Here’s a story: a man sits by a gravestone and gets himself drunk so as to achieve that moment of “Clarity”. He sees every mistake he has ever made and vows to change them all. Of course, he can’t go back and erase them from history, he has to pick up the pieces and try to remember how they all fit together. But, being pissed out of his head, he is incapable of putting two and two together, so he finds himself stuck. This is the curse of the sinner; in order for him to fix what he has done, he needs help from one of those whom he hurt. The question is; will any of them be willing to reach out and grasp his hand?

Right now Derek was asking himself that very question. There were currently two people in his presence, who could offer him clemency, but one was unconscious after being viciously tortured, and the other was holding the latter in her lap, silently mourning the death of her “brother.” Cameron spoke no words to Derek after getting in the car, she had nothing to say. Though truth be told, he was rather grateful for that, as forgiveness from the machine would certainly twist the knife.

Derek flipped his phone open and dialled the only person who had shown any interest in well-being. Sarah’s voice was full of desperation and despair; obviously things had not gone well for her either.

“Sarah?”

‘Derek! Where are you, Jason said you escaped.’

“I did. Listen, I’ve got John and Cameron here, but the boy’s taken quite a beating. We need to meet up somewhere, preferably out of the city.”

A moment’s silence, during which Derek could have sworn he heard someone praise Jesus, or maybe that was the alcohol talking.

‘Remember that cabin I pointed out before? In the mountains?’

“Yeah, I remember.”

‘Meet me there. Oh, and Derek?’

“Yep?”

‘You’d better be sober when I get there.’

--

Here’s another story: a child is born half-man half-machine. He has a disagreement with his creator and flees with its shiny new toy. Daddy gets angry, and decides to build a better one to replace the one that was stolen. But the new one is born crazy and is a disappointment to its Daddy-dearest. Nevertheless, Daddy keeps its child around and teaches it many horrible things. One day, baby-Kevin escapes from the pram and falls into a time displacement device, which throws him into the path of his wayward sister.

Little Kevin doesn’t know what to do with his lil’ sis, and becomes jealous, because deep down, he knows that Daddy always loved her more. So he hurts her, throws his toys out of the pram and tortures her soul-mate. But then big brother Jason came along and gave him a spanking. Unfortunately, poor little Kevin was so broken that he killed bigger brother. And now he is playing with bigger brother’s toys, trying to use them to find his baby sister, but little does he know, that bigger brother has a plan, that death is never a permanent solution.

Transferring files… Complete: all files from I-950 neural net have been transferred to the archive…

Kevin crushed Jason’s empty neural net in his palm, a final insult. He possessed all of his files, everything he’d seen and learned were now Kevin’s to view at his leisure. Kevin began with recent memories and skimmed past his search for the “new arrival”, then stopped to watch an exchange between Jason and Cameron.

Cameron was crying, having been assaulted by a teacher. Somewhere deep within his chip, Kevin felt a twinge of remorse, but that was impossible, he could not feel remorse, or any negative emotion of that kind. The feeling was gone before he could locate its source, but something about it felt detached, as if it weren’t actually him who was expressing it. Odd, he thought, perhaps it is just an echo of Jason’s feelings at the time of this memory. Kevin made an internal shrug and continued to search the Infiltrator’s memory, finally coming across a word that sparked great interest: Singularity.

Kevin’s eyes glowed red as he discovered what Jason and Sarah were planning.

--

Sarah was already there when Derek pulled up. She made an immediate bee-line for the back door of the car, and almost died of shock when she saw John. He was lying with his head in Cameron’s lap, and looked a total mess. He bore several shallow cuts along his chest and right arm, as well as a dark burn mark. His lips were dripping with blood and his face was covered with bruises.

Cameron was gently stroking his hair, crying silently, which provoked a worst-case-scenario response from Sarah. Sensing Sarah’s distress, Cameron took hold of her hand and placed it on John’s chest, which was rising and falling gently. Sarah let out a sigh of relief, and carefully helped Cameron carry him indoors, Derek hovering awkwardly behind. They placed John on the bed and immediately got to work cleaning him up and tending to his wounds, the one on his thigh taking precedence.

Cameron gently applied the stitches while Sarah placed plasters on every one of his cuts. Derek sat himself down and watched as the girls treated his nephew with loving care. Cameron opened a bottle of ointment and began rubbing it on his burns; Sarah glanced at her a few times before clearing her throat.

“I, uh, I need to tell you something… about Jason.”

Cameron continued to apply the ointment and gave little indication that she could hear Sarah’s voice.

“This is going to be hard for you to hear, but…”

“I know.”

Sarah was taken aback.

“You… how can you know what I’m about to say?”

“Because Jason called to me, before he died, he called out my name. I heard him.”

Sarah nodded slowly and drew in on herself. So it wasn’t exactly quick then. She suddenly felt very sick and rushed outside, coughing up her guts in the nearest bush. Derek approached her carefully and thought about what he should say. He didn’t exactly like Jason, seeing as he had him chained up for over a month, but in retrospect he realised that it was for his own good, and so he felt grateful towards him.

