.

"Damn." Allison said. "You flattened her."

Sarah shook her head in disgust.

"I told the 'Bitch Whore' if she ever said anything about Cameron, John's wife, again, she would be sorry." Sarah said. "I think she's going to feel a little 'sorry' right now."

Allison and Vanna just looked at each other.

"She was asking for it." Vanna said. "I was about ready to do it myself."

Allison still tried to take it all in. She nodded at Sarah.

"Watch out for 'Momma Bear'." Allison said.

Sarah continued on her way as she slung her M4. She was taking it back for cleaning after some target practice. She didn't even bother to wipe the fresh blood off the stock.

"I think between Cameron and Sarah, our chances for John have just about evaporated." Allison said.

Allison hit the play button on her player. 'My Boyfriend's Back' by the 'Spazzys', flooded the hall.

Closing monologue by Cameron:

Evaporated

There is always one
With which we are captivated
Soon all of our feelings
Are upon them concentrated

It may cause one
To feel frustrated
It could make everything
Even more complicated

Are thoughts of romance
Really that antiquated
Maybe they can be kindled in another
Even if they are somewhat belated

We can try to reach out
Not everything can be accelerated
Maybe it only happens in one's mind
Everything becomes twisted and exaggerated

One thing is for sure
Feelings can be terminated
The hope for joy and love
Is soon forever evaporated

Nobody