"Counting down," said Arnaud, on his right. "My God, it's cold."
The tall, gray-haired Frenchman loved complaining, and he was old enough to have grown up before Judgment Day. He knew what the climate should be like at this time of the year, here in the heart of Spain. Once, Madrid would have been fiendishly hot in late July. Now the year was one long winter, too cold for survival from November to May. Still, the ruins of the city made a useful base from which to harass Skynet's factories and supply lines. Despite the warheads of Judgment Day, which had annihilated most structures, enough cover remained to aid them in the struggle against the machines.
The fourth member of the team was another Spaniard, Luis Martinez. He stifled a cough, but was otherwise silent.
To Nicolas, this mission seemed like suicide. So far, the war machines had not sensed their presence, but that could change at any moment. They'd be observed as soon as they showed themselves openly. Going up against the H-Ks and other machines was foolishness. The scattered Resistance cells in Spain relied on sabotage and stealth. They lacked the strength for open warfare.
"Five seconds," Varley said.
"Ready now," Nicolas replied, tensing to run for one of the Humvees that they'd hidden in the shadows at the corner of two walls from an old government building. The Madrid Resistance had a small fleet of land vehi-cles modified road cars fitted out with phased-plasma laser weapons and high-powered machine guns; some similarly fitted four-wheel drives; a few old armored troop carriers and Humvees, whose engines were main-tained lovingly. If General Connor and the others ap-peared, those Humvees would be their rescue vehicles.
Varley said, "Now!"
As if in answer, it began. Half a mile away, almost due north across the rust and dust of the city, among the broken off buildings and car husks, white and blue flashes lit up the starless night sky. These were not the straight bolts of coherent light from laser cannons, but the twisting, dancing forms of an electrical discharge.
"All right," Nicolas said to the other two. "Let's go." He spoke into his headset calling for another team, which broke off from its observation point fifty yards distant, as Nicolas, Varley, Arnaud, and Martinez sprinted to the open-top Humvees. They took one each—getting into the drivers' seats.
As they started the motors, the four from the other warn reached them, panting, ready to fight. They took the rear spaces in the vehicles, acting as gunners. Nicolas pressed hard on the accelerator, swung the wheel violently to the right, and headed in the direction of the lightning that they'd seen. The other Humvees followed, driving desperately over the broken ground, dodging wreckage, bouncing as their paths dipped down, or rose sharply, or as they ran over crumbled metal, brick, rubble, and bone. The aerial H-Ks must have spotted them, for they wheeled from their previous paths, heading straight toward them. The land H-K and accompanying endos were all too close.
Nicolas and his soldiers had only seconds to get to General Connor's team, bundle them all aboard, try to wrap them in blankets and basic clothing, and get the hell out of there without being followed to their base by the H-Ks. They had spare weapons and nightvision devices; if needed, they'd fight their way back. Yeah, he thought, against all those machines. Why didn't they give him something hard to do?
Somehow the pain was not as bad as the first time, perhaps because John knew it would end. But it still wracked his body and took away his concentration. The displacement effect generated heat. At first, he didn't feel the cold in the air, but he knew it would soon come and grip his body. He started counting seconds. How long until the local Resistance could get to them? Would the war machines reach them first?
"Stay down!" Anton said sharply. "Choose a point of cover, and get to it"
Counting the seconds: twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two. . .Still the pain, but he could move his back, his limbs. He dived forward as an aerial H-K flew toward them. They were out of its range, but not for long. He squeezed into a gap between piles of broken masonry. But it was ice cold to the touch, and now the cold was seeping into his bones.
"Where the hell are you?" Big John said, nearby in the dark. "Come on, get us out of here."
It was so dark that John could see almost nothing except the lights of two aerial H-Ks, getting closer from different directions. He couldn't tell who was with him except for the sound of their movements and their voices. He seemed to know Sarah's movements, and Jade's, almost instinctively, but not the others, at least not in these conditions.
