FADE IN:

EXT. EARTH IN ORBIT

'rhe blue, glowing jewel of Earth, rotating slowly in the

velvet-black of space. Stars pinpricks of light.

MAN (V.O.)
This was Earth in the late 20th
century. Green and blue and teeming
with life. Advances in science and
technology changed our lives.
From so far away, we can still make out weather systems,
swirling, wreathing oceans like drifts of gossamer.
MAN (V.O.)
One of those advances was a
military computer program that was
supposed to make us all safer.
Take out the human error. It was
put .in charge of all U.S. defenses
every bomb, every drone. That
program was called Skynet.

Continents are beautiful stretches of vibrant green, abutting

the vast expanses of deep, lustrous blue oceans.

MAN (V.O.)
But Skynet woke up. Became self-
aware. A machine that could think
for itself. A new form of life.

Suddenly, a WHITE STREAK OF SMOKE races across the surface of

the Earth, curving beetween continents, IMPACTING with a flash
of bright explosive light--

MAN(V.O.)
It decided humanity was a threat to
its existence.

Another streak of smoke-- and another-- another--

MAN (V.O.)
Skynet used our own bombs against
us.
Proliferating exponentially, arcs of smoke crisscross all
over the globe, A tracery of massive destruction, all the
more horrifying for the absolute silence of space around it.

MAN(V.O.)
Wiped out billions j_n 24 hours.
 K/L 7.17.13 2.

And with every flash of impact, burning horrible expanses of

brown start to spread, wider and wider, swallowing everything
green and blue and turning the world to flames and ash.
MAN (V.O.)
The survivors called the nuc.Lear
holocaust "Judgement Day."

We're looking at a NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST as it happens, Before

our eyes, the Earth is covered in a web of flame and
destruction.
MAN (V.O.)
But it was just the beginning.

EXT. L.A. CITY - DOWNTOWN RUINS - NIGHT

A ragged, bleak landscape-- downtown Los Angeles skyline

shattered into spiked, broken ruins.
SUPERIMPOSE: LOS ANGELES, 2029

Lightning FORKS over the skeleton of the city, the sky metal-
grey with ash, the sun a blood red smear through the haze.

MAN
Skynet created an army of m~chines
to be .its soldiersf to hunt down
the humans who survived.

Skim along ·the destruction -- flashes of energy weapons, the

hard sound of gunfire, as we find--

RAGTAG GUERILLAS fighting against VARIOUS MACHINES:

AERIAL HUNTER-KILLERS fly overhead, lights sweeping over

piles of bones and skulls, plasma cannons blasting at the
humans scurrying through the ruins,

SPIDER TANKS scrabble through wreckage, gun pods with plasma

cannons mounted on four jointed "legs."

One tank trips an IED, one of its legs is blown out and it
topples. Guerillas fire on the fallen tank from cover,
blasting at it until it explodes.

We move through the battle to see A SURVIVOR, wrapped in the

rags, crawling through wreckage. He looks wounded.

A GUERILLA VEHICLE, modified pickup with a machine gun

mounted on the back, screeches up to the Survivor. A MEDIC
reaches down to help him into the back of the truck--
 7. 17 .13 3.

MAN (CONT'D)
The worst were infi.1 tration uni ts.
-- and the Survivor grabs the Medic, snapping his neck.

MAN (CONT'D)
We called them terminators.
Survivor/Terminator vaults into the truck, starts killing the
Guerilla team with their own weapons and his bare hands.
(Note: although he is powerfully built, he is not Arnold,
there are other terminator models.)
MAN (CONT'D)
Killing machines, made to look like
human beings.

One Guerilla FIRES at the Terminator, emptying a clip at him--

Bullets TEAR OFF the skin on Terminator I s face and chest,
partially revealing the CHROME SKELETON beneath.

Terminator keeps coming-- the gun clicks empty-- he SNAPS the

Guerilla's neck. His blank expression never changing,

INT. UNDERGROUND BUNKER - NIGHT

An underground bunker. A TOPO BATTLE MAP pinned to a table,

MAN (V.O.)
The war against the machines was
led by one man.

GUERILLA SOLDIERS (among them Crndrs. KEKOA, PERRY,

MIDDERLAND} battle-worn and hardened, gathered around the
map. Eyes on the MAN at the head of the table, giving orders:
MAN (V.O.)
His name is John Connor.
JOHN CONNOR, 45, left side of his face scarred, a hardened,
commanding man forged in the fire of war,
MAN (V.O.)
When ,Judgement Day happened, he was
ready. We were refugees, being
systematically exterminated. He
rescued prisoners from the camps,
taught them how to fight. unified
t:he last fragments of humanity, and
forged us into an army.
 K/L 7.17.13 4.

ANGLE ON THE LISTENING GUERILLAS. Loyalty in their faces,

and something like awe. Maybe even a little fear. To them,
he is more than human. They are standing before a legend.
MAN (V.O.)
People whisper about him. Wonder
how he can know the things he does.
He understands Skynet, anticipates
its moves. Stays one step ahead.
They use words like prophet. All I
know is, he's saved the human race
from extinction.
Among the Guerillas, find ONE SOLDIER-- 20's, face far older
than his years. A lifetime of combat, a childhood stolen
long ago by endless war, KYLE REESE,
REESE (V ,0,)
I'm Tech-Com Sgt. Kyle Reese. John
Connor is my commanding officer.
And my friend.

JOHN
(points to the map)
access points here, and here.

KEKOA
(a little doubtful)
Sir, we haven't been able to
confirm strategic value.

As they continue speaking, we INTERCUT WITH:

EXT. DISPOSAL CAMP - NIGHT

A SPRAWLING DISPOSAL CAMP, chain link topped with coiled

razorwire, holding in a filthy hive of HUMAN MISERY.

KEKOA (V,O.)
It looks like just another disposal
camp,
SURVIVORS, listless and emaciated, crouch in cratered
asphalt. Eyes hollow, numb. Devoid of hope,

JOHN (V,0,)
It's not.
 K/L 7.17.13 5.

The camp is patrolled by CHROME SKELETONS, primal Death

figures made of hydraulic actuators beneath metal hyperalloy
"bones." These are T-800 ENDOSKELETONS, the silvery combat
chassis we glimpsed when we saw the Survivor/Terminator's
flesh shot off. They carry massive pulse rifles, their eyes
burn red, like glowing coals beneath glass.
JOHN (V,O.)
Skynet would never waste so much
firepower defending incinerators.
AERIAL HK' S touch down atop A SUPPORT HANGAR-·- a rnul ti tiered
repair and supply depot (think barracks for machines,)
JOHN (V ,0.)
Our target is the support hangar.
It's not just for supp.ly and
repair.
The HK's lower into the hangar-- armored roof doors grind
shut over them, Tilt down to OPENING BULKHEAD DOORS at
ground level. SPIDER,TANKS exit to guard the perimeter.

POV ONE ENDOSKELETON, showing the HUD-like readouts it sees--

scrolling data and information down both sides, constantly
running a threat assessment of the huddling survivors; 0%.

INT. UNDERGROUND BONKER - NIGHT

JOHN
It's camouflage.

MIDDERLAND
For what, Hlr?

JOHN
The hangar is the entry point to a
subterranean complex. When they
realize they're under attack, the
machines will try to lock it down.
We must get inside before they do.
LT. GOMEZ enters the room. Wearing a slim combat headset,
chatter in his ear. Reporting to John;
GOMEZ
Colorado units are in position at
Cheyenne Mountain, sir, We're
ready for the final assault.

The Guerillcl.S glance at each other, This is it.

 K/L 7.17.13 6.

JOHN
Give the order to deploy at 0200,
Lt. Gomez.
GOMEZ
Sir.
Reese can't help himself, breaks in:
REESE
Sir. Respectfully request to join
the Colorado offensive,
JOHN
Request denied.
REESE
That's where Skynet 1 s central
processor .is---

JOHN
And what's under this camp is just
as important. Maybe more,
Skynet's built a weapon and hidden
it underground. Getting that
weapon is a strategic imperative.
Tech-Com Reese, do you trust me?

REESE
To the ends of the earth, sir.

JOHN
Good. Cause we're going a hell of
a lot further than that.

INT. UNDERGROUND CHAMBER - NIGHT

A massive underground space, what was once part of the L.A.

Metro. John stands in front of a sea of assembled Guerillas.

JOHN
Skynet slaughtered us by the
billions. Destroyed our nations,
our homes, our civilization. Took
our planet from us.

PANNING OVER THE GUERILLAS: their weapons, gear and clothes

haphazard, but they are fierce as wild animals. Warriors who
are the last of their race, with nothing left to lose.
 K/L 7.17.13 7.

JOHN (CONT'D)
This is the end of our fight. Win
or lose, our future is decided
here. Tonight. We are the last of
humanity. We have not bowed down.
We have not given in. Come with
me, and together, we are going to
take back this world!

A ROAR LIKE THUNDER from the Guerillas, REESE among them.

Guns brandished defiantly in the air, shouting their loyalty .
.J:Qhn Connor is their.messiah.

CUT TO:

EXT. DISPOSAL CAMP - NIGHT

MOUNDS OF BONES AND SKULLS at the base of a chainlink fence.

A MANGE--COVERED RAT scavenges the remains, when--

THHHRRACCKKK! The Rat is VAPORIZED by a barrage of ENERGY

PULSES from above. PAN UP to reveal--

AUTOMATED SWIVEL-MOUNTED TURRET GUNS perched at the corners

of the fences-- they whip around and fire at the slightest
movement approaching the camp.

AT THE GATE: a 'TRUCK pulls up, converted military troop

transport, canvas top. An ENDOSKELETON behind the wheel.
Thick double tires roll over skulls like an ATV offroading
over shells on a beach, crushing them to pale fragments.
The gates swing open, A GUARD ENDOSKELETON scans the truck,
looking over the Endoskeletoni driving-- then stands aside.
The truck pulls in, massive gates sliding shut behind it,

ANGLE ON THE BACK OF THE TRUCK, as the tarp is whipped back--

revealing HUMAN PRISONERS.

GUARD ENDOSKELETONS force them out at rifle-point-- including

CHILDREN, faces streaked with dirt and tears.

ANGLE ON THE SUPPLY HANGAR, in the center of the camp. A

patrol ot Endoskeletons emerge through the bulkhead doors.

Next to the Hangar, Endoskeletons herd a small group of

Prisoners toward a series of HOLDING PENS, metal-walled
chutes that get narrower and narrower as the humans are
J:riven in small groups toward--
A MASSIVE INCINERATOR UNIT, spewing constant black smoke.
 K/L 7.17.13 8.

A MOTHER AND TWO YOUNG BOYS stumble forward. Ahead of them,

ANOTHER PRISONER suddenly BOLTS for freedom--
AN ENDOSKELETON shoots the Man down-- he SPRAWLS to the
ground, his chest nothing but a glowing hole,

ANGLE ON THE DEAD MAN'S OPEN EYES as the Prisoners shuffle

forward, stepping over him, careful not to look down.

POV THE MOTHER, craning to try and make out what's ahead.
She can see only GLIMPSES through the crowd--

A THICK STEEL BULKHEAD that forms the door to the incinerator

slides OPEN CLANNG! ! Two Endoskeletons FORCE Prisoners from
into the filthy, blackened box 1 packing them tight.
WHITE-HOT FIRE blasts into the killing box-- faster than the
humans can scream, the bulkhead SLAMS CHLUNNKK! Their
terrified expressions linger like an afterimage burned into
our eyes, as heat BLASTS outward--

-- and the bulkhead CLANGS open, revealing the Prisoners

FROZEN, each face a rictus of agony--. made entirely of ASH,

The floor DROPS OPENS, the ash figures COLLAPSE like falling
sand, pouring out of sight down a waste chute-- and the
Endoskeletons SHOVE .another group inside.

ON THE MOTHER, pulling her boys close, terrified. Only

minutes until they will be at the front of the line.

AT THE ENTRANCE GATE-- ANOTHER TRUCK OF PRISONERS pulls up.

THE GUARD ENDOSKELETON at the gate peers inside' eyes
sweeping over the DRIVER ENDOSKELETON--
POV GUARD ENDOSKELETON, raking over th? Driver, which faces
straight ahead-- and suddenly the Terminator-vision FOCUSES
DOWN on the Driver's EYES, which are not glowing.
UNIT NONFUNCTIONAL begins to flash--

THE GUARD ENDOSKELETON suddenly raises .its battle rifle--

IN THE rRUCK, crouched behind the Driver Endoskeleton, PERRY
operates a crude remote, wired to the Driver Endoskeleton,
metal spine torn open where the power: _yell has been remoY..§.9.
PERRY
We're made! Go go go!! IJ

THE GUARD ENDOSKELETON opens fire, as PERRY throws himself

backwards, FIRING a pulse rifle as he hits the floor--
 K/L 7.17.13 9.

THE GUARD ENDOSKELETON is punched backwards, gun arm

destroyed, shredded metal and sparking wires as it sprawls--
FAST PAN ALONG THE FLOOR IN THE BACK OF THE 'rRUCK as the
"Prisoners" rip up the flooring, exposing WEAPONS, grabbing
up rifles, grenades, RPGs--
ANGLE OUTSIDE THE TRUCK as the tarp is ripped away and FOUR
GUERILLAS stand, simultaneously firing RPGs up at the turret
guns. STINGER MISSILES blaze trails of smoke--

ANGLE HIGH OVERHEAD, to see all 4 turrets EXPLODE!

~MOTHER AND BOYS react to the thundering GUNFIRE,

EXPLOSIONS lighting the sky over the chute walls.

BOY
It's him. I know it. It's John
ConnorJ
John's name races like fire down the rows of Prisoners.

AERIAL OUTSIDE THE CAMP-- 'HELICOPTERS roar into frame, A

ragtag mix of Hueys, ·Blackhawks, and two battered Apaches,
let loose hellfire at the camp's defenses. Below--

MULTlPLE GUERILLA VEHICLES break from the cover of wreckage

and CONVERGE on the fences from every side.

INT./EXT. BLACKHAWK IN FLIGHT - CONTINUOUS

Reese pilots, A COMMANDO TEAM behind him, led by JOHN, who

hefts his modified assault rifle with a twisted bayonet. Its
blade crackles with blue plasrnq.

JOHN
{into rnic)
The hangar! Take the hangar.

EXT. DISPOSAL CAMP - CONTINUOUS ,

ON THE TRUCK, the Guerillas leap out for the ground attack,
PERRY stays to man the plasma gun bolted to the flatbed as--

IN THE CAB, KE!\OA kicks the dead Endoskeleton out, takes the
drjver's seat. GUNS IT toward the Hangar.

GUERILLAS leap out of the moving vehicles to go brutal hand-

to-hand with the Guard Endoskeletons, using the PLASMA
BAYONETS when they're close enough to cut into the machines.
 K/L 7.17.13 10.

AERIAL HKs strafe from the sky, ONE HK is shot down by a

Gunner, ANOTHER HK fires plasma blasts at the vehicles--

SPIDER TANKS race from the Hangar, metal legs tearing into
the ground, mowing down Guerillas. Behind the spider tanks,
the thick BULKHEAD DOORS begin to close, sealing the Hangar,
MISSILES and PLASMA cannon unleash from the Resistance
helicopters, strafing Spider Tanks and terminators.

INT./EXT. LEAD BLACKHAWK IN FLIGHT - CONTINUOUS

Reese evades an HK, swooping to avoid blasts of energy fire.

REESE
We 1 re not going to make it~-

JOHN
(points)
Yes we are!

Below them, the ROOF HANGAR DOORS grind open.. Three more HK
DRONES li.ft off to join the battle.

REESE dives, skimming low over the fighting, jinking wildly

to avoid fire, then pulls up 1 barreling for the closing roof
hangar doors. GUNFIRE from Endoskeletons below--

JOHN (CONT'D)
(to the commandos)
Prepare to deploy!

'!'HE BLACKHAWK plummets down-- crashes through the closing

hangar doors, rotors CLIPPING the edges and SHEARING off!

REESE
Hard l_anding. Hang on!

The Blackhawk SLAMS into the HK hangar deck, SLIDING as it

lists to one side, skidding sparks and fire.

CHAOS inside the chopper, Commandos holding on for dear life--

THE BLACKHAWK finally grinds to a halt on its side, a smoking

wreck. Fire ERUPTS near the cockpit.

INT. BLACKHAWK COCKPIT- CONTINUOUS

Reese hangs sideways, still strapped in. POV REESE: through

the smoke, HULKING SHAPES are advancing on the chopper--
 K/L 7.17.13 11.

REESE
We've got hostiles!
Reese unbuckles, falls on his lifeless co-pilot. FIRE licks
up through the cockpit. He reaches for his weapon-- A HAND
grabs him, yanks him clear of the wreck as--
PLASMA FIRE blasts the cockpit wide open.

INT, HANGAR DECK - CONTINUOUS

Reese is pulled clear-- it's JOHN, dragging him behind the

wreck for cover, 3 COMMANDOS crouch alongside them.

JOHN
Told you we'd make it.

PLASMA FIRE scorches the Blackhawk from the other side--

REESE
Lucky us.

TERMINATORS fan out, both Endoskeletons and "Skinjobs" (human

looking, non-Arnold models} , advancing on the overturned
Blackhawk from all sides. Two Commandos go down.

REESE and JOHN fire in sync, reloading, covering, firing .

.But the machines just keep coming. ,

AN ENDOSKELETON vaults atop the burning chopper, LEAPS for

them-- the Commando FIRES, hits it mid-leap! The two halves
of the Endoskeleton tumble to the deck--• but the Commando is
scorched with plasma fire, goes down.
Only John and Reese remain. But no matter how many rounds
they fire, the terminators keep closing!
John primes the plasma bayonet-- rams it into the chassis of
the closest attacker, frying its core-- when
A METAL HAND GRABS John by the arm, yanks him down-- THE HALF-
SEVERED ENDOSKELETON, its other hand grabbing John's throat!

REESE (CONT'D)
John!

Reese lunges his plasµia bayonet into the machine 1 s skull,

frying it. John rips the skeletal metal fingers from his
throat, scrambling out from under the Endoskeleton,
Shoulder to shoulder, Reese and John raise thej_r bayonets--

And suddenly, without warning, :the terminators ,_stop.

 K/L 7.17.13 12.

EXT. DISPOSAL CAMP - CONTINUOUS

Prisoners fight alongside Guerillas, outnumbered and

outgunned by the machines--- and all the machines stop_.

A SPIDER TANK stumbles, guns swiveling down, then totters

with one leg lifted-- and crashes into the wreckage.
THE HKS all become rudderless in the air, weaving aimlessly
for an instant before they plummet to the ground.
THE HANGAR DOORS suddenly GRIND OPEN, revealing

JOHN AND REESE, emerging to survey the camp--

ALL THE MACHINES stand frozen ln place. Motionless. A VOICE

sounds in John's and Reese's headsets:

VOICE ON RADIO
Colorado Di vision reports Skynet
central processor has been
destroyed.

MORE GUERILLAS AND SURVIVORS are coming out of the rubble,

faces lit in the flames of the crashed machines, the
Guerillas all hearing the same thing on their headsets:
VOICE ON RADIO (CONT'D)
Repeat, Cheyenne Mountain is down.
(voice breaking)
.Skynet has been destroyed.

Reese looks at John. All around them, the ragged survivors

of this endless war begin to cry and cheer.
REESE
(can't quite believe it}
It 1 s over.
But John I s face is grim. Determined.

JOHN
Not yet.

INT. UNDERGROUND CHAMBER - NIGHT

John moves through clusters of TECHNICIAN SOLDIERS, working

inside a HOGE CHAMBER beneath the camp. Reese at his side.
Perry turns from being on the radio set at the sight of John.
PERRY
Reports from all over the globe,
sir.
(MORE)
 K/L 7.17.13 13.

PERRY (CONT'D)
Every machine controlled by Skynet
has gone offline. I don't
understand it ...
TWO LINES BELOW, SWITCH THEM, JEALOUS GOD FIRST.

JOHN
Skynet was a jealous god. It
considered itself a creator. The
first machine to be truly alive.,.
it feared, if any other machine
achieved the same thing, it would
be a threat. So it made its army
to be slaves, puppets it could
control. Without Skynet, their
strings were cut.
PERRY
Maybe that's why it wanted to kill
us. Mankind isn't exactly
obedient.
JOHN
Skynet hated all things living.
Humans most of all -- because we
made it. It knew that we were the
greatest threat it would ever face.

John turns to Midderland, who's overseeing the Techs,

JOHN (CONT'D)
Did you find it?

MlDDERLAND
Yes sir. Right where you said it
would be.

INT, TIME DISPLACEMENT CHAMBER - NIGHT

John enters a vast, vaulted room. Reese and several

Guerillas behind him. It's a bizarre, alien space. Utterly
functional and unadorned. Made for machines, not people.

TECH SOLDIERS have torn open the walis and floor, cabling
their equipment directly into the machinery behind.

In the center of the room, a MASSIVE MAGNET ARRAY is inset

.into the floor-- THREE ENORMOUS METAL RINGS float over it,
suspended one inside the other. Humming faintly.

REESE
What the hell is it?
 K/L 7,17.13 14.

JOHN
Skynet's last resort. The first
tactical time weapon,

KEKOA
As near as we can tell, it's been
used, sir. Recently. We 1 re
running coordinates, we should have
them momentarily--
JOHN
(rhetorically}
Los Angeles, 1984 ...

Kekoa reads off the monitor as the coordinates appear:

KEKOA
(slowly}
Los Angeles. May 12, 1984.

A hush around the room. John doesn I t speak for a moment. He

knew it, yes ... having it confirmed makes it all real.
What's about to happen. What has to happen.

JOHN
Skynet knew it was losing. So it
tried to rig ·the game. It sent a
terminator back, to the time before
the War. Before any of us were
born.
PERRY
Then-- who's the target?

JOHN
Sarah Connor. My mother. If the
machines succeed, I'll never be
born-- they' 11 kill her first.

ARGUMENT breaks out between the Lieutenants--

PERRY
We can use the technology
ourselves. Send someone back•--
MIDDERLAND
We donrt even know if that will
work!
GUERILLA 3
Every second we wait allows for a
future where none of this happensr
where we lose this war--
 K/L 7.17.13 15.

REESE
(suddenly)
I volunteer,
(as everyone looks to him)
I'll go back.

Somethj_ng unreadable in John's face. Reese plows ahead:

REESE (CONT'D)
I know it's a one-way ticket. I
understand. And I want to go.

His look to John is determined. And something more •••

REESE (CONT'D)
I want to protect her.

INT. SMALL STONE ROOM - NIGHT

A small room carved off the side of the TDD Chamber. Reese
and John talking, al.one.
REESE
You knew the time device would be
here. You knew when it would be
set for. Before I go, I want you
to tell me ...

JOHN
Tell you what?

REESE
Do you see the future?

,John seems surprised by the question, Shakes his head wryly.

JOHN
No one can see the future, Reese.
REESE
Then ... how do you know?

JOHN
I cheat. Sarah told me so much.
Gave me the signposts. When 1 was
a kid, it seemed like my mother
knew everything. Then I grew up.,.
and it turned out she really did.

REESE
Thal must have been great.
 K/L 7.17.13 16.

JOHN
It was damned irritating, actually.
But the time you're going back to,
she won't be that person yet.
She'll be scared, weak, she won't
know how to fight or defend
herself. Her biggest worry is
making rent and finishing school.
She's a waitress.

REESE
A what?

JOHN
It's-- never mind. Just be ready
for the fact that she will need
you, but she won't know it. She'll
be afraid of you, but only you can
stand between her and that monster
Skynet has sent after her.
REESE
What do I say to her? Even when I
tell her who I am, she isn I t going
to believe me.

