Carrie sat on her pad nibbling some crackers, but they were more like ceiling tiles than what she’d remembered from before the war. She had one of the rare maps spread out in front of her and was trying to show Aral some of the skills of orienteering and map reading. She was using a few as markers to help Aral visualize the scale and to mark locations. As she did this, she was also trying to memorize some of the finer details since they didn’t carry maps on missions.

Collin wandered in with Devin, “Map lessons?” he questioned and then swiped a cracker from the paper.

“Hey, that’s a learning tool, not a snack!” Carrie laughed.

“Might as well be a tool,” he replied as he tried gnawing on it, and he sat down next to them to eye the chart. “You memorize these maps?”

“Some, and some is just intuition and remembering where I’ve been,” she shrugged.

He noticed most of the markers were on spots that Captain Barber had asked them to check out, “You been to these areas before? What are you thinking?”

“It’s been a while; this is far out of our normal area. Probably why we hadn’t noticed much going on before.” Carrie moved a couple of crackers off the map and pointed to a two spots on the map. “It’s a long walk, and only two warrens on the way, then after this point, nothing. I think this time around we should just walk the areas to see where the most activity is, then report back to see what the Captain thinks we should concentrate on.”

Collin chuckled, “I don’t feel like the Sergeant here, more like your puppy.”

Carrie looked up and grinned, “Our trainees might make enough messes for us to clean up.”

Aral and Devin looked at each other, both feeling their inadequacies. Carrie and Collin looked on the young men with thoughtful expressions. The trainees were going to be the most challenging part of the mission. Could they keep up when it mattered and keep down when it mattered? Would they make a fatal error?

“Why don’t you guys go find Symms and Crow?” He wanted to examine his thoughts with Carrie without them feeling like they were under the microscope.

After they were clear he turned to Carrie, “I’m worried about them. Think it’s going to be a problem?”

She looked to the ceiling, studying the fluorescent light for a moment, “We’ll see. That’s kind of why I thought a walk around would be good first. I thought we could leave them, but this would give them good practice. They did OK on the walk here, though they were reluctant to join the fight. Probably were just unsure of themselves.”

“They need to work up their endurance. I see we’ll be holing up most of the time. I hate sleeping in holes.”

“You get used to it, they will, too.” Carrie looked wistful, “I like watching the sun.” As she turned her head Collin noticed the colors of the bruises on her face were fading.

“Your bruising is going away. What about your endurance?” Collin reached out and almost touched her cheek then remembered she didn’t like being touched and retreated.

“I’ll be fine.” Carrie reassured him, her hand going to her face when she saw him reaching out, though she found herself leaning into his hand. Then when he drew back, she looked away and rubbed at her temple.

“Well, two more days to think about this. What you say we go get something to eat that’s not likely to break our teeth?” He swept the crackers off the map and into his hand, and added with a smile, “Unless these are like bricks in your stomach now.”

“I’ll need something to soften them up, I guess.” She grinned.

“You meeting your guy later?” Collin asked offhandedly.

Carrie frowned and answered tiredly, “He’s not my guy. I keep telling y’all that.”

“He seems to look like he thinks he is,” Collin probed.

“Yeah, he might. I’ll have to talk to him.” she sighed and then added in a matter of fact tone, because it seemed like things needed clearing up, looking at Collin earnestly, “I don’t mess around with men that I like, or think that I’ll like. It keeps things uncomplicated when feelings aren’t involved.”

“Have you always been like that? Not liking anybody?” Collin was curious.

Carrie looked away and answered, “When I was a trainee there was someone. He took plasma fire meant for me. I decided then that no one should ever do that, and that I didn’t ever want to feel that kind of sadness again. And, I didn’t even love him, so what would love hurt like? Rule #3… people will always die on you. Better I don’t feel that again, and no one feels that about me.”

“You can’t control how other people feel.” Collin offered.

“Do you grill Symms and Crow about who they’re messing around with? What about you? Did you leave a girl behind somewhere?” Carrie retorted mildly.

“Good point, but I don’t know that they ever get anyone because they’re both so obnoxious,” Collin laughed, then added thoughtfully, “No, I’ve never had anyone close.”

