AUTHOR: Wraithfodder
See PART ONE for disclaimers, copyright and other notes.
4. SO CLOSE, YET SO FAR
Teyla had no idea how long a school bus was, or what it was, but McKay was prattling on about how they'd covered the length of one bus and had at least three if not four more buses to go before they reached the safety of the gate.
She knew that the incessant talking was the scientist's way of dealing with the anxiety that seemed to hover over him like a lingering storm cloud, so she was able to ignore it, but Sheppard couldn't.
"McKay…"
The scientist seemed to brighten up. "Yes, Major?"
"Shut up."
McKay was crestfallen, and somewhat insulted. Perhaps he had a witty or acerbic remark right on the tip of his tongue, but it died, whether because he realized he was annoying Sheppard or he understood the disapproving expression Teyla directed at him.
"Shutting up," he murmured.
At least the sun was now setting. The massive Stargate cast a lengthy shadow into the sand and, and with the setting sun was coming cooler temperatures. Teyla estimated they could be at the gate within several minutes, or longer, depending on the Major's condition.
McKay let out a pained scream. He immediately toppled to the right, landing on his backside with a thud as he grasped one foot in both hands.
With his main support gone, Sheppard lost his tenuous balance and pitched forward, dragging Teyla down with him.
Ford rushed over to McKay's side.
"It got my foot!"
With one hand still on his gun, his attention mostly focused on the wood that had surfaced and struck McKay, Ford grabbed the scientist by the ankle and quickly scrutinized the damaged appendage.
"You'll live," said Ford. "Get up."
McKay sat up, still clutching his bruised foot. "It hurts. What do you need? A traumatic amputation?"
"Yes." Ford's blunt response killed any further response from McKay. The young lieutenant quickly spun around as the wedge of wood circled his and McKay's position. It then scored through the sand between Teyla and Sheppard. She instinctively backed away, watching the piece, wondering where the other one was hiding.
Sheppard seemed to realize the danger of the situation, or at least he knew that lying face down in the sand was a very bad idea. He struggled to his feet and staggered forward – in the wrong direction.
Teyla moved to grab him but again was frustrated as the wood came between the two people. This time she witnessed a strange brown crest break the sand a yard away from the wood. The spiny ridge reminded her of some lizards back on Athos. All her experience with reptiles included the fact that they had sharp teeth and ate animals.
"Major. Left, you need to bear left," she called out.
Sheppard paused, but his course correction still had him heading off an angle away from the gate.
"Major, ten o'clock," instructed Ford.
Remarkably, Teyla saw Sheppard alter his course and aim toward the Stargate.
"You got it. Keep going," said Ford, hauling McKay to his feet.
Both pieces of wood were now visible. One triangular wedge skirted perilously in front of Sheppard's feet and, for a moment, Teyla held her breath in dreaded anticipation of another disaster.
Sheppard kept moving, slowly but methodically. Teyla realized that he was walking blind toward the gate. He'd barely had his eyes open since the accident, and the hesitant manner in how he pushed his feet through the sand was dead giveaway.
It was only a matter of time before he fell again.
Teyla jumped over the wood as it went past again. Sheppard began to falter just as Teyla reached him. She felt him lean his weight into her as she wrapped her right arm securely around his waist and pulled his left arm over her shoulder.
"Teyla," he murmured.
"Yes, I'm here." She'd been correct. His eyes were squeezed shut, his face masked with pain. A fine sheen of perspiration covered those parts of his face that weren't smeared with blood or sand.
"Knew it." Sheppard stumbled slightly but she caught him, feeling his unsteadiness translate through his body to hers.
"You smell a lot better than McKay," he added.
Teyla arched an eyebrow in bemusement. What any of them smelled like was the last thing on her mind, and how Sheppard could smell much of anything over the sickly sweet coppery smell of his own blood mystified her.
"Thank you, Major."
"Where are they?"
"The creatures, or Dr. McKay and Lt. Ford? They are just behind us."
"Uh… Bob and Doug."
Which meant, the creatures. "They are nearby but not visible at the moment." She was puzzled at how Sheppard's people felt compelled to name things. She had no idea of the significance of those names, or if they were chosen at random. She only knew from gossip that filtered quickly through the Atlantis base that Sheppard had quickly overridden McKay's naming of Gate Ship One, choosing the odd name of name of Puddle Jumper instead.
"You two okay?" Ford's voice intruded on her thoughts.
Teyla turned her head very slightly. Ford and McKay were almost ten feet behind her. The scientist was limping but did not require assistance, and from the looks of it, Ford would not offer any help unless the need was urgent.
"We are fine, lieutenant," she replied. "I believe the creatures are reptilian."
"Like a… snake?" came McKay's alarmed response.
"I do not know," said Teyla. "I saw only a portion of it surface in the sand. Judging from the distance between it and the piece of wood, I would estimate that the creature is perhaps ten feet in length."
"Don't like snakes, doctor?" asked Ford.
"Snakes are fine," replied McKay, his apprehensive gaze sweeping the sands constantly. "It's just that they can get big. Very big."
"I believe these creatures are playing with us," said Teyla. The sanctuary of the gate did not seem very far away, except now she felt Sheppard begin to drag his feet.
"Oh yeah, I've seen what 'playing' is." McKay nervously twitched away from a dune of sand, but nothing surfaced. "Cleo did that a lot with mice."
"Cleo?" asked Ford.
"My cat. She was a very good mouser."
"Your apartment had mice?" said Ford.
