Radek was dead. He had realized it in the split second he had stepped over the ledge. It was a hundred foot drop, guaranteed to be fatal. He was waiting for the impact to end it all, but it never came.
oOo
Carson and Elizabeth had gone into Carson's office after Elizabeth had brought them the good news.
"What is it, Dr. Weir?" Carson asked after they had sat down.
"How is Teyla doing?"
"She is holding up fine. Her system hasn't been overly compromised by the Wraith toxin yet. For the moment, infection is our biggest worry. Especially animal bites are very prone to infection. We came late in the game and alien pathogens can be tricky." Carson explained.
"What about her vision? Are you sure that it is temporary?"
"Almost certain. The MRI came back clean and we haven't found any ocular damage. The next two days should clear up the issue."
"That's good to hear. I'm still waiting for Dr. Biro's report on Major Sheppard." Elizabeth said. "I also wanted to talk to you about Rodney."
"I understand. According to Teyla and Ford, he fell into a river."
"Exactly. Under the circumstances, I have no choice, but to declare him dead."
"Already?" Carson asked.
"I know it seems soon, but do you honestly think that Rodney is still alive?"
Carson shook his head. "It just is so difficult to imagine that he is dead. He is just gone."
"Rodney didn't have many friends, but I know that you two were good friends."
"Yes, we got along. It sounds strange. Rodney was arrogant and rude, but he had a good heart." Carson considered.
"Someone needs to go through Rodney's quarters. Pack up his personal belongings to send back to Earth once we have the opportunity. The rest should into storage. I want you to do this. Take your time, you still need to rest." Elizabeth said.
"I will take care of it." Carson promised. "Did Rodney leave any instructions?"
"Mostly about his work. I have someone from the science team taking care of it."
oOo
Radek opened his eyes and saw nothing but blackness. He blinked, but nothing changed. For a moment he was confused, then it came back to him in a rush. The Wraith, the cliff, he had stepped over the ledge, a hundred foot drop. He couldn't still be alive. Radek tried to tentatively move his hand, but found his movements restrained by something above him. He tried again with more force. This time something tore and his hand hit a hard surface about twenty inches further above. Radek was curious now. He seemed uninjured, but trapped somewhere. After a fall from the cliff, he should have broken all his bones, he wasn't in any pain. He freed his second hand and felt for the ceiling. It was cold and smooth, but he could detect a slight vibration. As he felt the material that had covered his hands, he found it sticky and fibrous. Slowly a terrible reality started to dawn on him. It couldn't be, could it? The Wraith base had been directly below him and there had been a Dart in the area. What were the chances? Infinitesimal, his mind told him. But the fact that he wasn't dead and that this was probably not the afterlife he didn't believe in, made the improbable look a lot more probable.
That left one more important question. Radek felt for his face. Once he had freed it of the webbed material, he tried to feel for signs of aging, but he couldn't feel any. He couldn't be sure, but he didn't think he had been feed upon. Although that was just of question of time until that happened. He had no idea whether he was supposed to be awake or not. He only knew that he had to get away.
Using his hands, he felt for the back wall of the space he was trapped in and tried to push himself forward. He managed to slide a few inches. The back wall was now out of his reach. The space was very narrow, making it hard to but down his hand next to him to leverage himself towards the opening. Radek suddenly wished he had joined Sergeant Bates' fitness programme.
It was hard work, but slowly, he was gaining ground. His arms were trembling and he was sweating by the time he had pushed himself out of the storage space. Radek dropped to the ground, glad to be on his feet again. The room was dark and luckily aside from storage spaces empty. Radek leaned against the wall to catch his breath and plan his next move. He was bound to run into a Wraith sooner or later if he left the room, but staying in here was not an option. He had lost his handgun, either in the fall, or the Wraith had taken it.
oOo
The guard eyed John and Carson, trying to decide what to do with them. While he was thinking, a second guard approached from the other side of the tunnel.
"Saron, what's going on here?" He asked.
"I found these two prisoners slacking at work, sir." The guard John and Carson had been talking two answered his superior.
"Don't worry about it. They will have a chance to earn their day's rations." The second guard smiled. John didn't like the turn the situation had taken. The first guard had seemed sympathetic enough to their situation, but his superior had an unpleasant streak.
"Cut them lose. I'll take them." He ordered. The junior guard freed their chains from the hooks in the wall and the chains of the other prisoners. John couldn't help but notice that their prospects of escape had just improved dramatically. Instead of being chained to a whole group, now he was only chained to Carson.
"Come." The superior guard gave him a shove in the back. John reached to support Carson and they followed the guard. They made their way to the elevator cage, rode up to the surface and exited the tunnel. The guards at the front of the mine saluted as they passed. As they passed behind one of trucks, John signalled Carson to be silent and pulled out the knife. Carson shot him an angry look, but said nothing.
In a swift move, John grabbed the guard from behind and pressed the blade against his neck, while reaching for his gun in the same move.
