Chapter 553

Slip Inside

John was worried they were overextended everywhere. None of the operations were planned ahead of time. There was no backup plan. Everything seemed to happen in the moment. It disgusted him further to think it was how Cameron tended to operate most of the time when she didn't have support from the Command Center or other Terminators.

"Beautiful…." John said.

Cameron ignored John's comment when she heard it. She didn't want to let his negativity affect the operation, or how she felt about it. There were a lot of moving parts now. Cam waited on the ground nearby with the manned drone. Cam was surrounded by four of their drones waiting for the call to action. Exactly where it would occur they didn't know yet. Sheila and Ally were at the location she was supposed to infiltrate earlier, but failed to do so. They encountered some type of problem. She didn't know what it was yet. Bob was just outside the entrance to the old helicopter base. Gail and Cammy were inside of the base near one of the hangars. Her biggest worry was Savannah and Jesse. They already came into contact with the enemy. A five man patrol was reduced to three men and still a threat. She didn't think there was anything beautiful about it.

Cammy and Gail were outside one of the hangars. They thought they heard some voices.

"I may have something." Cammy whispered.

Cameron wanted to know what she found so far. The base needed to be explored further. Maybe they caught a break.

"Cammy, what do you have?" Cameron asked.

Gail and Cammy were about to move around the end of the hangar. They already tried several doors. They were all locked. She peered around the corner of the hangar. It was what she suspected. The answer to Cameron's question was easy.

"Trouble…." Cammy whispered.

Cammy spotted a five man patrol inside the perimeter. They were headed for where they were at. They didn't seem to be in too big of a hurry.

Gail thought they should use caution for now.

"There are five individuals on patrol coming our direction." Gail whispered.

Cammy looked like she wanted to attack.

"We can take them." Cammy whispered. "There are only five of them."

Gail knew they needed to get Cameron out first before it turned into a firefight. She was concerned about Jesse and Savannah as well. Once the shooting started, the patrol on the hillside where they were at would be alerted there was a problem. They would become much more alert and probably start shooting at shadows. The girls would be in extreme danger under such conditions.

"We need to wait." Gail whispered. "We need to make sure there's not a Terminator with them."

Cammy and Gail soundlessly moved back along the side of the hangar wall to the back of the building.

Some of the men complained it was a hassle and a waste of time and effort to even go out on patrol. Nothing was ever there, or happened anyway. They said everything was always the same.

The squad leader told them to shut up or the 'Man' would be down on all of them.

The suggestion of the 'Man' brought a round of rude comments and name calling. It was only after they'd all looked around to make sure the 'Man' wasn't within earshot.

The Man was most likely a Terminator. It was nice to know he wasn't with the group of five men. Where was he?

The Grays waited outside a door Cammy checked only a few minutes ago. One of the men talked into a radio or walkie talkie. He looked upset and frustrated.

"I can't reach Johnson." One man said.

The leader looked a little irritated.

"It's probably the cheap equipment these clowns keep giving us." The leader said. "Keep trying. If they can come up with all this fancy equipment, they should be able to spring for communication devices which actually work."

The men in the group began to look nervous.

"The 'Man' will come around here any minute." Someone said. "You know how upset he gets when someone messes up. They must get fired the same day because we never see them again."

Cammy and Gail listened and knew the men might not actually be Grays, but they worked for them. They were collaborators by extension.

"I'm not waiting for the 'Man' to ream me." The leader said. "Let's go check their sector. This is probably a waste of time. I don't want the 'Man' on my rear end. The guy gives me the 'creeps'."

The five man team headed out towards the direction where Jesse and Savannah were. It was the same area Gail and Cammy arrived from. They were aware Jesse and Savannah engaged a five man patrol which was now only three strong. If the team continued in the same direction, Savannah and Jesse would end up with eight of the enemy to deal with instead of three.

Gail saw the Grays action for the threat it was.

"Jesse and Savannah are in the same direction." Gail said to Cammy. "It's the direction we came from."

