Thank you so very, very, very much for all the reviews. I love you guys to pieces. Sorry this is going kind of slow. RL is a big, sucking leech right now, but I'm really trying my best to update ASAP.
Chapter Five
Although Zelenka was tired, he wasn't particularly sleepy, so he just enjoyed the chance to rest as Sheppard slept. He was perfectly content to do nothing but listen to the even sounds of the Colonel's breathing, finding it somewhat comforting in this dark, damp cavern...at least for the first 20 minutes. Then he began to think about the flooding and the darkness and what might be living in the darkness. He nervously pushed his glasses up farther on his nose, trying to see across the room. There simply wasn't enough light.
Sheppard stirred and muttered in his sleep, startling Zelenka. He thought he heard the sounds of shifting metal somewhere down the corridor. He tried to tell himself that they were natural, settling sounds, but he couldn't quite make himself believe it. He finally gave in to his fears about 40 minutes into Sheppard's nap and woke the man up.
"Colonel Sheppard?" Zelenka gently grasped Sheppard's shoulder and shook him. "Colonel, I think we should keep moving." Zelenka certainly wasn't going to tell the Colonel that he was waking him because he was afraid of the dark. Sheppard, however, wasn't in any hurry to wake up. Zelenka suddenly remembered that he had hit his head in the fall and realized that he might have a concussion. That worried the scientist even more. Should he have kept him awake? His pleas became more urgent at the thought of having to find the way out all by himself. "Colonel Sheppard, please wake up!" This time he shook Sheppard more vigorously.
Sheppard's arms flew out in a defensive motion. "What? Stop that. What the..." he sat up abruptly from his position of leaning his head back against the wall. For the third time that day, he jerked and pulled his neck muscles. "Ohhhhh, man that smarts." he said as he clutched and rubbed at the aching muscles. He carefully tried to roll his head in a circle while putting pressure on the offended muscles, groaning slightly as he did so. "I've really got to stop doing that." He sat still for a few minutes, trying to get his bearings and remember what was going on. He looked over at Zelenka, barely able to see him in the dark.
"Hey, Dr. Z. Guess I dozed off on you. Sorry about that."
Dr. Zelenka was so relieved to have the Colonel awake, he didn't care. "Quite all right, Colonel. I understand you just got back from a mission today and that you are probably very tired. I know you were overdue because I was waiting for Rodney to continue an experiment we had started earlier."
"Yeah, our little one day stint turned into four days of running from a wraith party. Guess I'm pretty wiped out. I was on my way to bed when I heard the radio chatter about you being missing. You know me,... can't resist a challenge." He grinned. "Beckett's gonna kill me, though. And with this leg, there won't be any way to hide from him."
Zelenka nodded in understanding. "Dr. Beckett does get angry when his patients do not follow his orders. I would protect you if I could, Colonel."
"That's okay...I can handle Beckett. Besides, I'm glad I came. We may be lost, but it's gotta beat being lost alone. Hey, are you hungry? I've got a powerbar in my vest and I know you've been down here for several hours now." He reached into his vest pocket and pulled out the powerbar, offering it to Zelenka.
"What about you? We could share it," Zelenka offered.
"No, I'm good. I had one on the way down here and it's not settling too well at the moment. I just wish we had some water. I swear, I could drink a gallon." He handed the powerbar to Zelenka and wiped the sweat from his face. He realized that his shirt was wet with sweat and he could feel the tickle of a drop running down his lower back. His legs were starting to go to sleep, making him want to get up and move around, in spite of his tiredness.
"Why don't you relax and eat your powerbar. I'm going to walk around the room and see if I can find another door out." He started to bend both legs in order to get up, forgetting about the large gash on his right thigh. He was quickly reminded as the movement sent white hot pain shooting through his leg. A sharp intake of breath along with the action of grabbing the leg around the sides of the injury alerted Zelenka to what Sheppard had done.
"Colonel Sheppard..."
"I'm fine. Just...forgot for a minute." He waited for a few seconds as the pain came back down to a manageable level. He then carefully used the wall to help him stand up. He continued to lean heavily against the wall as a wave of dizziness and nausea washed over him. He closed his eyes against it, thinking I will not puke or pass out in front of Zelenka. He knew he needed to to be steady for the nervous scientist.
"Colonel...maybe you should sit back down for a minute." Zelenka sounded worried, which only served to strengthen Sheppard's resolve to hold himself together.
"No...I'm okay. I"m just going to take a look around for a minute." He limped slowly at first, knowing his leg would be stiff and sore from the time spent sitting. After a few steps, his leg began to loosen up and he could move a little more freely. He went all the way around the room, shining the flashlight at the wall as he searched for a different exit. Eventually, he realized he had made it all the way around the room and back to Zelenka. His leg was beginning to really ache again.
