Chapter 675

Wild Ride

Savannah was very upset that Cameron went off on her own in pursuit of the 'Metal Bitch'. She tried as hard as she could to help and assist Cameron but felt she somehow needed to do more. It was very upsetting and discouraging to her to know that she must fall short of what Cameron expected from her. Sometimes it made her question her self worth.

"I don't understand it, Cammy." Savannah said. "I'm trying so hard. It's 'not good enough' for Cameron."

Cammy was very disturbed to hear Savannah say that about herself. She knew it wasn't true at all. Savannah was the greatest.

"Savannah, everything you do is perfect." Cammy said. "You know Cameron is very driven."

Savannah was still upset at herself. Now Cameron could possibly be in even more danger and she was all alone. Nobody was there to help her.

They could hear the Huey as it approached. It sounded like it was coming in hot.

"Here comes our ride." Cammy said.

Savannah looked in the direction of the sound but didn't say anything. She seemed somewhat withdrawn right now.

Bob glanced over at Savannah. She was his teammate for the day, they'd arrived together. He was bothered at the way she looked right now.

"I'm going with you." Bob said.

Cammy could see Bob's concern. She nodded towards Steve.

"Steve can take over the operation." Cammy said.

Sheila came in fast, flared up and set down smoothly.

Cammy and her team piled on board.

Sheila kicked up the power and lifted off slowly. She'd been on the ground for nineteen seconds.

"The helicopter feels heavy." Sheila said.

Ally was there to back her up on the controls if necessary.

"It's the altitude." Ally said. "You're doing just fine."

Sheila wanted to get another dig in at Cameron's Terminators.

"We should have left Pete and RePete behind along the guns." Sheila said. "I like this thing better as a 'slick'."

Ally didn't like to see Sheila upset.

"What if you were able to man one of the guns and shoot it?" Ally asked.

Sheila looked over and smiled.

"Now you're talking." Sheila said. "That's just my speed."

As soon as they were away, the Blackhawk started to load and collected the rest of the team. It started to snow. The muted sounds of the explosions were heard as the Blackhawk lifted off. It headed for the packing sheds.

The bunker was blown closed. It was a tomb for the fallen Grays. It appeared that the mountain top overture was concluded for now. That's what they hoped anyway.

Cameron ran as fast as she could go. It started to snow. It fell very faintly at first. It picked up in volume as she ran. It hadn't slowed her down as she first thought it might. She still ran at her fastest Terminator speed. There were a lot of thoughts that coursed through her mind and she ran.

She didn't know if she was after the 'Metal Bitch' or not. Maybe it was only another Gray. She still was unsure how the 'Metal Bitch' eluded them. They couldn't find any other escape tunnels. The 'Metal Bitch' got out somehow or was buried in the bunker.

Cameron saw the lights were on at the lodge and the cable car was docked. She'd just made turn for the approach to the lodge when she heard the buzzer for departure sound. The cable car would pull away in seconds.

DAMN!

It appeared that she'd just missed the cable car. She was so close but yet so far away. If the 'Metal Bitch' was on the cable car, she was as good as gone.

Cameron went up the outside stairway at a full run to the platform that overlooked the cable above the header station. The cable car slowly moved away from the building. There was clearly no way to get on board at this point. The cable car was on its way down.

The snowfall increased. There were still breaks in the clouds where the moon could be seen. It added a little moonlight every now and then. It reflected brilliantly off of the fresh snow.

Cameron calculated her speed and the distance she would need to travel to try to jump onto the departing cable car. She thought she could make the ever increasing distance. She might be able to jump and land on top of the roof of the cable car since it was lower than her now as it departed down the mountainside.

A quick calculation showed that the chance of success would only be twenty percent.

She jumped a fence and was ready to fly….

Savannah and Cammy put headsets on so they could communicate with Sheila and Ally. The noise level was pretty loud. The UH-1 received a workout.

