Terminator Salvation: Cold War

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

2018

Perched atop the breaker building, Molly kept watch over the Terminator while Folger and Sitka made their way across the roof to a fire escape at the rear. She was tempted to join them, but she still had unfinished business with the monster below. The Resistance had already lost one camp tonight. She couldn’t give the T-600 a chance to track her people to the rendezvous point.

It had done enough damage.

A raging fire was busily consuming the ghost town that had been Molly’s home up until less than an hour ago. From the catwalk atop the mill, she could see her own cabin going up in flames. She and Geir had made love there earlier tonight. Now their bed and its cozy comforters, along with whatever keepsakes they had managed to acquire over the years, were nothing but ashes. Her gaze swept over the devastation.

The chapel, the mess hall, the infirmary... all one big funeral pyre. The heat from the fire combated the arctic chill of the night. The air smelled of smoke and soot. It was hard to imagine that a single machine could be responsible for so much destruction.

All the more reason that it had to be destroyed.

The Terminator bided its time in the alley below, assessing the situation. Its stolen chainsaw hung at its side. Was it waiting for the fire to drive her back down into the open, or was it just keeping watch over her until reinforcements arrived?

Probably wants to take me alive, she guessed, so Skynet can interrogate me. Would the machines believe her when she admitted that she had lied about knowing where John Connor was? Or would they just keep torturing her until there was nothing left of her to question?

What the hell, she thought. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Tearing her gaze away from the burning buildings, she surveyed the surrounding terrain. To the west, beyond her torched cabin, the ground descended to the frozen stream. Molly’s brow furrowed as she contemplated the icy ribbon, which the more reckless of the camp’s offspring had sometimes used for skating. A sly smile lifted the corners of her chapped lips.

That has possibilities.

But before she could put her plan into action, gunfire blared in an alley below. Molly leaned out over the railing to see who on Earth was still around to pick a fight with the T-600; she had hoped that all of her people would have cleared out by now. The glow from the inferno was like a giant torch, illuminating the night the way city streetlights had back before Judgment Day. Even from fourteen stories up, Molly had a perfect view of the conflict going on beneath her.

No! She couldn’t believe her eyes.

“Die, you wedding crasher!” Tammi Muckerheide, nee Salzer, fired at the Terminator from behind a sturdy metal ore cart. Its wheels and axles had rusted away generations ago. An M-16 had replaced her bridal bouquet. Military fatigues and a green Kevlar army helmet provided better protection from the elements and the enemy than her second-hand gown. Rage contorted her adolescent features. “You ruined my honeymoon!”

For a second, Molly feared that the pregnant teenager had lost her mind. Had something happened to Roger? Then she spotted Tammi’s youthful husband creeping up on the distracted Terminator from behind. Shaky hands gripped a skipole with a tip that had been sharpened to a lethal point. He came up behind the T-600 even as the machine advanced on Tammi, brandishing its bloodstained chainsaw.

A barrage of high-caliber fire, spewing from the flaring muzzle of Tammi’s rifle, retarded the Terminator’s progress while simultaneously drowning out Roger’s stealthy footsteps. She shrieked like a madwoman to keep the machine from checking its rear.

“You like that, metal? I’ve got plenty more where that comes from! You picked the wrong day to barge in here. This is my friggin’ wedding night!”

Molly guessed what the newlyweds had in mind. The T-600s had a weak spot at the back of their necks. That was another thing Molly had learned from John Connor’s broadcasts; she was glad to see that Roger and Tammi had been paying attention during combat training. A sharp jab to its ventilation system could momentarily impair its motor functions, perhaps long enough for them to permanently disable it.

She had no idea what had possessed the two kids to try to bushwhack the Terminator this way, but there was a chance their risky plan might work. Molly held her breath, afraid to interfere for fear of tipping the Terminator off.

They pull this off, she thought, I’ll throw them a baby shower myself.

Roger came up behind the machine, which appeared oblivious to his approach. Tammi eased up on her fire, pretending to reload, to avoid shooting her husband by mistake. She ducked behind the heavy metal cart, and the only sound was the idling chainsaw.

Roger lifted the point of the skipole. The T-600 was a good two feet taller than the boy, so he would have to strike upward to hit the right spot.

Keep to its left, Molly urged him silently. It’s blind on the left!

Then again, so was Roger. A black eyepatch covered an empty socket.

Do it! Molly thought. The suspense was killing her. While you’ve still got a chance!