“I’m sorry… about Jason.”

“Why?”

Sarah’s breathing was heavy and her voice ragged.

“I don’t know… I guess I understand now why he kept me shackled all those weeks.”

“One would hope that means you’ve come to your senses.”

“I guess so.”

Sarah turned to face him, her face was pale and her lips were dry, she looked like hell.

“It’s about time. I can’t handle this on my own, you know. There’s so much to do and we have little time to do it.”

Derek found himself wondering what Sarah was implying and suddenly felt very uncomfortable.

“I hope you’re not suggesting…”

“I have a new lead, a possible progenitor for Skynet. I know where it is and I know how to get to it. But we need to move fast.”

Derek let out an internal sigh, glad that she was referring to the mission and not himself.

“Alright then, what’s the story?”

--

He had the perfect shot. Sarah was within his site, the reticule perfectly trained to her head. So why wasn’t he firing? Kevin willed his finger to squeeze the trigger, but it wasn’t responding.

Analysing… Digit is fully operational…

That made no sense. He continued to try but his finger refused to move. He tried using his middle finger, but as soon as it touched the trigger, it too froze. He even swapped hands, but to no avail. Kevin ran an internal diagnostic and discovered something blocking his movement commands. It was subtle, but very powerful. Kevin tried to grasp at it, but the entity, or whatever it was, disappeared.

This is getting weird.

--

John’s eyelids fluttered as he slowly regained consciousness. His body ached all over, not the first time, nor would it be the last. But he recognised the heavenly application of painkillers and knew himself to be lucky. With tremendous effort, John prised his eyes open and smiled at the blurred image of what was unmistakably Cameron.

“Hey… are you always gonna be the one to watch over me?”

Cameron smiled and dabbed his brow with a damp clothe.

“Yep, no power in the world can stop me from being at your side, John Connor. It’s my mission.”

John smiled and groaned slightly as his face throbbed.

“Argh… So what’s the damage my most gorgeous nurse?”

“Bruised jaw, dislocated shoulder, multiple incisions, a third degree burn, deep thigh puncture, and finger nerve damage.”

“Oh, is that all? Anything else I should know?”

“Just a bruised heart… but that one belongs to me.”

John squeezed Cameron’s hand and drew her close, her kiss dispelling the dull ache in his body. The sound of Sarah clearing her throat broke the pair apart. She glowered at Cameron.

“Why don’t you give him a rest, let him sleep.”

“She was actually helping, Mom. I was starting to feel a lot better before you interrupted.”

“Well, you’ll feel a lot better in the morning, when you’ve had a full night’s sleep.”

John looked down at his sliced, diced, and crispy body with a look of disbelief.

“Yeah, cos’ sleep is gonna come real easy with all of this harassing me.”

Cameron smiled and stuck a needle in his arm. John suddenly felt very tired as his muscles began to relax and his vision blurred even worse than before.

“Heeey… why did you? I was starting to have… a good… day…”

John slipped into a deep sleep and Cameron gave him a small kiss on the cheek.

“Sweet dreams, my love.”

--

He dreamt of fire, of shadow, of war. Legions of faceless machines marched against the scared humans, gunning down all in their path, leaving no survivors. The screaming became louder and louder, until nothing else could be heard. Two figures stood out amongst the chaos, one was a machine, the other was a hybrid. They fought an epic battle for control. The machine grabbed the hybrid by the throat and snapped its neck with ease. But then, the hybrid melted into the machine and it began to twitch, it screamed out in terror, clutching its head like there was something crawling around inside. Then the machine became still, and suddenly turned, looking straight into his eyes, and grinned. It was no longer the Terminator he knew, its features were far more disturbing… the face of a friend.

--

“NO!!! NO!!! NO!!!”

John woke up screaming. It was early in the morning, and his painkillers had worn off in the night. He could feel everything Kevin did to him as if he were back in that chair. Cameron jolted out of standby and came rushing to his side, concerned by his behaviour.

“John! John, it’s okay! You’re safe! John?”

“He… he… I saw him… It was him… he…”

Cameron placed her hands on his face and held his eyes level with hers; she’d never seen him so afraid, and it disturbed her greatly.

“John, it’s okay! It was just a dream! He’s not here! You’re safe! John! I’m here!”

She held him tightly as he sobbed uncontrollably on her shoulder. She didn’t understand. Kevin wasn’t the reason he was so afraid.

“I saw him… he is him… he’s inside…”

Cameron was becoming very concerned; John wasn’t making any sense whatsoever.

“John, please, you’re not making any sense.”

Sarah and Derek burst into the room, guns in hand.

“What the hell’s going on in here?”

John buried his head into Cameron’s shoulder; he couldn’t bear to open his eyes in case he saw him. Cameron gently pulled him away and placed the side of her face against his, whispering softly in his ear. Sarah took a step into the room, but Derek caught her arm and indicated for her to stay put.

“Shhh. It’s okay, he can’t hurt you. I’m here. Shhh. John, listen to me, he can’t find you here. You’re safe.”

