McKay pushed and shoved at the log on his leg, but try as he might it just wouldn't budge. His leg was beginning to throb. McKay cursed and then decided to check if there were any life signs big enough to be wraith near him yet. He took out his scanner and found that there were none near him. Good.
McKay pushed the log as hard as he could, and it rolled off his leg, probably crushing a few of his toes.
"Ow!" he complained.
McKay tired to get to his feet and failed miserably. He gritted his teeth and took the bandage out of his vest and tightly wrapped it around his leg. Now he should be able to limp on it. McKay started to limp p the hill for a third time, his leg was really aching now. McKay got to the top and then, typically his leg collapsed from underneath him and he tumbled all the way down to the bottom.
Cut and bruised, McKay lost consciousness again.
Sheppard sat irritatedly on his swaying tree. Ronon and Teyla should have gotten a strong enough vine and come back by now. He decided to find his own way out. Sheppard stared thoughtfully at the cliff face; it couldn't be that hard to climb…
He stood up on the tree and began to climb the cliff, testing each handhold before using it. He'd managed to climb about five meters when part of the cliff that he was standing on broke off, his hand hold, suddenly forced to take on the full weight of his body, also broke. Sheppard caught hold of the tree on his way down. That was the second time that tree had saved his life.
Sheppard pulled himself back onto it. He was going to make it up that cliff.
He sighed to himself and started to climb.
Teyla and Ronon climbed out of the very thick bush they'd been hiding in.
"There are no more coming," announced Teyla.
"Good," grumbled Ronon. "Lets go find that vine and get Sheppard off his tree.
"That should not be hard," commented Teyla, indicating to all the vines around them.
"Grab one and come on," requested Ronon.
Teyla pulled down a thick vine and they were half buried by the leaves it had been holding up.
"Thanks Teyla!" protested Ronon.
He and Teyla climbed out of the leaves, dragging the vine with them.
As they were walking along Ronon thought he heard something behind them, he glanced at Teyla, but she didn't seem to be sensing any wraith. Ronon said nothing.
A couple of second later there was a rustle right behind them. Ronon turned and hit out with all his strength without looking.
Sheppard had successfully climbed up the cliff and he just found Teyla and Ronon and was intending to sneak up on them. He came up behind them and was just about to say something when…
Sheppard felt like he'd been hit with a brick wall. He was thrown backwards into a tree. His head spun, everything went all blurry and he blacked out.
Ronon saw whom he'd just hit. Oops.
"Colonel Sheppard!" exclaimed Teyla, running over to him and checking his pulse. She glared at Ronon. "What did you do that for?"
Ronon shrugged, "I thought he was a wraith."
"I would have told you if there was a wraith right behind us!" snarled Teyla.
"Sorry," apologised Ronon.
"You can apologise to Colonel Sheppard when he wakes up!" pointed out Teyla.
"Yep," agreed Ronon.
"And next time, look before you hit!" snapped Teyla.
"I'll keep that in mind," grunted Ronon, who could help thinking that had it been a wraith she would be thanking him.
McKay woke up aching all over. He tried to sit up and fell back down again, so he lay sill for a little while longer.
When he thought he was ready, he sat up again. This time he succeeded. McKay got the last of the bandages out of his vest and bandaged the worst of his cuts, including the one on his head. His leg still hurt like hell. McKay shakily got to his feet and decided to try to go around the hill, instead of attempting to climb it again. He set off limping. He took out his Ancient scanner and decided to keep it with him and avoid all life signs large enough to be wraith; he'd never be able to run from them with his injured leg. McKay knew that it might mean accidentally avoiding Sheppard or Teyla and Ronon, but he wasn't prepared to take the risk of meeting wraith.
He came to a place where the hill wasn't as steep and decided to try that because if he went too far he'd get himself lost. McKay actually managed to get to the top without incident. McKay looked down at his scanner and almost yelped as he saw the eighteen wraith sized life signs coming up behind him. He dived into the nearest bush and stayed as still as possible. The wraith came into view, all eighteen of them. McKay held his breath. They went the same way he'd been intending to go.
McKay waited till the wraith had walked out of his sight and he watched their progress on his scanner for a little longer, then he climbed out of his bush, and walked in a fairly straight line. McKay didn't realise that he was practically walking on the edge of the same cliff Sheppard had fallen down except there were trees on the edge. Five minutes later he realised he could see light up ahead.
He cautiously limped towards in… and burst out of the trees and discovered that he was on the edge of a cliff.
"Ahhhhhhhhhh!!" screamed McKay, jumping backwards.
This was a mistake.
