DISCLAIMER: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and its characters are the propert of James Cameron and Fox. No infringement intended.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I have mainly read fanfiction about these two and I have watched every episode from season 1 I can find online now. Making progress, so I apologize in advance if I don't get their personalities correct. If you haven't read Time Loop yet, please do before reading this one. It sets up the premise of this ongoing AU, other Time Loop stories can be read in any order. Please ask before Archiving, ralst/P&P and Slayers Time has permission for all Time Loop stories. unbetaed, all mistakes are mine. Please leave a comment, even if it's just one word. Comments tell authors their stories are being read and enjoyed.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
Time Loop: Loop 63
By wkgreen
Sarah speeds down a long road, rushing to get John from his school. Their cover has been blown, she doesn't know how, but she knows she has to get John and get out of here. She squeals the truck into the school parking lot, stopping in front of the main entrance and scrambles out. She runs into the school to find John.
With the feeling of doom getting closer and closer, Sarah dashes into the library, "John! Time to leave. Now!"
Sarah's agate green eyes bore into John's, transmitting her feeling of urgency. John gathers his school books, already moving to follow his mother out the door. Stuffing books into his packback as they burst out into the sunlight, to see their truck surrounded by a dozen police cars pulled into a semi-circle facing them. Police officers taking cover behind the squad cars with weapons trained on them.
"FREEZE!! SLOWLY PUT YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD!" a police officer commands as the others keep their weapons trained on the wanted fugitives. The woman and boy terrorists slowly set sown their bags and raise their hands up, clasping them behind their heads. The police officers quickly rush forward to restrain the two fugitives.
Sarah is shivering as she follows the directions of the police officers; knowing they are not the threat. Sarah grunts as she is roughly pushed down on the roof of a hot police car, her hands yanked behind her back and quickly cuffed. As she is being searched she looks over and watches John getting the same treatment.
She discreetly looks around, trying to find the source of dread as it gets closer and closer.
The world is unnaturally quiet for Sarah as she searches for the threat, the police men's voices quietly droning in the background meshing with the disturbing quietness. As she finds herself being thrust into the back of a squad car, she notices which car John is being pushed into. Sarah feels desperation rising as she looks for a way to get free.
Suddenly, Sarah's desperate eyes are drawn to a large, muscular man calmly walking up to the police vehicle barricade. Some of the officers notice the man walking towards them and they call for him to stop, he pulls out a shotgun he was hiding behind his leg and casually starts killing men mercilessly. She recognizes the ruthlessness of a Terminator as the large man calmly unloads his shotgun into police officers left and right. Suddenly, the police officer that was putting her into the police car, falls down, his face and upper body bloody red. Sarah wonders briefly if this is one of the Terminators sent back to help her and John. But another look at the Terminator dispels that thought, as her feeling of dread increases. Sarah slides out of the police car and down next to the fallen officer. Nodding her head in approve as she notices John ducking down in the police car he is trapped in as the police officers helplessly shoot what they think is a man over and over, bullets bouncing off of it as it calmly cuts the police officers down.
Sarah turns her back to the downed officer as she searches his belt and pockets by feel for the keys, keeping an eye on the Terminator, biting her lip nervously, desperately as she hurries. Finding the keys with her hands, she quickly unlocks the cuffs and frees her hands, almost like she has practiced this maneuver dozens of times.
Sarah sneaks around the police cars, heading for John, as she hears the gunfire slowly reduce in intensity, most of the police officers dead. She gets to the car John is in and yanks open the door. She quickly helps John out of the car, using it for cover as she uncuffs him, "RUN! Now JOHN! Run!"
John takes off running, staying low as Sarah moves over to a dead police officer and picks up his shotgun. She notices the Terminator see John, everything slows down as the Terminator takes aim at John's back as she is jumping to her feet, bringing her borrowed shotgun up, immediately pulling the trigger to only hear a click, the shotgun is empty. Sarah can only stare at the Terminator as she watches it pull its trigger, the gunshot reverberating through the air. Sarah turns her head, as if she can follow the path of the bullet, as it streaks right at John's unprotected back.
