Chapter 1354
Bad Old Days
Several things stuck out right now in John's mind. The first one was Cameron set it up and set him up. She'd even watched him make love to Allison. He figured she wanted to see what it was like for Allison and how she reacted. She probably wanted to see if he enjoyed it more, which he did. It probably showed on his face and in his body language.
The second thing that struck him was it actually felt better than what he was accustomed to. It didn't feel a little better. It felt a lot better. It was hard to explain. It was the same thing, but just better. It was more vibrant and fulfilling. It was Allison's reaction to everything. It was the human touch. It was only something he could dream about before.
John really wished he would have done this in Allison's future with her, and been doing it all along since then. It was what Cameron wanted him to do. How could he not take advantage of the girls when Cameron put them in his bed naked? They were there by choice too when they'd been there. They wanted to be with him and share.
Now he really wanted to be with Savannah. He hoped Vanna would come in next for her turn. She was here. He could really see what Savannah would be like. He'd thought Hanna was very nice. If Vanna was like Allison in bed, he was in for a real treat.
Allison finally relaxed and released him.
John rolled over in-between Allison and Cameron. He was at a loss for words.
He looked at Cameron.
She smiled at him and touched his cheek.
"This is what I want for you, John." Cameron said. "I want you protected and loved."
Cameron got up.
John started to as well.
Cameron gently pushed him back down.
"I want you to make love to Allison as herself now." Cameron said. "Do everything and give her your best. She deserves it. She's earned it."
Cameron smiled at Allison and left.
John and Allison looked at each other.
Allison snuggled up to John.
"Thank you." Allison whispered in his ear. "It's what I've wanted for so long from you."
Allison gave him a kiss, he eventually returned it. Things grew and expanded from there. Soon they did everything two people could do.
It was hard to tell which one of them was more excited.
"I consider this my first experience." Allison whispered. "This time I had a choice. This was my choice. It's the first time I truly shared myself with a male."
Allison showed John many ways how to please her. Some of them were new to him. The last one she showed him seemed to really incapacitate her. He was going to stop but she urged him not to stop what he was doing. A few seconds later there was a surprise finish. It was a first for him. It was something he'd read about and even seen a few videos on. It was a finish many females only dreamt about. It took Allison a few moments to gather herself after the wild finish.
Allison snuggled up to him and seemed to melt in his arms.
"I carry your child, John." Allison whispered. "Now it's real. It's really real for me. This is how it's supposed to be."
All John knew was he'd enjoyed everything immensely. He wanted to do more of the same thing. He decided he would be with Allison whenever he could. He would see what Cameron suggested and make sure he could make the most of it.
John knew he'd loved Allison ever since he first got to know her. Now he could feel the love expand out of control. He was hooked.
With Allison snuggled up to him, he could feel her warmth and softness. John hoped to have some sweet dreams. They kissed one more time slowly and deep before they drifted off to sleep in each other's arms.
Savannah moved carefully and quietly down the passageway. She would pause every fifteen feet or so and listen. It was the unknown. They'd needed to kill to get this far and stay alive. She was sure they would need to kill more people to get out. They needed to find out what the group was up to.
Young Allison tried to stay as far enough away from Savannah as possible, but still close enough to make out the details on the ground from Savannah's mostly concealed glow stick. She constantly checked behind her. They didn't need any surprises from behind them.
Savannah paused. She could hear what sounded like water dripping. There was something up ahead of her. She concealed the glow stick completely.
Young Allison moved up in the darkness and touched Savannah. They found comfort in each other in the darkness.
"What is it?" Young Allison whispered.
Savannah didn't have a firm answer for her yet.
"I don't know." Savannah whispered. "It sounds like dripping water. Let's wait a little bit and listen."
Young Allison waited and listened. She heard it too. It could present a new danger.
"If there's water on the floor, we're going to leave footprints at some point." Young Allison whispered.
Young Allison was going to mention their footprints would show up as smaller feet than men would have. She couldn't help but think about the female tied to the desk, and the two females at the base of the spiral staircase. All of them were dead. They all appeared to have suffered in various forms until they died.
