The sounds of boots clicking through the passageways of the citadel in which the humans where gathering. It had been many months since John Connor had died and Skynet was crippled though during the trying time that ensued after Connor’s death a trio of friends had risen to take John Connor’s place and hopefully live up to his legacy. The male was five foot eight and weighed in at two hundred and ten pounds of pure bulked up muscle. Though behind those steely blue eyes rested a quick witted brain gained through twenty years of service in Delta Force. His name was Ezekiel Whitestone while at the age of forty four he was still as nimble and quick on his feet as he was in his twenties. His agility had given him the name of “White Rabbit” even though he had no want of the moniker. His clothing was geared towards the Urban Combat he had been taking part of lately when leading his eight man team into the ruined city that was once new york. Ezekiel was almost always carrying a K-bar knife and a six round .50 caliber revolver he liked to call the Executioner. However, those where not his only weapons he carried on his person as he was also carrying at this time an M-16 assault rifle loaded with a thirty round magazine. On Ezekiel’s waist and chest rested a set of webbing and bandoleers carrying another thirty of the thirty round magazines as well as sixty rounds of .50 caliber ammunition for the pistol that rested on his left thigh opposite the k-bar Knife on his right thigh. Ezekiel was making his way from his chambers to the ramparts where he could look out into the city and determine if they where to actually head into the city to try and scavenge supplies to keep the fortified warehouse stocked even though they had enough food to last almost two months. The fact was the Ezekiel always had contingency plans ready in case against all odds the machines some how made it through their defenses and mine field that had been put in place across the only access route to the building. The defenses consisted of motion sensing turrets that carried both miniguns and grenade launchers that without the proper identification would blast any intruder that came within fifty yards of the six turrets. Three turrets where placed in shadowed corners to make sure they weren’t in plain sight while the other three consisting of two grenade launchers and a minigun where placed on the roofs of the buildings that formed the alley that led to the now fortified warehouse. Ezekiel sighed to himself and muttered softly to himself before turning from the ramparts and making his way back into the warehouse along the river. “Its only a matter of time….until there is No Fate left to us but death….”
Clarissa Grant lay in her cot, staring up at the flickering ultra violet light that was fixed into the ceiling of her compartment. It was attracting the usual bugs and moths to its unnatural glow, and had been keeping Clarissa awake for hours. She truly had not been able to sleep much anyways, since her mind was cluttered with the thoughts of losing John, all those months before. Clarissa had never really gotten over it, and she didn’t see that happening anytime soon. Knowing it was just wasting time to lay in her cot, she pushed herself up to sitting and rubbed her eyes, with the ball of her fist. The dripping of her vanity basin tap was in a slow and steady rhythm, and it drew her to it, as she pushed up off the bed, and went to wash her face, in the hopes it may refresh her somewhat. The water smelt foul, due to the numerous chemicals that had fed into the water holding units. You could use it on your skin, just never drink it. Grabbing a towel, she patted her face dry after splashing her face, and then hung her towel back up. She applied some musk deodorant and checked that she still had her dog tags on, before slipping on her socks and boots, and readying herself to face the others. being sure to be armed for the cross to the warehouse, where she had been previously advised that White Rabbit was holding a meeting. With twin glocks and a hunter’s knife strapped to her calf, a M-16 rifle on her back, with an ammo utility belt strapped around her waist, she was well armed to go against whatever the enemy might attempt to throw at her.
Exiting her compartment, she looked about to see any signs of life. Most had already filed out to do the scavenger runs that morning, and though she would have been part of that, her meeting this day was more important. This trip would be on foot of course, and Clarissa broke into a sprint, to get across the no man’s land, and make it to the river, where the warehouse was situated. Every so often, she found cover behind destroyed tanks and downed machines, always on her guard, in case she was spotted and tagged. This day…she made it without a problem. Reaching the door to the warehouse, she flipped up the sequence pad and entered her code, then pressing her thumb into the identification panel, her head turning to see if she had been followed. The light on the panel flashed green, and you could hear the unlocking mechanisms disengage, and the door to the warehouse slide open. Clarissa entered silently, wondering if the White Rabbit had beaten her there.
<3>
A slim figure was rummaging around in one of the weapons containers, searching for a ammo clip when a loud thud sounded overhead. Startled, there was a bang as the figure tried to stand and cracked their noggin on the edge of the container.
“Ow! Fuck!”
There was amused laughter from behind and upon turning, glared at the person standing there.
“Asher Jacob Ryan! I fucking hate you!” was the growled response.
