Author's Note: Thanks thanks and thanks for the reviews!!! Did I mention thank you?

Chapter Five

Perilous Path

"Ow! That was my foot McKay." Sheppard exaggerated his complaint for no other reason than he was feeling pissy. The light in the tunnel was close, deceptively close, because progress was hard-won in the dark, wrecked corridor. Without being able to see debris in their way, the group continued to inch forward, usually catching one or two of each other, as they tripped the way forward.

McKay kept oddly quiet but Sheppard could feel the dirty look boring into his back. McKay had accidentally trod on the back of his heel, scraping downward with his boot. It hadn't really hurt, but snapping at the guy seemed to relieve some of the building irritation.

"Are we there yet?" McKay whined, his frustration on level with Sheppard's.

Sheppard muttered, "You don't need children McKay, you're all ready one."

"What?"

"I said, I think there is only a few more meters to go." He said.

He guessed someone heard his first comment because there was subdued snorts from ahead where Ford and Teyla were picking their way gingerly through the hall. McKay stiffened, "Is it just me...or are we getting snarkier by the minute?"

"Snarkier?" Sheppard stopped his feet moving forward, "Is that a word?"

"Snarkier...root snarky; to be crotchety, snappish." McKay supplied.

"Really? I didn't know that. Thanks McKay." Sheppard gestured to the other dark blobs ahead, "We've got our own version of Reader's Digest 'build your vocabulary'." Sheppard paused a beat, "Okay...that was snarky. Maybe there is something going on."

"Aside from having no food or water in hours, being buried alive in a alien bunker, being injured...?" Ford drawled, speaking back towards the other two.

"Good point." Sheppard had discounted the irritating ache that was constantly thrumming in the background of his nervous system, the broken arm reminding him constantly of his injury and setting his teeth on edge. It also didn't help that he was galled at being anything less than top condition when they needed every person functioning as well as possible.

McKay seemed to digest Ford's explanation; he bobbed his head, "True. That probably explains a lot."

"Nothing explains you..." Sheppard started to mutter, "Sorry!" He apologized after realizing how truly confrontational he was beginning to behave. "This is too much for irritation. Do you think it could be a product of our exposure to the radiation?"

Ford was shaking his head, "I doubt it."

"Great." Sheppard wrinkled his forehead, trying to concentrate, "Let's keep moving...and try to keep the comments to our selves. Extraneous comments." He amended.

"We made it!" Ford crowed, as they reached the illuminated room. He guessed there was some kind of emergency lighting. They were back in the control room where they had met Brack earlier, and were surprised to find the room deserted, except for bodies that weren't going anywhere ever again.

"Are they...?" McKay began, swallowing uncomfortably.

"Dead." Sheppard confirmed. He nudged the nearest with a boot- definitely dead. He looked over at Teyla, "Are you okay?"

She nodded, "I have seen death before Major Sheppard." But she didn't feel so good. She wanted to always portray the strong woman, who could care for herself, but her head ached abominably, and she couldn't help but be affected by the gruesome carnage in the room. "I'm fine."

Sheppard didn't believe her, but he didn't persist, "Are any of these panels working?" He asked McKay.

McKay had reverted to scientist mode, and ignoring the death littering the floor, he began checking displays they had seen previously. He frowned, and punched some more buttons, nothing, "Dead as a doornail Major."

Sheppard growled, "That's what we are going to be McKay, if you can't figure something out."

"Me? That's great. You're the reason we're here in the first place."

"I don't think so."

Ford and Teyla were watching the men in fascination, "What the hell is wrong with you two?" Ford asked.

Both swiveled to face Ford, "The only thing wrong with me is that I've got to baby-sit some prissy scientist." Sheppard said, disgusted.

McKay turned around to face Sheppard, "Baby-sitting? If you were my baby-sitter, I'd fire you. We've been abducted, stunned..." McKay was turning a slight shade of red, "Did I mention bombed?"

Sheppard was gearing up for a scathing reply when Teyla stepped forward, "Listen to yourselves, please. You don't mean these things."

Ford surprised them all by grabbing Teyla on the arm, "They mean what they say. Why do you have to butt in anyway?"