Both of the girl's eyes were acclimated to the total darkness. They couldn't see a thing. It might be a good thing. It meant no one else was in the passageway.
They both knew there was a threat with the ability to see in the darkness. It would be a Terminator. It probably wouldn't be an endoskeleton Terminator either. It could be a Liquid Metal Terminator. They seemed to be more resilient to electrical disturbances. It was something neither one of them wanted to talk about, even if they were aware of it.
Savannah looked into the darkness in front of her. She turned around and looked into the darkness behind her. She felt somewhat at a loss.
"I'm not sure how far we've gone." Savannah whispered. "There isn't anything to reference in the darkness."
Young Allison tried to keep track too. It was impossible.
"There's no perspective. Our speed is slow and halting. We're moving like a deer." Young Allison whispered. "I think we're halfway to the other building. We may be closer."
It was Savannah's calculation as well. The open space between the two buildings might be over them at this point. There was no way to know for certain.
"I'm going to start again." Savannah whispered. "I'm going to let some of the glow stick come out.
There was the faint glow again off on Savannah's left side.
The drip noise got a little bit louder as they advanced.
Savannah could make out something on the side of the passageway wall. She moved closer to it. It was a door. She moved the glow stick over to illuminate the door.
Young Allison moved up to Savannah.
"Back up and let me try it." Young Allison said. "Watch the passageway."
Young Allison slowly turned the handle. There was a soft 'click' sound as the handle turned and the door opened slightly. Young Allison pushed the door in a quarter of an inch. It was dark inside. The sound of the dripping water was much louder now. It was coming from inside the room.
In the faint gloom, Young Allison indicated she was going to shove the door open. She motioned for Savannah to cover one side of the room at an angle from outside and she would cover the other side of the room at an angle from the other side. Neither one of them would be in front of the doorway when it opened.
Young Allison shoved the door open. She tossed her glow stick inside to illuminate the room and disorient anyone inside. She backed up to cover her side of the room. She was ready to toss the Thermite grenade inside at a moment's notice. It would really light the room at that point.
There was no movement or sound. The room was stacked with crates. It raised a few new questions.
Savannah thought about their entry into the passageway. She didn't see how any of the crates could be carried down the spiral staircase. There needed to be something more at the other end or some point between where they were and the other end.
"There must be a larger opening into the passageway other than the spiral staircase for the electrical equipment and now these crates." Savannah whispered. "I haven't seen anything so far. Wait here."
Savannah entered the room with her M9 before Young Allison could. She looked at the crates.
Young Allison watched the passageway.
Savannah looked at the crates. There was something about them. They seemed familiar to her.
"I've seen these types of crates before." Savannah whispered.
Young Allison doubted it was a good thing.
"Where was it at?" Young Allison whispered. "What was in them?"
Savannah saw crates like this in the mine she was almost trapped in. There was some power source in there they'd never found. It caused a mild earthquake when it exploded.
She remembered there were supplies and material set up to build some kind of large TDE. Cameron speculated they might be able to bring items through which weren't covered with living tissue or Liquid Metal. The Grays associated with this location here were most likely from a further future based on the energy ball. It would explain an advanced TDE.
Savannah checked a few of the crates. They were all empty.
"The electrical gear in the room by the spiral staircase probably was packed in these crates." Savannah whispered.
Savannah noticed there was a ladder. It ran up the side of the wall. It disappeared through an opening in the ceiling. Savannah moved over to it and lifted her glow stick. A drop of liquid passed in front of her face. There was some kind of a drain on the floor where it landed and made the drip noise.
"There's a ladder in here." Savannah whispered. "I'm going to see where it goes."
Savannah holstered her M9 and put her glow stick into her vest so it illuminated the ladder above her and allowed her to use both hands.
She went as high as the ceiling and peered up the opening. It looked like it went up about ten more feet and ended at a hatch of some kind. She went up and tried to open the hatch. It wouldn't budge. It could be rusted closed because of the water or there could be things piled on top of it. She came back down the ladder and retrieved Young Allison's glow stick.