“Ah, come on sis. Did I scare you that badly?” Asher chuckled. With a huff, his sister, Aleksis turned back to the container she’d been looking through. “What are you looking for anyway?”
“Clips for the AKs. Command seems to think we’re running low. Might need to recon for more.” Aleksis stated.
“Recons are a bitch. Fucking machines pounce the minute they see an eyeball.”
“Lost Omega team yesterday on a recon.” she told him. His eyes widened in shock. Omega team had been THE team.
“No shit?”
“Nope.”
“Fuck.” Asher stated, summing up both their feelings in one word. Aleksis nodded.
Asher “Ash” Jacob and Aleksis “Alek” Jean Ryan, brother and sister, only surviving members of their family. They’d been living in the mountains of Colorado when SkyNet took over, started killing all the humans. Their parents died trying to get their kids to safety and they had to grow up pretty quickly. They were 16 and 14 years old at the time, Aleksis being the oldest.
Aleksis Jean Ryan, current age 32
Asher Jacob Ryan, current age, 30
In the new world, they had to self-train themselves in all sorts of weaponry and mechanics. They’d taken down their first flyer when Asher was 17, and their first Terminator when Aleksis was 18. They had stolen a decomissioned tank from a military scrapyard and fixed it up to their specifications. “Big Bad Bertha” as they fondly called her, had been instrumental in taking out a SkyNet installation just outside of Fort Worth, Texas and saving a few hundred members of then-leader John Connor’s Resistance.
They, like many others, were now part of the bigger picture, the preservation of the human race…in the last surviving stronghold on the planet.
War was coming…and they were ready.
“Dammit..there were some top people in those teams. It’s hard to replace them, you know?” She spoke her mind, which was hardly surprising. Sugar coating shit was getting no one any medals. She raised her head slightly and listened to his request. “Gather a team Clarissa and meet me outside we’re going to do some Recon and clear out some of those robotic nuances. Their getting to damned close for comfort and we need to lure them away from the safe haven and protect the innocents here…” Watching him take off his M16 and holding it defensively as he was about to leave the safety of the warehouse, Clarissa nodded, and knew she was going to have to ask the younger cadets to step up to the plate.
Clarissa didn’t muck about. Her M16 holstered, she darted through the warehouse, checking dorm after dorm, supplies rooms and the mess hall. Banging on doors as she went, she sung out.
“I need a team to do the next retcon sweep out in the open. If you haven’t faced those fuckers before, now’s your chance. Meet me just before the north exit, and be sure to have full kit with you. This is no drill. Repeat. We lost Alpha and Omega. Get your asses down to that door.”
Turning back, as she heard the thud of footsteps and chatter, it was a matter of time as the team assembled back with the White Rabbit.
<3>.
“I need a team to do the next retcon sweep out in the open. If you haven’t faced those fuckers before, now’s your chance. Meet me just before the north exit, and be sure to have full kit with you. This is no drill. Repeat. We lost Alpha and Omega. Get your asses down to that door.”
Aleksis and Ash shared a look before identical grins took over their faces. This was what they lived for. Diving into the weapons cache, they came up with their favorite weapons; for Aleksis – an M41A Pulse Rifle and for Ash the M56 Smart Gun along with standardized grenades, which they clipped to weapons belts at their hips.
Brother and Sister saluted each other.
“You watch my back, I’ll watch yours.” Aleksis spoke their standard battle motto.
“Until we bleed no more.” Ash saluted. They high-fived one another before running out to join the team.
“Today we are going to be going on a search and destroy mission to thin out those damned machines some…some of you may not make it back once we leave the safety perimeter of the warehouse and the safe zone. Once we are out of the safe zone I want minimal chatter and all eyes and ears open. You see anything out of the ordinary call it out I don’t want to lose another team if I can help it. Am I clear?!”
“SIR! YES, SIR!” Aleksis and Ash called out with the others. They were ready for this.
“Alright load up runts we’re taking trucks and moving in a convoy to the perimeter edge before we dismount about ten miles away from the current camp we have and then we will begin our sweep but most importantly to worthless runts stay together if you want to live..”
Ash couldn’t help but howl like a wolf and few of the others around him picked up the refrain. “Stop encouraging them.” Aleksis groaned.
“Hey…it helps with morale. Shut up.” Ash snorted.
The White Rabbit caught their attention along with their commanding officer. “Clarissa and you two up front with me the rest in the back.”
“Yes, sir!” Aleksis nodded, following them to the truck. Once they were all in, the whole envoy moved out, Rabbit and Clarissa talking in low tones in the front of the cab.
