disclaimer: The characters do not belong to me, waaah!

summary: Ferocious creatures, erupting volcanoes, and an injured Colonel. It's a race against time. Who will win?

ratings: K+ for some minor violence and possible cuss words.

A/N: This was written for the SGA_Beya Springfling Challenge and was inspired by artwork done by the talented Jeyla4ever. Please see that site for the accompanying pics.

FYI: I am currently writing two longer fics for the sgareversebang challenge. Stay tuned, they will be posted in June.

thanks: To Jeyla4ever for her great artwork and for having a place for us John/Teyla fanatics to go when we need support. To sagey, who is always there for me waving her purple pompoms. What would I do without you, honey? To puerta because I miss you so much and need you to come back.

feedback: Yes, Please!

Death Trap

by kariesue

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"How we doing, Major?" John Sheppard called out to Major Lorne as the back of the puddle jumper opened and a dozen villagers loaded down with bags exited to move toward the Stargate.

They got in line behind the few dozen other citizens of this planet who were being evacuated. Lorne looked them over and commented, "So far so good. Most of the people have already gone through. Is that the last of them, Colonel?"

Sheppard glanced at Teyla who nodded her head.

"I believe so. We flew over a few of the outer villages and detected no life signs. Apparently word got out pretty fast. I'm guessing the appearance of those huge dinosaur things made everyone realize we weren't kidding when we said they needed to leave the planet."

Lorne looked sheepish. "I hate to admit that seeing them was pretty cool. I always had a thing about dinosaurs when I was a kid. Actually thought of becoming a paleontologist at one point."

John just laughed. "Well, I'm guessing most of these folks wouldn't agree about them being cool after a few people were killed by them. I still can't believe they lived together on this planet for so many years and never had any problems."

"Rodney did say the creatures stayed very high in the mountains feeding off the animals up there until the geothermal disturbances occurred," Teyla inserted. "Even though they lost several of their people it may have been a fortunate occurrence since they may not have known about the potential hazard to their world otherwise. It is a good thing they sought help to rid themselves of the creatures and our scientists discovered their problem."

John frowned then looked over at McKay who was standing near the gate with his computer open as usual. "McKay, what's the situation? How long before this place blows?"

Rodney rolled his eyes at his friend's question. "I'm not a volcanologist, am I?"

At John's glare he sighed and pressed a few more keys. "At best guess, I'd say not more than a few hours although the mountains will go first and the towns won't be affected until shortly after that. But a lot also depends on the rate of pressure and the density of …"

Rodney looked at Sheppard and asked, "Do you really want the specifics or are you just asking to annoy me?"

"I only asked how long, McKay. I didn't need a science lesson. Seeing the geothermal mess that happened on Taranis was plenty. I don't really want to stick around here and have a repeat of that, thanks."

"I would prefer to avoid that as well," Teyla agreed. She remembered how thick the air was with ash and how close to dying they truly came. If it had not been for the Daedalus she and Ronon would not be here now.

She looked over to where the Satedan was hustling villagers through the gate but she noticed a slight disturbance amongst a few. She touched John's arm and pointed this out.

John raised his chin and shouted, "Ronon, everything all right?"

John moved closer and a woman pulled away from her group and ran to him. "You must go back and get my son! I thought my husband had him but several of our neighbors claim he did not have the boy."

"Are you sure?" John asked cautiously. The dinosaur things were roaming even more and it was becoming dangerous to be on the planet and not just because it was about to explode. It's why they had brought several of the jumpers to ferry the natives to the Stargate. The gate was quite a distance from many of the villages but they also needed to avoid the dinosaur creatures as well.

The woman was now hysterical and Teyla took her arm and asked, "How old is your son and would he have followed any of the others?"

The crying woman sobbed, "He is not yet two and was in his crib sleeping. I was packing and gathering my invalid father and assumed my husband had gotten him. Now Sanjo is saying that my husband thought I had the boy. I must go back!"

Teyla's eyes misted over at the thought of the child all alone in this situation, especially as her own son, Torren, was a similar age. She looked beseechingly at John and said, "We must go look for him."

John took no time in nodding and said, "Tell us exactly where he was and we'll get him. You need to stay with the rest of your children and get to Atlantis. We'll find him. Don't worry."

Teyla got the information from the woman as she was far more familiar with the towns than John and the two of them jogged back to the jumper. John looked at Lorne as they left.

"Get the rest of these people through. We'll find the boy and be back as soon as we have him. It's about fifteen minutes to fly to his location. If he's right there then we should be back in under an hour. McKay seems to think we should be all set. Right McKay?"

Rodney looked panicked. "I said not more than a few hours. It could definitely be sooner. I wouldn't hang around sightseeing if I were you."

"In and out, no tourist traps or souvenirs, got it!"