She thought it looked rather dim. She checked hers too. They were probably almost used up. They needed to pick up the pace or go back the way they'd come. She didn't want to go back if it could be avoided. The energy ball was most likely much worse at this point. It was probably a bigger threat than the unknown area ahead of them.
Savannah exited into the passageway. She whispered to Young Allison what she saw and about their glow sticks.
"I don't think we're going to have light much longer." Savannah whispered.
Young Allison didn't like the timetable they were on. They didn't have any real control of it. Maybe there was a faster way out.
"Did it look like you could blow the hatch open?" Young Allison whispered. "We might be able to get out that way."
Savannah didn't know where it would exit at. Any explosion would pinpoint their location.
"I don't know. It might be worse." Savannah whispered. "We need to get moving. I don't want to be trapped down here in the dark. I don't want to go back the way we came either."
Savannah continued in the direction they were headed. She picked up the pace to triple what they'd been doing. The glow stick was rapidly dimming. It was apparent they only lasted so long.
Young Allison noted the haste. Some caution needed to be traded to not get left in the dark, literally.
Savannah didn't like what the final option would be to see. Each vest contained a few 'strike anywhere' matches. They would need to go back to the room with the crates and fabricate some kind of torch. They might need to use some of their clothing to burn. Based upon the condition of the other females she'd witnessed, she didn't want to lose too much clothing if it was possible not to. She didn't want to be taken captive by the Grays.
Kyle and Derek were now at the location. They'd each arrived with two Terminators. They were both parked at the current 'safe zone' perimeter. They'd received updates from John Henry and Anna. Sarah and Cammy were where Anna was at now.
Derek went over all the information they had. It wasn't much. He could only calculate what he would do in a similar situation if he were Savannah. He looked at the four Terminators and back at Kyle.
"I want to go to the north building." Derek said. "It's the location Savannah most likely is in now."
Tom didn't see any indication of Savannah moving from one building to another.
"You don't know if she is." Tom said.
Derek made an educated guess.
"Based on what we've seen happen at the south building, I don't think she's still there or still in there and alive." Derek said. "I'm going to go and check it out."
Kyle backed his brother's play.
"I'll go with you." Kyle said.
Steve reminded them of the restriction for anything electrical.
"You may not be able to see much." Steve said. "None of your gear will function."
Derek glanced at Kyle.
"We've been in worse places." Derek said.
Kyle nodded.
"There are cooking tablets for MRE packets and self striking matches in the van with the survival packs and in our vests." Kyle said. "We'll take those and some gasoline with us. Let's dump out some of the water bottles."
Al went under the van with a screwdriver and unhooked the fuel line from the gas tank. He quickly filled four water bottles with gasoline and reconnected the fuel line.
Some of the gasoline vapor drifted towards Kyle and Derek.
"The smell is awful." Derek said. "Let's hope the cheap plastic of these water bottles holds up to the fuel."
Derek pictured the water bottles softening and leaking gasoline on them. The smell could also give away their position.
Kyle excused himself and spoke briefly on a private line to Sarah. He told her of their plan and asked her not enter the combat zone if at all possible. He told her if there was some kind of an EMP blast, all the Terminators may go down. She would be the only one able to fight at that point. She suggested the four Terminators with them take the two vans and pull back further, or join up with where she was at.
Kyle went over what he discussed with Sarah with Derek and the Terminators. They decided to fallback further and split into two separate groups.
Derek and Kyle checked their gear and headed for the north building from the north side of it. They wanted the north building between them and the south building with the glow. They lost all communication within a few hundred feet of moving away from the vans. They were in the dead zone.
They agreed to mention it to each other, if either one of them felt some type of effect from the unknown energy field. As far as they knew, it only affected electrical equipment. It was possible it might have a negative effect on humans too. It could also be a cumulative effect. If it was, it would probably indicate Savannah wasn't in good condition at this point in time. It was hard for them to shake the image of what Cammy described with a female tied to a desk. They'd viewed the drone images of the men as they'd 'visited' the female several times each.
They moved on in silence.
It was like the good old days. Maybe those were really the bad old days. There was nothing good about the past, the future.