In a very short time Savannah was able to see the lodge up ahead and down below them as the Iroquois headed down the mountainside. She didn't know where Cameron was at nor did Cameron respond to anyone's hails. She wanted to take a closer look and see what they could from the helicopter without becoming a spectacle themselves. They couldn't approach too close without drawing a lot of attention.

"Fly over the lodge and the cable car route." Savannah said. "Not too low and maybe off to the side. We don't want to attract any more attention than we need too."

Savannah decided to try to contact Cameron again.

"Cameron where are you?" Savannah asked as she looked at her phone. "Your position shows as being at the lodge."

Much to Savannah's surprise Cameron responded. What Cameron said was even more of a surprise.

"I'm about to get on the cable car in a few seconds." Cameron said.

They could see the cable car already pulled away from the station. There was no way to get on to it at this point.

Savannah's confusion started to be replaced by a sense of alarm.

"How's that possible?" Savannah asked. "It just left."

Cameron attempted to increase her speed by any little bit that she possibly could.

"I know." Cameron said. "I'm going to jump for it…."

Savannah looked at the distance. The alarm bells went off in her head. It was clearly impossible. The cable car was too far away. Nobody could make that jump.

"It's too far, Cameron." Savannah said. "Cameron, stop."

Savannah wanted to 'order' Cameron to stand down and not to jump. There wasn't enough time for her to issue the order.

Cammy was able to spot Cameron on the move and track her progress. She too could see that the jump was impossible.

"There she is. She just jumped." Cammy said as she pointed. "She fell…."

The cable car continued on. Cameron wasn't on it.

It was clear that Cameron didn't make it.

Savannah looked on in disbelief.

Young Allison didn't like the way the events unfolded on the mountain.

"Cameron's actions are extreme." Young Allison said. "There are too many variables for her."

Anna knew how Terminator's thought. She especially knew how Cameron thought. They ran the same program after all.

"She's a Terminator. Her objective is to complete the mission." Anna said. "Cameron has proven she will stop at nothing to complete her mission."

Young Allison was aware that Cameron attempted to pull a fast one in this latest endeavor. She disagreed with that as well.

"She didn't tell Savannah or Cammy what she was doing." Young Allison said. "She hurts Savannah when she does that. Savannah always risks everything to try and help Cameron. That's something Cameron needs to think about."

Anna understood why Cameron attempted to conceal what she was about to do from everyone.

"If Cameron told them, they would have protested. Maybe they would have tried to stop her." Anna said. "Every second counts in trying to intercept the 'Metal Bitch'."

Young Allison believed that the way Cameron went about her current objective was all wrong and none of it was thought out.

"She has no plan or back up." Young Allison said.

Anna was aware that that was how Cameron often operated and actually preferred to do so. If she took the risk herself, no one else was affected. No one else needed to face the danger but her. It was actually quite logical.

"She seldom does." Anna said. "She must think and act on the move."

Young Allison hoped that they could get a visualization of what was going on. The little blips on the satellite map didn't give that much detail.

"Is CamNet able to show us any of the video feeds from the tramway?" Young Allison asked. "Do we have any drone footage of this?"

Several monitors showed areas of the lodge and cable car itself.

"There's a camera that looks back as it leaves. There's actually one on each end so it can look forward as well." Anna said. "Patrons can watch them from both terminals.

Young Allison looked at the view that popped up on her monitor.

"The cable car just left." Young Allison said.

Anna spotted something that was a little disturbing in the upper quadrant of the image.

"I see Cameron. She's on the upper level." Anna said.

Young Allison was even more confused. Cameron was on the wrong level completely.

Cameron's conversation with Savannah came across the speakers.

It became clear to them in an instant what was about to happen. They'd drawn the same conclusions as everyone else.

"It's too far." Young Allison said. "She won't make it."

They watched Cameron jump the fence and fall….

Nobody could have made that jump.

The cable car continued on. Cameron wasn't on it.

Young Allison looked on in disbelief.