“See, maybe I’m just more up front and aware of it.” She stood and offered him her hand, “Let’s go eat.”
Two nights later he team was packed up and Carrie checked Aral’s arrangement to make sure he had everything in order. She moved a few things around for him to make things more reachable, pulled on his pack to make it was seated well.

She faced him and smiled, “You ready?” When Aral nodded numbly and tried to smile back, she shook his shoulder. “We’re just walking, hopefully nothing exciting will happen,” she reassured him, but gave a look to Collin. He was giving a similar pep talk to Devin.

They filed up the stairs and were waved out by the sentry at the last check point. “Have fun, and happy hunting,” he wished them as they exited the base and into the maze of tunnels that finally led them out into the dark of night.

They spread out, with Collin leading Devin and Crow and Carrie in charge of Aral and Symms. The team then started their careful walk out of the normal area of operations and into the unknown of the scout area.

The night was overcast with a slivered moon, and that was good on some levels, but made the going slow as they traversed the uneven ground. They made it near the first warren without incident, but were concerned to find track marks from an HK that seemed recent. Collin debated with Carrie on whether the warren was safe.

“We should walk wide around to see if anything’s still around, if not the warren is most likely safe.” Carrie told him as she and Collin huddled next to a small fallen outbuilding next to a demolished home.

Collin shook his head, “We’ll just bypass this one, too risky.”

Carrie shrugged, “OK, Sarge.”

It became obvious shortly thereafter that it was probably the right decision. As they skirted around where the warren was hidden in an old springhouse, and further into the area when they heard the whining that foretold an approaching aerial HK. They scrambled for cover and were barely hidden before the spotlights lit up the ground around them.

Carrie was jammed in with Aral under a portion of tin roof so close she could feel him shaking. Carrie reached out and physically removed his hand from the trigger of his rifle; he seemed ready to shoot at anything that moved. When he turned to her she just shook her head, then rubbed his shoulder and he seemed to relax.

Then they watched as after the HK flew over it was followed by dozens of T-800s. It was Carrie’s turn to start trembling. Her skin itched where she was still healing from the bruises, but she knew that wasn’t real. Cold sweat ran down her face, and she bit her lip.
Part of her wanted to open full auto on the phalanx of Terminators and part wanted to crawl deep inside a hole and hide. She realized Aral’s nervousness was rubbing off on her and tried to breathe deeply.

Everyone lay as still as possible as they passed, trying to blend in and not attract the glowing red eyes to their positions as the heads scanned left and right in their constant search for human targets. Carrie kept one eye on the army of metal and the other on Aral, a hand on his shoulder, partly to keep him calm and partly to calm her, too. As the last of them filed past Carrie breathed a sigh of relief. It was more stressful to lay there and not shoot them than to risk firing upon them and drawing their attention and being burned up by plasma fire.

The team waited a few more minutes under cover to ensure no flankers were forthcoming. Collin appeared in front of their hiding place and waved them out.

“Well, ****. Guess we were in the wrong place at the wrong time.” Collin stated the obvious as they hunkered down together behind a concrete wall of what used to be a gas station. Crow and Symms stood over the trainees a few feet away keeping their eyes peeled for more Skynet surprises.

“Well, maybe good timing, as we can backtrack to where they came from,” Carrie observed, taking off her knit cap and pushing wisps of hair back into her hair band; she noticed her hands were still shaking. “They came from somewhere important, or are going somewhere important. I’m betting on came from.”

“We have the Captains objectives to keep in mind,” Collin reminded her, and reached out to her shaking hands, “A little worked up, Carrie?”

“I couldn’t burn off any adrenaline by putting a few holes in some metal,” Carrie replied, trying to downplay her earlier response and took back her hand from his. “The Captain would rather us bypass his objectives and get good information, than to overlook something we think might be important.”

Collin rubbed his chin and nodded, “OK, I see your point. We’ll back track the trail and see where they came from. Then we’ll scout the rest of the objectives from there.”

