Chapter 662

Are You Alone

Steve was further up the trail, but not on it. He was alongside it. He was ahead of the two groups of Grays and Cammy. He spotted a small group of backpackers who were headed downhill. He sent out the warning to Cammy.

Cammy was relieved to hear there were no females among the small group of backpackers. She was afraid the Grays would try to put the grab on them. She moved back closer to the trail when she heard the backpackers coming. She was glad to see there were only two of them. She waited until they passed to see if any of the Grays decided to follow them. They weren't followed by anyone. She waited a little longer to make sure and then made her move.

She quickly moved back down alongside the trail and backtracked to get ahead of the backpackers. She followed the path and she used to go up alongside the trail earlier. She wanted to get some information. She figured a smiling face would open the door with the two male backpackers. She moved onto the trail and headed toward them. She wanted them to believe it was a random encounter of someone out for a day hike. She went into full infiltration mode.

Cammy looked like she was headed up the trail to them. They saw the big smile when she looked up and saw them.

"Hi, guys." Cammy said.

The two backpackers were pleased to see a beautiful girl with a smiling face. There were no smiles on the faces of the last group they passed a few minutes ago.

"Hello." They both said.

Cammy wanted to see what they thought of the path ahead.

"How's the trail?" Cammy asked.

The first backpacker looked disappointed. He looked in the direction they were going and where Cammy appeared to come from. He looked for any others behind her.

"It seems well traveled these days." The first hiker said.

The other backpacker looked back in the direction they came from.

"Before, there was hardly anyone on it." The second hiker said. "It no longer seems to be the case."

Cammy could see there was some discord among them. She wondered if there was more going on than she originally thought.

"What's changed?" Cammy asked.

The first backpacker shrugged his shoulders

"It just seems like more people are on it." The first hiker said. "Most of them aren't friendly."

The other backpacker seemed even more upset about the turn of events. There were a few things he needed to question.

"A few weird things happened up here." The second hiker said.

Cammy wondered if the two backpackers may have seen something out of the ordinary. They might have seen some Skynet activity. There could have been more happening last night than they knew about. She decided to play along playfully.

"What? Was it Big Foot or a UFO?" Cammy asked. "I want to know what I might run into if it's weird or strange. I worry sometimes when I hike alone."

The two backpackers looked at each other.

"Actually, yes, it's what it was." The first hiker said.

Cammy's eyes widened and she moved closer to both of them. She decided to go with the least likely thing she indicated. She wanted them to spell it out.

"Really?" Cammy asked. "You saw Big Foot? I knew I should have bought a can of 'Bear Spray'. Did it try to attack you?"

Cammy nervously looked around.

The second backpacker hesitated before he spoke again. He looked all around him to make sure there was no one else who could hear. There was no one around.

"No, it wasn't Big Foot. It was a UFO." The second hiker said. "There was one last night. It's why we're out of here."

Cammy feigned surprise. She knew it wasn't a UFO. It was an HK drone. She wanted to keep them on the wrong track.

"You saw it?" Cammy asked. "You saw a UFO for real?"

The first backpacker nodded.

"We saw it and heard it." The first hiker said.

Cammy wanted to show genuine interest.

"Did it land?" Cammy asked. "I heard they take people sometimes and probe them. I'm not exactly sure what they probe either. I don't think I want to find out."

The second backpacker seemed a little unsure.

"It did land, sort of." The second hiker said.

Cammy wanted to give them some options to see if they would change their story.

"Maybe it was part of a military test or something." Cammy said. "I'm not sure how close to the nearest military base is from here. I've heard of Edwards and Area 51 before. I really don't know where either one of those is at. Maybe those are just made up names for TV."

The first backpacker shook his head from side to side.

"Those are real places, they're just not very close to where we're at. It didn't look like anything I've ever seen." The first hiker said. "I've been to more than a few air shows over the years."

The second backpacker was sure of what they saw, even if it made no sense.

"It carried something underneath it and dropped it off." The second hiker said.

Cammy feigned surprise and worry.

"Was it a person or a bomb or something else?" Cammy asked. "I'm not going to run into an alien am I? Do you think they will try to take us?"

The first backpacker knew it was something. He just didn't know what it was.

"It was some kind of object." The first hiker said.

Cammy wanted to give them another chance to change their story and pass it off as nothing but an elaborate joke.

"You saw all this for real?" Cammy asked. "You guys aren't messing with me are you? Is it safe to continue? Are you going to report it? I don't know what I should do."

Neither backpacker wished to associate with any of the authorities about anything. There was usually a negative experience involved for them.

