Chapter 1558
No Communication
John Henry was in communication with Bob's team. The target area seemed secure enough for them to enter with the trucks. They needed to collect the HK equipment. There'd only been one breakout attempt by any Grays and it was repulsed. They'd been able to make contact with Larry and Hank when the door was open. They said they'd take care of the Grays.
Summer looked over the drone images. She wanted to get things moving.
"I think they're good to go on the first and second building." Summer said. "There's good drone coverage. Everything is clear. Larry and Hank have the Grays under control."
John Henry wanted to make sure it stayed that way. He was ready to make some duty assignments.
"I think they can move in with two trucks per building." John Henry said.
Summer, like Young Allison, was worried about any additional Skynet forces arriving. She kept track of what was on the ground and in the sky.
Bob and Jim were given the 'all clear' to approach with the big trucks. Al and Ed were a few minutes behind them.
They drove past the first building and went straight for the second building. They would load all of the HK drone and HK Track subassemblies first. There were some large military style trucks there if they needed them. There were several in both the first and second building. After the operation concluded, they should have extra drivers available. They would take as much of what they could.
As they pulled up to the second building, a drone did a low level scan. It also performed the same task a few minutes ago. Everything was clear.
Cam left the large roll up doors unlatched. They just needed to push up on them to open them.
Bob pulled up and stopped off to the side of the door. He hopped out and opened the roll up door. He went inside. Jim backed up to the opening.
Jim got out and headed for the back of the truck. Bob already opened it and went over to start a forklift. They went to work.
Al and Ed arrived at the first building a few minutes later. A drone did the same low level scans for them. Everything was clear. They set up and went to work the same way Jim and Bob had done.
Everything was easy to find because of Cam's earlier reconnaissance inside of the buildings. They didn't need to search for anything. They were already informed where it was at.
Michael and Richard were in the hangar section of the third building. They moved all the drone subassemblies together for faster loading. They'd also collected any serviceable weapons from the Grays who were there and were now terminated.
Bob and Al were able to report they would fill all four of their trucks and two of the large military style trucks to get everything.
Michael said they would need at least one of the military trucks if not two of them based on their size. Bob gave him the dimensions. It was determined they would need two of the military trucks.
Al moved two of the military trucks out of the first building as Ed and him continued to load.
Michael would remain where he was at and Richard would go and retrieve one.
Richard went out the back of the hangar. The large door was open.
Michael could hear a drone approach.
Young Allison wanted to make sure the 'back door' remained open for the teams inside the hill right now.
"Send 'Coltan Overcast' into the hangar to back up Michael while Richard is out." Young Allison said. "Wait. Have 'Coltan Overcast' take Richard to the first building to retrieve a military truck. It will save time. He won't be gone long if the procedure is done as directed."
Anna set it up.
'Cherry Bomb' increased the speed of its patrol back and forth as 'Coltan Overcast' left to pick up Richard and fly him to the first building.
CamNet sent out an alert. There was an unidentified HK drone which was just picked up at medium altitude. It was thirty miles out and closing fast.
One of their drones at fifty thousand feet moved to intercept it.
Young Allison wanted to keep the altitude advantage.
"Keep our drone at its same altitude." Young Allison said. "Don't get suckered down."
Anna knew Young Allison didn't want to be caught flat footed like the enemy was at Midway when the dive bombers arrived. They simply peeled off in formation, and made their bombing runs against the flat tops, just like in practice. The enemy fighters were all down on the deck having just dealt with the torpedo bombers. The enemy pilots were all after an 'easy kill' and failed to protect their aircraft carriers. The dive bombers all scored. The flat tops were soon on their way to the bottom.
"CamNet has more drones on the way. They're almost to the target area." Anna said. "There's one of our drones on an intercept course with the unknown HK drone."
Young Allison wanted to make sure they were covered.
"Have the drone go out on a wider patrol in the direction the HK drone was first picked up at." Young Allison said. "If there are more of them, I bet they won't come from the same direction. I want to make sure. I think more will arrive, and it will be from a different direction and altitude. The HK drone is probably a scout. It could be a decoy as well."
Anna agreed with her assessment.
"I think you're right." Anna said. "The drone at fifty thousand feet will be over the incoming HK drone in a few minutes."
