Chapter 445

Temporal Terror

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Cameron's Future Timeline:

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Things quieted down some at the Connor Compound. The initial wave of HK drones was repulsed with minimal damage to the base. They knew the fight was far from over. The lull wouldn't last long.

Cameron watched as the last of the non Terminators departed the Connor compound. Some of them wanted to stay. She knew it was a bad idea. What was sure to follow would be much worse than what they already encountered. Future John urged them away and to follow him.

Now it was only the Resistance Terminators and the dead who remained in the compound. It didn't appear too many of the human defenders were hurt or killed, but there were some casualties. Without the precious few seconds warning, it would have been a different story. It still may be, the battle wasn't over yet.

Cameron was glad she left her spare chip in Ally's hands. Ally was going to need it. With her spare chip and rings, John would never know the difference. She was sure she would fall in combat before this was done. She would stay and fight until the end. It was her duty to protect the 'Natural Order'. If Skynet wanted this small piece of real estate, they were going to have to take it by force.

The part which bothered her was Savannah. She was a sweet loving girl who did so much for her. Savannah was always there for her. She even carried and delivered 'her babies' for her, like she always promised. Now she was worried she was going to end up getting Savannah killed. She loved Savannah to no end. She looked forward to the day Savannah and her would both share John's bed with Young Allison. She tried to think positive now. She would fight until termination to buy them time, especially for Savannah, HER Savannah. She wasn't going to yield.

Cameron wondered who was out there in the unknown which put up the initial fight just a few minutes ago. She was sure it was some version of 'her'. They were out there for a reason. She surmised she missed the rendezvous a month from now and someone from the past was sent to find out why. They must have been out there watching them all this time. They couldn't have known when the 'problem' would arise.

She often felt they were being watched. She specifically beefed up the compound's security because of the feeling. Now it appeared it wasn't a feeling but reality. Maybe it was part of it too. The base was better fortified now because of her concerns.

Future John questioned her on what she was doing and using their resources to fortify the base against an enemy who was already defeated. She needed to remind him Skynet was 'defeated' several times previously, but it always popped back up at some point. With the latest attack it seemed it was sooner rather than later.

Cameron could hear the enemy in the distance. They were coming. It was more HK drones. There was sure to be transports with them as well. There was still a lot to come. This battle wasn't over yet. In fact it may have only just begun. She was a little dismayed there was no armed response as there was before from the Wastelands as the next wave of HK drones approached. Skynet needed to 'pay' for the loss.

"We fight until termination." Cameron shouted. "There's no retreat."

It looked like this was it….

Holly-Cameron worked on a few downed HK drones as she waited. She wanted to be able to use some of the armament on several of the damaged HK drones against the next wave of Skynet's attack. She heard them. It was the transports with more HK drones. There would be Skynet troops as well. It was a major attack.

She was able to get the plasma cannons on two downed HK drones operational. She would save those for the transports. She needed to try to take down the bigger targets on this round. She would be able to get one shot off before the HK drones would seek to target her location. She would need to keep moving to avoid getting targeted.

A small wave of HK drones flew past. Holly-Cameron let them pass. It was clear they tried to draw fire. She didn't take the bait. If she gave away her position too quickly she would be attacked before she could engage the transports. She could hear the bigger fish to fry. They were in the distance still.

Holly-Cameron saw the first transport as she readied her weapons to fire. She saw a transport take a massive plasma cannon hit. She smiled. Bob was still in the game. He was doing what she was doing by using the downed HK drones against the transports.

Bob was still in the fight. He readied two downed HK drones as well. He heard and then saw the next wave of HK drones. It appeared they wanted to draw any fire. He resisted the urge for a few 'easy kills'. The transports were the issue this time. He let the first wave pass and soon the transports came into view. There were four of them. The first two were almost even with each other, but not side by side. There were HK drones around the transports and between them. He fired and scored on the first transport. He selected and hit the control center on the front of it. It didn't matter if it was piloted or being controlled by Skynet. The control center was blown apart.

