Sonny Whitelaw - The Chosen

“Don’t go any further than that clump of trees.” McKay warned, pointing to an area about a mile away from the wreckage of a Dart.

They got their first view of the natives while on approach to land. “There are many people hurrying along the paths,” Teyla said. “They appear to be traveling from several directions.”

“Life sign detector is telling me the same thing,” McKay verified. “Hundreds of them, all rushing toward a handful of villages.”

Aiden pulled his eyes from the Darts and looked around. “Maybe they’re late for church?” the Major remarked, slowing the jumper to a halt. “I’m going to park in this gully. Less chance of someone tripping over us.”

The moment the jumper settled, Aiden was out of his seat and pulling on his pack. He grabbed his P-90, flicked off the safety and, exchanging a quick look with Sheppard, stood just inside the rear hatch as it opened.

No sign of life, except for a couple of the sheep-type things on the grassy slope of the gully. The animals lifted their heads and stared at him a moment, then went back to grazing.

Once outside, Aiden heard a deep, low noise that rose in pitch, then tapered off. “Wonder what that is?” The same sound echoed in the distance.

“Its sound is similar to the horns that my people use to signal one another when hunting,” Teyla said, joining him. She pulled her jacket close against the icy chill carried by the wind. “Perhaps it would explain why the inhabitants are making for the villages.”

“Yeah, but what’s the hurry?” Aiden wondered.

“Okay,” said Sheppard, powering down the jumper and checking its cloaking device. “We head for the village and find out.”

Aiden watched with some amusement as McKay struggled with his overloaded pack. “You did say that our powered equipment isn’t going to work under the shields, didn’t you?”

“Yes, but we won’t always be under the EM fields, will we?” snapped the scientist. “Be prepared, isn’t that the Marine motto?”

“That’s the Boy Scouts.”

“Ah. Close enough.”

Before Aiden could fire off a stinging reply, the Major shot him a warning look. Rank sure had its privileges. McKay’s self-importance was generally more entertaining than annoying, but taking a man’s hard-won, real chocolate brownie was no laughing matter. Neither was disparaging the Corps.

Although the sun was up, they were still in the shadow of the fortress, and the air had that fresh, dewy smell to it — with a tang of salt that Aiden recognized from his time on Atlantis. Crickets or their native equivalent chirped, while a few birds chattered in the branches. In the near distance, he could hear the sound of surf. Everything seemed peaceful enough, except for the periodic, insistent sound of horns. “I think the loudest call is coming from the village,” Aiden said.

“How perceptive of you.” McKay promptly stepped up to his ankle in what presumably were sheep droppings, except that they had the size and consistency of wet cow patties.

Aiden didn’t try to refrain from laughing.

They reached the trail a few minutes later. Too narrow to be a road, the lack of wheel ruts in the sandy soil told Aiden that the path must be a wide foot track. It wound through a few stumpy dune trees and emerged in the outskirts of the village, only a few hundred yards away. From the opposite direction came the sounds of people running through the forest, crying and shouting hysterically. He readied his weapon at precisely the same moment as his commanding officer.

“That doesn’t sound good,” the Major observed, then jerked back as a figure sprinted past them toward the village. He stepped off the path and motioned for them to take cover behind some bushes.

“Oh, that’s fantastic,” McKay groused, floundering around in the branches. “I think I’ve just encountered this world’s version of brambles. With my luck, it’ll probably be industrial-strength poison ivy.”

Dozens of people burst over the top of the rise. Dressed in simple tunics and thick hide boots held in place by leather thongs, they looked like farmers and hunters. Overhead, a flock of startled birds took to wing. The Major turned, and Aiden followed his gaze. Running behind them through the trees, also headed to the village, were still more people. All of them had the same look of dread that Aiden had seen on the Athosians’ faces the night the Wraith had struck. The tension in his stomach ratcheted up several more notches.

“They attack!”

Women clutching terrified children and heavily bearded men carrying axes flooded past on either side of the team. They didn’t look like the sort of people who’d normally run from much of anything.

“ Who is attacking?” McKay asked no one in particular. “Not us, right?”

No one replied. Aiden had seen enough frightened mobs in his time to know that this one probably hadn’t even noticed them. Just in front of him, someone stumbled, dropping a burlap bag, while another person appeared to go down. A woman stooped to recover the bag, but the man with her shouted, “Leave it. There is no time. They come!”

The horns continued to blow. People pushed past Aiden, knocking him aside in their desperate flight. Unless they went with the flow, the four team members were in serious danger of being trampled. He looked to the Major, who was shouting something and pointing to a rocky outcrop. The crowds, now screaming unintelligibly, seemed to be skirting around it. Following Teyla, Aiden made his way across the growing surge of humanity.

McKay’s self-preservation skills had kicked in fast. By the time Aiden reached the rocks, the scientist was already clambering up the side, yelling, “Where the hell did all of these people come from?”

“I’m more worried about what’s following them,” Sheppard shouted back.

“Of course,” McKay declared loudly. “It’s these patchy EM fields. The life signs intermittently vanish and reappear once people emerge from the shields’ umbrella.”

Teyla reached the top of the outcrop ahead of Aiden, and looked down at the living tide. “They are searching the sky.”

“Wraith!” Aiden declared, hauling himself up. He looked out across the ocean, half expecting to see a swarm of Darts headed in their direction. Instead, all he noted was a bunch of large wooden boats tied up in the harbor.

Sheppard rounded on the Athosian. “Teyla?”

A slight frown marred her features, but she seemed more puzzled than concerned. “I feel nothing,” she declared.

The crowds had tapered off until only stragglers, mostly the elderly, panting and struggling with their few meager possessions, hurried by. A long, keening cry came from a ditch off to one side of the path. Something was alive down there. Without hesitation Aiden jumped off the rock and went to investigate.

A young woman — a girl, really, probably around sixteen — was desperately trying to bury herself in leaves and twigs. Aiden briefly glanced back to see the rest of his team coming up behind him. Dropping to one knee beside the girl, he said, “Hey, you need help?”

Her pallid features were contorted with pain and abject terror. “My leg.” A flash of confusion crossed her face when her eyes took in his clothes, but it didn’t distract her from her plea. “They are coming, and I cannot run!”

“Someone probably knocked her down,” McKay observed needlessly. “The same thing almost happened to me. Thankfully, I had the presence of mind to—”

Ignoring him, Teyla stepped down into the sandy ditch, quickly brushed aside the leaves, and gently ran her hands along the girl’s leg. Unlike the sturdy looking footware of the people who had been running, this child’s hide boots were thin and patchy. Teyla quickly unwound the leather bindings. “I believe one of the bones below the knee may have been broken.”