Target Location – 10 Miles Out
They had no sooner stopped then a loud crack split the air and White Rabbit was hit in the shoulder, blood spraying everywhere.
“Everybody out now! Contact left! I want that fucker taken down now!!!” A grunt with a rocket launcher opened fire on the area the shot came from and there was a loud explosion as the window and everything behind it exploded.
Aleksis and Ash jumped from the cab, weapons armed and ready. Gunfire lit up the night sky as the machines started pouring from the abandonded building. “WE HAVE MULTIPLE TARGETS ON OUR 3!” Aleksis shouted, opening fire.
“LET’S ROCK AND ROLL!” Ash shouted, pulling the trigger on his own weapon. It was on!
One of the large mechanical brutes was coming straight for Aleksis and she ducked behind a large slab of granite from a destroyed building. She pulled a grenade from her hip, yanking the pin and tossing it in quick succession. There was a boom and a tinkling of metal as the Terminator exploded in a pile of metal bits and pieces. She grinned, pleased. She pulled up her weapon and began firing in short bursts at the attacking machines. There was a sharp whistling sound from overhead and she looked up to see a Flyer heading their way.
“ASH! FLYER! 12 NOON!” she shouted over the din. Ash nodded and grabbed the rocket launcher from a dead soldier. His sister threw down cover fire as he took aim. Once the airborn machine was in his sights, he hit the trigger. The rocket flew and found its target, sending shrapnel flying in all directions as it exploded. Asher grinned like a loon and went back to helping his sister take down the machines.
“Clarissa and you two up front with me the rest in the back.” Rabbit ordered, and Clarissa saluted before following him towards the front of the vehicle. Already they had quite a unit assembled, and at least they would be able to put up a good fight when it came to the crunch. Un-holstering her M16, she set it in front of her as she climbed in the front seat of the truck. This thing had seen a lot of action, and had a few bullet holes and blood splattered glass to show that it had not always made it back with a full team. She checked behind her to see the others were getting on board, when Rabbit spoke to her in a low tone, so that the others couldn’t hear.
“Times are getting rough Clarissa and we need to start planning and preparing for the time when the machines do find our little safe haven and only then will our greatest trial begin….the very fight for our survival..”
“No shit, Sir. I am surprised we held them off this long. But its no shock they are breaching the outer limits. I just hope we have the man power to fight it.” Her concerns were genuine, as she strapped herself in and the Commander started up the truck, with a blast of black smoke out of the exhaust. It hummed and vibrated loudly as it took off. Now it was only a matter of time…till they were beyond the gates, and at the mercy of the machines.
Target Location – 10 Mile out
As they came in range of the destined location, there was a low whistle sound that was all too familiar as Clarissa gasped and the windscreen was hit by a round. The grunt and cry of her Commander, had her turn her head, only to see the crimson stain of his blood behind him and a gaping wound in his shoulder.
“Everybody out now! Contact left! I want that fucker taken down now!!!”
“Fuck a duck!’ She hollered, opening the car door and practically leaping out, swinging around her M16, looking left and right, then forward for what just shot her Commander. The loud rip of the air and then a rocket was fired, causing a massive fireball and black smoke billowing as the rat a tat tat of gun fire, and the ping and pop of the guns of the team was blazing against the enemy machines.
Nearest target was a large office building or what was left of it, and to see the machines start to flood out from broken windows and fire escapes, had Clarissa grit her teeth and call to arms. “Take cover, don’t stay out in the open!” She tried to motion for at least four men to get to the nearest overturned bus that had been blown apart some time before.
Ash and Aleksis were blowing up machines left and right, and then warned of the Flyer that was coming in from over head. Clarissa ran across the street, a virtual no man’s land and rolled behind the bus, before taking pot shots at at least two machines, blowing off their heads, and watching them walk around headless. But what of the Rabbit?
<3>
The chopper had taken off from the medic housing not long after they radioed in. their coded transmission had been recieved and their only hope is that the machines had not also intercepted it as well. Xavier was ready to handle anything that came their way however. The mounted turret gun was operational. He had seen so much of war and was tired of it, however they had a job to do. To save lives he had to be in the thick of it. That was what he wanted most to save as many as he could. Ther had been enough destruction. He had seen so many killed already since skynet first became operational. It was beyond comprehension how much had been lost. As the sound of the buzzing of the chopper was heard he could make out the site of the battle below. Five miles out there was a war raging. They were tracking the signal of the ones who had called hoping to make it in time.
He had his kit ready and would be there soon he hoped.
