Title: Fall Away
Author: knightshade
Rating: PG-13 for slight gruesomeness and the occasional swearing
Pairing: Mostly Gen. Shades of Jack/Sam, but not more than UST
Warnings: Apocafic. It's a blood bath, in more ways than one. There will be character death.
Words: Approximately 21,500
Spoilers: Up to and including mid Season 7.
Prompt: Trapped off world, apocafic, any pairing. One team member goes insane, quietly or not quietly, but definitely with impact. Listen to Fuel – Hemorrhage (In My Hands) at time or two to find the mood (preferably dark)
Summary: SG-1 is trapped on a planet suffering an Ebola-like plague. Will they be able to get home before they come down with the disease?
Disclaimer: I don't own them. See MGM, Gekko, and Double Secret Productions, among others. This was just for fun (I have a warped concept of that term, admittedly), and no money was made.
Notes: This was written for ApocalypseKree. Thank you so much to Moonbeam for the quick beta. Thank you as well to naushika, sjhwtolerance, and auroranovarum for help with research.
This takes place mid season 7 at some point before Heros
Fall Away
A lyric circled Jack's head. Some half remembered fragment from some half forgotten song from a destroyed and likely to be completely forgotten world.
At least there was something to keep him company.
He sat huddled at the entrance to the cave under the rocky overhang, trying to keep warm and dry as the rain drizzled around him. His hands were wrapped around his knees, his body shaking with cold, his hair dirty and matted to his head.
He had lost his team, lost his planet, lost all hope. He had nothing left but this God forsaken place. He had nothing left to do but wait for it all to end.
---
This planet was going from bad to worse faster than it took Jack to get bored at a briefing. At first it had seemed promising -- a pre-industrial society not far off from late nineteenth century Earth, with villages organized into protectorates. Jack had been impressed with the relative sophistication of the inhabitants and there seemed to be a general sense of cooperation between the various groups. That in and of itself should have sent Jack's Spidey-Sense tingling. He should have realized that whole planets don't just get along. At least not unless they're facing some greater threat.
Funny how in all their meetings with the local inhabitants no one bothered to mention the wee little plague that resurfaced every few years. At least not until two farmers from the outskirts of the village stumbled into the town square, bleeding from their noses and mouths.
Carter called it hemorrhagic some such. The word bandied about that caught Jack's attention was Ebola. This alien variety of the disease had the lovely side effect of driving the victim insane before killing him. As if Ebola needed to be any worse.
So here they were back at the gate, wondering if they should go through or not. Carter figured they could be quarantined while Doctor Fraiser figured out which of them was going to bleed to death out of their eye sockets. Oh yes, these were the days that Jack kicked himself for not insisting that he didn't know anyone named Hammond and was perfectly happy to stay retired.
The gate sat in a sculpture garden of all things. It was nestled between a shiny gray tree, its metallic branches twisting skyward, and a metal-framed man with his hat tipped. Carter approached the DHD and began the dialing sequence. The gate began to spin, locking in the sequence. The chevrons glowed. The gate stopped moving.
And then nothing.
No kawoosh, no puddle, no nothing.
"Wrong number, Carter?" Jack asked, his head cocked.
She glanced down at the DHD as Daniel moved in to peer over her shoulder. "No, this is the correct sequence for Earth."
They all glanced up at the still ring, the chevrons still glowing. After a minute the lights went out and Daniel tried dialing again only to get the same result.
Yep, this planet just kept getting better and better. Especially now that they were stuck there. "Ideas, anyone?"
"Well, sir, its possible there's been a malfunction with the gate on Earth."
That brought an uncomfortable silence to the group.
"Or perhaps one of our favorite system lords is dialing in?" Daniel suggested.
"Could it be a problem on this end?" Jack asked staring down at the DHD.
"Not likely, sir. We've only seen this sort of behavior when the gate on the other end isn't responding. Either because of a malfunction, or because there's a second gate like we found in Antarctica, or..."
She trailed off and looked up at him, eyes showing the barest hints of fear.
"Or?" he prompted.
"Or if it's been buried or destroyed," she finished softly.
Jack shook his head. He wasn't ready to consider that option. "Okay. What about the Alpha Site?"
"Sir, the Alpha Site isn't equipped to handle a full quarantine situation. We've all been exposed to a strain of hemorrhagic fever. We can't go there."
"Okay, but we can make contact. Maybe they know what's going on," Daniel suggested.
