WORST CASE SCENARIO - by NotTasha
CHAPTER 10: BAD TO WORSE
"Do you hear that?" McKay asked, turning and coming to a stop.
With a grimace, Sheppard kept facing forward, doing what he could to tug the scientist onward. "I wouldn't worry about it."
"It sounded like wood splintering. Like someone breaking up a big piece of wood."
"Ignore it."
"Didn't you hear it? I'm betting it's the last door we went through. Something's busting it up. This is bad. This is really really bad, isn't it?"
"Faster, McKay!"
"That's definitely the door. Wait… what's that now? Sounds like something – some things – moving. Moving really fast."
Sheppard increased his grip on McKay's elbow and propelled him forward.
"Something smells kind of funny, too. Have you noticed it?"
"What, you smell something besides yourself?"
"Nice! Great. Thank you. What I meant was … oddly familiar, but I can't quite place it."
"It's not important."
"Bet it is," McKay muttered as he furrowed his brow as they kept up the pace.
Sheppard tried to decide what the odor could be – yes it was there – a strange foreign smell in that fishy world. It wasn't right.
"You ever wonder if this is really meant to be a sewer system?" McKay asked.
"No," Sheppard answered curtly.
"I'd really suck if this was a sewer system. I mean, imagine what sort of stuff must have been in here at some point."
"I don't think it was a sewer," Sheppard said curtly. "Looks like it was just meant to be a passageway."
"Still, it sucks," McKay muttered, holding his arm close to him as he hurried along. "Really sucks."
"Yeah," Sheppard agreed. "Can't get much worse than falling on my ass and getting eaten by lobsters."
McKay gave him a bleak and accusatory look. "You shouldn't say that things can't be worse!"
Sheppard let out a breath, knowing that the scientist was right. Nothing brought disaster faster than declaring that they'd already survived the worst. There was no wood to knock on to dispel the bad luck. He considered knocking on McKay's head but figured the man had taken enough raps already, so they kept moving.
The scrabbling sound increased and became more important than the strange scent or the possibility of walking through a sewer system. Sheppard muscled McKay to a faster pace.
"That sound… do you think it's the lobsters?" Rodney asked.
Sheppard grumbled.
"Because, that sounds like it could be the lobsters. Oh, I don't think this is good. Oh God… I think things just got worse."
Sheppard pressed forward, hauling McKay along with him. Rodney seemed to be staggering more – not good. Sheppard got a stronger grip on him.
"OW!" McKay yelped. "Hey, come on! You're jostling my arm. I broke something here. OW! That really hurts!"
"You just bruised it or something," Sheppard insisted. "Dislocated your shoulder at best."
"Did not! It's broken!" Rodney stumbled, trying to keep Sheppard from wrenching his hurt arm as he shoved on the good one. "Come on! OW!"
"Move it!" Sheppard shouted, pushing the scientist ruthlessly. "Goddammit! If they catch up to us, they'll kill us. RUN!"
McKay gave Sheppard one frightened look and broke off in a trot, clutching his arm close as he hurried forward.
Sheppard knew – he knew that they both weren't going to get out if the lobsters overtook them. There was only one way to ensure that one of them made it out safely. He released his hold, giving the Canadian a shove forward. He stayed in place and watched Rodney continue, illuminated by the light of the P90.
Once he was sure that McKay could move without assistance, Sheppard swung around to shine the light into the dark tunnel behind them.
Sheppard felt the hairs on the back of his neck prick up at the noise that came at him – the chittering clattering sound. The nestuccas had gotten through the last door – and they weren't stopping. He struggled to a half-kneeling position, in spite of his butt's protesting. God, why'd I have to bust my butt bone?
Behind him, McKay let out a disgruntled sigh as he stopped in the darkness. "Hello?" he groused. "I can't see without the light!"
"Dammit, McKay!" Sheppard growled, "We're in a straight tunnel! Go straight forward!" The noise was growing stronger. He could imagine them – envision the foul creatures heading toward him – out of the blackness. They were probably just out of view.
"But I can't SEE!"
With a scowl, Sheppard brought the light around to illuminate the path and give McKay a chance to map where he was going. "There. See? Straight! Now, GO!" he ordered, redirecting the light to tunnel in the other direction. His ears twitched, listening intently to the coming sound.
"What? I'm just supposed to do whatever you say now?"
Sheppard closed his eyes for a second in annoyance. He remembered why he liked dealing with the military. At least he could order around the marines. Scientists …scientists were a different story. And McKay was the biggest pain in the ass ever foisted upon him. He shuffled uncomfortably as another 'pain in the ass' reminded him of its presence.