Counting: sixty... sixty-one. As he looked around in the dark, rubbing his arms to try to get some warmth, he saw the four sets of headlights approaching, and heard the sounds of auto engines. The lights moved back and forward as the vehicles weaved erratically, with one of the flying H-Ks now on their tail. The H-K spat laser fire, lighting up the sky. It occurred to John that he would never strike a blow at Skynet, never take it down. He was going to die here, in this hellhole of cold, dark, and fire raining down.
The vehicles were fighting back with laser fire of their own; one had an anti-aircraft gun, whose muzzle flashes added to the night's pyrotechnics. The second vehicle in line was hit by a pulse of laser light; it burst into flames, spun out of control, and stopped. Retaliatory laser light from another vehicle cut across the underside of the H-K, but seemed to have little effect. Both H-Ks were now close, and circling for the kill as the three remaining vehicles skidded to a halt, still firing up at the aerial monsters.
"Get in, quickly!" someone said in Spanish, a language that John spoke fluently. John scrabbled into the back of one of the first vehicles to reach them—he saw, in the headlights, that they were old Humvees. There was pushing and shoving, a door opening. Their Humvee got the hell out of there.
John found himself squeezed in the same space as Jade, plus another man, who shoved boots, socks, fatigues, and blankets their way. John wrapped a blanket around himself in the dark; there was no time to do more. From only a few hundred yards away, he now heard the heavy sounds of a land H-K grinding down everything before it under its tracks.
The H-Ks swooped in tandem like two hawks. The Humvee gunner was returning fire from a mounted laser rifle. One of the other vehicles hit some kind of a bump, spun out of control and crashed against something solid. Two laser bolts hit it. Three more bolts struck the remaining vehicle, which also went spinning wildly.
John's driver swerved, braked, and accelerated like a maniac, but the H-K's bolts came within inches. He heard words exchanged in the dark beside him, then some quick scuffling as Jade seized the laser rifle from their gunner. She hit one H-K unerringly again and again, no matter how much their vehicle weaved. Suddenly, the H-K exploded in a burst of flame; fast-moving metal fragments struck the other flying H-K, which made a slow, looping dive. It crashed into the ground with a huge tearing noise, but no fire or explosion.
As they slowed for a moment to get over a sharp drop in the road, Jade leapt out. John checked who was here. The two of them had squeezed in the back with the gunner. Big John was in the front compartment, along with the driver.
"Mom?" John called out. He realized Sarah was in one of the other Humvees, all of which had been shot And what about the others?
"I will find her, John," Jade said. And then she raced off, still unclothed.
"Get us back to your base," Big John said to their driver. "Radio for help, but get us back there."
Jade accelerated. She'd wrapped a blanket round her shoulders as some protection against the cold, but she still felt its bite on her bare limbs. Still, she could endure She sprinted on the broken ground, cutting and bruis-ing her feet, but blocking out the pain. She would soon heal.
Three of the four Humvees had been taken out in a matter of minutes. With her enhanced senses, she'd seen clearly what had happened. One had been destroyed before it reached them—hit by a series of laser bolts. She i there first, in case there were survivors. As she ran, she spoke to Anton, subvocalizing into her throat mike. He gave her bad news: Carlo Tejada was dead. Another
good man lost.
Jade had not bothered with nightvision devices when they were offered to her. Her eyes could use minimal light and she saw deep into the infrared range. She could operate in all but total dark. She reached the first Humvee in twenty seconds and checked it out quickly. The gunner had been incinerated by a direct laser-bolt hit to the chest. The driver had been hit in the abdomen, and she, too, was dead. The engine had been destroyed by several hits.
She found some clothes that the rescuers had brought; quickly she pulled on a pair of fatigues, a pair of boots, and a thin woolen jacket. That gave her some protection. She ran for the next Humvee, where Anton was. He and Sarah had pulled on some clothes, and Sarah had a set of nightvision devices, a primitive design, alien to Jade's eyes. Sarah had picked up a laser rifle, which she looked eager to use. Anton stood ready to fight, holding a laser cannon that he'd disconnected from its mounting.
"Well done," he said, referring to the aerial H-Ks that Jade had taken out "That evens things up." |
"I will try to do more," Jade said.
