A/N: The reviews make me happy. My e-mail does not. Stupid thing is acting weird and it's making me nervous. Oh, and I would like to address a little nick in the story – I had no idea that John has a tracking device in him that would allow the Daedalus to find him. Season two just barely started for me because Syndication is scum, so I was not aware of this until people brought it up. So, for now, just pretend there's some kind of interference or something that keeps him from being tracked. I don't know, use your imaginations. I always though the Daedalus tracked by com signals and have been relying on that.
Anyways, on with the show... and hold on tight.
Ch. 21
Flight for Survival
John was thoroughly amazed that the wraith hadn't experimented themselves into oblivion. But he wasn't going to complain. If the wraith had no qualms in screwing themselves over for the sake bettering the hunt and the food supply, then more power to them.
They'd gone silent a little while after the wraith's revelation concerning the beast, and it wasn't because they had nothing more to say.
" How much further?" John asked.
" Not far," replied the wraith. " We may even make before the creature does."
" Uh-huh. Okay, so just how smart is this thing, really? I already know pretty damn smart if a handful of them wiped out a truck load of your kind." Although it really wasn't saying all that much. Wraith weren't stupid. They knew how to be clever, how to overcome their need to satiate hunger in order to do what needed to be done. And – something John was still reeling over – they even had a sense of honor. Or perhaps some of them did. Their only self-destructing set back was their hunger, and relying more on their numbers rather than battle strategies when it came to ground warfare. They'd attempted to smash Atlantis through a kamikaze run, and ended up cutting their population a little.
" They have shown a level of intelligence that could very well be classified as sentient. Their hunger, however, is more painful than ours. They do not restrain themselves when food is available. However, the first sign of their growing intelligence was their restraint in turning on each other, and instead working together... to hunt us."
John's chest jerked in a quiet laugh. " Sucks to be on that end of the food chain, doesn't it?"
A long off, drawn-out howl moaned through the corridors. Both John and the wraith froze with heads lifted and ears perked.
The wraith hissed and John could have sworn he saw it cringe. " I would not be so sure of myself, human. You are just as much the prey as I. Twice over should we both manage to escape."
John swallowed tightly, then shrugged. " Yeah, well, I'm used to it. Keep moving."
They started up again, a little faster than before. There came no follow up howl, which made John even more tense than he already was. He would have liked to hope that the creature, perhaps, had gotten lost.
Yeah, big fat freakin' chance of that happening. If John's heart beat any harder, it was going to puncture itself on the rib it would eventually break.
They turned a corner, and John sucked in a breath of sudden relief. Several feet ahead the corridor ended to open up into a massive chamber of fallen beams and rubble piles. It was dimly lit from shafts of light pouring down from the innumerable cracks and holes in the ceiling. The lord of all the holes was situated almost perfectly in the center of the chamber but just off-center a little toward the right hand wall. John's mind worked quick tracing a path to the hole – up a pile of rubble to a small ledge where a beam rested, up that beam to another beam, then out through the hole.
And no hell hound.
Until the howl sounded close enough to rattle John's bones.
The wraith peered ominously over its shoulder. " We have been found."
John didn't risk a glance of his own. " No crap." He then shoved the wraith forward. " Move if you want to live to finish this outside."
" Actually," the wraith rasped. " I do not honestly care whether or not I finish anything with you."
The wraith, with an abruptness that John never saw coming, whipped around knocking John's gun away with its gradually healing feeding hand and grabbing John by the throat to slam him against the wall with his other hand. He released John who slid down the wall and crumpled into a boneless heap. Stars pulsed in John's eyes, and the world swam in his vision. He distinguished enough to see the wraith race to the rubble pile against the wall and scale it with inhuman grace to the beams then out the hole.
" Double crossing bastard!" John shouted. He knew he should have known better, but seemed to be getting soft in matters of trust. Just because one wraith expressed a little honor and gratitude didn't mean the whole lot had the capability. Plus this was a matter of survival, and if it wasn't the strong who survived then it was the cunning back-stabbers.
What really pissed John off was that the wraith had thought of it before he did.