"We saw it all right, and no, we're not going to report it." The other one said. "We did a little 'herb' last night and today as well, we don't want to get picked up for it. They might give us some kind of drug test or something."

Cammy wanted to look like she participated in the use of illegal narcotics. It would make the backpackers feel more comfortable in her presence if she did.

"Do you have any more?" Cammy asked.

The first backpacker let out a short laugh.

"Nope, after what we saw, we used all of it." One said.

Cammy wondered if they collected any additional evidence. Just about everybody carried a cell phone. If they were 'stoned' they may or may not have possessed the cognizance to use one.

"Did you get any cell phone video or pictures?" Cammy asked.

The second backpacker smiled and nodded at the first backpacker.

"We sure did." The second hiker said.

Cammy was a little worried about evidence of Skynet in the hands of drug users.

"Can I see it?" Cammy asked. "I'm afraid to go on up and not know what I'll face. If I see anything, I'll know to turn around and run."

The two backpackers never saw anything out of the ordinary during the daytime.

"They're long gone." The first hiker said. "They probably only come at night. Strangely enough, it didn't seem to go back up into the sky when it left, but down the mountainside instead."

Cammy was in contact with John Henry and CamNet. They both heard everything she said. She knew both of them would erase the phone after they gleaned the pictures or video from it and probably overload the battery like she saw earlier.

One of the backpackers showed her the images on his phone.

Sure enough, there was a video of a modified HK drone. It was hauling something. It came in low and set the object down as it hovered briefly before it flew off. It did go down the mountain side instead of up into the sky. It was most likely what she saw a few minutes after they did, before it landed it was taken inside one of the old packing sheds.

Cammy could see it was a pretty clear and distinct image which showed an HK drone. It was also very quiet for as close as they were to it. She was curious as to how much evidence they inadvertently collected.

"Did both of you shoot video of it?" Cammy asked.

The second backpacker looked a little bit embarrassed.

"No." The second hiker said.

The first backpacker playfully punched the second backpacker in the arm and tried not to laugh.

"It was just me." The first hiker said. "Dufus forgot to charge his phone before we left. It happens every time."

The second backpacker seemed insulted. He thought he did something better for both of them than worry about charging his phone

"I got the herb for us. You liked it." The second hiker said. "Don't call me Dufus."

Cammy was a little bit worried about how much of the information may have already been disseminated. John Henry and CamNet may have to get to work to change what already was done.

"Did you send it out to any social media? It would probably go viral." Cammy asked. "Do you guys have like a million hits, or are famous now?"

The second backpacker seemed somewhat amused and rubbed it in to the first backpacker.

"He wishes." The second hiker said.

There was a look of disgust on the first backpacker's face.

"Not yet, the signal's really bad around here now." The first hiker said. "You would think it would work perfectly with all the crap on the mountain top now. It's actually worse. There's probably so much stuff up there now, they all jam each other's signal."

Cammy wanted to give them something to think about.

"Won't someone try to investigate if you put the images online somewhere?" Cammy asked.

The second backpacker looked up towards the mountain top.

"It's something I'm worried about." The second hiker said. "I know there were some nut jobs who were talking about robots from the future before. They claimed they look just like real people. The most recent one I remember was one of the doctors in charge at the insane asylum. I don't want to get painted with the same brush. It looks like if people even work with those psychos, they eventually end up just like them. I'm going to have to play it cool when I do it."

Cammy didn't want them to start to wonder about all the questions she asked them. She tried to make herself look innocent and somewhat helpless.

"You guys aren't trying to fool me or do anything are you?" Cammy asked as she looked around.

The two backpackers looked at each other and then back at Cammy.

"It depends." The second hiker said. "Are you alone?"

Cammy sensed danger. She didn't want to have to make any unnecessary terminations.

"No, my brother is on his way up with my girlfriend." Cammy said. "I got ahead of them. My brother isn't acclimated to the high altitude. I'll go on a little further and wait for them. I want to find a good scenic spot. Thanks for telling me about all the other stuff. We won't spend the night like you did. We might even turn around and go back when I tell them about the potential danger."

The first backpacker took another long look at Cammy.

"Good luck." The first hiker said.

The two backpackers headed down the trail. Cammy moved off of the trail and headed back up alongside it. She wanted to catch up with the Grays. She needed to remain out of sight and not be heard by the 'Metal Bitch'. She hoped to prevent them from terminating the female detainee if she couldn't keep up with the rest of them. She really didn't want to find her body thrown off to the side somewhere. She believed what the Grays wanted from her would keep her alive for now.

