A/N: I would like to thank all of those who took up my challenge thus far. Titan5 and Pyrodragon. I encourage everyone to check out the stories they did for the (As I have now termed it) Not So funny After all challenge, and encourage others to take it up as well. Details for it are in ch. 19.
Ch. 20
Revelations
John's mind had resorted to something primitive, almost animal, that fogged his brain and narrowed his world to flight and only flight. It was a terror that made the halls too small and the way ahead eternal. He was going at a blind run, breath ripping to and from his lungs, and the bones of his legs jarring on each impact when foot met ground. His heart was like a car engine chugging out blood and burning adrenaline. He saw nothing but darkness and heard nothing but his own labored breathing and clapping footfalls.
He was officially the rat, and found a small indefinite amount of room in the haze of his mind to actually pity them.
John was too preoccupied by survival to give to any other concerns. So when his body clipped another body, knocking him off rhythm and causing him to whip around and slam his back into the wall, he was ready to pass it off as insignificant until a strong hand latched around his arm and yanked him back.
" Hold up there! Where's Leyn."
A beam of light stabbed into John's eyes and blinded him. He tried to pull back, rip his arm from the vice grip and maintain his survival momentum. Another hand grabbed a fistful of his shirt front, pulled him forward, then slammed him back into the wall. The breath whooshed out of John's lungs and he gasped, pain throbbing along a single rib. Hard knuckles dug into his breastbone and the cold barrel of a rifle pressed into his throat just under his jaw.
" Where's Leyn!" a man snarled.
John blinked several times. He saw vague outlines of two human shapes, but that was all. This was no time to indulge in putting faces to voice.
" Dead. Just like the three of us will be if we don't get out of here now!" To emphasize the point, John tried to jerk free, only to be jerked back and pressed harder into the wall.
" What're you talking about? What happened to Leyn! You killed him, didn't you!"
John curled his lip in an infuriated sneer. " No, you brainless jack-ass. His stupidity killed him. Just like your's is going to kill you in the next two minutes. Doom's coming down that hallway and choosing between you and it, I'll take my chances with you morons." John then kicked out striking the guy before him in the crotch. When the guy staggered back with a loud grunt, John knocked the gun from his throat by grabbing the barrel with one hand and striking out hitting the flesh and bone of a face with the other. He was about to toss the gun away when the first guy, quick to recover, slammed into John, pinning him against the wall.
Then came the howl – long, tuba-like, rising, rising, and rising until fading out, and so loud it rattled through John's ears to vibrate his bones. The struggles ceased, and in the dim light of the flashlights now rolling on the floor, John saw the two men staring wide-eyed back down the corridor.
" Told ya," John said. He shoved his attacker away and took off running. A clattering of footfalls quickly joined his own, and harsh breathing obscured the silence. He needed that silence.
Or thought he did.
Another kind of breathing – powerfully rhythmic as a bellows and loud as a hurricane force gale – drowned out the measly combination of human breaths. It pressed down on John's ears and filled the corridor. Had John not already known where the creature was coming from, he would have thought it everywhere.
" Haul ass!" John screamed, and ran even faster than what he thought should have been humanly possible.
The breathing closed in. A scream resounded and the bellows breathing momentarily quited. John caught the whimpering cry of the guy following him, heard some name shouted garbled by panic, but sure as hell wasn't going to look back. Good thing too when the hallways suddenly ended at a left and right juncture. John hit the wall with his hands out, pushed off it, and took off to the left, going by the general direction of where the front entrance was supposed to be – or at least he hoped. His attacker followed, whimpering between heavy breaths.
Their breathing was overcome by the bellows breaths of the creature. Faster, closer, and gradually rising in amplitude. It stopped for a heartbeat, then something thumped heavily onto the floor, and John's follower screamed.
John glanced over his shoulder but saw nothing. He looked ahead, pushed his aching legs, muscles straining to the painfully burning point...
