by Ghost Rider
The terminator rode across the windblown grasslands as fast as Dalanar's
horse could carry it. It had not eaten, but then again, it did not need
to, it's outer flesh was kept alive by a series of micro-shocks from it's
main power cells. It's eyes were fixed rigidly ahead, focussing intently
on it's destination. It's main CPU was already calculating how long it
would take to get there.
INIT TERRN CALC SYS
TERRN CONTOUR MAP... ENGAGED
HEADING: W
S/W
SPEED: 23.2MPH
ETA APPROX: 3.7HRS
OK
It's only problem was that it did not know what Ayla looked like. But
it did know where she was, and that was enough right now. The terminator
was a cold, calculating machine, it approached problems like this as it
would any other task. To that machine, ending a human life had no more
significance than shuffling a deck of cards.
Ayla could not possibly
know what was coming for her.
The great blast doors slid back and Taylor walked into the firing
chamber slowly, taking in the old but certainly not forgotten scenery. The
Outsider sat at her berth the way she had the day he left. As much
as he hated to admit it, he had missed that ship, the feel of the
controls, the power of the engines, the pilots chair that squeeked a
little when tilted back.
Since his return, he had shaved and gotten
himself a haircut. He had changed into combat uniform, but he was as yet
unarmed. All the weapons were stored on board the time machine.
Dawson
looked across the room at Taylor as she stood talking to General
Carpenter. "There he is," she said as she walked over.
Picking up an
empty Coke can, Taylor placed it in between the two blast doors then
pressed the emergency close button. The great doors slid shut, crushing
the Coke can like a beer can. When Taylor opened them again, he removed
the perfectly flat can from the floor, smiling with satisfaction. "I
always wanted to do that."
"Taylor?" He turned around to see Dawson
standing behind him. "Once you're finished, it's time you met the rest of
the team."
"Okey dokey," Taylor said as he followed behind her.
A
number of men in combat uniform were standing around the aircraft, none of
them were doing much. One of them looked up when he saw them approaching.
"Ten' hut!" he shouted. The other men jumped to their feet and saluted.
The man came forward and shook Dawson's hand. "Good morning, I'm Major
Cartwright, team leader."
"Not any more, major. I'm in charge now,"
Dawson said confidently.
Cartwright scoffed. "But you're a woman!"
She arched an eyebrow. "Very good, major. I wonder if you could read
these special orders from General Carpenter. She held out a sheet of
paper.
Cartwright took it and held it up high.
MAJOR CARTWRIGHT,
DO WHAT SHE TELLS YOU OR I'LL HAVE YOUR ASS.
GENERAL CARPENTER.
The smile faded from his face, he looked a little uncomfortable.
"Alright then, fine."
Dawson looked over at Taylor, then pointed to
Boone. "This is Boone, he's an expert on the terminator. Boone, this is
John Taylor, ex-pilot and the only character from our time not to have
been killed."
Boone and Taylor shook hands. "It's a pleasure, Taylor."
She indicated the next one, a thin man with pale skin and nervous
eyes. "This is Murdock, explosives expert."
"I understand we get to
blow the sh*t out of things, that's why I volunteered for this mission,"
Murdock said as they shook hands.
"And this is Greene," she said,
indicating a big burly man with long dark hair and a moustache. "He's an
expert with special weapons."
Taylor's hand was nearly crushed in the
powerful grip. "If it bleeds, I can kill it."
"I'm sure you can,"
Taylor agreed.
Dawson sighed. "Well, now that we're all close friends,
let's get onboard. We do have a mission to complete."
They piled on
board. Taylor had to squeeze his way past stowed weapons and people to
find a place to sit down. Boone was handling the flying, leaving Taylor
and Dawson in the rear compartment with the others. The outer hatch shut
with a sinister clang that made Taylor jump. Cartwright grinned at his
discomfort.
The engines started up and the aircraft rose slowly,
gracefully - as befitted her age - into the air. The ship tilted slightly
as it moved forwards, Taylor closed his eyes as the familiar boom
resounded through the air.
The mood in the aircraft was quiet as they sped through the air,
heading for their target zone. It wouldn't be long now.
Greene was
passing around a packet of Starburst, but nobody wanted any. He offered it
to Murdock, who also refused. "Bunch 'a slack-jawed weaners 'round here!"
he growled. "This stuff 'll make ya into a God damn sexual Tyranosaur,
just like me." Dawson rolled her eyes but did not comment.
Murdock
came over and sat beside Taylor, who was engrossed in a novel. "Hey
Taylor, what ya reading?"
