Chapter 1352

Spiral Staircase

Savannah led the way down the spiral staircase. She held her silenced M9 in front of her. The glow stick was inside her vest. There was still residual light from the energy ball behind them. They would lose sufficient illumination soon enough.

Young Allison checked in back of her and around the room they were about to depart. There was no movement. She watched Savannah slowly and soundlessly start down the spiral staircase. She went in the doorway and waited ten seconds. She wanted to make sure there was no one behind them. She popped back around the corner again to look around the room with her M4 in front of her. There was still no movement. She started down after Savannah.

Savannah glanced back up the spiral staircase to see Young Allison take a final look behind them before she started down after her. Since they didn't know where it went, she didn't want to get trapped down there.

She soon reached the step which would put her foot into view in what looked like a small room below them. She stopped and listened. She crouched down and bent over to take a peek with her eyes and M9 first. No one was spotted. The room was very dim. It was clear she would need her glow stick once she moved away from the spiral staircase.

Savannah straightened and went down the rest of the stairs. She spun in a circle as she searched for a target. The room seemed to have a foul odor to it. At first it didn't seem too bad. It seemed to get worse every second.

Young Allison came down the spiral stairway.

"Let me rig the Thermite grenade here." Young Allison said. "If anyone follows us down they'll trip it and get Thermite burns."

Savannah didn't know how soon they would need to go back up or where the area they were in led to.

"Let's hold off in case we need to get back up in a hurry." Savannah said.

Young Allison was going to point out it would also cover their retreat if anyone else came up out of the passageway. They would know the trip wire was there, any pursuers wouldn't. She decided to move forward instead.

"I'll cover the far side of the room." Young Allison said.

Savannah wondered why the female Fanatic, who'd been tied to the desk, wasn't kept down there. Maybe it was the easiest place to restrain her in the manner they'd used. They had unfettered 'access' to her the way she'd been spread out and tied down.

The smell down there seemed to grow worse every second. It was a smell she could now identify. She'd run across it in the future several times.

Savannah saw something at one end of the room. She spotted a foot. There was no shoe or sock on it. It was unmoving. Right away she knew what it was and it confirmed what the smell was. She inched closer to look and make sure it wasn't a living person.

She glanced back and Young Allison covered the other side of the room with her M4. She moved forward in a quick motion and faced the unknown figure. She took one step back when she saw what was there. She took out her glow stick for a better look.

Savannah saw what looked like two figures on the ground. It might have been a mistake. They were both naked and both of them were female. They were both dead. They both appeared to have been tortured. She wasn't sure if it was done for an interrogation, or for pleasure. Grays were known for both. The blood was dried on the two females.

Young Allison watched Savannah and spotted what she'd found. She saw the foot. It was a small foot too. It was only a little bigger than hers. She knew what Savannah would find. She covered the other side of the room and the way back up the spiral staircase. She watched Savannah take a step back and pull out the glow stick. She turned her face away from it and concentrated on the back of the room they were in. The glow stick gave enough illumination to see there was a doorway. The door wasn't closed. It was a second room of some kind. It could be an underground passageway as well.

She snapped her fingers once to get Savannah's attention. She didn't look back but pointed with her left hand. She covered the opening with her M4.

Savannah heard a snap and looked in Young Allison's direction. She saw her point with her left hand. There was a doorway of some type. Based on the stench in the room, the men who came up the staircase came from the room, or wherever it led. She doubted anyone stayed in this room very long.

She took one last look at the deceased females and moved towards Young Allison. She slid the glow stick up her left sleeve so only a small portion of it was visible under her left hand.

She passed by Young Allison and moved towards the opening.

Young Allison looked back at the foot as Savannah passed her. She quickly fell back and looked at what was there. In the dim light she could barely make out they were females. She did see the dried blood and knew what was done to them. She quickly moved back up to Savannah.

Savannah glanced back to see Young Allison look at the dead. She watched Young Allison's face. Her expression never changed. In that instant, Savannah felt she was looking at 'Cameron'. It was the look on her face. It didn't sicken Young Allison to see what she saw.

