Note: Content Warning - strong language
Darkness Hides the Hunter – Part Five
Dawn
His first instinct was to run to where his friend lay writhing on the ground, but he didn't. Instead, he stayed where he was, his weight supported by one hand, while with the other he held the zat, still trained on the figure.
"What the hell just happened?"
He didn't look around at the sound of Sam's voice, all his attention fixed on Jack.
She repeated her question as she hurried forward. "Daniel? What happened?"
To Daniel it seemed like hours before Jack slumped unconscious, the tremors still coursing through his body even as his limbs relaxed and his staring eyes closed. Sam was at Jack's side now, her hands pressing him down, searching for a pulse.
"Daniel Jackson?" This time it was Teal'c, and he let his white knuckled grip relax as the weapon was gently removed from his hand. "Are you injured?"
Sam's body blocked his view of Jack, and at last he found he was able to speak. Was he hurt? He took a moment to consider his answer, not sure of anything except the ache from his nose and stomach where his friend had hit him. Nothing seemed too serious. Probably just some bruises and maybe a black eye or two, nothing worth adding to the long list of injuries he had sustained over the years.
"I'm okay. How's Jack?"
Sam turned to look at him, her expression worried. "His pulse is extremely rapid, and the effects of the zat seem to be lasting much longer than usual. Why didn't you wake us? Goodness knows what this might have done to him."
Daniel cringed at the obvious censure in her voice. Why had he let Jack lure him close? Sam was right – he should have woken them. What if Jack died? It would be his fault.
"I'm sorry, Sam. I thought he was sick. He was moaning and looked like he was in pain. I didn't think." But he knew there was no excuse for what he had done, the stupidity of it made clear by the consequences.
"We should proceed to the gate as quickly as possible." Teal'c's deep voice interrupted Sam's reply. "It is almost dawn and Colonel O'Neill needs urgent medical assistance."
"Yes." Sam stood, brushing the dirt from the clean BDU's she had exchanged for the ones ripped by Jack. "Daniel and I will carry him." She put up a hand to forestall the Jaffa's protest. "You're not in any condition to be carrying him, Teal'c. Daniel and I will manage."
Teal'c nodded, and Daniel could clearly see that he was unable to argue with her reasoning. After a momentary pause, he reached a hand out to help Daniel to his feet.
"Oh, crap!" He had barely left the ground, when a sharp spike of pain shot up his leg, almost throwing him back into the dirt. Teal'c caught him, a simple wince his only reaction to suddenly becoming the sole support of the other man's weight. Daniel staggered, levering himself onto one foot.
"What is it?" Sam came over and grabbed an arm, helping to hold Daniel up.
"My ankle. Damnit, I must have twisted it when I fell." He touched it back down again, gingerly, only to yelp again as fire shot up his leg.
Suddenly, realisation of what this meant hit him. "Damn." He swore under his breath. This was all his stupid fault. Now how the hell were they supposed to carry Jack?
Daniel stared at his unconscious friend as Sam and Teal'c manoeuvred him into a comfortable sitting position. Jack had finally stopped shaking and his body was at rest, but his skin was almost translucent in the light of dawn, pale, lines of pain furrowing his brow. Almost wincing in guilt, Daniel shut his eyes against the sight.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Morning
What had he done to himself this time? There wasn't a single part of his body that didn't hurt – from the nail on his little toe to the tip of the hair on his scalp. He couldn't help the groan that escaped him, hoping that wherever he was there was no need for silence.
"Colonel?"
"Carter? That you?" He knew it was, he would recognise her voice anywhere, but somehow the ability to open his eyes or speak in full sentences had deserted him when his brains had leaked out his ears.
He wondered why she didn't answer. He managed to wrestle his eyelids into submission, the resulting slit of vision enough to show him that he was outside.
He tried again, his voice little more than a whisper. "Carter? You there?"
"I'm here, sir. So are Daniel and Teal'c."
Good – his team was safe. But there was something in Carter's tone. Something off. He tried to sit up, but only succeeded in a weak twitch of his shoulders that sent him straight back down again. He tentatively tried to pull his hands apart, recognising the telltale tug of ropes on his wrists.
He shut his eyes again, thinking. Maybe they had been captured. He wished he could remember. A blow to the head perhaps?
A scrabbling sound nearby had his eyes open again, this time almost completely, and he was pleased to see Daniel's face frowning down at him, a spectacular black eye peering out from above a painfully swollen nose.
"Jack. You're awake."
Good old Daniel. He could always be relied on to say that, be it in the infirmary, at home in front of the television, or in some Goa'uld cell somewhere.
Jack grimaced. "Seems that way. What's going on? Why am I tied up? And what happened to you?"