Taylor looked up at him. "It's called
Clan of the Cave Bear."
"Any good?"
"Hmm, it feels
strangely familiar. Maybe I read it before." He shrugged. "I thought it
would be great to be a writer when I left the service. But it's not that
great, and I'm too freaked out to drive in the snow now."
"I'm leaving
the service soon," Murdock mentioned.
Taylor looked up again, mildly
interested. "Yeah?"
"Yeah. I got a wife and three kids waiting at
home, got about two weeks left. I just had to get in one last mission
before it was all over, ya know?"
Taylor became serious. "Don't say
that. You'll get killed for sure if you talk about your family."
The cave was deep and wide, descending far down into the side of the hill.
Around it, people were walking and chatting to each other. But this was no
normal cave, this was composed entirely of Zelandoni. Well, not quite all
of them.
In a dead-end chamber sealed off at one end with a wooden
cage, a woman was exercising, pulling herself up with her arms to stop the
muscles from atrophying in her cramped quarters. Sunlight from a small
hole knocked in the wall near the ceiling streamed down on her, casting
her features into sharp relief. Her sleek and powerful body glistened with
sweat as she laboured on.
She was a prisoner here, just like the
others. She hated the Zelandoni now, all the more because she had almost
become one. The only way for her to vent her frustration at her captivity
was to exercise and hopefully tire herself out enough so that she would
drift into an exhausted sleep at night, to escape for a while from her
grim reality.
A group of Zelandoni were walking down the main passage
slowly, a man in the lead talking to them as a teacher might educate his
pupils. "Now this next case is interesting. Twenty-seven year old
female..."
The woman continued her exercise, ignoring the approaching
voices, even though her trained hearing had detected them long ago. She
had been a potent hunter once, but now she was merely a curiosity,
something to be studied and examined.
"She has many of the classic
symptoms already identified - acute paranoia, delusions, hallucinations...
the usual stuff." The man shrugged. "But the delusions themselves are
rather interesting. She believes that a man from the future was sent back
in time to save her life and that she is in fact the savior of all Earth's
Children."
"That's new," one of the women Zelandoni beside him
mentioned casually. There was a little polite laughter.
Having finished
her routine, the woman dropped down from wooden bedpost she had jammed
into a fissure in the rock. She was breathing hand and covered in sweat,
her blonde hair hanging in a disorganised mass down her back and partially
over her face.
"Here we are," the man said as the group stopped in
front of the cell. "Good morning, Ayla."
Ayla turned around, her head
down, eyes up and glaring at the people who had come to disturb her. Sweat
was dripping down her face and soaking into the sleeveless tunic she wore.
"Good morning, Zelandoni," she said, her voice raspy with fatigue. "How's
your ass?"
Zelandoni turned to face the group, his face a little
flushed. "She... stabbed me half a cycle ago with my digging stick." He
sighed and turned back, still chatting to the group. "Repeated escape
attempts, several attacks against our guards."
Ayla turned away,
shaking her head as she tried to contain the urge to strangle this man who
had caused her so much misery. Turning back to look at the group, she
noticed they had crowded around as they might do to watch a strange
animal. She moved forward suddenly and they all jumped back.
"Well,
that's enough for one day I think. Let's go," Zelandoni said as he steered
the group away. As they left, he turned to one of the guards. "Duglos, I
don't like to see patients disrupting their rooms like this, see that she
takes her medication will you?"
The guard smiled. "Sure Zelandoni,
I'll take care of it." He, along with another man, opened the cell gate
and walked in. "Now you've been a naughty girl, Ayla. You know you have to
take your medicine."
Ayla backed away a few paces. "You take it,
Duglos. It makes me sick." The medicine woman in her was able to identify
the ingredients easily enough, it was something more than a mild sedative
and she knew it had bad side effects. "I don't want any trouble."
He
shrugged. "There's no trouble." Drawing out a stout oak club, he hit Ayla
across the stomach, winding her and forcing her to the ground.
The
other man went in and held her mouth open while Duglos poured the contents
of a small cup into her mouth. The liquid was bitter and almost made her
vomit, but she had to swallow it. Once it was done, both men stood up and
retreated, locking the gate firmly.
Ayla curled up into a ball and
closed her eyes to hide the tears.
When she opened them again, she found another man in the room with
her. "Who's there?" she asked, wondering if the guards had come back.