Then he hit a wall. Slammed right into it, knocking the breath from his lungs and his body back-first to the floor. Panic didn't give him a chance to wallow in a dazed stupor. He ignored the flashes of light in his vision and scrabbled with trembling hands for the flashlight still hooked to his wrist by a bit of leather. He passed the light all over his surroundings and found himself to be in some sort of a small chamber littered with rocky rubble. There was a doorway on his left, and that was it, until he passed the light along the floor. The light skimmed off of an odd section of wall to his right. He whipped the light back, and practically choked on his relief.
Near the corner was a hole in the wall, just big enough for his lean body to slip through. John rolled onto his chest, pushed himself to his feet, and charged toward the hole. The bellows breathing came up fast and hard, filling the chamber until it seemed to shake. Sheppard dove for the hole, sliding a few inches on his stomach until he had to pull the rest of himself through. Something dagger sharp snagged his calf, pulling down to slice from mid-calf to ankle. John screamed and rolled onto his back to kick at the taloned paw clawing at his leg. When the paw reared back, Sheppard scrambled back until his spine hit the wall. He scuttled sideways, and pressed himself into a corner, unsure of why he needed the enclosure of two walls, but needing it all the same. He grabbed the flashlight and cast the beam on the blue, black, and red-skinned talon digging furrows into the stone as though it were clay.
The creature's breathing was fast, agitated, and getting more agitated the more it tried to increase the expanse of the hole. Then it howled, long, rising, then tapering off. Something heavy slammed into the wall causing it to shudder and dust to rain. John flinched and shrank deeper into his little niche, trembling so hard the light of the torch was all over the place. His breaths came in short, gulping pants that barely kept up with his too fast heart. With every impact, he jumped, along with his heart, and his breath caught. He felt small, lost, and utterly alone, like a child trying to hide from the monster under his bed. Too bad the monster had to be real this time around.
Then, almost too sudden to be true, the creature's endeavors ceased. No more loud breathing, no more impacts, and no more trying to rip its way through to John. The silence that fell around John would have made himself consider the possibility that he'd gone deaf. Except he could still hear himself breathing; short, erratic, shuddering, and no matter how hard he tried to keep it otherwise, too loud.
John pulled his 9-mil from his coat and held it in both hands against his chest. Now was the time to move, to find his way out of this rat maze before the creature found him.
The only problem was, he couldn't move. He knew what he needed to do, but his body was refusing to do it. After all, moving meant going back out there, the creature's habitat, it's hunting ground that it knew every inch of. Chance would favor the creature – ten percent he got out of here alive, ninety percent that the creature found him first.
Hey, ten percent is still pretty good. Better than one percent. John wanted to laugh but had the feeling it would come out sounding like a sob. It was time to face the cold, hard truth – he was scared, terrified, petrified, and brain-numb with panic. Again he wanted to laugh. Of all the times to give into fear and let it reduce him to a stubborn ass more content with staying put than trying to survive, he couldn't quite grasp why now.
Actually, the more he thought about it, the clearer it became. He was undeniably, irrevocably, indescribably screwed. Wasn't that it? That creature had taken down Leyn and Leyn's buddy without making so much as a scrape of sound. And this was it's playground. Chances were good it knew exactly where John was, and was making its way through the myriad of corridors, taking the most direct path to him.
Come on, Sheppard. You've been through worse than this. Hive ships, hive queens, and, hell, fed upon a couple of times. All that had to accumulate to some sort of higher experience level.
John closed his eyes, tilted his head back, and took several deep calming breaths until adult, military John was back in charge.
" All right," he breathed. " Come on, John, think."
This creature wasn't wraith but it certainly had the more annoying wraith attributes – feeding and healing.
And evolved wraith of some kind? A mutant wraith? Origin really didn't matter, Sheppard was simply trying to ground his own mind. This thing moved fast, ate fast, and healed fast but that didn't mean it didn't have a weakness of some kind.
