Chapter 702

I Just Do

Sheila gave Cam her vest and an M4 as soon as she found her.

"Thanks." Cam said.

Cam went after the Terminator who climbed into an HK Tread. She needed to stop him before he was able to activate it.

Sheila went after the Terminator who headed towards the loading dock. She closed in on him. He was out of Taser range. He started to fire the M249 towards the loading dock.

She immediately opened up on him with her M4. It seemed to take him by surprise there was someone behind him and shooting at him. The Coltan rounds from her M4 tore into him. He instantly spun around to fire on her. She became his immediate threat, not the carnage happening out on the loading dock.

Sheila got off one more burst before she needed to duck behind some machinery. Bullets ripped into metal and ricocheted all around her. She didn't look forward to any more cosmetic damage to her sheath since her cheek was sliced open. She really wished she would have spent more time to 'work' on the Bitch who cut her.

"You better not mess up my sheath." Sheila muttered.

She heard more firing and peeked around the machine. The Terminator was taking hits. Others on her team joined in. He turned to face them. They were now the new threat.

She saw he was distracted. She pulled her Taser and ran forward. She fired at him and scored. He took the juice and went down.

Sheila touched her cheek and found additional metal exposed. She wasn't happy about it. She moved to the Terminator and pulled his chip. She went back in search of Cam. She was very displeased her face took so much damage today. She was damaged before, but not usually on her face. She really hoped to take another Gray prisoner now. Someone was going to have to 'pay' for her damage. She really wished she would have brought the Bitch from the foundry who cut her with her. It was unlikely there were any females at her current location. She still wanted someone to 'pay'.

Dan's team moved through the building from the office area. They took down Grays as they advanced. His team met up with Ed's team. They came from the direction of the loading dock area. It was the main force of the Resistance Terminators. They arrived in their own version of a Trojan Horse. It was one of the Skynet box trucks they captured. They loaded Resistance Terminators in the back. A big rig arrived right before they did. The Grays opened the doors to the building for it. They literally walked right in as they killed the Grays.

Steve and Ally joined them. They came from the direction of the east side of the building where the rail siding was located. They now compromised a force which cleared the north, west, and east sides of the building. It only left the south side to deal with. Cam was all by herself on the south side. She faced a Terminator and two HK Treads.

Ally felt she possessed an overall picture of the interior of the building based on Cam's previous descriptions. She knew Cam needed their help.

"Cam reports two HK Treads are in the southwest corner." Ally said. "Dan, have your team sweep everything back to the rail car loading area in case we missed anything. Ed, bring your team and follow Steve and me. We need to help Cam. We can't let one of those HK Treads go active."

Ally was unaware of the new damage Sheila received. They knew there was still at least one Terminator out there. He was in an HK Tread. It was bad news for everyone.

Seconds ago:

Al shut down the HK Track assembly line. He saw Sheila fire at a Terminator. The Terminator turned around and fired his weapon at her. Sheila started to take heavy fire on her location from the M249 the Terminator carried. He opened fire on the Terminator. He drew his attention. The Terminator turned and fired on him. He watched Sheila rush forward and Taser him. She pulled his chip and then headed back in the direction Cam reported the HK Treads.

Al decided to remain where he was and double check to make sure everyone was down for good. He also needed to make sure every HK Track was offline.

Frank checked the office area and found nothing else. He heard two loud reports during their assault which came from outside. He looked out the window and the two guards who were on patrol were laying there, both of their heads were mostly missing. He went outside and drug them inside the building.

"Thanks, Frank." Jim said over his com. "I took them down from across the street."

Frank lost communication with Jim and everyone else after the brief message.

Seconds ago:

Jim and Kyle were across the street from the old newspaper plant. There was a wide expanse of property, which included the loading dock area and a parking lot, between the building and where they were located. It was their job to cover the north and west side of the building. They were to eliminate any threats which attempted to enter the building.

