Chapter 364

Bad Feeling

Cameron was away for a few days. No one knew where. It was nothing new. She was most likely tracking down a lead, or enacting a personal vendetta against some drug lord or crime boss. She specialized in bringing down sex trafficking operations. It became personal to her. Sheila, Ally, and her were the perfect bait for getting inside the trafficking groups. It was simply another way to eliminate future Scavengers and Grays before Judgment Day. She was still troubled by what happened to the girls in the future. She wanted to make sure Savannah and Young Allison were better protected.

Savannah worked with Cammy and John Henry. She wanted to learn everything about the large HK Tread and how to operate it, as well as program it. She became very proficient at it. Vanna and Cam would come sometimes as well to assist.

Vanna knew of machines like it in her future. She never personally encountered one as large before. She could see Savannah was quite comfortable in training with it. It still seemed unsafe to her. She wanted Savannah to think about her future.

"Why are you doing this?" Vanna asked. "It's dangerous."

Savannah knew Vanna was her. It was still hard to believe, but she was. The girls from the future all were tested in battle. They all faced the enemy against long odds. She didn't like what happened to them by many of the different groups of the future. The thought of being violated over and over bothered her. The girls all dealt with it and moved forward. Maybe after a few dozen times she would do the same. Vanna made it. It meant she could too. In reality, it meant she already did. Her life was very controlled and sheltered at the base. She felt an obligation to do more. She didn't think her contribution amounted to very much so far in the Resistance. She was only on a few operations so far. All the people from the future risked their lives multiple times, for years, as they fought the enemy, Skynet.

"I want to be able to help when the time is right." Savannah said. "We all need to step up to save the future when the time comes. You've all done your parts. I haven't."

Vanna wasn't sure her accomplishments were anything to talk about. All she did was survive. Many others didn't. Maybe in one regard she was lucky. It could also be a matter of perspective. Maybe she was the unlucky one by surviving. Skynet did great harm to the future and those in it. It also found many ways to kill and damage them. Her inability to carry a child more than a month or two before the pregnancy terminated greatly bothered her. It was Skynet's goal to keep humans from reproducing. If they couldn't reproduce, they would eventually become extinct. When there were no more humans, Skynet was the victor.

"We've also all paid a price with the chemicals, toxins, and germs we've been exposed to." Vanna said. "Skynet found more than one way to eradicate us…."

Vanna absentmindedly touched her lower belly. If Skynet could prevent them from reproducing, they would win by default in the end. There wouldn't be any more humans. Skynet actually helped the humans in her future. The damage they unleashed on the environment, killed off all the people with pre-existing conditions. It allowed there to be more food for the strongest humans which survived. The resources didn't need to be shared among the weak.

What did Skynet actually rule once the last human died? It would be an empty planet where most of everything related to civilization was destroyed. Skynet would be the boss. It would be the boss of nothing. It seemed like an empty and hollow victory, even if it could be termed as a victory. It didn't seem like it.

Savannah didn't care for what a Skynet future would do to humans. She knew Cameron set out to kill the scientists and engineers who assisted Skynet with the development of the chemical and biological weapons. She was aware some of them were as young as her. It didn't matter. Skynet targeted her as a girl, and John before he was even born. The future was ugly and there was a price to be paid by everyone. She would kill those people too on her own if she encountered them. She wasn't a murderer, but she was a patriot for humanity. Everything in life came with a price.

She thought about the concept of murder. What exactly was murder? Was it murder to kill someone who was responsible for millions of deaths, before they committed their crime? What about some of the previous world leaders who led their nation in the vast destruction of others? Some of them were responsible for millions of deaths before the concept of Skynet was ever created. Would it be murder to go back and kill one of them before they could unleash their insanity? She needed to refocus.

"Cameron has tracked down every one of the people from both futures who could be located, and terminated them." Savannah said. "It's not going to happen again. I'm going to help her prevent it. There are still others out there. I will find them. I'll deal with them myself. What they did to me once, they won't be able to do to me twice."