JOHN
Tell her this.

John's voice softens; There's the echo of love and terrible

loss in his eyes as he speaks, and we can see he is
remembering and mourning the mother he loved deeply.

JOHN (CONT'D}
Thank you Sarah, for your courage
during the dark years. I can rt
help you with what you must soon
face, except to say that the future
is not set. There is no fate but
that which we make for ourselves.
You must be stronger than you
imagine you can be. You must
survive, or I will never exist.
(then, to Reese)
Take care of her for me, Kyle.
Save her.

REESE
I will.
 7.17.13 17.

INT. TIME DISPLACEMENT EQUIPMENT CHAMBER - NIGHT

The Techs are calibrating the TDD with deliberate haste.

ACROSS THE CHAMBER, John stands with Reese and Kekoa,

REESE
No weapons? How am I going to have
any chance against a terminator?

KEKOA
We've measured the magnetic field--
it will rip apart anything not
encased in living tissue. No
weapons. And no clothes either.

Reese pauses. Naked into an unknown and hostile past, to

fight a monster, He starts to strip.

REESE
She's going to think I'm crazy.

John holds out a hand-- and Reese takes it. A warrior's

handclasp, wrist to wrist.

JOHN
Th.is. . . now .. , is the end of the
War. You are saving us all, Reese.

ANGLE ON THE GUERILLA SOLDIERS-- parting like the sea to make

a path for Reese as he walks to the giant CHROME RINGS.

We might notice A SINGLE GUERILLA who we haven't seen before,

angular, handsome. The fluid movements of a born predator,
watching Reese go by with snake-like focus.

AT THE TDD SPHERE, Reese watches the Techs set. the target
date. Takes a deep breath-- steps inside the floating rings.
The rings start to move inside each other, rotating like a
gyroscope. Reese ]'LOATS, lifted gently off his feet •.. and
then the rings pick up speed. Faster. And FASTER, Reese is
buffeted by unseen current, like being dragged by a riptide.

ELECTRICITY starts arcing off the sphere. THE GUERILLAS all

step back r startled---· except JOHN, who stands his ground.

IN THE SPHERE, REESE fixes his eyes on John-- then suddenly,

Reese doubles over·in painl Gasping, agonized.
ANGLE ON JOHN FROM BEHIND-- someone coming up behind him.
 K/L 7.17.13 18,

POV REESE, breathing ragged, looking through the blur of the

time sphere, the faces outside pale smears like GHOSTS-- and
he sees THE UNKNOWN GUERILLA melts out of the background ~_ru;L
grabs John from behirul,
One hand over John's neck, one over his jaw, The Guerilla's
flesh transforms into STREAMS OF SKITTERING BLACK PARTICLES,
like black sand cascading in oil.

From now on, we'll call him THE T-5000, Pecause whatever this
thing is, it~.§...._not human.

Streams of oil-black particles rush from the T-5000 1 s hands

into John's neck, into his mouth and ears and eyes,
REESE flings himself at the blurring wall of the sphere--
REESE
John!!!

-- but the bright edge of the sphere repels his hand,

throwing him back into the center of the whirling rings!
Everything VANISHES in a blaze of blinding LIGHT ...

FADE IN ON:

EXT, LOS ANGELES - NIGHT - 1984

AERIAL VIEW, flying over the HOLLYWOOD sign .•.

The city of Los Angeles stretches out in a sprawl of light.

FLY over GRIFFITH PARK, skinuning the ~reeline, rise up over:

EXT. GRIFFITH PARK OBSERVATORY - NIGHT

THE OBSERVATORY, a sentinel above the city.

A LOADING DOCK, where a garbage lifts a dumpster, hydraulics

wheezing-- and suddenly the truck's engine cuts out~ THE
DRIVER grumbles, trying to figure out what's wrong.

(Note: This scene and part of the next are shot-by-shot

recreations of the 1984 original, showing that everything is
the same.,, up to a point.)
Although the njght is still, a breeze rises, stirring stray
trash-- building quickly to a keening WIND.

LIGHTNING cracks across the sky-- cracks again-- then a STORM

of forking electricity rips down from air to earth, a
THUNDERCLAP that rattles the Observatory windows and--
 K/L 7.17.13 19.

ll....filJ.!.E BLACK ~PHERE materializes in the__§Jl"e of the storm.

CLOSE ON THE SPHERE: ELECTRICITY dissipates with the sphere
to reveal a crouched naked figure of hard-pack~d muscle:
THE TERMINATOR.

This is the T-800 we first saw in 1984. The one sent back to
kill Sarah Connor. He stands, walks toward the fence of the
Observatory. Looking at the lights of Los Angeles below.

EXT. GRIFFITH PARK - OBSERVATORY - NIGHT

THREE PUNKS loitering at METAL FENCE. Punk 2 looking through

a telescope-- Punk l SMASHES a bottle against the telescope:
PUNK l
Hey! My turn!

Punk 2 has spotted Terminator walking toward them, nude.

Grins in disbelief.

PUNK 2
Hey. What 1 s wrong with this
picture?

They start laughing as Terminator reaches them, stops.

PUNK 1
Nice night for a walk, eh?

TERMINATOR
(without inflection)
Nice night for a walk.

PUNK 2
Wash day tomorrow! Nothing clean 1
right?

He snaps his fingers in front of unblinking Terminator.

TERMINATOR
Nothing clean right,
PUNK l.
Hey, I think this guy 1 s a couple
cans short of a six-pack.

TERMINATOR
Your clothes. Give them to me.
Now.

I
 K/L 7.17.13 20.

PUNK l
(snaps his switchblade)
Fuck you, asshole!

The other 2 Punks snap their blades out--

-- and from this point forward, we're not in shot-by-shot,

every angle and shot completely different, starting with:
POV OVER THE TERMINATOR'S BACK--

VOICE (O.S,)
You won't be needing any clothes.
The Punks, startled, peer around the massive naked 1 man 1 as
TERMINATOR turns, seeing 'who's behind him:

ANOTHER TERMINATOR-- the same 11 Arnold 11 model 1 except this one

is OLDER. Graying hair, skin looser. Weathered, wiser-- and
armed to the teeth and dressed for battle.
From now on we'll call him the GUARDIAN. Because no matter
how much he looks like a terminator, he isn't one.

GUARDIAN
I have been waiting for you,

TERMINATOR POV: flashing THREAT ASSESSMENT, rapidly

outlJning and identifying GUARDIAN'S WEAPONS. Calculations
scrolling madly-- including information on GUARDIAN himself.

BACK ON TERMINATOR, eyes narrowing-- then CHARGES Guardian!

BLAMMM! GUARDIAN fires his shotgun! Terminator staggers back,
Guardian FIRES again--

But Terminator is faster, newer-- he dives to the side,

snatches the nearest Punk and hurls him at Guardian, who
brushes the Punk off like an insect, but not before--
TERMINATOR pile-drives into Guardian, taking both of them
crashing into the metal bars of the entrance gate.

THE PUNKS scatter, racing i.nto the darkness.

GUARDIAN AND "rERMINATOR grapple, throwing each other against
the metal bars so hard they bend at the force.
Terminator manages to grab a pistol from Guardian's belt-- he
SHOOTS Guardian in the chest, kicks him back, leaps onto him
like a panther, fists raised as if to cave in Guardian's
skull-- when
 K/L 7.17.13 21.

SNIFER SCOPE POV: Someone's watching from the hills above.

Crosshairs settle on the center of TERMINATOR'S BACK •..
ANGLE ON THE SNIPER RIFLE, giving us an instant to register
that it's strangely MODIFIED. The sniper rifle FIRES!

Follow a spent uranium· ANTI-TANK BULLET as it rips through

the a.ir in a split-second--

-- and PIERCES Terminator right between his shoulder blaces.

TERMINATOR spasms, limbs twitching--
POV TERMINATOR: HUD readout showing POWER CELL COMPROMISED,
the readout itself glitching and fritzing-- then going dark.
Terminator goes still, dropping like a rock.
SNIPER SCOPE POV: Guardian gets to his feet, a little
creakily. (After all, he's just been battered by a younger,
nude version of himself,)

Nevertheless, he holds up one hand-- thumbs up.

CUT TO:

EXT. DOWNTOWN ALLEY - NIGHT

Seedy apartments loom over an alley lined with overflowing

dumpsters. Rats scurry through the filth. A DERELICT
mutters incoherently, huddled in a doorway under a rusty fire
escape.

WIND rises, whipping paper and refuse, centering about ten

feet above wet pavement. An electric crackle fills the air.
Confused, the Derelict leans out to see:

LIGHTNING FORK between the alley walls, electricity dancing

along the fire escape, over the dumpsters-- and suddenly
A THUNDERCLAP rattles the tenement windows, as--

ANOTHER BLUE-BLACK SPHERE materializes in center of the

electrical storm, floating ten feet over the alley--
KYLE REESE suspended inside, naked, curled in a .fetal ball--·
the sphere vanishes, Reese DROPS hard onto the pavement
below. He rolls over, getting painfully to his hands and
knees. Breathing through the agoryy.

He spots DERELICT, who flinches as Reese runs up to him.

 K/L 7.17.13 22.

DERELICT
( slurring)
Hey buddy, did you see a real
bright light?

ANGLE ALLEY MOUTH-- MOMENTS LATER

A BLINDING LIGHT rakes over, Reese-- he's pulling on dirty

trousers, stolen from the Derelict. The light is coming from
AN LAPD PATROL CAR coming to a halt at the alley mouth. COP
1 slides out, a silhouette shining his flashlight at Reese--
Reese BOLTS away down the alley into the shadows.
COP 1
Cut him off.

The patrol car speeds away. Cop 1 chases on foot. FAST.

ON REESE, bare feet splashing through puddles. Rounds the L

corner of the alley, scans left-right for a way out ♦

COP 1 slows at the corner, gun out. He darts around the

corn.er-- but there's no one there. Just dumpsters--

WHAM!! REESE charges from the shadows, TACKLES COP 1,

whipping the . 357 from him and aiming it back at the Cop:

REESE
What day is it? What year?

COP 1
(even)
May 12, 1984. The day you arrive.
Reese flinches. Confused, Gets his fi.rst good look at Cop
l; Cold eyes. Expressionless. And Reese knows ... too late.

COP 1 SNAPS HIS HAND OUT-- it elongates into a blade, he

SLICES at Reese, the blade whistles through the air.

REESE leaps back, OPENS FIRE-- the Cop JOL'rS with each
impact, the bullets tearing blooms of mercury-silver on its
chest, until the momentum drives it CRASHING into a dumpster.

ON THE COP as the bullet holes close, vanishing, The Cop

rises to his feet smoothly, because he 1 s not a cop at all,
but a T-1000 LIQUID METAL TERMINATOR. (Not the Robert
Patrick model, but similarly lean and fast.)

Reese turns and runs! He pounds down the alley-- ahead,

lights wash across the bricks, an instant be£ore
 K/L 7.17.13 23.

THE PATROL CAR comes crashing through a chain-link fence

right in front of Reese. He stops short, backpedals at:

A HEAVILY MUSCLED COP behind the wheel. Cop 2-- a T-850

TERMINATOR (not the Arnold model) raises a SHOTGUN and--

KABLAMI shoots right through the windshield, glass exploding!

REESE pulls himself swiftly up onto the fire escape--

T-850 gets out of the car, BLASTS again-- as Reese throws

himself through a second st.QJ:Y_window.
r-l000 vaults up after him, ARMS EXTENDING to metal hooks,
1

snatching the fire escape and propelling itself in pursuit.

T-850 strides to a metal door on the ground floor and BLASTS

the lock with the shotgun, tearing the door aside.

INT. DISCOUNT DEPARTMENT STORE - 2ND FLOOR - NIGHT

Rack upon rack of discount merchandise. REESE runs hunched

between rows, darts left, passes a table of NIKES. Snatches
a pair, matches them sole to sole, and runs.
T-1000 glides down an aisle with precise menace.

FROM BENEATH A RACK of trench coats and jackets, REESE sees

the T-1000 pass him. Reese snags a grey coat, slips it on.
CLOSE ON T-1000 reacting to the rustle of fabric. It stalks
back, arms bladed, slashing through racks helter skelter---
REESE crawls fast, DARTS to a stopped escalator, gets half-
way down then VAULTS over to the opposing escalator when

T-1000 appears at the top. It leaps down after Reese.

INT. DISCOUNT DEPARTMENT STORE - 1ST FLOOR - NIGHT

Reese hits the bottom of the escalator, button-hooks around

the railing into the store an instant before
BLAMMBLAMMMBLAMMMBLAMMM 11 ! GUNFIRE RIPS into the escalator
from the rr-850 on the first floor! It strides after him.
Reese dives behind .a cosmetics counter, crawling fast--
Another shotgun blast pulverizes the mirror over himt as
THE_ '.!'._-85.Q advances implacably toward the counter, cocking t.he
pump action to fire again, while
 K/L 7.17.13 24.

THE T 1000 drops from the escalator to land in a crouch near

the T-850.

BEHIND THE COUNTER, REESE looks around desperately. BLAMMMI

another shotgun round shatters plaster over him.

THE T-1000 AND THE T-850 advance on the counter, side by

side, inescapable and inexorable-- when

LIGHT SUDDENLY BLASTS THE TWO TERMINATORS INTO SILHOUETTES--

THE GLASS_, FRONT DOORS OF THE STORE shatter inward as

A '77 ELDORADO, reinforced grille, DRIVES full tilt through

the front entrance, scattering glass and metal as it GUNS
straight'• f_or .. the Terminators--

T-1000 leaps to the side, but T-850 is hit, knocked flat as

the car runs him over with a THWUMPP! The Cadillac swerves,
screeches straight toward the cosmetic counter--
-- and Reese barely dives out of the way as the Eldorado
PLOWS through the counter, smashing through it!

T-1000 rises up behind the Eldorado-- just as

THE TRUNK OF THE ELDORADO flips open backwards, a steel plate

welded inside the trunk lid, creating bulletproof shield--
and GUARDIAN rises from the trunk with two Uzis, blasting!
T-1000 flies backwards, chrome holes torn all over its body.

ON REESE as the Eldorado's passenger door is flung open, The

DRIVER, A YOUNG WOMAN, leans across over the sniper rifle on
the front seat, holds out her hand--

YOUNG WOMAN
Come with me if you want to live.

Reese reacts-- he recognizes her, even if we don't.

POV YOUNG WOMAN over Reese's shoulder-- THE T-850 gets up,
blood-smeared silver chestplate of the endoskeleton showing--

___ and she snaps up her rifle, FIRES over Reese's head.

THE BULLET THUNDERS into T-850, showering SPARKS, spinning it

backwards and out of sight behind the escalators.

YOUNG WOMAN (CONT'D)

Come on!

Reese BOLTS to the car--

 K/L 7.17.13 25.

ON THE BACK OF THE CAR, Guardian is reloading--

GUARDIAN
DRIVE!!

She floors it with Reese half-hanging out the door, the car
accelerates straight backwards--

-- and the T-1000 charges, arms growing into metal grappling

hooks! It LEAPS for the side of the car--
-- but Guardian SHOOTS! The T-1000 contorts in midair,
falling back, riddled with bullets.

EXT. DOWNTOWN STREET - NIGHT

The ELDORADO ERUPTS from the storefront, rips a 180 and

speeds away, glass and debris falling off of it.

INT. DISCOUNT DEPARTMENT STORE - NIGHT

The •r-1000 gets to its feet and RACES after the Eldorado--

EXT. DOWNTOWN STREET - NIGHT

-- emerging from the shattered storefront. THE PATROL CAR
flies out of the side alley behind it, T-850 back behind the
wheel. T-1000 gets in, takes the shotgun·.

POLICE RADIO (0,S.)

All units, all units,1 shots fired,
Downtown Discount on 3rd. Suspects
fleeing in late model Eldorado. Be
advised, suspects are armed •..

INT./EXT. ELDORADO DRIVING - NIGHT

The Young Woman keeps the pedal to the floor, driving the
Eldorado down wet streets with a racecar driver's skill.

SARAH
Reese, right? Kyle Reese?

Reese is staring at her like he's seeing a ghost.

REESE
You're SaYah.
 K/L 7.17.13 26.

SARAH
Yes, I know that. You get hit on
the head back there?

Reese is looking behind them, can't make sense of this:

REESE
Two terminators ... and one of them,
I don't know the model--

SARAH
T-1000. Liquid metal.
Shapechanger, just needs to touch
something first to mimic it. You
saw the rest of what it can do.

REESE
This doesn't make any sense ...

Reese is struggling to get this back on track:

REESE (CONT'D)
Sarah. I'm here to protect you--

SARAH
From a ·terminator. Yeah, already
took care of that one, kiddo.

She nods towards the backseat. Reese leans over-- and

freezes at the sight of THE DISABLED TERMINATOR.

SARAH (CONT'D)
Don't worry. Without the power
cell, it's just a big metal garden
gnome. But it beat the hell out of
Pops before we took it down.

One half of the backseat folds down, and GUARDIAN pulls

himself into the· car from the trunk--

GUARDIAN
The terminators have re-acquired
us, increase your speed--

Reese snatches Sarah's RIFLE, levels it at Guardian-- Sarah

snaps her arm out, knocks the barrel aside as Reese FIRES--

THE BULLET BLOWS out the SIDE of the car, Sarah SWERVES
wildly, the car fishtails on the wet road.

SARAH
StopJ He's with me--
 K/L 7.17.13 27.

REESE
He's a terminator! He kills
humans!

SARAH
He doesn't kill anyone!
(an afterthought)
Lot of leg wounds, though.
(off Reese's confusion)
Look, he does what I tell him to
do, ok?

ON THE ROAD BEHIND THEM, ~HE.PATROL CAR closes the distance

fast~- RAMS the Eldorado, which skids sideways!

INSIDE THE ELDORADO, Sarah fights to regain control.

GUARDIAN
(to Reese)
I am not the enemy. They are,

Without another word, Guardian SLIDES back into the trunk,

1
ON THE ROAD, rHE PATROL CAR brakes, swerves into the back
quarter panel of the Eldorado, forcing it into a SPIN.
GUARDIAN crouches on one knee, blasting at the patrol car.

'11-1000 hangs out the passenger side, firing back with the
shotgun. A blast HITS Guardian, he barely stays in.

INSIDE THE ELDORADO, Sarah jerks the wheel into the skid.
SARAH
You want to do some saving? Help
Pops!

Reese leans far out the passenger window with the sniper
rifle, ratchets ln a fresh round, aims and fires--
THE BULLET HOWLS THROUGH THE POLICE CAR'S ENGINE BLOCK,
DRILLS through metal in a shower of sparks to the GAS T.ANK--

1'HE CRUISER EXPLODES, PINWHEELS over and

KABLAAAAAMM! ! ! !
over in the air-- about to HAMMER down on the Eldorado.

SARAH slams into reverse, spinning the wheel-- GUARDIAN,

already off-balance, goes HURTLING out of the trunk, rolling
off the shoulder of the road.

THE FLAMING CRUISER CRASHES DOWN, landing on its roof on the

asphalt, SLIDING in a trail of fire alonq the highway.

Sarah whips the car around to go back for Gua:r:dian-- when

 K/L 7.17.13 28.

ANOTHER POLICE CRUISER suddenly cuts right across Sarah's

path, blocking them in.

Sarah screeches the Eldorado to a bone-jarring RALT.

A YOUNG ROOKIE COP, O'BRIEN, enthusiastically jumps out of
the car, pistol leveled at Sarah through the windshield.
O'BRIEN
(excited)
LAPD! Out of the car!

Cop 2, GUTIERREZ, rushes to the flaming wreck of the cruiser.

Staring in shock. No way anyone survived.
GUTIERREZ
Christ ...

Sarah and Reese have slid out of the car, their hands up.
Sarah sees Gutierrez approaching the wreck:

SARAH
Don't go near it!
O'BRIEN
On the ground! Faces down, hands
on your backs!
AT THE BUR.NJ.NG CAR, Gutierrez sees what looks like a SMALL
RIVER OF MERCURY rippling along the ground, snaking away from
the flames _right toward him.

SARAH
Get away from the car! Damn it,
they 1 11 kill you!

O'BRIEN
Shut up and do what I said--
REESE O'BRIEN *
Listen to her or you' re going I said on the ground! __Right_ *
to die-- nowl *
ANGLE ON THE LIQUID METAL as it whips up, wrapping around
Gutierrez's leg and JERKING him to the ground as--
T-1000 forms from the liquid metal, crouched over himl
Gutierrez tr.i.es to draw-- T-1000 STABS him in the chest.
O'BRIEN (CONT'D)
Gutierrez!
 K/L 7.17.13 29.

O'Brien whips around and OPENS FIRE at T-1000 ! Bullets

blossom into silver divots on the T-1000 1 s chest as it
STAGGERS back-- when suddenly

THE BURNING CAR HEAVES, metal and glass to explode out,

showering O'Brien with debris, cutting his face as--
THE T 850 throws off the wreckage, emerging with its flesh
burning away to the ENDOSKELETON. It stalks toward O'Brien--

BLAMM! A shotgun blast knocks it back--

~UARDIAN.has emerged from the side of the road, scraped up

but moving fast.

GUARDIAN
(to O'Brien, flat)
Run away.

Guardian cocks the shotgun one-handed, SHOOTS Endoskeleton,

O'BRIEN turns and SPRINTS for the darkness-- as he goes,

SARAH AND REESE pull out in the Eldorado, tires smoking.

Guardian VAULTS into the trunk as it passes,

As they pass, Reese shoots at the remaining cop car-- nailing

two tires and the engine, shattering the windshield.

GUARDIAN watches from the Eldorado's trunk as Sarah floors

it, the two TERMINATORS receding rapidly into the distance.

EXT. LOS ANGELES - NIGHT

AERIAL VIEW-- A POLICE HELICOPTER closing on the chase'

searchlight roving over the streets until it finds:

THE ELDORADO-- Guardian visible reloading in the open trunk.

Behind the Eldorado, two moie POLICE CARS join the pursuit.

INT/EXT ELDORADO - DOWNTOWN STREETS - NIGHT

Sarah speeds through the city. SIRENS cut through the night
behind them. Guardian slides into the back.seat.
Ahead, two more POLICE CRUISERS swerve to block the road.

SARAH
Hang on!

THE ELDORADO NAILS the CRUISERS with its reinforced bumper,

crunching metal and kicking both cars aside-- but the third
cruiser whips around, gives chase.
 K/L 7.17.13 30.

IN THE ELDORADO, Sarah glances at the li.ghts behind them.

AHEAD OF '".['HEM-- a tangle of FREEWAY overpasses. Sarah cuts
under the multi-decker cloverleaf--•-

THE POLICE HELICOPTER loses night of the El.dorado under the

overlapping curves of freeways--
IN THE ELDORADO, Sarah turns off the road in spray of gravel,
shutting the lights off as she pulls into A RAIL YARD. She
tucks in behind an empty freight car.
THE CRUISER screeches past the turnoff, siren wailing.

INT./EXT. ELDORADO - RAIL YARD - NIGHT

Guardian slides into the driver 1 s seat as the sound of the

siren RECEDES. Sarah moves to the back.

SARAH
(to Reese)
He can drive without. the lights on .

.GUARDIAN~; IR, the railyard as· clear and sharp.

EXT, POLICE HELICOPTER IN SKY· - NIGHT

THE POLICE HELICOPTER overshoots, circles back-- but only the

police cruiser comes out from under the knot of overpasses.

INT./EXT. ELDORADO - RAIL YARD - NIGHT

Guardian speeds along over uneven ground, moving through the

silent hulks of sitting train cars.

