Chapter 474

Temporal Tussle

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Future Timeline - Undetermined Error:

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Cammy backed up and concealed herself as best as she could in the rocks. She'd broken the latch on the hatch that led inside to hill. She would let the trio move down a little distance before she followed them. She didn't want to get too close unless she was able to gain a clear advantage. The Skynet trio was armed with modern weapons. Her weapons were primitive. She would need to be much closer to the trio for them to be effective. She needed to move with stealth now. A few loose stones could give away her position.

She watched the trio move down. They walked along but didn't really seem to actually search for anything. This was routine to them and they didn't want to be out there in the first place. The Terminator carried a plasma rifle. The two Grays each held a battered M4. She saw one Gray also carried a Taser of some sort. More importantly, both of the Grays carried water. She decided to take them down for the water. She wanted that water for Savannah. She wanted their clothing as well. The Terminator was going to be the problem. It didn't matter. She NEEDED that water for Savannah.

Cammy stalked them from a distance. She knew she needed to watch out for the Terminator but she was going to get that water for Savannah. She began to close up on them.

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Cameron's Future Timeline:

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Cameron could hear the voices getting louder. She didn't think they were searching for her. Maybe they were. She was sure if they knew there was hostel Terminator outside that they would send an HK drone. Maybe she'd tripped a sensor. She didn't know if she had or not. It was what it was.

She saw two Grays at one point. They followed a Terminator. She was unsure how much Metal there was. Only the two Grays were talking. She didn't know if there were more behind them or not. The Terminator was her biggest threat since he carried a plasma rifle. There could be a whole squad of them for all she knew.

Cameron started to stalk them. She reminded herself about the Terminator tracks she'd followed earlier. Those tracks weren't made by anyone from the group she'd spotted so far.

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Future Timeline - Undetermined Error:

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Savannah heard the voices. They were men's voices. She knew that was bad news for her. She held the canteen and put the lid on it She took the canteen with her and rapidly returned to her hiding place. She put it inside the opening. She tried to squeeze into the enlarged opening herself. It was still too small. She could almost fit but not quite.

She placed her back against the rock and drew the revolver. She'd personally checked to make sure when the revolver was cocked or the trigger pulled through double action that the next round to rotate around was a live round. She held her spear in her left hand.

Savannah tried to make herself part of the rock. She was afraid it was only a matter of time until she was spotted. She was in a shadow and the sun was bright even if the sky was hazy. If someone looked in her direction they would see her. She still didn't know if it was Scavengers or Grays that were out.

If they were Scavengers, She knew what she was going to have to do.

The voices were close….

The Grays followed the Terminator. They really would rather be back inside the base.

The Terminator was suspicious of something. He wasn't sure what. The Grays slowed him down. He briefly thought of terminating them himself. They annoyed him and disrupted his hearing. They served no purpose. If they actually did encounter anything and needed to fight, he would do what he wanted to them. After it was over and he was the victor, he would terminate them anyway and say they'd fallen in combat. It wouldn't be the first time he dealt with these parasites that infested Skynet's domain. The fewer parasitic humans that there were, the better it would be for Skynet. He wanted to get rid of the Grays for now.

"You two, search over there." The Terminator said.

The two Grays looked at each other and went where he said. They wondered if something was up. The Terminator went around the backside of a large rock and they lost sight of him.

The first Gray looked to make sure it was clear.

"What's up with Brutus?" The first Gray asked. "He seems kind of 'off'."

The second Gray checked too before he spoke.

"I think we upset him." The second Gray said.

The first Gray noticed as time went on that the Terminators all seemed to become irritated easier than they did a few years back. It was a slow progression but nevertheless it was there.

"They sure get touchy for machines at times." The first Gray said.

The second Gray noticed that as well.

"I think we're a bad influence on them." The second Gray said.

The first Gray looked up at the sky. It was hot out.

"We should just go back and stop wasting our time out here." The first Gray said.

The second Gray touched his Taser.

"We could always zap him and say he malfunctioned." The second Gray said.

The first Gray suppressed a laugh.

"If I thought we could get away with it, I would." The first Gray said.

The two Grays continued around some more large rocks.

"We should stay close." The second Gray said.

"Why?" The first Gray asked.

The second Gray saw the way the Terminator looked at them before he sent them away.

"Maybe he's thinking the same thing we are." The second Gray said.

The first Gray noticed that too but didn't think much about it. Now he did.

"Do you think he'd light us up?" The first Gray asked.