The Humvee's driver seemed okay, but the gunner had hurt her leg when the vehicle crashed. She was moaning in pain, and obviously out of action. Carlo's body was still in the Humvee. Jade looked him over quickly. Poor Carlo—she'd met his counterpart in her own world, though this man had never known her. His body had been pierced vertically by laser fire that had entered near his jaw. He must have died instantly. He'd come so far and been so close to victory. What a waste of lives there'd been!
"We've radioed for help," Jade said. "There'll be more vehicles to pick you up."
"I've called, too," the driver said in Spanish, a language that Jade knew imperfectly, but she could get by. He was a small, wiry-looking man with salt-and-pepper hair.
"We have to deal with a land H-K and several groups of endoskeletons," Jade said. She considered what else might be needed. They had to attack Skynet with everything they had. "The machines will have traced your paths. Talk to your commanders. Tell them we need every weapon that might stop an endoskeleton, or a Terminator. We need laser rifles, grenade launchers, RPG tubes, phased-plasma grenades."
"They know that."
Tell them again. Every weapon they can find."
Anton subvocalized to her to say they'd already dealt with it. She subvocalized back, "He can reinforce the message."
She ran again, heading for the last Humvee, where she knew that Eve had survived. She'd seen the Terminator hit in the shoulder by a laser bolt, but that would not be enough to destroy it. Once more, she assessed the situation. Eve's shoulder flesh had been largely burnt away, and the hyperalloy endoskeleton showed through. Crawford had also been hit, and was dead. A laser bolt had pierced the engine compartment, so the Humvee was undrivable. Tenez had pulled on clothing and sat shivering in the dark with the other surviving humans: the driver and the gunner. Eve had removed the Humvee's main weapon from its mounting. This was a 40mm. anti-aircraft gun. The T-799 had wrapped itself with belts of ammunition, and also wore a laser rifle strapped across its chest.
To Jade's heightened senses, the sounds of the land H-K and several groups of endos approaching were like the thud of heavy footsteps in a nearby room. Within minutes, they'd all be under ground attack. "You have an assault helicopter," she said to the driver. "Where is it?"
"Five miles," he said, "a little less, from here." Jade calculated. A little less. She could run that distance in thirteen or fourteen minutes on a straight road. Over this terrain it would be harder. Still, she could be quick. She could break into the controls and start the Helicopter, get back here...
She made a decision. "Do you have nightvision devices?" The man sounded French, so she spoke to him in his language.
"Yes."
"You're going to guide me. I apologize for the indignity. Jump on my back. Don't argue; just do it"
He weighed 180 pounds. For Jade, that was not too heavy. She ran.
CHAPTER
SIXTEEN
MADRID
July 2029
At the base, soldiers ran everywhere, getting weapons. Others gathered the non-combatants—young children, old people, pregnant women, those who were sick or wounded—to take them to a deeper level underground. John had put on several layers of clothing and armed him-with an M-16 and grenade launcher. He'd found a vest to pack a dozen 40mm. impact grenades, distributing all the weight as well as he could. Big John carried a laser rifle across his chest and had an RPG tube strapped on his back with two rocket-propelled grenades. They ran up several flights of stairs to reach the doors onto the outside world. John went with Big John, Nicolas Escandell, and Carlo. "We've got endos coming every side," Escandell said. "There's one big group supporting the land H-K—and several smaller groups converging. Right now they outnumber us."
John could see that was right, when you counted just able-bodied soldiers.
“I know," Big John said. "Normally, I'd say we were doomed."
Escandell grinned in appreciation. "It helps taking out those H-Ks. Let's say we'll go down fighting."
"We don't have to go down at all. We're going to win this battle."