John and Teyla hustled into the jumper and John prepared for flight. He could see the distraught woman having to be practically carried as she refused to go through the gate until her son was safe. John hoped to God that he was. Maybe he was still asleep and hadn't even realized he had been left there. He couldn't imagine how anyone could forget their child but these people had been given very short notice to pack up and leave their planet and many of the families had large amounts of children.

He thought of TJ back on Atlantis and knew that Teyla would have her son first on her mind in any situation. He'd come to love the child like a son as well and knew he'd do anything for him, too.

The jumper rose in the air and John glanced at Teyla's tense face and knew she was thinking of the child and her own child.

"We'll get him. He'll be fine," John promised trying to assure her as much as himself. Teyla merely gave a stiff nod and then sniffed. He could tell she was on the verge of tears. Ever since she had become a Mom, John noticed she was a lot more emotional in certain situations.

He couldn't say that was a bad thing though, especially as he was typically the one she'd come to in need of a hug. And he'd even admit that he'd become better at not being so awkward when she hugged him. Not that he had ever disliked her embracing him but he had cared so deeply for her for so long and thought he should hide it. That was why he was usually uncomfortable when she wanted something emotional from him. He usually wanted to give her so much more but wasn't used to the physical comfort she needed.

He remembered the last time, just a few months ago when she had come to his quarters and told him that Kanaan would be staying on New Athos from now on and Torren would visit him on occasion. John hadn't been surprised as the man had hardly ever been on Atlantis anyway. And he always wondered why as he thought any man that had Teyla would want to be close to her at all times. He figured that Michael had scrambled the man's brains permanently, there was no other explanation.

That is until Teyla had told John that she was the one who had asked Kanaan to leave. She couldn't pretend any longer that she cared about him as anything other than a friend. Their night of passion that had resulted in Torren's conception had been an aberration and would not be repeated. John had refrained from dancing around in joy no matter how much he had wanted to.

But he had comforted Teyla that night. Not because she was upset that Kanaan had left but because she felt bad for leading the man along allowing him to think they could possibly have an intimate relationship. John had made her comfortable, put on a funny movie and held her close to his side for the whole thing. He knew she had felt better afterwards and he had felt pretty damn good too.

And it had become a regular thing between them with and without Torren depending on if Kanaan had the child on New Athos or not. He'd have to make sure he found a comedy to play for her tonight once they got back to Atlantis to try and deflect the tense situations of the day.

"Almost there," John's words pulled Teyla out of her reverie and she pressed a few buttons trying to detect the child.

"I do not sense any life signs, John," Teyla squeaked in panic.

John reached over and squeezed her hand. "Rodney said the atmosphere was becoming saturated with sulfur dioxide and maybe it's screwing up the sensor readings somehow. We'll just land and go in and check."

As they approached the cluster of buildings, John muttered, "Damn!"

Teyla saw right away what he was swearing about. One of the large reptilian creatures was pacing back and forth in their path blocking the only available place to safely land the jumper. There were too many hills and valleys surrounding the town.

John cloaked the jumper and settled it a bit further back and pulled out his field glasses to see beyond the creature. No one was moving around but then they had checked earlier and the town had seemed empty. They hadn't checked inside every house though, trusting the townsfolk to clear themselves out.

"How will we get the child?" Teyla anxiously whispered though she knew there was no reason for it.

John shook his head and stared through the glasses for another minute.

"If I move the jumper back to the tree line we should be able to maneuver through the trees hopefully without Rex there seeing us. We go in, get the boy and come back out the same way, back to the jumper and then back to the gate. Simple."

Teyla rolled her eyes at his last word. It did not seem simple at all but it was what they must do. They could not leave the child here on his own to perish. That was unthinkable.

John got the jumper moving again and parked it where he said he would and left it cloaked. He sure didn't need one of these dinos coming along and sticking his nose inside and taking out their only ride back to the gate. It was a very long walk without it and John didn't relish doing that with a toddler and a geothermal explosion about to make this place toxic very soon.

He and Teyla cautiously crept into the trees and followed them as close to the village as they could. They knew they would be exposed for a few minutes while they ran to the correct house but he hoped maybe Rex would be otherwise occupied.

Luck wasn't with them though so John took one of his grenades and sent it flying past the creature and the explosion got its attention and it headed away to check out what had made the noise.

John and Teyla made it to the house and Teyla pointed off in the distance to where ash and smoke were rising into the air. They could see the mountains and it appeared as if fires had started and maybe even some magma had started escaping from the cracks in the earth's crust.

"We must hurry!" Teyla said and grabbed John's hand and led him inside and up the stairs to where the woman had said the child would be.

They opened the door and were dismayed to see the crib empty. John lifted blankets and searched in closets and other rooms and Teyla began to call for the child frantically.

