The man dragged Jennifer in a hurry through the forest. With her hands bound but feet free, she was limited to finding a way to get out of this.
Thinking back to the time where she was taken by the bola kai with Teyla, she remembered how scared and pretty much useless she had been to Teyla. She had allowed the fear to come over her and paralyze any thought or attempt she or Teyla could have taken to get away. Luckily, Sheppard's team had found them. The second time she felt for her life was when Kiryk, a runner, had kidnapped her while she had been separated from her team. Instead of being helpless, she fought back, first trying to run away from him and then secondly fighting a Wraith. In the end, she ended up helping a young girl whom Kiryk kidnapped her to help as well as safely deactivating the tracking device. And later on, stopping Ronon from killing Kiryk.
And now this. Even though she was scared, she was more angry than anything. Jennifer used that, forcing herself to stay on alert for any possibly way of escaping.
"You know," she called out, "I'm pretty sick of getting taken hostage all of the time. You may think you're the first to do this to me, but let me tell you..." she want on, stomping over tree roots and trying to keep her balance despite being bound as well as carrying a pack on her back, "This is the third dang time it's happened to me. It's getting old."
The man in front of her ignored her, continuing to pull her deeper into the forest.
"So tell me why I'm being dragged out here? I could be nice and cozy with a seriously hot man back there, whom, by the way, is going to be pretty ticked to find out I'm not there. You don't want to tick of a military man, especially this one," she waited for an answer, half expecting one. When she didn't get one, she didn't back off. "OK, how about I guess. You have a sick child and didn't think I would come on my own. Hmmm... OK, not that one. Guess number two," she paused, trying to think of another one. Her humor was making her less scared, more angry, and made her feel satisfied knowing she was at least annoying the man, whose shoulders began to tense up slightly. "You're a runner and want me to remove a tracking device. I guess my expertise on removing those has made me famous."
Still no reaction from the man.
"Don't tell me. You're the silent type. Great. So now I'm not only aggravated about adding to my unlucky streak, which, really sucks because I know people back home already had placed bets that something like this would happen... but now I'm bored. I get whiny when I'm bored. I learned from McKay and he's the king of whiny."
The man stopped, forcing her to run into him. He grabbed the front of her shirt, yanked her until she was close to his face, and clenched his teeth. "Shut your mouth. Right now. Or I kill you."
Her eyes flew wide open, frightened by the sudden movement. But then her anger surged through. She didn't know why she was acting like this, but she was sick of being pushed around. "You're bluffing. You could have killed me at any point tonight. So tell me where we're going."
He backed her into the tree, slamming her head and back into the trunk roughly. "You're right. I can't kill you," he said, taking out a knife and running it across her throat. The tip broke skin, just ever so slightly, but enough to make her cry out. "The deal is that I bring you in alive. But no one ever said the goods couldn't be damaged."
That got her attention.
"Shutting up, now," she said. Jennifer could feel the small trickle of blood running down her neck.
Determined not to lose the fight in her, she followed quietly this time but turned on her survival instincts. The entire time they had been walking, she had been attempting at loosening the ropes tied tightly around her wrists. She had made a little progress but still had a ways to go. Working the ropes even harder now, she winced as they cut roughly around her skin. No sooner than later, she felt the rope burn into torn skinned.
Trying to focus on anything but how much she hurt, Jennifer began thinking about Evan. To distract herself, she thought of all the possible things they could do when they were back on Atlantis. Top on the list was going on a day trip vacation... thinking to herself, she began planning for him to get permission to take a puddle jumper to the main land. She had heard there were beaches there, according to the botanists. A long day of sun bathing, a romantic picnic lunch, followed by some serious make out time was definitely something she'll be earning from this trip. And one gorgeous, shirtless, major to accompany her.
She wondered if he was already on their trail. Desperately hoping he was, she still was determined more than ever to not count on anything. If it was up to her, she was going to find a way out of this.
They had walked at least another half mile. She finally gave up trying to get out of the ropes and now felt the wetness of the blood from her attempt of getting out of them. Shivering, she came up with an idea.
"If it's not too much trouble," she called out, trying to keep a strong voice, "can we stop so I can put on a sweater? I'm really starting to get cold."
The man kept walking for a few paces and then stopped. "If it will make you walk faster, then why not? Tell me where it is in the bag. I'll get it."
She pretended to look frustrated. "I don't remember. Can you let me look? You'll need to untie me for a second anyways to get into the jacket."
He didn't look too happy, but complied. After the ropes were cut by his knife, he watched her like a hawk. She first propped the bag up as high as it would reach and undid the zipper in the pocket she knew Evan had kept a gun. Pulling it out, she set it on the ground so that the man couldn't see.
"Sorry, it must be in the other compartment," she muttered.
Opening the large zipper, hoping for a sweatshirt, she pulled it out. "Got it," she called out. Setting it down next to the gun, she zipped the compartment closed first before quickly tucking the gun into the pocket of the sweatshirt. Carefully pulling it over her head to make sure it didn't fall out, she pulled it down over her body.
"Alright, come on," he said roughly. "We're losing time. I don't get paid if we're late."
Wincing, she felt him tie the ropes even tighter this time.
"And this time, don't try to get out of these. Even if you do, you won't be able to outrun me. The old man is paying me a lot for you."
Intrigued at his slip of the tongue, she wondered who the old man was. He turned, quickly, and they began again. This time, the way he tied her put more room between them. The pace, however, picked up. Every time the rope between them went tight, he tugged her forward, forcing her to pick up speed.
Waiting until they had reached a clearing, she reached into her pocket, despite the bound hands, and was able to get a good grip on the gun. Jennifer knew how to use it, thanks to Sheppard and Ronon. It turned out she was a pretty accurate shot, too. But knowing how and be able to use it under pressure was another issue.
Alright, Jen, it's either now or never. You don't do this right, you can really mess things up for yourself and possibly the others.
"Stop walking." She called out.
Her kidnapper stopped, wondering why she would demand to stop now. Turning, he caught a glance at the gun. Reaching for his own knife, she called out to warn him but was too late. When he reached in and began to swing it towards her, she didn't even have time to think. Jennifer aimed and fired. The bullet sent him spinning, catching him in the shoulder just above his heart.
Not far way, Evan and Ronon both stopped when they heard the shot.
Evan was sure his heart had stopped.
"They don't have guns," Ronon said. "It must be the doc."
"But where did she get the-" Evan began, and it dawned on him. "She took my bag. She must have remembered there was a gun in there."
"This way," Ronon called, following the sound they had heard.
Running now, Evan just hoped it was Jennifer who had pulled the trigger.