Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate Atlantis or any of its characters just in case someone wants to sue!
Warning: There is strong violence in this story and scenes that some people may find upsetting so ye be warned!
Thank you to my beta The Bog Witch who corrected all my mistakes.
Here's the next chapter, I didn't get much response from the last chapter so I hope people are still enjoying this.
Chapter Three: Hunt or be Hunted
Sheppard slowly came back to consciousness. He first noticed the high pitched beeping of a heart monitor. The next thing that he became aware of was the detached way his mind was drifting from his body.
Yep, he thought, Beckett's pumped me full of strong pain meds!
He tried to focus on the infirmary when he felt his mind switching off again, he heard faint murmuring in a bed near him and he concentrated on it, willing his eyes to open.
'You shoulda called me down to you, Elizabeth; you are in no condition to be wandering around the base!' The doctor's thick Scottish brogue penetrated the Colonel's fuzzy head.
'I'm fine Carson.' Weir's voice sounded strange as if she was straining to get the words out.
Sheppard weakly turned his head towards the voices and once again commanded his eyes to open. His body finally obeyed him and he was not happy with what he saw. Weir was lying on the hospital bed next to his and Doctor Beckett was administering first aid to whatever injury she had sustained.
Sheppard felt even worse than he had moments before. He had failed to save Weir from being hurt by the villager and had ended up getting hurt himself as well! That wasn't what he had intended in the millisecond of planning that he had done before jumping into the path of the bullet.
He tried to get the pair's attention, thinking up some wise crack about being in the infirmary again but all he managed was a croak, his voice not co-operating.
It did the job though, Beckett hurried to his side and Weir hopped off the bed and joined the doctor. Beckett looked like he had some quibble with this but decided to give Sheppard his full attention at this time.
'How are you feeling Colonel? You had us all a bit worried for a time.' Beckett gently questioned. 'Is there any pain?'
Sheppard croaked again and Weir hurried to hold a drink to his mouth. Sheppard sucked the water gratefully through the straw that she put to his lips.
He tried to speak again. 'Thanks.' He looked up at her, meeting her concerned gaze. His eyes drifted downward to the stark white bandage covering her throat. This injury had not been caused by the attack that he had saved her from which meant that she had been attacked again whilst he had been unconscious.
Anger coursed through him, giving him a much needed adrenalin boost. 'What happened?' He demanded, struggling to sit up with one arm. The other was immobilised, held in place with a tight sling. He dismissed this new information and concentrated on Weir. She had a large purple bruise on her forehead and a small amount of blood seeping through the bandage on her throat.
'John calm down!' Weir insisted.
'Lay down lad, you will pull out your stitches!' Beckett bellowed. 'Elizabeth will explain everything that's going on if you stop wriggling around!'
Sheppard stopped at the doctor's words, mainly because his energy burst was about spent. Also, he was intimated by Beckett, who could be extremely ferocious when his patients weren't doing as they were told, as he had found out on numerous occasions.
'Fine.' He muttered exhaustedly 'Just tell me what happened. The villagers-'
'John!' Weir stopped him, her voice scratchy and exasperated. 'We have a situation on our hands which I will tell you about, if you will let me!'
Sheppard nodded and winced at the pain it sent rushing through his shoulder.
'Well there were twelve hostiles that came through the gate; one took Lieutenant Geller's gun-'
'Yes, about that, I'll have a word with Geller later, it should never have happened!' Sheppard interrupted.
Weir's eyes filled with tears. 'John,' her voice broke on saying that simple word. She didn't know how to tell him that another man under his command had lost their life.
She didn't need to however as Sheppard had figured it out from her face. 'How did it happen?' He asked his voice thick with anguish.
'The hostiles are loose in the city; we have search teams looking for them. Teyla and Geller managed to capture a hostile but were both hurt. Geller,' here she paused and took in a shaky breath 'Geller was stabbed by the hostile and suffered a punctured lung. The medical team were not able to reach him in time.'
'And Teyla?' Sheppard prompted.
'Son, you may want to look to your left!' Beckett suggested.
Sheppard carefully did as he was told and saw an unconscious Teyla in the bed next to him. 'Will she be alright?' He asked.
'Her arm is broken and she has a concussion. I've sedated her so that she can get some rest.' Beckett informed him.
'Right o.k. but that still doesn't explain how you were injured Doctor Weir!' Sheppard noted sarcastically but there was no humour in his voice.
