Running in your veins...
Author's Note: A small oneshot I wrote to get some Rodney whump out of my head. ^^ I'm gonna keep the voices though. They keep me company when I write... :3
oOoOo
Sheppard looked around his shoulder as he was running through the forest, making sure that they weren't followed. He couldn't see any signs of the creatures, but they were not that big to begin with, so it would be hard to spot them in the tall grass. He and McKay sure hadn't until it was too late...
"I hate this!" McKay yelled as he was running alongside with Sheppard, having some trouble keeping up with him. "I hate running for my life on alien planets! Why is it that every single mission always include a part where we have to run for our lives! You'd think that we should have found a way to avoid that by now, but no! Frankly, I think it's actually happening way more often that usual! But hey! Maybe it's my own fault! Maybe it's just on the missions where you drag me along to?"
"McKay, calm down..." Sheppard said and glanced behind them again. He couldn't see the grass moving anymore, maybe that was a good sign?
"This sucks!" McKay yelled, ignoring Sheppard. "I hate this! I wish I had never came along on this trip! But I guess I had to, right! Because you surely never consider bringing someone else with you! It-it-it's almost like you NEED me to constantly be hunted, captured, shot at, wounded, beaten, zapped, manhandled, tortured, and GOD knows how long I can go on about this, but hopefully you see my point and that is that this is getting really, absolutely, utterly, excruciatingly frustrating and I feel like I'm actually gonna be sick!"
"That's because you are." Sheppard said, looking slightly uneasy at his friend. "Try and calm down...!"
"I can't!" McKay exclaimed, his voice getting more and more rapid for every second. "And by the way, why am I even here? I don't belong here! I'm not a marine! I'm not a soldier, and I will never be one! I'm not trained for this! I do computers, codes, programmes, maths, numbers, data, did I mention computers? I probably did, but you see I can't even remember half of everything I've said the last ten minutes because I'm talking so damn fast that I can barely keep up with it myself!"
"Rodney, listen to me!" Sheppard yelled, trying his best to sound patient. "You really need to calm down. Remember what Beckett told us. This is not you being agitated, as usual, it's the venom from those creatures spreading through your veins. It's making you all worked up and is increasing your adrenalin to the point that your heart can actually stop any minute! We're almost at the gate, but you got to fight this until we get there."
"Yes, yes, yes, I remember, I remember..." McKay panted, not slowing down at all. "I'm, I'm, I'm sorry. I just suddenly got all this, this, this energy and I don't know what to do with it! I can't help it! I'm trying to calm down but it's not that easy when you're running for your life from some kind of scorpion like creatures that wants you dead and will sting you with their tails whenever you get too close and I'm still talking, aren't I? I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry... You don't think that we could stop running for a while? It's not that I'm getting tired or anything, since I actually got a lot of stamina left for the moment, but it seems like whatever it is we're running from isn't following us anymore. What were we running from now again, 'cause it seems like I can't remember that either..."
Rodney trailed off as he suddenly fell to the ground, making Sheppard stop immediately and dash towards the spot where the scientist was lying. Sheppard knelt beside him, checking his vitals carefully with a deathly pale face, fearing the worst. Then suddenly, Rodney started to cough and slightly push himself up from the ground. His nose was bleeding, but he was definitely alive. Even better, he was still conscious.
"Sorry, pal. We can't stop just yet." Sheppard said and grabbed Rodney's arm. "Even if those critters are gone for now, we still need you to get you back to Beckett and the others as soon as possible... Come on, up you go."
Sheppard pulled him up from the ground, put Rodney's left arm around his shoulders, and then started to run. Hoping to get out of the forest in time.
At the Stargate, Beckett and a few marines had put up a temporary camp. The area around the gate was covered in grass for about 90 feet in each direction, but was then completely surrounded by a thick forest. A jumper was parked close by, it's rear compartment open and some people were checking the equipment and supplies that were scattered around the place. Beckett himself was sitting on a box, writing on some sort of list, but looked up as he thought he heard a noise coming from behind the trees. A few marines had apparently also heard the noise and quickly raised their P-90s. A few seconds later, Sheppard emerged from some branches, still with Rodney by his side. The marines lowered their weapons immediately and Beckett got up from the box to meet them.
