A/N: Yay! An update from yours truly. Hopefully the next one will be up sooner. Thanks for reading!
Struggling unsuccessfully to lift a rock four times the size of her head, Elizabeth scanned the immediate area for someone who might be able to help her, but the other workers were studiously ignoring her.
Come to think of it, her fellow prisoners had been acting strangely toward her all morning. She'd caught them sending her furtive glances, and whispering hurriedly to each other when the guards weren't looking. She had tried her best to ignore what was going on around her; but now, when she needed help, her peers' bizarre behavior was starting to get on her nerves.
Blowing her hair out of her eyes with a huff of frustration, Elizabeth gathered herself and tugged on the rock with everything she had; but it was to no avail.
One of the guards was watching her and fingering his whip in anticipation, and while she hadn't been at the receiving end of one of the long leather chords, she had seen enough to know that the guards were quite fond of lashing them across the workers' backs at the first sign of "laziness."
Her heart rate quickening with anxiety, Elizabeth turned to head to a different area, hoping against hope that the guard with the twitchy trigger finger didn't deem her important enough to bother with.
Probably without knowing it, a nearby worker saved her as he suddenly collapsed in an exhausted heap. The watchful sentry was on the hapless prisoner in a second, and Elizabeth shivered to think that could have been her. Just as soon as that thought passed, she felt slightly nauseous knowing that she was thankful for another human being's pain and suffering. John would have told her not to be so hard on herself, that she was in an extreme situation and the emotions she was feeling were only natural; but she was still shocked by how quickly she'd changed…and the kind of person desperation had made her become.
She was still pondering her unfortunate reality when her foot caught on something and she was sent tumbling to the ground. Potential embarrassment turned to concern as Elizabeth realized it hadn't been a rock that she'd tripped over; it had been a strategically placed human foot.
Spitting the dirt out of her mouth, she turned her face and met a pair of cold grey eyes.
"A little birdie told us you was the one what blowed up our food supply," the older man motioned behind him with a nod of his slightly grizzled head; and Elizabeth noticed with a bit of trepidation that there was a sizeable group of prisoners gathered behind him, all of them eyeing her bitterly.
Thinking it wiser to stay on the ground, Elizabeth opted to remain where she was.
She did feel sorry for them, whether the information they'd received was true or not. They obviously believed it, and she could understand their anger. She felt guilty at the thought that she might have caused these people, most of whom had probably not done anything to deserve their imprisonment, any undue suffering; but she still felt the need to defend her actions. "I'm sorry; I did what I had to do to help my friends escape. One of them was severely injured."
The ringleader narrowed his eyes, "You think I'm goin' ta feel sorry for you? I don't care none about you or your friends. All I care about is the fact me rations been cut in half."
Elizabeth saw the other prisoners nodding in agreement. She wondered briefly why the guards weren't getting involved; and it took her half the space of a heartbeat to realize the guards were most likely the ones who had set the whole thing up. The prisoners could vent their frustration and Tamesis could teach his most troublesome inmate a lesson at the same time.
It was still a shock though, when the first blow landed square between her shoulder blades. Next, a vicious kick to her stomach drove all the air from her lungs. The next foot that came flying toward her she was able to grab and twist, sending her attacker onto the ground. It was then that her assailants grew really angry. She fought back the best she could using a combination of the few self-defense moves Teyla had taught her and her body's natural reflexes; but there were too many of them, and she was already exhausted from her harsh treatment over the past few days.
The assault was brief but furious, and by the time the guards did move to break up the fight, Elizabeth was left motionless amongst the rocks, gasping in pain. One of the guards tentatively prodded her side with his boot, then picked her up and tossed her none too gently into the back of the water cart, where she was able to assess the extent of her injuries.
Her left shoulder was dislocated, that she knew for sure; her arm hung limp and useless at her side, and fire shot all the way down to her fingers when she tried to move it. Her chest was tight and when she inhaled too deeply she could feel sharp, stabbing pain blossoming in her ribcage, leading her to believe that one or more of her ribs were broken. Elizabeth knew she had cuts and bruises everywhere, and she could only hope that none of them went too deep.
She started to cough as the cart jerked forward, a dry, racking cough that only served to exacerbate the pain in her chest. She tried to stop her lungs' convulsions, but there was nothing she could do. The coughing spell lasted a few minutes, after which she emptied the meager contents of her stomach onto the rocking cart.
This time, the ride back to the city was agonizingly long. The trail couldn't be called smooth by any stretch of the imagination, and Elizabeth could acutely feel each and every tiny bump along the way. When the oxen finally lurched to a stop, she waited fearfully for what might happen next.
It turned out Tamesis was there to greet her, "Well, well, Dr. Weir; gotten ourselves into a bit of trouble, have we?"
Her one wish at that moment was that she was strong enough to wipe that smug smirk off his ugly face…or that Ronon was there to do it for her. As it was she could only glare, and even then only partially; someone had landed a punch right below her right eye and it was now almost swollen shut.
Tamesis' smile never left his face as he instructed the other guard to take her back to her cell. This particular guard must have gained a little pity toward her during their trip because he was more careful about picking her up this time; and after he laid her carefully on her blanket he took the time to fetch her a bowl of water.
Elizabeth waited for the man to leave before letting herself collapse. She allowed a few weary tears to fall before siphoning off those emotions which would make her appear weak. In a place like this, only the strong survived; and while she actually felt incredibly helpless, she wasn't about to divulge that bit of information to her captors. She had a variety of masks in her facial expression repertoire; and she'd had to make use of the strong, fearless leader facade quite a few times during her stay in Atlantis, so she'd become adept at utilizing it. It was a skill that had served her well during the past days; but she knew the longer she stayed on this wretched planet, the harder it was going to be to keep that mask firmly in place…especially now, when the pain coursing through her body made her want to cry and scream herself hoarse.
Elizabeth's one comfort was that she had been able to spare her teammates from a similar fate. She knew her people would do everything in their power to try to get her back, even with Magus' threat hanging over their heads, and she silently thanked all of them for their efforts; but no matter the outcome, whether they succeeded or failed, Elizabeth didn't and wouldn't regret her decision to stay behind. For her, it was all worth it.
That affirmation was her last coherent thought before the soothing darkness claimed her.