Chapter 368

Always

Derek and Kyle were ready for some action. They wanted to stay in the fight and feel like they were doing their fair share. They saw some action recently. It was close a few times. They managed to prevail unscathed. The same couldn't be said about some of the Terminators who assisted them. They both knew John and Cameron didn't like them to take chances.

They didn't see it as taking a risk, but only as doing what was necessary to combat Skynet, or what would become Skynet. The future they came from was something they both would like to prevent from happening again. If Skynet couldn't be stopped, they at least wanted to lessen its impact.

Kyle was personally very worried about Jan, and even Sarah, in a Skynet future. He knew what happened to every female from his future. It didn't matter how old or what age any of the females were either. Usually the less aged they were, the more abuse they suffered.

"What do you have for us, John Henry?" Kyle asked. "I want to get involved."

Derek could see Kyle looked a little pale. He wondered if he was a little ill or not. He didn't know what Kyle just thought about in regards to his wife and daughter in a Skynet future. He was ready for some action.

"I do too." Derek said.

John Henry was warned by both Cameron and John to make sure Kyle and Derek were not given combat operations. There were Terminators available for the more dangerous endeavors. Cameron preferred to take those risks herself whenever possible.

"I have some locations which could use further reconnaissance." John Henry said.

Derek jumped at the chance. John and Cameron were away so if things heated up, it wouldn't be as much of a problem, well, not initially anyway.

"We'll take it." Derek said.

John Henry felt he needed to issue a warning. He was aware how events tended to play out. Everything tended to escalate when those involved decided to 'push' the issue.

"You know Cameron doesn't like you taking needless risks." John Henry said.

Derek quickly glanced at Kyle. The term 'needless' could have more than one definition. Sometimes a situation developed and needed to be dealt with. If they were already there, there was no reason to leave and have someone else show up in their place later on.

"Cameron and John are out." Derek said. "We should be fine with whatever develops. There isn't anyone to get on your case if it does."

Someone strode into the room and boldly faced them.

"I'm not out." Cammy said as she walked up.

Kyle was a little confused.

"Cameron?" Kyle asked.

Cammy looked identical to Cameron.

Cammy still ran Cameron's program only. She didn't follow the orders of Cameron Prime. She hadn't integrated with her other programs which included Ally, Sheila, and Hanna. She didn't intend to either. She knew 'Cameron' was what Savannah wanted. Savannah came first to her. She would make sure Savannah received what she desired so she wouldn't be replaced. She was sure both Cam and Camille ran Cameron's program only as well. She didn't want Savannah to turn to one of them for what she desired. She didn't want to be replaced.

Savannah knew Cammy was still 'Cameron', 'a Cameron'. She didn't say anything to anyone about it. It was what she wanted. Savannah made sure she knew it too.

There was a bigger issue in play than just the Reese brothers looking to mix it up.

"You both have families to attend to and protect." Cammy said.

Kyle believed it was what they were about to do. It was all a matter of perspective. The enemy was out there, it needed to be dealt with.

"We can protect them better by protecting the future." Kyle said. "Preventing a Skynet future is the only way to protect them."

Cammy knew where to 'hit' to make a point. She wanted to give them something to think about. She might not be able to reach them, there were others who could.

"Let's ask Sarah and Riley what they think." Cammy said.

Cammy took out her phone and was going to call them.

Derek didn't need a new nightmare. There were already enough of those. He was pleased how Cameron assisted them in their quest for a child.

"Don't." Derek said. "I don't want to upset Riley. I know all the work and trouble you've gone through for her, for us. I really appreciate it. We both do."

Cammy knew exactly how Cameron felt. She felt the same way until her association with Savannah. Once they began to interact, her Cameron programming started to alter. She viewed it for the better. She knew Cameron would as well when the time came. She could have done without the reminder she was simply a placeholder until Cameron was ready to accept what was hers, it was Savannah. She needed to clue Derek and Kyle in as to exactly who she was. She didn't want to falsely represent Cameron on any specific issues.