Young Allison wanted to try something. She hoped to be able to create a sucker play.
"Have the drone at altitude take a 'gravity shot' at the HK drone." Young Allison said. "I want it damaged enough so it needs to return to base. The nature of the attack should remain a mystery to it. Hopefully it will be recalled with 'mechanical difficulties'."
Anna nodded. They should be able to track the HK drone back to its origin.
"We can see where it goes. If it lands, we can see who comes to fetch it." Anna said.
Young Allison hoped to catch a bigger fish with the small one.
"It's what I want." Young Allison said.
CamNet already had a force of additional drones on the way. They were scattered in three groups over thirty miles of sky. Two drones broke off from each group to increase it to fifty mile patrol around the target area. There were additional drones tied up with the two operations she currently conducted on the side. If the drones needed to be pulled from either of those operations to back up the Resistance operation, it would be done. It would leave her three Terminators out in the 'dark' until more drones could be dispatched.
The enemy HK drone came from somewhere. Where there was one HK drone, there was more than likely going to be other HK drones as well. They wanted to find them first before the enemy HK drones found them.
Hanna and Ally were in the right branch off of the main passageway. They'd activated two HK Tracks after they put the Resistance transponder code into them. After the two HK Tracks communicated with each other, they decided to shut them down instead.
HK Tracks seemed to be communicating with each other again right now. They were worried it may become a problem.
"Let's deactivate them before they go 'Postal' on us and everyone else." Ally said.
Hanna knew the term 'Postal' was a myth. The Post Office shootings were no worse than any other workplace shootings based on proportion. There were thousands of Post Office facilities.
"I think so." Hanna said. "I don't trust them."
They each moved in back of one of the HK Tracks and went to turn them off.
Both of the HK Tracks spun their treads and took off rapidly. They headed out towards the main passageway.
Ally and Hanna looked at each other and ran after them. They hoped they wouldn't turn around and shoot at them. They issued a warning to anyone who could still hear them.
Events hadn't played out the way they thought they were going to. Now they didn't know what was going to happen.
Cam and Samantha were down the left branch. They arrived at a metal door. They just cleared the living quarters. The area was clear and no Grays were present. It looked like everyone left in a hurry.
They'd received the code Gail sent out earlier about the metal door she'd opened. The same code worked on several other doors before they'd lost contact with them. They put in the code. The door opened. They changed the code to what Gail changed the other ones to.
Samantha wondered how sophisticated the system actually was.
"Do you think these doors are all connected to a central computer?" Samantha asked.
Cam wondered about it herself.
"You're concerned it might be connected to some version of Skynet." Cam said.
It seemed plausible to Samantha. She thought about the earlier encounter at the old pump house.
"It seemed to know what happened outside and where to direct the Grays earlier." Samantha said.
Cam knew it was true. The Resistance team was able to spot the enemy, before the enemy was able to spot them.
"So far we haven't located any surveillance cameras in here." Cam said. "Everything is supposed to be jammed."
Samantha wondered how deep though. They were underground now and into the hillside.
"We can't get a signal out from where we are now." Samantha said. "Maybe we can't jam the signal this deep either."
Cam looked around further. It made sense. Their three teams could communicate with each other, but they couldn't communicate with the outside. Some version of Skynet may be able to control what happened inside of the hill, even if it lost control of the exterior.
"No, maybe we can't." Cam said.
They continued through the passageway which was now more like a tunnel. They hoped to link up with Young Jesse and her team soon.
They wanted the backpack nuke where they knew they could deploy it, if it was needed.
Cammy continued straight ahead after she dumped the two bodies of the Grays. She wanted to find 'Robby The Robot' and the 'Metal Bitch'. They were down in 'The Hole'. She hoped to be able to personally terminate both of them, especially the 'Metal Bitch'.
She spotted what looked like a hoist. She'd encountered those before with Skynet, at least Cameron had.
"Cammy, there are two HK Tracks headed towards the main opening where you're at or near you. They just left where we were." Hanna said.
There was the sound of an HK Track somewhere behind her.
Cammy was more than a little concerned. Being tracked by a Terminator was one thing, being tracked by an HK Track was another. She wanted to know more.
"What's the story on the HK Track?" Cammy asked.
