Fic: Glass Rated G
Title: Glass
Prompt: 025 - Glass (Day 25 of 30 Days of Sheppard Whump)
Spoilers: none
Warnings: lots of blood and owies
Word count: 1,156
Disclaimer: Sadly, neither Stargate Atlantis nor her characters belong to me. If they did the show would never have been nor would it ever be cancelled. We may have to move it to Cinemax though.
John stood with his hands bound behind him and was forced to watch as they tied Rodney to a post. He looked around the crowd scanning the faces for Teyla and Ronon but he didn’t see them. He fought against the binds but they were such that they tightened with even the slightest movement, and they were already so tight the tips of his fingers were beginning to tingle.
Several villagers carried a large roll of material and placed it on the ground in front of John, then they unrolled it and it reached all the way over to Rodney.
“What will you do to save the life of your friend?” a man in a long grey cloak asked him as he stood in front of him.
“Whatever it takes,” John replied firmly.
“That is good for him; perhaps not so good for you. I will give you a task, if you complete that task, your friend will live. You and he will leave our world with no interference. But if you do not complete it, if you divert even for a moment from your course, your friend will die. Do you understand the rules?”
“They’re pretty simple, save Rodney. I think I can handle that,” John replied.
“For his sake I hope you are right,” the man said and waved his hand. A moment later he stepped to the side and John saw villagers carrying what looked like canvas sacks over to the strip of material. There was a rattle and clinking sounds as the first villager poured the contents of their bag onto the strip. John felt his heart sink when he saw the broken pieces of glass. Their reason for removing his boots had suddenly become clear. He looked at Rodney and he looked about a thousand miles away.
John suffered through a long hour at the least, watching as the villagers brought the bags of broken glass four at a time and filled the center of the strip, one person followed behind them and smoothed the mounds of glass with a crude rake . Finally the last bag had been dumped, John’s hands were unbound and he was led to the edge of the strip of glass.
His heart was racing and he wanted to hyperventilate but he wouldn’t allow himself to show these people his anxiety. He looked up from the glass and found Rodney looking at him.
He finally saw Teyla and Ronon; they were bound together and sitting on the ground. They had been shielded from his view by the rows of villagers, but at least he knew now that they were safe.
He turned toward the grey clad man and waved him over.
“When I finish this task, as you call it, my other two friends will be set free too, right,” it wasn’t a question.
“Of course, the four of you will be free to go as soon as you complete your task.”
“Good, and don’t be expecting another visit from us. We tend to mark sadistic ass holes off our list of friends.” He took a deep breath and stepped forward.
John scrunched up his face but held in the cry of pain as the first sharp points pierced the sensitive skin of his soles. He took another slow step, feeling some of the glass still embedded in his foot. He breathed deeply, in through his nose and out through his mouth.
His eyes found Rodney’s and held them there, he kept Rodney locked in his gaze.
Three steps into his journey, a larger piece of glass broke beneath his weight, the crowd gasped sharply as a collective and he gave a small involuntary yelp as the glass cut rather than just piercing.
He heard the grating, scraping and popping sounds as he took his slow, short steps and the sound made him clench his teeth so tight his jaw hurt.
He was closer to Rodney now, a quarter of the way there. The glass tore at his feet with every step he took, and although he didn’t turn to look, he knew he had left a trail of blood on his path. He could feel the blood pouring out of his feet, he felt the slickness of the blood on the glass, he could almost hear a wet squishing sound as he walked.
By half way through, he had stopped being able to control his breathing and it was coming in and out of him fast and hard. He had so much glass in his feet it seemed as if he hadn’t stepped on any new pieces for the last several steps. He kept his eyes on Rodney.
Three quarters of the way there his knees buckled and he fell to his hands and knees. He cried out with the pain and pushing himself back to his feet. His palms were covered in glass and he brushed it off. He resumed walking, dripping blood from the tips of his fingers as they hung at his sides. He could feel warm blood running down his shins. Just a little further.
John stepped off the glass and took the three steps it took to reach Rodney. He turned and glared at the man in grey.
The grey man made his way through the crowd and faced John in front of Rodney. “You are a very good friend indeed,” the man said. He barked the order to set them free.
John’s feet were burning with pain and he was now standing in a pool of blood. Ronon came to him and John allowed himself to be picked up.
“You’re a fool Sheppard,” Rodney said gently as they walked back to the gate.
“What would you have had me to Rodney?” John asked from his place in Ronon’s arms. “It was either that or let them kill you. And probably the rest of us too.”
“I am wondering if they do something similar to every visitor they get,” Teyla said. “This treatment was unprovoked, we had done nothing.”
“They’re sick and twisted people, this is their form of entertainment,” John said.
“Well I say we take their gate,” Rodney suggested. “We know we can, we did it for the bridge. We could save a lot of people some pain.”
“The people of this village use their Stargate for trade Rodney,” Teyla told him.
“Yes, and what of the people whose world has an orbital gate, hmm? They adapt.”
“That’s enough you two! I’m in pain here,” John snapped.
John groaned as he looked at the pan of glass Carson had pulled from his feet, knees and hands. The groan wasn’t from pain though, not at the moment. John had no idea what Carson had given him, but his main thought was ‘I’d be rich if I could sell that on the black market’. That also happened the be the last though he had before the drugs knocked him out.
The End