Chapter 575

Dread The Tread

The group of Resistance Terminators were aware they were about to have a real fight on their hands. Now there was trouble behind them as well.

The big HK Tread clanked forward towards them.

Cameron was ready to fire on the HK Tread's weapons targeting system.

Cammy thought about earlier when Savannah and her looked over the HK Tread. New hope blossomed with her.

"Wait." Cammy shouted. "It's Savannah."

Cameron was a little confused. Savannah was dead.

"What?" Cameron asked.

Cammy recalled the earlier events and Savannah's concerns.

"It's Savannah inside. I modified the HK Tread to operate only on manual control earlier. Savannah and I didn't want any surprises." Cammy said. "Savannah must have taken refuge in it when the HK drone crashed. She's been protected in it. It saved her. Savannah isn't dead."

A new spark flamed within all of the Terminators. The 'Chosen One' didn't abandon them through death. She was in the biggest weapon around and she was about to take the fight to the enemy.

The HK Tread rumbled past them and headed for the door. Steve and Ed rushed to open it. The HK Tread paused momentarily. They were able to open the roll up door right before the HK Tread would have smashed through it anyway.

Savannah took the fight to the group that came to attack them in the HK Tread. It looked like all her practice with the one they'd capture before paid off.

This was a game changer for the Resistance team.

"Let's Go." Cameron yelled as they moved to back Savannah's play. "Gail, watch our six."

Sheila was a little surprised at what she witnessed next. She watched as the HK Tread exited the burning and collapsing building. It headed out to join the fight - on their side. It opened up on the attacking force. It single handily killed everyone where they tried to fight.

"There is a big HK Tread that just exited out of the burning building." Sheila reported. "It is firing on the attacking force. It's decimated the Grays."

They watched it all in the Command Center.

A short time ago:

Savannah sent all the Terminators off the assist Cameron's Terminator. She looked at the big HK Tread that sat in the corner. She knew that they would need to destroy it. She figured the best way to do that was to overload the power cell. She wanted to make herself useful while the Terminators secured the burning building. There was a lot of smoke and ash in the air and it made her cough.

She started over towards the HK Tread. She'd been it earlier when Cammy switched everything to manual function only. They didn't want the thing to start up and attack them. She'd also watched Cammy disconnect the power supply.

Savannah was about to open the hatch in the side when she heard the minigun fire and the roof started to cave in. It was right where she was at twenty seconds ago. She could see it was already a fireball as the HK drone crashed through the roof. She opened the hatch and went inside. Even as the door shut, debris hit and slammed into the HK Tread.

'That was close.' Savannah thought. 'That was way too close.'

Savannah knew she almost died. She didn't and she was protected for now. She was in total darkness. She took out her phone and used the light to see. She reversed what Cammy did earlier to reconnect the power supply. As soon as she did the lights inside came on.

Savannah knew how to operate one of these and she was good at it. She checked all her systems and weapons. She touched the entry hatch and quickly pulled her hand back. The Coltan door was hot to the touch. She wouldn't be able to get out of it. She knew she would need to drive the HK Tread away from where it was or she was going to get cooked. There was probably only so much breathable air in the super heated environment.

She checked the view screen and saw the Resistance Terminators were about to venture outside. They were all armed to the teeth and looked very determined. She couldn't communicate with any of them. The door was too hot to touch at this point. She started the HK Tread forward and turned on the targeting systems. She figured she could give them a hand. She knew where the ramp was at that led out of the burning structure. She headed for the door. She knocked a burning HK drone out of the way and continued forward. She was going to crash through the door but saw that Steve and Ed moved to open it for her. She paused as the door opened and headed out onto the battlefield.

She'd trained for this.

Now it was for real.

Savannah went to work.

John tried to reach Cammy or Savannah.

Once she was clear of the jamming field Savannah could communicate.

"John, I'm in the HK Tread." Savannah reported as soon she was out of the building. "Cameron is with Cammy and our group. She's – operational."

John and John Henry both knew that Cameron was damaged by that statement, probably significantly. They'd at least found Cameron and she was still in the fight. They both figured that damaged was better than terminated. Then again Cameron could get pretty far off base when she was damaged. Either way she always made it. Savannah was with her so it would help Cameron.

Sheila could see that Savannah became the focus of the enemy. She decided to use herself as bait. She went to full throttle and dropped from the sky. She moved quickly. She made a fast low pass. She was so low that she almost touched the vehicles. It sent the attacking force to seek cover. It looked like a strafing run. She was out of ammunition but she wanted to draw some of the fire away from Savannah. That was where all the fire was concentrated now. She wanted to keep the attackers on the defensive instead of the offensive.

Seconds ago:

From the drone footage they noticed that Savannah in the HK Tread started to take all the firepower of the enemy.

"Savannah's in danger." John Henry said.

John didn't have a solution.

"All we can do is hope that in this case that Skynet built a quality piece of machinery." John said.

Sheila heard the conversation.