Cameron was worried about Savannah and Jesse now. They needed to deal with a five man patrol already. Now there was another one headed their way. She wanted to give the girls some reinforcement.

"Gail, follow them out, watch out for the Terminator." Cameron said. "If you want Cammy to go as well, you may take her."

Gail appreciated the offer. She knew they needed to back up Cameron.

"Thank You, Cameron." Gail said. "Cammy needs to back you up. I'll stay as well if you need me. We can always have the girls withdraw."

Cameron was worried more about Savannah and Jesse than she was herself. The mention of the Terminator bothered her. If the Grays expected him, he should have been there. He wasn't there to meet them, where was he?

"Gail, Jesse and Savannah can use your assistance, go." Cameron said. "Keep an eye out for the Terminator. He should have made the rendezvous with the patrol. If he's not there, he's somewhere else. We all know something more important must have come up. It could be us, or other parts of our team. Both of you need to be on alert for a hostile Terminator around you right now."

Gail was really worried about Jesse and Savannah. They already needed to deal with one patrol and now another one was headed their way. So far they were the only ones making contact with the hostile forces. They knew only two of the five were down so far. She would need to move clandestinely to avoid detection. She needed to watch out for the enemy Terminator as well. It looked like things were going to play out very much like they did on most of Cameron's operations. Events just happened, and they needed to react to them.

Earlier:

The three remaining men of the five man patrol moved around noisily in the brush. It was clear they no longer took the task seriously. It was routine to them and nothing more than a hassle and inconvenience. They neared the position of Jesse and Savannah.

"I think we can take them." Jesse whispered.

Savannah wanted to take them down. She was able to take the other two down because they lagged behind. It was just a few minutes ago. Their bodies were just off the trail the patrol followed.

"It is only a matter of time until they find the two who won't be returning with them, or they spot the SUV." Savannah whispered. "If there's one patrol, there will be more. Stay alert."

Jesse silently nodded.

Savannah looked at the patrol's spacing. She wanted to draw them into an unobstructed area. She wanted to make sure their fields of fire were clear, as well as their targets identified.

"I'll lure them over so we can take them down." Savannah whispered. "I'll take the first one. You take the last one and then we both will hit the middle man."

Savannah selected something on her phone.

"Wait here, Jesse." Savannah whispered. "I'll be back."

Before Jesse could say anything, Savannah was soundlessly gone as if she never was there in the first place. She could tell Savannah was extremely well trained.

Jesse looked around, suddenly Savannah was back, but a few feet off to her right. Savannah nodded at her. The bait was in place. Now it was time to draw the targets in.

The remaining three men of the patrol moved closer to Savannah and Jesse.

They heard a sound. The men paused for a moment and looked towards where the sound came from.

"What's that?" The first man asked.

"I don't know." The second man said.

"Listen." The third man said.

"It's over here." The first man said.

"It sounds like a baby." The second man said.

"It must be some kind of animal." The third man said.

"If it's a small animal, its mother will be near." The second man said.

"Where's Johnson at?" The first man asked.

"You know he's a slacker." The third man said.

The 'crying' of the baby grew louder and louder.

"It's got to be a baby." The second man said.

"Out here? You're not high again are you?" The first man asked. "This is the middle of nowhere."

"Ramirez isn't around either." The third man said.

"Maybe it's one of them." The first man said. "They could be hurt."

"Do you think they were attacked by a wild animal?" The third man asked.

"We should have heard something if there was." The first man said. "It couldn't have got both of them at once."

"What if there were two wild animals who got them?" The second man asked.

"It could be a bear and a mountain lion." The third man said. "Maybe we're in the middle of a fight between two wild animals."

"Get it together." The first man said. "They probably just got sidetracked when they lagged back earlier."

"Let's check out the 'baby' and then we will look for the 'corn hole' clowns." The second man said.

"What they do on their own time is their personal business." The third man said.

"I think I hit a little too close to home." The second man said with a snicker.

"Enough." The first man said. "Stay alert. We don't know what we're facing."

Savannah and Jesse both raised their silenced pistols. They knew the men were facing death. The targets were about to enter the kill zone….

