Chapter 498

Not Too Close

The Resistance was after two suspected Grays. One of them was on foot. Jesse and Gail were in pursuit. Ally would be sent to back them up. The other Gray was in a vehicle. Cam was in the manned drone overhead. Sheila and Savannah were in an SUV behind them. They stayed out of sight.

Cameron was on her way to back up Sheila and Savannah. She would have preferred if Savannah returned to the Resistance base. It wasn't the way events played out. She wanted Savannah to help Sheila work through some personal issues on the way back to the base. Savannah decided they were going to join the operation instead.

Sheila closed up on the remaining vehicle. There could be action soon.

Savannah and Sheila exchanged a quick glance.

"Things may get hot." Sheila said.

Savannah wanted to tell Sheila they already were 'Hot' with her sitting next to her. Now wasn't the time to joke around. There could be dead people very soon. She needed to make sure she wasn't among them. She remembered her duty. She checked her weapons. She didn't like the earlier close call. Their SUV was almost hit with an RPG. She wanted some personal 'payback'.

"I'm ready." Savannah said. "They tried to kill Cammy and me."

John Henry watched footage from the drone overhead. He also made sure there were no other hostile drones in the area. They didn't want any unpleasant surprises. He wanted to make sure the teams on the ground maintained situational awareness.

"Sheila, don't get too close." John Henry cautioned. "They may think they've eluded us. The goal is to see if they will lead us to someplace else. If the car returns to their base, it will provide us with additional targets."

There was another SUV on the way to assist Sheila and Savannah. Cameron, Cammy, and Sheila were in it.

Cameron glanced at the various drone images on her phone with one eye as she drove. She noticed Ally looking at her. She didn't want any snide comments or remarks about her driving. The earlier incident was because she was distracted. She didn't feel they were ever in danger.

"I have one eye on the road." Cameron said.

Ally shrugged her shoulders. She was still a little concerned about what happened previously. There wasn't any oncoming traffic, if there would have been, things could have been a lot more dangerous. Cameron could have been involved in an accident. A head on collision was the worst type to have.

"I have one hand ready to grab the steering wheel." Ally said. "I still don't want to test out the airbags."

Cameron frowned and gave Ally a dirty look. She didn't like her actions questioned. She didn't want any negative feedback. She let Ally out near where Jesse and Gail were on foot. She also wanted Savannah and Sheila to wait.

"We're almost there." Cameron said. "Cammy is going to ride with Sheila."

The unspoken part of her statement was, 'Cammy is going to watch over Savannah'. It was understandable since they were lovers.

Cammy was still upset because Cameron made her ride in her SUV earlier. She was pleased things were about to be rectified. It was her job to watch over Savannah. She couldn't let anything happen to her.

Cameron didn't want to be obvious as she protected Savannah. She wanted to take the risk herself. She offered up a plausible explanation as to why she should become the lead vehicle in the pursuit. She received an update from CamNet as well.

"We will switch vehicle positions so the same vehicle isn't always behind them." Cameron said. "I don't want them to know they're being tailed. I have additional Terminators close by."

John Henry checked the drones he positioned. Things looked good so far. He wasn't sure where Cameron's Terminators were at. Some of the Resistance Terminators were close. He wanted them to be aware anyway.

"Steve and Dan are closing in on your position." John Henry said. "I have two additional drones scouting the area around you. I want to make sure you're not being led into an ambush, or anyone is moving in on your position. All communication systems are down. All 911 calls will go through my server first."

It was standard Resistance procedure to take control of all the communications in the area where they conducted an operation. They always wanted to make sure the 'first responders' wouldn't be dispatched to an area which was active. There was no need for any of them to be needlessly injured. It also allowed them to cover up what actually occurred much easier. The more they could control the narrative, the better the final results would be.

Ally was on foot to back up Gail and Jesse, who were also on foot. They were in pursuit of a Gray who bailed out of the car Sheila and Savannah now tracked. They hoped he was about to lead them to where their base was. He didn't. Either he wasn't going to their base, or he suspected he was being tailed and chose not to go there. It was more of an industrial area before, now there were homes involved.

