T-X walked around the rental building next to the fence behind which the yellow champion crane was parked and pulled to a halt in the parking lot of the veterinary clinic. She left the Lexus and headed for a building that looked completely uninhabited: the doors were locked, the lights were not on anywhere.

The terminator looked around, then walked to the front door and, transforming the index finger of her right hand back into a thin titanium drill, opened the lock with ease. The burglar alarm didn't even beep. T-X went inside and began to methodically inspect the premises of the clinic one by one. John Connor must be here somewhere!

The animals that were kept in the asylum began to experience obvious anxiety from the presence of the terminator. The big dogs barked and growled, the little ones yapped and whimpered. The cats, who looked at her with fear and aggression at the same time, hissed at the top of their throats, their fur standing on end. They, unlike humans, instantly identified the terminators and instinctively sensed the danger posed by these strange creatures that looked like humans, but were not.

All this cacophony of voices did not cause T-X the slightest discomfort, although it was undesirable as it might scare Connor. Still, she had no intention of destroying cats or dogs, as those creatures were not on the list of targets of her mission. Terminator went through the entire clinic, but did not find not only John Connor himself, but even any traces of his stay here.

The napkin with his blood, by which she had identified the main target last time, was also missing. Apparently, Connor hasn't made it here yet. Therefore, she needs to wait for him and quickly eliminate and then kill Brewster.

For the next few minutes, T-X continued to inspect the environment of the clinic, not going near the compartment where the animals were kept, so as not to make too much noise. This had its effect, and the dogs and cats gradually calmed down, only occasionally breaking the silence with a soft bark or meow. Suddenly, the bell rang from the direction of the main entrance. Logic told T-X that it was almost certainly not John Connor, but she couldn't just ignore the signal.

At the entrance, a woman stood nervously shifting from foot to foot, holding a cat carrier in her hands. It was the same owner of the cat Hercules, allegedly suffering from "pneumonia", because of which Kate left her fiancé's apartment on that first night. The woman looked at T-X in surprise, sensing something was wrong, especially since the four-legged inhabitants of the clinic raised a real clamor again.

"Who are you? Where is Kate or Dr. Monroe?" It was the last thing she ever said.

The terminator snapped her neck, just like the owner of the Lexus. The cat's owner instantly fell to the ground, which caused the carrier container to also fall and the door opened. Hercules, as if scalded, with the eyes of a skill, jumped out of there and rushed out, trying to escape as quickly as possible from the place where death reigned. T-X followed his path indifferently, then took the woman's body and the container and carried it deeper into the room, hurling it to the farthest and darkest corner.

It happened just a few seconds before the Toyota Tundra braked sharply in the parking lot, squealing tires. Kate immediately jumped out of it and rushed towards the clinic, not even paying attention to the silver Lexus standing to the side — she was so eager to save the owner of the cat, and especially John, that she literally did not notice anything around her. Only when she was inside the building, the girl suddenly realized that the animals were frightened, and for some reason the door was open. But it was too late.

Kate froze in horror as she watched as T-X pointed a gun at her head twenty paces away and prepared to fire. However, the delay lasted only a moment, then Kate jerked back to the exit, as she had done once before. Bullets flew one after another.

Brewster rushed out of the door, followed almost immediately by T-X. She fired again, and the bullet struck her in the leg, between the knee and thigh, shattering the bone, causing her to immediately fall flat on her stomach. Kate screamed in pain as she looked back at the inexorable homicidal car. The terminator was about to fire the final bullet at Catherine, aiming for the back of her head, when her attention was diverted by the sharp sound of a motorcycle engine, and then the characteristic screech of brakes.

"Hey, fucking machine! You're looking for me, aren't you?! And here I am! Come on, take me!" John Connor, in a reckless and daring attempt to save his girlfriend, decided to distract T-X, rightly believing that for the sake of the main goal, the robot would have to leave Kate for a while. All he had with him was a paintball gun, but he took it out and shot T-X. As he expected, she turned all her attention to him, steering her Smith-Wesson away from Kate's fatal trajectory.

That might have been the end of it for Connor, had it not been for a coincidence: T-X ran out of ammo, including from a spare clip she had taken from Officer Thompson. For a moment, the terminator stared at her weapon in disbelief, but after a second, she tossed it aside, and her right arm began to transform into a plasma cannon.

