I don't own Stargate Atlantis at all. None of it. Not even the characters (boo hoo). Except the ones of my own making that is. Hey there. I'm loving the reviews. Thanks so much for the positive feedback. I think my ego loves you for it. So here is chapter three. Hope you like it as much as the rest. Hopefully I can keep my little fingers tapping away at my keyboard to pump out the rest of this story. But there's a lot there folks, so don't expect something every day. Have fun readers.

Chapter Three

Rodney knelt down beside Sheppard and took hold of his arm. He tried to shake him awake but nothing happened. "Wake up Sheppard! We have to get out of here! Come on!" he yelled.

As the group of people came closer to them they could tell that they were carrying what looked like staff weapons but soon realized that they weren't. They were wearing clothes and looked quite dirty. But they also looked like they knew what they were doing too. A group of four came up to them holding their weapons. Two men and two women who seemed to be in their early twenties.

"Strangers!" the oldest male said. "Where do you come from? Why have you desecrated our holy land?"

Ronan stepped forward to answer the man. "We are Atlanteans. We come from the City of the Ancients."

They looked at each other and then back at Ronan. And in turn they looked from one to the other of the rest of SGA-1. "You lie." The male said. "The Ancient City was lost."

"Yes. It was." Ronan said. "But we are from Atlantis. That is no lie. My name is Ronan Dex. This is Teyla Emmegan and Dr. Rodney McKay. And our fallen comrade is Lt. Colonel John Sheppard. We didn't mean to defile your holy place. We were only looking. We were curious about your world. We're trying to get to the Stargate to bring our comrade back to the doctors. He needs help. He's sick."

The four again looked at each other and then back at the Atlanteans. "You will come with us defilers." The male said. "We will take you to our leader. He must set eyes upon you before you are dealt with."

"But Ronan said that we didn't mean to do anything. We were curious. Why do we have to be dealt with?" Rodney said as he kept hold of John's arm. Trying to protect him.

"Take them." The male said to the group who had moved up behind Rodney and the others. They were grabbed from behind and when Rodney felt hands on his shoulders he wouldn't let go of Sheppard. Then his hands were yanked away from John and he was brought over to stand with Teyla and Ronan. Two men picked up John by his arms and began to drag him along behind them.

"Hey! Be careful with him." Rodney said indignantly.

"Move it." One of the women said as she pushed him to make him move.

Stripped of their weapons they began to walk in the direction that they were being herded. They kept looking behind them to see what they were doing with John.

Twenty minutes later they came into view of a village with huts and were looking around at the people that came out to greet them. They came to stop in front of a small hut and were shoved unceremoniously into it. Then John was dragged in and they dropped him on the dirt floor.

"Thanks for nothing!" Rodney yelled out as the villagers left.

They stood up and raced over to the Colonel. He was sweating and shivering at the same time. He was clearly sick. They just didn't know how the symptoms came on so quickly. He seemed relatively alright earlier. But then within hours he was unconscious and showing a lot of symptoms.

Teyla reached her hand out and placed it on John's hot forehead. He flinched at the touch but did not wake up. "We have to get him back to Atlantis." Teyla said as John coughed. "There is something more going on with him than just being ill."

"I agree with you Teyla." Ronan said as he moved over to stand beside her. "There is a reason he went into a trance." He bent down, put his arms under the Colonel and lifted him up. "Let's move him to a more comfortable place. He shouldn't be laying in the middle of the floor."

He walked over to the makeshift bed that sat in the corner of the hut and placed him gently on the bed. "Help me get his vest off Teyla." Ronan said as he pulled John up by the shoulders. Teyla knelt down and unzipped the tac vest and then pulled it off one arm and then the other. She placed it on the ground and then turned back to unzip his jacket. She took it off and placed it on top of the vest. He was wearing a black t-shirt that was soaked through with sweat. He was continuing to cough as time went by.

"Is there anything we can do here to help him?" Rodney asked as he moved in beside them.

"I don't think so McKay." Ronan said almost in a grunt. He was angry that these villagers were keeping them there and that they would not help Sheppard. Rodney and Teyla could tell how mad he was. And they felt sorry for the villagers. Especially if he were to become even more angry.

They kept an eye on Sheppard throughout the night. Each taking a turn to make sure John didn't get any worse. At two in the morning Ronan sat cross legged on the floor beside his CO. He was wide awake and cleaning John's P-90. He felt that when John was ready to fight again he would need a working weapon. And since Sheppard was the one who had shown him how to clean Earth weapons he knew what he was doing.

He looked over at his friend every time he moaned or coughed or made any kind of movement. He moved a hand over to John's chest and placed his palm there. He felt the rise and fall of it as he breathed. Then quite suddenly John's eyes opened up and it looked like he was frightened. His breathing sped up and he sat up.

"Sheppard? What's wrong?" Ronan asked with concern. He did not receive an answer. John just seemed to stare off into space with afreaked out look on his face. Then John stood up slowly and walked towards the entrance to the hut.

"Sheppard!" Ronan said as he, himself, stood up.

Then Teyla and Rodney woke up to the commotion. "What's happening?" Rodney asked as he stood.

"I don't know McKay." Ronan said as he moved to catch up with John. "You can't go out there Sheppard. There are guards. They'll hurt you." He said taking a hold of John's upper arm. John yanked his arm away and continued to walk towards the entrance. When he pushed back the flap two guards immediately turned and grabbed a hold of him.

"Hey. Where do you think you're going?" the older male said. John turned on them in an instant and decked them. Within seconds the guards were out cold on the ground.

"Where the hell did that come from?" Rodney said with surprise. "He never did that before!"

"No. He did not." Teyla said and rushed forward.

John continued to walk out into the darkness and the others followed him with a mixture of curiousness and worry. Scared that something was taking him over.

They followed him for ten minutes and then he stopped in front of a cave entrance. Ronan and Teyla stood on either side of their friend and Rodney stood beside Teyla. Both Ronan and Teyla looked at Sheppard.

"Where are you taking us Colonel Sheppard?" Teyla asked as she placed her hand on his shoulder.

"I don't think that he's taking 'us' anywhere Teyla." Ronan said. "I doubt that he even knows that we're here. He's being drawn somewhere. I think that whatever sickness he has, has triggered this. And I think it happened as soon as we set foot on this planet."

"It's got to be the ATA Gene." Rodney said as he looked back at the cave entrance.

"Why would the Ancient Gene do this to him?" Teyla asked.

"I don't know Teyla. But it's the only logical explanation."

"But you have the Gene Rodney. You are not in a trance." Teyla said as she turned to look at him.

"Yes. But mine is artificial. John's is one hundred percent original. We're only about a fraction of the way through understanding the ATA Gene. There are bound to be things that we don't know about what the Gene does to John. He's got the strongest version of it that we know of. Something strong must be emanating from whatever is in this cave. It's drawing him here for some reason. So let's continue to follow him. See where he takes us."

"McKay. We have no weapons." Ronan said. "How are we supposed to defend ourselves if something happens?"

"Come on Ronan. Stop being paranoid." Rodney said as he kept his eyes on the entrance to the cave.

Sheppard stepped forward and walked into the cave.

TBC in Chapter Four...

A/N: Let me know if the chapters seem choppy to you. I didn't actually write this with chapters in mind. It's really one big, long, ongoing story. But I can't type the whole thing out at once. Remember, I wrote it in a book first. So it's pretty much going through my story and picking out what I think are the best spots to start a knew chapter. TTFN. And sorry for the cliffhanger again. Hehe. :)