The planet around the gate area was a scrubby landscape of yellow-grey limestone, heavily weathered by water with deep canyons marked by accretions of debris where the canyons turned. It did not bode well.
The foliage, what there was of it. looked very similar to that on the world which they had transited through to get here, just larger. Even Rush could guess that the evident presence of water would enable faster growth. Presuming the cactus plants - cactus trees more like - on this world were the same, it suggested some artificial means of their arrival, adding evidence to the suggestion that the patterns of electromagnetic radiation he was monitoring were also artificial.
He was vaguely aware of the soldiers returning from their patrol around the area. He agreed with them that it definitely looked like a path. Still, deer created paths in forests. It didn't mean that deer were sentient beings. Though deer probably wouldn't have bothered to create a path specifically to pass the stargate.
The clouds that had been accumulating to the west of them were now a solid wall of grey hugging the range of high hills or mountains which marched in a north-westerly line away from them. The ground rose as the landscape moved away towards the hills, which dominated the horizon on that side. To the east and south it flattened into a plain.
The stargate itself was situated about 40 metres from a cliff face which descended steeply into a deep ravine. On the other side there was a more gentle slope before a less steep slope into another valley also obviously cut by water but seemingly of a slightly darker colour of stone. He could see the bands of sandstone in the valley sides.
He turned back to the little screen he was holding, hunching his shoulders a little as the wind picked up a little. The signals were still displaying what appeared to be a random pattern, but it was between a very narrow range of values and was constant. It definitely did not appear a typically naturally caused pattern.
He didn't really notice as the clouds drew in over them, but the rain beginning to land on his head and shoulders caught his attention. He pulled up his collar and looked back down at the screen, trying to establish whether what looked like a repeating pattern really was.
Even through his tight focus on the data, Rush heard the shout and the rumble and scrabble of rocks. He spun to see the edge of the cliff continue to crumble away for another few moments. Rain was still driving into his face and for a second his brain didn't catch on that Greer, Barnes and Dunning were still in front of him, but Young wasn't.
He could see the edge crumbled away and before anyone could stop him he was dropping the remote, skidding across the wet ground, slipping and leaning to see over the edge. Down below him, on a slope of crumbled dirt and rock was a tumbled doll, black clad limbs sprawled inelegantly. He dropped to sit on the edge and let himself down over it, suddenly skidding as his legs went out from underneath him, slipping and sliding as he tried to stay upright, staggering and stumbling down the slope. He could hear shouts of alarm behind him, but now he was moving there was no going back. He overshot his target by a few steps but skidded to a stop. He turned back and moved to where Young was lying on the ground.
"Damn!" He said looking round.
Rivulets of water were running down the sides of the narrow canyon they were in and the bottom of the canyon was rapidly becoming a fast flowing stream.
"Wake up!"
He didn't want to have to move Young, but if what he thought was going to happen came to pass, well, you could just take it as read that he really did not want to be in this canyon. He pinched Young's earlobe, his brain throwing up from somewhere that was a way of rousing an unconscious person, though he had no idea if it was true. Young groaned.
"Thank fuck!"
xxxoooxxx
Young came to to a world of pain.
"We have to move." He squinted up at the face hovering over his. "This is going to hurt a lot but we absolutely cannot stay in this canyon."
The face swam a little with the pain as Rush, it was definitely Rush, took his arms and pulled them up over his shoulders.
"Hold on. Don't let go."
Young wrapped his arms around Rush's neck. He had no idea how Rush lifted him, but lift him he did, all that wiry strength and bloody-mindedness combining to lift Young into his arms. The rain continued to drive into them and Young found himself turning his face into Rush's collar as Rush walked stolidly up the path up the side of the canyon.
With every step Rush took Young's ankle and knee screamed in pain, but as he lifted his head slightly at a loud noise, he saw what Rush had been talking about as a wall of filthy water suddenly slammed through the canyon just below them. Splashes of filthy water spattered him. Branches of the strange cactus like trees, rocks and other debris tumbled over and over in the deluge. Unable to manage the pain, the feeling of horror that swept through him and the concentration to keep hanging on Young buried his face in Rush's neck. All he could do was simply concentrate on not letting go, on trying not to scream or pass out when the jolting of Rush's steps ground the broken bones in his ankle together.
When Young managed to look up again they were probably twenty metres above the surging water. Rush's steps were slow and laboured and as Young panted, breath coming fast in response to the searing agony in his legs, Rush stopped.
"This is gonna hurt." Rush warned, and his legs collapsed.
Young braced himself to hit the floor, but Rush turned into the collapse at the last minute, folding at the knees and going down backwards. He landed on the pack on his back, one arm lifting Young's legs away from the floor as Young felt himself thump down heavily into Rush's abdomen. Rush exhaled as all the breath was crushed out of him. Pain drove stars into Young's vision and everything whited out for a while.
"Fuck" Rush wheezed, struggling for breath.
