Disclaimer: Do not own, did not make, am not making money off of Stargate Atlantis or related ideas. Amaya and her people are mine. So are the H'voka. Want to use them? Go ahead, so long as its for non-profit use, I get credit for creating them and I get to read the story! Only payment I need!
Chapter Three: The Other Side
"Never test the depth of the water with both feet"
a website (doesn't allow site address', sorry)
The first thing Rodney noticed when he rematerialized was that it was frighteningly quiet. The second thing was that the place they had Gated to was no meadow; in fact, it looked like a storage building of some kind. Third thing, people. Scared, and strangely relieved looking people.
"The Ring worked!" Leader of said people exclaimed, her green eyes alight with happiness. Rodney frowned. Did they divert the wormhole so as to capture the Atlantis team? But how? And why? If they meant to, surely they wouldn't be frightened about it...
"Sheppard-" he tried to begin. But John held up his hand.
"Uh . . . hi, everyone. We're just travelers, and we mean no harm-" John began.
"Harm?" the Leader spoke up. "Of course not! You're here to stop the H'voka!"
'What the hell?' Rodney silently grouched. Out loud, "Sheppard, we did not come through to help anyone-"
"But we are going to help," Teyla broke in, her calm voice holding such finality that Rodney shut up. For about five seconds.
"Help? Why should we? We don't know the Hehvooka." He was also going to say 'we have our plates full enough with the Wraith and the Genii.' but he was interrupted.
"H'voka." The Leader was unsure now, looking frightened.
"We are here to help." Teyla stepped forward, smiling at the Leader. "My name is Teyla Emmagan. This is Colonel John Sheppard, and Doctor Rodney McKay. We did not come through with the intention of helping you, but now that we know you are in need we will not turn you away."
Typical Teyla. The truth, and nothing but the truth. And who said he was going to help? He came to get limestone, not kick some bad guy in the groin and run for cover.
He opened his mouth to complain but John nodded with agreement to Teyla. Obviously he was alone here, so he settled for frowning. And then a kid decided she liked him.
"I'm Amaya." She held out her hand for a handshake. Rodney was so shocked by this he simply reacted; the girl had a soft, hesitant grip. She shyly smiled at him. Rodney's eyes went large. He felt better, though,when she did the same to Teyla, and then John.
"My name is Jessica Sander," the Leader spoke to Sheppard. She started explaining something, but Rodney was past caring. He wandered over to the DHD, checking it to see if it was damaged in anyway. Amaya trailed behind him.
"Are you really here to help?" she asked. Rodney glanced at her from the corner of his eye. When he didn't answer, Amaya pressed, "Why are you looking at the alter?"
"It isn't an alter," Rodney spat. "It's a DHD." He made a point of turning his back on the girl, but she just went around so that she was in front of the DHD - and in effect, right in Rodney's line of sight.
"What does DHD stand for?" she asked innocently
Rodney sighed impatiently. "Dial Home Device." He plugged in the sequence for home, but only got the dull sound of the seventh chevron not locking.
"DHD doesn't work," he informed his team mates with a disgusted tone.
"So . . . it's a remote for your teleporter?" Amaya wondered, eyes wide. Thumps came from outside, and Amaya did a sharp intake of breath. Her eyes widened even more but this time from fright, looking to the door to the storage room. Rodney felt an unsettling knot in his stomach.
"McKay," John called. Rodney knew that tone of voice. It meant 'we are going to check it out and you better come with, and no complaining!'. He swallowed a lump. Before he could do as the Colonel asked, Amaya reached over and held his hand.
"Be careful, Warrior!" she whispered. "They're . . . they're not natural! Like - machines! But alive!"
Rodney blinked. Comforting. Very comforting. Stupid kid. At least now he was prepared, sort of.
The thumping noises left the area. John was first out of the storage area (Jessica had taken a whole minute to undo the lock she had in place), Teyla was second, and Rodney almost didn't go out, but that Amaya kid pushed him through. She stayed almost right behind him, a little to the right.
A stone wall separated the yard from what must of been a town. Rodney could see a few building's roofs peeking over the stone. A building stood about ten feet from where John was along with a house nestled almost away from view to the left. Blue sky and white clouds hung above. It looked like it might of been, at one time, a nice place to raise a family.
