By Illman
Rating R
Archive: Feel free.
Spoilers: none
Feedback: sure
Disclaimer: It's their universe, not mine.
Summary: Stranded on an alien planet the team has to try to survive while dealing withe physical and emotional fallout of a botched rescue mission.
A/N: As quite a few people on and off list have pointed out, 'Space Pirates' was not the best choice as titles go. Feel free to laugh. Thanks to Shelly for the comments on the draft. Italics represent dreams or nightmares.
Chapter Three: Hunted
Propped up on his backpack, Rodney let his eyes roam around their small campsite. Teyla sat by the fire, holding a pot above the flames with one hand, hand gun in the other hand. An indistinct smell of food wafted over to him. Normally, he'd be hungry, but the pain and budding infection had driven all thoughts of food from his mind. Rodney shifted his tired gaze further left and met a horrifying sight. John was lying motionless on the ground, his head bandaged. Dried blood was smeared all over his face, jacket and hands, making him barely recognizable at the first look. Rodney shuddered. What on earth had he done? He looked down at his own hands, which were equally covered in dried blood. When he closed his eyes, he could feels the cold steel of the gun in his hand, threatening to slip in his bloodied grasp. The cascade of image ran through his mind, he could feel the glass shard slicing through his skin and pushing deeper, causing white hot pain to surge through him, taking his breath away for a second. Struggling to escape while John kept him nailed to the group and stabbed him again and again. The hate on John's face ,that had hurt as much as the stabbing. Reaching for the gun. His fingertips touching the cold weapon. It had all gone so fast. There had been only blood and pain and hate. John had hated him. He had wanted to kill him. But that couldn't be. He had to be wrong. It was all too much, his head hurt.
Rodney opened his eyes, trying to stay awake as long as possible. In sleep, dreams of what he had done in the cell would only come to haunt him. He settled for the least painful position on the backpack that allowed him to lie semi-upright and turned to watch John. The guilt had already taken hold of him and seeing John breathe at least reassured him that John was still alive.
As the afternoon turned into evening and the sun set over the nameless world, Rodney had to watch twice helplessly as John's limbs jerked violently and Teyla tried in vain to hold him to the ground. Neither he nor Teyla spoke a word about these incidents. They both knew that there was nothing they could do without medical knowledge and supplies and they both knew that Major Sheppard's outlook was grim.
Rodney's guilt only deepened. How could he ever live with the knowledge of having inflicted permanent damage on John? If they even got out off this planet alive, a grim voice in his head added. It would be almost better no to get out of here alive. If they got back to the station, what would Elisabeth say once she learned that John was permanently impaired and that he was to blame? Lock him up? Teyla still treated him the same as always, but she was, well she was Teyla and besides, he was injured at the moment. Teyla and Ford's first priorities were probably food, shelter and means of escape, or something along those lines.
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Teyla was worried. Aiden had been gone for almost twelve hours and night was approaching fast. Exploring the planet further was dangerous, but it was their only hope. They had both been aware of it, when Aiden had gone out to have a look at the pirate's campsite and the old ruins. Danger was preferable to the certain death of their friends. Although Teyla had been initially rather optimistic about Rodney's condition, she was now not quite that certain anymore. While he had been awake most of the later afternoon, he had drifted off into an uneasy sleep. His skin felt hot to the touch and he was mumbling incoherently in his sleep. The only phrases Teyla could make out were "didn't mean to kill him" and "so sorry". She assumed Rodney was dreaming about what had happened in the underground prison, although she was puzzle about his reference to killing someone. She didn't know the details, but as far as she knew Rodney hadn't killed anyone. "
The hateful eyes stood out against the pale face. He was looming over him, starting down at him with deadly rage about the plunge the glass shard down into his neck, finishing him off once and for all. Rodney hurt worse than he had ever in his life. Every nerve ending seemed to be screaming with pain. He couldn't breathe, think or move. But when he saw the glass shard was poised to strike his neck, his body mobilized every last reserve. Suddenly the pain was gone and he possessed the strength that one only has in a fight to the death. In a rapid movement, he freed his arm, grabbed his gun with slippery fingers, ignoring the blood dripping down and fired. It hadn't taken but a second. He hadn't thought about it The gun weighted a ton and his arm dropped to the ground like a stone. He tasted blood in his mouth. The coppery taste, combined with pain and shock made him sick. He just managed to pull himself up with his left arm on a grate, before he threw up his breakfast. His chest hurt abominably and somewhere along the line he had started to shake like crazy. He just wanted to forget about it all. Instinctively driven to curl up, he found his lower body pinned to the floor by Sheppard's lifeless form. Needing to know for sure, he rolled John on his back. Dead eyes stared up at him from a face almost completely covered by blood from a head wound. He had killed John.
The rapid fire of gunshots violently brought Rodney out of his dream world. At first, he was confused, fearing that he had gone from one hell to another as the cold air carried the sound of rapid weapons fire and the howling of animals not to far away. The sound seemed to come from all distances. Teyla threw a quick glance in his direction. When she saw that he was awake, she reached down to her ankle holster and three her handgun over to gun.
"The noise will scare the animals and keep them away from us." She said, immediately starting to fire more shots in the air.
