Action/Adventure, Week 2: Figurative Hell and Literal High Water (2/5)
Title: Figurative Hell And Literal High Water (2/5)
Author: tipper_green
Prompt: Weather or Elements
Word Count: 36,000
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Missing (this takes place after Missing but before This Mortal Coil).
Characters: Keller, Rodney, Teyla, Sheppard, Ronon
Summary: Rodney's desperate to save his team, and Keller's just trying to keep up, on a planet where hurricanes can last for days.
[Part One] [Part Two] [Part Three] [Part Four] [Part Five]
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CHAPTER THREE: HELLACIOUS WINDS
Rodney stood before of the doors leading to the outside, and for a moment, he seemed to hesitate, the fingers of his empty hand curling and releasing nervously. Under his breath, Jennifer heard him whisper, "You can do this. You can do this. You can do this." She smiled a little as she realized this was how he psyched himself up. Then the smile fell when she realized what exactly he was psyching himself up for.
"Ready?" he asked a little too loudly, his voice shaking, his gaze still locked on the double doors. They were rattling with the force of the winds outside, like something big and ugly was trying to get inside.
Which wasn't wholly wrong.
She sucked in a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. "After you, McKay," she said jauntily, trying to sound confident. "Once more into the breach, and all that."
He glanced at her, grimacing a little (apparently, she didn't sound as confident as she'd hoped).
"Just, um " his free hand lifted, his fingers dancing like he was playing an invisible trumpet, "keep your eye out for flying bits of debris, okay? There's a lot of it out therenearly got taken out a few times on the way down here. " He looked back at the doors.
"De debris?"
"You know," he shrugged, and now he was the one feigning confidence, "bits of wood, chunks of metal," he sucked in a breath, "large, heavy objects that have no call being off the ground, flying at your head at high rates of speed."
She knew her eyes were as wide as saucers, but Rodney paid no mind as he suddenly closed his eyes and, with a determined step, shoved the doors open.
Jennifer gasped as freezing cold rain bit at her cheeks, the powerful winds blowing her poncho up around her ears. She staggered backwards, and had to consciously think about digging in her heels and holding her ground. In front of her now, Rodney threw up a hand to cover his face and, bending over slightly, pushed himself forward into the driving rain. Muttering a prayer under her breath, Jennifer did the same, except she used both hands to shield her face.
The wind was incredible, shoving at her from all sides as she lurched into the middle of the paved street. The rain felt like it was cutting her to bits, drumming down on her shoulders like nails hammered into a board.
And she'd barely cleared the building.
Oh God. This was bad. This was really, really, really bad!
She peered through her upraised arms, trying to follow the dark figure of Rodney McKay as he slogged determinedly away from her, up the paved road. He was only a few feet distant at most, but the storm was too strong; he was already losing definition in her sight. And and he was moving faster than she was, getting further away with each step. No, no, no, no
"Wait!" she screamedand felt her voice ripped from her and carried away. The wind was so loud, she could barely hear herself. "Rodney!" she screamed, lowering her arms slightly. "Can you hear me? Don't go too fast! I can't go as fast as you! Wait!"
She heard him yell back, but she couldn't make out the words. She bit her lip and pressed forward, arms upraised again to shield her face, trying to move quicker. Every footfall was like pushing through quicksand, and she began to worry that the tread on her boots weren't enough to stop her from slipping on the rain-slicked pavement.
Rodney appeared to be headed straight up the main road, climbing the hill that made up half of the town, but Jennifer knew there were many side roads and alleyways shooting off of it. If he turned onto one without her seeing, she'd lose him. And each step took him further away from her, his black clothes helping him to blend into the gloom.
"Rodney!" she screamed again. "You have to slow"
A massive gust hit her square in the side like a punch, and she staggered, tripping over her own feet. It was a miracle she even stayed upright. She started forward again, focusing on keeping her footing. The water was blinding her now, and she was blinking furiously, trying to clear her sight.
Keep moving; don't lose him!
As she feared, Rodney abruptly disappeared down a side road, and she followed, almost running to catch up, but the wind and rain kept pushing her back; she only seemed to lose ground. She nearly lost him again as he turned up yet another new road. She came around the corner just in time to spot his black shadow turning down another road.
"Rodney!" She stumbled after him. Again, she hit the end of the alley, barely in time to see him head up another road. Up, always up. "Rodney!" This road was as featureless as the othersit's only distinguishing feature being that it climbed even more steeply.
Another gust, even stronger this time, and her left foot tripped over her right, pain blossoming inside her right ankle. Before she could right herself, a third gust blasted into her and she went down on her side, the rough pavement scraping her hands and right hip as she hit. The massive backpack hindered her motion, seemingly trying to keep her down as she attempted to regain some sense of balance. She hissed in pain, dragging in great gasps of air, her entire body trembling and her right ankle throbbing.
Get up! she commanded herself. You'll lose him if you don't! Get up!
Steeling her jaw, she somehow managed to get one leg under her, pushing up onto one knee. Another push, and she was on her feet again, tottering a little but up. She tilted her head up, blinking through the water coating her eyelashes, wiping off the water dripping off her face with the back of her arm.
She didn't see Rodney anywhere.
Fear gripped her, and she lurched forward up the hill, turning her head left and right, trying to spot him down an alleyway or next to one of the identical concrete box houses.
"Rodney!" she screamed into the hellacious winds. Where had he gone? "RODNEY!"
She didn't know where she waswasn't even sure she could find her way back to the hospital now. She kept climbing upwards, hoping to find him. Wind raked at her, and her poncho was up around her neck, trying to strangle her. She fought it downno wonder Rodney hadn't wanted one.
She was stumbling a lot now, barely keeping to a straight line, the wind sending her sideways and backwards as often as she moved forward.
"Rodney!" she shouted, desperation like a fire in her chest. "Rodney! Where are you! RODNEY!"
The wind slammed into her back this time, and she fell forwards onto the pavement, her knees getting the brunt of the pain, but her hands the rest. She even banged her chin, bringing tears to her eyes. Ow! Damn it!
Shaking, crying (and wishing to God she wasn't), she got her hands under her again and started to push herself up of the black paved road.
Suddenly, a black gloved hand appeared before her, just inches from her nose.
She peered up, and found Rodney staring down at her, all wide blue eyes and looking as scared as she felt. "Sorry!" he shouted, and he really did look sorry. "I thought you were behind me!" He waved his hand in front of her, obviously intending her to take it.
She tried not to feel upset at him for itit wasn't his fault. None of this was. Godwhat were they doing out here? If they had to fight this weather the whole way .Brent had been right. They'd die in this! Reaching out, she took his hand and let him pull her up. "I can't go as fast as you!" she yelled at him. "I can't do this!"
He shook his head. "Yes, you can!" he promised. "Just don't let go of my hand!"
And with that, he took a more solid grip on her hand and started to drag her after him. She staggered forward at the abrupt yank, and her fingers gripped harder around his handafraid he'd lose her, or she him.
For the next few minutes, Rodney just pulled her along, turning down a side road then up another road, always heading uphill, always heading farther away from the center of town and the Stargate. He seemed unerring in his course, never slowing, compensating as best he could whenever the wind tried to knock them down. Twice, he had to help her up when she fell, and once, when he took a blast of wind to the face and fell back into hershe caught him.
She could barely see. How Rodney even knew where to go amazed her.
He turned up another street, this one as plain as the others, distinguished again only by the fact that it was still going uphill. She tried to see what made this street different, but failed. They were all gray, dark and lined with concrete houses. The whole town was as non-descript as any former Soviet apartment block in Eastern Europeexcept that the people here hadn't even tried to decorate, to bring any color or individuality to their homes at all.
"How do you know where you're going?" she shouted.
"Landmarks!" he shouted back. "Trust me!"
Keller grimaced, feeling her already cold lips press into a thin line. She wanted to, she really did, but she didn't know him all that well yet, and she had heard Sheppard and the others ribbing McKay in the mess. He was not exactly known for his wilderness skills.
"But," she yelled, "how can you see anything in this? I can't even see you that clearly!"
He didn't answer, and she frowned more.
He just kept tugging her forward with him, leading her farther and farther away from safety and towards the woods.
"Rodney!" she called. "I"
She stopped, spotting something black and flat coming at them fast from the side. "Get down!" she screamed, jumping on his shoulders to bring them both to the ground, slamming them both into the unyielding pavement. He shouted something angrily, trying to get up, but she held on as the massive piece of metal shot over their heads and slammed into the side of one of the small concrete homes with a massive bang, sending chunks of concrete flying.
Rodney gasped, and, wide eyed, he looked from the piece of metal then at Keller. "That could have cut us in two!" he yelled. She just nodded, not trusting her voice, and finally let go her grip on his shoulders. He rolled away and got up to his knees. He shook visibly, staring again at the metal, then back at her.
"You saved my life!" he yelled, reaching out a hand. Jennifer tried for a smile as she took it, but her lips hurt from the cold, so it probably looked more like a grimace.
"You can pay me back later!" she yelled in return. He flashed a quick grin, more wry than happy. Together, they clambered back to their feet. Still holding her hand, Rodney leaned over and grabbed the black medical case he'd dropped, frowning down at it.
"It's okay," she shouted. "It's designed for combat! Strong and sturdyit won't break or let anything inside break!"
Rodney stayed still for a moment, still looking down at it, before lifting his gaze to study their surroundingsparticularly the now damaged concrete home. She could guess what he was thinkingthe case might not break, but they easily could. It really wouldn't take muchnot in this weather.
And for a second, Jennifer thought he might be considering taking them back.
But then he tightened his grip on her hand and was dragging her towards another side roadonce again away from the hospital down below.
And she followed.