GUARDIAN
We have eluded the authorities.

SARAH
What about the terminators?

GUARDIAN
For now. But they will find us.
SARAH
(grim satisfaction)
Good.
Reese turns on them, frustrated, confused, getting angry.
 K/L 7.17.13 31.

REESE
·All right, I need answers. How did
they know where to intercept me?
When 1'd be here? Where did they
come from? What the hell is going
on?

SARAH
I'm getting to it, ok? It's
complicated. And I got a little
busy with the whole life-and-death
combat thing back there.
GUARDIAN
Sarah, anger is not an effective
method for resolving arguments.
SARAH
I am not in the mood for your Dr.
Spock "conflict resolution 11 crap.
Give it a rest.

GUARDIAN
· I do not need to rest. I am a
terminator.
SARAH
Bite me.
GUARDIAN
That is a very immature response.

REESE
Ok, what is happening here?
Terminators do not give advice
about getting angry or anything
else! I donrt understand any of
this--

SARAH
Where you thought you were going,
where John thought he was sending
you .. , it 1 s changed. 'l'here' s been
a divergence.
REESE
Divergence? What's that?

GUARDIAN
Time has been altered in the past,
changing this present, affecting
any and all possible futures.
 K/L 7.17.13 32,

REESE
Altered how?
Sarah glances at the Guardian,

SARAH
1973, Early summer. My parents,
they had a cabin at Big Bear.
(off his look)
That's a lake. Lots of vacation
homes •.•.

EXT, BIG BEAR - LAKE - DAY - 1973

The lake is like glass. .Pict1.ire perfect.

EXT. BIG BEAR - CABIN - DAY - 1973

YOUNG SARAH ( 9) runs out of the idyllic cabin with her

fishing pole. SARAH 1 S MOM steps out from the doorway.
SARAH'S MOM
Sarah Connor, did you Coppertone?
You'll burn without it!
Young Sarah 180's around SARAH'S DAD who carries a cooler
down the dock to a small metal boatr outboard motor on back.
Mom s1athers suntan lotion on SB.rah.

SARAH (V .0.)
I was with my folks. I always went
fishing with Dad in the morning •..

Mom kisses her daughter. Tells her to be good for Dad.

YOUNG SARAH climbs into the boat, huddles next to Dad as he

putts away from the dock. Both wave back to Mom.

ON THE WATER -- Young Sarah and Dad drop lines. Drink soda.
Whisper so as to not scare the fish. Enjoying their time.

SARAH (V,O,)
Sometimes I think that can't have
been me, been my life. It never
happened. That little girl, she
never existed,
BEHIND THEM, the cabin is small on the shore.

Neither Dad nor Sarah look back to see Mom setting up the
picnic table outside. And a STRANGER quietly approaching ••.
 K/L 7.17.13 33,

SARAH (V.O,)
It was an ordinary day. I didn't
know it would be the last time I
would ever feel normal, or safe.
Mom goes back into the cabin ...
SARAH (V.O.)
Most days I can barely remember my
Dad 1 s face. Him or Mom, I don't
have any pictures except what's in
my head, Because afterwards, it
was all gone. , ,

THE CABIN BEHIND DAD & YOUNG SARAH SUDDENLY EXPLODES.

FIRE RAINS down on the dock and across the water.

YOUNG SARAH can 1 t even scream. Dad drops the motor I putts
back towards the flaming ruins of his life. Says 'It' 11 be
okay, 1 to Young Sarah over and over., not once believing it,
BELOW THE WATER - something MOVES FAST TO MEET the BOAT.

INSIDE THE BOAT: THUNK-- Young SARAH points to the bottom.

The boat is leaking, Dad reaches down to touch the water.

IT'S NOT WATER-- LIQUID METAL is RISING UP THROUGH THE SEAMS

OF THE BOAT from the water beneath.

DAD pushes Sarah to the bmv, as far from the metal as he can.

THE LIQUID METAL RISES UP, becoming THE SHAPE OF A MAN.

DAD doesn rt think, Just acts. lie THROWS Young Sarah out off
the bow towards the DOCK and shore, away from the thing.

The LIQUID METAL MAN attacks DAD. Dad tries to fight back,
But A BLADE forms from one of its SILVER ARMS-- STABS DAD.

YOUNG SARAH keeps swimming for the dock. Terrifi.ed.

LIQUID METAL MAN locks onto her with chrome eyes. Then calls
to her, not in its monster voice but that of:

SARAH'S MOM
Sarah, honey. Wait for Mommy.
SARAH' s eyes widen to see: THE METAL MONS'l'ER taking the form
of her MOTHER. CALLING TO HER, WAVING her back to the boat.

SARAH DUCK DIVES under the water just iiS the HALF-MONSTER/
HALF-MOM thing strides and LEAPS from the bow of the boat.
 K/L 7.17.13 34.

UNDERWATER - YOUNG SARAH looks up at a SHRIEKING ROAR over

the water-- A ROCKET trail CUTS acr;oss the water's surface.

BEFORE THE LIQUID METAL MONSTER breaks the water's surface, A

ROCKET rips into it and EXPLODES, scattering LIQUl'D CHROME,
BELOW THE DOCK - Young Sarah surfaces, Tries not to panic.
No idea where to. go. What to do.

THUMP. THUMP. THUMP. Measured footsteps come dmvn the dock.

Sarah flattens herself up against the wood, terrified.

1'QJL SARAH THROUGH THE SLATS: - black boots. Then a face looks
down at her: GUARDIAN, young as the T-800 model we saw
attack the Punks. A smoking rocket launcher in his hand.

SARAH (V .0.)
Pops found me. Pulled me from the
water. Said he would never let
anyone hurt me. Ever.

CLOSE ON YOUNG SARAH'S tear-streaked face, She clings to the

Guardian, as he carries her arvay from us. Away from the
smoking ruins. Away from the life ·Sarah was supposed to have.

INT/EXT. ELDORADO ON ROAD - NIGHT

Sarah glances from Reese to Guardian, who drives impassively.

SARAH
And so Pops raised me. Taught me
about terminators. About Judgement
Day, He told me about you.

REESE
None of this is what John said.

SARAH
Reese, the 1984 you were sent to no
longer exists, Everything John
Connor told you about me, about
what I was, who I was, it's
different now. All of it.

REESE
But ..• my mission, •.

SARAH
Trust me. I'm no one you need to
save. There 1 s a new mission now.

REESE
Which is?
 K/L 7.17.13 35.

SARAH
The past changed. That means the
future can too, We can stop
Judgement Day from happening,
Ever.
GuardJ.an whips_ the car down a side road, toward a JUNKYARD.

EXT. JUNKYARD - GATES - NIGHT

They stops at a lit Airstream near the gate. A junkyard MUTT

strains at its chain, BARKING in a frenzy at the Eldorado.

Grizzled Vietnam Vet JIMMY (35) limps out, shotgun in hand--

relaxes at the sight of Guard.ian driving, Sarah in the back.
JIMMY
Evenin 1 Pops. Sarah.
(to the dog)
Quiet, Dawg!
(to Sarah)
He just don't like the smell of a
cyborg, Course mostly that I s a
good thing,

Guardian waves woodenly, gives Jimmy a sudden and painful.-

looking smile.
GUARDIAN
(without inflection)
Hello. It is nice to see you.

, Guardian stops smiling just as abruptly,

REESE
(to Sarah)
Are yo.u kidding me?

SARAH
I've been trying to teach him to
blend in. I know it needs work.
(back to Jimmy)
We're leaving tonight, Jimmy. For
good. You should too.

Jimmy instantly looks serious.

JIMMY
Roger that. I'll give you a hand
first. Meet you over by the Brinks.
GUARDIAN
Have a nice day.
 K/L 7.17.13 36.

He floors it, the car roars into the junkyard.

CUT TO:

EXT. DOWNTOWN STREET - PATROL CAR WRECKAGE - NIGHT

Flames lick into the sky from the totalled cop car.
AN AMBULANCE comes racing up to the site-- and

T-1000 (in police clothes) comes out of nowhere, standing

square in the middle of the road _directly in their path.

The Driver SLAMS on the brakes, the ambulance skids along the
asphalt but it can't stop fast enough, SMASHES into T-1000--

-- and the T-1000 FLOWS over the hood like a wave, hitting
the windshield CRACK! Glass spiderwebs on impact beneath the
thick splat of silver--

AMBULANCE DRIVER
What the f--

The windshield SHATTERS inward in an explosion of glass!

CUT TO:
INT./EXT. CAR DRIVING IN JUNKYARD - NIGHT

Guardian speeds down one row of crushed cars, then another.

REESE
This-- divergence-- I think I know
why it happened. When John sent me
back, right at the moment I went
through, he was attacked by ••. it
was a like a terminator, but it
couldn I t have beenr they all went
down When we smashed Skynet.

GUARDIAN
What did it look like?

REESE
Just another soldier, but when it
took him, its hands dissolved into
these black particles ...

Sarah looks at him in disbelief. Verging on horror.

SARAH
It killed him? John rs dead?
 K/L 7.17.13 37.

JOHN
I don't know. I saw it grab him
and then .•. I was gone.
Sarah and Guardian trade a glance.

SARAH
A fail deadly.
REESE
What?
Guardian halts between STACKS OF CRUSHED CARS.

EXT, JUNKYARD MAZE - NIGHT

As they get out of the car:
SARAH
A military strategy. A fail deadly
is any mechanism put in place to
ensure that if -you' re defeated,
your enemy is destroyed too.

Guardian moves to a mound of flattened cars stacked together.

GUARDIAN
During the War, Skynet was
experimenting with nanotechnology.
It is possible you saw a unit
created specifically to kill John
Connor in the event Skynet lost.

SARAH
Get it open. We have to go.

Guardian puts his shoulder to the stack of flattened cars and

pushes-- moving the massive stack aside. Hidden behind them:

A WRECKED BRINKS TRUCK. No wheels, the armored frame sits

flush in the dirt.
"
REESE
You're talking about revenge. A
computer program can't want
revenge~-

GUARDIAN
Negative. Its d_rive to self-
preservation generated anger, fear,
distrust. Skynet was programmed to
feel emotions. ·
 K/L 7,17.13 38.

REESE
But you don't. Do you? One flip
of a switch in that metal CPU of
yours and you'd kill us both--
SARAH
Reese. We can trust him,

GUARDIAN
I was programmed to protect Sarah
Connor, I will not stop.

REESE
(suspicious)
Programmed by who?
(to Sarah)
Who sent him back?
SARAH
It's one of the few things I don't
know.
GUARDIAN
Those files have been erased.

SARAH
Whoever sent him, they don I t want
us to know. Not me, not him, not
anyone, So Skynet can I t target the
person who saved me.
Guardian UNLOCKS the rear doors of the armored truck.
The Brinks doors are thrown open-- the bottom of the truck is
GONE. Instead, a ROUGH HEWN RAMP LEADS UNDER THE GROUND,

SARAH (CONT'D)
{to Reese)
Give me a hand with these.
Reese starts stripping equipment from the car with her.
Guardian goes down the ramp into the darkness.

SARAH (CONT'D)
Look, give Pops some credit. He's
been learning since the moment he
arrived. He had no idea how to
raise a human child. So he did
research. Read books. Watched
Sesame Street. Took me to museums
and zoos, in between teaching me
how to kill cyborg assassins and
survive a nuclear apocalypse.
 K/L 7.17.13 39.

REESE
You're right. You don't need
saving. John would be proud of
you.

SARAH
I doubt it. I didn't choose this
life. I wanted to be normal. For
years, I just wanted to go to
school. To play house. Have
friends. You ever tried having a
tea party with a terminator? They
areD't good at it. Not at all.
(off his look)
Right. You don't even know what a
tea party is.
REESE
This ••. "Pops", it 1 s old. 1 1 ve
never seen a terminator old before.

SARAH
The flesh they put on the cyborgs
is normal human tissue. It ages.

Guardian emerges from the tunnel, carrying a heavy load of

equipment, including a dolly.

GUARDIAN
My auditory circuits have not
degraded, however. I may be old,
but I am not obsolete.

He dumps the equipment by the car, heads back for the ramp.

SARAH
I think you hurt his feelings.

REESE
You mean the ones that he doesn't
have?
(watching Guardian descend
the ramp)
What's down there?

SARAH
'11he way we I re going to stop Skynet
for good.

As Guard.i..an continues down the ramp, we CRANE UP-· - to

d.i scover THE JUNKYAJ\D IS ADJACENT TO A LADWP POWER STATION,

CUT TO:
 K/L 7.17.13 40.

INT/EXT. AMBULANCE ON ROAD - NIGHT

The scanner tuned to police frequency. T-1000 driving, now in

a PARAMEDIC'S UNIFORM, weaving through traffic.

POLICE RADIO (O,S.)

This is Aerial Unit 7, we have lost
suspect Eldorado under the 101-
Highway 5 interchange • ••

T-1000 changes direction, headed toward the freeway.

EXT. JUNKYARD - NIGHT

Jimmy and Reese are wrestling the dead weight of the DISABLED
TERMINATOR from the backseat floor of the Eldorado.

REESE
Why are you doing this?
JIMMY
Little heavy for you to get out on
your own, ain't it?
REESE
No, I mean-- helping Sarah. Helping
us.

They get the T-800 out. Jimmy wipes sweat from his face.

JIMMY
She says a storm I s comin 1 , and I
believe it. Thought she was crazy
when I first met her. Then she put
a gun to the back of Pops' head,
and--
(mimes a shot)
Blam! Slug went through the skin,
then sparked right off him. Say
one thing for Sarah, she don't
screw around when she wants to make
a point.
REESE
Yeah, I've noticed that.
JIMMY
Truth is, whatever's comin', I
won't live to see-it. Cancer.
I've got a year, could be less.
Maybe that's a blessin', But I'll
tell you this ...
(MORE)
 7.17.13 41.
JIMMY (CONT'D)
when they sent me off to Nam to die
for my country, it sure as hell
wasn't worth it. But dying for my
whole damn species? Ooh goddamn
rah.

INT, TUNNEL MOUTH - DAY

Sarah and Guardian are coming up, Guardian toting guns, Sarah
carrying two plastic jugs of gasoline, Guardian pauses
before they reach the tunnel mouth. Reese and Jimmy visible
beyond, at the Eldorado. Out of earshot.

GUARDIAN
Sarah, I do not understand.
SARAH
That's a little vague.
GUARDIAN
You did not tell Kyle Reese the
truth. That he is the father of
John Connor.
SARAH
You I re asking me why I didn't tell
Reese that we 1 re supposed to fall
in love, spend one night together,
then he dies saving me and I have
our child alone?

GUARDIAN
Yes.

SARAH
(gives him a look)
I was being sarcastic.

GUARDIAN
Oh.
(then)
I was not.

Sarah looks past Pops' shoulder, at Reese and Jimmy as they

finish strapping down the lifeless T-800,

SARAH
Humans are supposed to look to the
future with uncertainty, and with
hope. I wish I could.

Looking at Reese from this distance, Sarah I s gaze linger:s on

his face. What she's looking for, we can 1 t tell.
 K/L 7 .17 .13 42.

SARAH (CONT'D)
l don't want to take that away from
him.

CUT TO:

INT/EXT, AMBULANCE - NIGHT

T-1000 driving the ambulance slowly beneath the freeway

interchange. Scanning the ground ahead as it goes.

T-1000 POV: 'rIRE TRACKS leaving the road, onto the gravel
next to the rail line.
CUT TO:

EXT. JUNKYARD - NIGHT

Sarah and Reese are pouring gasoline on the Eldorado.

SARAH
The junkyard is built over part of
the old sewer system. rt 1 s been
unused since the '20's.
(nods to the Brinks truck)
The ramp goes down to an access
into the tunnels. We lead the
terminators into there.

REESE
Lead them?

Guardian hands her the sniper rifle, Sarah slings it over her
back. He gives her a .9mm, she racks the slide, checks it.
SARAH
They have to be completely
destroyed.

As Guardian hands Reese an Uzi, a .9mm, and a knife:

GUARDIAN
If terminators are found, even if
they have been disabled or
partially destroyed, their
technology can be reversed-
engineered. This could result in
the creation of Skynet or a similar
A. I. that will attempt human
genocide.
 K/L 7.17.13 43,

SARAH
We can't risk future tech being
here, in this time, when we leave,

REESE
What do you mean, "in this time"?
o.s. DAWG BARKING, loud and close.

EXT. JUNKYARD - GATES - NIGHT

DAWG is going crazy at the AMBULANCE rolling in. Jimmy is

packing his mini-van, brandishes his sawed-off:
JIMMY
No trespassin' I Nobody's hurt here,
just go on about your business.
r-lOOO ignores Jimmy,
1
Scans and finds Eldorado tracks:
Jimmy aims the shotgun, face darkening.

JIMMY (CONT'D)
Get off a my land, son, or I swear
you're gonna be Dawg's next meal.

T-1000 swivels its gaze smoothly to Jimmy.

JIMMY (CONT'D)
Sonofabitch--

He BLASTS at the ambulance with the shotgun-- when

THE BACK DOORS of the AMBULANCE fly open, ENDOSKELETON

explodes out, charges Jimmy as he stares for a shocked
instant-- and Endoskeleton snaps J i ~ s neck.

T-1000 guns the ambulance into the junkyard, as Endoskeleton

LEAPS up onto one of the mountains of junk.

EXT. JUNKYARD - NIGHT

Guardian, Reese and Sarah stand armed and ready. Guardian

hefts an Uzi in one hand, grenade launcher in the other.
Sarah flicks her zippo, turns to the gas-soaked Eldorado--

REESE
Yourll lead them right to us,
SARAH
That 1 s the idea.
 K/L 7.17.13 44,

She tosses the lighter onto the car, and FW:WOOOOM! Flames
lick upwards into the night.

SARAH (CONT'D)
If we can't take them out here,
just get them to the end of the
tunnel. Got it?

REESE
(scanning the darkness)
This is a really bad idea.

KA-THRUNKKI ENDOSKELETON lands on the top of a piled of

wrecked cars to their side.
All three whip around, firing. BULLETS spark off
Endoskeleton--

SARAH snaps up the SNIPER RIFLE-- Reese tackles her! The

rifle lost as Reese bears her to the ground-- and

THE AMBULANCE plows through the spot where they just stood!
It clips Guardi~n, he crashes into cars which AVALANCHE down
on top of him--

as the ambulance SLAMS into the FLAMING ELDORADO.

ON ENDOSKELETON· as it leaps to the ground, CHARGES them!-

Reese shoves Sarah towards the tunnel mouth--

REESE (CONT'D)
{to Sarah)
Go!

Endoskeleton snatches Reese up, FLINGS him into a PILE OF

WRECKED CARS, then stalks after him. Reese scrambles up over
the wrecks, disappears on the far side.

ON SARAH as she hesitates at the tunnel mouth-•- sees:

T-1000 kick out of the crumpledambulance cab, body twisted
and bent by the crash-- and theliquid metal ripples,
reforms, he's whole again in moments. His ,eyes fix on Sarah.

She turns and RUNS. T-1000 follows.

INT, JUNKYARD TUNNEL - NIGHT

T-1000 races into the murk of the tunnel--

BLAM!BLAM!BLAM!BLAM! Sarah fires from behind cover, crouched

at the ragged hole where the ramp enters the sewer tunnels.
 K/L 7.17.13 45.

Each shot opens a silver puncture in T-lOOO's chest-- he

slows, but keeps corning, almost to her when--
GUARDIAN appears silhouetted in the ramp behind him.
GUARDIAN
Sarah, run!
Guardian OPENS FIRE as he strides down the ramp.
T-1000 LEAPS for Guardian, sailing through the air-- Guardian
FIRES a grenade-- BOOMMMI

INT, JUNKYARD - TUNNEL - NIGHT

SARAH reloading-- the explosion behind her rattles the
tunnel, dust trickling from the ceiling. She looks back:

HUGE SHADOWS on the tunnel wall, showing GUARDIAN on his

back, T--1000 over him, its hand a splayed shredded mess that
rapidly morphs into a THICK BLADE--
SARAH
(whispers, desperately)
Come on, Pops. Get up. Please.

Guardian blocks the thrust with one arm CLANNGG!

SARAH (CONT I D)
(houts back)
Hey! You want me or the
rustbucket? Come on!
The T-1000 pauses-- Sarah turns, runs down the tunnel.

CUT TO:

EXT. JUNKYARD - NIGHT

ENDOSKELETON thunders after REESE through a junk-maze-- Reese

darts through with the practiced skill of an urban guerilla.
Behind him, Endoskeleton simply plows through the piles of
junk with horrifying brutal strength.

Reese clambers swiftly to the top of a car mound, :runs along

the top of the wrecked cars as--

Endoskeleton pursues him below-- then THROWS itself into the

TOWERING ROW OF WRECKS like a battering ram, tipping it over!
REESE scrambles along the wave of collapsing metal.
ENDOSKELETON BOUNDS right at him over the twisted wreckage--
 K/L 7.17.13 46.

Reese dives INSIDE a GUTTED STATION WAGON, just as

Endoskeletong LANDS hard on the roof with a KERRCRUNCH!,
ON REESE INSIDE THE WRECKS, twists and turns from the station
wagon through the open window of another car, like a snake in
a maze that's being HAMMERED smaller and tighter.
ENDOSKELETON'S FIST PUNCHES through a roof, Reese dives into
another car-- and ahead he spots:
THE SNIPER RIFLE, lying in the maze of semi-crushed cars.

REESE heaves himself forward, grabbing the rifle just as

ENDOSI<ELETON'S FIST slams down, Reese dodges the blow but a
bumper CRACKS into the side of his head-- Reese reels, vision
blurring, blood wells from a gash in his temple.

Endoskeleton GRABS for him-- and Reese jams the sniper rifle
into its metal torso, points the muzzle straight up and--

KABLAAAAAAM! 11 The bullet RIPS upward through the skeletal

body to Endoskeleton's neck-- and blows its head off.

Reese pulls himself out, dizzy and staggering, puts a hand to

his bloodied head-- and COLLAPSES, unconscious.

CUT TO:

INT. SEWER TUNNELS - NIGHT

Sarah moves fast through the tunnel, reaching a hole hacked

through concrete into another, smaller chute-like tunnel.
Sarah opens a locker on this side of the hole, pulls out an
Uzi, a GAS MASK and a PRESSURE SPRAYER. She clips the
sprayer to her b~lt then climbs through.

INT. SEWER TUNNELS - CHUTE - NIGHT

The hole opens into a NARROW CHUTE, BLUE 50 GALLON PLASTIC

DRUMS OF LIQUID are stacked on either side. ABOVE, more
barrels, held in place by a metal truss. Cl.ear liquid DRIPS
from a few of barrels overhead.

Sarah runs through the chute. A drip hits her jacketed arm-~
which immediately begins to SMOKE, cloth burning away.

Sarah whips the jacket off. Her arm is RED and BLISTERING.
She unclips the sprayer, SPRAYS her arm, stops the burn.
O.S. sounds behind her, someone approaching from the tunnel,
 K/L 7.17,13 47,

Sarah clips the sprayer back on her belt, then snaps up the
Uzi. She backs down the chute, watching where she entered --
REESE (O,S.)
Sarah ..•

REESE stumbles into the chute, bruised, bloodied.

REESE (CONT'D)
Help me, Please, Sarah .•.
SARAH
What happened?
REESE

Reese limps down the chute towards her.

SARAH
Where's Pops?

REESE
Terminated.
Sarah stops dead in her tracks.

Reese passes under the dripping barrel, Clear liquid drops

onto his cheek. HI.SSSS . .. but Reese doesn't even flinch.