Young looked at him weakly from where he was collapsed over the other man.
"No way I can do that again." Rush panted. "Fuck."
Young could feel the sweat running down between his shoulder blades, weirdly noticeable considering the pain in his legs and the rain running down his face and soaking his clothes.
"Dry." He managed to get out. "Emergency blanket...pack."
He did scream, unable to hold it in, as Rush hauled himself slowly and carefully out from underneath him. As Young's weight hit the dirt floor underneath him his foot slipped and he faded out again for a few seconds. When he came round, everything was darker and green. Rush was crouched over him, wincing and flexing his arm as if in pain. He was close in front of Young and green light from a glow stick was reflecting back from the metallic inside of an emergency blanket onto Rush's face in a weird way. Young realised he was propped up on a back pack and Rush was crouched over his lap, his head holding up the blanket as a make shift tent over them both. A quick sideways glance showed him it was held down around them with rocks and the other pack.
The rain was loud against the outside of the plastic sheet. "Now we wait out the rain and hope your soldiers come and get us." Rush said.
"What..?" he managed to get out, confusedly.
"Your soldiers." Rush repeated undoing Young's jacket.
"Eh!?" Young protested, struggling feebly.
"First aid you idiot." Rush snapped. "You bounced down a slope. I can see the cut on your head and I don' think it's too bad."
Young looked at him vaguely as Rush started checking him over. His ribs hurt when Rush pressed them on one side and two fingers turned out to be painful. Apart from that he was covered in gashes and grazes and bruises in the process of coming out in shades of red and purple. Rush found one of TJ's first aid kits in the bag locating some clean bandage and wound wash of strong herb infusion in salt water.
Young gritted his teeth and tried not to scream as Rush cleaned his injuries one by one. He turned his head to bite down on the collar of his jacket as the antiseptic was sluiced over his cuts, groans the only noise that escaped him as Rush systematically worked over him. All through it the rain hammered down on the outside of their makeshift tent.
Young zoned out for a while after Rush had finished cleaning him up, only aware of the throbbing of his injuries and the noise of the rain outside. It took him a sentence or two to realise Rush was talking.
"I have to get you under cover." Rush was saying urgently into his ear. "The rain isn't letting up and I don't know when we're going to get rescued.
Young forced himself to concentrate. "How will they find us?" He managed to get out through the pain.
"Spare Kino remote." Rush said. "In my pack."
"Not sure if I can make it."
"Don't have to make it. Shut up, I'm gonna carry you. Just don't die on me."
"Not gonna die."
xxxoooxxx
Rush packed everything back into the pack and waited for a few minutes until there was the slightest let up in the rain. As quickly as he could he pulled the emergency blanket down and stuffed it haphazardly in a side pocket, then swung the pack onto his back. Young let out a pained groan as Rush lifted him again and then blessedly for him, blacked out. Rush struggled with the dead weight of his body for a moment and the stabilised his balance.
"Don't let me go." Young's voice was hoarse with pain. "Please, don't let me go."
Rush looked down at him and could see the fear in his face. It looked like he was struggling to focus and there was an unhealthy flush to his skin.
"'S okay." Rush said, trying not to shiver. "'M not going anywhere."
There was a scrabbling sound at the entrance to the cave and an animal face appeared in the cave. The creature had no eyes, but the head, or at least the front end of it swung towards them and stopped, as if it was looking at them. Rush scrabbled his hands down Young's side making him cry out, reaching for his sidearm, fumbling with the holster as the creature started forward.
It leapt as Rush yanked the gun out, Young screamed in pain as he was jerked further onto Rush's lap. It was too late, it was too late, the gun swung up, it was too late, it was...
The sound of the shot was startlingly loud in the small cave. Ichor, foul and greenish sprayed across both Rush and Young and Rush closed his eyes against the slime as there was a loud thud. He rubbed his sleeve across his face to clear his vision and looked.
The creature was apparently dead. What he assumed was the head was gone, shredded by the bullet through the face. The creature's six legs were motionless and the body sprawled out at odd angles. He was panting as if he had run a mile and his hands shook.
"Fuck!" he muttered. "Fuck!" He looked down. "Young?" There was no response from the other man. "Young?"
He could feel panic making his heart race and his already laboured breathing speed up to hoarse pants. He reached down to shake the other man. There was no response, but he realised that Young was still breathing.
"Don't you dare die on me, don't you even fucking think about leaving me alone on this fucking planet." He shook Young again, eliciting a groan and bent over, to speak directly into his ear. "We are not done, we are not fucking done Young!"
There was another scrabbling by the door and Rush sat up, bracing the gun in both hands as another one of the monsters crept in. This time he got a better look at the creature's blind face, an almost circular mouth surrounded by fine tentacles, skin covered in plaques of harder texture and clawed toes to all six feet. It evidently sensed them as the tentacles fluttered in their direction and it took a step forward.
Rush shot it in the face and it went down but outside the door there was more scrabbling of claws on rock.