There was that silence again.
"For crying out loud! Will someone get me out of these ropes and tell me what's going on!"
"I am afraid we cannot do that, O'Neill." Teal'c wasn't looking too hot either. In fact, he looked like Jack felt. "You have not been yourself, and we have bound you for your protection, as well as our own.
"And just what is that suppose to mean?" Jack tried again to sit, but gave up just as quickly as before as the world tipped sideways on its axis. "Carter!" He searched for her, feeling his pulse beginning to race. "Report. And that's an order!"
"Calm down, sir." There she was, at last. Now he would get some answers.
"If you aren't going to untie me, at least sit me up." He instinctively struggled against the ropes, and was shocked to see her flinch away. "Carter?"
"What do you remember, sir?"
He searched his mind, the sound of wings in the darkness vying for dominance with images of the forest at night.
"Well, to be honest, not much. I seem to recall falling down some sort of hole, but that's about it."
"That was two days ago, Jack. You went completely darkside on us."
He stared up at the archaeologist, unbidden thoughts nibbling at the edge of his consciousness.
The look of fear in those eyes.
Digging his knife into the warm flesh of his opponent. Watching him as he bled on the forest floor, his dark face leeching of colour as his life drained away.
Oh god!
He flung himself sideways, ignoring Daniel's squawk, and emptied the contents of his stomach onto the grass.
It slapped him in the face. The feeling. The sensation. God. He had enjoyed it. The feeling as the knife parted the skin. Pushing past the resistance of muscle, blood spurting.
Warm liquid on his fingers.
Yes, he had enjoyed it, and he would do it again in a heartbeat. One moment of distraction was all he needed. They were weaker now, the younger man also injured. That would make it harder for them to get him back to their base. He would take advantage of that weakness.
Jack looked up at his enemies and smiled.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Afternoon
"How much longer?"
Sam looked at her watch, calculating distances, and frowned. It had taken far too long to reach this point, and if they didn't pick up the pace they would be faced with another night on the planet. She looked over to Colonel O'Neill, seeing the thin line of his lips, the one twitching eye. The prospect of guarding him after dark filled her with dread, but she didn't allow any of what she was thinking to show on her face.
"At least four more hours, Daniel. How are you holding up?" She could see that he was tired, the makeshift crutch not much help in walking on what had proved to be a badly sprained ankle. Teal'c wasn't faring any better. She had insisted on several rest stops, despite his protests, and at each one he had needed to be woken and helped to his feet. He wouldn't let her check his wound again, saying it was fine, but Sam knew that it was anything but fine, dark stains on his shirt in places he thought she couldn't see belying his claim.
And through it all, the Colonel slipped between episodes of lucidity and paranoia.
"Carter?"
She shut her eyes momentarily, before opening them to meet his.
"Sir?"
"What's going on?"
"We're heading back to the gate, sir."
"Why?"
"You aren't well, sir."
She wasn't sure how much more she could take of this. His next words took her by surprise.
"I need to sit down."
She didn't have time to catch him before he hit the ground. Even if she had, she wouldn't have.
She was too scared to go near him.
She held her breath as Daniel hurried to the Colonel's side, her P-90 ready. She didn't need to look to see Teal'c had his staff weapon primed, the sound of the tip opening had been enough warning.
"Daniel."
"I know. Sam, I know." Her teammate was approaching cautiously, zat in hand. They had all learnt their lessons.
"I don't like the look of the injury to his neck." Out of the corner of her eye Sam saw Teal'c flinch slightly at Daniel's words. "It's badly swollen."
She came in closer. Daniel was right, the spot where the staff weapon had hit was red and inflamed. She carefully placed her weapon on the ground near Teal'c, before gesturing Daniel back.
"Colonel, I'm going to check your injuries. Don't try anything. If you do Daniel is under orders to zat us both."
There was no response to her words, and he remained still as she carefully lifted the black T-shirt, wincing at the livid bruise running in a diagonal line from the base of the Colonel's skull, between his shoulder blades, and across his back. It must have been agony for him walking all this way. Then she looked to where Teal'c stood, and with a quick motion pulled the shirt back down. The Colonel wasn't the only one with injuries from this experience.
She took the opportunity to check for further damage, some small cuts to his scalp and hands all she could find.
He would have to do.
"Seen enough, bitch? Done groping?"
She leapt back, standing and wiping her hands on her trouser legs. The eyes that looked up at her were dead and soulless.
"Why don't you come back down here, and untie me? See what a real man is like."
Teal'c's outraged voice came sharply across to them. "Desist, O'Neill, or I will be compelled to gag you."