Carter nodded and then began punching the coordinates for the Alpha Site. This time the gate behaved as expected and after it stopped turning, they were looking into the rippling blue surface of the event horizon. Jack hit the transmit button on his radio. "Alpha Site, this is Colonel Jack O'Neill of SG-1. Come in."
"Col. O'Neill, this is Alpha Site reading you loud and clear," came a crackly voice in reply.
"Hey, you guys having any trouble reaching Earth?"
"That's affirmative, Colonel. We lost contact four hours ago."
"Glad to hear they aren't just screening our calls."
"No, sir. They appear to be down."
"But you don't have any idea why?"
"I'm afraid not. We lost contact and haven't heard anything specific from the other off-world teams who've dialed in to us."
Jack let out a sigh and glanced around at the rest of his team. Looks like they were going to be stuck for a while.
"Sir, if you want to transmit your IDC, you're welcomed to return here to wait."
"Negative, Alpha Site. We've been exposed to a disease. We need the SGC's quarantine facilities."
"Roger, SG-1. Is there anything we can do?"
"I'm afraid not. Just, uh, if you get through to Earth, give us a call, huh?"
"You got it, sir. We're dialing them every hour. We'll let you know when we hear something."
"Oh, and if you could spare some supplies, we'd appreciate it."
"Sure thing. We'll put together a couple of packs and dial you in two hours."
"Thanks. Colonel O'Neill out."
Jack released the transmit button, feeling alone and vaguely worried about the SGC. It certainly wouldn't be the first time there were gate problems, but the timing was clearly a gift from Murphy.
"Well, kids, I guess we wait things out here," he said, slinging his pack over his shoulder. "Let's find somewhere to bed down."
"We could go back to town," Daniel suggested.
"I'd rather keep our exposure to a minimum."
"But if one of us gets sick..."
"If one of us becomes ill, Daniel Jackson, the local inhabitants can do nothing to help," Teal'c said, giving voice to exactly what Jack was thinking. The village administrator had made it clear that they didn't have any effective medication or treatment other than isolation.
"Right. Camping it is," Daniel said as they headed out into the forest beyond the village.
---
Another thing Jack hated about this planet was the plant life. It was winter according to the locals, and thankfully a fairly pleasant temperature, but the forest was more like the Amazon. The canopy was thick and overhung with vines and moss. The plants were like those found on Earth, but just a little slimier and more malignant. The forest floor was crowded with big wet plants, trip-hazard roots, and spongy, ankle deep fungus.
The little clearing they'd found made for a lovely camp. Unfortunately it was the only obvious choice within an easy walk to the gate, but it wasn't the best tactically as far as Jack was concerned. The crush of alien plant life around him made him nervous, but they needed to stay out of the village and he didn't want to get too far from the gate.
They'd received extra supplies from the Alpha Site and spent the rest of their daylight hours setting up camp. That night Teal'c had taken the first watch, followed by Carter. When she finally tapped Jack's shoulder, it was pitch black, drizzling, and Jack could swear the shadows were moving. He wasn't thrilled about sitting outside the warmth of their makeshift shelter in rain gear -- he added dreary weather to his litany of complaints about this planet. But he didn't have much of a choice. They had supplies and a significant segment of the local population might be suffering from plague induced paranoia. It wasn't a recipe for good security. So he'd draped himself in one of the rain ponchos they carried in their packs and took up the position that had recently been vacated by Carter.
He had no reason to think that anyone was out here. And yet, he heard sound after sound, saw movement in the trees and just couldn't shake the feeling he was being watched. His senses were all on full alert, scrambling fighters with every real and imagined threat.
It almost took his mind off their situation. Almost, but not quite.
Hopefully Earth's Stargate would be brought back online soon and they could go home and get checked out. Hopefully none of them would come down with Ebola or if they did, hopefully Doc Fraiser could cure them.
Okay, there were a lot of 'hopefullys' in that string of thoughts. But there really didn't seem to be anything they could do about it. For now anyway, their options were limited.
The drizzle became a full, steady rain and Jack pulled his gear tighter around his body. He waited and watched and felt the shadows close in around him until finally it was time for Daniel to relieve him.
---
"Another lovely day in paradise, huh?" Jack plopped down next to the fire where Daniel was heating up the coffee the next morning. It was instant, but Daniel couldn't live without coffee, even if that meant drinking bad coffee. He always had a Ziploc bag of it in his pack and Jack often teased him that it looked like he was a junkie getting out his next hit.
