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Terminator 4: Bleak Future --Part1--
By Carnotaur3
TERMINATOR 4: BLEAK FUTURE
WRITTEN BY CHASE KUERTZ
STORY BY CHASE KUERTZ
OPEN ON:
DARKNESS
CONNOR (V.O.)
Hope… It’s something that keeps us together as human beings. It is our last resort when there’s nothing left to salvage.
CUT TO:
EXT. KANSAS – DAY
In the sweeping plains of KANSAS, two rockets, sticking out like a sore thumb, slowly, or at least seeming slow from a great distance, shoot straight up towards the sky. A few others follow.
CUT TO:
DARKNESS
CONNOR (V.O.)
I’ve shared my days where hope had never existed in my thoughts. Where I waited in distress for death to knock on my door and set me free from all the terrible things to come.
The NUCLEAR BOMB explodes, fire speeding across the landscape like a sand storm, knocking down everything in its path.
CONNOR (V.O.)
But for reasons unknown, something was urging me to stay alive, to keep moving. To fight for humanity.
CUT TO:
EXT. BATTLEFIELD – NIGHT
SUBTITLE
OUR FUTURE - 2032
Through the dark mists on the ground, metallic shapes take form. They rise out of the cloud and start blasting away at the very first sight of a human being, running towards them with his AK47. The CYBERNETIC ORGANISMS fire into his chest. He hits the ground hard, lifeless.
From up the hill, other humans crawl up on their stomachs, avoiding the blue streaked tracers from getting them too.
The soldier with the head-phoned CB coming up behind pieces of rusted vehicles is LIEUTENANT JAMESON, peering through the cratered holes in the metal structure.
JAMESON
Connor, do you copy over?
He ducks when a speeding tracer hits the ground beside him, causing dirt and debris to fly in the air. JAMESON coughs and catches his breath.
CONNOR (V.O.)
Connor here, over. Who is this?
JAMESON
Jameson, 3rd under Connor!
CONNOR (V.O.)
Proceed, over.
JAMESON
We don’t have that good of visibility down here. Aerial T-700 H-Ks coming in from the right and left. Infiltration into Sector 72 is likely. What’s your call, Connor?
CONNOR (V.O.)
Surprise them with the air raid attack. Get the aerial bomb team to launch.
JAMESON quickly switches frequencies with his head-phoned CB.
JAMESON
Aerial bomb team, this is Jameson 3rd under Connor, start sequence. Wait on my command.
T700 H-Ks, HUNTER KILLERS, slowly descend to let loose their CYBERNETIC ORGANISMS. But these don’t have skin or living tissue on them, they are naked, stripped down to the metal skeleton bones.
JAMESON (cont’d)
Ready? Take them down, now!
A purple streak zooms by JAMESON as he watches the missile meet up with one of the H-Ks.
It hits, blasting a giant hole in the center of it and falling to the rugged terrain like a dead bird. The H-K explodes into pieces, some of which hitting other H-K unites in the area close by it. The ground team moves forward on JAMESON’S command.
They charge with intimidation, open firing onto the ROBOTIC HELLS waiting down the hill with their plasma weapons. All laser tracers come together, as both opposing forces struggle to eliminate each other. JAMESON manages to take down one CYBORG SKELETON. He watches as it struggles to break free from its dead parts.
A HUMVEE accelerates down the hill, SOLDIERS hit CYBORGS with their M83HCCs, plasma cannons, with accurate results. One might presume them to be terminators themselves.
CONNER (V.O.)
What did my future really have coming for me? Having judgment day only prevented and not stopped, what has become of the result of the war? The war against the machines-
FADE OUT:
OPENING CREDITS and TITLE “TERMINATOR 4: BLEAK FUTURE”
FADE IN:
EXT. CRYSTAL PEAK – DAY
We pan around sand, turned into pieces of glass from the nuclear bombing. Burnt plants and animals are scattered throughout the area. In the NEVADA mountains, rocks crumble away as a hand pushes up from inside. JOHN CONNOR stands up, taking a look at the damage the bombs had left. He helps KATE BREWSTER out, both of them together looking like a bunch of bewildered wild animals. Grungy and dirtied, they looked to have been in there a week or two.
KATE
Do you see anything?
CONNOR
(Sad)
No. Not a damn thing.