"Colonel…" came a static filled voice over John's radio. "Can … hear me?"

"Lorne?" John shouted hoping the man could hear him. "You're breaking up."

"We found … …. Sir. He … … with his grand mo… . Come back … McKay says … … soon."

"Lorne!" John shouted back again. "I couldn't hear everything you said. You found him? Can you confirm?"

"Affirmative, … … boy's fine. He was … … didn't know. … not much time left."

John couldn't make out all of what the Major had said but it was enough to let him know the kid was fine and they needed to leave.

"On our way, Major. Don't wait for us. We'll dial the gate with the jumper when we get back."

"Come on, Teyla," John shouted to her as she acknowledged that she had also heard the transmission. He grabbed her hand and pulled her down the stairs and outside. She ran beside him quickly.

John heard rumbling as they moved along the street and looked up to see several spots in the road ahead erupt with turrets of fire and magma.

"Damn, I thought McKay said the mountains would go first."

"They have," Teyla said as she pointed out the flames burning much of the mountainside. "It must be getting closer to the eruption of the volcano. We need to leave quickly."

"You won't get an argument from me," John replied and pulled her in the opposite direction to steer her away from the rising heat and flames. He remembered Rodney stating that once one of the volcanoes erupted it would set off a chain reaction in several others causing this entire area to be nearly obliterated. He really didn't want to stick around for that.

John paused for a second to get his bearings and as he looked around he saw one of the dino things bearing down on them at a very quick rate.

"Run!" he yelled to Teyla as he fired off a string of shots from his P-90 hoping to slow it down. Unfortunately the skin of this thing was far too thick. So he just turned on his heel and ran like hell.

He saw Teyla a few steps in front of him and followed her as she weaved in and out of a few streets hoping to lose the creature and it seemed like they finally had and they doubled over breathing rapidly.

"We need … to get back … to the jumper," John panted barely able to breathe from the running they'd just done.

Teyla attempted to straighten up but when she did her eyes nearly popped out of her head.

"John!" she screamed and attempted to grab his arm to pull him but the large creature appeared behind him and wrapped its claws around John's torso before she could do anything about it.

"John!" Her voice trembled as she yelled again and lifted her weapon to hail bullets into the animal's side in an attempt to get it to drop John.

She saw John's face twist in pain and fear as he was lifted into the air and flung back and forth like a doll. John was attempting to get his trapped hand free and Teyla continued barraging the thing with shots but it seemed as if they barely affected it.

Teyla's heart dropped in terror as she watched the man she cared deeply for being brought closer to the mouth of this monster who was intent on devouring him. And there was nothing else she could do except keep shooting at it and hope she would eventually hurt it.

Her clip emptied and she whipped it out of the gun and reached for another but then saw John swing his arm and cover his head while still being held tightly in the creature's clutches. It was only a few moments before she realized that John had thrown a grenade into the thing's open mouth. The resounding explosion actually made the animal stop and swagger slightly before it fell to the ground unmoving.

Teyla rushed over and was relieved that John had not been crushed under the enormous weight of the beast but he was still firmly in its claws.

"John!" she cried hoping he would answer her in his reassuring tone that he was fine. But as she got closer she realized his eyes were closed and he was unconscious. She was hoping that is all it was.

"John," she called again quieter this time as her hand reached for his neck and she felt the beat of his pulse there. Her breath left her in shaky relief but she knew she still needed to get him out of the claw and tend to any wounds he had.

She looked around and saw a large stick lying on the ground nearby. She quickly grabbed for it and wedged it in between John's body and the large hand of the beast. She pushed and strained and finally saw it move slightly. As she reached for it with her hands now and got it further away from John's body, her heart almost stopped.

The outer claw was now away but one of the other claws was curled inward and lodged in John's side. She did not know how deep it went but if the other claws were any indication Teyla knew it could be fairly deep. She pulled at the other claw gently and managed to get John unhooked but the gash in his side began to bleed freely and she feared it had done much damage.

As she attempted to retrieve a field compress from her vest, John began to rouse and made a rough choking sound.

"John," Teyla spoke softly to him amongst the surrounding flames and smoke. "Please try to remain still. I need to bandage your wound before you attempt to move."

John's eyes peeked open just a slit and his face grimaced in extreme pain. He tried curling into his side but Teyla kept her hand on his shoulder to keep him from doing so.

"No, John, you must remain still or you will bleed too much before I can apply the bandage to your wound."

Suddenly John's eyes flew open and he coughed, "Go, get out of here, Teyla, now!"

"I will not …" Teyla began to argue but realized John's eyes were focused on something behind her. She turned and saw why he looked so frightened. There were at least six of the beasts moving in their direction.

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xoxoxoxoxo

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