"I can do one better than that." Sheila said.

John Henry and John watched what she was about to do. They watched from other drone footage as the manned drone shot through the sky in a dive at a very high speed.

"What's Sheila doing?" John Henry asked. "She's out of ammunition."

John at first feared she was going to slam into the attackers and hope the ruptured power cells would terminate everyone.

"It's a sucker play." John said.

They saw how the weapons fire concentrated on Sheila and away from Savannah as she passed very low over the attackers. None of them could even get a shot off at her until she'd passed.

That gave John Henry an idea. He sent out a series of commands.

Seconds ago:

Savannah could see she was the target of everyone from the enemy position. She sure hoped none of them carried a LAW rocket or worse a TOW missile or a Dragon.

There were a lot of bullet impacts on the Coltan armor but it was all small arms. She pressed on the attack. She saw the manned drone make its high speed run and the impact of bullets all but ceased. The drones began to do the same thing. It saved the HK Tread from any serious damage.

Savannah pressed her attack.

Two of their drones made passes from opposite sides against the stranded convoy. They were out of ammunition as well. It caused the attackers to seek cover or try and shoot at the drones. The HK Tread moved closer and attacked them at the same time. The third drone came in from the way the attackers came. It came in from behind them. Not everyone sought cover this time. The drone opened up as it fired off the last of its ammunition. It took down careless and overconfident targets.

The HK Tread advanced as it fired its missiles and miniguns. Cameron and the rest her team picked off fleeing targets. It turned into a 'Turkey Shoot'. The battlefield was theirs….

Cameron and her team moved to make sure any hostile Terminator was deactivated and their chip removed. They collected four more damaged enemy Terminators.

This was a substantial duel pronged enemy counterattack. They'd never faced anything like that before.

Cameron looked over the battlefield.

"Sheila, is it clear?" Cameron asked.

John was glad to hear Cameron's voice.

Sheila went back up to altitude.

"Yes." Sheila said.

John wanted to assist Cameron in any way he could.

"Cameron, what do you need?" John asked.

Cameron went over what they were going to do and what they needed. She rapidly listed some things they were going to need and where to obtain them. Cameron's Terminators made a complete listing of all the useful items they'd spotted following the big rig. When it was parked they'd scouted the area around them.

John Henry was surprised at everything Cameron was able to tell him about. He was even more surprised when Cameron suggested they actually pay for it in advance instead of just 'appropriating' it.

John was actually more surprised than John Henry. He was sure that was because Savannah was with Cameron. He knew that Savannah would want everyone compensated. He also knew if they hesitated to rent or sell the equipment that Savannah would OK its confiscation.

"I've made arrangements for what you need." John Henry said. "CamNet has assisted me with the procurement."

Earlier after the Blackhawk let the MIKE Force off it left the area. They didn't want it to be a sitting duck on the ground. It was recalled to round up more of their Terminators. It was fully loaded and on its way back.

John was worried about a third counterattack.

"Is it safe to stay there?" John asked. "The Blackhawk is on its way there now with all the Terminators we could round up. They're also bringing Thermite. They're bringing a lot of it."

Cameron looked over the vast area of destruction. They'd already started to collect bodies. They wanted to make sure there were no survivors. There weren't, not at least once they were found cowering under overturned vehicles.

"We need to 'clean' this place up." Cameron said. "Savannah and I destroyed the Skynet computer here. It's done calling for help. It's terminated. Skynet lost again."

Savannah climbed out of the HK Tread. Cammy and Cameron both gave her a hug with tears in their eyes. It seemed to be another close one for Savannah and they all knew it. It was another close one for Cameron too. Savannah being able to bring up the HK Tread made the difference. She saved all of them a lot of damage. Her hours of operating the one they'd captured before paid off. They were all grateful for her quick thinking.

Gail approached Savannah after Cameron and Cammy left to assist in the collection of bodies.

"I tried to come for you." Gail said. "They stopped me."

Savannah was touched by that.

"You never need to take any damage because of me." Savannah said. "I do appreciate it. We're really even now."

Gail tilted her head slightly. She wondered how. It was Savannah that took the fight to the enemy and saved all of them from further damage.

Savannah thanked Gail again and Gail went off to assist the other Terminators. She looked over the HK Tread. It had taken a lot of damage but it was still fully operational. It showed her just how deadly one of these would be on the battlefield.

The bodies of the fallen were collected and added to the raging fire of the building. Soon after that a thumping sound could be heard as it increasingly grew in volume.

Their Blackhawk returned with a full load of Terminators to help out and police the area.

Soon there was an even louder thumping as a giant S-64 Skycrane arrived. It was located nearby. It was on standby for fire fighting duties in the local 'burn area'. John Henry secured its immediate use for five times its normal rental fee. They left its huge water tank behind. It brought a large 'front end loader' with it, slung below it.

Cameron informed John Henry where there was one at near their location that they could 'borrow' if it couldn't be properly procured. She originally spotted it on the way to the target area.