Cammy made sure it was clear around her before she communicated with John Henry. She wanted to make sure the backpackers didn't try to follow her. She could see the 'hunger' in their eyes as they looked over her and took in her beauty. The fact they were probably still suffering from their drug abuse didn't help any. If they did try to abuse her, she would terminate them. It still bothered her the way they looked at her. She made the connection with John Henry

"I take it you heard every word of what transpired." Cammy said.

John was sure at this point the Skynet operation was much bigger than any of them thought.

"We did. It was some very disturbing news." John said. "More Skynet activity is the last thing we need. We need to find out exactly what they are up to before we act. We may need to undo whatever it is they've done."

John Henry went over the satellite photos one more time.

"It makes no sense what they'd be doing up there." John Henry said.

John was displeased at the never ending battle with Skynet.

"None of this makes sense anymore." John said. "For every step forward, we get shoved back two steps it seems. There's always more of the enemy. There is never less of them."

John Henry wanted to give Cammy a heads up on the weather forecast for the evening. He wasn't sure how long she would stay up there.

"It will snow tonight at the elevation you're at." John Henry said. "You're up almost two miles up in altitude."

Cammy was pretty sure the cold would soon face the wrath of Cameron and the Resistance. Things were bound to escalate.

"I have a feeling there will be a lot of heat up here tonight." Cammy said.

Cameron heard the exchange with Cammy and the backpackers. She wanted to go up there and see what was happening herself. Right now the old packing sheds needed to be dealt with as well.

She checked on where the vans took off to in such a hurry. One headed toward the aerial tramway, and two went towards the Salton Sea.

Bob and Savannah were close to the Palm Springs area.

"We can intercept the van headed towards the tramway." Bob said. "Do you want it neutralized?"

Cameron didn't want to tip their hand too early they were onto the Grays.

"Not yet." Cameron said. "We need to identify what else they're involved with."

Savannah wanted to link up with Cameron. She thought one of the other Terminator teams could deal with the vans headed towards the Salton Sea or the aerial cable car. She wanted to reinforce Cameron.

"Maybe someone else can take the vans…." Savannah said.

John Henry checked the satellite overlay map with the positions of all the Resistance teams.

"You're the closest team to the one headed to the tramway." John Henry said.

Cameron received a call. She knew who it was going to be before she looked at her phone.

"Cameron, I should be with you." Savannah said.

Cameron didn't want Savannah to worry about her needlessly.

"I'll be fine." Cameron said. "I have some Terminators here near me."

Savannah knew how reckless Cameron could be at times. She was worried about her and how she would act on her own.

"I don't want you to take any chances." Savannah said. "I want you to promise me."

Cameron didn't want to cause Savannah any unnecessary stress.

"I promise, Savannah." Cameron said. "Bob and you need to go and back up Cammy and Steve. Cammy needs you more right now. They have hard targets and the Grays have a female hostage. It's very possible another van load of Grays will arrive there. They are severely outnumbered right now. It appears it's only going to get worse."

Savannah knew it was true. Cammy and Steve needed to deal with two different groups of Grays which were already up on the mountain. She knew what the female hostage was in for. It was something she didn't agree with.

"OK." Savannah said.

Cameron moved around from in back of the parked vehicles and headed toward the first packing shed…. She wasn't done looking around yet. She wanted a few more answers before she left. She wasn't sure who she would run into. She figured as long as it wasn't an enemy Terminator, it would be very unfortunate for them to make her acquaintance.

Earlier:

Bob and Savannah left Palmdale behind. They needed to head towards Palm Springs and the surrounding area. The quickest way for them to do it was to cut east across the desert and pick up Interstate 15. They could take it to Interstate 10 and head east towards Palm Springs. It was what they did.

They picked up Highway 138. They would be able to stay on it all the way until its connection with Interstate 15 at Cajon Junction.

After a while, Savannah could see they were about to cross under a set of railroad tracks. There was currently a double stack container train headed eastbound on them. They left the original main line behind in Palmdale. She knew the line they were about to cross was known as the Colton Cut Off. It was constructed by the Southern Pacific in the late Sixties to bypass the Los Angeles area to move freight across the country on the Sunset Route. She knew the rail line was long absorbed into another railroad company. It was sometimes referred to as 'Borg of Omaha', in a very negative way.

"We'll cross under these tracks again right before we reach Cajon Junction and link up with Interstate 15." Savannah said. "Their route is going to be a little more circuitous than ours is."

Bob understood what she meant.