Carrie replaced her cap and grinned, “Sounds like a plan.” --------

Skynet has no need for stealth and the path was easy to follow. The team paralleled the track taken for two nights, and slept poorly, covered up during the day. Luckily, they met no more large movements of any forces, though there were several over flights that they took cover from. They knew they were getting close to something of interest as the over flights grew more frequent.

Collin low walked to the crest of a hill, then lay prone with the scope while the team spread out behind him and waited. He waved Carrie up and when she arrived he handed her the scope without a word.

Laid out in the valley below them was a maze of fencing and barbed wire. Milling around like cattle was close to two hundred men, women and children, and patrolling the perimeter were the metal overlords. The chain link prison was connected to a large windowless cinderblock building that was obviously a factory from the machine sounds coming from it.

“It’s a ******* work camp,” Collin said through clenched teeth, rubbing his eyes.

“But, what’s the factory making, and why all the people?” Carrie questioned, scanning with the scope, though she knew she wouldn’t get any answer. She knew the anger that Collin was feeling, and the powerlessness to do anything. “It doesn’t look like a work camp.” She added, shaking her head.

Collin took the scope back and scanned again, “Hell if I know,” He growled. “Ok, so we’ll dig in, keep watch and see if we can figure out what the deal is, and hope they spill the beans quickly.” He then put the scope down and swore again, “God dammit!”

“Yeah,” Carrie nodded grimly, and she reached out and squeezed his shoulder.

No one ever liked finding a new work camp, especially attached to a factory. You could attack a factory and demolish it, burn it to the ground. However, liberating a work camp was difficult because often the people were hard to relocate; this one would be next to impossible. In addition to that, if there was an attack on the factory, human losses at the camp would be tremendous, if not total. The effect of morale on the troops is often devastating in knowing that they were the cause of the demise of their fellow men, women and sometimes children. -------

The team found spots that had overgrown with underbrush under stands of quick growing trees that had filled in well enough for cover. They made blinds from branches and settled in for the wait. They paired the trainees with Symms and Crow close enough for visual cues, and Carrie and Collin stayed together so that they could quickly make decisions together if the need arose.

Carrie lay on her stomach with her chin in her hand and watched bare eyed while Collin kept scanning occasionally with the scope. This task would get long and boring but she was used to it.

“What’s the longest you’ve sat and waited, Carrie?” Collin asked curiously.

“Four nights I counted HKs coming and going through a pass before we set up an ambush with TechCom.” Carrie answered, “I hope we don’t have to wait that long here. I don’t like watching those people down there.” She absently started playing with the kitty doll on her rifle.

Collin watched her sadly eyeing the toy, “That reminds you of someone who went to a camp?” He then turned back to scanning the factory and surrounds.

“My little sister Molly, it was hers, and my mama.” Carrie responded like it didn’t matter and shrugged, “It was a long time ago.”

“Both my parents were killed in the camps. It was a long time ago, but every time I blast a Terminator or an HK I do it for them.” Collin stated bitterly, looking down at her.

Carrie looked at Collin thoughtfully, “You’re right. Me, too.”

A short time later Carrie started rolling the toy around in her fingers again while staring at the work camp. Collin reached down and took her hand and gave it a squeeze without taking his eye from the scope. She puzzled with herself for a second over why he did that. Was he comforting her or was he treating her like she did Aral earlier, trying to stop her fiddling? She decided on the latter because she didn’t want think about how good it felt when he held her hand. -------

Just before sunset on the third day Carrie tapped Collin’s shoulder to wake him. “Something’s happening.”

Three Terminators exited the building into the fenced compound and the prisoners pressed to the edges. The chain link bulged in places as if they could press themselves through the small diamonds to be as far removed from the stalking metal guards as possible. The team watched as the Terminators pulled two people each from the crowd and herded them to the gate at the opposite end and pushed them through.

Propped up on her elbows Carrie watched through the scope. She could see confusion on the faces of the two women and four men as they looked from the gate, to the Terminators, then back to the other people who were staring back at them. Then the guards pushed them towards trees opposite the team’s position, and from a loudspeaker from the building a computer voice said, “Run.”

Carrie sat up higher on her elbows and muttered, “What the hell?”

