Chapter 341

Did I

Savannah waited with anticipation. She observed everything which went on around her. She still covered the shed where Cameron went in. It was where she fired half of a magazine from her M4 in two bursts. It caused her a lot of worry as well. She didn't know for sure what the results of her action was. The operation in the main structure seemed to be over, there were a few sporadic shots still heard from within the building.

She noticed John Henry raise his weapon in the direction of the shed. She thought someone was going to come out. She knew if it wasn't Cameron, they were going to have to go in and look for her. She decided she would volunteer. John Henry lowered his weapon. She hoped it meant Cameron was about to come out. She listened to the com traffic. Cameron seemed to be OK as she gave her report. Cameron still didn't mention anything about what she 'did'.

Savannah watched as the shed door opened. Cameron emerged carrying a woman. She thought it was the person she shot at. She looked dead. Her body was limp. She noticed the female was bound. She must still be alive.

Cameron looked back at the shed as she walked away with the prisoner. She glanced over at the main building. It was a raging inferno. She headed for Savannah and John Henry.

Savannah watched with some trepidation as Cameron headed towards their location with the body she carried. She couldn't help but swallow hard as they neared. It didn't really matter. What was done was done. There was no need to cry over spilled milk, or in this case, spilled blood.

"I have a subject for interrogation." Cameron said.

Savannah wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not. She thought for sure she shot the person. There was no blood visible with a quick glance.

"Is she going to survive?" Savannah asked.

Cameron looked at Savannah's face. She could see she was troubled about what she did. Maybe now wasn't the time to get into specifics. Savannah seemed to hold up with no problems so far. It was time to play it cool for now. It didn't seem like a good time to mention either what the fate of the prisoner would be once the interrogation was completed.

"Yes." Cameron said. "She's only unconscious."

Savannah felt a wave of relief. She thought for sure she killed someone. The person she fired at tried to target their group. She only shot at them to protect the ones she cared about. She was a little concerned about her marksmanship. She was sure she would have scored multiple hits on the target based upon her shooting technique. It was designed to bring someone down, and keep them down, permanently.

John Henry and Bob looked at each other. They observed what really occurred. Savannah seemed none the wiser. It appeared Cameron was about to 'cover up' what actually happened. Neither one of them thought it was a good idea. They felt Savannah should know the truth. Her response was timely and effective.

Cammy and Camille both arrived in the back of the building with the two captured SUVs.

Bob carried the deactivated and burnt Terminator. He placed it in one. Cameron placed the woman in the other one. They both departed.

Savannah looked at the departing SUV with the woman. She still didn't see any blood on the female when she tried to look closer. She was sure there should have been some. She thought she scored at least a few hits on her target. She wondered why she wasn't bloody at least somewhere. It made her question her ability. It bothered her enough, she finally needed to ask about it.

"Did I even hit her?" Savannah asked. "I did everything like I was taught. Maybe I need more training. I'll do better next time."

Savannah really thought she should've at least hit the target somewhere.

Cameron looked over at John's team. She wanted John's attention. She looked at John, then at Savannah, and then back to John. Nothing was spoken.

John nodded at the silent request. Bob already confirmed what he thought happened.

Cameron looked at Savannah. She knew if she spoke the truth, Savannah was about to lose her innocence. It was one form of it anyway in a different perspective than the traditional one. She knew it would change Savannah in some way. She was just unsure what way it would be. It didn't matter. Savannah needed the truth. She didn't want it to seem as if the truth was left unspoken, it really was only another way to 'lie'. She wrote a poem about 'Lies Of Omission' before. It was about a different subject but the results were the same thing. If it wasn't the truth, it wasn't the truth.

"You scored fourteen hits." Cameron said. "Only one projectile missed. You did excellent. The target you neutralized is still in the shed. I dumped them into the tunnel below. It's now their tomb."

Savannah didn't say anything for a few seconds. She wasn't sure what to say. She looked over the female captive Cameron brought back. She wondered if it was a man or a woman she shot. She didn't want to ask yet. She didn't think it should actually matter one way or the other if they were the enemy. Somehow she was sure it would be worse if the person she killed was a female instead of a male. It seemed to make it more personal, even if it shouldn't. Someone tried to ambush their team. She prevented the ambush. It was the only thing which actually mattered.

Cameron could tell right away Savannah was conflicted about what she did. She wanted to reinforce Savannah's decision and action.

"You did an outstanding job, Savannah." Cameron added. "It was a remarkable job. I doubt I could've done better myself. You identified the target before we all did. You ended the threat. You protected our group. John and everyone else is safe because of your quick thinking and excellent marksmanship. You possibly saved all of us from being hit or worse."

Savannah looked a little ashen. She still thought about what it was she actually did. Maybe she needed to hear it directly. She wanted to know for sure.

"Do you mean I killed someone?" Savannah asked.

