A/N: Apologies about the delay, with the release of the new Superman movie and the fast approaching release of the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie things have been kind of hectic at work.

The idea for this chapter came from watching an episode of 'Supernatural' so if it seems familiar that's why.

Also there is language in this chapter.

--

Standing in the gate room the term 'organized chaos' came to Skyler's mind. With two different teams of scientists going off world there were boxes of equipment scattered everywhere, scientists rushing about doing this or that, as well as the military personnel assigned to watch the scientists milling around.

While Skyler's team would be escorting a small team of botanists and geologists to M3X-303, Major Lorne's team would have the pleasure of escorting Zelenka's team to M7G-677 to help the kids with their EM field generator. Speaking of Zelenka, Skyler looked in the man's direction just in time to see Sheppard walking away and hear Zelenka mutter in Czech.

"You don't kiss your mother with that mouth, do you?" Skyler teased at hearing the scientist's colorful language.

Zelenka looked up startled, "You speak Czech?"

"Just the fun and interesting words and phrases. It's amazing the type of colorful language you can pick up in the labs" He gave a soft chuckle. "I tell ya Miko has got the mouth of a sailor that would make a Marine blush."

Radek had to agree with that. For the most part Miko was quiet and not really out spoken, but when she got mad, heaven help whoever got in her way.

--

By the middle of the next day Skyler was ready to call the mission a bust, there was nothing of vital importance there that would justify staying longer. Making his way through the woods he called Axle over the radio, "Coop, start rounding up the beakers, time to call it a day."

"Amen to that." Axle responded whole heartedly. "Meet you back at camp. Cooper out."

"Hey Taylor start packing it up, time to call it a day." Skyler called out to the head geologist on their little field trip. Not getting a response, not even a whine of complaint Skyler sighed as he headed in the direction the man had last been.

It didn't take long before the sound of someone gagging reached his ears. Picking up his pace Skyler came across Dr. Taylor doubled over quickly loosing his lunch in a bush.

"Doc?" Cautiously Skyler moved towards the sick man, his eyes taking in their surroundings.

Not saying a word Taylor pointed towards the underbrush a few yards away from them. Gun up at the ready Skyler went to investigate what had freaked Taylor out so bad. Spotting what the other man had Skyler nearly lost his lunch as well. Lying in the underbrush was a corpse – that wasn't what bothered Skyler though, he'd seen his fair share of dead people. The man was missing a large chunk of his head leading Skyler to believe he'd had been shot in the back of the head at a fairly close range. That wasn't what bothered Skyler either though; it was the fact that the flesh from both arms and legs and part of the torso had been stripped off almost as if something had been in the process of skinning the corpse.

Returning to Taylor's side Skyler quickly started ushering the man towards the gate. Flipping on his radio he switched to the channel that only his team could hear – no sense in panicking the scientists just yet. "Guys get everyone back to the Stargate immediately and give me a head count."

"What's up?" Blue questioned as he and Brain started to do as ordered.

"Got a dead body, by the looks of things it's not more than a day old."

"Wraith?" This time it was Axle who spoke.

"No, not Wraith. Unless they've changed their feeding tactics, whoever killed that guy was most definitely not Wraith."

Quickly arriving back at the gate with Taylor in tow Skyler filled his team in on what he'd found. Just hearing about it made them queasy, the same thought ran through their heads; what kind of a sick-o would kill somebody then skin them?

"Hey, where's Morris?" Dr. Henderson, one of the botanists, asked looking around and not seeing his friend.

"Dr. Morris." Skyler activated his radio, getting no response he sighed trying again, "Morris respond…Morris?" He still got no response, "son of…! Alright everybody stay put, no wandering off." He addressed the group of scientists then turned to Axle, "Let's go find our missing beaker. Brain, Blue if you don't hear back from us or we haven't found Morris in half an hour head back to Atlantis and let Weir know what's going on."

--

Half an hour later with no sign of Morris, Skyler contacted his teammates at the gate telling them to head back to Atlantis and have a team sent back to help with the search. Finished with that he carefully scanned his surroundings looking for anything unusual.

"Major, we have a problem." The worry in Brain's tone had Skyler's attention immediately.

"Care to be more specific."

"We can't get the gate to dial Atlantis." Blue clarified.