Seconds ago:

Cameron went up the stairs to the upper level at full speed. She slowed for nothing. She knew she was going to have one chance to make it and one chance only. Even the outcome of that was slim based upon her calculations. The fresh snow covered the ice underneath it. There was no way that Cameron could see it or know that it was there.

As she went to jump the fence she slipped on the ice and fell. She slammed into the fence. She hit the fence with such force that she knocked a section of it out and most of the fence fell down. She skidded across the header station roof. She almost slid over the edge into the abyss of the canyon below. She'd been able to grab one length of the shattered fence. She looked up and saw the cable car pull away. It was now out of her reach. There was no way she could get to it from where she was currently sprawled.

The hum and vibration of the cable was right below her. She was so close, yet so far away.

Cameron got up and looked at the cable car and the first tower it would soon approach. She looked down at the cable and back to the first tower and calculated the distance. She needed to act now.

Her first thought was to drop down and grab the cable with her hands. She might be able to slide along the cable that way and catch the cable car. She didn't think it would work and that there would be too much friction as the sheath material on her hands was abraded away. She needed something to assist her that would allow her to gain more speed. She looked around her in spotted something that she thought would work

Cameron grabbed a section of the metal fence she'd knocked down. She ripped loose a wrought iron bar about three feet long. It was roughly an inch in diameter. She didn't know if this was going to work or not but she was going to give it a try.

She bent it into a tight 'U' shape. She grasped the bent metal rod. Her right hand held it over the cable. She took a leap of faith and disappeared over the side. She quickly brought her left hand up to the other side of the upside down 'U' shaped metal rod. The metal made contact with a jolt. The center part of the inverted bent rod now rested on the cable itself. It was like a giant 'zip line' as she started down the cable after the cable car. She rapidly gained on it. The bent metal rod slid down the cable. It produced a lot of friction and began to send up a rooster tail of sparks.

The moon broke through the clouds. It illuminated the insanity as it occurred on the mountainside. They could all see it.

Savannah involuntarily gripped Cammy as the scene before her unfolded.

She was relieved to see that Cameron hadn't plunged over the abyss into the depths of the canyon. Her next action seemed to be just as insane, if not more so.

Cameron was in pursuit of the cable car as if she was on a giant 'zip line'….

Ally was in the co-pilot's seat of the Huey. The co-pilot sat on the left side of a helicopter. She had a clear view of Cameron and what she attempted to do. She could see the sheer folly of it. Now it all would depend on a matter of timing.

"She needs to catch the cable car before it reaches the first tower." Ally said. "Otherwise she's going to get tangled in the suspension cable rollers and guides. She'll be knocked off the cable at that point, one way or another."

Cammy was next to Savannah and watched everything unfold. She made the calculations as well and noticed another problem.

"She needs to slow herself." Cammy said. "She's gained too much speed."

Savannah didn't see how Cameron would be able to do that. One thought popped into her mind. Maybe Cameron could bring her feet up to try to grip the cable to provide some resistance to slow down her forward progress.

"Use your feet, Cameron." Savannah said. "Try to slow yourself down."

Cammy wasn't sure if Cameron could hear anybody at this point.

"I think she lost her com in the fall." Cammy said. "It was a hard fall."

Ally wanted to do something. She didn't know what she'd be able to do but everything happened on her side of the helicopter.

"Let me take it." Ally said to Sheila. "I have better visibility."

Sheila understood that Ally had the advantage and visibility right now. She didn't hesitate turn the helicopter over to Ally.

"You got it?" Sheila asked.

Ally wanted to slow the Huey down.

"I got it." Ally answered as she took control of the Iroquois. "I'm holding here until she is able to climb onto the bracket that holds the car to the support attached to the top of the cable car."

Cammy was afraid the outcome would be a little bit in grimmer for Cameron.

"Or in case she falls off and into the canyon below." Cammy said. "I'll go after her with Bob's Team."

One of Cameron's Terminators indicated a coiled object.

"We have a rope." Pete said. "There is about two hundred feet of it."