John thought back to his first 'kill'. It bothered him deeply too. It still did sometimes. He tried to tell himself his experience was worse because he needed to kill with his hands. His only weapon was himself. The end result was still the same so it didn't really matter. Dead was dead when a person killed another. The circumstances were what mattered, not the action which followed.

"You did the right thing, Savannah." John said. "You protected all of us, you protected yourself and me. I'm thankful for it. Being shot at is very unpleasant. Being hit is even worse."

Cameron wanted Savannah to be proud she protected the group. She didn't need to be proud someone else needed to die to do it. The other person made the choice to attempt to harm them. Their own actions are what led to their own termination. It wasn't their fault. It wasn't Savannah's fault.

"You saved our team from death or damage and you stopped a future Gray or Scavenger from hurting or killing anyone else. You simply terminated a parasite." Cameron said. "I terminated two more of them myself. I would have terminated even more if they weren't already all terminated."

Savannah noticed the blood on Cameron's hand. There were blood spots and splashes on her face. She wondered if Cameron was damaged during the operation.

Cameron could see Savannah look at her face. She was aware there was blood on it. She didn't want Savannah or anyone else to worry about her. She certainly didn't want it to become an issue with John. It would only lead to a bigger hassle and additional complications. It was how it usually played out anyway.

"It's not my blood." Cameron said. "This time it belonged to the enemy. It's not always the case. You prevented it from being my blood tonight. Thank you."

Savannah knew if it wasn't Cameron's 'blood', it meant Cameron was in close when it happened. She felt her gut tighten some, and then a lot. She thought somehow she was going to feel worse or something different. She really didn't feel anything at all. All the people from Vanna's future needed to kill at a younger age than she just did. They all shared their experiences with her to help prepare her. It helped. She felt glad she survived. Their team 'won' and none of them were injured or damaged. They won and the enemy lost.

Cameron personally checked both John and Savannah for any injuries one more time.

John hated when Cameron did it. He did understand why. He was aware a person could be hurt and not know the true extent of their injuries. They might try to down play them. They could die from them in a short time if a major artery was damaged. He looked over at Savannah and shrugged his shoulders.

"It's just something you need to put up with." John said. "They all do it to make sure we're OK. It's a good thing, even if it's as irritating as Hell."

John figured the Terminators all physically checked them because the Terminators themselves weren't always forthcoming about their injuries, especially Cameron. He did understand no one wanted to make a big deal about being damaged.

Cameron also downloaded emergency medical treatment programming into all the Terminators. She never wanted what happened to Future Derek, to happen to them. She didn't feel it was her responsibility or fault at the time it happened to Future Derek. She wanted to be able to help John if it happened to him or any of the other humans going forward.

When she did try to do what she could to assist Future Derek, he was very mean and rude to her. He called her a Bitch. It wasn't her fault he was shot. He was targeted for termination. It turned out it was because of the careless actions of one of those in his cell which made all of them a target. The 'Triple 8' was there to terminate him. She was the one who took it upon herself to prevent it from happening as best as she could with the weapons available. There was no need to dwell on the past event. It was over and done with.

The team returned to their vehicles in silence. They all wanted to reach out to Savannah. They were afraid they might make things worse. They reached their vehicles and departed. Cameron and Savannah rode in the back while John Henry drove. Bob and John were in another SUV.

Savannah remained alert for the entire process. Even as they drove away, she checked around her as they departed. She wanted to make sure no further threat appeared.

Cameron watched Savannah. She saw Savannah retained her combat awareness and hadn't relaxed her guard. Her weapons were still close and ready to use. She knew Savannah was a little concerned about what she did, but she forged ahead anyway. She knew it was part of the making of a true warrior. She was very proud of her. She believed Savannah would one day make the perfect mate for John. A single tear slid down her cheek.

Savannah could see something troubled Cameron. She really hoped it wasn't her. She silently reached over and took Cameron's hand. She felt the glitch stop as she held Cameron's hand. She smiled at her and Cameron smiled back. They rode home in silence. She suggested the two SUVs check each other for 'tails'.

The Blackhawk was on its way to the target area when it received the order to stand down. It didn't go over well with Derek and Kyle. They wanted to assist in the operation.

They thought they were going to return to the base right way.

"Typical…." Derek said.

Kyle understood his disappointment.

"I know what you mean, bro." Kyle said. "Just when we get all wound up, it's already over."

Steve wanted to let them know it wasn't quite over.

"The battle may be over, but our operation isn't." Steve said.

Derek and Kyle both perked up. Maybe there was a secondary target. If there was, they were ready for it.

"What's our new target?" Derek asked.

Tom wanted to try to explain it a little better.

"It's the same target." Tom said. "It's more of a reconnaissance and inspection mission."