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Rodney was right. They crested a hill near the edge of town, and as they started downwards, the wind lessened almost immediately. At about the same time, the concrete and pavement world of the Helenan settlement abruptly ended; there was nothing before them now but a dirt path leading downhill into a heavy forest. By the time they had dropped about twenty feet, surrounded by pine and fir on all sides, the screaming gusts had been replaced by a dull roar on the edge of hearing, and, while the rain continued to pelt down, it was now hampered by the thick pine needle and leaf cover.
The hill was a natural windbreakerwhich was why McKay had been so certain they'd be okay when they got this far. She wished Brent were here so she could smile smugly at himshe'd been right to believe Rodney even if, deep down, she hadn't really. Not until now.
Rodney continued to hold her hand, leading her down the muddy, leaf strewn dirt road. Pinecones littered the area, and she nearly turned her ankle a few times stepping on them by accident. Water ran down in thick rivulets by their feet, a hundred little streams pouring down the hill from the concrete town above. Through it all, Rodney kept up his brutal pace, and she jogged, tripped and slid down behind him, straining to keep up. His grip on her hand was beginning to make her fingers ache.
Finally, as if finally registering how much she was struggling, he slowed when they reached a curve in the road, at a point just before the path tilted upwards again. A large boulder jutted up off the side, and he dropped her next to it so she could lean against the stone, catch her breath. Letting her hand go, he backed off a couple of feet, resting his now free hand on the P90 attached to his vest and watching the woods.
Jennifer was gratefulshe knew it probably killed him to have to stop at all. She leaned her back against the cold rock, her hands on her knees, gasping for air as if she'd just run a marathon. After a moment, she reached up and ripped off the strangling poncho, grateful for the freedom as she let it drop to the muddy ground. Then she returned to her bent over position, again just trying to get her breathing under control.
"You okay?" he asked, his voice at a more natural volume. She peered up at him, and nodded as she panted.
"Yeah," she said. "That was " she pulled in a shallow breath, "not fun. Let's try to avoid walking through typhoons in the future, okay?"
He gave a small smile and turned away from her. "Yeah. Welcome to my world. I say stuff like that to Sheppard all the time. It doesn't work. Sometimes I think he puts me in situations like this just to drive me crazy."
She laughed softly, reaching up a gloved hand to rub at the back of her neck, and pulling the wet ponytail out from under her collar at the same time. It slapped against the top of her jacket and backpack with a wet 'slurp.' She sighed again, and stood up straighter. Her heart still felt like it was going to slam through her chest, and her breathing was ragged to the point of painfulbut she knew they couldn't stay here long.
Trying to catch her breath, she peered more carefully at their surroundings, taking in the dense wood. It reminded her a little of a mountain forest back homewhich wasn't surprising. From everything she'd seen of Pegasuswhich wasn't that much, truth be toldall of the planets had flora and fauna similar to Earth. Probably because the Ancients had seeded them that way.
This particular forest was very brown. Other than a few short evergreens and a handful of baby deciduous trees, mostly all you could see were the tall, brown tree trunks of the tall pines, each with a million short branches and dead looking limbs sticking off of them. She used to climb trees like that as a kidbefore she'd developed her fear of heights. There were a few lighter colored treesbirch like white trunks interspersed with the brownbut that was it for variety. The ground was littered with dead brown leaves and thousands of rust colored pine needles, and darker brown mud. Brown, brown, brown.
The forest was also thick with mist. A side effect of the stormthe forest was heavy with water vapor, preventing her from seeing anything more than fifty feet from their position clearly. After that, it was just gray gloom and shadows. Between that and the constant white noise from the hurricane, she shivered a little from a strange sense of claustrophobia.
She drew in one more fortifying breath, finally feeling her heartbeat lessen.
She looked up, taking in the towering green overhead, letting the rain wash the swear from her face. The canopy was their protection from the worst of the storm. At least, since it had developed into a hurricane, typhoon, monsoon or whatever it was, it wasn't thundering and lightning anymore. That was something, right?
She tipped her head down again, and pushed herself off the rock, adjusting the pack on her back. Rodney was still waiting for her a few feet away, his jaw tense, his countenance rigid with worry and impatiencebut he said nothing. Obviously he didn't want to push her beyond what she could do, even with his clear desperate need to hurry.
She gave him a nod. He gave her a grateful smile back and immediately started walking, heading uphill along the path.
She blew the air out of her cheeks and jogged to catch up, sparing a glance for the poncho she left behind. Someone else could grab it later.
Rodney had a really long stride, something she had noticed before in the hallways of Atlantis, but hadn't really appreciated until she was forced to catch up to him when he was really moving.
"So," she said, panting a little as she came up alongside, "how far away are they from here?"
He gave a shrug. "Not sure. I wasn't really paying that much attention when I was running back to town."
She lifted her eyebrows. "You ran?"
"It was mostly downhill," he admitted, peering into the woods, his free hand still on his P90. "I couldn't run back to the hovel where I left themnot the whole way. Ronon probably could, though. Or Teyla. If they hadn't I " He stopped, pressing his lips together unhappily. "I wish I could," he said softly.
Jennifer dropped her eyes to the ground. Fact was, he was more hampered by her now than his own weaknesses. She tried to pick her pace up a little.
Hang on if the way from the hovel to town was mostly downhill that meant the way back was mostly uphill.
Oh crap. Don't think about it. Don't.
Instead, she considered that they were on this pathwas it the same one that led to the ruins? Or was it a different one?
"How do you know where you are?" she asked. "Is this the same road you took before?"
He glanced at her, then gave a quick nod. "Yeah. Pretty much. "
"But then " Jennifer swallowed, "aren't you, um," she bit her bottom lip, "maybe worried about being attacked? You know, since you were attacked on this road before?"
He grimaced, then shook his head. "We didn't see anyone after the storm got really bad. I don't think they like the rain any more than we do."
"Okay," she said, hoping he was right. She looked at the road again, which was curling up away from them, disappearing around another corner further up. Were they going to be on the road the whole time?
She cleared her throat. "The cabins you found"
"Hovels. They're more like hovels."
She frowned. "What's the difference?"
"You'll know when you see them. I didn't think there was a difference either, but ," he shook his head, "wait until you see them."
"Okay," she said slowly. "So," she licked her lips, "the hovels you found, are they on the road?"
He snorted. "No. Wouldn't be much of a place to hide if they were. Teyla's not that stupid."
She frowned. Did he just imply that she was stupid?
"Well," she said, "if they're not on the road, then are they close to it?"
Rodney sighed heavily, grimacing in irritation. "If what you're trying to ask is," he looked at her, "whether we're staying on the road the whole timeno. The hovels are far, far away from the road, way up on the side of the mountain. Happy? We'll be going cross country soon enough. I marked a tree where I hit the road on the way down. We'll turn there."
Jennifer frowned again. "But, how can you be sure we won't get lost once we're off the road?"
"Oh for " He rolled his eyes. He stopped in the road and faced her, not hiding his annoyance. "You don't trust me, do you?"
She'd stopped with him, and her eyebrows lifted. "What?"
"If I were Ronon or Teyla or Lorne or someone like that, you'd not even question, would you? You'd just follow blindly, right? But because it's me, you're terrified that I'm going to lead you right into the middle of an ambush or into a pit of vipers, right?"
"Uh ," she bit her lip, "well, I mean ."
"For your information," he stated, spinning around and walking away from her at a fast clip up the road, "I have a very good sense of directionbetter than most people. If I've been somewhere once, I can almost always find my way back again without needing directions again. You should see Sheppard in the woodsit's like watching a chicken with its head cut off. Did I tell you how his getting us lost was how we ended up with the Genii as enemies? Next thing we know, they're invading Atlantis and Elizabeth and I are fighting for our lives and the city, and all because he 'likes to walk in a straight line.'" He huffed. "Sure, sure, he saved us and all that during the Storm, but"
He stopped walking. It was so abrupt, Keller, who had been practically running to keep up with him, slammed into his back.
She teetered backwards, holding her now bruised nose. Ow!
"What the hell, McK"
"Shht!" he hissed, and she suddenly realized he was staring off to one side, not blinking.
She went rigid, looking in the same direction. She couldn't see anything. What was he ?
Her eyes widened when she saw a flutter of movement between two trees.
"Take this," Rodney said quietly, shoving the medical case at her. She did so, pulling it close to her.
Rodney pulled up his P90, resting it in both hands and focused on the movement they'd both seen.
"Back up," he whispered quietly. "Into the woods behind you. Move slow. Biggest tree you can findget behind it. If I start firingrun up away from me as fast as you can."
She nodded, stepping backwards until her boot-heel impacted the muddy incline of the hill behind her.
Swallowing thickly, she turned and started climbing up the incline into the trees. There was a large oak like tree not far up, and, when she reached it, she stopped.
Rodney was covering her, backing up as she was. When he too hit the edge of the road, he started to climb up the hill sideways, never losing his sharp eyed gaze on the woods. He was tense and ready for whatever might come
Suddenly, whatever was behind those trees moved, jumping out from between the brown trunks and running away into the woods.
It had looked like a deer. Or whatever creature on this planet was deer-like.
Rodney's shoulders slumped in relief. Jennifer rested her head against the tree trunk and closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them again, he was looking up at her, his mouth turned down in a deep frown.
"Come on," he said. "Let's go."
She nodded, stumbling down the incline back to the road. When he reached to take the medical case from her, she drew it back.
"I got it," she said. "You just you just keep that gun up, okay?"
He gave a sad smile at that, but didn't argue. He just started walking again, with Jennifer on his heels.
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CHAPTER FOUR: SLIPPERY WHEN WET
As they climbed higher, the way growing increasingly steep, the forest began to thin, and Keller became aware again of just how heavily the rain was still bucketing down. The wind had picked up as well, sharp gusts battering them with every step. She was beginning to forget what it felt like to be dry or warm. At least she could seeshe didn't feel like she was constantly having to wipe sheets of water from her face as she had back in town.
