"What's wrong with him? Why is he unconscious? What have you done to him? Please tell me you haven't done anything to make him worse. And how did he get all the way up here after the crash?" Rodney rapidly fired question after question at the Satedan as he and Teyla approached.
Ronon stood from where he been kneeling next to Sheppard, stepping over the injured pilot to tower menacingly over the scientist. "Don't try to put this on me. I'm not the one who shot him out of the sky."
McKay flinched at the accusation, feeling much like he'd been sucker-punched. It was the last thing he'd intended to have happen when he entered that facility, but that didn't change the fact that he was the one responsible for the crash, which in turn meant he was the one responsible for Sheppard's injuries. While he was more than willing to own up to his part in the whole thing, if Conan had aggravated Sheppard's injuries or made them worse in any way, well, Rodney wasn't about take responsibility for that in any way, shape, or form.
And he was just about to tell Sheppard's pet-Neanderthal exactly that when Teyla deftly stepped between the pair and pushed them arms' length apart. "Now is not the time for petty recriminations," she hissed. "Should we not be concentrating on helping Colonel Sheppard rather than bickering among ourselves and making inane accusations? Your time and skills would be far better served finding a way to avoid the Mallarians and get him back to the stargate and Atlantis as quickly as possible, would they not?"
She let the two men digest her words before dropping her arms and making her way to Sheppard's side, where she immediately began to assess and bandage his wounds. Ronon continued to glare at McKay as he spoke to Teyla. "I'm gonna check the progress of the search party." Without another word, he turned on his heel and headed off.
Rodney watched him go before turning to observe Teyla tend to Sheppard's wounds. It was the first time he'd allowed himself to really look at the damage that the crash he'd caused had done to his friend. A trail of red snaked down one side of his neck from somewhere up higher in that unruly mop of hair on his head. Likewise, his face and neck were dotted with scratches, scrapes, and abrasions, and nearly all of them leaking varying degrees of red. His over shirt had been removed and re-fastened to trap one of his arms next to his body, which likely meant an injury to the shoulder or collar bone. Unable to see any further damage, he dropped to his knees and looked anxiously across at her while she continued to work. "So, um, ho-how is he?"
The Athosian continued to work, not stopping for even a moment to look up at Rodney as she answered him. "Aside from the obvious head and facial injuries, I believe he has dislocated his shoulder, as well as broken several ribs. His knee is quite swollen, however I am unsure if it is fractured or merely sprained. The same is true of his other leg, but at the ankle instead of the knee."
Even though he knew she wasn't looking, McKay nodded dumbly in answer. He continued to watch her until he could no longer stand the silence. "Can I, um, you know, help or...something?"
Teyla shook her head, applying the last of the bandages to Sheppard's face. "I am sorry, but there is nothing more to be done now until we can get him into Dr. Beckett's hands."
"Oh." Rodney pulled out his canteen and held it toward her. "Do you need some more water? I noticed that you used a lot of yours when you were, um..." He didn't finish the sentence, instead gesturing toward their fallen leader.
Ronon picked that moment to come silently sprinting back onto the scene. "We gotta move--now. Mallarians are maybe five minutes behind me, maybe less." Without waiting for them to say anything, he moved directly to Sheppard's side and pulled him up into a fireman's carry. Once the pilot was settled, he pulled out his blaster and set it to stun.
"What do you think you're doing?" hissed Rodney. "You could kill him carrying him like that with broken ribs!"
Ronon paid him no mind and started off, prompting McKay to grab his sleeve. Dex immediately brought the blaster up under Rodney's chin, flipping the switch to kill. "Let go, little man, or you die."
To his credit, Rodney didn't flinch. He stared back defiantly as he made his position clear. "Look, I might have been responsible for the crash, and as such, that makes me responsible for his current injuries. But Teyla said he's got broken ribs. If you carry him like that, odds are one of those ribs is going to puncture a lung--and that, my big hairy friend, would be a very bad thing for him...not to mention totally your fault."
Teyla stepped forward, but before she could intervene in any way, Dex cut her off. "That search party's gonna be here any minute. They catch up with us and he's dead for sure. So what's it gonna be? We gonna stand here and argue until they find us or get him to the 'gate and Beckett?"
"Perhaps it would be best if Doctor McKay and I were to carry John between us. That way both of your hands would be free to deal with any Mallarians we might encounter." Teyla worriedly checked the colonel over with her eyes as she put forth the suggestion.
"How you gonna manage that with his shoulder? Besides, no time for that now," insisted Dex. "We need to put some distance between us and the searchers."
Rodney sighed. "You have no idea how much it pains me to admit this, but Conan's right. If they're that close, then we have to get moving. We can figure it out once we've put sufficient distance between us."
Mallarian voices began to echo through the forest, the sound growing closer and closer. Teyla conceded the point by nodding in the direction they needed to travel. "You should take point. Doctor McKay can help you and I will go last to cover our exit."
Ronon didn't argue and set off at a brisk pace. Rodney followed close behind, wincing with each swing of Sheppard's hands as they swayed back and forth with each step the Satedan took. He could only imagine the effect all that bouncing was having on the injuries the colonel had sustained.
He was so busy watching Sheppard that Rodney didn't notice when Ronon suddenly pulled up and dropped to a crouch. McKay ran right into him, bouncing off and losing his balance. "What did you do that for?" he demanded, his voice a loud whisper.
