Forever End
Chapter Twelve
Things, they will get better Oh, but not today
Rodney screamed.
There was a guttural growl from behind him and he spun, falling when the grip on his leg tugged at the same time. Panic flared, so bright and loud that he let out a wail, clawing in an effort to drag himself away, but the snow slid between his fingers, offering no help at all.
"Kolya." Rodney heard the Genii soldier gasp, presumably into his radio. "I have him, they attempted to draw us away from the 'Gate, but I have him."
Oh, god, Rodney thought silently, still fighting, they were going to bring him back to Kolya.
He drew on the reserves of his strength and kicked out viciously, hearing the satisfying crunch as he broke the Soldier's nose. The man cried out, letting go to clutching his bloodied face. Rodney scrambled away, he heard a moan and saw that the other Soldier was coming around too, lifting his face from the snow to stare at Rodney with eyes as cold as the storm clouds above.
"No. Nononono." Rodney muttered in dread, they were going to catch him. Catch him and bring him back to Kolya. Who would no doubt kill him in the most awful, painful way possible. "No."
He got to his feet and, with a fleeting glance at the two men struggling to their own, ran.
It was like before, but worse, this time when he ran, he could feel his fear expanding. Threatening to cut off his airways and smother his heart until it would no longer beat. But the fear also made everything harder to comprehend. Like, why did his feet feel numb? And why was he looking behind him? There was really no chance to outrun two, full grown men. They would gain on him in a matter of seconds.
Rodney ground to a halt. He looked around him, where was he? He didn't recognize the area, nothing called to his memory and the snow was even and untouched. Lost. Too far from the Stargate.
He backtracked, turning on the spot and, with great effort, began to run again. But before he'd gotten more than ten meters, they were there, sneers on their pale faces. One was still holding his nose, while the other had one hand wrapped around his stomach and the other held a gun, cocked, at Rodney. He gulped.
"Please." He begged, feeling pathetic. "Please, I just want to go home. I don't want to go back there. Not back to Kolya."
"We have him." One of the Genii mumbled into his radio, and they advanced.
~OO~
"Can you trace the address?" Sheppard hissed, looming over Chuck with an almost feral expression on his usually calm face. Carson stood not far away, with Teyla, and simply watched.
He wanted them to say yes, so badly, so unbelievably badly.
They had to get Rodney back, if not for Atlantis, then for the boy himself. Who was sure to be in some kind of hell at the hands of the bastard Kolya.
"Yes." Chuck said stonily, and Carson was amazed at the man, Sheppard was being downright scary, yet he held his ground like any seasoned warrior.
Sheppard ran, then, calling for a contingent of armed men to be waiting for him by the time he got back. Carson, with a quick nod from Weir, followed.
~OO~
A low growl raised the hair on the back of Rodney's neck. He blinked, for a moment uncomprehending. And then the growl deepened, something wet and slime touching his head, ruffling his hair with its breath.
A little whimper left his lips.
He watched through cloudy eyes as the Genii stared, eyes going wide. Not a good sign. The huffing and puffing was filling the air around him with a misty kind of vapor. Whatever was behind him was big. Very big.
With all the courage he could muster, Rodney turned his head, and stared at the big white nose invading his personal space. Spittle dribbled from between lethal looking fangs and it was all Rodney could do not to faint on the spot. There'd be no chance to escape if he was unconscious.
There was a click and Rodney turned cautiously back to stare at the Genii. They both had their guns trained on the massive beast behind him, twin looks of horror adorning their usually stoic features.
The bullets whizzed through the air, one even managing to clip him in the shoulder and he spun with a shriek to the ground. It was, perhaps, the hit that saved him. As he fell, the monster lept, springing forward to collide with the Genii, their weapons useless against its thick mass.
Rodney stared at the sky for a moment, breathing too rabid and wheezy. He heard the sound of something snapping, a wet, slick sound, slurping. He vomited. But he did it quietly, not wanting to draw the monster's attention. He sat up, wincing at the pain in his left arm where the bullet had clipped him. He could see the monster, straggly white fur hung from a squared frame that was coiled heavily with muscle and sinew. Legs as thick as tree trunks with claws like knives, Rodney gazed in morbid fascination as a head the size of a garbage bin dug and chewed its way through the Genii. A human hand flicked through the air as the monster snapped the arm in half.