Not that there was much to see. The brown landscape was really beginning to get to her. There were more rocks and boulders up here to break the monotonysometimes whole shelves of granite jutting out of the mountainsidebut it was still mostly the barren looking pine tree trunks.
Bent over from the weight of the backpack and now the medical case, Jennifer slogged up the muddy trail, having long ago given up the attempt to keep her feet on solid ground. Since they'd left the road to hike up this goat track, it had just gotten worse. Black mud sucked at her boots, seeping inside the lining to drown her already sodden feet. It was like walking on gel insoles, except the water bubbles she could feel between her toes and under her arch were actually bubbles of water between her toes and under her arch.
To distract herself, she mentally went through the treatment for trench foot.
In front of her, Rodney marched up the barely visible path, often looking back at her to make sure she was still there. A couple of times, she thought she would slip, but her balance stayed remarkably stable, so that, despite a lingering soreness in her right ankle from her fall in town, she was moving pretty well. She was even keeping up, which was impressive.
Exercise was never something she was that interested in. She knew she should do it, and heaven knew she preached it often enough, but she was a little like those doctors who told you not to smoke, but then went outside on their breaks and took a drag. Oh, she didn't smoke, but she had an unhealthy addiction to McDonald's french fries, Reese's peanut butter cups, rare steaks, Doritos, and, really, everything else bad for you under the sun. She tried to eat vegetables when she was in the mess hall, but more often than not she was eating junk food at her desk or in her room. As for exercisingthe occasional use of the stairs from the Gateroom floor up to the Control Room probably didn't count for much.
So her breathing was ragged as she stumbled after him, her quads felt like jelly, and her shoulders were close to breaking under the strain of the pack and lugging the black medical case.
But she was keeping up. Not that she had any doubt that, if he wanted to, he could leave her behind.
She found herself watching Rodney as he trudged forward in front of her, clambering over rocks and trees in their path, wondering a little if this is what it was like for him on missionsfeeling like the stone around the neck of his companions. Oh sure, she knew he exercised sort of. He'd come in numerous times complaining of bruises and welts and strained muscles from working out with Ronon or Teyla or John, but she'd never actually seen him actively doing anything. And the physicals she'd performed on him confirmed what she sawa man nearing forty, strong but not necessarily in the peak of health, in a weight and BMI class that didn't make him overweight by any means, but he also wasn't in a class that could be considered "fit."
But of course, he was out in the field at least once a week, walking, running, fighting between that and the exercise she knew he did do, he should have been fitter. But he wasn'tand she could guess why. It was for the same reason she wasn't.
She just never seemed to find the time to really care for her body. With her hours and her schedule, she was lucky to have time to sleep, and she knew it was the same for him. She knew he was up at all hours working on the city, keeping it running, or studying the latest findings brought in by other field teams, or out in the field, often in danger. She knew he had time offElizabeth had mandated it for everyone at one point not long after Jennifer arrived in the citybut she imagined Rodney spent much of it working anyway.
He was just that type. And so was she.
Except that, he had friends. Real ones, as close as family. A team he'd kill himself forlike he was doing now. Maybe it wasn't about how fit you were, but how determined you were to get to your goal.
He stumbled suddenly, and she heard him hiss in pain as his left foot got caught between two rocks he'd been climbing over. She hurried forward, to reach him, but he just shook his head at her. With a grunt, he pulled himself up and resumed moving upwards.
"It thins out a lot up here," he said, panting slightly, clambering up between another set of boulders. "More rocks, because we're nearing the ridge. Once we get over that, it's a straight shot to where the others are."
She nodded, and asked, "So, we're close?"
"Yeah," he said. "Maybe a few kilo a couple of miles left to go."
She smiled at the correction. She knew her metrics, but it was nice of him to make the adjustment. And the fact that he did it without sneering showed how tired he was.
He was picking up the pace a little now, and she skipped a little to catch up.
Rodney stopped suddenly when he reached a wide waterfall of granite rocks and boulders, complete with a fast moving river sluicing down it. The path turned in a different direction here, pointing away from where they'd been climbing, sloping off and down into a fairly deep looking gorge. They couldn't keep following itit clearly went the wrong way. Which meant they'd have to cross the river.
This was bad. The rocks were all wet and clearly unstable. One misstep and they could easily take a nasty fall down the waterfall. At the very least, it would break a bone. More likely, they'd crack their heads open.
Keller swallowed. "Was this was this the high water?" she asked, remembering Rodney's claim to Brent down in the town.
He nodded. "I came down this, followed it a ways, then crossed over at this point when I saw the path we're on, on this side," Rodney said, gesturing at the stream, then his hand fluttered down, as if depressed. "But It wasn't there was a lot less water. It was more a ," he cleared his throat, "a stream than a torrential river."
He sounded worriedand she knew why. The river rushing down was a mini-torrent, all the rocks jutting out of it were slick with rain and damp algae, and with the wind blowing up and down it . The footing would be precarious, if not impossible.
"This is bad," he said shakily. It sounded like he was about to quit. Keller shook her head, nudging his arm.
"Do we have a choice?" she asked finally.
He sighed and shook his head. "No."
"Then, I guess 'lay on, Macduff'," she said, gesturing at the stream.
He grimaced again, staring at the rocks, obviously choosing the best place to cross. After a moment, he turned and looked at her, holding out a hand. "Give me the backpack."
Her eyebrows lifted. "What?"
"I can take it and still have both hands free for the gun, if we need it. And it'll help you balance more."
"Me?" she wondered. "What about you?"
"I'm used to lugging all my equipment on my back in the field," he said. "Besides, you look like you're about to collapse."
Her eyes widened slightly. She did? She didn't feel that bad. Of course, she was shivering and her face did feel sort of flushed, and her legs felt like dead-weights .
"I"
"Just give it to me, Keller," he ordered. "You keep the case."
She swallowed, but did as he asked, turning around so he could help. The pack had begun to feel like part of her, so taking it off was almost enough to cause her to feel light-headed. She staggered as he took it from her, and, for a moment, her vision grayed. She leaned forward, her back feeling strangely naked, breathing in deep draughts of air.
"You okay?" he demanded, sounding a little impatient. She turned to face him againhe was pulling the backpack on, adjusting the straps as he did so. He was frowning at her.
"Fine," she answered shakily, straightening once more. "You know, Teyla told me she said, people often underestimate the level of discomfort they are capable of enduring."
He eyed her for a moment, then gave a small smile. "Yeah. That sounds like her."
"What I mean is," she smiled weakly, "I can endure." She smiled. "So can you."
He snorted. "Right." He took in a deep breath, then looked up. "Okay. This way." He turned from her and started up to side of the waterfall, climbing up the steep bank of the stream to a location he'd obviously picked to cross. Tiny rocks and sticks skittered down in his wake. Jennifer grimaced, picked up the medical case, and made to follow.
Rodney reached a point about ten feet above where they'd been before, prevented from going any higher by a large boulder jutting out of the mountainside at about head height. Gingerly, he turned and stepped onto a different rock by his feet that had water streaming down both sides. Jennifer watched as he put his weight on it and it shifted, sliding down a good two or three inches. His face pinched, and he lifted his foot up. He stood for a moment, then tried another rock. This one didn't move as much.
It was like that for the next few momentsRodney testing rocks and slowly making his way forward over the stream. About halfway across, he turned and looked at her, his hand lifting to gesture at her to follow.
She let out a pent up breath, and stepped where he had stepped.
The rocks felt slimy, slick. They shifted slightly, shivering under her weight and from the weight of the grossly swollen river rushing under and around them. Her boots felt like they had nothing on their solesas if they were as smooth as ice.
So not good.
Rodney was still moving, balancing and stepping. He continued to check on her as he led the way, stopping probably as much to catch his breath as he was concerned for her.
Jennifer didn't careshe was glad he was watching.
All of a sudden, there was a deep rumble and she yelped, going done to her hands and knees as the whole world started to shake. The rocks around her trembled, and the water seemed to rush faster, spraying her as it crashed down.
Suddenly, the rock she was on slid down a good six inches and she yelped, her left leg instinctively burying itself into the river, seeking purchase on the river bed. Tiny rocks and pebbled skittered over the toe of her boot, but it held and the rock stopped moving.
She let out a trembling breath. The river was like ice on her leg, freezing it through the thin trousers. It soon began to ache.
The rumbling lasted a long time, and Jennifer closed her eyes. Thunder? Nothunder didn't last this long. Earthquake? Was this planet prone to earthquakes? She hated earthquakes!
She'd dipped her head, focused on keeping still and balanced, her right hand pressing the medical case down on a wide rock as if it could provide some extra support, her left leg freezing and probably turning blue where it was in the water.
Finally, after what was probably only a minute or two, but which felt like years, the rumbling stopped.
When she looked up again, Rodney was where he'd been before, precariously balanced between two rocks, but he was standing and looking uphill. She could see his hands visibly shaking. His expression was grim. He must have felt her gaze, because he turned. Then he was carefully making his way back to her, stretching out a hand.
"What was that?" she shouted, trying to be heard over the rushing water. He shook his head, his expression growing even grimmer as she took his offer of help. Rodney pulled her upright again, out of the water. "Was it thunder?" she yelled, trying not to concentrate too much on how much her left leg was throbbing now as the blood rushed back to her toes.
He gave a headshake. Of course it wasn't thunder.
"Come on," he shouted. "We need to get off this riverbed." He let go her hand and stepped up to a new rock. "Stay close!"
She nodded, and started forward again, following only a couple of rocks behind him. Her left leg trembled, but it didn't bucklewhich she'd been afraid it would.
But now she felt the need to hurry, and it made her less cautious. Her feet slipped more, and her heart began to beat quickly from her spiking fear, so much so she was afraid it would explode. It only served to make her even more intent on making it to the other side as fast as possibleand she took even more chances as Rodney's longer strides helped him move faster than she.