"Oh thank God... I thought you had lost yourselves in there." Beckett said with a sigh of relief.
"Lost?" McKay said with a somewhat manic laughter. "Is that suppose to be a joke! There are trees every three centimetres, how on earth would we ever get lost! And what's really funny is to run for your dear life in there, because there's no way of doing that without running straight into the largest god damn oak tree in the whole forest and break your nose and teeth in process! Note that this blood on my nose isn't caused by a close encounter with the planet's vegetation but rather because I fell flat on the ground while fleeing from those creatures, however it could also be caused by my arguable high blood pressure that's probably still raising as we speak, but since I'm not a doctor I don't really have a saying in this and I guess that either case is pretty bad and I don't-"
"McKay!" Sheppard cut him off with a serious voice.
"What's wrong with him?" Beckett asked, looking absolutely baffled over this, and had probably not understood a single word of what Rodney just had said.
"He got stung." Sheppard said grimly.
"Oh crap..." Beckett said, looking slightly panic. "Alright, quick. Come with me."
Beckett hurried back to the jumper with Sheppard dragging McKay with them. He gestured to Sheppard to put Rodney down on the seat in the rear compartment as he was starting to search for something.
"How long ago was it?" Beckett asked and opened a box.
"I dunno..." Sheppard said and put a heavily panting McKay down on the seat. "Maybe fifteen minutes ago... And I'm not even sure if he got stung more than once. We ran into a whole bunch."
"Yes, yes, yes, the ground was full of them!" McKay said, still panting with beads of sweat trailing down his forehead. "They-they-they are everywhere, and I seriously don't think that anyone else should go in there, since our apparent expert on alien wildlife obviously suck at his job, because these creatures is clearly not as nocturnal as he thought they would be! But as Sheppard and I just have proven to you, these little bastards doesn't care if the sun is up or down, they gladly attack you no matter what time of day it is! And somehow, I'm now sitting here with a terrible headache, sore throat and a heart that's probably gonna explode any second-"
"Stop talking, McKay!" Sheppard said sternly.
"Rodney, you need to calm down." Beckett said with a concerned look. "You could go into cardiac arrest the moment we speak. Alright, we have to work fast before his condition gets even worse..."
"You said earlier that you knew how to cure this, right doc?" Sheppard asked.
"Not exactly..." Beckett said and picked up some equipment from the box.
"What's that suppose to mean?" Sheppard asked with narrowed eyes.
"I was just saying that considering the effects that venom has, I figured the best way to treat it is to administer mild sedatives to the victim." Beckett explained. "Just until the venom has left the system."
"Sedatives? Do you mean like morphine or something?" Sheppard asked.
"Morphine is too strong for this I'm afraid. It could do more damage than good." Beckett said and picked up an oxygen mask and a white and blue cannister with the word "Entonox" on it. "Hopefully, this should decrease the effects from the venom in a slower pace. I think that's the safest way to approach this."
"Sure, whatever you say." Sheppard said with a slightly confused look. "You're the doctor."
"But I'm not sure if this is gonna work." Beckett said, looking troubled.
"Just... try it anyway, okay?" Sheppard said and was starting to look nervous. "It's not like we have that many options to begin with."
"What are you doing, what are you talking about, what the hell is going on?" Rodney panted, still speaking in a rapid manner and seemed very distracted. "I'm-I'm-I'm not intending to just sit here and not have a saying in this, or whatever it is that you're talking about, 'cause to be honest, my mind isn't really that clear for the moment which leaves me to doubt that I would be able to have a real conversation with any of you even if I tried to-"
"Rodney, it's alright." Beckett said reassuringly. "I'm gonna give you something to inhale that hopefully will help you to relax."
"No-no-no-no, I-I-I don't wanna inhale anything!" Rodney said rapidly, his face contorted in pain. "My lungs can barely do their job as it is, and I fear that actually trying to inhale anything more than just simple breathing air might result in me suffocating, and I really don't want to do that just yet, and not later either for that matter. No-no-no, what I need, what I need is something or anything that can stop my head from spinning so damn fast that it's making me sick and tell me, my God, why does my chest hurt so much...?"
