Sign in or 
Share this
Chapter Five: Confidence
Cameron's Redemption
"Confidence"
“Okay, I give up. What are you?”
“A fish.”
“Oh, a fish, right. Well, points for effort. I suppose.”
Cameron ceased pursing her lips and sat back a little, slightly put off for not being able to impersonate a fish properly. John could see she was annoyed and tried to cheer her up.
“Well, at least it was better than your tiger impression the other day; I didn’t fall out of bed this time.”
This didn’t seem to be working, though he could have sworn he saw a tiny flicker of a smile. Cameron had, for the past week, started every morning with animal impressions because of a remark John had made about the extent of her infiltration programming. Not that it wasn’t funny waking up to various interpretations of the wild, but when she chose to impersonate predators Cameron often over did it. John recalled one morning when he woke up to find himself wrapped up in white wool and had no trouble guessing that she was pretending to be a spider, though he daren’t ask what kind. At least she didn’t turn my room into a fish tank, he thought.
“Hey, who wants to be a fish anyway? All they do is swim around all day.”
“I’ve never swam, I suppose I never will.”
Okay, this is getting depressing. It had been over a week since his accident with the car and ever since he regained consciousness Cameron had been somewhat withdrawn. It was almost as if she had figured out a way to restrain her emotions, which was odd as she had told him that her emotional programming was in a constant state of chaos, hence her passionate outbursts. John could only shrug at the thought; after all, her sociability had improved considerably.
“Maybe we can make you a buoyancy suit or something.”
Cameron gave him a look that said; Yeah, right. I’ll look very tight in a Michelin outfit.
“Or not. Any way, what have you brought me today?”
Cameron lifted a tray onto John’s lap; bed and breakfast had become a frequent thing for John nowadays. What he hadn’t counted on was Cameron’s decision to cook the meals herself. A hyper-advanced intelligence that can’t figure out how to cook properly, happy days. The problem wasn’t that she couldn’t cook, she just had a tendency to experiment… in bizarre ways. Today’s breakfast was an innocent-looking plate of pancakes, however, so he picked out a slice and put it in his mouth without hesitation, and instantly regretted it.
“Hmm. You er, you tried something new?”
Cameron smiled and nodded, she sat there patiently awaiting his approval while John’s throat burned.
“Secret ingredient?”
“Chilli pepper.”
Chilli pepper. No wonder this pancake is about to burn a hole through my throat. He forced himself to swallow, wishing he hadn’t taken such a big piece. Though it went down, John was left with a coughing fit.
“It’s… it’s good… definitely… definitely has a distinct… taste.”
Cameron gave him a few concerned pats on the back, but was otherwise happy that he enjoyed her pancakes. Once his coughing had subsided, John decided to try and distract Cameron so as to avoid eating any more of her crazy cuisine.
“Any way, I was thinking about migrating from my bedroom today. You know, venture out. Stretch my legs. What d’you think?”
Cameron considered for a moment then smiled and nodded. John immediately moved to get out of bed, only to be pushed back by Cameron.
“First you finish your breakfast. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, after all.”
“What idiot told you that?”
“You did.”
Ten minutes later and John felt like he just swallowed a volcano. At least he got a kiss on the cheek afterward. Cameron helped him out of bed and gave him his “granny stick”; John had some serious bruising on his legs that prevented him from putting too much weight on them. For the first time in a week, John ventured into the kitchen where Sarah was washing the dishes. She looked up and smiled.
“He walks! Does he talk as well?”
“Yeah, Cameron’s got me well-schooled. Morning, Mom. Where’s Derek?”
“Getting three fillings. Cameron really did a number on his teeth.”
“So I heard.”
Cameron seemed not to have heard this, though John knew she was only pretending. He decided to get some fresh air and had Cameron escort him outside. It was a bright day and there was a light breeze in the air. They stopped at the swings as John absorbed the freedom of the outside, the grass under his feet.
“Do you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
“Exactly. Out here there’s nothing but peace, it’s almost as if this garden is trapped in a snow globe. Cut off from the rest of the world. Cameron…”
John started to sway; Cameron caught him before he fell over and gently lowered him onto the ground.
“What’s…?”
“It’s the medication. It keeps the pain down but relaxes your muscles so you get tired quickly. Just rest for a moment.”
John closed his eyes and patted the grass, indicating for Cameron to lie next to him. They laid there for several minutes before John suddenly started picking out clouds and comparing them to various things.
“Is it just me or does that cloud look a little bit like Derek?”
Cameron followed his gaze to a cloud that resembled a human head, though she couldn’t quite see how John would derive Derek from it.
“A cloud is a visible mass of droplets or frozen crystals floating in the atmosphere above the surface of the Earth. Its shape is irrelevant.”
