Chapter 661

Very Complicated

Cammy moved an eighth of a mile off to the side of the trail. She went up on the opposite side Steve did. She called up her image of the satellite map she contained in a file. It was rough terrain and there were a lot of patches of snow now. She decided to move ahead of the group and wait in concealment for them. She needed to find out more. Her only worry was the 'Metal Bitch'.

There were some snow covered rocks near the trail. She moved up in back of those and waited. The first group of three Grays already passed by, she saw their footprints. She made sure she stayed on the rocks which didn't have snow on them.

There was some sound and noise coming up the trail. There was cursing and a female's cry of pain. The detainee was being slapped around as they moved up the path. It appeared since the group was out of view of anyone else, the Grays let their brutality show.

"Keep moving Bitch." The first Gray said.

There was the sound of heavy breathing.

"I'm tired. It's harder to breathe up here at this altitude." The female said.

There was a loud dull 'thud' sound.

"I don't want to hear any mouth from some trashy slut." The second Gray said.

There were two more loud dull 'thud' sounds.

"Stop hitting me." A female said. "I've done everything you've told me to do."

"You haven't even started what you're going to do." The third Gray said. "You can expect ten times the activity once you're on the 'comfort bunk'."

"I'm really sore from everything which already happened so far." The female said. "I haven't refused to do anything. You don't have to keep hurting me."

The 'Metal Bitch' gave the detainee a violent shove. It was clear she didn't care about her problems or why she was sore. She knew the detainee needed to 'service' more than a dozen men multiple times already. She thought she was the lowest form of human trash and she disgusted her. She understood why the men usually terminated them after a few days. She was surprised they would even last as long as they did.

"Silence…." The 'Metal Bitch' said. "If you don't keep up, you'll be terminated and thrown into the bushes. You won't be told again. You saw what happened to the other female."

The three men laughed.

"Good riddance to the other trashy broad." The first Gray said.

"Talk about 'used up', we should have called her Lucy." The third Gray said. "It was why she spent her final hours on her stomach."

There was another round of laughter.

There were two more loud dull 'thud' sounds.

"I got plans for you, sweetheart." The second Gray said.

"What do you need the knife for?" The female asked.

"You watched what he did to the other slut." The third Gray said. "Figure it out."

The three men laughed even louder.

The distressed female did see what the other men did to her before they killed her. She figured they would do the same to her, sooner or later. She didn't know when it would be, but it looked like it was going to be very soon. She looked around for anywhere to run, but there was nowhere to go.

The crazy 'Bitch' who told her what to do was incredibly strong and could easily hurt her, as she already did several times. She watched some of the men abuse the other female as they ravaged her body and she cried out in terror. The man who held the knife started to use it on the other female. Her screams were terrible. She did everything the men told her to do going forward. She was tired and very sore from everything she needed to do.

"They abused her for nothing." The distressed female said. "She was exhausted."

One of the men looked at her with a sick hunger in his eyes. She watched him hurt the other female before she died. He moved rapidly towards her with his fists up.

There were a series of loud dull 'thud' sounds. It was followed by a much louder 'thud' as a body impacted the ground.

"She didn't do what we wanted fast enough." The first Gray said. "Get back up and keep moving."

One of the other men laughed and 'high fived' the other one who'd just spoken.

"You'd better do it 'good enough'." The third Gray said. "We expect our sluts to be receptive and compliant and obey without question. There better be a smile on your face too."

One of the men came back and groped her as she stumbled along. She offered no resistance and allowed him to do whatever he wanted to do. It seemed to please him.

"The other stupid broad didn't listen. Not like you, you listen. If you want to stay alive you'll do what you're told." The first Gray said. "You do it very well too."

One of the other men came up and groped her now as well.

"If you don't do as we command, I'll start in on you." The second Gray said.

She didn't doubt what they said at all based upon what she already witnessed.

"You know how to make a point'." The third Gray said.

It brought another round of laughter from the three men.

