The Human Body VIII: Getting Under Your Skin, Part 3 (SGA: Sheppard/Beckett)

[waldos_writings]

Title: The Human Body VIII: Getting Under Your Skin, Part 3
Author: smallwaldo
Rating: R
Pairing: Sheppard/Beckett
Words: 3864 (this part)
A/N: This is both the "Instinct" and "Conversion" chapter of the series. They theoretically run one to the next, but if you actually watch the end of one and then the beginning of another... not so much. I ended up having to do some *serious* tap dancing later to make things scan between the two. This part beta'd by kyrdwyn. Thanks! :)
Summary: "He turned me into a [bug]! ... I got better."


Rodney, apparently heard it first. “You hear anything?” He asked Carson.

Carson stopped to listen. There were the normal sounds of birds and tree branches but nothing worth noting. “No.”

“Me either,” Rodney decided.

Before Carson could turn around and ask what it was that he ‘hadn’t heard’ in the first place, a whoosh and a crunch had him spinning around to look behind him. He barely had time to look horrified, let alone yell a warning before the Wraith knocked him at least six meters through the forest.

He felt and heard several things in his medical pack go crunch as he landed first on his head and neck and then fell over onto his front and then rolled to his side as the momentum carried him until he slammed into either a dirt embankment or a rock. His ears were ringing even before he became aware of several gunshots. He tried to pull himself up and reach for his own gun, but he found himself sluggish and sore, his vision blurry. He was fairly certain he had a concussion.

The gunshots stopped and he heard something go thud a few meters away. He cleared his vision by force of will and adrenaline and saw Rodney laying in a heap, the Wraith standing over him. If Rodney had managed this shoot him, the bullets were apparently no more an aggravation than a mosquito bite would be for a human. It didn’t slow them down, but it made them a damn sight more determined to kill the pest.

As Carson attempted to sit up, he saw a blur of black and off-white come flying out from behind a tree to Rodney’s left that tackled the Wraith and took it to the ground in one swift move. The Wraith attempted to shake the creature off, but it grabbed the Wraith’s head in its hands and twisted its neck. Even from where he’d landed on the ground, Carson could hear the sickening crick as the vertebrae snapped. The Wraith dropped in a heap and the creature turned its attention to Rodney.

Now that it wasn’t moving so fast, and since his vision had sharpened a little more, Carson could see that the ‘creature’ was obviously Ellia. Or had been. Her clothes were in tatters as if she’d been living in the woods for months or running through razor wire. Her hair was wild and her face…

Fully half of it was a silvery-gray-green. The same color as the exoskeleton of an Iratus bug. Carson knew at once that instead of enhancing the human portion of her DNA, he’d done the exact opposite.

She advanced on Rodney, screeching now, her anatomy clearly too transformed to allow for speech any more. She kept moving forward as Rodney stepped back. “Easy now. You just went through a lot of trouble to save my life,” he heard Rodney say. That’s when it occurred to Carson that Ellia wasn’t necessarily trying to save Rodney from the Wraith out of any sense of human kinship. It was two bears wrestling over the only food source they’d found. Carson grabbed his own gun. He hoped he was focused enough to hit Ellia and not Rodney. Either way, he couldn’t stand and do nothing while this creature of his making attacked his friend. He sited carefully, as John had shown him a hundred times in those thrice-damned mandatory weapons courses everyone had had to attend as part of their assignment to Atlantis, and fired.

He saw dust leap from her ratty clothes, but there was no blood at all. It was as if her body simply absorbed the bullet.

But it did, apparently, piss her off. She turned her attention away from Rodney and hiss-screamed loudly at Carson. He panicked – if shooting her wasn’t going to bring her down, he didn’t know what would. But then, some other kind of instinct took her over and she ran off into the woods again.

Too sore and dizzy to go after her, Carson moved to check on Rodney. “You alright, Rodney?” His own aches and pains were starting to dissipate into the adrenaline buzz. He knew he’d hurt like hell later, but there was no time to deal with it now. There didn’t appear to be any broken bones or torn skin, so he needed to keep going, try to fix what he’d done.

Rodney was fingering his own chest, clearly marveled that there wasn’t a large hole or handprint in it. “Oh yeah, just peachy.” He strove for sarcasm, but his voice wavered too much to make it effective. “What the hell was that?”

“The retrovirus is having the opposite effect that we intended,” he told him.

