Chapter 748

No Response

Moments ago:

Cammy made sure Savannah was inside the concrete culvert. Cameron was about to make her move with the SUV. She wanted Savannah as protected as possible. She knew her chassis would shield Savannah. She could hear the engine go to full throttle on the SUV. She knew the vehicle was on its way. They didn't know what the response was going to be when it impacted the reinforced door. Now it was Cameron they needed to worry about. She looked back at Savannah when everything went from darkness, to a brilliant flash, to blackness.

Savannah was inside of the drainage culvert when the SUV impacted the bunker door. Cammy shielded her with her chassis. At the same time she heard the crash, there was a blinding flash of energy right after it. The brilliance of the light hurt her eyes. It happened with Cammy blocking most of the culvert entrance. She wondered if it was the flash from a nuclear weapon. She wondered how long it would be until the shock wave and heat arrived. She actually figured in the time for her to have thought it, all of those things would have already happened and she would have been incinerated from the heat. Nothing further happened. There was no shock wave or earth movement, at least not yet. She did experience some white 'spots' in her vision. It was probably due to the brilliance of the flash. She hoped they would go away quickly and weren't permanent. They seemed very random and all over the place.

Cammy collapsed in front of her as soon as the blinding light occurred. She appeared unresponsive and incapable of movement.

"Cammy." Savannah said as she touched her.

Savannah was well aware of what a Terminator offline looked like. Cammy was offline.

She didn't think anything was going to happen for at least a hundred and twenty seconds with Cammy.

Savannah was faced with an even deeper concern. There was still one more Terminator out there.

"Cameron." Savannah called out loudly.

There was no response. The coms were down as well. It seemed everything was down.

Savannah shoved Cammy out of the culvert and into the drainage ditch. She scrambled out over Cammy. She looked quickly around for any movement near her. It was clear right now. She pushed Cammy back up into the culvert to hide her. It seemed to take a lot of effort on her part. She briefly wondered if she was affected by whatever the flash was. She believed it was some type of electrical discharge. She didn't know if it was an EMP or not. She used a lot of strength to get Cammy into the culvert.

"Now I know why I'm on top most of the time." Savannah muttered as she struggled to move Cammy.

Once Cammy was inside the culvert, she moved a tumbleweed in front of it. She wedged it in the culvert opening to conceal it. It was doubtful, unless someone was specifically looking for the opening, they would spot it in the darkness. She didn't know how long Cammy was down for. She couldn't afford to wait for her to reboot. She could only assume Cameron was in the same condition and she needed to locate her as quickly as possible.

She checked around her again for any immediate threats and went to search for Cameron. Cameron told her she would try to make it to the drainage ditch before the SUV impacted the bunker door. It was where she would look first. She stayed in the drainage ditch as she moved along. It would give her some cover if she started taking fire from the bunker.

Savannah's M4 was up and ready. It was charged and the safety was off.

She moved along the drainage ditch for a while before she looked over the top. If she was spotted, she didn't want to lead them to Cammy. She tried to think of the nature of the affliction to Cammy. Based on other events she viewed, she thought it might have been an EMP which went off. There was a lot of energy around them with the high tension power transmission lines. At least it seemed to have the same effect an EMP produced. She wondered what the flash was. Maybe it was the electrical lines arcing and shorting out. She remembered the high tension power lines arcing near the mine from the 'earthquake. It was caused by whatever blew up inside the mine. Maybe an EMP flashed the same way. It was really bright whatever it was. She still could see a few white 'spots' in her vision. She was glad as her vision rapidly improved.

The barrel of Savannah's M4 came up slowly over the drainage ditch edge with her eye behind it in the sight.

She needed to search for any targets as well as search for Cameron. What she spotted was worse than she imagined it would be.

There were four figures moving towards something on the ground. She wondered how they were able to come out so quickly. They must have been ready to come out before the impact. It was possible one of them, or all three of them, were detected at some point and the patrol was a response to them in the vicinity of their bunker.

The SUV was burning behind them. The best thing about it was it back-lit them. They all carried weapons. They didn't look around. Their sole focus seemed to be concentrated on the figure on the ground. It was Cameron, she was offline. She wasn't sure if they could make out the figure was female or not from the position she was in. If they did think she was a female, it would certainly explain their fixation.

Savannah quickly calculated which location would have the best field of fire and firing angles. It didn't take her long to realize if she stayed in the spot she was at, the men would pass sideways in front of her. From her angle, they would all be bunched together. Savannah flipped the selector to full auto and readied a second magazine. She carried one Thermite grenade. In this instance she wished it would have been a fragmentation grenade. It wasn't.