As if Skyler's day could get any worse, "Try dialing the Alpha site to see if it's a problem on our end or theirs." A moment later he heard the gate kawoosh in the background; so not a problem on their end.

Shaking his head Skyler called out to Axle – the two had spread out to cover more ground – getting no response he tried the radio with the same results. "You have got to be kiddin' me!" He ran a frustrated hand through his hair, before flipping his radio back on. "Brain take the scientist through to the Alpha site and sit tight there and keep trying to dial Atlantis. Blue you're coming with me, it now seems that Axle has gone missing."

Meeting up with Blue several moments later Skyler and he started searching for their now two missing people.

--

Feeling the all to familiar pins and needles after effects of a Wraith stunner Axle stifled a groan as he began to wake up. Carefully peeling his eyes open he sighed at finding himself locked up in a cage of some sort and all of his gear gone.

"Finally, I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever wake up." The sound of Dr. Morris' voice coming from his left drew Axle's attention.

"You okay?" Axle managed to croak out after a moment.

"Does it look like I'm okay? I've been locked up in this damn cage like an animal for who knows how long, all I've had to eat was a mislay scrap of bread and as for the water they gave me to drink, I wouldn't drink that filth if my life depended on it –."

"I got it." Axle cut the man off before he continued into a rant worthy of McKay. "Where are we?"

"How the hell should I know? Did I not just say I've been locked up in this cage the whole time?" Underneath the bluster Axle could detect the start of panic in the doctor's voice. "You know this is a piss poor rescue."

"Yeah well it's not over yet, Major Cain is still out there looking for us."

"So, he's not gonna find us. We're in the middle of nowhere." He nodded towards the door leading into the building. "Waiting for them to come back and do God-knows-what to us."

"Who are they? Have you seen them?"

"See for yourself."

Just then the door to the building opened and two men wearing black coats and hats walked in. One man walked over to Morris' cage and kicked the side of it. Morris moved back into the corner of his cage away from the door.

The other man went to a panel of buttons attached to a pole in the middle of the room. He inserted some kind of key into the panel and twisted it. Morris' cage unlocked and the first man entered. He placed a plate of food in front of Morris then left the cage. The second man twisted the key again then removed it, locking Morris' cage again. As they left Morris devoured his food.

"How often have they fed you?" Axle questioned as he watched the men leave then studied their surroundings looking for a way out.

"This is only the second time."

"And that's the only time you've see 'em?"

"So far. But I'm waitin'."

"For what?" Axle began looking around for a possible way out.

"Whatever horrible nasty thing they have planned for us."

"Right…" Axle nodded absently as he reached through the top of his cage grabbing what looked like a long metal coil of wire stretching from the top of the pole to the ground and tried to pull it loose.

"What do you think they want?"

"Depends on who they are." He shrugged as he continued to pull on the coil, which had gradually started to detach from the pole.

--

Skyler was really starting to get worried. He and Blue had been searching for their missing people for the better part of the day with no luck and it was starting to get dark. The two of them would be forced to stop for the night soon and neither one of them liked the thought of staying on that planet with who knew what running around snatching people.

In order to save themselves the time of having to take it down the two decided not to pitch a tent to sleep in, instead they found a large tree with a lot of over growth to camp under for the night. Also not wanting to risk being spotted they decided against building a fire even though it had started to drizzle and the temperature was dropping. It was going to be a long and cold night.

--

"Stop wasting your time Captain, there's no way out. We're screwed." Morris stated as he watched Axle continue to try and pull the metal coil loose.

"There's…always…a way…out…" Axle huffed as he gave one last stretch and managed to finally pull the coil down. A small piece of metal also came loose. "It's just a matter of finding it." He picked up the metal to look at it.

"What is it?" Morris craned his neck trying to see what Axle had.

"Some kind of a bracket, I think."

"Well, thank God, a bracket. Now we've got 'em, huh?" Suddenly, Morris' cage unlocked opened. "Must've been a short." He glanced at Axle as he climbed out of the cage. "Maybe you knocked somethin' loose."

"I think you should get back in there, Morris." Something didn't feel right to Axle that had been a little too easy.

"Why? Don't you wanna get out of here?" Morris didn't see the problem.

"Yeah. But that was too easy."