“I guess so!” Rodney bit out, still touching his chest through his t-shirt, looking for a feeding mark. Carson gently patted him on the shoulder. Having a Wraith within arm’s length was enough to spook anyone. But as Rodney shoved his hand up under his perfectly intact t-shirt Carson rolled his eyes and dropped his hand, taking a few more seconds to catalog his own aches. Headache, sore neck, various other bumps and bruises. Nothing that would keep him from going after Ellia. Rodney was freaked out, but showed no evidence of having actually been damaged. Carson set off after Ellia, letting Rodney follow when he was ready.

~~~***~~~***~~~

A scream split the forest as they moved through the trees. Carson and Rodney ran after it, almost tripping over a very injured Zadek as they did. The blood trickling out of the corner of his mouth was not a good sign. Carson noticed that Zadek wasn’t moving his arms or legs and he wasn’t complaining of pain. There was most likely back and spinal cord damage. And in that environment, it was unlikely he was going to be able to do much for him there. The way the Wraith had thrown him, he was lucky he wasn’t in very similar straits. He came to the conclusion that Ellia must of have thrown him in a very similar way. Only, for Zadek, there was internal damage, Carson was sure. A ruptured spleen or liver most likely. From somewhere blood was leaking into his stomach and coming up and out of his mouth. He knew Zadek didn’t have long.

As Carson examined Zadek, Rodney attempted to send back the villagers who’d also converged on the spot in the woods that the inhuman howl had originated from. Rodney tried to get them to go home, but these people who had lived with the fear of the Wraith for years were having no part of it.

John, Ronon and Teyla showed up shortly thereafter and John knelt next to where Carson was examining Zadek’s neck. Carson found himself extremely relieved by that fact. He didn’t say anything though; he continued to work on his patient. “What happened?” John asked quietly as Carson worked.

He dug around until he found a vial of morphine that hadn’t been damaged when he’d been thrown and gave Zadek enough to take the edge of the pain off, though he was fairly certain that he wasn’t feeling much below the neck. “The Wraith you were hunting found Rodney and me. Crept up on us, we didn’t have a chance.” He was about to say that he’d been hit so hard that he flew six meters or more, but he didn’t want to give John any more to worry about than he was already dealing with. “It had knocked Rodney down and was about to feed on him, but Ellia came running in and pulled him off Rodney and then broke his neck. I shot her, but she just ran off into the woods.”

John nodded and gently patted Carson’s shoulder as he stood. “Okay. See what you can do for him,” John said nodding to Zadek.

Zadek was concentrating on a man in the crowd, someone he felt was his father, but who appeared to be his age or only slightly older. As Zadek tried to explain, Carson backed away; there was nothing else he could do for him. He habitually moved to stand near John, who was trying to keep the villagers from going berserk in the forest in their search for Ellia.

“How is he?” John asked quietly.

“I’ve given him something for the pain, but his injuries are too severe. He’s not going to make it.” Carson didn’t know what else to do or say. This was his fault. His fault for bringing that stuff to the planet. His fault for telling Zadek he could fix Ellia. His fault that Zadek was dying and, he was sure, that Ellia would need to be put down like a rabid dog.

His headache intensified and he wavered. Everyone was listening to Zadek explain how he’d found Ellia as a child and adopted her, so he didn’t think anyone noticed as John put a steadying, comforting, hand at the small of his back. He’d been trying to be sure that John and the others had no reason to think he was injured. They had enough problems on their hands. Hopefully he could pass off his expression and unease on the situation he’d created without having to go into the complications of getting knocked half way through the woods.

He could feel the warmth of John’s hand through his jacket and shirt, where it rested just under the edge of his field vest. He gave Zadek’s story half his attention, while the other half focused solely on John standing there with him, silently supporting him even though he didn’t know half the story. As much as he wasn’t looking forward to how he knew the search would turn out, he was already looking forward to getting back to Atlantis, to making his report, bullshitting his way through his physical, getting home and curling up in bed with John and having this whole day put behind him, at least for a few hours.

When John moved away and announced that he and Teyla and Ronon would be going after Ellia, Carson felt the cold spot on his back immediately. He snapped himself back to the situation at hand and confirmed for himself that he more than likely had a concussion. His concentration was half-assed at best.

John was heading into the hills looking for Ellia, who he hadn’t seen since her transformation. “Colonel,” he called, barely remembering to keep it professional. “The retrovirus is acting quickly, the human part of her is almost gone.” He’d seen what Ellia – a little teenaged girl - could do to a full-grown Wraith. He didn’t want to think about what she could do to John or either of his other friends.

“You said she killed the other Wraith and saved McKay’s life.”

Carson wanted, desperately, to believe as John did. That Ellia, the little girl who had put her complete faith and trust in him to ‘cure her’ was still somewhere in that green-gray, exoskeletal body. But he honestly didn’t believe she was, and he wouldn’t risk John taking a chance on a belief that could get him killed. “Yes, but I’m not sure she knew what she was doing. She’s operating on a purely animal level right now.”

“Is there nothing you can do for her?” Teyla asked.

Carson wanted to scream, as it was he could barely not roll his eyes at her. As if there were something he could be doing, but he was standing around choosing not to. “I might be able to reverse the effects if you bring her back alive, but I doubt she’ll cooperate.” He’d come to the conclusion that there was almost no chance of this ending well for anyone. He’d put down a large number of suffering lab animals in his research and had even agreed with parents to withdraw treatment from terminal children who’d no longer reap any long-term benefits from it. He tried to look at it like that. Ellia wasn’t Ellia anymore. She needed to be put out of her misery. “She’s also stronger and faster than any Wraith I’ve ever seen,” he added, wanting to be sure John took all possible precautions.

He looked down to Zadek, talking with his father about this little girl who’d needed him despite her origins and he thought of the little girl he’d tried to help. He wasn’t sure he’d ever had something go so miserably wrong before.

When Zadek’s eyes closed, Carson watched his chest. One more breath, and that was all. He contacted John to tell him that Zadek was dead. He wasn’t sure why. John had known that he was going to die, the fact that he’d done so wouldn’t change anything from where John stood. He’d just felt the need to tell someone.

