Daniel's Bad Day

Daniel crouched down in the brush as his pursers passed by. The smell of the jungle was all around him. In the past he'd loved to be in a place like this, a place of mystery and adventure, but this experience was one he wished he'd missed out on.

The shuffling footsteps moved away but Daniel knew that they, the dead, were looking for him. He'd killed them many times but they continued to rise and come after him. They wouldn't leave him alone; they wanted to make him one of them. And he was beginning to believe there was no escape.

He'd warned the rebels not to turn on the device, but they thought they knew better, and look what had happened.

Closing his eyes, Daniel tried to gather the energy to keep moving. He had to get away from here and warn the others, warn someone. Who knew what would happen if they didn't shut off that device soon. It was growing stronger, raising more from the dead. The only positive thought at the moment was that they were very isolated out here and there weren't too many people to reanimate.

Behind him and to the left, he heard the crush of footfalls on the ground and knew he'd been found. Drawing a deep breath, he forced his legs to move. They burned with fatigue but he pushed himself harder; he couldn't die, not this way.

A hand closed over the back of his shirt and yanked him off his feet. The breath whooshed out of his body as his back hit the ground. Blackness edged his vision as unconsciousness threatened, but Daniel fought it back. He struggled to stand but something took his feet out from under him and he crashed back to the ground.

One of the Zombies came into view as it bent over him. It's hands extended toward his throat. A scream climbed up his throat but when he opened his mouth no sound came.

As the cold dead hands clasped his neck, slowly squeezing, Daniel found his voice. "Jack please, there has to be some part of you in there. It's me Daniel, don't do this!"

But Jack's cold dead eyes stared back at him as the hands compressed, slowly closing off Daniel's air.

This time when the blackness called, Daniel could no longer fight it. He was dying and there was no one left to save him. This time there was no way out. Daniel had finally run out of luck, his nine lives expired.

It wasn't fair to die this way, not after so many brushes with death.

0o0o0

Daniel jerked upright, breathing hard. He hated this nightmare the most of all his nightmares; not that he liked any of them. This one was the worst, because he always died at the hand of his friend. Jack, the man who had saved him in so many ways, was the zombie who killed him.

Drawing a deep breath, he rubbed his hand over his face.

"Can't sleep darling?" Soft hands rubbed circles on his back.

"Yeah, it was just a dream. Go back to sleep, there's no reason for you to be awake too. I'll just make some coffee and get some work done."

He moved to slide out of bed but Vala stopped him. "You know a little bird once told me that if we share things they are a little less scary. What was the dream about?"

"Do you remember when we were archiving the SGC's artifacts the other day and we came across that one box that I told you not to touch?"

Vala nodded, but didn't say a word, which Daniel was grateful for.

"Well my dream was about that box and what happened when I found it here on Earth. Well, sort of. I was down in Central America, looking for some type of miracle weapon, but instead we found a zombie maker."

"You mean like those dead people on TV who eat brains?" She shuddered and curled around him. "Daniel, you actually saw some of those things?"

"Yes, that box was a Goa'uld device. I was in the jungle all alone with only Dr. Lee for back up." Daniel shivered as the memories pressed in on him.

"Bill Lee—that must have been really terrifying." Her fingers walked slowly along him shoulder. "Do you want to talk about it some more or should we make some better memories?" Vala asked as she leaned forward, placing a gentle kiss on his lips.

Daniel smiled and cupped her cheek. "Gladly."

For a few hours the darkness was banished for both of them.


As always there are more storied posted on my site including two chapters of a Daniel Jackson whomp fic. You can find it by Googling my penname. If you feel like it leave a note telling me if you liked this story, they really do make my day.