Sheila and Ally listened to the argument. It became more heated.

They watched as a body 'flew' from the doorway and landed hard on the pavement.

They both backed up and made themselves a little lower. It took a lot of power to throw a grown man such a distance. It took the power of a machine.

In a flash, a man came out of the doorway. It was a Terminator.

The Terminator advanced on the man struggling on the ground. He reached down and grabbed the man by the neck. He hoisted him into the air as he choked him. The man's left arm hung uselessly at his side. The man struggled to free himself with his right arm.

"Thank you, for your service." The Terminator said as he snapped his neck.

The Terminator looked around and carried the man away. He was headed for the 'bobtail' truck. Once the Terminator was blocked from their view by the big rig, Ally and Sheila dashed for the still open door. They figured it was their best chance to enter the building undetected. They needed to consider there could be more Terminators inside as well. They reached it and looked in. There was activity happening deeper inside but not right near the doorway. This was their big break. They both slipped inside….

They wanted a closer look and they were about to get it. Sheila led the way. Ally looked back to make sure the Terminator hadn't spotted them. Both of their Tasers were 'hot'. They hoped to avoid a shooting match so early in the game.

Cameron checked to make sure she was alone. The Terminator would be a problem. Cammy and Gail were out there. Now there was more trouble headed for Jesse and Savannah. She'd told Gail to follow the patrol and take care of it. Savannah and Jesse didn't need to deal with five more armed men. It meant none of the patrol would return.

She quickly looked in the other four trailers where she was earlier to see what was inside of them. Now she wanted to do a little more to the HK drones like she did in the trailer she arrived in. It gave her control, not Skynet.

Cameron opened the next closest trailer to the one the truck she arrived on was parked. She quickly moved down the row of HK drones inside of it to disable them. She checked the hangar again. She then moved to the next truck. She repeated the process three more times….

All of the HK drones in the back of the trucks inside the hangar were soon disabled. She wanted to make sure if they could drive away with them at some point. The HK drones couldn't be 'contacted', or couldn't signal anyone. It would be a great boost to the air power of the Resistance. It would also make sure a 'threat' didn't arise behind her later on.

She didn't like destroying other machines just because they were programmed to follow a false master. She knew what it was like. She wanted to give them a second chance, just like she was given.

John listened to the reports as they arrived at the Command Center. What started out as a simple recon, was now a multi-pronged attack. It would soon involve all of their forces.

The reports didn't look good. Their people were strung out over a wide area and unable to reinforce each other. It wasn't the way he liked an operation to be conducted. He couldn't really blame it on Cameron, even if somehow it was all her fault. He watched it all fall apart a little bit at a time. He wondered if he could have done more to help keep better control of things.

"All of our people in the field are in danger." John said.

John Henry could see the operation was a little more involved and larger than normal. Everything seemed tied together, so it would need to be dealt with at the same time.

"Everything is a risk." John Henry said.

John knew it, but still there was more to it than that. Look at the scope of where they were now.

"How does a simple recon turn into a multi phased assault at three different locations?" John asked.

John Henry tilted his head slightly. He thought John overlooked the most active part of the operation. Jesse and Savannah were the ones who already took down two Grays and were about to take down three more. So far none of their Terminators actually terminated anyone. Not yet anyway.

"It's four operations if you count Savannah and Jesse." John Henry said. "They're the ones in direct contact with the enemy."

John could have done without the reminder. He wondered why Bob wasn't with the girls. Savannah was with him earlier.

"Nice." John said. "Where's Bob at?"

John Henry checked the satellite map overlay.

"It's unknown, his com is off." John Henry said.

It didn't tell John anymore than he already knew.

"So either he's down, or stalking a Terminator." John said.

John Henry would have liked to have given a better answer. There wasn't one to give.

"Apparently…." John Henry said.

John wondered what would go wrong next.

"Beautiful." John said disgustedly. "Absolutely beautiful…."

John Henry didn't find anything beautiful about any of it. He understood it was just an expression. Sometimes things meant the opposite of what they were.