~~~***~~~***~~~

It wasn’t even twenty minutes later that John and Ronon came back, supporting Teyla who had one hand on the back of her head. John’s arm was bleeding profusely.

Carson grabbed his pack and ran for them both, each footfall making his own head pound. “What happened?”

“I am fine,” Teyla said immediately. “She knocked me down, but I am fine.” She gave Ronon a glare that said he better get his hands off of her and let her prove that. He did so and Carson looked quickly in her eyes with a penlight. She didn’t seem to have anything obviously wrong with her, so he moved to John.

“What’s this?” he asked as he grabbed some gauze and wiped the blood away.

“She tried to feed on him,” Ronon put in helpfully.

Carson made a face. “Through your arm?”

John shrugged. “Maybe going for the chest is just more melodramatic.”

Carson tried to smile at him, but suddenly the world narrowed to a pinpoint and he felt himself sway. “Carson?!” John had him by the arm. He could feel it, even if he couldn’t force his eyes to focus on anything. He squeezed his eyes shut for a second and when he opened them again, the world was back, if a bit fuzzy. “Hey!” John was shouting practically in his face.

“I’m okay,” Carson said once he was sure he wasn’t actually going to fall down. “Sorry, just dizzy for a second.”

“Why?” John asked, his hand still wrapped around Carson’s bicep.

Rodney chose that moment to come up and see what was going on, “’Cause the Wraith we found back there knocked him out.”

Carson shot daggers at him with his eyes. “I never lost consciousness, I just got knocked down.”

“If you count being knocked about fifteen feet through the air without a flywire as ‘just knocked down’ maybe,” Rodney countered.

“Teyla!” John called to where Teyla was gathered with the villagers who were preparing to bring Zadek’s body back for burial.

She stepped up next to him, “Yes?”

“I want you to go back with Carson and I want both of you to get your heads examined. Rodney, Ronon and I are going to get Ellia’s body and bring it back to be buried.”

Carson wanted to argue for having it brought back for autopsy, but without Zadek he didn’t have parental consent, and while he was pretty sure the villagers would be happy to turn her over, it wasn’t as if she were some wild animal they’d trapped in the woods. He felt like he needed someone’s permission to take her apart, so he held his peace.

Teyla’s hand was on his arm now. “I’m alright, love, just got knocked down by that adult Wraith the lot of you were hunting. I had a wee bit of a dizzy spell. It’s nothing.” He gave her the best smile he could come up with after such a long and spectacularly bad day.

“Perhaps the Colonel is right. It would probably be best if we both had our injuries attended to.” She diplomatically steered him in the direction of the gate, knowing he wouldn’t argue the point of her getting checked out.

John put his hand on Carson’s back again. “Go on. We’re going to bury her and I’ll go back and get your equipment from Zadek’s place. We’ll be back soon.” John rubbed his hand up and down Carson’s back quickly before heading off and gathering up Ronon and Rodney.

Carson nodded and let Teyla lead him back home. It had been a horribly long and just plain horrible day. He was ready to go home and have it be done. “Alright, let’s go then,” he said to Teyla.