The stone wall was, in places, stained with blood as if small waterfalls of blood had existed for a short period of time. Some of these dried up waterfalls had bodyparts at the top. Bloated, rotting, twitching. An eye there. Half a head there. Part of what must of been a leg. Blood still lazily dripped from the leg, and Rodney involentarily shivered.
Shreds of unidentifiable flesh scattered around the yard, some of it still wet and glistening. A few pieces quivered when someone stepped near it, but they didn't explode or anything. An arm from perhaps a three year old sat cold and lifeless beside the head of a woman in her thirties. They where the largest pieces of flesh in the yard.
What got Rodney the most was the total lack of smell. Sure, he could smell the grass. He could smell the fires burning. But no stench of flesh, burnt, rotting or otherwise.
"Doctor?" Amaya asked softly. He gritted his teeth. How was he suppose to work with that ... thing, following him around and asking questions? He ignored her, hoping she would leave him alone. For some reason she just didn't get the hint, keeping close to him even as John did the signal for spreading out. Not that he expected her to know what the signal meant.
John went to the building in front of them, cautiously opening the door and taking a sweep of the room. Teyla moved off to the side, glancing around, alert for anything that moved other then her teammates. Rodney skirted around the head and arm, vaguely hoping it didn't come to life on him.
He glanced back. The door to the storage was not closed, but the only person peering out was a boy. His eyes took in the battlefield and with a scream, dodged back in.
"Do you think-" Amaya started in a whisper.
"Shut up." Rodney hissed. "What are you, stupid? We need quiet."
Amaya, for once, listened. She remained quiet until they entered the building. It was obvious it was a museum of some kind, and Rodney was tempted to smack Amaya for saying as much,
"It's the museum." She didn't stop there, though. "We can leave through five exits. The nearest is right through the Ancient Egypt exhibit." She pointed ahead. Rodney didn't even think twice about the Egyptian comment; he just nodded to her.
At least she was talking as quiet as she could. That was a plus. Most kids talked loudly, like the little monsters didn't think they'd be heard if they didn't scream like hyenas. And she also wasn't clawing at him, taking a death grip to his arm or anything. She just was intent on staying near him. He could handle that. Provided she kept quiet and let him work.
John led the way through the ancient culture exhibit. Rodney had the feeling he was walking in on someone's tomb, which was stupid since he had just walked through a mis-mash of an open grave.
No wonders the kid was so close to him. He was suppose to be the great warrior from who knows where.
'Don't blame her.' He mused to himself. 'I'd want to be with the genius, too. More often then not, its the brains that get you out of a situation, and the brawn that gets you into it!'
He didn't want to go out into the street, though. He had a nasty feeling that wouldn't leave, like an ugly rotting egg that was glued to his plate. You could wash it over and over, but it would never come off nor would the smell. It would just linger. Why did he come out of the storage again?
"I think its safe to say we are alone for now," John's voice broke through. "But I think if that kid is with you McKay, she should stay inside."
"No!" Amaya bursted. "Its my town, Doctor! I need to see it!"
He understood her. And he thought it was wrong for John to try to protect her from something that she obviously couldn't avoid. Children also were not so dumb and frightened that adults made them out to be. They just had the habit of being touchy-huggy.
Rodney nodded to her and stepped out into the street. Amaya followed. Once outside and in all its gory, Amaya stuffed a scream. But it died as quickly as it had come, and she stepped even nearer Rodney. A soft touch from her hand to his arm and she seemed to be fine, her hand dropping to her side. Like she had to know he was real. If he was real, she was safe.
Mass grave was an understatement. They had found the bodies that where missing all that blood, flesh and the few limbs in that yard. One sweep of the place told you they weren't expecting it, nor did it look like they had put up much of a fight. Perhaps they couldn't.
The nearest body seemed to be male. One of his eyes seemed to have burst from the inside out, while his other one seemed to still be twitching. What little skin was still on him was see-through white, making the greenish meat and muscle underneath even more revolting. Bits of bone were visible, a couple places had veins still pulsing.
Rodney couldn't think of any scientific reason why the veins were still on the bones unharmed, nor could he think of why they still alive. Unless they weren't veins.
"Any idea what could of done this, McKay?" John asked, his voice seemingly steady but Rodney knew better. He caught the slight change of pace and pitch; until recently Rodney had thought that was John's 'I'm ready for battle' voice. However, when Rodney had an allergic reaction to some 'welcoming' feast on planet What-ever-it-was, John had used that voice. Rodney now knew it meant the colonel was frightened.
