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Sheppard couldn't believe it.

Mckay was dead.

He could even hear his voice still, echoing in his head, calling out his name.

His eyes were scrunched up and he listened intently.

Mckay sounded like he was next to his ear.

He could even feel his hot breath.

Sheppard opened his eyes and Mckay was kneeling down in front of him, "You're untied come on lets go."

Sheppard had an odd reaction and he grabbed McKay's face and gave it squeeze, "You're alive. Rodney, why are you alive?"

"Oh thanks," said Mckay grabbing him by the hand and pulling him up.

Sheppard swayed dizzily and reached out for support. He felt an arm encircling his waist and he looked up to see Ford.

"Sir?"

"Am I glad to see you," said Sheppard.

Sheppard pushed the man off him and bent over, putting his hands on his knees and breathing in against the nausea.

He looked over to see Beckett and Teyla and he could see that Major Lorne's team were making light work of the wraith.

They had still, however, managed to decimate an entire village.

"Good timing," said Sheppard and he clumsily reached out for a weapon.

A P90 was slapped into his hand by Beckett and he tried to pull himself together long enough to get them the hell out of there.

"We need to get out of here," he said breathlessly.

Beckett, he noticed was kneeling over a body and checking it's pulse.

Sheppard joined him and patted him on the shoulder, "We don't have time for this," he said and as if to punctuate that remark another wraith dart came into sight.

"We can't just leave them," said Beckett looking up.

Sheppard gave Beckett a second to look over the body and then continued, "We have to." He looked up as the dart passed over head and kept his finger cautiously curled over the trigger.

Beckett was shaking his head, "There are women and children," he said looking up, "This man still has a pulse, its weak but-"

"But he's dying," said Sheppard hearing the sound of bullets being fired rapidly to his left as Ford cut down another Wraith, "He's had the life sucked out of him."

Beckett swallowed down the lump in his throat.

"You have to know when you can and can't save somebody," said Sheppard, "Come on."

Sheppard walked over to Ford.

"Sir shouldn't we grab him," he said indicating to Beckett who was closing the mans eyes.

Sheppard scanned the area, managed to mute out the screams and whines, and then looked back to Beckett, "Give him a minute," he said. "How did you get here?"

"We came in a jumper, its in stealth mode just passed those trees," he said.

Sheppard nodded, "Okay, you got a radio?"

Ford quickly handed him his and Sheppard pushed it into his ear, "Lorne?"

"Hey, good to hear your voice sir," he said over the rapid fire of his weapon.

"Good to see you," said Sheppard.

"We getting out of here?" he shouted just as he heard another discharge of bullets.

Sheppard raised his own weapon as a man ran towards him. He hesitated shooting when he realised it could have simply been a man.

"Definitely," said Sheppard breathing a sigh of relief when he realised it was a human.

"Good, coz I cant tell who's a wraith and who's human," he said.

"Fall back to the jumper," Sheppard said loudly.

He turned just in time as a woman and a man ran passed him and side swiped him. He bent down and took in a calming breath.

"Are you okay?" asked Beckett, now having pulled himself away from the body.

Sheppard looked up at him and gritted his teeth, "We need to move," he said straightening up, "Get back to the jumper now."

"Not until I look at-" Beckett put his hands over his ears and ducked when Sheppard raised his gun and started firing passed him at an incoming wraith.

"Move," said Sheppard.

They all started running as fast as they could back to the relative safety to the jumper, all the while firing off a few rounds here and there to stop a wraith in its tracks or to dodge the people who were running away.

Sheppard was running at the back of the pack and he could feel himself slowing. All he could taste was blood and it disturbed him and his chest was feeling increasingly uncomfortable. He couldn't quite get the oxygen he needed and he found himself stopping and bending over to try and suck in a full lungful. It fell short and he started coughing as stars danced in his eyes.

"Sheppard," he heard someone shout and he was so dizzy he couldn't tell who it was.

"Move," he shouted into the darkness as his vision swam.

He took a tentative step forward and felt the pull of unconsciousness as he reached out and touched a nearby tree.

He swallowed and looked up to see a man run passed and beyond that he was sure he could see the white hair of a wraith.

He lifted his weapon uncertainly and felt his finger against the trigger slipping.

His knees finally buckled on him and he sank down onto all fours, breathing against the pain in his chest and the pounding in his head.

He could feel arms pulling him forward and kind words telling him he would be okay, but he knew he was going to pass out even as Beckett said he would be okay.

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Sheppard couldn't believe that for the millionth time in god knows how many days he was waking up after having been defeated by his body.

Before he opened his eyes he could hear the gentle hum which he instantly knew was the puddle jumper and low conversation above his head.

Sheppard opened his eyes expecting to see Beckett hovering over him, but instead he saw a wraith.

Sheppard pushed himself up as quickly as he could and backed away until he felt his back connect with something soft and fleshy.

