Chapter Five
John stood up, walking slowly towards the playground he had once played on with his sister. He held his hand out and touched the swing, lightly pushing it. It felt as real as it had the day he'd run to that park and kicked it in anger, hard, breaking the plastic seat.
He sat down on it slowly, surprised that he still fitted within the constraints of the metal chains that held the small plastic seat up.
He begun swinging his feet, jerking the swing into motion. The familiar feeling of forward, back, forward, back. This was where he'd decided he wanted to be a pilot. He leaned back , holding himself up with his arms, looking towards the sky.
It had been an autumn afternoon. He remembered hearing the chopper before he even noticed anything else. The sirens followed slowly after. But he hadn't looked up, there were always sirens in this area. The chopper however wasn't something he saw every day.
He remembered a scream.
It was then that he'd sat up. There was a car, maroon and a new enough model, driving through the park and it had almost run over a lady. John watched, captivated, as two police cars followed the runaway car. The helicopter following from overhead.
He'd gone back to his uncle's later that night, seen the rest of the chase on the TV. The runaway car, which had been an escaped murderer, had eventually had the tires shot out by a sniper from the helicopter.
It had left an impression on John.
He wanted to help people, and somehow that had struck him as a good way to do it.
He sat up again on the swing, looking around. There were others there.
"Why me?" he said allowed.
They ignored him, merely continued with their activities.
"Why me?" he repeated to himself.
He needed to help, needed to stop the Wraith. He couldn't do that sitting here in some place between existence and extinction. He stopped the swing and stood up again. He'd spent his whole life trying to help people, to fight for what he believed in.
The boy appeared next to him again.
"You are ready…" he said.
"What changed?" John asked.
The boy did not reply butbegan to glow, the park around them slowly disappearing into blackness…
"Are you serious?" Rodney said.
She chose not to reply to him. Instead she made sure the bomb was secure before sitting down again.
"Carson, the mainland," she said.
A look of relief washed over both their faces. Beckett turned around and started the puddlejumper. They slowly rose to the roof, cloaking themselves before they made their way out into the sky of the planet, headed for the mainland. The darts had stopped attacking now, a sign that the Wraith believed they had won.
Elizabeth realised she'd hadn't slept for days. She made the decision that when they made it back to the mainland they would take turns getting some rest. Rodney first, he hadn't slept for an even greater amount of time than her.
Teyla looked up as he heard footsteps. The Wraith guard that resembled Steve had returned, he did not look happy. Not that the Wraith ever did, but this one looked particularly unfriendly. She removed her head from Ford's shoulder, not wanting to appear weak to the Wraith, but as she felt him begin to pull his hand away she tightened her grip.
She saw out of the corner of her eye him looking at her curiously. He was probably wondering why she was showing her fear so outwardly. She wasn't sure either, all she knew was that she was feeling sick with fear. The presence of the Wraith churning her insides to begin with.
To be killed by the Wraith was one thing, but to be experimented on could only be worse. The tales she had heard, the horror stories she'd been told as a child, were all coming true.
"Stand," the Wraith said.
They both rose to their feet slowly. Teyla let go of Ford's hand, still not wanting to show weakness to the Wraith. It was one thing they were taught from a very young age, never to show weakness in the presence of evil.
"You…" he said, pointing at Teyla.
The web-like bars drew back into the wall as the Wraith stepped forward.
"With me," he said, walking towards them, his stunner pointed at her.
She swallowed, afraid of what she was wanted for. Quietly she hoped that they were there merely for feeding, but her gut instinct told her otherwise. She stepped forward towards the Wraith, trying to look strong.
"Take me," Ford said, stepping in front of her.
The Wraith looked down at him, moving his head slightly, as if judging his opponent.
"Aiden…" Teyla said quietly. "It's OK…"
"No it's not," he replied, still not facing her. "You've been through enough."
"We all have…" she whispered back, touching his arm lightly with her hand.
"Enough," the Wraith barked, and with the swift movement of his hand knocked Ford to the ground.
Teyla jumped at the sudden action. Her instinct was to run to his side, but she knew that was impossible, it would only result in more injury to either of them.
The Wraith glared at the Lieutenant one more time before grabbing Teyla by the arm and marching her out of the room. She glanced over her shoulder back at Ford.
The look in his eyes cut through her, she felt a sudden realisation, he didn't want anything to happen to her. As she wanted nothing to happen to him. The web closed over the doorway again, locking him inside, alone.
She found herself being pulled around the corner, Ford now out of site. She turned to face forward, to brave what fate lay before her.
As she glanced out a window to her right she noticed something strange.
They were in hyperspace.
"Dr Weir this is Colonel Caldwell of the Daedalus."
Elizabeth looked up from her chair. She'd sent Rodney and Carson to sleep, both of them looking as though they were ready to collapse on their feet. Her thoughts had been on the city, on Earth. She could only hope that the Wraith were yet to figure out how to dial it. They had erased as much knowledge as possible of how to dial Earth, but she wasn't sure that was enough.
"Reading you Daedalus," she spoke into the radio.
"The third hive ship has disappeared into hyperspace," the man replied.
"Is that a good or bad thing, Colonel?" she asked.
"We are heading towards the city now, hopefully we can reclaim it. I recommend you remain on the mainland until we have done so," the Colonel said.
Normally she would have rebutted with a response along the lines of 'With all due respect Colonel, we're not entirely useless in a fight', but at that moment she didn't have the energy or the will to fight and from the look of things neither did the other two.
"Understood, Colonel," she replied instead.
"Over and out," he replied.
She leaned back in her chair, closing her eyes. She was ready to collapse right there and then. She wish it had all never happened. She wondered where Ford and Teyla were, what had happened to all of Colonel Everett's men. She knew exactly what had happened to John.
"Elizabeth wait…"
"You can't."
"I have to and you know it…"
"John…"
She opened her eyes, staring blankly ahead, out of the puddlejumper window, at the rugged landscape of the mainland. Where had this all gone wrong? It was supposed to be an exploratory expedition. No one was supposed to die, especially not to this scale. She could only be happy that the majority of the original expedition team were safe on the alpha site.
But it was the people closest to her she'd lost.
Grodin.
Ford.
Teyla.
Zelenka? Who knew where he was…
John…
She felt tears rising up inside her. She wanted to push them away, but deep down inside knew they needed to come out at some time, and it was better done at that moment than when Rodney and Carson weren't awake.
Her eyes stung, her vision turning blurry. And then she broke down completely, pulling her legs up and hugging her knees, feeling her shaking as her emotions flooded out of her. It was all too much to comprehend, too much to feel.
She didn't like the lack of control she had over her emotions at that point. She had never felt so alone. So much was expected of her, and she'd failed them. She'd allowed them to die.
She'd allowed him to die.
She bit down on her bottom lip to prevent herself from crying out loud. She tried to calm herself down slightly, only to find her shaking become more violent.
What she was unaware of was the figure of Rodney McKay standing behind her, watching her, unable to reach out and help her...
A/N: More coming soon...