It angered her. She wondered what kind of training Cameron did with her. None of the death she'd seen in the last few minutes seemed to faze her. It included the death she'd dealt out. She'd made sure the dead were dead on top of it.

It was very evident Young Allison was much tougher than her. Then again, Cameron worked with Young Allison since she was very small. Now she began to understand why Young Allison never talked about her training with Cameron. She'd obviously been exposed to this type of death and destruction more than a few times. No wonder Young Allison started to train Summer as her 'replacement'. She felt she was going to die sooner, rather than later, with what Cameron must have acclimated her too. It was a heavy trip to lay on anyone, especially a young female.

Savannah shook her head and turned her attention to the doorway. She calculated the room it led to was directly under the room with the energy ball.

Young Allison was behind Savannah. She still covered the stairway. They didn't want any surprises behind them.

Savannah held her left hand out to her side away from her body as she looked into the opening. It was another room. There was electrical gear in it. She looked up and there were several conduits. They ran up to the room above.

She moved into the room for a better look. She hoped to see a power cell from a Terminator sitting on the desk hooked up to some wires. There was nothing visible. It could be inside one of the electrical cabinets which were down there. It would take a few minutes to open them. She wasn't sure if she would need tools to do it or not.

She looked around the room and saw there was another door at the far end of the room. Young Allison motioned for her to take a quick look.

Savannah carefully moved over there to see what it was or where it went. There was a door but it wasn't closed. She moved her left hand away from her body again and took a quick glance. It was a passageway. She couldn't see where it ended or how far it went. She motioned for Young Allison to move up to her position.

Young Allison looked at the electrical gear. She'd made much the same summary as Savannah had. She watched Savannah check the other doorway and motioned for her to come forward.

The girls spoke in very quiet tones.

"Take a quick look." Savannah said.

Young Allison looked down the length of the opening. It was hard to determine it's length.

"I think it's a passageway to the other building." Young Allison said.

Savannah backed up and closed the door so there was only a small gap. There were a number of possibilities to consider. She'd operated in similar circumstances before. Most of them were a very negative experience. She wanted to give Young Allison some things to think about.

"Cover this and look for any light in the distance. It could be someone coming towards us." Savannah said. "We don't know if it turns or if anything else is connected to it. There could be more rooms or other passageways. If there's a bend or a turn, someone could appear very quickly."

Young Allison slung her suppressed M4 and drew her silenced M9.

"I got it." Young Allison said. "Watch the stairway when you look through the electrical cabinets."

Savannah nodded and went back to the electrical equipment. She decided to close the open door on the other side completely. She pulled it closed with a slight screech and blocked off the way they'd entered. They would have a half second warning if anyone went to open the door. She would be able to use the full light from her glow stick now.

Maybe she should have let Young Allison rig the Thermite grenade with a trip wire at the base of the spiral stairway. It would have given them additional warning and stopped any pursuers.

She was sure if she wasn't there, Young Allison would do things a lot differently than she was. She wondered if she was holding Young Alison back. If she was, she felt it was for her own safety. She was sure Young Allison would be much more aggressive if she was completely on her own. It was something to think about. It wasn't really a good thing either.

Cameron was troubled by what Allison said to her. Allison and Vanna did matter. She didn't want to further fracture their relationship. She'd damaged it once already. Maybe it was even more times and she didn't pay attention to it. Maybe she didn't want to know. It made her wonder if she blocked it out. If she did, it was very wrong on her part to do so.

Her first meddling was when she got Jesse, Vanna and Allison very drunk and put the three of them together naked. She'd made them believe they had sex with each other. At the time, they actually hadn't. Because they thought they had, it actually led to them doing it.

Vanna and Allison both spent more time with Jesse than each other afterwards. Jesse was simply better in bed and always delivered. Jesse never stopped until she was able to give someone a nice finish. It also gave the girls someone else to easily turn to if there was a problem. They didn't need to work out their problems when there was another female readily available. They sought the comfort of another instead.

Cameron didn't want any animosity between them since Vanna and Allison were going to each be provided with a child. She wanted them together as a family for mutual support. Her plan was to strengthen their family unit, not to weaken it.