He leg couldn't take the landing from his jump, it crumpled from underneath him and he fell side ways off the cliff…
and landed on a tree growing about twenty meters from the top (it was the same tree that had saved Sheppard's life twice, but McKay didn't know that). McKay sat up slowly, his heart pounding and he realise he was still in danger. McKay gripped the trunk tightly (the tree was growing on an angle out of the cliff so the trunk was almost horizontal.). He saw a little bit of blood on a sharp looking broken stub on a branch and frowned, it was red blood, not wraith blood, that was black, that meant a human could have been on the tree already, the blood looked fresh. McKay saw a powerbar wrapper in the tree. He stared at it, they had ones like those in Atlantis!! Either Teyla, Sheppard or Ronon had fallen down on to the tree. So why weren't they there now? McKay thought about that; they could have gotten back up the cliff somehow; a wraith dart could've caught them or they could've fallen off the tree. It was possible that they'd fallen off the tree considering that it was swaying in the wind. McKay looked down, and immediately wished he hadn't, it was a very long way down. He clung to the tree even tighter.
If someone didn't find him soon, he was going to use his radio. There was no chance of him climbing out, he was no good at rock climbing and he was injured.
So he was going to wait a little while, then he was going to use his radio.
Teyla sensed wraith coming towards them, she turned to Ronon and Sheppard.
"Ronon, we need to move now," she informed him.
"But he's still unconscious," protested Ronon, pointing to Sheppard.
"Then carry him," instructed Teyla. "We have nearly twenty wraith headed our way."
Ronon threw Sheppard over his shoulder, feeling slightly guilty from having hit him.
"Which way?" questioned Ronon.
Teyla thought about that, then frowned.
"I think they're going around us," replied Teyla. "Stay still and silent for the moment."
They stayed perfectly still and didn't say a word.
Both Teyla and Ronon had turned their radios off when they'd realised the wraith could pick it up, Sheppard hadn't. Now his radio burst to life.
"Hello? Has anyone got their radios on? Can anyone hear me? Please respond." It was McKay.
Teyla and Ronon looked at each other, McKay spoke again.
"Sheppard? Teyla? Ronon? Please respond."
Teyla picked up the radio and switched it off, she feared that the wraith would now know where they were but using Sheppard's radio even to reply to McKay would definitely alert them to their position. At least they now knew McKay was alive.
"What are the wraith doing?" asked Ronon.
"They had gone past us, now they are coming back this way," Teyla told him.
"Then we need to move," observed Ronon.
Teyla was already moving.
"Quickly," she ordered. "They will be here any second!"
Ronon followed her, he realised they were headed back to the cliff.
"Teyla! The cliff!" exclaimed Ronon.
They paused in their retreat and the wraith caught up with them. Teyla dived to the left into a bush, while Ronon ran to the right, firing at the wraith, stun blasts hitting where they'd been.
Ronon ran in one direction, Teyla got out of the bush and ran in the other, the wraith split and followed them both. Ronon realised that that was exactly what Sheppard had said had happened to him and McKay back at the gate.
Sheppard grunted.
Ronon realised he was sort of semi conscious.
"Sheppard?" inquired Ronon, still running.
"Uh…" grunted Sheppard and lost consciousness again.
Ronon realised just how hard he'd hit him. He could really do with the other man's help. Had it been people chasing him he would have gotten away easily, but wraith… well with wraith anyone needed as much help as possible.
Ronon shot down two trees and a few wraith. Hopefully the trees would create enough of a barrier so he could get away. It worked. Soon Ronon was free of the wraith. Ronon found a clearing. He was relived.
He put Sheppard down and leant him against a tree. Now they were all in a mess, assuming McKay was, because Ronon knew McKay was far from stupid, he would have known using his radio would alert the wraith so Ronon guessed he wouldn't have used it unless necessary.
McKay was seriously worried. No one had answered their radio. McKay knew Sheppard had been chased by the wraith, and now he wasn't answering his radio. Ronon and Teyla had set out towards a wraith base, and neither of them were answering their radios either. The mission definitely was not going according to plan, and McKay guessed that they'd only been there five hours tops. The mission had been expected to be no more than five hours, so there were at least three hours left. Could they all stay alive that long? If anyone else was still alive, that was. McKay just hoped there'd all just broken their radios or the jungle was interfering with the signal, that was possible, McKay decided that that was what had happened.
The tree swayed violently, McKay hoped that the last person on the tree hadn't experienced the same thing. McKay risked another look down. God, it was a very long way, if he fell off the tree he was going to break every bone in his body, and well as being instantly killed, and he wasn't exaggerating. He gripped the tree so tightly his knuckles went white.
He stared at his radio.
"Please work," he muttered to himself and pressed the button and spoke into the radio.
"Hello? Sheppard are you there? Sheppard please respond."
He got static.
"Okay then, Teyla. Teyla? Do you read Teyla?"
More static.
"Fine. Ronon? Oi, can you hear me? Anybody home? Okay, okay, I get it. I'll settle for a wraith, hey mister wraith, I'd like some help if you're willing to give it!" grumbled McKay sarcastically.
He put the radio away; he was in one hell of a mess.
He'd have to try the radio later, even if it did mean speaking to a wraith.