Suddenly the man walked forward into the light and knealt down beside
her, she saw that it was Creb! He looked just as he had the last time she
had spoken with him. The same weathered face, the stump of an arm hidden
beneath his bearskin cloak. But his single remaining eyes still shone with
intelligence. "Creb!" she cried as she rushed forward and threw her arms
around him. "I've missed you so much, Creb! You don't know what it's like
here!"
The ancient magician pushed her away with his strong arm and
began to sign with his abbreviated gestures. "Ayla, woman who is more
daughter to me than any child of the Clan, you must leave this place. He
is coming for you."
"What? Who is?" she asked.
"He is coming for
you. Hurry Ayla, you must leave this place, time is against you." He stood
up and started to leave.
"What? Creb, I don't understand!" she wailed.
He rolled his eye and let his arm flop down at his side. "For God sake
woman, do you have to question everything I say? I'm the spirit magician
here, you're supposed to listen to me. I mean, I hope you're happy, you
sealed the fate of the entire Clan when you drank the mixture. You're
lucky I'm here to help you, so do what I say or I'll start haunting you."
Suddenly there was a beeping noise. He held the watch at his wrist up to
his face and studied the time. "Well, I've got to go now, I'm supposed to
be playing chess with Elvis, he's really quite good you know, and he's
teaching me how to dance. Take it easy!" Suddenly he faded away and was
gone, leaving the young woman alone.
Ayla was startled awake and
found herself once more in her dreary cell.
Taylor moved over as he sat down beside Dawson. She looked over at him.
"Well, Mr Taylor, how are you feeling?" she asked icily.
"Please, call
me Jack." She nodded agreement. "Anyway, I'm fine, I guess. Never thought
I'd be doing this again."
She looked into his eyes. "Why are you
here?"
He shrugged. "There was nothing good on TV today. Anyway, I owe
Ayla one. Well, more than one actually. This is the least I can do for
her. What about you? What brought you here?"
"I was sent on this
mission because of what happened to thew Delta Force team. We believe
there is a -"
Suddenly there was a loud explosion on the port wing and
the whole aircraft began to shake violently. "What the hell is going on?"
Taylor called through to the pilot.
The time machine dipped drastically in mid-flight, smoke was pouring
from the port engine which was sputtering and labouring. In the cockpit,
Boone struggled with the controls, attempting to keep their flight level,
but it was impossible.
The Outsider was not an efficient
aircraft. Without the thruster generated by the port turbofan engine, the
stubby wing pylons could not generate enough lift to keep them airborne.
Taylor managed to struggle his way into the cockpit where Boone was
fighting the control column. "What the hell's going on here?"
"I don't
know, man," Boone reported. "Looks like we lost the port engine. I'm
shutting it down."
Taylor looked ahead. Below them was a dense forest
of pine and beech trees. But not far beyond, the trees gave way to more
open grassland. It wasn't much of a landing strip, but he guessed they
might just be able to land there. "Put this thing down over there! Come on
man, you can make it."
Boone looked around at him. "Listen here Big
Daddy, we've got one engine shot to hell, the other one could quit at any
time and we're dropping too fast. We're gonna land in the forest whether
we like it or not." He reached underneath his seat and picked up a combat
helmet. "Only the word is 'crash'." He then picked up the intercom.
"Better strap in, ladies and gents! We're going for a walk in the woods."
In the crew compartment, Cartwright made the crucifix symbol on his
chest. Beside him, Greene was fighting in panic with the straps of his
seat restraint.
On the other side of compartment, Murdock was sitting
calmly in his seat with a Ken doll in his hand. Suddenly he began to sing.
"He's got the whole world in his hands, he's got the whole wide world in
his hands..."
"Shut the hell up, you freak!" Greene shouted. "We're
gonna die!"
Boone pulled up sharply on the stick to miss the crown of
an ancient beech tree. But that was all he could do, they had lost any
reserve momentum they might have had. The aircraft came down like a brick,
tearing through a gnarled pine tree as if it were paper. "Hang on!"
Taylor's world was filled with noise and movement as the
Outsider slammed into the ground, ploughing a deep furrow as it
tore along through the soft soil. Trees and bushes presented no barrier to
the great shuddering mass of metal thundering through the once quiet
woods.
Their speed was decreasing, but slowly, painfully slowly.
Taylor glanced ahead and saw something that turned his face white. "Oh
dear."
Boone glanced up to see what he was looking at. Ahead of them
was a great tor jutting up out of the ground, they were going to hit it.
"We're road kill! I'm outta here!" Boone cried as he fumbled with his
safety harness. It was stuck and he couldn't move.