Ally didn't think it was a big deal. It could be though. They didn't know.
"We started to reprogram them and they took off on their own." Ally said. "We don't have any 'sticky shockers'."
Cammy noticed Ally indicated 'them' instead of 'it'.
"Do you mean there's more than one?" Cammy asked.
Hanna wanted the information out there. She believed it was their responsibility since they're the ones who'd activated them.
"Yes." Hanna said. "There are two of them."
Cammy wanted a more specific location.
"Where are they now?" Cammy asked.
Ally could only report what they'd witnessed.
"They were headed the way you went." Ally said.
Cammy wasn't sure what new type of problem the turn of events would cause.
"Beautiful…." Cammy said.
Sheila led the group along through the tunnel.
"I think we're close to the buildings now." Sheila said.
Without communications, or any way to track themselves, it was all speculation based on dead reckoning.
"We'll know soon enough." Young Jesse said.
Camille moved up closer to Sheila. They were on opposite sides of the tunnel.
There was the sound of a metal door opening ahead of them.
Camille indicated to Young Jesse to stop.
The entire team stopped and listened.
Camille dropped back to Young Jesse.
"There's someone ahead of us." Camille whispered. "We all heard a metal door open."
Young Jesse listened but she couldn't hear anything.
Sheila decided to move the team forward. They started out slow and continued in the direction of the sound.
There was soon a pause again.
"Stay behind me." Camille whispered to Young Jesse.
Sheila motioned for the team to hold as she moved forward alone. She couldn't see anyone. It was probably because there was another series of ninety degree bends ahead. She advanced with her Taser and silenced M9 in front of her.
She stopped short of the turn. She got down low on her knees and then laid flat. She moved one eye around the side of the wall.
There were two men there. They were back close to the next bend. There might be others behind them. They'd paused with their weapons ready. It was possible they'd peered around the bend earlier and spotted them moving. It seemed doubtful, but they clearly weren't going anywhere right now for some reason. They were an impediment to their forward progress.
Camille could tell there was a problem. She moved Hank and Larry in front of Gail and Young Jesse.
"I'm going up to where Sheila is at." Camille whispered. "Something's wrong. It must be contact."
Young Jesse understood the seriousness of the unknown threat.
"Be careful, love." Young Jesse whispered.
Gail reached back and gave Young Jesse's hand a squeeze. She wanted Young Allison to remember what Camille's base program was.
"Remember, she's 'Cameron'." Gail whispered.
Young Jesse understood the reality. It was what it was, even if it was different.
Claire moved her arm and bumped into something. She opened her eyes and looked up. The room was dimly lit. She felt someone in bed next to her. It didn't seem like the nursery. She was surprised to see John in her bed. John was asleep.
She quickly realized it was John's room and she was in his bed. She lifted the sheet and looked down, she was naked and so was he.
Claire thought about getting up to check on Summer. She didn't think it was necessary. She would rather stay there until John woke up. She wanted to be with him again. She could feel her body start to respond, just with the thought.
If she moved in with him like Cameron suggested, this is what she could have every night and wake up to every morning. She wanted to see what would happen in the morning when he woke up. She wanted him to 'take' her.
She thought about what a good time she'd shared with him previously and how he made her feel. She relived those moments now. She didn't realize it at first, but she'd begun to touch herself as she thought of it all again. Now she worked things a little harder as she remembered it all. She 'finished' in just a few minutes. She stayed with it and finished again and again. She wanted him more than ever and she was really ready right now. She knew she was more than ready.
Richard went outside the hangar. 'Coltan Overcast' came down low to the ground but didn't set down. He hopped up on top of it and it hurried him to the first building. It was a short but fast ride.
He hopped off when it was a few feet off of the ground.
'Coltan Overcast' took back off into the night sky.
Al met him. There were two trucks ready to go.
"Take one of the trucks." Al said. "I'll follow you with the other one. 'Coltan Overcast' can bring me back."
Richard could hear Ed inside the building with a forklift.
They each got into a military style truck. Al left both of them running. They drove past the second building and could see Jim and Bob hard at work there.
Michael could hear the two trucks approach. He was aware of who it should be. He moved off to the side anyway. They both pulled into the hangar area near the equipment they needed to load. He approached the trucks.
