A/N: And there's more...thanks SOO much for all the reviews!

Chapter Three

Rodney stopped dead in his tracks. Elizabeth almost ran directly into him, her mind elsewhere. She could have sworn the gunfire had been close by, and yet they'd found nothing. She moved around Rodney, trying to see why he'd stopped.

Before her lay a shrivelled up corpse. She froze. Never in her life had she seen such a thing. Rodney seemed left perturbed by the site than she was, she guessed it must be what happened to someone after being attacked by a Wraith.

"Oh my god…" she finally said.

"It's the Colonel," Rodney said, so quietly she could barely hear him.

She looked at the uniform on the shrivelled thing that had once been a person. It was a marine uniform, and now she looked harder she could recognised it as Colonel Everett's.

"We need to keep moving," she said, still unable to tear her eyes away from the unbelievable site before her.

Rodney nodded in agreement, being the first to move. He stepped over the dead Colonel and kept walking. As Elizabeth followed him she discovered another body which had also had the life sucked out of it. This wasn't looking good.

Rodney stopped, turning around slowly. "Elizabeth we have to leave…"

She didn't looked at him, couldn't bring herself to do so, she knew he was right. But what if John was alive? What if he came back and there was no one here but the Wraith…

"He's not coming back, Elizabeth."

That was enough to draw her eyes to his. "You don't know that."

"Elizabeth he flew a nuclear bomb inside an enemy spaceship," Rodney said.

She chose not to answer him, instead glaring at him. She felt utter and completely anger towards Rodney. She resisted the urge to throw him a punch, Elizabeth Weir didn't punch people.

She sighed, looking away. She wasn't angry at Rodney, she was angry at the Wraith. Hated them for coming in and ruining the life she'd so happily adapted to. Killing her friends, killing the people who had become her family.

Killing him.

"You're right," she said. "We have to evacuate."

She turned around and headed back towards the control room, from there she could make an announcement to anyone still left on the base. The Daedalus wasn't coming fast enough, by the time it got there it would be too late.

They moved quickly, in silence, to the control room. As they got there Elizabeth felt a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. Rounding the corner her suspicions were confirmed. She moved her hand in front of Rodney to stop him from walking any further.

The control room was now under the control of at least ten Wraith.

"I say we go for option two, taking the puddlejumper," Elizabeth said.

Rodney looked at her, "You want me to fly us outta here? I don't think that's wise…"

"Do you have a better idea Rodney?" she asked.

"For once, no…" he replied.

She paused for a moment, considering her options. Then, seeming to make a decision, turned around and moved swiftly away from the control room and the Wraith. Rodney followed her closely, the handgun still gripped tightly in his fist.

Ford decided that if he was ever going to build a wall, it wasn't going to be as uncomfortable to lean against as the one in the Hive ship. Half an hour of leaning against that wall was enough to give him aches and pains in places he didn't even know existed.

Teyla seemed less uncomfortable than him. He guessed she was probably more used to leaning against not-quite-smooth walls than he was.

In a way he was glad she was there with him, it made him less afraid. Although he could sense the fear coming from her, somehow that calmed him down slightly. The knowledge that he wasn't alone, that he was accompanied by his friend. He could only hope that if the Wraith came and took one of them that it was him, that they'd let her go.

He didn't want anything to happen to her.

"They have not taken us for feeding upon," Teyla said suddenly.

Ford wondered for a moment if she'd read his mind. He turned to look at her.

"Well why the hell else would they take us?" he asked.

"Remember how I told you that some used to be taken and returned…?" Teyla said.

"You don't think…"

Teyla nodded slightly.

The small bit of calmness that had already taken over Ford was gone. It was one thing to have the life sucked out of you and die, but it was completely different to be experimented on for months on end.

"We have to get out of here," Ford said.

"It is not possible at the moment, but perhaps if we wait until they transport us to another facility…"

She trailed off as there was a loud shout of some kind and the three Wraith guarding their cell ran off towards the direction of the cell.