They watched as the big rig parked. Ed drove the 'Trojan Horse' box truck in. He backed up to the loading dock a minute later.

Kyle was concerned about the distance they were from the building.

"Do we need to move closer?" Kyle asked.

Jim checked the distance. He was well within range with the M82A1.

"I'm good from here." Jim said. "The roving patrol has just come around the corner."

He wanted them to get a little closer to the loading dock itself so they wouldn't have to go so far to retrieve the bodies when he brought them down. He continued to follow the lead man as they moved closer to the target zone. He was sure once the shooting inside started, they would probably move to reinforce the other Grays.

Kyle continued to keep watch around them and on the two roads which went on either side of where the old newspaper plant was. There were no other vehicles. It didn't look like there would be any reinforcements for the enemy. He could hear some gunfire. He watched the two men on patrol. They looked at each other and turned around to run back the direction they came from. It didn't appear they were going to join the fight.

Jim was a little disgusted as he watched the behavior of the two Grays. They were cowards. Even before the first man turned around he fired. He watched his head turn into a crimson spray. The other man was able to turn around, but hadn't gone anywhere yet. He never would. He fired a second time with the same results as the first man. The two targets were down. He continued to watch the area of the dock and the north side of the building in case anyone else tried to flee.

Kyle was very pleased with Jim's marksmanship. He figured he could have pulled it off himself, but he would have needed more time between shots. He probably would have gone for torso shots, instead of head shots, to make sure he scored. It was just a little more reinforcement how accurate a Terminator could be. He noted Jim showed no expression when he fired or from the results he produced. He calmly looked for more targets.

Jim communicated with Frank, and then lost communications with everyone

In the Command Center they were soon aware there was a new disturbing development at the old newspaper facility. It was a problem they encountered before. Their communications were cut. They lost contact with everyone around the old newspaper plant.

"We've just lost communications in the target area." John Henry said. "Everything is down."

John thought about it and what Cam just reported.

"It was soon after Cam reported finding HK Treads." John said.

John was glad they made plans for everyone before the assault started. There were plans and backup plans. He knew their Terminators would follow them and prevail.

"They all know what to do." John Henry said. "They should have the HK Treads disabled soon."

John envisioned one HK Tread alone wrecking the entire building.

"I hope so. Those things can do a lot of damage." John said.

John remembered watching drone footage of an HK Tread at the desert warehouse location. Savannah was in control of it as it rumbled out of the building. She engaged a vehicle column of Grays, backed by a few Terminators with it. She decimated all of them. Only a few follow up terminations were needed.

He hoped Cam played it safe as she took down the HK Treads. He knew she would have help soon. He was painfully aware she was in grave danger facing two HK Treads alone.

John understood the big risk Cam took, and everything she did, from scouting out the drainage system, to entering inside the building in a crate, after she rode in on the bottom of a boxcar. She made her way through the interior of the building and disabled a row of HK Tracks. Now she faced a Terminator and two HK Treads.

He knew it was exactly what Cameron would have done. Cam was a clone of Cameron. It was all done without any pre-planning whatsoever. Everything she did happened on the spur of the moment. He understood it was actually quite effective. Everything she did aided the operation greatly. He understood she would have done everything by herself if there weren't others available to assist her. Maybe he shouldn't lean on Cameron so hard when she does similar things.

Young Allison and Allison were together in the Young bunker. They monitored the operation at the old newspaper plant and at the old steel mill.

Allison was able to follow everything fairly well until suddenly there was nothing on her screens. She wondered if it was a malfunction of some type. She didn't know what to do so she immediately alerted Young Allison.

"I just lost everything at the newspaper plant." Allison said. "There's no audio or visual anymore. Everything is gone."

Young Allison knew what the problem was because they dealt with it before more than once.

"It's the Skynet jamming field we've encountered in the past." Young Allison said. "It has much the same effect on how John Henry cuts communications for the enemy. CamNet will try to blast through it. She will try to overload whatever is doing it."

