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

as many of their friends as possible to move south, well away from the U.S.
    Sarah had drooped over the picnic table, with her cheek on the back of her hand. While the T-800 went on working, John walked over to her, quietly, thinking she was asleep. She looked up—she must have sensed his presence, perhaps his shadow falling over her. "I was thinking about Judgment Day," she said.                           
    "It's okay, Mom," John said. "We'll get through all this. We've just got to tough it out."                                  
    She sat up, giving him a tired smile. "We have to be strong." Her jaw clenched and she picked up her knife, toying with it. Then she drove it point-first into the surface of the picnic table. She'd carved there the words: NO FATE. "We can stop them," she said.
    "Mom? What are you talking about? If it's what I think you're thinking, don't even go there. Not now. This isn't the right time."
    "Cyberdyne," she said. "This guy Miles Dyson, the guy who invents Skynet—we can stop it happening. We can blow up Cyberdyne, or take out Dyson, make sure no one can follow his research."
    "You tried that before," John said, "with that government lab last year. They put you away, remember? The cops will be expecting you to try something like that."
    Her jaw was set firm. "We have to keep trying."
    "You only just got out of Pescadero . You don't want to go back."
    "We can't just wait for Judgment Day."
    "Okay, okay. But we can try later, or try something else.   But we can't just kill people, and we can't attack Cyberdyne just when the T-1000 could be expecting it."
    That struck home. Obviously, Sarah was weighing it all in her mind.
    "There's got to be another way," John said.
    Sarah lit a cigarette and drew back on it. She chewed her lips, then took another drag on the cancer stick. "All right," she said grimly. "We'll wait." She sounded resentful, like she knew better, but then she went quiet and her face softened. She stood and stepped close to him, opening her arms. She hugged John to her tightly, not saying anything, just sobbing. "I love you," she said. "I always have."
    And he realized: he'd always known. "I know. It's okay, Mom... I love you, too."
    Three hours later, they were in Mexico . The two of them, and "Uncle Bob."
     
    LOS ANGELES
     
    The T-1000's shapeshifting abilities were almost unlimited,   constrained only by its constant body mass. Its default   appearance was that of a young, serious-looking male human. Since arriving in 1994, it had found the value of mimicking a police uniform and using police vehicles.
    At the
Pescadero
Hospital
, the Connors had evaded it, stealing a car and accelerating out into the city streets That was a setback, but the T-1000 still had resources. Down the road, within the Hospital's grounds, police and paramedics milled about like ants around a honey jar. A motorcycle policeman rode up to the T-1000, mistaking it for a human colleague. "You okay?"                 
    "Fine," the T-1000 said. "Say... that's a nice bike." Its finger became a metal spear, quickly stabbing the man] through the throat.   If he   lived,   he might   interfere. Quickly, the T-1000 hid the body in a nearby garden, then slipped away into the night, following the direction the Connors had taken. It had little chance of reacquiring them without assistance, but the authorities would pursue them, and it could easily obtain police information.
    Hours passed as it cruised round the city and its mile of sprawling suburbs. The Connors would need to hide somewhere overnight and deal with their wounds from the breakout. As the night passed, the T-1000 listened to the police radio. Numerous messages came through, including several sightings of the Connors, but they were alarms. This was a waste of time, and the trail was getting cold. By now, they would have disposed of their vehicle. In this situation, the T-1000's