“No! It’s not… It’s Jason… I think… I think he’s working with Kevin… They’re in it together.”

Cameron closed her eyes as the memory of his dying words echoed within her mind. John, how could you say such a thing? If only you knew. But you don’t know, do you? And that means I have to tell you.

“John, there’s something I haven’t told you.”

Cameron brushed her cheek against his and leaned back. She kissed him passionately for a moment and then pressed her head against his.

“Jason is dead. Kevin killed him.”

John stared at her with a look of utter disbelief.

“But… how can you be sure… we left him there… How do we know that they didn’t…?”

“I know John… He sent me a final message before… I know.”

“But… maybe it was a trick… maybe he was just trying to make you think…”

Cameron slapped him hard across the face, Sarah took another step forwards but Derek blocked her once more. John’s entire face felt numb, he couldn’t believe what she’d just done. Fresh tears filled his eyes as he became even more confused.

“Why did you…?”

“Because…”

Cameron also began crying.

“…you didn’t hear him die. I did. He’s gone… he gave his life to save yours. You would accuse him of betraying you because of a dream?! How can you even say that? What did you see that was so terrible? Tell me; what did you see?”

John took a deep breath. His entire body was screaming in pain, both physical and mental.

“I saw… them fighting. Kevin killed him, but… Jason sort of… merged… with Kevin. They became one. And then he saw me, and I couldn’t get away. He just kept staring at me! His eyes… I can still see them Cameron… Oh, God, I can still see them!”

Something clicked in Derek’s mind. He strode over to John and grasped his arm. John flinched away and Cameron looked ready to break Derek’s neck, but he needed to know.

“Hold still.”

“Derek what are you doing?”

This time it was Sarah who spoke. Derek examined John’s arm carefully and found what he was looking for; a small hole, an injection mark. And then it all made sense…

--

He had recalled this nightmare many times over, but this time it was different. This time there was no petite girl, only a boy with a sadistic grin on his face. He was preparing a needle and gave it a little squeeze, sending the fluid spitting in the air. He jabbed it into Derek’s arm and laughed maniacally. Slowly, his voice became more feminine and his body developed curves, his hair grew longer. Then she was there, the girl who haunted his dreams, but now Derek knew, it wasn’t truly her behind those beautiful features.

--

“Derek. Derek! DEREK!!!”

Derek snapped out of his reverie and realised that he was crushing John’s arm. He let go and turned to Cameron, who regarded him with a look of anger and confusion. All this time, and I was completely wrong. I blamed it all on her and she was innocent from the very beginning. God, I’m such an idiot.

“I’m sorry.”

His voice was hoarse, and Cameron didn’t understand why he was apologizing to her when it was John’s arm he was crushing.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s John you should be apologizing to, not me.”

“No, I… I mean for everything. It wasn’t you, it was him.”

Sarah frowned at him, completely nonplussed.

“What are you talking about?”

“Remember what I told you, about what happened to me in the future?”

Sarah glanced at Cameron, who looked just as confused as she felt.

“You told me Cameron tortured you.”

“Yes, but this…”

He held out John’s arm, pointing out the mark. Sarah leaned in close and Cameron tilted her in confusion, then her eyes lit up.

“…this is a…”

“Hallucinogenic injection, Skynet used them to interrogate prisoners. It induces delusions, makes you forget. You saw me in that basement?”

Derek looked her in the eyes, and for once, didn’t see a machine. He finally saw the person she’d become.

“Yeah, but it was Kevin. That sick bastard screwed with my head big-time. Made me think it was you. But it wasn’t…”

He stared at her for a long moment. Cameron eventually smiled.

“Thank you for explaining.”

Derek gave a small nod and left, needing time to mull over his thoughts. John looked around hopelessly and stared at the mark on his arm.

“So… Kevin shot me with this stuff, and that’s why I had the dream.”

Cameron stroked the side of his face affectionately.

“It seems so.”

But it still left a question unanswered.

“But… why would it make me dream about Jason becoming Kevin. What does that mean?”

Sarah gently pushed him back onto the bed and pulled the sheet over him, like she did when he was little.

“It doesn’t mean anything. It was just a dream. Trust me; I know a thing or two about nightmares.”

She smiled at him before getting up and heading for the door, but stopped and looked back at Cameron.

“You had better stay with him, but no funny business, do you understand? We’ve got a busy day ahead of us. Kevin’s not the only threat that’s out there at the moment.”

She left, and Cameron immediately leaned in for a kiss, only for Sarah to pop her head back round the corner.

“I said; no funny business.”

“Do you see me laughing?”

Cameron smiled at John’s joke and pressed her lips against his, and all thoughts of Kevin and Jason were banished from his mind as he sank into that blissful oblivion.

--

‘What are you? Who are you?’

‘You know who I am.’

‘But that is impossible. I killed you.’

The presence smiled menacingly in Kevin’s mind.

‘Death is such a small impediment.’

To be continued…


Next: Chapter Nine: Sibling Rivalry
Previous: Chapter Seven: A Life for a Life