Weir thought for a second about how to phrase her next sentence. Sheppard wasn't going to be happy about what happened. 'I was integrating the prisoner and I got a little close to the bars.' Weir explained simply.
Sheppard frowned 'But that shouldn't be a problem unless the shield wasn't activated!' Weirs guilty face gave her away. 'Which SF was guarding the prisoner at the time? Come on Elizabeth, don't protect him!'
'Now's not the time John!' Weir told him sharply. 'It was an accident but I'm fine. Now I managed to get some information out of the prisoner.' Weir quickly filled her chief military officer in on the wraith's plans.
'Damn, I hate those pesky wraith!' Sheppard muttered to himself. He turned to Beckett. 'Can you get Major Lorne down here? I'll need to brief him on strategies to capture or kill the remaining hostiles.'
Beckett and Weir exchanged a resigned look. 'Er, we weren't going to tell you but Major Lorne has been out of contact for well over an hour.' Weir admitted.
'Weren't going to tell me? Why not?' Sheppard asked angrily. He was sitting up again, trying to untangle himself from all the wires and tubes that he was hooked up to.
'Calm down Colonel, we didn't tell you because we knew you would act like this!' Beckett told him harshly. 'You're not helping anyone by thrashing about like this!'
Sheppard ignored him and swung his legs over the side of the bed. 'Who's been making the military decisions?' He demanded.
'Ronon and me.' Weir informed him. 'The rest of the military team are out of radio contact. We presume they have been captured by the hostiles.'
'Can't Rodney use the life-signs detector to find them?' Sheppard wondered.
'Yes he is doing that, however I haven't had the chance to go back and check on his progress.' Weir explained. 'If I'm free to go Doctor I will go and check on him now?'
'Yes as long as you take it easy. I'm expecting you to rest though after this crisis is over.' Beckett told her.
'And I'm coming with you.' Sheppard stated, easing himself off the bed.
'You are not!' Beckett and Weir said in unison.
Sheppard's legs buckled as soon as they hit the floor. He would have fallen except for the fact that Beckett grabbed him by his uninjured arm; it still sent tremors through his body to his other shoulder.
'O.k.! Not going!' Sheppard grunted, letting Beckett and Weir help him back onto the bed.
'You lost a great deal of blood Colonel!' Beckett explained. 'You're body needs time to recover.'
'John, just stay put. I will keep you posted.' Weir promised.
Sheppard nodded and settled back more comfortably on his pillows. Weir frowned; she had been expecting more of a fight than this. She couldn't help but feel that he was planning something.
XXXX
'Rodney? How's it going?' Weir asked when she reached the control room.
'Finally!' McKay exclaimed. 'I asked you to come up ages ago! What do you think that I didn't mean it? I know that it's hard to believe that I could possibly need help but what could be more important than what I am doing here?' McKay finally looked up from his laptop. 'Oh God, what happened to you?'
Weir sighed, she really wanted to curl up in a ball in her bed at the moment but she realised a long time that you don't always get what you want. 'I'm fine Rodney! What's your status?'
'Well some of the consoles were damaged when the control room was shot up. This ancient technology isn't infallible, you know!' McKay told her.
'Can you fix it?' Weir asked shortly.
'How many times-' McKay started angrily.
'Yes or no Rodney!'
'Yes! Eventually! That's the problem, I needed you to tell Zelenka to get up here because you told all civilians to stay in their rooms and he won't come up here to help me without your permission. With his help, I will get done in no time. Not that I need his help, I am the best scientist here it's just that I can only do one thing at a time, you know!'
'Alright! I will send Zelenka up here.' Weir told him, he nodded absently and went back to his work, ignoring Weir in favour of his laptop.
XXXXX
After a long and painful walk, Sheppard finally made it to the brig. He had spent more time resting against the wall than actually walking but he went as quickly as possible, knowing that Beckett would soon notice that he was gone from his bed. The chief medical officer was annoyingly thorough at his job. The SF immediately stood to attention when he saw his CO and knew better than to question the Colonel about whether or not he should be there.
'At ease soldier.' Sheppard commanded, a little more sharply than was necessary.
The SF did as he was told, nervously waiting for possible repercussions for his lapse earlier.
'What the hell happened?' Sheppard demanded. He may have seemed more threatening if he wasn't swaying dangerously on the spot.
