A/N – Written for Blue Shadowdancer, who requested something really scary. I know it's probably M rated, but hey… this is your warning right here! Thanks also to Elisa/ed263 who gave me the first sentence! This is a horror PJM story, made to fit with the FF100 prompt.

Spirit

It was a dark and stormy night as Rodney McKay flew the Puddle Jumper all alone through the swirling clouds and driving rain. Ever fearful and afraid, his strength and bravery kept him going through it.

Bang.

Rodney valiantly squeaked in fright and gripped the control sticks more tightly.

Bang. Bang!

"Okay, that's not thunder," he mumbled under his breath and a cold sweat broke out across his skin and made him shiver. It had sounded like something hitting the rear hatch. He envisioned a hand pounding the metal as someone or something tried to get inside to reach him. He trembled.

Bang! BANG!!

Rodney yelped. The sound was similar to the rapid beat of his pained heart slamming inside his chest.

The lights suddenly turned out and Rodney lost his stomach as the Jumper dropped like a stone. At least he thought it was falling, but he could not see anything in the black void he looked into whenever his eyes glanced out of the windscreen.

Clunk! Bang!

Rodney's breathing was ragged and fast in panic as the ship continued to plunge and the invisible noise tormented him. He was scared of the darkness as he could not see what was there. Even his vast, rational mind could not process what the sounds were without being able to see what was making them. All his muscles tensed up in heightened awareness and adrenaline.

Faces came at him in the dark.

"Why did you leave us?" John asked.

"To save himself," Ronon growled.

Teyla looked angry and disappointed. "He did not even try."

Rodney cried, "I… I… I'm sorry!"

They glared, their eyes glowing harshly with resentment as they muttered vehemently at him.

"Wimp," Sheppard said.

"Coward," Ronon added.

"Selfish," Teyla lifted her head and her eyes blazed dangerously.

Rodney furrowed his brow, "No I'm not! Well, I try not to be! I'm so, so sorry!"

Bang!

Footsteps in the dark… clunk, clunk, clunk.

The sky was an unknown, but seemingly infinite height as the Jumper continued to drop down to its doom. But Rodney was now used to the falling sensation and was more concerned with the sounds and his team mates' words.

A flash illuminated the cockpit and Rodney had a fraction of a second to see again. There were people littered on the floor in the Jumper with him. They did not move and the light was all too brief for him to see who they were. But he knew they were dead. Their skin was waxy; their faces were ashen.

There was a high pitched scream next to him and he flew a little way up out of his seat in fright and thumped back down.

He willed the Jumper to fly again in desperate fear as it clutched his heart tightly and crushed his chest so much that he struggled to breathe. He muttered a mantra all the while and rocked, "It's not real. It's not real. It's not real."

A voice said, "We might as well not be. You killed us."

"Sheppard? No no no no!" Rodney moved his hands away from the controls and screwed his eyes tightly closed in anguish. He held the sides of his head and covered his ears. He felt something poke him in the centre of his belly. There was the sound of loud wheezing breaths, which were not his, right next to him and it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Something was trying to get into the Jumper. But that was impossible! Nothing could fly in the storm and latch onto the hull. Could it?

Or maybe it was trying to get out? Which meant that whatever it was was inside the pitch black enclosed space with him… "Oh, no no no!" he gasped.

Rodney wrapped his arms around his torso and his clothes felt wet. He moved his hands out in front of himself just as there was another flash. The lightning flickered quickly and the cockpit was lit by strobe after strobe of harsh white light. Rodney glimpsed his shaking hands. They were bright red. He breathed, "What?"

"Now, you must die too," John said calmly as he brandished a blood soaked knife where he sat in the co-pilot's seat and glared at Rodney. He could only be seen in quick flashes, but it was enough. The red streams of Rodney's life force dripped from the blade where they could not adhere to the whole surface as they ran in rivulets to the deck.

Rodney clutched his bleeding midsection and gritted his teeth. The penetrating stab wound was deep and the pain had just hit him.

"You're a failure," Ronon said.

"You betrayed us and ran away," Teyla said. "You have proven yourself to be the man I always thought you were."

"Quiet!" Rodney begged and winced in pain as he turned to them and the flickering continued. It was like an old film reel flapping in a breeze. The forms of his team jumped from place to place between the flashes and they appeared to jerk as they swarmed around him malevolently.

Rodney focused his attention on John and whispered to himself, "You're not real. Why can't you leave me alone?"

John's face started to look strange in the continuing lightning spikes. He was pale and there was a layer of sweat shining on his skin. He said, "We're here now. You can't wish us away like you did." His face was a deathly grey pallor and black eyes sockets completed the corpse-like visage.

"It is time for you to come with us," Teyla said.

Rodney turned to her and his mouth fell open in horror as her flesh began to dissolve. He saw the same thing happening to Ronon. Skin and muscle and then bones all vanished.

He shouted, "Get a grip, McKay! It's not real!" He urged himself to believe it, but it was in vain, as what his eyes showed him was undeniable.

He glanced at Sheppard, who quickly lunged at him, his insane face barely showed who he was anymore, as a permanent mirthless white grin was revealed under the gore where the flesh had melted away and fallen from his face.

Rodney started to scream in terror as hard bony fingers curled around his throat and squeezed the life out of him. They cut off his voice and then he could not breathe.

The last flash revealed that the inside of the Jumper was drowning in blood. There was so much. It was on the walls and covering the control panels and the window. It ran in rivers, the sticky dark syrup flowing slowly all over everything.

Rodney fell from his seat and the pressure lessened around his throat until he could just about suck in air again. He was light headed and his senses were rapidly failing in the prolonged torment. He curled up and closed his eyes as he shielded his head from further attack.

Suddenly, he could no longer see the flashes as they stopped abruptly and light flooded through his eyelids.

He cracked his eyes open narrowly and frowned in confusion. The Jumper had power again and the lights had come on. There was no blood or skeletons, nor any evil versions of John, Teyla and Ronon.

He stood up. The Jumper was not falling, but flying along quite happily on auto pilot back to the gate. The storm was still raging outside, but it did not seem as dark as it had been and the clouds were just grey, rather than the ominous nightmare black. He patted himself down and pressed his hand into his abdomen, but there was no pain and he had not really been stabbed by John or anyone else.

He suddenly saw some bodies lying on the floor in the rear compartment and his breath hitched.

His team…

Rodney ran over to them and nearly fell at John's side. He crouched down and felt strong, steady pulses on all three of the bare necks. He sighed in relief and then he remembered…

The locals and the drink they had given the Lantean team must have done something untoward. Rodney had only had a chance to sniff at the liquor before he realised what it was doing to his team. He must have inhaled just enough to cause the hallucinations and it had worn off now. He hadn't killed his team! He'd saved them!

He sighed and then laughed in giddy relief as he went back to the pilot's seat and plonked down heavily. He smiled and closed his eyes briefly as he chuckled. "They're just asleep. You imagined the whole thing."

Rodney opened his eyes again and checked the HUD. They should reach the gate in half an hour and he did not have to worry about flying the Jumper himself. He leant back and stretched out with a satisfying pop as several of his joints realigned. He laughed again, "None of it was real…"

Rodney turned around in his chair to double check the others.

John suddenly loomed at him, his decomposing face a mask of evil hatred. He brought a knife up and moved it swiftly downwards to plunge into Rodney's chest. The traumatised scientist's eyes went wide and he screamed in terror.

The lights went out.

Bang! Bang! Clu-unk!