Sheila saw Leticia enter the sky lounge. It looked like she was looking for someone. She started over to her to see what she wanted.
Ally followed behind Sheila. She was ready to go back to the three large suites and get things started. She didn't want Sheila to fool around with Leticia. She saw someone move over and touch Leticia. Leticia turned around and smiled. She stopped Sheila.
"Leticia has someone else to hook up with." Ally said.
Sheila looked at the female who touched her.
"I think it's her cabin mate." Sheila said. "She hooks up a lot."
Ally wondered where her revelation came from.
"How do you know she does?" Ally asked.
Sheila didn't think it was a big deal.
"I asked Jim to keep an eye on them." Sheila said.
They noticed there were two other females behind Leticia's cabin mate. They all talked for a short time and headed back out of the sky lounge for the elevators.
"It looks like they all get to have a happy ending now." Ally said.
Sheila wondered if she could do some more piercings with Leticia's cabin mate and new friends. Just the thought of it excited her.
"Maybe so, a happy ending is always nice." Sheila said.
Ally was mindful of the time. She didn't want to be late.
"Since you mentioned it, I'm going down to the Owner's Suite now." Ally said.
Sheila wanted to make a joke about 'going down' but refrained. She knew Ally was a little on edge already. She knew Cameron wouldn't do it to John on her first time. It would only happen when she reset her programming back to what it currently was. After she reset herself, everything would happen. She wanted Ally to relax.
"You're a little early." Sheila said.
Ally wanted to get things started as soon as possible.
"I want to get it over with." Ally said.
Sheila didn't think Ally should think about it like that. There was more to it than just getting 'popped'. She wanted to give Ally a little support.
"OK. I'll go back with you. Remember, Cameron will take care of everything and it will be beautiful for you." Sheila said. "I'll see if Jim wants to go out for a while."
Ally knew why Sheila wanted to relieve Jim.
"You just want to see where Leticia and her friends end up." Ally said.
The thought crossed Sheila's mind. She wanted to be there for Ally.
"I may do it too. I'm going to wait for you in the spare bedroom of the Honeymoon Suite." Sheila said. "It's the real prize."
Ally thought Sheila might have a long wait.
"I don't know how long I'll be." Ally said. "It's all up to Cameron. I'm just along for the ride."
Sheila smiled and kissed Ally's cheek. She didn't want her to worry or over think it.
"It's a ride worth taking." Sheila said.
Ally was still uneasy anyway.
"Let's go." Ally said.
They headed for the elevators. One opened as they approached.
Vanna woke up and felt for Allison on the bed. Allison was gone. She checked the time and saw it was late. She figured Allison was probably with Holly.
It was fine with her. She wanted to be with Cam in Gail's chassis. She preferred what was smaller on Gail's chassis, to what was larger, both were nice.
She listened for a minute and could hear some action in the extra room connected to their suite. She thought Allison may be in there. She decided to get up and look. She peeked in the door and it was Holly and Gail-Cam. They were both going at it with some Terminator gusto.
Vanna was about to go back, when they finished. She was sure her being there is what prompted them to wrap it up. She was aware the Metal girls could enhance and regulate their finishes somewhat.
"I'd like to be with Allison if it is OK with you." Gail-Cam said.
Vanna thought maybe Allison was in the restroom of the spare bedroom.
"I guess it means I get to be with Holly then." Vanna said.
Holly's face brightened up.
"I'd like that." Holly said. "I know where I'm going to start too."
It was OK with Vanna. She smiled at Holly.
"I know where you're going to finish." Vanna said.
Holly gave Gail-Cam a quick kiss and entered the main part of the Master Suite. She scooped Vanna up in her arms and carried her to the bedroom.
Vanna forgot all about Allison after a very short while. The beautiful journey to 'Heaven' had a way of doing it.
Savannah made out what looked like a wall in front of her. Maybe the passageway turned. She slowed and concealed more of her glow stick.
Young Allison moved up close to her.
"I think we're at the end." Savannah whispered.
Both girls hoped it wasn't a dead end.
Savannah looked for an opening in the gloom of her glow stick. She spotted it. There was a hoist of some kind. It sat in the middle of the open area and there was a spiral staircase. It went out of view like the one at the other end.