JOHN, weary-eyed, stares down the embankment. KATE holds onto him.
KATE
We have to find the city.
CONNOR
The city won’t be there. Skynet had to have done away with every major city. There would be little to nothing left.
JOHN and KATE take a step forward, down the embankment, and venture out into the desert.
CONNOR
My nightmares are slowly coming true.
CUT TO:
EXT. DESERT – DAY
JOHN and KATE stumble on a lonely road, the sun beating down on their bodies so hard, that they looked like they were getting weaker by the minute. CONNOR falls to the hot asphalt hurting his broken ankle again.
KATE
We have to keep going.
CONNOR
I can’t. I just – need some rest.
KATE
They’ll be no rest if we don’t find shelter soon. Come on.
KATE proceeds to drag him by holding him up underneath his arm. Clouds above start to cover the sun. KATE looks up.
As they proceed on the road, JOHN looks forward with an exciting recognition.
They both hear the rumble ahead. It’s quiet, but it’s gradually becoming louder.
KATE
Is it a car?
JOHN squints down the road. But to his horrified conclusion, he almost stumbles on the road. KATE holds him up. The object is hovering over the road and it’s not an automobile engine.
JOHN CONNOR
No… no c-car!
JOHN pushes KATE back. JOHN limps toward a rock, KATE follows behind.
CUT TO:
H-K’S P.O.V.
The screen blinks and squares move around small objects running on the road. Suddenly, words blink: ENEMY TARGETS
CUT BACK TO:
JOHN and KATE jump behind a rock just as a rocket shoots out from underneath the T-1 H-K. It hits just in front of the rock. A small fireball surrounds them and they both scream in terror, their hair singeing
The HK scans around the area. Obviously, we know this model isn’t as intelligent as the ones we’ve seen before.
CUT TO:
HK’S P.O.V.
Words blink: TARGETS DESTROYED – VICTEMS 2450 – CPU MEMORY COUNT
CUT BACK TO:
Behind the rock, waiting for the blinding smoke to carry away in the wind, KATE gazes over, seeing the H-K retreating into a new direction. Once it reaches out of site behind a mountain, she turns to JOHN. He’s bent over on the ground next to a rock… unconscious.
KATE
John?
No response. She grabs his shoulders and hoists him up.
KATE (cont’d)
John, wake up!
KATE drags JOHN onto the road, where another humming is heard. She doesn’t look over, but tries to drag JOHN back.
KATE (cont’d)
Oh, God! Please, God!
Finally, she turns back around to see that it’s only a vehicle. The windows are smashed. The metal rusted. The tires almost deflated, yet it was moving towards them. And she smiled. It was the first sign of human life.
The CORROLA came to a complete stop and a COWBOY, dressed in a WHITE BEATER quickly jumps out.
COWBOY
Put him in the back.
CUT TO:
INT. COMPLEX – DAY
In a dark complex, full of blown away walls and torched ceilings, a familiar sound comes to us. A flash enters the middle of the room. Then, another. Suddenly we are aware: Something’s coming back through time.
Bolts of lightning streaks bounce off the floor and room, creating small blazes of fire upon it. A huge reflecting sphere morphs in the lightning like a super growing tomato.
The sphere disappears along with the bolts and a figure rises from the smoke and glare… the T-X.
With a cold stare, she makes no quick realization of her naked body, and simply moves forward, with an inhuman flow.
CUT TO:
INT. CAROLLA – DAY
The man stares through the rear view mirror at KATE, who’s got JOHN’S head in her lap. She strokes his hair.
KATE
You’re going to make it. Stay with me, now.
The COWBOY, worried about their situation, tries to give some comfort.
COWBOY
Maim, if you not mind me asking – how did you survive the blast out in the middle of no where?
KATE stares up.
KATE
Someone showed us to an underground facility.
COWBOY
You had time? I don’t see how that was possible.
KATE
It’s a long story.
COWBOY
Trust me... I have plenty of time.
KATE
Maybe some other time.
The COWBOY sighs.
COWBOY
You’re the first life I’ve seen all day. Who could do anything like this to us?
KATE
I honestly couldn’t answer that for you.
Long uncomfortable silence.