"John, run, go! Escape!" Kate called desperately, pressing her hand over the wound that was oozing blood.

It was a critical moment, and although John was determined not to leave Kate in the lurch, he now suddenly realized that he was afraid of death.

Suddenly, a Dodge pickup truck flew into the parking lot, roaring with a powerful engine, and literally demolished T-X at full speed. At the same time, she managed to shoot a beam of plasma once, but did not hit anyone, only leaving a melted trail on the asphalt, as if from the fall of a micrometeorite.

On the move, a T-850 jumped out of the pickup truck, somersaulted on the ground, but quickly got up. In his hands was a twelve-gauge Mossberg 500 pump-action shotgun. Terminator quickly assessed the situation, saw John looking at him slightly shocked while riding his motorcycle, and Kate, wounded, bleeding, lying on the ground. He said the only sensible words to Connor.

"Take her and get out of here! Now!"

John didn't need to be told twice: he immediately threw off his helmet and jumped off the bike, heading towards Kate.

"Oh!" The guy could not hold back his emotions, seeing the gaping wound in his friend's leg, which was bleeding heavily. "Hold on, Kate!"

"I need to go to the hospital," she said, wincing in pain.

"Wrap your arms around my neck! Just like that!" John helped her up, holding her hand on his shoulders with his left hand and holding Kate's waist with his right.

As soon as she was on her feet, the two of them wandered to the car. Indeed, it was necessary to hurry, but Kate could not move quickly, for as soon as she stepped on her wounded leg, it caused terrible pain, and she had to jump on her healthy leg.

There was simply no time to discuss the situation, as John kept looking back, fearing that T-X would rush into the fight again, and Terminator would not be able to detain her for long. At the same time, the guy was very worried about Kate — after everything that had happened that time, he could no longer treat her as indifferently as when they first met. And although they could hardly be called close people, as they stood together, holding hands in the bowels of Crystal Peak, John began to see Kate not just as a brave girl, a partner in the war with machines, but as someone more important. Someone special.

Probably, Terminator's story that she would one day become his wife and the mother of his children, to some extent predetermined the guy's attitude to Catherine. In addition, from her behavior it was possible to conclude unequivocally that this day was also repeating itself for her for the second time, which meant that she remembered everything that had already happened to them...

T-850, rifle at the ready, headed towards the pickup truck, which by inertia flew into one of the buildings located near the clinic. This time, he didn't throw the Lexus onto the propane tank, so there was no explosion. As Terminator came closer, the car swerved straight at him as if from a strong impact, followed by his opponent emerging from a hole in the wall punched by the Dodge.

Her beautiful face wore an expression of grim triumph, as if T-X was glad to be able to get even with T-850 for her past defeat. The plasma cannon was already aimed at his chest, where the fuel cells were located. Terminator fired a shotgun, then a second, though the processor gave him a clear report that such a weapon was useless against T-X. But since his task was to protect Connor and Brewster, he had to detain his opponent by any means necessary to allow them to escape.

At this time, behind them, the Toyota, with its engine humming, took off abruptly from the parking lot. T-X was momentarily distracted by the machine and, seeing that both targets were about to disappear from view, attempted to destroy them with a beam of plasma. T-850 took advantage of the moment and, dropping his gun, rushed at T-X, causing her to miss again.

The Toyota pulled onto the highway and took the same route as the last time. Only now all the doors in the pickup truck were in place. Kate was getting worse and worse, and John could clearly see how pale she had become. The girl sat in the passenger seat with her eyes closed, her hand resting on the wound, moaning faintly in pain.

Holding the steering wheel with one hand, Connor searched everywhere he could reach — the side pockets on the door, under the seats, the glove compartment — for some cloth or rag to tie around Kate's leg and squeeze it to stop the bleeding. John wished he had taken the satchel with his belongings off the motorcycle, as there would have been something suitable.

But he was lucky: in the glove compartment there was a full-fledged tourniquet made of rubber tube, which was much better than the same rag or piece of cloth.

"Kate, there's a tourniquet here! You need to pull your leg over the wound to stop the bleeding! Can you do it yourself?"

