Disclaimer: I own none of the Stargate franchise.
A/N: Well - I wrote this for MrsB's birthday. Since she's such a big fan of Lost, and as well Stargate: Atlantis - I thought I'd write something for her that had the same kind of theme as Lost. I hope you like this MrsB - and have a wonderful birthday! :D You are a lovely person - and a very talented writer. So this is for you :)
Chapter 1:
Lost
Dark surrounded him, blinding him. He'd never really realised how much he relied on his vision until now. He could smell smoke, and could feel heat coming from somewhere behind him.
His heart skipped a few beats, and his breath quickened. Swallowing once, he forced the panic away. Trying to move his limbs, he realised he was lying on the floor, a cold and hard foundation.
His arm seemed to be stuck, and a shooting pain ran up his leg when he tried to move it. With some effort he managed to pull his arm free, cursing loudly. Now that it was free of restraint, the blood flow returned – as did the feeling. . . Pain in this case.
Ignoring the pain, he pushed himself up, sitting on his knees. He felt wetness on his leg, warm and sticky. But that didn't matter at the moment. If he could stand on it was more important. Searching for something to hold onto on the wall, he gripped an edge, pulling on it a few times to make sure it would hold his weight.
He pulled himself up with his good arm, carefully putting more weight on his legs when he was halfway there.
He breathed heavily when he was standing at last, biting his lip to prevent himself from vocalising his pain. His eyes were getting accustomed to the dark, and he realised that he was in the jumper, the hatch right in front of him. He had no memory of how he got here, and why the jumper had crashed. At least – it seemed to have made quite a tumble.
Smoke was filling up the confined space, and it was getting more difficult to breathe properly. He took a step back, pulling at the handle. The hatch started opening, but stopped halfway.
It would be difficult to get through that opening, especially injured, but at least the amount of smoke in the jumper was decreasing.
Turning around, he found the source of the smoke. The consoles of the jumper were burning, all of the plastic and metal on fire, leaving a nasty sting in his throat when he breathed in. His eyes searched the front of the jumper, looking for another person inside. He could not have been in the jumper alone, could he?
He found the answer to his question a split second later, a shadow on the ground catching his eye.
Falling to the ground on his knees, he moved towards the form. The smoke was not as bad this low to the ground, and he was relieved to be able to breathe in deeper for a while. Finally, he was close enough to recognise the person.
With shaking fingers he pressed two fingers against her slender neck, almost laughing with relief when he felt a thud against his fingers, steady and strong. Pressing his cheek against hers, he grabbed her hand, squeezing it.
"Teyla?" he whispered, a cough following. As expected, she remained motionless.
Best thing he could do was get her out of the jumper, away from the fire. But he needed to check her injuries first. He didn't want to cause more damage than there had already been done.
He tried his best to see if her spinal cord had been damaged, or her head and neck, but it was difficult to see in the dark. And even though he did have first aid, he was far from an expert. If only she would wake up. . . But his wish did not get granted. He didn't get to see those brown eyes, or hear her voice.
He was on his own. And he was going to have to decide what to do fast, because they had both been breathing in the smoke for too long already, and he didn't even want to think about the possibility of the jumper exploding.
Flashlights! They had to be here somewhere. Why didn't he think about those sooner?! He was such an idiot, and could almost kick himself for being so stupid. But being frustrated about it would only waste time; he had to look for them now. With some effort and swearing, he got himself into a standing position once again, and started rampaging through the jumper.
He found them pretty quickly, and grabbed all 4 of them. They would always come in handy later.
He switched one on, but closed his eyes instantly, because the light was so bright after all the darkness. Opening his eyes to tiny slits, he waited for his eyes to get accustomed as he sat back down next to Teyla. The light hardly made things better, showing injuries she sported that he hadn't even noticed yet in the dark.
They didn't seem life-threatening though, and he was thankful for that.
Her neck seemed fine, so he decided that it was best if he moved her to a safer place. He moved to hunch behind her head, and slowly lifted her into a sitting position. He hooked his arms under her armpits, and grabbed a hold of her underarm with both hands.
If he remembered correctly – then this was the proper way to move a victim. He should really have paid more attention when Carson had explained all of this to the team.
But instead, he'd been too busy goofing around with Teyla. Well – mostly him, since she had passed the test with 98 points. He'd only barely passed it, with a score of 57 points.
Even to this day – he still didn't get how she had pulled that off. She was smart – for sure, but at that moment, it had seemed that she was paying just as little attention as he was.
Focusing on the present, he snapped out of his thoughts, and slowly stood up. He tightened his grip on Teyla, and started shuffling backwards. He almost tripped once, because he had left a few things lying on the floor in his search for the flashlights.
When he reached the rear hatch he did trip. In his hurry he had forgotten all about the malfunction. Thinking that it was open, he'd walked straight into it.
He fell backwards, and his bottom connected with the hatch painfully. Luckily, he still firmly held Teyla, so she hadn't suffered any damage.
The opening was wide enough for the both of them to pass through, but then he would have to jump off the hatch, and it was going to be difficult doing that while holding Teyla. There was no other choice then to carry her on his shoulder. He would have to pray that it didn't worsen her injuries.
Lifting her was slightly difficult with one of his hands injured, but he ignored his wrist as best as he could and tried to lift her as gently as he could muster.