Cam in the Command Center knew there were several vehicles to recover. She left two drones on station to watch over them and see if anyone else crawled out of the 'woodwork'. The other two drones would accompany John and Savannah's SUVs back to the base.

Steve and Tom thoroughly clued them in as to exactly what needed to be done. It wasn't what they expected, but it was better than nothing.

The Blackhawk neared the target area. The burning building lit the night sky.

"I don't think we'll need our night vision goggles around that inferno." Derek said.

Kyle looked at the destruction. It was clear there was a lot of damage.

"Let's hope we don't need to use our body armor either." Kyle said.

The Blackhawk let Kyle off with Steve and Tom a mile out from the target area on one side. It flew a roundabout route to a mile on the other side. It let Derek off with Al and Ed. The Blackhawk then flew seven miles out of the area. They didn't want it too close to make it a target if there were any missed survivors or any additional personnel showed up. It could be on the ground or in the air. Both of those were a real possibility.

The two teams were to check the target area once more and then collect the three vehicles which were left behind. It included the two vans and the SUV that Camille and Cammy arrived in. They would make sure there was some hidden surveillance cameras set up to record the area as well.

One drone would return with them and the vehicles. The last drone would remain in the vicinity of the strike area to see if anyone else showed up.

It turned out nothing else developed.

Gail and Jesse joined the other four in the lab as soon as the shooting started. Gail monitored the com from the Command Center.

Jesse noticed Gail looked concerned. She asked Gail to fill her in. She knew life moved forward not backwards. Her friends may need her help now. There would be time to grieve later. The time to help was now. They immediately headed for the lab.

Cam stood everyone down at the base once all of the teams were clear of the target area. The six females left the lab.

Sarah looked at the group. She was proud of all of them. She knew Jesse and Vanna were having some kind of 'problems', but they were both there and ready to do their jobs. Kyle and Derek would be back soon and life would go on.

None of them knew Savannah scored a kill.

Cameron decided she would keep the three Terminators for her operation. Two of them could be restored back to service relatively easily. Her Terminators were able to bring them down with Taser fire. The third one would become a parts donor and the damaged Coltan harvested for projectiles.

"I'm keeping the Terminators." Cameron said.

No one was going to argue it with her.

John looked at her for a moment but didn't say anything. He was just glad none of them were female Terminators. He never knew what stunt Cameron would pull next with one of them. He didn't appreciate any of her attempts to create clones of herself and have them attempt to pass themselves off as her. He actually was very displeased about Cam. He couldn't tell her apart from Cameron when he looked at her. He thought it was bad enough with Ally. He could always tell Ally wasn't Cameron when he looked at her. She always looked like Allison. He was unaware of Camille and Cammy currently Resequencing as clones of Cameron. Both of them currently ran a copy of her program.

Cameron and Savannah went about stowing their gear. The silence was deafening. Savannah broke out the cleaning kit for the weapons.

Everyone else left them alone. Cameron asked them to. She wanted to be with Savannah. She was aware Savannah may feel 'troubled'. It was evident things were different.

Neither of them spoke as they worked.

John was worried about Savannah too. He knew what it was like to kill for the first time. He quietly talked it over with Vanna when he saw her.

Vanna was very surprised to hear the news. There was no indication of Savannah's involvement in the termination from the Command Center. She needed to remember there weren't usually individual statistics reported about what each person did on the mission. She could understand why there wasn't in Savannah's case. She thanked John and left. She briefly returned to the lab to try to think about what she needed to do. What she decided to do, is what she wished someone would have done for her the first time she needed to kill someone.

As they cleaned the weapons in silence, Vanna arrived. She came over to Savannah and gave her a big a hug.

Savannah and Vanna looked at each other. It was a very personal moment for both of them. A lot was 'said', without a word being spoken. Both of them teared up at the same time. They probably experienced the same exact emotions at this point.

Cameron could see Savannah might be a little more affected than she let on. Vanna was able to share with Savannah on an emotional level she couldn't, at least not yet in her development. She wanted to take the pressure off of Savannah.

"I'll finish up here." Cameron said.

Savannah quickly regained her composure. She didn't like her moment of weakness. She was prepared for what she did. It was time to drive through the pain. She needed to protect the future and John. It was important she take care of her equipment. It wasn't someone else's responsibility to do. It was her responsibility. She didn't intend to shirk it.

"No. I'm not finished." Savannah said. "I'll be done soon. I'm fine, Cameron."

Savannah and Vanna hugged again. Savannah resumed cleaning her weapons.

Cameron was more proud of Savannah than ever.

Vanna nodded at Cameron and left. She was also proud of Savannah. She felt Cameron made Savannah a better person than she was. She was proud of both of them. She believed Savannah was the one who belonged at John's side, not her. It was for many more reasons than one. She made a decision right then and there about what she was going to do. Savannah was ready.