She also wanted John protected. The anti-Metal faction was out there and it was a real threat to John. Maybe she would stop leaning on Vanna and Allison and bring Young Jesse to the base to live. Savannah and Young Jesse would want to be with each other. She was aware it might damage Savannah and Young Allison from developing their relationship.

"…to do now?" Allison asked.

Cameron looked around.

The music had stopped.

"What?" Cameron asked.

Allison wondered if Cameron even heard her at this point.

"What do you want us to do now?" Allison asked again.

Cameron took Allison by the hand and led her back over to where Vanna and John were. She handed Allison's hand to Vanna.

"I want you two to have a good time." Cameron said. "Strengthen your bond and share your love with each other. The relationship between both of you is the most important thing."

Cameron took John's hand and led him away from Vanna and Allison.

John looked back at Allison and Vanna as Cameron led him away.

Vanna and Allison were a little confused. It just looked like things were going to evolve. Now it seemed as if a door had just slammed.

"What just happened?" Vanna asked.

Allison felt she was responsible. She didn't think she'd done anything wrong. She was just trying to be honest with Cameron. She felt it was an important issue.

"It was my fault." Allison said. "I told Cameron we were people, not machines. I told her we mattered too."

Vanna wasn't sure it was all that happened. She wanted to make sure Allison knew what was at stake. She could see there was an opportunity now which may not present itself again for an unknown time. Maybe if it didn't happen now, it was never going to happen.

"John is ready to be with us." Vanna said. "I can tell."

Allison felt it too. She knew it needed to be more than just about John and them. There was an important piece of the puzzle which everything hinged around.

"I know." Allison said. "I don't know if Cameron is ready."

Vanna didn't see it as a problem if they at least tried it one time. Maybe it was all it would be. It wasn't like they were going behind Cameron's back. She was the one pushing them. There were also some personal issues she wanted to address. They were very important to her. She thought they were as important to her future as they were to her past.

"I just want to try it once, even if it's for a few minutes." Vanna said. "I want a choice ONE time."

Allison wanted it too. She wanted at least one time as well. She didn't know if there was any such thing as 'one time'. If it wasn't a negative experience, it would be hard to stop.

"I don't know if we could stop with just one time." Allison said. "We both love Cameron and John. It would be a way for us to culminate our love. We would be able to share and express our love."

Vanna wondered if it would give her the chance to be with Cameron one time. She'd dreamt about it for so long. There wasn't a day since Cameron was back in her chassis, even with the tether, when Vanna hadn't thought about sharing with Cameron. She was sure there was more to the current situation. She really hoped Allison would be able to deliver this time.

"I think Cameron is worried about us separating and not remaining a couple." Vanna said. "She wants us together for your baby."

They watched Cameron lead John out of the rear lounge.

Allison felt an extreme sense of disappointment.

"Goodbye to all that." Allison said.

Vanna nodded.

The next song started. They were there together now. She wanted to strengthen their bond as well.

"Would you care to dance, Miss?" Vanna asked.

Allison gave Vanna a quick kiss.

"I would, Miss." Allison said.

It was where they both wanted to be. It was to be with each other. It was their future, their past, the present and the new future. As long as they shared it together, it was all they needed. All they needed to survive was air, food and each other. It was what they'd lived on for so much of their lives already.

Holly and Gail-Cam watched what just happened with some astonishment.

"I think Allison set Cameron straight." Gail-Cam said.

Holly wasn't so sure.

"I don't think it was her intent." Holly said. "It seemed to me she wanted it to be more, not less."

Gail-Cam wanted to make the most of the chassis she was in right now. She wanted to be with all the girls and have Cameron use Gail's chassis with her chip in it. Cam-Gail was able to do it with her chassis. She wanted to see what was different. She really liked what was smaller on her current chassis as opposed to what was bigger.

"Let them have a couple of dances together." Gail-Cam said. "Then we can go down and claim what belongs to us."

Holly didn't see it that way at all.

"Allison belongs to herself." Holly said.

Gail-Cam didn't want to argue. Allison clearly belonged to Vanna.

"Sure, Holly, we all do." Gail-Cam said.

Gail-Cam was convinced they all 'belonged' to someone, even if they weren't 'claimed' by that particular someone. There was some special person in each of their 'hearts', even if they weren't in that specific person's heart.

