3am (pst), deserted in a terrible forum

[dragonflynz]

The bullets blew the Terminator's head into two tidy halves.

As the liquid-metal started to seal back together, I suddenly decided to start writing in first person.

[Chris Wesley]

Chris hadn't posted in a while. he looked around at the strange gathering of people in... where were they? he needed to go back and read the posts thoroughly.

He pulled his desert eagle out of the holster, and fired a few shots at the terminator, hoping to divert it's attention long enough for something interesting to happen.

[danielwoodfield]

"wow" I said. It was quite liberating to speek in third person. I could get to like this. Not to be outdone by Chris, I whipped out a M4A2 carbine and fired a barrage of shots at the terminator, yelling "A checked shirt? you should be ashamed"

[dragonflynz]

Does no-one care about William? Do you think he doesn't matter?

[arcticgal]

William is very interesting. But what I find fascinating is that william, too, was at the Mc Donalds in question.

He was having a 20 pack of chicken nuggets and a strawberry thickshake with his friends.

It was after the first show rehersal. And his last. Today they had discovered that while Ms. Lewinski looked nice, she was really just a tool of the devil. And she had said that there woudl be practices during the holidays. So half of the cast had said " Uh- nuh!" and quit.

They were down the other end of the McDonalds, though, and were the good kind of children who, when they heard a fight, realised that their being there would only make the matter worse. So they stayed in their booth, and ate their food.

So really, I guess that the problem is that William isn't very central to the storyline. Otherwise there woudl be plenty to say.

And the monster thing is much more interesting. Although, I must say that you are all being very mean; it is probably just misunderstood, or has an evil master who has trained it to be cruel. It probably isn't its fault.

[dragonflynz]

Which monster, sorry? the terminator?

The terminator was patiently being shot to pieces, well aware if it's enemies were not that you never kill evil robots with conventional weapons. And don't try pulling out ray-guns either.. the only way to kill unstoppable robots is by cleverly utilizing some piece of architecture, like a lava-pit.

"I want the boy." said the machine, taking the form of a middle-aged man with a brown beard and a suit and tie.
"Give me the boy and I'll leave you alone."

anyway, just because William isn't doing the show doesn't mean he can't be important in the story. Not _everyone_ who matters does it. Maybe William heard the killer terminator's comment, and said to his friends, hurridly, "I have to go."

They frankly wondered why he hadn't said this when he first heard the gunshots and the excess bullets when tearing through the building. But not ones to waste time in idle contemplation, they ran with their friend out the back door (the one past the playground) and hoped they wouldn't be spotted.

[arcticgal]

Unfortunately, a group of marauding teenage boys are not inconspicous, and a little old lady (martha, widow, 3 children, 2 grandchildren)noticed them. She was at the end of the queue and could see the booths to the side.

" The on you want just left!" she cried; it appears that Martha, though old and decrepid, still enjoyed life, and wanted to live to see Susans (youngest grandchild) 5th birthday.

Lava pits dont often turn up in McDonalds's. Perhaps a hot fat vat would be good. they are quite hot, too. Perhaps the terminator could be allergic to the vinegar in the Mc Donalds ketchup.

I don't know, but we need to find a way to defeat this evil bastard before he gets William.

(and quitting the show makes William even more worth studying. He dared defy Them)

[dragonflynz]

The terminator turned to see where Martha was gesturing. Secretly it was pleased to have an excuse to leave the gunfight without killing anyone or looking like a coward. Killing did all sorts of awful things to the future, and running away from fights did nothing for the Terminator license.

It turned to the back exit, but after a moment of artificial thought it instead ran towards the playground door. Shards of glass exploded outwards as the machine ran through the doorway, and began towards the perimeter fence, hoping to cut off William's escape.

Defying 'Them' is an action in no way worthy of interest. It is a compulsive habit of young people, who haven't figured out yet that life is a do-it-yourself thing. We, the readers, can find solace (if that's a word) in the fact that William's appearance at the show had to be somehow important, as opening scenes always are, and it will somehow come up later in the story if the sexy teacher doesn't.

Though perhaps we should leave the foreshadowing to sort itself out, and focus on the action.

William ran.

[dragonflynz]

Ok, perhaps the show wasn't for him. But the simple truth is, William has no idea whether it is or not - he only quit because they were having practises in the holidays. Not that he had anything to do, not that he was going camping, not that his polytech course ran through the rehearsal days - he was simply a moronic teenager doing the pathetic things that those idiots do before they get sense forced upon them.

But we should not dwell on William's youth and stupidity. That was a period in his life that was coming to a close, and as the terminator drew nearer even William himself was suspecting that he would never make any more decisions as stupid as the ones he'd made past.

The terminator was approaching from the distance. It had the same form, with the checkered shirt, but its left hand was steadily melting into something like a corkscrew. Pedestrains screamed and ran. William's friends were somewhere out of sight. He looked around, but there was nothing to protect him except some parked cars and a FrontLine Youth Group calender printed on green A4 card that someone had dropped in a gutter and stamped on.

Just as William was looking down at the crumpled card, a blue glow engulfed the air beside him. He heard a voice: "You're wrong."

"What?" Something in William's feet stopped him from fleeing.

"You're wrong," repeated the voice and a figure emerged as if from a brightly lit tunnel.
"about the mistakes."
When the glow faded William saw that the man was completely naked, and the boy started to glance around to make sure no-one saw him with the wierdo until his eyes fixed on the thing from McDonalds.

"What do you want?" Will asked quickly.
"Nothing, kid, get out of here. Find the lady on this card - I'll try to hold up the T-2000 for a minute." Pressing an ordinary business card into his hand, the stranger pushed William away. He was only happy to run.

The man begain to yell something else, but let the sound fade in his throat. Youngsters, he knew, didn't like advice.

[arcticgal]

Of course life is a do it yourself thing. But I think that William decided that doing the show just wasn't himself. Just because he is a teenager it doesn't mean that he was being rebellious. Perhaps he is a rather mature teenager, and is trying to find himself, rather than follow the crowd (although that in itself is a typically teenage thing, anyway.)

William was running as fast as he could. Which wasn't very fast, because he was one of those people who doesn't practice much. At least he wasn't wearing a skirt, though. According to Dad, if you are trying to run away from something, you should either hitch up your skirt, take it off, or be prepared to be gored by the raging bull that is chasing you. He was wearing skatie pants though, so he had to have one hand holding his pants up while he ran. This reduced his speed even more.

He was confronted with a choice; take a whole-hearted effort at escaping, and run down Bank Street in his boxers, or be caught. Being an image conscious tenager, he chose the latter. He would rather die and face the terminator than be seen running in his boxers, showing his skinny white legs to the world. (sorry; I assume he is pakeha.)

He stopped running- just after he had made it through the round about , in fact. Show down in Laurie Hall Car Park.

He was armed with many things; but only two were going to save his life, if anything could.

He had a bad attitude. And he had an innate belief that, being a teenager, it was impossible for him to die.

Ten feet tall and bullet proof, was he at that moment. The terminator was nothing.