Rodney was on his feet and moving before he even registered that he'd moved at all. He was sobbing, wailing, really. And he couldn't have been more petrified. There was a monster behind him, crunching bones like they were toothpicks and swallowing limbs whole. The snap crunch squelch was loud and to much to take in.
"Oh god Oh god Oh god Oh god." He was chanting, a mantra of pure terror. The snakes in his gut writhed with renewed rage and it was all he could do not to puke again.
But that was not the worst, no, he could hear it.
It.
Moving behind him. Stalking, running, huffing its fetid breath into the air as it chased. There was no denying what the eventual outcome would be. There was, perhaps, the thinnest of slivers of hope worming through his chest. But that sliver was quickly banished, sucked away by the poison of doubt and fear.
God, he was tired.
Stop running, a voice whispered on the periphery of his mind, tantalizing, seductive. Stop running.
So easy, so easy. All he had to do was stop, let himself slide boneless to the ground and never think again. Never feel his heart beating so frantically in his chest.
But he heard the sound of the monster behind him and could no more stop than he could turn and fight. Petrified of pain, he ran and ran, tears blinding him to the fact that he was still lost. He was driving himself to the above ground grave, because with no one near, with no one to save him, he was going to die.
"CARSON." He screamed in blind terror. "SHEPPARD."
There was no one but the monster to hear his words, and it simply did not care. It slowed a little, letting him gain a small lead, but it was only a trick, a ploy to make the hunt more enjoyable. There was nothing more delicious than hope dashed with the overload of fear, just before teeth sank into flesh.
"Please. Please don't eat me." Rodney moaned between panted breaths, he wished he was anywhere but there.
And then the ground roiled beneath him, becoming no more substantial than a cloud. He fell, colliding with the side of the slope so hard that the air was driven harshly from his lungs. He did not get it back as he struck again, rolling and tumbling, down the acute fall. He heard, over the roar of the wind in his ears and the pain screaming through his body, the loud roar of the monster as it followed him over the edge.
They both rolled, but the Monster was heavier, its built weighing it down. It tumbled faster, and soon it overtook Rodney and he caught glimpses of its white fur in the snow, moving further into the distance, and he was following it.
He could not think of panic, thought, there was no thoughts as he fell. There was no time, how could there be? When he was moving toward the conclusion.
His body spun one last time and then he skidded, and stopped.
He lay, heaving each agonizing breath, and closed his eyes.
Surely he could sleep now.
There was a creak of bone and muscle, Rodney's eyes popped open, and his face creased in dread. His lower lip trembled but his throat offered no sound.
The monster rose from the snow.
Stop fighting, that voice was crooning, stop fighting.
The monster reared and gave a triumphant, rumbling holler. It crept closer, large eyes hungry. There was blood oozing from between its teeth. Blood dripped to the ground. The red so stark against the white. Wrong. Inelegant.
But there was something oddly calming about it.
When his blood was spilt, he would forever mar the otherwise pristine, never ending white.
The monster slashed its massive paw down in one, fatal strike.
~OO~
Ladon dropped his hand to his side, he had no bullets left, the last of them were embedded in the corpse lying at his feet. The blood rushed harshly in his ears.
"Rodney." He muttered after a moment, and set off again, keeping his eyes wide and alert to his surroundings. But he saw no one, nothing to hint that he was anything but alone.
Why, then, was there a sickening feeling in his gut?
He went to the Stargate. He had given Rodney more than enough time to get the message through. Spotting a marring in the snow, he gulped and stepped forward. Blood.
Ladon ran a hand through his hair. Sweat pricked the back of his neck and under his eyes. He had no way of knowing what had happened, the tracks in the snow were many and varied. He looked around him with a mixture of apprehension and grief.
He went in the opposite direction than the one he had come. Rodney would not have followed. He would have gone back to their hiding place.
He did not hear the Stargate dial up and the whoosh of the blue crashing through the air. So he did not turn around. He did, however, hear the sing of bullets flying around him.