John tried to figure out what happened as Cameron led him away. He took one quick last look back at Vanna and Allison. He thought it was finally going to happen. Now what? It looked like Cameron just put the brakes on everything, again.

"Cameron, what's wrong?" John asked.

Cameron looked at John and frowned. She thought about what Allison said. She knew Allison was correct.

"I don't want to fracture their relationship again." Cameron said. "They're people, not machines. They both matter."

John was aware of all of those things. He didn't know they were Allison's words to Cameron. He didn't want to let things slip away from him since they were so close.

"I think we're all ready to do what you've wanted for so long." John said. "I really don't think it will hurt or damage anything at this point."

Cameron felt John was ready because he'd been able to share her love in five different virgin chassis in a few days. He was about to have another one tonight.

"We'll see." Cameron said. "There are still plenty of nights left for things to happen. Nothing needs to be rushed at this point. As long as we're on the ship, you're better protected."

John saw they were headed for the elevator.

"Are we going to the sky lounge?" John asked.

Cameron smiled at him. She wanted to take some preemptive action for later on. She knew how John responded.

"We're going back to our suite." Cameron said. "I want to make sure you don't jump the gun when I'm in Ally's chassis later on. We're going to knock off a quickie."

John felt the side to side motion of the ship.

"Do you think I need to take some 'seasick medicine'?" John asked.

Cameron smiled.

"I think you're good for a few hours still." Cameron said. "I'll make sure you get what you need."

John knew Cameron always watched out for him.

"Thanks." John said. "I know you'll look out for me. It shows me you care about me."

Cameron smiled at him and calculated the duration of the medicine she'd already slipped him and its remaining effect. She planned to look out for him, so he'd be able to look out for her when she was in Ally's chassis.

Sheila kept an eye on Ally. She was happy for her and what she was about to experience.

Ally looked forward to what was about to happen. It was time she experienced what everyone else already tried. It was something she'd wondered about for a long time anyway. She just hoped it would be better than Allison's experiences. None of them were positive in any way. There seemed to be a lot of pain, guilt and shame associated with them. Most of the pain wasn't physical. There was enough of it anyway.

It annoyed her when every four minutes or so, there was one or two guys who wanted to get her a drink or dance with her. At this point she only wanted to be with Sheila. She did feel people were a little more understanding than they'd been in the past when she'd indicated she was with someone. She was glad it didn't take as long to sink in her partner was also female.

Right now she was very content to be with Sheila. It always gave her a sense of security. She knew she was hopelessly in love with Sheila and always had been. It was what was behind all the bickering and banter Sheila and her exchanged back and forth.

Sheila tried to determine what Ally thought about right now. There were probably a million thoughts in her head. She wanted the best for Ally and what Cameron was about to do was about the best thing she could think of for Ally.

Sheila knew Ally was her true love. She also knew she loved Cammy just as much. Eight years was a long time to be alone together. It counted for something. Right now it was Ally. She would make sure she kept her date. If not, she would keep it for her.

She would even allow Cameron to plug Ally and her in at the same time so Ally could experience Cameron in her chassis with John. Ally would be a digital bystander at that point.

Jesse could see Riley was still very unsettled.

Riley was still worried about Samantha. She looked at Jesse with a lot of concern.

"Are you sure she didn't go?" Riley asked.

Jesse and Claire looked at each other. It was clear Riley was in love with Samantha. She was as worried about Samantha as much as she was about Derek. They weren't really comfortable with the knowledge, especially since they'd all been with Samantha except Riley. They felt as if they stole someone else's love.

They'd all been doing what Riley wanted to do. It shouldn't be a big deal. It seemed to be more of the same as it applied to Riley. They were all able to share with each other and Riley wasn't. Riley cared about Samantha but she couldn't be with her. They all had. It did leave them all with a certain sense of guilt.

Jesse assured Riley that Samantha was just checking out the base to make sure everything was secure. She did hope Samantha would return soon.

Summer was busy keeping Jan calm about both of her parents being out. It never happened before since she could remember. She also saw the great concern Riley experienced over Samantha. She was aware in a few days Samantha was going to look identical to her mother. She did notice everyone already 'checked out' her mother.

