ch. 3: Oh My!

It was difficult to breathe much less move. Rodney's chest felt like no fewer than fifty men were sitting on him and his side…Oh damn did his side burn with pain. He lay on the cold, frosted floor of wherever he was. From somewhere not to far away he heard a cackle and what sounded like water being sloshed around in a giant container. Forcing one of his eyes open, he waited for them to focus and complete the picture.

He groaned not only from the pain but also from what he saw.

Before him stood a woman in black robes, a pointed black hat on her head. Her skin was green and there was a giant wart on her cheek. She continued cackling, revealing a set of nasty black teeth.

"He's awake!" a male voice called. A skeleton approached, his skull just inches away from Rodney.

"Good, good, the potion is working then." The witch's voice was hoarse. She lowered her giant stirring stick. "How are you feeling, Master? Much better, no?"

It had to be a hallucination. While witches (and he used the term loosely) existed back in the Milky Way, they most certainly did not wear pointed hats. He very much doubted Pegasus had an equivalent so eerily familiar to the Halloween version. What's more, he was clearly not a man in costume, but rather a mass of bones—each piece clattering against another as he walked.

Seeing as how Rodney was stabbed on Halloween, it only made sense that he would dream something this bizarre, so he decided to not worry about it and re-close his eyes. Everything in him hurt so much and he was ready to pass out from the pain alone.

"Yes, Master, rest. Rest is good." The witch's nose was just centimeters away from Rodney's cheek, creating an itch he was too weary to scratch..

"I thought you said the potion would help him!" It was the skeleton again, his voice furious.

"It did, my friend, it did. See for yourself that the bleeding has stopped. Color returns to his face.. Give him time. Give him time."

Rodney didn't hear much more of the conversation as he began drifting off to sleep. Strange, hadn't he been asleep already?

"What is your name?" Deschutes held the boy's hand in her own as they walked through the forest. Lorne lit their path with his P-90, walking on the kid's other side.

"Mer…Rodney. I go by Rod," the kid answered. "That lady said your name was Emily?"

"That's right. And this is Major Lorne." Deschutes did her best to smile. This child seemed so happy and full of energy and yet there was this gleam in his eyes as though he was ready to dissect the world for its knowledge. It reminded her of her own son. She shoved the thought away. This was not the time to dwell on what might have been…on what had been lost so many years ago. What had she been thinking when she agreed to follow this kid?

The kid held tight to her arm. He bit lightly on his lower lip. "Thanks, by the way," he said, waving his free arm as he spoke. "I…I…We didn't mean to be out so long, but we were scared and… Mom's going to be furious." The kid wiped his sniffles away with his sleeve, and though she could only feel his hand shivering, Deschutes was sure the rest of him was as well.

"That's a nice cloak you have," she said, more as a way to distract the kid from his troubles than anything else.

"My mom made it. Warm, but it itches." As if for emphasis, Rodney released her hand long enough to scratch at his arm.

Deschutes nodded absently. "I'm sure your parents are very worried about you."

"Maybe." The kid kicked a stone with his left foot, watching with a sullen expression as it skipped across the ground.

"The man we're here looking for,, his name is Rodney as well," Lorne said, his first words since they had broken off from the group. He took a moment from surveying the land to observe the child. Deschutes could see something in Lorne's eyes, distrust perhaps?

"It's not unheard of for two people to share the same name." Rodney huddled further into his cloak, and Deschutes wondered if it was just just for warmth or also to hide from Lorne's scrutinizing gaze.

"What is your sister dressed as, Rodney?" Lorne kept his voice casual.

"A witch. I'm a vampire." Rodney swept his cape before his face as though to look menacing. Then his arm fell, revealing an exaggerated pout. "I wanted to be Mr. Spock but she wouldn't let me."

Deschutes met Lorne's stare, raising her left eyebrow. She had helped Colonel Sheppard with his haunted house this year, jumping at the chance to scare the alien children. But to find such a close approximation of Halloween on a planet such as this was more than improbable than the Wraith deciding they didn't want to feed on humans anymore.

Rodney stopped mid-tracks beside a street lamp. Its presence in the dense forest didn't even faze Deschutes. Whatever was happening on this planet, she just needed to go with the flow until she could get to Dr. McKay and bring him home safe and sound. Marines didn't have to ask questions to follow orders, or so she had been told.

Rodney's tiny hand clenched tightly around her own. He gulped, his face turning a shade paler. His voice trembled. "This is about where I left her when I went to get help."

Chocolate bars and hard candies littered the ground, a plastic pumpkin basket sitting just a few feet away. She held some of the candy in her palm, noticing the familiar brand names. Even if this world had its own version of Halloween, it wouldn't have chocolate bars with the Hershey's name, and yet the words were clearly printed in white on a dark wrapper.