Now Sheppard was worried. He was feeling a sharp antagonism towards McKay, but not Teyla or Ford. He could see his behavior mirrored in Ford's response to Teyla. "Knock it off Ford, she's only trying to help."

McKay spluttered, "Knock it off Ford? What about you, Major?"

Sheppard fought for control. McKay was right. Something was wrong. They were bickering like juveniles. "Ford, switch places, you stick with McKay, I'll go with Teyla."

Ford nodded, "Yes Sir."

Sheppard walked over to Teyla while Ford headed over to McKay. "We need to get out of here."

"Anything else less obvious?" McKay spouted sarcastically then grimaced, "Sorry...sorry."

Sheppard sighed and bit back his reply; "None of this is getting us home. Does anyone see anything here that might help?"

Ford had started to wander away, and kneeled beside a body, "Major! This one is alive."

Sheppard's face rapidly went from worry to soldier-mode. He jumped over some debris, and knelt by the body. It was Brack. He barely recognized the man underneath the bloody mess of his head. How the man was alive was beyond him. He felt his pulse, weak, he wouldn't be alive for much longer.

McKay and Teyla were watching, matching grim expressions painted on their faces. Everyone was shocked when the man being observed began groaning and shifting on the ground. Ford jumped back, while Sheppard leaned forward, "Brack?" He called. He was the only one alive they had found. He might be able to give them information on how to get out of here.

The man opened his eyes slowly then blinked repeatedly, "What...where am I?" He asked, afraid.

Ford glanced at Sheppard, who shrugged then said, "Brack...you're in your command post. It must've been attacked."

Brack struggled for understanding. Sheppard could see the mental checklists being run through in the man's battered mind. Brack licked his lips, "I...I can't see. Who...are you?" He wheezed painfully.

Sheppard rocked back on his heel, "We're the aliens you abducted from the Stargate." He debated whether it was the right thing to say, but by the looks of the guy, he didn't have long. If they didn't get straight to the point, they'd never find anything out.

The man coughed, blood bubbling out of the corners of his mouth, "Stargate?" He closed his eyes. Sheppard and Ford exchanged looks, this wasn't good.

Brack opened his eyes, windowless orbs that would never see again, "I'm...sorry."

Sheppard grabbed the man's hand as it worked its way up, giving the dying man something solid to hold to, "How do we get back to the Gate?"

"Not...far." More bloody froth boiled around his lips, "If...you can...outside is...a ship." He arched his back upwards, trying to escape the pain of collapsed lungs and internal injuries, "the...path....preprogrammed." He struggled to say more, but stilled under Sheppard's hands.

"He's dead." Sheppard brushed his hand, bloody, against his pant leg, the tackiness a ghastly reminder.

Ford got to his feet and extended a hand to the Major, "We know what to do now."

"What?" McKay asked, still staring at the now dead Brack.

"We find the ship." Sheppard said.

"Are you sure we're going the right way?" McKay asked from the rear of their group. They had headed off another corridor from the command room. It was scattered with more dead bodies and here and there an emergency light glowed in the doomed dust of the building.

"No McKay, I'm not...do you have any better ideas?" Sheppard snapped. He was in the lead, and was feeling hot, dusty, tired and sore. And he hadn't mentioned to the others that he was concerned they might run into the enemy who had bombed this complex...unless they had all ready come through which would explain all the dead bodies. Of course, that implied something even worse; they weren't interested in taking prisoners like these guys had been.

"Actually I do. Why don't we sit down and roast marshmallows and sing Kum-Ba-Yah."

Sheppard had the sudden urge to throttle McKay, "We can roast you and I'd definitely sing Kum-Ba-Yah."

"Sir!" Ford admonished.

McKay smiled, "See, even Ford agrees with me."

Ford smiled, "I object to the choice of song. I think Waltzing Matilda would be more appropriate."

"You are all experiencing poor behavior." Teyla observed, growing increasingly worried about their aggression.

"Oh, like you're not." McKay snorted.

"I am not."

Sheppard paused, "She's right."

"What?" McKay looked at Teyla then back to Sheppard, realization dawned on him, "All of us have been affected, except Teyla."

Ford swore, "We haven't seen any women."

Teyla understood, "Do you believe that is why they are destroying themselves in battle?"