Vanna understood Savannah referred to her. They were the same person, even if they weren't. She didn't like Savannah to need to fight and kill. Maybe her worry was already too late. Savannah's hands were already 'dirty'. From what she just indicated, they were going to get a lot 'dirtier'.

Savannah looked over the HK Tread and climbed up inside of it. Cameron helped her at first but she wasn't there now. Cammy went over everything about it with her many times. Cammy would do something to disable the HK Tread. She would need to figure out what it was and how to fix it. If she knew how to fix it, she also knew how to disable it. Some of the things were simple, others were more difficult and complex. The more things which were done to disable it, would make it much harder to return to service in a timely manner. If she ever needed to be a saboteur, she was already trained.

This time she checked everything twice and couldn't find the problem. She thought about asking Cammy. It wasn't the right move to make yet. There was no guarantee any of their Terminators would be able to be with them all of the time. On the battlefield, Cammy may not be there. She may be on her own as part of an infiltration mission, or she may be there to sabotage the equipment to deny Skynet its use.

It took some time but she found the problem. She was glad she stayed with it. She knew if she used the same technique to sabotage one, anyone who tried to fix it would be as stumped as she was. She buttoned up the HK Tread and took it out for a simulated combat patrol.

Vanna watched as Savannah put the HK Tread through a whole series of drills and simulated attacks. Vanna thought maybe she should practice too. There was always the fear Judgment Day would happen and everything from before would happen again. It was a grim prospect. She certainly didn't want to go through all the same things she did before again. Every female, regardless of age, was a target, once humans didn't think their future would last very long. People only thought about themselves and whatever they could take from someone else. It didn't matter what it was. They all tended to live in the moment, especially when the prospect of tomorrow was unlikely. She planned to kill anyone who even looked like they were going to touch her, or any other female if Judgment Day occurred.

Cammy and Cam posed as targets, or to find ways to defeat The HK Tread. They were important tactics to learn and develop to combat Skynet going forward.

Savannah brought the HK Tread back to where she started out from. She opened the hatch and climbed out. It seemed to her a single HK Tread alone was vulnerable, even if it could inflict great damage before it was disabled or destroyed.

"At best this is a diversion, while we strike elsewhere." Savannah said. "There would need to be hundreds of these to make a major impact."

Vanna saw it more with the HK Tracks than HK Treads in her future.

"It's what Skynet did. They used hundreds of them." Vanna said. "They built thousands of the smaller ones, the HK Tracks. They would roll in from several directions. The initial units would be destroyed, but they just kept coming. Skynet sacrificed dozens, and then sent in hundreds. They wanted the defenders to use all their anti-armor weapons carelessly on the first group. There were HK drones all over the sky as well. Everyone needed to fall back, but they still kept coming. It was terrible."

Savannah thought she trained enough, and studied the plans enough, to make a difference in an attack. If they only encountered Grays they would have an advantage. The fact Skynet already made HK drones, HK Tracks, and HK Treads was worrisome enough. Skynet attempted to get the upper hand for the future.

"I've worked with Cammy and identified all the weak points on the HK Tread, and on the smaller units Cameron also made plans for, the HK Track." Savannah said. "I'll make sure everyone knows where to hit to disable these things."

Vanna thought it was a good idea. She was aware two of Cameron's Terminators concentrated their gunfire in a specific area to disable an HK Tread in place, so it was stuck. It could still fight but it couldn't go anywhere. She thought it was a good idea for Savannah to be able to instruct others on how to fight the various types of equipment. Humans wouldn't have much of a clue as to exactly how best to stop them without being killed in the process.

"It's great planning, Savannah." Vanna said. "The more damage humans can inflict on the machines at the beginning of the conflict, the sooner the enemy can be destroyed."

Savannah didn't think there was enough training and preparations they could do. It seemed like everything wouldn't be enough for the real threat. It would all come down to numbers. Who was willing to sacrifice the most and throw everything they possessed into the fight. For Skynet, most of it would be machines. For the Resistance, most of it would be people.