The only reply was a low laugh.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
They were leading him like a dog now, a rope from his hands, tied in front of him after the last break, to those of that blond bitch. He had tried falling, pulling her off balance, but it hadn't worked. That big bastard was watching him like a hawk.
Now he was concentrating on words to get them off guard. Make them angry. If he could get Teal'c to come over here, he could take him on. He was weak. Daniel wasn't a threat to him, he could barely limp. And Carter – okay he shouldn't underestimate Carter. He thought of the many times she had saved his butt. Couldn't ask for a better teammate.
The ache in his back was killing him. He'd call a rest break, ask Carter to have a look at it. He might have pulled a muscle. He'd get Doc to give him something when they got home.
"Hey, guys, time for a break. Let's take five."
"No, sir,"
He looked at Carter walking in front of him. "Hu'h? What do you mean 'no', Major?"
She stopped and turned, glaring at him. "We can't stop, sir."
It was then that he realised he was tied up like some sort of animal.
"What's going on?"
"Oh shit! Not again!" Something suspiciously like a sob came from Carter's throat, and he stared in consternation.
"Come on, Sam. We have to keep moving." Daniel had come up and placed an arm around Carter's shoulders. He seemed to be limping.
What was happening?
He staggered as the rope was pulled tight once more, dizzy, and completely bewildered.
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Evening
They had had to stop, none of them able to travel the few miles left to the gate. Their nerves were stretched to breaking point. Sam had stopped reacting to Jack, ignoring him completely, her face set into an emotionless mask.
Jack had been weaving drunkenly, slipping, the occasional groan punctuating each near fall. When they agreed to camp, Daniel had helped him down, trying to make sure he was comfortable, totally disconcerted by his whispered thanks.
That had been an hour ago.
"I won't tell you anything. You might as well kill me."
Daniel wrenched his eyes open.
He felt the eyes of the stranger in Jack's body staring at him from out of the darkness.
"You know I'll hunt you down for what you've done to me. I don't forgive easily."
He could hear the truth in the words.
"You aren't a soldier. Why don't you untie me and I'll let you live. You could come with me. You'd be well treated."
He stood, turning his back on the fire and staring into the blackness, the whispers following him.
"Surely you don't want to die? Because I can guarantee that is what will happen if you don't free me now."
"Ignore him Daniel Jackson."
Daniel shot Teal'c a grateful look. He could see that both his companions were awake.
"I am, but it's hard. I know it's Jack, but it's hard to remember that sometimes."
"Guys." Sam gestured for them to move away, and he followed to the opposite side of the fire. "We have a problem." She kept her voice as low as possible, making Daniel strain to hear. "We can't stay awake all night. Daniel had no sleep last night and I only got a few hours. None of us are in any condition to stay awake, but we need to constantly watch Colonel O'Neill. Any suggestions?"
"We cannot zat him again. The effects of the last blast were very severe."
"No, Teal'c we can't do that." Daniel thought for a moment, mentally running through their supplies. "What about the medical kit? Is there something we could use in that?"
"Morphine."
"But he's sick, Sam. We don't know what effect it would have on him."
"I know that, but what other choice do we have? Can you think of anything else? I'll give him a half ampoule now and another when we start again in the morning. That should keep him drugged enough to be docile, but still allow him to walk."
Daniel shook his head. "I don't like it. We could make whatever he has worse."
Her answer was clipped. "I don't like it either, Daniel, but I'll ask you again - what other choice do we have?"
When he had no answer, she stood, getting out the kit and taking the morphine from it. "Okay, let's do this."
They approached him together, Teal'c and Daniel taking an arm each. He bucked against them, his sudden strength almost too much. Daniel ignored the shouted obscenities, surprised at the variety of languages spewing from his friend's mouth, and held on grimly.
"Done." Sam stepped back, the empty needle in her hand.
"You fucking bitch. I'm kill you slowly and enjoy every second of it." Jack shook his head, his shoulders slumping, his words spat out at them. "I'll kill you all..." His voice trailed off into silence.
Teal'c bent forward, examining his bonds. "He had almost freed himself." He held up the now limp hands, showing them the frayed ropes and equally frayed skin. "We have done the right thing."
The soft voice took them by surprise.
"I hurt you. I hurt you all. Oh God! What have I done?" Daniel leaned forward, taking the long body in his arms and felt it shudder against him. "I'm so sorry." Slowly Jack's eyes shut, his last words loud in the silence, a pray as well as a plea. "I don't know what's happening to me. Oh God, help me, please!"
Daniel waited, his two teammates beside him, as Jack slipped into a drugged sleep.
He knew they had done the right thing.
But why did it feel so wrong?