He looked up to see the owner of the legs was Beckett and on looking more closely at the wraith he could see it was a child.

"Major?" Beckett asked getting Sheppard to lie back down again.

"I thought…." Sheppard found himself smiling as the young by put his head over Sheppard's and smiled down at him, "I thought you were a wraith."

Sheppard was finding it hard to breathe again and it felt like there was a lot of pressure on his rib cage, "This is Aneek," said Beckett smiling at the young one.

"Nice to meet you," said Sheppard holding out his hand to the child.

Aneek just stared at it and Sheppard withdrew it quickly.

"How are you feeling?" asked Beckett.

Sheppard nodded and went to open his mouth.

"And don't say I'm good," he said.

Sheppard's mouth twisted into a grimace, "Finding it a little hard to breathe," he said looking up at the ceiling. Suddenly, he shot up, "Who's driving?" he asked whipping his head around.

Beckett pressed him back down, "Rodney," he said reaching for his medical bag and getting out a portable breathing mask. He placed it over Sheppard's mouth, "Take some deep breathes, this will help."

Sheppard let the cool oxygen flow down his throat and he could immediately feel the benefits. That metallic taste was still at the back of his throat though and just as he was about to mention it he coughed, finding his throat clogged.

Beckett saw the blood spray the inside of the mask and immediately moved into action, "Ford!" he called out as Mckay began to the dialling sequence for the gate, "Help me roll him onto his side."

Ford helped move is CO onto his side and looked up at Beckett with a panicked look. Aneek had meanwhile moved back towards Teyla and was watching the ensuing drama before him with wide eyes.

"What's happening?" Beckett heard Teyla ask as she diverted the child's gaze away from the Sheppard's struggling.

"I can't hear breath sounds," he said listening with a stethoscope "That means blood is muffling the sounds." At Fords look he said, "He's bleeding internally."

Sheppard was flailing around and groaning and Ford was pinning him down to stop him from aggravating his injuries further.

"He got kicked in the ribs," said Mckay all of a sudden.

The men had been tied up with their backs to one another so Beckett wasn't sure how he could be sure of that, but McKay had obviously felt the impact, if not heard the internal crunch as Sheppard's rib finally broke.

"His rib could be causing this," said Beckett nodding, "He's having trouble breathing so it might have nicked his lung."

"How far away are we?" asked Ford suddenly.

Mckay was gritting his teeth as the jumper took over the controls, "We're going through now!" he shouted as they entered the event horizon.

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Elizabeth had sighed with relief when she saw the puddle jumper come through in one piece, but her heart had immediately sank when she heard the all too familiar request for a medical team to meet them in the hangar bay.

She found herself running, pushing passed people as if they meant nothing and stumbling into the jumper just as Sheppard was being loaded onto a gurney and various pieces of equipment were being fastened to him.

"Oh my god," she found herself saying out loud when she saw the blood on the inside of the oxygen mask and dribbling down Sheppard's cheek. "Beckett?"

Beckett was busy working on the Major, "Okay get him to the infirmary," he shouted out and bought the railing up at the side.

"Beckett, what's wrong with him?" asked Elizabeth as she scanned the inside of the jumper.

Everyone else was present and correct, plus a young child who was dressed up as a wraith.

"He's got a hemothorax," he said starting to follow the gurney.

Elizabeth ran alongside him and could tell that Mckay was on her heels, "What?"

"Blood is filling the space around the lungs," he said as they approached a transporter.

They arrived at the infirmary much quicker that Elizabeth realised and she watched as Sheppard was pulled up onto another bed and a flurry of activity happened around him.

Doctor Clarke rushed in through the door behind her nearly knocking her to the ground.

"I need a chest x ray," shouted Clarke as he approached the bed.

Beckett was already reaching for some equipment off the side and pulling some gloves on, "I don't need a chest x ray to confirm that he has a hemothorax," he said directing his gaze to Clarke.

"Get the chest X ray," said Clarke to one of the nurses.

Beckett sighed and looked over to the nurse, "I'm the CMO, listen to me, I need to intubate, his oxygen saturation level is plummeting."

Clarke was standing to the side arms crossed.

"Give him some Versed through an I.V," he said looking down at Sheppard's open and panicked eyes.

"Verseds in," shouted a nurse from his left and he watched as Sheppards eyes started to close.

He intubated Sheppard, and then looked back over to Elizabeth, "You might not want to stand around here, I'm going to have to put a needle in his chest to relieve the pressure and stick a chest tube in to let the blood drain out."

Elizabeth visibly paled and nodded, "I'll be outside."

Beckett reached for a scalpel and moved aside Sheppard freshly cut open t shirt to access a space in the chest wall just to the side of the ribs. He made eye contact with Clarke just before he made the incision and just as quickly pushed the chest drain into it.

"Set up suction," he said to a nurse, "And I want that chest X ray now."

TBC

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