If Savannah was going to continue going on operations, which she clearly was, she wanted to make sure she was with a male by choice first. She was worried Savannah could be captured by the enemy at some point. She knew what would happen to her almost immediately. It wasn't how she wanted Savannah to become a woman. Maybe it really was time to start listening to Cameron. She was going to help facilitate 'everything'.

Jesse and Vanna soon returned to all their duties as before. They both dealt with what the future did to them. Both of them wondered how many times they may have been pregnant and lost the baby at the beginning of the pregnancy in the past, the future. They both figured it was multiple times, especially Jesse. They were both abused numerous times. Sometimes it was for months straight. They should both have been pregnant many times over. At the time they figured the missed periods were because of malnutrition. It's what happened to a lot of the females at times. Upon further reflection, they were probably pregnant. The embryos all terminated because of their Skynet damaged bodies within a month or two.

Ally and Sheila returned to work for Cameron. They would return to be with Jesse and Vanna in another month or two when Cameron tried again. Cameron made it clear she wasn't ready to give up on them yet.

Nobody knew it then, but it would start a cycle of pregnancies and terminations for all of the girls from the future. Vanna and Jesse would become so distraught over all the terminations they stopped trying. Only Allison would try over and over.

Savannah wanted 'more'. She started to view more and more sexual images and videos on the internet. She also found pleasure in herself multiple times a day.

John Henry monitored of her obsessive behavior on the internet.

Cameron was aware of the 'personal' issues as well. Savannah spent more and more time pleasuring herself. It seemed to increase even more after her first operation. It was usually at least ten times a day. Sometimes it exceeded twenty. She didn't know what to do about it.

Savannah's sexual preference appeared to be the same as Vanna's. It was something she expected to surface. She believed it was the true nature of every version of Savannah Weaver. She didn't doubt Savannah would be at John's side like she promised. She didn't want her to be miserable when she did. She could see the trauma it caused Claire to live under similar conditions.

Events started to take a more proactive role. Savannah wanted more. She was very specific about what it was. The reason was more than obvious, on several levels. She tried to get 'closer' to Ally and Cam.

Cameron wouldn't allow it. She threatened to deactivate both of them if 'anything' happened. She reminded both of them about Isabel. She was very protective of Savannah. John wasn't receptive to 'accommodating' Savannah's needs. She didn't want anyone else to 'spoil' Savannah before she could be with John. She wanted the best for John and Savannah.

She made sure Savannah saw Young Allison at least a few times a week. It was usually three times a week or sometimes even more. She wanted to make sure an unbreakable bond was forged between them. She explained the future to Claire, she understood. She sometimes brought Sarah to talk with Claire and Jan to play with Summer. She actually liked the way Jan and Summer interacted.

Sarah enjoyed getting out and felt comfortable with Cameron. She also was attracted to Claire. It seemed Claire was attracted to her as well. It was never discussed or acted on in any way. It was something both women 'felt', but were afraid to address it. It always remained in the background. It would be something both of them thought about often when they were alone. Even if they didn't act, it made both of them feel good about themselves. It indicated they were both still desirable to other females.

Cameron always brought extra Terminators to shadow them.

Savannah went out on some more recon missions. None of them went hot. Cameron even allowed Savannah to lead one. She did an excellent job. She always assigned four of their Terminators to accompany Savannah, even if they were a 'shadow team'. She didn't want Savannah to think she didn't trust her ability. It was her own personal worry why she sent the extra Terminators.

Cameron or John Henry always went too, if not both of them. Savannah needed the experience. She also needed to be safe. If there was a strike or combat likely, she wasn't allowed to go.

She made sure EVERYONE understood it and why. There was no exception to any of the females in combat, except her. After the stunt Vanna pulled, all of the Terminators would physically restrain anyone in violation of her orders. Any Terminator who allowed it to happen would be deactivated and their chip erased.

Nobody doubted Cameron.

John was also severely limited on his combat duties. He wasn't allowed to go unless Cameron was there. Recon was fine as long as there were plenty of Terminators with him. The same applied to Kyle and Derek.

Cameron insisted Terminators do the fighting. They could be rebodied. She made copies of all their programs. She personally ran all the females through training to keep them proficient. She really pushed Savannah now about 'everything'.

Everything seemed to run smoothly for a change.

Cameron figured it wouldn't last long. It didn't.

Closing monologue by Cameron:

Did I

The best laid plans
Can often go awry
It leaves one confused
Often asking why

One can try to reach out
They feel uncertain and shy
They try to grasp the stars
But never even reach the sky

Some may listen and help
Others will use and lie
Don't be afraid to speak up
Or prepare to be left high and dry

Most are in it for themselves
Few if any will be an ally
Leaving one dejected and confused
Without out even receiving a goodbye

When all is said and done
Nothing is left to dignify
Everyone needs to reassess
Question their role and ask 'did I'

Nobody