"What was that about?" Ford asked.

"They spoke the word 'ship'…" Teyla said. "I believe the human vessel has arrived."

"Some good that'll do us," Ford remarked.

"It is better we are dead and Atlantis safe, than we are used to experiment on," Teyla said.

"True," Ford replied. "True…"

"You know I still can't figure out exactly how this whole ascension thing works…" John said to the small boy.

"I can not help you, merely give you the option of achieving it," the boy said.

John frowned. "What if I chose death?"

The boy turned around, pointing out past the end of the playground to where the bike path entered a tunnel. There was a strange bright light coming from inside the tunnel.

"So I just walk through there?" John asked.

In some ways he was curious, what was death like? Would he meet them there? His family. He closed his eyes, remembering them. Remembering the horrible gut wrenching feeling when he'd found out. He still remembered it all perfectly.

John sat on the uncomfortable chair. He hated being here with all the boring adults, he wanted his cousins to get there so they could go outside and play cops and robbers. But when they turned up his sister would turn up and she was irritating…why'd she always have to do everything with him?

Weddings sucked.

He'd come up with that conclusion before he'd even gotten to the wedding, but now it was confirmed. He wondered where the others were…

Just at that moment his uncle arrived. But there were no cousins? Where was George and Ron? His uncle scanned the room, before his eyes laid to rest on John.

John's insides froze as his uncle began to move towards him.

He knew instantly.

"John…can you come with me please?" his uncle said.

He remained speechless, but stood up and followed his uncle out of the room. All eyes were on the two of them, the room eerily silent. His uncle stopped and bent down, making himself equal height with John.

"No…" John said.

"There was an accident…"

"No!" he repeated with more force. "I hate you!"

Before his uncle had even finished what he was going to say John bolted, ran out the door of the reception hall and out onto the lawn. The rain fell over him, drenching him from head to toe instantly. But he didn't care.

His life was over now. A shattered plate lying aimlessly on the ground, with no one to clean it up...

"Well?" the boy's voice came through John's memories.

John opened his eyes, staring at the boy in front of him. He was now full of emotion, he couldn't bring himself to make a decision at that moment.

"Soon…" John replied, then speaking more quietly he repeated it. "Soon…"

Beckett stared at the infirmary. He was sure he had everything he needed. Grabbing the bag of equipment he'd gathered that the others had left behind he turned around to head back towards the gateroom. He was faced with two figures.

He jumped before realising who it was.

"Are you trying to kill me?" he asked.

Elizabeth ignored his comment and pushed him back inside the infirmary, shutting the door behind her.

"What are you doing?" Beckett asked.

"The Wraith are everywhere," Rodney replied. "And they're hungry."

"What's happened to everyone else?" Beckett asked.

Neither of them answered his question. He felt something inside of him drop away. Were they trying to say that everyone on Atlantis was dead except for them?

This was why he'd wanted to stay home, in Scotland, with his mum, safe and sound. Where his biggest worry was keeping his mother's plants alive and her foot fungi dead. He'd never in his life wanted to fight aliens in another galaxy.

"They're all dead…" he stated.

"Quite probably, yes," Rodney replied, sitting down on one of the hospital beds.

"Well…we can't just sit here!" Beckett said.

"They have the control room, we have no access to the Stargate," Rodney said, his voice rising in irritation.

"Jumpers…" Elizabeth said quietly.

"What?" Rodney asked, not having heard her properly.

"We have Carson now, we can escape in a jumper," she said, nodding at Beckett. "You think you can fly it?"

He nodded. "As long as you don't ask me to fly any nuclear bombs inside Wraith hive ships…"

A flicker of emotion crossed Elizabeth's face, but in a moment it was gone. The shield raised again. She turned around and walked back over to the door, Rodney and Carson following her. Now they just had to find their way to the jumper bay…

A/N: Had to write something tonight! Been reading fan fic and watching shippy vids ALL night! Hope you liked! Reviews always appreciated :D