"What do I look like? Wikipedia?" Rodney snapped.
"That's a 'no', then." John answered. Rodney was going to say a witty reply, but unfortunately he never did get to. It was at that moment in time something became increasingly apparent: they were not alone.
The roof to what appeared to be a general store moved. Teyla was the first to react; she threw herself to the left as something lashed out at her. The something whipped back, then came again, aiming for Rodney and Amaya as they were closer then John. Or at least that was Rodney figured as he shoved Amaya into a puddle of guck, landing almost on top of her. The general store roof bellowed in rage at the loss of two prey in less then ten seconds.
Amaya coughed, trying to stay behind Rodney as he shakily stood up. He was never as glad as he was then that he had his gun. Normally he hated guns. Normally he was facing Wraith. With the full team in front of him.
Teyla leaped up, fine except for the blood smeared in her face. Rodney tried to make out if it was her blood or if she had fallen on someone. He never did get to find out, as his gaze was snapped to the roof.
The creature on the roof looked like it was a warped, over-giant bird - with tentacles growing out of its back instead of wings. With a snarl, its tentacles warped around each other, weaving in and out into two powerful, massive wings.
"Okay, that's unique," John began. "Everyone. Run for cover!"
Rodney briefly entertained the notion of yelling, 'Is that a military term?' but decided against it as the Bird-Thing swung its flesh rotting head in his direction. He turned, grabbed a hold of Amaya's arm, and dashed away as fast as possible. Swinging around to shoot at the monstrosity, he discovered that under the disgusting flesh was a mechanical inner workings. Something he did not expect. A mutation, sure. Not a cyborg nutso bird with the jaws of tyrannosaurus rex.
John was providing cover fire. For some reason Rodney couldn't guess, the T-rex-bird (hey, he named something!) was determined to have him or Amaya. Who cared if the threat was behind it and shooting it in the ass? It wanted the defenceless people.
"Come on!" Amaya shouted over a roar. Taking Rodney's hand, she yanked him through a backway and into the field that surrounded the town. Glancing back once to shoot, Rodney wished he hadn't of gotten out of bed. Should of stayed right in dreamland with John Sheppard, the beach, and citrus-free foods.
"Where are we going?" Rodney demanded. Amaya let go of his hand and ran full force, which compared to how fast Rodney was used to going wasn't really that fast. But as she didn't answer his question, he simply followed.
Until the T-rex-bird tried to chomp down on his arse. He didn't know he could run that fast, or that he could snatch a sixteen or so year old girl into his arms while running over an uneven field. Amazing what you can figure out while on a search for limestone.
He'd have to kill Kavanaugh.
Halfway through the field, the ground gave out, and Rodney went down with no grace or dignity. He did manage to make Amaya land on him and not the other way around. She was small, and he was big; he would kill her or at least squash her into internal damage. Not something he wanted on his conscious.
"Doctor!" Amaya yelped. Rodney blinked stupidly, then rolled them over as his mind fired to life. The T-rex-bird was bashing its jaws against the ground, trying to get into the cave or whatever they were in. To think Rodney would of clued in, as dirt and rocks were following them down.
Rodney gave the place a quick glance around. Opening! He threw Amaya into the dark cave, then tried to follow. He ended up stepping wrong and falling down with a snarl. His head smacked a rouge rock that rolled right into the path of his forehead.
"McKay!" John's voice snapped through. "Get away from him, you ugly lizard-pigeon!"
Rodney heard shooting, then felt the ground around him steady as the Rex-Bird quit ramming the entrance. Time to get up, McKay. Only, he was too dizzy to do much more then moan.
Something landed beside him.
"Up, McKay!" John gripped the back of Rodney's shirt, yanking said person onto his feet. The two of them stumbled into the cave as the Rex-Bird started in again. Stumble, stumble -
"Shit!" John and Rodney's lips smashed together. Rodney wouldn't call it a kiss, it hurt to much and he was sure he was bleeding now. His lips will swell to the size of a watermelon.
The Rex-Bird decided it was bored, ambling away with one last cry of outrage. John and Rodney broke apart, both rather embarrassed.. Rodney glanced around and took in Amaya. She was watching the men with wide eyes.
One person was missing, though. A very important person. It was John who voiced the problem.
"Where's Teyla?"