"Any idea where she might have gone?" She knelt down to Rod's eye-level, keeping her voice soft.

Rodney shook his head, tears flowing down his eyes. "We have to find her!"

"We'll do our best." She reached over, brushing away his tears. Her own stomach was revolving. Somewhere the mother of these kids was sitting, worried, waiting for them to come home. Whoever she was, she deserved for that reunion to happen. Deschutes looked back at the candies in her hand. She needed to find Rodney's sister.

Deschutes watched from her periphery as Lorne leaned down to the ground, a red sticky substance painting his finger. She whispered a silent prayer, glad to see that Rodney was oblivious to this new evidence..

"Jeannie!" the boy called, releasing his grip on her hand. "Jeannie, please tell us where you are. I've brought help!"

His only reply was the echo of his own voice.

Lorne passed the child a suspicious look before turning back to the blood. "There isn't much of it," he whispered so only someone trying to listen would hear.

Deschutes gave a small nod of understanding. Waving her flashlight over the ground, she looked for more clues while Rodney continued to scream for his sister.

She knelt down to the ground once more where something white hid behind dead grass. She held it in her hand, caressing its smooth surface. "Sir, I think you should see this."

Lorne stepped forward, accepting the object she held out. "A bone?"

"It would appear so, Sir."

Rodney's eyes went wide as he turned on the pair. "What did you say?" he asked, running beside them. "No no no! It can't be…"

"What?" Lorne reached out to grab his shoulders and offer comfort, but Rodney backed away from him, his eyes never leaving the bone.

"They have her," Rodney whispered, his voice a soft whimper.

"Who?"

"Don't you see? The skeletons!" he cried, falling to the ground and weeping.

Carson wasn't one to give up on a patient before they were pronounced dead, but from everyone's description of Rodney's injury, Carson just couldn't see how the scientist could still be alive. The poison wouldn't be so bad as the knife that carried it.. He hoped he was wrong, that yet one more miracle in the Pegasus Galaxy would come and save his friend's life, but hard as he fought, Carson couldn't suppress the feeling that this was all in vain.

He had to move swiftly to keep from sliding down the hill, constantly checking for sturdy footholds. A wrong move in the juggling act and he'd tumble downward. While it was true such a fall wouldn't kill him, he didn't have the time to make a mistake.

Teyla offered her arm for leverage on the last leg of the journey, an offer he accepted, hoisting himself onto the plateau. "Bloody hell," he whispered, staring up at the house.

Fiery smoke from the torches accosted his lungs and stung in his eyes. Shielding his face, he continued to move forward and up the winding stairs until he was beside six pumpkin-like vegetables carved with faces and words. A single flame was placed inside each of them so that the words glowed brightly. One of the faces, though he couldn't quite say why, reminded him of a Wraith coming in for the kill. Throwing that thought far away, Carson glanced at the others.

"Alone. Pathetic. Killer. Failure. Not so sure I want to know who lives in here, then." Carson forced back a shiver, willing himself to not back away from the scene.

Howls sounded from some place far away, many of them all at once. Carson jumped with the first one, but Teyla was good enough to ignore his response, or at least not to mention it.

Something crossed by his left leg. He looked down to see a pair of yellow eyes intent on staring up at him. The black creature, practically invisible in the darkness, opened its snout to reveal a set of small, but visibly razor sharp, teeth. A distinct meow immediately followed.

"Hello there." He looked at the cat and then to the pumpkins, to the large wooden door of the crooked mansion, and back to the cat. If it weren't for the circumstances, he would swear someone was playing a bad practical joke on him.

The cat meowed again in response, walking toward the door. Its long tail reached out to caress the pumpkin that labeled "Killer" before winding itself back into the air. The oversized door opened with a thunderous creak, allowing the cat to come inside. The door remained open even as the cat disappeared down a long corridor lit only by torches.

"Hello?" Teyla called. "Is anyone home?"

There was no answer.

"My name is Teyla Emmagan and I am here in search of an injured friend. Please, we could use some assistance."

No reply again.

"Perhaps no one is home?" Carson found himself fumbling with his jacket sleeve. He listened to himself breathe in large, deep breaths. "I don't mind saying that this place completely creeps me out."

Teyla's breathing wasn't much quieter. "I must agree that I find it unnerving."

"Do you think we should just go in then?"

Teyla shivered, brushing away some of the nasal drip from her upper lip. "I sense that this is where we should be. I cannot explain it, but I feel that Rodney is nearby, or at least there is someone here that can help us."

Now it was Carson's turn to shiver, but he wasn't so sure it was just from the cold. "Aye, I was afraid you were you going to say that."

TBC