Time to go back to John... I hope to catch up with reviews tomorrow! Thank you all! :D :D

Chapter 10

John was slowing down.

He was unbelievably tired and feeble. Unable to get enough air into his lungs meant he breathed in short, sharp gasps which exhausted him further. He felt more hungry than he'd ever felt in his entire life. He ached all over to the point it seemed that even his bones hurt. His feet felt heavy and he tripped and fell so often it only made it so much harder to get back off the ground. When at one point he felt the compulsion to look at his watch, he saw it hung somewhat loosely around his wrist and this alarmed him, but only for a moment. Then the significance of it disappeared from his mind, as well as all the other worrying things he'd just noticed.

He kept going forward. On through the forest with all its natural traps and snares. Life sang out around him, yet John neither acknowledged nor admired it. He caught sight of knelkin, fast-moving deer-like animals with smooth, white fur. The beauty of this rarely seen and elusive creature was lost on him, and he looked away to the darkness of the forest.

He stopped beneath a large tree, quite unable to take another step. He stood there, legs threatening to give way as he swayed back and forth and fought the urge to keep going. Above him came a crashing sound, and if John had all of his senses he would have known that he was under attack. As it was, he didn't move and was soon smashed into the ground with such force that it drove precious air from his starving lungs. Upon him lay one of the myriads of Caronaa's legendary insects. This one looked something like a gargantuan caterpillar, yet was as dissimilar to one as could possibly be. It had short, green fur on top which graduated to reddish-brown beneath. Its body was as long as John was tall. It had what looked like ten to the power of five legs, all of which moved continually to support its great weight. Its head was a bulging, protruding mass of flesh with no discernible features save for the spines upon its crown and two, strange, dish-like antennae. Whatever senses this creature possessed, it had no eyes or ears that John could see, nor a mouth for that matter.

In normal circumstances, John might have yelled for help, or reached for his weapon, maybe even tried to wrestle the thing off his body. But he just lay there, looking up at the monster without even a hint of fear or recognition of the peril he was in.

The bug rose up, the skin of its head split along the bottom and a mouth appeared. Within it was a circle of teeth-like structures that continually flicked inwards and many dark spots from which oozed salivary juices and acid. If any part of him came into contact with those teeth they would slowly and continually pull John inside the mouth to be broken down by the acid and consumed at a rate that would mean he would be alive quite long enough to experience most, if not all of the bug's digestive system horrors. But the mouth closed slowly and the bug poked its head towards his face. Soon its skin smothered him, feeling around his face like a gooey blanket. Its antennae quivered and swept over his hair. Then it pulled itself from his body and moved away. Climbed back up the tree and awaited a more palatable prey to walk beneath its perch.

John lay there panting rapidly, unable to move or wipe the bug's goop from his face. Something deep inside him forced a short, anguished cry from his throat as he experienced mind-shattering terror. John suddenly understood how close to death he'd come. Fully realised how much danger he was in as he lay there unprotected for some other hungry entity to stumble upon. But that wasn't why he gulped down frantic breaths and cried out weak sounds that would no doubt alert other denizens of the forest to his distress.

For the first time in too long, John was aware.

His body shivered as his mind acknowledged the excruciation that clawed at all of his senses. Every part of him was aflame with an agony he didn't understand. All of his muscles were tight and cramping. His stomach clenched and hurt from hunger. A fire burned in his chest as lava flowed through his veins. He felt things inside of him, moving, continually squirming and twisting throughout his system. And he was weak, weaker than he'd ever been. So much so that John was sure he was dying.

As his mind got somewhat used to the agony, he remembered everything. Remembered landing the Jumper. Opening the door. Seeing the attack coming. Realising they were in trouble. Saw the flash of light traveling at high speed towards him. Felt the impact as it threw him back to the edge of the Jumper's bulkhead door. The storm of electrical energy that burst through him, radiating from the impact wounds. He remembered the unwilled command, triggered by the electric jolt, that sent the Jumper on a return course to Atlantis. Watched it take off and felt hope leaving him as warmth and pain exploded in his chest. Looked down to see the tail-end of struggling black creatures whose teeth he felt gnawing at his flesh. The blood, spluttering and gushing past them as he tried to grasp and pull their blood-slick, wriggling and slimy bodies away. Grunted at the pain in his thigh. Felt the crawling of one missile as it burrowed deep within his flesh. Then the terrible surge of energy that flashed through his body and rendered him immobile just as his eyes saw Rodney Mckay's frightened face loom above. Then his vision and all other senses shut down, only rebooting while Rodney hauled him through the forest.

Now John knew what had happened to him, but the knowledge did little to help his current situation. Nor did it fully explain the extent of unfamiliar and painful movement within his body. He knew at least one of the creatures still resided within him. Knew two had been wrenched oh so painfully from his flesh by Rodney. Yet it felt as if hundreds moved within him. He felt it as tiny ticks and pulses throughout his body, different from the massive movements he'd felt in his last awakened moments.

But there was one he felt only too clearly as it squirmed in his back. It had shot up there earlier when he and Rodney discovered it. No matter whether he could bear to claw it out or not, John would no longer be able to reach it on his own to do so. And here he was, suffering alone and lost in woods he knew better than to enter.

The thing in his back moved again. He felt it pushing against his trapezius as it slipped slowly towards his spine. It felt different from before, a more sluggish movement. Perhaps the creature was dying, too, and this thought brought John some comfort.

At least I'll take the bastard with me, he mused silently.

But it seemed the creature had other ideas as a jolt of energy shot up his spine and before he knew it, John was upright and forging ahead through the forest. This time he felt and was fully aware of everything happening, almost as if the creature had heard his thought and punished him for it. He felt his muscles obeying commands not of his brain's making. Charges fired into them that made them quiver and answer orders that bypassed all of his own. He felt his muscles stretching and tearing with the forced movements, starving for energy that his body could barely provide. His walk was a staggering gait created by the alien understanding of a bipedal form. He rushed through areas John silently begged not to, charged past animals with gaping mouths that lunged at him, grateful they could or would not follow.

Then he broke free of the forest, stumbling into a vast clearing in which the village he knew was built. He stopped, looked around and felt himself smell the air, searching for something. What the creature within him wanted was past the village, on and through the other side of the forest John could just see in the distance. When he saw how much farther he had to go, John knew the creature's machinations were useless. He was done. There was hardly a breath left in him to take another step. He felt the creature bombard his muscles with weakening bursts of energy, but they were unable to heed the commands and so he just stood there, shivering and quivering and moaning softly.

With a soft cry, John stumbled forward and fell to the ground. His chest hitched with its quest for air. His body screamed for much-lacking oxygen as he breathed mere puffs through grains of earth.

Then he heard his name being called. The sound far away at first but drawing quickly nearer. Soon he felt hands upon him, pulling him gently onto his back and saw three sets of eyes full of concern and fear. John slipped into unconsciousness as his friends lifted him from the ground and carried him towards the village.

To be continued... cooookiiieeessss...