Something shoved him forward, and a cold sensation spread throughout his body, emanating from the center of his back. He tried to crawl forward but another shove pushed him back into the snow. He blinked at the rapidly darkening world in confusion.
He saw booted feet, a frowning face, soundless lips moving to form unheard words.
His last thought was that he was finished, and that hopefully, just hopefully, he had done enough to get Rodney home.
And then the roaring in his ears overcame all else and he slipped, motionlessly, into something deeper than sleep.
~OO~
There were ribbons of red around Rodney. He reached out his hands to catch them as they fluttered delicately through the air. They felt velvety, feather light, whispery. He smiled at the sensation.
The monster raked its claws down his chest, a content groan escaping its jagged teeth.
Butterflies began to catch the red ribbons, drawing them away from Rodney before they could land on his face. He chuckled as they struggled beneath the wait, and let them rest on his fingertips before they moved on.
Blood splattered the ground. Arched through the air. His spine bowed, a scream building in the depths of his soul.
Listless. Calm. Rodney felt the warm rays of the sun glide down from the sky to cup his sensitive face, he closed his eyes against the feeling. It was warm. Comfortable. He would be happy when Carson got here, to join him.
His body bucked and writhed, fighting against the inevitable. Rodney clenched every muscle in his small body as the pain rode him in waves. His hand closed around something. Something too solid to be snow.
Loose lipped, the smile cascaded over his face again. Yes, Carson would enjoy it here. They would go searching for starfishes and watch the clouds swim in the sky. They would be together. Forever.
His fingers curled around the object. Seeking. Unknowing. He drew it upward and, unbidden, his fingers twitched violently. His scream was as loud as the bang.
Forever. Until the end. Forever End.
A weight unlike any other pushed him down and forced the air out of his body. He remained motionless long after the bang went off and the snarling faded into a whine, and then a nothingness.
Sucked into the whirlpool of life and beyond, Rodney could not distinguish which was real and which reality was not. He felt with his mind, but the barrier between imagination and reality was breached, torn down by the agony that had accosted him.
Snow flakes the color of ash touched his cheeks. Tasted sour upon his tongue, melting into the metallic flavor there. Rodney rolled his eyes, but it seemed too much effort. His lids fluttered.
A butterfly hefted another ribbon.
The sky was white.
Warmth encased him lovingly.
Whispers broke the fragile air.
Rodney.
Rodney.
Rodney.
Rodney.
"Carson."
The butterflies exploded in a shower of tiny hearts and bloodless limbs. The ribbons fell and spattered him in red, now held by nothing more than willpower. Rodney gasped. Something rose up in his and poured from his mouth. He choked, trying to swallow past it.
A voice, a hand, a familiar face. They came and went with each roll of reality. Slipping from sight when he blinked and returned when he choked on each breath.
"Carson."
~OO~
Sheppard was the first through the 'gate. He moved silently, but his anger was on the verge of boiling over. Desperation tempered it down, ever so slightly, making it possibly to breathe.
He saw something move at the corner of his eye, made note that it was not Rodney, and fired several shots. The figure fell and did not move. Feeling neither guilty nor especially worried, he continued to weave his way around the DHD to scope out the area.
His men were close behind, but he noticed that Carson was moving off to collapse beside the figure, touching a hand to its neck. And then he turned away and silently motioned for his men to spread out.
~OO~
Carson swallowed a cry as he saw the Colonel fire his weapon almost thoughtlessly. He supposed that the man was under a lot of stress, that he was simply doing his job. But firing upon someone who had no more posed a threat to them than a wounded lamb was not going to help them find Rodney!
He quickly made his was over to the fallen figure, heedless of the resentful looks that were tossed his way, and dropped to his knees to inspect the man. He touched a hand to their neck and felt a pang of grief that he could not save them. The little flutter beneath his fingers was weak and fading.
He leveled his face with the fallen man and spoke slowly and clearly.
"Can ye hear me, lad?" He asked, "Can ye hear me?" And then he froze. He recognized that face, the sluggishly blinking eyes staring back at him.
Ladon.
He touched a hand to the dying man's head, feeling frantic.
"Where's Rodney? Ladon, where is he?"
