Chapter 7 – Dangerous Insects
Jennifer awoke from a light touch brushing her forehead. When she opened her eyes, she saw that it was Ronon, pushing a strand of hair from her face. Pinkish light that filtered around the corner to their chamber told her that is was early morning.
"Morning, sleepy," Ronon said tenderly.
Jennifer yawned and stretched.
"I'm not sure I would call this 'morning' already," she complained, burrowing deeper into the blankets.
"Gotta report back to Atlantis by noon, so I figured we should use the time we have," Ronon replied, slipping his hand under the blanket, and running it teasingly down her spine.
Jennifer shook her head in mock reproach.
"You are insatiable," she declared.
"Wrong," said Ronon, leaning down and nibbling on her earlobe. "I am very satiable, just never for long."
With a contented sigh, Jennifer turned over on her back, wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss. Ronon's hand was moving purposefully towards her breast, when he suddenly pulled back.
"What's wrong?" Jennifer asked, adding nervously, "Is anybody coming?"
"No – at least not yet," Ronon told her with a cheeky smile. But then his face became serious again. "It's just that last night I had my fantasy. And it was amazing. So now it's your turn. What's your fantasy?"
Jennifer withdrew her hand from his neck, and laid her palm against his cheek.
"That's really thoughtful... and sweet of you. But I'm not sure I have a special fantasy. In fact, there are quite a few." She sighed wistfully. "Most of them totally impracticable. Although..."
"What?"
"Well, I saw this movie once where a guy had a girl up against the wall and was doing her. And I remember thinking that he would have to be quite strong to hold her up like that. And I figured..."
"That I might be strong enough," Ronon continued for her with a slight smirk.
"Not might, I know you are," Jennifer insisted.
"Okay, I know just the place."
Ronon threw off the blankets and stood up. Jennifer ran an admiring gaze up and down his body. "Perfection," she thought, "absolute perfection." Her musings were cut short when Ronon grabbed her wrist and pulled her to a standing position. He picked her up and carried her back into the first chamber. There was one part of the wall where at some point water must have run down for a long time, since it was worn to a smooth sheen. Handling her with an ease as if she weighed no more than a child, Ronon repositioned Jennifer so that she was facing him, her legs encircling his waist, and pinned her against the smooth part of the wall.
This position gave him perfect access to her breasts, and he wasted no time. Sticking out his tongue, he ran it around one of her nipples until it became hard. Then he switched to the other side and repeated his stimulation. Jennifer's breath started to quicken, and she closed her eyes to savor the gentle sensation. Her breathing changed quickly to a moan, however, when Ronon rasped his teeth across the now enlarged nipple, and sucked it into his mouth while his hand began rubbing and pinching the tip of the other breast. This double assault on her sensitive buds fueled Jennifer's arousal. She could feel moisture building between her lips and began grinding her pussy against the hard muscles of Ronon's belly. The tickling of the tiny hairs that ran down from his belly button and into his pubic hair set her clit on fire, and she dug her fingers into Ronon's shoulders.
Ronon's mouth let go of her breast, and he smiled up at her.
"No rush, plenty of time til noon," he teased her.
"I don't know myself what's come over me," Jennifer panted. "You just have to look at me, and I'm halfway to an orgasm."
"Same here," was the reply, and to prove it Ronon let her slide a bit lower down his hips so she felt his erection nudging her butt.
It required some repositioning, accompanied by Jennifer's giggles and Ronon's muttered curses, to get her positioned right over his cock. Her entrance was wet and slick, so the tip went in easily. Ronon kept it there for a moment, moving it back and forth ever so slightly to allow her to get a feel for him. Then he looked into her eyes.
"Now?" he asked.
"Yes, NOW," Jennifer gasped, so he loosened his grip on her and she slammed down, burying his cock inside her to the hilt. They remained locked in this position for a while, each savoring this feeling of closeness, then Ronon's hips began to pull back, until his cock was almost all the way out, then he slammed into her again. He continued this in a slow, steady rhythm that drove Jennifer insane with desire. She felt her orgasm blossoming inside her, when Ronon suddenly stopped. Jennifer opened her eyes. His head was turned towards the tunnel entrance, and he was listening intently.
"What..." Jennifer began, but he shushed her immediately.
Jennifer strained her ears to listen, and then she heard, too, what his extra sensitive ears had picked up – an undulating, buzzing sound, coming from the cave entrance.