A shard of broken glass, left behind from when the log crashed into the repair shop earlier, crunched beneath Roger’s feet. It sounded like a rifle shot, even over the rumble of the saw. The Terminator’s head jerked around.

Realizing he was screwed, Roger lunged forward with the pole, but, in his haste, struck only a glancing blow off the side of the machine’s neck.

“Shit!” the boy exclaimed. He knew he was dead.

“Roger!” Tammi shrieked, this time for real. It would have been funny if it wasn’t so horrible. “Oh God, Roger!”

The Terminator didn’t even turn around. Its right arm swung backward over its shoulder, bringing the chainsaw down upon its target. The whirring chain sliced off Roger’s right arm and a good chunk of his shoulder. The boy screamed and dropped to the ground. The useless skipole clattered onto the snow beside him. His youthful face contorted, and he howled in agony.

Roger was minutes away from bleeding to death, but that was too inefficient for the T-600. The only good thing about the machines was that they didn’t believe in playing with their victims. Sadism wasn’t in their programming—only eradication. It took just a moment to sever Roger’s head cleanly from his shoulders. The mangled body stopped thrashing.

Terminated.

That’s gotta be the shortest marriage on record, Molly thought bitterly. She hoped the kids had enjoyed their brief time together. It was all they were going to get.

“Killer! Monster!” Tammi let loose on the Terminator with her M-16. Tears streamed down her face. She made no effort to escape from the oncoming machine. “I loved him, you motherfuckin’ machine!”

A satellite dish was bolted to the top of the mill, placed there to pick up encrypted messages from Command. Molly blasted it loose with her pistol, then wrenched it free. She hurled the heavy dish at the Terminator. It smashed harmlessly against the machine’s titanium skull, but got its attention for a moment.

It paused and looked back up at Molly.

“Run!” she hollered from atop the mill. She wanted Tammi to live, even if the young widow didn’t seem to; no way was Molly going to let the pregnant girl go the way of her husband.

“Save your baby! That’s an order!”

The reference to the baby hit a nerve, cutting through Tammi’s understandable lust for vengeance. Abandoning her crazed assault, the girl ran, leaving the decapitated body of her beloved behind.

The Terminator hesitated, torn between pursuing Tammi and keeping its eye on Molly.

She helped it make up its mind.

“John Connor!” Molly hurled a loose brick at the T-600. “You want John Connor’s address, right? Well, I’m the only human vermin here who knows where that is!” She was tempted to claim that Connor was her brother or something, but that might be pushing it. Skynet doubtless had a comprehensive dossier on his closest friends and associates.

His wife’s supposed to be a medic....

Tammi’s racing footsteps faded away as she disappeared from sight, moving in the direction of the other evacuees. Satisfied that the girl now had a fighting chance at living to see the sunrise, Molly looked to her own survival. When planning the layout of the camp, she had made certain that every key location offered multiple escape routes. Glancing around, she saw ropes and bungee cables stacked all along the catwalk. She tied one end of a cable to a sturdy post, then flung the rest of the rope over the railing.

Forget the fire escape, she thought. I’m in a hurry.

Her heart pounding, she rappelled down the side of the building, just around the corner from where she’d left the Terminator. As her feet touched down on the snowy gravel, she fired her pistol into the air.

“John Conner! Going, going, gone...!”

The T-600 wasted no time coming after her. She heard the chainsaw even before it rounded the corner. Its luciferous red gaze locked on her and didn’t let go.

Molly bolted for the river, taking care to head in a different direction than Tammi and the others. The heat from the burning camp made her sweat beneath her parka. The wind blew smoke in her face, stinging her eyes and throat. She was faster than the T-600, but a lot more tired. Adrenaline could only keep her going so long, especially after only a couple of hours sleep.

Fatigue poisons burned her leg muscles. She was breathing hard. Ragged exhalations puffed from her lips, misting in the frigid night air. The wind chill felt like it was at least fifty below.

I can’t keep this up much longer.

The frozen stream beckoned to her, looking like a winding white ribbon about twenty feet across. An icy glaze coated the rushing current underneath. A wooden footbridge crossed the river further upstream, but that wasn’t her destination. Crossing the bridge was the last thing on her mind.

The rough terrain pitched sharply downward in a perfect hill for sledding, as proven by the deep impressions carved into the snow. Another ancient ore cart rested at the top of the slope. The camp’s kids often used it as a fort during frenzied snowball fights. It offered little refuge against a Terminator.