John rolled painfully onto his hands and knees with a grunt, and froze. A gust of hot, putrid air brushed across his face and along his neck.
" Crap!" John scrambled to his feet and backed away as he pulled the bladed sticks from his belt. Instincts screamed at him to run, but something deeper told him to hold off on instinct's demands for a moment. Logical enough. The moment he turned to run, that thing would be on him. He recalled seeing some animal special where some so-called animal expert had said something about never making eye-contact with a dangerous predators. John had thought it to be a load of crap. He'd buy into the whole playing dead thing to trick some of the more unintelligent lifeforms, but he sure as hell wasn't about to take his eyes off any creature gung-ho on wanting to eat him.
The eyes were the first body-part of the creature John saw shining to be almost glowing iridescently from the dusky light of the chamber. It made no sound as it moved with feline methodical grace into the chamber, which struck John as unnervingly odd when only moments ago this thing was howling and breathing to make the eardrums vibrate to the exploding point.
John stepped back as the thing moved forward. It took a step, and he took a step. He tried not to breathe loud, but each unsteady inhale and exhale was like a roar to his suddenly sensitive ears. Sweat dripped from his face flashing in the thin needle of light he stepped back through. He dreaded every motion of his own body, from the movement of his chest trying not to heave, to the smallest drop of sweat rolling down his neck. The twitch of his finger, the blink of an eye, even a hitch in his breathing could trigger this beast to pounce. John could have sworn the creature was smiling, and sworn that it was enjoying every second of John's torment.
If this thing was as smart as the wraith had said, then it probably really was enjoying this. The ball was in its court and it was going to bask in every moment of its apparent triumph.
Ah, good old pride. Apparently it wasn't just a human trait. The problem with the bad guy stalling was that it gave the good guy time to think. John came up with an idea. The setback was, it would be close, so close it would probably end up killing him. Yet at this point he preferred sooner than later.
John tightened his grip on the sticks. He took a couple of deep, steadying breaths that would probably be his last, and forced himself to come to terms with it. Then he twisted his upper body as though turning. The creature huffed out a bellowing whuff of breath and leaped forward in the same instant. John turned back and dashed forward ducking beneath the creature as it flew past overhead. John heard it land behind him with a heavy thud, so turned around again stumbling backward toward the corridor.
The creature turned as well, and it wasn't smiling anymore. The fang-like mandibles were out and spread twitching as though upset that they hadn't pierced anything. Saliva stretched from the sharp tips like opaque slime. The thing was back to breathing loud enough to bring the whole place down. That answered John's pointless question. The loud breaths were heavy panting. And yet even within that deafening breathing, John's own breathing seemed to match it. He'd survived part one of his plan. Now on to part two that he was even more certain would end up killing him.
John twirled one of the sticks, and spread his legs in the standard readying stance Teyla had taught him. If he survived this and got home, John was requesting the biggest bag of red licorice available from Earth. Teyla had taken an immediate liking to red licorice.
" Here little wraith dog," John muttered. The hell hound closed in on him with the same nerve shattering slowness. John inched back, letting the beast close the distance. When that distance was closed to John's liking (only eight feet away) John charged, and the creature copied. They ran at eachother with the chamber ringing from the beast's roaring exhales. It gaped its mouth wide and spread its mandibles, then lowered its head. John increased his speed, and two feet from the things gaping jaws he spun and swung both blades to hack off one mandible and one leg at the joint. The thing stumbled and fell sliding to its chest, yet had the mental capacity enough to kick out with its hind leg into John's back and knock him to the floor.
John didn't even give himself time to catch his breath. He rolled onto his back in time to see the creature's gaping mouth and spread mandibles coming at him. He swiped with both sticks and the thing reared it's head back. John scrambled backwards then scrabbled to his feet holding the blades in front of him. The creature hobbled toward him, then stalked toward him when the last of its paw healed back into existence.
John gulped. Not even the wraith healed that damn fast. Then again, this thing had just recently fed.