"There are many things we need to plan for." Savannah said. "I intend to be ready. We're not going to be lucky forever. The future is coming. We need to be ready."

Cam and Cammy listened to Vanna and Savannah. They were each pound of 'their girl'. They cared for them deeply. They both saw Savannah and Vanna as 'their girl'. In reality, they were the same person.

Cam scanned Vanna. She asked Cammy to scan her too. It appeared to be the appropriate time for Vanna to make another attempt. They needed to notify Cameron.

"I need to get a hold of Cameron." Cam said. "No one knows where she is."

Vanna thought Cam seemed a little worried over nothing. Cameron was often busy.

"It's nothing new." Vanna said. "Savannah, do you know?"

Savannah was worried herself. Cameron always contacted her if she left a message. So far Cameron' hadn't responded.

"I don't know. I've tried to reach her as well." Savannah said. "She usually will respond soon after I attempt to contact her."

Vanna knew it was true. Cameron never neglected Savannah for anything.

Savannah usually didn't attempt to contact Cameron unless she hadn't heard anything from her for a few days. A few days already passed. She knew Cameron would ignore everyone else except her. Cameron didn't want the others to bother her or interfere with whatever operation she was in the middle of. She attempted to reach out to Cameron again.

"I have a bad feeling about Cameron." Savannah said. "Something is different this time. I don't think it's anything good."

Cammy could see Savannah was more than concerned, it made her worry more herself. She checked her phone and sent out several inquiries. None of them came back with positive results. It made her wonder if they shouldn't have taken action earlier. It was due to Cameron's standard operating procedure, why they didn't.

"I have a bad feeling this time. Ally and Sheila have lost contact as well." Cammy said. "I'm putting everyone on this."

Cam developed a bad feeling too….

Now everyone was worried.

Savannah and Cammy took the disturbing news to John in the Command Center. They were worried about Cameron. She still hadn't responded to Savannah, even after more attempts to contact her. There was no response to the Metal girls either. They even indicated it was urgent. There was no response.

"John, Cameron is missing." Savannah said.

John thought Cameron was gone a lot anyway. How was the current situation any different?

"What do you mean she's missing?" John asked.

Cammy laid out what they knew. It wasn't much.

"No one knows where she's at." Cammy said. "No one knows what she was doing or working on."

John still didn't see the problem. It was something he stopped worrying about long ago. If Cameron didn't want to communicate with him, or anyone else, she wouldn't respond to them. They would eventually stop bothering her.

"It's nothing new." John said. "She'll go a week or more without contacting me."

Earlier, John decided to use the opportunity to track down a new lead with some of the information Sheila was able to extract from the truck driver. With Cameron away, he decided to check it out himself with Bob. Dan and Al came along for extra muscle. They took down another small location, but didn't glean anything new.

John wondered if there were any incidents related to Cameron's activities. Some of them could be quite spectacular until John Henry was able to downplay them.

"John Henry, do you have anything?" John asked. "Has she done anything she shouldn't have?"

John Henry checked again for any developments. He knew Cameron could cause great damage if she wanted to. He was always on the alert for it. He needed to put some spin on anything she did.

"Negative." John Henry said. "There aren't any new news reports. I haven't come across any events or incidents yet."

John Henry widened his search parameters and double checked everything. It was always bad news when Cameron 'disappeared'. He was afraid she was having an 'incident' of some kind, or may have been damaged. No one even entertained the thought of her being captured or destroyed.

Savannah saw things from a different perspective.

"Cameron always responds to me when I call her." Savannah said. "This is different. This is something more. I tried to contact her again. There was no response. Whatever is happening is something different from normal. Something is wrong."

John knew Cameron was infatuated with Savannah. He was aware as much as Cameron tried to get Savannah into his bed, she also tried to keep her out of it. It was her programming conflicting with her personal desire. Cameron was in love with Savannah. Now he was really worried. Cameron should have responded to Savannah. He could see now the threat was much more serious than he previously thought.