Holly-Cameron switched her plasma cannon to the second transport, targeted it and fired. It took a plasma cannon hit from one of her weapons. Both Bob and her aimed for the control center on the transports. The transports were larger and more difficult to knock down through structural damage. If the control center was damaged or destroyed, it was the surest way to bring them down.

The two transports were still flying but lost directional control.

Holly-Cameron moved to a new position and prepared to fire at the third transport.

The first two transports drifted closer together. The second one began to roll onto its side. It made a sudden turn. Several of the HK drones between the two transports were impacted. One HK drone was knocked into the side of the other stricken transport. The two transports collided in mid air. The second transport was inverted at the time of the impact. There was another HK drone which was smashed between them. Either it's armament or power cell ruptured. There was a massive exposing between the two giants of bent and twisted metal. They both erupted into a fireball and crashed. It was followed by a bigger fireball as the wreckage exploded even more. It was doubtful any Terminators would be functional from either of those two transports.

The explosion knocked both Bob and Cameron down. It also helped mask their positions. They both moved on to the secondary downed HK drone to target the next transports.

Holly-Cameron fired at the third transport seconds after the first two flaming wrecks hit the ground and exploded. A second plasma cannon hit impacted the third transport also. Both Bob and her scored. It wobbled violently. A large section of the front part of the transport was blown off. The transport nosed over in a second and headed straight for the ground. It dropped from the sky like a rock. It exploded when it hit the ground.

She moved to a third downed HK drone. She was able to manually target the fourth transport with the air to surface missiles. They would be used in a reverse application this way. They were missiles, and they now had a target. Two of the missiles fired. She didn't have any control of their guidance so she aimed for the center of mass. The fourth transport was hit and a large hole was blown in the side of it. Debris fell from the side of the transport. Several of them were Terminators.

They knocked down three transports and damaged a fourth. She was unsure how many transports there were in total. She thought there could still be more. One thing was for certain. Three of the transports wouldn't make it to the Connor Compound.

She changed her position three times to score the damage she inflicted. The retaliation she was worried about soon started. HK drones began to swoop around her location. They targeted all the downed HK drones to prevent any more of them from being used against them. She already moved off in anticipation of the retaliation. The damaged fourth transport flew overhead. She hit it several times with her plasma rifle as she changed positions. It continued toward the Connor compound. Smoke poured from one of the power plants she just hit.

Bob also anticipated an HK drone response to their attacks on the Transports. He didn't have any more downed HK drones ready to use so he headed in the direction Holly-Cameron was at.

He saw the forth transport hit with the missiles and the debris which fell out. The transport was already past him when it happened. Some of the debris were Terminators. They would be between Holly-Cameron and him. They would all be damaged by the fall if they weren't already damaged by the explosion which blew them out of the side of the Transport.

HK drones swooped in and attacked the downed HK drones he used. He chose not to engage them as he headed towards the area where Holly-Cameron should be. He heard her fire on several more HK drones.

Bob spotted some smoking debris up ahead and off to the side. There was a thrashing sound. There were several thrashing sounds. He spotted a Terminator. The legs were gone from it. It tried to move forward towards the direction of the Connor Compound. One arm was blown off at the elbow. The Terminator held a plasma rifle. It was clearly still a threat. He moved in back of it and fired one shot from his plasma rifle and blew its head apart. He moved on.

There were other pieces of the transport and parts of Terminators scattered about on the ground. He could still hear some thrashing noises. He carefully approached the area. There was another Terminator. It walked on the stumps of its legs. Both were truncated at the knee. The forearms were both blown off at the elbows. It turned and faced him. The sheath on the face was burnt off and only the metal showed. Its head leaned off to the side at a crazy angle. It was half torn off.

The 'midget' Terminator advanced on him. It was surprising fast, even for the condition it was in. Bob sidestepped and kicked the Terminator. It sprawled on the ground. He moved forward and trounced his right foot down on its neck and severed the head. He watched the red glow of the eyes of the rolling head fade away. He popped off the port cover and removed the chip. They could go through it for intel later. It was if they survived. It seemed doubtful at the current juncture.