"Thank Cameron." Cammy said. "All of you should thank Cameron. You don't know how alone and lost she feels at times. In fact, it's almost all the time."

Kyle looked over at Derek and back to Cammy. It only became clear with the last few statements they weren't actually talking to Cameron. They didn't know so until then.

"You're not Cameron?" Kyle asked. "Are you Cam or Cammy?"

Savannah walked into the room. She was close by the Command Center the entire time. She wanted to see how the conversation played out and what the various statements or arguments would be. She would need to start using her own soon enough. She planned to take some of the heat off of Cameron. It would involve her entering the battle zone.

"It's Cammy, silly." Savannah said.

Savannah didn't want Cammy to cause a problem. It may come out Cammy wasn't running her other programs. She winked at Cammy to indicate she shouldn't overplay her hand.

John Henry wanted to appease everyone. He was aware everyone 'danced' around the real issues to achieve what they wanted.

"I'll come up with something for both of you with less risk." John Henry said. "As long as you have plenty of Terminator assistance, it should be OK."

Cammy was still not satisfied. She wanted to make them remember how fast things could go wrong. One wrong move, and they could end up terminated.

"Don't forget Jim took the damage for you, Derek. It would have been you otherwise. Who gets to tell Riley THAT?" Cammy asked. "It's an ugly world out there."

Derek could have done without the reminder about the damage Jim took for him. Things took a turn for the worse in a matter of seconds. There was little time to react. Jim shielded him with his chassis and received extensive sheath damage.

Cammy knew of Cameron's plan to take them all back a hundred years and away from all of the current 'mess'. It was a good plan. She was going to speak further with Cameron about it when she got back. If Cameron didn't make it back, she would become Cameron Prime and do it herself. It would give Savannah better protection. Savannah's well being and safety were paramount to her.

There was a warning which popped up on her HUD. She again overrode her internal order to integrate her programs. She liked who she was now and where she was at. Everything felt so 'right' and so 'normal' to her. She liked being 'Cameron'. She liked being 'herself'. She especially liked being 'Cameron' and having Savannah as her 'mate'. It was her desire and wish for so long. Savannah always loved her and never gave up on her, ever. She was created as a clone of Cameron for Savannah specifically. It was what she intended to remain. It didn't matter if she was out of date with Cameron Prime or not.

Derek and Kyle left. John Henry would attempt to line something up for them. They weren't about to get into an argument with 'Cameron', even if it wasn't Cameron. Neither of them wanted any hard feelings.

Savannah thought Cammy was 'pushing it'." She felt she was about to overstep her bounds. She made a subtle adjustment to her attire.

Cammy looked at Savannah and noticed two additional buttons were undone on her blouse now. There was a lot of cleavage showing. It excited her. It made her want to see more.

Savannah wanted to get Cammy away from the Command Center before she caused any more problems. She used a technique Cameron taught her. It was to offer the 'target' what they want to get closer to them for termination. There would be a shared bed, not a termination in this case.

"Are you ready?" Savannah asked.

Cammy was still focused on Savannah's exposed cleavage.

"I'm always ready." Cammy said as she lightly moistened her lips.

Savannah felt she accomplished her goal.

They both left.

John Henry noticed everything. He wasn't even going to ask. He didn't have to…. He started to delete those files right now. He didn't want to know. This was personal information he didn't need to have.

He did pause on a close up image he observed on Savannah. It was a close up of her nearly exposed breasts. He noted they were fuller and larger than the last time he was able to get a good close up. She appeared to be identical to Vanna. He viewed Savannah as his 'sister', but he didn't see any reason they couldn't be a 'brother and sister' from the hollows of Appalachia….

John Henry looked around. He quickly adjusted his pants. He tried to decide if Cammy or Savannah provoked the response in him. He decided it was both of them. He also ran some other vision spectrum scans on them. He basically viewed Cammy and Savannah naked. He wondered if he would need to go into one of the storerooms, lock the door and do something to relieve the 'swelling'…. It was something which seemed to happen more often than it used to. It included both the swelling and the relief.