"I want the drones on standby, along with the Blackhawk. Get several strike teams ready. Derek and Kyle can each lead one." John said. "Maybe we need to prepare for the worst."

Savannah stepped forward. John didn't look at her. He didn't want to encourage her.

Cammy knew what Savannah wanted. She wanted to 'step up'.

"Savannah is here as well…." Cammy said.

John looked at Cammy and then at Savannah.

Savannah wanted to make her intentions clear. She was a member of the Resistance.

"John, I wish to lead a strike team also." Savannah said.

John didn't say anything at first.

He could see how important it was to Savannah. It was important to him as well. It was personal.

"OK. I want a lot of Terminators with her." John said.

Savannah knew the Metal girls would back her play. She didn't think her force needed to be very large. They would all be highly motivated.

"Cammy, Ally, and Sheila will all accompany me." Savannah said.

John felt the Metal girls would look after Savannah. They also needed to consider some more ominous threats now as well. Cameron could have been captured. There could be Grays going through her chip right now. The entire operation could be in jeopardy.

"OK. John Henry, I want the Details on alert, as well as the base." John said. "We never know what direction these things will go."

Actually they did know. They all went bad sooner or later. It is just how it was. The 'bad feeling' was everywhere now.

Hanna came over from the Detail house and joined Claire and the Young girls. She sought out Allison. She was informed by Cammy of the current events. She thought about what she wanted to do before she came over. She decided to relay the bad news.

Allison was a little surprised to see Hanna in the house. She knew her mother was going over to the Detail house to 'associate' with Hanna. She was pretty sure what the 'association' involved. It bothered her at first. She believed it was something her mother needed to do to help work out her frustrations. She didn't like to see her mother unhappy. She never looked unhappy when she returned from the Detail house.

"What's up?" Allison asked.

Hanna decided to get straight to the point.

"Word just came in." Hanna said. "Cameron is missing."

Allison sucked in her breath a little. It sounded like bad news.

"I hope she's OK." Allison said with genuine concern.

Claire heard the discussion and came over immediately. She was worried about Cameron. She wanted to know more.

"What's wrong?" Claire asked. "Is something wrong?"

Hanna took her hand. She tried to use some tact. She didn't want Claire to become overly alarmed. She wasn't used to dealing with situations related to the future. It didn't matter if they were in the past, the present.

"Cameron is out of 'contact'." Hanna said. "She'll turn up."

Allison noted the open affection her mother and Hanna displayed. To speculate about it was one thing. To actually see it, was another thing. She wasn't happy about it. She could see the closer her mother got to Hanna, the farther she got from her father.

Claire noticed Allison's displeasure. She wasn't ashamed of her feelings. She wasn't afraid to own what mattered to her. She believed her feelings mattered as much as anyone else's did.

"Allison, it's what I want." Claire said as she embraced Hanna.

Allison frowned even more. She was worried about her father. It was a legitimate concern. It was her family.

"What about Dad?" Allison asked.

Claire wasn't sure about what or why. Cameron would provide her with assistance and income.

"He's not the only one who lives here." Claire said.

Allison watched her parents slowly drift away from each other. Unlike her and Vanna, they never drifted back together. Now with a Metal girl in the picture, they never would. She didn't think it would stop with one Metal girl either.

"Think of the girls, Mom." Allison said. "I mean ALL three of us."

Claire needed to think about herself too. Her feelings mattered too. She felt desires and wants like everyone. She believed she sacrificed quite a bit already.

"I have been. I'm still here, aren't I?" Claire asked. "Not only am I still here, but I've done whatever was required of me, when it was required, even if I got nothing out of it. If you want to know the truth, I never did, not even once."

Allison took a moment to think about what her mother revealed. She could see it was a very unfulfilling relationship. Nevertheless, her mother was right, she was still there.

Holly and Hanna didn't want to get into the discussion. It would only end with angry words and hard feelings. Both thought now wasn't a good time to point out Allison drifted off also from her long time lover.