Taylor could only
watch as the tor grew ever closer. They were going to hit it for sure, he
knew it. There was no point in running away.
Suddenly the nose dipped
down, or the ground rose up, he couldn't tell. But instantly there was an
explosion of earth as the nose of the aircraft dug deep into the loose
soil piled at the base of the tor. In less than two seconds, they came to
a halt.
Taylor looked up. The rock face was only a few metres beyond
the cockpit. "Nothing like a close shave."
He made his way through
into the crew compartment, where he found a mess of weaponry and equipment
that had broken free from it's restraints. Cartwright was the first human
he found, he was struggling to get a container off his legs. "You
alright?" Taylor asked.
"I'll live," Cartwright responded coldly.
Murdock was sitting in his seat and seemed completely unscathed. "You
okay, Murdock?"
"I broke a nail," he said angrily.
Taylor gave him
a strange look, then moved on to Dawson. "You okay, Dawson?" he asked as
he knealt down beside her.
She was holding her hand to a cut on her
forehead, but it did not look serious. "Call me Sam," she said with a weak
smile. He smiled back.
The loading ramp at the back of the aircraft
came down slowly with a low pitch pneumatic hum and touched the ground
with a bump, casting light on the six people sent to save humanity. They
were all fully armed now. It was hot out there - Ice Age summers were hot
and brief - so Taylor had stripped down to a combat vest and had tied a
bandanna around his head to absorb the excess sweat. "Well boys and girls,
welcome to the Pleistocene."
"I'm so happy to be here," Greene said in
a sarcastic tone. He carried in his powerful arms a minigun, designed for
shooting down aircraft. If that couldn't stop the terminator, then nothing
could.
"Well, let's saddle up," Dawson said as he started picking her
way through the trees.
Their progress was slow. The trees crowded in again before they could
get to the grasslands beyond. The heat was chokingly oppressive and they
were all soon sweating heavily.
Taylor climbed over a fallen tree
trunk, landing heavily on the other side. The weapon at his hip was heavy
despite the strap slung over one shoulder. His vest was soaked with sweat.
Suddenly a hand clapped over his shoulder and he whirled around, the M-16
in his hands ready to be fired.
Murdock was there. "Taylor, I want to
talk to you. Now."
Taylor relaxed. "Later, man. We've got a job to
do." He pulled away and moved onward, following the others at a brisk
pace. "Taylor!" He kept going, but turned around and found Murdock gone.
"Taylor."
He whirled back around and found Murdock there in front
of him. "Jesus!" he breathed. "Alright, what is it?"
"Before we left
the time machine, I took a look at the engine. It looked to me like it had
been saboutaged," Murdock reported.
"Why would someone do that?"
Taylor wondered.
"Look, I don't want to make any undue assumptions
here, but I would say that someone in this team is definately working for
the Russians and that they are also the person responsible for the Delta
Force failure."
Taylor gripped the weapon tighter. "You know an awful
lot, Murdock." He eyed the man suspiciously.
"Hey, what are you trying
to say, Taylor?"
Taylor stepped back a little. "I'm not pointing any
fingers, but I think it was you."
"Oh!" Murdock exclaimed. "You
apologise for that right now, mister!"
"I never apologise to anyone,
Murdock. I'm sorry but that's just the way I am." He fixed Murdock with an
intense look. The two men seemed ready to fight.
"There a problem
here, people?" Cartwright interrupted.
"Taylor's calling me names!"
Murdock blurted.
"You started it!" Taylor retorted.
Cartwright
interjected himself between them. "I don't care who started it. You keep
this behaviour up and you'll both find yourselves on detention. Now move
out!"
As Taylor followed after Cartwright, he fixed Murdock with a
deadlt glare. "Come playtime, you're dead!"
The terminator halted when it reached the outskirts of an encampment of
some kind. Darkness was already starting to fall, but through it's
artificially boosted eyesight, it could see people milling around.
With a brisk but measured pace, it walked down the slope from the
ridge overlooking the camp, remembering to remove the sunglasses. It's
head turned to one side when it noticed a group of hunters armed with
spears.
SCAN...
MALE*3
THREAT ASSESMENT: 007%
PROCEED WITH PRIMARY
MISSION
The terminator halted when it found itself confronted by a tall man
with blond hair. Jondalar was even taller than the machine, though not as
heavily muscled. As leader of the ninth cave, it was his responsibility to
greet strangers. "Who are you?" he asked gruffly.
