Part 4
"Hurry Rodney!" Beckett cajoled, reaching down through the grate in the ceiling, holding desperately to the scientist's forearm.
"I'm trying!" McKay shouted back, trying to curl his legs up and hook them onto the open ceiling panel to get enough leverage to climb into the duct work.
"Well try harder, you daft bugger," Carson ground out between clenched teeth.
"Shut up," McKay shot back, "you're not helping any."
"Dear God man, it's almost through the door!" Beckett's voice hitched a notch in panic as the door separating them from the creature suddenly screeched and separated from its frame.
"Shit!" Rodney cried and swung his pelvis upward, curling his knees in tight to his chest and miraculously hooked his heels into the duct next to Carson. Beckett pulled on McKay's arm hauling the man upward and forward into the ceiling knocking both men solidly to the floor of the duct.
They froze, unmoving, breathes held.
After a second they each carefully twisted off their lights and cautiously released held breathes, waiting in the stifling darkness of the ceiling crawl space.
They listened to the incessant clicking of curled claws on the bare floor as the creature entered the room. The door screeched as it was shoved aside.
The click of claws crossed the floor getting louder with each step.
Beckett shuddered when the desk was smashed against the west wall and clattered in pieces to the floor. He shut his eyes and pictured the creature flipping the chair out of its way.
They could hear it snuff, as if testing the air as it stood directly under the open ceiling panel.
Beckett and McKay held their breaths and waited with hammering hearts and clenched stomachs.
Carson still gripped Rodney's forearm, tightening his hold as the monster stood below them testing the air.
The clicking drew away from the opening in the ceiling.
The two men stared at one another without truly seeing each other, a spark of hope flashed in their eyes.
A relieved smile crossed Beckett's face as McKay released a small sigh.
Apparently the creature didn't know to look up or its sense of smell was not as fit as its physique.
Dumb bastard.
McKay felt like laughing, a giddy laughter of relief. It was amazing how incredibly stupid something could be—it was no wonder some living things had to depend on brawn and instinct, just make up for their lack of mental agility.
Stupid creature. It belonged in a zoo. Maybe he'd come back here with Sheppard, Teyla and Ronan and capture its ignorant hide just for grins.
McKay took a relieved breath. They'd wait it out, sit up here for awhile until Sheppard figured out they were missing and send out a search party. Sure it'd be a few hours, but Rodney came prepared, he had power bars stashed on his person. He had been a cub scout for three days, he had learned a lot and almost enjoyed being with other kids his age. Pity his mother wouldn't pay his dues to keep him in the scouts. He even liked the dorky uniform, even if he just got the bandana.
Rodney listened for the clicking, straining to pinpoint where the creature had moved off too. He heard nothing. Perhaps the dumb lug had gone to another room to search.
Mindless beast.
Suddenly the duct floor behind Beckett erupted inward with a fierce howl and the horrible screech of metal. The creature's boney head shot through the flooring, its scaly arms swiping at the body closest to him.
Beckett screamed and dove forward into McKay, knocking the astrophysicist backward.
Its claws racked through the back of Carson's calf.
McKay shoved at Carson frantically trying to push the doctor back off him. Beckett continued to try and scramble over him.
"It's stuck! Go down!Go down! Go Down!" McKay hollered, shoving and pushing the doctor toward the opening in the ceiling. Beckett resisted wanting to go no where near the thrashing howling creature that hung half in and half out of the torn duct.
"No way in bloody Hell!" Beckett bellowed trying desperately to crawl away from the opening and over McKay hoping to drag the man with him further down the duct.
"Go down, you imbecile!" McKay forcibly shoved Beckett backward and into their opening in the ceiling using both hands to drive Carson through the grate.
Beckett hesitated just a second as he caught the creature's eyes. He stared wide eyed, paralyzed with fear.
"Go!" McKay shouted out and stomped his foot on Beckett's shoulder forcing the doctor through the hole in the duct and back down into the room.
McKay followed jumping down and landing awkwardly on Beckett.
"Move! Move! Ya Bugger!" Carson scrambled out from under Rodney, knocking the scientist to the floor. Beckett reached down and grabbed McKay by the back of his jacket and hauled the limping astrophysicist across the floor and out through the warped and ruined partially hanging door.
The creature let out an ear splitting roar that shook furniture and vibrated bones as it wiggled and pushed its way from the tight confines of the ceiling duct.