Young Allison was aware when they experienced the Skynet jamming field, there were usually some of their drones in the air which could stay outside of its effect and look down and see what was happening from off to the sides. Everyone was inside of the building right now and there were no drones in the air. They really were deaf and blind right now. One thing was for sure though, they certainly weren't dumb. There was a plan, and a backup plan. She knew all the Terminators would follow it.

Allison could see there was nothing she could do right now. She thought she would check on the others in the bunker during the down time and make sure everybody was doing OK. She knew they would probably ask her a lot of questions.

"Let me check on Mom and the girls real quick." Allison said. "Everything I was watching is out for now."

Young Allison didn't want any of them to worry. She knew her Mom and Jan were the two who would most likely be worried. She knew Summer wouldn't be, she never was. She took everything in and processed it rapidly. She wondered if maybe Summer would have been a better choice than Allison. She was very intuitive at reading the situation. Their Mom didn't like Summer to participate in Resistance matters. Hanna and Holly made sure she was occupied when Summer did.

"Tell them to stay calm, everything is under control." Young Allison said. "I don't want any of them to worry."

Allison was pleased to be a part of the operation. It wasn't something she normally did. She wondered if maybe she should do a little bit more. She spent plenty of time on the battlefield in the past, the future. She couldn't say she missed it because she didn't. It was a lot different being the one on the ground than being in a Control Center.

She felt she went 'soft'. When she returned to the past, she participated in a few operations, and went with Cameron several times before there were more Terminators to help out. For the last few years she didn't do anything at all to help. It bothered her every time she thought about it. She always volunteered to go on a patrol when one was organized. She didn't like all the risk Savannah needed to face either. She felt she needed to do more. She knew it was only a matter of time until Young Allison was out there doing what Savannah did. It was what she should be doing instead. She needed to check on the others.

"I'm on it." Allison said and left.

Young Allison looked to make sure Allison was away and couldn't see her. She used a touch screen to draw a small heart shaped 'smiley face'. One just like it appeared on the other side.

Young Allison felt a little lonely without Anna by her side. She wanted to 'reach out' to CamNet. CamNet previously reached out to her in this manner. It was a way for them to have a form of 'personal contact'. They could both feel how such a simple act drew them closer together.

CamNet reached back to Young Allison. It was a personal interaction she didn't share with anyone else.

Both of the hearts disappeared when Allison returned.

Young Allison knew she shouldn't do it during the operation. She just felt a 'need' to do so from inside of her. It helped reassure her everything was normal, or as normal as it could be. She missed Anna and was worried about her. When CamNet 'touched' her back, it made her feel better. She knew it was someone who could understand her. CamNet could understand the way she felt about things.

Allison sat down back at her station. She looked at Young Allison for a few moments and then turned away without saying anything.

Young Allison wondered if Allison may have actually seen what occurred. She certainly wasn't going to ask her. She glanced at the security monitor and wondered what CamNet saw. She wondered if CamNet knew Allison was watching, and still did it anyway. She could see it added a new dimension to everything if it was the case.

The diversion Cameron wanted to happen happened. It was right on schedule in the correct area. She would have expected no less from Cammy - 'herself'.

The loud CHOP - CHOP - CHOP of the UH-1 grew even louder on the west side of the old steel mill. All eyes would be in its direction as Cammy slowly came over the hill and made a lazy circle before continuing along on her way back to the airport. She didn't pass over the old mill but kept to the western perimeter. The Iroquois was painted for a fire fighting service so it should seem as if they were on patrol. By not over flying the old mill, it shouldn't make anyone there suspicious. The distinctive sound of the Iroquois alone would draw everyone's attention. Anyone who ever heard one before, knew exactly what a Huey sounded like.

Cameron and Anna were ready to move when the diversion occurred. They low crawled under the fence where runoff water previously eroded away the dirt in one area. Cameron pulled up on the bottom of the fence a little to give Anna more room.