She used her phone to quietly find out where Samantha was. She was a little dismayed to see it was the infirmary. She knew what it meant. They were preparing for people to return hurt.

A wave washed over her insides. It was all very clear to her right now. This is what Allison – Young Allison had been preparing for. It was in case Young Allison didn't make it. She remembered how Young Allison made her promise over and over to be there for Savannah, John and Cameron. She even showed her video files of what Metal Summer looked like. She remembered herself. The video files showed something else. They showed how everyone else interacted with Metal Summer. She was a total knockout and very pretty. She hoped one day she would look as pretty.

Based upon the way Cameron and Allison looked, it was clear identical DNA wasn't enough. There was a lot of preparation and upkeep necessary.

The way Riley seemed to get worse and worse bothered her. She sent a message to Samantha. She explained Riley was very worried about her. Samantha responded she was on her way back immediately.

Summer excused herself from Jan and went over to Riley. She didn't want her anxiety to get any worse.

"Samantha will be back in less than a minute." Summer said. "She really is inspecting the base. It's for all of our safety."

Riley nodded. She looked a little relieved, but not much.

Summer wanted to redirect Riley's focus. She thought it was necessary.

"You have a bigger responsibility." Summer said.

Summer looked over at her mother who now held Precious.

Riley nodded at her.

Summer thought it was an important issue. She didn't want to create any waves or have any type of scene develop under the current circumstances.

"After you greet Samantha, you need to set your priorities." Summer said.

Summer left Riley and went back over to Jan.

Jan watched the encounter with Summer and Riley. She couldn't hear what they discussed.

"What did you say to Riley?" Jan asked.

Summer smiled at her.

"I told her the same thing I told you." Summer said.

Jan smiled.

"You told her everything was going to be alright." Jan said.

Summer smiled. It wasn't exactly what she'd said. In reality it meant the same thing.

"It was something similar." Summer said.

The door opened and Samantha returned.

Summer watched as Riley checked herself and greeted Samantha instead of running to her to hug her. She then went and took Precious from her mother.

Riley glanced over at Summer and nodded. Everything she'd indicated was the right thing. Sometimes the issues got a little cloudy. The current occasion was one of them. Summer helped put her on the right track. She appreciated it immensely.

Summer followed the operation with input from John Henry and CamNet. She was very worried about her sister. She received what updates there were in her com. There weren't many. Everything about what happened inside of the building was a total unknown. She really hoped they could re-establish communications so she could find out the status of everyone.

She understood she might be going on a temporal mission to the past instead of Young Allison if anything bad happened. She knew what she was supposed to do. She was ready to step up. She planned to use every resource available to her to make sure nothing bad did happen. She was also aware she would be playing a bigger role in Resistance operations going forward.

Her mother needed to understand there was a deeper calling for her. It would probably be best if she told her herself. She was sure if anyone else mentioned it, her mother would go off on them. Her mother just didn't understand.

John Henry was able to slow the progress of the troops on their way to the two buildings. They all understood the Terminators couldn't go in yet and the humans weren't going to be able to see.

He would need to inform them before they actually did enter about the recent development. It was the fact Young Allison was now in there too. He knew it wasn't going to go over well with anyone.

He really hoped Savannah and Young Allison would emerge soon. The worst part was the uncertainty. They didn't know what their fate was. They still didn't know if they'd been brutally savaged or killed. All they knew was they were both in the one building before contact was lost. It didn't tell them much. It didn't tell them anything.

Cammy was with Sarah as they neared the location with the two buildings.

It was a toss up over who was more frustrated.

Sarah looked at Cammy. She wanted to know what their plan was going to be. It didn't seem very many options were available to them currently.

"So what are we supposed to do when we get there?" Sarah asked.

Cammy knew she was physically restricted. She would be incapacitated if she came too close to the energy field. The group had experienced similar phenomenon before. The strangest of all seemed to have been the unknown portal.

"I can't function with the energy field in place." Cammy said.

Sarah wondered what it actually was for. From her understanding, the last time they'd encountered something of a similar nature; it was before a catastrophic failure of the equipment.