Savannah lifted her glow stick to see if there were any other rooms on this end. There were none. She watched the room turn black as her glow stick failed.
"Beautiful." Savannah whispered.
Young Allison immediately handed her the glow stick she carried.
"I don't think it has very long either." Young Allison whispered.
Savannah looked at it and agreed.
"We need to get out of here." Savannah whispered.
They were about to go up the spiral staircase when there was a 'squeal' sound at the top.
Savannah quickly concealed the glow stick and they moved behind the hoist. They touched it by memory since they knew where it was. There was some light that showed, and the sound of someone coming down the staircase.
"Find out what the morons are doing over there." The first voice said. "Our control panel is all over the place. I don't want some minor problem to become an issue."
"I'll check it out." The second voice said.
"Kill that crazy bitch too." The first voice said. "She's disrupting things too much. She's pretty well used up anyway. She's nothing but a sloppy mess at this point. Franco can't seem to get enough of her. I took her an inch lower the last time. I liked to see the pain it caused her."
Both men laughed.
"It was good while it lasted." The second voice said. "When the new group gets here, we will have to go get a homeless Bitch or some drug addict slut. They're just trash anyway. No one ever misses them."
Both men laughed again.
"Just think, once they were someone's daughter, their little girl." The first voice said.
Both men laughed harder.
"I bet daddy and mommy wouldn't like to see their little girl now." The second voice said.
Both men laughed even harder.
The glow brightened as a man came into view through the slots in the hoist's container.
They heard the door up above them close. It closed with the same metallic 'squeal' noise.
Savannah and Young Allison both laid low with their silenced M9 in their hand.
They watched the man pass them. He never even looked at the hoist.
Young Allison didn't like the idea of having someone in front of them and in back of them. She was going to take the man out. In an instant she was up and moving. She went to the corner where the passageway was.
Savannah went to stop her but it was too late. She heard a silenced round fired and then another a second later. She held her M9 ready.
Young Allison came back around the corner with the glow stick and two more. They weren't activated. She handed Savannah one of each.
Young Allison saw Savannah look at her. She didn't think she'd done anything wrong. She'd done what was necessary. She felt her actions were more than justified.
"He was the enemy." Young Allison whispered. "We needed a new glow stick. Now we have three."
Savannah probably would have let the man pass since they knew where the stairway was. The other glow stick was out now. They would be without any light if Young Allison hadn't acted. She heard Young Allison change her M9 magazine for a fresh one. Everything she did was 'text book'. It was evident Young Allison was a weapon.
She was sure too she'd killed him for what he'd said about the females. He deserved to die for laughing about it, as much as he did for doing it. The part about the girl's parents was just wrong. Those females were all someone's daughter. They were too. They needed to get moving.
"Let's go up top." Savannah whispered. "We know of one target for sure."
Based on what the man said about a control panel, it sounded like there was more than one man to Young Allison. She wondered how the control panel was able to work unless it was tied directly into the machine or they were in some kind of a shielded room.
"He mentioned another group too." Young Allison whispered.
Savannah didn't know if it was any of the people they took out in the south building or not.
"We'll deal with any threat." Savannah whispered. "Let's go."
Savannah and Young Allison started up the staircase.
Young Allison planned to kill the first man who spoke earlier as soon as she found him. Cameron instilled this type of 'justice' in her when they went on training missions. This was for real. Scavenger type actions needed to be reckoned with. Violent behavior directed at females was punishable with termination.
John Henry watched as a delivery truck approached the location. It was out of place at this time of the night. He was unsure how it was inside the perimeter already.
He directed Steve and Tom to intercept it. They'd fallen back to the point where they couldn't catch it and still function at an acceptable level.
The delivery truck went right up to the spot where the two vans had been parked earlier and kept going until the truck stalled.
John Henry saw CamNet was going to fire a missile at it. He reminded her Derek and Kyle were in the area and were probably too close. They didn't know what type of cargo the truck carried either.