John wasn't going to wait around for this thing to strike. To get out, he needed to cripple it enough for the healing to take its sweet time. Again John charged and lashed out with the blades, slicing off both mandibles when the creature tried to take a bit out of him. John continued on beneath the thing to slice off one foreleg, then sliced open the belly, and finished by taking out both hind legs at the knee and the other at the ankle.
The creature dropped writhing and thrashing on the floor, snarling, roaring, and howling - and already the missing appendages were starting to grow back. John didn't wait around giving into sick fascination. He charged past the thing at a man dash toward the rubble piled on the side of the wall, jamming the blades into his belt. He scrambled up it, feet sliding out from under him with each rock he dislodged, making him hate that wraith even more out of mere jealousy. When he was close enough to the fallen beam, he leaped onto it and crawled up on all fours like a monkey.
John had never been more thankful for his head for heights as he did right then. It was a long ways down to the floor, and the next leap to the beam was a practical leap of faith, with no room for hesitation. A glance down showed him the hell hound rolling onto two of its newly healed foreleg and a back leg, with the other creeping toward joining it. The creature was already hobbling toward the rubble. John looked away back at the beam across from him, gaged the distance, then tensed back onto his haunches and pushed off of the beam. His moment of flight couldn't have been more than a second, and yet felt exhilaratingly like forever. His chest hit the beam shoving the breath from him, and his arms wrapped around it. He hauled himself up clawing at the rotten wood until he was able to swing his leg over. He then pushed himself to his hands and knees, and even more slowly to his feet. The beam he just leaped from shuddered out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head to see the fully regenerated hell hound clamoring up it with more dexterity than even the wraith.
" Damnit!" John snarled. He couldn't afford to run, but managed a fast walk by bending slightly. He reached the next inclined beam, the one that would take him to the hole, just as the beam he was on shuddered and nearly bucked him off when the creature landed on it. He wrapped his arm around the inclining beam and peered back long enough to see the creature slightly distracted in finding its footing. John swung onto the beam and again scurried monkey like upward. Clean, cold air hit his face, and sunlight simultaneously warmed it.
The beam shuddered. John didn't waste time looking back. He jumped up, threw his arms over the serrated rim of the hole, and squirmed, writhed, and struggled his way over. He rolled away from the opening just as a claw shot out and gouged the spot where John had been laying seconds ago. John backed and kept backing away until his lower back met the shallow rim around the roof. The creature roared and clawed like a trapped animal willing to beat itself to death against its confinement rather than remain trapped.
Then it stopped, leaving behind only a fading echo of its fury, and a small cloud of dissipating dust where it had been clawing. The silence would have been absolute if it hadn't been for John's harsh, fast breathing and the roaring rush of blood in his ears.
John couldn't move. His muscles refused to respond to his brain's commands, which was no surprise. His brain was shouting too many commands to be followed anyways, so his muscles settled for the easiest route that was trembling
I'm alive I'm alive I'm alive I'm freakin alive... Not that this was the first situation in which John was shocked to be alive, or the second, or third. Probably not even the tenth. But it was one of those ' a higher-up really likes me after all' moment, the kind that was so freakin' screwed up that the shock took a lot longer to wear off, and made John realize that though he wasn't particularly religious, neither was he any kind of an atheist.
John tilted his head back and let the combination chilled winds and afternoon sun embrace his face and throat. He took in deep lung-fulls of the clean open air, and basked in the decline of his heart rate out of its fifty-yard dash. There were some who thought near-death to be a major rush, the bringer of massive highs. But it wasn't the near death, it was the exhilaration of being alive. Near-death just made one appreciate it better.
When the shivering in his limbs subsided, John's body finally relented to his brain's commands, and he pushed himself stiffly and painfully to his feet with a groan. Stiffness continued to prevail as he limped like an old man across the roof to the next roof, then the next in search of one affording a short drop to the ground. He found just such a spot – or as best as he could locate – eight roofs away. It wasn't a bad distance to the ground, but the way Sheppard was feeling with one leg injured, he hesitated to determine how best to proceed. The Ronon or McKay way?