"Yes." McKay seemed aggravated by that suggestion. "That's what I told my landlord, too."
Sheppard collapsed to his knees. Teyla realized it was futile to try to keep him going so she eased him gently onto his back in one of the large waves of sand.
"Just a minute," he said weakly. "Everything's… spinning."
"For a moment," agreed Teyla, feeling bad at how awful he looked and no doubt felt. She watched him cross an arm over his head to block out the blinding light of the setting sun. At least the bleeding had subsided, but he was still a gory mess from all the smeared blood. She only hoped that it looked worse than it appeared to be.
Ford came up behind her, followed quickly by a hobbling McKay. "Is he okay?"
Teyla looked up. "He requires some rest."
"We really can't afford to stop," Ford said, a tinge of regret in his voice. She knew the young lieutenant hated to prod on his commander like this. The concern was etched clearly in his face.
"The gate's only what, twenty feet away?" McKay bent down, trying to massage his bruised foot through the boot. "Let's just drag him."
"No way… can walk," Sheppard said, though not very convincingly.
Teyla heard a derisive snort from behind her. No doubt Dr. McKay's critical assessment of Major Sheppard's rather exhausted condition. "I will—" Teyla stopped abruptly in her thoughts, her eyes drawn to movement underneath the sand just to the right of Sheppard's head. Behind her, she heard the smooth sound Ford's .9mm Beretta being withdrawn from its holster. Even she knew that a P-90 at this close a range might risk serious damage to Sheppard even if the bullet didn't strike him directly.
A conical lump of something brown surfaced just inches to the side of Sheppard's head. Granules of orange sand slid off the tight ridges of scales that undulated and then opened, exposing the tapered nostrils of the strange creature. Sheppard's eyes opened abruptly. It wasn't that he seemed aware of the creature's presence, Teyla realized, but that he'd heard the subtle click of Ford removing the safety on his Beretta.
"Ford?" Sheppard croaked worriedly, staring uneasily at the gun's muzzle.
"Teyla, just grab his vest," Ford instructed, aiming his weapon unerringly at the creature's snout. Teyla did as instructed, gripping both her hands firmly into the front of the Major's black vest and firmly planting one foot into the sand near his shoulder. She knew precisely what Ford was planning, even if the Major seemed somewhat confused. "When I tell you to, yank him up." Teyla nodded.
The tip of a thick blue tongue slithered out of the snout, moving about slowly as it tested the air. They could all see ridges of sharp serrated white teeth to either side of the tongue.
"It's going to bite his head off!" McKay yelled in warning.
The tongue and snout tipped ominously in Sheppard's direction. "Now!" ordered Ford. Teyla yanked Sheppard up just as the creature dove in the direction where he'd just lain. A flurry of sand cascaded everywhere as the reptile's body dove back underneath, its long tail whipping snakelike as it vanished into the sand.
Teyla barely noticed that Ford had held back firing his weapon as she was too busy holding onto Sheppard, who in turn was clinging to her with a strength neither thought he possessed at that point. A fine tremor coursed through his body as he laid his head on her shoulder, breathing heavily as he fought against the nausea caused from the rapid movement. "Gonna be sick…" he coughed. Teyla immediately let him bend over. After a moment, the heaving subsided. "This planet sucks," he ground out.
"Oh, you just noticed?" said McKay sarcastically. He kept his Beretta aimed out at the desert just in case the reptilian creatures surfaced again, which didn't take long. Several feet of sand rippled unnaturally a few yards away. "Can we go?" he implored. Sand erupted in another section behind them. They were being surrounded again, like Indians circling the doomed wagon train in an old western movie.
"Teyla, grab the Major and get to the gate," Ford said. He caught the jittery scientist's attention. "McKay, stay with them and keep your gun out. I'll draw the creatures away."
Teyla nodded. Once again she slung one of Sheppard's arms over her shoulder and helped Sheppard to his feet. Ford was already distancing himself from the trio, kicking a foot into the sand in the hopes that his more strenuous vibrations would draw the creatures away in the same manner that a dying fish's struggles attracted a shark. The tactic worked amazingly well. Ripples of undulating sand headed in his direction. "Go!" he shouted.
The trip to the gate wasn't very far, but the allure of three people going in that direction was too much for one of the creatures to resist. It broke off from chasing circles around Ford. Within seconds, McKay let out a yelp as a brown snout erupted underneath him, nearly knocking him off his feet. He fired a shot that sunk harmlessly into the sand.
"Don't shoot your foot off!" warned Ford from a distance. "Get to the gate!"
McKay did just that, running in a convoluted zigzag course that no doubt confused the creature.
Teyla was just a yard from the DHD when the creature that had attacked McKay struck her in the ankle. She instantly released her grip on Sheppard, who was propelled forward just by sheer momentum. As she scrabbled to her feet, she saw Sheppard stumble over the base of curved stones that surrounded the DHD. He landed nearly face first on the array of alien symbols that composed the DHD's round face. Teyla needed to dial out, but couldn't do it with him clinging to the top. To her surprise – but also relief - Sheppard just slid off the DHD to land in a heap on the sand.
Teyla quickly dialed up Atlantis. The blue vortex opened with a sharp retort. "Lieutenant!" she shouted.
Ford stopped his in tracks, if only for a few seconds, to punch in his ident code. "Go!"
"Doctor, please help." Teyla grabbed Sheppard by the top of his vest, and McKay did likewise on the other shoulder. The two of them dragged the Major across what Teyla felt were the longest ten feet she'd ever crossed, before they entered the sanctuary of the event horizon.