Chapter 621

Waiting

Savannah was bored out of her mind and felt cooped up in the control booth. She started to have wild thoughts. What if the confined space she was in was airtight? She wondered if she was low on oxygen already. She stood up.

She saw a light and heard some talking.

Wait….

Were these more of her crazy thoughts?

No.

Her mind was clear.

Savannah knew it wasn't anyone from her group. They didn't need to use light, especially not so much light. There was a lot of talking. Some of it sounded like arguing.

Terminators didn't need light. They wouldn't talk as loud either.

It looked like bad news and it was headed her way.

Savannah crouched back down. In the ever growing brightness, she could see the air was still thick with dust. It wasn't as bad as it was, but there was still a lot of dust. She hoped it would help conceal her for now. She didn't think so. She needed to know what the strength of the enemy force she was about to face was. She peeked an eye up to the glass in the corner and took another look.

There was a group of men. It looked like four of them. Two of them wore some type of breathing apparatus.

It could mean the other two were Terminators.

Wait….

They argued over the use of the breathing equipment. They entered the area she was in. Savannah held her Taser in one hand and her M4 in the other. Cameron left the M79 with her as well. It was loaded with a 'buckshot' round.

She switched from the M4 to the M79. If the door opened, she would fire the Thumper point blank. She would then switch to the M4. The first person who looked in would be totally devastated. It wouldn't matter if they were a human or a Terminator. The blast from the Thumper should at least knock the Terminator offline. We would need to go through the full one hundred twenty second reboot.

As Savannah listened, there seemed to be some panic. The Grays found the deactivated Terminators. They all pulled weapons out now as well. Great, things just went from bad to worse. She thought she was going to get an extra second or two before the Grays drew weapons. With their new discovery, the time advantage was gone. If anything, the Grays would be 'trigger happy' now. They would shoot at anything, even shadows. With the poor visibility, there were plenty of them.

She touched the wall of the control booth. She knew it wouldn't even stop a bullet from a handgun. They could simply shoot through the side of it and hit her. She could also shoot through the side of it without needing to shoot through the window. The Coltan rounds in her M4 would only lose a few feet per second of velocity as they ripped through the side of the control booth. She would need to make sure all four of the men were grouped together. If she could hit all of them with the same burst, she would go ahead and take the shot. If all four of them weren't together, they would be able to get her in a crossfire and zero her position. She would be trapped like a fish in a barrel.

She remained ready with the M79. She wasn't going to go out without a fight. She didn't plan on being abused by a group of Grays either. Now she feared she wouldn't die a virgin. It seemed a few minutes ago she didn't want to die as one. Conditions could change one's perspective fast.

The breathing apparatus they wore could benefit her greatly. They would help keep the dust and any other toxins from entering her lungs, at least in the same quantities as they would otherwise.

Earlier:

Savannah wanted all the Terminators to pair up with each other. She asked for two of them to remain together at all times. She didn't want anyone getting stuck someplace without the others knowing where they were at. If one got stuck, the other one could go for help. They would know exactly where someone was. If they went independent of each other, the others would need to attempt to conduct a search to locate them.

Cameron teamed up with Tom. Cammy and Al were together. Ed and Frank were a team.

They all agreed to search out areas where Cameron hadn't previously searched. Cameron directed them where to go. They would meet up at a preselected location in one hour and fifty minutes. When the time was reached, Cammy would return for Savannah.

Cameron checked on the collapsed tunnel she first noticed. The steel beams were still there on the ground, not buried. Cameron figured they would need them at some point. They would need them to reinforce the tunnel they would try to make to get out. They could always remove other beams from different areas as well. They would need a lot of them. The material which blocked the exit would be very unstable.

She headed to the way they came in. It was blocked several hundred feet in. If it was blocked all the way to the entrance, it would take a long time to dig their way out. The face of the mountain over the barn and entrance could be down too. It might have been wired to blow up at the same time. It would cover where the entrance was. Unless somebody knew where it was previously, they wouldn't know where to look. It would be another technique to further hide where Skynet was at. If it was collapsed, it would add to the debris. None of it was going to be an easy fix. She would need to see what tools they could find to work with.

Cameron and Tom moved along. They both knew they needed to get Savannah out of there. It was unspoken, but every Terminator there knew it. If they didn't get Savannah out before too long, she was going to die inside the mine..