He went the McKay way by turning and going in feet first, getting to all fours and slipping his legs over the edge. He lay on his stomach and slid inchingly over the rim until he was hanging on by his hands, then dropped. His legs immediately gave landing him flat on his butt with a grunt, and thankful no one had been around to see it. McKay especially.
John remained sitting for a moment to catch his breath. Breath caught, he studied the leg where the wraith-dog had snagged him. The pant leg was ripped just above his boot, and soaked with blood. John parted the rip to see the ankle to knee laceration that resumed oozing rivulets of blood.
" Crap," John hissed. He removed his coat, then his over shirt, and ripped a strip from the bottom of the over shirt to wrap around the wound. He placed the shirt back on, his coat, then forced himself back to his feet despite the stinging in his leg. He pulled the bladed sticks back out of his belt and held them at the ready before proceeding off around the ruins.
That wraith was still out there. Maybe nearby, maybe looking for a quick snack to help the healing along. Which meant that another villager was going to disappear. He needed to get back to the village, back to Maj, and warn them. Not just about the wraith but the thing in the ruins as well. Just because it couldn't get out didn't mean it wouldn't be a problem in the future. They also needed to keep the wraith from managing to kill it first and send its 'all clear' signal to its buddies, and turn this planet into a feeding trough.
John limped as quickly as his leg would let him around the structure. It was the afternoon by the position of the sun. Time wise, this planet was similar to earth, and with it being winter, the days were shorter. He didn't have much time before darkness came, giving the wraith the advantage.
John came around another corner, and stumbled to a halt.
He was back at the front of the ruins, with its now completely unsealed entrance. He hadn't thought about that. Well, he had, he'd just momentarily forgotten being all caught up in trying not to die.
The opening in the rubble was big enough and then some for that horse-sized hell hound to get through without a hitch. John dropped his arms and slumped his shoulders in tired frustration.
" Son of a bitch!" he both snarled and whined. He gave that hell hound until after night fall – and after finishing off Jorsek and his posse – to find this opening and make a break for it. Possibly sooner.
John turned, only to turn back at the sound of rubble skittering down the pile. He whipped back around with blades raised, and relaxed only slightly when a human emerged from the entrance.
He tensed back up when he recognized that human.
Jorsek stood on the top of the pile squinting against the glare of the afternoon. He glanced around until his gaze settled firmly on Sheppard. That gaze went from a squint to flinty glare.
" What are you doing hear?" Jorsek bark. Others began emerging from the entrance, and several of Jorsek's favored slid down the pile to quickly surround John.
They didn't raise their weapons. Instead, they went casual when those not of Jorsek's circle came after. Jorsek followed them down the pile.
" Go ahead and return to the village," Jorsek told them. " Tell them of our plans and have them send more men. The rest of us will remain here and keep watch."
The village men nodded, and to John's horror, they took off at a trot into the woods, out of hearing and sight. John could actually feel the blood drain from his face. All around him, rifles were raised pointed directly at him. Jorsek strode menacingly up to John until he was a foot away, mutilating John's personal space.
" Where is Leyn? Where are the others?" Jorsek's breath puffed foul in John's face. " What have you done with them!"
John's body thrummed with anger and fear until he was back to shaking. " Oh give me a freakin' break!" He then shoved Jorsek away from him, not caring for the consequences. " I didn't do anything to your damn men! Do you honestly think I could have taken them all down? I mean look at me! You beat the hell out of me, Jorsek, if you happen to recall. I'm not exactly in any kind of shape to be taking anyone down and I barely got out of there alive myself. Your boys were killed by a... I don't even know what the hell it is! Super wraith-mutt from the nether worlds. Pounced 'em and sucked them dry, just like a wraith. Oh, yeah, and speaking of wraith? That's what's been taking your people. And guess what? It's out there, somewhere, about to take more. So listen, Jorsek. As much as I hate this, go ahead and do what you want with me. Just do it quick so you have time to tell the rest of your people what's going on, 'cause thanks to you, you just gave that monster in there," John pointed rigidly at the temple, " a way out. And that thing eats more than the average wraith and heals twice as fast. So kill me, get it over with, go save your people, and be the damn hero!"