Cammy heard enough. The Grays needed to be terminated. She pulled out her Taser and her Glock. It was clear the female was already heavily abused, and was about to be abused even more before she would be terminated.

The group passed by Cammy's position. She moved around the backside of the rock and stepped onto the trail behind them.

John called Cameron and ran the idea of having a Metal Strike Team within a quick response distance.

Cameron thought it was too early to commit additional resources. She wanted to deal with the situation herself once she found out exactly what everything was.

"Additional personnel shouldn't be unnecessary." Cameron said. "This is still a recon."

John knew Cameron wanted to take the brunt of the action upon herself to prevent damage to any of the others when it 'hit the fan'. He wanted Cameron to have additional help.

"For how much longer will it be?" John asked. "This is going hot. We all know it."

John knew how these events always exploded into bigger affairs, especially when Cameron was involved. He wanted her to have additional help.

Cameron checked over the satellite photos of the mountain top. She didn't see anything which appeared out of the ordinary or looked like it was in the process of being constructed. There were a series of communication arrays located there, but most of those appeared to have been there for years. It was possible things were replaced or modified to suit Skynet's purposes.

"I don't think there is much they can do up on the top of the mountain." Cameron said.

John wasn't so sure about her assessment.

"They're doing something if there's a Terminator involved." John said.

Cameron wasn't sure what John based his assessment on, other than the group of people who were up on the mountain currently. There was no hard evidence of anything else which appeared to have occurred up there.

"The satellite photos show nothing but a group of communication relay stations." Cameron said.

John didn't want to argue. They didn't have enough information to go by yet. More than likely whatever it looked like, it wasn't actually what it was. Skynet attempted to hide most of what it did to protect itself.

"Savannah and Bob are on their way." John said. "I'm moving a 'MIKE Force' up anyway. I want to take some preventive action, even if you don't want a Metal Strike Team. I want them to act as a force to be able to bail our people out if it's necessary. The current situation seems rather involved over a large area of real estate, even if we don't know what exactly is going on."

Cameron wanted to deal with as much of the current situation herself as possible. She didn't want John to 'jump the gun' and create too big of a presence. It was only because Savannah was on her way why she would allow him to use Terminators as a 'MIKE Force'.

"OK, but hold them at the temporary desert outpost until they're specifically called for." Cameron said. "The packing house sounds like more of a target. I'm just about to arrive there now."

John didn't care for Cameron's reluctance going into an operation with proper planning and additional resources. He didn't want to create a big deal about it right now.

"Give us your input and we'll act accordingly." John said.

Cameron felt she'd made her position crystal clear.

"I'll let you know." Cameron said and hung up.

Cameron would be at the old packing house soon and check things out 'her way'. Cammy reported HK drones there. It alone was enough for her to act. The fact there was something going on up on the mountain would require further investigation. She just didn't see what could be so important up there when things looked pretty much the same as they did for years. There was a group of Grays and a Terminator headed up there now. She hoped Cammy and Steve would be able to find out what they were up to.

Young Allison was very disappointed Savannah couldn't spend more time with her. She didn't like where it was spent instead. She knew Allison was 'her', but it wasn't the same thing, even if they were the same person. She wanted to do those things too. She knew what everyone else was doing. People in school her age were doing the same things. She read the blogs about what others talked about and even bragged about. There were plenty of teenagers who wanted to avoid getting pregnant. There were a lot of them who already were and wanted to do something about it. None of them wanted their parents to know what they were up to.

Anna could see Savannah's early departure caused a problem for Young Allison. She believed Savannah was going to spend some time with Young Allison. The developments in the low desert seemed to change her plans. Change was something Young Allison would need to learn to deal with. Nothing was set in stone.

"I can tell you're upset." Anna said.

Young Allison felt there were too many restrictions placed upon her as to what she could and couldn't do. Everyone told her that she was supposed to be in control of her own body, but no one wanted to allow her to use it the way she wanted to. There were plenty of girls her age that were sexually active and most of those were with males. She didn't need to run the risk of an early pregnancy if her association was only with females. Maybe the next time she saw John she should lean on him a little harder. She knew it would happen sooner or later anyway. What was the point in waiting for any of it?

