By the time Daniel was returned to the cell, more punches and kicks had been administrated to various parts of his body, and when he was practically thrown onto the stone floor, he remained there in a miserable heap, letting the cold stone cool his pounding face. The guards spat something before stalking out, locking the door behind them as usual. Daniel pulled himself together and crawled over to the wall, collapsing against it. He coughed up a wad of blood which was deposited beside him and the labored breathing continued.
A groan escaped his mouth as Daniel tenderly touched his abdomen. He would guess at two fractured ribs from the guard's kicking and kneeing. Shaky breathes accompanied him as he tried to piece together what other injuries he had sustained, and he came to the conclusion that they were only really painful bruises. The sudden sound of something in the very far distance caught his attention though. As it got louder, it became clearer what it was. Sam's screams.
The door swung open to reveal four guards, Sam restrained between the four of them. She was writhing and screaming as though a demon was possessing her, and the guards were obviously having a hard time keeping up. Daniel watched in slight shock as the four men wrestled Sam into the cell and released her, causing the woman to drop to the floor and continue her writhing. The guards retreated quickly with a hint of fear in their eyes, cursing under their breath as they departed. Daniel blinked a few times, trying to piece together why Sam was acting so violent.
"Get it out!" she suddenly screamed in desperation, clutching at her thigh. Daniel could then see a shape moving under her skin on her thigh by the giant entry wound that the larva had made. Máahes had left it in there. Anger nearly turned Daniel's vision red. He crawled over to her and attempted to steady her leg, something that was nearly impossible. He could now hear the squealing made by the creature coming from within Sam's body. Taking a hold of the hole in Sam's pants made by the larva, he yanked it sharply, splitting the fabric and revealing more of her bloodied leg.
"Get it out!" Sam's desperate repeated cries only made the panic rise in Daniel's chest as he attempted to hold her thigh flat on the ground. The high pitched sound made by the larvae threatened to split his skull open and he couldn't help but grind his teeth together against the destructive headache. The fact that he had no medical tools to speak of did not make the task any easier and as he glanced at his dirty and worn fingers, his heart sunk further at the thought of an infection.
Another anguished moan snapped him back in action and he pinned her leg down with one knee. He squeezed the entrance wound with one hand, applying enough pressure to force the larvae out of its burrowing. The squirming tip of the tail suddenly protruded from the bloody mess and Daniel latched onto it with tight fingers. It squirmed violently in his grip and Sam's body reacted in turn, struggling even more against the pain. Pulling harder, it finally let go of the leg muscle with a "shloop" sound and slid out, flailing back and forth in Daniel's grasp. The screech was even louder outside the body and Daniel immediately placed it on the ground and brought down a heavy foot upon it.
The noise ended abruptly. The cell was now strangely quiet, filled only with the sounds of Sam's low sobs and Daniel's labored breathing. He collapsed back down onto his knees, at a slight loss of what to do next. Seeing as the wound was still bleeding, he decided that he had to somehow ebb the flow. The archeologist furrowed his eyebrows together at the thought that the larvae could have severed an important blood stream. Seeing as her pants where already torn at the thigh from where he had ripped it apart, he managed to rip strips of fabric from the clothing.
Something caught his eye as the fabric parted to reveal the rest of Sam's leg and Daniel's confusion turned to shock and then disgust at what he saw. Her leg had strange patterns running up and down the shin and thigh. Patterns from where the larvae had buried back and forth. He closed his eyes and tried to hold back the bile rising in his throat.
"Da-anie-e-l," Sam stuttered, reaching out blindly with one hand to clutch onto the fabric of his shirt.
"Shh shh, it's okay, I'm just going to stop the bleeding." He murmured back, tying the strip tightly around her thigh above the wound. He wished that he had something to bandage the wound with, but he didn't want to risk putting dirty fabric over the open sore. So instead he gathered up Sam in his lap and rocked her back and forth, apologizing under his breath for not being able to stop Máahes. He apologized for not taking her place and he apologized for her pain. They both knew it didn't matter, but she let him apologize as she sniffled. It made them human.
"I don't want to anymore," she whispered, shaking her head slightly. "I can't do that again. Not that. Not again. I'll have to tell him something next time Daniel."
"I know," Daniel stated softly, shutting his eyes tightly together. "We just need to hold out a little bit longer." He received no response from his friend. There was silence for a few seconds.
"Sam," Daniel began hesitantly. "Were there only one of those things? At once I mean?" Sam shook her head negative and the shuddered. "Were there more?" To this, Sam hesitated before nodding.
"Three more." The statement settled into the cold walls and Daniel hugged Sam closer. They carefully made their way over toward the wall so that Daniel could lean against it. Sam resumed her position in his lap with her head resting on his shoulder and her hands tangled in his shirt.
"I'm going to sleep Daniel," she mumbled, shivering from exhaustion and cold.
"You can't sleep," he responded immediately, staring out into the darkening room.
"I need to sleep." This repeat was whispered and Daniel could hear the slight tremor of pain and fear in the words. He opened his mouth to retort again but felt her hand clutch at him harder. "Please. I just…" her sentence died off and he felt wetness on his shirt from silent tears.
"Okay," he said softly. "Please just wake up." Sam offered no response but instead sighed quietly, both of them knowing very well that the chances that she didn't wake up were great. "Go to sleep." He pressed a brief kiss to her head, knowing the affection wasn't enough to show how much she meant to him. But she was already fast asleep, her labored breathing slowing only slightly. Daniel stared out into the black cell and then sighed as well. Closing his eyes, he leaned his head back against the cold and unforgiving wall and let sleep slowly grab a hold of his exhausted body.