Of course, teasing didn't mean he wasn't going to drink his share. He pulled the little collapsible tin cup from his pack and held it out for Daniel to pour.
They quickly fell into a pattern, a rhythm of life at camp. They all took their turns at watch. They shared the task of getting water from a nearby stream. Daniel went back to the village to find out what fruits, vegetables, and animals were edible to supplement their MREs. And every day they went back to the gate to try dialing home.
Jack was starting to go stir crazy. And it had only been a few days.
Daniel had a deck of cards in his pack and they taught Teal'c to play poker. They bet with the M&Ms in their MREs or the small sweet berries they were eating. Not surprisingly, Teal'c was cleaning up now that he had the hang of the game. Half of the entertainment Jack got from it was making it his mission to discover Teal'c's 'tell'.
"Jack, I think I'm going to go exploring today. Check out the ruins the villagers mentioned."
Jack sipped his coffee, feeling it warm his throat on the way down, a reminder of normal things. "Take Carter with you," he said glancing over towards her still occupied sleeping bag.
"Well, I was hoping to get an early start. If the information Tahlchah gave me is correct, it's probably several miles from here."
"Daniel..."
"Jack, I'll be fine. And I have a radio."
"I don't care. If something happens it would take someone a while to get to you. Wait until after we do our morning dial home and then take Carter."
He looked like he wanted to argue more and Jack was already mentally cataloging all the many, many reasons it was not a good idea to let his curious archeologist out to investigate ruins on a planet of people losing their minds. At least he could trust Carter to make sure they were back by dark. "And take a zat with you."
Daniel sighed, but gave in. "Yeah, okay."
Jack apparently wasn't the only one going stir crazy. He idly wondered how they'd be able to tell disease induced insanity from the type caused by sitting around waiting for something bad to happen.
---
Camp was quiet after Daniel and Carter went to find the ruins. Jack was bored and with Teal'c being the conversationalist that he was, the minutes were dragging by. They'd already gone to the gate to dial the Alpha Site and he was tired of hearing that there had been no change. Now they had nothing to do but hold down the fort.
Teal'c was moving through the brush around camp, searching for suitable wood for the fire. Jack sat, sipping water from his canteen and listening to the snaps and cracks as branches were sacrificed for their pyre. Jack could hear the plunk of wood against wood and then after a minute, Teal'c stepped out of the trees in front of him, a pile of heavy looking branches in his arms. He let the armload tumble onto the growing stack near the fire.
"I believe this will last for some time," he said.
"Yeah, we should be fine. Thanks Teal'c."
He was given a customary head nod and then Teal'c cleared a spot for himself on one of the fallen trees they'd dragged in front of the fire. He lowered his head and then said softly. "Do you have a plan, O'Neill?"
Jack sighed. It had been hanging in the air all afternoon and now that dusk was quickly approaching, he wasn't surprised that Teal'c would ask him, warrior to warrior before the scientists returned.
"I don't know, T. I think we keep doing what we're doing and hope we hear from Earth soon."
"And if one of us falls ill?"
Jack sighed. "We don't know how this thing spreads. Carter's guessing it's similar to Ebola, but we really don't know."
"And unless we know the method of contagion, there are no effective means to protect against its spread."
"That about sums it up." Teal'c set his jaw and Jack knew, clear as anything else he knew about his friend, that if Teal'c fell ill they'd never see him again. In a way he envied the position Teal'c was in -- he could afford to make that call. It was Jack's responsibility to get them home. And without knowing the true danger he was torn about what to do if he got sick. But he did know what he'd do if any of the rest of his team did. "Let's cross those bridges if we come to them, okay. With any luck, Earth will get the gate back on line and Dr. Fraiser will be shining lights in our eyes before anyone starts babbling."
Teal'c nodded slowly and then reached to put another log on the fire.
"So what about you, T?" Jack asked cautiously. "Are you going to go loony on us too?" Jack could find few things as disconcerting as the idea of Teal'c losing his mind. There would be few things as scary. Teal'c in a delirious state would be dangerous.
"I do not know, O'Neill. If I still had my symbiote I would presume that it would afford me protection from this disease as it did with most others. I do not know if tretonin will provide the same protection."
Jack nodded slowly. All they could do was hope for the best. They were all in the same boat.
---
The sky was a pinkish orange when Jack's radio crackled to life. "Jack, this is Daniel."
"Go ahead."
"We're approaching the camp. So, uh, don't shoot us."