Suddenly a slim figure steps out from cover, interposing itself between John and the bullet, the figure is thrown through the air and into John, both of them falling to the ground. Sarah gasps in relief, but quickly her fear for John's safety returns as he doesn't move, covered by the slim figure. Sarah tosses aside her shotgun and runs to John's side, fearing that the bullet went through the slim figure to kill John anyway.
Sarah drops beside John and the slim figure, pushing it aside without seeing it as she desperately reaches for John. Her voice shatters the unnatural quietness as she cries out, "JOHN! NO, you have to be alright!!"
Suddenly, Sarah feels a presence behind her, blocking the sun as she sees the shadow of the Terminator enveloping her. Sarah turns to face the implacable machine, "No! You mustn't kill him! Get away from us!"
The Terminator points its shotgun at John as Sarah covers John's unconscious body with hers, eyes wide as she stares up into barrel. The Terminator pulls the trigger, Sarah can't help but to flinch as the overloud sound of the click of an empty weapon echoes through the air. Temporary relief floods through Sarah as she looks up at the Terminator.
"It does not matter," the Terminator announces with its dead voice. Behind him, Sarah can see missiles arching through the sky, making an arch of death over the Terminators head as they roar towards their targets. They disappear behind school buildings, and a soundless explosion shakes the ground as mushroom clouds rise into the air. A boiling mass of fire rolls towards a helpless Sarah as she tries to cover John with her body hopelessly, ducking her head down to listen to John's last heart beats before they both die.
Feeling the air heat up around her, Sarah lifts her head up to see why she isn't being burned up alive. She sees the slim figure standing with its arms outstretched, the boiling flames rolling around them, leaving them in a pocket of safety. As Sarah looks closer at their savior, she takes in what is a slim girl's backside, straight, silky, brown hair falling to slim shoulders, slim arms outstretched, and legs separated, as if bracing against a powerful force.
Sarah watches shocked, as the slim female's head turns towards her. Sarah feels a desperate need to see the face of her rescue. Seeing the girl's face becomes the second most important thing in her life. Shock shoots through her body as she sees the front of the girl's face has been burned away to reveal a terminator's skull beneath.
The Terminator looks into Sarah's green eyes, its eyes glowing a gentle sky blue, "I am here."
Sarah snaps awake, her body covered in sweat from her nightmare. She feels someone moving behind her on the bed and turns to look.
"Honey, are you okay?" Charley asks the woman he loves as he is woken up from sleep from her suddenly movement.
Sarah finds herself feeling disappointed to see Charley, she sighs and shakes her head, banishing the nightmare, "I am fine. It was just a bad dream," she responds dismissively as she lies back down and feels Charley's arms wrapping around her comfortingly. She feels a vague uneasiness as she tries to relax into his hug as she looks out the bedroom window. Frowning, she could have sworn there was the shadow of a slim figure in the window when she snapped awake, but it is no longer there. It must have been leftovers from her nightmare.
"Honey, do you want to talk about it?" Charley asks with concern, worried about his fiancée, she had accepted his proposal last night. He looks down at the side of her face, admiring the sharp profile and smoothness of her skin. He knows she has been hurt in the past and wonders what it will take to get her past it.
Sarah turns her head to look up at Charley and gives him a distracted, reassuring smile, "It is in the past. Now you need to get up and get ready for work. I am going to lay here a bit longer, rest before I get up." Sarah reassures her fiancée, the vague uneasiness returning as she flashes to her nightmare, wondering why she had a Terminator show up to save her, especially a female Terminator.
"Okay, Sarah," Charley acquiesces as he leans down and pecks Sarah on the cheek and gets up to start his day.
Sarah lies in bed listening to Charley getting ready, pretending to be asleep so that he doesn't come over to say goodbye as she feels the need to leave welling up in her. The dream triggering the feeling in her that it is time to leave and start over again, the only time she didn't listen to that gut feeling, landed her in the mental ward. As she lies there, planning out what is needed to be done, she is hit by a realization of sadness. She isn't including Charley in any of her plans, she doesn't have a second thought about leaving him behind. Sarah sighs softly as she accepts that she really doesn't love Charley, she was just using him to give John the feeling of a normal life. Sarah mourns having to rip John away from Charley. Reminding herself of all the sacrifices she has made to protect John. She takes a brief moment to wonder when she will be able to do something just for herself and not for the future of mankind. Pushing those thoughts to the back of her head, she goes back to planning.
