Cauchemar- Chapter 4

It was now late in the evening and John Sheppard was tired. The sun had receded to little more than a vivid red blotch against the darkening sky, and the people of Atlantis were drifting away from their workplaces, and returning to heir rooms. John was not among them. He had determined to find Dr. McKay, and inquire about just how advanced the Wraith illusionary technology really was. If the damn Wraith fought he was just going to sit back and let them control his life, they could think again. McKay meanwhile, was sitting in his laboratory, doing nothing in particular. He was taken by surprise when John stormed in and started asking question after question about Wraith technology. He couldn't keep up. Realizing that something must really be bugging his friend, McKay told him to slow down and start from the beginning. As John explained his problems, and how he knew the Wraith must be behind it all, McKay began to wonder if Wraith technology was more powerful than he had first thought. John seemed pretty upset too, and his emotions seemed a lot stronger than usual. He told him to get a few days rest, for his own good, but John didn't want to know. He just got angry. McKay watched in horror as his friend broke into a rage, furiously lashing out at his surroundings. Books and equipment were swept from tabletops and chairs sent flying across the room. This was not the John Sheppard he was used to. He backed away as John rounded on him, his face contorted into a mask of contemptuous malevolence. John moved towards him at an alarming rate, and McKay began to fear for his life. He was knocked against the wall and pummeled repeatedly by his friend's fists. As his vision faded to a dim blur, he fell to the floor and passed out. John was hit by a spasm of pain in the back of his head, and stumbled back, tripping over a heap of shattered scientific apparatus and dropping to the floor alongside McKay. As this happened, in the labyrinth of cells beneath the city, the Wraith was also suffering, blood streaming from its ears and nostrils as its body convulsed with energy. It jabbered incoherently, struggling for air in a sea of anguished thoughts and emotions, as nightmarish apparitions flooded out from inside itself, gushing into the air and frenetically searching for a host mind…