As soon as Anna was through, she held it up some for Cameron. They made it to the first building before the chopper completed its lazy circle. There was no alarm.

Cameron didn't think they were spotted. She was sure all eyes were on the helicopter.

She also knew it didn't mean they weren't spotted, and a response was being put together currently. Time would tell soon enough. Even if there was no audible alarm they could hear, there was still a threat. So far it seemed like Smooth sailing.

Right now Cameron and Anna were in.

Cam knew she needed to hurry. Once the HK Tread became active, it could level the entire building. If both of the HK Treads became active, they were really screwed. From what she could see, both of them were armed and ready to enter the fight. They were normally programmed to work in conjunction with each other for a more effective response against the enemy. Right now she was the enemy the Terminator spotted when he went into one of the HK Treads. She would most likely be his center of attention.

She ran and reached the HK Tread the Terminator entered. She fished in her satchel for the 'sticky shocker' and stuck it on the side of the HK Tread. It just started to move. It abruptly came to a halt.

She knew the Terminator would try to figure out what went wrong with it. If he couldn't get it operational, he would exit it and fight on foot. Cam moved around the back of the HK Tread to fire on the Terminator when he got out.

Much as Cam feared, the other HK Tread began to power up. She didn't have any idea if anyone was inside of it, or if its autonomous control was activated by the first one. It was most likely going to turn its attention to her in a very short time. She didn't have a second 'sticky shocker'.

Sheila was still upset about the new damage to her face. She could hear the HK Tread go through its startup procedure. She ran to where Cam was at. She thought Cam would have better cover by using the HK Tread she disabled as a 'shield'.

"Stay behind the one where you are now." Sheila said as ran towards her.

The HK Tread lurched and started to roll. The treads made a loud clanking noise. It began to pivot in the direction of the voice it just detected.

Sheila quickly realized what was happening. She was the new target.

The HK Tread and its weapons turned toward Sheila. She was moving towards it. She was determined to be the main threat by the HK Tread. She started to think the damage to her face wasn't going to matter in a matter of seconds.

"Not this again." Sheila said. "I'm really starting to get angry."

Sheila knew one of the miniguns would be able to chew her up pretty good. It was capable of firing up to six thousand rounds per minute, which equated to a hundred bullets per second. She hoped to avoid it. The last thing she wanted was to lose a breast, or both of them. She realized it could be even worse if it was her secret spot.

Cam saw Sheila was going to get lit up. She decided to act. She fired her M4 at the HK Tread. She tried to draw its attention and gunfire. Since she was the one actually shooting at it, it should see her as the bigger threat right now and try to engage her. The HK Tread she was behind would absorb most of the punishment. She figured she might be damaged anyway.

She was about to change magazines when the door on the HK Tread she disabled earlier opened. The Terminator emerged. She dropped her M4 and tried to grab her Taser. He grabbed her and the Taser went flying. She twisted and broke free, but he tripped her. She hit the ground and rolled back around. Her Glock was in her hand as she fired at him.

Sheila continued her run and was able to get in close before the HK Tread could re-target her after focusing on Cam. The emerging Terminator disrupted its shot. She was glad nothing else was damaged, at least not yet anyway.

There was still one active HK Tread to deal with as well as the Terminator who engaged Cam.

Cameron and Anna appear to have successfully breached the perimeter of the old steel mill. No alarm was sounded they were aware of.

They could still hear the helicopter in the distance.

Cameron moved around the side of the first building. There were no windows at ground level. The doors were padlocked.

Anna moved to kick the door in.

Cameron and Anna were supposed to be on a recon mission right now. She wanted to remain undetected as long as possible.

"Wait." Cameron said.

Cameron pulled out a small screwdriver and rapidly unscrewed the latch.

Anna looked at the tool. She was a little surprised to see it.

"Is it something you normally carry?" Anna asked.

Cameron looked at Anna and flashed her sly smile.

"I took this from the station we just left when I looked around." Cameron said. "Whoever used it last didn't put it away. I just happened to pick it up. I don't know why."