"Is it a weapon or a beacon?" Sarah asked. "Is there some kind of meltdown in progress?"

Cammy hoped it wasn't a beacon or a meltdown.

"I don't know." Cammy said. "We've encountered technology from a further future than the Fanatics are from in the last few days."

It worried Sarah. She thought it was a big enough problem dealing with the technology from the future. She could only imagine dealing with technology from an even further future was going to be harder to combat.

"Is this new or have we just found out about it?" Sarah asked.

Cammy frowned. There were a lot of unanswered questions on the table.

"I don't know everything for sure." Cammy said. "The most recent discovery was unknown to us before. What's happening here is still a mystery."

Sarah wondered how long the further future group had been there.

"Why are they here now?" Sarah asked.

Cammy was aware a lot of changes were made. It had to make a difference on future timelines. She believed there was a possibility it was a direct correlation to their actions. The longer they delayed the rise of Skynet, the more advanced and sophisticated it would be when it took control, or attempted to anyway.

"I think it's because of all the changes Cameron has made to hurt and slow down Skynet." Cammy said. "Maybe it's some other purpose."

Sarah hoped for a better answer. It seemed to leave a lot of unanswered questions.

"Like what?" Sarah asked.

It was evident Cammy felt a lot of frustration about the current situation right now.

"I don't know." Cammy said. "There's a lot I don't know."

Sarah felt someone should know more.

"Who does?" Sarah asked.

Cammy didn't have a definitive answer.

"Nobody…." Cammy said.

Anna and Mel needed to move back further from where they were at. The energy field seemed to either get bigger, or it was stronger. As far as they knew, it was probably both. They didn't know anything about the nature of it, or its origin.

They relayed the information back to John Henry and he passed it along.

Mel could see how disappointed Anna looked. He could see she was very concerned about Young Allison and Savannah. He was too.

"There will be others here soon to help." Mel said.

Savannah and Young Allison didn't want it. The order was to not send anyone else.

"It's not what they want." Anna said.

Mel knew humans were very compulsive.

"You know it's still going to happen anyway." Mel said.

Anna did know one thing. The situation was far from over and bound to get bigger. She was aware it hadn't even hit the fan yet.

"When they find out Young Allison is in there with Savannah, they're all going to come." Anna said. "Even those on the ship will come. They aren't going to allow a drone strike on those buildings until we know where Savannah and Young Allison are at. No one is going to act to 'kill' them, no matter what happens."

Mel believed everyone should know all the facts. He understood CamNet wanted to sit on the information for now. It was clear she wanted to cover up what was actually occurring. He didn't believe it was her fault. Young Allison decided to act on her own. He was in the SUV with her. He knew what the truth was. He also thought everyone should know what the truth was as well.

"I agree with you." Mel said. "When do we make it known?"

Anna knew more than one factor was at play. It was going to be a game changer. She was aware how everyone acted on the 'Day Of Loss'. Once everyone found out Young Allison was in the building with Savannah, it would be a repeat of what happened on that day. She knew there were other factors in play as well.

"Not until it is absolutely necessary." Anna said. "You know Young Allison doesn't want her mother to know what she's been up to."

Anna was still ready with the M82A1. Her angle of fire now wasn't very good. If they needed to move again, there would be no field of fire at all. She really wanted to reach out and 'touch' someone. She also knew they couldn't become incapacitated. If they did, it would draw more assistance away from Savannah and Young Allison.

The two Grays from the first white van were at the destroyed building. It appeared the catastrophic results were because a Terminator's power cell exploded

The second man wanted a closer look.

The first man thought it was a bad idea. He followed the second man towards the remains of the building. He wasn't sure if they'd find the bodies of his two compatriots or not. He'd seen both of them blown out of the building earlier when they went to go in through the door. He wasn't going to mention it to the other man. He didn't really care for him anyway. He figured it was just one more thing they would blame him for. He didn't think any of it was his fault. He was still worried about an emergency response.

"We need to be ready to pull out if we hear any sirens." The first man said. "It's hard to believe there hasn't been some type of response already. The level of destruction around here is quite extreme. It appears the buildings on both sides and in back of this location are all damaged as well."