"Gail and Jesse are entering a residential area." Ally said. "This isn't a good spot for a firefight."

A firefight on a city street in an area where people lived was always a major risk to anyone around, especially innocent bystanders. It also allowed for there to be more eyewitnesses to any events which occurred. Whenever Terminators were involved, an eyewitness would see things which were 'impossible'. Most of them never came forward for obvious reasons.

Jesse held her silenced pistol ready as she advanced. If she was able to draw 'first blood', there shouldn't be any sounds to alert the neighbors. She let Gail take the lead. Ally closed up from behind them.

Cameron didn't want to lose the Gray. She also wanted Jesse protected.

"Stay with them, Ally." Cameron said. "Cam, do you have him?"

Cam could see the overall picture from the manned drone. The Gray tried to take evasive action. He made things worse for himself. She wanted to have Ally cut him off. They could end the pursuit and keep him from entering a home. There could be hostages involved then. It would be bad for everyone.

She was a little surprised at what happened to the Gray as he passed through the backyard of one of the homes. She watched him go over the fence from one house to the next. As soon as he landed on the ground, he was confronted by a canine. The dog didn't like having its territory invaded by a stranger. It immediately moved to attack the Gray. The Gray tried to go back over the fence he just came from, but the dog was quicker. The dog grabbed the Gray's leg. The Gray used his other foot against the dog's head, and it let go for a second. It was enough time for the Gray to drop back into the yard on the other side of the fence. By his motions and movements, it was clear the dog scored. The dog was up against the fence barking in the direction the Gray went. It appeared to be extremely agitated.

"I'm on him. He is moving through backyards. He was just bit by a dog. It got his leg good." Cam said. "I see him limping now. He's holding a pistol in his hand. I think he's afraid of encountering another canine. Ally, you can head him off if you go to your right and run for about thirty seconds. You're almost there. Turn down the street to your right."

Ally took off running as directed. She made it to the intercept point ahead of the target. She waited in the shadows as the target approached her. She could hear him make several statements about the dog as he approached.

"Piece of crap fleabag dog…." The Gray muttered.

Ally could hear him continue to mutter to himself and curse the dog who attacked him. He was almost to her position. It was time to say 'hello'.

The Gray emerged from behind a fence, limping.

"Nice night for a walk." Ally said.

The Gray was clearly startled. He didn't expect to see a young female out.

"Yeah…." The man said as he looked around.

Ally stepped out of the shadows. She was now close enough so the man could make out her features. When he saw her face, he panicked.

"Bitch." The man said to Ally.

He tried to bring his weapon up. Ally moved in and snatched it from him. She shoved him into a block wall. The impact was hard enough to make his head snap back and knock himself out.

Ally looked him over. She could see there was blood coming from the back of his skull. She might have shoved him a little too hard when he insulted her. Only Sheila could call her a 'Bitch'.

"I have one in custody." Ally said. "He may be blind now. The back of his head is crushed."

Ally hoped he was blind and the last image he would remember was of her. He was the one who pointed a firearm at someone, and insulted them simultaneously. What did he think was going to happen?

Cameron didn't want any damaged live ones for either Sheila or Jesse to 'play' with. There was no need to tempt them. They were on a Resistance operation currently. They needed to be a little more careful with their actions than they did in an 'off the books' operation.

"Terminate him." Cameron said.

Ally reached down and snapped his neck. She quickly searched him. She wanted to see if she could find any useful information. She found nothing. There was a large dumpster nearby. She dumped his body in it.

Jesse and Gail reached her location right after she did. They stayed out of the yards so it took them a little longer.

Jesse hoped to interrogate him.

"Where is he?" Jesse asked.

Ally nodded towards the dumpster.

"He's dead." Ally said. "He tried to shoot me. I snapped his neck. I threw out the trash."

Jesse was a little disappointed. Her silenced pistol was in her right hand. Her other hand rested on her knife. The 'old ways' died hard.

"Some girls have all the fun." Jesse said.

Ally was going to say something sexual, but saw Gail move up behind Jesse. She kept her mouth shut. Some Terminators seemed more 'uptight' than others. Gail was the largest of the female Terminators in more ways than one. She wasn't much of one for jokes. He was usually all 'business' unless she was around the human females. Everything about her demeanor seemed to soften when she was.

