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Reckless Abandon

Chapter 4 – This is NOT an Ark

Rodney was slowly climbing his way to the highest ground on the island up by that twin pair of trees he'd seen earlier. And the moving this time was much slower, he thought, as he threw a look back to see the canoe bobbing up and down on the waves as he pulled it along behind him. After calming himself down enough to start formulating a plan the first priority was gathering whatever supplies he did have. There were those boats tethered down on the beach and nothing else, really. He'd picked the one that looked the sturdiest and filled it with anything that he'd found in the other boats that looked useful. Again, that hadn't been of much use either, though he'd found two tattered blankets that were soaked through and added them to his watercraft before dragging it behind him.

It wasn't too difficult to pull along, the physics portion of his brain commented that this small bit of good fortune could be attributed to the lack of friction on water. No, for all the things that were wrong with this situation, there wasn't a need for rushing around. The water was rising steadily, but it still wasn't up to his waist and the walk up to the highest portion of the island shouldn't take him much longer.

He clamped his jaw shut as his teeth started chattering again. As soon as he managed to still that involuntary reaction the movement moved down into his shoulders where the muscles started contracting, shivering, in an effort to maintain whatever heat they had available.

He took a moment to readjust his one hand that was going a bit numb from where the scratchy rope was wrapped around it several times. The other hand was held in front of him for the inevitable times he would stumble over some unseen obstacle under the water and fall. After the second time he'd found that holding a hand out in front prepared to catch him minimized the bruises and cuts. He was pretty sure the latest memento from a fall was the bruising he could feel blossoming around his left eye.

He couldn't help but let his mind wander as he climbed. A part of him almost missed the bustle and rushing around against a deadline of some sort, whether it be finding a way to cloak the city before the wraith arrived or warding off some similar imminent disaster. Here and now, this was different. There was ocean in every direction, a small plot of stone beneath his feet, and nothing else. He was stuck here on this rock, at the mercy of the weather on this planet. There was no dazzling idea that he could use to manipulate technology into cooperating in such a way as to save him; the raw tools he worked with were back in Atlantis. He had a boat, a few soggy blankets, and somewhere he would have to find the patience to ride this out. He wouldn't be creating the miracle this time, he'd be praying for one. That alone left a solid sense of dread in his gut like a pile of smoldering cinders; he should be able to do something, anything, to better the chances of his survival. Yet the best he was going to be able to do was stay alive, stay out of the water, and stay as warm as he could and hope for Sheppard to come back for him. Who was he kidding? That was assuming that Sheppard and Teyla and Ronon were ok…he still had no idea where they might have gone, why they had left, or if they themselves were stranded somewhere in the open water.

He stopped as his hand hit something solid in front of him. Blinking his eyes a few times, he tried to force everything to come back into focus. Oh, it was one of the palm trees. He flexed his hands a few times experimentally, trying to encourage blood flow to restore feeling to them. He needed at least enough dexterity to get the rope tied around the tree. It took a few moments before he could get a full fist formed. Once he was capable of doing that, he unwrapped the boat's rope from his hand and instead began coiling it around the tree trunk and tying it off. He checked the knot to make sure it wouldn't come loose. That was one of the few things he could do to worsen his situation- float off into the ocean where his teammates might never find him.

He threw one leg over the edge of the boat, hopping a few times to build up height with each one before he attempted to jump over the side and into the canoe. The canoe rolled over, McKay's eyes stung as they were suddenly assaulted by darkness and salt water.

Suddenly disoriented he tried to take a sharp inhalation of air, only to choke on the water. He began flailing his arms around; his first priority was to get his head back above the water. It took him a moment but the blackness that he'd experienced underwater faded into the twilight of the world around him, a little light peaking in through the clouds. The boat was forgotten as he contracted his ribs, spitting out water with each hacking breath as he struggled to replace its presence in his lungs with air.

A few minutes passed in such a manner, him hunched over, steadying himself against the tree trunk as he gasped for air. When the sense of dizziness passed he stood upright and pushed a few bits of waterlogged hair out of his face with a shaking hand.

