THE ELEDGIAS
CHAPTER SIX: CAVE IN
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His bloody and battered left arm held close to his chest, Sheppard ran after Ronon, trying to keep up with the fast man. The dizziness and ache from the pain in his limb was ignored, compartmentalized and buried, to be worried about later. All that mattered now was finding Teyla and McKay.
Yeah, right. He was in agony! It was taking everything he had not to land face first in the mud and start crying. But one thing was true...he wouldn't stop.
Not until he knew they were okay.
Both he and Ronon had tried to reach Teyla and McKay on the radio again, once Sheppard was clear, but nothing answered them. The only reply came from Halling, who had promised to head to the southern locations that McKay had pointed out to him on the blueprint.
Christ, why was it never easy?
Ronon shoved through a particularly thick veil of brush and stopped abruptly. Sheppard nearly crashed into him.
Standing in front of them in the middle of a clearing, covered in mud, her eyes wide and scared, was Teyla. She had raised her dirt encrusted hands in a warding off gesture when they shoved through the undergrowth. She had no weapons, no radio, nothing but the clothes on her back.
"He is trapped," she said shakily, urgently. "We have to get him out, or he will suffocate."
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They ran through the forest, keeping up with the fleet footed woman as she sailed over logs and rocks, all but flying back to where she had left the scientist. This time, it was both he and Ronon who were the slackers—Teyla ran with a speed neither of them could match.
Lungs began to burn, leg muscles began to spasm in complaint, but not one of the three people dared slow down as they ran. They were breathing. According to Teyla, Rodney may not be.
There had been no time to ask questions, no time to wonder how it happened. Only the urgency in her voice, the demand in her eyes that they hurry.
She reached the opening she and Doctor McKay had found, all three gasping from the sprint, Sheppard gripping his numb left arm and trying not to throw up. Teyla turned, pointing down into what appeared to be a half toppled entranceway. Bits of dirt and mud cascaded down around the stone frame that had fallen and cut the entrance in half. A massive slab angled from the corner to halfway up one side, looking damn unsteady. It reminded Sheppard of the slabs at Stonehenge, but made of Atlantian metal and, of course, toppled.
"Something," Teyla coughed and gasped for air, sucking in a great lungful before trying again, "Something activated when we entered." She took another breath, "Doctor McKay went in first, I was not far behind. He said he found something," another breath, "and then everything began to shake." She blinked a little, her hands on her hips.
Ronon jumped down the steps and was peering into the darkness beneath the slab, seeing nothing but loose dirt and blackness. He glanced back at Teyla.
"You crawled out?"
She just nodded in reply, brushing more of the mud off her clothes. "My...vest caught. I had to leave it." She sounded confused by this. In shock.
Sheppard had pulled his life signs detector out, aiming it towards the opening. Many little life signs appeared, and he ground his teeth in frustration. Worms, insects, and lord knew what else. He could no more discern which was McKay on his screen than Ronon could with his eyes.
"How far in?" Ronon asked, swiveling around and looking up at Teyla.
She shook her head, "Not far. Maybe five, ten feet?"
Ronon nodded, and looked at the hurting colonel. "I can dig through it."
Sheppard grimaced, "You could shift it worse."
"If Teyla's right, he's not that far in, and I would bet he would have tried to move back towards the entrance when he felt it move. The dirt in there is loose. He could be just a few feet inside."
"Crushed," Sheppard whispered slowly. Pain cascaded down the left side of his face and neck, as if to emphasize his point.
"Maybe. But Teyla is right," Ronon frowned, "he'll suffocate if he hasn't already. We don't have time to—"
"Go," the colonel ordered, damning the uselessness of his dead left arm and burning shoulder. Spots tried to encroach on his vision, but he willed them back by sheer force of nerve. Not now.
"Right." Ronon ducked under the slab and slid into the darkness. A moment later, clumps of dirt and rock erupted from the gap. Sheppard went down the steps a little further, putting the scanner away in order to use his right hand to lift up his P90, shining the flashlight inside. Teyla hovered behind him on the top step, standing, her arms crossed tightly over her chest.