"Look, it'll be fine. I'll get out of here, and go find Major Cain and the others. I'll tell them where you are and they'll send help, okay, don't worry." Morris walked towards the door.

"I'm serious, Morris—this might be a trap." Axle could only watch as Morris ignored him and pushed the door open disappearing through it. "Morris…! Morris, damn it get your ass back here!" He startled when the door to Morris' cage unexpectedly slammed shut. "Son of a bitch!"

--

Finding his way out side into the drizzly night air Morris wandered around the outside of a rundown house. Nearly tripping over something, he smiled looking down to find a military issue combat knife. Picking it up he made a dash for the surrounding woods.

Not sure of where to go Morris wandered aimlessly until he heard a noise behind him. Lifting his knife up ready to defend himself, Morris started running through the drizzling rain. Before long, a man dressed completely in black jumped in front of him and knocked him down with a long knife.

Morris fell to the ground, but managed to stick his own knife in the man's leg. The man stumbled, allowing Morris the chance to get up and run away. Reaching a clearing, he looked around, lost.

Suddenly, another man dressed all in black appeared out of nowhere and stabbed Morris in the leg. Soon the first man appeared, and both pointed their knives at Morris, who was sprawled out on the ground. Scrambling to his feet Morris again started to run away. The men watched him run and laughed. Morris kept running, but tripped over a thin wire on the ground. The two men quickly caught up to him and raised their knives ready to finish their game.

Sitting in his cage Axle could only close his eyes and lower his head in remorse as he listened to Morris' screams of pain and terror.

--

Hearing the faint echoes of someone screaming Skyler and Blue immediately jumped into action. Taking a second to decide what direction the screams were coming from the two swiftly started moving through the woods.

After several miles and at the first crack of dawn the two came to the edge of a clearing where they could see a rundown barn and a dilapidated house. Splitting up the two cautiously started circling around the house first trying to see if anybody was home or if their missing people were inside.

"Who are you?"

Startled Blue whirled around to find a small boy covered in dirt and filth standing behind him, "Sgt. Connor." He quickly recovered, scanning around for any one else near by. "I'm looking for some of my friends maybe you could help me."

Looking up the boy shook his head smirking, "That's gonna leave a mark."

"Wha–?" Blue turned around just in time for a tall, equally unwashed man to whack him in the head with a shovel.

Looking down at the now unconscious Blue the older man turned his attention to the boy, "Go get your brother, I wanna talk to him."

"Yes sir," the boy ran off to do as told.

--

Feeling like his head was going to explode Blue slowly cracked his eyes open, snapping them shut with a groan as the light made his head throb even more.

"Blue, c'mon man wake up." Axle stretched his arm through the bars of his cage to nudge Blue's shoulder.

Taking a moment to gather himself Blue slowly sat up leaning his back against the bars at the back of his cage. He carefully felt the side of his head where he'd been hit and found a good sized goose egg already starting to form.

"You alright?" Axle's voice got Blue's attention.

"I'll live." He winced as he touch a particularly sore spot. "Mom always did say I had a thick head. You hurt?"

"Nah." He shook his head. "Where's Skyler?"

"Still outside looking for you last I knew."

"Well ain't this a sight?" Skyler's voice startled both men as they whipped their heads around to see him standing just inside the barn door.

"Shut up and get us out of here." Axle was not in the mood for teasing.

Closing the door behind him Skyler moved over to the cages studying the locks. "Oh, these locks look like they're gonna be a bitch."

"There's some kind of automatic control panel right there." Axle pointed to the control panel, the men from before had used to open Morris' cage.

"So do we know what these people want?" Blue asked as he watched Skyler move over to the control panel.

"I don't know. They let Morris go, but that was some sort of trap. It doesn't make any sense to me."

"No kidding. With our usual playmates – the Goa'uld, the Wraith – there's rules there's patterns. But people, they're just crazy." Skyler stated as he studied the panel in front of him. "Damn this thing needs a key…" He turned to Axle, "Key?"

"I don't know."

"Alright, I better go find it."

"Hey be careful." Blue called as Skyler started to leave.

"Yeah, don't get dead." Axle added.

--

Finding nothing of use in the barn Skyler moved onto the house. Reaching what appeared to be an open cellar door he stealthily entered the house. Once certain that there was no one there he flipped the light of his P-90 on and looked around.