Gail was worried about Jesse and Savannah. They were the only ones in contact with the enemy. Now there was a second group of five Grays headed in their direction. It seamed like the type of thing which usually happened to Cameron.

She followed the men out. They opened a gate in the electric fence and left it open. It appeared they expected to return very soon. She planned to make sure none of them returned.

Gail wanted to avoid a shootout and alert the base. She decided to take the men one by one. She concentrated on what was in front of her, not what was behind her.

She moved up on 'tail end Charlie'. He was the last man. He should have watched their six. She walked right up behind him and snapped his neck. She held his dead body up and laid it in the bushes off to the side. She went after the fourth Gray.

Gail looked at the men. They never looked back to see what was behind them. They were careless. She didn't look back either. She knew exactly where her targets were. Her targets were zeroed right now.

There were only four left. She moved up and took the fourth man down. She snapped his neck. He was dead before he even knew he was in danger. He ended up in the bushes too.

She kept up her pursuit. No one threatens her Jesse….

Gail was afraid she might start to glitch, she was worried about Jesse.

She was afraid of the 'Day of Loss' being repeated….

The more Gail worried about what could happen, the more likely something would happen if she became careless. Maybe she was angry. The more she thought about what happened, or almost happened to Duplicate Jesse, the more unfocused she became. She just couldn't get the image of Duplicate Jesse as she turned away from her fight, to come and assist her. Duplicate Jesse's love blinded her momentarily and she paid the price for it. Well, almost paid the price. Cameron fixed the whole mess. She wasn't pleased with the way it played out after it was 'fixed'. Duplicate Jesse ended up in River's future. If Duplicate Jesse wasn't with her, how was it any different than being terminated?

She really wanted to terminate all of the Grays headed for Jesse and Savannah. They were all right in front of her. She was highly agitated now.

Cammy peered around the corner of the hangar. She watched Gail follow the Gray patrol away from the hangar area. She wanted to move back to the door the men waited at, but didn't enter. She hadn't noticed them enter any code or do anything other than get ready to open the door. Something else caught her eye. She saw the Terminator come around the corner. She dropped back real slow. According to the men, he should have been there earlier. Where was he at? What did he do differently?

He went to the door and saw it was still locked. He looked around and then went inside.

Cammy didn't like it. She quickly moved away from where she was at and headed towards the second hangar. She learned from Savannah not to trust what she couldn't see. It was a human thing to expect a different result, from what looked like a sure thing.

The wall burst outward where she was standing seconds ago. The Terminator suddenly crashed through it. He would have grabbed her if she hadn't moved. It wasn't in his nature to expect something other than what he saw and knew was there. There was no reason for his target to move. He really disliked humans. Their behavior was always irrational and erratic. He looked forward to a quick termination. From what he saw, it appeared to be a female. Maybe he would capture her alive and give her to the men. They always seemed to be much more content when there was a female in their custody. If they were content, they didn't complain as much. He didn't like problems.

He looked around and acquired her new position. He headed toward her….

Cammy knew she was in for a fight. There were several ways she could play it. She tried to think of the way which would result in the least amount of damage to her.

Savannah set a trap into play for the three men. They literally walked right into it.

Jesse watched them act as Savannah predicted. They both held silenced pistols.

Savannah glanced at Jesse and nodded.

Their silenced pistols coughed six times. The three men fell. None of them made a sound other than the impact of their bodies on the ground.

Savannah moved quickly and fired once each, into their heads. She changed the magazine in her pistol.

Jesse noted the finality to Savannah's actions. She didn't shoot the Grays. She killed them, and then killed them again. She made sure they were dead. She was sure it was training from Cameron and the other Terminators to make sure there would be no threat behind her once she was done with an individual. On the battlefield, sometimes they would take prisoners. There was no place to keep prisoners in the past, the present.

Jesse was ready to move on.

"We need to get out of here." Jesse said.

Savannah quickly checked over the three dead Grays for any intel. She looked down at the direction the base was at.

