SO NEAR, SO FAR.

Summary

McKay dubbed the planet "Sauna Hell". Sheppard may think of a few other names to call it if he survives the experience.

Author's note

This is an expansion of a small fic written for kriadydragon's Gen Comment-a-thon at Sheppard H/C. The prompt was "Touch". Specific request by Linziday will appear at the end of the story. That's still some way off, so thanks to everyone who is reading and reviewing. Your feedback and patience is much appreciated.

Chapter 5

Ronon didn't wait for the go signal. The final chevron locked on the Atlantis gate and he ran into the barely settled wormhole, bursting through the event horizon and into the blanketing heat of M3X141 seconds later. The previously smooth platform had sustained heavy damage, especially where McKay had set the charge, and Ronon fought to keep his balance as he came to a stop on the uneven surface. The pattern of interlocking stones was now mostly rubble, dotted with a few mangled metal spikes that appeared to have blasted completely free of the device. But it wasn't anything in the immediate area of destruction that drew Ronon's urgent attention. A flash of movement over near the tree line to his right had him squinting against the intense glare of the sun. Ronon's heart thumped with a surge of adrenalin.

At a distance of roughly fifty meters, a huge jungle cat was violently ripping something apart.

Sprinting forward, Ronon leveled his blaster at the animal's center mass. But the ground was rough and the distance was long … his first two shots sprayed wide and did absolutely nothing to deter the frenzied attack. Ronon howled, took aim without slowing down, and pulled the trigger again and again. The cat roared, reared up on its hind legs and fell to the ground, twitching. As the body stilled, Ronon approached cautiously, then stopped. He cursed as he finally saw what the animal had been tearing to pieces.

Sheppard's back pack was destroyed. His wet weather gear was spread across the ground, shredded into long, black ribbons. A few other stray items were scattered about. A roll of tape, socks, flashlight … Ronon continued to scan the area. There was nothing else, no sign of Sheppard himself.

A sudden, short burst of gun fire jerked Ronon's head up and he looked back towards the stargate. He was surprised to see the wormhole had shut down, but even weirder than that was the gate itself. The whole thing seemed to be tilted slightly backwards. Ronon didn't take time to think what all that meant. Teyla was on the other side of the ruined platform, her P90 pointed out in front, and he began to run towards her. The terrain over there looked rougher, overgrown with large clumps of tall purple grass and bushes covered in dark red flowers, and the curved line of jungle wasn't all that far from the gate.

Teyla was pacing steadily towards the vine covered trees. She glanced back at him and shouted, "Ronon, quickly!"

Leaves and dirt kicked up as Teyla released another round of controlled fire, and Ronon caught sight of what she was shooting at. Another cat, smaller than the first, was crouched low amongst the cover of foliage. The cat's jaws were clamped tightly around one of Sheppard's boots, and the animal was slowly inching backwards, dragging him with it. There was no sign of resistance or independent movement from Sheppard, but Ronon refused to believe that the man he owed his life to could possibly be dead. And as bad as the situation might be, the cat didn't have Sheppard in a kill grip … its teeth weren't sunk into his neck. Ronon took the luck that was on offer, and ran harder as Teyla fired a sequence of single shots.

The cat stopped moving. It let go of Sheppard, but kept its head down low and its body flat, growling menacingly.

Ronon knew Teyla couldn't get a clear shot without the risk of hitting Sheppard too, so for now she was positioning herself while keeping the animal pinned down. Meanwhile, he'd covered a lot of ground and was almost within firing range. Ronon prepared himself to shoot. This time the first shot would kill. He would not miss.

. . . . . . . . . .

The first hazy thought that came to Sheppard as he regained awareness was water. He wanted water. And he wanted to stop the noise. Ringing. Loud in his ears. Vibrating all over his skull, through his teeth.

Was he supposed to be somewhere? He blinked his eyes open. The sunlight stabbed, made his head hurt, so he shut them again. He was lying on his side and he could taste dirt and blood in his mouth. He tried to move. Instant, breath taking pain erupted along the entire length of his body. Blackness closed in, but somehow he hung on. Told himself that help was coming, but didn't know whether he was lying or not.

Static played in his head and the pain rippled, ready to ignite if he so much as breathed too deeply. But something else was very wrong. Sheppard sensed danger, some type of immediate threat. He might be dying, but his radar was still working, and it was going off big time, screaming at him to move. Adrenalin brought John's eyes open and he lifted his head off the ground by a scant inch.

His vision doubled, slid sideways, and gradually settled.

His right leg was twisted over his left. His pants were ripped and bloody, and he thought he could see white bone through the torn fabric above his knee. The bottom clip on his thigh holster was undone, and it had ridden up and slipped around … he could feel the butt of his gun against his backside. His eyes tracked a little further. An animal was down by his feet. Big black head, wild yellow eyes studying him. Cat, he realised. Its mouth was open and its teeth were very long.

Sheppard was pretty sure he was hallucinating. But if he wasn't …

Breathing shallowly, he began easing his right arm over his body. Sharp pain flared in his side and leg and he couldn't stop himself groaning. But he froze as the cat creased its nose in anger. Through the constant buzz in his ears, Sheppard could hear a long, low growl. He needed that gun in his hands, now. Throwing caution to the wind he went for it as quickly as he could, and a few things happened all at once. The cat jumped up on all fours as Sheppard pulled the weapon and tried to lift it to shoot. A P90 erupted somewhere very nearby and blood spurted from the animal's neck. Then it was blown off its feet, hit by stunner blasts of fiery red.

It fell to the ground dead.

The relief was overwhelming. Sheppard dropped his head and arm back to the ground and tried to breath through the pain. He was shaking and sick and the sunlight was bright in his eyes, but he didn't want to close them yet. His team was here, they were coming for him. He smiled when Teyla dropped to her knees in front of him seconds later. She leant over him, blocking the glare, and put a hand to the side of his face. Her lips moved, but he didn't hear what she said. He could guess though.

Sheppard didn't have the energy to say much, but he managed to at least get two words out. "Hey. Thanks."

Teyla looked like she might be crying, but Sheppard couldn't say for sure. He knew he was close to passing out, but he continued to fight hard to stay with her. He might not know where he was, but he wanted to hear her say they were going home. Instead he slowly realised that she was speaking to someone situated behind him. Sheppard tried to roll onto his back to see who it was, but didn't quite make it before the lights went out.