The Unseen
By: SNBRADY
Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate: Atlantis or any of its characters.
Summary: Set after Misbegotten, when Michael leaves the hive he hides out on a planet, but a chance encounter brings changes to his life he'd never imagined.
Rating: M
Warnings: Violence, attempted rape and some mild swearing.
Hunger
The hunger has been gnawing at Michael for days now and he knows he can't resist it much longer. Slipping through the forest stealthily the village is a few miles away still but he knows he must be careful even from this distance, especially with the moon almost full. The night air is still and quiet except for the occasional call of a bird or a cool spring breeze that would sweep past him ruffling his hair.
Suddenly the evening's peace is shattered by a scream in the opposite direction of the village. Michael knows it's not another Wraith, he'd have sensed them, turning his pale eyes in the direction of the sounds, the screams and shouts float through the air like a specter hovering over him; his curiosity is getting the better of him. Turning in the direction of the noise he takes off at a run to investigate, if any thing maybe he could find some easy pickings away from the village at night.
Coming to the path used by the villagers Michael stops short the body of a young man is lying limply on the ground; his blood has spilled from his body to darken the soil beneath him. Knelling beside the body he flips it, lifeless eyes stare up at him, suddenly the sound of shouting combined with laughter from a short distance away reaches his ears.
Jumping to his feet Michael takes off in the direction of the voices, quietly rounding the corner the sight that greets him is more than a little unsettling. Two men have a young woman trapped against a large tree, she is shouting at them and she has a long stick in her hands trying to strike out at the men. Though her efforts to do so don't seem to be very effective and every time she'd strike out with her stick and miss the men would practically howl with laughter.
Finally one of the woman's swipes hits its mark, smacking the man closest to her across his face, drawing blood from the side of his lip. Unfortunately the triumph of the moment is quickly replaced by fear; the men's games have come to an end. The next swipe of the woman's stick is easily caught mid-air by the man she'd just hit, and he violently rips it from her hands. Her hands are bleeding now with the sheer force of her only defensive weapon being jerked from her grip. The man who received the blow grabs at the woman's arms slamming her back into the tree behind her with as much force as he can.
Watching the scene in front of him play out is making Michael's blood boil but the words that come from the man's mouth sends him completely over the edge into rage. The man has his body pressed against hers and is holding her arms at her side even as she struggles to get out of his grip, the man leans in to make sure she can hear him and says in a low cold voice, "I was going to take it easy on you, but just for that you blind little bitch I'm really going to enjoy this."
'Blind, she's blind,' a human would not have been able to hear the quietly spoken words from the distance Michael had been watching. In truth he'd been waiting for a good moment to strike out at the men who were terrorizing the woman, without her seeing him but now that he knew that she couldn't see any way he wasn't about to hold back.
Leaping from his hiding place in a nearby tree, Michael first addresses the second man, a snarling hiss ripping from his mouth, he knocks the man unconscious with a few quick blows. The other man is still holding the girl when he realizes what is happening, he let go of her and starts running away. 'You coward, at least the girl actually put up a fight,' Michael thinks to himself as he begins to pursue the man. It doesn't take long to catch up with the man; he's rather short and heavy set and doesn't run very fast. Michael could have blasted the man with his stunner but the rage that he felt at the man's actions combined with his desire to feed has clouded his judgment somewhat. Tackling the man to the ground, Michael hasn't noticed the already bloody knife in the man's hand; until it slices through his shoulder when he flips the man to face him.
The pain from the knife wound is fleeting as Michael quickly heals, wrenching the knife from the man's chubby fingers. The look of fear in the man's eyes is extremely intoxicating for Michael as the man lays there trembling in fear, Michael's lips turn up into a wide grin revealing his sharp menacing teeth, "just for that I'm really going to enjoy this," echoing the man's words from earlier, just before his hand slams into the man's chest, and now it's his screams that fill the night air.
The withered husk that is left of the pathetic excuse for a man is of little consequence to Michael once he has what he wants from him; however, his hunger isn't completely satisfied but his second helping is just waiting for him unconscious not very far away. Taking a languid pace returning the few hundred yards to where the other man still lays unconscious, Michael's surprised to find that the woman has fallen to the ground a few paces from the tree where she'd been assaulted.
Not truly knowing what's come over him he slowly approaches her still form, pushing the hair from her face he feels the wet sticky blood that's slowly oozing from the back of her head. The bastard must have slammed her into the tree a lot harder than he'd originally thought, she was tough this little human, remaining conscious as long as she did. The woman's face is slowly growing paler and a twinge of worry creeps into Michael's mind.
He knew enough about human's to know that he'd need to get this bleeding stopped if he wanted her to live. But then another thought entered his mind, 'why should I care⦠why did I even care what happened to her before?' Maybe it was what Teyla had said to him all of those months ago in Atlantis about how she thought that the Wraith knew nothing of compassion, maybe he simply wanted to prove her wrong or perhaps he did truly feel compassion for this human.
Then again maybe it was Teyla who was wrong if the most recent example of human behavior was used, these men had decided to attack the woman just because she was at a disadvantage. As a Wraith he only killed because that was what he had to do to survive not just because he could and in his opinion these two deserved what they got for their actions this night.
A sound off to his side suddenly caught Michael's attention the man was beginning to stir, with no hesitation he pulls out his stunner and sends the man back into unconsciousness. Not wasting time now Michael grabs a hold of the man, and removes the two bags that are slung over his shoulder. Quickly stripping the man of his shirt Michael returns to the woman, pressing the shirt over her wound as best he can. That was when he looked down at her hands they were also bleeding, but not to badly, they'd probably just need to be bandaged a little.
Finally he was satisfied that her head had stopped bleeding Michael once again turned his attention back to the man on the ground. Michael made quick work of him as well, although this feeding wasn't quite as satisfying as the other man had been but at least his hunger was gone for now.
Michael hid the two men's withered bodies in the woods as well as the body of the man he'd found at first, in the back of his mind Michael wondered if 'she' had killed the first man. Deciding not to dwell on that thought he returned to where the woman still lay unconscious, pulling over the two bags on the ground nearby he opened them the first one had some women's clothes in it and the other had some men's clothes in it. Michael came to the conclusion that the one bag must belong to her and the other to the man who'd been stabbed to death; most likely he'd died protecting her.
Finally his mind could focus completely on the woman, what should he do with her? Leave her here and hope that one of the villagers would come soon and find her but what if no one came in time or what if those that came were just like the men who'd attacked her? That was it his mind was made up, she'd just have to come with him for now and then he'd figure out what to do with her later.
A/N: Well that's the end of chapter one, in the next chapter you'll find out what the woman's name is and what her story is. I'd love to hear what ya'll think, so please send a review my way, thanks. Also, I'd like to send a great big thank you to Feral Geek for all of her encouragement, and if you guys haven't read her story 'Show No Fear' you should trust me on this one, it's awesome.
