"John..." she murmured. "Are you still there?"
The creature said nothing in return to her words, instead John's hands functioned of their own accord. His fingers curled around the hilt of the combat knife on her belt as John wrenched it from the holster. It glinted in the darkness with it's wicked, dangerous edge.
Cass felt her heart rate increase just a little bit more as her lungs constricted. She didn't know if this was John or the creature in the driving seat, either way she was not comfortable with the vulnerability she was suddenly feeling.
John's pressed the combat knife between her hands, he wrapped her fingers around the hilt of the weapon so that she was grasping it before he guided the knife up and under his ribs. It took her a second to realize what he was doing, what he was asking her to do. The point pricked against his skin as he exerted the tiniest bit of pressure upon her wrists.
"I need you to do it." he rasped in a voice she barely recognized. "It won't let me do it."
"I can't." Cass whispered. "Your asking me to kill you."
"Better for the both of us." he muttered as beads of sweat trickled down his forehead.
His hands were quivering now and she could see that he was fighting a battle, giving over his last ounce of control to send her this message. He wanted to die, he would rather kill himself than mutate fully into the malevolent force that possessed him. That was her husband, the brave, courageous soldier, always willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good.
"Done it before..." John hissed through his teeth as he ground out against the monster. "Should be easy."
It was a betrayal of the information she had given him and that prickled at her like a barb beneath her skin. It showed how far he was willing to go to get what he wanted. Death would never have been so welcomed and she could not deal him the final blow. It was frustrating and left her with a stomach full of acid at the thought of fulfilling his request. She couldn't, not when there was still even the slimmest chance of bringing him back.
"No." Cass told him resolutely, her heart wrenching inside her chest at the thought of his absence from her life. "Your asking me to murder you..."
"I'm asking you to save me." he whined low in his throat at the excruciating agony that wrecked his body.
John was losing this battle, she could tell. Any minute John Sheppard would be gone and the creature would have returned. He was making their last moments ever so hard to fathom. The pressure was building up between them as he leaned in closer trying to force the sharp point of the knife through his flesh. The creature wouldn't let him, his restraint was a captive to it's will and John despised that, in one simple action this would all be over but he couldn't bring himself to do it.
"Cassie." he spat her name like a curse as the creature took over once more.
His hands slipped from hers, severing the connection as his head tilted down to gaze at the knife nestled between her hands. His eyes widened as he took a step back away, his face contorting in rage as he put the pieces together like a puzzle. The slap came out of nowhere as he roared with indignant rage.
It stung as he struck her cheek, turning her head with the force of the hit. She found herself gasping with the pain as her hand clapped over her glowing flesh. The knife tumbled out of her fingers in surprise as she straightened her spine and came to stand before the creature once more. His nostrils were flaring as his fists clenched and unclenched. His eyes were blazing as he stared at her. It hadn't been John who'd hit her, she could see the creature lurking behind his eyes as he struggled and fought for control.
"You made him do that." Cass snarled at the creature, her hand reaching behind her back for the weapon she had tucked within the waistband of her combats. "You can so whatever you want to me but whether you like it or not you are going back on that inhibitor."
Cass knew what the monster was going to do before it made the move. She saw the indication in the way it's muscles coiled ready for it's next strike, the murderous glare in it's eyes as it howled with fury from her husband's mouth. The doors were hissing open as the guards responded to the unrest but it was too late the creature was already in motion.
Cass was ready, her arm swung up the Taser grasped firmly in her hand as she jabbed it into her husband's chest and pressed the trigger as his razor like talons scraped across her throat. It burned like hell but it didn't faze her, the creature writhed and jerked as the volts smashed through everyone of it's delicate synapses rendering it immobile. It's knees buckled as she pulled the trigger once more. It stared into her eyes hatefully as she watched it with a clinical detachment.
It was no longer her husband, it was a creature that needed to be put down so that she could become one with her husband once more.
Something warm was trickling down her throat like a fiery river, she ignored it as the creature fell flat onto it's stomach before Cass tossed the Taser aside. She was already unclipping the zip ties from her belt as she straddled his hips and drew his limp arms behind his back. She had no idea how long it would take for the creature to recover but Cass was taking no chances. The sooner they got John to the Infirmary and on the inhibitor the better. She bound his wrists together with not one zip tie but two.
"Get him to the Infirmary." Cass instructed the two guards as she rose to her feet above her bound husband.
"I think you need to go too Doctor." Captain Meyers informed her as he peered at the blood trickling down her pale flesh, staining the collar of her shirt.
Cass clasped her hand to the scratches embedded deep within her flesh. The blood ran freely through her fingers as her pulse quickened.
A cut was all it had taken for John to get infected.
Cass hoped it took a hell of a lot more.
Chapter Sixty Five: In Sickness and Health
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