COWBOY
Me and my fiancé were living downtown Los Angeles. We grew up together as friends and only recently we became more than that. Our marriage was scheduled for August 13. We had planned what to do after we had been hitched every night. I’d ask her if she would have Friday nights for going out to eat. She’d say that we should eat out every night. Yes, maim, we were planning out the rest of our lives as if they were going to be perfect… forever.
(Kate’s paying attention more)
Yesterday, I got a call from her. She said she would be working late downtown. Her boss wanted her to work double shifts and that she wouldn’t get to my place at all. She said she’d call me back that next morning.
(He tears up)
There was no next morning. There was no tomorrow.
KATE has no words to say. She’d expected that everyone would be telling their awful story of the day the earth crumbled underneath us, but she wasn’t ready for them to be told. She wasn’t ready mentally. She broke down in tears.
COWBOY
Whatever you do, keep the man alive. I’m taking us to a hospital.
He swerves his TRUCK onto a lonely dirt road.
CUT TO:
EXT. ROAD – DAY
It’s about noon, and the desert is getting hot. The T-X’s stare is still the same as it was before as she walks on the steaming hot pavement of the paved desert road, her feet not being affected by the intense heat of the asphalt. Suddenly, from up ahead, a truck is moving towards her, and she stops.
CUT TO:
INT. TRUCK – DAY
MAN #1 blinks and squints.
MAN #1
What the fuck?!
MAN #2, the driver, shakes his head.
MAN #2
Son of a bitch.
MAN #1
She looks disoriented. Let’s help her.
CUT TO:
EXT. ROAD – DAY
The truck decelerates on the graveled path and comes to a complete stop beside the T-X. MAN #1 raises down the window.
MAN #1
Are you ok, miss? Do you need assistance?
CUT TO:
T-X’S P.O.V.
Blue screen blinks and it pans over to wounded people in the back of the truck bed, rustling around, holding their bandages, and one gasping for air that looks to be dying.
She does a match on the persons for appropriate clothing. She MATCHES on the dying girl curled up in the corner.
CUT BACK TO:
EXT. ROAD – DAY
The T-X slowly walks to the truck’s rear and grabs the woman by the shirt, lifting her up by the collar of her clothing. The woman is severely burnt and she moans loudly as the T-X grabs for her jean shirt and jean pants.
MAN #1 jumps out of the vehicle, yelling out of the top of his lungs.
MAN #1
What the hell are you doing?!
MAN #2 comes out with a RIFLE in his hands.
The T-X turns her head sharply in MAN #1’s direction.
T-X
Are you ok, miss? Do you need assistance?
She TWISTS the woman’s head around, breaking her neck instantly. MAN #1 grabs her by the shoulders but she impales him with her fist, right through the back. She pulls her arm back out of his body and stares at MAN #2 who has the rifle pointed at her, blood pours down the sides of her arm. He pulls the trigger. Immediately, rounds of bullets hit her face, metal holes forming outside.
MAN #2 stares in disbelief as the other wounded people scream out in terror. MAN #2 gets thrown back by her plasma weapon imbedded into her hand. The rest of the people in the back of the truck are thrown out of the vehicle and onto the road.
The T-X opens the driver’s side door and jumps in.
The TRUCK immediately moves forward and then, swerves around 180 degrees to the other direction, driving over the wounded people she threw out on the road. The TRUCK bumps up and down.
CUT TO:
INT. HOSPITAL – DAY
KATE tries to keep up with JOHN, who is in a stretcher, but the doctors are rushing him in and the nurse is pulling her back.
NURSE
He’ll be fine, we’ll take care of him, miss.
KATE
It’s not you guys I’m worrying about. I just want him out fast.
NURSE
We’re going to work as fast as we can.
KATE
Ok.
KATE sits down on the floor, watching them take JOHN into the elevator. The COWBOY we saw earlier pulls KATE gently back.
COWBOY
He’ll be fine, maim. I wouldn’t worry too much about that.
NURSE
Will you two help me with these victims?
KATE and the COWBOY nod and they attend to a woman who is bleeding rapidly in the corner of the room.
NURSE (cont’d)
Do you know how to dress wounds?
KATE
Yes, my dad taught me.
The NURSE looks to the COWBOY. He shrugs.
COWBOY
I wouldn’t know where to begin.
NURSE
Good, miss, put some pressure on the wound and dress it when it’s needed. Sir, come with me, I’ll need help on other matters.