Beckett shared a quick glance of pure panic with Sheppard, and within seconds the doctor had grabbed the cannister and dragged it over to Rodney's side.
"Quick, lie down, lie down..." Beckett said and carefully lowered Rodney to the seat.
Rodney's panting had grown even worse, like if his lungs was going into a state of overload and he couldn't provide enough oxygen for them to keep it up. His breathing was very irregular and close to hyperventilating. Beckett took the oxygen mask and quickly applied it over Rodney's face, holding it in place with his hand as Rodney at first instinctively tried to shake it off. Beckett removed the mask for a few seconds to let him breathe fresh air, and then firmly put it back over his face. Rodney breathed in large chunks of the gas for a while before Beckett removed the mask once again.
"That's it, buddy..." Sheppard said calmingly. "Slow, deep breaths... You're doing fine."
The procedure repeated itself about four times before Rodney started to calm down. His breathing was getting much more controlled and he let Beckett apply the mask over his face without any protests. After a few minutes, Rodney was half sitting, half lying on the seat, looking a bit dazed and drowsy. But except from that, he seemed to be okay. Sheppard was holding the mask in place for him after Beckett had instructed him to do so, while he went out to fetch some medical supplies that he was still unpacking.
"Alright then." Beckett sighed with folded arms when he got back to them. "Anyone care to tell me what the bloody hell happened out there?"
Sheppard and McKay looked at Beckett and then glanced at each other. McKay's eyes were only half open, since the gas was making him feel light headed and sleepy. This led to a silent agreement between the both of them that Sheppard probably should do the talking.
"We didn't manage to find Ronon and Teyla." Sheppard said. "It's like looking for a needle in a haystack, only that the haystack is infested with foot long scorpions..."
"What about the caves we saw from the jumper?" Beckett asked. "Did you find any trace of them there?"
"We never got that far." Sheppard said bitterly. "And I doubt that anyone else will, the forest is like a minefield... These creatures are everywhere. Now, if it wasn't for all the God damn trees, that wouldn't be a problem since we would actually be able to land somewhere. But as it is now..."
"There's nowhere to land a jumper and it's too dangerous to go there by foot..." McKay said tiredly and took off the mask. "Basically, if we can't find a way to search this area without getting attacked by lethal insects, then Ronon and Teyla are as good as dead."
"Are you sure? I mean, you two managed to escape from them, right?" Beckett said with gesture to Sheppard and McKay.
"Yes, barely!" McKay replied tetchily.
"These are some damn quick little critters we're talking about." Sheppard said also looking doubtful. "I know that we got away from them, but Ronon and Teyla have been gone for 20 hours. I don't think that even they would be able to keep it up that long..."
"They wont even stand a chance!" McKay said angrily. "And if Carson is right about the venom, after dissecting that disgusting dead creature Sheppard brought back with him yesterday, it effectively kills a human in less than half an hour, add to that the fact that if you get stung more than once at the same time, you'll most likely die twice as fast! Which makes surviving in this god forsaken place for as much as one hour, let alone twenty, is nothing less than a god damn miracle! And being a scientist, I don't have much faith over for those kind of things, and the bottom line is that we should never have gone out there in the first place and getting ourselves-"
Rodney started to suddenly pant heavily again and grabbed his chest with a pained grimace. Beckett took the mask and firmly put it back over Rodney's face, holding it in place with his right hand.
"And you should concentrate on your breathing instead of talking so much. That venom is still in your system, you know." Beckett said seriously and then turned to Sheppard. "Dr Weir contacted us the minute right after you two had left. She wanted to know if you requested anymore back up or equipment, and in that case she would send it through."
"I'm not very keen on sending more manpower over here." Sheppard said uncertainly. "At least not until we have a proper plan. About the equipment, I'm not sure if we need more of that either. I think we already got everything we need."
"Actually, I could probably use..." McKay said and started to take off the mask, but Sheppard immediately pushed it back over his face.
"Did she say anything else?" Sheppard asked Beckett, ignoring Rodney's muffled protests.