Anna wondered if Cameron took it to use against a human. She could make a termination appear as if it was done by a homeless individual with a crude weapon. She knew Cameron liked to cover her tracks.

They opened the door. They were a little surprised at what they saw. The large building was empty, so they retreated.

Cameron quickly put the screws back in the latch. She wanted to explain herself to Anna

"I did this in case they have a roving patrol." Cameron said. "A kicked open door would raise some type of an alarm. This way if anyone checks, everything appears the same."

Anna tilted her head slightly at the mention of a roving patrol.

"They didn't have one before." Anna said.

CamNet piped in a new feed. The Grays just found the dead guard. It was the guard Cameron killed earlier when she was with Savannah.

"They will now." Cameron said.

Everything for them just got twice as hard.

The Coltan rounds impacted into the Terminator's face as Cam emptied her magazine. She rolled away from the position and scrambled to her feet to use the first HK Tread as a shield from the second HK Tread. She still expected it to fire on her. It only hesitated because the other hostile Terminator was in the way. It was no longer the case.

Sheila climbed onto the back of the other HK Tread as it spun around. She took out her 'sticky shocker' and activated it. She jumped away from it as she did.

The mini gun just became active. The barrels started to spin, but no rounds were fired before it abruptly stopped, as did all movement of the HK Tread. The heavy electrical charge did its job, for now.

Sheila looked over at Cam. She was able to retrieve her Taser and fire. The Terminator was already down. She wanted to make sure he stayed down.

Cam saw where Sheila was at and didn't want her to get jumped if a Terminator emerged from inside the second HK Tread.

"There may be a Terminator in the other HK Tread, Sheila." Cam called.

Sheila drew her Taser and backed away from the door.

Cam removed the Terminator's chip and came to flank Sheila.

Al arrived a few seconds later.

Cam felt they brought the two HK Treads under control, along with the Terminator. They didn't know if anyone, or anything was inside the second HK Tread. There was one area she hadn't been able to inspect yet. She wanted Al to do it.

"We have this, Al." Cam said. "Make a sweep back to the rail cars. I didn't check over In the southeast corner yet from back here."

There could still be more Grays or Terminators moving in the area she hadn't checked yet. There could also be more items they could appropriate and use for the Resistance there as well.

Seconds ago:

John and John Henry were a little worried in the Command Center about the previous loss of communications.

In an instant, everything was back online.

"We have communications again." John Henry said.

John wanted a situation report immediately. A lot could have happened during the time the jamming field was in effect.

"Check in with everyone and see where anyone is needed. See if anyone is badly damaged." John said. "Cam, what's your situation?"

Cam was glad to be back in communication with the Command Center.

"Both HK Treads are disabled and currently being 'shocked'. Sheila took down one Terminator. The Terminator from inside the one HK Tread is disabled and deactivated. We don't know about the other HK Tread. It could have been on autonomous control in conjunction with the first one, or there could still be a Terminator, or even a Gray, inside of it. There's not much they can do as long as the shocker is on the HK Tread."

Sheila wanted to make it clear she received assistance to bring down the Terminator she deactivated.

"I took down the other Terminator with a lot of help from Al." Sheila said. "We need to get this tin can open."

Ally and Steve arrived. They could both see Sheila received additional damage.

"I've got this." Steve said. "Ally, attend to Sheila."

Sheila was a little worried about her appearance right now. She tried to downplay it. She viewed video files of what the sheath looked like on her chassis before it was repaired when it was originally captured. It was a total mess. It was hard to believe a sheath could be so badly damaged. She knew hers wasn't even close to the level of damage it once received.

"It's just a few scratches, love." Sheila said. "It was a lot worse before my chassis received this HOT sheath."

Ally could see Sheila didn't want to make a big deal about herself right now. She pulled out a Thermite grenade.

"Let's burn them out." Ally said.