"I'll take that under advisement," Jack said, and listening carefully, he could hear the echo of his voice through Daniel's radio somewhere behind them. When he listened more closely, he could hear them moving through the forest. They were for the most part quiet, but it was impossible to be completely silent with all the squishing plants. After a few minutes, Daniel and Carter broke through the edge of the trees.
"Find anything?" Jack asked.
"Well, yes and no," Daniel said, in typical Daniel fashion. "We spent some time at the ruins and it appears this plague has been, uh, well … plaguing … this planet for a long time."
"It really does seem similar to Ebola, sir." Carter dropped her pack and took a swig from her canteen. "Ebola hasn't spread beyond Africa on Earth because it's too devastating an illness. People show symptoms quickly after exposure and it doesn't take long for the disease to run its course and kill them. It makes it difficult to spread. That and the fact that at least for Ebola, the disease doesn't live long outside the body so it almost has to be spread through fluid contact."
"Based on the translations of the written history in the ruins, the disease does spread rapidly between villages early on, but it's quickly identified and the local inhabitants have a plan for quarantine which is fairly effective. They're generally successful in confining the disease to three or four villages before it gets out of control." Daniel paused and tipped his head. "Of course, those villages get decimated..."
Jack sighed. "Did you find anything that might help us?"
"Well, sir, like Ebola, this plague tends to go dormant for years in between outbreaks. So there was a lot of history. It's probably spread by some bush animal or maybe has the ability to go dormant and live in the dirt or plants until the weather conditions are just right. But the thing is, there are survivors. The disease is not a hundred percent contagious. There are stories of people in the villages who've been able to tend the sick without coming down with the disease themselves. And there are also victims of the disease who survive it. The mortality rate appears to be about eighty percent."
"And that helps us how?" Jack asked.
"Well, sir, if we could get Dr. Fraiser here, she might be able to create a vaccine if she can locate people who seem to be immune to the disease or those who've had the disease and survived."
"Except that Dr. Fraiser isn't here."
"I know that, sir. But the other important thing to note is that the disease very quickly burns itself out. If we stay out here, outside of the villages, there's a good chance we can avoid exposure."
"Not to put a damper on things, but we may have already been exposed," Jack said.
"It's possible, but we haven't had any direct exposure that we know of. We haven't come into contact with anyone who's been visibly ill. Maybe we got lucky."
Jack nodded. He should be happy to have something to hang his hat on, but as long as they were on this planet he was going to be uneasy. He just wanted to get his team home -- preferably with no bleeding.
"Alright, kids, nice work." He mentally noted that Carter did indeed get them home before nightfall. "And to celebrate, I caught fish."
"You caught fish," Daniel said, giving him a quick grin.
"Hey! I caught fish. I cleaned fish. I even cooked fish." He gestured to the filets speared on a stripped branch. "I haven't yet promised to share fish."
"Touche," Daniel said, sitting on the log and pulling open his pack. He dug out his tin plate and waited at the ready. "All hail the master fisherman Jack."
"That's more like it." Jack speared him a fish and plopped it on his plate before giving everyone on his team their share.
The fish was bland, but it was better than the MREs which Jack was already getting tired of. Maybe tomorrow Teal'c would manage to spear one of the wild boars they'd seen. But in the meantime, they all ate in a companionable silence, the feeling that they may just get out of this yet palpable in the air. The news was grim but it hadn't all been bad and for the first time in days, Jack felt the tension around camp ease.
---
The screaming started on Carter's watch -- a high inhuman shriek that woke Jack out of a light sleep instantly. He was up and had his P-90 in hand, already tracking the source of the sound as Daniel and Teal'c flew into sitting positions themselves.
He gestured to Daniel and Teal'c to secure the area, each taking up a position that would cover them from all sides. Circling the wagons.
"Carter?" he hissed, moving away from the fire and waiting to get his night eyes.
He heard her moving in the brush to his right and headed that direction as another unearthly wail went up. He could almost believe that it was a bird. Almost. Except most birds bedded down for the night. And they hadn't heard anything like this before.
Carter had taken cover behind a fallen log and Jack dropped to the ground to join her. "Any idea what it is?"
"No, sir, but I hear something moving, approximately two o'clock."
Jack strained to see anything in the direction she was indicating. It was quiet for a moment and then there was another blood-curdling yell, followed by the sound of twigs breaking. Something was definitely moving. Something big.
Jack grabbed his radio. "Daniel, put out the fire. That may be attracting it."
