Battle with the Mind’s eye
Title: : Battle with the Mind's eye
Pairing: Weir / Sheppard
Rating: R
Genres: Angst, Drama
Warnings: None so far....
Chapters: 1/..
Summery: Elizabeth woke up and opened her eyes. Everything around her was dark and she couldn’t see anything. A terrible headache made her close her eyes for a moment, before she slowly opened them again. Her whole body was trembling and cold shivers ran along her spine. She didn’t remember were she was or how she had gotten here.
***** Chapter 1 *****
Elizabeth woke up and opened her eyes. Everything around her was dark and she couldn’t see anything. A terrible headache made her close her eyes for a moment, before she slowly opened them again. Her whole body was trembling and cold shivers ran along her spine. She didn’t remember were she was or how she had gotten here. However, she knew for sure she wasn’t in a familiar environment; considering the cold and moist dirt beneath her body. Moving her limbs was painful and made her more aware of the wet clothes stuck to her body. Her back was benumbed from the cold ground. In addition, a flow of freezing air enfolded around her and a few droplets of cold rain fell on her face. Carefully she moved her hands to her face and wiped the droplets away. With her fingertips, she scanned the surface of her skin. Her normal smooth face was covered with scratches and a large cut on the left side of her forehead could explain the cause for the headache. She had no clue on how serious the injury to her head was, but it had to be extensive. How else would she not remember a thing about what had happened to her.
The last thing she did remembered was diner. She had walked to the mess hall, taken a food tray and entered the line. She had been standing right behind Colonel Sheppard, who graciously offered her his place in line. With a smile on her face, she had declined and they had started some small talk. She however couldn’t remember what it was they were talking about. Neither did she know what she had taken for diner. Nevertheless, she was sure she had taken the food tray to her office, like she always did when she had to file reports. If she was honest to herself, she was not sure she had actually eaten something and every memory after this was a blur. Only small bits and pieces came to mind. A memory of an activated Stargate, John bringing a cup of coffee, the open window in her room and Doctor Beckett standing in the infirmary with a concerned expression on his face. None of it made sense and there seemed no relation between the memory flashes in her head. Each vision was repeated over and over and she could spell out every detail of them, but no new information could be accessed. A strange fear arose, replacing her fragile memories bit by bit.
Despite how desperately she wanted to figure out what had happened to her, she knew it was much more important to find out where she was. Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, but still she couldn’t see anything. Either her eyes were blinded or there was not a single speck of light in the complete darkness. Since her vision was failing her, she focused on listening to the sounds around her. In the distance a constant stream of cheerful twitters sounded. Nearby she heard crickets chirring. Even the faint sound of rain dripping down on the ground made it to her ears. The wind softly combed the grasses, passed through tree branches and played with the leaves within its grasp. Minute after minute passed, but there was no sound that would give her a clue to where she was, other then that she was somewhere in the wilderness. All of a sudden a loud screeching sound pierced the air. The echo slowly faded in the distance, but the mark of fear remained in her mind. She had no idea what had made the sound or where it originated, but the intensity warned her it wasn’t far from her position.
She was terrified and lay as still as possible. She hoped she wouldn’t hear the sound again or meet the animal that had caused it. An unexpected gust of wind startled her and increased her anxiety. Fear started to take over and controlled her body. Even the soft friendly sounds of the wilderness around made her more nervous. Serotonin flowed in every vain of her body and she felt completely helpless. Without having the ability to see the environment around her, she wouldn’t be able to defend herself properly. For all she knew, she could place herself in more trouble while trying to get to safety or keeping herself alive.
After lying motionless for a while, she decided to crawl around in the hope she would find something that could tell her where she was. Cautiously she tried moving her arms, legs, hands and feet. Although it was less then pleasant, she could move them. Her hands searched the ground around her. Other then the damp soil, only tiny sharp pieces of rock and small pebbles lay in the near vicinity of her body. With the support of her arms and legs, she manoeuvred her body on to her side. The air was sucked out of her lungs and instantly she had to swallow groans of pain. She bit her lips and rolled further until she was sitting on her hands and knees. The pain in her chest remained, but she was able to breathe again. Quickly her lungs filled with the freezing air, shortly numbing the pain. The next inhalation however initiated a coughing fit. With every effort, she tried not to make a sound, but this failed when the salty taste of blood in her mouth distracted her. It seemed she had suffered more then just a head injury. A few bruised or broken ribs could be added to the list.
She moved her hand for her mouth and muffled the coughs while she caught her breathe. Meanwhile her ears tried to focus on the sounds that filled the night. Her main concern was if her coughing had caught unwanted attraction. Luckily, all she heard were the sounds she had heard before. The wind ruffled with the local vegetation, crickets still chirred and birds sang their songs. Everything had returned to normal. Slowly she started to calm down and slowly she scanned the ground with her hands before she moved forward. With slow movements, she pushed forward until she couldn’t go any further.
With her hands, she had discovered a wall of stone. The cold surface was as high and as wide as her arms could reach. Now she had to choose to go left, right or stay where she was. It would be so much easier if she could think straight or remember something useful. The situation didn’t make sense, yet she didn’t feel safe where she was. Left or right, right or left. Left, she would go left. Still inspecting the wall, she moved along the rocks. Smooth rain dripped over her hands while the surface under her delicate fingertips was rugged, many sharp point and deep cracks characterizing the composition of the wall.
She had no sense of the distance she had moved, but as long as she kept moving, she felt a lot more secure than when she was sitting still. Slowly the foreign sounds started to become familiar and safe. It compiled a constant dancing flow that filled the silence. It had a tranquil effect on her and gave her strength to keep moving.
After a while, she found bushes replacing the rock. Hard branches, small rough leaves and many sharp thorns were hurting her hands. The stinging pain quickly turned into a burning sensation and not long after that she lost the feeling in her hands and they turned completely numb. She had lost her only way to safely move around. Disappointment sunk in along with the realization that she had no other option then to wait for daylight.
Time past by, but she didn’t know how long she had sat there. Her back leaned against the rocks and bushes covered her right flank. The combination of the freezing cold and her injuries were taking its toll. She was getting tired and had trouble staying awake. Doubt started to fill her mind as well. Was she supposed to move around or wasn’t she. Maybe someone had left her where she had woken up and would return for her. However, she had moved and was all by herself now. In a moment of clarity, she searched the pockets of her jacket for her radio. Each time her hand entered a pocket she felt the thorns wiggle themselves deeper in her skin. Again, she had to deal with a setback. All her effort had no result. The radio was not in her jacket. She quietly sighed and closed her eyes for a moment.
A high yelp made her jump. Her heart rate and breathing increased. Before she was able to calm down, she received another shock when she heard more animals yelping. The sound penetrated her ears and travelled through every bone in her body. Even while it all seemed quite a distance away from her, she was scared.
Tears from fatigue and helplessness formed in the corner of her eyes. When they emerged, they slowly ran down along her cheeks. She wiped them from her face, leaving scratches from the thorns in her hand behind. She suffered from the pain until her face turned numb too. Every minute she fought to stay awake and every minute she got weaker, until she surrendered and fell asleep.