She opened her eyes and stared at Connor with a hazy stare.

"I think... yes," she said with difficulty, as if she had a lump in her throat.

Catherine reached for the tourniquet, but as soon as John let go of it, she dropped it to the floor. Kate immediately tried to reach for it, but the pain in her leg prevented her from doing so, even slightly changing the position in which she was sitting. John realized that he would have to stop and do it himself.

He pulled over to the side of the road and took out a tourniquet. Then, carefully, so as not to cause Kate unnecessary suffering, he lifted her leg a little and, saying, "Be patient, dear," tightened a piece of rubber tube on it.

The scene brought back memories of the events of nine years ago, when he, his mother, and "Uncle Bob" were being swept away in a SWAT van from the bombed Cyberdyne Systems building in a T-1000 helicopter. His mother was also wounded in the leg, and John helped stop the bleeding with a piece of cloth. The image of his mother, who had left him forever, caused pain in his soul: Connor didn't want to lose Kate either. However, he didn't have time for emotional distress — it was better to take his friend to the hospital as soon as possible.

"Kate, you'll have to hold the tourniquet yourself! I need to drive. I know you're hurting, but please be patient a little longer, we're almost there."

At this time, several patrol cars rushed past along the highway towards the veterinary clinic at full speed, wailing sirens. "Someone must have heard gunshots in the parking lot and called 911," John thought.

Catherine tried not to relax her arms and hold the tourniquet as tightly as possible. This gave its results: the bleeding stopped, and she felt somewhat better. At any rate, the girl's eyes were now fully open, and she had stopped moaning. Kate was pretty aware of what was going on around her.

John returned to the control of the car, and the Toyota briskly continued driving.

"Something very strange has happened, John... I woke up in my bed this morning, just like last time, and Scott... was right next to me... alive and unharmed... And as if all that we experienced in the cemetery and in CRS did not exist...

"I know, I know, Kate. I also woke up in the same place where I started my day last time... I've already thought about it on the way here. It's like a time loop: the events of that day are repeating themselves, and probably will continue to do so until we do something definite. I'm sure we have to prevent Judgment Day after all — to prevent Skynet from gaining control of nuclear weapons! It feels like fate itself is giving us a second chance."

"I'm afraid I won't be able to help you much with a leg like that!"

"It's okay, now I know what to do and where to go. And I need to call your father."

"Yes, that's right. We can save him, warn him... and he'll stop Skynet!" Kate seemed to be inspired and energized by the thought.

"Of course, Kate. Of course. We still have time!" Connor said confidently.

"But, John, the terminators aren't gone either. Do you think they also understand that this day is repeating itself?"

"I don't know, I think so—" The guy thought for a moment. "I think she figured it out, because she arrived here earlier than last time."

"Oh, dear! Betsy!" Kate exclaimed in horror.

"What? Who is this?"

"Betsy Schneider is one of our clients... She's got a cat... uh... Hercules. She called me this morning, half-past five... And last time, too. She was going to come to the clinic, so I ended up there. And now I wanted to save her from T-X, to warn her not to meddle with us under any circumstances. I couldn't get through... problems with cellular communication... I was hoping to arrive before her and you, and save you both... But... Then this wound... I had completely forgotten about her."

"I'm afraid there's nothing you can do for her," John said grimly of the thought that was already in the girl's mind: Betsy was almost certainly dead.

"And Scott!" The girl added ruefully.

"Your fiancé? And what about him?"

"I tried to get him to leave town so that T-X wouldn't find him, but he wouldn't listen to me, and we had a fight! He's staying in the apartment — now she's going to kill him!"

John didn't know what to say to that. He didn't know this Scott, and the fate of humanity, to be honest, was much more important to him now.

"Maybe... maybe this day will happen again, and then I can—" Kate muttered.

It would be better if there were no more repetitions, John thought to himself, but he didn't say anything out loud. He saw the clinic building ahead and turned the steering wheel to the left to drive up to the main entrance.

"Well, here comes the hospital!" The guy said cheerfully.

"John, in case it happens again," Kate meant, of course, a repetition of the day, "remember my home address and don't come back to the clinic, but go straight there..."