Behind the Terminator, Patrick's companion—the stocky man with broad shoulders and an inscrutable face—began to move. He walked to the side of the room with an almost comical naturalness, as if he were looking for a cigarette or an old thermos. He put his hand inside his coat with a slow, measured gesture. Danna, crouching in her experience, felt something decompose in the environment. His instinct whispered inside him, a primal call. Without saying anything, he moved his hand to the handle of his pistol. He did it without abruptness, with the grace of someone who has been in too many ambushes not to recognize one. Then, the T-800 turned back on. A quick blink, a low hum of power, and the machine opened its eyes. He didn't say anything. He didn't move. He just came back to the present. Danna breathed a sigh of relief. Patrick's program had worked.

"The Resistance," Patrick said suddenly, with icy calm, "is breaking up." Splitting into multiple factions. Not everyone agrees with John's methods. I... lead one of those factions.

Krueger looked at him suspiciously, barely turning his face from the bench where he was still checking the connected terminal, linked his portable screen to a CPU tower and logged in, performing a quick check of the machine and downloading a series of files and encrypted memory. 

"We're reactivating the exterminators," Patrick continued. "Rescheduling them." Putting them at the service of a new order. You have done a great job. They found just what I needed. And they gave it to me, Danna turned to look at him coldly, but when she did, Patrick smiled at her with a malevolent expression. 

Outside, Kevin and Frank were attentive to everything that could come from anywhere, they were worried about the groups of carrion, although at this point it seemed strange that they had not appeared there all day, even if they knew that this hidden Skynet base was still operating in the shadows, the dust rose into the air after receiving a gust of wind, and then a silhouette appeared between the curtain of earth, at that moment, Frank sent his hand to the handle of his Desert Eagle, but the silhouette It took the form of a small animal, it was Max. Running at full speed towards them. The boy smiled happily and knelt down to pet his friend but he did not pay him the slightest attention, he ran straight to the room where Danna and company were operating, once there the canine stared at Patrick's companion and began to bark furiously, but not before showing that he was nervous about his presence, because he stood to one side of the entrance, avoiding direct visual contact with the man. 

That guy put his right hand inside his clothes and took a gun out of his coat. The shot was immediate, a sharp explosion, straight into Krueger's chest. The old man fell backwards without uttering a single scream, just a sigh, as if the air was escaping him along with his life. The blood soaked through his shirt in seconds, but he continued doing his thing, typing on the screen in his hands. Then there was another shot that destroyed his shoulder, his arm fell wounded to the side of his legs, without being able to move it at will, he began to cough and spit blood as his life slowly faded away. Danna reacted, he took out his gun and fired, three, four times. All the bullets hit, but the enemy did not fall. Instead, its skin tore away, revealing a silver metallic structure underneath. A T-800. Other.

-Shit! —he murmured, turning on his heel, and ran. The shots followed her, one, two, three hits. Each one felt like a hammer blow to the body. But she didn't stop. His only obsession was to reach the door. He was bleeding from his mouth and abdomen, dragging his weight among debris and disconnected cables. And just as he reached the threshold, with his life hanging by a thin thread, he shouted:

—IT'S AN AMBUSH! RUNNNNN!

Two more shots pierced her. His body shook one last time, and then he fell heavily onto the rusted frame of the hatch, leaving behind a line of blood as red as any human's, as real as the price of trust. Danna collapsed like a severed puppet, without strength, without air. Her body was left lying between the frame and the dust, blood darkening the sand beneath her like spilled ink on a cursed parchment. There was no last breath, no final look, just the thud of her fall and the cruel silence that followed. Behind, Patrick's companion was already moving. He advanced with a firm and aggressive step, his eyes injected with red behind his human façade. He didn't scream. He didn't call. I was just hunting. He saw the silhouettes of Kevin and Frank sneaking down a side hallway and without wasting a second he raised his weapon, unleashing a burst of shots but without effect, he emptied his magazine and crouched down next to Danna to pick up a full pistol magazine from his pockets, he inserted it into his weapon and pulled the slide back, he continued his hunt. A new burst bounced off the metal walls like a multiplied lightning bolt, trying to hit the flea who ran after his owner. But the shots again missed. Kevin and Frank turned a corner at full speed, breathless with fear. The T-800 changed the magazine in a single fluid, almost graceful motion, and continued after them with the perseverance of a machine designed to never give up.