Al tossed him the keys and went back outside.
'Coltan Overcast' was there waiting for Al. He hopped on and it took him away. He was soon back at work with Ed.
Richard and Michael went to work
"This will take longer without the forklift." Michael said.
They'd used it to block the blast door open earlier. It was a precaution.
"We need to make sure the girls can get out." Richard said.
Young Allison wanted the HK drone which approached the team damaged but not destroyed.
CamNet conducted a high altitude gravity shot and scored. The HK drone took a number of hits and started to smoke. It still continued on its path towards where the team was currently at.
"It only appears to have slowed." Anna said. "It did a complete search in all directions for a target before it continued along."
Young Allison didn't want it any closer to the team.
"Hit it again." Young Allison said.
CamNet took another limited shot. The 'metal hail' hit the HK drone again, this time it dropped off to one side and started to spiral down.
"It's damaged even more now." Anna said.
The HK drone was able to stabilize itself somewhat but was still at a thirty degree angle. It resumed its original course towards the team. It was at a much lower altitude now.
Young Allison decided to bring it down.
"Hit…." Young Allison started.
Just as she began to speak, the drone dropped to a forty five degree angle and turned around. It was clear it was severely damaged at this point.
The drone at altitude followed it. One of the drones CamNet sent in the second group of their drones climbed up to take its previous position.
Young Allison was sure there would be some type of response.
"I think there are going to be more HK drones." Young Allison said.
Anna was sure there would be once the damaged one was inspected.
"If any Grays, or a Terminator, get a look at the one we hit, I'm sure there will be." Anna said. "They'll see what the damage actually is."
Young Allison knew they would see what the damage was caused by. It would be clear it was hit by projectiles and not a mechanical issue.
"I intend for whoever retrieves it to get the same thing." Young Allison said.
Ally and Hanna hurried off after the two HK Tracks.
"They seem to be headed somewhere." Ally said.
Hanna was sure it was towards Cammy.
"Cammy is the one who needs to worry." Hanna said.
They made sure Cammy knew what was coming her way.
Cammy was worried. The unknown actions by the errant HK Tracks was very worrisome.
"Where are they now?" Cammy asked.
Ally could only give her a general idea.
"They were still headed the way you went." Ally said.
Cammy would have hoped for something a little more specific.
"Beautiful…." Cammy said.
Cammy was headed towards where 'The Hole' was at. The hoist was above it. She took cover behind some crates. The first ones she went behind were empty. It wasn't going to cut it. She moved to another set of crates which were full of something.
The HK Tracks clanked over to 'The Hole' and stopped. They faced each other again before they turned and pointed back the direction they'd come from. They appeared to guard it from someone who would approach from the outside. She was parallel next to them and could get behind them at this point. They probably were hard wired to protect whatever version of Skynet was down in 'The Hole'.
Cammy checked her gear. She only carried one sticky shocker with her. She could take one of them down from the side, probably without the other one understanding what happened to it. She could take down the other one with her Taser. It was always risky since the barbs needed to jam in a joint. She'd need to be right on top of it. She'd like to disable them without any shooting. She didn't want to alert whoever was in 'The Hole' to their close proximity.
So far she believed their actions were largely undetected. It may not be the case. Someone knew where to send the patrol to where Gail and Young Jesse were at earlier.
Cam and Samantha passed through the metal door and secured it behind them with the new code. They were concerned as to what version of Skynet located there could actually detect. They didn't know if their movements were being tracked.
They were in a tunnel now. It was only lit with dim red lights every so often. It was enough to see by to move around for humans and not much else.
"I think there's a junction up ahead." Samantha whispered.
They slowed as they approached.
Cam held up her hand to stop Samantha.
"Fall back…." Cam whispered.
They both quickly backpedaled. They moved back fifty feet and lay on the ground against each side in the darkness between the high mounted red lights. They both brought their M4 up. The threat didn't sound mechanical. Cam quietly chambered a buckshot round in her M203 mounted below her M4. She removed the 'sticky shocker' round from it. It was the type of 'shocker' which could be fired at a greater distance. It was designed to disable HK equipment from a distance.
Right now they didn't have any communication with anyone. They didn't know Cammy could use the 'sticky shocker' round.
They watched a group of four men exit from the branch. They didn't know where the branch came from.
