TWO

Getting back to the gate was not as easy as they had hoped. Under the four or so hours that they had been exploring, looking around, they had put quite a distance between themselves and the Stargate. John cursed their bad luck, this was supposed to be a none dangerous mission where they just looked around a bit and then got back to Atlantis, but then again when had things ever gone the way he wanted them to? Answer: never.

Snow was now falling in copious amounts, the wind had picked up even more and it was getting dark. John did not want to think of how much worse it must be outside the forest, no wonder there were almost no vegetation on the planet. He had never seen anything like this, in about twenty minutes it had gone from a somewhat strong wind to a full raging snowstorm, the bad news, they were not equipped with winter gear, their uniforms were not exactly made to keep out the cold.

"WE NEED TO FIND A PLACE TO WAIT OUT THE STORM!"

John could hear how the sound of his command was carried away by the strong wind, but thankfully the rest still seemed to understand what he was saying. Walking was heavy and John was ice cold, but they had to find a place where they were safe from the wind or else they would die there on the godforsaken planet.

Everything was slowly turning white, freezing, the ground was hard where it only an hour ago had been soft, the cold wind was biting and John could feel how he was losing the feeling in his cheeks. Looking backwards, John watch his teammates, Evan was not far behind him, Cadman and Markham were walking side by side, John could barely make out who was who and lastly came Keegan and Gilson or Gilson first Keegan who was smaller was using Gilson's bigger body as a some kind of shield against the wind.

"YOU OKAY?" John had to lean in, almost shouting Evan in the ear for the other man to hear him.

"YES, I JUST HOPE WE'LL FIND A PLACE TO HIDE FROM THIS WIND," shouted Evan.

For every step he took, John found it harder and harder to push on forward, but he would be damned before he gave up. If he had not been so tired then he would have jumped when he felt a cold hand grab his arm before it slid down to grip his hand. Looking to the side, even in the dire situation they were in, John could not stop from smiling at Evan who had grabbed his hand. Squeezing softly John continued to walk forward.

Evan was not sure what had made him do it, but now when he saw the soft smile on John's face and the warm feeling that spread through him even though John's hand was about as cold as his own, Evan was glad he had done it. DADT could kiss his ass; if he was going to die on some crazy planet then he had all the right to hold his lovers hand for a few minutes. He was chilled to the bone and his teeth were chattering, at least things could not get much worse than that.

"STOP!"

Evan stiffened and stopped, straining his ears. The voice, if there had been a voice sounded too much like Cadman for his own liking. John stood stiffly beside him; he too looked as if he was trying to hear something. He did not say anything when John let go of his hand, both solely concentrated on figuring out, who it was that had shouted.

"CADMAN! MARKHAM! KEEGAN! GILSON!" shouted John, only for it to be whisked away by the wind.

"COLONEL!"

It was Markham's voice, noted John walking straight back in his own tracks, which were already covered by new snow. Not that Markham was far behind; Cadman was leaning heavily on him, looking half dead. Gilson and Keegan were also there, teeth chattering.

"WE HAVE TO REST!" shouted Markham, his voice calm but John could see it in his eyes that he was almost on the verge of panicking.

They all huddled together in a small ring, trying to keep the wind at bay for a moment, but also for the small warmth, and the fact that this way they would not have to shout as hard to be heard.

"What're we going to do, Colonel?" shouted Markham who still was supporting Cadman with Keegan's help.

"We need to keep moving to keep the warmth; we can't afford to stop for too long if we can't find a place to stay. We're too far away from the Stargate, with at least 20 km," shouted John, trying to keep the worry out of his voice. Cadman was almost spend, but the rest of them were not far behind, Keegan had a glassy look in his eyes, Evan was so cold his teeth were chattering so hard that John could hear it over the howling wind, Markham, Gilson and himself were not in much better shape.

"You take the lead Major, I'll help Markham with Cadman, Gilson and Keegan keep close," ordered John.

A murmur of 'yes sir' went around the small group and a small nod from Evan. Not another minute was wasted, taking Keegan's place beside Cadman, John put one arm around her waist while he placed one of her arms around his neck, because of the height differences', John had to crouch a bit but he could live with it. Markham did the same on Cadman's other side, slowly started they to walk forward one step behind Evan so that they would not lose sight of him. Keegan and Gilson were about one step behind John, Markham and Cadman, walking closely beside each other trying to preserve some heath between them.

John was worried, his heart pounding in his chest, he had never been afraid of the dark, but the darkness on the planet was different, and because of the bad sight it was almost impossible to see where they were stepping. He was not really concentrating on anything, the wind whistling in his ears, ice cold snow hitting him in the face, the cold pressing through his uniform and all the way into his bones, when a sickening crack was heard and John lost the sight of Evan's figure in front of him.

Everything happened so fast, John dove forward, barley having the time to stop when he saw a hole in the ground, and he saw the water. It must be a lake but because of the cold weather it had frozen over but the ice was not thick enough to walk on, and because of all the snow it had been covered, Evan who had not know that had fallen in.

A head appeared in the somewhat big whole, but John knew Evan would not have the strength to hold for a longer time, they would have to get him out immediately.

"MAJOR!" shouted John, he was panicking, he knew it but at the moment he could not feel anything else but a slowly rising terror in his stomach when he watched Evan struggle in the icy cold water.

"GILSON, GIVE ME A ROPE, HURRY!"

