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MORE THAN JUST PRETTY FACES
By TIPPER
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CHAPTER TWO: RIVER
Sheppard pelted the jungle foliage around them with machine gun fire, firing at anything colorful or white that moved. At least the Wraith stuck out.
The Atlantians moved like a well oiled machine—Teyla instantly took off at his order despite her odd hesitation, blazing the trail, her fantastic sense of direction leading them the quickest way back to the jumper. Rodney ran immediately behind, staying as low as he could, two hands gripping the warm 9MM in his hand, the black pack on his back giving Sheppard the impression of a scurrying beetle. The colonel and Ronon brought up the rear, alternating positions as they took turns firing on the ambushers.
No one spoke; they didn't have the breath or the time.
Teyla flew, watching for exposed roots, jumping logs, bee-lining back towards the rickety rope bridge that had carried them to this side of the jungle. Rodney, less graceful, but fueled by adrenalin, kept up, stepping where she stepped, never letting her out of his sight.
Soon, Sheppard heard the river getting closer, roaring away. The jungle was split in half by a thin, but deep ravine formed by a white river. The Stargate, and the jumper, were on the far side. Teyla's friends—former friends, he amended, having also seen the painted human faces with the Wraith—lived on this side. And Rodney had said he suspected the main entrance to the Ancient outpost to be near their village, since most villages had sprung up in such locations. All they had to do to get from one side to the other was cross a rope bridge.
Rodney had loved that. He'd wanted to fly over it, and with good reason. The rope bridge was like something out of a 1940s monster-movie set in the Congo—narrow, rickety and completely treacherous. But Teyla had insisted the people of this world would be frightened by a flying ship, even if it wasn't a dart, and, because of the dense foliage, the only other place to land other than the village had been on the far side of the bridge.
Sheppard really, really regretted the decision now. If they didn't get some distance between them and the Wraith chasing them, they'd be sitting ducks on that bridge.
He thought of suggesting they split up, but the jungle was worse than a maze. Even if he and Ronon could navigate it without Teyla, he wasn't sure what good splitting up would do. There were more than enough Wraith and men to follow both parties.
He just had to hope they got lucky.
He didn't feel that lucky today. Not since he had finally won at Solitaire this morning. Damn it, he should have known!
He saw two more Wraith go down under Ronon's fire. In the background, he heard screaming—the hurt Wraith were obviously feasting on the lives of the villagers to regain their strength. If they had thought they were safe in return for this betrayal, they didn't know the Wraith that well.
He shot to kill any man he saw—frankly, he was doing them a favor.
"The river!" Teyla shouted from up ahead, and Sheppard turned his head, seeing the world open up. Teyla was already making her way across the rope bridge, not about to slow down now. Rodney glanced back once, meeting Sheppard's eyes, clearly making sure that this was the only way, then nodded when Sheppard gestured at him to move.
Teyla was about a third of the way, then ducked as a stunner blast nearly knocked her down. Rodney fired ineffectually with his 9MM into the woods in the direction of the blast, then ducked as one nearly hit him as well. His distraction was enough, though, for Teyla to rip a grenade off her vest and lob it in the right direction. She and Rodney continued to slide across the ropes as the explosion blew out a chunk of the ravine edge.
Sheppard and Ronon continued to fire into the woods, staying on this side of the bridge until the last possible moment, to give their teammates as much cover as possible. Fact was, the jumper was only about a hundred yards down on the other side. If Rodney could reach it, power it up, he might be able to scoop him and Ronon up.
But Sheppard wasn't about to let the Wraith get close enough to feed on him and Ronon either. And they were getting close...
"Shit!" he yelled as a Wraith burst out of the woods not ten feet from their position. A red laser blast hit it square in the chest from Ronon's weapon, and it went down.
"Go!" Sheppard yelled, pulling a couple of grenades from his own vest and lobbing them into the woods in the direction of several more flashes of white. Ronon didn't need to be told twice, practically leaping onto the swaying bridge. Sheppard fired some more rounds, then stepped onto the edge of the bridge, still facing the woods. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Teyla ducking another stunner blast about halfway across, and Rodney cowering not far behind her, looking frozen with fear, even as he tried to inject a new clip into his 9MM. Shit, not now! Rodney chose some of the worst times to panic sometimes.
"Rodney!" he yelled, tapping his radio to be heard better. "You have to get to the jumper! You can come and get us if you do."
He saw the blue eyes lift up, turning to look at him. They were wide and open, fearful and honest and alive. Then Rodney was suddenly on his feet, firing directly at Sheppard.
The colonel ducked, looking back at the woods...in time to see two village hunters fall not two yards from him. He hadn't even heard them! Growling, Sheppard fired again into the woods and then turned and ran along the bridge, needing some distance. Ahead of him, he saw Teyla had twisted one foot into the ropes to keep her balance as she fired her P90 into the woods upriver from their position. Rodney was quickly sidling past her—to get to the jumper as ordered. She was covering him. Ronon was almost to them both, despite taking perfectly aimed shots at the woods as often as he could.
Then it happened.
Rodney jerked, his head going back, left hand going for the dart sticking out of the side of his neck. He didn't make a sound...just collapsed bonelessly...
And slipped silently off the bridge like a stone, falling into the white waters below.
"RODNEY!" Teyla shrieked, diving for him as he fell. But she forget her leg, and the ropes twisted, sending her onto her side hard...and backwards. She yelled in frustration, trying to get to her now trapped leg, to untangle it, but the whole bridge tipped with her, angling up almost vertical to the thirty foot drop into the white river.
"Teyla!" Sheppard shouted, tying to throw his weight against the tipping bridge, to stop it, but it was too late, and with a sickening sensation, he felt it turn over. His hands let go the P90, trying to grab at the ropes...
But he was too slow.
The last thing he heard before everything was drowned out by wind and water was the Wraith stunner that missed him as he fell.
Small favors.
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Ronon grabbed at the ropes with his free hand, seeing Teyla feverishly fighting to release herself, and felt the bridge tip. Like Sheppard he tried to force it to stay horizontal, but it was like fighting against the swing of a hammock—once tipped, it was going to go all the way around. His feet slipped off the edge and it was only his grip on the ropes that stopped him.
Teyla screamed, as, abruptly, the ropes holding her in place loosened of their own accord, as if the tension had been released by the overturning bridge, and she fell headfirst into the waters below. Ronon tried to get to her, but couldn't. Twisting, he turned to see Sheppard, but the colonel was gone. The former Runner's eyes widened, holding on now by one hand as the bridge swayed dangerously back and forth over the ravine.
All his teammates...
Even if he got back now, he couldn't get the jumper to work, but if he got back to the Stargate...
Then he saw them.
Wraith. Six of them, standing along the shore. They watched him, swinging back and forth. Just watched. Villagers stood near them, looking angry and scared. He watched as, together, the Wraith collectively turned their heads, all looking up-river.
Ronon followed their gaze, and the sick feeling in his stomach turned cold.
The two Wraith darts angled across the jungle, turned, and aimed straight for him, following straight down the path of the ravine. The Wraith didn't have to get him off the bridge—the dart just had to get close enough to cull him.
The cold in his stomach turned to ice.
He looked down at the river below, the thick, churning water rushing swiftly by.
He tucked his gun inside his vest, then looked over at the Wraith...and smiled.
Then he let go.
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TBC