"Just that she wants us to check in again in two hours." Beckett said. "And... she doesn't seem to like the idea of letting us stay here for very long."
"Yeah, but I know she wants us to find Ronon and Teyla just as much as we do." Sheppard said. "You still got that dead scorpion we captured earlier, right? Have you found anything more interesting about it while we were gone?"
"Not really..." Beckett sighed. "I've only been able to localize a few of the components in their venom, which I told you about before you left. Other than that, nothing so far. I need more time, and frankly, I could actually need a live one to study. But I don't really fancy the idea of bringing a living, poisonous scorpion here..."
"They're not scorpions. It's a kind of... Oh for crying out loud..." McKay muttered as he was immediately silenced by Sheppard, who once again put the mask back over his face.
"You know, the best thing would be if these scorpions had some kind of natural enemy." Sheppard stated in a plotting voice. "That we could use to our advantage."
"Aye. That would probably make things easier." Beckett said with a nod. "But... Don't you think there's a risk that their natural enemy might be ours as well...?"
"I was thinking of mongooses." Sheppard mused. "They're not that dangerous. Kinda fluffy actually..."
"We don't have a mongoose." Beckett said with a puzzled look.
"Just saying." Sheppard answered with a shrug.
McKay made an attempt to lower the mask to say something, but before he had the chance, Sheppard had already pushed it back on in a casual way. McKay rolled his eyes in annoyance, but didn't protest.
"Be good and stop talking." Sheppard said seriously. "Just try and keep breathing for now, it'll make you feel better."
McKay gave Sheppard a disapproving glare, but he was a bit too drowsy by the gas to manage to pull it off properly. He mumbled something and leaned back in his seat, taking slow, deep breaths through the mask, which seemed to calm him down even further. Sheppard smiled at him before turning back to Carson.
"Is there any way at all that you could... Well, use that venom to create some kind of vaccine against it?" Sheppard asked.
"I have no idea what kind of movies you watch on your spare time, Colonel..." Beckett said with a look of disbelief. "But in real life situations it usually takes weeks, months or years to develop a vaccine. Not minutes, hours or even days."
"It was just a simple question." Sheppard said defensively. "A stupid one, I admit... But I'm running out of ideas here. And we don't have that much time, so if you can come up with anything that will let us search for Ronon and Teyla without getting stung by three dozen of pissed off scorpions... Then please tell me, cause I'm open for all suggestions."
"Well..." Beckett said, trying to come up with something. "I've been trying to determine if there are any significant weaknesses in their anatomy and exterior skeleton."
"And?" Sheppard asked with a raised eyebrow.
"So far, I couldn't even penetrate the skin with a scalpel, and I needed to borrow a bolt cutter to cut off the tail." Beckett said with a sigh. "I'm starting to doubt that dropping a large boulder on one would harm it even remotely. At most, my guess is that it would probably just aggravate them further."
"There must be something else." Sheppard said, pondering. "Like... Maybe it's sensitive to salt water?"
"That was the Irratus bug, Colonel" Beckett clarified.
"Could you please not mention it... But to be fair, they're both pretty pesky creatures. Who knows, maybe they're related." Sheppard said with a shrug. "I mean, that... "bug" is my least favorite creature of all times, hands down. But this one could probably make it to the top five too."
"I thought that the Wraith was the worst creature you've ever encountered, it's surely is mine!" Beckett said.
"I knew you were gonna say that." Sheppard pointed out. "But you see, the Wraith you can actually kill if you have a P-90 and some ammo. But those bugs aren't that easy to get rid off once you got one on your neck..."
"Please don't remind me of that..." Beckett said with a slight shiver.
"Yeah, I agree... Anyway, I doubt that these scorpions can be that much worse. Maybe if we put our heads together, we could come up with a way to trick them somehow..." Sheppard pondered. "Question is just how exactly we're gonna-"
Beckett suddenly dashed over to Rodney's side and grabbed him, just as the scientist was about to fall to the floor. Rodney's eyes were closed and he appeared to either have fallen asleep or just dozed off. Sheppard looked at him in surprise and then glanced at Beckett..