But the man slipped away, his eyes dulling and going blank. His body went limp, and that familiar, rattling sound of the last sigh leaving his body filled the deafening silence.
Carson jerked and stood, he glanced back down at the dead man and furrowed his brow. Where had Ladon been running to? Would he not have wanted to stay close to the 'gate? Although, he thought again, Ladon had betrayed them, he could have been trying to save his own hide.
That thought seemed somehow wrong and, without another thought, Carson began making his way though the frozen forest. He was alone, there was no one to back him up and he had only himself to rely on.
It was not long before he came across the mess of dismembered limbs and the inhuman amount of blood. Carson could not tell how many bodies there were, but he had to believe that none were his boy's. Steeling himself, he went further.
It was, perhaps, his determination that allowed him to find his way.
He stood on the edge of a steep slope, frozen in horror, he could see a large, shaggy beast down there, standing over something small and red.
He dropped his med kit and pulled with quivering hands, his gun from its holster. It felt awkward in his grip and it took more than a moment to get it correctly positioned and then he was stumbling down toward the monstrous creature. He was not even sure that that body was Rodney's. But he was trusting his instincts. He had to.
His heart thumped painfully against his ribcage when he saw a little arm rise beneath the best. There was a gun held in that small hand, he heard the click click click, but clearly the bullets had been spent and the gun was empty.
Without another thought he fired. Squinting, yet still running, as the gun bucked in his grip.
The beast roared at him but he kept firing. Again and again until the thing, a sizeable hole now hollowing out its skull, gave a strange mewing sound and collapsed to the snow.
Carson dropped the gun and hurried the remaining distance between him and his boy. He was sure he was muttering something, but even to his own ears it was incoherent and useless.
"Carson." The sound broke him in two.
His legs gave out before he could even think of kneeling. His hand went straight to the boys face. There was blood. Lots of blood. Everywhere. The boy's skin was the same pallor as the snow and seemed silk thin, the tracery of veins showing through with startling clarity.
"Rodney."
Carson watched as the eyes focused and then unfocused. He could feel the tears sliding down his cheeks but did not stop them. He touched a trembling finger to the boy's neck and felt for a pulse, fearing it would be like Ladon, and the boy would die before he could even try to help.
"Rodney. Rodney." He whispered, and suddenly his world crystalized with stunning clarity. He leapt to his feet and somehow managed to get back up the slope to retrieve his med kit. He almost ripped it open trying to get to the bandages. He did his best to covered and wrap the long claw wounds across the boys chest, noticing how Rodney was struggling to breathe.
He knew he had to get him back to Atlantis.
~OO~
Sheppard and his men spotted the Genii before they themselves were seen. He froze and his men fanned out. His gaze narrowed when it hit Kolya, and, stepping out from the trees, he found the man smiling back at him.
"Colonel Sheppard, how nice of you to come. I hope you don't expect to survive this visit."
There was a heartbeat of stillness. Sheppard breathed. In. And. Out.
Kolya's face crunched beneath his fist. He heard someone shouting and realized it was him, but could do nothing to stifle the guttural sound streaming from his mouth. Kolya was growling, also, his own fists and knees pummeling the short man.
They fought, but for how long, Sheppard did not know.
It ended only when a hand grabbed his shoulder and yanked him back, away from Kolya. He turned to snarl at Lorne, but the man was shouting at him, telling him to calm down and look.
He looked.
Kolya's face was a mass of red and broken bones.
~OO~
"Rodney." Carson said, leaning close, his lips brushing the boy's white cheek.
He jerked back when a little voice responded, so heartbreakingly hopeful.
"Carson."
"Yes! Rodney, I'm here, I'm here." And he scooped the broken boy into his arms, wary of the odd angle of his small legs and the wound at his chest and shoulder. He heard the rattle of each breath and felt the small puffs of air against his neck.
"Don't leave me." The boy said so softly that Carson almost mistook it for a little wheeze.
He steeled himself and got to his feet, leaving the med kit behind and running.
"Just stay with me, lad, stay with me and I'll never leave ye."
"You promise?"
"Aye, lad."
"We'll be together. Forever. Forever end." Rodney choked and was unnaturally still.
"Forever, Rodney." Carson cried, his eyes then burning with tears.
