TERMINATOR : Fire in the Sky

Homeward ~ Cameron (2019)

It wasn't long before she spotted the jeep.

Heat waves curling like steam off the roof of the once black vehicle, she stalked towards it; head canting at the scene that met her inside.

A man. A reasonably well dressed man, clean, save for the blood spatter on his forehead, slumped over the steering wheel. Dead from a gunshot wound to the head.

Blinking slowly, she pulled open the vehicle door, brow arching as a gust of warm wind stirred up a veritable maelstrom of yellow postits from the backseat, the crinkle of the map beside the driver waving gently, as though trying to get her attention.

Why did she know the driver's face?

Impassively reaching across the dead man's lap, she snatched up the handdrawn map, scanning over landmarks, trying to ascertain where the man might have been headed from hastily scribbled notes.

Resistance Camp?

Poss. Security?

Did she find him?

Is she alive?

Watching as a post it bobbed and swooped through the air towards her, she caught it by the tips of her fingers, head canting as she scanned the diminutive black scrawl.

'I know you can't forgive me. I don't expect you to. I should have gone with you. I was afraid. I want to try and make things right. I'm sorry, Allison.'

Blinking, chocolate tresses ruffling in the warm wind, she performed an ident scan on the driver, brow arching as his name flashed across her internal display.

Mr. Richard Palmer.

"Allison's father. I need to use your vehicle."

Wrapping her hand around the man's shirt collar, she yanked him from the vehicle, throwing him unceremoniously to the dirt. Stilling, her foot on the tinning board, she pivoted back to the body, sinking into a crouch, gently closing his eyes.

"Rest well."

Climbing into the jeep, she turned the key, pedal to the floor as she roared away, tracking John Connor.

----

It wasn't long before she found him.

Traveling in a vehicle in poor repair, leaking fluids, rattling bearings as he, presumably, attempted to reach safety before darkness fell.

Catching John Connor's transport easily, intent gaze through his rear windshield, she scanned a glimpse of his face through the mirror, and nodded, cool blue text scrolling across her display.

PRIORITY TARGET CONFIRMED.

TERMINATE JOHN CONNOR.

Stamping down hard on the gas, vehicles coliding in a screech of metal on metal, she canted her head; watching as the Leader of the Resistance fell to the ground, yelling for someone who didn't exist.

TERMINATE JOHN CONNOR.

Kicking the door open, she paused; stilling as the dirt and dust swirled around them, eyes on the soldier scrabbling in the dirt.

"Why?"

TERMINATE JOHN CONNOR.

'Don't do this. /Please/.'

Blinking slowly as the whispered voice of Allison Young sounded in her head, she stomped to ground, a shadow in the setting sun, eyes on the panicking John Connor.

'You don't have to do this. You could just let him go.'

A glitch. That's what this was. Vocal remenant of the replicated, lingering from auditory records. Head canting, she stepped forwards, Skynet's priority target in her grasp...

And hesitated.

UPDATE.

TERMINATE JOHN CONNOR.

"Terminate John Connor. Win the war."

Stepping into the prone man's view, dark eyes impassive, she blinked as the soldier demanded an answer, calling her by a dead woman's name.

"My name's not Allison."