Chapter 1628

Not Done Yet

Camille-Hanna was right behind Gail as they entered the room. There were four individuals standing, and two down on the floor. One was on top of the other. It was clear what was going on. The one on the bottom didn't want to be there.

Gail slammed her foot down hard on the abuser's back. He was knocked off of the individual he was on top of. She shoved all four of the standing men out of the way. She didn't want to use her silenced M9.

The men all landed in a heap. Two of them had their pants off. On the other two, their pants slid down around their ankles. It seemed obvious what they intended to do next. They were about to pull a 'train' on the individual on the floor.

Camille-Hanna covered the four men with her silenced M9. She was ready to gun them down. She wanted to give Gail a chance to deal with them first. If she needed to, she would drop them where they were.

"Remain where you're at and don't move." Camille-Hanna said. "If you move, you die. If you speak, you die. If you look around, you die."

One of the men went to say something. Camille-Hanna shot him in the face. His body dropped down among the other three men. Another one tried to get up. She fired a second time. The bullet impacted him in the head as well. There was a fair amount of blood and 'matter' covering the remaining two men. It was clear they wanted to bolt.

"Remain where you're at and don't move." Camille-Hanna said again. "If you move, you die. If you speak, you die. If you look around, you die. Just like your two associates. It's just that simple."

There was a look of fear in the men's eyes as they raised their hands. One went to brush some blood and tissue off of his face. He hesitated and continued to raise his hands.

Gail turned her attention back to the man whose back she stomped on. She identified him as Dee's mother's former boyfriend. She wasn't even sure 'boyfriend' was the correct term for the way he used both of them. She thought the term abuser would be more correct.

The other individual on the floor was blacked out. It was clear they were a victim. Their hands were bound and they were gagged.

Gail moved over the top of the boyfriend. He slowly opened his eyes.

"I'm here for Dee." Gail said. "You're to be punished for your crimes."

The boyfriend looked a little groggy. He tried to move.

"What?" The boyfriend asked. "My legs, I can't feel my legs."

Camille-Hanna wanted to wrap things up. She didn't want to waste any time.

"Let's finish up and go." Camille-Hanna said.

Gail kicked the boyfriend hard in the leg. She could hear a bone break. He didn't seem to feel it. She planted her foot firmly on his abdomen. She reached down with her right hand as she held him in place.

"It's too bad." Gail said. "You won't feel this then. You'll be able to see the results though."

Gail glanced over at the other two men who were still alive and pulled. She could see the look of astonishment on their faces as she moved her hand away from the boyfriend's body. She dropped something on his chest.

"You'll never abuse another female." Gail said as she looked at the other individual on the floor. "You'll never abuse anyone period."

The boyfriend looked in utter disbelief at what was there now. He went to scream.

Gail slapped him hard. His lower jaw snapped and hung down at a crazy angle as his head fell back to the ground. She looked at the other two men. She thought of some of the things she heard Jesse tell future Scavengers before they were terminated.

"You're next." Gail said. "Do you think you can abuse people and not need to face some type of punishment? This is retribution. It's a reckoning. It's time to 'pay the piper'. I'm here to collect."

The other two men went to get up. It looked like they were going to try to make a run for it.

Camille-Hanna thought it seemed illogical they thought could outrun a bullet, even if it was a silenced round, and subsonic. She fired her silenced M9 two more times. She checked the drone image for the status of Dee and the SUV. So far she remained inside where she was instructed to stay. She wanted to keep it the same way.

"I think we're done here." Camille-Hanna said.

Gail bent down and checked the other abused individual. They were still alive. She picked them up. She took one more look back at the boyfriend. Based on the blood flow, it appeared he was still alive.

Camille-Hanna knew Gail wanted some further retribution. She took the other individual from Gail to carry them outside. There were a lot of clothes she picked up as well. She handed Gail a Thermite grenade.

"Do whatever you need to do." Camille-Hanna said. "We need to go."

Gail went back over to the boyfriend. She could see his hanging jaw trying to move. She was satisfied his termination would be painful. It was people like him who hurt Jesse and the other girls from the future. She armed the Thermite grenade and dropped it on the ground next to him. She saw his head look over in the direction of it. She was already out the door when it went off. She could hear some muted screams for a few seconds before there was silence and the crackling of flames.

Camille-Hanna moved the other individual out of the danger zone. They were well clear of the burning building. She made sure they were untied and their clothes were next to them. Their vital signs were strong. She returned back to the SUV at the same time Gail arrived.

