Chapter 5 Escape
Teyla stood in the infirmary waiting room, cradling her hand protectively against her chest. "I do not believe that he really meant to hurt me." She looked up to meet Rodney's equally worried gaze. "His actions were designed to make me stop wanting to help. He was trying to push me. . .all of us. . away," she said, sadly "Whatever is wrong he does not believe that we can help him."
"It's more than that." Ronan spoke from the doorway. "He believes that his only option is death." He took a step into the room, his breathing was slightly ragged and sweat glistened across his exposed skin. They were the only outward signs of a somewhat violent assault on one of Atlantis's many walls, the bruises would show tomorrow and there would no doubt be some very confused technicians called out to repair the damaged panels, but at least now he could control his rage at seeing Teyla hurt, because he knew that he couldn't take it out on the person who had caused that hurt. Sheppard was already in too much pain himself.
Rodney shook his head "But it doesn't make sense. Why does he believe that is his only option? What's wrong with him?" His eyes darted quickly between his friends as he asked questions that he knew none of them could answer. "Why does he think he's going to hurt us? I wish we knew what was going on in his head, not that I've ever known. . .Dr Keller." McKay pushed past Teyla who had her back to the door as the doctor entered. "How is he?"
"I've given him a sedative, and he's sleeping now," she replied. It was all she could tell them and she knew it wasn't enough. She gestured at Teyla's hand, at least that was something that she could deal with. "I can take a look at that now."
"No," Rodney took another step forward blocking the doctor's path to Teyla. "I mean not that your hand isn't important," he turned back to make brief eye contact with his friend before focussing his attention back on Keller. "But you need to concentrate on finding out what's wrong with Sheppard. I mean I'm sure that you have highly competent. . ." It was then that Rodney's brain unleashed its own argument with itself about how he knew damn well that if he had the broken hand he would expect the head of the medical staff to deal with it, and that was Keller, and why should Teyla deserve anything less, but he also knew that Keller should be working full time on figuring out what was wrong with Sheppard, and that anyone on her staff could deal with Teyla's hand, but. . . It was these internal arguments that often had Rodney, the self-confessed most brilliant mind in two galaxies, stuttering and mumbling like a fool over exactly what he wanted to say. "That is to say I'm sure Teyla wouldn't mind, if you wanted to concentrate. . ."
Dr. Keller looked at him kindly. "Colonel Sheppard will sleep for at least the next two hours and I'm still waiting on the results of various tests. Trust me, when I get them they will get my full attention, in the meantime I think I have the time to help Teyla."
"Of course I. . ." Rodney stated, stepping out of the doctor's way.
"It is fine Rodney," Teyla said reassuringly. She placed her good hand on his arm briefly as she passed.
Rodney watched Dr Keller place a comforting hand on Teyla's shoulder and lead her back to the treatment rooms. He felt Ronan's presence as the large Satedan moved up beside him; it wasn't fine; it wasn't fine at all.
SGASGA
Sheppard woke to an empty room, woke to nightmares that he knew had nothing to do with dreams. His reality was a nightmare and he knew that he had to do something about it. If his friends would not take the threat that he posed seriously despite the evidence of their own eyes then he would have to do it for them, and that meant getting out of here and getting to somewhere more secure whilst he was still lucid enough to do so.
His first obstacle was the restraints; not that that should be a problem to a monster like him. He was sure that the leather straps weren't strong enough. They couldn't hold a wraith, so they shouldn't hold him.
Dammit why didn't they have him in chains. He should be in chains. He could hurt them. He would hurt them once this monster body lost what was left of John Sheppard and even though it wouldn't then be him. He couldn't stand the thought of. . .
He looked down, surprised that the hard blue skin was registering pain as he tensed every sinew and pulled. It took everything he had, but slowly it started to move; the ugly claw like blue hand sliding through the wrist strap. He ignored the burn, ignored the ache as muscle sinews tore with the effort. The only thing that mattered was pulling his hand free.
He managed the other straps, somehow manipulating the blue claws to free them, by the time he was standing next to the cot he was panting heavily and he took several moments to slow and calm his breathing, because next he had to take out the guards. Surely they had posted guards on him.