"I wanted to spend time with Savannah." Young Allison said. "Instead Allison got to. I know it's different. I know what they do. I can do it too, you know. I can do everything Allison and Savannah do. I have the same things to offer, quite literally."

Young Allison knew she lacked experience. It was something she wanted to rectify with practice. She was very well aware of what went on around their house. She spied on all of them whenever she could get away with it, which was quite often. She knew it was wrong to do it, but she couldn't help herself. She wanted to know what she was supposed to do later on. It was different seeing it in person as opposed to only watching videos on the internet. It was actually very different from what others portrayed. She figured a lot of the stuff on the internet was posed and people acting. It seems to be all about action as opposed to shared love.

Anna didn't think Young Allison understood all of the feelings of the girls.

"You know they love each other." Anna said.

Young Allison thought Allison was being greedy in trying to take something which didn't belong to her, since she already shared her own version of the same thing. It was very selfish and unthoughtful of her.

"Allison has Vanna, she doesn't need Savannah too." Young Allison said. "I belong with Savannah."

Anna thought Savannah's choice needed to be respected as well.

"What about Savannah?" Anna asked. "She has feelings too."

Young Allison could see the argument was going nowhere. She felt very frustrated. It was supposed to be her with Savannah, not anyone else, especially an older version of her.

"I don't want to talk about it." Young Allison said.

Anna thought it would be a test for Young Allison. She would be able to see how she worked under pressure and emotional distress. It was quite evident she suffered from a number of things currently. They were all obstacles which existed within her own mind, created by her own mind. None of them were a physical barrier.

"Let's follow the operation and try to keep a clear mind. Distractions cause deaths and injuries." Anna said. "You need to deal with it. You need to set your priorities and stick with them."

Young Allison didn't want to argue about it anymore. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She turned her attention to one of the feeds.

"What's Cameron doing?" Young Allison asked.

Anna could see the concern Young Allison just expressed, and why she expressed it.

"It appears she's trying to take a closer look." Anna said.

Young Allison could see it was a reckless move in broad daylight.

"She's totally exposed." Young Allison said.

Anna thought the same thing, but she knew Cameron was used to dealing with situations like this. She knew because of Cameron's female attributes, it made others hesitate when they encountered her in an area where she shouldn't be. They didn't see her as a threat initially. It was a mistake on their part, a big one.

"She knows what she's doing." Anna said. "Most of the time, I hope."

Anna was more than a little concerned too. Cameron at times took too many chances. What she currently viewed looked like one of those times. Savannah was still miles away from being able to assist her. She was worried they would need to send the drones in, in broad daylight, if things went hot for Cameron where she was currently at. She quietly sent her concerns to both CamNet and John Henry.

Bob was worried about Savannah. She was normally happy and cheerful. Now she was very quiet.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Bob asked.

Savannah was lost deep in thought when Bob spoke.

"What?" Savannah asked.

Bob was really worried about Savannah.

"You seem distracted and worried." Bob said. "You don't seem yourself."

She was troubled at the way she needed to leave Young Allison and not being able to spend time with her as she originally planned to do. She knew what it was like to feel alone and have a lot of anticipation of something you wanted to do with someone special, and then have it not happen. It bothered her more than a little. It bothered her a lot.

"My life is very complicated." Savannah said. "I can't please everyone and not hurt other people in some way."

She wondered if maybe she let things start to get away from her. Maybe she was just spread too thin. There were things she wanted to do. There were things she needed to do. Sometimes they collided with each other in a very unsatisfactory way.

Earlier, Bob tried to remain silent and stay out of the way as the girls all said goodbye to each other. He could see the hurt and disappointment on Young Allison's face when Savannah needed to leave so abruptly. It troubled him to watch the change in her demeanor from how pleasant and happy it seemed when they were at the period diner.