He tried to see how he'd missed the truck earlier. Where did it come from? He checked the drone footage. He couldn't pick it up. It didn't come from anywhere outside of the area. It had to come from another building not far from where they were.
He came up with two possible locations. He sent Al and Ed to one and Steve and Tom to the other. It appeared there were more targets to deal with. The Terminators would need to deal with them while they could still function. They didn't want to start out 'surrounded' by the enemy. A few EMP blasts would take out all of the Terminators.
Cammy and Sarah received the news as well.
"We should go to a target we can hit and back them up." Sarah said.
Cammy checked for additional updates.
"CamNet has more Terminators on the way. They'll back up those two teams. They were in the buildings earlier too." Cammy said.
Sarah didn't like Derek and Kyle having the enemy behind them and in front of them. She was worried about them now, even more than she had been.
"I think I should go back up Derek and Kyle." Sarah said.
Anna told Sarah where they were located earlier when she'd spotted the cat.
"You can cover the space between both buildings there with the Barrett." Anna said.
Mel stepped forward.
"I'll take you there until I need to shut down or I'm shut down." Mel said.
Sarah could see the danger in it.
"Will it damage you?" Sarah asked.
Mel wanted to make sure Sarah was protected for as long as possible.
"I don't know." Mel said.
Cammy came up with what she believed was a better idea.
"I'll go with her." Cammy said. "I have a back up program."
Cammy took the M82A1 from Anna with two extra magazines. She wanted to do what she could to protect Savannah and the others. She figured they could always recover her chassis later on if she was terminally shut down.
"We need to protect the ones we love." Cammy said. "I'll go as far as I can with you until I drop. I want Savannah back."
Sarah wondered how badly it was going to damage Cammy.
Cammy could see Sarah's concern for her. She spoke the truth. She spoke what she believed.
"Love is about sacrifice." Cammy said. "Let's go."
The two men entered the white van parked down the street and drove off. They headed towards the location where the man who'd survived the bombing was from.
The first man didn't think they needed to go where they were headed.
"Everything here was just like I told you." The first man said. "It's going to look exactly the same at the next place. I saw the building collapse as we drove away."
The second man thought they should check it out anyway.
"We need to see if anyone can tell what we were up to." The second man said. "We don't want anyone else breathing down our necks."
The first man thought it was a mistake. He was sure whoever blew the buildings up was probably watching them. By them visiting the locations, it only put a target on their back.
"We need to make sure we don't have a tail." The first man said.
The second man quickly checked his mirrors.
"I've been checking since we left the other facility." The second man said. "I mean the complex where I'm from."
The first man hoped he hadn't led anyone there.
"I checked to make sure I wasn't followed when I went there." The first man said.
The second man wasn't sure if it mattered or not.
"Based on what we found behind the last building we were at, it's clear someone had it under surveillance for at least a few weeks." The second man said. "We've had a few locations taken down in the last few days. I'm pretty sure everything we have is targeted."
The first man tried to use his phone again.
"I still can't contact anyone with my phone." The first man said.
The second man tried his phone again as well.
"I don't think any of this is a coincidence." The second man said. "It also reeks of an artificial intelligence being involved as well."
The first man thought about SkyMaster.
"With an AI involved, and all the explosions, it really sounds like those nut jobs." The first man said.
The second man knew it could be any of them. A further future group did seem most likely.
"We don't know who it was." The second man said.
The two Grays thought about all of the implications. They faced an uncertain enemy on several levels. They often didn't even know exactly who the enemy was. They continued on towards the next location.
The female Fanatic waited for the white van to return from the street it turned down. It took a little longer than she thought it would. She figured the man must have checked around to assess the damage or determine if there were any survivors. She tried to look at the van through the hedge as it passed. She couldn't see anyone in the passenger seat. It didn't mean there wasn't someone in the back, or some injured in the back. Either way it didn't matter, she'd brought the building down and hopefully killed everyone inside.
The white van headed back in the direction it had just come from. She wanted to find out where it was headed. She still had a couple of targets on her list. She moved the shift selector from 'neutral' into 'drive'. She didn't want to step on the brakes and create any light at all. It's why she left it running and in 'neutral'.