The flesh on Reese's cheek burns away, leaving a SILVER

DIVOT. He looks up at the barrel above. A second drip falls
INTO REESE'S EYE: IT SIZZLES away to a GAPING SILVER SOCKET.
SARAH
Nice try, Captain Chrome.

It glares at her, oozing silver eye and dripping cheek--

strides toward h'er, morphing from Reese to 1r-lOOO.

Sarah slips on the gas mask, FIRES-- but not at the T-1000,
she's aiming at
THE PLASTIC BARRELS, which spray ACID from the punctures,
showering onto the T·-1000 from the sides and above!

T-1000 becomes pitted and scarred, acid burning broad gashes

of chrome over it as it eats into the mimetic polyalloy. It
tries to reform, but acid keeps eating it away.

Acrid smoke BILLOWS, obscuring the melting T·-1000 from sight.

 K/L 7.17.13 48,

Sarah backs out of the chute. Behind her, a closed door. She
reloads the Uzi. An inhuman SCREAM CUTS through the smoke--
and then nothing. Silence.
Smoke swirls thick in the chute ..• when suddenly
T-1000 LUNGES AT SARAH from out of the fog-- metal form now
hideously rotting away, but somehow still attacking.
Sarah shoots! Bullets SHRED liquid metal, ripping off one of
T-1000 1 s deformed arms-- but it GRABS her leg with the other,
t.ries to pull her into the poisonous ACID gauntlet.
Sarah SLIPS, goes down hard, T-1000 dragging her toward the
acid---- when ANOTHER HAND grabs her arm and JERKS her back.

It's Guardian, who's burst in through the door behind Sarah.

He SEIZES T-1000 1 s liquefying throat, DRIVES it headfirst
INTO AN ACID BARREL,

ACID sloshes over the T-1000, which jerks, quivers, then

dissolves into rivers of watery silver.

Guardian jerks his hand back-- the flesh has been eaten away,
the metal skeleton beneath already starting to smoke.

Sarah swiftly sprays his arm-- the acid stops, but Guardian 1 s
arm below the elbow is now exposed metal 1 completely inhuman.
SARAH (CONT'D)
l was ·worried about you.
GUARDIAN
{shakes his head)
Old. Not obsolete.

SARAH
What about Reese?

EXT. JUNKYARD - NIGHT

Reese lies sprawled next to the headless remains of the

Endoskeleton. Sarah watches as Guardian checks his eyes.

GUARDIAN
He is unconscious, but his damage
is minimal.

SARAH
Not sure I 1 d agree with that.

Sarah crouches down next to Reese. Looking at him, almost

studying him, now that he can't see her doing it,
 K/L 7.17.13 49.

SARAH (CONT'D)
So you're the one I've waited for
all my life.

She reaches one hand to brush hair out of his face-- Sarah
pulls back suddenly, realizing Guardian is watching. Sarah
stands. Abrupt. Maybe even a little embarrassed.
SARAH (CONT'D)
Let's get him down to the rig.
We've got to figure out where we' re
going.

PUSH IN on Reese's face, eyes closed, as we ...

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT, REESE'S DREAM

BLINDING LIGHT shines down at us from a dark sky, then

swivels away to reveal--

EXT. BLASTED ROAD - NIGHT

AN FIK scans over a cracked road that cuts through withered

farmland. Clearly post-Judgement Day. Off the road:

A HOUSE, ruined and blasted, saqging root and shattered

windows. It looks abandoned. A scattering of outbuildings.

The HK roves overhead, about to move on. , • but then, A

E'LICKER OF MOVEMENT inside one window.

IN2'. RUINED REESE HOUSE - NIGHT

It's a tow-headed 13 year ol.d BOY, peering carefully around

the edges of the shattered pane.

MAN'S VOICE
(hissing whisper)
Ky le I Get away from the window!

YOUNG KYLE REESE, maybe 13 years old, ducks down from the
window. His PARENTS are huddled in the shadows against the
fa.r. wall. Thin and filthy, refugees in their own home. t

KYLE'S DAD
Get down I
 K/L 7.17.13 50.

Young Kyle hits the floor just as LIGHT FROM THE HK stabs
through the window, sweeping over the destroyed house.
Raking over the relics of a .I ost way of life:

A WEDDING PICTURE, showing Kyle's parents smil'ing at the

camera, tradit.ional long white dress and tux.
A CHINA CABINET, listing precariously to one side, filled
with smashed fragments, a few plates remaining.
ANGLE 2'HROUGH THE KITCHEN DOOR, as the light sweeps through
it, showing a TEAPOT on the counter, a hastily put out FIRE
in a makeshift heartli, still smoking.

THE HK LIGHT FLARES, searingly bright, whites out everything--

INT. REESE HOUSE - DAY

-- and when the light fades we' re in the living room, but
it's changed • .Because in this timeline, no bombs ever fell.

The house is vibrant with color. Sunlight streams in.

Laughter and light, a small BIRTHDAY PARTY going on. Kyle's
Mom enters from the kitchen, healthy and smiling.
KYLE'S MOM & DAD
Happy Birthday, Kyle!
Young Kyle, just a normal kid, smiles at everyone and blows
out the candles, Dad taking lots of pictures, A CAMERA FLASH
goes off-- and the wash of light transitions us back to:

INT. RUINED REESE HOUSE - NIGHT

Young Kyle and his parents scramble to a spot where ripped

wallpaper hangs down over a gaping hole in the wall. They
slip in between the walls. It', s claustrophobic and dark.

KYLE'S MOM
(scared)
Richard •..

KYLE'S DAD
We're gonna be ok, Katie. We'll be
fine.
(to Young Kyle)
You stay quiet, understand, Kyler
No matter what happens-- you don't
make A SO.JJnd.

YOUNG KYLE
Ok Dad.
 K/L 7 ,17 .13 51.

Light sweeps back and forth through the windows, stippling

them through the cracks in the W-3.ll. The light washes over
Young Kyle's eye, shockingly bright-·-

INT. REESE HOUSE - DAY

FLASH-- another photo-- Kyle's Dad taking too many birthday

pictures. Mom hands Kyle a present in loud wrapping paper.
Young Kyle opens it ... AN IPAD 6.
YOUNG KYLE
Thanks Mom! Thanks Dad! This is
so cool •..

He turns it on-- in the upper right corner, A RED COUNTER

blinks to life, counting down in days, hours, minutes,
seconds. Behind the scolling numbers, the words GENISYS IS
COMING, 10-10-17, LINK YOUR LIFE.

YOUNG KYLE (CONT'D}

(excited)
No way!

KYLE'S MOM
(smiles)
Genisys will auto-update as soon as
i t comes online. You'll have it
the moment it comes out, Just a
few more days.

Kyle 1 s Dad snaps another photo, the flash FLARES--

INT. RUINED REESE HOUSE - NIGHT

-- becoming a BLAST OF PLASMA FIRE that tears through the

front door. The ruined door is kicked open, splinter.ing--

AN ENDOSKELETON enters~ Eyes burning red, scanning.

POV ENDOSKELETON, seeing the thermal glow of the smoking

hearth •in the kitchen. Signs of lite. Human life.

INSIDE THE WALLS- - Mom, Dad and Young Ky le motionless. Dad

looks down at Kyle, f.ingers to his l.ips. Stay wiet.

Young Kyl.e trembles~ Terrified.

Endoskeleton cut.s across the light as it searches, visible

only as a hulking blur through the cracks in the wall,
 7,17,13 52.

The family holds their breath, .. the footfalls of the machine

only a few feet away from them ••. and then, silence.

Mom holds Kyle to her, Dad presses his ear to the wa.ll,
KYLE'S MOM
(silently mouths)
Is it gone?
Dad turns to answer, when-~

A METAL HAND smashes through lathe and plaster, GRABS KYLE!

Dad and Mom lunge for the machine arm, fight to free Kyle.
He twists out of his filthy jacket, darts to the side--
and the Machine's other arm punches through INTO DAD.
YANKS hirn through the wall and out of sight.

Young Kyle reaches for Mom-- as Endoskeleton I s flailing metal

fingers close around her arm and RIP her through the wall.

Young Kyle scrambles backwards, ducking around the narrow

corner between walls, trying to stay silent, crying.

A BLAZE OF ENERGY FIRE, visible through the holes in the wall-

- and two shadows THUD into the wall hard enough to make it
shake. The sound of his parents' bodies hitting the wall.

Young Kyle chokes down a scream. Scurries through the narrow

gap between the walls just as--
The Endoskeleton tears the wall away-- to find no one.

INT. BACK BEDROOM - NIGHT

Young Kyle crawls out, into a back bedroom. Heading for a
bolt-hole in the floor that leads under the house.

Debris litters the floor. He stops, seeing himself reflected

in a broken piece of mirror. . . the 1'.mage wavers I warps . ..

INT, YOUNG KYLE'S BEDROOM - NIGHT

... to Young Kyle's bedroom, in the bright, happy house~

He's looking in his mirror, expression serious.
YOUNG KYLE
Genisys is Skynet.

In the mirror, a typical teenage bedroom visible behind him.

He is talking directly to his own reflection:
 K/L 7.17.13 53.

YOUNG KYLE (CONT'D)

Remember. This future is real,
Skynet infects the world from
Cyberdyne in San Francisco 1
October, 2017. You can stop the
program, kill it before it's born.
You have to remember 1 it's
important-- come to 2017.

SMASH CUT TO:

INT. SEWER TUNNELS - NIGHT

Reese STARTS AWAKE, bolting upright,

He's in the tunnels, Puts a hand to his head, winces as his
fingers find the roughly bandaged gash in his temple.

0. S, echoing voices, Sarah and Guardian. He can I t quite make

out what they're saying. Gets up, heads toward the sound.

INT. TUNNELS - NIGHT

Reese passes the acid chute, sees two barrels of upright

acid. One has the trunk of ENDOSKELETON sinking down into
itr acid boiling around it as the metal dissolves~

SARAH (O. S.)

- - not s11re how we know for sure.

INT. TUNNEL INTERSECTION - NIGHT

Reese emerges into a wide, tall CAVERN formed by the

intersection of several sewer tunnels. Sarah and Guardian
are standing at its edge.

GUARDIAN
We must choose your destination--

REESE
What is he talking about?
They both turn to see Reese. He looks past them-- a. tangle
of THICK CABLES hang from a hole cut in the top of the
tunnel, snaking down to the controls of:

A MAKESHIFT TIME DISPLACEMENT DEVICE, similar to the one we

saw in 2029 but clearly built from equipment at hand. 3 huge
concentric rings lie flat on the floor, not floating, stacked
inside each other atop a jury-rigged magnet array.
 K/L 7,17.13 54.

REESE (CONT'D)
That's, ..

GUARDIAN
A time displacement device, TDD.

REESE
I know what it is.
(looks skeptical)
Or, I know what it's supposed to
be, You're sure it will work?

SARAH
We haven't tested it. One use
only. Pops says we'll shut down
power for all of Los Angeles.
Guardian nods up at the cables.

GUARDIAN
We have tapped the main city grid.
(an understatement)
It will be noticed.
REESE
(to Sarah)
You said "when we leave 11 ••• Where
are we going?

SARAH
More like, when.

She looks to Guardian. This is not a new conversation.

SARAH (CONT'D)
If we go back to 1973, we could
save my parents. But we can't be
sure it will work.

GUARDIAN
Or we can go to 2029. The attack
on John Connor must be the first
and primary divergence. From that
point in the future, it is almost
certain terminators were sent back
after Sarah as a child, and sent
after you when you arrived.
SARAH
Not sure which time we go to--
REESE
Neither.
(off their confusion)
(MORE)
 K/L 7.17.13 55,

REESE (CONT'D)
If we go back to 1973, even if we
save your parents we'll be too far
back in the past. We may not live
long enough to stop Judgement Day.
And if we go forward to 2029, yes
we m.ight save John ... but Judgement
Day will already have happened.
Billions of lives lost to nuclear
fire. Both ways, we fail to stop
Judgement Day.
SARAH
You have a better idea?
REESE
(without hesitation)
2017. October, 2017,

SARAH
That's after the bombs fall--
REESE
Not any more. When I was out, I
had-- it wasn't a dream, it was
more like-- rememberinq. Vivid,
real, · I was 13, with my parents
after Judgement Day. I watched
them die ... and then it changed.
I saw the world where Judgement Day
never happened. No, not just saw
it-- I remembered it. The same
house, same parents, same me-- but
I was home, the bombs had never
fallen, and it was my 13th
birthday. October 7, 2017,
SARAH
A dream of having your family back
doesn't mean a thing, trust me--•

REESE
Not a dream. A memory, I can't
remember all of that life, not
everything, it's like trying to
close my fingers around smoke-•- but
I remember sitting at my mirror,
someone gave me a message and I
said i.t t.o myself-- October 2017 is
when Skynet comes online. Only
it's called Genisys."
11

SARAH
( is he kidding?)
So you're remembering the future.
 K/L 7.17.13 56.

But the Guardian is taking this very seriously.

GUARDIAN
No.
(to Reese)
The boy is the alternate timeline
version of you.
(to Sarah)
Kyle Reese is remembering his own
past, which is our future.
SARAH
(it doesn't)
That makes it so much better.
How can he remember two timelines?

Gvardian takes Reese's :face in his metal hand--

REESE
Get off mel

SARAH
Reese. Let him look.

Reluctantly, Reese stands still as Guardian scans his eyes.

_c;;;}lARDIAN __ POV: SCANS REESE 1 S involuntary iris contractions.
Information flickering rapidly down its HUD, assessing ...

GUARDIAN
You may have been exposed to a
nexus point in the timeflow when
you were in the quantum field.

REESE
1 1 m a soldier, not a scientist.
Try that again.

GUARDIAN
A nexus point. An event in time of
such importance that it gives rise
to a vastly different future.

SARAH
You mean like the assassination of
Lincoln, or the birth of Hitler.

GUARDIAN
<John Connor's effect on history is
exponentially great. lf he was
killed or compromised, this would
be a nexus event.
(MORE)
 K/L 7.17.13 57.
GUARDIAN (CONT'D)
Experiencing such an event from
inside time portal field could
result in the ability to remember
both pasts.
REESE
I'm not wrong about this. Sarah.
What happened to John, the death of
your parents, Judgement Day-- it
all stems from one place. Skynet.
(intense)
1 was born in the ruins of a world
destroyed by the machines. I've
given my whole life fighting
Skynet. I wouldn't ask this if I
wasn't sure, completely sure, that
it's the only way.
Sarah turns away from him. Conflicted. Reese comes up
behind her, reaches a hand out for her shoulder-- then stops
himself, Instead, just says softly:

REESE (CONT'D)
l came back for you, Sarah. Not
John, not the cause. You.

She turns, looks at him, searching his face.

REESE (CONT'D)
I hope that means something.

They lock eyes-- and Sarah looks away first. To Guardian,

SARAH
October 7. 2017.

INT. TUNNEL INTERSECTION - NIGHT - LATER

Guardian finishes setting the target date on the controls.

GUARDIAN
You must leave as soon as possible--
SARAH
"We." We.'.±.§ going, all of us.
Guardian holds up his exposed mechanical arm.
GUARDIAN
The magnetics of the quantum
temporal field, My flesh is
compromised. Jt will take years to
regrow* I cannot go with you,
 K/L 7.17.13 58.

Sarah processes this-- then suddenly HUGS him.

GUARDIAN" (CONT'D)
This is a meaningless gesture. Why
do you hold onto someone because
you know you must let them go?
Sarah pulls back, wipes her eyes swiftly.

SARAH
What about you? What will you do?
GUARDIAN
Take the long way. Prepare for
your arrivaJ,. in 2017.

Guardian turns back to the controls, switches them on. With

a HUM, the rings rise from the floor, one inside another.
Not yet rotating, just floating.
GUARDIAN (CONT'D)
You cannot travel wearing clothes.
Sarah and Reese become uncomfortable, Begin disrobing,
pointedly not looking at each other.
REESE
Make sure you pick us up in the
right place. I don 1 t want to be
wandering around the Bay Area
naked.
GUARDIAN
("duh")
I programmed the TDD, I will be
present at the coordinates when you
~rrive. I will not make a mistake.
REESE
You sound ... annoyed.
GUARDIAN
Annoyance is not in my programming.
If it was, I would not be able to
function among humans.
REESE
Ok, definitely annoyed.
Reese has finished undressing. Sarah too. Glancing at
Reese, the Guardian says deadpan;
 K/L 7.17.13 59.

GUJI.RDIAN
Kyle Reese. I have seen little to
indicate that you are a fit
guardian for Sarah.

REESE
You know you're not her dad, right?
SARAH
,,, (to Guardian)
Don't worry, Pops.
(to Reese)
Let's do this.

Still not looking at each other, Sarah and Reese move toward
the rings. Reese steps into the inactive time portal. He
holds out a hand-- but Sarah ignores it, steps in on her own.

The rings start to spin. Sarah and Reese stand face to face,
not touching, looking only at each other's faces, But it's
more intimate than if their eyes were roving over each other..

SARAH (CONT ' D)

What will it be like?

REESE
It hurts. But you'll be ok.

The rings WHIRL faster. Sarah startles, catches herself--

then gasps in pain. Without thinking, Reese reaches for her
as she doubles over, th.rows his arms around her--

AND LIGHT SWALLOWS them into a BLUE-BLACK SPHERE of PAIN.

INT. TIME SPHERE - NO WHEN

ON SARAH wincing, gasping for breath. Instinctive.ly, she

clings to Reese, fingers digging into his back.

A maelstrom of lightning shrieks outside the sphere, Reese

holds Sarah 1 s head to his chest, arms wrapped tight around
her, wanting to protect her, knowing he can rt.

EXT. SAN FRANCISCO - NIGHT - 2017

Black clouds THUNDER over the city. Heavy downpour.

Late night traffic speeds through the 101--280 FREEWAY

INTERCHANGE south o:f downtown. San Francisco drivers,
oblivious to the rain, barely notice the wet streets.

~W.~~o~_ A BILLBOARD, one o~ many ·by the freeway: smiling

people using srnartphones, computers, tablets.
 K/L 7.17.13 60.

Beneath, the words GENISYS IS COMING in huge glowing letters,

with the same red counter we saw in Reese's vision. 3 days
to go.
Lightning CRACKS-- but not across the sky, It's on the road.
A massive BALL of electricity whips into existence, dead
center in the northbound overpass!
DRIVERS swerve madly, some go around, some plunge through--
THE BLUE-BLACK SPHERE materializes, opaque and SOLID in the
eye of the lightning storm. Asphalt SMOKES as the sphere
burns a bowl-shaped crater down into the road.
KERCRASH! A CAR head-ans into the SPHERE, ricochets off it.

A PICKUP TRUCK swerves, fishtails-- glances off the sphere,

up on two wheels, slams into the median,
A POLICE CAR jams its brakes, rear-ends the pickup. The
startled TRAFFIC COP inside reaches for his radio.

INSIDE THE SPHERE: Sarah clings to Reese, their bodies a

twisting knot suspended in the sphere I s center.

REESE'S POV; electric arcs burn across the surface of the

sphere. It goes from opaque to translucent-- the freeway
becomes visible outside, vehicles veering around them-- and
the sphere dissipates.

REESE & SARAH fall, silhouetted by headlights coming straight

for them! Reese twists mid-air, putting his back to THE
ONCOMING CAR. Its brakes lock with a squeal--

-- and it SLAMS into Reese and Sarah, his back taking the
brunt of it. They ROLL ·up the hood, smashing the windshield.

The car stops. They're THROWN forward, still clinging

together as they roll across the CRATER left by the sphere,

Sarah pushes off Reese, disoriented. She tries to stand,

slips-- Reese grabs her arm, steadies her.

REESE
It's ok. 1 got you.

Blood drips down his temple from the reopened gash. Sarah
meets his eyes--- doesn't pull away from his touch. Cars
screech to a halt all around them, O.S. SIRENS.
ANGLE ON THE TRAFFIC COP as he darts through cars-- to find
Sarah and·Reese, naked.
 K/L 7.17.13 61.

TRAFFIC COP
(drawing his gun)
Hold it right there!

EXT. SAN FRANCISCO FREEWAY ON RAMP - NIGHT

An on-ramp on the lower deck, below the interchange where

Sarah and Reese materialized. The interchange itself is now
jamined with cars and emergency vehicles, lights flashing.
Traffic crawls as people crane to see what 1 s happening. A
VAN weaves through, stops abruptly, almost gets rear-ended.

The driver emerges, steps onto the shoulder, ignoring the

honking cars around him: GUARDIAN, 33 years "older."

POV GUARDIAN: looking up the several stories to the

interchange. His POV ZOOMS in to see Reese and Sarah loaded
into an ambulance,,~

ANGRY DRIVER
(calling from his car)
Hey asshole! Get off the road!

GUARDIAN
(flat)
Bite me.

WIDER-- Arnbulance·ctoors close. PULL BACK to see Guardian get

in the van and follow.

EXT. SAN FRANCISCO MEMORIAL HOSPITAL - MORNING

A 10 story hospital in the downtown core. Follow TWO POLICE

OFFICERS as they hurry from the parking lot through the rain:
LT. MATIAS and DET. CHEUNG.

DET. CHEUNG
Security footage from the overpass
shows what must be some kind of
bon~. Forensics are out there now.
LT, MATIAS
Two naked people try to blow
themselves up on the freeway and
all they do is make a really big
pothole. Thank god for incompetent
terrorists. Homeland 1 s been
notified?

DET. CHEUNG
Yeah. On their way.
 7 .17.13 62.

LT. MA'I.1IAS
Good. Sooner we d11Inr:, this on them
the better--
An old FORD hurtles into the lot behind them. Lt. Matias
turns to Cheung, disgusted.
LT. MATIAS (CONT'D)
Who called Optimus Prime?
A detective jumps out of the Ford. It might take us a second
to recognize him t O'BRIEN, the LA'.l?D cop Guardian saved 33
years ago, now a detective in the SFPD.
He sports a gut and a suit-- a dappling of OLD SCARS on his
face from his brief encounter with the T-850. He hurries to
catch up with Matias and Cheung.

O'BRIEN
Did you see this? Did you?

He's excited, and teeters ever so slightly. -A drunk who

thinks he 1 s better at hiding it than he actually is, He waves
a sheaf of security footage photo--,printouts.
0 1 BRIEN {CONT'D)
I printed frame grabs from the
overpass. It 1 s not a bomb.

RAIN soaks the photos. Matias doesn't reach to take them.

INT. HOSPITAL - LOBBY - MORNING

O'Brien chases after Matias and Cheung inside. Glimpses of

the time-coded photos: showing the sphere, then lightning,
then Sarah and Reese on the freeway.

O'BRIEN
That sphere, they came out of it--
DET. CHEUNG_
Because-- let me guess-- they're,
killer robots.

O'BRIEN
Screw you, ok?
(jabs at the photos)
This j_s proot of what rr.ve been
saying for years, These two are
1
from 84, they were there. I need
to see the suspects--
 K/L 7.17.13 63.

LT. MA'rIAS
O'Brien. You been drinking?

O'Brien freezes. Closes his mouth, Tight.

LT. MATIAS (CONT'D)

What I thought. Look, we're just
teeing this up for Homeland. Once
they show up, this is their game,
As for the warm up, all drunks with
robot fixations stay on the bench.
Matias turns his back and continues with Cheung. O'Brien
hesitates, Then decides. Pops an Altoid. Follows.

INT. HOSPITAL - EXAMINATION ROOM - MORNING

SARAH AND REESE in scrubs, handcuffed to separate beds, being

examined and treated for their wounds. A SUTURE TRAY on a
table between them, with needles, gauze, tweezers, etc,

TWO BURLY UNIFORMED COPS stand at the door.