"Are you referring to Young Allison?" Bob asked.

Savannah glanced at Bob and frowned slightly. She felt she committed a personal grievance against Young Allison. It wasn't her intent.

"Yes." Savannah said. "I hurt her."

Bob visited Cameron's future. He saw what the future held for her and Young Allison.

"She's your future mate." Bob said. "I've seen it."

Savannah heard and saw it with her own eyes for most of her life. She wasn't so sure it needed to be written in stone. Maybe some of the people wanted something different. They didn't necessarily need to do what happened in a different time period.

"Things don't have to be the same." Savannah said. "People should have a choice."

Bob thought there was one overriding factor. It influenced everything in the future.

"Not with Skynet." Bob said. "As long as Skynet exists, it will dictate the future events."

Savannah hoped to prevent it from ever happening. She didn't know if she would be able to or not. The fact there was always more, once they destroyed things, seemed to indicate the battle may never be over.

"I need to stop Skynet from ever taking control." Savannah said. "I want Young Allison and Summer to have real lives. I want young Allison to be a real teenager like she should be. She should be in school with the other kids her age. It's not like she's being home schooled so she could pursue a career in ballet or something."

Bob knew they were up against more Skynet activity than ever.

"It may be too late." Bob said.

It's not what Savannah wanted to hear. She was deeply troubled as she thought about the future. There seemed to be certain events for which there wouldn't be any type of control.

"I can't accept it." Savannah said. "Bob…."

Bob was a little concerned with the look on Savannah's face.

"Yes." Bob said.

Savannah was worried about Cameron and everything else. She more and more felt she was burning the candle at both ends. She felt something inside her. She needed to tell someone. She wanted someone to know. She thought about telling Young Allison earlier but she never got the chance. She wanted to tell someone she could trust. She wanted to tell someone she loved. Right now she just needed to say something to someone.

"Bob, I'm not going to make it." Savannah said. "My time is limited."

Savannah felt a sense of doom. It seemed to loom over her.

Bob didn't think there was any way to make such a determination, especially such a grim one.

"You can't know how things will play out." Bob said.

Savannah felt very frustrated. She knew there was no way to know what would happen three seconds from now. They could be involved in a traffic accident. A small airplane might have engine trouble and land on the freeway. It could strike their vehicle and send it out of control. There was no way to predict the unexpected.

"I don't know anything anymore." Savannah said. "I really don't"

Bob knew it wasn't a good development. He was unsure how to address it. He wished there was one of the females with them. He was sure this was a time when Savannah needed the comfort of another human, especially a female. He would even settle for a Metal girl. For some reason he didn't think Cameron would be a good choice. He was sure Cameron was part of the problem Savannah currently suffered from.

They rode in silence.

Cammy didn't like what the Grays said to the female. It was time to take them all down.

She started after the group of Grays. She was going to bring them down along with the 'Metal Bitch'. She was going to start with her. She would try to bring as many of them down with her Taser as she could. If she could get four clean shots in, she shouldn't have to use her Glock. It was going to create some noise if she did.

Steve was ahead of the group of Grays and Cammy. He discovered a new problem.

"Cammy, I've spotted a group of backpackers headed back down the trail." Steve said. "They're headed right for everyone."

Cammy paused and moved back off the trail. It was going to cause a problem if she acted and was spotted. It may lead to further terminations of noncombatants. There was one big worry for her. She still may need to act anyway.

"Are any of them female?" Cammy asked.

She wasn't about to let the Grays get their hands on another female. It just wasn't going to happen.

Steve didn't detect any female attributes, other than long hair on one of the individuals.

"No." Steve said.

Cammy wanted Steve to know her assessment of the situation involving the female.

"The Grays are like Scavengers." Cammy said. "The female is in grave danger. She's already been heavily abused and is about to face an even worse time. They're going to terminate her within a few hours."

