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Ford woke with his face pressed to the dirt, feeling like complete and utter shit. He rolled himself onto his back and, when the nausea hit, realised that moving was a bad, bad idea. Deep breaths. Deep. Breaths. Okay. Blinking slowly to clear his vision, he saw the brightening sky soaring above him. Twilight. No, wait, that was impossible. It was just night. Sunrise? Yeah – he could smell wet ash, so someone had put the fire out pretty recently, and it was still darkish. Birds were a mass of sound around him. Sunrise.
As soon as he felt more settled, he pushed himself to sitting and rubbed a dirt-crusted hand across his face, and up through his hair. He could feel dirt on his scalp, and he ruffled his short hair, vaguely wondering when he'd lost his uniform cap.
Teyla was just across the circle from him, lying on her side. She was stirring, coming awake. McKay was just beside him, and he gave the man a not-so-gentle nudge with his boot, gaining a grunt in response. And Sheppard was –
He jerked his head around, looking for his commander. Another bad idea, as his stomach started to rebel, but he held it down. He didn't have the time.
Sheppard wasn't there.
He stood up, stumbling, relieved to find himself still armed. He was in severe need of a piss. How long had he been out? He looked at his watch. Jesus. Five hours. Must have been drugged. No way they hadn't been drugged.
Teyla sat up, rubbing the back of her neck as she did so. "Major Sheppard is gone."
"I know," Ford replied.
"What do you mean, gone?" McKay asked.
"Not here," Ford snapped, unable to keep the annoyance from his tone. And then he could have kicked himself. He was usually a lot better at dealing with McKay – he must still be feeling the effects of the drugs. He knew McKay had simply asked in order to calm his own nerves, so he rephrased. "I think we were drugged. He's been taken."
"There is a trail," Teyla said. She waved a hand to her right, then stood slowly.
Ford looked in that direction, and was surprised that he hadn't seen it earlier. He must really be out of it.
There was a fresh trail leading away from the fire circle and through the nearest grassy field. It was well matted and wide, as if the entire village had up and walked away, leaving them behind. Which, from the deserted look of the area, was probably true. The path appeared to lead toward the woods, maybe half a click away.
"So now what?" McKay asked, pushing himself to standing. His wrapped his hand around his own gun, as if for reassurance.
"We follow," Ford said bluntly.
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Short chapter, yes, but important! And I promise, as always I update quickly, so I won't leave you hanging. Thanks for reading.