"Well...how in the world...I know there has to be another door to this place. How did I miss it?" Sheppard was equally confused and annoyed.
"Help me up and I will help you look."
Sheppard limped over to Zelenka and extended his hand. "I'd let you stay there and rest, but apparently I'm blind along with being sleepy. I guess I need your help on this. I know there is another door to this room or my name isn't John Sheppard."
Zelenka put one hand on the wall for support as he gave the other one to Sheppard, who pulled him up to his feet without the scientist having to expend much energy. The man was stronger than he looked, Zelenka thought. Zelenka mirrored Sheppard's actions from earlier, leaning against the wall as a wave of dizziness passed over him.
"Welcome to my world," said Sheppard, recognizing the look. "You okay?"
"I'm okay," said Zelenka as the dizziness passed and he steadied himself. The two men began slowly making their way around the room. They had made it about halfway around when Zelenka stopped the Colonel. "Wait! Shine the light up there. I guess your name really is John Sheppard, because there's the other door." Zelenka pointed to the top of a large pile of debris stacked against the wall.
Sheppard pointed the light at the indicated location. "I don't..." Then he saw what Zelenka had seen. Behind the top of the heap of twisted metal, he could just make out the top of the doorway. "Oh...great." He sighed heavily, the thought of moving all that debris making him even more tired. "Guess I'd better get started. This could take a while."
"I can help," offered Zelenka. But as he stepped forward, he put more weight on his foot that he had intended, causing him to cry out in pain as he tumbled to the floor.
"Doc!" yelled Sheppard, rushing forward to Zelenka's side. Zelenka was clasping his lower leg and rocking back and forth, his eyes squeezed shut in pain. Sheppard put his arm around Zelenka's chest and gently dragged him the rest of the way to the wall, propping his back up against it. He gave the scientist a minute to get over the shock of the sudden pain. "Dr. Z...let me take a look."
After a minute, Zelenka's breathing evened out some and he looked at Sheppard, the lines of pain still evident on his face. "Colonel...if you ...remove the shoe...it will not...go back on."
Sheppard considered this. "Okay...I'll look at what I can without removing the shoe." He carefully lifted the scientist's pants leg and opened the shoe as far as he could. The swelling was much worse and extended up a little to his lower leg. It looked for all the world like the foot was about to explode out of the boot. "Ouch. That hurts just looking at it, Dr. Z. You better stay off this thing as much as possible." Sheppard took his vest off and rolled it up, gently placing it under Zelenka's lower foot and ankle. "Maybe that will keep it elevated a little. Don't you move from this spot until I get that doorway cleared out." Zelenka nodded, grateful the Colonel had not taken him up on his offer. Even though he had just rested, his foot was throbbing with a life of its own and he knew he would not have been able to stand for long.
Sheppard propped the light so that it faced the tangled mess of metal garbage wedged into the doorway and overflowing into the room. He stood looking at it for a moment, trying to determine where to begin. "I need a sign saying 'Start Here'. Have any ideas?"
"No...it looks like total chaos to me." Zelenka wished he could offer up a suggestion, but he didn't see any good starting places either.
"Okay...well, this looks good." Sheppard reached out and grabbed a piece of metal about waist high off the floor and began to pull. After a few seconds, it began to move forward, making a hideous scraping noise as he pulled it free of the rest of the pile. Sheppard drug it about ten feet away and dropped it next to the wall. "Welcome to your new home. Don't worry...I'll be back with the rest of the family in just a few minutes." He hobbled back to the debris pile as Zelenka looked on, wondering just how much the sleep deprivation was affecting Sheppard's mental capacity.
Sheppard worked for the next 2 hours, pulling and dragging the metal scraps over to the new junk heap, occasionally muttering to himself or the metal as he worked. Zelenka watched for a while and then began to doze in boredom. When he woke up, he looked over to see that Sheppard was still at work. He watched for a moment before he noticed that Sheppard was not only limping more heavily, but was soaking wet with sweat. Even his hair was plastered to his head, almost as if he'd just stepped out of the shower. He then noticed that Sheppard was sluggish and seemed to stagger as he moved the metal. He was obviously exhausted, almost to the point of collapse.
"Colonel! You must sit down and rest. Come over here and sit down a minute." Sheppard kept working, his movements almost robotic. He didn't seem to hear Zelenka as he focused on his task. "Colonel Sheppard!' Zelenka called loudly. "Colonel, you must stop." Once again, Sheppard did not seem to hear him.
Zelenka used the wall once again to help him get to his feet. He reached down and grabbed the metal pole he had been using as a walking stick and made his way slowly and painfully over to Sheppard. The Colonel was dragging a long piece of metal across the floor when it caught on something. its forward movement stopping so suddenly that Sheppard lost his grip and was thrown forward on his hands and knees. He yelped as his right leg jammed into the hard floor, jarring his injured thigh. The abrupt, unexpected blast of pain was more than he could take. Still on hands and knees, he emptied his stomach suddenly and completely onto the floor in front of him. He stayed in that position, shaking with weakness until he was afraid he would not be able to stand up.