"Let's get out of here." The first Gray said.
The first Gray looked like he was in a hurry.
"We need to clear the tunnel first." The second Gray said.
Cam and Samantha could see two Grays turn in their direction. They sighted their weapons on them.
"Hey, stupid, you're about to go the wrong way." The third Gray said. "The direction you're about to turn goes to the sleeping quarters and main complex area."
The fourth Gray looked angry by the way he was addressed.
"Don't call me stupid." The fourth Gray said. "I've never been in these tunnels before. I thought they were just escape routes."
The second Gray wanted to maintain some type of discipline.
"Everyone relax." The second Gray said. "We don't know what's been compromised and what hasn't yet."
The Grays all looked uneasy.
"It's probably the 'Metal Bitch' we heard about." The first Gray said.
The second Gray felt they should deal with the problems they knew about, not the ones they didn't. There were strict consequences to violating the orders of a Terminator.
"We have our own 'Metal Bitch' to deal with." The second Gray said. "Anyone who doesn't follow her orders exactly, pays a price."
The fourth Gray felt there were two headaches they needed to deal with.
"Don't forget 'Robby The Robot'." The fourth Gray said.
The second Gray shook his head in disgust.
"He's a real 'Bucket Head'." The second Gray said.
The patrol turned away from them and headed in the opposite direction.
Samantha would have preferred if the patrol continued in their direction. She didn't like the direction it currently headed.
"They're headed towards Young Jesse's team." Samantha whispered.
Cam knew it was a possibility. They didn't know where anything went for sure.
"Let's follow them." Cam whispered. "We still don't know where they came from either."
Samantha thought maybe they should split up.
"One of us can go to where they came from." Samantha whispered. "There must have been something there. More could end up in back of us."
Cam paused as they neared the junction. She removed the buckshot round from her M203 and placed the 'sticky shocker' round back in. From what the Grays indicated, there were at least two hostile Terminators. They didn't know where they were at. A 'sticky shocker' should work against a Terminator as well.
"I'll go." Cam whispered. "We can meet back here in twelve minutes. If one of us isn't here, it means we ran into a problem."
Samantha didn't know how far their coms would work in the system of tunnels. The right angle bends cut down on their transmission and reception ability. Every metal door seemed to truncate it when it was closed.
"How will the others know where to look?" Samantha whispered.
Cam figured it would be easy.
"They can follow the gunfire sounds." Cam whispered.
Cam turned up the branch which led deeper into the hill and disappeared from sight around a bend in a short while.
Samantha went in pursuit of the four Grays.
She debated at what point to act. The more the men talked, the more information she was able to gather. They talked a lot and they weren't very quiet either. Some of the subjects they discussed made her want to terminate them immediately. She decided to find out as much as she could before she did terminate them.
The Terminator could see it was going to take quite a bit of exertion on his part. He leaned into the first boxcar at a fairly steep angle and began to push. Both of the boxcars began to move. There was concrete underneath his feet as long as he was in the building. It gave him good solid footing.
CamNet informed him she was going to need to use the drones currently associated with his operation. Arrival of the locomotives was still seventeen minutes away. The drones did a quick sweep of the area and indicated everything was clear. He was on his own for now.
He continued to push until the boxcars were outside of the building. Once he was outside, it was wooden ties and the ballast. The ballast was large gravel. As long as he kept his feet on the front of the wooden tie when he pushed, he didn't have any slippage. He pushed the two boxcars towards where the track started to curve towards the switch and stopped.
The Terminator moved up to the front of the first boxcar and quickly set the handbrake. He made sure the knuckle was open to receive the coupler of the locomotive. He moved up to the fence at the perimeter of the property. He snapped the lock on the gate and opened it. He made his way to the mainline track and removed the lock from the switch. CamNet informed him the locomotives were twelve minutes out. He would need to let them pass over the switch before he threw it and they could back into the siding to retrieve the two boxcars.
He made his way back to the building and secured the two large doors which went over the rail siding. He exited the same way he'd entered. He made sure both cane bolts dropped down into their slots. He made his way back towards the two boxcars.
He detected some movement alongside of the tracks.
"I'm telling you, man, I told you I heard something." The first voice said. "Those boxcars weren't there earlier."