KATE takes the parts of her clothing and wraps it around the woman’s bleeding leg. The COWBOY follows the NURSE into an emergency room.
WOMAN
Thank you, miss, thank you.
KATE looks up, a tear strolling down her face, leaving a wet trail behind.
KATE
Does it feel better?
WOMAN
I believe so.
KATE
You’re a brave person. Stay in there.
The woman’s eyes don’t move. Her face discolors to a pale white and her arms become limp. KATE is shocked.
KATE (cont’d)
No. No, I just…
KATE breaths heavily and she pounds the floor hard with her fist.
CUT TO:
INT. HOSPITOL ROOM - DAY
Squirming around in the white sheets of the bed, JOHN CONNOR is suddenly awakened to find himself in a hospital. He looks around, seeing some people pressed up against walls, in beds, and laying on the floor. They’re all wounded, hurt. Nurses and doctors scramble around, helping the most needed ones.
JOHN blankly stares out of the window of the hospital, seeing the parking lot not burnt and the cars usable. They must be somewhere where the bombs didn’t touch. JOHN blinks and then he sees a familiar face walking towards the hospital.
He squints, the distance showing up a little clearer… then… he recognizes her. It’s the T-X. She’s coming for him.
CUT TO:
INT. WHITE ROOM – DAY
POLICE OFFICERS try to calm KATE BREWSTER down as she backs towards the wall. She throws up her hands in defense.
KATE
If you all want to live, you need to believe us, in a matter of days the machines will be coming for you. All of you!
OFFICER #1
Now, miss, calm down, we don’t want you scaring the others.
KATE
Do you not see I’m trying to save you?
OFFICER #2
Hold your hands up and get down on the floor.
KATE wants to run but she has no where to run to, so she simply attempts to move around OFFICER #1, but it doesn’t work, she is grabbed and tackled down.
KATE
You don’t have authority anymore. You don’t have authority!
Through the window in the room, KATE witnesses the T-X pass by. KATE screams.
KATE (cont’d)
No! No! She’s here, she’ll kill us all. Get John! Get John, now!
CUT TO:
INT. HOSPITAL – DAY
JOHN falls to the dirty hospital floor, trying to crawl into the hall and make it to the elevator. His sight has now gone blurry, he can’t see much of anything anymore. And when he tries to stand up, he gets dizzy and falls back down again.
He makes it out from the threshold and now he’s trying to walk down the corridor, keeping a low position so he won’t get dizzy.
CUT TO:
INT. STAIRS – DAY
The T-X’s footsteps echo on the stairway. She looks at each floor number on the doors she passes.
CUT TO:
INT. CORRIDOR – DAY
JOHN reaches the elevator, just as the T-X comes around the corner behind him. He looks back, surprised. But she doesn’t see him right away. She scans the hall first. The ELEVATOR button blinks and beeps as the T-X tracks JOHN CONNOR. She quickly takes out the rifle from her back, the people in the hospital scream in terror. JOHN sets his back on the elevator door. He closes his eyes, we can see him almost giving up here, but the elevator door opens and he falls back into the elevator, the bullets from the rifle hitting the elevator’s walls instead of him.
JOHN quickly jabs at the LOBBY BUTTON and then the CLOSE DOOR BUTTON. The T-X continues to shoot but never catches JOHN.
The elevator’s doors close and the T-X races to them.
CUT TO:
INT. ELEVATOR – DAY
JOHN, almost incoherent, starts to daze when he hits the elevator floor with his rear. He catches his breath, thinking it’s all over.
CUT TO:
INT. CORRIDOR – DAY
The T-X easily opens the elevator outside doors and grabs the CABLES with her hands.
CUT TO:
INT. ELEVATOR – DAY
The roaring of the gears are heard, grinding up against each other. JOHN comes out of his dizziness and stares up. He shakes his head in fear.
CONNOR
Oh, not good!
He presses the STOP BUTTON numerous times.
CUT TO:
INT. CORRIDOR – DAY
The T-X, using her circular saw in her right hand, cuts through the thick wires of the elevator. With one grip of her left hand, she holds the elevator by the wires with only her body keeping it from falling. She pulls at the wires, making the steel rub up against steel. Sparks fly in the dark tunnel of the elevator shaft.