The second man looked back at the building they'd passed alongside to enter into the property. The open door on the building bothered him somewhat. He didn't think it should be open. He still wanted to take a look inside of it when they left. He felt it was important if they could find any traces of what they've been working on inside of the building.

"We need to keep focus on what's right in front of us." The second man said.

The first man thought their focus should be on getting as far away from there as possible. The building was thoroughly destroyed. There was no sign of the two men he'd arrived with earlier. They were probably buried under some of the debris which now cover the area.

The main part of the building in the center was gone. There was nothing but a crater there down to the earth underneath the foundation. The peripheral edges were still burning.

The two men continued to look for anything Skynet related. So far they hadn't discovered anything. They hadn't discovered any pieces of the Terminator yet either. With the amount of debris scattered around, they could be anywhere or they could be vaporized.

The female Fanatic was very tired. She decided to set an alarm on one of the phones to go off every few minutes. She didn't want to accidentally doze off. She wanted to wait for one of the two white vans to return. She was sure they would lead her to another location.

The ground around her began to shake. She could hear the distinctive sound of an HK Track. The shaking continued and the noise continued.

Wait.

It wasn't an HK Track. It was an HK Tread.

She looked around to see where it was at.

Two HK drones passed low overhead.

There was weapons fire all around her.

'What the hell?' The female Fanatic thought.

There was an explosion off to the side. The ground shook even more. Pieces of debris landed around her. She tried to get low to the ground to avoid any shrapnel. It would have already hit her if it was coming.

There was another group of drones which passed by off to the side. It sounded like there were about six of them. There was a brilliant flash and the night sky was lit up. One of the drones was hit. Its power cell erupted. Even as she ducked down, she couldn't help but glance in the direction. She saw several of the drones with it were hit with shrapnel. One of them was on fire.

The ground around her shook more. The clanking grew louder. Other than flashes of light around her from time to time, she couldn't see anything. She checked her equipment. She didn't have any. There was no night vision equipment for her. She checked her gear. All she could find was a pistol and a knife. Where was her plasma rifle? Where was her automatic weapon?

She expected the HK Tread to appear from behind her. She could hear it was very close. She wasn't sure why she couldn't see it. She should be able to catch its silhouette in the mass of explosions going on around her.

There was another HK drone coming in low. She could hear the plasma cannon on it fire several times. She could see one explosion off to her left side. There was another one closer to her. There was another one closer still. She ducked down as close to the ground as she could get. If there were two more she was sure one of them was going to hit her, or shower her with burning plasma.

There were times when others were hit with plasma rounds. She remembered the intense agony and the severe burns they'd suffered. She could actually hear the screams in her head right now.

She quickly touched herself. No, the screams weren't hers. She wasn't on fire.

The ground continued to shake. The clanking was incredibly loud. The mass of the HK Tread suddenly appeared next to her. She rolled out of the way as the metallic tread almost hit her. It actually caught part of her pants leg as it passed. She hoped it didn't get caught between the metal sections of the tread and pull her up into it when it passed by.

There was another explosion right next to her. She could hear someone scream. Something hit her. The HK Tread opened fire on an unseen target. She could see what hit her. It was part of someone's arm. Everything went dark for a second. The HK Tread opened up again. She noticed there was a watch on the arm. It struck her as very strange. Why would someone have a watch on? She held up the forearm and waited for the next blast from the HK Tread. She could see the watch was a Rolex.

Something wasn't right.

Everything was wrong.

There was a noise which seemed to repeat near her head. It was very incessant.

The female Fanatic sat bolt upright. Her Beretta was in her hand as she searched for a target. She could feel her heart pounding. She was drenched in sweat. She was on a metallic surface. There was some heat underneath her. She was still on the hood of the car.

She looked over at the phone next to her. The alarm she'd set to go off, functioned as she'd intended. She shut it off.

A big rig passed by on the road on the other side of the hedge.

It took her a moment to catch her breath.

She figured it must have been a dream. She wasn't sure the term 'dream' was the right word. It was more like a nightmare.

The big rig was gone. She checked the road in both directions. She hoped to spot one of the white vans. There was no sign of either. She wasn't sure how long she'd been out for. It should have only been five minutes. She was sure she'd set the timer for five minutes.

