A young Hispanic-looking woman with black curly hair below her shoulders and tear-stained, reddened eyes rushed out of the door of the police station, or rather ran out. She didn't take much notice of the road and didn't seem to care too much so as not to bump into any passers-by. People looked after her with a little surprise, but they were only fleeting glances — each continued to go on his way.
The girl hit her shoulder against T-X's shoulder and fell to the pavement with a cry of pain. Passers-by stopped this time, attracted by the spectacle. Someone tried to help the poor girl up, but T-X had already put her on her feet. At the same time, the terminator noticed that the girl was pregnant, and at a fairly long term.
"I'm sorry. Excuse me," the woman said through tears, rubbing her bruised shoulder.
"It's okay. I should have been more careful, too."
T-X was looking the other way when it happened. Otherwise, of course, she would have been able to avoid a collision in advance.
Several people came up, asked if they needed help, and inquired about the pregnant woman's well-being. But the girl assured them that everything was fine: when she fell, she hit the ground with her hip and arm, so the child should not have been hurt. After insisting on going to the doctor for some time, these people finally gave in and went their separate ways — after all, they all had their own things to do.
All except T-X. Seeing that the girl was upset, and clearly not because of the fall, the terminator asked what had happened.
The woman waved her hand, sighing heavily. She didn't want to reveal her soul to the first person she met. But, apparently, feeling to a certain extent guilty for the incident that took place a minute ago, the girl tried to explain a little more.
"Everyone's got their own troubles... I don't want to take up your time by talking about mine. You're probably in a hurry anyway—" she glanced around at her companion, noticing the expensive and stylish outfit and mentally comparing it with her cheap clothes bought at the sale, — "on business. Again, I'm sorry for running into you!"
The girl was about to walk, taking a step further down the sidewalk, but T-X wasn't about to stop talking.
"What's your name?"
"Juanita," the girl sighed, and after a moment's hesitation, she answered. She had already regretted what had happened several times. She didn't have time to talk at all.
"And my name is Julia. Juanita, don't be in a hurry to run away. Who knows, maybe I can help you. Let's assume that I also feel guilty and would like to make amends somehow."
T-X spoke simply and casually, and Juanita suddenly felt that perhaps there would be nothing wrong if she spoke. And in fact, she wanted to cry to someone, to tell about everything that had accumulated in her heart.
"Well, well... Then can we go to my house and talk on the way? The thing is, I need to feed Carlos, my son."
Seeing Julia's puzzled look at her belly, Juanita hastened to explain.
"My other child. He is now two and a half years old. I had to leave him at home while I was at the police station... You see, I don't think this is a place to go with toddlers."
T-X nodded, and the woman gestured for her to follow her. After a couple of minutes, after gathering her thoughts, Juanita began her story. Ramón, her husband, unofficial, of course, but Carlos' father nonetheless, was always a good-for-nothing, even though she continued to love him. They had known each other since they were teenagers, and even then he had occasional problems with the police and some gangs operating in the outskirts of Los Angeles.
At the age of seventeen, the guy was caught stealing a car in order to disassemble it for spare parts, and then sell it. Knowing his dubious past, Ramón, although it happened for the first time, was given quite a decent sentence. However, he was lucky and was able to be released on parole.
All this time, Juanita faithfully waited for her beloved, rejecting the offers of other contenders for her hand and heart. As soon as Ramón was released from prison, they began to live together. During his imprisonment, the young man rethought his life and firmly decided to earn only by honest work, staying away from troubles. And, in general, he succeeded.
Ramón found a job at a car repair shop. Although the salary was small, it was enough for them to live. Juanita became pregnant and Carlos was born. They lived poorly, but quite happily. Only one circumstance overshadowed the existence of these two: one influential group, the Bloody Mexican Warriors, which controlled, among other things, the area where the couple lived, and before sending Ramón to prison, tried in every possible way to drag him into their dirty deeds, but the guy more or less managed to avoid their influence.
After the young people began to live together, the Warriors did not touch them for a while, but then everything began again. The gangsters actively tried to force Ramón to either dismantle stolen cars for them in underground car services, or, even worse, distribute drugs, threatening him and his family. But in spite of everything, the guy held on, and Juanita always supported his desire for an honest life.
But two weeks ago, disaster struck. The car service where Ramon worked was raided by the police. Drugs were found in his pocket and another package in his locker with clothes. The total dose turned out to be quite decent, and given the criminal past, Ramón was doing very badly. Juanita was sure that he had been framed by the same gang members, thus carrying out their threats.
Juanita had already been to the police station several times, where Ramón was awaiting trial in a pre-trial detention cell. She talked to the police, cried, begged them, almost lay at her feet, asking them to objectively look into everything. But the cops didn't laugh openly in the girl's face. Most of them were white, who don't like Latinos.
And today Juanita was once again at the police station about this. But again, to no avail.
