Sheppard wrapped the gauze around the ankle wound. He really did not want to dwell on it. Bone was showing.
"Weapon, I need a weapon." He looked around the small room. "Nothing here but the computer."
"You need the computer Sir."
"For what? To show it how to play solitaire?" Sheppard snapped at Phantom Ford.
"You just do Sir."
"OK, I don't remember who, what, where or even why. I'll just assume that you may know something I don't. Since I think you are me, why don't I know?" He did not answer himself. There was nowhere to hide, nowhere to go and nothing else to say.
He crawled over to the computer console and pulled himself up. Through one good eye he studied the monitor and the hand plate. It did not ring a bell. Its importance eluded him.
The door started wavering.
Resignation overtook him. "Today is a good day to die."
The door groaned.
He limped, stumbled, and fell his way back to the far wall.
The door gave way.
Tentacles shot in searching for and then finding their prey. They wrapped around his legs arms and pulled him upright. Another tentacle wrapped around his waist pulling him in as it entered the room.
He struggled, kicked and deflected tentacles from his face and other important areas. His nerves were seared away as was his skin and muscle.
"OH…NO…YOU…"
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"…DOOON'T!" Came shrieking down the corridor as Dex exited what Stackhouse had dubbed a Jeffries tube. Dr. Kusinagi had located it when the transporter was discovered inoperable. Two life signs were detected on the fifth level. They moved as quickly as possible.
The smell was familiar and unwelcome. That smell came when people and fire mix. He could tell by the look on Stackhouse's face, he recognized it as well. The shriek had that last desperate plea for life laced with defiance.
Sheppard had defiance in abundance. But what was he being defiant to?
They ignored the corpses and the blood smeared walls and the blood smeared floors until they stared at the transparent entity in the lab. Sheppard was barely coherent, shouting curses, talking to Ford, and fighting to keep the thing from grabbing him anymore. Ronon raised his weapon and fired at the monster.
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"Help's here Sir. Time for me to go."
"Were you ever here Phantom Ford?" He was losing. Not much longer and then Sumner could berate him in purgatory for eternity. "Wait, what help?" He could barely see past his nose.
A red haze coalesced around the jellyfish. Red lightning shot down each tentacle. Ronon was here. Then the red lightning struck him.
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Not the effect he was looking for. The energy from the stun setting dissipated from the creature down each appendage and into Sheppard. He shrugged nervously at Stackhouse, a look of 'whoops' on his face. Stackhouse fired a few rounds into the creature. The bullets went through as the thing pulled a limp Sheppard closer.
Stackhouse finally saw Sheppard's condition as the entity pulled him into view. They were not going to be doing the man any favors. He was in real bad shape.
A meek, yet shocked, "Oh my goodness," came down the hall.
"Dr. Kusinagi, come here!"
"There are bodies and what is that smell?"
"Not now, we need to get that thing away from the colonel." Stackhouse motioned her over.
She peered into the room and quickly pulled her head back out. She smiled.
"I saw something down the hall."
She grabbed one of Stackhouse's team and pulled him with her to the wrecked doorway down the corridor.
They had to stall the glowing thing. Ronon searched the room and noticed something lying on the floor. Translucent but not glowing with energy- remnants of tentacles.
"Shoot the tentacles, they can be severed!"
Dex started firing, trying to get an angle. His first shots did nothing but his next group went through the being and cut one of the tentacles off. The creature then lashed out at them. Its attention diverted, it moved out of the side room. Stackhouse and Dex kept firing until Sheppard was mostly released. Remnants still wrapped various places on him.
Once again tentacles lashed out at them. One caught Ronon on the arm and another caught Stackhouse on the torso.
Dr. Kusinagi arrived in the doorway with the containment unit.
"Let's hope this one goes back in," said Stackhouse backing out of the room with Dex.
She set the device down just inside the doorway and turned it on. Whatever it did, the creature made a beeline right for it.
"Apparently not as smart as the black cloud," whispered Miko as the tentacles tried to grasp the device.
"Apparently not," agreed Stackhouse.
"You have dealt with these things before?" Dex asked.
"No, something similar."
They watched as the creature was pulled in. The unit beeped and Dr. Kusinagi flipped a switch.
"There, no more monster."
They ran into the room and over to Sheppard. Miko ran back out and vomited.
"Stay with her," Stackhouse ordered his teammate.
Stackhouse holding back his own gagging checked the colonel over. Burns were everywhere: arms, legs, and body. He then had a nice imprint on his forehead and a large bruise that ran down the side of his face.
"Probably not a bad thing to be zapped Dex."
He noticed the first aid kit at the back of the small room. He looked at the gauze on Sheppard's ankle and arm. He went and retrieved it searching for more, only a foot or two remained. They began removing the tentacle remnants and covered exposed burns with the gauze.
"Look in the other room and see if there are anymore kits," Stackhouse directed Ronon.
Dex made his way into the outer lab and located the wall panel. "Seems there was a recess in the wall Stackhouse."
"Dr. Kusinagi!" Stackhouse called out. "I need your help again. Check the other labs and rooms. Think first aid kit, medical help or whatever you can think of."
"O…K…" Her voice was shaky. "I'm on my way."
"The gauze seems to have healing properties. Look here and here." He pointed to the two oldest injuries. "We need to remove what is left of his clothes gently. Some of the synthetic fibers have melted to his skin."
After a few minutes, Miko carried in two more kits. "That is all I could find. They do not have showers for chemical burns anywhere." She kept her eyes purposely averted from Sheppard.
"I saw a monitor out there blinking. Can you see if there is anymore somewhere else in the building?"
"Yes." She slipped quickly out of the room.
"Hang on Colonel." Stackhouse mumbled. He figured he was just making the man comfortable until the inevitable. They were too far away from the Gate. Buildings blocked it anyway, so no Puddle Jumper.
Before he could mull over any other options, more footsteps pounded down the hall. The rest of his team he had left on the surface appeared in the doorway.
"What's wrong?" Stackhouse saw the absolute panic in the young man's eyes.
"Wraith."
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A/N: Well, at least your responses show me I have hit the mark. Once again thanks for the reviews! Keep hands and arms inside the tram while it is in motion, because the ride ain't over with yet.