MALE
HEIGHT: 193
WEIGHT APPROX: 190LBS
INIT INTERROGATION
MODE, LEVEL 1
PROCEED
The terminator fixed him with it's emotionless eyes. "The woman Ayla, I
have come to see her. I have been sent a long way to give her a message.
Where is she?"
Jondalar bowed his head to hide the pain in his eyes.
"She's not here any more. Ayla was taken away, she is sick in the
head."
The terminator's face remained impassive. Had it been human, it
might have screamed profanities at it's misfortune, but it was afforded
the luxury of cold logic. "Where is her hearth?"
"Inside," Jondalar
motioned with his hand towards the cave.
The terminator headed towards
the opening. "Hey! You can't just walk in there!" Jondalar shouted as he
rushed to catch up, clapping his hand over one muscle-slabbed shoulder.
The terminator reached around and grabbed his hand, exerting it's
powerful hydraulic 'fingers'. There was a cracking sound and Jondalar fell
to his knees in pain.
The terminator turned back around and walked
into the cave, selecting the hearth that Jondalar had indicated. The
interior was fairly unimpressive, there was a bed and a fireplace, cold
and unlit. But beside the bed was an assortment of items that were of more
interest.
The machine picked up a folded black flying uniform, dusty
with age but still recognisable. Beside it was a dogtag necklace with the
name 'John R. Taylor' inscribed on them. That information was filed away
for future reference.
The last item was the most interesting. The
terminator picked up a photograph. It was old, torn, faded, but the image
on it was clearly recognisable. It showed a woman and a man standing
together in the middle of the open steppes, the sky turned orange by the
sunset.
SAVE IMAGE... OK
IDENT POSITIVE
PROCEED WITH PRIMARY MISSION
*
It was going to happen tonight. Ayla had decided that the moment she
had had the dream of Creb. She was going to escape from this prison
tonight. After that... well, she would worry about that when it happened.
Right now she had to stay focussed on her current situation.
She knew
that Duglos the guard usually made at least one round of the prison cells
after dark to check that nothing untoward was happening. Tonight she had a
little surprise in store for him.
Opening her amulet, she carefully
lifted out the chunk of red ochre that Creb had given to her so long ago.
She hated to do this to one of the treasured items from her childhood, but
there was no other option. It had to be done.
She had painfully saved
condensation and rainwater which had dripped in her small window in the
morning. She kept it now in a small container under her bed. Now she
lifted it out and mixed the red ochre into it to form a deep crimson
liquid resembling blood.
She allowed this 'blood' to fall into a pool
on the floor and then lay face down beside it.
The terminator walked slowly and carefully toward the cave's main
entrance. There was a guard on duty there. "I'm sorry but we don't allow
visitors during the night. Come back in the morning and -"
He never had
time to complete the sentence. The terminator reached out and grabbed the
man by his tunic, pushing him back against the wall with enough force to
knock him unconscious.
It proceeded inside, hardly even breaking it's
stride.
She did not have long to wait. Duglos had arranged to meet a woman
tonight and he was in a rush to complete his duties early. When he turned
the corner and found Ayla lying face down in a pool of blood, he suddenly
tensed. "Hey! What's going on in there?" He hurriedly unlocked the gate
and ran in, turning the young woman over.
Suddenly Ayla opened her
eyes. Her fist shot up and landed a solid punch on the man's face which
sent him reeling back. She leapt to her feet and grabbed his wooden club,
then struck him heavily across the face. "Ohhh, down I go..." Duglos
groaned as he fell.
Ayla was already out the gate as his head hit the
ground.
"There it is," Dawson said as she studied the cave through her night
vision binoculars. She passed them to Taylor and he took a good look.
"You sure she's in there?" he asked the woman beside him.
"Pretty
sure."
Greene leaned forward. "So what's the plan?"
She sighed in
the manner of a woman in dep thought. "Alright. Boone, you go back to the
time machine and see if you can get it operational. When we get back, we
may have to leave in a hurry." She turned to the others. "We're going in
there to get Ayla. The terminator might be around so watch yourselves."
She looked directly at Greene. "Remember, there are civilians in there,
don't go blasting until you're sure of what you're shooting at." She
cocked the MP-5 in her hand. "Let's do it."
Zelandoni was busy talking with another man in the eating area when Ayla
burst into the room. The guard only had enough time to turn around and
face her before she hit him in the stomach with the club. He went down.
Zelandoni tried to grab a flint knife on the shelf beside him, but
Ayla brought the club down upon his outstretched arm, breaking the bone.
"Owww! he cried. "You broke my arm!"