Cammy and Al went down a different route. It was one she hadn't explored before. There was a boarded up section with a lot of rocks and small boulders on the ground. Why was it boarded up? The wood looked old. There were other areas where there were shafts which went down through the ground without any type of blockage. They were very unsafe for anyone moving around in the darkness.

They moved some of the boulders and Cammy pulled the rotted wood barrier apart. She didn't want to use too much force and create a bigger problem. There were more boulders on the other side. There were a lot of them. The area was probably unstable and was blocked off to prevent people from getting hurt. None of the tunnel walls were braced with steel. There were only the old wood timbers which were rotting away.

She tried to determine if the boulders on the path in front of her were recent from the explosion earlier. Based upon the dust buildup of some of them, it appeared at least a third of them recently fell. It further indicated how unstable the passageway actually was. She wouldn't be surprised if there was a complete cave-in somewhere along its path. She just hoped one didn't happen behind her as she searched ahead. It didn't look like a place she would want to get stuck at.

Al didn't like the way the area looked. He understood why it was sealed off. It didn't seem to him they should venture into the area. He could see it was exactly what Cammy intended to do.

Cammy cautiously moved past the boulders. There was a loud 'crack'. She dodged to the side as a large rock fell next to her.

"Use caution." Al said. "This area is unstable. We should look in another passageway."

Cammy didn't have time to be cautious. Savannah needed to get out of the mine. It was a deathtrap. She saw how unstable the lower level was. She was surprised there hadn't been further cave-ins on the level they were on. Maybe it was because much of the level they were on was reinforced with steel. It wasn't every passageway though. The one she was in was proof. It appeared to be in its original condition from when the mine was first constructed.

She looked around in the new section. She doubted any of the Skynet forces explored the area before. They wanted to go deep.

"This area is different." Cammy said.

There was a ramp. It sloped down to a lower level. There was something on the ground. She could clearly see two parallel lines in the darkness. It was a set of very narrow railroad tracks. She looked around, there were some old mining cars there. They must have used the tracks to transport ore outside of the mine. It was something they hadn't found elsewhere inside the mine.

Cammy noted the ramp she came down on. She thought it looked too steep to move the small ore cars up. The tracks must go somewhere else. When she was being chased earlier, she ended up going around a very large pile of tailings. If the narrow gauge tracks ran to the other side, it would explain why the tailings were there. Maybe it was a way out. Maybe it was the way to dusty death.

She gave Al a brief rundown of what she discovered.

There was another loud 'crack' sound. An even bigger boulder dropped from the ceiling of the tunnel between them.

Al wanted to move away from the unstable area.

"We need to go back and tell the others what we've discovered." Al said.

Cammy was sure she was on to something. She needed to find another way out.

"I'm going to see where it goes." Cammy said.

Al could see right away it looked like a bad idea. They were up against the clock right now. There was a pre-arranged meeting time and location. Everyone was supposed to adhere to it.

"It looks unsafe. We don't have time." Al said. "We made plans for reuniting."

What he really said was, Cammy needed to keep her commitment. He didn't want to make it sound like a direct challenge. It was merely a statement of fact.

Cammy thought she found something hopeful. It might be a way out. If it was, she needed to find out now so they could get Savannah out. She didn't want to spend weeks digging. The whole mountainside could be down over the entrance. There could be just as much, if not more, outside as there was inside.

"I'll be back in a short while." Cammy said. "You can remain here or backtrack to see if you spot any of the others. I won't go anywhere else. I'm going to follow the narrow gauge mining tracks. If there's a junction of some type I will leave an indication as to which direction I went."

Al wanted to point out it wasn't the plan. He felt he already made it clear with his earlier statement. He knew Cammy was 'a Cameron'. Arguing would be pointless. He knew where she was. He would wait as long as possible and then go back. He hoped he didn't hear the sounds of a cave-in from the direction Cammy went.

Cammy disappeared down the tracked passageway.

Al would wait where he was for now. He decided to make use of the time. He began to clear some of the boulders out of the way as he waited. If they needed to go that way later, it would make the passage easier.

He paused and listened. He didn't hear anything from the way Cammy went. He looked at one of the wooden support beams. It looked very weak. He hoped there wasn't some covered over shaft she fell down. The rotted wood would collapse easily.