For a moment, he thought she moved her leg. He froze, waiting for it to happen once more. He stared at her leg for a while, but if she had indeed moved – she didn't do so again.
Climbing up the hatch was easier than he expected, and Teyla wasn't really heavy. Fresh air reached his lungs as he swung his legs over the edge. He breathed in greedily, welcoming the oxygen and the feeling of his throat and lungs burning disappearing. The hatch creaked under their weight, so he jumped off of it quickly.
It was only about a metre down, but his knees protested because of the impact, giving out from under him.
He sat there for a while, resting for a moment. After a few minutes, he carefully began to stand again. The first few steps were wobbly, and he feared that he was going to stumble, but it became easier as he moved on.
They seemed to be in some kind of forest, trees surrounding them everywhere. It was night, and the air was cold and damp.
He felt something on his back suddenly, he turned around as fast as he could, reaching for his gun. Nothing was there, and after he thought for a moment, he realised that it was Teyla. She was moving slightly, and was mumbling a few things.
Heading for the closest tree, he sat down, lowering Teyla to the ground. Her eyes were opened to small slits, and she was frowning. "John?"
He nodded, pressing his palm against her cheek. "Yeah…" he tried to say, but had to clear his throat first. "Yeah, it's me," he answered, smiling.
"What happened?" she asked, already pushing herself into a sitting position. She looked around then, her frown deepening. "And what are we doing here?"
He shrugged apologetically. "I honestly have no idea. Woke up in the jumper, and found you lying on the floor. Seems like we crashed or something, 'cause the consoles were on fire."
The sounds of the animals living in the forest faded away suddenly, a short moment of silence before drops started to fall from the sky.
They both scooted closer to the tree, trying to stay dry. "We were on a mission," Teyla shouted, the sound of the heavy rain making it hard to hear each other. "You do not remember?"
John shook his head. "No, I don't. You can tell me later! We should head back to the jumper, to get some of our equipment. You think you can stand?"
Teyla grimaced. "I will try," she responded. John offered her his hand, and she accepted. She stood gracefully, though he could tell that she was favouring her left leg. She noticed his concern, but waved it away. A habit she had picked up from him, mostly from their sparring sessions. "I am fine, just a little sore," she assured, taking a step to prove it.
Though he wasn't actually buying it, he shrugged and decided to let it be. Their clothes were already soaked; the tac vests not exactly water proof.
Teyla was already walking, though not very fast. "Um, Teyla?"
She turned her head, frowning. "Yes?"
John pointed behind him, the opposite direction she was heading. "It's this way," he told her, smiling sweetly at her.
She opened her mouth, but closed it again, and simply followed him. As they got closer to the jumper, her limp became more obvious. He made sure to stay close in case she tripped and fell. They were both pretty banged up, and neither of them had tended to their wounds yet, too preoccupied at the moment.
They reached the jumper, and peeked inside. No more smoke; the fire had died while they had been away. Since the hatch was open, it had rained inside, and the floor was slippery and wet. He helped Teyla in first, and followed shortly after. Not wasting any time, they gathered all of the things they could use. Power bars, guns, medical supplies and more. The rain stopped as abruptly as it had started, the sounds of the forest returning.
It was dryer here – so it was best to take care of their wounds inside of the jumper. He insisted on tending to Teyla's first, leaving no room for discussion.
She had various cuts and bruises, and held the flashlight as he cleaned, and – if necessary – wrapped them. Her kneecap had been dislocated, and was still. Popping it back would hurt like hell – but it had to be done. She didn't scream as he put it back in place, simply gritted her teeth and closed her eyes. He muttered an apology, hating that he was causing her pain.
If she had any more injuries, she didn't mention them. It was his turn to be tended to, and she was almost like a real doc – knowing exactly what to do without hesitation. His leg had stopped bleeding, but the cut was pretty large. It needed stitches; otherwise the wound would simply start bleeding again if he moved the wrong way. Teyla disinfected the needle, and cleaned out the wound. The antiseptic brought tears to his eyes, though they didn't fall.
They only had mild painkillers with them, but he refused to take any; he needed to stay lucid at all times. Teyla frowned at his decision, but proceeded anyway.
Teyla worked fast, yet precisely, the stitches neatly closing up the wound. The pain was tolerable – not as bad as he remembered from when he was a kid.
She also wrapped his hand as best as she could; it was probably broken, but they didn't have the supplies to put it in a plaster. Teyla moved to put his arm in a sling, but he stopped her. He wouldn't be able to use it at all if she did that, rendering it useless.
"John," she protested, shaking her head. But even though they could both be stubborn, she knew that he wouldn't change his mind.
She sighed heavily, and sat down next to him on the bench. She tilted her head then, and he looked at her questioningly. But she didn't need to explain – he heard it too now.
A rumble was coming from outside – something big headed towards them. They could hear trees snapping, making room for whatever it was that was moving through the forest at high speed. The ground quivered with each step it took, and they both grabbed a hold of the jumper.
They stared at the half opened hatch, waiting to see what it was. Just as they thought it was moving past them, the quivering stopped, as did the noise. The forest silenced once again, and they could feel something present close by.
The brutal attack on the jumper caught them off guard, and as it toppled sideways, all they could do was grab a hold of each other.
He didn't feel any pain as the world went black again, but the sound of that thing still lingered in his ears, echoing in his mind.
TBC . . .