She'd stopped watching where Rodney had put his feet, picking stepping stones and rocks on her own. She needed to get across. She had to get to the dry land. She wanted off this streambed now!
She was almost there. Almost
Her right foot came down on an angled rock and slipped. She shrieked, totally losing her balance as the rock came completely loose...
Strong hands wrapped around her arms and pulled her forward before she could fall, and she felt herself bodily lifted off the stream and onto the soft, brown dirt, landing on her side. The rock she'd slipped on crashed down the stream, spraying up water and breaking in half somewhere about ten feet from where it had been until finally coming to a rest.
That could have been her. She felt herself stop breathing.
She realized then that Rodney was still holding her, and that she had one hand gripping tightly into his arm as well. She looked up at his facehe was looking down at the rock she'd slipped on. When he looked at her, there was no hiding the fear on his face.
He swallowed. "Are you ?"
She let go of his arm and threw her arms around his neck, pulling him close. He squawked, but didn't fight her as, for a second, she pressed her forehead into his neck. She could feel him breathing, his warm skin felt wonderful against her freezing, wet face.
His hands had let go of her arms and were now pathetically patting at her back through her vest.
"Keller " he called softly. She nodded and pulled away. Not looking at him, she got her feet under her and stood up.
"I'm okay," she said hoarsely, pulling her vest and jacket down. "Sorry."
He gave a nod, and let go, backing away. "Don't do that again," he warned.
Her eyebrows lifted. "Don't hug you?"
His eyes widened slightly. "No, no the hug was it was nice. No, I meant the " he gestured at the river, and she could see him blushing furiously.
She gave a weak laugh, slightly hysterical. "I'll try not to," she promised.
He flashed a sweet, fragile looking smile, and for a second Jennifer found herself incredibly jealous of Katie Brown. She felt her face flush with embarrassment at the thought, and she hid it by looking down at the medical case still in her hand. Miraculously, or perhaps because her hand had formed a death grip on it, she was still holding it. She adjusted the handle in her grip and nodded up at him. He nodded back, turned and started climbing again.
____________________________________________
As they rounded the edge of the mountainside, they discovered the source of the previous rumbling.
Half the mountain looked like it had washed away, collapsed in a landslide of mud and dirt. It had created a swath at least twenty feet wide, breaking and bending all the trees in its path, so that the few still standing looked like toothpicks sticking out of a chocolate mousse. Dirt, mud and rocks were still cascading down the slope, and thick streams of water trickled down it from the still driving rain. The wind was back to screaming in their ears, no longer dulled by the forestit swept up the landslide, carrying dirt, water and fog in visible curls and gusts.
Rodney stared at it without moving, his lips parted, his eyes wide. For the first time, he looked like he had lost. The momentary flash of despair he'd shown at the waterfall was nothing compared to what he looked like now. He fell against a nearby tree, staring out at the landscape with an unfocused gaze.
"Oh God," he whispered, his lips trembling.
Jennifer stood at his side, and she placed a hand on his arm. "It'll be okay," she said. It was all she could think of.
He turned a glare on her so sharp, she actually stepped back from it. "It'll be okay?" he snarled. "It'll be okay?" He whipped a hand out towards the landslide "How the hell is this going to be okay? We can't cross that! We can't go all the way back down and try to find a way around without wasting too much time, or running into arrow happy Auggies. We can't do anything! We're stuck!" He wrapped his arms around himself. "Oh God, they're going to die. They're going to die because I couldn't get you to them in time. Because I couldn't think of a better way. Why didn't I think of a better way?"
"Rodney," she tried, reaching for him again. "Come on, we made it this far."
"Because we had protection from the forest!" he snapped, pulling away from her and physically stepping back, creating distance. "The forest is gone here! All my landmarks that I followed are goneI don't even know where to cross! And that ground is completely unstable! It'll sweep us down the moment we even try to make our way over that thing."
"Then " Keller bit her lip, stepping after him. "Then we go above it."
"Above it? How can we go above it?"
"We just we climbkeep the landslide to our right and climb. It had to have started up the mountain somewhere. And then then we can get above it and continued to head to the ridge you described before, and "
"How do you know the landslide didn't start at the top?"
"How do you know it didn't?" she replied quickly.
"Even if it didn't," he snapped , "we have no idea how far up we'd have to go! It could be hundreds of meters; it could take forever to get up there! And we're not exactly Hillary and Norgay here. We're not even Sheppard and Teyla. We're taking too long as it is because we're so slow, so unfit. If it's too far"
"But it might not be!" she argued. "It could begin close by. We just"
"No, no, forget it." He was shaking his head, walking backwards away from her. "It's impossible! Even if we could get above it, the ground is probably just as unstable up there, now that all the earth shoring it up is down here! No, no, we're screwed. We're so, so screwed. They're going to die and it's all my fault! Damn it!"
"Stop it!" she shouted.
He jumped, clearly startled by her yell.
"We're not screwed!" she shouted again, pouring all her anger and frustration into her yell. "We're just we can do this! You told me we could do this, and I believed you! I still do! And I didn't follow you this far to give up now. We're going to climb up and over this thing and then you're taking me to your team, and it'll be okay! It'll all be okay!"
He stared at her, his eyes softening. He swallowed and looked out at the landslide. "It will?" he asked pathetically.
"Yes," she said. "It will. Not get your ass in gear and start climbing, Edmund!"
He sniffed, drawing a hand across his mouth and nose to clear it of water, and blinked out at the landslide again. After a moment, he gave a single nod and turned to start climbing.
Still shaking from emotion, she started up after him.
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Amazingly, Jennifer hadn't been wrong. The landslide curved up and around a bend maybe only a hundred yards up from where they'd been arguing, and came to an abrupt stop. Or beginning, depending on how you looked at it.
The top of the landslide looked like someone had cut a step into the earth with a massive shovel, cleaving the dirt, trees and rock from the side of the mountain in order to send it cascading downhill. It left behind a cliff-like wall of dirt about thirty feet wide and maybe twenty feet high. Above it, the mountainside looked mostly intact, although a few trees and rocks hung out over the edge as if on the verge of falling. Between the rain and the force of the windit was doubtful the trees would hang on up there for long.
Beyond it, not too far from the edge of the landslide, the tree forested ground rose steeply to the edge of the "ridge" Rodney had been talking about. The mountain's spine ran up along an almost straight line separating the ground from the sky, cloud cover blanketing it one moment, then clearing the next, like smoke. It was clear that no trees were growing on it, probably because it was solid rockwhich explained why he was able to see the town from up there. Or had been, before the fog covered it. That meant they were close. Rodney had mentioned the hovels were just on the far side.
Despite the evidence that they were close, Rodney's face seemed stuck in a permanent grimace. He said nothing as he scrambled up the dirt and rocks, aiming for the area above the landslide. Jennifer followed as closely as she dared, wishing that her legs didn't hurt so much. McKay had resumed his too fast pace, and she was having a hard time keeping up.
It didn't take long to reach a point above the landslide, to where the ground looked fairly stable. But the wind was fierce and cutting, and it sliced right through the clothes Jennifer was wearing. Her right ankle was throbbing again, and her lungs were burning againbut she wasn't going to tell him. She could rest later. They had to keep moving.
Rodney slowed as he approached what looked like a fairly level spot, about ten feet up from the edge of the newly formed cliff. He glanced unhappily at the ground, and out towards the landslide. They couldn't really see the muddy slope from here, but they knew it was there.
Just as they knew that the stability of this ground was more of a fiction than a reality.
"We should move fast," he said to her, looking towards the far side, towards the ridge. "As fast as we can, at any rate."
She nodded. She knew.
"Just remember," he said then, looking back at her. "This was your idea."
She lifted an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"
"It means, it wasn't my idea," he answered, looking forward again. Jennifer snorted.
Right. So if something happened, it was her fault. "Thanks a lot, McKay," she snarled.
"My pleasure," he answered, already moving.
The ground wasn't even, and they were still scrambling over rocks and fallen treesfar more fallen trees than anywhere else. The pines were the worst, because of all the spiny branches sticking off of them. You couldn't go under or over themyou could only go around.
They were zig-zagging as much as going forward.
Rodney was moving fast, leading the way as best he could. Jennifer was almost running to keep up with him, beginning to feel light-headed again as she panted for breath.
Eyes on the prize, she told herself. You're almost there. You're almost there. You're almost there.
She laughedrepeating herself. Now she was beginning to sound like Rodney!
"We're almost over!" he called to her, sliding down a patch of mud.
And it was true. She found herself smiling as she slid down the same patch of mud. Glancing to her right, she could tell that most of the cliff was behind her.
A moment later, and they were coming down another patch of mud, and she was grinning smugly. They'd made it! They cleared the cliff edge! They had
The ground rumbled. McKay stopped, his shoulders hunching, and looked up at the hillside. Jennifer was half on her ass, still sitting on the muddy slide they'd just come down, and she looked down at the ground under her free hand where it was pressed against the earth.
Dirt was cascading across her fingers.
She looked up at Rodney, and he was looking at her, his eyes wide. Suddenly, shattering the white noise of the storm the earth cracked.
"Run!" Rodney shouted, already barreling forward away from the landslide area. Jennifer got to her feet and started after him, but the earth was moving, sliding under her feet. She jumped over a log and nearly lost her footing in the mud, the black medical case the only thing catching her from hitting the ground. She used it like a crutch to push herself up and looked up. McKay was about five feet away, looking back at her, as if he was going to return and help her up
"Rodney!" she screamed.
The mud came out of nowhere, sweeping his legs out from under him and sending him flying downhill like a tumbleweed. "Rodney!" she screamed again, staggering forward as he disappeared into the trees.
