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Rodney jumped up from his position next to John and started to pace the few steps possible.
„It will be a cake walk, he said. We will just meet the nice aliens and start relations. It will be a nice stroll on a nice and warm planet, he said. Does THIS look like a cake walk or a STROLL?!?” McKay shouted at Sheppard, his voice echoing in the cave they were hiding at.
Ignoring his ringing ears, John tried to calm Rodney down. “It’s not as bad as you make it out.” As soon as the words left his mouth he cringed, recognising his error.
“How could the situation be worse? Huh?” Rodney’s seemingly calm question did not match his blazing eyes. “Is it not enough that we are alone on this Wraith infested planet? Huh? No! We don’t have back-up or food or water. And, to make the situation even better,” John shrunk back at McKay’s sarcastic and biting tone, “we have neither a gun or a radio or a fucking IDC!” The last word reverberated for a long time in their confined space.
John knew that Rodney was right, but how could they have known that they would walk into the middle of the culling of a whole planet? In between running for their lives and fighting to stay alive, they lost all their supplies and contact with Ronon and Teyla. Rodney and he barely managed to squeeze into the small cave and hide from the Wraith and until now they had no plan how to get out of this tremendous clusterfuck. Their only hope was, that Ronon and Teyla made it back to Atlantis and started a Search and Rescue for them.
“We could be culled or dead,” John whispered in the silence after McKay’s outbreak. “I would rather starve that be fed on by a Wraith again.”
Rodney deflated visibly, his anger drained as suddenly as it had erupted.
“You think that Ronon and Teyla made it back unharmed?”
“I don’t want to think about any other possibility.” Sheppard’s soft tone matched the desolated on his face.
Rodney dropped back down next to John, their shoulders touching.
“Should we check if the Wraith are gone?” McKay asked after a long while.
Checking his watch, John calculated the change that the culling was over. “Let’s wait another two hours.”
Both lapsed into silence, thinking about ways out of their predicament. The cave was steadily getting darker until the whole light was gone.
“Is it night time already?” Rodney whispered. Something about the dark made his skin crawl.
An eerie green light lit up John’s face as he checked his watch. “No, it’s barely after what passes for noon on this planet,” he whispered back. “The sun should not set for at least six hours.”
They looked to the cave entrance.
“Did just something move there?” Rodney asked fearfully under his breath.
A whisper of cloth dragged across the walls alarmed John. He stood abruptly, dragging McKay to his feet and pushing him behind his body. Somebody was moving through the narrow tunnel to the small cave. Every fibre of his body urged him to run and search for cover, however, there was nowhere to hide. They had barely room to move as it was.
The charging of a Wraith stunner, normally barely heard, resounded through the cave.
Sheppard dropped to the ground, dragging Rodney with him. They landed on the hard floor and lost their breaths for a second.
‘It’s all over,’ was John’s last though before a weapon unloaded.
The sudden light flooding the cave startled both.
Blinking his eyes, John sat up.
“John? Rodney? Are you here?” Teyla’s voice was the best sound ever echoing through the cave.
“Teyla!” Rodney shouted next to Sheppard’s ear.
They scrambled up, just as the light was blocked again. A flashlight lit upon them, nearly blinding them again.
“Finally!” Teyla’s said relieved. “We searched everywhere and we nearly missed the entrance to the cave. Only a dart standing nearby made us look closer.” She looked down at the body at her feet. “Luckily for you.”
Sighing in relieve, John started forward. Clapping his hand on Teyla’s shoulder in thanks, they made his way out of the cave which nearly would have been their grave.