McKay tried to turn left while Beckett attempted to go right. "This way, you daftie," Carson chided, hauling the Astrophysicist by his coat collar to the right.
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"Anything?" Sheppard and his men stood back in the control room waiting for Zelenka to get a door open or the new guy to find a different way into the section of the city.
"Nothing," Zelenka pointed out, "it is as if the city is protecting itself from whatever is running free in its uninhabited sections."
"Yeah, well it's not uninhabited," Sheppard growled, "McKay and Beckett are in there with O'Connor and Sullivan." The colonel paused. "Why didn't the city lock itself down before Thomas and his group got attacked?"
"I do not know," Zelenka said, "maybe the city did not perceive whatever attacked them as a threat?"
"Great fuckin' security system." Sheppard muttered.
"Well, the Ancients are all dead," Ronan pointed out helpfully.
Sheppard stared at Dex trying to formulate a suitable comeback but was spared certain failure when Grodin's replacement suddenly found something.
"Whoa…hoa." The Canadian said to himself, "what have we here?" Without looking up from his computer screen he added, "Dr. Weir, Colonel Sheppard, you might want to see this."
The group as a whole aggregated around the laptop computer.
"What are we looking at?" Sheppard's impatience was palatable.
"Watch," The Canadian said.
Six sets of eyes stared at the dark computer screen and then suddenly they saw two figures running down a corridor. Over the speakers the unmistakable Scotland brogue was clearly heard, "Come on Rodney, keep up with me here."
"Go left! go left!" Rodney's orders were snapped between gasps of breath.
"Can they hear us?" The Colonel asked. The Canadian tapped a few key strokes and then paused afraid to shake his head but unable not to answer, "No."
The colonel shook his head and turned his attention back to the small laptop screen.
"Why the hell is he limping?" Sheppard asked not truly expecting an answer. Where were O'Connor and Sullivan? The colonel felt his chest constrict with the sudden oppressive weight of responsibility and knowledge that he had lost two more good men and perhaps stood to loose another pair.
"Perhaps he has hurt his foot." Teyla offered helpfully.
Sheppard shook his head in controlled exasperation.
"Left," Rodney repeated, "No! your other left! You always go left when you're lost!"
"So help me, Rodney, shut up!" Carson answered, hauling the scientist to the right.
"That's left," Sheppard muttered.
"No," Zelenka offered, "that's right."
The colonel glared at the physicist.
"What is that?" Ronan's question had people leaning in closer to the screen as a solid black creature melted from the darkness of the corridor.
"They're dead," Zelenka whispered.
"Shut up, Radek," John snapped.
"Find us away in there, Zelenka," Sheppard ground through gritted teeth.
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"In there! In there!" Rodney shouted slapping a hand against the wall control sliding open yet another door. McKay couldn't help but think he would have to remember to thank Beckett for the successful gene therapy. It was coming in quite handy. Of course, the astrophysicist might have to admit what Beckett did was something akin to science, but not really true science. More like a hobby with potential benefits.
McKay's mind snapped back to the problem at hand as the door started sliding open before his hand even left a sweat mark.
The creature was almost upon them. McKay could swear he felt its fetid breath on his shoulders.
Beckett shoved Rodney through the door.
Rodney stumbled forward losing his footing and falling forward. He twisted around mid-fall and watched horrified as the door slid closed barely masking the sight of the creature swinging out with its arm and knocking Beckett flying off his feet and into the far wall of the corridor his flash light skittering down across the floor.
The door slid closed, cutting McKay off from Beckett and the creature in the hallway.
"NO!" Rodney shouted and scrambled doggedly to his feet, using the edge of a table for leverage. His grasping fingers hit long forgotten hand held ancient devices, nudging them just out of his way. He stood favoring his left leg and grabbed debris from lab work tops. He hobbled for the door. Without second thought, Rodney slapped the controls with the back of his hand. The door began to open. He squeezed through before it was even a quarter of the way open.
Rodney stood in the hall and hefted the miscellaneous ancient devices in his hands.
Beckett lay crumpled a few yards down the hall slouched, straight legged, unmoving against the far wall. His flashlight lay on only a few feet from his lax hand.
The creature loomed over him an arm raised ready to swipe down upon the Scotsman.
"Hey!" McKay shouted waving his arms over his head, standing with most of his weight on his right foot.
The creature slowly turned its smooth black plated head and glared over a massive shoulder at the man behind it.
"That's right ugly," McKay taunted, "you're looking at real life genius, right now."
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