Then something hit her solidly in the side, and the world turned into a swirling mess of mud, leaves and sticks
___________________________________________________________________
Continued in Part Three
Author: tipper_green
Prompt: Weather or Elements
Word Count: 36,000
Rating: PG
Spoilers: Missing (this takes place after Missing but before This Mortal Coil).
Characters: Keller, Rodney, Teyla, Sheppard, Ronon
Summary: Rodney's desperate to save his team, and Keller's just trying to keep up, on a planet where hurricanes can last for days.
[Part One] [Part Two] [Part Three] [Part Four] [Part Five]
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CHAPTER THREE: HELLACIOUS WINDS
Rodney stood before of the doors leading to the outside, and for a moment, he seemed to hesitate, the fingers of his empty hand curling and releasing nervously. Under his breath, Jennifer heard him whisper, "You can do this. You can do this. You can do this." She smiled a little as she realized this was how he psyched himself up. Then the smile fell when she realized what exactly he was psyching himself up for.
"Ready?" he asked a little too loudly, his voice shaking, his gaze still locked on the double doors. They were rattling with the force of the winds outside, like something big and ugly was trying to get inside.
Which wasn't wholly wrong.
She sucked in a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. "After you, McKay," she said jauntily, trying to sound confident. "Once more into the breach, and all that."
He glanced at her, grimacing a little (apparently, she didn't sound as confident as she'd hoped).
"Just, um " his free hand lifted, his fingers dancing like he was playing an invisible trumpet, "keep your eye out for flying bits of debris, okay? There's a lot of it out therenearly got taken out a few times on the way down here. " He looked back at the doors.
"De debris?"
"You know," he shrugged, and now he was the one feigning confidence, "bits of wood, chunks of metal," he sucked in a breath, "large, heavy objects that have no call being off the ground, flying at your head at high rates of speed."
She knew her eyes were as wide as saucers, but Rodney paid no mind as he suddenly closed his eyes and, with a determined step, shoved the doors open.
Jennifer gasped as freezing cold rain bit at her cheeks, the powerful winds blowing her poncho up around her ears. She staggered backwards, and had to consciously think about digging in her heels and holding her ground. In front of her now, Rodney threw up a hand to cover his face and, bending over slightly, pushed himself forward into the driving rain. Muttering a prayer under her breath, Jennifer did the same, except she used both hands to shield her face.
The wind was incredible, shoving at her from all sides as she lurched into the middle of the paved street. The rain felt like it was cutting her to bits, drumming down on her shoulders like nails hammered into a board.
And she'd barely cleared the building.
Oh God. This was bad. This was really, really, really bad!
She peered through her upraised arms, trying to follow the dark figure of Rodney McKay as he slogged determinedly away from her, up the paved road. He was only a few feet distant at most, but the storm was too strong; he was already losing definition in her sight. And and he was moving faster than she was, getting further away with each step. No, no, no, no
"Wait!" she screamedand felt her voice ripped from her and carried away. The wind was so loud, she could barely hear herself. "Rodney!" she screamed, lowering her arms slightly. "Can you hear me? Don't go too fast! I can't go as fast as you! Wait!"
She heard him yell back, but she couldn't make out the words. She bit her lip and pressed forward, arms upraised again to shield her face, trying to move quicker. Every footfall was like pushing through quicksand, and she began to worry that the tread on her boots weren't enough to stop her from slipping on the rain-slicked pavement.
Rodney appeared to be headed straight up the main road, climbing the hill that made up half of the town, but Jennifer knew there were many side roads and alleyways shooting off of it. If he turned onto one without her seeing, she'd lose him. And each step took him further away from her, his black clothes helping him to blend into the gloom.
"Rodney!" she screamed again. "You have to slow"
A massive gust hit her square in the side like a punch, and she staggered, tripping over her own feet. It was a miracle she even stayed upright. She started forward again, focusing on keeping her footing. The water was blinding her now, and she was blinking furiously, trying to clear her sight.
Keep moving; don't lose him!
As she feared, Rodney abruptly disappeared down a side road, and she followed, almost running to catch up, but the wind and rain kept pushing her back; she only seemed to lose ground. She nearly lost him again as he turned up yet another new road. She came around the corner just in time to spot his black shadow turning down another road.
"Rodney!" She stumbled after him. Again, she hit the end of the alley, barely in time to see him head up another road. Up, always up. "Rodney!" This road was as featureless as the othersit's only distinguishing feature being that it climbed even more steeply.
Another gust, even stronger this time, and her left foot tripped over her right, pain blossoming inside her right ankle. Before she could right herself, a third gust blasted into her and she went down on her side, the rough pavement scraping her hands and right hip as she hit. The massive backpack hindered her motion, seemingly trying to keep her down as she attempted to regain some sense of balance. She hissed in pain, dragging in great gasps of air, her entire body trembling and her right ankle throbbing.
Get up! she commanded herself. You'll lose him if you don't! Get up!
Steeling her jaw, she somehow managed to get one leg under her, pushing up onto one knee. Another push, and she was on her feet again, tottering a little but up. She tilted her head up, blinking through the water coating her eyelashes, wiping off the water dripping off her face with the back of her arm.
She didn't see Rodney anywhere.
Fear gripped her, and she lurched forward up the hill, turning her head left and right, trying to spot him down an alleyway or next to one of the identical concrete box houses.
"Rodney!" she screamed into the hellacious winds. Where had he gone? "RODNEY!"
She didn't know where she waswasn't even sure she could find her way back to the hospital now. She kept climbing upwards, hoping to find him. Wind raked at her, and her poncho was up around her neck, trying to strangle her. She fought it downno wonder Rodney hadn't wanted one.
She was stumbling a lot now, barely keeping to a straight line, the wind sending her sideways and backwards as often as she moved forward.
"Rodney!" she shouted, desperation like a fire in her chest. "Rodney! Where are you! RODNEY!"
The wind slammed into her back this time, and she fell forwards onto the pavement, her knees getting the brunt of the pain, but her hands the rest. She even banged her chin, bringing tears to her eyes. Ow! Damn it!
Shaking, crying (and wishing to God she wasn't), she got her hands under her again and started to push herself up of the black paved road.
Suddenly, a black gloved hand appeared before her, just inches from her nose.
She peered up, and found Rodney staring down at her, all wide blue eyes and looking as scared as she felt. "Sorry!" he shouted, and he really did look sorry. "I thought you were behind me!" He waved his hand in front of her, obviously intending her to take it.
She tried not to feel upset at him for itit wasn't his fault. None of this was. Godwhat were they doing out here? If they had to fight this weather the whole way .Brent had been right. They'd die in this! Reaching out, she took his hand and let him pull her up. "I can't go as fast as you!" she yelled at him. "I can't do this!"
He shook his head. "Yes, you can!" he promised. "Just don't let go of my hand!"
And with that, he took a more solid grip on her hand and started to drag her after him. She staggered forward at the abrupt yank, and her fingers gripped harder around his handafraid he'd lose her, or she him.
For the next few minutes, Rodney just pulled her along, turning down a side road then up another road, always heading uphill, always heading farther away from the center of town and the Stargate. He seemed unerring in his course, never slowing, compensating as best he could whenever the wind tried to knock them down. Twice, he had to help her up when she fell, and once, when he took a blast of wind to the face and fell back into hershe caught him.
She could barely see. How Rodney even knew where to go amazed her.
He turned up another street, this one as plain as the others, distinguished again only by the fact that it was still going uphill. She tried to see what made this street different, but failed. They were all gray, dark and lined with concrete houses. The whole town was as non-descript as any former Soviet apartment block in Eastern Europeexcept that the people here hadn't even tried to decorate, to bring any color or individuality to their homes at all.
"How do you know where you're going?" she shouted.
"Landmarks!" he shouted back. "Trust me!"
Keller grimaced, feeling her already cold lips press into a thin line. She wanted to, she really did, but she didn't know him all that well yet, and she had heard Sheppard and the others ribbing McKay in the mess. He was not exactly known for his wilderness skills.
"But," she yelled, "how can you see anything in this? I can't even see you that clearly!"
He didn't answer, and she frowned more.
He just kept tugging her forward with him, leading her farther and farther away from safety and towards the woods.
"Rodney!" she called. "I"
She stopped, spotting something black and flat coming at them fast from the side. "Get down!" she screamed, jumping on his shoulders to bring them both to the ground, slamming them both into the unyielding pavement. He shouted something angrily, trying to get up, but she held on as the massive piece of metal shot over their heads and slammed into the side of one of the small concrete homes with a massive bang, sending chunks of concrete flying.
Rodney gasped, and, wide eyed, he looked from the piece of metal then at Keller. "That could have cut us in two!" he yelled. She just nodded, not trusting her voice, and finally let go her grip on his shoulders. He rolled away and got up to his knees. He shook visibly, staring again at the metal, then back at her.
"You saved my life!" he yelled, reaching out a hand. Jennifer tried for a smile as she took it, but her lips hurt from the cold, so it probably looked more like a grimace.
"You can pay me back later!" she yelled in return. He flashed a quick grin, more wry than happy. Together, they clambered back to their feet. Still holding her hand, Rodney leaned over and grabbed the black medical case he'd dropped, frowning down at it.
"It's okay," she shouted. "It's designed for combat! Strong and sturdyit won't break or let anything inside break!"
Rodney stayed still for a moment, still looking down at it, before lifting his gaze to study their surroundingsparticularly the now damaged concrete home. She could guess what he was thinkingthe case might not break, but they easily could. It really wouldn't take muchnot in this weather.
And for a second, Jennifer thought he might be considering taking them back.
But then he tightened his grip on her hand and was dragging her towards another side roadonce again away from the hospital down below.
And she followed.