He continued to move some of the larger boulders off to the side. The occasional loud 'crack' above him every now and then, wasn't a good sign for anyone. Small pieces of rock and dust continued to rain down along the length of the passageway. He was sure it was about to cave-in.

Ed and Frank came up empty. They found two sets of breathing apparatus in a locker as well as MRE packets and bottled water. It would give Savannah mobility now and additional sustenance. They headed back to the rendezvous point. They met Cameron and Tom along the way. They showed them what they located.

Cameron was very pleased to see the breathing apparatus. She suspected there would be something inside in case there was some type of gas which was accidentally uncovered. The fact they could use an oxygen bottle was even better. It would mean none of the air inside of the mine would need to be breathed into Savannah's lungs.

They looked around and waited. Cammy and Al were nowhere to be seen. It was already past the time for the rendezvous. It indicated there was a problem of some type.

They heard some noise after a few minutes. All of them held their weapons ready. Two of them moved to each side of the passageway to present a smaller target. It was Al, as he hurried back.

Al was a little worried Cameron might be upset with him because Cammy went off on her own accord. He waited as long as he could. He was concerned about being late for the Rendezvous as well. He needed to make his report anyway.

"Cammy found a set of old mining tracks. She went off to follow them. I advised her to stick with the plan. She said she wouldn't go anywhere else. If she did she would leave markers to indicate her path. I waited as long as I could and not miss the rendezvous. I know I'm a little late." Al said. "She thinks the small tracks lead to another entrance, or exit in our case. She said they must have gone somewhere. The only logical choice is outside."

Cameron figured the mining tracks did lead to somewhere. They wouldn't be there otherwise. She wanted to know more. She needed to check back in with Savannah since Cammy wouldn't be able to. She looked at the male Terminators.

"You three, go with Al and report back here in thirty minutes." Cameron said.

Frank and Ed departed with Al.

Tom still remained with Cameron. He didn't care for the way she looked at him. He thought he should explain himself before it became a bigger problem.

"I must remain with you." Tom said.

Cameron looked at him but said nothing.

It was clear Savannah 'ordered' Tom not to leave her alone.

Tom could see Cameron looked less than pleased. He wanted to explain himself.

"I'm only following 'orders'." Tom said. "I have to do this."

Cameron smiled at him faintly. She knew Savannah tried to watch over her, even in her absence. It would still keep two of them together in case there was a problem, the other one could go for additional assistance.

"I know why." Cameron said.

Tom was relieved.

"Thank you for understanding." Tom said.

Cameron knew Savannah wanted to look out for her. She also knew it was because of her past 'reputation'. She did go off on her own quite a bit. She received a lot of damage doing so.

"Let's go." Cameron said. "I don't want to keep Savannah waiting. I know she will come looking for us if we don't make the rendezvous with her."

Tom held everything which was found earlier.

"Let's get Savannah." Tom said. "I'll carry the breathing gear for her until she needs it."

Cameron and Tom headed back toward Savannah in the darkness.

She didn't know what Cammy would find. She was afraid it was a dead end.

Earlier:

Savannah watched and waited. The M79 was ready to fire.

The men turned off all but one light. They must have thought it would make them harder to find.

They began to argue over where to go.

Savannah ducked back down as one of the men started to walk over to her location. She followed the sounds of his movement with the M79. She could hear him cough as he neared. He was one of the men who lacked the breathing apparatus.

He passed by. He returned a minute later. He now carried two sets of breathing gear. He handed one to the other man without one and kept one for himself. They headed off with the other two. They went in the direction her team went. It wasn't a good development. She knew she needed to protect her team members.

Savannah slung the M79 in front of her for easy access and secured her Taser. She double checked her M4 and headed out after the four men. She was very aware if there were Grays here now from somewhere, there could be more too. There were most likely more Terminators as well. There was something about the aspect of it nagged at the back of her mind.

She briefly thought of looking for any additional breathing gear but decided she should be able to get some from the four men she would follow. She thought it would be very soon. She wanted to get all of them lined up for a clean shot.

Savannah peered around the corner after them. They all held weapons at the ready. They only looked to the sides and in front of them. They never turned to look behind them. They figured the area was clear since they just left from there. They were bunched up.

Savannah looked around behind her and headed out after them. It was still fifteen minutes until the time to meet up with her group.