"They will need to navigate Cajon Pass." Bob said. "They will link up with the former Santa Fe tracks to the east of Summit. There are now four sets of tracks which run through the area of Cajon Junction. One set takes a much steeper grade to the east of the other three tracks."

Savannah was able to regain a little more of her composure. She shared some small talk with Bob as they continued eastward on Highway 138, and then on a southeasterly course when Route 18 diverged from it and continued directly east.

Bob pushed the speed limit most of the way to try to make up time. John Henry made sure all law enforcement units would be away from their route. All they would need to worry about were reckless drivers. There never seemed to be a shortage of those.

They traversed through a mountainous area as they neared Cajon Junction.

Savannah spotted a landmark she recognized. It was a series of rocks with a very distinct profile.

"The area off to our left is known as Mormon Rocks." Savannah said. "Kyle showed me a number of pictures, most of them were historic, of the area we are about to traverse."

Bob could see there was a distinctive rock formation.

They passed under a set of railroad tracks.

"These are the former Southern Pacific tracks." Bob said. "We crossed under them outside of Palmdale earlier.

In just a few more seconds, they passed over a set of double tracks. There was a double stack train going in each direction as they crossed over them.

"These are the former Santa Fe tracks." Bob said.

Savannah could see up ahead they would cross over one more set of tracks.

"The last set must be the original Santa Fe main line with the steep grade." Savannah said.

Bob crossed over it and headed for Interstate 15.

"It is." Bob said. "This is part of what used to be Route 66 before much of it was obliterated by the freeway. There will be a segment of Route 66 off to our right once we start downhill which still exists."

Savannah thought of a song recorded by a number of different groups.

"I guess we know where we can get our kicks." Savannah said.

Bob tilted his head slightly. He was able to make the reference.

"There was a version of the song 'Route 66' in the Jukebox in the Fifties and Sixties Diner we visited. It was by a group called 'The Rolling Stones'. I heard it play right before we left. I think Summer picked it our."

Savannah wondered about it.

"Maybe she knew something we didn't." Savannah said.

Bob enjoyed his time interacting with Summer.

"I think there's a lot she knows which no one else does." Bob said.

Savannah heard the rumors too. Summer seemed to have a lot of similarities to River. It was something which Cameron received a lot of finger pointing about. There was some speculation there might be a little 'temporal malpractice' in play on Cameron's part. Cameron told her she hadn't done anything of the sort, yet. It seemed the best thing to do was stay away from the issue. She spotted another landmark on the rail line.

"I see 'Sullivan's Curve' off to our right." Savannah said. "It was a famous location for photographing Santa Fe trains for years by a photographer with the same last name."

They checked out the arid landscape around them as they continued through Cajon Pass. They eventually connected with Interstate 10 and headed east. When they reached Highway 111. They took it and headed straight towards Palm Springs.

Bob and Savannah neared the turnoff to the aerial tramway in their SUV.

"I see it coming." Bob said. "I see a white van anyway."

Savannah saw the van approaching them from in front of them. She wanted to get ahead of it so the van wouldn't think they were following them when they turned up the canyon road. She didn't want to create any suspicion towards them from the beginning.

"Turn ahead of him so he follows us up." Savannah said. "They won't know we're onto them."

Bob turned up the narrow canyon road. The van was about to make a left hand turn to fall in behind them. A sports car almost ran the light and cut in front of the van.

The sports car went into the oncoming lane to pass Bob and Savannah's SUV on the narrow canyon road.

Bob noted the speed of the sports car is it passed them

"He's fast." Bob said.

Savannah saw the move as unsafe and reckless.

"He's fast, but he's stupid." Savannah said. "He can't see what's coming around a curve and react to it in time at those speeds. Speed kills on a twisty mountain road."

Bob didn't think reckless driving would be the source of all the deaths which would happen very soon. He knew they weren't leaving the mountain until the Skynet group was destroyed.

"I have a feeling there will be a lot of it tonight." Bob said. "I mean killing."

Savannah didn't think it was their fault. It was the fault of the Grays for choosing to follow their evil master Skynet. It included any of their 'contract employees who were now nothing more than collaborators. They were in it for the money.

"I'm afraid you're right." Savannah said. "We're going in light."

Bob was aware they would be limited in the weapons they could bring with them. They would be around other patrons who would ride the cable car up to the top of the mountain. They didn't want to get discovered if they tried to bring too many weapons with them.

"We will acquire any weapons we need from the enemy." Bob said. "Only bring your vest, pistol, and Taser."