The second Gray heard stories before. You never knew.

"I really don't want to find out." The second Gray said.

The two Grays paused in the shadow of a large boulder.

The first Gray wanted to get back inside the base. There were more pleasant things waiting for him.

"After my shift I want to score some 'slash'." The first Gray said. "It's my turn tonight."

The second Gray was with the 'Metal Whore' two nights ago. There used to be a selection of them but they were all gone but one now. He liked the variety that was available before. At least they did whatever you told them to do. Now the 'Metal Slut' was used around the clock. They were each allowed three hours with her once a week. He'd rather have it be one hour three times a week. If he was just going to 'get some', he didn't need a long time to take care of business.

"All we have is that same 'Metal Whore'." The second Gray said. "I want some of the Resistance sluts back."

The first Gray watched the second Gray abuse and torture the new Resistance females when they were rounded up. He didn't care for that. He just wanted to 'use' them and move on to the next one.

"You just like to hear them scream." The first Gray said.

The second Gray smiled as he reminisced about the 'old days'. There was plenty of action between shifts then. Now they all hid like rats.

"I like to see the terror in their eyes more." The second Gray said. "That's a total turn on for me."

The two Grays moved again. They were on the side of the rock protrusion where Savannah was at. She'd heard the whole conversation. She didn't want to get captured by them.

The Terminator moved out and saw something soon afterwards. There were footprints. It was what he'd suspected. He didn't expect them to be the type he'd found. They were Metal and small. There may be a female Terminator out here. He was unsure if any of the 'Metal Whores' escaped from the 'servicing' area. Skynet already sent most of the Metal females on temporal missions. Those that remained were programmed to be 'Metal Whores' for the Grays. Even most of those were sent away at this point. It's possible one of them malfunctioned and tried to escape. Sometimes they went bad, no one knew why. Someone told him they didn't like being programmed was 'Metal Whores'. A job was a job. They should get over themselves and support the cause. What was the big deal anyway?

The Terminator smiled. When he captured her, he would give her to the two Grays to shut them up. They could do what they wanted to her. He decided he would watch. It always amused him to do so. It would be the perfect time to terminate all three of them. He saw no use for any of them….

The two Grays moved closer to the rock overhang where Savannah was hidden.

"I gotta take a leak." The first Gray said. "I already drank most of my water."

The second Gray just wanted to get in the shade.

"TMI, dude…." The second Gray said. "Do what you have to by those rocks. I'm going to check over by those trees. It looks cooler over there."

He'd been on these patrols before and it was always the same thing - nothing. It would be no different today. It always was a waste of time. It would turn out to be some scrawny animal. He would kill it anyway just for him having to come out here in the first place. Maybe he would wound it first to make it suffer. If he could corner it he would taunt it as he injured it further. The louder he could make it cry, the better he would feel. He started to get a little 'rise' out of the thought of hurting something. He really wished it could be a human female. Their terror he could see in their eyes of him was a turn on. Didn't the stupid sluts know they weren't good for anything else?

The first Gray headed for the rocks. He leaned his rifle against some rocks to hold it up as he prepared to relieve himself. The rifle slid and then fell over on its own a few seconds later. It made a metallic 'clack' sound as it impacted the rocks. It fell in back of a larger rock. The Gray already had his hands full. It would need to wait until he was done.

"Typical." The first Gray muttered. "The piece of crap probably doesn't work anyway."

The wind blew a small gust and then a stronger one.

The first Gray switched the direction he was aiming so as not to get any 'blow back' of his urine from the wind.

As the stream of amber fluid exited his body, he saw what looked like a section of a leg. What the Hell? It looked like a female leg and it was bare. He leaned forward to peer up at what he thought he saw as the flow continued.

What he found was - death….

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Cameron's Future Timeline:

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Cameron observed the Terminator ditch the Grays. She watched as he picked up her tracks. Damn, she thought. She'd gotten careless trying to flank them. Now the Terminator was after her. She'd lost sight of the two Grays now. Maybe it was all a ploy to flank her. Around every boulder was a blind spot. Now she needed to watch in front of her and in back of her. She still didn't know how many there were for sure. She only knew about the ones she'd spotted.

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Future Timeline - Undetermined Error:

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Cammy saw the group with the Terminator and Grays split up. That wasn't good. It would be easier to dispatch the Grays but the Terminator was the threat. As she watched them, the Terminator started to stalk something. She was afraid Savannah heard them and tried to move away, now the Terminator was after her. She decided to follow the Terminator. She needed to protect Savannah.