Wait….

She didn't want to make the same mistake the Grays made. She didn't want to make the same mistake she made on the road where Young Allison needed to stop the Terminator who almost grabbed her. She needed to maintain situational awareness in all directions around her. She looked behind her again.

Cameron and Tom moved back swiftly to check on Savannah. They both knew with the breathing gear she would be better protected.

Wait….

Cameron slowed and motioned for Tom to stop.

They both heard and saw what it was. It was trouble from the area Savannah was in.

There was light in front of them. It was a faint glow at first. There were sounds of metal striking metal and talking.

There was an unknown force headed towards them. It could only be Grays. They needed to consider there could be a Terminator with them.

Cameron figured the best course of action was to allow the Grays to approach them. She placed Tom in a blind tunnel and moved to one across from him. They waited.

There was gunfire.

All Hell broke loose.

The only person the Grays would shoot at was Savannah.

Cameron and Tom both rushed forward.

Seconds ago:

Savannah closed up on the Grays. She was close to them. It was time. She looked in the darkness behind her again. She made sure her ear protection was in. She knew in the confined space the gunfire would be deafening. She suppressed the urge to cough when she ventured out into the dust filled air. The bandana Cameron made for her only offered her a small amount of protection. It was better than nothing.

She wanted to present a smaller target as possible when she engaged the Grays. She went prone and aimed toward the group of four men. They were silhouetted by the light they carried. She fired half her magazine at waist level. She fired the second half at ground level. She ejected the magazine and inserted the next one she already laid out. She hit the bolt release. She searched for a target but none moved in the glow of the light. It appeared all four Grays were down.

Savannah moved to a kneeling position and fired two rounds into each of the four figures, no one moved. There was a loud 'hissing' sound from where they lay. One of the air tanks must have been damaged. She stood and prepared to go to where the fallen Grays were.

Wait….

Savannah developed an uneasy feeling. It seemed there was something she wanted to remember. She glanced behind her again. She instantly saw why she felt uneasy.

There was a set of red eyes coming right at her.

At that point, she remembered what she wanted to remember. Cameron told her the first Terminator she took down in the mine used the Grays as bait. This one did the same thing.

Savannah didn't have time to move. She attempted to bring the M4 around as it was yanked out of her hands and the Terminator grabbed for her.

He looked right at her as he reached for her throat.

Savannah reached for the M79 slung in front of her.

Wait….

He moved too fast….

There were two bursts of automatic fire and then eight shots in pairs in rapid succession. It sounded like Savannah firing as she taught her.

Cameron held her M4 up at the ready as she ran. Anything other than Savannah she was going to shoot at. She saw the four men sprawled out on the ground. There was a loud 'hissing' sound coming from one of them. They all scanned back as deceased.

She spotted Savannah. It was what she saw behind Savannah which made her worried. There was no mistaking the red eyes about to grab Savannah.

Cameron didn't have a clear shot with all the movement.

The Terminator reached for Savannah. He was right on top of her. He stepped on the pile of fired brass from Savannah's M4. It caused him to lose his balance momentarily as the casings rolled under his foot.

Savannah dove into his lower legs. It caused him to miss as he grabbed for her and toppled over. He slammed into the ground. He rolled over to face her. He held her M4 he pulled away from her. He sat up with her M4 to fire at her. She already brought the M79 up which was in front of her. She fired point black into his face. They were only a few feet apart.

His head turned into a deformed mass of twisted metal and what little bloody synthetic covering remained on it.

He fell back on his rear end in a sitting position. He still held her M4. It was pointed in her direction. He didn't move.

Savannah let go of the Thumper as soon as she'd fired it. She moved away from the direction her M4 was pointed as she drew her Taser and fired. It was a clean hit.

The Terminator didn't move.

Savannah was aware there was movement from the direction the men she shot were headed in. It could be more Grays on their way back to see what happened. She snatched the M4 from the Terminator's grip and used his unmoving body for cover as she prepared to engage the new threat. She hoped his chassis would stop most of the rounds once the shooting started. She again briefly looked behind her. She brought her M4 up over the deactivated Terminator's shoulder. She was aware he may reboot before the targets were identified. If they fired first, she would return fire. Her Taser was close by. It was very hard to keep track of the time. Time was important right now. How much longer did she have until the Terminator would reboot? She still used his chassis for cover.

