T2 - 01 - The New John Connor Chronicles - Dark Futures Read Online Free Page A

concocted themselves—about the government and the military. They might as well give her the benefit of the doubt.
    "John and I can't stay here," Sarah said. "We'll be safer across the border."
    Yolanda put a hand on her shoulder, almost maternally "You stay as long you need," she said in Spanish. "At least until you're better."
    "You only just got here, Connor," Enrique said. "This is home sweet home. You're not going to get a better deal in this lifetime."
    "I know. I'm grateful."
    "Mom," John said, "I like it here. We're safe. Let's not move on till you're really better. Right?" "Listen to the kid." Enrique tapped the side of his head. "He's got a lot upstairs. I'm sure you can make yourselves useful round here."
    She sighed, outvoted. "Okay-" she looked at John meaningfully "-for a few days. But we need to head south where the cops don't know us."      
    "All in good time, Connor—but I can arrange it."
    She looked at Enrique questioningly. "All right."
    "There's a chopper coming here next Monday," he said. That was nearly a week away. "We'll get you over the border on Monday night."
    "That's good, Enrique. I'm grateful. That'll have to do."
    The words seemed to get forced out of her, one little burst at a time. "Thank you."
    Enrique swallowed some more tequila. "Damn right. Now cheer up and live a little."
    John thought about the future. What if you couldn't change it, no matter what you did? There was the crushed Terminator arm they'd left at the mill. He'd have to talk about it with Mom. Even if you could change the future, what if it still included Skynet? On the TV, Cruz had said that Cyberdyne wasn't washed up. Could the new future turn out just as bad as the old one? If all bets were off, could it be even worse?                                                 
    Really, though, he knew what had to be done. They'd keep doing whatever it took. Anytime, anywhere.
    No fate.
    They'd figure it out. Whatever lay ahead, it would be okay.                                                                                    
    It would have to be.
     
    CHAPTER TWO
     
    In another reality, however, the events surrounding the siege at the Cyberdyne complex-and the fateful confrontation   with the T-1000 Terminator-took an entirely different course...
     
    SKYNET'S WORLD
    NORTHWEST OF CALEXICO ,
CALIFORNIA
    MAY, 1994
     
    As he fooled around with the T-800 at the Salceda compound, John was aware of Sarah watching him, though he couldn't tell what was on her mind. When she'd finished checking and cleaning the weapons, they let her rest for a minute. In her boots and military clothes, she looked almost like a Terminator herself, but also tired, drained by years of struggle and the stress of escape from the
Pescadero
Hospital
, with the T-1000 close on their tail.
    John helped the T-800 pack the guns in the back of the Bronco, together with their maps, documents, jerry cans of gasoline, fuel siphons, radios, and explosives.   If the T-1000 tracked them down. it would not find them helpless.
    The Salceda kids were playing by the trailers and vehicles that made up Enrique's compound. Their scrappy dog yapped round them happily. Everyone had told John J his mother was some kind of psycho-crazy, tried to stop him believing in her. But now that he'd seen Terminators in action, he realized that everything she'd ever said was true. The deadly T-1000 was still out there, planning how to track him down and kill him.                               
    John stopped work for a moment, thinking about Judgment Day. Out here in the desert, the Salcedas might escape the initial explosions and the chaos caused by the electromagnetic pulses, but how long could they last against fallout, nuclear winter, then the machines? There must be safer places—he and his mom would need to persuade