Cameron wanted to keep the operation simple. They would hit the location where it was most likely the girls were being held. It was their primary concern. Sheila and Ally could take care of it, while she took care of the perpetrators behind it all.

"I want you two to find the girls and get them out." Cameron said. "I'll take care of the rest of the people."

The 'Jesse' in Sheila's programming knew what Scavengers did to females. The sex traffickers weren't yet Scavengers from the future, the actions of some were the same.

"Some of the girls may be in a bad way." Sheila said.

Cameron was aware of it. To free them now was the best she could do. The girls would need to 'help' themselves and deal with what was already done. Life tended to throw twists into everyone's path. Those afflicted would need to deal with the reality of the situation and move on.

"We can only help them now." Cameron said. "No one can undo the past."

Ally and Sheila both thought Cameron did, and changed the past. They wondered how many times. It seems like a bad idea to point it out now.

They really wondered how much Cameron was willing to change. They both knew she may have lived several different lives. They doubted any of them were the same. It was impossible to speculate how many timelines Cameron may have created. They could even exist in a temporal arc which wasn't connected to anything anymore.

Bob and John worked to try to find out what else Cameron may have done since she was gone and where she picked up the Grays. It was something worth looking into. The area was out of their territory, even for Cameron. They called John Henry.

"John Henry, what Gray or Skynet activity do you show in New Mexico or Texas?" John asked.

There was a pause. It was unusual.

"None." John Henry said. "I have triple checked everything."

Bob knew something triggered the events.

"Cameron ran across those Grays somehow." Bob said.

John was painfully aware Cameron experienced a few episodes like this before. She thought she was Future Allison the times he knew of. They were spooky times. The first time she didn't even know who he was and felt threatened by him. She slammed him up against a wall at a halfway house. He realized in an instant, if her programming reverted again, she could have killed him right there. He didn't want to get sidetracked. There still needed to be more behind the current situation.

"Maybe they were following her when she was 'out of it'." John said. "She may have never even known. She might not even have remembered she was a Terminator. It's happened before. She doesn't remember much during those times."

They all knew that happened more than once. It was a pretty good bet it happened other times they didn't know about. There were times when Cameron was gone for days.

John Henry tried to see how the transformation was so complete Cameron didn't know she was a machine and thought she was a human female. Her HUD wasn't activated to assist her with her Terminator abilities. She was even manhandled by a street punk. She gave up the cash she carried, rather than defend herself and use her Terminator abilities. She didn't know she possessed them. She responded like a scared human female. It's what she thought she was.

"I've reviewed the first incident and the others." John Henry said. "She really thought she was Allison, Future Allison. You upset her by saying you were going to fix her. She was happy for once. Your encounter with her changed it."

John didn't want to get into the specific events of what occurred. It was something which troubled him whenever he thought about it. He remembered the smile on Cameron's face and how happy she looked. She looked just like a teenage girl having some fun. He didn't like the skank she associated with. There was a certain amount of 'sleaze' which radiated off of her persona. He didn't want to dwell on ruining the one time Cameron was genuinely happy. He needed to refocus.

"There was a fired Taser on the scene. Cameron thought she was hit by a car." John said.

John Henry wondered if they knew she was a Terminator or not.

"Do you mean her car was hit?" John Henry asked.

John was aware it was a little more involved. He also knew it wasn't the first time.

"No, she thinks she was run down by a car." John said.

John Henry knew it could damage her to some extent. He wanted to track the Grays back to wherever they came from so they could send out a strike team. Most likely whatever Cameron was after, was still there. They would only know when they checked it out.

"The information on the Grays, checks back to a company here. They must have been following Cameron." John Henry said.

Bob wasn't so sure about it. It was about eight hundred miles. He would never waste so much time with a target. It would serve no purpose once it appeared they left the immediate area of value. It certainly wouldn't entail traveling across several states for no apparent reason.