The six hesitated and were pushed again, and the voice from the building repeated, “Run.” One of the men turned and sprinted, a collective gasp came from the fenced prison. One of the women fell and scrambled to get up, and a Terminator shot at her feet. Then the remainder of the group ran away as fast as they could, and they disappeared into the underbrush.

“Holy hell, what is going on?” Collin was dumbfounded. He’d never seen anything like it.

Their attention was drawn back to the building when a low rumbling came from it as a section of the roof started rolling back. As they watched, two machines hovered silently out of the building and hung in the air. There was not the familiar whine of turbines that normally accompanied HKs and Carrie felt a chill run down her spine. Then they silently sped in the direction that the Terminators had sent the prisoners. They accelerated at a pace that shocked her.

Collin had just watched solemnly and added, “It doesn’t use a search light, must use IR.” Then he winced as he saw a plasma bolt light up the sky and the trees caught fire, he thought he heard a scream.

Carrie lowered the scope and covered her eyes, “Oh, God, Wall. It’s a hunt, a test run.”

He took the scope from Carrie and observed as five more lights of plasma quickly follow. The new breed of silent aerial HKs returned and lowered themselves into the building and the roof ground back over to cover them up.

“I’ve seen enough. Let’s pack up and get home.” -------

The walk back was quick and silent; everyone was in their own heads about what they’d witnessed. Even as they debriefed with Captain Barber they couldn’t cover their horror with a military detachment. The discovery of the new type of HK was news and a messenger would be dispatched immediately to General Connor. Even the atrocity of using humans as prey to test the new machinery didn’t seem beyond Skynet, but the witnessing of it was always a shock.

The team retreated to their billet and Carrie threw down her pack and without preamble she tried to lose herself in cleaning her rifle, even though it hadn’t been fired. She also ordered Aral to field strip his for practice, and didn’t realize she was being so cross until he seemed to lose a small part and she grumbled at him. This was so out of nature from what he’d seen of her that Collin stepped in and laid a hand on her shoulder and she bristled and shook it off.

“Please don’t touch me!” Carrie said testily.

Carrie massaged her forehead. She realized she was antsy because Rule #3 had rubbed itself in her face again. She’d relived Molly and her mother being in a camp, and didn’t want to allow any affection because that would only lead to hurt. She’d always known that, but she was really feeling it today and she needed to do something to get out of this mood.

Collin stood and ordered, “Carrie, step outside with me,” and led her out the door.

He stood in front of her, his arms crossed, “Are you always like this after an op?”

Carrie glared at him, “You can’t act like this ended up a standard op. You can’t say this didn’t bother you.”

“Yeah, but I’m not biting everyone’s head off.” Then Collin leaned in close and quietly said, “Aral is timid enough as it is. I don’t need you being a ***** to my puppy, you understand?”

When he saw her hurt expression he quickly added, “I like the Mama Bear and you were doing a good job. And, I’m sorry. I’ll try to remember the touching thing. Get Aral squared away then go to Rec or something.”

Carrie nodded and marched back into the room. “Let’s go wash up now, Aral. Then I’m going to Rec.” Carrie announced. -------

Carrie sat next to Davies with a bottle in between her legs. She took frequent sips while listening to the people talk around her. She couldn’t help but frown at the inanity of the conversation of the REMFs[1] after what she had just witnessed.

“Hey, hun, maybe you need to slow down.” Davies cajoled, rubbing the back of her neck, “Tough few days?”

She tried to shrug off his hand, but he was persistent, she glared at him, “How could you tell?”

“Hey, calm down.” He smoothed down her hair and she closed her eyes and sighed and rubbed her face.

She didn’t want tenderness right now, she wanted rough and tumble. She needed to burn off some energy and adrenaline. She had always sought out Davies because he was someone she thought wouldn’t be the kind to harbor feelings. Today, of all times, she didn’t want to deal with that. However, she decided to play nice and maybe she could get what she wanted, and she tried to smile at him.

“That’s more like it. Now stop hogging the bottle.” He reached for the bottle, and in the process ran his hand down the inside of her thigh. She grinned at him encouragingly, took a big sip and gave him the bottle. That was the kind of touching she wanted.