There was one, just outside the door to his room. Sheppard took him down with a chokehold, cutting off his air just long enough to drop the man into unconsciousness. Sheppard took his weapons from him, took his P90, his pistol and was about to move out when the illogicality hit him. He was trying to avoid hurting others not. . .He dropped the clip from the automatic weapon and threw it across onto the bed. That just left the handgun. He stared down at it for a moment. It held the solution to his problems. If he'd just done it back in his quarters he wouldn't have hurt Teyla, wouldn't have had to knock out the guard. All he had to do was. . .
He shook his head, it had taken too long before; it would take too long now. Not that he doubted he could do it, eventually, if he needed to but. . It was a shift in mental state that even the horror of the last few hours hadn't gotten him to, close, but he wasn't quite there. He needed help with that last little step, or time to process or . . .something. He didn't know what and he didn't have time to find it. He needed to go with his original plan.
He stuffed the pistol into the waistband of his pants, dropped back against the wall by the doorway so that he could see the corridor beyond and, once he had checked it, slipped out of the room.
SGASGA
Ronan leant against one of the infirmary beds; Rodney slumped in the visitors chair across the room from where Dr. Keller was treating Teyla, neither man spoke and, although they seemed to be watching what the doctor was doing as she placed a cast around Teyla's hand, neither man really saw anything, each lost in thought.
Dr Keller and Teyla were equally uncommunicative the only sounds uttered were soft instructions by the doctor when she needed Teyla to shift position.
"Dr Keller!" The nurse's urgent exclamation was enough to make everyone sit up and take notice. "Dr Keller," the nurse repeated only slightly calmer as she spotted the object of her search and rushed forward
"Soames," Keller greeted matching the nurse's urgency. "What is it?"
"It's Colonel Sheppard. He," she struggled for a moment to get the words out. "He's gone."
It was one of those statements which was perfectly clear in meaning but nonetheless demanded a question in answer. Maybe because it couldn't be true; Sheppard had been heavily sedated and there was no one on Atlantis who would move him. Maybe because it was the type of statement that you didn't want to believe, like "there's been an accident' or 'you failed' of the class you've been acing all term. Jennifer obliged. "Gone? What do you mean gone?"
"His bed's empty, and there's blood." Nurse Soames reported.
Ronan was already across the room and would have continued to Sheppard's room to verify that what she was saying was true, because Ronan wasn't good with what people told him. Usually he had to see for himself, but there was a question he needed answered first. "What about the guard?" .
"He was unconscious, he's coming round now Dr Wen is with him."
Ronan nodded and strode forward again. Teyla had already hopped down from the examining bed and fell into step beside McKay and Keller.
SGASGA
"How did he. . ." McKay started to ask.
"He pulled his right hand out of the restraint." Ronan held up the right cuff, still buckled and covered in blood.
Jennifer took it from him studying it for a moment, from a scientific perspective it was fascinating, the amount of force needed, the amount of pain endured. "Ripping a fair amount of flesh off in the process," she stated, pulling a piece of loose skin free. She looked up to be confronted by looks of horror and empathy from Sheppard's teammates and stuttered slightly. Sometimes she forgot that medicine wasn't just science. "but it's nothing we won't be able to fix."
"Yeah, when we find him," McKay said miserably, punching some keys on his datapad that he'd quickly hooked into Atlantis's main computer. "He's used his security code to disable all internal sensors."
"But you can get them back on right?" Ronan asked.
"Yes, of course I can," McKay stated in that way that indicated there should never have been any doubt. He stared off into the distance for just a moment as though his brain needed that extra bit of processing, and then punched through a few more menus on his datapad. His eyes returning to it and then the rest of the room, all while he continued speaking. "but Sheppard has more access to systems than anyone except myself and Dr. Weir and he knows his way around, so it's going to take me a little time."
"At least he didn't take this." Ronan held up the P90.
Teyla looked around the room, "But what about the guard's sidearm," she asked. "Did Colonel Sheppard also leave that?"
It was nurse Soames who answered, shaking her head. "The guard had no weapons."
"Then we have to find him quickly," Ronan stated.
"I've already got Major Lorne coordinating the search," Dr. Weir, stated from the doorway. Getting back from a relatively short offworld negotiation to find that the head of your military force had apparently gone crazy and attempted to rip his own throat out, and then finding halfway down to the infirmary to see him that he'd gone missing, made her tone clipped and sharp. "Now does someone want to tell me what the hell is going on?"
TBC