Yeah, maybe it's ticklish.
John sighed dejectedly. Thus far his only hope seemed to be to stay on alert and hope he didn't run into the thing any time soon – or run into Jorsek. Unless Jorsek was already dead.
John might have been clear headed, but he was still trembling, and freezing from the drying sweat that had soaked every inch of his clothes. He swallowed against a rough, dry throat, and took another couple of deep breaths. The breathing ended in coughing when the cold, dry air irritated his burningly raw lungs. He hadn't noticed before – blind in his panic as he had been – but there was a thin shaft of light spilling in from a hole in the ceiling across the room.
If only, John lamented. He tilted his head back, and gave himself a moment to rest. His shakes eased, becoming less from fear, and more from muscle fatigue. He was exhausted beyond tolerance, and was actually thankful for the fear that was keeping him awake.
The silence was shatter by a small, muffled crunch. John tensed and held his breath as he listened. The silence betrayed to him another, almost inaudible crunch, and some kind of a creak... like leather.
John pressed his back and one hand against the wall. Slowly, he rose up on trembling legs until upright, and locked his knees. He clicked off his flashlight, and allowed his eyes to adjust the rest of the way to the darkness. He turned his gaze toward the entrance of the room on his left. A shape emerged, tall, dark, and lean. John went rock rigid and still in his corner with the gun against his chest and his other hand wrapped around the handle of a bladed stick. The figure entered the room without a sound, barely breathing. John saw the movement of what had to be the head twitching around. It stopped twitching when it faced John, and slowly began to approach.
John snapped the gun before the figure's face and stepped forward.
" Don't move!" he barked. The figure reacted with a hiss, and struck fast knocking the gun away with a sweep of its arm. The gun clattered onto the floor. John didn't hesitate when he whipped out the stick to slash the blade through the hand reaching for him. The figure snarled inhumanly and stumbled back clutching the limb to its body. It was a momentary reaction when the figure resumed its approach toward Sheppard. Sheppard stepped back, whipped out the second blade, and crossed the two blades over each other directly in front of the figure's throat – or where John guessed the throat to be.
" Don't move!" John hissed. The figure stopped centimeters from the blades. " So much as twitch, then I twitch and open a jugular. Now step back."
The figure did so, and John followed. " More."
Another step, then another as John kept commanding until the figure stepped into the small pillar of light.
John narrowed his eyes darkly. " Thought as much... Though the hell hound kind of threw me for a loop."
The wraith responded by glowering and baring its small, serrated teeth. It was one of those commander wraith, dressed in a ragged dark long coat with white hair matted into dreadlocks. The thing looked more gaunt than the average slender wraith commander, dirty, and a little wild in the eyes. Its hand was being slow to heal, and dribbled out black blood.
John removed one of the sticks, twirling it then sliding it into his belt, so he could pick up his flashlight and click. " Don't move," he said. " I'm faster than I look and these are sharper than they look." He took a couple of steps back and did a quick back and forth between the wraith and the floor until he located his gun. He slide the other stick into his belt, crouched, and grabbed the weapon to point at the wraith.
The wraith remained standing beneath the light, cradling his injured limb – its feeding limb. John had to smile at that. He approached the wraith but not within striking distance for the thing to swipe at him again. The wraith stared at him with a little hatred and a lot of unnerving hunger. It would have been intimidating if the wraith's feeding hand wasn't lying lifeless on the floor.
A long, silver string of saliva stretched from the wraith's mouth. " So this his how it ends," it rasped in disgust. " By the hands of food."
John snorted. " Don't flatter yourself. It's not over yet. The fact that you're still alive in this hell hole has just bought you a little more time. I need out and something tells me you don't want to be hanging around here either."
The wraith's eyes squinted, regarding John more closely, looking him up and down. John had always suspected the wraith harbored stellar night vision. " you are... different."
" Yeah? What gave it away? The gun, the clothes, or the fact that I know what you are?"