A few seconds ago:

Dee was ready to go see what was happening. So far she hadn't heard much of anything. She was just about to open the door when she saw one female carry someone out of the building. A few seconds later there was an explosion. She was sure she briefly heard some screaming. The big female exited the building. She didn't look behind her as she did. Smoke began to drift out of it a second later.

Both of the females were back at the SUV.

"What happened?" Dee asked. "Were they in there?"

Camille-Hanna started the SUV. She looked back with a slight smile.

"I wouldn't worry about them." Camille-Hanna said.

Gail looked back and flashed a smile.

"They'll never hurt anyone again." Gail said. "Your mother's boyfriend won't be able to hurt anyone else in the next life either."

Dee thought the big female was really pretty when she smiled. It was a shame she didn't do it more often. She thought about what both of the females said to her.

"Are they…?" Dee asked.

Gail nodded.

"Affirmative…." Gail said. "Five of them were terminated. Your abusers have received their sentence for the crimes committed against you, and your mother."

Dee swallowed hard and looked back at the burning building.

"What about the other person?" Dee asked.

Camille pulled away from the area. She looked over at the spot where she left the other individual.

"They should be fine physically." Camille-Hanna said. "They weren't there by choice. Their hands were bound and they were gagged. A crime was being committed as we entered. We were able to stop the abuse before it went too far. There may be some other issues. Everything will depend upon their background and lifestyle."

Dee looked over where the other person was at. She could see they were moving. She was sure there would be some emotional scarring if nothing else. She wondered if maybe she should try to help them. She didn't think she should get involved. She didn't want to end up as the witness in a murder investigation. She wasn't so sure justice was actually murder.

Gail briefly thought of explaining to Dee what the boyfriend suffered before his termination. It didn't seem like a good idea to put those thoughts into her mind.

"We're done here." Gail said. "Everything is fine."

Camille-Hanna wanted to get Dee to rehab.

They received a notification from CamNet.

Gail checked the drone image over them. She hoped a new problem wasn't about to develop.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Temporal Mission:

Past Timeline:

November 26 1963

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Cameron looked down at the helix. It was commonly referred to as the 'Tehachapi Loop'. Tehachapi was the largest location in the area. The official railroad location was actually Walong.

"I don't see a train at Walong, or approaching uphill through Woodford." Cameron said. "We can always wait for one of the trains we saw working westward. They usually make fairly good time. They will get 'stabbed' at any of the sidings if there is an uphill train coming from Caliente, especially if it is a Southern Pacific train."

Young Allison didn't want to waste what little daylight was left.

"Let's keep going." Young Allison said. "There's always more to see in this area. How far are we going to go?"

Cameron wasn't sure if she wanted to continue on Route 466 into Bakersfield or not. She could also turn around and go back to Mojave. She might do both. She figured they might be able to pick up some 'street action' off the main drag in Bakersfield. Was the largest community in the lower San Joaquin Valley. It would give them the opportunity to parallel the railroad tracks most of the way there.

"Let's continue along the Tehachapi-Woodford Road for now." Cameron said.

Young Allison looked over to their right as they continued down the hill. She could see the tracks clearly. They disappeared from view around a series of corners, before they reappeared. They were empty.

Cameron went around another truck in a relatively straight section of the road.

"There are still three active tracks in Woodford in 1963." Cameron said. "The third track will be reduced to a siding in modern times. Look off to your right at ground level."

Young Allison spotted the footings for two water towers near the track. It was just the cement piers sticking up.

"Those are still there in modern times." Young Allison said. "I guess it costs money to rip them out. How did those two water tanks do in the 1952 earthquake?"

Cameron could hear the sound of an air horn in the distance. It was only a single blast. She recognized it as a P3. It indicated it was a Southern Pacific train.

"The only water tower compromised was the one in the city of Tehachapi." Cameron said. "There's a train coming uphill."

Young Allison heard the single blast of the air horn as well.

"What do you think they honked at?" Young Allison asked.

Cameron could only speculate.

"It could have been anything from a canine to a bovine." Cameron said. "One animal is a little more intelligent than the other. It is better able to recognize danger and think how to avoid it."

Young Allison thought the canine would most likely be a coyote. They needed to use their wits to survive and hunt other animals to eat. If there were cattle on the track, they probably would be slow to respond. She figured the pilot plow on the locomotive would simply knock them out of the way. It could be one of the reasons why a member of the canine family was there in the first place. It could have been related to a previous incident. Even in modern times, she witnessed more than one dead animal along the tracks. She caught a glimpse of an oscillating headlight.

"I figured it would be a Southern Pacific train." Young Allison said. "The air horn sounded like a P3 to me."