CUT TO:
INT. ELEVATOR – DAY
JOHN hears the new sound of the elevator digging into the metal wall outside.
He holds onto the bars, trying to stay balanced. He realizes the bars he’s holding and struggles to dismantle them from the wall. He’s successful in a few tries, and he holds the bar in his two hands.
With great force, he pushes the bar into the slightly cracked elevator door and tries to pry it open. He winces.
CUT TO:
INT. CORRIDOR – DAY
Almost smirking to her self, the T-X pulls the elevator up slowly with, what seems to us, little effort.
CUT TO:
INT. HOSPITAL LOBBY – DAY
The two POLICE OFFICERS struggle with KATE BREWSTER by holding her shoulders and lifting her out of the lobby.
KATE
Please, I have to get John! Please!
The OFFICERS hear the grinding of the elevator behind them and they turn with wide eyes.
OFFICER #1
Check it out, I’ll take her to the cruiser and give her a ‘talking to’.
OFFICER #2
Alright.
OFFICER #2 lifts up his gun towards the elevator, slowly approaching
it.
The COWBOY we saw earlier is confused and leans against the wall and out of the cop’s way.
CUT TO:
INT. ELEVATOR – DAY
JOHN pushes the bar forward so hard that he almost falls. All his effort triumphs when the door slides open.
CUT TO:
INT. HOSPITAL LOBBY – DAY
Passing OFFICER #2, JOHN races down the hall.
CONNOR
Run, now! She’s here again!
OFFICER #2 stands dumbfounded and turns back around at the elevator shaft ahead to see the T-X fall through, debris sliding on the ground.
The T-X stares coldly at OFFICER #2 and fires into his chest with the RIFLE trying to get the bullets into JOHN, who’s directly behind the OFFICER.
OFFICER #2, who’s up at the threshold of the LOBBY, releases KATE and begins to fire at the T-X.
KATE and JOHN run out of the LOBBY as OFFICER #2 continues to fire. The T-X doesn’t retaliate, instead, she moves closer to him until she is a few feet away. Then, she fires the RIFLE point blank range into OFFICER #2’s face. He falls dead to the ground, gallons of blood smacking down to the floor.
The T-X moves forward, she pays no attention to the COWBOY on the wall.
COWBOY
That’s some freaky shit!
CUT TO:
EXT. PARKING LOT – DAY
JOHN and KATE breathe hard as they zigzag in the parking lot, trying to avoid any retaliation that the T-X might throw at them.
KATE
Why is she here? Did she escape from the explosion?
From behind them, the T-X knocks the glass LOBBY DOOR down and fires her plasma weapon at them. The white STREAK misses them by inches, hitting a nearby vehicle. An explosion spreads around to other cars, causing them to explode too.
T-X P.O.V.
On her blue screened sight, she scans through the fire. She can’t find them; the heat register is too high.
TARGET’S LOST
CUT BACK TO:
JOHN knocks the window of a nearby TRUCK and unlocks the door to get in them.
CUT TO:
INT. TRUCK – DAY
JOHN and KATE drive off in the truck and onto the open free way in the desert.
CUT TO:
EXT. PARKING LOT – DAY
The T-X looks around at the large fire blazing in front of her.
T-X P.O.V.
Two sliding bars cross each other over the fire and they disappear only to have NEW WORDS come up on the blue screen.
ALT. MISSION
CUT BACK TO:
The T-X turns 180 degrees towards the hospital and fires it up with her FLAME THROWER.
The people inside the building scream for dear life as the reflection of the burning HOSPITAL shows through her eyes.
FADE TO:
EXT. TRUCK – SUNSET
JOHN looks into the rear view mirror checking to see if the T-X was behind them. She wasn’t.
KATE
I don’t understand it. Do they ever stop?
JOHN CONNOR
No. They don’t. They never will until their mission is complete.
KATE looks out the window watching the cactuses pass by and the sun begin to fall behind the rocky shadows.
JOHN CONNOR(cont’d)
Something’s been bugging me through this whole thing.
KATE turns to him, her ears open.
JOHN CONNOR(cont’d)
Your dad, even though he was key to this whole mess – he had to have gotten the information to the arm and chip, some how. Did your dad ever tell you anything?
KATE
No, his stuff was too classified for him to risk telling anything. That’s why I never asked him.
JOHN CONNOR
Oh.
