Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I do not own Stargate or its characters, but I love to write about them.
Darkness.
John was lost in a world of darkness, a place where sound and sight seemed to have abandoned him. The darkness was impenetrable and soul-destroying, and the eerie silence was disconcerting. The cold was chilling, and the fear of his own senses failing him was the most terrifying of all.
His arms and legs were trapped, and the agony he once had in his body had turned to a bone-deep numbness a long time ago. He couldn't remember what had hurt the most: his right arm, right leg, or his ribs, but he was pretty sure he'd broken something. Despite the numbness of the rest of his body, he had the headache to end all headaches, and he could swear there was blood running down the side of his face.
The dust had settled long ago, but he still had difficulty breathing. It could have been dust in his lungs, or maybe he had a punctured lung from a broken rib; he wasn't a doctor, so he couldn't tell for sure.
In this confined space, he had no concept of time, but he clung to the hope that someone, somewhere, was searching for him. The suspense was palpable; the air was thinning, and he prayed for a swift rescue.
A sound invaded his senses - at least he knew he wasn't deaf now. It was a soft buzzing sound, like a bee buzzing around his head. Terror gripped his heart because he had no way of using his hand to flap it away. What if it wasn't a harmless bee? What if it was something far worse? Ever since the Iratus bug incident, he hated bugs, so if he came across a bug now, he might just die right where he was. It wouldn't matter if it were big or small; he knew he couldn't handle seeing or feeling a bug.
Suddenly, the buzzing stopped, the eerie silence returned, and he felt an immediate sense of relief. Whatever the bug was had disappeared; maybe now he could settle his pounding heart and try to breathe without using too much oxygen.
He was becoming colder and colder as time passed, and his breathing was becoming shallower. Perhaps this would be his final resting place. Maybe no one would come for him because they didn't know where he was or didn't care.
A solitary tear traced a path down his cheek as the stark reality set in: he might die alone. But why should he expect anything different? He had hoped for a sense of belonging with his friends on Atlantis, but perhaps they only saw his flaws. Maybe they only tolerated him because he was the military commander. Some things, it seemed, never changed - John Sheppard was the same old failure he'd always been.
He decided to close his eyes and let the end come if he were to die alone; he would rather be asleep when the end came.
He was on the verge of sleep when he felt a crawling sensation on his stomach. He tried to tell himself it was only his imagination because he'd been trapped in this cave for so long, but then he felt a burning sensation on his skin. It felt like a thousand tiny ants were crawling across his skin, and when something crawled across his face, John knew he was right. The burning intensified to the point he felt he was going to burn alive, and when the pain became too much, he screamed…
He awoke to the sound of his own scream, and he felt something on his face; he was about to start panicking when a soft voice spoke to him.
"Do not worry, you had a bad dream, John, and you are safe."
"Teyla?" He whispered from under the oxygen mask covering his face.
"Yes, John, I am here, as are Ronon, Rodney, Carson and Jennifer."
He opened his eyes to find his friends, their faces etched with profound concern, surrounding his infirmary bed. They had come for him despite his deepest fears, which almost brought him to tears.
"When?" He whispered, still feeling too breathless to talk.
"We found you trapped in a narrow, dark tunnel three days ago," Carson told him, his voice echoing in the sterile infirmary.
"What's the damage, Caraon?" John asked, feeling a little better.
"You had a severe concussion. You've broken the tibia bone in your right leg and the ulna bone in your right arm. You have also cracked a couple of ribs."
John nodded and felt a profound sense of relief and gratitude that his friends had come for him, and they hadn't left him in the cave forever.
"Go to sleep now, John; we will be here when you wake up," Teyla said, her voice filled with care and tenderness, soothing his troubled mind like a gentle breeze.
"Yeah, I'll keep watch," Ronon said, putting his feet up at the end of his bed.
He felt the tug on his IV when Carson injected something into it, and he suspected it was something to ease his pain and help him sleep - he hoped it would help him sleep without dreaming.
He heard the familiar sound of Rodney tapping away on his computer, a comforting rhythm amid chaos. He felt Teyla's hand in his and knew all was right with his world. Despite his deepest fears, his friends had come for him and truly cared for him. He knew he was safe and allowed himself to drift off to sleep.
Fin…
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