__________________________________________________
Rodney was right. They crested a hill near the edge of town, and as they started downwards, the wind lessened almost immediately. At about the same time, the concrete and pavement world of the Helenan settlement abruptly ended; there was nothing before them now but a dirt path leading downhill into a heavy forest. By the time they had dropped about twenty feet, surrounded by pine and fir on all sides, the screaming gusts had been replaced by a dull roar on the edge of hearing, and, while the rain continued to pelt down, it was now hampered by the thick pine needle and leaf cover.
The hill was a natural windbreakerwhich was why McKay had been so certain they'd be okay when they got this far. She wished Brent were here so she could smile smugly at himshe'd been right to believe Rodney even if, deep down, she hadn't really. Not until now.
Rodney continued to hold her hand, leading her down the muddy, leaf strewn dirt road. Pinecones littered the area, and she nearly turned her ankle a few times stepping on them by accident. Water ran down in thick rivulets by their feet, a hundred little streams pouring down the hill from the concrete town above. Through it all, Rodney kept up his brutal pace, and she jogged, tripped and slid down behind him, straining to keep up. His grip on her hand was beginning to make her fingers ache.
Finally, as if finally registering how much she was struggling, he slowed when they reached a curve in the road, at a point just before the path tilted upwards again. A large boulder jutted up off the side, and he dropped her next to it so she could lean against the stone, catch her breath. Letting her hand go, he backed off a couple of feet, resting his now free hand on the P90 attached to his vest and watching the woods.
Jennifer was gratefulshe knew it probably killed him to have to stop at all. She leaned her back against the cold rock, her hands on her knees, gasping for air as if she'd just run a marathon. After a moment, she reached up and ripped off the strangling poncho, grateful for the freedom as she let it drop to the muddy ground. Then she returned to her bent over position, again just trying to get her breathing under control.
"You okay?" he asked, his voice at a more natural volume. She peered up at him, and nodded as she panted.
"Yeah," she said. "That was " she pulled in a shallow breath, "not fun. Let's try to avoid walking through typhoons in the future, okay?"
He gave a small smile and turned away from her. "Yeah. Welcome to my world. I say stuff like that to Sheppard all the time. It doesn't work. Sometimes I think he puts me in situations like this just to drive me crazy."
She laughed softly, reaching up a gloved hand to rub at the back of her neck, and pulling the wet ponytail out from under her collar at the same time. It slapped against the top of her jacket and backpack with a wet 'slurp.' She sighed again, and stood up straighter. Her heart still felt like it was going to slam through her chest, and her breathing was ragged to the point of painfulbut she knew they couldn't stay here long.
Trying to catch her breath, she peered more carefully at their surroundings, taking in the dense wood. It reminded her a little of a mountain forest back homewhich wasn't surprising. From everything she'd seen of Pegasuswhich wasn't that much, truth be toldall of the planets had flora and fauna similar to Earth. Probably because the Ancients had seeded them that way.
This particular forest was very brown. Other than a few short evergreens and a handful of baby deciduous trees, mostly all you could see were the tall, brown tree trunks of the tall pines, each with a million short branches and dead looking limbs sticking off of them. She used to climb trees like that as a kidbefore she'd developed her fear of heights. There were a few lighter colored treesbirch like white trunks interspersed with the brownbut that was it for variety. The ground was littered with dead brown leaves and thousands of rust colored pine needles, and darker brown mud. Brown, brown, brown.
The forest was also thick with mist. A side effect of the stormthe forest was heavy with water vapor, preventing her from seeing anything more than fifty feet from their position clearly. After that, it was just gray gloom and shadows. Between that and the constant white noise from the hurricane, she shivered a little from a strange sense of claustrophobia.
She drew in one more fortifying breath, finally feeling her heartbeat lessen.
She looked up, taking in the towering green overhead, letting the rain wash the swear from her face. The canopy was their protection from the worst of the storm. At least, since it had developed into a hurricane, typhoon, monsoon or whatever it was, it wasn't thundering and lightning anymore. That was something, right?
She tipped her head down again, and pushed herself off the rock, adjusting the pack on her back. Rodney was still waiting for her a few feet away, his jaw tense, his countenance rigid with worry and impatiencebut he said nothing. Obviously he didn't want to push her beyond what she could do, even with his clear desperate need to hurry.
She gave him a nod. He gave her a grateful smile back and immediately started walking, heading uphill along the path.
She blew the air out of her cheeks and jogged to catch up, sparing a glance for the poncho she left behind. Someone else could grab it later.
Rodney had a really long stride, something she had noticed before in the hallways of Atlantis, but hadn't really appreciated until she was forced to catch up to him when he was really moving.
"So," she said, panting a little as she came up alongside, "how far away are they from here?"
He gave a shrug. "Not sure. I wasn't really paying that much attention when I was running back to town."
She lifted her eyebrows. "You ran?"
"It was mostly downhill," he admitted, peering into the woods, his free hand still on his P90. "I couldn't run back to the hovel where I left themnot the whole way. Ronon probably could, though. Or Teyla. If they hadn't I " He stopped, pressing his lips together unhappily. "I wish I could," he said softly.
Jennifer dropped her eyes to the ground. Fact was, he was more hampered by her now than his own weaknesses. She tried to pick her pace up a little.
Hang on if the way from the hovel to town was mostly downhill that meant the way back was mostly uphill.
Oh crap. Don't think about it. Don't.
Instead, she considered that they were on this pathwas it the same one that led to the ruins? Or was it a different one?
"How do you know where you are?" she asked. "Is this the same road you took before?"
He glanced at her, then gave a quick nod. "Yeah. Pretty much. "
"But then " Jennifer swallowed, "aren't you, um," she bit her bottom lip, "maybe worried about being attacked? You know, since you were attacked on this road before?"
He grimaced, then shook his head. "We didn't see anyone after the storm got really bad. I don't think they like the rain any more than we do."
"Okay," she said, hoping he was right. She looked at the road again, which was curling up away from them, disappearing around another corner further up. Were they going to be on the road the whole time?
She cleared her throat. "The cabins you found"
"Hovels. They're more like hovels."
She frowned. "What's the difference?"
"You'll know when you see them. I didn't think there was a difference either, but ," he shook his head, "wait until you see them."
"Okay," she said slowly. "So," she licked her lips, "the hovels you found, are they on the road?"
He snorted. "No. Wouldn't be much of a place to hide if they were. Teyla's not that stupid."
She frowned. Did he just imply that she was stupid?
"Well," she said, "if they're not on the road, then are they close to it?"
Rodney sighed heavily, grimacing in irritation. "If what you're trying to ask is," he looked at her, "whether we're staying on the road the whole timeno. The hovels are far, far away from the road, way up on the side of the mountain. Happy? We'll be going cross country soon enough. I marked a tree where I hit the road on the way down. We'll turn there."
Jennifer frowned again. "But, how can you be sure we won't get lost once we're off the road?"
"Oh for " He rolled his eyes. He stopped in the road and faced her, not hiding his annoyance. "You don't trust me, do you?"
She'd stopped with him, and her eyebrows lifted. "What?"
"If I were Ronon or Teyla or Lorne or someone like that, you'd not even question, would you? You'd just follow blindly, right? But because it's me, you're terrified that I'm going to lead you right into the middle of an ambush or into a pit of vipers, right?"
"Uh ," she bit her lip, "well, I mean ."
"For your information," he stated, spinning around and walking away from her at a fast clip up the road, "I have a very good sense of directionbetter than most people. If I've been somewhere once, I can almost always find my way back again without needing directions again. You should see Sheppard in the woodsit's like watching a chicken with its head cut off. Did I tell you how his getting us lost was how we ended up with the Genii as enemies? Next thing we know, they're invading Atlantis and Elizabeth and I are fighting for our lives and the city, and all because he 'likes to walk in a straight line.'" He huffed. "Sure, sure, he saved us and all that during the Storm, but"
He stopped walking. It was so abrupt, Keller, who had been practically running to keep up with him, slammed into his back.
She teetered backwards, holding her now bruised nose. Ow!
"What the hell, McK"
"Shht!" he hissed, and she suddenly realized he was staring off to one side, not blinking.
She went rigid, looking in the same direction. She couldn't see anything. What was he ?
Her eyes widened when she saw a flutter of movement between two trees.
"Take this," Rodney said quietly, shoving the medical case at her. She did so, pulling it close to her.
Rodney pulled up his P90, resting it in both hands and focused on the movement they'd both seen.
"Back up," he whispered quietly. "Into the woods behind you. Move slow. Biggest tree you can findget behind it. If I start firingrun up away from me as fast as you can."
She nodded, stepping backwards until her boot-heel impacted the muddy incline of the hill behind her.
Swallowing thickly, she turned and started climbing up the incline into the trees. There was a large oak like tree not far up, and, when she reached it, she stopped.
Rodney was covering her, backing up as she was. When he too hit the edge of the road, he started to climb up the hill sideways, never losing his sharp eyed gaze on the woods. He was tense and ready for whatever might come
Suddenly, whatever was behind those trees moved, jumping out from between the brown trunks and running away into the woods.
It had looked like a deer. Or whatever creature on this planet was deer-like.
Rodney's shoulders slumped in relief. Jennifer rested her head against the tree trunk and closed her eyes briefly. When she opened them again, he was looking up at her, his mouth turned down in a deep frown.
"Come on," he said. "Let's go."
She nodded, stumbling down the incline back to the road. When he reached to take the medical case from her, she drew it back.
"I got it," she said. "You just you just keep that gun up, okay?"
He gave a sad smile at that, but didn't argue. He just started walking again, with Jennifer on his heels.
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CHAPTER FOUR: SLIPPERY WHEN WET
As they climbed higher, the way growing increasingly steep, the forest began to thin, and Keller became aware again of just how heavily the rain was still bucketing down. The wind had picked up as well, sharp gusts battering them with every step. She was beginning to forget what it felt like to be dry or warm. At least she could seeshe didn't feel like she was constantly having to wipe sheets of water from her face as she had back in town.