There was some coughing.
"Let's go check them out." The second voice said. "Maybe we can score something."
The Terminator spotted two men alongside the railroad tracks. He was at the rear of the second boxcar closest to the building. He remained where he was at. He figured it would make the cleanup of the incident easier to deal with.
The two men approached the first boxcar. The Terminator stepped out from behind the second box car and started to walk towards them.
One of the men spotted him in the moonlight and touched the other one's arm. He whispered something and pointed. It was obvious both men spotted him.
"Nice night for a walk, even if it's almost morning." The first voice said.
The Terminator was in no mood for games. The locomotives would arrive within the next few minutes.
"Nice night for a walk, even if it's almost morning." The Terminator said.
The two men were shabbily dressed. They were either homeless or some type of hobo.
The two men briefly looked at each other as the man continued to walk towards them.
The second man didn't like the response they'd received.
"Don't get smart with us, man." The second man said.
The first man wanted to make their intentions clear.
"This is our area." The first man said. "You better clear out before you get busted up."
The Terminator saw one man produce what looked like a tire iron. It was a metal rod of some type. The other man produced a knife. He continued to walk towards both of them. He could hear the locomotives in the distance. He didn't have time to fool around. Without drone coverage, he didn't know if there would be any more of the enemy arriving. He stopped in front of both of the men. They were even with the first sliding door on the first boxcar.
"Wrong…." The Terminator said.
Both men attempted to attack him.
The security chief kept the RPG on his back for now. He moved forward with his pistol in his hand. He wished he had some type of 'electronic' weapon, he didn't. He wanted to get back to his security station. He heard another round of 'metal hail' hit off to the side. He kept moving. The building continued to burn behind him. He knew it wouldn't be long until the entire building was engulfed.
He didn't see anyone else as he made it back to the Security Center. He moved inside of it and took a quick look around. He found what he was looking for. It was a Taser. He was told it would bring down a Terminator. It contained two sets of barbs. He wasn't sure how well it would work in actual practice. It only appeared to have a range of about ten feet.
The security chief expected there to be a further HK drone response but there wasn't. He was sure a missile would be fired inside of the building towards where the damage to HK Track was at. It fired at an aerial target of some type. He wasn't sure if it scored or not. He made his way out of the Security Center.
He spotted what looked like two shadows moving over towards the water controls. It appeared whoever they were, they were attempting to get out of the area. He wasn't sure if it was any other Grays or not. He wasn't going to call out to them. They didn't appear to be a threat. The HK Track was very near where his current position was at. He wasn't in a hurry to destroy it, but if it was hunting him, he was going to have to.
He heard a metallic noise over where he spotted the two shadows. Evidently the HK Track heard it as well. It seemed to be coming nearer.
The security chief unslung the RPG and made sure it was ready to fire. It was. He took a step back. There were two females moving towards the rear of the HK Track.
The female Fanatic and Jill headed for the drainage trench. By the intensity of the fire, it appeared the entire building was going to burn. There wasn't much else they could do to destroy things there. The fire would do it for them. With the threat of HK drones, and possibly an enemy force outside of the building, it seems like it was time for them to retreat.
Jill was a little concerned as to what would happen when they left the building.
"If there are more HK drones outside, won't they spot us right away?" Jill asked.
The female Fanatic was sure they would. One of them evidently spotted them inside of the building already and attacked the position where they'd been at previously.
"We're going to burn to death if we stay in here." The female Fanatic said.
The building began to fill with smoke as it burnt.
"I think the smoke will get to us first." Jill said.
They reached the trench. There was metal grating over the top of it.
The female Fanatic attempted to lift one section of it. It was too heavy. She looked around and spotted a piece of pipe. Jill helped her and they were able to pry one corner up. With some effort and a lot of noise They were able to slide one section of the grating over far enough to climb inside.
They could hear the HK Track coming closer. Evidently the sound of moving the grating attracted its attention. Since it was damaged, it was unknown if it would still recognize them as 'Friendly's. They quickly dropped into the trench before it arrived.
The trench was deeper than it appeared. It was approximately six feet deep. They could both stand inside of it without their heads hitting the top of it. The bottom of it was of a slightly circular shape. It was most likely for better water flow.