Sarah waits ten minutes after Charley is gone, before she gets up and quickly gets ready. Once she is ready, she goes to John's room and pauses as she takes a moment to watch him sleep the sleep of the innocent.
"John, wake up." Sarah calls out and when the teenage boy moans and waves a hand sleepily, she shakes her head and walks over to his bed, "John wake up. It is time for us to be leaving."
John's head snaps up as his brain registers what his mother means, "What…no Mom! We have a life here. Charley proposed to you! You accepted!"
Sarah looks sternly at her son, "John, we are leaving. And Charley can't come with us. Do you want him to live like us?"
John glares mulish at his mother, "He would if you gave him a chance."
"Well it is a good thing I am not then," Sarah looks sternly at her difficult son, "Now get up, I want to be on the road in 2 hours." Sarah turns and walks out of John's room, ending the argument.
John grimaces, mourning the lost of Charley, someone he could look up to. Wondering why his mother can't see what a good person Charley is. Surely she can see that Charley would take care of them, they could be a normal family. And this thought brings John to a stop as he realizes he can't have a normal life as long as he and his mother are wanted as crazy terrorist, out to destroy technology. No one would ever believe the truth. His mother even got sent away to a mental hospital when she tried to tell the truth. Sighing resignedly, John gets up and follows his mother's orders. They gather their buried supplies and are on the road within the time limit his mother set.
Neither of them, despite their vigilance notices a slim shape watching over them, staying out of direct sight. If someone could see the figures face, they would see a smile grace the smooth face as Sarah and John drive away.
Three months later, Sarah is sending John off to school, his first day in a new school. She goes over all the standard information they collect about a new school, John being particularly mulish today. She wonders when he is going to forgive her for taking him away from Charley and the normal life Charley represented. Sarah watches John get on the school bus before she turns to get ready for her shift at the diner in this small hick town in the middle of the Midwest. They will stay here for a year and then move on. It should give plenty of time for their trail, created by living with Charley, to grow cold if the FBI ever traces her to Charley.
Later in the afternoon, Sarah is listening to the radio as she cleans dishes at the diner, an emergency report interrupts the music.
"Special Report! Special Report! Gunfire has been heard at the school. All parents are urged to stay at home as the sheriffs department responds! Repeat all parents are to stay home. Parents are urged to stay calm and not call the sheriff's office. Instead, please continue to monitor this station for updates…."
Sarah doesn't stay to finish listening to the broadcast; she is out and in her truck racing to the school within moments. While she drives, she reviews John's escape plans and their contingence plans on where to meet up. She listens to the radio with half an ear as she speeds down the empty street. Slowly down as she gets close to the school, she looks over at the first pickup location and doesn't see John. Driving further in, she can see the lights of a sheriff's SUV at the front of the school as she heads towards the rear. Turning a corner she sees a large man walking stiffly away from the school. He turns his head towards Sarah as she slows down more and suddenly she realizes it is a Terminator, it's face scarred by a recent bullet impact.
Sarah slams her foot onto the gas petal, gunning it. Her truck leaps forward as she drives right at the Terminator. Before it can brace itself, she slams her truck into it, running over it as she careens out of control into a parked bus. She shakes her head as she reaches down into the passenger gunwale and pulls up her shotgun. She gets out of her truck, cocking the shotgun as she looks for the Terminator. She has to stop it now, destroy it before it can harm John. Or get revenge before she breaks down. She sees it rising to its feet and sends slugs of tungsten alloy into its chest, rocking it backwards. Sarah sends slug after slug of tungsten alloy into the Terminator, rocking it back, keeping it from being able to aim its weapon at her. She can tell the tungsten alloy slugs are damaging the Terminator, but not enough as she pulls the trigger one more time and all she hears is a click. She turns to run as a shot rings out and she feels a wall slamming into her shoulder as she is thrown forward. Biting back a scream of pain, blinking to keep focused and hold back shock, Sarah holds her shoulder as she tries to get to her feet. Suddenly she is enveloped by the Terminator's shadow as it reaches down and grabs her injured shoulder. Screaming in pain, Sarah passes out.
Sarah slowly comes to, her world filled with pain radiating from her shoulder as she hears a female voice talking. The voice is familiar as she fights back the pain, not making any sound or movement as she takes stock of where she is. Suddenly, she recognizes the voice as hers. Her head jerks up as she looks at the back of a Terminator and hears her voice telling John to come home.