"Don't make any noise. I won't hesitate to kill you if you do." John whispered to the guard. The guard nodded, pure fear on his face. John handed the gun to Carson.
"The keys?" John demanded.
"My pocket..." The guard answered.
John grabbed the bunch of keys.
"Unlock the chains." He told Carson. Carson looked awfully grey, but he did as John had asked.
"The keys for the truck?"
"You have them. Please..." The guard pleaded.
Before he could finish the sentence, John stabbed the guard in the neck and laid him down on the ground.
"Open the truck. We are getting out of here." John motioned to Carson. Carson unlocked the door of the nearest truck and they climbed in.
They pulled out of the lot by the mine seconds later.
They were in the winding road down the mountain when Carson looked over the John.
"I didn't think you had it in you." He commented.
"What do you mean?" John asked, but he suspected what this was all about. He was surprised himself how easily he had stabbed the guard. Maybe he was just adapting to his environment. He thought back to Atlantis. Bates and the marines who had shot Rodney, Elizabeth who had ordered him to be hanged, Carson who had betrayed Atlantis to the Yularans, the Yularans who had double-crossed Carson.
"You know what I mean." Carson said. "Don't take the road back to the camp. They might be expecting us already."
"Not to point out the obvious, but there is no other road and I don't think this is on off-road vehicle." John didn't even think that the truck was an on-road vehicle considering how it was shaking on the uneven road as they were pushing the engines at maximum speed. He could read none of the indicators, but it didn't seem to be going very fast.
"I don't think it matters what the vehicle was intended for." Carson said, sounding breathless. "We should be at the bottom of the mountain soon, then we can head off to the side."
John didn't tell Carson all the reasons why this was a very bad idea. He didn't have any good ideas. They couldn't go back to the camp; they had just killed a guard. Heading off into the wilderness with nothing more than a gun and a knife didn't seem like a better plan. He had no idea where they would get the drug Carson needed.
oOo
Carson sat down on Rodney's bed. He had come down to Rodney's quarters a good twenty minutes ago, but he hadn't been able to bring himself to get started on boxing up Rodney's things. Being in Rodney's room made it even harder to think of Rodney as dead. A week ago, he had been alive and now he was gone. Not knowing for certain what had happened to Rodney would always leave way for doubts and questions. But Elizabeth was right, Rodney was dead and he had to get used to that thought.
Carson got up and started taking down the pictures and diplomas from the wall, piling them neatly on the desk. These could go back to Rodney's family on Earth. Rodney never said much about his family, Carson only knew so much that he had never gotten along with his parents and that he had a younger sister. The way he had talked about her, he seemed to have a better understanding with her. Elizabeth hadn't said, but maybe she should get his belongings. If they ever got the chance to send anything back to Earth. Carson sighed and put the pile into the first box.
Three hours later, he had filled one box with Rodney's personal belongings, and two boxes for items to be stored. The only things left in the room where things Carson had thought the science department should take care of; a few artefacts, Rodney's laptop and a pile of notes. Rodney's existence on Atlantis sorted into piles, ready to be put into storage. The box with Rodney's personal belongings was small. Diplomas, some photographs and a few old letters. Everyone had only been able to bring few personal belongings, but Rodney had brought even less than most. He had lived for his work. In the years he had known Rodney, Carson had never seen him at the pursuit of any hobbies. Rodney didn't read novels, listen to music and before coming to Atlantis, didn't work out. Atlantis had done Rodney good, in more ways than one. But Rodney's death reminded Carson once more of what awaited them in the Pegasus galaxy. Sometimes he wished he had never come.
oOo
They had to abandon the truck about two miles into the terrain when they reached a forest. Before getting out, John raided the glove box, finding two sandwiches and a bottle of water. Being hungry, they decided to eat immediately. John kept the water, handed Carson the knife and hid the gun in his tunic.
"Let's go. They'll follow our tracks and find the truck here, but I'm sure we will lose them in the forest." John said and helped Carson to his feet.
"Okay." Carson said and nodded. They started into the woods. The going was slow. Carson was not in good shape and John could hear the guard's words clearly in his mind. Carson couldn't live without the drug. Maybe they should have stayed in the camp. There were probably drugs going around there, John would be surprised if not. Out here, they were on their own and they wouldn't cover much ground until nightfall. The escape hadn't been such a good idea. John was fairly sure that they would survive the night in the woods, but what then. They couldn't stay out there forever.
They were resting, leaning against the trunk of a huge tree. Carson hadn't said a word in a long time, when he suddenly asked a question.
"Do you miss them?" He asked softly.
John knew who he meant. "Yes. I do. I miss the City." He meant it in more ways than one.
"Thank for earlier." Carson said simply.
John thought he hadn't done them much of a favour.
"But..."
Carson weakly raised a hand.
"It's good to be free again."
John realized that Carson knew that they were never going to make it off this planet, maybe never out of these woods. But they were free men, that was the point.
TBC