Not wanting to risk a spill, Molly slid down the hill on her butt, all the way onto the frozen stream. Then she half-ran, half-crawled out to the middle of the river, where the ice was thickest, before clambering to her feet just in time to see the Terminator stomping down the incline after her. Its ponderous steel legs sank deeply into the snow, preventing it from slipping. Frozen blood caked its intimidating endoskeleton. The chainsaw whirred in its grip.

No more running.

She faced the Terminator across a glistening expanse of white. Her aching legs were grateful for the respite. Panting, she silently dared the machine to follow her out onto the river. A T-600 weighed over 800 pounds. Could the frozen river support that much weight? Molly was gambling her life that it couldn’t.

“Here I am!” she taunted. “Come and get me. No guts, no glory!”

The machine paused at the edge of the stream. T-600s couldn’t drown, but they couldn’t swim either. Its red sensor scanned the ice, calculating the risk factors. It stepped tentatively onto the frozen surface, which cracked loudly beneath its weight. Water seeped up through minute fissures. The Terminator withdrew its foot, retreating further back onto the shore.

Molly nearly screamed in frustration.

“What’s the matter? Chicken?” She couldn’t stand here all night, waiting for the machine to make its move. If she crossed the river, the Terminator would just take the bridge upstream and keep after her, maybe all the way to the rendezvous point. Should have had someone blow the bridge on the way out. She scanned the black and smoky sky. Still no sign of HKs, but it was only a matter of time. For all she knew, an entire battalion of Terminators was marching toward the camp at this very minute.

This was no time to dick around.

“C’mon, you’re just another damn T-600. A dime a dozen. Expendable!” She fired her pistol at the monster’s remaining optical sensor. The bullet bounced off its armored socket. “Take a risk, why don’t you? I’m worth it, I promise. John Connor!”

The Terminator had another idea. Putting down the chainsaw, it bent over and yanked a large boulder out of the muddy soil alongside the stream. It hurled the rock at the ice near Molly. She dived out of the way, skidding across the surface. The missile collided with the frozen surface, which cracked but did not shatter beneath the impact. Hairline fractures spider-webbed across the top of the river, only a few yards away from Molly.

Puddles formed atop the ice.

Molly grasped the Terminator’s strategy. It was trying to drive her off the river by leaving her no place to stand.

Not a bad plan, actually. There was no way she could make it to the opposite shore in time to avoid going for a swim.

“Fuck!”

The T-600 searched the shore for another boulder. Finding a suitable chunk of granite, it lifted the missile above its head. Servomotors whirred in its arms and shoulders. It took aim at the fractured ice. Another good hit would be enough to break the thick sheet apart in a big way. Molly shivered in anticipation. Ice water lapped against her boots. This was going to be cold...

The Terminator was about to hurl the boulder like a catapult when a high-pitched whoop came from the top of the hill.

“Heads up, one-eye!” Rusty wheels squeaked loudly as the old mining cart rolled down the incline toward the T-600. Picking up speed with every inch, the heavy iron conveyance slammed into the Terminator from behind, the momentum knocking the machine out onto the stream, only a few feet away from Molly. It slid across the ice on its mechanical hands and knees, scoring the frozen surface.

The ice cracked and split beneath it.

Sitka capered jubilantly atop the slope. Gloved hands gripped the sturdy piece of metal rebar she had used as a lever. Vic Folger stood behind her, wiping the sweat from his brow. Molly guessed that he had given the cart a good shove as well.

“Score!” the teenager crowed, as if she had just bowled a strike. She waved the rebar in the air. Her wild red mane blew across her face. “Sink or swim, metal!”

Recognizing its peril, the T-600 stood up abruptly, even as the ice gave way beneath it. Articulated steel fingers grasped for a hold as it sank beneath the surface, but could not find purchase on the tilting planes of ice. Its red eye glared at Molly right before it went under. Ice water splashed against her face.

Good riddance! Molly thought. The stream was maybe twelve feet deep at its center. With luck, the current would carry the Terminator all the way down to the glacier, where it would remain frozen until global warming turned Alaska into a rainforest. Unless we get another nuclear winter before this war is over.

The ice continued to come apart all around her. Molly realized she was only heartbeats away from joining the Terminator in the drink. Scrambling to her feet, she skipped across the crumbling ice, jumping from chunk to chunk as though they were stepping stones. Dislodged fragments tilted alarmingly beneath her feet. Frigid water splashed against her boots. She cartwheeled her arms to hang onto her balance. It was like running across some sort of arctic obstacle course.

Her right fist still gripped her pistol.

