Teyla stopped so sharply he almost crashed into her. She remained dead silent, head cocked, and stared blindly into the night.
"What is it?" he whispered, feeling unease tingle across his skin.
At first she didn't answer, but eventually she turned to look at him. Her face was pale, angry and afraid. When she spoke, her voice was harsh. "The Wraith."
And with that she started running, racing through the night as if the hounds of hell were on her heels. Perhaps, Sheppard thought as he bolted after her, they really were…
Chapter Six
In the settlement, panic erupted quietly. Men, women and children sprinted through the night, here and there the cries of a sobbing child carrying over the pounding of their feet as the entire population fled toward the tree line. This was a people used to terror, a people who understood the value of silence.
No moonlight cut the darkness and most of the torches and fires in the settlement had been doused by the fleeing villagers. These folks knew what they were doing. Above, the alien stars glittered coldly and Colonel Sumner cocked his head to listen as a faint hum, like a wasp, drifted through the air. Engine noise.
"Take cover," he ordered his men, lifting his weapon to the stars. "And stay sharp."
Around him his team settled into strategic defensive positions. With satisfaction, he noticed a couple of M160 rocket launchers making their appearance. Whoever these `Wraith' were, Sumner doubted they'd be a match for the US Marine Corps.
P90 braced against his shoulder, Sumner kept his eyes locked on the sky. The hum was louder now, more of a whine. People were still running, order beginning to break down. He heard someone wail, somebody else cry out. The enemy was upon them. With a scream of engines a black shape, like an arrow tip, ripped across the treetops, followed by a second and third. Swooping back and forth over the settlement, it was if they were searching for something. Suddenly, from between the tents, a man stumbled forward. Sumner recognized him as Halling, the father of the kid they'd discovered in the trees. Halling's eyes were wild, and he was grabbing at the fleeing settlers. "Have you seen Jinto? Jinto!" He was desperate.
Overhead one of the enemy ships made a second pass, coming in low right behind Hailing and the rest of the stragglers. Sumner braced himself for weapons fire, but none came. Instead a wide bright beam flared from the underside of the ship and swept across the ground like a searchlight. Hailing was running now, desperation replaced by stark terror. But he and the others were too slow, they couldn't reach the trees. The beam trapped them and-
Holy crap. They were gone. Just disappeared as if the light had disintegrated them or scooped them up into the ship.
"Fire on that target!" Sumner yelled, squeezing the trigger and pumping half a clip into the ship. Might as well have been using a pop-gun for all the good it did. The ship turned for another pass, the other two wings joining in an intricate pattern that raced across the ground and scooped up anyone in their path. They were harvesting these people…
From the corner of his eye, Sumner saw movement. He spun around, just in time to see a shadow flicker between two tents. It looked like a man, but moved faster than any human. Unnaturally fast. His breath coming short and sharp, Sumner took a step forward, finger tight on the trigger. Come on you sonofabitch, show yourself.
And there it was again, another shadow flitting through the night. He spun and fired. At thin air…
Sheppard could barely keep up, Teyla was little more than a shadow in the night, racing through the trees like a leopard on the hunt. "Teyla!" he hissed, not wanting to shout. "Wait!"
In the distance he heard a burst of gunfire, then another. His radio hissed static, and Bates' panicked voice crackled into his ear. "Colonel, they're on the ground. They're all around us!"
More gunfire, wild now. Desperate. Shit. Suddenly something huge, with a glowing underside, passed directly overhead. Sheppard hit the dirt, this time on purpose, as the ship streaked overhead barely clearing the treetops. Cautiously he climbed to his feet, then froze. Something was in the trees. A shadow, moving too fast to be human. Blood pounding in his ears, Sheppard raised his weapon and held it steady. They're all around us! Crap. A sound, like the rasp of dead leaves scraping together, whispered through the forest. It almost sounded like voices, unintelligible and malevolent. "Teyla?" His mouth was dry, his throat scratchy.
Another sound, this time right behind him. He turned, almost fired. Nothing there! Damn it. A movement, on his left. A shadow, half-seen, vanishing like smoke when he turned toward it. What the hell was this? Something cold brushed his cheek, he spun around, and it was right in front of him. A ghost, black on black, looming like death. With a cry he opened fire and the shadow melted like morning mist. Like it had never been there.
He felt breathless, hands clammy. He couldn't fight shadows!
A twig snapped behind him. His finger squeezed the trigger as he jerked toward the sound, his weapon raised and aimed at- "Teyla…"
She looked solid and real and grim as hell. "They aren't really there."
"What?" It came out a rasp.
"Don't trust your eyes!" she insisted, pushing down the barrel of his gun with one hand. "The Wraith can make you see things that aren't there." Then she was moving again, back into the trees. "This way!"
Mind games? Holy hell. Blinking a couple of times, shaking it off, Sheppard raced after her into the forest. This was a whole new ballgame, and he was beginning to realize that his team didn't even know the rules — let alone have a winning play. They were in so far over their heads it wasn't even funny.
It was all going to hell! They were everywhere, all around. Shadows on shadows, whispering and hissing as they drew closer, their cold, clawing hands itching for his throat. Sumner let loose another vol ley, but it did no good. What use were bullets against phantoms?
Fire engulfed the tents, casting ruddy light and dancing black shadows into the night. The Wraith ships hovered like vultures, narrow energy beams scorching into the dirt. Sumner had lost track of his men, didn't know who was still alive. Not that it mattered, they were all going down. There were just too many of the sonsofbitches, too many ghosts, too many-
"Colonel!" Sheppard's voice crackled over the radio. "What you see on the ground is just an illusion! Concentrate your fire on the ships!"
Illusion… Sumner squeezed his eyes shut, just for a moment. Illusion. Okay, okay…
When his eyes snapped open, he saw the world anew. Saw the burning tents, the charred bodies, the white sweep of the Wraith beam punctured by the searing blasts of their energy weapon. And through it all he saw Bates, an M160 perched on his shoulder, frozen with panic as he stared into the night.
Breaking cover, Sumner ran to the man. "Bates!" he yelled in his face. "Snap out of it."
Wide-eyed, pale and terrified, Bates whispered, "They're everywhere, sir!"
Screw that. He jerked his thumb at the Wraith ship screaming overhead. "Take that thing down!"
With a visible jolt, Bates pulled himself together, lifted the rocket launcher and fired at the enemy. It was a good shot, the Wraith ship exploded in a bright fireball and fell out of the sky.
"That's one," Sumner grinned. "Let's-"
The world disappeared in a blinding flash of white that incinerated all thought and feeling… Then everything went black.
At last the trees gave way to open land. In the distance, across a field, Sheppard could see the burning remains of Teyla's settlement — and something else. Looked like Sumner had taken down one of the Wraith ships. Darts, Teyla had called them. Wraith Darts. It was a-