John tensed, heart pounding, muscles twitching, for the inevitable shot to the back or at least deck to the face. Instead, Jorsek just stood there, silent and – dare John hope – looking somewhat thoughtful.
" A wraith?" Jorsek said, brow furrowed. " The creatures from legend?"
John shook his head. " Not legend, Jorsek. History. I know it's believed that there's something on this world keeping them away. Well, guess what, there is. There's a creature in those ruins ten times worse than the wraith. So bad it's what's been keeping the wraith away. The wraith here now is one that was stranded, and isn't going to leave until that creature is dead. The proof is in the corpses, Jorsek. You've seen them. Mummified, like something sucked them dry – human and animal alike. That's what wraith do is suck the life out of the living, age them prematurely. I'm pretty sure your legends talk about that."
Jorsek nodded jerkily, seemingly numb. " Yeah. Maj would tell stories... So did the other off-world travelers."
John nodded as well, nervously. " Yeah. But they aren't stories, they're the truth... And you know it."
Jorsek did. John could tell by the troubled look on his face. As much as the man hated John, as much as he was a coward who submitted rather than confronted, he wasn't all that stupid. Jorsek made John the scape-goat, but certainly didn't believe the things he accused John of. John had made sure of that by being nothing but honest (minus the whole claiming to be Maj's son thing.) John had also unwittingly made sure of it by doing what Jorsek was supposed to – protecting the people rather than his own interests. Jorsek could find no fault with John, no reason to believe deceit, which more than likely made Jorsek hate John even more.
So John didn't relax. If anything, his heart pounded harder.
After a moment, Jorsek seemed to snap from his uncertain reverie and look at John.
" If what you say is true," Jorsek said, " then we can use this." He then narrowed his eyes. " First, we'll need bait."
John's heart sunk, and all hope with it.
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
History was a repetitive SOB. And yet found funny little ways to make that repetitiveness unique each time around. Course rope was tied tight around John's wrist, and the other end was tossed and tied around the thick branch of a tree. He was without his coat, but had been allowed to retain his two shirts and – just for kicks – the bladed sticks tucked into his belt.
" In case you manage to free yourself when the wraith comes," Jorsek said. Though John knew good and well that Jorsek did it out of sheer sadism.
John was once again stretched his full length and then some made uncomfortable by the pull on his cracked rib. When the rope was tied secure around the branch, Jorsek's men started spreading out, some heading back toward the village, and three seeking out suitable spots to hide and await the wraith.
Soon it was just John and Jorsek. Jorsek had his hands clasped behind his back, and stepped toward John.
" Nothing personal, Sheppard," he said.
John wanted very badly to give him the finger. " Yes it is, Jorsek, so stop screwing with me."
" Who knows?" Jorsek said. " You might survive this."
" Good. Then I can come after you."
Jorsek unfolded his hands to pat John on the side of the face. " If you survive." Then he left, giving John a small wave.
" Bastard." John flatly responded. He knew Jorsek wouldn't be sticking around to enjoy the show. The man was a coward, after all.
" Hope you get wraith sucked," John added under his breath. After experiencing being fed on for himself, there was a moment when he wouldn't have wished it on his worst enemy.
He took it back.
SGA
A/N: Attention, all you with accounts at Livejournal! I have a story -original and chapterly – that I have posted on the net at a Blog site, but I'm unhappy with the size of the font that refuses to change. I know a lot of people do fic stuff at Livejournal, and I've been thinking about posting the story there. I've checked out people's Livejournal sites but have some questions.
Are you able to design your site however you want? Well, not however, but do they have templates, can you put up pictures or – yeah – can you go nuts and design it how you want?
I've seen people do one shot fanfics at Livejournal, but are multiple chapters possible? Is stuff archived so that new readers can seek out the first chapter and start at the beginning?
Uhhh... Well, that's all the questions I have for now. This story will be the only one I post should I choose to use Livejournal, and the site will mainly be centered around the story. If you would like to check the story out (it's just the prologue for now) the site address is in my bio, as well as the confession of who I used to base my main character off of. Come on, guess who :) However, when reading the story, there may be parts where you have to squint.