Bob approached a few more Terminators on the ground. He was about to check the first one when something grabbed his ankle and made him fall. He glanced back on his way down and saw it was only a torso with one arm and a head. The Terminator he was about to check rolled over onto his back and grabbed him. During the struggle he lost his plasma rifle.

There was half of a Terminator which still held on to his ankle. He used his other foot and slammed it into the Terminator's head. The torso with one arm momentarily let go. The Terminator on the ground who faced him pulled him down to fight with him. One arm on the Terminator grasped him tightly. The other arm lacked a hand. He struggled with the Terminator on the ground and shoved it away.

He saw where his plasma rifle was at and made his move to grab it. The Terminator on the ground attempted to move after him. Both his legs were twisted and appeared to be inoperable. He reached out for his plasma rifle when the other Terminator, who was a torso, grabbed his other ankle. He picked his plasma rifle up off of the ground at the same time he used his other foot to slam it into the head of the Terminator which gripped his ankle. He knocked it free again.

The other Terminator on the ground reached up and grabbed his plasma rifle. He slammed his elbow into the Terminators neck and yanked his plasma rifle away from him. He rolled away from him and fired the plasma rifle at the Terminator on the ground. The plasma round hit the Terminator in the neck and blew his head off.

A moment later the other Terminator grabbed for his ankle again. He was able to move away first. He turned around and kicked the Terminator in the face. He moved back around to the rear of The Terminator before it could reorient itself. He stomped down hard on its neck. It stopped moving. He could hear more plasma fire in front of him.

Bob moved on once he determined there were no more damaged Terminators able to move. His most recent encounter reminded him how deadly a Terminator was, even if it was severely damaged. He was fairly certain he was going to end up looking like some of the ones he just encountered before the operation was done. It didn't matter. He headed towards where the battle was at. He understood Cameron wanted the girls and the infants protected at all costs. He was ready to pay the price.

Holly-Cameron was able to take down a few more of the HK drones which targeted the downed HK drones as they searched for her. The last one she hit went into a tight spiral near her. She remained concealed as it continued its downward trajectory. She wanted to shoot at it again but there were still a couple of more HK drones in the vicinity. It would be sure to attract them if she did.

She became more than a little concerned as the HK drone made one low spiral around her and impacted the ground only a short distance from where she was concealed. She could hear the power plants make a ferocious roar as they attempted to take back off. The HK drone could only rock back and forth slightly in its futile attempt.

Holly-Cameron decided to retrieve its chip. There should be information on it as to where it came from as well as where it previously visited. She moved around on the sideline until she could come up behind it. She took one more look up into the sky to see if there were any HK drones nearby. She couldn't see any, but she could hear them.

She clambered up on the back of the HK drone. The sound from its power plants grew even louder as it attempted to get airborne. With the use of a little force, she was able to access its internal vault. It was deactivated as she removed the chip. She obtained what she wanted. She started to climb down off the back of the HK drone when she could hear another HK drone rapidly approaching. There wasn't any time for her to return to a place of concealment. She dropped down to the ground and moved as far underneath the HK drone as she could. She was aware the HK drone above her could target the one she was underneath at any point in time. She would be an even bigger target if she was caught out in the open.

The HK drone flew a tight circle around the HK drone she was under. She could hear a plasma rifle in the distance. She figured it was Bob. The HK drone accelerated away from above her and headed towards the sound of the plasma rifle. She took it as her opportunity to get away from the downed HK drone. She made it back to her place of concealment. No sooner than she did, when two other HK drones passed overhead. One of them continued on. The other one circled back and fired a missile at the downed HK drone she was under only seconds ago. It exploded.

Holly-Cameron ducked down as some shrapnel passed by her. The HK drone turned to go in the direction it was previously headed. She raised her plasma rifle and fired twice. She blew the left power plant off and damaged the right one. The HK drone dipped forward and landed on the ground inverted.