Work was started to collect the downed HK drones. Several large eighteen wheeler dump trucks arrived. They were also 'borrowed' from the same work site the front end loaded was 'borrowed' from. The crashed HK drones were loaded into those.

The bodies were all dealt with. They were moved into the building as the fire burnt. Thermite was dropped on the inferno from the Blackhawk to insure everything inside was destroyed as they'd gone back and done with the hanger at the helicopter base.

Cameron, at Savannah's urging, decided to take the HK Tread back with them. It assisted them and earned a place in the Resistance fleet. The fact it was able to inflict such damage wasn't lost on any of them.

The HK Tread was secured to the S-64 Skycrane and it left with it. Cameron and Savannah along with the other seven damaged Terminators boarded the Blackhawk after they were done policing the area. The new group of their Terminators finished up.

Savannah went about inspecting each of the Terminators as they flew. It appeared Cameron and her surviving Metal warrior were the most heavily damaged. It figured. Savannah was willing to bet Cameron's Metal warrior was 'her' as well. The way it fought seemed to prove that.

Savannah finally sat down between Cameron and Cammy. She silently took each of their hands as they few home….

It created a calming effect for all three of them.

John assembled a team to be ready to start the repairs for the damaged Terminators when they arrived. Sarah, Vanna, Jesse, Cam and Ally were all there.

Kyle and Derek were out on recon with Bob and Jim. They headed back as well. John Henry told them to use extra caution due to all the Skynet related activity they'd come across.

They never knew what the last vestige of that primitive Skynet mainframe may have enacted before it was disconnected from the 'world' and eventually terminated.

The Blackhawk let Cameron's group off and they headed into the base. All of them wore soot laden, bloody, ripped and torn clothes.

Savannah looked the same but most of it was Terminator 'blood'. She was covered with grime and soot from the wall collapse and fire. Her hair and skin was a dirty gray and black color, as were most of the Terminators.

They looked like a ragged group as they approached. Savannah asked Cammy to tell the other Terminators not to 'thank her' for doing her job. She'd done nothing more than any of them. She was a team member doing her job like they were. She didn't like the extra attention, especially when the Terminators were all damaged.

John was there to greet them and to look over Cameron and Savannah.

Cameron greeted John and told him she was functional.

"OK, I get it." John said. "Check on my troops first."

Savannah knew Cameron wanted to be 'worked on' last. She worked with Cammy and Cameron to get Gail patched up and the others. Cameron's Terminator needed the most work with Cameron second.

Savannah looked over the Terminator once he was repaired.

"Cameron, does he have a name?" Savannah asked.

Cameron felt a glitch impulse with Savannah's question. It was something personal to her. In fact she tried to make it as impersonal as possible.

"No. I don't want to name them or even give them designations." Cameron said. "I don't want to deal with the loss of them falling in combat. I lost one today…."

Savannah knew that every machine was more than a machine to Cameron. The fact they brought back the HK Tread and several HK Tracks was proof of that. It was very personal to Cameron.

"That sounds like Future John before you were sent - to protect John in 1999." Savannah said. "You're attempting to isolate yourself….."

Savannah learned to never say 'sent away' as it would cause Cameron to start to glitch. It always reminded her that she wasn't 'good enough' for Future John to keep.

Cameron didn't want to discuss it. Savannah wasn't going to push it until Cameron was patched up.

After a few hours they were finished with everyone except Cameron and Cammy. Cam asked everyone to leave. John put up the usual protest but knew not to push it or Cameron would leave. Vanna refused to go.

Earlier Gail, Ally and Steve returned with several deactivated Terminators, one of them was female.

Cameron looked very nervous. It was clear she was ready to glitch out. Everyone was repaired except Cammy and her. She didn't want Savannah to see her.

"Savannah, I need you and Vanna to go please, for me." Cameron said. "I'm damaged…."

Savannah and Vanna looked at each other. This was something new.

Cameron could see their concern. It was only overshadowed by their love for her. Still this was very personal to her at this point.

"Please, don't ask." Cameron said. "Cam and Cammy will make the repairs."

Vanna was ready to go. Savannah wasn't.

"OK, Cameron, but we won't be far." Vanna said. "I – understand…."

Vanna went to leave but Savannah didn't. She wasn't about to abandon Cameron in her time of personal need. Something ate at her deeply as well.

Savannah remembered the bloody pants Cameron wore and the pair of shredded bloody pants on the floor of the 'Clean Room'. She didn't understand it at all. Cameron never 'sent her away' like this before. Something was wrong….

Daily Torture

I must seem confusing
The chaos in my head
It will be better for all
When I am dead

The sewer of my mind
Seems to hurt all
I relish its destruction
So evil so small

Everything seems normal
The images before my eyes
Such pain such destruction
I can not hear the cries

Others may contribute
Our own minds do the damage
Nothing can ever repair it
Add yet another bandage

Life has no meaning
Tomorrow no future
Can comfort ever exist
In life's daily torture

Nobody