-Here! —Frank shouted, pulling the boy by the arm.

Kevin could barely keep up. His body was weak. Hunger cut his legs and the pain accumulated in his back like lead. But he wasn't going to stop. Not now. Not with Danna dead.

They ran through warped hallways and passed under collapsed arches. Then, as if chance wanted to grant them one last chance, they stumbled upon an opening in the wall—an emergency hatch partially covered by dry sand—and slid through it. On the other side, a forgotten hangar, buried under years of dust and secrecy, opened like a mechanical cathedral. Turrets turned off, vehicles dismantled, boxes sealed with the Skynet symbol and, in the background, a row of terminals still lit, like surviving lighthouses in a sea of ​​ruins.

The T-800 burst through the opening seconds later. His figure filled the threshold like a sentence. Shot. The echo roared throughout the hangar. A gust passed them so close that the air became sharp. Kevin stumbled, but Frank picked him up without hesitation. She pushed him toward a broken mechanical elevator, which still offered an upward route to a catwalk. The boy held on as best he could, but his hands were shaking. His body refused to continue. 

—Come on, Kevin! Come up, damn it! Frank bellowed.

—I try but... My legs don't respond, they hurt 

—Damn! Move!

The boy growled, growled like a wounded animal. And he went up.

Behind, the T-800 advanced. He was no longer shooting because he used up all the available ammunition in his pistol. Frank and Kevin sneaked through a collapsed vent, then a hatch, then a descending ladder. The entire complex seemed built like a metal womb, oppressive, labyrinthine. Until they reached a circular room.

There, in the center, was she—The Machine— At the heart of a dimly lit chamber, stands an imposing cylindrical structure with an almost supernatural presence. Its surface, etched with intricate ribbed patterns, emits a faint glow under ambient light, evoking a sense of ancient technology fused with futuristic design. At its center, a massive circular portal hums with energy, its edges adorned with glowing metallic components that pulse with a soft blue luminescence. A beam of brilliant light erupts from the core of the portal, casting an ethereal glow over the scene. Before Kevin's eyes, it looked massive, black, covered in symbols that were neither human nor military. The Temporal Displacement Device. Cables thick as snakes emerged from its base, disappearing along the floor and walls. It was off. But even so, she felt alive. Like a sleeping heart about to beat for the first time in centuries.

Kevin gasped. Not because of the effort. But for certainty. That... that shouldn't exist.

"Frank..." he whispered, swallowing dust. Is that...?

"Yes," he said, without looking away. It is. DDT. Temporal Displacement Device. They say Skynet built it to escape its own death.

—And why is he here?

Frank swallowed. His finger tremblingly pointed at the machine's command panel, covered in a thin layer of dust... and fresh fingerprints.

—Because someone has already used it.

A dark, firm structure, almost organic in its solidity, stood in the center of the room like a sealed heart, its surface covered in a patina of dust barely broken by recent footprints. It had no buttons or switches. Just smooth, living panels, like metal skin that responded to touch. Frank didn't know it, but he sensed it. Skynet was not built for humans. He never did. The energy in the room was low, but sufficient. That's why DDT kept breathing, asleep, waiting for the right stimulus. Kevin could barely stand. His body was a map of fresh scars, hunger, fear and loss, but in his eyes there was something stronger than fatigue. The same thing that made the dog follow him into that steel abyss.

Frank, seeing that the structure had no manual interface, slammed his fist into one of the panels. To his surprise, a screen lit up, not clearly, but like a distant reflection: routes. Codes. Dates. Tables. Names of universes, maybe timelines. Next to it, a figure: “300 T-600 / 280 T-800 / 50 T-1000 / 1,300 T-900”. They had all been sent.

“Damn…” Frank muttered, turning his gaze to Kevin. Child, you have to survive. At all costs.