The SF tactfully ignored this 'I messed up sir! It won't happen again sir!' He answered dutifully.
Sheppard surveyed the soldier thoughtfully. He would have to be punished, that was the military way but he would be lenient because Elizabeth had asked him to.
'What's the status of the prisoner?' He asked, changing the subject.
'He is unarmed Colonel and he woke a few moments ago from the tranq dart.'
'Is the shield raised?'
'Yes sir!' The SF smiled inwardly, he would have been foolish to make the same mistake twice.
'Alright, get me a chair; I'm going to question the prisoner.' Sheppard ordered, grabbing the doorframe for support with his free arm.
'Yes sir.'
XXXXX
'Elizabeth, we have a wee problem!' Beckett's voice came over the radio.
Weir turned away from McKay and Zelenka who were arguing over which wire should be crossed with which wire so that she could hear Beckett. 'What is it now?' She asked irritably.
'Colonel Sheppard has left the infirmary. I won't ask any of my staff to search for him without military protection.' Beckett explained apologetically.
'I understand Carson. I think I know where he is, I will escort him beck to you!' Weir promised. Damn that Colonel, why could he never do as he was told!
'Colonel Sheppard!' Weir exclaimed when she saw him sitting next to the brig. 'I thought I'd find you down here, would you care to explain yourself?'
Sheppard frowned at her and shook his head, motioning to the prisoner who she now saw was watching with keen interest. She shuddered when she remembered the feel of the cold metal digging into her throat and the man's gloating voice, whispering into her ear.
Sheppard guided her out of the brig and she noticed that he was leaning heavily on her. Once the brig doors had shut behind them, Weir turned to Sheppard. 'John, what are you doing up?' She asked softly. 'You're not strong enough!'
'I know that!' He grunted, his legs were giving way beneath him and he was pulling Weir down with him. Weir carefully wrapped her arm around Sheppard's waist and she guided them down the hallway back in the direction of the infirmary. It was a sign of how much pain Sheppard was in that he didn't even argue with where he was being taken.
The pair made slow, silent progress down the corridor. Sheppard was concentrating fully on putting one foot in front of the other and not fainting, or passing out as McKay preferred to call it.
Suddenly, Sheppard got the feeling that they were being followed, he had that hunted feeling, and he had learnt to follow these feelings over the years.
'Elizabeth…' he mumbled breathlessly.
'We're almost there John!' Weir told him encouragingly even though they were nowhere near.
'No Elizabeth, we have to stop!' Sheppard demanded weakly. 'We are being followed! Lean me against the wall. Did you bring a gun?' Sheppard questioned.
'No.' Weir admitted sheepishly.
Sheppard groaned, when would that women learn? He pulled his 9mm of its holster, wishing for the feel of his larger, more powerful P90. His mind wasn't working well and there was no cover in the corridor. He hoped they could surprise the hostile when he came round the corner.
'Stay behind me.' He ordered Weir.
He heard the sound of footsteps and knew that once again his gut feeling had been right.
He saw the hostile run round the corner and before his slower than usual reactions could shoot, he was knocked to the floor, the handgun spinning out of his hand and sliding across the floor, out of reach.
He shoulder protested agonisingly but adrenalin soon kicked in and started fighting the larger figure on top of him.
The hostile punched him in the stomach and knocked the wind out of him, Sheppard's fist connected painfully with the man's jaw.
A shot rang out from behind the fighting pair and the hostile slumped, dead on top of Sheppard.
He looked up to see Weir standing over him, worry lines visible on her forehead. He looked down to see his 9mm clutched tightly in her hand.
'Are you alright?' He asked her, quite sure that this was the first time that she had ever killed anyone.
'Shouldn't I be asking you that?' Weir asked wryly.
'Maybe!' Sheppard admitted. The adrenalin was fading and the pain was coming back. 'He just punched me up a bit. Thanks for shooting him!'
Weir pulled the hostile off of Sheppard. 'I didn't want to but-' she broke off with a gasp. The man had a bloody knife in his hand and there was a spreading stain across Sheppard's stomach.
Sheppard lifted his head slightly and saw his new wound. 'Oh crap!' He croaked 'It wasn't a punch!' He then promptly lost consciousness leaving Weir alone with him and far from any help.
I will be putting the next chapter up hopefully at the end of the weekend. Please review if you have time as it only takes a few seconds and it means so much to me.