"Is he alright?" Sheppard asked uncertainly.
"Aye..." Beckett sighed as he removed the mask from Rodney and carefully leaned him towards the wall. "He has just accidentally inhaled a wee bit much of this, that's all... Don't worry, it'll pass."
"Sorry for asking, but is it really suppose to do that to him?" Sheppard asked suspiciously.
"It's anesthesia, Colonel." Beckett replied. "This is what happens when you breathe in too much of it. I will try to lower the dose a bit. He only needs to inhale it now and then to keep his breathing under control... And it would be a lot easier if he could keep the mask on without passing out."
Rodney was starting to come back to his senses and looked up at them blearily, barely lucid to understand what was going on. Beckett patted him reassuringly on the leg and then turned to change the settings on the canister. Suddenly, a marine came up to the jumper, waving at Sheppard to get his attention.
"Colonel!" The marine shouted. "We got some good news. You should come and have a look at this."
Sheppard nodded and left his seat to follow the marine, giving Rodney a pat on the shoulder before he left. Rodney looked a bit confused and made an attempt to go after Sheppard, but Beckett firmly pushed him back down in the seat.
As Sheppard left the jumper, he let out a sigh of relief when he saw what the marine had been referring to as good news. At the beginning of the forest was Ronon and Teyla, seemingly alive and unharmed. Sheppard marched up to them, a few marines who had been talking to them quickly left the spot to leave them alone.
"Did any of you get stung?" Sheppard asked seriously.
"No." Teyla answered, taken a bit off guard by the question.
"Good. And I know that the most polite thing would be to ask if you're both alright, but let's just skip that for the moment and cut directly to what the hell happened...!" Sheppard said looking at both of them.
Teyla and Ronon shared a glance, not sure where to start.
"We... Got lost." Teyla simply answered, looking apologetic at Ronon who didn't seem very happy about that explanation. "When we were attacked by those creatures and split up, Ronon and I tried to outrun them. Which proved to be difficult..."
"Didn't matter what path we took." Ronon said. "Those things just kept blocking our way."
"Which in the end forced us to flee further and further into the forest." Teyla continued. "We managed to loose the creatures eventually, but in the process..."
"... you got pretty lost yourselves. Alright, I get it." Sheppard said with a nod.
"We tried to contact you, but the radios were not working." Teyla said.
"Yeah, McKay noticed that too from the jumper when we were looking for you." Sheppard confirmed. "It's some kind ionized radiation or something in the ground that's messing with our communicators and sensors. It gets worse the further away from the gate you go, so we had no means of finding you."
"That's probably why Teyla's plan didn't work out so well." Ronon said with a look at Teyla.
"What plan?" Sheppard asked.
"I reckoned it was too dangerous to try and find our way back through the forest, so I suggested that we should wait in a safe place until you would come for us." Teyla admitted, looking a bit embarrassed.
"Well, we were trying to get to you guys." Sheppard assured her. "It's just that... We were still kinda planning on how to exactly do that, so it was a good thing you got out of there by yourselves. By the way, how did you manage to get out of there?"
"Turns out that these creatures can not climb trees and are terrified of Ronon's gun." Teyla simply answered.
"Really." Sheppard said uncertainly. "Care to elaborate on that...?"
"We developed a quite... Unique tactic of running, climbing trees and then fire at the ground with Ronon's weapon." Teyla said. "It got very tiring in the end..."
"How long have you been doing this?" Sheppard asked in surprise.
"Approximately five hours." Teyla said. "When we couldn't run anymore, we climbed the nearest tree for safety and rested for a while."
"And then I shot one of the bugs." Ronon said with a grin. "Made the rest of them scurry away as fast as they could. Gave us the time we needed."
"Well... We're just happy you two made it out." Sheppard said with a smile.
"By the way, where is Rodney?" Teyla asked as she looked around the place.
"He got stung..." Sheppard said and nodded at the Jumper. "Beckett's with him now."
"Is he alright?" Teyla asked worriedly, looking at the jumper.
"He's fine. Or at least he will be." Sheppard answered. "The important thing is that you're back, which means that we have no reason in hell to stay here any longer. I'll contact Weir as soon as possible, but I think we better inform Beckett and Rodney that you're still in one piece. Come on."