Dex made a cutting motion with his hand across his throat, glaring at the scientist. Rodney was suddenly very glad that looks couldn't actually kill and didn't push the issue. McKay waited for some sort of signal as to what was happening, more than willing to defer to the Satedan. He had no illusions as to who was better suited to this particular aspect of going offworld. This was Ronon's forte, and Sheppard's and even Teyla's--and definitely NOT his.
Without making a sound, Ronon carefully laid the still-unconscious pilot next to Rodney, who still sat where he'd fallen after running into the Satedan. He then pointed between McKay and Sheppard, silently instructing Rodney to look after the injured man. At Rodney's nod, Dex abruptly turned and vanished into the woods ahead of them. Through the entire transfer, as well as his sudden exit, Ronon hadn't made any noise whatsoever, leaving McKay to stare after him and wonder where he was headed.
A faint groan next to him quickly brought Rodney's attention back to Sheppard. Another groan, louder this time, and the injured pilot's eyes began to flutter as he finally began to show signs of regaining consciousness. McKay wanted to feel relieved, but as he looked to where Ronon had disappeared and recalled the way he'd silently been told in no uncertain terms to remain quiet and his relief instantly morphed into worry of them being discovered.
Another loud groan from the colonel drew his gaze back to the injured man next to him. He reacted without thinking and placed his hand over Sheppard's mouth, cautioning him in a loud whisper as the pilot began to weakly struggle against the obstruction. "Will you stop that? Conan's off chasing someone...or maybe something...he didn't really say. But he did make it very clear that noise was a very bad idea before he left. So if I take my hand away are you going to be quiet?"
John stilled at the sound of Rodney's voice, breathing heavily through his nose. He managed a slight nod, so McKay slowly removed his hand. The physicist held his breath, watching anxiously to see if Sheppard was going to do as told.
The pilot's breathing was shallow and rapid, his face creased with pain lines. He started to pull his leg up, but immediately stopped, swallowing the cry of agony that threatened to escape with the movement. He gritted his teeth, but a soft whimper escaped along with a whispered slur of complaint. "H'rrts."
Rodney rolled his eyes. "Well of course it hurts, you idiot. You did just fall out of the sky without a parachute--or at least not much of one. Now stop trying to move before you permanently damage something. Other than your head I mean, which has been well beyond all hope for years now."
Sheppard couldn't help but chuckle at McKay's response, which unfortunately set off another bout of coughing. Rodney could do nothing but watch helplessly as the pilot struggled to get himself back under control. It seemed like forever before the deep lines in the colonel's forehead eased and his breathing returned to the shallow panting. "Sorry," offered the physicist. "I should probably stop talking now."
"Yeah, you should. But odds are better of me flying one of the Ancestors' ships than you not talking." Ronon smirked as Rodney nearly jumped out of his skin at the Satedan's sudden reappearance.
"Would you stop doing that!" wailed McKay. "Because if you make me have a heart attack there will be two of us to carry, you know. And while I've no doubt that you'd love nothing better than to leave me here to fend for myself, we both know that Sheppard would not be happy to hear you left a man behind. Especially one who was dying because you gave him a heart attack."
Ronon snorted. "And how's he gonna feel when we all get caught because you can't keep quiet?"
"Stop." The soft demand immediately put an end to the argument as both men turned their attention to the injured pilot. "Team...gotta work...t'gether." John slowly looked around, paling even more as he did so. "Tey...la?"
It was the Satedan who answered. "She's gonna try to lead the searchers off to give us a better shot at making it to the gate undetected. She'll meet up with us there."
"Oh. Is that a good idea?" asked Rodney, clearly only now noticing her absence.
Ronon glared at him, though not quite the death-glare of earlier. "In this situation? Yeah." He didn't give Rodney a chance to question him further though, leaning forward and placing his hand gently on John's good shoulder. "We gotta go. This is gonna hurt," he warned.
John swallowed hard and closed his eyes a moment before nodding. "Do it," he ordered through clenched teeth.
The Satedan wasted no time in obliging him, grabbing him up into a fireman's carry before Rodney could even get this mouth open to protest. And while the move was fast, it had had been far from painless if Sheppard's choked off scream had been any indication. Ronon ignored it, knowing there was nothing to be done now but get the injured pilot to the gate as quickly as possible. He gave McKay a look that said he meant business in no uncertain terms, and prepared to set off. "Stay behind me, but stay close." He didn't wait for Rodney's answer; he simply pulled his blaster from its holster and set off, trusting McKay to do as instructed.
Rodney didn't need to be told twice. He pulled out his handgun and followed along behind, careful not to get too close but not lag behind either. He tried to be mindful of the noise, as Sheppard had been trying to teach him, but twigs snapped under his feet and branches whipped noisily back into place after he'd passed by. He could feel the big Satedan's irritation with him growing with every step he took, but if he was going to keep up as ordered then there was really nothing he could do differently.
To distract himself, McKay watched Sheppard's arms swing from side to side. The pilot's head bobbed, bumping against Ronon's back with every step, but Dex didn't seem to notice any of it as the trio made their way through the trees and brush of the forest. The movement had to be causing Sheppard ten different kinds of agony, but the colonel hadn't uttered so much as a sound since they'd set off. Rodney was pretty sure that meant he was unconscious again, but he wasn't certain if that was a good thing or not in the long run. As a feeling of total helplessness settled over him, Meredith Rodney McKay did the only thing he could under the circumstances.
He prayed hard and kept on walking.