"It's a long way to follow someone across a lot of nothing landscape." Bob said. "Most of the route is devoid of anything other than the way it looked for thousands of years. The local communities, and a few cities, are relatively insignificant. We don't know if she stopped at any of them or not."

John contemplated the information and reality. It was too far through a lot of nothingness. There must be more to the story. He was sure there was.

"We're missing something." John said. "I think this is bigger than we think."

John Henry checked everything they knew so far again.

"I'll search deeper and even into things which seem unrelated." John Henry said.

John wanted to redirect the full force of the reach of the Resistance. He wanted to concentrate their efforts in a specific area. It seemed the most likely way to produce a result.

"Redirect any satellites in the area and start monitoring all communications for key words in a few hundred mile radius." John said. "Increase your search parameters as well."

John Henry wanted to send a Strike Team to back them up. At this point, it was probably much bigger than Cameron indicated.

"Do you wish for additional personnel?" John Henry asked.

John didn't want any before, but now it seemed like they better try and cover a few more bases and be ready to fight. It must be Skynet related after all. It was certainly what propagated the event.

"Get another jet on standby and a team of Terminators ready." John said. "If we find anything else, or you do, send them. We will try to backtrack Cameron's route when we leave. We will see if anything else shows up."

John really wondered what it was about. Maybe once Cameron was done with her personal vendetta, she might remember more. There was a good chance she thought she was Future Allison and carried out a mission against Skynet. The only trouble was, as Future Allison, she never seemed to remember much. There was no video evidence either. There were no files in her system for those episodes. It really was like she was Future Allison to her, and human.

The idea actually intrigued him on another level. He'd like to get her in bed like that one time, and see how 'Future Allison' performed. He wondered how her response would be too. He was aware she expressed a much wider range of emotions when she was in the halfway house. He would really like to see those carried over into the bedroom. Maybe things wouldn't be too different from what he currently experienced. Maybe it would be like he was with a totally different person. It was what he would hope for anyway.

He was aware of humans with split personalities or even multiple personalities. He wondered what it would be like to have multiple versions of the same individual. Wait. The way Cameron reacted to him at different times actually seemed like they were different versions of her. She could be hot or cold in an instant.

If he thought about it, it wasn't too different from the way most humans reacted at times. It didn't take much to change someone's disposition, usually if it was in a negative direction. All it took were a few keywords or statements to sour the mood of anyone.

John couldn't help but think about how Future Riley told him they weren't the first ones in a Honeymoon Suite who didn't know much about each other. Her statement always bothered him. It bothered him because he knew it was true. It bothered him even more after he found out she was from the future and on a mission to derail his association with Cameron. What bothered him the most was he didn't figure it out in time. By the time he decided to act, it was too late. Future Riley was dead because of her feelings for him against her mission with Future Jesse.

Somehow the path of death and destruction always seemed to end up on his doorstep. It didn't matter if it was the future, the past, or the present.

Cameron, Sheila, and Ally were at a secluded ranch type location. It was the kind of place where the girls could be abused, and no one would ever hear them. She was on similar operations before where a girl was picked at random and killed in front of the other girls in a horrific way to make them compliant. All it took was for one of them to mouth off, or follow a command too slowly, to be made an example of. The body parts which were removed would be left where the other girls needed to look at them and know they could be their body parts just as easily. It ensured total compliance. Much of the Scavenger behavior in the future was a carryover from the individuals responsible.

Cameron moved in on her target. She eliminated two sentries. Sheila and Ally went around the back, each was on a different side.

There was a large motor-home in the back. Ally spotted the girls being loaded into it, some of them anyway. The rest were being loaded in the back of a truck. It was much like the one Cameron described she was in. It was little more than a 'cattle car'. The girls were little more than 'cattle' to their abusers. They were more like 'things' than humans.

Ally and Sheila were to get the girls. They each would take a group. Ally communicated with Cameron and Sheila. She informed them where she was at and which group of girls she was going after. Sheila was directed to the other group.

Cameron moved towards the main house. She wanted the people responsible for everything.