Rodney eyed the gun. He could feel it again, how it had felt against his hands. He had dreamt about shooting John again. He shook his head and reached out for the weapon. What if he hit someone, what if he missed on hit Teyla by accident? He couldn't. He balled his shaking hand into a fist. In that moment, he saw something in the corner of his eye. It was nothing more than a shadow, moving swiftly by, then disappearing into the wood. The howling sound had gotten closer. Rodney saw the first animal approach the camp. It looked like a wolf on earth. Teyla downed the beast with one shot. It didn't stop more from following. Teyla was starting to have difficulty hitting the animals before they got close, as they now attacked in a group, running fast towards the camp. She downed two more animals before one of them got to her, throwing her off balance. Rodney stared at the scene in frozen horror. Not another one, he couldn't screw up again and let down another one of his friends. He lunged for the gun at his side and held it up, his entire body shaking. Trying to aim at the beats, he pulled the trigger, hoping that through some miracle he had hit an animal. His shot was followed by howls, he fired again and then a third time, then the gun dropped from his shaking hands. He couldn't go on. He had done what he could and it wasn't enough. Using all his determination and whatever strength he had left, he got to his feet and grabbed his pack back with his good arm. He heard Teyla calling out his name, but he didn't stop and she didn't come after him as he walked into the forest.
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Aiden had never waited that long. He had been crouched behind some shrubs listening, waiting for the howls of the wolf-like beast and the gunfire to cease. It pained him that he couldn't help them, but he couldn't approach the camp without risking being hit by friendly fire. All he could do was hope that Teyla could defend the camp on her own. At was really all his fault. If he hadn't been so keen to explore the pirates' camp, he probably wouldn't have freed the beasts by accident. The locked door had triggered his curiosity and he had hoped to find something that might be of help to them. Instead of saving them, he had unleashed what might just kill them. He had managed to kill two of the animals back in the ruins, where he had only escaped them by climbing up the remnants of a pillar. He had waited for hours until the animals had finally left.
When he hadn't heard a single shot from the campsite for a minute, he jogged towards the faint glow of the fire. When he got close, he saw Teyla sitting on the ground and John lieing next to the fire.
"Dr. McKay is missing. " Teyla stated the obvious, as soon as she noticed him approach."He was still here after I chased the creature away from him. He is armed as well, he could have defended himself. I don't think he was dragged of by one of the beasts."
"I can see that. Where the hell did he go? I thought he couldn't even walk. How did he run off?" Ford answered sharply. He was on the edge. Lack of sleep, combined with the emotional impact of the experiences of the planet had taken their toll.
"I'll go looking for him. I doubt he could have gotten far." Teyla answered as calmly as ever.
"Wait Teyla. What happened to you?´" Ford only now took in her appearance. Teyla looked rather pale in the light of the fire. Her face bore several deep scratches, including a bleeding gash in her forehead. Her clothes were torn in several places. Ford could see blood on her left shoulder, as well as on her right leg, which Teyla had already bandaged with what was probably the last of their bandages. Luckily, he had found some cloth that they could use if needed.
"Stay here. I'm going to find Rodney." Aiden tried to keep the anger out of his voice but didn't quite manage. He was angry at himself for letting down his CO, setting free the beast that had attacked his team, he was angry at Rodney for running off like that and he was angry at Teyla for her stubbornness.
"He ran into the forest. I can easily follow his track there, even by night." Teyla argued. "The wound in my leg isn't deep."
"All right." Ford grit out. Teyla's calm only made him only more exasperated. Was there nothing that got to the woman? Probably not, since she was a little girl, she had seen her people, her parents and her friends slaughtered by an enemy as formidable as the Wraith. He didn't envy her for the cruelties she was bound to have seen in her life.
After Teyla had left, Aiden settled down next to John. He still couldn't comprehend what had happened down in the prison cellar. Why would John first try to kill Rodney and then try to kill himself when he was about to be rescued? John wouldn't break, no matter what the pirates had done. From the looks of it, they hadn't tortured him. They had kept him short on food and probably also short on water, but they hadn't beaten him. Still, that left plenty of scenarios that Aiden didn't even want to think about. Scenarios that made look a good old fashioned beating look like a good idea.
But no matter what had happened, John needed to be in the infirmary now. He wouldn't last much longer. They had the next day pretty certainly, but beyond that, it would be pure luck. Aiden silently swore to bring John back to Atlantis, no matter what. Even if there was nothing Dr, Beckett could do, John deserved better than to die on some nameless planet.
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John abruptly woke up. Something, like a sudden noise must have woken him. But even when he strained to listen, the infirmary was silent, expect for the perpetual humming of medical machinery. He was just about the drift off again, when he heard footsteps. They seemed to come closer. A whooshing sound indicated that the door to the infirmary had just been opened. Another whooshing sound followed. John craned his neck, but the restraints prevented him from moving far enough to be able to see the door of the infirmary. So he did the only thing he could do, he listened. Seconds ticked by in silence and he was already starting to question whether someone had actually come in and the door hadn't been accidentally triggered. The footsteps began again, softer this time, as if someone was deliberately sneaking around. They were moving away from John's position, somewhere to the right side. Suddenly a muffled yelp was followed by a loud plop. Then the sound of something crashing to the floor echoed through the infirmary before all returned to silence. Being tied to the bed, John lay in bed waiting for the footsteps.
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Rain had not been part of the plan. The flashlight from his backpack was of little use. The rain was falling in thick sheets, reducing vision to a few feet in front of him. He had forgotten to count the times he has tripped over branches and tree roots. Getting up was harder every time. After tripping for the second time, he had taken off his tee-shirt and cut it in two. It had taken a while, but eventually he had managed to use the two pieces of cloth to tie his useless right arm to his chest. The rain had started soon after. He was pushing forward blindly; he only thought was getting away. He didn't know where he was running to, he only knew who he was running away from. That was all his feverish mind needed to know. Once again, he tripped, but instead of slamming face first into the wet dirt, he continued to fall forward.
In the split second when he realized what was happening, time stood still for Rodney. He was falling. He'd hit the ground and it'd all be over. It'd be an accident. He had fallen downsome sort of ravine. Maybe sometimes there was justice.TBC