Terminator: Kayden's Journey

The Gas Station

I waited next to a garage door next to John for the terminator to get inside the rundown gas station and opened the garage door so we wouldn't be out in the open. The gash on my bicep stung like hell, but I never voiced my pain. I never did, I just quietly stood there, waiting, ignoring the blood that was running down my arm and slowly drying.

There was a sudden noise behind the large door before it lifted up, revealing our protector standing there. I took a step back and watched as mom drove the car inside before I followed in after. Behind I heard John say something and calling the terminator lug nut before the said lug nut pulled the door down, encasing us in almost complete darkness. Luckily, there was moonlight filtering in through some of the broken windows, as well as the occasional car passing by.

It was a quiet few minutes, the only sounds were the cars outside, mom opening, getting out and shutting the car door and the terminator moving around. I heard him stop and after a moment of quietness, a bluish light suddenly illuminated us. It came from a light that was most likely used to see under the cars when they were up on the lift.

"You look like shit, dude." I stated in a joking tone once I was able to properly see his shot up form. His shirt and jacket was shot almost to shreds.

"So do you." he stated as he took a look at my blood covered arm.

"I found this in the office." John stated as he walked over to the terminator and set a first-aid kit on a table. "This should help with his wound. Although, I'm not sure if it has morphine."

The terminator gestured me to sit at the table, which I did after slipping off my plaid shirt. He walked over and opened the kit before taking out a bottle and a large cotton ball.

"There's no morphine." He told me as he stood in front of me. "The wound is on the front of your bicep. It would be better if you grip my shirt so you don't have to hold your arm up."

I nodded before hesitantly reaching forward and grabbed his shirt at his waist. He poured some of the liquid on the ball and swiped at the wound, making me cringe at the stinging pain.

Once he was done with cleaning it, he started to stitch it which, in my opinion, was worse.

"You do know what you're doing, right?" questioned John.

"Yes. I have detailed files of human anatomy." the terminator replied without stopping.

"I bet," mom spoke up bitterly. "Makes you a more efficient killer, right?"

"Correct."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see her stare turned into a glare. I wanted to roll my eyes at her but refrained from doing so. What was she expecting his answer to be?

The terminator finished, putting a patch over it so it didn't come undone if I ever bumped into something with it and I slid off of the chair. "Your turn."

He looked down at me before down at my hand that was still clutching his shirt. I quickly yanked my hand away, mumbling a small sorry and stepped away and watched as the machine set down in the seat after taking his jacket off. I took it from him as Sarah walked over, grabbing some pliers and waited until the terminator to slip off his shirt to get to work.

I tried to not stare at his well-toned, muscled torso and instead, turned and held the jacket up to the window where a light was coming through. My eyes glanced over the bullet holes that littered the jacket before setting it down and turning towards him. "Does it hurt?"

"I sense injuries. The data could be called pain."

After some more words said between him, John and mom, everything was quiet until John spoke again.

"Can you learn new things? Become more human and not be such a dork all the time?"

"I have a CPU- a learning computer. The more time I spend with humans, the more human I become. Skynet presets it to 'read only' when we are sent out on the field."

"We can reset it though, right?" I asked, causing him to look at me.

"Yes."

We waited until mom was done and once she was, he was giving her directions of how to access it after putting on his shirt. I watched as she pulled a piece of his scalp back after she cut into it, opened the port and took out a reddish brown rectangular thing and he stopped moving, most likely in shut down mode.

"Can you see the pin switch-" John began to ask as we turned towards where she was- only to see her lift up a sledge hammer.

"No!" John scrambled over, covering the CPU with his hands, making mom stop just before she smashed his fingers.

"Out of my way, John." she whispered.

"Don't kill him."

"It, John. It."

"Okay, it. But we need it."

"Listen to me," mom breathed as she stared down John. "Listen. We are better off on our own."

"I call bullshit." I spoke up, making mom send me a look.

"But he's the only proof we have of the future and the war and all that!"

"Maybe," she glanced over at the still form of the machine. "I don't trust it."

"But he's my friend, alright?"

"You don't know what it's like to try and kill one of these things, and if something goes wrong this would be our last chance. So, MOVE!"

"Look. mom, if I'm suppose to be this great military leader, maybe you should start listening to my leadership ideas for once in a while! If my own mother won't, how do you expect anyone else to?" he moved his hands away from the CPU and mom stared at John before throwing the hammer down.

"Fine, we'll play it your way."

John swiped the CPU up, flip the switch and placed it back inside its spot.

"Was their a problem?" questioned the terminator once he came back on.

"Nope, no problem." I answered before pushing the flap of scalp back and began to stitch it shut.

****
***
**
*

It was just passed two in the morning and I was in the passenger seat of the cop car while John was laying in the back, sleeping away unlike me. I slowly get out of the car, being as silent as possible before looking into what looked like to be an office and saw the terminator standing at the window, his gun on his shoulder, his eyes probably scanning the outside. He wasn't wearing his jacket and with a glance at John, I saw where it was.

I made my way over to him and passed mom, who was sitting on the floor near the car, leaning against a stack of tires. I didn't see if she was awake or not, I really didn't care at this point.

"Hey, big guy." He stepped beside him.

"You should be asleep." he stated, not even looking down at me.

"I can't." I shrugged. "I'm having one of those nights where I can't sleep at all."

He looked down at me after a moment. "...Cold?"

"Freezing." I joked, remembering hearing something similar from mom about her one story about her and Kyle. "Nah, that's not the reason why I can't sleep. I just can't sleep some nights."

He continued to look at me for a few more minutes before walking and sitting down, leaning back against the door frame with his gun laying beside him. Before I could even say anything, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me down, making me almost yelp in surprise.

I was sitting on his crossed legs, sideways, my legs dangling over his thigh and knee and my head was pressed up against his shoulder. I could feel my face heating up and I could feel my heart pound within my chest.

"Sleep. You will need it." He told me before securing an arm around my lower back and waist, his hand resting over my stomach while picking up the gun with his other hand.

I swallowed and forced my eyes to close and, rather surprisingly, I was able to get to sleep relatively quickly.