It was her goal to make sure none of the men got anywhere near Cameron in the current condition she was in. She heard the stories about what happened to captured female Terminators in the future. It would happen to her too. She didn't even want to think about it. It was time to act. She readied the Thermite grenade. She pulled the pin and held the spoon. She would throw it first and then open up with her M4.

Savannah carefully looked around as she gauged her targets. She wanted to make sure no additional threats presented themselves, or even worse, showed up on her flanks. Her preliminary observation showed the area was still clear. She turned her attention back to the men in front of her. She could hear them talking.

"Does anyone see anything?" The first Gray asked. "I think I see one."

"I've only spotted one probable so far." The second Gray said.

"I want everyone to pay attention to what's going on around us." The first Gray said.

"We don't want to get shot anymore than you do." The third Gray said.

"I only see one of them." The fourth Gray said.

"I told you it was one of them." The first Gray said.

"It was a lucky guess on your part." The second Gray said.

"Do you think they got hit by shrapnel?" The third Gray asked.

"Maybe they did." The fourth Gray said. "It might be a circuit brain too."

"It looks like they have long hair." The first Gray said.

"Do you think it's a chick?" The second Gray asked.

"If it is, let's drag her back inside while she's still warm." The third Gray said.

"We can do the same thing, even if it's a 'walking pile of junk'." The fourth Gray said.

"Keep the insults down." The first Gray said. "We don't need any trouble if the Man comes around."

Savannah heard more than enough to disgust her. Once they were sure it was a female, it was clear what the Grays planned to do, whether it was a human female, or a female Terminator. They would do the same thing to Cammy, or her if they could get their hands on them. She didn't feel bad at all about what she was going to do to them.

The Grays were almost in line for her shot.

"I'm sure it's a chick." The third Gray said.

"Let's get up there and find out." The fourth Gray said.

"Think with the big head instead of the little head." The first Gray said. "There may be more of them somewhere."

"If they're Tin Cans it won't matter." The second Gray said. "They'll all be down too."

"I can't wait to get down." The fourth Gray said.

"Pay attention." The first Gray said.

Savannah pulled the pin and released the spoon on the Thermite grenade. She started to count down the seconds. The men passed by her and were neatly lined up. She threw the Thermite grenade. She fired her entire magazine before the Thermite grenade exploded. There were several screams almost immediately. She wasn't sure if it was from the gunfire, or from the burning Thermite the men were just showered with.

She dropped down and moved fifteen feet to her side as she hit the magazine release. The magazine fell free as she moved. She shoved the next magazine in before the first one hit the ground. She hit the bolt release and was ready to fire again before she came back up. She expected if there was any return fire, it would be at her previous position. She was no longer there and would be able to fire on anyone who fired at the spot. She figured it would give her two seconds of surprise.

She popped back up from her new location as she searched for more targets.

All four Grays were down. Two were on fire and screaming. They were barely able to move. The other two lay still. Both of them started to burn as well.

Savannah waited. She could put the men out of their misery, but she was unsure how many more there were. She didn't want to give away her new position. There was no return fire at her previous position. She was closer to Cameron now. She ducked down and moved to where she would be at the closest point to Cameron. She came up at her new location to take a look. Her M4 was ready.

She lost track of the time. It seemed like an hour must have gone by, but she knew it was just over a minute from the time of the blinding light. She trained under similar conditions. She learned how to keep everything straight. She spotted no one else. The screams slowly faded away and stopped. Only the smell of Thermite and burning flesh remained. The burning corpses added illumination to the area.

Savannah was about to come over the top of the drainage ditch and sprint the fifty feet to Cameron. She was going to try and drag Cameron back to the ditch for cover. Just as she was about to make her move, she spotted trouble. There was a second group of figures which emerged from the battered bunker door.

She fired at them. She drove them back. Three of them fell where they stood. She saw Cameron move. She didn't know how cognizant Cameron would be at first due to the unknown nature of what the blast was. She decided to give her some basic instructions and information.

"Cameron, I'm fifty feet in front of you in the drainage ditch." Savannah said. "There's an armed group which attempted to come out of the bunker. I just drove them back. When I fire again they'll have my position. I need to move. I'm going to lead them away from you."

Cameron's eyes slowly opened. Everything was dark around her. She could hear a voice. It sounded like the voice of an angel. She briefly wondered if there really was an afterlife for machines. Somehow she seemed to remember Gail told her the same thing when she looked at her face before when she rebooted. It was after they needed to pull her chip when she wanted to self terminate. It was when she thought Duplicate Jesse was killed. In a second she realized the angelic voice was Savannah. She gave her information and instructions. Her HUD indicated her voice modulation was now operational. She decided to give it a try.