Sheppard went over to the jumper, Teyla and Ronon following him. He knocked casually on the metal to get Carson's attention.
"Hey, Doc." Sheppard announced. "Seems like you won't have to come up with that vaccine after all."
Beckett, who was checking a vial containing some green liquid, looked up in surprise and stared at Ronon and Teyla in slight shock. He put the vial down and hurried towards them.
"Thank god. Are you lot alright?" Beckett asked with a concerned look at them. "We've been worrying sick for you, you know!"
"We are both fine, Carson." Teyla reassured him. "How is Rodney doing?"
Rodney was still sitting down in the rear compartment, leaning towards the wall for support. He looked up slightly at Teyla's voice, still breathing through the mask. His eyes was only half open and he seemed very drowsy. Beckett smiled slightly.
"He'll come around." Beckett answered. "Once the venom is out if system... And until that happens, he's not gonna do much at all I'm afraid."
"Is he even aware of that they're here...?" Sheppard asked uncertainly with a nod towards Ronon and Teyla. "If I remember correctly, he was just as worried about them as the rest of us."
"Oh, he knows." Beckett answered simply. "He just doesn't care much about anything for the moment. It'll hit him as soon as he gets to breathe some real air, I promise."
Beckett put a hand on Rodney's shoulder as Rodney's eyes slowly flickered close again. Apparently, there was nothing in this room that was interesting enough to keep him awake. Sheppard made a kinda crooked smile before he turned back to Carson.
"I'll go contact Weir." He said. "Better tell her that we're not two people less anymore and that we're packing up as soon as possible. How long do time you think sleepyhead will need to get back on his feet?"
"I don't know. Give or take twelve hours? Perhaps less." Beckett said.
"Right, just keep an eye on him." Sheppard said and left the jumper.
He went to the DHD and dialed Atlantis. After it's trademark "kawoosh" sound, he turned on his radio.
"This is Colonel John Sheppard." He announced. "Dr Weir, do you read me?"
"Just barely." Weir's voice was heard, the sound crackling because of various kinds of disturbances. "You're not scheduled to report back in almost two hours, I hope this isn't anymore bad news...?"
"Well, the bad news is that we still haven't come up with a good way of searching this place without getting attacked by killer scorpions" Sheppard said. "But the good news is that we no longer need to, since Ronon and Teyla managed to get back to the base completely on their own."
"That's wonderful to hear, Colonel!" Weir said in relief.
"It is. And we're about to pack all the neat stuff you send through to us and head back home." Sheppard continued. "Though, Rodney managed to get stung by one of those things, but luckily Beckett has it under control. We just need to stay a little longer for him to recover, and then we're leaving."
"Alright, then." Weir replied. "Keep check in every two hours and we'll see you soon."
"Got that." Sheppard said.
"And Colonel?" Weir added.
"What?"
"Please stay out of that forest from now on." Weir said seriously.
"Roger that." Sheppard confirmed with a wry smile. "Sheppard out."
oOoOo
Author's Note: There. No more to this story. Unless I would come and think of something interesting, like some aftereffects of that sneaky venom perhaps... NO! Stupid brain, don't try anything with me! There is no more. This is it. The end.
A kinda light whump fic for once... No blood, angst or broken bones. I just hope that I didn't piss off too many medical students out there... I'm usually trying to do as much research as I can before writing a story. It makes me feel better, and it's best for everyone if everything is as accurate as possible. It's just that this was such a tiny story to begin with, so yes... I've taken some liberties with this one. Not much though, I've read plenty about what Entonox is, what it's used for, what the effects are, what it contains, how to administer it...
But basically: I'm not a doctor. Don't believe anything I say (or write) that's medically relevant.
Peace in the galaxy, fools. ;)
PS: If you liked the story even a little, or have any constructive criticism what so ever (I highly suspect that some grammar error have sneaked in somewhere...) please leave a review. :) Even the tiniest little positive feed back would make me smack your name up on my wall and worship it for weeks. *bows* m(_ _)m
Thank you~