The room was filled with shelves full of jars and bottles. Skyler recognized various body parts in some of the jars and the other jars he didn't even want to think about what was in them. Moving on he came across a wall covered with pictures that kind of reminded him of the old photographs taken when cameras were first invented on earth – only these ones had color. Each picture showed two men standing next to a dead body.

"Son of a bitch!" Skyler swore softly when he spotted the photo of the two men holding Morris' butchered corpse.

Ripping the photo off the wall he shoved it into his pocket, feeling a moment of pure rage flow through his veins. Getting himself under control Skyler turned to see a flight of stairs. Having no other choice he quietly started up the stairs.

Peeking through the door way and finding no one there Skyler moved into the living room of the house. Hearing something moving around in the kitchen he made his way in that direction. Taking a quick look he spotted an older man butchering something – Skyler wouldn't allow himself to think about what or who it might be.

When the floor behind him unexpectedly creaked Skyler whirled around to find a small boy standing behind him. Highly aware of the dangerous situation he was in Skyler held his hands up in a placating manner. "Shhh…I don't want any trouble."

Without a word the boy, a malevolent glint in his eyes, pulled a knife out and stuck it through the corner of Skyler's jacket, pining the man to the wall. "Pa!"

"You've got to be kidding me!" Skyler grabbed the knife handle and started to pull it out.

Just as he pulled the knife out Skyler was grabbed from behind by another man while 'Pa' made his way out of the kitchen. The man holding him threw Skyler into the wall causing him to drop the knife. Throwing an elbow back Skyler nailed the guy in the jaw causing him to stumble back, but before he could do anything else something hard slammed into the back of his head sending Skyler into a world of nothingness.

--

Head pounding Skyler regained consciousness to find himself sitting in a chair with his hands tied behind his back and the men from before standing over him.

"So we gonna hunt him, Pa?" The younger of the two asked. "Got a feeling he'd be a good challenge."

"Okay that is wrong on so many levels I don't even know where to start." Skyler croaked out as he pushed the pain in his head aside.

"You ever killed before, Off-worlder?" Pa questioned turning away from his son.

"I'm a fucking soldier what the hell do you think?"

"I've killed a lot of things on a lot of worlds, but nothing feels quite the same way as holding a human life in your hands. Seein' the fear in their eyes just before they go dark. Makes you feel powerful alive."

"Wow, you really are a few fries short of a happy meal, aren't you?"

Jr. – as Skyler had named him in his head – backhanded Skyler, he may not have understood the reference but the tone made it pretty clear what Skyler was trying to get across. "We give 'em a weapon. Give 'em a fightin' chance."

"I'm sure that makes your prey feel so much better."

"Only reason I don't let my boy take you right here and now is that there's somethin' I need to know." Pa walked to the fireplace, taking a hot poker out.

"Yeah, how 'bout it's not a good idea to marry your sister?" Jr. smacked the back of Skyler's head.

"Tell me, anyone else gonna come lookin' for you?" Pa turned back to face Skyler.

"Eat me," Skyler paused a second, realizing what he'd just said and to who. "No, no, no, wait, wait—you actually might."

This time it was Pa who backhanded Skyler, "You think this is funny?" He looked at his son, "Looks like we're gonna have a hunt tonight after all." He turned back to Skyler, "And you get to pick the animal, the blond or black haired one?"

"Okay wait, wait…look, nobody's comin', alright? It's just us." Skyler lied through his teeth hoping like hell they bought it.

"You don't choose, I will." Pa placed the hot poker on Skyler's shoulder.

"Son of a fucking bastard!" Skyler grunted in pain.

Jr. grabbed Skyler's head holding it in place while Pa held the poker inches from the soldier's eye. "Next time, I'll take an eye."

"Alright, alright…the blond! Take the blond!" Skyler prayed like hell that Axle would forgive him if he survived this, but out of the two, Axle had the better chance of survival than Blue did.

Jr. let go of Skyler's head, as PA moved the poker. Pa took a key from around his neck and handed it to Jr., "Go do it. Don't let him out of the barn, though." Jr. nodded and started for the door.

"What? I thought you said you were gonna hunt him. You were gonna give him a chance." Skyler wished like hell that looks really could kill. Pa ignored Skyler as he watched his son leave the house.