"My functions are coming back online." Cameron said.

Savannah knew if she fired from her current position, it would draw everyone's attention towards Cameron. She was going to need to use herself as the target to draw the enemy away from where they would spot Cameron.

"I'm moving away from you for now. I don't want to draw fire towards you until you can move." Savannah said. "Cammy is down too. She's inside the culvert. I'm moving away from both of you. I'm moving uphill."

Cameron was sure she knew a bad idea when she heard one. Savannah was going to use herself as bait. It was a very risky move on her part. She knew Savannah did it to protect her until she was fully operational. Everything in her HUD indicated she was almost ready to act.

"Savannah, don't." Cameron said, but Savannah was already gone.

Cameron knew Savannah made herself the target to protect Cammy and her. It didn't take her long to realize it was exactly what she would have done as well. If she could get to the drainage ditch, she might be able to present herself as an alternate target and take some of the fire off of Savannah. She was pleased she still had her M4. She hoped it was still functional. She hoped she was still operational.

The new group of men exited the bunker and fired wildly in all directions. They didn't have any verified targets. Their four burning comrades blocked their view of Cameron. They were unsure of where the attacks came from and already more than half a dozen of them were dead. The large body count racked up by the unknown attack force seemed to indicate it was a large group of individuals. It was why they fired wildly in every direction. They didn't know they were fighting one teenage girl. Even if they did, they wouldn't know she was a trained and skilled Resistance fighter.

The new group of Grays headed out from the bunker. Savannah popped up from a new position and fired again. She was able to drop two more of them. The ones who ducked back surely must have seen her position. She dropped down again and changed her position. The drainage ditch began to get shallower as she moved uphill. She continued to draw the Grays away from Cameron and Cammy. She knew she was going to run out of cover real soon and would need to stay in one spot. She could always start to make her way back.

She saw a few rounds hit around where she was when she last fired. She saw Cameron was about to make a run for it. She knew she needed to protect Cameron so she could make her move. She decided to try and draw the attention of the men and their fire.

Cameron was on the move. Savannah fired the rest of her magazine at the men. She dropped down. She was sure at least one, if not two men, fell with her last volley. She decided to head back the way she came. She needed to have some type of cover to continue the battle. She figured if anyone was tracking her, they would think she would continue along in the same direction as she was going. It's why she decided to double back. She wanted to rejoin with Cameron and Cammy. She changed magazines again. She hit the bolt release which sent a fresh round into the chamber. The area where she just was at began to take heavy fire. She stayed low and kept moving.

When she came back up from a new position she saw there were six men moving in the direction she last fired from. They were spread out now. She knew she needed to act. She would be able to get two pretty quickly but maybe only one of the remaining four before they would concentrate fire on her position. They would have her zeroed at that point. She would need to move away quickly.

Savannah sighted on the two closest ones and started to pull the trigger.

Before she completed the trigger pull, there were a dozen shots fired single shot very rapidly. All six men fell. The shots came from two different positions. Cameron and Cammy were in the fight as well now. They'd both fired a head shot at each of the six men at the same time. All of the men were terminated in just over a half of a second.

Savannah kept moving back in the direction Cameron was in.

Cameron searched for any more targets within her field of fire. No more we're apparent. She was a little concerned about all the fire directed in one area. She knew it was all directed at Savannah. She didn't know Savannah moved away from the position before the first round hit. She could hear some movement coming towards her in the drainage ditch. She thought she knew who it was. She needed to make sure.

"Blue." Cameron said softly.

Savannah was very relieved to hear Cameron's voice.

"Cat." Savannah answered.

Cameron was next to her in an instant.

"Are you injured?" Cameron asked.

Cameron began to touch her as she searched for any wounds.

Savannah was more concerned about Cameron than she was herself.

"No." Savannah said. "Are you fully functional? How much damage have you taken? What happened?"

Cameron was unsure of what the nature of the blast was which knocked her offline. She was running diagnostics ever since her eyes opened. She felt she was in pretty good condition at this point.

"I'm at ninety seven percent, ninety eight percent." Cameron said. "Cammy is operational as well. She's coming. I can hear her."

Cameron issued the challenge to Cammy at a sound level Savannah couldn't hear, only a Terminator would be able to hear it, if they were in close proximity.

"Yellow." Cameron said

Cammy responded with the appropriate answer in the same low decibel level.

"Mouse." Cammy said.