Long PAUSE.
JOHN’S eyebrows lift up.
JOHN CONNOR(cont’d)
Wait a minute – When the terminator came back to kill off the T-1000 I happen to notice his arm was missing. Do you think they could have started back research on that one arm alone?
KATE
It’s possible. That’s probably the reason why it was only postponed and not stopped.
JOHN CONNOR
Exactly, it wasn’t just your father. And the fact that the terminator was made to think for him self, he forgot about the arm. He forgot about the arm.
KATE
So they can make mistakes too? That sounds more human than a robot to me.
JOHN realizes it also.
JOHN CONNOR
Me too -
The TRUCK moves down the road and into the mountains.
FADE TO:
INT. TRUCK – NIGHT
KATE has her head on JOHN’S shoulder, her eyes closed.
JOHN stares out of his windshield with a sigh.
SWISH TO:
INT. HOSPITAL – DAY
A thirteen-year-old YOUNG JOHN CONNOR looks up at his gentle mother, SARAH, who is in bed hooked up with tubes running out from her nose. A tear falls down her cheek.
SARAH
If the war happens, John, remember who you are. You’re the future leader. You’re our only hope. Remember that.
YOUNG JOHN CONNOR
Please, I don’t want you to die!
SARAH
I won’t. Not until I see that day pass.
YOUNG JOHN CONNOR
I don’t want you to die at all!
SARAH
John, listen to me. I’ll always be with you. Your strength comes from your father. Your love comes from me. I am in you. Always have. Always will.
SWISH BACK TO:
INT. TRUCK – NIGHT
JOHN wipes away the tear trail on his cheek. As he goes around the bend, he sees fire, a small fire.
The light from the fire reflects off of several tents with people walking around to each one. The smoke wavers in the air from tent to tent. Some people cough around it.
KATE wakes up.
KATE
What’s this?
CONNOR
More survivors.
CUT TO:
EXT. CAMPSITE – NIGHT
The truck stops on the side of the road in front of the biggest tent in camp. JOHN and KATE get out of the truck and walk towards the huge, brown tent.
CUT TO:
INT. TENT – DIM
Bodies lay everywhere from dead people to people with only cuts on their bodies. KATE looks to her left to see an old woman holding an old man in her arms, she’s rocking him back and forth, sobbing over his shoulder. The old man’s eyes are closed.
JOHN looks to his right seeing a father holding his son’s hand. The boy looks to be eight-years-old.
CONNOR (V.O.)
Why I didn’t grow up with a dad is something I wish God Himself could tell me. Every person at least had a father type figure that existed. For me, whether mine did is still questionable. It’s that hole in my life that’s never been filled up, and I start to wonder if it will.
Both JOHN and KATE look forward, seeing a man sitting at a cheap, folded out desk, resting in a chair. He throws a bandage of blood on to the desk and puts his face into his hands.
They walk to him.
CONNOR
Are you the man in charge?
The man at the desk, having gray hair and dirtied, rough clothing, looks up slowly. The man’s name is RICK JAMESON. With a puff from his cigarette, he speaks softly.
JAMESON
Trying to be.
CONNOR
How many survivors have you found?
JAMESON
Why the fuck you want to know?
JOHN CONNOR shakes his head and he and KATE begin to turn around when JAMESON sighs.
JAMESON (cont’d)
I’m sorry; it’s just this whole thing. I’m really stressed out.
(BEAT)
Currently the count is 568. That’s not counting the deaths we’ve had today. We gathered everyone we could from Los Angeles. With as many doctors we could find, we had them try to give help to others. Their efforts were admired but not too affective, since more people needed to help them. Nearly half of the survivors are wounded. Most of the other half are dying. And there’s quite a few that barely have a scratch on their body.
(Sighs)
Shit if I know how all of this started. Who could have done this? Iraq? Russians?
CONNOR
That’s what we wanted to talk to you about. It’s something that will save us all. Promise me that you’ll keep an opened mind.
JAMESON
With the day being as long as it is, I think I COULD keep one.
JOHN looks around the area and then continues.
CONNOR
Several years ago something remarkable happened to me. Two machines were sent to kill me, both failed because I had a protector. I grew up most of my life knowing what was ahead for me and for everyone else.
JAMESON is blank.