“Atta girl!” Sitka urged her on from the shore. “You can do it! Don’t fall in!”

Not planning to. Molly couldn’t think of anything more stupid than being swept under the ice after they had finally got rid of the invader. Too many people had already died tonight. Drowning was not on her agenda.

“That’s it, chief!” Folger cheered her on, sounding just like the soccer coach he used to be. He’d been on a winning streak before Judgment Day. “Only a few more feet!”

Solid ground was tantalizingly close. Molly could practically feel it beneath her feet already. A couple more leaps and she’d be clear of the river. She started thinking ahead to her next move. In theory, there was an emergency snowmobile hidden in a gully outside camp. If they squeezed tight, it could carry all three of them....

A metal hand smashed through the ice beneath her. Ice-cold fingers wrapped around her right ankle, squeezing tightly enough that soon they would grind the bones together. 800 pounds of Terminator weighed her down like an anchor.

She fell forward on her face, then began sliding backward into the water.

Sitka screamed from the shore.

“No fucking way!” Molly blurted out through the pain. She swung her arm back and emptied her pistol into the Terminator’s wrist. Damaged hydraulics spurted fluid. The machine’s grip loosened a little. She yanked her foot free, leaving her boot behind, and the Terminator grabbed for her again. But then a heavy slab of ice slammed into it, causing it to lose its footing.

The current caught the machine and swept it under the ice once more.

She prayed that this time it would be for good.

WARNING: LOSS OF TRACTION. MOBILITY COMPROMISED.

The HUD displays flashed repeatedly before the T-600’s single optical sensor. It struggled to regain its footing, but the stream was too deep, the current too strong. The slippery floor of the river offered no easy purchase.

Its fingers grabbed onto a slimy rock, only to have it come loose from the silty earth. There was no way to anchor itself. Driven by gravity, the relentless ice shoved it forward. The Terminator crashed over a waterfall into the glacier below.

It sank like a stone.

SITUATION CRITICAL. TOTAL SYSTEM FAILURE IMMINENT.

Freezing water penetrated its circuits. Tons of glacial ice squeezed it like a vise. Its cranial case caved inward, threatening its vulnerable central processing unit. The grizzly bear’s tooth floated loose. Facing termination, the T-600 tried to transmit an update to Skynet, but the dense frozen mass above it blocked the signal. Its solitary red sensor flickered dimly amidst the frigid blue coldness.

The Terminator had no regrets. It felt no fear. It could only futilely attempt to fulfill its programming—until it could not.

Water invaded its neural network. Electricity arced within its skull. The colossal pressure crushed the CPU. The blood-red sensor went black.

WARNING: SYSTEM FAIL—

Alaska terminated the invader.

Molly limped to shore, her stockinged foot crunching through the thin ice at the very edge of the stream. Her ankle felt like it was bruised, not broken. A soggy sock was already starting to freeze solid, though. As soon as she reached land, she peeled it off and shoved it into her pocket. She’d be lucky if she didn’t end up losing a toe or two to frostbite.

But she was alive. And the Terminator was history.

Works for me.

Sitka slid down the hill to meet her, followed quickly by Folger.

“Yikes!” the girl exclaimed. “Thought you were a goner for sure!” Jagged floes of ice rushed downstream after the Terminator. “Metal didn’t know when to quit!”

“They never do,” Molly said. She shot Sitka a dirty look. “You are so grounded.”

The teenager shrugged it off.

“Worth it.” She fished a fresh pair of socks from her overstuffed pockets and handed them to Molly. “Get my red armband now?”

“Maybe when you learn to follow orders.” She put both socks on over her bare foot, grateful for Sitka’s packrat tendencies. Then she glanced at Folger. “Thought I told you to get her out of here.”

The man threw up his hands.

“You try controlling this brat.” He crossed his arms across his chest. “And I don’t hit kids, no matter how much they deserve it.”

Fair enough, Molly thought. She couldn’t really complain. Sitka and Folger had come through when she needed them, orders or no orders. Typical, she reflected. Humans don’t just follow instructions blindly. We’re unpredictable. We deviate from our programming. That’s what makes us different from the machines.

Ernie Wisetongue would approve.

The glow from the burning camp lit up the night. The flames had even reached the breaker now. By morning, nothing would be left of the old mining town but ashes and rubble. The bodies of their fallen comrades were already being cremated along with their homes. She glanced up at the sky. Still no sign of any HKs, but she knew they would be here soon.

Molly turned her back on the blaze.

“Time to go.”