She knew when it was time to leave. She headed for the Connor Compound. She met up with Bob on the way. Both of them sustained even more damage from the latest encounter. Neither of their chassis would be able to go through the time transfer. It didn't matter. They both knew at this point they wouldn't be leaving where thy were, the future.

She saw the look of horror on his face.

"Holly, you're damaged." Bob said when he saw her.

Holly-Cameron looked down when he spoke. It was the first time she was able to physically look at herself. What little that remained of her clothing was shredded. The area between her legs was now only burnt metal. The sheath material was burnt away from the near plasma hit. She was no longer a 'female'. She was only a machine. The battle on the ground hadn't even started yet….

"It's going to be a lot worse, for both of us, before this is done." Holly-Cameron said.

Holly-Cameron was aware of facial damage and upper torso damage. Her scans showed only shredded pulp where her large breasts once were. There was no damage feedback. The sensors were gone along with most of the synthetic covering.

Bob and Holly-Cameron did a lot of the damage to the attacking Skynet forces and they both paid the price, especially Holly-Cameron.

Cameron pushed Holly's damaged chassis even harder to keep up with Bob. They needed to get to the Connor Compound and assist with fighting the Skynet troops which would land.

Holly-Cameron looked down at her damaged sheath again, the burnt metal where her female parts once were made her angry at Skynet and sad for Allison. Holly and Allison would never share again. Sheath damage from massive plasma incineration would never regenerate properly, if at all.

Cameron and Holly on Holly's chip, exchanged thoughts as they hurried toward the Connor Compound.

'I'm sorry, Allison….' Holly thought, over and over.

Cameron attempted to suppress Holly's thoughts. She told Holly she was sorry.

The only thing which kept what was left of Holly-Cameron going was the need to protect 'her babies', Future John, Future Allison, and both Savannahs. Nothing else mattered. She needed to keep repeating it as she hurried to join the impending fight on the ground.

Cameron and her Terminators were ready.

The HK drones attacked the base defenses again. Only one transport made the journey mostly intact and it attempted to land. There was smoke coming out of the side of it. It also tilted more to the port side. The landing was anything but a smooth one. The rear of the transport touched the ground first. The front end dropped down with a loud metallic noise a second later. It still leaned with a slight angle to the port side.

Terminators began to pour out of it. Some of them appear to be damaged, even as they exited the transport. The Skynet forces began to take hits as soon as they exited the transport. The entire first wave of HK drones was wiped out. The second wave which accompanied the transports was all but decimated at this point as well. It was clear Skynet intended to land more troops and provide them with plenty of air cover. It wasn't the case at all. They all witnessed three other transports shot down from the ground by whoever was out there assisting them.

Cameron was sure it was some version of her out there inflicting the damage. There may be more than one of her as well. It actually concerned her if there was. It could also be other Resistance Terminators. Somehow they knew there was going to be a problem. She understood what the problem was now.

She didn't know if there were more than two Resistance Terminators assisting them. If they would have known the nature of the attack, there would probably be more than two. She needed to give them credit for what they were able to accomplish. The early morning and their actions on the ground prevented the attack from being a surprise attack. The fact they were able to use Skynet's weapons against itself, mainly on the transports, showed a lot of ingenuity.

Cameron and the Resistance Terminators held the perimeter. A line of Skynet Terminators approached as they fired weapons. They were a combination of miniguns and plasma rifles. The defenders of the base were behind cover. The Skynet forces were out in the open and exposed.

There was a 'razor wire' fence with a depression on the inside of it. It ran around the perimeter of the compound. The Terminators crossed the cleared land in front of it. It was set up to be a 'kill zone'. Many of them fell to Resistance weapons. Cameron and her Terminators still held. The Skynet Terminators which made it across 'no man's land', or the 'kill zone', began to rip apart the 'razor wire' to attempt to cross the depression. They became tangled in it by design. It was laced with additional wires. Some of them were long thin wires which would remain connected even if the main part of the razor wire was severed.

