Part 9 – Help Is On the Way
John woke from a dreamless sleep to the sound of an angry voice shouting. "Where is he, doctor?" The voice sounded rough and fierce, sending a jolt of dread flowing through John's veins, as that certainly didn't sound like someone with good intentions.
Forcing his stiff and protesting body quietly out of the bed, Sheppard frantically looked around for a weapon of some sort. The only thing he spotted was a rather heavy metal lamp sitting on top of a commode. So quickly grabbing it, he pulled out the plug and moved to stand behind the partially open door, which lead into the living area. Not the best position to be in but there really wasn't anywhere else to hide other than under the bed, an even worst choice.
A few minutes later, a rather large and ugly individual forcibly pushed Dr. Ricaud into the room. In the second it took before the monster turned to survey his surroundings, John slammed the lamp down hard onto the man's head. However, even though John had put as much power into the blow as he could it only served to knock the man senseless for a second or two. Recovering far too quickly for John's liking, the brute shook his head to clear it and then moved towards him with murderous eyes.
Like a rabbit caught in a car's headlights, John froze knowing he didn't stand a chance but out of the corner of his vision, he saw Dr. Ricaud rise and slowly creep up on the man with a rather large syringe in his hand. John needed to distract the man away from sensing the doctor's approach, so he suddenly took the brute by surprise by launching himself and knocking them both to the ground. As hoped, the man quickly had him pinned against the soft blue carpet, so totally occupied that he failed to see the doctor move behind him or feel the needle as it penetrated his arm. A few seconds later, John felt the full weight of the brute as he collapsed across his chest.
"Wow, who was that?" John asked as he attempted to extract himself from under the body.
Dr. Ricaud bent down to give him a hand. "One of the henchmen who beat you up last night," Ricaud answered. "Are you all right?"
John righted himself and attempted to look composed as he worked the kinks out of his neck. "Apart from a few aches and pains, I'm good," he answered, shrugging the question off, but in reality he still felt like shit and having a ton weight land on him hadn't helped one bit. However, wanting to change the subject, he asked. "How long have I been asleep and how did he know I was here? Oh and how's the revolution going?"
"That's a lot of questions, Colonel. Firstly, you didn't sleep for long, a couple of hours or so. Aldrich is on the warpath and out for everyone's blood, especially yours. He must have guessed that I'd hidden you here and sent his henchman to collect you. They have the power back up, although the revolt is going better than we hoped. Our people have managed to capture several important areas and news of Tyrell's death has weakened the resolve of many citizens. Aldrich is not very popular, so we are hoping that they will soon turn against him. Nevertheless, you must come with me, as we can't stay here any longer. Aldrich is bound to send more like him eventually, so I think it's best that I take you to one of our new safe areas."
John tended to agree with him and was grateful for the man's help. On the way out of the room, John pointed to the brute and asked. "When will he wake up?"
"He won't, I gave him an overdose of Trinadin. It's a rather fast acting sedative and deadly if you get too much," the doctor answered him serenely. "But don't worry about him. Believe me, he deserved it."
John had no doubt that he did, but he was surprised by the doctor's coolness. One false move and that needle could have ended up in the doctor's skin or come to that, his.
Even though John was still hurting, they made good progress towards the lower, rebel held, control room. Sheppard recognized the area from his trips to the basement and the doctor reassured him that they shouldn't encounter any of Aldrich's people on the route he was taking them, but reassurances can sometimes fall short.
The attack when it came was sudden. One minute they were moving down a passageway, and the next, Dr. Ricaud was out cold and John was running for his life as bullets whizzing by him, too close for comfort.
The passageway eventually led John to a basement stairway that he recognized from earlier visits. He had no idea where going up would lead to, so out of desperation, he threw himself down the stairwell, stooping low to avoid the odd bullet still being fired at him. He had the vague impression that his assailant was Aldrich but he certainly didn't taken the opportunity to check that out.
Breathless and shaking with fatigue, John eventually reached the bottom. Not stopping for a second, he made a mad dash to find somewhere to hide but unfortunately, the basement offered little in the way of concealment, just a never-ending labyrinth of passageways and empty rooms.
Totally winded and unable to go any further, John flung himself behind a lonely piece of broken down machinery. It left little in the way of cover, but he desperately needed to get his breath back. A solid pain lay heavy in his chest and he vaguely wondered if he was having a heart attack. However, several minutes later it thankfully began to ease as his gasping came back under control. He tried to keep things quiet but his gasps seemed to echo around the area and he could only hope that whoever was pursuing him was suffering with the same problem.
Then he heard the voice that almost made his heart stop anyway. "I know you're here somewhere, Sheppard!" Aldrich shouted. "Show yourself and I'll put you out of your suffering, you miserable piece of filth!"
Nice! John knew his situation was terrible. He was weapon less, not in the best condition and faced with a mad crazed son of a bitch. Why do these things always happen to me? He thought as he heard Aldrich moving closer.
-SGA-
Thirty minutes of exploration had revealed nothing to the Atlantis teams. The place seemed deserted, although Ronon had reported finding numerous fresh footprints leading away from one of the adjoining buildings.
Sanjava dome seemed to be just as lifeless as Lorne's team slowly approached the main forecourt where Sheppard and the others had landed days before. The dome's reflective material showed nothing of the activity inside but that didn't mean there wasn't any.
Keeping well hidden, the Major found a good vantage point from which to observe the main entry and everyone settled down to wait and gather intel, after Lorne radioed the other teams and told them to find strategic places and wait for his instructions.