Not that there was much to see. The brown landscape was really beginning to get to her. There were more rocks and boulders up here to break the monotonysometimes whole shelves of granite jutting out of the mountainsidebut it was still mostly the barren looking pine tree trunks.
Bent over from the weight of the backpack and now the medical case, Jennifer slogged up the muddy trail, having long ago given up the attempt to keep her feet on solid ground. Since they'd left the road to hike up this goat track, it had just gotten worse. Black mud sucked at her boots, seeping inside the lining to drown her already sodden feet. It was like walking on gel insoles, except the water bubbles she could feel between her toes and under her arch were actually bubbles of water between her toes and under her arch.
To distract herself, she mentally went through the treatment for trench foot.
In front of her, Rodney marched up the barely visible path, often looking back at her to make sure she was still there. A couple of times, she thought she would slip, but her balance stayed remarkably stable, so that, despite a lingering soreness in her right ankle from her fall in town, she was moving pretty well. She was even keeping up, which was impressive.
Exercise was never something she was that interested in. She knew she should do it, and heaven knew she preached it often enough, but she was a little like those doctors who told you not to smoke, but then went outside on their breaks and took a drag. Oh, she didn't smoke, but she had an unhealthy addiction to McDonald's french fries, Reese's peanut butter cups, rare steaks, Doritos, and, really, everything else bad for you under the sun. She tried to eat vegetables when she was in the mess hall, but more often than not she was eating junk food at her desk or in her room. As for exercisingthe occasional use of the stairs from the Gateroom floor up to the Control Room probably didn't count for much.
So her breathing was ragged as she stumbled after him, her quads felt like jelly, and her shoulders were close to breaking under the strain of the pack and lugging the black medical case.
But she was keeping up. Not that she had any doubt that, if he wanted to, he could leave her behind.
She found herself watching Rodney as he trudged forward in front of her, clambering over rocks and trees in their path, wondering a little if this is what it was like for him on missionsfeeling like the stone around the neck of his companions. Oh sure, she knew he exercised sort of. He'd come in numerous times complaining of bruises and welts and strained muscles from working out with Ronon or Teyla or John, but she'd never actually seen him actively doing anything. And the physicals she'd performed on him confirmed what she sawa man nearing forty, strong but not necessarily in the peak of health, in a weight and BMI class that didn't make him overweight by any means, but he also wasn't in a class that could be considered "fit."
But of course, he was out in the field at least once a week, walking, running, fighting between that and the exercise she knew he did do, he should have been fitter. But he wasn'tand she could guess why. It was for the same reason she wasn't.
She just never seemed to find the time to really care for her body. With her hours and her schedule, she was lucky to have time to sleep, and she knew it was the same for him. She knew he was up at all hours working on the city, keeping it running, or studying the latest findings brought in by other field teams, or out in the field, often in danger. She knew he had time offElizabeth had mandated it for everyone at one point not long after Jennifer arrived in the citybut she imagined Rodney spent much of it working anyway.
He was just that type. And so was she.
Except that, he had friends. Real ones, as close as family. A team he'd kill himself forlike he was doing now. Maybe it wasn't about how fit you were, but how determined you were to get to your goal.
He stumbled suddenly, and she heard him hiss in pain as his left foot got caught between two rocks he'd been climbing over. She hurried forward, to reach him, but he just shook his head at her. With a grunt, he pulled himself up and resumed moving upwards.
"It thins out a lot up here," he said, panting slightly, clambering up between another set of boulders. "More rocks, because we're nearing the ridge. Once we get over that, it's a straight shot to where the others are."
She nodded, and asked, "So, we're close?"
"Yeah," he said. "Maybe a few kilo a couple of miles left to go."
She smiled at the correction. She knew her metrics, but it was nice of him to make the adjustment. And the fact that he did it without sneering showed how tired he was.
He was picking up the pace a little now, and she skipped a little to catch up.
Rodney stopped suddenly when he reached a wide waterfall of granite rocks and boulders, complete with a fast moving river sluicing down it. The path turned in a different direction here, pointing away from where they'd been climbing, sloping off and down into a fairly deep looking gorge. They couldn't keep following itit clearly went the wrong way. Which meant they'd have to cross the river.
This was bad. The rocks were all wet and clearly unstable. One misstep and they could easily take a nasty fall down the waterfall. At the very least, it would break a bone. More likely, they'd crack their heads open.
Keller swallowed. "Was this was this the high water?" she asked, remembering Rodney's claim to Brent down in the town.
He nodded. "I came down this, followed it a ways, then crossed over at this point when I saw the path we're on, on this side," Rodney said, gesturing at the stream, then his hand fluttered down, as if depressed. "But It wasn't there was a lot less water. It was more a ," he cleared his throat, "a stream than a torrential river."
He sounded worriedand she knew why. The river rushing down was a mini-torrent, all the rocks jutting out of it were slick with rain and damp algae, and with the wind blowing up and down it . The footing would be precarious, if not impossible.
"This is bad," he said shakily. It sounded like he was about to quit. Keller shook her head, nudging his arm.
"Do we have a choice?" she asked finally.
He sighed and shook his head. "No."
"Then, I guess 'lay on, Macduff'," she said, gesturing at the stream.
He grimaced again, staring at the rocks, obviously choosing the best place to cross. After a moment, he turned and looked at her, holding out a hand. "Give me the backpack."
Her eyebrows lifted. "What?"
"I can take it and still have both hands free for the gun, if we need it. And it'll help you balance more."
"Me?" she wondered. "What about you?"
"I'm used to lugging all my equipment on my back in the field," he said. "Besides, you look like you're about to collapse."
Her eyes widened slightly. She did? She didn't feel that bad. Of course, she was shivering and her face did feel sort of flushed, and her legs felt like dead-weights .
"I"
"Just give it to me, Keller," he ordered. "You keep the case."
She swallowed, but did as he asked, turning around so he could help. The pack had begun to feel like part of her, so taking it off was almost enough to cause her to feel light-headed. She staggered as he took it from her, and, for a moment, her vision grayed. She leaned forward, her back feeling strangely naked, breathing in deep draughts of air.
"You okay?" he demanded, sounding a little impatient. She turned to face him againhe was pulling the backpack on, adjusting the straps as he did so. He was frowning at her.
"Fine," she answered shakily, straightening once more. "You know, Teyla told me she said, people often underestimate the level of discomfort they are capable of enduring."
He eyed her for a moment, then gave a small smile. "Yeah. That sounds like her."
"What I mean is," she smiled weakly, "I can endure." She smiled. "So can you."
He snorted. "Right." He took in a deep breath, then looked up. "Okay. This way." He turned from her and started up to side of the waterfall, climbing up the steep bank of the stream to a location he'd obviously picked to cross. Tiny rocks and sticks skittered down in his wake. Jennifer grimaced, picked up the medical case, and made to follow.
Rodney reached a point about ten feet above where they'd been before, prevented from going any higher by a large boulder jutting out of the mountainside at about head height. Gingerly, he turned and stepped onto a different rock by his feet that had water streaming down both sides. Jennifer watched as he put his weight on it and it shifted, sliding down a good two or three inches. His face pinched, and he lifted his foot up. He stood for a moment, then tried another rock. This one didn't move as much.
It was like that for the next few momentsRodney testing rocks and slowly making his way forward over the stream. About halfway across, he turned and looked at her, his hand lifting to gesture at her to follow.
She let out a pent up breath, and stepped where he had stepped.
The rocks felt slimy, slick. They shifted slightly, shivering under her weight and from the weight of the grossly swollen river rushing under and around them. Her boots felt like they had nothing on their solesas if they were as smooth as ice.
So not good.
Rodney was still moving, balancing and stepping. He continued to check on her as he led the way, stopping probably as much to catch his breath as he was concerned for her.
Jennifer didn't careshe was glad he was watching.
All of a sudden, there was a deep rumble and she yelped, going done to her hands and knees as the whole world started to shake. The rocks around her trembled, and the water seemed to rush faster, spraying her as it crashed down.
Suddenly, the rock she was on slid down a good six inches and she yelped, her left leg instinctively burying itself into the river, seeking purchase on the river bed. Tiny rocks and pebbled skittered over the toe of her boot, but it held and the rock stopped moving.
She let out a trembling breath. The river was like ice on her leg, freezing it through the thin trousers. It soon began to ache.
The rumbling lasted a long time, and Jennifer closed her eyes. Thunder? Nothunder didn't last this long. Earthquake? Was this planet prone to earthquakes? She hated earthquakes!
She'd dipped her head, focused on keeping still and balanced, her right hand pressing the medical case down on a wide rock as if it could provide some extra support, her left leg freezing and probably turning blue where it was in the water.
Finally, after what was probably only a minute or two, but which felt like years, the rumbling stopped.
When she looked up again, Rodney was where he'd been before, precariously balanced between two rocks, but he was standing and looking uphill. She could see his hands visibly shaking. His expression was grim. He must have felt her gaze, because he turned. Then he was carefully making his way back to her, stretching out a hand.
"What was that?" she shouted, trying to be heard over the rushing water. He shook his head, his expression growing even grimmer as she took his offer of help. Rodney pulled her upright again, out of the water. "Was it thunder?" she yelled, trying not to concentrate too much on how much her left leg was throbbing now as the blood rushed back to her toes.
He gave a headshake. Of course it wasn't thunder.
"Come on," he shouted. "We need to get off this riverbed." He let go her hand and stepped up to a new rock. "Stay close!"
She nodded, and started forward again, following only a couple of rocks behind him. Her left leg trembled, but it didn't bucklewhich she'd been afraid it would.
But now she felt the need to hurry, and it made her less cautious. Her feet slipped more, and her heart began to beat quickly from her spiking fear, so much so she was afraid it would explode. It only served to make her even more intent on making it to the other side as fast as possibleand she took even more chances as Rodney's longer strides helped him move faster than she.