--

Watching as Jr. entered the barn both Axle and Blue tensed up at seeing the gun in his hands. Swiftly Jr. made his way over to the control panel, inserting the key and unlocking Axle's cage.

"Get out." Jr. ordered as he pointed his weapon at Axle. Axle didn't move there was no way he was going to become a part of whatever twisted game these people were playing. "Get out!" Jr. moved to point his gun at Blue.

"Alright, alright," Axle started making his way out of the cage, discretely grabbing the bracket he'd pulled loose earlier.

Standing up outside of the cage Axle tried to make himself look unthreatening as Jr. brought the gun back around to face him. Once the gun was off of him Blue bolted to the side of his cage, shaking the bars, as he demanded to know what Jr. thought he was doing.

Taking advantage of the distraction Blue provided Axle threw the bracket at Jr. causing the man to flinch away. Not giving Jr. a chance to recover Axle barreled into the man tackling him to the ground. He barely registered the sound of the gun going off and pain lacing through his left thigh as he wrestled the gun out of Jr's hands and smacked him over the head with it.

--

Back in the house Skyler, working the free his hands from their bindings, froze when he heard a gunshot. He glared daggers at Pa, "I swear the second I get free I am going to kill you. I will kill you all."

Again ignoring Skyler, Pa moved to the opened door to check on Jr's status. Redoubling his efforts to free his hands Skyler threw up a prayer of thanks to any non-parasitic god that was listening when the bindings finally loosened and he could pull his hands free.

The second his hands were free Skyler jumped from his chair and body slammed the older man into the ground. Scrambling to his feet Skyler bolted for the door not waiting to see if Pa followed or not. Just barely catching sight of a GDO sitting on a small table next to the door out of the corner of his eye Skyler slowed only long enough to grab it then ran towards the barn.

Part way to the barn Skyler spotted Blue helping an unsteady Axle out the open barn door, Jr's gun in his hand. Skidding to a halt next to his friends Skyler, noticing the blood soaked cloth on his friends thigh, took some of Axle's weight and the three started for the woods.

The group reached the woods just as someone – they didn't stop to find out who – started shooting at them. They were almost in the full cover of the woods when Axle gave a shout of pain as one of the bullets hit him in the back. Slumping forward he almost took Skyler and Blue down with him, but the two just managed to keep them all up right and moving.

After an hour of all out running Skyler felt that it was safe to stop for a moment, there hadn't been any sign of pursuit for the last twenty minutes. Finding a small cave the three men holed themselves up for a moments rest.

"How's the head?" Skyler questioned Blue as they lowered Axle to the ground.

"I'm good. Mild concussion probably, but I'll live." Blue responded absently as he started to look a barely conscious Axle over. "Shit, this is bad," he muttered a short time later.

"What?" Skyler didn't like the look of dread that washed over Blue's face.

"Coop's got two gun shot wounds. One to the back, which didn't go all the way through meaning the bullets still in there bouncing around doing who knows what kind of damage. And the second, which really has me worried, is in his left thigh. From what I can tell the bullet went all the way through but in the process nicked the main artery. If we don't get him back to Atlantis ASAP he's going to slowly bleed to death."

"Fuck!" Skyler swore softly as he pulled his jacket off and started tearing it up so that Blue, who had also sacrificed his jacket, could use it to bandage Axle's wounds – there was little else they could do with out the their gear.

"Leave me…" Axle's voice was so soft and weak that Skyler almost didn't catch it.

"Not a chance in hell." Skyler moved to support Axle so that they could get moving again. "We don't leave people behind."

"I'm slowing you down… Leave me here…get to the gate…send help…" Axle was quickly losing consciousness.

"If you think for one minute I'm leaving you here so those…those psychotic hillbillies can finish what they started, then you don't know me as well as I thought you did."

"I'm not gonna make it back to the gate –." Axle cut off in a coughing fit.

"Don't you even start with that 'I'm dying' shit." Skyler snapped harshly.

Hauling Axle to his feet Skyler slung the man's arm over his shoulder and pulled him along. Ignoring his friend's weak protests Skyler, finding that Axle could hardly hold his own weight, lifted the man over his shoulder in a fireman's carry and started for the gate with Blue bringing up the rear.