Cam only saw the two Terminators. One of them was the one she saw earlier by the rail cars. She never saw anyone else go near the other HK Tread. It was possible there was somebody already inside of it. They needed to find out one way or the other.

"I'm not sure anyone is in it." Cam said. "It only started to activate once the Terminator was inside of this one."

Sheila reached up and touched her face. She wanted some revenge.

"I hope they are." Sheila said. "I really want to say 'Hello'."

Sheila was itching for some payback for both of the injuries she received today. She really hoped they took a Gray prisoner somewhere. It would be even better if it was a female. She reached up and touched the stitches in her cheek. She wanted to finish what she started on the other one, the female she tossed into the vat of molten metal. She was pleased she was still alive at the time. She would have liked to have put her in a little bit at a time. She wondered how far in she would be able to dip her before she terminated.

She tried to think back where the knife came from which slashed her cheek open. She never saw it until she was cut. Her attention was focused elsewhere on the female at the time. She wasn't inaccurate when she told Ally she was inattentive. She figured she made the same mistake a lot of individuals do when they're dealing with a female. They can be very rough and feisty instantly. For some reason it made her think of a female lion. They seemed to be extremely violent. She wondered what it would be like to engage one in hand to paw combat.

Allison turned her attention where Cameron and Anna were at since all of her monitors were blank which dealt with the old newspaper plant. It all changed in an instant. All of the screens flashed once and dozens of images reappeared.

"Everything is back online." Allison said.

Young Allison was worried about what the damage report was going to be. In a big battle, some of the Terminators always took damage. What mattered was the severity of it.

"Check everyone's position and make sure everyone is accounted for." Young Allison said. "I want to know if any of our Terminators are down. See if you can get a preliminary damage report. I can tell you right now they're not always forthcoming."

Allison tried to remember where everybody was at. She lost her concentration during the lull. She knew everything was fluid on the battlefield. It was probably all different anyway.

"I lost track of everything." Allison said.

Young Allison named off all the Terminators and where they last were at when she looked at the screen before everything was lost earlier.

Allison was incredibly impressed Young Allison was able to do it.

"How do you remember everything?" Allison asked.

Young Allison didn't think she was gifted. She thought it was the result of all of her hard work and training.

"I just do." Young Allison said. "I've studied and trained very hard at all of this. I try my hardest at everything."

Allison watched Young Allison do some things until they were perfect.

"Yes, you do." Allison said.

Allison was able to give her a situation report and damage report. It looked like the operation was done with the combat phase. It appeared they were ready to switch to the recovery phase and see what they could confiscate for the Resistance.

Young Allison thanked her for the update. She actually did one herself quietly and wanted to see how it compared to the one Allison gave her.

"Thank you." Young Allison said.

Allison wondered how Cameron and Anna were doing. The last she remembered about their operation was Cameron thought there would be a roving patrol out looking for them since the dead guard was found from the outpost up on the side of the mountain.

"What about Cameron's operation?" Allison asked.

Young Allison thought it would have been better if it was darker.

"It is just getting started." Young Allison said. "I wish it were later."

Allison looked at the images on the monitor.

"It's not." Allison said.

Young Allison knew it wouldn't deter Cameron from achieving her objective.

"Then Cameron will do what she does best - terminate." Young Allison said. "The operation may already be blown and the fighting will start soon."

Allison wondered when the rest of the Terminators would assist them.

"Is it just Cameron and Anna still?" Allison asked. "Who else is there to help them right now?"

"Nobody…." Young Allison said.

Closing monologue by Cameron:

I'll Know

If I do something I shouldn't
And I don't let anything show
There is still someone who will know
I'll know

We can lie to ourselves
Pretend and make believe
Always in the end
Only ourselves we deceive

We can live with honor
Or be plagued with guilt
Destroying any trust or credibility
That may have been built

Greed, lust and lechery allow
Targets of opportunity to arise
Anyone can get hungry
First try to think what is wise

It's time to come clean
I know where you go
If you don't
I'll know

Nobody