"It happens." Ally said. "It seems when the Gray saw my face, it meant something to him. It was almost as if he recognized me. He called me a 'Bitch'. I don't think I'm the one who was on his mind. He must have had some other interaction with a cyborg who looks like Allison. My most likely guess would be it was Cameron at some point."

Sheila listened to the conversation. She liked to razz Ally.

"It's understandable why he called you what he did." Sheila chimed in. "It's because you really are a Bitch. I'm going to give him a 'bonus point'."

Ally shrugged off the insult. She would get Sheila back later. There was something about the encounter with the Gray which bothered her. Something was off.

"It may be true at times, but he didn't call me a 'Metal Bitch'." Ally said. "It was like when the other Gray saw Savannah. It was as if they knew who we were. They weren't too happy to see us either."

Cameron felt a sense of alarm. It wasn't a good development. She wondered how the Grays 'made' Cammy and Savannah earlier. How did they know what they looked like? There was more going on there than they knew. It wasn't going to be anything good either. It seemed as if someone was specifically searching for the Resistance.

Gail, Jesse and Ally headed back to the SUV. They would join back up with Cameron's and Sheila's teams.

Cam made a broad 'figure eight' orbit around the area with the manned drone. She searched for any threats in the air and on the ground.

"I see no unusual activity around you." Cam reported to the trio.

Cameron didn't think things added up the way they should. They missed something somewhere. The operation left a lot of unanswered questions. It left more red flags than anything.

"Cam, go back to where we hit the first two vehicles and see if anything is happening there. If there is, hit it again." Cameron said. "It's the only way to be sure."

Cameron previously wanted to send a team of her Terminators to the location. She decided to hold them back for now and see what else developed. Cam would find out soon enough.

John watched everything unfold. He'd hoped to get some intel and find out where the group came from. The part about recognizing people who looked like 'Allison' or 'Cameron' and 'Savannah' bothered him.

"We're not going to get much intel out of this operation." John said. "What's really going on here?"

Cameron liked everything less and less. It seemed personal to her. She was probably the intended target, not Cammy or Ally. She really hoped it wasn't Savannah. She did draw the biggest insult before.

"Someone tried to 'hit' Cammy and Savannah. They seemed to recognize both of them." Cameron said. "I'm sure they thought Cammy, and then Ally, was me. I've made a lot of enemies in every future I've been in, as well as the present. I know they don't like the way I do things. I can tell you the enemy likes it even less."

Ally was present at both encounters. She saw the way the Grays reacted. It was clear they knew who they were, or someone who looked like them.

"The man panicked after he got a good look at my face." Ally said. "Seeing an 'Allison' or a 'Savannah' seems to cause these people great fear."

John Henry wondered about it all too. Cameron was after a specific target earlier. Now all those plans were disrupted.

"Cameron wasn't able to initiate her original operation tonight." John Henry said to John.

John wondered if it was all connected or separate. They dealt with more than one group of Grays or the anti-Metal faction at the same time before.

"Maybe we need to take a step back." John said. "I don't want to walk blind into what could be a setup. There are too many things which remain unknown currently."

It was personal to Cameron now. She planned to get some explanations and complete her original task as well. It wasn't in her nature to walk away from a known target.

"The night is still young." Cameron said. "I want Steve and Dan to cut him off and physically block him. I'm coming behind him to box him in. I want some answers."

Cam returned to the location of the earlier missile strike on the first vehicle. She noted activity as she approached in the manned drone. She was a little surprised as to who was there.

"There is another car stopped at the site where we hit the two vehicles." Cam reported. "It looks like local gang members."

Cameron saw an opportunity to 'police' the area. She previously sent two of her Terminators to take care of things, but she could kill two birds with one stone and pin everything which happened there on the local gang. There would also be the added benefit of reducing the future Scavenger population.

"If they go to drive away, hit them there." Cameron said. "I have two of my Terminators on the way. They are very nearby. They will engage them on the ground and then 'salt' the area with drugs and cash. It will look like a drug deal gone bad. It will cover our tracks. No one investigates gang hits which involve drugs anymore."