“You really suck at this game, you know. A little effort, please. C’mon, humour me.”
“Well, I suppose those little specks could be his teeth flying everywhere.”
“See, now you’re getting it.”
John closed his eyes again and ran his fingers through the grass. It was nice to have a moment of peace, considering what he’d been through these past weeks. Unwittingly, John drifted to sleep and began dreaming of past times.
===============================================================================================
“Is she still behind us? John? Is she?”
“What, no. She’s got a busted leg remember.”
“Well that didn’t stop her before.”
John and Sarah were in a blue car, speeding through a levy, desperately trying to escape the crazed machine. Everything had gone so wrong for John. What should have been a birthday surprise had suddenly become a nightmare. At least it was a surprise, he thought. Cameron sure knows how to make a guy feel special and nothing says ‘happy birthday’ like trying to kill you. Sarah took a shortcut through a tunnel, smashing through a couple of bonfire barrels. She couldn’t believe what was happening; Cameron had turned on them, chased them across the city, and was no doubt in hot pursuit right now. How did it all go so wrong? Well that’s easy, she thought. Sarkissian. This was all his doing. He placed the car bomb. He blew Cameron’s senses to hell and back, and that’s what she’d brought us; hell.
“MOM!”
Sarah snapped out of her thoughts and focused on the road ahead, where she could see a small figure standing at the end of the tunnel; Cameron. She stood squarely in the way and was not going to move.
“Hold on John.”
“What are you doing?”
Sarah put her foot down and closed the distance between them and Cameron. She expected the machine to just stand there, but she dodged at the last minute. Huh, I suppose she does have some sense left. Her musing did not last, however, as the car suddenly rocked violently. Unable to control the wheel, Sarah felt the back end of the car flip upwards and was suddenly upside down, listening to screeching metal. The car eventually stopped sliding and the sound of screaming metal was replaced with a deathly silence.
“John? John, are you okay?”
“Yeah, you?"
Sarah looked down at her stomach, which was bleeding profusely.
“Never better.”
“You’re bleeding.”
“I’m fine just…”
The silence was penetrated by a distant whirring noise, the sound of broken pistons and servos, Cameron was approaching.
“Get out now, go, quickly.”
“Mom, I’m not leaving you here.”
“You have to, now go!”
“No!”
Suddenly the car door was ripped off and a charred hand grabbed Sarah and dragged her out into the open. Cameron threw Sarah against the car before turning her attention towards John, who had just gotten free of his seat. Before she could approach him however, Sarah kicked Cameron from behind, causing her to stop in her tracks. Cameron knocked Sarah to the floor and placed her heel on Sarah’s stomach wound, making her cry out in pain.
“JOHN! GO! NOW!”
“No, I can’t just…”
“YOU HAVE TO, PLEASE…..ARGHHH!!!”
“CAMERON!”
Cameron locked eyes with John and for the briefest of moments he thought he saw the old Cameron flash behind those cold eyes.
(Primary Target: John Connor………………Terminate……………Error…………………Protect John Connor………………Error……………..Terminate………………)
She released her hold on Sarah and started limping towards John; he hadn’t moved and was clutching his right arm, his face set with pain. Cameron was just a few steps away, and John could see the chaos behind her brown eyes. She’s gone, she’s really gone. John took a step back, keeping himself out of arms reach before turning tail and running, like his mother told him.
===============================================================================================
John awoke with a shudder, the ‘Derek Cloud’ was still hovering above him, though a few of his ‘teeth’ had merged since. His hand was still moving through the grass but stopped when it came into contact with something soft and warm. Cameron’s fingers intertwined with his and gave a gentle squeeze. He turned over to look at her eyes; he needed to know she was still there. Their eyes locked together once again, but this time John wasn’t repelled, he was entranced. They stared at each other for several minutes until Cameron broke their gaze.
“John?”
“Yeah?”
“What are you afraid of?”
John reached over and lifted her chin with his forefinger, directing her eyes back to his.
“Nothing. I’ll never be afraid of anything again.”
He drew her close, and for the first time; their lips met.
Next: Chapter Six: Conspiracy
Previous: Chapter Four: Consequence
denkiva |
Latest page update: made by denkiva
, Jun 24 2009, 5:12 PM EDT
(about this update
About This Update
Edited by denkiva
No content added or deleted. - complete history) |
|
Keyword tags:
Cameron
Chronicles
Connor
Derek
John
Sarah
Terminator
More Info: links to this page
|
| Started By | Thread Subject | Replies | Last Post | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| zzzzman715ri16 | this | 0 | Sep 23 2008, 9:18 PM EDT by zzzzman715ri16 | ||
|
Thread started: Sep 23 2008, 9:18 PM EDT
Watch
awww how sweet.
|
||||
Showing 1 of 1 threads for this page