They remained where they were at as the sound of the HK Track grew louder. A few seconds later, it drove over the top of the grate above them. It knocked the section of the grate they'd moved over to get into the trench, back into place. The two females looked at each other. There was no way they'd be able to move it to get back out from where they were at. They didn't think the grating would collapse from the weight of the HK Track. It wasn't more than three feet wide. They didn't know for sure.
The female Fanatic decided they needed to move away from where the damage HK Track currently was at above them. It was a target for the HK drone outside of the building, as well as the man with the RPG.
Tina and Lena were informed they were going to lose drone coverage. The drones were urgently needed elsewhere. They looked at each other with the news and continued towards the building. They made their way inside of the building. Their goal was to capture the HK Track and send it towards the spatial porthole and have it overload its power cell when it reached it. They would terminate anyone else they found inside of the building while they were at it. They heard some metallic noise when they entered.
It didn't take them long to locate the whereabouts of the damaged HK Track. It was very noisy. It was currently headed towards the other side of the building. They checked around them for any other threats as they went in pursuit of it.
They found the remains of several more terminated Grays. They hadn't discovered the bodies of the female Fanatic or her accomplice.
They quietly discussed among themselves how the best way would be to approach the HK Track. Neither one of them had a 'sticky shocker'.
So far Lena and Tina hadn't felt any negative effects from the spatial portal. They could still hear it making noise towards where the front of the building once was. There was a lot of smoke in the air. The fire was larger and spreading.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Temporal Mission:
Past Timeline:
November 25 1963
XXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Young Allison very carefully watched Cameron practice as she ate her food. She was ready to give it a try.
"My turn…." Young Allison said.
Young Allison checked the Peacemaker to make sure it was unloaded. It was.
She placed it in the holster and pulled it out. She repeated the procedure several times. It seemed simple enough.
'Rock Island Line', by 'Johnny Cash', was the next song to play.
"I won't be able to match your speed." Young Allison said.
Cameron didn't think speed was important.
"It's just to give you a feel of what it's like." Cameron said.
Young Allison was able to draw, cock and fire the gun relatively quickly. She didn't think her accuracy would be very good.
"I don't think I'm going to try to 'fan' it like you can." Young Allison said. "Not unless I'm wearing rawhide gloves. I don't want to tear up the side of my hand."
Cameron looked down at her left hand where she'd 'fanned' the hammer earlier. There was a little bit of redness to it. She understood her sheath was much more durable than human skin, even if they felt the same to the touch. It was also able to repair itself much sooner.
"There's no need to injure yourself." Cameron said. "I don't even know what will happen tomorrow."
'There You Go', by 'Johnny Cash', started to play.
Cameron immediately looked over towards the bedroom. She couldn't help but think about John and Future Riley. She quickly pushed the images from her mind.
Young Allison could see Cameron was distracted. She set the Single Action Army on the table. She quickly unhooked the holster.
"I think I'm going to get cleaned up." Young Allison said. "I'm probably going to take a bath again. It's a very large bathtub. I think two people could fit inside of it."
Cameron tilted her head slightly. She thought two people could always fit inside of a bathtub. It would just be crowded. She'd done it with John on more than one occasion. It was just to play around and take a bubble bath.
"Do you want to watch the news?" Cameron asked.
Young Allison knew what the lead story would be. She'd seen enough of it.
"No." Young Allison said. "I think I need to flip the record over."
Young Allison headed for the bathroom. She noticed Cameron start to load live rounds back into the Peacemaker. She figured Cameron preferred to practice with those. She hoped she didn't have an accidental discharge. She doubted she would. A hole in the ceiling, or wall, would need to be repaired before it rained.
She started the water. She went to the record player. It was stopped. The little arm was back in its place. She went ahead and lifted the record and flipped it over. She turned the start knob and the record dropped down onto the turntable. The little arm moved over and touched the edge of it.
'Luther Played The Boogie', by 'Johnny Cash', started to play.
Young Allison smiled. She wasn't sure why anyone would brag about being 'a plain old hillbilly band'. It was a good tune.
"I like this song." Young Allison said.
She went back and checked on the bath water. She could see Cameron practicing with the Peacemaker as she went back into the bathroom. She could tell it was going to take a while for the tub to fill. She decided to brush her teeth and take care of her personal business.