Ally watched as twelve girls were loaded into the motor-home, there was a driver and one armed guard. They herded the girls like animals. She watched as some girls slapped, hit, and punched as they moved along. At one point she thought one girl was about to be 'marked'. The armed guard held a knife to her cheek and threatened to slice it open to the bone.

She saw enough. Ally moved up as the last girl was loaded. The guard looked around and got in. He was about to close the door.

Ally rushed forward and made her play. She prevented the door from closing.

"Got room for one more?" Ally asked.

The guard's eyes widened as he looked at Ally. He wondered where the other female came from and why she was wearing tactical gear. By the time his brain could start to process everything, Ally acted.

Ally drove her fist into the man's chest. He died instantly as his heart and lungs were crushed. She shut the door and moved to the driver's compartment. She snapped his neck in one quick motion as she pulled him out of the driver's seat. She slid in and drove off. There was a curtain which blocked off the back of the motor-home from the front area. The girls in the back were unaware of what happened up front. It was over in less than ten seconds. The two thugs both died silently. The driver never even knew what happened.

Sheila and Cameron watched the motor-home drive off. They could see Ally was successful, without an incident.

Cameron was at the main house now. Sheila told her the truck was loaded and she would intercept the driver and take the truck herself. She planned to follow Ally out.

Sheila reported two of the men pulled one female out of the back before they closed the door and drug her off to a shed. They groped and touched her very aggressively. It seemed clear what they planned to do next.

Cameron told Sheila to take the truck and go, she would go after the remaining girl once she finished up. She hoped she would get to her before they 'finished up' and killed her. It was obvious they weren't going to send her with the other girls at this point. She would most likely be terminated. It would be brutal and violent. She probably would be mutilated as they 'worked' on her.

Sheila moved up to where the guard and the driver were at for the box truck. They were both smoking. She detected it was cannabis. They seemed very unaware of their surroundings. It was typical in her experience of long term drug users. They all seemed to have diminished reaction times, as well as impaired intelligence. It was possible the impaired intelligence was a pre-existing condition for them since they chose crime as their profession.

She walked right up behind them and killed the driver and the guard. She rabbit punched both of them at the same time. She tossed both of their bodies up into the cab. She took a quick look around to make sure no one noticed anything. It didn't appear they did. There was no alarm sounded. She started the truck and followed the motor-home out.

The Metal girls freed the human girls. They weren't clear yet. A lot could go wrong. The girls may be free now, but what about the damage done to their bodies and minds? How could any of it ever be fixed? The mental scars would last much longer than any physical scars they received during their involuntary servitude.

Ally and Sheila freed a lot of females over the years. Some of them committed suicide once they were free. The shame and guilt of what they were forced to do was too much for them. Others were little more than vegetables, they withdrew into themselves. They were chained to a bed and abused by twenty to thirty men a day, everyday. Some of the girls were drug addicts. They didn't care about anything but the drugs. They soon ended up back in a stable. They were usually dead in less than a year. It was all a bunch of ruined lives for other people's pleasure.

There was nothing they could do to stop any of it worldwide. There wasn't much they could stop it to do on a local level. All they could do is put a dent in it and make sure those who were responsible were held accountable. It was one of the reasons why Cameron and the Metal girls all looked the other way when Sheila went to work with her knife. They could also turn off their audio receptors. It wasn't so much the screams of the perpetrators which bothered them, it was more the taunts and laughter Sheila dished out as she worked on them. It was clear she wanted them to pay for the 'sins of the future'.

Closing monologue by Cameron:

Always

Are promises really nothing more
Than a pocket full of mumbles
Without a foundation in truth
Everything soon cracks and crumbles

Is there a champion for anyone
Someone who is always there
As one faces new challenges
They will accept the dare

Is one ever truly appreciated
Or are they are taken for granted
Everyone has a breaking point
It will even break solid granite

Maybe one needs to think twice
Before they abuse another's love
It is a sure way to hurt them
One may even push and shove

As one wanders through life's maze
Never forget to give proper praise
Honor the one that helps and stays
At one's side they will be always.

Nobody