CHAPTER FIVE: UNEARTHLY MOVEMENTS

Coughing violently, Rodney nearly tripped over his feet again as the corridor he was in ended in a T junction. Lifting up the flashlight, he pointed it to the right...then the left. The walls still trembled, but they seemed to have lost some of the violence of before. He hoped it was a sign that things were settling down again. Of course, it wouldn't matter if he couldn't find a way out of this damn place.

Right? Or Left?

"Okay, okay," he whispered, "you can work this out."

"What's the matter?" Sheppard's voice asked over the radio. McKay almost forgot that it was still on.

"Nothing, nothing, I'm just...trying...." Rodney shook his head, facing the left hand corridor and trying to think about his location logically. With a grunt of irritation, he pointed the light to his right again...and nearly dropped it.

The entire corridor was glowing green. He could see clearly down for about ten feet, as the emerald mist floated.

"This...this has a logical explanation," he squeaked, backing up a step. "It must be the moss...the lichen...bioluminescence of some kind...."

"Rodney?"

As McKay watched, unable to tear his eyes from the mist, it seemed to thicken and coalesce...until a shadowy figure seemed to be watching him with black eyes. It grew in size, and Rodney's breath caught as images of sharp teeth, monstrous features and claws formed before him.

With a yell, he turned and ran away in the opposite direction, ignoring his knee in his haste. The abused limb reacted by collapsing beneath him, and he went sprawling, skidding along the slimy floor.

His hands scrambled for the P90 and he flipped over, pointing the weapon behind him, ready to fire.

At nothing. It was pitch black again.

"MCKAY! What's going on! MCKAY!"

The scientist just breathed, and forced his mind to rationalize.

They must hallucinations, he reasoned, caused by what?

His eyes glanced at the walls, seeing the slimy moss and lichen.

Of course, the fungus! What if it wasn't just bioluminescent...what it if also contained hallucinogenic qualities?

And if he was breathing it in and seeing these things...then so was Sheppard.

Turning himself over again, he got back to his feet and leaned against a wall. He placed a shaky hand on the radio.

"Major," he gasped, trying to swallow some liquid to coat his dry throat.

"Are you okay? What's going on? Where are you?" The questions were rapid fire.

"I...saw something. I think there may be something in the lichen...I think it might be making me see things...."

"See things? What kinds of things?"

"I was going to ask you. Have you seen anything...strange?"

There was a pause, then, slowly, "Um...like something...green?"

McKay's eyes popped open, "Yes!"

"Yeah...in fact...oh wow....Um...um....McKay....do you believe in ghosts?"

"No."

"I think I do. Shit!" And suddenly the connection shut off.

"Major?" Rodney tapped the radio. "Major!"

The scientist looked around him at the darkness, and shivers of something very icy ran down his spine.

"Major," he said, hitting the radio again, "Major, it's not real! It's the lichen or something. Spores. There are no such things as...."

He trailed off as the corridor behind him started to glow again.

"Then again," he muttered, stumbling backwards away from it. Turning, he hobbled down the corridor as fast as he could, taking the first branching he found. It was into another room, this one pitch black.

The green mist followed, and he could swear he could still see those black eyes inside of it.

Gasping, McKay's bad leg caught the wrong edge of a stone, tripping him again. He landed hard on his left side, the slight "crunch" meaningless to him as he scrambled back to his feet. He turned to see if it was still behind him...

Aw hell...it was bigger.

Swallowing harshly, he stumbled and limped over to the opposite side of the room, his flashlight barely keeping up with him, toward the dark outline of another door.

For some reason, the mantra "It's all in your mind" was doing diddly squat in terms of making that mist go away...

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Sheppard stopped when he realized the unearthly green light that had been chasing him was gone. He had tried to ignore it, he really had. Rodney's words about it being a product of something they were breathing in was undoubtedly correct, but the primal underlying fear had just been too commanding. Especially when he could have sworn it had spoken to him.

Get Out

It was like something out of a horror movie....

Blowing out through his cheeks, he looked down at the P90 in his arms. Fat lot of good it was. A really heavy flashlight and not much else.

That's when he realized the walls had stopped shaking.

Gingerly, he pushed away from the stone and touched the wall behind him. Nothing. Not even a tremble.

"Thank God," he muttered. He tapped the radio, "McKay? McKay, can you hear me?"

There was a long pause, and the major frowned. He hit the radio again, "Rodney! Respond!"

Still nothing.

Crap.

Either he was finally out of range beneath this miserable pile of rocks, or something had happened.

Standing straighter, he examined the walls of the room he was in with his flashlight. When he saw the sconce, he reached for his matches....

The matches he'd been holding in his hand right before the floor had opened up.

"Oh come ON!"

He stared up at the ceiling in exasperation, and felt the irritation drain away as he saw a growing patch of green light forming over his head. Whispering touched his ears, and he shook his head.

"Right, okay, gotcha," he muttered, quickly hefting his flashlight up again to find another way out, "Moving on!"

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TBC