Steve didn't want Cammy to lose sight of what their real objective was. It was to bring down Skynet. There was always bound to be collateral damage in any situation. There was no way to control everything others would do, or how they would react.

"We need to stay focused." Steve said. "We need to determine what is actually going on up here. If we tip our hand too soon, we may not know the full scope of everything. What happens to the female is outside of our mission."

It wasn't a good enough answer for her.

"It's not outside mine." Cammy said. "Have you spotted anything yet?"

Steve looked up towards the top of the mountain. He was still quite a ways away.

"No." Steve said. "It is still some distance until we reach the communications arrays."

Cammy wanted to give Steve some disassociation and cover from what her next actions were most likely going to be.

"Head on up there and scout it out." Cammy said. "I'll stay with this group for now. If they hurt the female again, I'm taking them all down myself."

Steve wanted to remind Cammy of what their whole purpose for being up there was.

"We need to find the location which is in a direct line of sight with the packing house." Steve said. "We know there was some type of communication."

Cammy thought Steve could do it on his own without her assistance.

"Look for it, but use caution." Cammy said. "If I need to act, I will try to do it as quietly as possible."

Steve knew it wouldn't do any good to argue.

"OK." Steve said.

Steve felt Cammy was impulsive now and not thinking of the overall mission. He would do his part and trust Cammy to do hers. She was a very capable Terminator. She was another version of Cameron.

He believed she wanted to ask him how he would view the situation if the female detainee was Savannah, or one of the other females from the Resistance. He would treat it very differently. He would take down the enemy himself to free whoever it was. He knew circumstances as well as perspective made a difference, even if the situation or scenario was the same.

Cameron looked up to the top of the mountain. It was quite a few miles away from her location. She saw the hillside where the surveillance equipment was set up. She knew two of her Terminators were close by. If she got into a jam they would come for her to help her.

She was about to head for the closest building when a group of men came out of it and headed for the vans. She wasn't sure what was going on. Three of the vans started up and drove off.

"We have a lot of movement." Cameron reported.

John Henry watched the trackers move on the satellite map.

"I'm tracking three vans on the move." John Henry said. "All of our Terminators are accounted for. I don't think we triggered it."

Cameron didn't like the 'feel' she got from where she was at.

"I think there's a Terminator here." Cameron said.

John didn't want Cameron to get target fixation. It was way too early in the game to get tied up in one area when they needed more information on what the overall picture was.

"Cameron, make your rendezvous with Bob and Savannah." John said. "We have other teams in the area. We need to let some things play out first. We know where the HK drones are at. We need to find out what else the group is up to."

Cameron was aware John wanted to 'look out' for her and Savannah. She still needed to find out what all was going on and where.

Allison was pleased with the events which occurred earlier in the day, even with the confusion.

"Vanna, I really shared a special time today." Allison said. "Thank you for not making an issue about it with the 'misunderstanding'. I'm not sure how we ended up on different pages in what we thought would happen."

Vanna needed to laugh to herself slightly. It was a pretty big 'misunderstanding' on her part. She really thought she was going to be with John. It would have been the first time she was with a male by choice, and where she was the one who would be able to decide what would or wouldn't happen. Oh well. Maybe it would be next time.

"It was my mistake." Vanna said. "You both told me and I thought it was something else. I thought it was what I wanted it to be, I guess."

Allison was very surprised when she watched Vanna and Savannah share with each other. She actually knew how beautiful it was to be with 'yourself'. Each person knew exactly what they wanted to happen, when they wanted it to happen, and how they wanted it to happen. It was sort of like the ultimate form of self-pleasure.

"I was 'with' Future Allison." Allison said. "I was surprised to see you and Savannah…."

Vanna shared many times with Hanna. Hanna may be physically identical to her, but still wasn't her, like Savannah was. They both really were with themselves now. She really did think 'it' looked like a 'pink butterfly' too. Savannah indicated she was with Duplicate Vanna 'in some future'.

"I think we both wanted to know what we're 'like' to others." Vanna said. "Savannah is more passionate than I am."