'Train Of Love', by 'Johnny Cash', started to play.
She felt a little sore from the hike earlier in the morning. She got into the water when it was about half-full. After she was in there for about thirty seconds her body became acclimated to the warm temperature. She turned the cold down a little bit and let the hotter water flow. She knew she'd be able to take a hotter bath if she ran the water hotter once she was in it.
Cameron entered the bathroom. She held a box in her right hand.
"I thought you were going to bring this with you." Cameron said.
Young Allison saw it was a box of 'bubble bath' crystals. They'd picked up at Safeway. She'd forgotten about it.
"You can dump a little bit in." Young Allison said.
Cameron carefully opened the box and dumped some in. The bubbles immediately begin to form in the tub.
"Save the water and I'll clean up after you're done." Cameron said.
Cameron left the box of bubble bath crystals on top of the counter next to the sink. She left the bathroom.
Young Allison decided to turn off the water before it reached the overflow drain. She proceeded to wash off and then just soak for a while. It was a very busy day. She let the warmth of the water soothe her as she closed her eyes.
'Wreck Of The Old 97', by 'Johnny Cash', started to play.
Young Allison couldn't help but think the 'Train Of Love' would probably end the same way it did for 'Old 97'.
Cameron passed by the open doorway to the bathroom but didn't enter.
It took Young Allison a moment to process the image she'd just viewed. Cameron was naked except for the holster. She wore it as if she was clothed. Cameron still practiced her quick draw as she walked by.
"I see you plan on being the 'Hottest gun in the West' as well as the fastest." Young Allison said.
Cameron walked back to the doorway. She looked down at her sheath.
"This is my natural appearance." Cameron said. "John told me it was my 'builtday suit'. I think the holster qualifies as clothing. It does cover part of my sheath."
Young Allison wasn't sure if Cameron was messing with her or not. Unless Cameron was going to turn the entire set up ninety degrees, it wasn't going to cover anything private. She decided to get ahead of Cameron's statement.
"You fooled me again." Young Allison said. "You would be the 'Hottest gun in the West' though."
Cameron smiled and walked away. She continued to practice her quick draw.
Young Allison could see her skin was turning a little red. She was warming up as well. It seemed like a good time to get out. She rinsed herself off as she stood to make sure no bubbles clung to her body. She picked up her towel from the corner of the sink counter and dried herself off.
She took a brief moment to look at her nude figure in the mirror. She was sure Cameron always looked better than her somehow.
"We look the same." Cameron said from the distance.
Young Allison knew she was at least two rooms away.
She headed for her bedroom. She was a little surprised to see the bed 'turned back' and her night clothes laid out on top of it.
There was a slight pause as the current song finished before the next one started. She could hear Cameron enter the bathtub.
'Ballad Of A Teenage Queen', by 'Johnny Cash', started to play.
Young Allison thought of something funny as she put her night clothes on. There was more than one Western where the hero would be in a bathtub and end up shooting the bad guy with a gun he had under the water with him. She was pretty sure in at least one of the movies, it was a bubble bath as well. As soon as she was dressed, she went out to see where the holster and Single Action Army were at. She was a little alarmed to see the holster on the table. It was empty.
"It's in the safe." Cameron called out from the bathroom. "I fooled you again."
Young Allison laughed.
"I think it's safe to say you're full of surprises." Young Allison said.
Young Allison headed back for her room.
'Mean Eyed Cat', by 'Johnny Cash', started to play as she re-entered her room.
Cameron smiled. She lifted a handful of bubbles and looked at them. She rubbed her thumb and index finger together slightly. She did a quick analysis of the substances they were made from.
No Communication
Many will feel some aggravation
It can be compounded with agitation
It could lead to an altercation
It may start with an accusation
Centered on a baseless fabrication
Followed by a foundationless allegation
It all creates anger and irritation
It can lead to withdrawal and isolation
Nothing is proven based on speculation
Beware of a cheap imitation
It can cause defamation
It may lead to another complication
More comes out with each new revelation
Most will cast a negative implication
Few desire to be an aberration
Nothing should be an obligation
A few will seek salvation
To avoid any form of termination
For something to flourish it needs cultivation
It all fails when there's no communication
Nobody