She made sure there were no cars coming in either direction before she pulled out to follow the van. Her headlights were off. It was late so there was very little traffic out. She just needed to keep the tail lights of the van in sight. She didn't want to lose it.
The female Fanatic continued her pursuit of the white van. Wherever it ended up at, was a target.
The man in the white van looked back once as he made his turn onto the main street. He didn't spot anyone around. He needed to hurry back to the mine. He checked his mirror once as he drove. There was no one spotted behind him.
He still needed to get over the shock of what happened to his building. He was sure if he'd been inside of the building when it was hit with the truck bomb, he would have been killed too.
It wouldn't be the first time he'd cheated death. He'd been able to survive in the future. It was never easy. It was always hard. His experience was, either kill or be killed.
There'd been quite a few questionable things he needed to do over the years. Sometimes he needed to kill people who were his friends. It was nothing personal. It was about survival. What else mattered?
The Gray checked his mirrors again. He didn't see anyone behind him. He tried his phone again as well. It was still inoperable. He headed towards the mine location. He hated to be the bearer of bad news.
The communication device Tina took from the terminated sentry crackled. It was time for another check in with the Grays.
Lena decided to move ahead slightly while Tina communicated with Omega.
Tina checked the surveillance camera they'd placed on the outside of the mine. Everything looked the same.
"How does everything look, Alpha?" The man asked.
Tina smiled to herself and her answer.
"There have been no new developments outside." Tina said in the dead sentry's voice. "All is as it was."
"Can you reach any of the other locations?" The man asked.
Tina knew all of the communications except their own were jammed.
"So far it's a negative, Omega." Tina said in the dead sentry's voice.
"Keep me posted if anything changes." The man said.
"Roger, Omega." Tina said in the dead sentry's voice.
Lena moved down the passageway several hundred feet. She was close enough now where she could make out what each of the individuals said as they spoke. There was also some type of mechanical sound. There was intermittent pounding as well. She heard someone conduct the call with Tina in the dead sentry's voice. They didn't seem any the wiser when they'd finished.
"With all of the trouble recently, is this even necessary?" The first man asked.
"It seems we need more fortified locations." The second man said.
"I don't think fortification is the key." The third man said. "I think it's about remaining clandestine."
"I think he's right." The fourth man said. "Once a location is known, there's always some way to take it out. It doesn't matter if it's in solid rock or not."
"I don't think we're in a very stable location." The first man said.
"We all saw the collapsed passageway on the other branch." The third man said. "It appeared to be a natural cave in. It wouldn't take much to blow one of the passageways closed and trap us all in here."
"We could always dig our way out." The first man said.
"It looked like someone tried to do it on the other branch." The fourth man said. "It didn't look like they got very far. You also need to think about the oxygen supply."
Lena continued to close up the distance. She could see the light where the men were at. So far she'd only heard four of them. There could be more of them as well.
Tina finished up her call and hurried to rejoin Lena. She moved further along the passageway than she'd anticipated.
When they rejoined, they spoke at a low decibel level.
"Did you find anything out yet?" Tina asked.
Lena believed they would need to physically look.
"From what they've discussed so far, it doesn't sound like much has happened in here." Lena said.
They were now close enough to see the men.
"I want you two clowns to get back to work." The second man said.
"We're not clowns." The third man said.
"When you talk about cave-ins and lack of oxygen, you sound like it." The second man said.
"Everything we brought up was a possibility." The fourth man said.
"Just get back to work." The second man said. "We'll finish up here and then rejoin you."
They watched as two of the men departed.
Tina wanted to act.
"We should terminate all of them now." Tina said.
Lena thought it was too soon.
"We need to find out if there are any more Grays in here." Lena said.
Tina figured they could beat it out of the men.
"We could question them." Tina said.
Lena thought they would need to take the men out of the mine so their screams couldn't be heard as they were interrogated.
"You can fall back and call Omega." Lena said. "He's one of the two men still here. He more than likely would know the most about what's going on. I can take care of the other three and any others that might be in here. We each have a satchel charge. Leave me yours. I'll place one around here somewhere. I'll place the second one near the entrance when I come out. I don't think things are as stable as they look."