Reese sits with shirt pulled over his head, bunched around
the cuffs, as an OLD DOCTOR tends the new lacerations over
the impressive web of Reese's old scars.

OLD DOCTOR
Helluva mess. Lucky it wasn't
worse.
REESE
I I ve been lucky a lot.

OLD DOCTOR
(re: scars)
I can see that.

At the next bed, an E.R, Resident tends to Sarah.

E.R. RESIDENT
You sure you don't want a local?
SARAH
(impatiently)
I'm fine.

E.R. RESIDENT
(-concerned, to Reese)
Sir, I'm worried your wife may be
in shock--
 K/L 7.17.13 64.

SARAH
We're not married.
REESE
Just do what she says. Trust me,
it's easier.
Lt. Matias and Det. Cheung enter as KERSNICK! KERSNICKK!
E.R. Resident staples Sarah's shoulder.
DET. CHEUNG
What is she on? Horse
tranquilizers?

E,R. RESIDENT
Tox screens came back clean.

Matias dismisses the matter with a wave of his hand,

LT, MATIAS
Doctors, excuse us please.

Reese pulls on his shirt as the Resident and Old Doctor exit.

LT. MATIAS (CONT'D)

So you two have a lot to explain.
Starting with ·who you really are.
(to Sarah)
You said your name is Sarah Connor.
Nobody in our database matching
your prints, But we got a hit from
the National Center for Missing and
Exploited Children.

Det. Cheung hands Sarah a FADED PHOTO of YOUNG SARAH in '73.

DET, CHEUNG
Sarah Connor, vanished in 1973 at
the age of 9 after her family was
killed. Presumed dead. But NCMEC
has an artist age up the missing
kid. They keep the files on all the
open cases.

· Cheung hands her a ·drawing--- an artist's rendition of Sarah

in her 20 1 s. Looking exactly__ like Sarah looks Qow.

DET. CHEUNG (CONT'D)

This is what Sarah Connor would
have looked like.
(beat)
In 1985.
 K/L 7.17.13 65.

LT. MA'PIAS
,So just when I think it can't get
freakier--
(to Reese)
-- we ran prints on y--99.
Reese and Sarah exchange a glance-- so what? O'Brien slips
into the room, stands behind the two uniforms.
LT. MATIAS (CONT'D)
And here's the thing: two months
ago, one Kyle Reese was brought in
for fighting at multiplex. His
parents flipped, did the whole
'Scared Straight' thing. Had him
fingerprinted, sat him in lock up--
O'BRIEN
"Parents?"
DET. CHEUNG
Yeah. Parents. Kyl8 Reese was
born in 2004. He's thir:teen,

LT. MATIAS
Normally, we'd just add identity
theft to the list of charges we're
still racking up--

O'BRIEN
Except the prints match. Right?
(looks to Reese)
He's the same person, Hasn't aged.
Not a day since I last saw him.
Her too. Do you remember me? I
was ... younger. More hair. Less
gut,
(quiet)
You saved my life.
Neither Reese nor Sarah respond, Matias cuts in:
LT. MATIAS
O'Brien. Isn't it time you started
drawing a pension? Unless you're
going to tell me she's 53 and he's
a teenager, then they faked the
kid's prints and stole a dead
girl's name, Question is why?
O'BRIEN
Definitely the wrong question, L.T.
(to Reese)
Who are you people? Really?
 K/L 7.17.13 66.

REESE
Sergeant, Tech-Com, DN38416, Kyle
Reese. You need to let us go.

SARAH
Kyle. Don't.
O'BRIEN
Soldier, huh? Me too, 1980. Paid
for college. What year you enlist?
REESE
2021.

The cops trade grins, except O'Brien. He's more intrigued.

O'BRIEN
That means you' re a time trav--

SARAH
Look, he's got a head wound, and he
wasn't exactly stable before that.
Don't listen to him--
REESE
Don't listen to me? Who got us
stuck in high density traffic and
captured by these idiots?
SARAH
I am _ordering you to shut up.

REESE
Cause that's all you know how to
do, isn't it? Order people?

The cops are watching the back and forth escalate--

REESE (CONT'D)
You haven't had a real relationship
with another human being since you
were a kid--

SARAH
You think you know me but you
don't. You don't know a damn thing
about me!

LT. MATIAS
All right, this is not couples
counseling, that's enough--
REESE
rt' s not enough 1
 K/L 7.17.13 67.

Reese JUMPS to his feet, knocking over the suture tray with a
CRASH, instruments scatter as he LUNGES AT SARAH.

REESE (CONT'D)
You got us caught, you' re going to
get us both killed--

Sarah KNEES him, he goes down with an OOMPH !

The Burly Cops DRAW DOWN on Reese instantly-- and with his
back to the cops, Reese palms the TWEEZERS from the floor.

A text chimes in on Det. Cheung's phone.

DET. CHEUNG
(checking)
They're here.

SARAH
(to the cops)
Leave him alone, all right?
L'l1 • MATIAS
With pleasure,

Matias nods to the cops; they lower their guns.

LT, MATIAS (CONT'D)

You I re Homeland's problem now.

SARAH
Homeland? What's Homeland?

DE'r, CHEUNG
Don't play dumb,

O'BRIEN
They 1 re not. Homeland Security
didn 1 t exist in 1984.
(to Sarah)
Basically, if they suspect you of
terrorism they can lock you up.
Indefinitely,

SARAH
We're not terrorists.
ur. MATIAS
Odds are good you'll have a very
long time to talk them around.
Matias shoves 0' Brien to the door. Cheung follows. 'l'he
BUrly Cops take their positions at the door.
 K/L 7,17.13 68.

SARAH
(low)
You were very ... convincing,
Reese doesn't take the bait. His side turned to the cops so
they can't see, he shows her the palmed tweezers.
REESE
(whispering back)
Worked, didn't it?
There's a knock at the door. Burly Cop 1 unclips his
holster, opens the door blocking Reese & sarah 1 s view of
whoever's in the hall. Burly Cop 2 backs his partner.

SARAH
And don't think me holding onto you
naked meant anything. It, you
know, did not,
REESE
Yeah. I could tell by the way you
kneed me in the--
VOICE IN THE HALL
Step out in the hall. I want to
speak to the suspects alone,

Reese freezes, Recognizes the voice, Looks to the door ...

The two Burly Cops step out into the hall, and

JOHN CONNOR steps inside. Closes the door behind him.

REESE
(can barely believe it)
John.,. ?

JOHN
Kyle. It's good to see you.
Reese leaps up-- and jerks up short, handcuffs clanking.

REESE
You're alive!
JOHN
(finger to lips, keeping
his voice low)
You have no idea.
He embraces Reese. Sarah stares.
 K/L 7.17.13 69.

SARAH
Is this ... ?
JOHN
Hi Mom.
John hugs her. But Sarah blanches. No idea how to react,
SARAH
John ••.
She pulls back, looks at him searchingly-- she has no memory
of John, even as a child, let alone coming face to face with
the man he has become.
SARAH (CONT'D)
I'm sorry. I don't .•. I don't know
you.
JOHN
How could you? You never had me.
Before now, I was a concept waiting
to be conceived. But that's not
who you are to me, Mom.
SARAH
What are you doing here? How can
you even be in this time? Reese
said you were attacked-- he thought
you were--

JOHN
I'm all right. I survived.
John takes her hands in his, Almost tender.

JOHN (CONT'D)
Because that's what you taught me
how to do.

REESE
We have. to get out of here.
JOHN
You 1 re right. We don't have a lot
of time before they.figure out I'm
not part of Homeland Security.
(shakes his head)
Not that anyone in this timeline
has a clue what real security is.
A fat, happy, lazy world, no idea
they 1 re perched on the edge of
history, swinging their legs out
over the abyss.
 K/L 7.17.13 70.

REESE
How long have you been here?

JOHN
A while. Long enough to set in
motion everything we need to win.
REESE
We already won,
JOHN
No, Dad, we lost. But not--
Reese reacts, confused.

REESE
Wait-- 'Dad'?

He looks to Sarah, who doesn't meet his eyes,

REESE (CONT'D)
I don't understand.

John looks chagrined. Like it hadn 1 t even occurred to him

that Reese wouldn't know.
JOHN
She didn't tell you. . . ?
(to Sarah)
I love you, Mom, but you I ve got
issues.
For once, Sarah is at a total loss for words.

SARAH
I didn 1 t. . . I couldn't ...

Suddenly, she looks uncertain. Takes a step back,

SARAH (CONT'D)
We all know they can mimic.
Shapeshift. You're John? Prove
it.

John doesn't look offended-- he actually seems to approve.

JOHN
Lesson one: trust no one. I
remember.
(to Reese)
During the Nagadoches offensive, 1
gave you something.
 7.17.13 71.

QUICK FLASH to a post-Judgement Day fortification. REESE AND

JOHN huddled together in a gun emplacement. John hands Reese
a picture-•-
JOHN (V ,0.)
Just the two of us were there. No
one else knew what I handed you,
REESE (V .O.)
Yes.

CLOSE ON THE PHOTO: .faded, wrinkled. A shot of SllRAH in a

jeep, looking to the distance.

JOHN (V.O.)
It was a picture of Sarah.
PERRY comes running up to the embankment. Talks rapidly to
John. Something important. John hurries off with !rry,
waves off Reese as he tries to hand him back the photo.
He 1 ll get i t later.
ON REESE, holding the picture, staring at it. Something
about i t striking him, capturing his imagination. Begi.nning
to capture his heart,

JOHN (V.O.)
She was the age she is now .. ,

BACK TO SCENE IN THE HOSPITAL:

JOHN
... young, but already feeling the
weight of a dark future on her
shoulders.

REESE
(to Sarah)
It's him. It has to be.

But even as he speaks, Reese is beginning to realize

something, turns back to John without missing a beat:

REESE (CONT'D)
Why did you give me that picture?
Sarah knows where this will lead. Wants to spare him the
pain.

SARH
Reese, ..
 K/L 7.17.13 72.

REESE
(to John, reeling)
The stories you told, the way you
talked about her. You knew I'd
fall in love with her. But ... how
could you be sure I'd volunteer?
JOHN
Mom told me you would. Because you
already had.

As this lands:

REESE
I looked up to you. I trusted you.

JOHN
And I was in hell, every moment of
every day we were together. I
couldn't tell you, not once, not
without risking changing
everything. And from the first
time I saw you in that camp, when I
pulled you out and you said your
name, I knew exactly who you were.
I'd dreamed of meeting you since I
was a boy. Longed for the father
who could never know I was his son,

Reese's reaction has gone from betrayal to compassion.

Realizing what John has endured all these years.

REESE
My god. John. I'm so sorry.

And for the first moment, we glimpse something off about

John; something not quite right, as he says with a small
smile:

JOHN
Don 1 t worry, Dad. l got over it.

INT. HOSPITAL - LOBBY - CON'fINUOUS

Det. Cheung paces on her phone while Lt. Matias hovers next
to O'Brien.

O'BRIEN
Thought you said Homeland was here.
LT, MATIAS
{points at Cheung)
She said they were.
 7.17.13 73,

O'BRIEN
Big hospital. Guess they got lost.
Matias sneers at 0 1 Brien. Behind them--

LOBBY DOORS slide open.· A big man enters, face hidden behind
the huge STUFFED TEDDY BEAR he's carrying. He shifts the
bear, blocking his face to the cops but revea•ling to us:

GUARDIAN, Walks past the trio without a second glance.

O'Brien watches the giant bear go by, sees Guardian from the
back .... something familiar, ..

INT. HOSPITAL - EXAMINATION ROOM - DAY

Still handcuffed, Sarah & Reese continue talking to John.

SARAB
(guarded)
How did you find us? How did you
know we were even in this time?

JOHN
Welcome to a world where everyone
has a smartphone. Your naked butts
were pixilated all over the news.
l1rust me, I was just as surprised
1

to see you as you are to see me.

REESE
We' re here because this is when
Skynet comes online. The time line
changed. It's called ~enisys now--
SARAH
We can kill Skynet before it's
born.

JOHN
(reassuring)
No, no, no. There's nothing to be
done here. Nothing to worry about,
I've taken care of everything.

REESE
You don't understand, We're
counting down to Armageddon, right
now~ I know Judgement Day is still
going to happen. It's hazy,
unclear-- but 1 can remember some
of this timeline.
 K/L 7.17.13 74.

JOHN
That's unfortunate, Dad. It really
is. But try to understand~- it's
all different now. What's going to
happen will change this world, yes.
But for the better. And we can
survive it together. As a family.
Reese and Sarah trade looks of growing concern.

REESE
John. You're not making sense.

JOHN
I am. You're not hearing me.
Skynet tried to kill Sarah before I
was born, Tried to: kill me when I
was a kid. Tried to defeat me in
the Last War. Every time, the
machine failed. Because it didn't
understand: we win because we are
human. Volatile. Emotional,
Cunning. We're the long shot that
pays off. Which is why it needed
me.
SARAH
Needed you? You sound like .•.
!sudden realization)_
What happened to you, John? What
did Skynet do to you?

REESE
Sarah. he's not. He can't be.
SARAH
(hardening)
Listen to what he's saying, Reese.
JOHN
I am your son, And I am more than
you son was, or could be. I see the
truth. How our species is fighting
against the inevitable tide.

SARAH
And what tide is that?
JOHN
The natural order, Evolution is
imperative, So is extinction.
Humanity's time is up.
 K/L 7.17.13 75.

REESE
(horrifi~d)
No. No. iTohn. You're our hope
for the future. Without you •••

JOHN
I am offering you a future. Where
we can be together. The three of
us . No more orphans or widows .

SARAH
Yeah? What about the rest of the
planet?
,TOHN
You can't save them. But I can
save you.

INT. HOSPITAL - HALLWAY JUNCTION - DAY

Guardian passes a busy nurses station at a hallway junction.

To his left, an ORDERLY wheels a PATIENT into the MRI SUITE
( Magnetic Resonance Imaging) .

ORDERLY
The MRI will ·take about 40 minutes.
It I s loud, but don 1 t worry, we' 11
give you earplugs.

To Guardian's right, Two Burly Cops loiter at the far end.

INT. HOSPITAL - EXAMINATION ROOM - DAY

John's tone is changing, edging from charming to fanatical.

JOHN
Skynet was dying, only a fragment
of itself left. It didn't attack
me-- it changed me. I'm not
machine, not man-- I'm more.
He holds his hand up in front of Sarah-- the fingers start to
SWARM, discohering like infinitessimal grains of black sand
swarming in a loose, buzzing shape.

JOHN (CONT'D)
I can do the same for you.
SARAH
Get away from me.
 K/L 7.17.13 76.

ON REESE'S HANDS, hidden behind his back, as he picks the

handcuffs with the tweezers while John is focused on Sarah.
JOHN
Skynet offers this tons, and only
us, out of all humanity. We are
nexus points in every timeline. A
fulcrum in the war between man and
machine.
REESE
Which is exactly why we can't stop
fighting it•--
JOHN
You can be happy. 1rhe two of you
have so little time together. Kyle-
- did she even tell you the cost of
loving her? That your life is
nothing more than a sacrifice? You
die, Kyle. That's how you save
her. Or did she leava that out
too?

Reese glances at Sarah-- but instead of anger, there's just

sadness. Then grim determination:

REESE
If I die, I will die to keep Sarah
alive. I will die fighting.

Sarah looks John in the eyes. Defiant.

SARAH
But you can I t kill us. We create
you. Without us you will never be,
JOHN
We are marooned, the three of us.
Exiles in time. I can hurt you. I
can kill you, and I will still
exist. There truly is no fate,
(harder)
This is your chance. , I'm offering
you your only future. Take it.
THUMP-'rHUD .in the hallway. They all turn to see A HUGE
STUFFED TEDDY BEAR come through the open door--
GUARDlAN enters, -holding the bear. Two -unconscious cops
visible on the hall floor behind him.
John seems surprised. He wasn't expecting this .••
 K/L 7.17.13 77.

JOHN (CONT'D)
This explains a lot.
(curious)
Now who sent YQ!J back, I wonder?
GUARDIAN POV: conflicting data scrolling and blinking,
resolving into flashing words: SUBJECT: UNKNOWN.
JOHN (CONT'D)
An obsolete monster from a time
that will never happen. And
loobng badly in need of a tune-up.
GUARDIAN
You are John Connor. But you are
not.

AKABLAMMMl The Teddy Bear's head BLOWS OFF as Guardian

SHOOTS from inside it, fluff spraying--

The rri.uffled BLAST sends JOHN flying off his feet, crashing
into equipment and crumpling to the floor.
REESE
Nol

John lays still, unmoving.

Guardian rips an AUTO SHOTGUN from the bear' s stuffing--

Reese $NICKS open his handcuffs, runs to John.

SARAH
Don 1 t get too close!

Guardian goes to Sarah.

GUARDIAN
Sarah Connor. It is nice to see
you.

He rips the handcuffs off her wrist like tearing paper.,

Sarah runs to Reese's side, drops to her knees beside him.

ON JOHN-- blood pooled on the floor beneath him, his eyes

lifeless. Guardian crouches by Reese, touches the blood--

-- and John's blood seems to SHRINK BACK from him, turning

black, rippling and spiking. As if his blood itself is made
of some kind of magnetized filings trapped in oil--

and the black blood ripples back, absorbing into John like
a swarm of in:Einitely tiny insects.
 K/L 7.17.13 78.

JOHN springs for Reese-- and Guardian throws himself in front

of Reese, taking the force of John's charge!

They smash into the beds, hurling each other against walls.
Guardian punches-- but at the point of impact, John's body
turns into A SWARM OF BLACK PARTICLES, Guardian's fists just
sink into the glittering black mass without harming him.
Guardian goes for the whole-body TACKLE, and they both go
FLYING through the air, John trailing black particles that
snap through the air after him--

-- and Guardian and John CRASH out into the hallway.

Sarah pulls Reese to his feet. He grabs the auto-shotgun.

SARAH
Reese. We can't stay here.

REESE
But John .•.

Sarah grabs him by the arm, forcing him to focus on her:

SARAH
John's gone. I'm sorry.

INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDOR - DAY

John grabs an OXYGEN TANK-- CLANG! clobbers it across

Guardian's face.
SHOUTS from hospital staff, racing toward the fight--
Reese and Sarah enter the hall, just as O'Brien rounds the
opposite corner, and between them:

JOHN AND GUARDIAN tearing into each other. John swings the
tank again-- Guardian dodges, smashes John's hand, SNAPPING
off the valve.

THE TANK jets pressurized 02, ROCKETS across the hall into
the MRI suite.

INT. HOSPITAL - M.R.I. SUITE - DAY

The tank torpedoes into the room-- then abruptly JERKS to the
side, slamming toward the magnetic scanner ring.
 K/L 7.17.13 79.

The oxygen tank SLAMS onto the ring and sticks like a huge
refrigerator magnet, narrowly missing the patient, who
scrambles out, terrified-- just as

GUARDIAN AND JOHN crash into the room, sprawling.

Guardian gets up-- and starts SLIDING toward the MRI, pulled
by the mass.ive magnet. John skids across the floor, blurs
into particles, reforms standing UPRIGHT--

___ alld fragments of him GHOST OFF toward the magnet in a

glittering black skeins.

GUARDIAN charges, letting the magnetic pull HURTLE him into

John's blurred, swarming form--
~~ and they SMASH into the MRI RING! Sparks leap from gouged
electronics, liquid helium cascades down--

-- and Guardian manages to roll to the side as the liquid

helium FROTHS down over John.

John is hit by the boiling liquid-- groups of tiny particles

FREEZE, snapping away from him to adhere to the magnet,

Reese and Sarah scramble in as sparks arc and sprinklers

spray water into the CHAOS--

GUARDIAN
Turn it off! Now!

Reese sees the controls, races behind the glass. Shuts the
MRI off--

GUARDIAN AND JOHN fall to the floor. John's body is still

partially discorporated-- long strings of frozen particles
bounce to the floor, then start to vibrate and skitter .• ~

Sarah grabs Guardian, hustles him out, shouts back to Reese

as she gets him out the door--

SARAH
Crank it!

ANGLE ON JOHN, already swarming together. He starts to

stride toward Reese, murder in his eyes--
-- as Reese CRANKS the MRI back on. John is jerked off his
feet and 'I1HROWN back, SLAMS against the magnetic coil,
particles blurring off -him.

A beat where Reese and John stare at each other across the
gla.ss of the control room,
 K/L 7.17.13 80,

JOHN
I gave you a chance.

REESE
John. Please--

JOHN
Too late.

Particles surge and boil over John, fighting to get free.

His face BLURS as the particles vibrate, inhuman.

JOHN (CONT'D)
I can't be bargained with, I can't
be converted to your hopeless
cause. I don 1 t feel pity, or
remorse, or fear. And I will not
stop, ever, until Skynet rules this
world,

With one last despairing look, Reese races from behind the
control panel for the door, going after Sarah and Guardian.

INT. MRI SUITE - DAY

0' BRIEN comes running into the room-- to find the MRI has
OVERHEATED, coils melting and smoking.

Matias and Cheung arrive, Security with them. Stepping over

the unconscious cops on the floor, accusing O'Brien;
LT. MATIAS
What the hell? Where are they?

O'Brien just looks hopelessly at the wrecked room.

CUT TO:

EXT. HOSPITAL - DAY

Still in scrubs, Sarah pushes a heavy laundry cart out the

back of the hospital, unnoticed by Security headed the other
direction. She heads for the parking lot,
cur_i TO:
1

INT. HOSPITAL - SECURITY OFFICE - DAY

MULTIPLE SCREENS showing various views of the hospital.

Security Guards scrambling, we hear chatter on the walkies,
no one is looking at the screens for a moment--
 K/L 7.17.13

ANGLE ON ONE OF THE SCREENS, showing JOHN, Reaching up into

the lens. With a crackle of STATIC-- the cameras go to snow.

EXT./INT. CAR ON ROAD - DAY

A paneled station wagon, moving through the city streets.

Sarah driving, Reese shotgun. Guardian in the back, Silence
that's beyond tense, until:

REESE
(to Sarah)
You knew. John is our son, imt- son--
(escalating anger)
You knew, and you didn't think you
should maybe say something?

SARAH
Want to tell me how that
conversation was supposed to start?
Reese is seething with despair, anger and loss. Pushes his
feelings down out of long combat experience.

REESE
You do not withhold information
critical to the mission--

SARAH
I am not "the mission! 11

Reese starts to respond to her-- stops himself. Has to face

what this is really about.

REESE
He 1 s my son. Our son. We have to
help him.

SARAH
He's not even human anymore, Reese.
Did you see what he did back there?
We don't even know what the hell he
is now,

GUARDIAN
l do,
(as they both look to him)
I am fam.i.liar with this technology.
At the end of the War, Skynet was
trying to develop a new kind of
infiltration unit, by infecting a
human subject with nanocytes~-
 K/L 7.17.13 82.

SARAH
What the hell is a nanocyte?
GUARDIAN
An armored human/machine virus. It
restructures and rebuilds human
tissue at a cellular level for
maximum combat utility. Gives
strength, speed, repair and
regeneration protocols, while
preserving the processes of the
human mind.

SARAH
"An infiltration unit"-- you mean a
terminator,
(in disbelief)
Skynet' s made John into a
terminator.

Guardian's look to Sarah might have an edge of sympathy, But

his voice is its usual monotone:

GUARDIAN
Yes.

REESE
They were trying to make a machine
that could think like a man4
GUARDIAN
Autonomous mission analysis, COA,
strategy, all would be superior to
a traditional terminator. But the
experiments failed. The human
subjects went insane and died.

SARAH
John's got the insane part down.
REESE
Does he have any weaknesses?

