Chap. 14:

Sitting on a gurney in the infirmary, having agreed to let Beckett test the phage on him, what were you thinking John? runs through his mind.

"John Sheppard, you are certifiably insane!" coming through his radio, brings him back to the present and he winces at the fear in Lexi's voice.

Tapping his radio, "Lexi, please, it's gonna be fine and it has to be me." he says, hoping that the fear that he is feeling doesn't come through in his voice.

"No it doesn't." she yells back.

Smiling to himself, "Lexi, it's my responsibility and you know that. I'm gonna be okay, so don't worry."

Sighing, "do you want me to be there?"

"No, stay where you are. You don't need to see this. But, I'm looking forward to seeing you soon."

"Me too, you crazy pilot. Love you."

"Ditto, Sheppard out." he says, as he sees a corpsman walking up to him. Closing the link, he takes out the radio and just as he hands it to the corpsman, Ronon walks up to his left side.

He watches as Ronon reaches for the restraints that are tied to the bed and starts to tie his legs down with them, while the corpsman ties his hands down, making sure that the pulse ox monitor is on good and tight.

Curious, he looks down at the restraints and out of the corner of his eye, he sees Beckett coming to stand next to him, "restraints, huh?"

"Aye, I'm sorry. But I'm anticipating a sever reaction."

Grimacing, "oh, great."

"Now, you're absolutely sure about this? Remember, the formula comes from Michael, so as far as we know, it could..."

Forcing himself to look at Beckett, "turn me into a bug? Been there, done that."

"No, actually, I was going to say it could kill you."

Getting a little annoyed and just wanting to get it over with, "just...give me the shot."

"Okay." Beckett says and he injects him in the neck. Pulling the injector away and patting him on the shoulder, "now, it should take a few minutes to kick in, so just try...to relax."

Watching as he walks away towards McKay, "oh, ok, I'll just, I'll relax." he says, and he keeps his eyes on Beckett until Ronon comes into his line of vision.

"How do you feel?" Ronon asks.

Looking at him, "I don't feel anything. I don't even think that..." he trails off as his vision starts to go blurry and he feels waves of pain shooting through him, causing him to strain against the restraints.

He is aware of Ronon calling his name and then calling for Beckett and as Beckett, Ronon and McKay all crowd around his gurney, "oh, I think these restraints were a good idea." he grits out and then everything completely blurs out, except for the excruciating pain wracking his body.

After what feels like forever, his heart speeds up so fast that it feels like it is going to jump out of his chest and then he feels nothing as everything stops.

The next thing he knows, he feels air rushing into his lungs and he can barely move, as his body feels like a ton of bricks. The breathing mask is taken away and he takes a breath on his own. Turning his head as much as he can and with what feels like every ounce of energy he has left, "how'd I do?"

Sighing and patting John's shoulder, "you did great son, just rest."

Not being able to stop himself from falling asleep, he lets his eyes drift shut.

xxxx

What feels like days, but in fact is only six hours later John starts to regain consciousness. Not wanting to wake up as his body feels like he just went through an obstacle course, but hearing the pacing feet of someone close by, he opens his eyes, groggily asking, "what happened?" and turning his head on the pillow, he sees McKay shooting him a concerned look.

Meeting his eyes, "it worked. They just sent Ronon to give her the shot."

Pushing himself slowly into a sitting position, as he is still sore from the recent task of coming back from the dead, "when?"

McKay stops pacing, "he just got there." and as he reaches for an ear piece and hands it to John, "look, I'm tapped into the intercom."

Putting the earpiece in his ear, John listens to the conversation between Woolsey and Ronon.

Finally as Ronon asks, "does anyone have any better ideas?" John realizes that something needs to be done and as he reaches for another injector, readying another dose, McKay asks, "what are you doing?"

Taking his eyes off the injector and focusing on him, "if I'm right, this is about to go very, very wrong."

As he places the prepared dose into his left front pocket and heads for the door, McKay angrily yells after him, "you...you can't! We're quarantined!"

Not really caring and continuing to walk out of the infirmary, "I'm cured, remember?"

He reaches the Control room and after getting up to speed on the situation he has Zelenka turn the power back on and he has a little conversation with the entity, "Dr. Keller this is Colonel Sheppard. Do you read?"

"I hear you Colonel, but I'm not Dr. Keller anymore."