CONNOR (cont’d)
These machines were created by SKYNET, a defense system that got the idea that we were the enemy. The we were the virus. They’re the ones that caused this nuclear fallout. They’re responsible for the lives of three billion lives lost.
JAMESON
I can keep an open mind – but this is fucking ridiculous. That’s right, son, three billion lives lost. And you telling us an unbelievable story such as that is disrespecting those who died from this tragedy. Get the fuck out of my tent. You deserve no rations here. Find your own way to survive.
CONNOR
You don’t understand. I’m providing you a way to survive. Follow me. Help me fight them off this planet.
JAMESON
I said get out of my tent.
KATE
Sir, you’ve got to believe him, in a matter of days you’ll all be dead because you didn’t act on the warning. These robots, they are programmed for killing people. Just people.
JAMESON
Find your own followers.
JAMESON takes out his BERRETA, pointing it at both of them.
JAMESON (cont’d)
I swear to God, if you step in here again I’ll personally kill you both. Maybe you need to act on my warning. None of these people want to hear about machines creating this war, neither do they want to hear who really started it. All they want to do is to survive. They want to move on.
KATE
They’ll be no way to survive if you don’t take your people and come with us.
JAMESON
(Cocking the pistol)
Appreciate your concern, but no thanks.
JOHN grabs KATE’S arm and drags her back.
CONNOR
It’s no use, let’s just go back. We can’t do anything for these people if the leader won’t let them.
KATE
John, he’s no leader. You are. You’re the only one that knows.
CONNOR
What do you want me to do Kate? Steal these people?
KATE
I don’t know.
From behind them, JAMESON puts his hands over his face. He starts to cry, heart wrenching. He grabs at his hair, pulling and pulling.
CUT TO:
EXT. CAMP – DAY
KATE, hanging out in the back of the truck bed, looks dehydrated as JOHN throws a water bottle in the back.
KATE
Where did you find it?
CONNOR
Around somewhere down the hill. Hasn’t been opened.
KATE nods and unscrews the cap. She takes a sip and passes it to JOHN.
CONNOR (cont’d)
No, thanks.
KATE
Don’t be ridiculous, drink it.
CONNOR (cont’d)
I’m not thirsty. I’m alert.
KATE
You need your strength.
CONNOR begins to agree and takes a swig.
From up ahead at the big tent, JAMESON takes a break and smokes into the night air, watching the smoke pass by the moon. From behind him, SGT. CARLOS stands by him.
CARLOS
That woman who came in the tent looked familiar.
JAMESON
Do you happen to know any fruit cakes?
CARLOS
What are you talking about.
JAMESON
I’m talking about hallucinogenic people. Those two over there at the truck were raving on about machines going to attack us for no apparent reason.
CARLOS
Wait a minute…
CARLOS runs up to KATE and JOHN and his eyes go bright.
CARLOS (cont’d)
Kate?
KATE gets excited.
KATE
Carlos!
They embrace each other.
CARLOS
I can’t believe you made it out alive.
KATE
I thought you were working with da –
She cuts herself off.
CARLOS
Did he not make it?
She shakes her head slowly from side to side.
CARLOS (cont’d)
I’m sorry, Kate.
CONNOR
You worked with Brewster?
CARLOS
Yes, four years.
CONNOR
Oh, my God, the Terminator told me this?
KATE
Told you what?
CONNOR
It’s happening. The prophesies are coming true. He said that you were the one that would make contact with the military. It would be Carlos who would start it up.
CARLOS
What are you talking about?
Kate, what’s this about machines?
KATE
Daddy’s project, Carlos.
CONNOR
CRS fucked up and now Skynet is in control of this whole world. The machines are set to destroy us all.
CARLOS
Skynet was supposed too… Oh, God, are you telling me they learned!
CONNOR
They already knew. I’m telling you they are going to kill us anytime now.
(To Kate)
They’re probably already building others.
Suddenly, the sounds of crickets stop chirping, and a horrible humming sound starts. From behind the mountains, two huge AERIAL T400 H-KS come into view over the moonlit sky. They’re a lot different from the smaller type we saw before the war. With a loud roar of engines, they come closer to the camp site with their reactor driven turbo fans.
CONNOR
Oh, God. The H-Ks are here!
KATE
H-Ks?
CARLOS
Hunter Killers… but how did you know that?