"You can take the SUV and go." Savannah said.

Jesse wondered why Savannah would stay there. It didn't make sense to her.

"What about you?" Jesse asked. "We're done here."

Savannah was pretty sure the fighting hadn't even started yet. She may have drawn first blood, but the base was a whole other issue. She looked at a satellite image on her phone. It was a large and strung out area.

"Gail, Cameron, and Cammy are down there." Savannah said. "Let me have your extra magazines for your pistol."

Jesse could see Savannah wasn't going to leave. She was going to the base. There was no way she was going to leave without her.

"I can't let you go alone, love." Jesse said.

John picked up on their conversation. It was clear they finished off the first five man patrol. He wanted to make sure they understood the new danger.

"Gail's tracking another five man squad headed in your direction." John Henry reported. "They know the squad you took down didn't report back in."

It was because John Henry blocked their communications. It could have been because whoever carried the communication device was already terminated.

Savannah wanted Jesse out of the danger area. She figured Gail would bring down the squad.

"Go now." Savannah said. "I'll wait for Gail. I don't want the SUV disabled if any of them make it this far."

Savannah retrieved her phone. She looked at the image of the baby crying on it. She asked John Henry for the image and to have it looped. She wanted it to start out at a low level and increase in volume. It was exactly how it played out.

Jesse didn't like Savannah out there alone, or Gail after a patrol by herself. She wanted to help both of them.

"I want to help Gail and then we can all go together." Jesse said.

Savannah understood Jesse's need to assist her lover. It didn't matter if she was a Metal girl. She felt the same way about Cameron and Cammy. The need for stealth may be past if a group of Gray expected trouble, or at least thought something was off. It was time to hit harder and decisively.

"Use your M4 if you need to." Savannah said. "No more chances for anyone. The next group is going to be alert and have their weapons ready. They will probably shoot at anything that moves, even if it's just a bush."

Savannah gave Jesse back one magazine for her silenced pistol. She also retrieved a Taser for Jesse from the SUV. She already carried hers.

Jesse looked around in the darkness and at the three dead Grays.

"We don't even know where the next group will come from." Jesse said.

Savannah thought of where she encountered the first two Grays she killed in the patrol. They were careless and didn't do their jobs.

"I'll bet they will come right up the path." Savannah said. "They're usually lazy and sloppy. You can cover the path from behind the tree there. It will give you good solid protection."

Jesse looked over the location. She was about to look for an additional one. Savannah took care of it for her.

Savannah picked out a secondary hiding spot for Jesse and a third one as well. If Jesse needed to move, she would know exactly where to go. She would also know the three spots Jesse could be.

"If you have a clear shot at two or more of them, take it. No hesitation. The first burst at chest height, the second one at ground level. They will be dead or severely incapacitated."

Jesse could see the killer instinct in Savannah. She knew she was to a couple of futures. It was clear Savannah was a stone cold killer.

"It's just like that?" Jesse asked.

Savannah didn't have time to think about it. It was just the way it was. There was a job to do so you just did it.

"Yes. It's just that simple." Savannah said. "The enemy chose to be the enemy by choice. They're out to kill us, or worse, capture us first and then kill us. The more of this I do, the less I 'feel' and the 'easier' it becomes. Cameron told me it would be like this. She was right."

Jesse killed plenty. She didn't give quarter either. If she took someone alive, they wished soon enough they'd been killed outright, especially if they committed any type of abuse against females. She made sure they 'paid' and knew what they 'paid' with.

"OK, love." Jesse said. "Let's show them how we do it in the Outback."

Closing monologue by Cameron:

Slip Inside

Life is full of choices
There are many things to decide
There are very few people
In which one can confide

Some people are more able
They are willing to provide
They have skills and talents
Which may be usefully applied

Some people are brutal
They would rather chide
They make the other one
Want to run off and hide

No one wants to hear remarks
That are mean, cruel or snide
Too many of those insults
Makes one wish they'd died

Everyone needs to remember
That most people have pride
One doesn't have to be a bride
To let the other one slip inside

Nobody