Gently, Ronon lowered Jennifer to the ground, signaled to her to stay, and moved noiselessly towards the back of the cave where their things were. He came back with his gun ready and set to 'kill'. Standing in front of Jennifer, he aimed it towards the entrance. Jennifer couldn't see anything but the bunched muscles in Ronon's back. The buzzing got louder, and she could hear now that - whatever it was - there was more than one.
Then suddenly all hell broke lose. Ronon let off a barrage of shots. She heard the humming increase to a fever pitch – and then she saw suddenly what this was about. A creature, about 5 inches long, that looked like a scorpion with wings was hurtling towards them from her left.
"Ronon, watch out!" she shrieked, but it was too late. The thing had impacted with Ronon's forearm, and buried the evil looking thorn at the end of its tail in his flesh.
With a roar, Ronon whipped the insect off his arm, blasting it to smithereens with his gun as it tried to regain its balance. Mercifully, there was silence now, no more humming.
"Ronon," Jennifer whispered, "are you..."
"Get me a knife," Ronon groaned, clutching his arm over the wound, that was about the size of dime, "Quick!"
Jennifer ran back to where their stuff was, and rummaged in Ronon's clothes until she found a narrow sheath that held a wicked looking slim blade. She rushed back to Ronon, who had sunk to the floor, his back against the wall. He snatched the knife from her, and before she could protest he had slashed his arm open almost from elbow to wrist. Blood was spurting from the wound, and Jennifer's medical instincts took over. Obviously, Ronon was trying to purge whatever poison that thing had injected into him, so it must be dangerous. She ran back to where her dress was lying on the floor, and pulled out the laces that fastened it in the back. Rushing back to Ronon, she tied them tightly around his upper arm, constricting the blood flow in both directions. Reflexively, she looked at her left wrist, but then remembered that she had taken off her watch before the feast, since it didn't seem to go with her medieval looking outfit. She would have to estimate the time she could leave the tourniquet on without doing any permanent damage.
Ronon's ragged breathing had slowed a bit. He opened his eyes, and cast an approving look at her handiwork. Jennifer finally found her voice again.
"What... what was that?" she asked.
Ronon scowled.
"Those were the bugs I told you about. Their poison is deadly."
"Yes, I figured that much," Jennifer replied, casting a look at Ronon's arm, that was still dripping blood into a widening pool on the ground. "But I think you've been able to get most of it out."
"Enough for it not to kill me," Ronon told her. "but there's enough left to make me go crazy. Even a little bit of the poison makes you see things. Can't say how much longer I'll be myself."
He grabbed Jennifer's wrist tightly, and forced her to look into his eyes.
"You need to go. I don't know what I am going to do once the poison begins to work."
Jennifer pulled her arm out of his grip, and shook her head.
"No way, I'm not leaving you."
"You don't know how it is," Ronon replied hotly. "I've seen people who were stung. They saw enemies everywhere. I may even kill you if you get too close."
Jennifer swallowed nervously, but then she resolutely met his gaze.
"We're not there yet. So while you are still lucid, let me wrap up that arm for you."
Luckily there was a first aid kit in the small pack Ronon had brought. Jennifer took out some butterfly strips to hold the gaping cut together, antiseptic, antibiotic cream, and bandages. She tried to work as quickly as possible, but when she was done she could tell that the poison was beginning to have an effect. When she reached for the string she had used as a tourniquet, Ronon looked at her strangely with furrowed brow. She could tell he was trying to make sense of what she was doing, and that he was having trouble. Quickly she undid the knots and let the string fall to the ground. Then she got up slowly, turned around and walked back to their 'bed'. She was still naked and needed to get dressed before escaping into the woods. Thankfully she reached for a light tracksuit that Ronon had picked up together with the blankets from her bed, and slipped into it.
She was just debating what she should take with her, when she heard the sound of Ronon's gun going off. Damn, why hadn't she thought of getting the weapon away from him? She heard his footsteps approaching, and frantically looked for a hiding place. In a back corner she found a small niche, and pressed herself into it.
Ronon walked around the corner. His steps were faltering, and there was a haunted look on his face. His head kept turning everywhere, on the lookout for some imagined danger. Then his foot impacted with the fat candle, knocking it over. The pain seemed to bring him to his senses for a moment. He looked at the candle, the scattered clothes, and the bunched up blankets on the floor. Slowly and deliberately he laid down his gun, covering it with his shirt. Then he picked up his trousers and put them on. He was just reaching for his boots, when his head suddenly whipped around. He stared at some kind of vision, a look of horror on his face. Jumping to his still naked feet, he ran out of the cave, throwing wild punches at an unseen enemy. Jennifer noticed with concern that there were red stains already beginning to soak through the bandage on his arm.