Before Cameron left she'd followed through on her plans. She took Allison and Claire to one of the specialists she enlisted the assistance of for Derek and Riley. They were able to initiate two separate procedures. The test results came back, both Claire and Allison were pregnant. Claire carried Allison's child, her own grandchild…. She hadn't informed her husband Paul. She hadn't been with him for months, with an act of intercourse. There are other ways he desired her to please him. It was a total one way street without any reciprocation on his part for her. She always did what he wanted anyway. He would assume the worst when she turned up pregnant.

"Allison, if you want, we can tell your father 'everything'." Claire said. "I'm carrying your child. He's never going to believe it. He will think I'm having an affair with another male."

Allison just wanted everything to be simple.

"I don't know, Mom." Allison said. "I really don't."

Allison wondered what would happen if she and her mother both ended up having a baby, her babies. She wondered if they would be considered fraternal 'twins'. They were both her genetic material. She was sure Cameron would take one of them away from her if they both were carried to term and born.

She also needed to think one or both of them may never be born. It was a sobering thought. Her mother took a big step to try to help her. It put a lot on her both mentally and physically to do so.

Holly wanted to refocus the discussion. The main issue here was Cameron was missing.

"At the first sign something is off, I'm taking all of you to the bunker." Holly said.

Hanna looked at Holly and nodded. Cameron's orders were for Allison and Young Allison to be protected at all costs. Summer and Claire were secondary. They were aberrations to the future, Cameron's future. Cameron still wanted them protected if possible. There was a lot of potential for both of them. They could both serve as backups for John going forward.

Claire previously visited the Resistance base with Cameron. She liked the security it offered. Young Allison was being home schooled. She learned everything at a rate far beyond her school years or comparable grade level. Holly was her academic teacher most of the time with Allison and her. They worked on the non academic aspects of her life, the arts and physical education. Cameron was heavily involved in all decisions regarding Young Allison. Cameron may not have physical control and custody of Young Allison, but she controlled everything about her and for her.

Cameron also worked with Allison as she did for Future Allison. She learned a lot from Cameron.

She learned more all the time from Holly too. All of the Metal girls would always assist them when necessary.

Cameron wanted all the 'Allisons' to be highly educated and become teachers themselves when they were needed in the future, in every future. They would be versed in all subjects, including the arts. It was important humanity retained all of the facets it once offered.

Holly's phone buzzed as did Hanna's. They looked at the messages and then they both looked at each other.

Allison and Claire watched. They both knew it was 'bad news' of some type. The bad feeling they both already felt just got worse.

"How bad is it?" Allison asked. "Was Cameron damaged?"

Holly could see Allison was filled with even more worry and anxiety now. Claire didn't look any better.

"You both need to remain calm." Holly said.

Holly scanned Allison as Hanna did to Claire.

"We don't know yet." Hanna said. "There may have been an 'incident'…."

They all knew the 'incidents' never ended well. They were usually a catastrophic event of some kind. It was usually directed against the enemy.

Allison felt guilty. Maybe she should be doing a little more. She was living a sedate life at 'home'. The fighting was left up to the others at the base. Now she was pregnant again. Maybe she should chance it. Her mother stood a better chance at having her baby anyway.

"I should do more." Allison said. "I should take some of the risk like everyone else needs to. The burden of the Resistance shouldn't fall on Cameron's back. I'm going to do more."

It was about the last thing Claire and Holly wanted to hear.

Closing monologue by Cameron:

Bad Feeling

Some things leave one feeling happy
Some things leave one feeling sad
Maybe for all the things in between
One should feel indifferent to glad

Does happiness really exist
Or is it just a state of mind
When one really looks around
What is it they will actually find

Many things are fleeting
They can come and go
In the end little matters
Who don't think so

There is what's right
There is what's wrong
Events can make one weaker
Or events can make one strong

Some get through life by stealing
Others get through life by concealing
Little happens to do any healing
Leaving behind nothing but a bad feeling

Nobody