Bob was still troubled by Savannah's earlier statement. He would need to be extra careful and watch out for her. He wondered if maybe by him doing so, it would cause him to miss something and Savannah would act to protect him. He could see how these things created their own narrative, even when nothing was happening.

Young Allison tried to put it all together. The action from yesterday is what led to the current situation. An HK drone led them to the location where Cameron was at now. The hilltop location was spotted on a recon mission by Cammy.

"As usual, things get bigger by the second." Young Allison said.

Anna knew John took preemptive action and moved a group of Terminators into place at the temporary desert outpost they established.

"The Blackhawk will be on standby only a short time away with a 'MIKE Force'." Anna said. "They have two drones at the desert base. More will be dispatched when it gets dark."

Young Allison needed to agree with Cameron's assessment how something was off about the whole situation with the mountain top. There must be more than they were able to determine so far.

"I want you to go over the current satellite images again and the historical ones as well." Young Allison said. "Everyone is missing something. I want to make sure we don't."

Anna watched the trackers of where the different Terminators were at. She saw Cameron was on the move. They could also view the surveillance cameras which were pointed at the old packing sheds from the side of the hill.

"Cameron's moving in." Anna said. "Look, she's entering the first packing shed now."

Young Allison knew Cameron would take several different types of explosives with her.

"At least she has plenty of C-4 and several Thermite grenades." Young Allison said. "I've seen Cameron use both. I've been instructed on the use and placement of explosives."

Anna knew no amount of training was ever enough. Explosives were very dangerous to use.

"One day you'll need all of the training to survive while you protect the future and John." Anna said. "John will depend on Savannah and you to lead the Resistance with him."

Young Allison heard all of the stories ever since she could remember about what her future would be. She was aware of her 'domestic' duties as well.

"You know I know all of it." Young Allison said.

Anna was troubled by Young Allison's earlier statements.

"I want to make sure you know what will be 'yours' when the time comes." Anna said.

Young Allison knew she let her anger get the best of her earlier. She shouldn't have been rude to Allison. She shouldn't have been so outspoken and told the others they should do more.

"I need to apologize to everyone for my earlier outburst and selfishness." Young Allison said. "The future requires many things to be shared. The future has already started…."

Anna thought it was a good first step. Young Allison could get it out of the way right now.

"Why don't you do it real quick and make your apologies." Anna said. "There's no need to let anyone stew over anything. Remember, Allison is YOU."

Young Allison headed upstairs to make amends with everyone. She knew Anna wanted to do something and wanted her away from the area. It must be important so she'd go along with it and take care of her earlier rudeness.

Anna quickly contacted CamNet with some disturbing things she just uncovered.

Young Allison returned a short time later. Everyone was all back on the same page and there were no more hard feelings. Now it was time to find out what really happened.

"OK, I'm back." Young Allison said. "Now tell me what was so secret you wanted me to leave. I know how things work around here. Don't make me ask CamNet."

Anna didn't really think she would be able to fool Young Allison. She might as well come clean now.

"There's no getting anything by you is there?" Anna asked.

Young Allison knew she might be fooled sometimes, but she wasn't going to be fooled all the time.

"Not when I've been raised with cyborgs…." Young Allison said. "I can't remember a time in my life before there wasn't always one or more here. Most have been based on Cameron. Well, at least her program anyway. We all know who they look like, except maybe you."

Anna felt her program was superior to Cameron's program alone.

"You know I'm 'Cameron' and 'Savannah' through the 'Neural Interface'." Anna said.

Young Allison wanted to propose an intriguing idea she mulled about in her mind more than a few times.

"Why don't you use the 'Neural Interface' with John and I can have a package deal." Young Allison said.

Anna knew it was a proposal which was kicked around for quite some time.

"It's been discussed." Anna said.

Young Allison wasn't sure if Anna was joking or serious. The more she thought about it, the more she thought Anna wasn't kidding.

"Oh, brother…." Young Allison said. "I'm sorry I said anything. Now tell me what I missed when I was away."

Anna looked a little unsettled.

Closing monologue by Cameron:

Are You Alone

There are many things in life
One will put off and postpone
When they try to figure out why
The answer remains unknown

Different events can occur
That make some want to disown
It seems others must forever
For their past events always atone

Feelings which grow inside for one
Does not their past condone
It only goes to show that
A heart isn't made from stone

Everyone has thoughts and opinions
They don't act like a mindless drone
It's why they stick around longer
When all of the rest have flown

One always needs to remember
The truth can cut to the very bone
When all others have abandoned and fled
Look all around and ask, are you alone

Nobody