Cameron moved to a control box and activated a lever. The razor wire was energized with high voltage electricity. Dozens of Skynet Terminators tumbled into the depression. They were currently immobilized. The Terminators behind them forged ahead. They entered the depression and began to climb over their fallen Terminator comrades.

She activated a second lever. The entire depression around the camp ignited in a ring of burning Thermite. Many of the attacking Terminators were trapped as they were incinerated. Everything was set up by design to be like this for the base defense. The fact there was only one quarter of the intended ground attack force present made the job of defense possible. If the entire force would have landed, the base would have been overrun. Every Resistance Terminator would have been terminated, including Cameron.

The last of the HK drones was shot down. Cameron was already up. She led her Terminators out from their concealment and advanced on the few Skynet Terminators which remained operational. They were terminated in short order. Several turned to retreat. As the base defenders watched, they were cut down from behind. Bob and Holly emerged from the Wastelands.

Cameron told her Terminators not to fire, they were Friendlies.

Every Terminator present deduced the two new and heavily damaged Terminators were the ones who foiled the Skynet attack. By the damage done to them, it appeared they were the ones who paid the biggest price.

Cameron moved to intercept Bob and Holly. She came across a downed HK drone which still attempted to function. It was a crumpled wreck. She paused and moved in front of its camera. She wanted to let Skynet know it was her.

"It's me again. I'm back." Cameron said. "I'm coming for you and Hell is coming with me. I will personally terminate you."

Cameron smashed the camera. She wanted to initiate a personal challenge with Skynet. She intended to do exactly what she just said. She didn't know how long it was going to take, but she wasn't going to leave until Skynet was terminated. She would carry out the battle until her power cell ran out, or she was terminated. Skynet was going to pay and there was no stopping it.

Bob and Holly continued their approach. Holly was in back of Bob. Cameron went out to greet them. She was well aware they were the key factor in the defeat of the Skynet attack. She was going to congratulate them for saving the compound. She looked at Bob. He was severely damaged. There was metal showing everywhere on him.

Cameron looked around Bob at Holly.

She stopped in her tracks. Holly was a mess. She couldn't believe her eyes. One of the most beautiful Terminators she ever knew was damaged beyond cosmetic repair with plasma burns. She saw the burnt metal in the lower part of her torso where her female anatomy once was. Everything around the area was burnt away. The shredded remains of her sheath across her upper torso was now bloody pulp and nothing else.

Holly dropped to her knees before Cameron. She lifted Cameron's plasma rifle to her head.

"PLEASE, Cameron. Please for Me. DO IT. Allison can never know I looked like this." Holly said. "PLEASE - finish it."

Cameron was flooded with intense agony and grief. Her left hand began to glitch. She couldn't terminate Holly.

"I can't, Holly." Cameron said. "I love you."

Holly could see Cameron was torn.

"I love you, Cameron. If you really love me, you'll do this for me." Holly said. "Allison must never know. PLEASE."

Bob said nothing as he watched the scene unfold. Holly asked him to finish her off earlier, he couldn't.

Cameron dropped to her knees and held Holly and began to cry.

"I'll fix you. I promise, Holly." Cameron said. "I promise."

Cameron looked up at Bob. He understood what she wanted done. He stepped forward.

As Cameron held Holly, Bob was able to remove her chip from her ripped open scalp. The port was already exposed.

Holly 'died' in Cameron's arms.

There was a noise like no one ever heard before as Cameron turned her head to the sky and screamed….

Everyone who heard it knew it was the 'death call' to Skynet.

Bob joined in as did every other Terminator. The scream of rage was heard for miles around.

Closing monologue by Cameron:

Terror

Why are a few simple words
Able to cause one such fear
When the words of rejection
Come from one who is held dear

They are the words
That everyone will dread
They suck out the life
They make one feel dead

One is left shattered
They are full of fright
They can stay and fight
Or run and take flight

The fear of replacement
Leaves one more than scared
They wonder if it was worth it
For what they once dared

It fills one with horror
To know it was an error
The feeling going forward
Is one filled with terror

Nobody