Sheila stumbled and 'fell' in front of the Gray's van. It stopped next to her.

The side door opened. Two Grays got out to pick Sheila up. She rose to her feet and staggered. They pulled her into the van and closed the side door as they took off.

Sheila appeared to black out again.

The blanket slid off Sheila's torso.

The Grays looked at her exposed breasts with the nipple rings.

"Hot Damn…." The first Gray said.

"Look at her." The second Gray said.

"Let's get her pants off." The first Gray said. "I'm going first this time."

The driver looked back.

"Damn, she's sweet." The driver said. "I know we each did the last slut twice, but I'm pretty sure we're all going to be able to go twice again with this chick. I know I am."

Ally waited in the gas station. She could see the van approach her. She pulled out in front of the van. She would let it pass her. She looked for a tail vehicle on the van to see if the Terminators followed it. She hadn't spotted one yet. She hoped the Terminator wasn't still in the van. They thought there could be more than one Terminator.

Sheila could see the Grays with thermal imagery with her eyes closed. It was clear they lost all focus as they fumbled with her pants.

She could tell there were two Grays in the back, and two in the front seats. The passenger in the front seat unhooked his safety belt and moved into the back as well. It was clear they were about to pull a 'train' on her.

The van stopped at a red light.

She slammed the first two Grays heads together as they fondled and groped her. They went down on each side of her. She punched the passenger in the throat. He was in the process of unhooking his pants. He slammed against the sliding door.

She reached forward and snapped the neck of the driver. She moved the selector into 'Park'. She didn't want the van to roll through the red light.

Only two of the men in the back were still alive. She quickly bound them and yanked the dead driver out of his seat and climbed into it. The light turned green. She moved the selector back into 'Drive' and drove away from the signal. To anyone behind the van, it would simply look as if it stopped at a traffic light, and continued on after the light turned green. There would be no outside indication there was now a different driver behind the wheel.

She saw Ally was still in front of the van. She flicked the high beams switch twice.

"I have control of the van." Sheila said. "I have two live ones, they're bound and secured."

Ally knew there were more Grays inside the van..

"I thought there were four of them." Ally said.

Sheila glanced back as she drove.

"Two of them didn't make it." Sheila said. "They don't know it, but they were the lucky ones."

Sheila looked behind her for a tail but didn't spot one.

CamNet used traffic management to cause a traffic jam behind them.

She followed some instructions from CamNet. They were directed to the rear of some industrial buildings.

Ally was already there. She pulled the two live Grays out and put them in the back of their SUV.

Sheila searched the two dead men as well as the interior of the van. She collected everything of interest and got into the SUV.

They drove away.

Ally looked over at Sheila. Her breasts were still exposed.

"Are you going to close your top up?" Ally asked.

Sheila looked down at herself. She actually opened her top up more. Everything was clearly visible to anyone who could see her. They would need to be in another vehicle of similar height. Those in a car would only be able to see her head as they looked up.

"I like the way I look." Sheila said. "So does everyone else."

One of the men began to stir.

Sheila reached over and choked him out. She overdid the choke. His heart stopped.

"Oops!" Sheila said

She pushed on his chest a few times. His heart started to beat again.

"I almost lost one." Sheila said. "Neither one of these Grays is going to get off easy."

Ally saw they let the homeless girl go.

"They paid the girl didn't they?" Ally asked.

Sheila looked disgusted.

"They paid her four dollars." Sheila said. "It was a dollar for each of them, or fifty cents a pop since they all went twice. It was what they planned to do to me as well."

Ally knew Sheila would be brutal.

"At least they all got off one last time." Ally said. "They should all die content."

Sheila searched the men as they drove. She disabled their phones and made sure they didn't have 'trackers' on them.

"Let's find a spot so I can start in." Sheila said.

Closing monologue by Cameron:

Waiting To Go Off

People never change
They say that they can
But they never actually do
It is really just a scam

They think who they are
Is someone they are not
They pretend to be different
They learn to lie a lot

For a very short time
They may seem to pull it off
But who they really are
Lurks inside like a Molotov

So everyone will pretend
Give them another chance
They only regroup ready to strike
As they do a hocus pocus dance

Inevitably sooner or later they rearm
The real creature will to emerge to scoff
It's like a bomb
Waiting to go off

Nobody