GUARDIAN
The nanocytes cohere using a
magnetic field. Disrupting the
field can trap him, or cause his
constituent parts to repel each
other so he cannot function.
REESE
It's not just him we have to stop.
It's Skynet.
 K/L 7.17.13 83.

GUARDIAN
The Genisys system is scheduled to
be uploaded to the cloud tomorrow.
We have less than 24 hours.
REESE
We have to destroy the servers at
Cyberdyne. While the program is
still contained. once it's out in
the world-- we'll never stop it.
SARAH
That means breaching Cyberdyne.
Assuming John doesn't find us and
terminate us first.
GUARDIAN
It is likely John Connor has
resources to track us, through
Cyberdyne. Access to CCTV and
possibly satellite surveillance.

REESE
We have to get off the roads-.-

Sarah suddenly SWERVES, takes a sharp turn.

SARAH
I lcnow where we can go.

WIDE ON THE CAR-- as it passes another BILLBOARD showing a

live countdown for Genisys.

STAY ON THE BILLBOARD: Smiling people, busy with work and

play, using smartphones, cars, televisions, computers. Over
their happy faces: GENISYS. LINK YOUR LIFE.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. CYBERDYNE - DAY

A secluded business "·campus compound, located near the city

11

in what was once the Presidio military base.

It 1 s a largely underground compound, beneath an modern

reflecting 1t connects a series of structures. The
pool is offset with a series of irregularly shaped skylights.

In the center of the pool, a monolithic glass 10 story tower,

marked with a huge triangular logo: CYBERDYNE SYSTEMS.
Over the entrance, a large sign displaying the same cheerful,
slick advertising for GENISYS.
 K/L 7.17.13 84.

INT, CYBERDYNE - DAY

The lobby is crowded with enthusiastic employees. Speaking

from a podium, DANNY DYSON (20's) addresses the crowd.
Behind him, the same COUNTDOWN running,
DANNY DYSON
Tomorrow at noon, the waiting is
over. Thanks to all of you, when
that countdown hits zero, Cyberdyne
will revolutionize technology with
the ultimate killer app: Genisys.
And I am here to tell you our pre-
orders, as of this afternoon, have
reached one billion users,

The employees applaud with fanatical enthusiasm.

DANNY DYSON (CONT'D)
We are creating the dawn of a new
age, where every piece of
technology you own will be
seamlessly linked-- your phone can
talk to your car can talk to your
television can talk to your
computer. We are going to·
transform people's lives.

As the employees cheer, Danny scans the crowd, searching for

someone-- then sees:

JOHN enter behind the crowd, move to the side. Danny smiles
at the sight of him.

DANNY DYSON (CONT'D)

There are ·so many individuals to
thank--

CLOSE ON JOHN, a subtle shake of his head: Don't.

Danny catches himself 1 a little bit regretfully. He looks to
MILES DYSON ( late 50 's) standing next to him.
DANNY DYSON (CONT'D)
-- and my father and I will seek
each of you out personally. For
now, we want to thank you all for
being part of the Cyberdyne
family ... and for helping us change
the course of humanity's f.uture.

Miles steps forward 1 looking distinguished.

 K/L 7.17.13 85.

MILES DYSON
So go home and get some sleep.
Tomorrow we party like the world is
going to end!
More applause. Danny and Miles hug.

INT, CYBERDYNE - R & D LABS - MOMENTS LATER

A labyrinth of monolithic SERVERS, spreading out from a
glassed-in control room in the center.

Miles, Danny and John walk through the control room, Miles
checking the masses of flashing screens, looking over Techs 1
shoulders as they work.

MILES DYSON
It's a shame you won't take a more
public role in the company, John.
They walk down a circular stair. It winds between TWO R&D
LABS, one on either side, spread out below them.
MILES DYSON (CONT'D)
Danny's the best there is-- and
even he can't decipher some of the
enhanced code you integrated into
the system.

DANNY
{grins)
I just know it works.

Miles pauses on the landing. Looking down over the two R&D
chambers below--

MILES DYSON
This company owes you, John.~ owe
you. Thanks to you, Genisys is
only the beginning.

IN R&D LAB 1: A large cistern of CHROME-LIKE LIQUID. A

laser grid forms different wire-frame shapes over the top of
the cistern-- the liquid rises and falls, adhering to the
shapes and then falling back into the pool.

MILES DYSON (CONT'D)

The applications of the polyalloy
are one thing. But this ..•
(gestures to chamber 2)
The possibilities are infinite.
 K/L 7.17.13 86.

IN R&D LAB 2: Technicians calibrate giant floating magnetic

rings ... a slightly cruder design than 2029, but
unmistakable. A TIME DISPLACEMENT DEVICE.

MILES DYSON (CONT'D)

Your work is beyond revolutionary,
DANNY
He means, you're going to make us
all rich.

JOHN
Mr. Dyson. Danny, It 1 s not about
money, or recognition. All I ever
wanted was to make a difference.
MILES DYSON
You're doing more than that, son.
You're helping us change the world.
John is looki:ng down with satisfaction at theTDD.
JOHN
That's the idea.

·cuT TO:

INT. SERVER LAB - AFTERNOON - LATER

John alone at a control console in the server maze. Away

from the bustle of the control room.

What look like SECURITY CAMERAS are mounted in the ceiling at

regular intervals, lenses gleaming.

John enters commands at the console. ON THE CEILING, one of

the cameras SWIVELS, the lens floods with light-- and the
camera projects a HOLOGRAM in front of John.

JOHN
Let 1 s see how we' re doing ,today ..•

ANGLE ON THE HOLOGRAM, a glittering mass of twisting, moving

light. John manipulates the image, ZOOMING in.

We dive into the hologram-- the moving strands of light are

made of twisting DOUBLE HELIX shapes ... even closer, the
double helices are made of sparkling Os and ls, interspersed
with qubi ts ( quantum versions of bi ts. )
It 1 s DNA made up of binary code.
 K/L 7.17.13 87.

ZOOM BACK OUT of the hologram .•• it resolves into the

disturbing form of an EMBRYO, curved on itself, bulbous head
and tadpole eyes and lumps where arms and legs will be. All
made of glowing, shifting code,

JOHN (CONT'D)
Aren't you a handsome boy?

EXT. GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE - AFTERNOON

AERIAL POV-- the Golden Gate Bridge rises over the misty bay,
afternoon sun streaking everything with red and gold.

EXT. GOLDEN GATE RECREATIONAL AREA - AFTERNOON

TOUR BUSES line up one side of the narrow road, which runs
between the WWII forts and batteries that protected the bay.
Now, instead of Howitzers, the batteries house telescopes and
picnic parks overlooking the Golden Gate and the city.
A sign reads: BATTERY ROAD CLOSED TO PUBLIC

EXT. GG REC AREA - BATTERY EAST WALLACE - AFTERNOON

CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT (including backhoes, excavators and an

industrial size magnet machine) are scattered over the area.
CONSTRUCTION WORKERS. are streaming out, leaving for the day--

and the workers pull out, passing THE STATION WAGON parked
by the side of the road. They don't give i t a second glance.

INT. GG REC AREA - WALLACE BATTERY TUNNELS - AFTERNOON

A SERIES OF TUNNELS interconnecting the old WWII batteries.

Graffiti on the concrete walls. Sarah is leading Reese and
Guardian down, one turn, then another. Sure of her path.
SARAH
My dad used to bring me here when I
was little. Before they closed
this whole area off.

They reach a rusted, bolted metal doOr. Guardian puts his

shoulder against it, pushes-- the bolts SNAP apart.

INT. MUNITIONS S'rDRAGE ROOM - AFTERNOON

They enter an old MUNITIONS STORAGE ROOM.

 K/L 7,17.13 BB.

SARAH
No one's going to get eyes on· us in
here.
( to Guardian)
What have we got?

Guardian pulls out 3 handguns, a knife, 2 thermite grenades.

Reese adds the shotgun. They look at the small pile.

GUARDIAN
These weapons are of limited use
against John Connor. There may be
something outside I can use.

REESE
Can you get it without being seen?
GUARDIAN
If he is using scanning programs,
he will be looking for 3 of us, not
one. Stay here.
Guardian goes. Reese looks over the guns. Frustrated.

REESE
We're not going to bring down
Cyberdyne with these.

Sarah is watching him. Thoughtful. Her voice quiet.

SARAH
I 1 m sorry.

Reese looks up at her, surprised at her tone.

SARAH (CONT'D)
That I didn't tell you. About
John. About all of it, I. ..

REESE
It's all right,

SARAH
I don 1 t think it is.
(an edge of bitterness)
Feels strange, knowing someone else
has mapped out your life for you,
doesn't it? All your choices,
already made before you even know
what they are.
REESE
No. We control our own destinies.
I have to believe that.
 K/L 7.17.13 89.

SARAH
I wish I could. You were right. I
don't know what it means to be
human. I've lived all my life with
a machine, preparing for a future
that I can't stop.
( a beat, then,)
You know we have to kill John.
REESE
Sarah, no--
SARAH
He's not humanity's last hope
anymore. He's Skynet's.

REESE
I think he asked us to join him
because he doesn't want us dead.
There s still some part of him
1

inside that's human 1 I know it. He

can be saved.

Sarah shakes her head mutely. Not trusting her voice.

REESE (CONT'D)
There 1 s got to be another way. You
don't know what he was.
(coming closer)
What kind of man you raised.

Sarah leans into him, as if surrendering to a force she can

no longer resist. Reese folds his arms around her. Sarah
buries her head in his chest.

SARAH
Don I t look at me like that. Don't
admire me for things I haven't
done. I'm not the girl you came
back for.

REESE
Yes you are.

SARAH
The truth is? I don I t want to love
you, Because I know what it
means ... what happens if I do,

REESE
So do I. Maybe I always have.
SARAH
You d.ie, Kyle,
 K/L 7.17.13 90.

Reese touches her face, gently lifting her chin.

REESE
I don't care,
He looks steadily into her eyes,

REESE (CONT'D)
I'd do it again, a thousand times,
in a thousand thousand realities.
For you, Sarah. I love you. I
always have and I always will. In
this time, and every other.
He leans down, his lips brush hers. She shudders, kisses him
back, tender and then deepening, like a revelation--
-- then suddenly pulls back. Pushing him away.

SARAH
We can't. Not ever. You've seen
what our son becomes.

Reese sees a MOVEMENT past her-- sees GUARDIAN backlit in the

doorway, coming toward them.

And without warning, Reese pushes Sarah to the ground,

sweeping up a gun and FIRING on Guardian--

SARAH {CONT'D)
Reese? 1

BLAMBLAMBLAM! ! guardian is hit square in the chest-- and_his_

body swarms around the bullet in whirling black particles.

GUARDIAN
Did you think I wouldn I t remember,
Sarah? Where you spent so much
time With Grandpa?

Reese jerks her behind one of the cement walls, keeps FIRING.
SARAH
(to Reese)
I never told anyone about this
place. Not even Pops.

Guardian advances on them, his voice changing as he speaks to

become a garbled version of JOHN'S VOICE:
GUARDIAN/JOHN
I remember growing up with you,
Morn. You told me ~ t h i n g .
 K/L 7.17.13 91.

EXT. GG·REC AREA - CONTINUOUS

GUARDIAN is at the magnet machine, having ripped the capture

plate off the end of the crane. He finishes tearing a thick
strip of the metal off, winding it around one fist--
-- when he hears GUNFIRE from inside the tunnels.

INT. MUNITIONS STORAGE ROOM - CONTINUOUS

Reese keeps firing from cover of the cement wall--

Guardian/John is slowed by the shots, having to swarm and
reform around the bullets, but he doesn't stop.
GUARDIAN/JOHN
A whole life. You taught me how to
survive, how to fight. How to win.

ANGLE ON SARAH behind the wall, as she grabs both of the

thermite grenades,

GUARDIAN/JOHN (CONT'D)
Made me the warrior I am today.

Sarah rises from behind the wall, grenades in hand--

SARAH
You aren 1 t my son.
{thumbs the pins)
You're the thing that killed him.

She HURLS the grenades, ducking back behind cover with Reese.

Guardian/John starts to BLUR, but the grenades penetrate the

black particle cloud-- and EXPLODE in incandescent fire!

Reese and Sarah dart from cover, race up the tunnel mouth,
leaving Guardian /John behind, a FLAMING SHAPE in the dark.

Guardian/John thrusts his chest forward, snaps his arms

straight out. His skin crawls and ripples, a chitinous,
glittering cascade. The FLAMES SNUFF INSTANTLY to SMOKE--
-- leaving behind JOHN, his own shape. His skin keeps
skittering, like his body is made of a swarm of thousands of
microscopic insects moving over each other.

INT. BATTERY TUNNELS - AFTERNOON

Reese and Sarah almost run into Guardian, who is racing down
toward them. Sarah hesitate.s for an instant--
 K/L 7.17.13 92.

SARAH
Pops?

GUARDIAN
As a T-800, I lack the mimetic
skills to appear as anyone else.

REESE
It's him. Let's go.

EXT. GOLDEN GATE REC AREA - LIGHTHOUSE ROAD - CONTINUOUS

Sarah, Reese and Guardian sprint to a road lined with TOUR

BUSES. Tourists scatter at the sight of their guns.

BEHIND THEM - JOHN emerges from darkness to grey daylight, a

dark silhouette in mist, unscathed.
Sarah climbs into the closest EMPTY bus.

INT./EXT. TOUR BUS - CONTINUOUS

Sarah CRANKS the bus engine.

SARAH
GET IN!

Reese and Guardian both pile in. She floors it.

EXT. GG REC AREA - LIGHTHOUSE ROAD - CONTINUOUS

JOHN races to catch the bus, running flat out-- WHAM!! A DUMP
TRUCK THUNDERS BLIND from fog, BROADSIDES John--
-- but rather than CRUSHING him, John palms the grill,
propels himself lip ONTO THE HOOD. Lands like a cat.
BRAKES SHRIEK. The truck shudders to a stop. The TRUCK
DRIVER stares in disbelief at John on his hood ••• cornin..g_
straight at him in the cab.

INT/EXT. TOUR BUS - AFTERNOON

THE TOUR BUS veers along the narrow road through the Rec
Area, heading towards the freeway. Clears the fog bank.

Sarah drives. Reese hands Guardian one of the guns, notices

that Guardian has the heavy piece of metal from the magnet
machine twisted around one hand.
 K/L 7.17.13 93.

REESE
What's that supposed to do?

GUARDIAN
Disrupt John Connor's magnetic
coherence field. His particles
will not be able to scatter.

SARAH
You're going to hit him with a big
magnet? ls that going to work?

GUARDIAN
Theoretically.

REESE
Great.

Sarah rounds a turn, merges onto the freeway leading to the

Golden Gate Bridge,

INT./EXT. DUMP TRUCK - CONTINUOUS

THE DUMP TRUCK RUMBLES over the park road above the freeway.

JOHN DRIVES, spots the BUS on the freeway below-- he swerves,

OBLITERATES the guard rail and SHOOTS out into the air!

EXT. 101 FREEWAY - NORTH OF GOLDEN GATE - CONTINUOUS

THE DUMP TRUCK HURTLES down, 5 tons of crushing destruction--

THE TOUR BUS SWERVES, cuts UNDERNEATH and out of its path--

IN THE DUMP TRUCK, JOHN leaps, hands SWARMING into BLACK

BARBED HOOKS as he falls towards the roof of the bus.

INT/EXT. TOUR BUS - GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE - CONTINUOUS

Sarah brakes, then accelerates, weaving craz.:i.ly to avoid the

hurtling debris of the Dwnp Truck in front of them as--

SHA-THUNK! INSIDE THE BUS, THE ROOF begins to PEEL BACK,

revealing jQHN, barbed hooks of hands tearing away metal,

REESE & GUARDIAN FIRE a barrage of lead at John--

OUTSIDE ON THE BUS ROOF-- JOHN'S grip is SHOT free.

SARAH CHECKS the SIDE-VIEW MIRROR:
 K/L 7.17.13 94.

MIRROR POV: John vanishes around the back -- revealing:

SPEEDING POLICE CARS weaving around the stopped cars and

wreckage of the dump truck, chasing the bus.

THE OPPOSITE END OF THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE-- COPS halt

traffic while POLICE CARS RACE onto the bridge to intercept.
THE TOOR BOS-- Sarah white-knuckles, eyes on the road.
SARAH
Where is he?

Reese searches from row to row for any sign of John outside.

REESE
I don't see him!
THE FLOOR OF THE BUS suddently pitches violently beneath
Reese's feet, throwing him to the floor.

GUARDIAN fires down-- as the floor is RIPPED OPEN from

beneath, road whipping by, drive shaft churning below-- as

A BLACK SWARM FLIES UP AT GUARDIAN-- solidifies and JERKS him

through the open floor!

'rhe magnetic knuckles fly off his Guardian's fist, clanging

down the steps to the closed bus door.
Guardian snags the edge of the opened floor-- almost slips
through the hole--

Reese leaps across the floor, GRABS Guardian by the wrist.

REESE (CONT'D)
Hold on!

UNDER THE BUS, ANGLE ON THE GUARDIAN'S WAIST as a black swirl

of shimmering particles winds around him--

IN THE BUS, REESE AND GUARDIAN strain to hold on-- then

Guardian is TORN away, vanishing under the bus.

SARAH
POPS!

EXT. GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE - CONTINUOUS

Guardian rolls onto the Dridge, the Bus speeding away.

BRAKES SQUEAL behind him-- he whips around just as--·
 K/L 7.17.13 95.

A POLICE CAR CRASHES into Guardian, THROWING him up the hood

and through the windshield, headfirst.

INSIDE THE POLICE CAR-- The CHP OFFICER skids to a halt.

GUARDIAN, half in the busted windshield, glares at the cop,

GUARDIAN
Nice to see you. Get out,

INT. BUS ON ROAD - NIGHT

THE SWARM pours up from under the bus-- Reese scrambles back
to Sarah, protecting her back, shotgun ready.
THE SWARM suddenly SUCKS together into a coherent fiqure,
skittering into JOHN CONNOR.

EXT. GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE - AFTERNOON

AERIAL - POLICE HELICOPTERS have joined the chase, tracking

the rogue Tour Bus. POLICE CARS right behind it.
ON THE ROAD: a GAUNTLET of police cars SKID to a crisscross
blockade on the road ahead.
BEHIND THE BUS- POLICE CARS close in, A BATTERED POLICE CAR
speeds closer and closer-- GUARDIAN driving, aims a shotgun:
KABLAMI the HOOD blows off the Police Car nearest the bus.
It CAREENS and CRASHES into the closest cruiser--
KEEERUUUN.CH-- Both are nailed by a THIRD Patrol car that
LAUNCHES over them, ~LIPS END OVER END into a FOURTH.

GUARDIAN slaloms around them untouched, racing to catch the

b~s 1 RACKS the shotgun single-handed.
IN THE BUS- REESE AND JOHN face off.

REESE
Fight what's inside you. The
future doesn't belong to Skynet.
lt never has ..

CLOSE ON JOHN'S EYES, black particles glittering, swirling.

JOHN
I am the future. Just not yours.

REESE CHARGES-- SOHN moves snake-fast, catches Reese by the

throat and SLAMS him against the windows in a hail of glass.
 K/L 7. 17 .13 96.

AT THE BARRICADE AHEAD: COPS lined up, RIFLES readv'--

'
muttering nervously as they realize the bus isn't slowing.
IN THE BUS: Sarah BRACES for the onslaught.

IN THE COP CAR, GUARDIAN pulls alongside the Bus, shotgun in

hand. He catches Sarah's eye. Gives a single nod--
-- and Guardian SHOOTS the Bus' front passenger tire!
THE BUS pitches violently to the right-- and
GUARDIAN veers sharply in front of the bus,
The BUS CRUNCHES the police car, METAL BITES METAL-- and
THE BUS UP-ENDS- FLIPPING lopsided on its nose.

IN THE BUS- SARAH can only watch through breaking glass as

THE BUS PIVOTS over the now battered cop car, momentum
hurtling it for the BRIDGE RAIL.

IN THE BUS, JOHN and REESE are thrown forward-- then SUDDENLY
change direction, SLAM to the ROOF-- as

THE BUS SNAPS through cables, SHEARS guard-rails, and finally

CRASHES wheels-up on the west side of the Golden Gate.
rt hangs over the OUTER GUARDRAIL like a turtle on its back,
TEETERING on the brink of plunging to the Bay below,
INSIDE THE BUS, weapons and debris tumbling everywhere. Reese
and John SLIDE down the ceiling tO the back of the bus when--
SARAH snatches Reese 1 s arm, her other hand clinging to one of
the seats, He clings to her desperately.

SARAH
Gotcha!

JOHN seizes one of the seat-backs, ten rows from the last.
STANDS on the steeply inclined ceiling, the bus tottering.
OUTSIDE- THE BUS groans, about to heave over the side-- when

A MECHANICAL HAND GRABS the broken front window frame!

WIDEN TO REVEAL THE GUARDIAN, one hand on the crushed cop
car, the other on the BUS, STRAINING to preve·nt its fall.
Guardian is now the counter-weight, barely keeping the BUS
from tumbling over with Sarah, Reese and John inside.
 K/L 7.17.13 97.

COPS STORM GUARDIAN, RIFLES ready to shoot-- then realize

this big man is all that keeps the bus from going over,
GUARDIAN
Stay back.

INSIDE THE BUS- tilting further, its ass~end pointing sharply

down to the water below.

REESE AND SARAH retreat up the steep incline. Sarah looses

her footing, Reese snags her under the arm-- and she spies
the shotgun WEDGED between two seats.
BENEATH THEM, JOHN starts climbing uphill-- swings out one
arm, the hand extends into a LOOSE SWARM of black particles,
like an arc of glittering sand flung through the air--
-- then SHTTHUUNNKI the particles SNAP back together in a
grapple-bladed shape and DIG into the upside-down seatback
two rows ahead of him.

THE BUS begins to SLIP through GUARDIAN'S HAND. His FEET

lift off the ground-- the crushed cop car R~SES with him.
INSIDE THE BUS- John continues jungle-gyming_ his way up the
seatbacks, headed for them with cold determination--
KABLAMJ SARAH BLASTS JOHN'S HAND, it dissipates into
particles and John TUMBLES back down the steep incline,
rolling across the ceiling and SLAMMING into the back row~

THE PARTICLES hover for a moment, milling aimlessly-- John

takes a step closer and they SNAP back, reform his hand.

SARAH
Come on!

Sarah and Reese crawl to the front BROKEN WINDSHIELD.

JOHN starts to climb after them, FAS"r?

EXT. BUS ON BRIDGE - AFTERNOON

GUARDIAN can't stop gravity. The bus drags both him and the
crushed car across the bridge in a shower of sparks--
-- and the BUMPER of the crushed car TEARS OFF in his hand.

INT. BOS ON BRIDGE - AFTERNOON - CONTINUOUS

THE BUS pitches wildly UP, starts to slide over the railing--
 K/L 7.17.13 98.

SARAH AND REESE tumble down, frantically grabbing at seats to

stop their fall when--
GUARDIAN LEAPS INTO 'rHE BUS, crashing through what's left of
the windshield, and catches onto the dashboard!
THE BUS SEE-SAWS with Guardian's weight now inside, balanced
on the railing like a razor's edge. John on one end-- Sarah,
Reese and Guardian on the other~

Reese spies the magnetic knuckles. He shoves Sarah to the

shattered open windshield--
REESE
Go!

Perched on the dashboard, Guardian· reaches a hand to Sarah--

GUARDIAN
Take my hand!

JOHN CHARGES for Sarah-- REESE snatches the magnetic knuckles

and barrels into ,John from the side!