Savannah watched in fear as Cameron sped closer and closer to the cable car. Sparks flew in a rooster tail from whatever Cameron held as it glided along the cable. It didn't appear she was slowing. If she was, it didn't seem to be by very much.

Cameron moved down the cable very fast. She traveled much faster than she'd anticipated. The cable was slick with oil, ice and snow on it. She bent the two open ends of the upside down 'U' closer together. She tried to create resistance. It's slowed her down some but created a greater amount of friction. The center of the 'U' started to glow red and continued to spark as she slowed. She was now worried the iron wouldn't hold much longer as it became weaker from the heat. She knew that the metal didn't have to completely melt. It only needed to be weakened enough to fail.

She brought the soles of her boots up to the cable to add additional resistance. The soles took a beating but she slowed. She was almost to the bracket that attached the cable car to the cable.

Cameron's feet hit the bracket just as the metal rod separated. She managed to get one hand on the cable and then the other one. She let her feet swing down and pulled herself up onto the bracket. She quickly moved to the side of it. Two seconds later they went through the first support tower. The rollers that guided the cable and supported it clacked loudly as they passed by almost next to her head. If she'd been three seconds slower, she knew would have fallen off at this spot.

There was a 'basket' like seat next to the bracket so an attendant could inspect the cable and suspension system. Cameron moved to climb into that. She'd just cleared the tower with the usual bounce as a gust of wind hit the cable car. The movement caused her to lose her grip on the frozen slippery surface. She tottered and slipped. She made a desperate grab for the cable. She brought her feet up and hooked them over the cable for additional support. Her hands lost their grip in another gust of wind. She swung upside down. She was only held in position by her ankles locked together on the cable. She was upside down and swinging from the wind. Now she was in fear of sliding past the cable car and down to the next support pylon. She knew if that happened, she was doomed. If she wasn't knocked off the cable outright, she might become tangled in the roller assembly. When the support bracket for the cable car passed through, she would be torn apart.

John listened to Ally give a second by second description of the events as they unfolded. There was body cam footage that came in from someone. They could see it all unfold.

Usually no one was around when Cameron was engaged in extreme behavior. Now she was being viewed by an audience.

John Henry wondered if Cameron was even still armed at this point.

"Does she have any of her weapons left after all of this?" John Henry asked.

John didn't know. He hoped if she still possessed one weapon, it was one that would stop female Terminator.

"I hope she has her Taser." John said. "I hope that 'Metal Bitch' is on that cable car."

John Henry tracked the position of the phone that he'd pinged earlier.

"The phone of one of them is." John Henry said.

John knew there was one team headed for the lower station.

"Where are Gail and Jesse at now?" John asked.

John Henry checked their positions on the satellite map.

"They'll be at the turnoff for the tramway in a few minutes." John Henry said.

John wanted to make sure that Cameron would have support waiting for her at the lower terminal.

"We need to get our people on the ground." John said. "As soon as Cameron is secure, they need to go. I want them waiting at the base station."

John Henry looked at the perilous position that Cameron was currently in.

"Cameron might still fall off." John Henry said.

John could see that with his own eyes right now. He could have done without the reminder.

"Let's hope not." John said.

John Henry watched the progress of the cable car between the two pylons. Cameron's position hadn't improved. It began to look like it wasn't going to either.

"She needs to be off that cable before the next set of rollers on the upcoming suspension tower." John Henry said. "It doesn't look good. I think she is going to be knocked off the cable."

Everyone that was able to view Cameron where she currently was at was of the same opinion.

Wild Ride

Is there a point in life
Where space and time collide
All that's wrong in one's life
Seems to expand and be amplified

They feel that their existence
Has never been ratified
All that they've try to accomplish
Can in a second be nullified

It's more than impossible
For everyone to be satisfied
When they gang up together
They feel they are justified

One needs to look around
What's been said or implied
Was there really ever anyone
In which one could confide

When all is said and done
They can own up or go hide
One thing is for certain
If they stay it will be a wild ride

Nobody