John did not need to say it twice; he had barely finished his sentence when Gilson was there with a long rope made into a lasso. With rising horror, John watched as Gilson threw the rope, one time, two times and then on the third try it reached all the way. A cracking sound of ice breaking was heard and for a second John thought all was over, but the ice held and Gilson got Evan pulled up on land.

Shivering and coughing Evan's lips were almost blue, his eyes were unfocused, John did not care that he too would get wet and pulled Evan into a tight hug. For a moment everything went still, it was as if time stopped altogether, Evan was alive and in John's arms, not unscathed but alive.

It was as if John got new strength, standing up he supported Evan who was looking more, dead than alive, looked at the others he was determined to find a place where they could wait out the storm. Something in his gut told him that this was still just the beginning of it, there had to be a cave or something on this planet.

Walking, walking through the forest, sometimes it would be denser and at points they had almost no cover from the storm, but they kept on walking. Keegan helped support Cadman while Gilson was carrying, his own and Evan's pack which was now completely frozen. John was quietly chanting in his head, praying that they would all make it back to Atlantis, safe and sound. This mission had turned very fast very dangerous.

There was no saying what time it was, they had already at the start of the storm that their watches did not like cold, and because of the storm they had no idea how far they had walked or if they had just been walking in circles.

Stopping for a moment panting hard, John turned around letting out a relieved sigh, they were all still there hanging on, looking worn, tired and cold but still alive. Evan was shuddering, coughing his breathing was ragged, but John knew they needed to get him warm fast, the risk of Evan dying was getting bigger and bigger for every second that passed.

"SIR! LOOK!"

John stared at Keegan for a minute before he let his eyes wander to where the other man was pointing looking somewhat relieved, stopping a few meters ahead of them. If he had been a religious person he would probably have thanked god or something like that, but as he was not he just thanked whatever good luck he had left that maybe, just maybe they would get out of this alive.

Not too far ahead of them towered the contours of a mountain/cave. John had to rub his eyes, to see that he was not seeing things, hallucinating was not unheard of in these kind of situations, but the contours were still there when he reopened his eyes. A small laugh left his lips, and he was filled with new energy, forcing his frozen body to move forward, John motioned for the others to continue walking. They too seemed to gain some strength from knowing that there may still be some hope for them.

Trudging forward, John played it like a mantra in his head, 'please let it be a cave, please let it be a cave…', not for himself but for the men on his team, they had all shown great strength and courage. No one of them had uttered a single word of complaint, or panicked when things started to get dangerous, John could not have been more proud of them than he was at that moment.

"COME ON, DON'T GIVE UP NOW!" shouted John over his shoulder and on the same time doing a body count to make sure no one was gone. Everyone was there, sticking close to each other so as not to fall behind or get lost.

It was further away than he had first thought, but slowly, slowly they got closer to the mountain, it was not a huge one, but still big enough for them to probably find some kind of shelter by the rocks. At least John hoped so; they were in dire need of some rest. Tightening his grip around Evan's waist, John continued forward his eyes never straying from the mountain.

Just as he was about to give up, his legs almost buckling underneath him, John stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes staring right ahead of him. Markham and Keegan, who were dragging Cadman along, almost walked straight into him and Evan. Never in his life had he felt so happy to see a small opening in a huge rock wall. If he were to go by the almost happy laughs of Markham and Keegan behind him, then he would say they too were damn happy to see the small opening.

"COME ON!" shouted John, not much more encouragement was needed.

Because of the wind and the bad sight, it took them a moment or two to get everyone inside, through the small opening but when they all were safe, John felt all then energy in his body melt away. Sinking to the cave floor, the others not far after huddling together they just sat there breathing hard. A low chough from Evan, was enough for John to kick back into action, he could not afford to just fall down in a heap on the ground he had to help Evan.

"I know you're all tired but right now we can't afford to slag," said John, he had kicked himself right back into Colonel mode. "Markham make sure Cadman is okay, Gilson you and Keegan find some sticks if there are any and make a fire," ordered John.

From what he could see, the cave was not overly big but that was good, because it meant the warmth would be concentrated and keep them warmer but it also meant that the chance of finding some firewood was smaller. John started to dig through his pack for the dry clothes he kept in it, and the two blankets he always had with him, which now would be needed more than ever. He could see from the corner of his eye that Markham was looking through his and Cadman's pack, for their blankets and extra clothing that was standard equipment for an SGA team member. Turning his attention back to Evan, John was taken by total surprise when he felt a heavy blanket connect with his head.

"Sorry sir, I just thought the major probably needs it more than anyone else," said Markham, from where he was sitting on beside Cadman who was lying on one of her own blankets, with both one of Markham's on top of her, Markham had curled up in his other blanket.

"Thank you Markham," said John, trying to form a smile but it came out more as a grimace.

Placing the thickest one of the blankets on the ground of the cave and the other one so that it was up against the wall, John took off his shirt, before he started to strip Evan of his clothes, wrapping him in one of the blankets. Leaning against the wall, John with Evan in his lap, so that the third blanked was covering them both, Evan's shivering body pressed up against John's not as cold body. For once, John was happy that the blankets they had to take with them were so big.

No one spoke in the cave, Gilson and Keegan came back, with some firewood, not much overly but at least they would get at least a small fire burning. John watched as the fire crackled, and how the two men seemed to sit as close as possibly, to keep themselves warm. Just a millimeter too close for two friends, but then again their survival instincts were probably screaming a bit louder than those of their friendship. Either way John did not care, he did not have the strength to care, and whatever they wanted to do together was none of his business, if they were together then he was happy for them.

And so the second chapter was done
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