" You smell different."
John cocked a bewildered eyebrow, unsure whether to be offended or just confused.
" Huh?"
" Every world gives those who inhabit it a unique scent. Your scent is not unique to this world. It is a scent I have never smelled before. And... Yes, you know of my kind. These humans are naïve to me. Their fear consumes then, making them easier prey. Your fear is... controlled, subdued. It is there, but it is not strong. You attack with the skills of a warrior."
John furrowed his brow and looked at the wraith askance. " Are you trying to suck up to me or something?"
The wraith grinned. " Do not flatter yourself, human. I would have drained you of your life without a second thought. It has merely been some time since I have encountered food that fights back."
John's eyes flickered nervously to and from the door to this chamber. " Yeah, whatever. As nice as it is to face an enemy I actually know about, I'd rather focus on getting out of here, which brings me back to the reason why I haven't killed you yet. You're going to show me the back door to this place."
The wraith chuckled, deep and throaty. " Do you honestly expect me to cooperate so that you can kill me as soon as you are free?"
" I expect you to cooperate because I have this funny feeling you don't want to be here just as much as me. Hell, I'll even give you a fighting chance once we're outside, but only once we're outside."
The wraith kept smiling, or perhaps was just baring its teeth, John could never tell. It tilted its head to one side, and chuckled.
" I will lead you out, so that I may consume you and take your weapons. My presence here is not an accident, human. There is a purpose to it."
John nodded then gestured using the gun toward the door. " Fine, whatever. Talk along the way so we can get this over with. And use this." He tossed the flashlight to the wraith, who caught it, then tossed it back.
" You will need it more than me, human." Without another word, the wraith moved to the door. It also had a point. John would need the light to keep watch over the wraith. He followed behind keeping enough space between him and the alien vampire in case it got the urge to whip around and knock John senseless.
" How long do we have until that thing finds us?" he asked.
" This section of the structure is difficult to reach. We are safe... until we reach your 'back door'. The creature knows to wait there. It may know to wait there now."
John shuddered. His back was feeling uncomfortably exposed, and it was making him cold. " You wouldn't happen to know what that thing is, do you? Distant cousin, experiment gone wrong...?"
" The latter would be a more proper description."
John chuckled bitterly. " Thought as much. You guys make Frankenstein look sensible. What is it? What were you trying to achieve this time around before it turned against you?"
The wraith hissed. " A creature to help us during the culls."
John's stomach twisted itself. " You mean... Like a hunting dog? Or sheep herder? Let 'em lose and they round up your humans into an easy to cull herd."
" Precisely. Many humans on many worlds have found ways to elude us. Underground worlds, technology... the beasts were meant to seek these hiding humans out, and bring them to us. They were once wild creatures, with little intelligence, and ravenous. If food was not available, then they would turn on each other. They made our world dangerous, and we were forced to hunt them down in order to wipe them out. But they showed themselves to be the more dangerous hunters. Many wraith were lost during these exterminations. We sought to utilize these creatures' hunting skills for our own use. We captured many, studied them... changed them. Their intelligence was increased through manipulation of their core structure, making them intelligent enough to train."
John glanced over his shoulder nervously. It seemed that humans weren't the only ones having had their DNA cross-cultured with the iratus bug. That was the only explanation John could think of that would explain the hell hound. " Let me guess... something went wrong."
" When we felt the beasts ready, we brought them to this world to begin rounding up the humans. Instead, they attacked the humans and devoured them for themselves. Hundreds upon hundreds of my kind were sent to stop them, but the beasts had become more formidable. Not only did they turn against us on the planet. Those still remaining on the hive turned as well, escaping from their holds and hunting my kind, killing the queen and hundreds of drones. Another hive was forced to destroy the ship. Those of us left on this world were to remain on this world until every last one of the beasts were destroyed."
It hit John then like a slap, and he nearly laughed out loud.
