My beta is still at work but I wanted to post this at a reasonable hour so please excuse any mistakes.


Eleven.
Major Sheppard fired into the pack, taking two down but momentum took their corpses directly into him. He was thrown backwards, popping the back of his head on the stone floor, the creatures on top of him.

Teyla and Ford opened up with their P-90s on single shot taking down three more. The remaining creature leapt into Carson, clambering over him, taking Rodney to the ground.

Rodney dropped into a crouch as the room erupted in gunfire and fur-coated beasts. Before he could even think about drawing his weapon, a creature had Carson on the ground then bounded into him. Agony erupted through his gut as claws sunk in trying to push itself past his restraining hands and further into his face. It's breath was hot, smelling of rotted meat. Rodney gagged, fingers entangled in it's matted fur, holding it back. Felt it slip in his fingers. He wasn't ready to die.

With a final gunshot,it was over.A warm liquid sprayed Rodney'sface and the thing went limp to fall on him. Carson, with Ford's Berretta in his right hand, pulled the creature off of Rodney with the other. Bates took it from Carson, hauling it away.

The doctor dropped to one knee, breathless. Through a shocked haze, Rodney saw blood on Carson's right arm. It must've clawed him as it vaulted over him. Absently wiping at his face, Rodney's eyes wandered to his own stomach, seeing four blood stained rips in his lower shirt and jacket.

John lay on his back for a moment, trying to catch his breath. He found he couldn't breath properly, his chest was weighted. Then the pressure was relieved but he still couldn't take a deep breath.

Echoing voices surrounded him.

"Major." Soft voice, whispery.

"Major Sheppard." Deeper voice. "Doc, he's having trouble breathing."

"Get him upright. Check him for bites or scratches." Lighter voice, accented.

Hands pulling at him, awakening the pain in his chest and back bringing a yelp out of him. They stopped tugging him around, leaning him back against something soft and warm. After a few moments that felt like hours, he forced his eyes open.

Across the shadowed room, Rodney was sitting against the wall, eyes worriedly locked on John. He didn't look good, his breathing was sharp, gasping. Carson's head blocked his line of site as the doctor lifted his shirt, examining the claw marks.

"It's not so bad, Rodney. Ya'll need stitches when we get back."

Using all of the supplies in Rodney's med-kit and half of his own , Carson cleaned and dressed the gouges on Rodney's lower abdomen. He glanced around to see Sgt Bates braced near the top of the ramp, so he could see out, P-90 at the ready for more creatures. Ford was just behind Bates with the other two P-90s. Teyla sat with her back against the wall, legs bent at the knee propping Major Sheppard, who was leaned against her chest, head lolling on her shoulder.

When Carson got closer, he could see that the major was conscious. Eyes open but glassy with pain, locked on a spot on the far wall. Kneeling before him, he unhooked John's vest, unzipped his coat, then lifted his shirt to check his ribs. He started at the front, carefully probing each rib with trembling fingers. The skin was slick with sweat . He knew he found the spot when the major jerked away from his hands with a grunt. As suspected, the exact ribs he had broken just a few days before had been bumped and jostled. Carson laid his head against the major's chest, shifting at every few breaths. He straightened, muttering to himself, keeping notes in his head.

"What is it, Dr Beckett?" Teyla's voice held a barely suppressed tremor.

Carson looked into her worried eyes. "It's the same ribshe injuredthe other day. It doesn't sound like he's punctured a lung though and I'm not feeling any new crunches. We need to bind them…is that yer blood?" His train of thought switched tracks at the blood smeared across her shoulder.

Teyla looked to her right. Shaking her head, she answered, "No, I am not injured. It must be Major Sheppard's."

Carson scooted around to get a better look at John's head. Running gentle fingers around his scalp, he found the spot sticky with blood where half of the stitches had torn out. "Bloody hell."

Carson's expletive caught Ford's attention. "What's the matter, Doc? Will they be okay?"

"Nothing life threatening but my pack is in there." He tossed a hand in the direction of the collapsed room.

Ford rummaged through his vest pulling out the standard issue medical supplies, tossing them to the doctor.

Carson nodded thanks at him then pulled out the pressure bandage to wrap around John's head. Catching Teyla's concerned eyes, he gave a small smile, reassuring her, "Head wounds bleed a lot. He'll be fine." He turned to look up at Bates, "I need to get them home."

Sgt Bates took his eyes off the night to answer, "We'd have to run for it. Even then I'm not so sure we'd make it. I say we settle in for the night, though I doubt..." A noise outside cut his dialogue with the doctor. He squinted into the shadows. Thankfully the planet's two moons were full tonight giving off enough light to see movement. What he saw tied his stomach in knots. "We've got incoming. A creature about..." he squinted, "about the look and size of an elephant. Headed right for us."

Lt Ford's breath quickened. He wanted to get topside, to face this thing head on, not sit down in this stinking hole waiting for it to show it's ugly head. "What do we do?"

"It's way to big to fit in here but if it continues this way, it'll stomp right over us. It could bring the whole roof down on us." He chewed his lip, mind whirring. "Hand me one of those lights."

Ford jumped down, grabbed one of the lights and passed it up to Bates. Letting his weapon dangle from his vest, Bates aimed the light out. Doing a slow circle, he caught many glowing eyes, some nearby, others over in the trees. Something he saw made him blink. A light shining back at him, getting closer. "Dr McKay, you said there were no people on this planet, right?"

Rodney's gut still hurt, his muscles quaked. He had been watching Dr Beckett tend to Major Sheppard, heard everything and couldn't help but be worried about his friend. His stupor was broken by someone calling his name. He nearly answered but sighed, closing his eyes, remembering he couldn't. He heard Ford answer instead, "No, sir, no natives. Why?"

"Because there is someone out there."