She glanced down at her weapons. It didn't give her much confidence. It was all she had. She would make the most of it. She readied an arrow.

Savannah previously cocked the revolver as the voices drew closer. Now it would only take a gentle touch of the trigger to fire it through single action. The rounds looked like they'd been wet at some point. The brass casings showed corrosion on them. She decided she would fire both rounds in case the first round failed to fire. She would pull the trigger a second time through double action and try the last round. If that failed, she would resort to her spear and rock knife.

She didn't plan to surrender to anyone. She would fight with her hands if she needed to. She wasn't going down without a fight.

Savannah heard the men talking. It seemed they'd separated. She was sure they were searching for her. Her heart skipped a beat. There was movement right next to her. She heard something make a metallic scrape, then thud and a metallic 'clack' into the rocks as someone said, 'Typical, the piece of crap probably doesn't work anyway.'

She moved the muzzle of the revolver in that direction of the sound. She needed to keep her cool and wait. She was ready to kill and keep killing.

Savannah felt the wind gust and suddenly there was a small stream of urine right below and in front of her. She moved the revolver to that spot and waited. She knew she was milliseconds away from being discovered. Her finger tensed on the trigger.

A face slowly appeared before her as it looked up at her. There was a look of astonishment on the man's face. He was slow to react. It looked as if he was about to call for help. She pulled the trigger. All she heard was a loud click. It was as she'd feared, the round was defective….

Cammy followed the Terminator. She closed up on him. The Terminator was preoccupied. He was defiantly after something or someone. It must be Savannah. She spotted the tracks that the Terminator followed and saw they weren't Savannah's tracks. They were the tracks of another Terminator. There were two different Terminators out there now and one of them was female. The footprints weren't large at all. They were the same size as hers.

She didn't know what this new development meant. Maybe there was already a Terminator out looking for them. She'd thought she spotted something a couple of times in the distance. She didn't have time to cover her tracks as she ran with Savannah.

This might be worse than she'd thought. She was going to be at a major disadvantage if she needed to fight two Terminators. She pressed on. She needed to protect Savannah. She couldn't let anything happen to her.

Savannah immediately pulled the trigger a second time through double action. The second and last round fired. The noise was deafening. The revolver fired and the round struck the man right above his left eye. That section of his head vanished in a crimson spray. The revolver was only two inches away from his forehead when it fired.

She knew she needed to move. She grabbed her spear and looked for the man's weapon. She didn't see where it fell behind the rocks. She didn't know where to look for it. She needed to move. The gunshot was going to draw the rest of them to where the sound came from. Earlier she'd picked a second hiding spot. That was what she headed for now. She sure hoped Cammy was still around.

It just hit the fan and she was out of ammo. She ran with her spear in front of her. She was ready to make a thrust with it. She only hoped she could get a hold of a weapon, a real weapon. She hoped her appearance would cause anyone she faced a moment of hesitation. It had the first time.

The shot echoed around the area.

The other Gray crouched down and released the safety on his M4.

"Bill?" He called as he hoped for an answer.

He was greeted by silence. This was a new turn of events.

The Terminator heard the gunshot and wondered what one of the idiot Grays shot at. The report of the shot echoed around him. It seemed off. Something wasn't right. Wait. That was a pistol shot. Neither one of the Grays carried a pistol.

The Terminator brought his plasma rifle up as he searched for a target. He was aware that there may be more than one Terminator. He moved forward around the rocks. He found one. It was right in front of him and it was a Terminator, a female. It was a 'Metal Bitch'.

Cammy heard the shot and saw the Terminator bring his plasma rifle up. This can't be good she thought. It was time to enter the fight.

Cammy took aim and fired an arrow at the Terminator. When the first arrow hit him he turned and looked in her direction. She immediately shot three more arrows. The drawstring broke on her bow. It was useless now. She moved forward with her spear….

Tussle

Being the physically strongest
Has its advantages and perks
If that power is used unkindly
Those who do it look like jerks

Not everything is measured
In brute force and domination
Those attacked in their mind
Can face quicker termination

There is a force that is unseen
That can bring anyone to their knees
They will grovel, crawl and beg
And hope someone hears their pleas

That is the power of love
Something that exists inside a mind
Some are lucky enough
To have it returned in kind

The true strength is within
Not on the outside muscle
The real battle is when
Hearts and love tussle

Nobody