It wasn't long before he heard a dying sizzle followed by a deepening darkness. Just as Jack was about to motion for them to spread out, the thing let out what sounded like a battle cry and started crashing through the forest right toward their position. Jack opened fire, unable to see what he was shooting at. Seconds later Carter opened up as well, but whatever it was come barreling past them, headed toward the camp.
"Teal'c! Daniel! It's coming your way!" Jack yelled into the radio. Seconds later he heard Teal'c's staff weapon and right after that, Daniel's P-90. Jack motioned for Carter to follow him and they chased the sound back to the campsite. They came out into the little clearing and in the faint starlight, Jack could see a figure standing at the center of the camp, its silhouette dark against the last remains of the fire. Jack saw the flashes from Daniel's gun and pulled up short. The figure was screaming and gyrating as though it had been hit but it wasn't dropping. It was spinning and whirling while shrieking. Then it ran directly for Daniel and threw itself at him. Jack heard Daniel's gun hit something and fall away. Both he and Carter ran toward them as Teal'c pulled the figure off their teammate. It turned and barreled into Carter. Jack grabbed a hold of slick fabric and flung it away, bringing his P-90 to bear and unloading on the thing at close range. He felt spatter hit his chest as the thing finally wobbled and fell. It hit the ground with a sick, wet thud.
Carter kept her gun on it as Jack approached from one side and Teal'c from the other. Warily eyeing the crumpled shadow, Jack paused to pull out his flashlight. Teal'c had the thing covered and Jack approached cautiously, flipping on his light and aiming it down. The figure was human. Or had been. Jack felt his stomach lurch at the rivers of blood flowing out of the man's ears and mouth. His hair and clothing were caked in it. His chest and arms were riddled with oozing bullet holes. Jack grabbed a long spindly branch off the wood pile and poked him. But he wasn't moving.
"Sir..." Carter said, coming up behind him. Jack turned to see that she had her flashlight pointed down. The dirt around them was spattered with blood. It covered the wood pile, and the logs around the fire. It was everywhere. Then she shown the light on Jack and he could see the streaks smeared into his hand and the spray of droplets covering his t-shirt.
Jack took one more look at the remnants of the villager and then spun around to the rest of the team, his own flashlight in hand. They all had stains or smears. They were all exposed.
"Everyone down to the stream to clean up. Now."
"Sir, the gear?"
"We'll come back for it, Carter."
She nodded but then paused at her pack to get a bar of soap.
They quickly made their way down to the stream and each stripped out of any contaminated clothing. Jack took their soiled clothes, rolled them into a tight ball, and buried them. Then they all leaned over the water, scrubbing and cleaning the affected parts of their bodies. The stream was frigid and Jack shivered uncontrollably after dunking his head and whole upper body. They were all shivering and trying to move as quickly as possible, sharing the soap between them.
They walked back to camp silently, all of them without t-shirts, Carter in her sports bra and Daniel without pants. There were jokes to be made, but Jack couldn't do it. He just couldn't make light of the situation. He had scrubbed the blood off his body, but his skin was still crawling.
When they got back to camp, they went to their packs for spare clothes, looking the bags over with flashlights thoroughly before touching them.
Jack gave the camp another look, but as far as he was concerned, it was a total loss. There was too much blood.
"Pack up. We're leaving." He wasn't thrilled about the idea of trying to move through the jungle terrain at night, but it would be several hours before dawn and Jack didn't want to stay in a plague contaminated area. He also didn't want any more villagers finding them. They needed to get further away.
No one argued.
"The pack with the MREs and the med kit looks clean," Carter said, picking it up by the straps.
They were able to recover two of their packs and two sleeping bags. The rest would have to be abandoned. They would get more provisions from the Alpha Site tomorrow.
"We'll travel upstream and see if we can't find another good place to camp," Jack said, thinking that this time he wanted something with a bit more clearing around it to keep potential problems from creeping up on them again.
"Jack, the area around the stream is the easiest terrain to move though. Not to mention a source of fresh water. If there are any more villagers who've been cast out, they're likely to make their way to it."
"I'm aware of that, Daniel. We'll just have to keep our eyes open."
"Yes, but Jack-"
"Daniel, not now. We'll find a temporary spot to bed down tonight and try to find something more permanent tomorrow."
They gathered the rest of their supplies and headed out -- shadows moving in a forest that was a little too alive for Jack's peace of mind.
---
To Be Continued