"NO! LJMMMmpphhhhhh" Sarah tries to yell out as the Terminator calmly reaches over and muffles her mouth with its hand. The Terminator keeps talking to John, using her voice as she struggles to get free, her hands and feet tied to the chair she is sitting in. The pain radiating from her shoulder increases with each jerk, spiraling up as she desperately tries to get free until it overcomes her again, black dots gathering in her vision as pain sends her back to the land of unconsciousness.
Sarah comes to again, her shoulder still flaring up with pain. As she forces the pain back, she dredges up her memories of what is happening. She keeps herself from jerking as she remembers that she is a hostage for a Terminator, bait to bring her son into range. She remembers the call, wondering how long she has been out as she feels the presence of the Terminator crouching down beside her. Sarah unobtrusively tries to free her arms as the Terminator stares with single minded intentness at the front door. It is obviously waiting for John to open the door. Sarah hears footsteps on the porch and then the front door opening slowly as the darkened outline of a body is revealed as light streams in past the opening.
"Mom, are you here?" John calls out as he walks in, wearing a hoodie.
The Terminator brings up a 9mm as the shadowed shape enters the house and as soon as John speaks, it fires. John's body jerks three times and falls backwards to the floor.
"NOOOOOOOOOO!! You monster!!!" Sarah screams in denial as she watches John fall backwards. Sarah is trying to break free, fighting through the pain in her shoulder as she tries to get to John's body.
The Terminator ignores Sarah as it stands and strides to the fallen body, bending forward to confirm the identity of the body. It pulls the hood down to reveal the slim features of a girl, whose eyes snap open. And it is grabbed around the neck and rolled to the side as the slim cyborg is trying to twist its head off.
Sarah stares in shock as the body that she thought was John is suddenly moving and fighting the Terminator. The Terminator rears back to its feet, lifting the slim figure that is stubbornly trying to rip its head off. It throws the slim body away, using its superior size. Sarah can't help to take in the incongruence of the fight, the slim Terminator facing off against the Terminator the size of a defensive tackle. The two combatants face off, trading blows, the big Terminator taking the blows as the small terminator blocks and redirects blows away from it. They crash through walls, toss furniture aside. Suddenly the big Terminator picks up the small Terminator and slams it down onto the floor. The wood floor shatters sending both Terminators to the basement as Sarah tries to look down into the hole. She hears thrashing coming up from the hole and suddenly the sound of electricity shorting out. And everything grows quiet.
Sarah is trying to work at the rope binding her arms tight as suddenly the small Terminator jumps out of the hole and approaches her. Sarah can see the Terminator clearly for the first time as she bends down to untie her. Sarah barely holds back the shock at seeing a female Terminator, hissing in pain as her arms are freed and circulation returns to her hands.
"Aahh..did..you…destroy it," Sarah gasps as she holds back pain as she glances at the hole in the floor. She throws off the last of the rope as she slowly gets to her feet, black dots start filling her vision as she is gently braced by the girl Terminator.
"No, it will reboot in 120 seconds," the girl Terminator replies as she gently leads Sarah around the hole in the floor.
Sarah bites her lip as she accepts the balancing hand from the Terminator, "What model are you." She asks it as it turns away from her. Something nagging at her, feeling like she should know this Terminator, that she has seen it before.
"You can call me Cameron," she responds softly as she releases Sarah's hand to open the door and check outside before Sarah gets there.
Sarah takes in the Terminator from the back, seeing the straight, silky hair, the firm backside, the slim body and gasps in recognition, "YOU!"
Cameron turns to look into Sarah's agate, pain filled eyes with her soft brown eyes, "Me?"
Suddenly something clicks in Sarah, a feeling falls into place, a piece of her relaxes, a sense of safety comes over her for the first time in what seems like ages. Sarah quickly shakes it off as she stumbles, hissing in pain as she jars her shoulder, "Never mind, where's John." Sarah follows the Terminator, Cameron, out into the sunlight and sees John waiting anxiously in a black Cherokee jeep. Sarah glances into the sun, a feeling that things are going to be better now fills her as she is helped into the jeep and Cameron quickly drives them off.
The End