Sheppard was nodding, "It would explain a lot. This is a problem."

McKay glared, "More of a problem than what we've got now?"

"Yes McKay, more of a problem." Sheppard stalked back towards the physicist, "Say we find our way back to the gate, we are experiencing symptoms of a possible alien disease. We risk bringing it back to Atlantis."

McKay deflated, "That's a problem."

"We can be quarantined." Ford said.

"We don't know how it spreads." Sheppard argued, but realized they didn't have a lot of choice. A team from Atlantis couldn't come here, and they couldn't stay, which left them with few options. "We'll have to risk it."

His decision was met with silence. No one was happy to be potentially carrying back a disease that was all but destroying this planet, if that's what it was. It could be anything. Sheppard headed back to the front and started forward again. They had been making progress, and he hoped it wouldn't be much more to get out of here.

He didn't hear Teyla come up behind him, "You are unwell?"

He kept moving forward, "What makes you say that?"

"You're sweating."

He was, he could feel it snaking down his face and back, "It's not important."

She didn't say anything but he could feel her sizing him up; his condition, his ability to continue to lead this mission. Teyla wasn't leader of her people for nothing. It was one of the reasons why he had agreed to her being on his team. "I'll make it." He assured her after a few moments.

He could see a door ahead, "There's something up here." He called back to the others, approaching the door with caution.

He waved Ford to the right and Teyla to stay behind him. He listened at the door, which wasn't exactly easy with McKay huffing behind him. He cracked the door, and when there wasn't any movement, shots or any other commotion, he pulled it open further and inched out into what was definitely daylight. The glare cost him. He heard the soft whine of the weapon before he found himself flat on his back, staring up at an alien that he guessed were the enemies of those that had caught them initially. It was a different uniform, and the guy looked pissed at seeing someone alive come out of the bunker. He was taking aim to shoot again, when Ford tackled him with a flying leap, and pounded a fist into his face, slamming the guys head back against the ground.

Sheppard tried to tell Ford enough, but found it was hard to get his mouth to work, "F...rd. En..gh." God, he was going to be sick.

Teyla restrained Ford, who was looking at the bloody pulp with horror. He had beaten the guy to within an inch of his life. He shook his head, not knowing where all the hate had come from, "I...I don't know...what happened."

Sheppard did. It appeared whatever was causing them to bicker, also produced a serious reaction against the enemy. Now he could really understand why this planet was at each other's throats. "Not..." He couldn't finish, the bile rising in the back of his throat. He grimaced, and fought for control of his stomach. Those weapons packed a nasty punch.

"Major?" McKay was kneeling beside him, when did he do that, and the concern for him must be overriding any hostility, because he actually seemed worried.

"I'm...okay." He managed to say, rolled to his stomach, and began to push himself up. Strong hands on each side helped him to his feet- Ford and McKay. Teyla was looking at him like she expected him to croak any minute.

"Look!" Ford shouted, pointing to their left, were the same ship they had seen when they had first gated to the planet, was resting easily on a grass-covered dirt.

"You think you can figure it out McKay?" Sheppard was not going to take anything less than a positive response.

McKay was back in his element, "From what I saw of the tech in the bunker, it seems an interesting mixture of advanced..."

"McKay." Sheppard interrupted.

"Yes." McKay answered, sheepish.

"Then let's do it." He started towards the ship, stumbled, shrugged off Teyla's offer of help, and made it to the door without falling on his face, which was probably good because if he jarred his arm one more time he'd scream like a little girl, and wouldn't be embarrassed for it.

He punched what looked like the control for the hatch, and it hissed open, inviting them in. He hoped there were seats...nice, big, comfy seats. He could let McKay worry about getting them out of here for a while at least.

"Major!" Teyla shouted, and Sheppard didn't like the tone. Bad news. What, was it Friday the thirteenth, and some one had forgotten to tell him? "What?"

She pointed in the sky. He struggled to see what she apparently saw. He squinted into the glare...there! A silver speck approaching, crap, he grabbed McKay with his good arm, and dragged him to the hatch, "Work fast."

McKay gulped, "Yeah..." And ducked in, followed by Ford and Teyla. Sheppard entered last, shutting the door behind them.