"I'll do a lot more than that if
you don't shut up!" she said as she picked him up by the other arm. "Come
with me!"
Three guards were standing by the outer gate now, pondering over the
unconcious man that the terminator had left in it's wake. One of them
turned around. "Oh no!" he cried. The others turned around too.
Standing just beyond the gate, Ayla had Zelandoni in front of her like
a human shield. She was holding a wooden sppon to his throat. "Open the
gate! Open the gate now, I swear I'll do it!"
"You won't do it, Ayla,
I don't believe you're a killer," Zelandoni said, trying to be rational.
"Don't bet on it!" she cried, holding the spoon tighter.
One of
the guards looked at her as if she was mad. "That's a spoon, woman. What
are you going to do - eat him?"
She looked down at the useless item in
her hand. "Damn, this happened last time!" she cried in anger. Letting go
of Zelandoni, she turned and fled back down into the cave system.
She
ran as only panic can cause one to run. She knew there was another way
out, a smaller exit around the back of the hill used to bring supplies in.
She heard shouts behind her but did not stop to look back.
Suddenly a
figure emerged from the shadows in front of her, barring her way. It was
that of a man, tall and seemingly heavily built. It was clutching a weapon
of some kind.
It walked forward a few feet into the light and she saw
to her amazement that it was Jack! But that was impossible! Jack was dead.
It was his spirit, it had to be. He had come back, blaming her for having
caused his death. She skidded to a halt at his feet. "No! Noooo!"
She
turned and ran back down the corridor.
"Ayla!" Taylor called after
her. "Ayla, come back here!" He rushed forward to try and grab her.
"Good one, Taylor!" Murdock said to him sarcastically.
Ayla was
oblivious to his cries. She was screaming herself now in abject terror.
Nothing made sense to her any more. Perhaps she was crazy after all, just
as Zelandoni had said.
She stopped when she noticed a massive figure
in the corridor ahead of her. It was another man, she guessed. He was tall
and heavily built and his eyes were obscured by sunglasses.
The
terminator saw her in the dim lighting and was already assesing the
situation.
FEMALE
HEIGHT: 169
WEIGHT: 135LBS
LOAD REF IMAGE...
IDENT
POSITIVE! GO GET HER, BUD!
TERMINATE
It started to move towards her, drawing out a pistol from which a tiny
point of light beamed out onto her forehead. She turned away, back to
where she came and she saw once more the spirit of Taylor. "Oh yeah," she
said, remembering that he was there. But she could see other people around
him, perhaps more spirits risen up to get her.
The spirit Taylor
lifted up his weapon and levelled it at her, a strange and terrible look
on his face. This was it, he was going to kill her! "Get down!" he cried.
Even through her fear, she retained enough sense to obey. She dropped
to the ground just as Taylor fired off a round. The cavern resounded with
the roar of gunfire and Ayla let out a cry. Looking around, she saw the
big man stagger back and fall to the ground as the rounds impacted into
him.
She looked up suddenly to see Taylor standing above her with his
hand outstretched. "Come with me if you want to live."
"That's so
cheesy. I can't believe you said that!" a woman muttered as she knealt
down beside Ayla. "Ayla, my name is Sam. We've come here to help you."
Her gaze was fixed on Taylor. "Jack! You're dead!"
"Ayla, you have
to trust us." Ayla looked around as she saw the big man sit up.
"What
in the name of the Mother is that?" she asked. She knew better than most
the power of those weapons. No living thing could withstand them.
"We
don't have much time," Taylor said.
Ayla accepted his hand and stood
up, following after the others as they ran towards the rear exit. She
could see that the portcullis-like gate was raised up, held in place by a
sturdy rope.
Cartwright was at the back of the group, armed with a
grenade launcher. Taylor guessed he had a good shot from that position.
"That the shot, Cartwright! Nail him! Nail him!" Taylor shouted.
Cartwright did not act.
The terminator followed after them, trying to
get a clear shot at Ayla. It ran with a speed unknown to human legs. It
was almost upon them.
Taylor raised up his weapon and fired, hitting
the rope perfectly. They rushed under just as the sturdy gate fell in
place with a clang. The terminator ran straight into it, but the thick
wood did not give easily.
"Let's go, before he breaks out," Dawson
advised as they fled.
They finally stopped running when they were sure they were not being
followed. Laying down their weapons, they collapsed on the soft forest
floor.
Ayla stared at Taylor wide-eyed with disbelief. "Jack, is that
really you?" she asked, a tear at the corner of her eye.
