THE NEXT EVENT - by Kolyaaa!
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: THE DETERMINED
A/N: I think some of you might adore me. Yes, I believe that is possible. Send me more feedback so that I may be sure.
A/N: The lizards seem to be getting more aggressive. I think this is called 'deep tissue massage'. Thank you, my reptile friends!
[{O}]
The alicorn moved forward, overconfident, gracefully skirting the fallen tree and the large hole it covered, and walking to where the dead nuttalli were. Nonor followed it with her weapon, never letting up her aim. It gnashed its teeth at her, stepping gingerly through the mass of pastel colored nuttalli flesh when it reached it.
"I can kill you, you know," Nonor told it simply. "My brother was an excellent shot, but I'm better."
The alicorn snorted, and spat.
How could she not see how ugly the creature was before? Ugly and mean.
And then another emerged, coming up behind the first. Nonor let out tight breath. Okay, two...not so simple. This one was smaller, thinner, but it also looked faster. There was dried blood on its muzzle. It sneered at her when it reached the first alicorn's side, then bent its head to snuffle among the fresh meat the dead nuttalli presented. The first continued to stare at her a moment longer, then it too dropped its head to eat at the carrion. They chomped and ripped at the flesh, gnashing bones between their teeth and sending blood splattering.
Swallowing down the bile that had risen in her throat, Nonor bent down next to McKay, still not lowering her weapon's aim. The creatures were distracted for now, but for how long?
"Doctor McKay," she hissed, nudging him a little with her foot. "Doctor, can you hear me?"
He gave a soft groan, and she smiled in relief - he was still with her.
"Doctor," she called, a little more loudly, "You need to wake up. Can you wake up?"
He mumbled something, so she nudged him harder with her foot. "Please, Doctor, you need to wake up."
A blue eye cracked, and looked up at her. "Nonor?"
She smiled, full wattage. "Yes. Can you move?"
The eye closed and he shifted a little, wincing at the movement.
"Please," she repeated, "Can you move?"
"Did," he paused, sucking in a breath, "Did you just say 'please' to me?"
She chose to ignore that, starting to get a little impatient. "Can you move?"
"Where are the oth—"
"Dead. It's just you and me. Now, can…you…MOVE?"
Both of his eyes shot open. "Dead?"
She gave a tense nod, and it was then that he must have realized that she wasn't actually looking at him, for he turned his head to follow her gaze towards the two alicorn feasting on the pile of dead nuttalli about ten feet away.
"Oh," he shifted again, rolling onto his unhurt side, using his good arm and shoulder to lever himself up. He frowned a little as he recognized the coat sliding off of him, then looked up again at the predators nearby.
The movement had caused the larger alicorn to look up again, and it sneered at McKay. The scientist paused. Nonor's hands gripped the weapon in her hands more tightly. She thought she could probably kill both alicorn, but would she be fast enough? And, if they were dead as well, what foul creatures would their blood attract?
McKay glanced up at her, and his face registered surprise that she actually seemed to be covering him.
"I will not let them harm you," she promised him, hoping it wasn't too little too late. McKay's eyes widened slightly, and he looked again towards the alicorn.
After a moment, the larger alicorn finally lowered its head once more.
McKay let out a harsh breath, and started…slowly…to push himself up again.
"Don't forget my brother's coat," Nonor whispered. McKay nodded slightly, and the hand that was working grabbed onto the tan leather material, gripping it tightly as he continued to straighten up.
He teetered a little once he was to his knees, and Nonor let go one hand from her weapon to help him stand up. Getting her hand under his arm, she pulled him to his feet, and then started to slowly back up, still gripping his arm and thus bringing him with her. McKay, clearly not totally with it, stumbled a little, but moved, dragging Ronon's coat behind him. His eyes looked like they were ready to close again.
Once she had him facing the opposite direction and walking…somewhat…steadily away from the mess, Nonor glanced back at the two alicorn… and to her horror found two more had joined them - along with some alive nuttalli. They were all feasting like vultures! And movement in the trees suggested more might be coming.
She decided not to let McKay know.
[{O}]
"BECKETT!" Ronon yelled, as the ship smashed into a large stalactite, chunks of wet calcite coating the window.
"I'm trying!" Beckett yelled back. "I can't bloody well see!"
The jumper tipped backwards, and Ronon whimpered as it felt like they were freefalling for a second. Beckett had her steadied again in a moment, and turned the jumper around.
"Okay, okay, okay," the poor doctor muttered. "This is harder than it looks. Maybe we need a bigger hole?"
"You haven't found the first hole, yet!" Ronon barked.
"That's because it's not where it's supposed to be!" Beckett retorted, his head beating with a pain so fierce, it almost drowned out the other man. "I can't find what's not there!"
"Of course it's there. We looked down into it, remember?"
Beckett just shook his head, and thought about the problem.
The unmistakable sound of the jumper's weapon bays opening assaulted their ears.
"Maybe," Beckett said groggily, "If I make the hole bigger..."
"No!" Ronon shouted, reaching over to grab Beckett's arm. "Don't!"
"Why?" Carson shook his head. God, it was swimming. He wished Ronon would stop swaying like that.
"You could hit McKay and my sister up there!"
"Oh...good point." Carson leaned forward, his eyes closing. God, he had to get back to the surface – back to Rodney who was probably dead by now.
The jumper leaned forward as well...and careened down towards the underground lake.
"BECKETT! Pull up!"
The doctor sat up, and the jumper "sat up" with him, leveling off just feet from the water.