She'd stopped watching where Rodney had put his feet, picking stepping stones and rocks on her own. She needed to get across. She had to get to the dry land. She wanted off this streambed now!
She was almost there. Almost
Her right foot came down on an angled rock and slipped. She shrieked, totally losing her balance as the rock came completely loose...
Strong hands wrapped around her arms and pulled her forward before she could fall, and she felt herself bodily lifted off the stream and onto the soft, brown dirt, landing on her side. The rock she'd slipped on crashed down the stream, spraying up water and breaking in half somewhere about ten feet from where it had been until finally coming to a rest.
That could have been her. She felt herself stop breathing.
She realized then that Rodney was still holding her, and that she had one hand gripping tightly into his arm as well. She looked up at his facehe was looking down at the rock she'd slipped on. When he looked at her, there was no hiding the fear on his face.
He swallowed. "Are you ?"
She let go of his arm and threw her arms around his neck, pulling him close. He squawked, but didn't fight her as, for a second, she pressed her forehead into his neck. She could feel him breathing, his warm skin felt wonderful against her freezing, wet face.
His hands had let go of her arms and were now pathetically patting at her back through her vest.
"Keller " he called softly. She nodded and pulled away. Not looking at him, she got her feet under her and stood up.
"I'm okay," she said hoarsely, pulling her vest and jacket down. "Sorry."
He gave a nod, and let go, backing away. "Don't do that again," he warned.
Her eyebrows lifted. "Don't hug you?"
His eyes widened slightly. "No, no the hug was it was nice. No, I meant the " he gestured at the river, and she could see him blushing furiously.
She gave a weak laugh, slightly hysterical. "I'll try not to," she promised.
He flashed a sweet, fragile looking smile, and for a second Jennifer found herself incredibly jealous of Katie Brown. She felt her face flush with embarrassment at the thought, and she hid it by looking down at the medical case still in her hand. Miraculously, or perhaps because her hand had formed a death grip on it, she was still holding it. She adjusted the handle in her grip and nodded up at him. He nodded back, turned and started climbing again.
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As they rounded the edge of the mountainside, they discovered the source of the previous rumbling.
Half the mountain looked like it had washed away, collapsed in a landslide of mud and dirt. It had created a swath at least twenty feet wide, breaking and bending all the trees in its path, so that the few still standing looked like toothpicks sticking out of a chocolate mousse. Dirt, mud and rocks were still cascading down the slope, and thick streams of water trickled down it from the still driving rain. The wind was back to screaming in their ears, no longer dulled by the forestit swept up the landslide, carrying dirt, water and fog in visible curls and gusts.
Rodney stared at it without moving, his lips parted, his eyes wide. For the first time, he looked like he had lost. The momentary flash of despair he'd shown at the waterfall was nothing compared to what he looked like now. He fell against a nearby tree, staring out at the landscape with an unfocused gaze.
"Oh God," he whispered, his lips trembling.
Jennifer stood at his side, and she placed a hand on his arm. "It'll be okay," she said. It was all she could think of.
He turned a glare on her so sharp, she actually stepped back from it. "It'll be okay?" he snarled. "It'll be okay?" He whipped a hand out towards the landslide "How the hell is this going to be okay? We can't cross that! We can't go all the way back down and try to find a way around without wasting too much time, or running into arrow happy Auggies. We can't do anything! We're stuck!" He wrapped his arms around himself. "Oh God, they're going to die. They're going to die because I couldn't get you to them in time. Because I couldn't think of a better way. Why didn't I think of a better way?"
"Rodney," she tried, reaching for him again. "Come on, we made it this far."
"Because we had protection from the forest!" he snapped, pulling away from her and physically stepping back, creating distance. "The forest is gone here! All my landmarks that I followed are goneI don't even know where to cross! And that ground is completely unstable! It'll sweep us down the moment we even try to make our way over that thing."
"Then " Keller bit her lip, stepping after him. "Then we go above it."
"Above it? How can we go above it?"
"We just we climbkeep the landslide to our right and climb. It had to have started up the mountain somewhere. And then then we can get above it and continued to head to the ridge you described before, and "
"How do you know the landslide didn't start at the top?"
"How do you know it didn't?" she replied quickly.
"Even if it didn't," he snapped , "we have no idea how far up we'd have to go! It could be hundreds of meters; it could take forever to get up there! And we're not exactly Hillary and Norgay here. We're not even Sheppard and Teyla. We're taking too long as it is because we're so slow, so unfit. If it's too far"
"But it might not be!" she argued. "It could begin close by. We just"
"No, no, forget it." He was shaking his head, walking backwards away from her. "It's impossible! Even if we could get above it, the ground is probably just as unstable up there, now that all the earth shoring it up is down here! No, no, we're screwed. We're so, so screwed. They're going to die and it's all my fault! Damn it!"
"Stop it!" she shouted.
He jumped, clearly startled by her yell.
"We're not screwed!" she shouted again, pouring all her anger and frustration into her yell. "We're just we can do this! You told me we could do this, and I believed you! I still do! And I didn't follow you this far to give up now. We're going to climb up and over this thing and then you're taking me to your team, and it'll be okay! It'll all be okay!"
He stared at her, his eyes softening. He swallowed and looked out at the landslide. "It will?" he asked pathetically.
"Yes," she said. "It will. Not get your ass in gear and start climbing, Edmund!"
He sniffed, drawing a hand across his mouth and nose to clear it of water, and blinked out at the landslide again. After a moment, he gave a single nod and turned to start climbing.
Still shaking from emotion, she started up after him.
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Amazingly, Jennifer hadn't been wrong. The landslide curved up and around a bend maybe only a hundred yards up from where they'd been arguing, and came to an abrupt stop. Or beginning, depending on how you looked at it.
The top of the landslide looked like someone had cut a step into the earth with a massive shovel, cleaving the dirt, trees and rock from the side of the mountain in order to send it cascading downhill. It left behind a cliff-like wall of dirt about thirty feet wide and maybe twenty feet high. Above it, the mountainside looked mostly intact, although a few trees and rocks hung out over the edge as if on the verge of falling. Between the rain and the force of the windit was doubtful the trees would hang on up there for long.
Beyond it, not too far from the edge of the landslide, the tree forested ground rose steeply to the edge of the "ridge" Rodney had been talking about. The mountain's spine ran up along an almost straight line separating the ground from the sky, cloud cover blanketing it one moment, then clearing the next, like smoke. It was clear that no trees were growing on it, probably because it was solid rockwhich explained why he was able to see the town from up there. Or had been, before the fog covered it. That meant they were close. Rodney had mentioned the hovels were just on the far side.
Despite the evidence that they were close, Rodney's face seemed stuck in a permanent grimace. He said nothing as he scrambled up the dirt and rocks, aiming for the area above the landslide. Jennifer followed as closely as she dared, wishing that her legs didn't hurt so much. McKay had resumed his too fast pace, and she was having a hard time keeping up.
It didn't take long to reach a point above the landslide, to where the ground looked fairly stable. But the wind was fierce and cutting, and it sliced right through the clothes Jennifer was wearing. Her right ankle was throbbing again, and her lungs were burning againbut she wasn't going to tell him. She could rest later. They had to keep moving.
Rodney slowed as he approached what looked like a fairly level spot, about ten feet up from the edge of the newly formed cliff. He glanced unhappily at the ground, and out towards the landslide. They couldn't really see the muddy slope from here, but they knew it was there.
Just as they knew that the stability of this ground was more of a fiction than a reality.
"We should move fast," he said to her, looking towards the far side, towards the ridge. "As fast as we can, at any rate."
She nodded. She knew.
"Just remember," he said then, looking back at her. "This was your idea."
She lifted an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"
"It means, it wasn't my idea," he answered, looking forward again. Jennifer snorted.
Right. So if something happened, it was her fault. "Thanks a lot, McKay," she snarled.
"My pleasure," he answered, already moving.
The ground wasn't even, and they were still scrambling over rocks and fallen treesfar more fallen trees than anywhere else. The pines were the worst, because of all the spiny branches sticking off of them. You couldn't go under or over themyou could only go around.
They were zig-zagging as much as going forward.
Rodney was moving fast, leading the way as best he could. Jennifer was almost running to keep up with him, beginning to feel light-headed again as she panted for breath.
Eyes on the prize, she told herself. You're almost there. You're almost there. You're almost there.
She laughedrepeating herself. Now she was beginning to sound like Rodney!
"We're almost over!" he called to her, sliding down a patch of mud.
And it was true. She found herself smiling as she slid down the same patch of mud. Glancing to her right, she could tell that most of the cliff was behind her.
A moment later, and they were coming down another patch of mud, and she was grinning smugly. They'd made it! They cleared the cliff edge! They had
The ground rumbled. McKay stopped, his shoulders hunching, and looked up at the hillside. Jennifer was half on her ass, still sitting on the muddy slide they'd just come down, and she looked down at the ground under her free hand where it was pressed against the earth.
Dirt was cascading across her fingers.
She looked up at Rodney, and he was looking at her, his eyes wide. Suddenly, shattering the white noise of the storm the earth cracked.
"Run!" Rodney shouted, already barreling forward away from the landslide area. Jennifer got to her feet and started after him, but the earth was moving, sliding under her feet. She jumped over a log and nearly lost her footing in the mud, the black medical case the only thing catching her from hitting the ground. She used it like a crutch to push herself up and looked up. McKay was about five feet away, looking back at her, as if he was going to return and help her up
"Rodney!" she screamed.
The mud came out of nowhere, sweeping his legs out from under him and sending him flying downhill like a tumbleweed. "Rodney!" she screamed again, staggering forward as he disappeared into the trees.
Then something hit her solidly in the side, and the world turned into a swirling mess of mud, leaves and sticks
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Continued in Part Three