As if things couldn't get worse for the three men almost as soon as they stepped out of the cave the light drizzle that had started the night before turned into a heavy down pour.

Walking became difficult and dangerous for them and they were soon slipping in the mud and decaying pine-like needles on the forest floor.

After what felt like an eternity the group reached the Stargate. Hoping like hell that what ever was wrong with Atlantis' gate had been fixed Skyler had Blue dial home. He almost, almost cried for joy when the gate activated.

--

Giving up on the pretense of working Elizabeth sat in her office staring off into space. It had been two hours since Brain and the group of scientists with him had returned from the Alpha site missing Skyler, Axle, Blue, and Dr. Morris. So far all attempts at communication over the radio with the missing men had failed. She was now forced to debate with herself over whether or not it was worth the risk to send a team in to search for them.

Startled when the Stargate suddenly activated, Elizabeth quickly rushed out to the control room to get a report from Chuck.

"Receiving Major Cain's IDC." Chuck reported.

"Lower the shield." Elizabeth ordered as she started for the gate room, calling for a med team over the radio just incase.

Almost as soon as the shield was lowered a soaked Skyler carrying somebody over his shoulder in a fireman's carry came rushing through the gate. An equally soaked and slightly wobbly Blue quickly followed him, which meant it was either Axle or Morris being carried.

"We need a med team in here, NOW!" Skyler yelled as he gently lowed Axle to the ground. Checking for a pulse he swore when he didn't find one. "Don't you fucking dare! Don't you even fucking think about it you bastard!" He ordered as he started CPR. "I did not just carry you fat ass through the fucking rain while being chanced by those fucking psychotic redneck hillbillies just so you could die on me now!"

Within moments a medical team arrived in the gate room and quickly descended on the injured soldier. Lifting Axle onto a gurney the med team disappeared out of the room almost as quickly as they'd entered.

"Skyler…?" Crouching down next to her nephew, who was still kneeling on the floor staring towards where the med team had disappeared, Elizabeth gently placed a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. "What happened? Where's Dr. Morris?"

Silently Skyler pulled the picture he'd taken off the basement wall out of his pocket and handed it to Elizabeth while he stumbled back up to his feet. "Aliens I get, I understand, but people, people are just fucking insane." He grumbled as both he and Blue helped steady each as they shuffled after the med team.

Looking at the picture Skyler had handed her Elizabeth felt sick at seeing the gruesome image captured. She didn't know what exactly had happened on that planet, but looking at the picture in her hands she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

--

Skyler was getting antsy pacing around the waiting room waiting to hear about how Axle was doing. His best friend since childhood was fighting for his life and there was absolutely nothing Skyler could do to help and it was driving him crazy.

After both he and Blue had been cleared with only minor concussions by the medical staff and after a quick briefing with Elizabeth and Sheppard the two men along with Brain had planted themselves in the waiting room refusing to leave until they knew how their friend was doing.

"Skyler…" The sound of Aria's voice and the feel of her hand on his arm got Skyler's attention. "Come here," she urged him to sit down on the floor at her feet. Once he was sat down she began to message his shoulders, loosening the tight, knotted muscles. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Kira doing similar for Blue.

Aria had to give a soft smile when she thought about those two. She remembered when Blue had finally worked up the nerve to ask Kira out he'd been so nervous that he'd nearly fallen down a flight of stairs. When they'd had their first date Kira had 'accidentally' knocked over a candle and lit Blue's pants on fire. To this day the woman claimed that it had been an accident, but Aria suspected she'd done just to get Blue out of his pants. Since then things had fortunately smoothed out between them.

Looking to her left she could see Brain stretched out on some chairs half asleep. The sound of footsteps coming from the infirmary instantly had all three teammates on their feet as Carson finally emerged.

"He's going to be fine." Carson answered before anyone could ask the obvious question. "It was touch and go there for a little bit, but baring any major complications Axle should make a complete recovery. He won't be running any marathons any time soon mind you, but with patience and hard work he should be back to field duty in no time."

"Can we see him?" Skyler felt a large weight lift off his shoulders knowing that his friend would be okay.

"I guess you can sit with him if you'd like. It might not be a bad thing to have some friendly faces around when he finally wakes up enough to be lucid." The group followed Carson back into the infirmary and quickly settled in around Axle's bed waiting for the man to wake up.