" Holy crap! You mean the reason your people leave this planet alone is because you released a bunch of genetically mutated wolves you had no control over? You played god, got 'literally' bit in the ass for it, and lost prime feeding ground. You know, I would have thought you learned your lesson when one of your kin thought that smacking Wraith DNA and human DNA was a good idea."
The wraith – who John decided to call Fred – shot him a toothy sneer. John returned it with a patronizing smirk.
" So tell me," John said. " What's the score? Who's winning? And how many more of your kinfolk are out there?"
John saw the wraith's shoulders tense in a creak of leather – or whatever Fred's coat was made of. " I am... The last."
John started at that. " Out of how many?"
" Too many to count. Hundreds going toward thousands."
" How many of these creature's?"
" Twenty."
John's heart took a nose dive into his stomach. " Son of a bitch," he breathed.
" If that is a statement of surprise, then it is most appropriate. We had increased the creatures' intelligence only to enable it to submit to instruction. But, as you had said, something had gone wrong. Their intelligence continued to increase, making them more formidable. We have hunted each other for too many years to count. I have not left this world since the hunt began. Over that time, fewer and fewer of my brethren could be felt. Now, I can feel no one, neither close nor in the distance. I am the last, and can only hope this beast to be the last. Should I be successful in destroying it, then I am to contact my people, and this world will be free for culling once again."
John sucked in a breath through his teeth. " Oh, bad thing to say, Fred. You know, as a human, I can't really let you do that."
" I am aware," the wraith said, nonplussed. " As I cannot let you stop me."
" Glad to see we're on the same page then. We duke it out once we're outside. Victor gets the spoils and all that crap."
The wraith chuckled and it made John's nerves tingle uncomfortably. He took a deep breath and shoved the discomfort back. " So you and this monster mutt have been at each other for a while. I'm surprised you two haven't wiped out the entire village by now."
" The creature cannot leave. It is trapped here. I, on the other hand, know of ways to escape that the creature cannot use."
" So you're the reason people have been up and vanishing. What does that leave the creature to eat?"
" Whatever happens to wander in. The creature can eat anything."
John finally allowed himself a short, bitter, breathy chuckle. " Yeah? Well why can't your kind? I think we'd get along quite nicely if you'd just expand your horizons beyond sucking the life out of my kind's flesh..."
SGA
Maj shifted her weight from foot to foot with the nerve-buzzing anxiety of wanting to be in motion – in motion heading toward the ruins where John wasn't supposed to be. March up there, pull John out, then throttle Jorsek with everything she had and pass him off to Gidel for a good pulverizing. No question about it, she was going to kill that brainless, self-important, meat-headed excuse of a human being. Kill him and chop him to bits for his stupidity.
Maj looked up at the Gathering Stage platform but Tarl still hadn't arrived, and she wasn't the only one who was restless. People around her were starting to murmur, and there was a constant motion of heads turning in the direction of the ruins.
A large hand placed itself lightly on Maj's shoulder. She looked up at her nephew. Gidel was calm as a lake on a windless day, but there was a thin film of displeasure over his eyes. Emotions didn't betray themselves easily in Gidel because they didn't control Gidel. Maj envied that about her nephew. Self control was as natural for him as breathing, and she could use some of that control right about now.
Jorsek had lied in a bad way, and even now might be doing things to John worse than what he'd done to him in the barn. Jorsek was definitely breathing his last when Maj found him. She'd been all set to head to the ruins with Gidel and his friend Harek in tow, when the bell rang. Now she was being forced to wait, and wait, and wait. Perhaps Jorsek wasn't the only one who was going to get his comeuppance.
" If Jorsek was true to his intent on finding this kidnapper," Gidel said, " then he won't lay a finger on John until the deed is done. Jorsek and his men weren't the only ones to go up. They won't be doing anything to John in the presence of other citizens."
This wasn't the first time Gidel had said those words. The problem was, his assurances were short lived. The longer they waited, the stronger Maj's agitation became, making the words less of an assurance and more hollow.