Cameron kept her gaze trained on the bunker entrance. No one else emerged. She hadn't spotted anyone else outside of the bunker other than the men who were all dead. She noted four of the corpses were still burning. Based upon the position of the bodies, it appeared as if two of them were still alive while they were on fire before they terminated.

She was aware of the figures which were already down before Cammy and her fired. Savannah scored, and scored big on her own. It was clear Savannah prevented her from being deactivated or terminated, again. She was aware Savannah used herself as bait to draw the attackers away from Cammy and her. It was a bold move and a risk Savannah shouldn't have taken for her, for them. She was afraid Savannah's love was going to get her killed. One thing was more than evident. Savannah was rock solid in a firefight and able to deliver a crippling blow to the enemy. It appeared her extensive training paid off.

Cameron tried to focus. She was drifting. She still wasn't quite back to one hundred percent.

She knew she almost was able to complete and express her love with Savannah today, but she substituted John in her place. She wanted it to be her first before John, but she yielded to John. It was the 'Natural Order'. The three of them would be together soon enough. She wanted the day to be soon….

Savannah looked at Cameron in the darkness. She was unsure how operational Cameron actually was. Her targeting systems seem to have functioned well as Cammy and her took down the group of Gray's. Right now she looked a little bit out of it.

"…Cameron…?" Savannah asked.

Cameron looked around as she heard Savannah's voice.

"What?" Cameron asked.

Savannah decided to tell it to Cameron straight. She wanted her to know she wasn't back to one hundred percent yet.

"You're not functioning properly." Savannah said. "You may be damaged worse than you know."

Cameron checked her diagnostics. She was nearly recovered. She knew she thought of some previous events which probably could have been thought of at a better time. She would rather not get into the specifics of them. In fact, she didn't even want to think about them right now. She took another look at the surrounding area. She wasn't sure where the next attack would come from. Logic indicated it would be from the bunker door. There was no guarantee there weren't observation posts or listening posts scattered throughout the area in the direction someone most likely would have approached the bunker from. It wasn't the direction they used to do so.

"My thoughts drifted a little." Cameron said. "I'm at ninety nine percent now. I'm good now."

Cammy was with them after she swept the drainage ditch in both directions on either side of them. She hadn't spotted any hostiles other than the ones which lay dead between the drainage ditch and the bunker.

Savannah watched Cammy as she moved around them. She appeared to be back to normal. She wanted to make sure.

"Cammy, how are you and your functionality?" Savannah asked.

Cammy felt she was able to make a quicker recovery than Cameron because she was protected somewhat better by being inside the culvert when the blast went off, whatever it was. She was thankful Savannah spent the extra time to make sure she was secured before she went to engage the enemy. Like every female Terminator, she feared being captured and reprogrammed as a 'Metal Whore'.

"I'm at one hundred percent." Cammy said. "Thank you for hiding me in the culvert. If I would have remained inoperable, it would have been much harder for anyone to spot me."

Savannah didn't know the nature of the attack at the start. She knew what she would have to do to protect both Cameron and Cammy and it's what she did.

"I didn't know how long you would be offline. I wanted you protected." Savannah said. "My hands were full for a while. I did what I could to make sure you were both as protected as possible under the conditions. I'm very thankful both of you rebooted. I was worried you might not. I was about to go out and drag Cameron into the drainage ditch."

Cammy also spotted the large body count Savannah racked up on her own before Cameron and her were fully operational.

"You did a fine job." Cammy said. "There were a lot of dead on the ground before Cameron and I fired. You risked yourself for both of us."

Cammy was aware Savannah used herself as bait to draw away the attacking force from both of them. She wasn't happy about it either. She too worried Savannah's love would get her terminated one day. She knew her existence wasn't worth it. She knew Cameron's existence wasn't worth it even more. She didn't doubt for a minute Savannah would have done exactly what she just said she was about to do. Now wasn't the time to point everything out.

Savannah was worried about Cameron. She was out in the open when whatever the blast was which went off. It was clear she was impacted by the full effect of it. So far she didn't feel there was any negative impact on her other than the white spots in her eyes for a few minutes after the initial bright flash.

"I want you to keep an eye on Cameron." Savannah said.

Cameron looked at Savannah and smiled.

"I'm fine." Cameron said.

Cammy noted Cameron's reaction. She wasn't so sure about it. Cameron was out in the open when whatever went off happened. She was totally exposed.

Savannah looked away from Cameron back to Cammy.

"I want it done anyway." Savannah said. "I want both of you to keep an eye on each other. We need to find out what it was. It may have been triggered to stop the SUV and Cameron. Those armed men were out in seconds. They needed to be ready before the impact."