"The policeman I was talking to told me bluntly, chuckling, 'The only thing that can help your husband is if someone from the gang comes to us and confesses to everything!' All our tiny savings go to the child, food, rent... I don't work... And the free defender provided by the state, of course, will not try for the sake of Ramon! He faces up to twenty years! Holy Virgin Mary, I'm afraid to even imagine what it will be like…"
Juanita had already spoken her last words as she sat at a table in the tiny kitchen of her and Ramón's unpretentious apartment in a neighborhood on the outskirts of the city. The girl was spoon-feeding the baby right in front of Julia. She watched the action with surprise and interest (T-X had never seen anything like it before; in the post-apocalyptic world from which she came, no one had ever seen babies; few dared to bring children into a world of chaos, death, and destruction), and Carlos, in turn, watched her curiously.
"Can't any of your friends or relatives help with the money?" Julia asked a reasonable question.
"I told you, everyone has their own problems," Juanita sighed heavily. "In addition, there are no wealthy people among our entourage. Alas, it is our destiny to live and die poor…"
Juanita swept her hands around the room, as if to demonstrate the squalor of the dwelling. T-X looked around again. Indeed, the apartment that Ramón and Juanita rented was a rather pathetic sight, with old, yellowed and sometimes detached wallpaper, and the simplest furniture. There were only two rooms in the apartment: the bedroom, where Juanita herself and the child were now huddled, and this kitchen. A tiny, gloomy hallway and a combined bathroom could not be called rooms, no matter how much they wanted to. Of course, it didn't matter to T-X whether she was in this more than modest abode or in a luxury apartment in a five-star hotel, but even she was able to tell the difference in relation to, for example, Catherine Brewster's apartment, which was noticeably larger and much better furnished.
"I'm sorry, Julia, I didn't even offer you coffee." Juanita suddenly realized, having finished feeding the baby. "I'll cook it if you want, but I'll take Carlos to the crib."
"No, thank you. You don't have to. Better tell me, where can I find these people who you think have framed your husband?"
Fear appeared on the woman's face.
"Why do you ask? What are you up to?"
"Well, I told you I might be able to help you. I'll go and persuade them to confess everything, so that Ramón will be released."
"No, no, what are you talking about?! You'll go and persuade them? Julia, are you crazy?! And I'm a fool, too, for agreeing to tell you everything! No, no way!"
"Why?" She said calmly.
"Mother of God! Don't you understand?!" Juanita paused, looking at the child, who, not understanding his mother's anxiety, continued to watch her and her friend with interest and a smile. "Wait, I'll take Carlos—"
When Juanita returned, she continued in a quieter, half-whispered voice, not wanting to attract the attention of the neighbors, who, being behind a thin partition of walls, could hear everything perfectly.
"Because they're going to kill you there, and they're probably going to rape you before that. These are very, very dangerous people to stay away from! I'm grateful for your offer to help, but I don't want to be the cause of your downfall, okay?"
T-X looked at the girl calmly and even smiled slightly. She answered, "I can find out the information myself, but you'll save time if you tell me everything and bring your husband home sooner."
"Why do you need that?" Juanita said after a pause. "I see you're wearing expensive clothes, jewelry... You seem to be a well-to-do girl... Did you decide to help us, the poor, because you had nothing to do? To feel like a saint?!"
She didn't realize how she raised her voice. Juanita wasn't going to speak in that tone, but she couldn't hold back because of her emotions.
"I really don't have much to do right now and I'm free until 2:30 p.m.," T-X said calmly, but she stopped smiling. "As for your fears about me, don't worry, these people won't be able to do me any harm."
"Well, okay, let's say you don't care about your own safety, but think about Carlos and me. If you don't succeed, they'll come here, angry that I'm not going to calm down, and then—" Juanita felt the sobs rise to her throat again.
"I can do it. And I'm not going to say you have anything to do with it. I promise you. In general, don't be nervous — it can have a bad effect on the child." And, without letting the girl come to her senses, she immediately asked. "So, will you tell me where to find them?"
"No, I won't take such a sin upon my soul." Juanita said quietly, shaking her head.
"Well, so be it."
Julia left. And Juanita, closing the door behind her, remained standing on the threshold, torn by doubts as to whether she had done the right thing. Perhaps she should have told Julia what she had asked for. Who knows, maybe it would really help in some way? And now, what will happen now? Ramón will surely be given a full sentence! What will happen to her, Carlos, and the unborn Estella (Juanita has already convinced herself that she is expecting a girl)?
"Blessed Virgin Mary, please help me!" Juanita clasped her hands together in a prayer she had memorized since childhood.
T-X didn't look for the gang. The reason for this was very simple: before the end of the day, all these people would be wiped out by a nuclear explosion, and everything she talked about with Juanita would not matter. Hence, searches are also pointless. What if Skynet hadn't activated! But she knew very well that people would not be able to stop it.
Why, then, did she question Juanita? Terminatrix didn't really understand it herself. Perhaps it was some unconscious desire to help the unfortunate woman and the hope that things could still change. The terminator caught herself thinking that by interacting with people, she herself became more and more human.