Cameron could see the location for trash collection was just up ahead. The road and the railroad tracks were literally side by side. She spotted something off to her left side as she slowed.

"Take a quick look to our left." Cameron said.

Young Allison glanced over and saw the footing of another water tank. It had a much larger concrete base associated with it. It was marked the year 1929 cast into the concrete.

"It's another relic which survived into modern times." Young Allison said. "I can see the train now."

She briefly wondered what would happen if she were to carve her initials into the concrete in 1963. If she were able to do a deep enough, they would still be there in modern times. It didn't really matter. It didn't seem like a good idea.

Cameron pulled off of the road near the trash collection site. She turned off the engine. They were right next to the railroad tracks. Highway 58 would pass by above them in a few more years. Right now it was wide open space. She looked at the front of the lead locomotive as it thundered into view. She didn't spot any liquid on the front of it, of any color. Whatever was on the tracks must have moved in time.

"The locomotives are really working hard." Cameron said. "They're making fairly good progress. They still have a lot more grade to pull until they reach Summit, just east of Tehachapi."

Young Allison could see there were six locomotives on the point. They all appear to be SD9 units. She could see all of them were hooked together with MU cables. The MU cables were used in multiple unit consists. All of the locomotives were physically connected electronically. They would respond the same way as the lead locomotive. She began to count the cars.

Cameron could hear a set of mid-train helpers approaching.

"There's another group of locomotives." Cameron said.

Young Allison could feel the ground vibrating, even as they sat in the car. She spotted four more locomotives thirty two cars back. She knew there were ten locomotives for the train so far.

"It looks like two SD9s and two GP9s." Young Allison said. "I thought one of them was a GP20 at first. I could see it didn't have the turbo stack."

Cameron was very pleased Young Allison correctly identified the unit with the low short hood. The last batch of GP9 units procured by Southern Pacific were delivered with them. They only sampled a few of the turbocharged GP20 units. They produced 2,000 horsepower. There was only an increase of 250 horsepower over a GP9. It wasn't very much additional horsepower, for one more thing to go wrong.

She understood it was one of the reasons why Southern Pacific never purchased SD24 units like their two rival railroads did. One of them even purchased a group which were cabless and were considered SD24B units. Even though the turbocharged SD24 produced 2,400 horsepower The amount of tractive effort it was able to deliver to the rails was only slightly above what a normally aspirated SD9 could produce at 1,750 horsepower. EMD was so sure Southern Pacific would purchase SD24 units, they painted three of the demonstrator units in Gray and Scarlet. They even fitted them with the regular Southern Pacific signal lights. The only thing they lacked was the Southern Pacific lettering on the side of them. It never appeared there. One of their rival competitors purchased them instead and promptly repainted them. She could hear more diesel exhaust.

"There's another set of helpers coming." Cameron said.

Young Allison counted thirty five cars since the first set of mid train helpers passed by.

"This train is going to loop itself for sure." Young Allison said.

She was a little surprised to see four more locomotives. So far it was fourteen of them.

"This train sure has a lot of power." Young Allison said.

She was able to identify two more SD9 units, and surprisingly enough, an F7A and F7B.

"It's not done yet." Cameron said.

They were followed by forty five additional cars. She could hear two more helpers on the rear end. She smiled as she saw two more SD9 units cut in ahead of the caboose. She could see the caboose looked brand new. It was probably from the latest bay window caboose order.

"Wow!" Young Allison said. "There were sixteen locomotives and a hundred and twelve freight cars. I don't think the train is going to fit on too many sidings. I was surprised to see the last group were all refrigerator cars."

Cameron didn't think it was anything too unusual. There was a lot of produce grown in the Central Valley. In later years, billions of gallons of fresh water would be run out into the ocean instead of used for agricultural use. Sometimes she wondered if Skynet wasn't behind some of the decisions made by politicians. It sure seemed like it.

Young Allison waved at the conductor in the bay window as it passed by them. She took one look at the twin red lights on the roof of the caboose as it continued around the corner.

Cameron started the Galaxie. She needed to let several cars pass by before she pulled out behind them. She did so and continued along Route 466.

Young Allison glanced over at Cameron as they neared the area known as Keene.

Not Done Yet

When anything is ever obtained
There's some form of debt
When the tab isn't paid
It may result in a threat

To dance around the issue
Is little more than roulette
One may soon end up
Controlled like a marionette

They may look at what's transpired
As they start to feel some regret
To understand the bill is coming
Is a very good bet

It does no good to run
There will always be a dragnet
When the walls start to close in
It's a good time to fret

Don't ever make the mistake
To think anyone will forget
They will always be there
They're not done yet

Nobody