"McKay, move it or you'll be sushi in the next few seconds," Sheppard ordered. "You had a chance to see what's in front of you. Go! I'm going to need the damn light. Run. Try to move in a straight line for a change."
"It's not easy… when you take the light away!"
"Fine! There, I'll light the way for a while. GO! NOW!" Sheppard turned sharply, lending the light again and noted the scientist's annoyance as he turned and began moving in the illuminated space.
"Fine!" Rodney struggled forward with an uneven lope.
"Keep moving!" John ordered.
"I'm trying!" McKay returned. He came to a halt again, and turned to face Sheppard. "Why aren't you coming?" he questioned as he squinted in the glare of the P90's flashlight. "Come on, colonel. We have to go."
Sheppard wanted to sock him. "Do NOT look directly at the light! Dammit, McKay! Don't you know anything?" Irritated, he swung the light back in the direction they'd come. "You bitch about not being able to see where you're going and then you go and fuck up your night vision by staring into a light. Get the hell out of here! GO!"
The noise was getting louder. John couldn't pick out any individual sounds, couldn't differentiate one claw crunch from another. It was rattling, horrible clattering cacophony that filled him with an almost unreasonable fear.
He sucked in a breath as he shone the light into the depths of the tunnel. He and McKay had moved a fair distance from the last door. Why would the nestuccas bother with them? It was too far to run on such spindly little freak legs.
But the bug-things had already eaten all the food that the town had to offer. They were hungry critters.
"Colonel?" McKay's voice sounded from too short a distance. "Colonel. Shouldn't we keep going?
He could hear their scrambling clattering getting closer. They were coming – they were moving fast. He tried to slow his breath, to keep from panting out his fear. Oh God, this was going to suck.
"I remember you saying something about how we needed to keep moving," McKay went on. "Right? Now would be a good time for that."
"Go, McKay!" Sheppard shouted, not turning.
"That's what I'm saying! Colonel, we have to go now!"
"McKay, get out of here! That's an order! I'll hold them off…"
"… for as long as you can?" McKay completed, sounding irritated as hell. "God, where do you get your dialogue? Old John Wayne movies?"
"McKay!" Sheppard got out through gritted teeth.
"Let me get this straight," Rodney spat out. " You want me to run – run into the darkness – while you fight off a hoard of marauding lobsters intent on tearing you to bite-sized bits."
"Would you…"
"And, while they're enjoying your intestines and sucking the morrow out of your bones, I'm supposed to find my way out without any light?"
"You have your own flashlight!"
The clattering sputtering nattering was getting closer.
"Not anymore!"
"What did you do with it?" Something moved at the far end of the tunnel, just within the light of the P90. The floor of the tunnel seemed to undulate. He swallowed, trying to drive down the horrible sick feeling that caught in his throat.
"How the hell should I know? I lost it!"
"Where?"
"If I knew that, it wouldn't be lost, would it? It was hard enough keeping my arm still without trying to juggle a flashlight, too! I'm having enough trouble just moving forward without passing out."
Flailing legs and eyestalks moved in the wave of creatures as they clambered closer.
McKay went on, "How am I supposed to fight off the crab creatures after they get past you? You got a flashlight and a big gun and… fight training… and … probably some other stuff… and a flashlight!"
They moved like one massive insect, all legs and eyes and pointy-poking, heading their way.
"After they've eaten up all your bits and brains, they'll come after me – and they'll find me, fumbling in the dark, lost – and I got only ONE ARM! No flashlight. Do you think I'll stand a chance? We're better off sticking…"
Fuck it! Sheppard sprang to his feet and grabbed onto McKay who was looming right behind him. Gruffly, he spun McKay in the right direction, ignoring the cry of pain, and shoved him forward. "Go! Go!" he ordered as they broke into a run, putting distance behind them and the lobsters. He didn't chance a glance over his shoulder, keeping the light ahead of them.
He didn't want to see what was following them anyway.
"Would you just…" McKay tried to sputter out.
"Shut the hell up. Anyone ever tell you how annoying you are?"
"Often," McKay said with a gasp. He grunted as he pressed forward and muttered, "This is the 'worse' part, isn't it?"
"Don't even start with me…" Sheppard growled in return. "Jeez!" he complained as McKay stumbled, but was kept moving by John's supporting arm. "I was trying to save your life. Now, we're both going to get killed, dumb ass."
McKay shot him a glance, and uttered breathlessly as they ran, "I wasn't thinking straight. My head hurts."
"So does my ass," Sheppard rejoined.
"Same difference," McKay returned – and for that he got another shove in the right direction.
--
TBC - Honestly, I wouldn't want to be out there without a flashlight either.