-SGA-
John sensed that Aldrich was nearly upon him and any second now, the maniac would discover his hiding place. He could almost picture the other man's moves, so as fast a he could muster; John jumped up from behind the equipment and pushed against it with all his might sending the rusty machinery toppling over onto the lunatic. Unfortunately, it did little to harm Aldrich but it did buy John enough time to get away again.
Moving as fast as he could, John ran down various passageways trying all the time to remember where the hidden tunnel room was. Then just as he about to give up, he saw the old cabinet hiding the hole in the wall about two hundred meters up a side corridor.
Sprinting on, he skidded to a halt in front of it and checked to see how far away Aldrich was. Seeing no sign of him, John estimated that maybe he had enough time to move the cabinet, get into the room, and scramble down the tunnel before Aldrich arrived. Of course, if Aldrich wasn't far enough away and still had his gun, he could fire down the tunnel and kill him.
Really having no choice, he quickly pushed the unit aside and tried to pull it back into place once he'd crawled into the room. Then without a second thought, he dived into the tunnel and frantically began scrambling as fast he could on the rough and uneven dirt floor. Pain raked his body from old and new injuries as his hands and knees scraped against unseen obstacles, his lungs burnt with every gulping breath but he kept in his mind that every meter bought him closer to freedom and the welcome world beyond.
Just as he thought he was in the clear, he heard a sound behind him and the muffled noise of gunfire echoed through the confined space. He desperately clambered forward and tried to make himself a small a target as possible while he waited for the red-hot pain of impact, but thankfully, it never came. Instead, a muffled curse echoed up the tunnel and John realized that he must have gone further up than he'd thought. Hoping that Aldrich wouldn't follow him into the warren, he continued onwards despite his growing pain and discomfort.
An exhausting and agonizing twenty minutes later, John finally crawled out the other end. Sweat and dirt covered his aching body but the musty air of freedom was sweet to his heaving lungs. He wasn't out of the woods yet but it felt so good to be out of Sanjava.
For a while, he lay among the rubble near the tunnel exit unable to move as his racing heart and breathing came back under control. Recovery was slow, but eventually he found enough energy to stagger out of the basement to find an exit. Then he would try his hardest to locate Officer Tamar, but he knew that he would have to keep under cover and desperately hoped that Aldrich wouldn't send out security forces to look for him.
Eventually, he found his way out into daylight and the warm sun felt good on his face. Looking around he noticed quite a number of footprints leading away from the building to pass close to several other structures, so cautiously, he moved out in that direction.
-SGA-
Rodney was getting thoroughly bored with waiting. They had been observing the dome for nearly an hour and nothing had changed or come out. "Maybe, they've all left for somewhere else," he pondered aloud.
"Left to go where, Rodney?" Beckett questioned.
"How should I know but when we were here the last time there was a bit more life going on."
Lorne looked at McKay. "What about the power source, did that go out and come on all by itself?"
Rodney sighed. "No, of course not. Okay, they're probably still in there but at the moment, I don't see how we're going to get…" Rodney didn't finish his sentence as suddenly the entry opened and an well-armed group of men left the building.
Lorne quickly hit his radio to warn the others as they watched the group fan out as if in pursuit of someone. "Are they the security forces you mentioned, McKay?" he asked.
Rodney took binoculars from the Major and peered closely. "Err…no. Never seen those people before and from the looks of it they seem pity angry, especially the obnoxious one up front."
"Okay, let's stay sharp and see what they do."
-SGA-
John managed to pass several buildings before he realized that the route he was taking went awfully close to Sanjava's main entry. He looked around to see if there was an alternative route but the footprints had definitely gone this way. Determinedly, he walked for several meters before suddenly stopping dead when he thought he heard voices not too far away. Thinking quickly, he had to find shelter, so he gathered pace and moved as fast as he could towards the next building not knowing that Lorne and his team had just spotted him as he approached their hidden position.
Seeing a glimpse of the man he called a friend, Rodney grabbed the binoculars from the Major again. "That really is John Sheppard!" he proclaimed. "Looks worse for wear but that's our boy alright." Without thinking, a delighted McKay stood up and shouted. "Colonel, over here!"
John stopped in his tracks wondering who had called to him. Then his face lit up with a genuine smile as he spotted Rodney, and in his delight and need to be reunited with his friend, he forgot his caution and started to head towards him.
What happened next passed in slowed motion as John's world narrowed down to even more pain as he felt the red-hot bite of a bullet hit his back. Resolute, John staggered onwards moving towards McKay until a second bullet hit his leg, causing him stumbled over some loose rubble and fall to his knees. He began to crawl forwards, dread and agony driving him on in a desperate bid to join Rodney. A bid that fell short as the bite of another bullet left him lying motionless amongst the dirt and debris. And as the air around him erupted into gunfire, he descended into darkness.
Carson and Rodney watched in horror as John lay still after being hit a third time. They felt helpless at being unable to go to him because of the crossfire between their people and the group responsible for bringing Sheppard down. The Major had already called for back up and they knew the others would soon be here, but would it be soon enough?
Several minutes later, Ronon's powerful gun sounded from behind the other group and the gunfire started to die down. When it ceased altogether, Carson wasted no time in rushing towards the fallen man dreading what he would find. Rodney wasn't far behind him but he slowed his pace, fearful as he watched Carson place a finger against John's neck. "He's still alive but I'll definitely be needing that medical equipment now!" the doc shouted.