He smiled at
her. "Yes, it's me Ayla."
Suddenly she leapt up and she was in his
arms, pulling him close in a powerful embrace. "Oh Jack! I thought you
were dead! I thought I'd never see you again! I love you!" she cried.
On the ground beside them, Murdock held two fingers to his mouth.
"Pass me a bucket, please."
Greene leaned over at him. "I'll have that
bucket after you."
Taylor finally let go his hold of her and pushed
her back a little so that she was looking into his eyes. "I won't bore you
with the details of my miraculous resurrection, Ayla. It's what's
happening here and now that's the problem."
"What's going on? Who was
that man? How could he be shot and get up from it? Is he some kind of evil
spirit?" The questions came tumbling out almost faster than she could
formulate them.
Greene laughed at her mention of spirits. "A spirit?
What are you talking about, woman? Don't tell me you actually believe all
that?"
She glared at him. "You would be wise not to underestimate the
power of the Mother," she said. "She controls everything in our lives, and
She could end them if She wished."
"Ooooooh! Like, I'm soooo scared!"
Greene said in his most sarcastic tone. Suddenly his face turned serious
as he looked skywards. "Mother, if you really are out there, please give
us a sign, like a thunderbolt or something. Actually, a time machine that
works would do us just fine." Nothing happened. Greene looked back at
Ayla. "See?"
Taylor fixed Greene with a hard stare. "Look, I think
we've all got something to bring to this discussion, but Greene, I think
from now on, the thing you should bring is silence."
"So who was that
man?" Ayla asked again.
"That wasn't a man, Ayla." He sighed. "You've
been targetted for termination. That thing that attacked you wasn't a man,
it was a machine. I know it looks like a man on the outside, but trust me,
it's not. It's been sent back in time to kill you, but we managed to get
to you first."
She brightened a little. "So we'll be all right now,
won't we?"
Taylor decided he might as well tell her. "Well... no. That
thing is a pure killing machine. It'll never eat, never sleep and never
stop until you are dead."
"Can you kill it?" she asked.
"I don't
know," he admitted. "Our best bet is to get you into the time machine and
get the hell out of here. We'll deal with the terminator later."
Suddenly another thought came to her. Without pausing to consider it,
she drew back her hand and slapped Taylor hard off the side of the face.
"Ow!" he gasped. "That is so refreshing. Why the hell did you do that?"
"You could have got me out of that place before today! Do you know how
long I've been in there? My brain feels like the egg in that anti-drug
commercial!" she stormed. "You shouldn't have come here, Jack." She turned
away from him, looking off into the dark woods.
He looked down. "Ayla,
it's a sequel, you know I had to come."
She whirled back around to
face him. "Do you have any idea what the people on the AuelBoard will make
of this? Bringing dead characters back to life... it just doesn't
wash."
"Neither do you, it seems," Dawson mentioned after sniffing the
air.
Ayla turned and glared at her. "Oh, don't you even start! Look at
you, with your flawless complexion and waxed legs. It's not easy being a
cavewoman, you know. I'm not even allowed to shave under my arms because
razors haven't been invented yet!"
There was a collective "Ewww!" from
the male members of the group.
Ayla continued to vent her anger. "I
mean, look at you all. None of you - apart from Taylor - are from a
serious story, this is just Will having a laugh, and I bet he's getting
bored of this now."
Dawson leapt to her feet. "Hey, I'm up for a part
in Out of Time 5, you just wait and see!"
Ayla turned away. "Yeah,
whatever." She started to stalk off into the woods. "I'm hungry. I'm going
to get something to eat."
"What about the terminator?" Taylor called
after her.
She shrugged. "He can get his own." Then she continued off
into the woods.
Taylor was about to go after her, when he noticed
Cartwright skulking at the back of the group. "Cartwright, back in the
cave, why didn't you take a shot at the terminator when I told you to?"
Cartwright looked up. "Are you kidding, Taylor? The blast would have
brought down half the mountain." Suddenly he stood up. "Just what are you
accusing me of?"
Taylor matched his glare. "Nothing... yet. I just
want you to know, you've got a chip on your shoulder bigger than King
Kong's first dump of the day." He leaned closer. "There are only two
people in this world I trust. One of them's me, the other's not you."
Suddenly Taylor turned around. "Hey, where's Ayla?" They all cast their
eyes in the direction she had gone, but Ayla was nowhere to be seen.
"Ayla!" he called. There was no response. A bead of sweat trickled down
his forehead as he began to worry.
"Why the hell wasn't anybody
watching her?" Greene wondered out loud.