"Well, who are you?"

"I have no designation yet. I'll be given one when I'm complete."

"What about Ronon?"

"You mean the intruder? He's alive, for the moment. He's been neutralized. I can feel his pulse. It's weak. It would only take the slightest squeeze."

Grimacing at the malice in the voice, readjusting the injector and placing it back in his pocket, "yeah, but you don't want do that because uh...he's one of you, remember?" he says, and tapping his radio to turn it off and pointing at Beckett, as he heads to the Jumper bay, "keep her talking."

Yelling after him, "where are you going?" Woolsey asks.

Running up the stairs to the Jumper bay, "I'm gonna go finish this."

He runs into the Jumper and as he sits down in the pilot's seat and starts everything up, he hears Woolsey over his radio, "Sheppard what are you doing?"

"I'm taking a little shortcut. Sorry I didn't have time to fill out the paperwork."

He flies up and out of the tower and as he reaches the tower that holds the isolation room, "ok, I see it now. That stuff is growing all over the place. This may hurt."

Ramming the Jumper into the tower, he is jostled around like a rag doll, hitting the controls with his chest.

Blinking his eyes to try and stop the Jumper from swimming and graying out in front of him, he stands up slowly, happy when the immediate area doesn't tilt upside down. But as he takes a step, he inwardly groans as his head and chest are screaming. Pushing the pain to the back of his mind, he walks over to the bench and takes out a 9 mil and a clip. Inserting the clip into the gun and pulling out the injector, he heads to the back of the Jumper.

Swiping the control pad, the back hatch lowers and he is stunned by what meets his eyes. It's like being inside a big red and pink pumpkin. Slowly he makes his way out of the Jumper and into the isolation room, careful not to step on the tendrils that are everywhere.

He inwardly gasps at the sight of Keller almost completely covered in the tendrils, except for her face. Stepping up to the bed and seeing an exposed piece of her neck, he injects her with the liquid in the syringe. At first she doesn't react to it, but then her eyes snap open and she stares up at the ceiling with a look of pain and fear on her face. He slowly backs away from the bed, as the tendrils are starting to thrash wildly and out of nowhere, one of the larger tendrils decides to use him as a shish kabob, impaling him on his left side.

As he falls to his knees in even more pain than he thought was possible, he brings his right hand up aiming the gun at Keller's head, realizing that he still has to do something to stop her. A few seconds later, as he is trying his hardest not to pass out from the pain, he sighs inwardly as she finally loses consciousness. As she does so, the tendril that is currently using him as a pincushion, flops dead on the floor, the other tendrils also dying.

It's only after he has dropped the gun to the floor and cleared his head again, that he realizes that Woolsey is yelling over the radio, "Colonel Sheppard, what's your status? Colonel Sheppard?"

Hearing the concern in Woolsey's voice, forces him to focus and taking a breath, which shoots white-hot pain up his left side, "wha...? I've been better."

"What happened?"

Feeling the room starting to gray out around him, "you'd better come get us."

"All right Colonel, Dr. Beckett and a med team are on their way. Hold on."

Grunting his response, as it is the only sound he can make at this point and closing his eyes, he tries to breathe through the pain. The next thing he knows, he feels two strong hands on his shoulders, gently guiding him to lie down on the floor on his back. He opens his eyes and tries to focus on the face that is swimming in front of them.

Blinking a couple of times, his eyes finally focus and as they focus, so does his hearing "we've got you Colonel. Just take it easy."

Reaching up to grab Beckett's shirt, his hand shaking from the effort, "Keller?"

Pulling his hand off of him, feeling the tremors wracking through it, "she's fine, John. You did well. Now I need you to keep still. We're gonna saw through this thing and then pack it so we can move you."

"O…kay." and wincing as he tries to move away from the pain now radiating through his stomach muscles, he reaches a hand out again, grabbing a hold of Beckett's arm, "Ronon?"

"He's fine as well, son." and talking to his staff, "easy now lads, not too rough."

"It...hurts." John moans, his eyes closing. The next thing he knows, he feels someone flicking his face and opening his eyes he sees Beckett's concerned and kind eyes staring back at him.

"John, I need you to stay with me for a wee bit longer."

He nods his head, but it sends sparks of light dancing in front of his eyes. As the pain and nausea finally reach levels that not even he can handle, "Carson..."