Sarah's teeth chattered with the cold, but she couldn't even think about that. Let her body do what it wanted— she had come here to fight. The land H-K was coming straight toward them, firing at their positions. It had an escort of endoskeletons, maybe twenty. Anton got a clear shot with the laser cannon he'd taken from their Humvee. He took out one endo, but the land H-K traced his fire and shot back precisely, almost hitting him as he leapt to one side. Sarah and Martinez—their Humvee's driver—inched from cover point to cover point, hoping for reinforcements before it came to a pitched battle with the machines. Anton fired twice more with the laser cannon, but failed to make another kill. He dropped the laser cannon, then followed them, carrying the wounded gunner.
They'd had to leave Carlo behind. It angered Sarah deeply—this man had deserved better than to die that way, thousands of miles from his home, without even a burial. She would get her share of those evil, grinning skeletons, even if she died herself.
Nicolas Escandell drove in a modified pick-up to the group with the woman he'd been told was Sarah Connor—some Sarah Connor from another world. This all seemed crazy, but there was no time to question it. There was no answer from Varley when he tried to call her—both occupants of that vehicle were probably dead. There'd been one death in the other vehicle, but no one wounded to pick up.
He found Anton, Sarah, Martinez, and their wounded gunner. They climbed aboard, and Nicolas rushed back to finish the preparations. To make a stand, they'd chosen a point close to their base's above-ground entrance. There was plenty of cover there. They lined up their vehicles and their biggest guns for an all-out battle. From what he'd seen of these newcomers—the way the woman they called Jade had dealt with the two aerial H-Ks—perhaps they had a chance. As he'd said to General Connor, they'd go down fighting.
Six endoskeletons were closing in on Eve and the three humans who had fallen into its care. As they fell back, Eve drew fire from the endos. They seemed to be confused at being confronted by a Terminator. They fired at its body as if at a human being, not aiming straight for the CPU. Eve absorbed several hits, which burned away flesh and skin, without seriously damaging the combat chassis underneath.
Eve sprayed the endos with rapid fire from the antiaircraft gun it was carrying, slowing down their advance and frustrating their aim, but not doing them major harm. One lost some fingers and dropped its laser rifle. the T-799 kept blazing away, knocking out the endo's visual sensors, chipping into its motors, rendering it helpless. Eve pivoted left, to chip away at a second endo, leaving it blinded and crippled.
As the humans ran, the Terminator's huge gun jammed. Eve threw it down and advanced on the endos, firing with the laser rifle slung around its neck. It was an unequal battle. Eve was an advanced-design Terminator the equal of any of Skynet's endoskeletons—but not the equal of four of them. They soon assessed
the situation and aimed precisely for Eve's head. The Terminator took out one more endo with two clean head shots at close range. Return fire burnt out its CPU.
The T-799 was terminated.
John drove an old Ford pickup truck, while Big John sat in the back, ready to fire. They saw what happened as they reached Tenez and the two with him. Eve had been destroyed.
"Nooooooo!" John said. He knew the T-799 was only a machine, but it had fought for humanity and it had saved his life. Why did everything always have to be destroyed?
Tenez and the others clambered in the back with Big John, and they got out of there, headed back to their main position. John drove as fast as he dared, dodging randomly to confuse the fire from the pursuing endos. in the back, Big John returned their fire, but no direct hits were scored by either side.
Not far away, John had seen Escandell pick up Sarah, Anton, and the others. They were consolidating, but could they win? The odds still seemed bad, especially with Eve gone. Where was Jade?
The man gave his name as Arnaud. He helped Jade remove the dirty tarpaulins and layers of junk that camouflaged the Black Hawk behind the walls of what remained of a huge department store. Even standing in ruins, a city the size of Madrid offered many hiding places, though nothing escaped the endos forever. A base such as this one must always be observing the machines' actions, moving from quarters to quarters, finding new hiding spots for whatever military hardware they managed to amass.
Arnaud stared in wonderment at Jade's speed, strength, tirelessness, but he did not comment, Jade assessed the Black Hawk's weapon systems and reserve ammunition, took the pilot's seat, and forced the mechanism to start the motor, giving it a minute to warm up. She'd never flown precisely this kind of machine, but the logic of its controls was transparent to her. "Very well," she said in French. "You're my gunner."
T2 - 02 - The New John Connor Chronicles - An Evil Hour Page 27