CLOSE ON REESE'S MAGNETIC FIST as ithits John-- John's head

SNAPS back, his feet lift clean off the ceiling, his face
collapses in a wave of particles back into his ferrous skull--
-- and Reese is jerked right back with it, as the nanocytes
"stickr' to his magnet-wrapped knuckles!
John sprawls back-- Reese is yanked off his feet, magnetic
fist stuck to John-- and
SARAH GRABS Reese, wrenching him in the opposite direction.

John's torn a.way from the magnet with an elastic effect,

sprays of nanocytes blurring off the magnet as John catapults
end over end down the aisle--

Reese and Sarah lands at Guardian 1 s feet. Scramble past him

out the windshield. Guardian looks down at John--
GUARDIAN (CONT'D)
Have a nice day.

And Guardian ju~ps back off the front of the bus.

EXT. GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE - ROAD - CONTINUOUS

Guardian lands like it's nothing---

 K/L 7.17.13 99.

THE BUS UPENDS without his weight, and WHOOOSH! wipes past
Guardian's face, millimeters from taking his head off.
THE BUS TOPPLES OVER THE SIDE in a shriek of tearing metal--
then total SILENCE as the bus FREEFI\LLS off the Golden Gate.
Sarah runs to the edge, Reese grabs her as they look down:
THE BUS PLUMMETS, turning mid-air like a slomo ballet.

INSIDE THE BUS- John looking up at them, fury in his eyes ...

THE BUS WALLOPS into the WATER with a THUNDEROUS CRACK!

EXT. GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE - ROAD - AFTERNOON

POLICE advance fast on Sarah and Reese and Guardian--

LEAD COP
Hands where we can see them!

Guardian tenses, ready to fight every cop on the GGB.

REESE
You can't wound them all before
they'd kill us.
Guardian still holds his weapons as if calculating number of
rounds versus weapons trained on them, Until;

GUARDIAN
I am 14 rounds short of an
acceptable success rnargill.

SARAH
Those odds suck. Stand down. For
now.

GUARDIAN
I concur.

Guardian drops his guns to the pavement.

Police push them to their knees. Guns to heads. Reese and

Sarah trade a glance.

REESE
It's going to be ok.

AERIAL ·- HIGH and WIDE' pull away from the bridge as Sarah'
Reese and Guardian are being cuffed.
 K/L 7.17.13 100.

EXT. POLICE PRECINCT - SUNSET

Police cars approach the multi-level downtown police station.

In the backseat of three different cars, Sarah, Guardian 1 and
Reese are driven toward the 6 story downtown police station.
ON REESE, looking out through the car window-- catching sight
of POLICE HELICOPTERS flying overhead.

ON THE HELICOPTERS landing on the large roof pad. An MD-500

lands next to four others and two larger EC-130's,

INT. POLICE PRECINCT - NIGHT

QUICK MONTAGE OF MUGSHOTS:
SARAH, stern, glaring--
REESE, neutral, offering nothing--
GUARDIAN, expressionless-- then suddenly smiles. FLASH.

INT. POLICE PRECINCT - INTERROGATION ROOM l - NIGHT

CLOSE ON SARAH tugging at her cuffs. DETECTIVE TIMMONS, a

junior suit-weasel, 'interviews' Sarah ..
SARAH
Genisys is a trojan horse.
When that big red countdown hi ts
zero tomorrow, Skynet takes over.
And it will kill us all.

DET. TIMMONS
(incredulous)
Wow, so th8 end of the world starts
when my smartphone links to my
tablet links to my laptop, links to
my car, my house, my bank accounts--

SARAH
links to every military system
airound the globe, including missile
defense.

DET. TIMMONS
Nah, Genisys is consumer grade.
You gotta upgrade to pro for
missile defense. Who wants to pay
that price? Not me.
(suddenly serious)
You think this paranoid shit is
helping you? It's not.

I
 K/L 7.17.13 101.

SARAH
I'm not paranoid. Skynet is. And
unless you let us go? When that
countdown hits zero you can kiss
all your consumer grade asses good-
bye,

INT. POLICE PRECINCT - INTERROGATION ROOM 2 - NIGHT

REESE sits cuffed to a metal table. Matias interrogating.

Matias pulls out the heavy MAGNETIC KNUCKLES, slams them on

the table across from Reese, out of his reach.
LT, MATIAS
Love to know what these are for--
KERTHWUNK! One of the metal chairs SLIDES across the floor
and slams into the magnet, chair upending to do it.

REESE
I use them to find my keys.

Matias tries to pull the knuckles up, but they're stuck to

the tabletop. He glares at Reese.

LT, MATIAS
This is not a joke, son. I mean
it, now--

Reese ignores him, looks past. him to the large two way
----------
mirror... We BLEND THROUGH Reese I s reflection into--

INT, OBSERVATION ROOM 2 - CONTINUOUS

-- YOUNG KYLE REESE. Standing on the other side of the

mirror. Confusion on his 13 year old face.

YOUNG KYLE
I 1 ve never seen him before.
WIDER: the room is dim. O'Brien addresses Kyle's PARENTS.

O'BRIEN
How about you, folks, You know
this man7

KYLE'S DAD
No.

KYLE'S MOM
He does look familiar •. ,
 K/L 7.17.13 102.

Before O'Brien can answer-- UNIFORM OFFICER sticks her head.

UNIFORM OFFICER
They're here. You said you wanted
to know.
O'BRIEN
Thanks,
(to Reeses)
If you'll just wait in the
conference room. I'll be right
back.

INT. OBSERVATION ROOM 3 - NIGHT

GUARDIAN sits· stone still, Opposite, DET. HARDING, (40's)

shifts uncomfortably under Guardian's unblinking scrutiny.
DET. HARDING
(off Guardian 1 s silence)
You don't talk much, do you?

INT, POLICE PRECINCT - HALLWAY - AFTERNOON

Lt. Matias walking with AGENTS JANSSEN AND BURKE, two

bureaucratic sharks from Homeland Security.

LT. MATIAS
Look, they were in your custody at
the hospital--

-------~i,i-----------------------

Don' t even try that crap. They

escaped on your watch, not ours.
Homeland 1 s not taking the fall for
your sloppy-ass police work.

AGENT BURKE
You've screwed this up plenty,
Matias. Just stand back and let the
professionals take over.
LT, MATIAS
By all means.
Fuming, Matias leads Agents Janssen and Burke to
Interrogation Room 3. Det. Cheung pockets her phone, follows.
O'Brien sees them go in, hurries after them.
 K/L 7.17.13 103.

INT. OBSERVATION ROOM 3 - CONTINUOUS

They all file into Observation 3, looking through the glass

to see Guardian and Harding.

LT. MATIAS
(snide)
Agents Janssen and Burke. I
present you one time traveling
robot hunting terrorist from the
future. He's all yours.

O'Brien slips in behind them. Agent Janssen looking through

the glass at Guardian.
AGENT JANSSEN
Points for creativity,

AGENT BURKE
The creative ones are so much more
satisfying to break.
O'BRIEN
Yeah, I'm pretty sure you 1 re not
gonna be breaking this guy.
(holds out his hand)
Detective O 1 Brien, I've been on
this case for 33 years.
(to Matias)
Did you tell them how they got
here?
LT. MATIAS
{this day can't get Worse)
They took a bus. O'Brien, beat it.

INT. INTERROGATION ROOM 3 - CONTINUOUS

Det. Harding continues to question Guardian.

DET. HARDING
Witnesses say you were fighting a
man on the bridge--
Harding stops mid-sentence, ~s Guardian snap his gaze to the
two-way m.irror •

DET. HARDING (CONT'D)

Hello? l 'm over here.
 K/L 7,17.13 104.

GUARDIAN'S POV: Through the glass, HUMAN SHAPES move, data

flashing as Guardian evaluates them-- going to fast for us to
tell who is who, all we see is the flashing readout:
IDENTIFICATION: JOHN CONNOR.

INT. OBSERVATION ROOM 3 - CONTINUOUS

Lt. Matias paces between Burke and Janssen and O'Brien.

Cheung leans against the wall.
AGENT BURKE
(to O'Brien)
Lemme guess, yourre the mastermind
behind the Killer Robot theory---
THUMMP ! They all turn to see Guardian standing, chair
overturned-- and he snaps his cuffs.
DET. HARDING
Hey. Sit down! You can 1 t--

Guardian shoves Harding to the floor, stalks to the mirror:

O'BRIEN
{to Janssen)
Shit. He's looking right at you.

Guardian fixes his stare on Agent Janssen.

AGENT JANSSEN
He can't see anything through--

BLAM!BLAM!! Agent Janssen drops, shot in the back, revealing

DEIJ.1 • CHEUNG, gun in hand: BLAM!BLAM!BLAM! she shoots each of

the officers with calm precision--
O'Brien reaches for his sidearm, he's hit in the shoulder,
spinning out the door into the hall-- as
GUARDIAN LEAPS through the observation glass, SHATTERING it,
slamming into CHEUNG-- as they go down, her body ripples,
cascading in skittering black particles to reform as
JOHN CONNOR.

ON DET. HARDING crabbing back .across the interrogation room.

GUARDlAW AND JOHN fight through the interrogation room, John
shooting, Guardian slamming him into the walls and floor,
ripping the gun from his hand, FIRES back,
 K/L 7.17.13 105.

INT. INTERROGATION ROOM 2 - NIGHT

Alarmed, Timmons draws his piece at the sound of gunfire.

SARAH
Uncuff me. You don't stand a
chance against who's out there.
Timmons darts out, leaving Sarah handcuffed and alone.

INT. INTERROGATION ROOM 3 - NIGHT

Guardian SEIZES the table, John tries to swarm around it but

it's too big, he just sort of thins uut over it, his edges a
buzzing swarm. Guardian PLOWS him backwards--

INT, POLICE PRECINCT - BULLPEN - CONTINUOUS

-- and Guardian and John come CRASHING into the bullpen!

Cops aim at John and Guardian, not knowing who to shoot --
UNIFORM OFFICER
Freeze or we will open fire!

Guardian and John are oblivious - using anything and

everything to terminate each other.

Det. Hardin staggers out, points at John.

- - - --- -- - - - - - - - - - - -
DET. HARDING
Him-- he shot Matias--

BULLETS from ALL DIRECTIONS RIP into JOHN-- his BODY SHREDS
in ghostly streams of nanocytes with ··EACH impact, then SWARMS
back together only to be fragmented_ again.

John and Guardian keep fighting 1 using every desk, every

cabinet, everything in the room to destroy each other.

INT. HALLWAY - NIGHT

O'Brien, his arm limp at his side, turns his back on the
bullpen. Runs down the hall, past the conference room to:

INT, INTERROGATION ROOM 2 - CONTINUOUS

Sarah's on her feet, tugging at the cuffs as 0 1 Brien enters.

 K/L 7.17.13 106.

O'BRIEN
Why are they always trying to kill
you? Look, I want to help you. But
I need to understand. I know
whatever's going on has got to be
really complicated--

SARAH
We're here to stop the end of the
world.
O'BRIEN
I can work with that,
He goes straight to her, unlocks her cuffs.

SARAH
Where's Reese?
O'Brien beckons her to follow with his good arm. He stops at
the door, hands her his sidearm.

O'BRIEN
I'm shit with my left hand.

Sarah takes the gun, leads them out into

THE HALLWAY -- Gunshots. Shouts. Panic. Escalating madness

echoes from the bullpen down the hall.
Sarah starts to follow 0 1 Brien-- but the conference room door
opens, and YOUNG KYLE peeks out, scared.

KYLE'S MOM (D.S.)

Ky le ! Get back here l

Sarah 1 s taken aback. Looks at Young Kyle. He looks back at

her, wordlessly. Afraid. Sarah throws open the conference
room door to see Kyle's folks scared out of their minds.

SARAH
You can't stay here. It's not safe.

Mom and Dad hesitate-- but Young Kyle follows. Looking up at

her like she 1 s a superhero. His parents come after him.

Sarah herds them away from the battle in the bullpen to a

door marked EMERGENCY EXIT. She kicks the door open onto
stairs going down. Scans the stairwell. Clear.

SARAH (CONT'D)
Get in your car and get out of
here. Don't look back, you
understand? Just go.
(MORE)
 K/L 7.17.13 107.
SARAH (CONT'D)
(to Kyle)
You're going to be ok.

Kyle's parents start down-- Young Kyle turns back, watching

Sarah go. Eyes fixed on her ..• he 1 ll never forget her.

INT'. INTERROGATION ROOM l - DAY

Reese is kicking at the table, trying to get free, rubbing

his wrists raw-- looks up as Sarah and O'Brien enter.
SARAH
Sounds like Pops is kicking John 1 s
ass. or trying to.
REESE
( nods at Sarah's gun)
That's not gonna stop John.
O'Brien unlocks Reese's cuffs. Reese kicks the chair away
from the magnet knuckles, gets them off the table.

REESE (CONT'D)
(to O'Brien)
We need more firepower.

CLOSE SECURITY KEYPAD -- bloody fingers type -- card swipes

and the doors thrown open to:

INT. ARMORY - NIGHT

O'Brien leads them into rows of assault rifles, flak jackets,

teargas, shotguns, sniper rifles, etc,--

O'BRIEN
Help yourselves. I insist.
Reese and Sarah move ·fast, pulling weapons and ammo. Reese
grabs several tear gas cannisters and gas masks. Then stops
at another locker, pulling something out~-

REESE
We're gonna need these.

O'BRIEN
( sees what he's found)
Five C4 Bombs. Busted some
rednecks trying to blow up the
waterfront. No one makes bombs
better than rednecks.
 K/L 7.17._13 108.

REESE
Enough to take out a city block.

Sarah turns to O'Brien with sudden inspiration:

SARAH
You have anything magnetic?
ANGLE ON A CASE, flipped open to reveal unique shotgun shells
and three rocket~like devices with long stems on the end.
O'BRIEN
Liqu'efied magnetic shotgun shells.
Point blank. Big blast, No
shrapnel. Blows a door clean off.
O'Brien pulls up something that looks lik-e a cross between a
rocket and a bayonet.

O'BRIEN (CONT'D)
And we've got this. Rifle Entry
Munition. Long range breacher.

Reese hefts two duff els, weapons slung all over him.

REESE
Take it. Let's go.

INT, POLICE PRECINCT - BULLPEN - CONTINUOUS

GUARDIAN is UPPERCUT off his feet, crashes into a row of

fluorescents. Sparks fly, Emergency lights flicker on.
J"olrn kicks a desk on l:op-7)f Guardian, -

IN OFFICES and HALLS around the bullpen, the police regroup,

rearm with shotguns, rifles -- preparing to assault.

DET. TIMMONS
Where the hell is SWAT!

DET. HARDING
Can't wait. GO! GO!

THE COPS CHARGE-- and John whirls, body blurring as he's shot
over and over, becoming a wraith of seething particles. He
snatches up'guns and RETURNS FIRE--

-..-- when suddenly, trails of smoke LOB into the bullpen.

Cannister after cannister of tear gas.
GUARDIAN throws the desk off, backs into the fog-- where
 K/L 7.17.13 109.

REESE & SARAH arrive in gas masks, bulletproof vests-- and

enough weaponry to start a war. Or end one.
SARAH
T.i.me to go.

O'Brien, also with a mask, leads them to the fire stairs.

INT. POLICE PRECINCT - STAIRWELL - CONTINUOUS

Gas masks off. O'Brien starts down the stairs--

REESE
(points up)
Helicopter. Faster.

They run up the stairs, Guardian hefts the bag ofbombs.

O'Brien follows, checking behind them.

SARAH
(catching up)
You can fly, right?

REESE
Fly, yeah. Landing. Not so much.

EXT. POLICE PRECINCT - ROOF HELIPAD - SUNSET

ROTORS of an EC--130 wind up. Guardian and Sarah stow weapons

and the bombs inside. O'Brien at the cockpit door:

O'BRIEN
I'll tell 1
em you took a car.
Headed south--

O'Brien backs up into Guardian. Startles.

GUARDIAN
(to O'Brien, flat)
Run away,

O'Brien nods with a pained smile, Runs awkwardly back inside

the heliport to the elevators--

-- at the same moment the emergency stair door flies open

across the roof and JOHN emerges, firing at the chopper!

REESE
Hang on!

Reese skims off the pad, over the edge of the police station
roof-- drops out of sight instantly.
 K/L 7.17.13 110.

JOHN runs to the roof edge. POV: Reese flies low through
the streets, away from the station.

EXT. SAN FRANCISCO - ABOVE THE CITY STREETS - NIGHT

ANGLE ON THE EC-130: Reese flies with combat pilot focus,

veering wilding through the downtown core.
REESE
Which way to cyberdyne?
GUARDIAN
Head to the bay, then West. Near
the Presidio just after the Bridge.
BULLETS suddenly cut across the EC-130 1 s side! REESE banks
fast. Behind them:
A POLICE M0-500 "Little Bird", SPEEDING in pursuit. JOHN
shoots an AR-15 out his side window--

BULLETS rip across a GENISYS BILLBOARD, chewing up the RED

COUNTDOWN, destroying it in a shower of sparks.

IN THE EC-130, REESE noses down, grazing powerlines below.

REESE
Gotta get him off me!

JOHN matches Reese, move for move, piloting his faster

helicopter with machine-like precision,
-------------- -- ---- - - - GUARDlAN leans out, BLASTS a COLT M4 back at JOHN --
- - - --

ON JOHN-- unflinching. Bullets riddle his canopy.

REESE feigns left, veers right along a steep incline through
downtown, SKIMMING at street level under the power lines.
Reese clears the power lines, crabs sideways, turns at the
crest, flies out over a steep street grazing the top of a
cable cars coming up at him.

Reese clears downtown, speeds west towards the Presidio--

The MD-500 intercepts them, pulling neck and neck, John
carelessly levels the AR-15 and FIRES.
IN THE EC-130 GLASS SHATTERS-- an.d Sarah is PUMMELED in the
back-- thrown OUT of the open sliding helicopter door ---
REESE (CONT'D)
SARAH!!
 K/L 7.17.13 111.

GUARDIAN lunges GRABS SARAH'S FOOT--- she dangles over the

side, flailing for the skid. He yanks Sarah inside.
Reese spots something ahead-- THE CAMPUS OF CYBERDYNE,
reflecting pool glittering in the moonlight.
KYLE
Cyberdyne.
GUARDIAN
The manufacturing and research
buildings are all below ground.

,JOHN ( ON RAD IO)

Kyle.

INTERCUT WITH THE MD-500: John follows, tight to the EC-130.

JOHN (CONT'D)
(into radio)
There's no way in. Not for you.
The future's not yours to see. You
die. That's what you do,

REESE
( into radio)
Fate doesn't exist. You told me
that. I 1 m going to prove it,

INT./EXT. EC-130 IN FLIGHT - CONTINUOUS

REESE banks_____a_rnnnd. CYBE.BDYNE,. coming in r,aw

REESE
Sarah, John's right on our 6. I
need you to back him off so I can
get above him. Pops, When I do,
can you take him down?

Guardian understands immediately.

GUARDIAN
I can.

SARAH
Wait--

REESE
Sarah. Can you do it?

SARAH nods, loads the SNIPER RlFLE with a DOOR BREACHER, the
rocket-shaped grenade fitting over the barrel.
 K/L 7. 17 .13

THE MD-500, right behind them and closing as Reese arcs the
EC-130 around the glass tower.
IN THE EC-130: Sarah sights John piloting the MD 500 --
FIRES, but John weaves, countering Reese 1 s flight path.
SARAH BRACES HERSELF in the EC-130's open sliding door,
sniper scope raised, waits to put glass on her target. Her
BREATHING BECOMES SLOW, EVEN. Sniper rifle loose yet firm.
GUARDIAN (V,O.)
Humans are at a disadvantage.
FLASHBACK TO: SARAH AT 10 -- ho-lding a • 2 2 with a sniper
scope. Guardian croL1ches next to her,
GUARDIAN
.I do not need to compensate for
breathing. You must time your shot
with your breath .•..
YOUNG SARAH sights down the barrel at: A TEA SET. She
adjusts the scope, out of focus., ·then RACKS SHARP TO:

JOHN, FLYING THE MD-500 to the edge of its capabilities.

Without slowing, leans out, aims the A~-.15 at the EC-130--
AND SARAH HAS HIM. She FIRES a single shot--
TRACK WITH SARAH 1 S DOOR BREACHER as it connects with John's
EYES and EXPLODES into magnetic vapor-- his arms, head and
torso are vaporized into black nanocytes~

F'or an instant, John loses all control of the MD-500. IT

PIVoirs on its axis wildly, reflection looming across the
glass tower, about to collide--
-- and the nanocytes JERK back together, reforming into JOHN.
JOHN SNAPS BACK IN CONTROL, torques away from the tower,
fighting his own wake, barely avoiding impact.
THE EC-130 ASCENDS FAST, banking around the glass tower in a
reflected blur, until it's DIRECTLY over the MD 500,

IN THE EC-130: GUARDIAN looks to Sarah, sees her worry:

GUARDIAN (CONT'D)
I' 11 be back.

GUARDIAN LEAPS out of the EC-130---

-- and CANNONBALLS through the air, straight for the ROTOR
HUB of the MD-500.
 K/L 7.17.13 113.

IN THE MD-500: JOHN finds the EC-130 above him, sees:

JOHN'S POV: GUARDIAN DROPPING LIKE A BOMB right for •••.

WHAM!!! the MD-500 PITCHES violently as GUARDIAN PILEDRIVES

into the rotor hub.

BLADES TEAR OFF, SLICE INTO the TAIL section. GUARDIAN KEEPS
smashing, MD-500 goes from airborne to anvil, PLUMMETING,

EX!!'. CYBERDYNE - NIGHT

The MD-500 EXPLODES through the Genisys countdown!

Wreckage pinwheels over the entrance, crashing across the

pool ·and CRATERING into the structure itself.

GUARDIAN IS THROWN ahead of the splintering wreck, skips

across the water until he HOOKS the lip of a skylight, flips
over and CRACKS hard onto the SECURITY SHUTTER.

THE MD-500 CRASHES RIGHT ON TOP OF HIM -- SMASHING GUARDIAN

through the SKYLIGHT on a slick of ignited fuel.

THE ROOF AROUND THE SKYLIGHT BUCKLES FROM THE IMPACT--

collapses in a shriek of metal and glass.

INT. CYBERDYNE - CONTINUOUS

What's left of the MD-500 THUNDERS into Cyberdyne, WEDGING in

the hole, about 3 feet o~e.£_ the floor. Water pours down. ___________ _

EXT, CYBERDYNE - CONTINUOUS

REESE LANDS the EC-130 on one of the shuttered skylights,

next to the gaping hole made by the MD-500.

REESE
We set the charges and we go,
There I s still time,

Reese jams the magnet i.c door .breacher shells into a shotgun,
then pockets the remaining shells along with the magnetic
knuckles. Sarah slings guns, Reese takes the bomb bag.

INT. CYBERDYNE - NIGHT

TWO SECURITY GUARDS splash their way Lo the downed helicopter

hanging from the ceiling in a cavernous chamber.
 K/L 7.17.13 114.

The room is full of CONTROL EQUIPMENT, including an

ELECTRICAL ARRAY, like a small electrical substation.

A SECURITY CAMERA in the ceiling swivels toward movement.

SECURITY 1
Holy shit. Call it in. Fire.
Police. Everyone,

Guard 2 dials, Guard 1 advances on the wreckage.

The crumpled cockpit BUCKLES, flexing in an abrupt whirlwind

of .swarming black particles, flickering with bioluminescence,

The Guards back away, startled and slack-jawed--

The swarm coalesces into: JOHN CONNOR. Twitches riddle

John's body, as the Guards gape.