Cammy wanted to point out one of the things they discussed earlier about a second exit. It might be prudent for them to look for a new location additional Gray's could appear from, or at least be extra aware.

"If there is a second entrance, or emergency exit, more men could be moving out." Cammy said. "They could appear on either side of us. We don't know what they know, or what their communication level is."

Savannah was sure any drones which were in too close would have been knocked out like Cameron and Cammy were. She didn't see any burning wreckage around them so she didn't think they crashed, but she didn't know. Maybe they would just crash and not blow up or burn. It was clear she hadn't received any drone support during her engagement. She would have welcomed it.

"Where are our drones?" Savannah asked. "We should have been able to get some support by now."

Cammy wondered where the drones were when Savannah battled the Grays. She figured whatever took Cameron and her offline did the same to the drones.

"They may have lost contact. There might be a jamming field in place as well now." Cameron said. "We've encountered them before. None of my coms are working. I can't reach anyone."

Savannah looked around them again.

"Could the drones have crashed?" Savannah asked.

Cammy looked up into the sky.

"I can hear one." Cammy said. "No. I can hear two."

Savannah wondered if the drones were damaged by the energy release. She would hate for their programming to have been scrambled and their transponder codes not recognized.

"They won't try to target us will they?" Savannah asked.

Cameron didn't believe any of the Resistance equipment would ever attack Savannah, even if it malfunctioned.

"They're all infused with my programming and John Henry's." Cameron said. "It's doubtful they would ever attack you, even if they went rogue."

Savannah hoped the same level of protection included all of them. They were all standing together currently. She would hate for them to separate and some type of attack be initiated.

"What about Cammy or you?" Savannah asked.

Cameron often felt self loathing at times. Savannah worked with her often to overcome the feeling she said was unjustified. Either way, the feeling still existed and exerted itself at the most inconvenient times.

"They would like nothing more than to attack and destroy Cammy or me." Cameron said. "They would have a target they 'hate'."

Savannah knew Cameron was troubled by what she thought happened between John and her. It was time to come clean and help Cameron get back to one hundred percent and focused. She decided to just say it. The 'game' clearly went on long enough. The adverse effects she suspected were evident in Cameron on multiple occasions. It was time to set the record straight.

"Cameron, nothing happened today." Savannah said. "John didn't touch me. We didn't make love, have sex, or do anything else of a sexual nature."

Cameron's head immediately tilted to the side, her mouth dropped open slightly.

"But you and John…." Cameron said.

Savannah could see Cameron was totally surprised. She glanced over at Cammy and she looked exactly the same way. It wasn't too surprising to her. She noted when they took down the six targets earlier, they both targeted the six men in the exact same way at the exact same time. It was clear the apple didn't fall far from the tree as far as programs went.

"Nothing happened." Savannah said as she lifted Cameron's hand to her neck. "I'm still untouched by a male. I'm still a virgin. I've only ever shared with females, both humans and cyborgs."

Savannah could see tears form in Cameron's eyes as she scanned her.

"You're being truthful to me." Cameron said. "You weren't defiled."

Cameron took Savannah in her arms and held her.

Savannah was a little worried about Cameron and their current circumstances. She didn't want anyone to get sidetracked or not pay attention. They needed to worry about what was happening around them. She was just as concerned about Cameron's terminology about not being 'defiled'. It was something which was going to happen sooner or later. She at least wanted to try it one time, just to see what it was like. She didn't think it was something unreasonable for a female to want.

Cammy didn't think she needed to scan Savannah, but she would like to have done so. Savannah previously told her 'nothing changed' and 'everything was still the same'. It was clear what Savannah meant now. Savannah already told her, even if she wasn't specific or explicit. Now she needed to worry about Cameron again. She looked a little nervous.

Cameron looked at Cammy and held Savannah even tighter.

"Cammy, I'm claiming Savannah…." Cameron said. "I want her for my own."

Savannah didn't know what to make about Cameron's sudden revelation. She was sure of one thing. Cameron was nowhere close to one hundred percent. It didn't appear her latest statement did much to help anything either. If anything, things were probably off on a tangent somewhere.

Closing monologue by Cameron:

It's Not Working

Within the confines of my mind
What is done is done
It is impossible for me
To make the events undone

It is with myself
That I must live
You have turned my heart
Into a bloody sieve

Am I not still
Who I always was
I will be the same when tomorrow comes
As it always does

So my mind upon itself
Has begun to feed
It is trying to devour
What makes my heart bleed

I try to forget what you have done
In my mind it remains lurking
I have tried to forgive you
It's not working

Nobody