Chapter 28

The blood rushing in her ears was too loud. Each beat of her heart was too fast and too loud. Each breath shook her body with panic. Trapped. Enclosed. No way out. Dark. No light. No air. Trapped.

Her chest heaved and she pulled her knees up to her chest and held onto them as tight as she could. There was a piece of wall that hadn't fallen and she pushed her back against this. But there was no way out.

Her eyes darted around the small space. They glanced at John's unconscious body before they tried to search for an opening. Even the tiniest of spots would be favourable. The tears that stained her cheeks mixed with the dirt and dust. But that wasn't important.

"Close your eyes. Turn around. Now, pretend you're looking at the ocean." She followed her brother's words of advice. Snapped her eyes shut, turned her back on the small space and tried to picture the oceans around Atlantis. Her body rocked with panic as she tried to keep her thoughts on the open waters.

SGASGASGASGA

Miller had heard a cracking of twigs and turned his eyes in the direction of the noise, brows furrowed. Linda had told him that no matter how inconspicuous a sound was to never take it for granted. His hand jumped to his radio, "Colonel Sheppard?" Static returned itself and he frowned even further. The conclusion that came to mind was that the rocks were creating interference.

His eyes fixed themselves on his surroundings, tried to focus through the trees. Nothing moved and he turned his eyes back to the work he'd been conducting. His hands brushed over a piece of ruin and he frowned at the inscriptions. As he read them he followed them down, shuffling his feet with each new line he started.

Then he had to move to the piece of wall that was still intact and he jumped over the fallen wall. When he landed he heard a click underfoot and turned his eyes down. An explosion to his left sent him flying, his sides burning and his body aching.

As more explosions sounded he tried to move. Everything hurt. A whimper left him and he tried to grab his radio. Sore fingers found the device and he managed to painfully push the button to say, "McKay," it came out in a wheeze and he coughed. "Explosions. Trap-" cough "for Wraith-" cough "Ancients-" cough "Sheppard and-" cough "Parsons inside." He let go and let his face fall to the floor.

SGASGASGASGA

When John's head stopped throbbing enough for him to open his eyes he found nothing but darkness. He blinked to clear the fuzzy effect his eyes were trying to keep and stopped. He listened. Crying. Panicked, short, stunted breaths.

He moved to his feet and turned in the dark. The sudden movement turned his eyes up for a few moments but he forced them back into place when he spotted the source of the noises. His throat dried up and he stood frozen, just staring.

The last time this had happened she'd been in the transporters in Atlantis for all of five seconds. They were trapped underground for an indefinite time. What could he do? What should he do? His mind was running a blank and he shuffled his feet to take a seat next to her. From here he could see that she had buried her face in her arms, her knees drawn up tight. "Linda," he whispered.

For a brief moment she stopped all sounds. For a single brief moment. It took a few seconds for her to stutter, "J-J- John?"

Her head didn't move and he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling her into his side. Physical comfort helped everybody right? "Come here," and he brought his other arm up, pulling her against himself. She didn't fight him and after a few seconds he felt her wrap her arms around his waist. His hands began to rub circles on her back, trying to help soothe any panic that shook her body. He pressed a kiss to her head and settled his cheek on top of her head. "I'm here," he said.

SGASGASGASGA

McKay stared at the device in his hands. For the past twenty minutes he, Teyla and Ronan had been following an energy reading. In circles. In the middle of a forest. "This is stupid," the scientist said. "There's nothing out here but trees and more trees."

Teyla quirked one brow. "There is nothing?"

"No, no," he waved a hand, his eyes fixed on the device in his hands. "There's something, but it's not anything."

"That doesn't make sense," Ronan said.

"Yeah, I know."

"No, what you just said."

Rodney turned a deadpan face onto the tall Satedan. "It doesn't lead anywhere. That better?"

Teyla frowned at him. "What?"

Rodney turned to her with a light sigh, "It leads to nowhere. My guess is that somebody put it all the way out here as a distraction."

"A distraction for what?" Teyla said.

In the distance a faint explosion sounded. All three turned their heads in that direction. A fine white mist started to rise from the ground and the three team members turned their eyes to their feet. What was going on? A second explosion sounded and Ronan and Teyla started running. Rodney took off after them, pushing thoughts of the rising mist out of his mind. Then his radio buzzed. As he listened to the intermittent words of Dr Miller his face dropped and he slowed down as his brain caught up. "Oh no," he muttered to himself.

After a moment he continued to run and when he came back to the sight they'd left before he saw Miller on the floor, bloodied and bruised from the destruction to the ruins. "Colonel Sheppard?" Teyla called through on her radio.

"It won't work," Rodney said. "The rocks will block the signal."

Ronan was at the front of the collapsed rocks, trying to push them aside. The man only made a small dent before it became too much for him.

"Rodney what is going on?" Teyla asked, her eyes moving to the mist.

The man in question had his eyes fixed on an intact piece of wall and he re-read what Miller had been reading just a few minutes ago. His shoulders slumped and he sighed. "The Ancients used this planet as a testing ground for an anti-Wraith dispersal gas. Long story short it didn't work but it's harmless to us."

"And the explosions?" Teyla asked.

He nodded his head to the ruins. "The source of the gas. They must have a lab down there somewhere and rather than let it fall into Wraith hands they built a self-destruct mechanism."

Teyla's eyes widened. "Colonel Sheppard and Dr Parsons are in there."

"I know but we can't move the rocks."

"What do we do?" Ronan said.

Rodney shrugged, "Go back to Atlantis and call in the cavalry."

"I'll stay," Ronan said.

"No, no, I'll stay," Rodney said. "I'll look at the inscriptions and see if there's anything else. You two take Miller back with you and tell Weir we need the Daedalus."

Teyla nodded and moved to Miller, "Ronan come on." The Sateden picked up Miller and threw him over his shoulders as though he weighed nothing. Rodney watched as the two of them disappeared off in the direction of the gate.

He began to worry about his friend trapped underneath all of that debris. Nervously he tried his radio, "Sheppard? You there?" Static. He sighed. "Well, I'm going to keep talking until you answer me." He kept his hand on the radio as he turned to scan the ruins. "Well, I hope you can hear me."

SGASGASGASGA

John turned his eyes to the run. He couldn't touch anything for fear of causing the entire structure to collapse in on him. He just hoped that the others would be here, finding a way to get them out of this mess. The woman in his arms had calmed her tears and shaking body and he took that one for a win. His hands continued to move in circles on her back as he kept whispering, "When we're out of here I'll take you on a nice long vacation to the mainland. We'll go to the beach and just sit and do nothing but watch the water."

It had earned a small chuckle and he smiled as he continued on with the same tone and manner. He hoped that they were rescued soon.