Allison felt some frustration over it. She knew it to be true. She also knew it applied to her. Her relationship with Vanna was very physical. It was much more emotional with Savannah. She felt a little inadequate in the same regard.

"I could have told you as much." Allison said. "It was the same for Future Allison and me. She's a better lover than me. You know it. She's been with Duplicate Cameron and I've been with Cammy, Cam, and Ally. Everything is physically the same, but it's not for everything else."

Vanna understood what she meant.

"I know." Vanna said. "Everything is the 'same' but it's different."

Allison looked at Vanna with love in her eyes. She smiled at her and gently touched her cheek.

"I would never trade you for anyone." Allison said. "I've loved you for two thirds of my life. I wanted to be forever."

Vanna wanted Allison to know she was her true love and she would follow her to the ends of the earth or time.

"Forever is a long time. It's not long enough to be with you. If you need to go, I'll go with you." Vanna said. "You're my true love."

Allison felt some frustration about where they were. They may be in Paradise but they were out of their 'time'. She understood many things were disrupted by their presence in the past.

"I know you will. We both will. We are meant for each other." Allison said. "We don't belong here."

Vanna wanted Allison to know she was still open to being intimate with John. She would still view the encounter as when she would give her virginity away, not when it was taken from her.

"I do have to admit, I looked forward to being with John." Vanna said.

She actually wanted to know if she could do it on her own. She was unable to do it in the past with Derek or Kyle. She did try. She just couldn't do it.

Allison felt a lot of frustration over it as well. There were times when they were close, but nothing ever happened. She still wasn't sure how John was able to turn Vanna and her down in his bed, especially when they were naked and ready to go. He even watched them together which they thought would motivate him to join in, but he didn't. They really worked on each other too.

"I don't think it's ever going to happen for any of us." Allison said.

Vanna knew there was still a way for it to happen. It just wouldn't happen in this timeline.

"It will if we go into Cameron's future…." Vanna said. "It won't be the same thing. It will probably be as close as we'll ever get."

Allison was aware it was part of the deal if she traded places with Future Allison. She would need to take over her 'duties' to be with Future John. Other than the abuse, she only dabbled a few times in 'breeding sex'. She was merely the receptacle in the one or two minute encounters. She was always on her knees with the individual behind her. They weren't supposed to touch her anywhere else, other than to conduct their 'business'. She thought she heard a sound. She looked over at the door. She frowned slightly.

"YOU TWO, get in here." Allison said. "I know you're listening."

Holly and Cam appeared.

Vanna knew the Metal girls could send them to Cameron's future.

"You know what we want." Vanna said. "Can you do it? Can you send us?"

Cam thought it was a bad idea, but she wanted Vanna to have what she wanted.

"Yes." Cam said.

Holly wanted to make Allison happy as well. She wasn't sure what would happen to her. It didn't sound like Cam or her were invited. There was also the possibility Future Savannah and Future Allison might return in their place.

"What about us?" Holly asked.

Allison loved Holly but you also needed to think of her family.

"Summer will need a protector." Allison said.

The Metal girls both responded at the same time.

"I'll stay and become Summer's protector." Cam and Holly both said.

Holly and Cam knew Vanna and Allison wanted to go to Cameron's future - now.

Closing monologue by Cameron:

Very Complicated

It seems few things work out
As they were carefully calculated
Creating uncertainty and doubt
Leaving one to feel frustrated

To seek the one we want
Should make us feel elated
For they are the one whom
We've become infatuated

Little by little we feel them grow
Until we're slowly captivated
The weight from within is lifted
We feel exhilarated and liberated

Around them we are motivate
And feel quite stimulated
What two together have created
Seeks to be shared and consummated

Things can happen and go wrong
Leaving us deflated and devastated
It will make us feel aggravated
Our future annihilated and terminated

It must be fated even if belated
The love once anticipated
Has suddenly evaporated
Why is life so very complicated

Nobody