The Long Way Home

Chapter Fifty Eight: Instinct

I'm a survivor
I'm gonna make it
I will survive
Keep on survivin'

Destiny's Child - Survivor

It started with a teenage girl called Ellia. Only she wasn't a normal teenage girl, she was in fact a Wraith. John hadn't known that Wraith could even bear children, the idea of two Wraiths together making babies put images in his head that nightmares were surely made of.

The forest around him rustled in the breeze as he stood in a dense clearing, his ears straining to listen for any sound that seemed out of place. This was not how he had envisioned spending his time off world but he took the rough with the smooth and this was certainly one of those more complicated missions.

John and his team had thought that this would be simple. Hunting down a lone Wraith in the forestry that was tormenting a local village was practically child's play, especially when they had Ronon with them. The large man had been an asset to John's team even though there had been a few teething problems initially in the beginning. Ronon wasn't used to taking orders and John had had to assert his authority on one occasion, that had seemed to straighten things out.

Ronon, being the skilled tracker and hunter that he was had followed the trail back to a huddle of caves etched into the cliff face. Instead of finding the violent monster they had been expecting they had come across Ellia the teenage Wraith and that had then turned into something much worse once Ellia had taken the serum that Carson had left unattended for a few minutes.

Somewhere in the insanity she had become a supercharged crazy Wraith, she had destroyed the other Wraith survivor with nothing more than a simple twist of the head, severing his neck from his spinal column. The move had saved McKay but Carson had been sure in his retelling of the event that that had not been Ellia's main intention.

Now they were out in the woods attempting to capture Ellia so they could try and reverse the effects of the serum. The only problem was that Ellia seemed to be feeling uncooperative. This was the classic nature versus nurture argument all over again and as far as John was concerned nature had won out this time.

Ellia's Wraith instincts were at maximum potential and that was more than regrettable, he wasn't beyond compassion and if he could he would bring Ellia home.

There was movement behind him and John found himself spinning on his heel, bringing his P90 up to his shoulder in order to aim and found himself confronted with empty air. His heart rate was accelerating but he was still in control. Fear was twinging at the edges of his nerves but the Major kept it at bay with his rationale and armour. John had taken down many Wraith before, this time wouldn't be any different.

Even as he thought that he could feel the winds of Fate change as it breezed around him. There was apprehension flooding his senses as he heard the sound of claws scraping across bark. In that split second everything changed. Ellia chose that time to reveal herself, she sprung up into the mossy, fallen tree to his right and hissed at him.

There wasn't any word he could use to describe the monster in front of him, although hybrid sprung to mind. Somewhere along the way Ellia had converted back into her full Wraith nature and more. The left side of what had previously been her pearly green pallor had converted into a vibrant royal blue brushed over what looked remarkably like scales. Her left eye was crimson red and glared back at him as she snarled and spat at him through longer, malevolent teeth.

"Ellia..." John spoke her name in an attempt to draw whatever may be left of the teenage Wraith back to the surface.

Instead she sprung at him. In those split seconds John managed to get three maybe five shots off at the Wraith hurtling towards before she impacted with his athletic form. His P90 was wretched from his hands and skated across the leafy ground as he hit the floor on his back with a pained grunt. His combat knife was already in his hand as Ellia bore down at him.

He was holding her at bay the best he could as she writhed and squirmed, her hand snaking towards his chest. He blocked her manoeuvre with his forearm, her talons sunk into the flesh, cutting deep into his skin as she hissed and snapped at his face. She was stronger than a normal Wraith and the more John fought against her relentless, ferocious attack the weaker he felt himself becoming. She was getting the upper hand and his muscles were trembling with the pressure she was exerting from attempting to bear down on him. That clawed talon felt like it was ripping apart his arm as it drew even closer to his chest.

John bucked under Ellia's weight as she flexed her claw pressing it just over his heart, it dug into his flesh causing his head to tip back in rage and pain as she raked his skin.

A familiar howl of rage echoed through the air as a red blast of energy came out of nowhere striking Ellia in the side, literally throwing her off of John's body. Despite the fiery liquid running down his arm and the intense burning in his chest John was on his feet in a second, drawing his 9mm from the holster at his side and pointing it directly at the hybrid. Ronon was beside him, his weapon trained on the furious Ellia as she recovered almost instantly. He hit her again with the blast from his weapon and then again until she was writhing with agony.

"She tried to feed on me." John panted as the two men stood side by side.

His back was bruised, he had no doubts he'd be feeling the effects of that fall in the morning. His arm felt like it was on fire from where Ellia had sliced through the skin. It was still bleeding, he could feel the blazing hot trail dripping from his wrist.

"She's gone." Ronon said as he used his thumb to flick the switch to kill.

Ellia lunged at John again without warning. John pulled the trigger of the 9mm, the retort resounding in his ears as he fired again and again along side Ronon. They didn't stop until Ellia stopped moving. Her body was splayed out, her face still etched in violence as the blood blossomed across her simple peasant clothing.

There was nothing he could have done, it was her or them. It still didn't make him feel better, there had been potential in this young woman. She had been just a girl, growing up in a place where she didn't belong. Ellia had always been destined to be an outcast and now she was dead.

John felt Ronon's large hand clap his shoulder in a show of comradeship. There was empathy in the other man's touch as he stared down at the body of the creature that Ellia had become.

"Come on buddy let's get Beckett to take a look at that arm." Ronon rumbled as he tilted his head in the direction they had come from.

John allowed himself to follow Ronon through the bustling woodland, his hand clasped over his injured arm in attempt to stifle the bleeding.

The funny thing was it didn't seem to hurt that much anymore.