CONNOR
My mom told me about them, and I saw them in my nightmares. We all have to get out of here!
JAMESON, terrified, runs to JOHN and grabs his arm.
JAMESON
What do you want me to do?
CONNER
Gather as many as you can and follow us! Let’s go!
CUT TO:
EXT. CAMP – NIGHT
Through the camp, panic ensues, people running around hysterically, watching the inhumane H-Ks fly to them with their plasma cannons, which could not only perform various movements from left to right but almost any direction possible, making it hard to not get hit.
The first plasma tracer is fired, hitting a man running to his vehicle into his chest.
JOHN, KATE, and CARLOS are now at the TRUCK, JOHN points to CARLOS to go into the middle seat.
CONNOR
Be ready for this.
KATE jumps into the passenger side seat, while JOHN takes the driver’s side.
CUT TO:
INT. TRUCK – DAY
JOHN starts the vehicle’s engine up, but he can’t move much, people are in the way. Some vehicles have already taken off onto the freeway.
KATE
Come on, move!
CARLOS
Please, hurry. They’re very accurate.
CONNOR
I’m aware of that.
JOHN honks the horn. But a gap in the mayhem is suddenly revealed, and JOHN takes it with no hesitation.
CUT TO:
EXT. FREEWAY - NIGHT
The TRUCK gets on the freeway, passing an underpass. More cars follow behind it, closely.
CUT TO:
INT. TRUCK - NIGHT
KATE looks behind her seat to look out and she sees out the back window the H-Ks looming over the dozens of vehicles, blasting them with the plasma cannons. In seconds a few vehicles were destroyed and several lives lost.
KATE
Hurry, John!
CONNOR
I’m – on – it – Kate!
CUT TO:
EXT. FREEWAY – NIGHT
On another truck on the freeway in the back of the lines of cars, one person crawls out onto the truck bed, with his rifle in his hands and point it up on the leading H-K coming towards him. He fires two shots at it, but it was like he already knew what was coming and the plasma streak hit directly in him, going into the truck too. The truck topples over on its side and explodes on the asphalt.
CUT TO:
INT. TRUCK – DAY
JOHN swerves; the side of the metal skidding across the concrete blocks.
CONNOR
Is there anyway we could put one of these down.
CARLOS
The A4 H-Ks were assembled with a semi-autonomous combat unit, which is self controlled by a battery of four microprocessors. If you could shoot it and get passed the honeycombed/blown enduralloy, you’ll have a chance. The armor is made of hyperalloy and with able to withstain small arms fire. Of course, you’ll need something like a bazooka, or a plasma-type cannon to get through it. But we had just started on those, only a couple of prototypes were made.
KATE
Shut the chit chat up - two of those things are getting closer to us.
JOHN checks the rearview mirror and witnesses the closest H-K, maybe three hundred yards away, fire at the vehicle in back of them.
CUT TO:
EXT. FREEWAY – NIGHT
The vehicle in back of them is hit, but not bad. In reaction to the fire, the car accelerates its speed and nudges the rear side of JOHN’S TRUCK.
Skidding across the asphalt, the TRUCK is suddenly pushed to where its side is hit by the vehicle. The TRUCK is hit and the side tilts over onto the street, sparks flying. The two vehicles keep moving and crashing.
Then, it comes to a complete stop; JOHN, KATE, and CARLOS desperately try to crawl out of the twisted metal, but they struggle.
Finally, they make it out, and they realize… they aren’t on the freeway anymore.
CUT TO:
EXT. BEVERLLY HILLS - STREET – NIGHT
CARLOS points over at the lonely sewer lid. Part of it is unearthed from the street, so they run to it, JOHN lifting it up.
CONNOR
Go, I’ll catch up with you guys.
KATE
Hurry back!
CARLOS
Thanks.
KATE and CARLOS disappear into the dark hole. JOHN looks behind him, seeing the H-Ks picking off the humans panicking out from their cars.
JOHN swiftly rounds up some people and shows them to the sewer. The people follow his directions and within seconds, JOHN had already thirty people going down to the underground hideout.
Helping the last person he could find into the hole, JOHN glances up with relief, seeing the H-Ks going around to other vehicles, not noticing them yet.
He sets into the hole, and with one single push, slides the lid over into its place.
9/29/2003 11:32:30 PM
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