The dizziness had faded and he was much more steady on his feet by the time he got to the gate. He suspected that soon enough the adrenaline would wear off and he’d be sore all over and he’d start feeling some of the bruises he’d already seen popping up on his arms and could feel on his legs and back. He focused again on when John got home and they had some time alone to decompress and put this behind them, took a deep breath as he’d been taught, and stepped through the gate.

~~~***~~~***~~~

Elizabeth met them in the gate room. “Carson, Teyla. Where are the others?”

Carson shook his head sadly. “Cleaning up the mess and getting my gear for me. I need to get Teyla to the infirmary, she’s had a bit of a blow to the head.”

Teyla raised an eyebrow. “As has Doctor Beckett,” she countered.

Elizabeth raised her own eyebrow at Carson. “I’m fine; I didn’t lose consciousness at all. I can explain if you want to walk with us.”

As they slowly moved down the hall to the infirmary Carson relayed the story. Explaining how Ellia had taken the retrovirus, how she’d become the exact thing they’d been trying to eliminate. He told her how they’d encountered the other Wraith – the adult Wraith they hadn’t been counting on after they’d found out about Ellia – and Carson explained that he’d been knocked down, but not knocked out and he deliberately minimized his injuries, even though he was mentally thinking about what meds he’d need to self-administer in order to get through the rest of the day.

Teyla filled Elizabeth in on the hunt for the other Wraith, how Ellia had knocked her out and how ultimately, both Wraith had died.

“Ellia killed Zadek,” Carson said as they entered the infirmary and he pointed Teyla to an exam table. “John, Ronon and Rodney are taking care of the bodies and cleaning up any other problems with the villagers,” he concluded.

He was tugging off his field pack and vest when Carolyn Biro came in. “I thought I heard someone come in.” She looked around, “Where’s everyone else?”

“They’ll be back shortly,” Elizabeth answered. “These two have both had blows to the head.”

Carson scowled, first at Teyla for telling Elizabeth and then at Elizabeth for telling Biro.

“I’m fine,” Carson said. “No loss of consciousness, and the ringing in my ears has already stopped.”

Biro helped him pull off his gray jacket when he seemed to struggle with it. “What’d you do to you shoulder?”

Carson sighed exasperatedly. “I landed on it. It’s fine. A few hundred milligrams of paracetemol and a little heat and it’ll be right as rain.” He tried to shrug off her questing hands but winced, belying his assertions.

“If it’s really fine, then it’ll stand up to a little exam.” She tossed him a scrub shirt and said pointedly, “Change. I’ll be here when you get back.”

Carson wanted to ask her who died and left her in charge, but it was rapidly becoming clear that shutting it and acquiescing would move things along much faster. He took the scrub top and stumbled off to his office to change in private while Carolyn began checking Teyla’s pupil reflexes.

Once alone in his office, he collapsed on his couch and hung his head. It would take at least fifteen minutes for Carolyn to be sure that Teyla wasn’t suffering from any major neurological damage and he needed to use that time to decompress as much as he could.

He closed his eyes and shut out the world around him. He tried to blank his mind, just for a minute, just long enough to get some perspective and shore up his detachment from his patients. To try and forget what had happened. Just for a minute.

But behind his eyelids flashed images of a Wraith girl nearly in tears over what she was. He saw a white and black blur knocking out a Wraith preparing to ‘eat’ one of his very best friends. He heard the hoarse shrieks that replaced the voice of a little girl offering him tea and biscuits.

When it became clear that he wasn’t going to be able to shake this off alone in the quiet he got up and carefully pulled off his t-shirt. He shook out the dirt and leaves that had crept in when he slid across the forest floor and slowly and without moving his neck any more than he had to, pulled on the scrub top. It was possible that a Motrin horsepill might be in order, just to get him through until he could go home and take a long shower and get some sleep.

He went back down into the main ward where he found Elizabeth and Carolyn waiting for him. “Where’s Teyla?”

“She’s fine. A bit of a headache – I gave her some Tylenol and sent her to her quarters for a shower and a nap.” Carolyn gestured pointedly to the exam table. Carson fixed her with a dirty glare, but dutifully pulled himself up.

Biro turned to Elizabeth. “I’ll get him worked up and bring you my results in about half an hour.”

Elizabeth nodded and patted Carson’s arm. “Don’t be too rough on the doctor; she’s only doing her job.”

Carson gave her a wry grin.

“Look here,” Carolyn started, her penlight clicking.

He flinched from the penlight, but insisted that it was just on general principal, and that no one liked having a light shone directly into his pupil. Carolyn pulled the scrub top back and looked at his neck and shoulder. “You have some minor bruising. Ice, analgesic, you know the drill.” She jotted a few things on his chart. “Turn your head this way,” she commanded from his left. He did so. “The other way.”

That caused more of a problem. He moved cautiously and squeezed his eyes closed as he finally got his head to rotate the other way.

“Uh-huh,” Carolyn muttered as she made more notes.

“Oh for the love of God, it’s a pulled muscle. I’m going to go take a hot shower anyway – I’m full of leaves and dirt – a little Motrin and I’ll be fine. Can we not turn this into a critical care case?”

Carolyn smiled at him. “Well, you certainly sound perfectly fine,” she teased.

She ran through the rest of his physical quickly, finding nothing out of the ordinary for someone who’d been thrown fifteen feet by a Wraith, so she dismissed him to go clean up and change.

Comments

[thefannishwaldo.livejournal.com]

I'm working on it. :) I think I'll have part four in readable shape this weekend. :) Thanks for the encouragement.