"This slab is long," Ronon called from inside, "I think it's protected most of this hall from the cave in. If so, then...Hang on, I think I see something!"
"Hey!" Halling's voice called, sounding a little breathless. Teyla and Sheppard both turned their heads, to see Halling and about five other Athosians running towards them. "Teyla!" Halling's face split into a grin at the sight of the woman. She gave a single nod back, then turned her head back towards the entrance.
"McKay's trapped in there, somewhere," Sheppard explained as the group reached them. "Ronon's gone in to—"
"I have him!" Ronon's voice called out of the entrance, causing more dirt and earth to shiver down the fallen rocks. "He's unconscious and pinned, but alive! I need help!"
Halling didn't need to be asked, he simply shoved past the two battered people standing atop the stairs and ducked under the slab and into the darkness. Sheppard pushed his worry aside, forcing his fuzzy mind to think again.
"Teyla," he turned, catching the Athosian's eye. She still looked out of sorts, but she met his gaze. "Head back to the jumper. Call Atlantis. Tell them we need a medical team."
She stared at him for a moment, then nodded. Turning, she was soon gone, headed towards the jumper at her top speed.
"Can you lift it?" Ronon asked, his voice echoing out of the darkness, returning Sheppard's focus to the caved in entrance. It was driving him crazy that he couldn't see what was happening in there. A grunt of acknowledgement came from Halling at Ronon's question, and then, suddenly, the huge slab moved.
Sheppard backed up the steps instinctively as more dirt showered down heavily, the lighter earth billowing out in a puff, and then Ronon's voice called out clearly, "He's free!"
The slab stopped moving, and everything seemed to pause for a moment. He felt the Athosians with him holding their breath, just as he was, hoping that the movement Halling and Ronon had just made wouldn't result in their deaths.
Then the woman on his right exhaled slowly, and the noises of the forest and coming from inside the dark caved in entrance came back full throttle.
"How badly is he hurt?" Halling asked, and Sheppard leaned forward, ignoring the pain that spiked up his neck from his arm at the movement. The whole thing had started to throb unmercifully now, and a counterpoint throb was beginning to bang against his skull.
"Don't know," Ronan answered, his voice deepening. "Let's just get him out of here."
"Get his legs," Halling said.
"Careful," Ronon warned harshly. "Watch his head. He's bleeding."
A great deal of shuffling came from the entrance, and Sheppard, recognizing it meant they were coming out, backed up to the top step again. The moment he hit level ground, though, the world suddenly lurched to the right.
But this time, it wasn't because the earth was shaking.
"Whoa," he slurred, feeling someone holding on to him and lowering him to sit on the top step. It was the woman—Dora, Sheppard thought her name was.
"Terrik," Dora said, looking up at another Athosian. "Go after Teyla. Tell her that Colonel Sheppard needs assistance too."
"Yeah," the colonel said, feeling very fuzzy around the edges and focusing on not letting the darkness take over completely. "Good idea." The Athosian, Terrik, was already off and running.
"We're coming out," Ronon's voice called from the entranceway, as if that hadn't been obvious.
Sheppard forced himself to stay awake long enough to see them pull McKay out of the entrance, needing to see for himself that Rodney was still with them. The other Athosians--other than the young woman holding onto his arm--headed down the stairs to help as soon as Halling emerged carrying McKay's upper body. Blurrily, Sheppard watched as the scientist was placed next to him on the top step, lain down on his back, the scientist's forehead a mess of blood and dirt around the hairline on one side.
Ronon kneeled down on McKay's far side, his stance clearly protective, and glanced over at Sheppard. The big man gave him a nod, letting him know that McKay would be okay. The colonel gave him a grateful smile...then slipped into the comforting arms of oblivion.
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TBC – Poor Sheppard...man just can't catch a break, can he?