The guys left Sam's bedside and went back outside. There was still a lot to do, but they had renewed hope that everything would be okay. Around them the once quiet planet was coming alive. The animals apparently did not like having their food taken away and were voicing their unhappiness. At least they had a plan. Once everything was secure, everybody who wasn't trained to handle this would stay inside the building. Everyone who was trained would stay outside and defend the camp, at least until it was overrun by wild animals. Then they would get inside the buildings and shoot anything that tried to come in. "To bad we don't have any Tacs."
"Indeed O'Neill. They would make defending our camp much easier."
"We'll have to talk to Jacob about getting some. I'm sure they have a couple extra lying around somewhere." Just then they heard a low growl coming from the trees nearby. "Don't move." he commanded as he swung his gun around and got a tight grip on the handle. He saw Teal'c had activated his staff weapon and was surprised to see Daniel pulling out his own pistol. They carefully began to retreat back to the main camp. About half way there the animal attacked. They watched as a lion of some sort came from nowhere and clawed Daniel in the arm. It took a second for their brains to start working again and kill the lion. "Danny, you okay."
"What do you think Jack."
"Let me see." Jack started examining the wound while Teal'c managed to get Daniel into a sitting position. "It looks long, but not very deep. You were lucky."
"I guess so." Daniel was starting to wince in pain as the shock wore off.
"Come on Danny. Let's go pay a visit to the Doc. She'll be oh so glad to see us again."
Janet heard the commotion outside. That didn't bother her though, it was happening more and more now that the scattering was over. What did bother her was the gunshots that sounded a few seconds later. Running through possible scenarios she prepared to go outside and see what happened. But before she was able to leave, the door opened and SG-1 came strolling in.
"I should have known." she muttered under her breath as she caught sight of Daniel's bloody arm. "What happened?"
"One of the critters decided to meet Daniel. We politely asked it to go away."
Janet looked at Jack with an amused look at his explanation before turning to Daniel. "Well, it doesn't look to deep. Let's get it cleaned up, shall we." Daniel nodded and Jack turned to look at Sam.
"Doc, what happened?" he asked in a slightly panicked voice when he noticed the oxygen mask they had just finished getting for her. Janet looked at him and saw what he was referring to. Turning her attention back to Daniel she answered his question.
"Don't worry Colonel. Nothing bad has happened. When Sam was awake she told me she was having trouble breathing. The Oxygen is just helping her." She turned her attention back to Daniel. "Alright Daniel I'm done. I'll let you go, but you know the rules. The second anything develops you're..."
"I'm back here before I can say festival, yeah I know Janet."
The first thing Sam recognized as she awoke from her fever induced nightmare was a damp cloth on her head. It felt good. She opened her eyes and was happy to see Janet sitting beside her, holding the cloth. "Hey Sam. Glad to see you're awake again." Janet put down the cloth and reached for the glass of water, giving Sam a couple of sips so she could find her voice. "How are you feeling?"
"Hot." she said, her voice a mere whisper.
"I know." Janet smiled sympathetically at her friend. "Your fever has been getting higher. I'm trying to bring it down, but nothing I do seems to affect it much."
"How long?"
"You've been asleep for almost a day. Your fever soared after a couple of hours. It just barely broke, although it's still to high for my liking." She held the glass of water up again so Sam could take another drink. She then put it down and started brushing Sam's sweat soaked hair with her fingers, trying to soothe the younger woman.
"Where are the guys?"
"They're outside. Don't worry, they're fine." Janet watched as Sam leaned back into the pillows, a small smile crossing her face. "What are you thinking?"
"You've probably waited your whole life to hear this, but I think I miss the infirmary."
"Why do you say that?" Janet asked as her smile widened.
"The beeps of the infirmary may be annoying, but nothing compares to the snarls and growls of this place. Where are we camped, in the middle of a zoo?"
Janet laughed at the question. "That's another long story Sam." She watched as her friend tried to get comfortable, grimacing at the pain the movement caused. "How's the pain. I can give you something stronger if it's to much."
"No, it's fine Janet. I've had worse." Janet moved her fingers from Sam's hair and again picked up the damp cloth, stroking it against her still feverish forehead. Sam closed her eyes, Janet's gentle ministrations slowly sending her back to sleep, when suddenly a round of gunfire was heard outside. Sam's eyes shot open as she tried to get up, Janet trying to keep her lying down. "What's happening?"
"Nothing, Sam. Don't worry about it." Seeing Sam calm down, she quietly added "It's another long..."
"Long story." Janet nodded. "So why don't you tell me about it?"
"Sam, I will tell you all about it when your stronger. Right now I just want you to go to sleep." She started stroking Sam's hair again.
"Janet." Sam was speaking so softly that Janet had to lean closer to hear her. "I'm scared to go back to sleep. I had such horrible nightmares. Couldn't you just stay here until I'm asleep. Pretend that you're telling me a bedtime story. It would mean a lot to me."
Janet looked into her friends blue eyes, seeing the fear in them. "Okay Sam. Just lie back and close your eyes." She waited till her friend was settled and started. "Once upon a time..."
Hammond glanced around. The third day was beginning. Soon it would be all over. He just hoped they wouldn't be over too. The attacks were already getting more violent and more frequent. Thankfully, they had only had two more minor injuries. He was going to do all that he could to ensure it stayed that way. He had already ordered all non-essential personnel to stay in the buildings. He had even assigned the guards to keep watch in the buildings, taking them out of the open and putting them into the confined space they were more comfortable with. That left the SG teams to guard the outside. SG-8 and SG-15 were on watch by the main building, where most of the men were. SG-1 was watching the smaller building, the infirmary.
Hammond had decided to join in the fight this time. There had been too many times he could think of when he had been forced to send other people instead of coming himself. This time he would be on the front line. He had the training necessary, just because he was a General now didn't mean that he never did anything dangerous before. And, truth be told, they needed him out here as much as he needed to be out here. He decided to join one of the SG teams for the time being, leaving one of the technicians in charge in the bigger building and of course Dr Fraiser in charge in the infirmary. Now he stood with his team watching the forest for any signs of hostility. His team, man that sounded good. SG-1. Normally his best team, now just his team. Make no mistake, he wasn't trying to take over the team, that would be one of the biggest mistakes he could ever make. No, he was just joining them until this whole festival was over. He joined this team for several reasons. First was the most obvious, they were a man short until Major Carter was released from the infirmary, which 'was not going to be for a while' Dr. Fraiser assured him. The second reason was the strangeness of the team. Given the team was made up of one retired officer, a scientist who was also an officer, an archeologist who never even dreamed of joining the military, and an alien, Hammond assumed that it would be less awkward for him to join this team. The last reason was Colonel Jack O'Neill. He wanted to be treated like a member of the team, not like someone they had to watch out for or were forced to take on. He knew Jack wouldn't give him preferential treatment. He also knew that Jack, or the rest of SG-1 for that matter, wouldn't feel awkward around him when their roles were reversed again.
"Sir, you stay here with Daniel. Keep an eye on that forest, shoot anything that moves. Me and Teal'c are going to set up some motion detectors..." He was interrupted by gunfire. SG-8 had scared off a bunch of wild boars that were charging them. He started again "motion detectors on the other side of the infirmary. There's no forest on that side, so nothing should be coming from that side, and the alarms will tell us if something is trying to sneak up on us." With that, he and Teal'c took off around the building. Dr. Jackson and General Hammond tightened their grips on their guns. Man was it good to get back in the field.