The ruins were a maze, with plenty of places to torment John where others would be none the wiser.
Maj's ability to remain calm was being stretched to its limit. She was quite ready to bolt from the crowd and head to the ruins when Tarl finally ascended the stairs, deliberately, as though he were blasted royalty. Yet instead of the noise growing hushed, it increased.
" What's going on!" someone shouted.
" We saw men heading to the ruins," said another.
" Why aren't you with them?"
" Is this part of some plan?"
" Why weren't we informed?"
Tarl held up both hands for silence, and like a wave crashing onto the beach then rolling back into the sea, the noise level of the gather descended to almost near silence.
Almost. A few continued to murmur.
" Good people of 443," Tarl said, his voice clear and sharp. " As some of you have already come to know, early this morning a large contingent of men were witnessed making their way to the ruins. I can tell you now, this trek was not executed under my authority, and I was not aware that anyone had gone to the ruins until after dawn. No one was meant to go up there. But because some have, they may have very well jeopardized our attempts at catching this kidnapper. I know many of you are anxious to go and retrieve your love ones to ensure that they are safe, but I beg you not to. The situation has gone beyond our control and it will take much to remedy it. For now, I ask you all to return to your homes and wait there for you loved ones to return. To go up there now will only make the situation worse in a way that could put many of our lives in danger. So please, for the sake of everyone here, return home and wait. We will inform you later on when there has been a change. Anyone caught going against my request will be arrested. That is all."
At the end of Tarl's little speech, the crashing wave of noise resumed, almost deafening, and Maj joined in, shouting and demanding for something to be done to bring their people back. Tarl ignored it all and walked primly from the stage. With a huff, Maj stomped her foot and stormed away. Gidel had to run to catch up with her.
" Brain-less, good for nothing city official," Maj muttered. " What blasted good is he if all he wants us to do is wait the matter out. That kidnapper could be picking off our people one at a time even as we speak. Oh, yes, Tarl's such a concerned official looking out for our well-being." Maj snorted. " Bet he doesn't have a clue as to what he's doing. Probably had in all planned out, real simple, until Jorsek botched it all. Now he's at a loss..."
" I don't know, Aunt Maj," Gidel said. " Personally, Tarl didn't look all that concerned. He looked nervous."
Maj looked up at Gidel suspiciously. " How could you tell?"
Gidel shrugged. " He kept swallowing a lot. Easy enough to notice if... uh... you're paying attention."
In other words, if you're not distracted by being all riled up and brain-fogged with fury. Maj's face smoothed out of its scowl to form a different scrunch, one of consternation. " What would Tarl have to be afraid of, besides Jorsek succeeding and making him look bad?"
Gidel shrugged again. " Don't know. All I know is he struck me as looking a little nervous."
Maj smiled slightly and patted Gidel's shoulder. " You're getting better at reading people, love."
" Well, you did say it was a family trait. The thing is, it kind of bothered me seeing that official getting kind of nervous. I had a talk with John the other day while we were up at the ruins, about wraith. He wasn't really certain about it, but he thought there might be the possibility of one being on our world. And if that official knows something..."
Maj rolled her eyes. " Is this another of your little government conspiracy ideologies, Gidel? How on Ioth would he know what's been taking our people?"
" I've been off those ideologies for three years, Aunt Maj. And I'm not saying that John was right about there being wraith and that this official knows something. I'm just saying he seems to know something."
Maj swallowed and shook her head. " You better be wrong about that, Gidel. But I will say this much. If John isn't back in the next few hours, I'm going after him. I will not let that boy die right under my nose, especially by Jorsek's or any other's hand."
Gidel did not respond, just nod in solemn agreement.
Maj glanced down at her side, and arched an eyebrow. " Huh. I wonder where Ris has gotten off to?"
SGA
A/N: Will Ris take on a Lassie role and save the day? Or was he merely distracted by something shiny?