"Colonel...let me help you." He realized Zelenka was beside him. He almost laughed. So much for not puking in front of Zelenka. Maybe he could at least manage not to pass out...although he wasn't completely sure about that one either. Maybe this was a bad dream and he'd wake up in his bed, wondering what had caused him to dream such a flaky dream. The smell of the vomit began to tickle his nose and he knew it wasn't a dream as his stomach began to lurch once more. He had to get away from here or he'd be doing an encore performance soon. He allowed Zelenka to help him to his feet. He leaned slightly against the scientist as a wave of dizziness passed.
"Colonel...you are going to rest now, no?"
"I am going to rest now, yes." Sheppard disengaged himself from Zelenka. The man could obviously barely stand and Sheppard didn't want to topple him over. He then limped weakly over to the wall and slid down it into a sitting position. He realized he was shaking slightly from the efforts of the past two hours. Now that he was sitting down, the exhaustion washed over him with a sickening wave and he wasn't sure he would be able to get back up. But he would worry about that later. Right now, he just needed to rest a few minutes.
"Colonel, are you all right? You should have taken a break." Zelenka noticed the small cuts and scratches that covered the Colonel's hands and arms, damage inflicted by the sharp edges of the scraps of metal. "You must rest for a while and then we can continue. Why do you do this to yourself?"
"I was just trying to get us out of here. We need to get that ankle of yours some medical attention," Sheppard said defensively.
Zelenka snorted. "I am not the only one in need of medical attention." He had picked up Sheppard's P90 and he now shined the light on the Colonel's leg. The field bandage was soaked in blood, as was most of the front of his pants leg.
Sheppard smiled. "Okay, point taken. WE need to get out of here and to medical attention. Carson's going to have a field day with the two of us."
"Yes...that is what I am afraid of," said Zelenka dejectedly.
"Ahh, don't worry. He'll be so mad at me, he'll probably leave you alone. I'm just going to close my eyes for a minute. Wake me in a few if I fall asleep...and we both know I will."
Zelenka didn't look happy, muttering something in his native tongue as he nodded at Sheppard. The Colonel was pretty sure he was mumbling about him and that it wasn't very nice. He thought he might have heard a 'crazy fool' comment thrown in for good measure. It reminded him of what Beckett did when he was really pissed at him. His brogue would be so thick that Sheppard couldn't understand more than two words of what the physician said. Sheppard smiled as much as his tired body would allow. He guessed he just brought out the best in people.
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Elizabeth walked down the corridor to the flurry of activity at the other end. She looked around a moment until she found Sgt. Bates. He was talking to a group of marines, obviously giving them instructions on where to search. She waited until he was finished before approaching.
"Dr. Weir. I'm surprised to see you down here. It's awfully late."
"Yes it is. I was noticing that Dr. Zelenka has been missing almost eight hours and Colonel Sheppard, almost five. Have you found anything...anything at all?"
Bates looked almost embarrassed. "No...I'm afraid we haven't. I relieved the men who have been here all day and brought in a new batch. I thought a fresh set of eyes might see something we have been missing. I just...I know they have to be here somewhere, but ...I just don't know where else to look."
Elizabeth steeled herself, shoving her emotions deep inside. "I know you've done your best Sgt. You look exhausted. I think you should go get some rest yourself. Surely there is someone else you could leave in charge."
"Major Lorne is on his way. He'll take over the searches as soon as he gets here. He was tied up earlier, but radioed to say he was now free to help."
"Good. I'm just going to take a look around if that's okay. It's so frustrating being so far away from what's going on. I...I thought maybe if I came down here and saw you searching, it would make me feel better." She didn't tell him she was scared to death. She considered both men to be her friends, but Colonel Sheppard...had become a very close friend. They had been through a lot together, to the point that he almost felt like a part of her. If she lost him, it would feel as though she had lost a part of herself...a part she wasn't sure she could live without. She knew without a doubt she was better with him there. She also knew Atlantis was better with him there. She didn't understand how a city that seemed to need him so much could take him. She knew that the longer he was missing, the less the chance that she would get him back unharmed. She needed for them to find him.
"That's fine...but please be careful. This area seems to have been damaged somewhat by the storm and we don't want you to get hurt."
"I'll be fine."
"Sgt. Bates?" Two soldiers approached, obviously with questions for Sgt. Bates. They nodded at one another as he turned to help the men and she walked down the corridor, watching the marines search the rooms for Sheppard and Zelenka. She walked for quite a while before she finally stopped and hugged herself with her arms, willing them to be safe. "Where are you?" she whispered, not realizing they were just beneath the floor she was standing on.
TBC