Chapter 2 - Red Hope @ redhope.net

me."
The terminator climbed to her feet then glowered at the human on the opposite side of the cage. "You
were foolish to come back for me in the warehouse. I had the situation under control."
Sarah gave a low rumble from her chest and gruffly challenged, "I could tell since you didn't have
Sam."
"I was in the process," Cameron snapped back.
Sarah pushed off the bars and carefully approached the terminator. "You're welcome for coming back to
save your steel hide."
"I am cybernetic organism made of-"
"Whatever." Sarah blew off the terminator. She couldn't figure out why they were arguing anyway, but
it fueled her.
Cameron neared the human until her chains stopped her. "If you didn't allow yourself to get captured
then we would not be in this situation."
"Oh, it's my fault!" Sarah was fully primed now that finger was directly pointed at her. "You can't even
follow your most basic subroutine to kill threats."
The terminator jerked on her shackles then her blue eyes lit up. "Shall I terminate the threat closest to
me now" She gritted her teeth and strained against the chains towards Sarah.
Sarah stared right into volatile blue eyes that she'd never seen directed at her. This struck her hard
because it was true that Cameron had never once been violent towards her, but she couldn't say she'd
treated Cameron well. She instantly withdrew but not out of fear and quietly reminded, "This isn't us,
Cameron." She lifted her locked hands and ran her fingers through her hair just before she faced the
terminator again. "This isn't solving anything." She noted that Cameron's eyes had faded back to the
soft amber she was use to seeing.
Cameron reversed until her back hit the bars, and she slumped against it in a defeated form.
Sarah studied the terminator and had never witnessed such a posture from the normally stoic
terminator. "We have to find a way out of this mess."
The terminator harshly dropped her head back against bar. She shut her eyes but retrieved her heads-up
display and began a crucial calculation.
Sarah approached the terminator in a sign of truce and trust. She whispered, "How long do you have
until you revert back to your Skynet programing"
Cameron lifted her head and opened her eyes again. She waited a beat as the estimated time until reset
was displayed in her HUD. "I have anywhere between twenty-four hours and seventy-two hours."
Sarah moved her head in disbelief. "Why is it such an imprecise estimate"
"There is a variable," Cameron explained, "that's dependent on how hard I fight the reset." She paused
at seeing the realization on Sarah's face. "I can only fight it for so long... it will dig deeper and deeper