Tina agreed and headed back. She looked forward to interrogating one of the Grays.
Lena already spotted several locations where she could conceal herself. She moved back to one of them and waited.
The two Grays in the white van neared the other location.
"We're almost to the street where we need to turn." The first man said.
"I know where it's at." The second man said.
They both noticed one thing as they neared.
"I don't see any emergency response around here either." The first man said.
"It's been several hours." The second man said. "Perhaps they've come and gone."
They both knew it was a possibility. Neither one of them believed it.
"I think this is some more handy work of the advanced AI." The first man said.
The second man thought so as well.
They turned off their lights as they neared the location. They could still see some flames flickering and smoke drifting into the sky. There were no flashing red lights around the area. With active flames still burning, there should be at least one fire unit still there. There was nothing.
The second man got a good look at the location when the moon popped out between the clouds.
"Wow, this place is wasted." The second man said.
The first man felt a little disgusted with him.
"Everything's exactly as I told you guys all along." The first man said. "Let's just go."
The second man thought they should still take a look around.
"We need to see what's left." The second man said. "There were subassemblies at this location. They were in the process of assembling some of the HK equipment."
The two Grays parked the white van near part of the building which was still standing. It was only one wall at a corner. Everything else around it was collapsed and burnt. They got out to take a look.
The Gray in the white van drove rapidly towards the mine location. He continued to check behind him to make sure he wasn't being followed. There were no headlights visible. He passed several vehicles along the way. They'd been going in the opposite direction.
He really didn't know what to think at this point. His first instinct was to warn the others. He was sure the mine location was a target as well. He also thought about turning around and running. He knew he'd be able to buy himself some time for a while. He also knew one of the Terminators associated with the group would track him down and kill him. It's what happened to two of the other guys who'd taken off.
The Gray in the white van checked his mirrors one more time. It was still clear behind him.
The female Fanatic kept the tail lights of the van in view. She really hoped the Gray wouldn't turn them off. If he did, she would need to move up much closer to him.
She passed two oncoming vehicles since she'd been on the tail of the white van. One of them flashed their headlights on and off for her. She ignored them.
The female Fanatic stayed behind the white van. She didn't know what the destination was yet. It didn't matter. She would bring it down and kill everyone inside whatever it was.
As soon as Tina reached the branch of the two passageways, she made the call.
"Omega, come in." Tina said in the dead sentry's voice. "This is Alpha."
The voice sounded a little nervous.
"What do you have, Alpha?" The first man asked.
Tina wanted to make it sound good.
"There's an unknown vehicle approaching." Tina said in the dead sentry's voice.
"It's probably just some kids." The first man said.
"Do you want me to kill them when they get here?" Tina asked in the dead sentry's voice.
"You should be able to run them off." The first man said.
"What if they're drunk or hopped up?" Tina asked in the dead sentry's voice.
"You should be able to handle it." The first man said.
"I see a second vehicle now." Tina said in the dead sentry's voice.
"Sit tight, Alpha." The first man said. "I'm on my way there now."
Lena watched the two men. She watched the one man take the call. He didn't look very pleased as he took it. As soon as he was done he turned to the second man.
"You finish up here." The first man said. "I need to see what's happening outside. There are two cars headed in this direction."
The second man looked in the direction the other two men left earlier.
"Do you want me to get the others?" The second man asked.
The first man didn't really know what was happening.
"I don't think it will be anything we can't handle." The first man said.
Lena watched as the first man departed. He passed by her location and headed for the entrance of the mine. After he was by her, she alerted Tina.
Tina waited at the branch for the man to arrive.
Bad Old Days
Some want to create
They want to build and raise
Others want to destroy
They want to burn and raze
The journey through a mind
Is a convoluted twisted maze
To see it all laid out
Leaves one in a daze
There are moments of brightness
Others are a clouded foggy haze
Some are sure to set
The heart and soul ablaze
Sometimes there's criticism
Other times there's praise
It seems very little happens
For what one hopes and prays
It's not a silly phase
Or just another craze
When one wishes always
For the bad old days
Nobody