Cameron was disgusted at the way the new District Attorney chose not to prosecute criminals for their crimes. There was a lot of death involved with the drug trade on both ends of the equation. It didn't bother the District Attorney at all.

Sheila would have liked to have gotten a hold of the future Scavengers. She looked over at Savannah and toned down her response.

"It will mean a few less Scavengers." Sheila said. "It's a good thing if nothing else."

Steve was about to make the interception in front of the Gray's vehicle.

"We see him coming." Steve said. "We're rolling."

Cameron had the Gray in sight as well. They were just up ahead.

"I'm closing fast behind him." Cameron said.

Savannah wanted Cameron to remember there was plenty of back up.

"We're right behind you, Cameron." Savannah said. "Don't take any chances if you don't need to."

Cam spotted another vehicle approach the two damaged vehicles, and the car from the local gang. They weren't Cameron's Terminators either. Much to her surprise the two groups began shooting at each other.

"There is another vehicle which approached the gang members." Cam reported. "It appears to be a rival gang. They've started a gun battle in the middle of the road. They're killing each other."

Kyle sat with John and John Henry as they monitored everything. They received video feeds from the Terminators and the drones. It was awesome to watch. It was almost like some 'creepy for real' video game. He'd seen enough killing in his life to know it was all very real and terminal.

Cam watched as the new gang eliminated the first gang.

"The second vehicle of gang members has terminated those from the rival gang. They're going through their car now." Cam said. "I'm going to light them up."

Cameron hoped her Terminators would arrive before Cam opened up with the minigun or fired a missile. They already used one missile earlier.

"Not yet." Cameron said. "Not until they start to leave. I want to make sure their fingerprints are all over everything in case there actually is an investigation. I doubt there will be. I want the gangs to take the 'fall' for everything. This puts all the heat on the gangs and we don't need to sanitize anything."

Dan and Steve made their move as Cameron closed up right in back of the Gray. They moved to block the Gray's vehicle between their SUV and Cameron's SUV. They boxed the Gray in and forced them to stop.

Cameron pulled up right behind the stopped Gray.

The three Terminators exited their vehicles and approached the trapped Gray.

Sheila, Cammy, and Savannah pulled up alongside Cameron. Steve and Dan were on the opposite side.

The Gray held his hands up. It appeared he was about to surrender.

Cameron opened the door and pulled him out of the car.

The man recoiled some as he got a good look at her.

"You're that 'Metal Bitch'." The man said as Cameron searched him.

Cameron resisted the urge to snap his neck. She understood why Sheila broke the other man's jaw earlier. She didn't care for the harsh words or disrespect. There needed to be more behind the man's statement other than some type of recognition.

He looked over and saw Cammy with Savannah.

"There are two of you?" He asked.

Gail, Jesse, and Ally arrived.

Ally got out of the SUV and approached the man. She heard what he said.

"There are three, if you count me." Ally said.

The man's gaze then settled on Savannah. A new look of fear crossed his face.

"You're 'The Redheaded Witch'. You're that THING we were told about." The man said. "What are you? You look like a teenager."

He panicked and tried to run. Cameron held him firmly in place. He was clearly terrified at the sight of Savannah.

For some reason he was more frightened of Savannah than of Cameron or the other Terminators. He called them a 'Metal Bitch' to their face, but when he saw Savannah, it made him try to run.

It was clear to all of them the sight of Savannah made him more afraid than being questioned by a Terminator. There needed to be some type of explanation.

Sheila and Cammy moved forward and pinned the man in place.

Cameron was sure this must have something to do with Mrs. Weaver. It was problematic in itself. Now she wondered if Mrs. Weaver was still 'in some future'. If she was, where was this Gray from? What if it wasn't Mrs. Weaver but a Liquid Metal Terminator who looked like Savannah? She wanted to play things out some. She moved next to Savannah.

"Do you want me to terminate him, or do you wish to slice him up?" Cameron asked. "He looks like he'll squeal very loudly once you start."

Savannah caught Cameron's 'game'. It appeared she was about to play 'her mother'.