He pulled the rope hand over hand and drew the overturned watercraft toward him. Once it was close he grasped the edges and flipped it over. There was an inch or so of water in the bottom, but with nothing to bail it out with and more falling from the clouds anyways, there wasn't much point in trying to get rid of it. He pushed the canoe up against the tree this time, wedging it between the trunk and his own body and made another attempt to climb into the boat, collapsing into a heap on the hard wood surface as he managed to do it without flipping the boat this time. He raised himself up on weak arms, dragging himself to the front of the canoe where he laid down on his back. He draped one of the soggy blankets over his shivering body before settling back against the hull and closing his eyes as the water continued to run down his face in continuous streams. He tightened his grip a bit more around the edge of the blanket and took a deep sigh. All that was left now was to wait and hope.

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Two sensations, only two, were continuously pulsing through his body: coldness, and wetness. The combination was like an ice pick grating along his nerves every time his body decided to descend into another round of shivering.

Rodney had drawn his legs up against his chest and wrapped his arms around that to minimize his exposure to the elements. It had perhaps slowed the speed with which the world was becoming fuzzier. His extremities were little more than lumps of ice at this point. If they were coming they better make it quick.

All of a sudden there was a gust of wind followed closely by a thud at the other end of the boat that caught his attention. That end of the boat dipped a little lower in the water than it would've normally with the movements of the waves. "What the…" He forced his limbs to cooperate as he sat halfway up.

A burst of energy spurred more rapid movements as something moved on the other end of the boat. His muscles tensed, and he reached for the gun that usually hung from his belt at Sheppard's prodding…only to realize he'd left it in the jumper. He hadn't anticipated even getting out of the jumper, and when he had, he hadn't thought to bring it with him. It was supposed to be a quick run to the beach and back, not anything like the seemingly endless stay it had become.

He leaned forward a bit clumsily with his sluggish limbs doing little to steady him as something green scuttled across the deck toward him. Fish? Sea monster? Mutant bird of some sort? Atlantis and its creepy variety of wildlife had given his imagination plenty of material to work with.

He moved a bit closer, cautiously, the form had stopped moving. He raised an eyebrow. "Well you fail on the fright scale," he said as he examined the iguana-looking animal. It was about a foot and a half long and looking up at him. It looked harmless enough. He quickly snapped a hand down and wrapped it around its neck. The lizard's demeanor flipped into an aggressive state as it began scratching at him with all four legs and wrenching its neck back and forth, trying to wriggle out of McKay's grasp.

Rodney brought up his other hand to stabilize his grip, leaning out over the side of the boat and throwing it out into the water, watching it swim with just its head above the waves. Good riddance. He winced as he ran a hand along his arm. There were several red marks from where the iguana had gotten a good claw mark in, but nothing had broken skin. He rubbed at them softly as he settled back into his previously adopted position at the front of the boat and closed his eyes with a deep sigh.

He cracked one eye as another abnormal jerk interrupted the normal rocking motion of the boat. The iguana had hopped up and was sitting on the edge of the canoe, all four feet wrapped around the edge as it squatted there watching McKay warily.

"For god's sake, this is NOT an ark. Go away, shoo!" He waved his hand at the animal, hoping it would take the message to heart. He went to grab it again but the lizard flared out a set of red neck frills causing McKay to pause, startled.

"Well isn't that cute…I'm sure you're a hit with the ladies. Or maybe great at intimidating others of your kind. Might work a little better on me if I wasn't about ten times your size, but maybe that doesn't cross over into lizard comprehension. Points for effort, though," he said as he lowered a hand in to grab the creature again. This time it moved faster, snapping its head out at McKay and catching the space between Rodney's thumb and his other fingers in his mouth.

"Ouch!" Rodney drew his hand back, shaking it back and forth to try to get rid of the sting. The lizard cocked its head and hissed at him, whipping its tail back and forth, gently smacking it against the wooden shell of the boat.

"Look, this is my boat! Go find your own. I am not in the mood to share with the local wildlife."

The two stared at each other for a few beats. He sighed. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to let it stay. It wasn't like there was anyone out here to keep him company. What harm could a lizard do? It didn't seem to keen on being handled, but it didn't have teeth, he'd found that out when it had bit him. Probably a local herbivore of some sort, trying to make it through this mess just like he was. "Fine, stay if you feel so inclined. That end of the boat though, this here is my end."

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