She figured there'd be some fire trucks at the location by now. She checked around again to make sure there wasn't a police cruiser anywhere near her. It was relatively quiet. She didn't hear any sirens.

She walked around the car. She wanted to make sure there was nothing out of the ordinary. The dream left her very unsettled. She reached up and touched alongside her left breast. She could still feel her heart racing.

Waiting, it was always hard to do. It didn't matter if it was in the future, the past, or the present. She decided to walk back and forth a few times along the inside of the hedge. She couldn't be spotted easily from the street. If another vehicle approached, she would be able to observe it and not be detected.

Where were the fire trucks at? Maybe the emergency system was down. She was aware communications had been very sporadic over the last few days. Sometimes a phone would work, other times it didn't. Even the Grays complained about it.

She needed to relieve herself. She moved down to the corner of the hedge at the end of the property. Another hedge ran perpendicular to it towards the building. She pulled her pants down and squatted. It was just like normal. It was approximately twenty one seconds. She pulled her pants up and went back to the car.

There was probably something she could eat amongst all the junk and trash if she looked. She looked on the floorboard on the passenger side. She didn't find anything there. She moved to the back seat and looked there. It really disgusted her the men chose to live in such a fashion. How hard was it to throw the trash away? No really, how hard was it?

She found a flattened box of cheese flavored crackers. They were the little square ones. She shook the box and could hear there was something in it. She opened it up a little bit and dumped some into her hand. She held it up to the dome light in the car to look at it. She wanted to make sure there weren't any bugs on it. There weren't. She wouldn't have been surprised if there were. She put the crushed remains of the crackers into her mouth. They were very salty.

She found a bottle of water. Actually there were several. There was still a sip left in each of them. She drank what she could out of each of the bottles. She picked up another one. It was full. She held it up to the dome light. She could see the fluid inside of it wasn't clear. It was yellow. She turned around and threw it in the direction of the hedge on the side of the property. It most likely contained someone's urine. The behavior of the men disgusted her even more.

She found a few things to drink and a few things to eat. It wasn't a meal. At least it was a snack. Her pockets were full of cash. The cash didn't do her much good right now where she was parked. She would need to hit a convenience store at a gas station, or one of the twenty four hour mini markets.

It seems like it was time for one of the alarms to go off again. It didn't. Now she wasn't sure how long she'd been asleep. She didn't think it was more than half an hour. She hadn't really paid attention to the time. The moon still played tag with the clouds. Sometimes it was there, other times it wasn't.

The female Fanatic looked both ways down the road. She could spot some headlights coming from the east side. It was the direction the second white van had gone. It was the van with a single driver. It was too far away to tell what the vehicle was. She closed up the car and waited. Waiting, it was always the worst.

CamNet's Terminators were faced with a choice. Did they split up and each one of them take a branch, or remain together.

They wanted to avoid the possibility of anyone getting behind them. If someone knew the layout of the mine, they could try to trap them in a dead end passageway and blow the entrance closed.

They decided to split up. They'd taken a series of repeaters with them. They would be able to remain in contact with each other, and the outside, until they ran out of repeaters.

Lena could see it was time to make a decision.

"I'll take the left branch." Lena said.

Tina placed the repeater high up on the rock wall just in back of the divide. Both of their signals should be able to reach it.

"If we lose contact with each other, we should return to this point." Tina said.

Lena thought they should check in with each other every few minutes. They could still converse at a level low enough where only another Terminator could hear them.

"Let's see where the paths lead us." Lena said.

CamNet's two Terminators started off in different directions.

Spiral Staircase

When everyone is dealt their cards
They hope to receive an ace
It's hard to tell if it's the beginning
Or the end of the race

The reward for some
Is to shorten the chase
A weak or wobbly foundation
Never makes a strong base

No one wants to feel
They're easy to displace
Nobody ever wants to be the one
Someone else will replace

For the inevitable end
Once must strengthen and brace
Things that were quickly built
Are even easier to erase

Take stock of what's there
Don't get lost in space
Around and around people go
Like an endless spiral staircase

Nobody