She was able to observe Mrs. Weaver, as the Liquid Metal Terminator she was, during her near year long stay 'in some future'. She was able to watch her turn into a multitude of inanimate objects, as well as many different animals, or look like many different humans, both male and female.

"I'll slice him up." Savannah said as she walked forward. "I like to hear them scream. Usually when they squeal like a pig, it's for other reasons."

Cameron wanted to offer the Gray an incentive to cooperate.

"If you talk, I'll ask her not to slice and dice you." Cameron said.

The man stood in terror as he looked at Savannah.

"OK - OK." The man said.

Cameron smiled to herself.

"Talk." Cameron said.

The man visibly shook with fright.

"Just keep that THING away from me." The man said. "I can't believe it looks like a teenager. Why does it look like that?"

Savannah moved away and out of sight. Dan and Steve searched the vehicle. Cameron conducted the interrogation as Cammy and Sheila held him. She pumped the man for information.

The man talked a lot. At some point he noticed 'The Redheaded Witch' was gone. It seemed to cause him to panic again.

"Where did that THING go?" The man cried out.

Cameron wanted to terrorize the man some.

"It's part of the street now. It's under you." Cameron said.

The man lost control of himself. The front of his pants became wet. Cammy and Sheila still held him firmly. He began to cry.

"I told you everything." He sobbed. "Don't let that THING get me."

Cammy scanned the man during the interrogation. He didn't lie much. A well directed punch would produce the proper answer.

"He's telling the truth." Cammy said.

Cameron obtained the information she wanted. The man was useless now.

"Then we no longer have any use for him." Cameron said. "Terminate him."

Cameron looked at Sheila and nodded. Sheila first looked back at Savannah, and Savannah nodded. She snapped his neck. She smiled and hoisted the man's lifeless body up. She threw him in the back of the SUV.

Cameron wasn't sure how they knew what they looked like. It was based more on their 'description' than what they actually looked like. For some reason they thought 'The Redheaded Witch' looked younger than they expected. There was enough difference in appearance where it seemed to take a moment for them to make the connection to whatever it was they feared.

"It seems they know about Mrs. Weaver and think Savannah is her." Cameron said. "It must be based on descriptions since they expected Savannah to look older."

Savannah saw a further danger to it all.

"They also seem to know about you." Savannah said to Cameron.

John Henry tried to make sense of it all. He was sure Cameron was correct that it was based on the descriptions of what the team looked like rather than photos or first hand knowledge.

"I'm processing everything he said." John Henry reported.

John didn't like being hunted. They might be after Sarah and him as well. It put everyone at risk including his sister.

"I don't like it." John said. "They were out looking for us. They knew where we would be. There's a good chance there are other teams out there near the location Cameron was going to hit earlier. The use of an RPG isn't something Grays normally use. They hoped to destroy what they believed was a Liquid Metal Terminator. They don't know even a direct hit would have been ineffective."

Everyone knew he specifically meant Cameron and Savannah.

Cameron had a target location. She didn't intend to endanger Savannah further. There were other resources available.

"Well, there is no need to disappoint them." Cameron said. "I'm launching an all Metal strike against the location he divulged. I'll need Hanna tonight. It sounds like we have a 'reputation' to live up to."

If these people thought Savannah was Mrs. Weaver, Hanna should fit right in nicely to play the role.

Ally wanted to keep the mood light.

"I guess they'll soon be 'dying' to meet us." Ally said.

Cameron knew they would be dying when they met her. Nobody threatens Savannah. It was even more personal to Cameron now.

Closing monologue by Cameron:

Not Too Close

People are just people
Everyone is a stranger
One doesn't know who they are
The unknown represents danger

Some will chose to knock
Most will be ignored and disregarded
The end result most likely
Will mean someone is discarded

The only ones who can truly hurt us
Are the ones that are loved and cared for
Everything hurts so much more
When it comes from one that we adore

The more one is 'burnt'
The more skeptical they become
It's the price that must be paid
In the attempt to try and 'get some'

Try to move forward in life
Make things more than morose
Be ready for the inevitable adiós
Survivable distance means not too close

Nobody