THE TRENCH

PART SIX: FLOOD WARNING

McKay skidded to a halt above the metal grate, staring down at it with confusion. What the hell was this? He'd been running along the gate side of the trench when he came across the large open grate, about six feet square, looking a bit like the top of a massive filter built into the side of a swimming pool, except the trench was the pool. The grate was held down by two large metal locks, both severely rusted, and the part facing into the trench looked like a metal garage door, with hinges, designed to lift up.

Shaking his head, he was about to put the question aside and continuing running…when he heard the water.

His eyes widened and he dropped to his knees above the grate, peering down inside. After a half second of staring at blackness, he cursed his stupidity and pulled up the P90, flipped on the flashlight, and lit up the metal room below.

Pipes. Four, huge, thick, massive black pipes. The water sloshing sounds were coming from inside them.

Oh God. They looked like sewer pipes.

The scientist scouted about a little more, and found the controls. They were obviously running on autopilot. Focusing on what could only be four water gauges, he grimaced at way they were each quickly reaching the maximum.

And then the metal, hinged door facing the trench began to rise.

It was a trap—the trench was meant as a trap! And it would be flooded in minutes! They'd be drowned!

"Major!" McKay's yelled, putting the P90 down and pulling his 9MM.

"What?" Sheppard wheezed back.

McKay aimed the gun on the first lock, and began to fire. "Get out of the trench! NOW!"

"Why?"

It took several shots, but he soon had both locks off. "Because it's about to fill up with water! It's a trap, Major! A man-made flash flood! You won't be able to escape the water! I'm going to try to shut it down!" Throwing the locks to one side, he reached down and grabbed at the rusted metal bars of the grate.

"What?"

"Get out!" He pulled, but the grate was ancient…it wouldn't lift easily, plus it was damn heavy.

"I can't! McKay! The walls are sheer and slick, you know that! I couldn't even push Ford out of here. And the natives are almost on top of me. You have to—"

"No time! Run west!"

"That's where the bad guys are!"

"Then stay put. Try to find a shelf, a ledge, something!"

"I'm still heading east towards you. Come get us! If you run, you might be fast enough to at least pull Ford out!"

McKay stared at the rising door, saw the water begin to stream out from the opening crack. In moments, it would be fully open, and then there would be no hope at all for the Major and Ford.

Think, think, think….

Block the door from rising.

The locks, rocks, anything.

Turning around, he grabbed the two massive locks, put them inside his vest, grabbed a couple of big rocks, and threw them down into the trench.

Then he got to the edge, watched as the door lifted up and the first hinged part bent and curled inwards….Eight feet above the top.

He'd need something to stand on.

Turning, he saw a large boulder about five feet away. With a prayer for extra strength and for slick dirt, along with a prayer that it wasn't embedded too deeply, he moved and got his back against the boulder…and started to push.

He heard the metallic "thunk" as another section of the door hinged and slid inwards.

"McKay! What are you doing? I've got water here, McKay! A couple inches! It's rising fast!"

The scientist didn't answer. He just pushed.

The boulder shifted…shifted…and then, suddenly moved. McKay nearly fell as it slid towards the edge about a foot. With a renewed sense of hope, he pushed and yelled as the boulder continued to slide, ignoring Sheppard's shouting for him over the radio as he worked. He pushed and shoved, swearing and arguing with the rock, getting it closer to the edge, until, suddenly…

It fell away.

He nearly fell with it. With a gasp, he fell on his side and stomach, then pulled himself over the edge of the trench to see the boulder resting on the floor of the trench below.

Unfortunately, it didn't look to stable, as several gallons of water were swirling around it, threatening to take it with them.

"No," he hissed angrily, "don't you dare!" Turning, he slid himself over the side of the trench…and dropped inside, landing ungracefully on his butt in about ten inches of water. He hissed as the acidic water stung his bare hands, and tried not to think about what it was doing to the rest of him.

The metal door slipped up another notch. The bottoms of the pipes were visible. Water streamed out from underneath the metal doors, as if from four blocked hoses. Without a word, McKay shoved at his boulder, trying to get under the streams as the spray soaked him through his uniform and burned the skin on his face, the smell of sulfur powerful here. He tried not to swallow as he breathed in the liquid, but it was impossible. Pushing the now small seeming boulder as close as he could beneath the door, he climbed on top of it, and pulled the heavy locks out from inside his vest. Blinking at the water all around him, he lifted shaking, freezing cold, wet hands up and, as the next section of door began to hinge, stuck the locks in the gap that formed.

Instantly, the metal groaned and protested, fighting the sudden obstruction.

McKay fell backwards off the unstable boulder, landing in a heap on the floor of the trench again, half submerged in water. Scrambling, he got out from under of the powerful streams and got back to his feet, spitting out more water that he'd swallowed.

The metal door was making a horrible screeching noise now as he looked back at his handiwork. It wouldn't hold long. Either the locks would break, or the mechanism would, or the water pressure would blow the door off the runners altogether. He thought about trying to use the larger rocks he had thrown down into the trench, but the idea of putting his stinging hands into the running water was too terrifying.

But, with any luck, the locks would win them enough time for the back up teams to get here.

Wiping the mud and water from his face, trying not to notice the painful stinging everywhere he touched, he turned and started running west along the trench through the slowly rising water. He glanced at the sloping side of the Trench, wondering how hard it would be to clamber back out. Hard, but not as impossible as the gate side of the Trench. With that thought in mind, he started trying to climb out, slipping and sliding on the mud, not even noticing as bits of his uniform got left behind, corroded away by the acidic water.

He was halfway up when it occurred to him that he hadn't heard from Sheppard for a couple of minutes. Reaching up, he tapped the radio.

"Major!" He coughed a little, after he spoke, then added, "Where—?"

"McKay," Sheppard's soft voice replied. "Shut up a minute…."

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TBC – bad to worse, baby, bad to worse…and he really shouldn't have swallowed that water...