Kevin looked at him without answering. He had no words left. Just the raw sadness on his dirty face. Then, the metallic roar of the T-800 burst into the room like a hammer. The machine entered without haste, its gaze fixed on Kevin. He walked towards the boy but Frank shot from a high angle, forcing him to deflect from the force of the impact. The boy fled, climbing up the structure to a circular steel bed near the roof. His breathing was a tear, but he didn't stop.

And then, the bark.

The echo was pure, dry, real. A cut in tension. Kevin peeked out. It was his dog. That old shepherd with grayish fur who had followed him through the wilderness, the same one who had smelled the truth before men. He had found his way there, alone, through the chaos and collapsed tunnels. Kevin descended with his heart pounding. His body, exhausted, reacted reflexively, as if the reunion with that animal broke all the chains of fatigue. He called him. Frank took advantage of the moment and disappeared between corridors. He knew what he was looking for. He found another console. An integrated data terminal. And there, between lines of flashing commands, a pulsating screen appeared waiting to be used, a hunch forced this man to touch the screen, which immediately made an access sound. First there was a noise of static and then Krueguer's voice appeared. —Well, you have allowed remote access to the machine, I don't have much time left so you must make sure to stop the exterminator long enough… Have a good trip dear friend… —

A dull vibration ran through the room. The walls shook, the lights wavered, and bluish energy came from the ground, like roots upside down. The T-800 turned, but Frank lured it away from Kevin with shouts and gunfire. The boy didn't know if it was strategy or sacrifice. He just ran. He climbed again, this time higher. I knew I had to be in the center. He knew that if this thing worked, his place was there. The dog followed him, panting, tongue lolling, eyes fixed on him. Already at the top of the cylinder, a mechanical arc began to rotate, progressively increasing its speed, by then the boy and his beloved dog would already be in the center of the structure.  The ring lit up. And the energy became visible around him. Fragments of his clothing began to vibrate, to degrade, as if they were leaves burning without fire. Kevin stripped himself of them, tossing her aside, leaving him alone with her skin, her trembling body, and her naked will. He clung to the platform, while the energy enveloped him, poor Max groaned in fear as he looked with a sad look at Frank who was on the other side, in an isolated room, with glass walls. 

When the boy looked up, Patrick's exterminator was right in front of his partner Frank, the man had only three bullets in his magazine, he spent the first one aiming directly at the machine's head, but it was useless, he couldn't hit it. The next shot was aimed at the center of the assassin, right where his energy cells could be, but in a brief moment he put his arm in the way and the shot devoured his flesh with more than brutal force, the impact caused the circuits in his limb to go out of control, causing him to not be able to use that arm again. He walked quickly towards Frank to close the distance, receiving one last bullet impact in his chest, which opened a hole but did not stop him, the T-800 sent with his useful hand a blow that tore the Desert Eagle from the man's hands and a next blow sent him away with his chest broken, Frank began to slowly choke on his blood, in a last effort he raised his gaze above the glass panel and observed that the boy was being enveloped by a sphere of light and energy. He smiled in relief. 

Krueguer again used the communicator between the control panels one last time. —The… Gu-war. Cough! Cough!—he coughed as he slowly died. A voice, Patrick's, approached the intercom - I am the war, I am the beginning of a new order and a new world -

BAM. A dry and soulless rifle shot penetrated the communication microphone without permission. 

Frank heard how his friend's life, on the other side of the complex, was finally taken from him, and his own would soon suffer the same fate. Only one thing allowed him to perpetuate his smile, something he had done well, only one thing, in his entire history. Save a life, Kevin's, or two. If the dog counts, he wondered. —Wherever you go, boy, keep fighting with that same fury that is born inside you. Bye bye.
 
The device roared like an engine from hell. Consuming every last drop of energy in the complex. Everything went dark around. Everything, except the two centers of life within the electromagnetic sphere, the dog and the boy floated slightly as they were engulfed by the light, the machine increased its speed of rotation until its metallic arc was almost imperceptible, until finally, the sphere of energy disappeared, taking with it Kevin and his dog towards an uncertain place unknown to both.

This is a one-shot prologue for beta readers (part 3)