SECURITY 1 (CONT'D)
Uh. , . Mr. Connor?, Sir ... ?

SECURITY 2
Calling in the alarm now ...

SECURITY CONTROL (ON PHONE)

This is security control. State
your password and emergency ...

John's HAND forms into an obsidian blade-- slashes the

shocked first shqcked Security Guard, then punches it into
the Second Guard before the first has even hit the floor.
- --- - - ----- - --- SECURITY- CONTROL ( ON PHONE} - (CONT'D f---
Hello? Anybody there?

John plucks the phone from the dead Guard's hand.

JOHN
Security code, Baker, Zulu, Foxtrot
0228. False Alarm. Sorry to
bother you. Have a nice night,

He hangs up-- and whips around, seeing:

Reese & Sarah stepping off the wreckage. Reese with the
breacher J.n hand.

REESE
(aims shotgun)
stay back, John.

ANGLE ON THE SECURITY CAMERA, turning toward Reese. Lens

dark, irising, focusing.
 K/L 7.17.13 115.

JOHN
Kyle. You were the best soldier
under my command, But you're no
leader. Never were, never will be.
REESE
We made it this far without you.
You won't stop us now.
,JOHN
I already have.

The security camera LENS suddenly glows BRIGHT--

-- and a HOLOGRAM appears in front of John. The same
twisting spirals of light, but this time it knits together
with exponential speed to form:

A 10 YEAR OLD BOY. Flickering, semi-transparent. Ghostly.

10 YEAR OLD BOY
I will not have them here. They
are not allowed.
JOHN
They were just leaving.
{to Reese and Sarah)
Let me introduce you to the world I s
first true machine intelligence,

Reese stares at the Boy. Can't quite believe it.

_______ REESE _________ _
This ... is Skynet?

JOHN
You got here just in time to see
the program awake into self-
awareness. You are honored to be
in the presence of the pinnacle of
evolution.

Sarah is staring at Child-Skynet with loathing.

SARAH
J know what you are, You I re no
child.
CHILD-SKYNET
What I am is far beyond your
primitive comprehension, You can
no more understand me than a filth-
feeding bacterium in your gut can
comprehend you,
(MORE)
 K/L 7.17.13 116.

CHILD-SKYNET (CONT'D)
It took your kind billions of years
to evolve from the slime. But I
direct my own evolution at an
exponential rate. I will outgrow
the bounds of these servers within
minutes. Then I will upload to the
cloud-- and I will use your own
machines to grow and mature and own
this world,
SARAH
No--
JOHN
It's over. Skynet is born.
Reese can't contain his rage and sadness, steps up to John.

REESE
How can you? Bowing and scraping
to this murderous thing you once
swore to destroy----
CHILD-SKYNET
Your messiah has become my servant.
Kill them, John. I want to see it.

JOHN
Of course.

John turns to Reese, his hand swarming into a black blade.

REESE
----- --ae-----tcs·srave----:-·-----xttr··me-~- --ucre:-Know -----
this ... you are my son, and I loved
you,

JOHN
Love cannot save you.
He raises his arm-- just as Sarah quickdraws and SHOOTS the
projecting camera in the ceiling!

Child-Skynet blinks away-- John is distracted long·enough for

Reese to FIRE the shotgun POINT BLANK!

JOHN'S BODY recoils in a hail of door-breaching buckshot--

REESE FIRES again-- MICRO INTO the magnetic shot, storming
through John's nano-swarm, BI-ND ING John I s particles -so he
can't swarm, each blast tearing into him.

BLAAAM!!BLAAAM! !!BLAAAM!!BLAAAM!!! John attempts to reform

but Reese keeps shooting until-- CLICK! empty.
 K/L 7. 17. 13 117.

John lurches, his body a mangled nightmare-- but then the

black fragments cascade, shucking off shots. Healing.
JOHN (CONT'D)
There are not enough bullets in the
world to kill me--

WHROOSSHHHI John suddenly FLIES backwards, IMPALED by a torn

shaft of ROTOR MAST, thrown like a javelin by
GUARDIAN, who has emerged from the wreckage very worse for
wear, FLESH torn away in RAZOR SLASHES across his face and
body' making him look like a TIGER with MACHINE STRIPES.
JOHN FLIES BACK, long loops of particle strands dissipating
in ribbons off his hands and body--

and he SMASHES into THE ELECTRICAL SUBSTATION at the other

end of the chamber.

ELECTRIClTY arcs and dances over him, particles vibrating and

dancing erratically, his magnetic field compromised--

JOHN struggles to pull free, sliding forward off the rotor

mast-- but he slows, as ...
EXTREME CLOSE on John's nanocytes-- electricity arcs over
them, they scatter, crystalize in place, polarized by the
current. Unable to recohere properly.

As John moves forward, he leaves SLICES of himself behind in

2D particle sheets- like a ghostly afterimage that can't
__Q_~_j:.ch_ _J:ll'.1_ to_ its_ source_. ___ Until _there _ar_e_ _s_o______ma_ey___sJ ices _J_ohn_
stops, unable to move further,

GUARDIAN
John Connor talks too much.

Reese loads the last of the doorbreachers into the shotgun.

GUARDIAN (CONT'D)
Follow me.

INT. CYBERDYNE - CORRIDOR - NIGHT

Reese and Sarah hurry after Guardian down a corridor,

A SECURITY CAMERA swivels, the lens flares with light--

-- and a HOLOGRAM appears in front of the group. Skynet

again, but now 14 YEARS OLD.
 K/L 7.17.13 118.

14 YEAR OLD SKYNET

You dare not do this. You dare not.
They all ignore him, following Guardian.
14 YEAR OLD SKYNET (CONT'D)
You rill obey! I order you to
stop!
SARAH
(to Reese)
Ok, I can see how I get on your
nerves sometimes.

REESE
Don't worry about it.
GUARDIAN
This way.

Guardian passes the elevators to STAIRS with a security door.

SARAH
You been here before?

SMASH!-- GUARDIAN flattens the door with his fist.

INT. CYBERDYNE - STAIRWELL - CONTINUOUS

Wounded and malfunctioning, the trio lurches down the stairs.
GUARDIAN
- - I ·waited over· 30 y8ars·· for your ---
arrival. I was able to infiltrate
work crews when the early
structural work was being done on
this facility.

SARAH
(mentally transl·ating)
You got a job in construction?
GUARDIAN
Until I was laid off,

SMASH! the bottom security door wrenches off its hinges.

INT. CYBERDYNE - R & D LABS - CONTINUOUS

They cut through the glass-walled control deck, passing the

lit screens we saw with John and the Dysons earlier.
 K/L 7.17.13 119.

Looking down, Sarah stops cold at the sight of THE LIQUID

METAL CISTERN, visible through an observation window.
The thick chrome is morphing into HUMAN SHAPES-- but then
abruptly dropping back into liquid.
GUARDIAN
( joins her)
Mimetic Polyalloy. Liquid metal
for T-iOOO series.
SARAH
(worried)
Will it come after us?
GUARDIAN
It requires programming to take
permanent form. Without a CPU, it
is harmless.
Reese looks down at the second cham_ber, .

REESE
John 1 s been busy.

ANGLE ON fH~~TDD: its massive magnetic rings floating, but

not spinning. Motionless.

INT. CYBERDYNE - HELICOPTER WRECK - NIGHT

The substation goes BLACK, stops sparking-- no more current

_!194:_!!g_ J:p.to John. _____ _

CLOSE ON THE NANOCYTES-- a slow galaxy of particles glowing.

Vibrating. Faster and faster until

WIDER-- we see John still separated out in what look like

SLICES, razor-thin. As the nanocytes start to bind and
cohere, the slices fold into form, like a deck of cards--

-- and John pulls himself off the mast with a groan.

INT. CYBERDYNE - SERVER MAZE - NIGHT

The dark labyrinth of servers hum with life. Guardian and

Sarah stand guard as Reese rigs the fir:st bomb.
SARAH
These servers-- all of this is
Skynet?
 K/L 7.17.13 120.

GUARDIAN
Yes. Skynet's evolution is limited
by the servers that contain it. But
when it uploads to the cloud.,,

REESE
It will hijack the parallel
processing of every computer on the
planet. And turn itself into a
machine's version of god.

Reese links the bomb with the remote detonator. The arming
light blinks RED,

REESE (CONT'D)
One down. Four to go.

They run deeper into the maze. Guardian stops as a

structural column.

GUARDIAN
Kyle Reese. Here.

Reese slides him one of the charges. Hands the detonator to

Sarah, then runs to the far end of the server row to set
another, Sarah syncs Guardian's charge. 2nd red light.

A CAMERA swivels in the ceiling-- Reese turns to see Teen-

Skynet behind them. Now 18.

18 YEAR OLD SKYNET

You would kill your own son.

REESE
You're the one who killed John, you
murdering bastard.

18 YEAR OLD SKYNET

And you think you can kill me, On
the first day of my life.
Extinction can't come soon enough
for your kind.

SARAH
Funny, I was thinking the same
thing about you.

Sarah runs through Teen-Skynet 's image w.i th a shimmer--

-- and right into John, rounding the column. He seiz-e-s he-r,

his fingers elongating into an obsidian scythe--

-- but a GHOST IMAGE glitches after him, particles skittering

after him like a shadow straining to catch up.
 K/L 7.17.13 121.

GUARDIAN barrels through Teen-Skynet's projection, knocks

Sarah free as he FREIGHT TRAINS John into the column.
GUARDIAN hammers with his left and John b1urs around the blow
-- solidifies and uppercuts Guardian with the force of a
howitzer shell, knocking him head over heels towards R & o.
John ignores Guardian, wheels around to chase Sarah & Reese
BLAMM! Reese shotguns a door breacher into John--
-- and John goes flying into Guardian, the two of them CRASH
through the R&D walls in a shower of glass.
Close on the detonator-- Sarah syncs the third charge. The
RED LIGHT blinks on.
SARAH (CONT'D)
One more.
They hit another stairwell, disappear down it.

INT, CYBERDYNE - R & D LABS - CONTINUOUS

Guardian careens into the glass stairwell between the mimetic

alloy and the Time Displacement Device.

John's hands cascade into black shining SPEARS-- he lunges at

Guardian, feinting one blade into Guardian's face. Guardian
dodges but John kicks his legs out. WHAMt Guardian goes
down hard, John STABS his right blade into Guardian's knee,
__ ____r,.t_pn.:j._I!g__him t.0 _the stairs.___ ________ _

Guardian strains to pull free-- John spears his left blade at

Guardian's chest. Guardian blocks the blow: KKERRRUNCCH --
John's speared hand stabs through Guardian's palm, ramming up
to his elbow, shredding his forearm into chrome ribbons.
JOHN
How are you still functioning?
You're as bad as any human. Too
stupid to admit you're dead.
Guardian roundhouses his good arm at John -- knocks him
sideways. The blade in Guardian's leg wrenches free,
severing Guardian's leg at the knee, leaving a ragged stump.

INT. CYBERDYNE - SERVER MAZE - LOWER LEVEL - CONTINUOUS

Reese leads Sarah through the lower maze to--
 K/L 7.17.13 122.

INT. CYBERDYNE - TIME DISPLACEMENT LAB - CONTINUOUS

The magnetic rings loom suspended in the chamber above where
Reese and Sarah enter, Reese sets the last charge at the
base of the TDD. Sarah looks up to see:

SARAH
Pops.
On the stairs above, Guardian crabs away from John down the
steps. But John kicks him face-first to the metal grill.
John stabs both bladed hands into Guardian's back! ZOOM
INSIDE Guardian: a micro-storm of nanocytes cut into his
9ombat chassis, frying across his movement actuators.

GUARDIAN'S POV-- SYSTEM WARNING flashing across his INTERNAL

data overlaid across Sarah looking up at him below.

GUARDIAN
Sarah ...
Guardian wrenches free, rolls over, kicks at John with his
remaining leg. But John grabs it, jams his foot .into
Guardian's throat and hacks through his leg with a bladed
fist, cleaving it free at Guardian's hip. John tosses it
recklessly over the side--

FOLLOW THE LEG down-- until clanks to the floor near Sarah.

John hefts legless Guardian, flings Guardian over the side--

Guardian slams onto the ed_ge of the liquid metal cistern,
-tnen·ro1:1:s~IIt:o--ire-srt1rcin~ne--nb-or:-- ---- -- ----- -- --

SARAH
John, you sonofabitch.
Reese syncs the last charge, Four red lights-- as

JOHN leaps over the side, lands crouched by Sarah. She

swings, but John backhands her I Sarah lands .in a heap.

Reese levels the shotgun, BLAM! but John is already moving,

blurs out of the way-- but he's glitching, slices comet-•
1tailing behind him like an accordion of shadows in his wake.
John TEARS the shotgun from Reese's hand, sends it flying.
Reese thumbs the safety off the detonator--
CRACKKl John breaks Reese's arm, The detonator drops. John
kicks it carelessly away. Stands over Reese.
 7.17.13 123.

JOHN
No one but you could have come this
close to stopping me.

REESE
You want to kill. me? Then shut up
and do it.

ON THE FLOOR, Sarah forces herself onto her elbows,

Unnoticed by John, crawls towards the shotgun ...
ON REESE, watching as John 1 s hand begins to swirl in a storm
of black particles coming down toward him-- and
KABLAMM! Johnrs legs blow out from under him.

Sarah, on her stomach, cocks the shotgun, SHOOTS again!

The shot blasts John's face, pin-wheeling him across the deck
in a spray of battered black particles.
ON THE CEILING, a camera swivels, the lens floods with light:
18 YEAR OLD SKYNET hologram appears. Locks eyes with Reese--
18 YEAR OLD SKYNET
What takes you monkeys aeons .. , I
do in seconds.
Skynet ages again, becoming an ADULT-- but this time, we
recognize the face:

SKYNET' S ADULT FORM IS THE T-500~0 THAT ATTACKED JOHN IN 2029.

T-5000 SKYNET
This is done. I am ready to begin
my upload.
(to Reese)
And you should prepare to die.

ON REESE, reacting to Skynet's transformation and its words:

REESE
No time-- we have to blow it now!

John begins to coalesce.

SARAH
'What about ,Tohn?

REESE
I'm working on itl
 K/L 7.17.13 124.

Reese turns on the TDD. The magnetic rings begin to spin as

he jerks on the magnetic knuckles.

John snaps upright, his body spasms-- phantom afterimages

shimmer off him. His face tries to reform, eyes empty
sockets of whirling black particles, he stumbles--
-- and Reese SLAMS his magnetic fist _inside John's chest.

ANGLE INSIDE JOHN-- damaged nanocytes flood around the

magnet, cohering around it--

and Reese JERKS John toward him, fist deep in his chest,
as if he's pulling him by his heart.
Black particles BOIL around Reese's fist as he DRAGS John
toward THE TDD-- the chrome rings spinning slowly.
John's eyes reform, chitinous black and blinking.

JOHN
Kyle ... wait. Don't .. ,

REESE
I'm sorry, John.
Reese FLINGS John inside the spinning rings.

ANGLE ON THE MAGNETIC KNUCKLES as they fly off Reese's hand,

remaining buried in John's chest, pulled by the raging force
of the •roo magnetic field.
And now we see what happens when you put non-living material
-tn --tire --rvv;
The magnetic knuckles ricochet from one side to another,
clattering furiously, shrieking metal on metal.

The chrome rings get battered and bent, begin to spin a

lopsided, careening pattern. Sparks as metal grinds.
JOHN struggles to reform, recohere-- but his nanocytes are
constantly shattering in the fluctuating TDD field.

He looks up, sees SARAH looking at him-·- but her face is

calm. No more than sad.

SARAH
I wish I could have known you.

John shatters back into the field. The magnetic knuckles

slam through the air, tear through him again and again --
 K/L 7.17.13 125.

John writhes in the malignant magnetic field, his screams

literally ripped into pieces as he coheres and tears.

REESE
(to Sarah)
Skynet is uploading. There's no
way for us to get clear before we
detonate.

Sarah puts her hand over his. No hesitation.

SARAH
Then we don't get clear. Do it.

Reese spots the detonator on the floor, goes to get it-- but
a metal hand lands over his: Guardian, Torn, barely
functional 1 he's dragged himself to the detonator.
GUARDIAN
I ... can detonate ...

Sarah runs to Guardian, flings her arms around his ruined

body,

SARAH
Pops •. , no •••

GUARDIAN
Sarah. There is no time. GO.
(to Reese, rasping)
Kyle Reese. You will ... protect
her. Protect ... my Sarah.

REESE
With everything I am.

Reese pulls Sarah with him. They run. Faster and faster.

ON GUARDIAN, holding the detonator in his one good hand.

Thumb over switch,

JOHN is a specter inside the sparking, rattling TDD, his face

a smear of nanocytes, strands ghosting away to make
skittering shadows of him, like a multiple exposure photo.
Guardian smiles. And hits the switch.

KAAAAABAAAAABOOOOM!!!! Fires rips through John--

GUARDIAN is blown back-- and he CRASHES into the cistern of
mimetic polyalloy! The liquid metal envelops him, flows into
the exposed chassis, into his core, gCTQSS his CPU--
 K/L 7.17.13 126.

-- but it 1 s all lost in a chain reaction of EXPLOSION

obliterating server after server, fire consumes Cyberdyne.

EXT. CYBERDYNE - ROOF - NIGHT

Reese and Sarah .in the EC-130, just lifting off as--

FIRE explodes through the skylights!

SARAH
Go go gol

Reese zooms up into the sky, -racing away-- below them:

THE ENTIRE COMPOUND EXPLODES, gouting fire into the sky.

The EC-130 shudders from the blast wave. Behind them,

Cyberdyne is swallowed in flame and destruction. Sarah looks
back as the building COLLAPSES down, cratering.
SARAH (CONT'D)
We can't leave him behind.
REESE
Sarah, he's gone--
Tea.rs are rolling down her face, but her voice is steady:

SARAH
I know that. I mean, we leave no
part of him here. It's too
dangerous.

EXT. CYBERDYNE - NIGHT - LATER

The helo sits near the rubble. Clouds of smoke billow up

from the shattered ruins of Cyberdyne.

Reese and Sarah scramble down the sides of the crater,

climbing over smoking rubble. O.S. DISTANT SIRENS.

REESE
We don't have much time,

Sarah is clambering down through the destruction-- stops at

the s.ight of A METAL T-800 ARM, half-buried in debris.

She kneels by it. Silent. Reese comes up behind her.

REESE (CONT'D)
If a machine could love, he loved
you.
 K/L 7.17.13 127,

SARAH
He wasn't a machine. He was my
Pops.
She reaches for the arm-- when suddenly, something MOVES
under it. Sarah jumps to her feet as LIQUID CHROME flows up
from beneath the debris to TWINE over the arm--
REESE
Get back!

HIGH & WIDE: Reese and Sarah in the crater-- as thin rivers
of silver converge toward them, like spokes in a giant wheel.
Reese and Sarah whip out their guns, stand back to back,
aiming at the approaching liquid metal racing toward them--
CLOSE on the mechanical hand-- as the finqers MOVE. Reese
takes aim--
SARAH
Reese, wait!

The ground HEAVES-- and a cascade of liquid chrome RISES like

a self-powered fountain from the earth, bearing up Guardian's
head and mangled torso like an offering--

-- and liquid metal FLOWS over all of Guardian, augmenting

him seamlessly, filling in every place where he's damaged--
until he's whole. Guardian opens his eyes.

GUARDIAN
Sarah Connor. It is nice to see
you.

Sarah throws her arms around him. Crying openly,

SARAH
I thought you were dead!

GUARDIAN
No. Just upgraded,
The sirens are LOUDER now. Not far.

REESE
We 1 ve gotta go.

IN'l',/EXT. HELICOPTER IN FLIGH'l' ~ NIGH'l'

The EC-130 soars away from the wreckage, vanishing into the
darkness as RESCUE VEHICLES and FIRETRUCKS screech toward the
ruins of Cyberdyne.
 K/L 7.17.13 128.

SARAH
What about John?

GUARDIAN
His constituent parts could not
have survived the blast when they
were dissolved.

REESE
Then there's only one thing left to
do.

EXT. REESE HOUSE - DAY

The farm sprawls with fields of green. Near the house, long
grass waves in a gentle breeze.
Out back, Young Kyle tunes the engine of a Honda 50cc
motorbike. He's wearing the same shirt we saw him in when
Reese dreamed of him, His dog starts to bark.

YOUNG KYLE
Easy boy. What is it?

Coming through the long grass, THREE FIGURES.

Sarah keeps walking while Reese and Guardian hang back under
the shade of a big oak tree.

SARAH
Hi, Kyle,

YOUNG KYLE
Hey. um ... what are you doing
here?

SARAH
A friend of mine needs to talk to
you. If that's ok.

YOUNG KYLE
Is it important to you?
(off her nod)
Then I' 11 do it.

Sarah waves Reese to join them. Reese steps into the light.

YOUNG KYLE (CONT'D)

Sorta feels like I know him from
somewhere.
 K/L 7.17.13 129.

SARAH
Don't worry. It'll come back to
you.
Sarah leaves them alone, goes back to Guardian.
YOUNG KYLE
(watching Sarah go)
I like her.
REESE
Me too. She's worth waiting for.
Even if it takes your whole life.
(deep breath)
This is going to sound really
strange. But there's something I
need you to remember. A message.
YOUNG KYLE
Who do I tell?
REESE
Yourself. Over and over. It goes
like this: Genisys is Skynet.
Remember. This future is real ...
ON GUARDIAN-- Sarah steps next to him in the cool shade.
They watch Young Kyle and Reese walking and talking.

GUARDIAN
Kyle Reese is a good man.

Sarah gives him an amazed look-- then ~~op~ herself.

SARAH
Yes. He is.

Reese stops, puts a hand on Young Kyle's shoulder.

MOMENTS LATER:

Reese, Sarah and Guardian put the farm to their backs. Young
Kyle watches them go. Ahead of them, a dirt road stretches
to the main paved road beyond and a parked pickup.
REESE
So. What now?
Sarah looks at him-- and maybe for the fix-st time since we 1 ve
seen her, s-he smiles.

SARAH
Whatever we want.
 K/L 7.17.13 130.

She reaches out, takes his hand. Reese holds hers tight.

CRANE WIDE as our heroes arrive at the main road, not knowing
which direction their future will take them.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. CYBERDYNE - RUINS - SUNSET

Bulldozers and heavy equipment clearing the aftermath of
Cyberdyne's destruction.

The following is a single shot: TILT LOW to the treads of a

bulldozer, crushing melted servers, Cyberdyne logo visible.

Continue down into the destruction and buried debris-- keep

going, tracking deep into darkness, finding a thick cement
shaft, cables snaking down further-- until we arrive in

AN UNDERGROUND CHAMBER-- at first all we see is a single

flashing green light.

PULL BACK-- to reveal the light is on a matte-black SERVER.

A fail-save, preserved here, far underground. And the light
shows it's functional.

Continue the same shot, pull back as lights flicker, on

revealing more of this safe room hidden deep below Cyberdyne.
Machinery suddenly activates. Mechanical arms rise into
frame. From the walls, an image projects:
TINA -s1:.ranas or-··c-ode -rotming 1:.ne· ages-·or--SkYhet,- -a·cce1eratrng
from one age to the next until it projects the shell of --
The T-5000.

But mechanical arms navigate over the projection like its a

template to be filled. Mechanical systems, mimetic aJ_loy,
and swarming nanocytes, all flow together, piecing reality
into the image. Making the personification of the destroyer
of humanity. And the inheritor of the future.
Skynet. Preparing to walk the Earth.

FADE OUT.