"Why don't you ask our buddy
Taylor here?" Cartwright said, giving Taylor an evil look.
Taylor
rolled his eyes. "Alright, split up, ten metre spread. That way, each of
us will be isolated and vulnerable to anything that might be lurking out
there."
"Let's do it," Dawson said as she started off in the direction
Ayla had gone. The rest of the group started to fan out on either side,
holding their weapons tightly.
Greene picked his way slowly through
the dense vegetation, careful to avoid splashing in a puddle of water that
might give his position away. The six barrels of the minigun in his hand
were eager to spin into action. Just behind them, the complex electrical
motors and firing mechanism required to operate the devastating weapon
weighed heavily in his powerful arms.
Suddenly, in the bushes just
ahead of him, a twig snapped. In the dead night air, the noise was like
the crack of thunder. Instantly his eyes were focussed on the undergrowth
ahead. His thumb flicked the safety catch off. "Come on in, metal ass.
Come on in. Old Painless is waitin' for ya."
Suddenly the bushes parted
and a badger came shuffling out into the clearing. It's eyes were small
and ineffective, but it's nose was far more effective. It was out foraging
for food.
Greene suppressed a chuckle as he turned away. Little did he
know what was about to happen. His foot came down on a bannana peel,
sliding out from under him. His other foot came away on the muddy ground.
"Aaarrggh!" he cried out as he fell, hitting his head on the ground.
Not far away, Murdock's head snapped around at the noise. He ploughed
through the bushes, heedless of the disturbance he created now. The weapon
in his hand was up and ready.
He emerged into the small clearing just
as the badger scuttled away, disturbed by the noise. Murdock's eyes took
in the body of his comrade in a moment, just as he saw the movement in the
bushes. His reaction was insinctive. "Dieeee!" he screamed as he opened
fire, spraying bullets into the trees and bushes in front of him.
Taylor whirled around at the noise of gunfire, Dawson ran past him
just a moment later. "What the hell is he shooting at?" Taylor shouted.
"I don't know! Come on!" she shouted back at him. He followed after
her with his M-16 held ready and the safety catch off.
Murdock's gun
clicked when the firing pin hit an empty chamber. His eyes swept down to
Greene's body, taking in the minigun. Discarding his own useless gun, he
picked up the big weapon and let rip into the foliage.
Capable of
firing over 20,000 rounds a minture, the minigun sliced through the bushes
literally like a chainsaw. "Aaargh!" he screamed with pure adrenaline as
the weapon roared in his hands.
Taylor and Dawson emerged into the
clearing a moment later. Without even waiting, they opened fire with their
own weapons. Bushes and trees were no obstacles, they simply fell and
exploded, shredded by the hail of bullets.
Murdock and Cartwright
joined in a moment later, Cartwright opening fire with the grenade
launcher. Soil and flames were thrown up into the air as the explosives
hit their targets. The roar of so many guns firing in such close proximity
to each other was deafening. Tree trunks were perforated by bullets and
the canopies came crashing down, but still they fired.
Taylor ejected
his spent magazine and slapped in a fresh one with practiced ease. Once
again he let rip, not knowing or caring what he was shooting at. The whole
group had become infected by the adrenaline rush, they were crying out and
screaming curses at nobody in particular. It didn't matter anyway, they
couldn't be heard over the weapon discharge.
Suddenly the constant
roar of the minigun ceased, the pack of 500 bullets had been expended. At
that, the others seemed to come back to their senses. They stood in awe
and fear of what they had unleased. Everything for fifty years had been
obliterated, every tree, bush and rock was gone.
Dawson managed to
retain enough of her wits to give an order. "Cartwright, go ahead and see
if you can find any bodies." Cartwright nodded and loped off ahead.
They stood with smoke still coming from the barrels of their guns,
none of them moving, watching the terrain ahead through narrowed eyes.
"Hi guys!" someone said loudly.
They all whirled around with their
weapons ready, only to see Ayla standing there looking rather surprised.
Taylor tutted. "Where the hell did you go? We thought you were
dead!"
She shrugged. "A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do, Jack."
He gave her an evil look, then knealt down to talk to Dawson, who was
examining Greene. "How is he?"
She looked up at him. "I think he'll be
okay. He might have a headache, though."
As if on cue, Greene's eyes
snapped open and he sat up. His hands immediately went to his temple. "Oh
my God!"
Suddenly Cartwright returned. "There's nothing out there,
man. Nothing. No blood, no bodies... We hit nothing."