"Just land it," Ronon begged. "Please."
"But..."
"We'll find another way. You were right, you can't fly it."
Carson frowned, but landed the jumper sloppily on a sandbar of sorts sticking out of the black lake.
"I'll try again," he promised. "Let me just... catch my breath."
Ronon closed his eyes, covering his face with his hands. What the hell were they going to do?
And then the most beautiful thing happened.
Their radios came alive.
"What the hell are you doing to my SHIP!" Sheppard's voice yelled over the comm.
[{O}]
Nonor stopped when they reached the top of the black sand cliff and looked around at the valley below, trying to judge the best place to take McKay until help came. After all, she assumed that Atlantis would send someone once they didn't report in... right? That Doctor Weir character seemed the type to do that sort of thing. So... she just had to keep McKay alive until then. She could do that. She had to do that. She had promised her brother. And McKay had saved her life.
Besides... she really didn't want to be alone.
And then McKay, who had been swaying where he stood as they looked down at the lake, suddenly slipped to his knees, his head bowing in exhaustion, Ronon's coat pooling around him. Nonor, her hand still on his arm, nearly went down with him. Only sheer stubbornness kept her both on her feet and her hand on his arm.
"You can't stop now," she exclaimed fearfully, tugging at his arm and looking behind her at the now mostly hidden clearing. "We have to keep moving. We're not far enough away yet."
He sighed, looking up at her with shadowed eyes, his expression dark.
"How do you know they're dead?" he asked.
"What?"
"What happened to them?"
"Oh, you mean…your friends? And my brother?"
"Your brother is my friend, too."
She grimaced a little at the correction, then sighed. "I believe…nuttalli attacked your Colonel Sheppard and his team. We heard them being..." She shuddered slightly. "Let's just say, it did not sound like a pleasant demise. Then Doctor Beckett was dropped by the bird into the lake you see down there. I think he was climbing out but he is missing now - I am not sure what that means. As for my brother…" she paused, swallowing thickly, "my brother… the planet ate him."
McKay frowned, blinking slowly up at her. "What? What do you mean, 'ate him?'"
"I think it may have swallowed up your healer, too. That's why he's missing. The ground shook, opened, and they disappeared into the ground… then it closed up on top of them. As if," she sniffed, eyes filling with tears again, "they never were…."
"They fell down a hole?"
She gave him a glare (it was a hard habit to break, apparently); didn't she just tell him that they had fallen down a hole?
"Yes," she replied, her tone bordering again on impatient.
"So…you did not actually see them die," he noted.
She blinked at him, "What? Don't be silly! Of course they are dead! You don't fall down a hole and survive! The ground doesn't eat people and spit them back out whole!"
He just stared at her. "Now I know they're not dead," he said, smirking a little.
She frowned, not understanding. "What are you talking about?"
"Far as I can tell, you haven't been right about anything this whole trip. Why start now?"
Her glare could have melted mountains. And he matched it, square on… until she finally lowered her eyes.
"Either way," she said, her voice soft, "we need to get you out of here. Someplace safe."
"I'm not going anywhere," McKay replied, his tone suddenly bone weary. Her head lifted, her eyes angry.
"Of course you are! You're healed! Now we have to move. Did you not see the alicorns? They—"
"I can barely feel my legs and I definitely can't feel my arm," he admitted. "I'm just going to slow you down."
"Slow me down? On my way to where? All I want to do is find a place for you to be safe!"
"I'll slow you down… when you go looking for the others."
She stared at him, amazed. "What are you talking about?"
"They're alive. Go find them. I'll stay here and… and make sure the alicorns don't follow." There was a quaver in his voice, and it wasn't from his weak condition. He'd turned his head as he spoke, looking back towards the now five alicorns chewing on the nuttalli remains in the meadow. One of them tossed up a colorful slab of flesh and caught it between flashing teeth.
"Oh," he said, his voice faint, "weren't there just two when we started?" He swallowed, and turned to look up at her. "Well… two, five… doesn't matter. You should go now."
She continued to stare down at the top of his head, too stunned now to speak. Was he serious?
"Your friends are not alive," she said. "And those creatures will kill you as soon as they're done eating."
"They are alive. I will not give up on them. And you don't know - the alicorns could leave me alone once they've had their fill..."
She narrowed her eyes, annoyance, anger, frustration, fear, depression and loathing all coming to the fore once more.
"You are getting up, and we are going to find someplace safe, and I am going to protect you. I promised my brother. And nothing you say will change that."
He looked up at her, and, for the first time, he seemed to be looking at her with something more than the disgust he had offered her since her fight with Teyla. She drew herself up, chin lifting high.
"I am a Dex," she intoned, resting her hands on her hips. "We do not back down from a fight. We do not go back on our promises. And we do not let the bad guys win!" She opened her arms wide then, standing tall and proud. The sun lit her almost perfectly then, her golden hair glowing like a halo around her head, perfect skin glistening in the rays. "I AM NONOR DEX!" she yelled, "AND I WILL PREVAIL!"
Which, of course, was when the alicorns in the field decided that live prey was more fun than the dead … and charged across the clearing towards them.
TBC
A/N: You know, I never noticed this before, but the lizards, when they line up just right, almost seem to be spelling out a message for me. I don't know what UOYKCUF and EMETIB is supposed to mean though. Must be Lizard for - I love you.
A/N: Good luck shall shower upon you if you give me feedback - positive feedback. Bad luck shall be your shadow if you leave this page without reviewing me (and saying good things). You have been warned.