Davies leaned in and murmured in her ear, “You are so transparent,” he stroked her neck with his thumb.

Carrie murmured appreciatively and happened to look up and see Collin walk in. She watched him walk to the team and as he sat. He looked to her and nodded a greeting and she did the same.

Davies turned and looked, “Oh, my competition’s here.”

Carrie turned back to Davies, “Oh, hush. Don’t play jealous. You know I don’t mess around with anyone on my team.”

“There’s always a first time,” he said.

She gazed at him for a moment and decided the only way to quiet him was to kiss him, and pulled him to her for a long kiss. This surprised him as she rarely allowed kissing because it was too intimate. She knew she was manipulating him, but was too tired and the week was too trying to for her to take any other tack with him. She’d never felt anything special from kissing anyone, and had always felt it was sloppy ever since her first kiss at fourteen. Her tactic worked and he came away bright eyed.

“So, is it time to go?” She smiled at him and rubbed his knee, he just nodded and stood. -----

Davies’ hand inside Carrie’s shirt and the bites on her neck as he pressed her against his pad were doing a good job of distracting her from a bad week. His knee worked its way between her thighs and she made room to push her hips against it. He slipped her pants off and ran his hand up her legs and she shivered. She closed her thighs around his hand and he lay close and kissed her cheek so that his ear was near her mouth. He liked to hear the catch of her breath as his hand and her hips moved together.

Carrie distractedly worked off his belt, pushed down his pants and pulled him to her. She pressed her forehead to his shoulder, her eyes squeezed shut and wrapped her legs tightly around his waist. As Davies rocked against her she felt the tension leaving her. Very shortly thereafter she was gasping, relieved and relaxed.

Davies kissed her neck and stroked her thigh. “You could stay with me today.”

She looked at him warily, wiping sweat from her nose. “You know I don’t do that.”

“You can start.” He propped himself up on an elbow, and pushed some hair out of her face, “I… I love you, Carrie.”

“Don’t say that.” Carrie warned, “We talked about that. This is just for fun.”

“I love you. You’ve got to feel something, too.” He argued.

She rolled over and pulled on her pants and boots and said over her shoulder, “I feel lust, and I thought we agreed on that.” She stood and buttoned her pants. “You don’t want to love me, because I’m going to die, probably really soon, and it’s going to hurt really bad.”

“What? And, you don’t think this doesn’t hurt really bad?” He spit back at her, as he put on his pants, too.

“I can’t see you anymore,” was Carrie’s only reply and she started to walk out.

Davies grabbed her arm and pleaded, “Wait Carrie, don’t!”

Carrie scowled at him and said in a low voice, “Let go. Now.”

“No, let’s talk about this.” He implored.

Carrie had reached the breaking point for the week. She hauled back and punched him in the cheek. She turned, stalked from his room and went straight to her own. She got undressed, covered herself in her teddy bear blanket and just cried. -------

Collin sat in Rec and mulled over the previous days and he didn’t drink tonight. He watched Symms and Crow drink, but monitored their consumption to make sure they didn’t go overboard. He wanted to make sure his team blew off some steam, but didn’t hurt themselves or others.

He saw Carrie with Davies when he arrived and she seemed OK at the time. He once again kicked himself over calling her a *****. He still couldn’t believe he’d done that. He watched the way Davies looked at Carrie and he was really curious how Carrie could not see that the man was in love with her, especially after that kiss. Actually, he was curious about how watching Carrie give Davies that kiss made him feel.

When Davies returned without Carrie with and icepack on his cheek and started drinking heavily he was concerned. He ordered Crow and Symms to stop drinking and wait here for him to return and went to find Carrie.

He found her still covered under her blanket and he crouched down and asked her, “Did you hit him?”

“Yes.” She replied simply.

“Do you think he’s going to report it? Are you OK?”

“No and No.”

He sighed, “Is there anything I can do?” He reached out to pat her shoulder then remembered he shouldn’t without asking, “Can I touch you?”

“No and,” she hesitated, “no.” He found it hard to not go against her wishes.

--------

[1] Rear Echelon Mother ******

Chap VI: Hot Body

Chap VIII: Icy Memories