The familiar headache was back when Gallagher woke up and he opened his eyes to find that he was in one of the rooms of the lockhouse shackled to the wall. He wondered where Treya was and if she was okay.
"So you're awake," someone said. Gallagher tried to see who it was but it was too dark to see and the speaker was in the shadows.
"You really shouldn't have come here, you know," the familiar voice said, as the speaker moved into the sliver of light coming through the window.
"Toran, you bastard!" Gallagher ground out. "Get me out of these chains."
"No, I don't think so, Gallagher," Toran said. "You really should not have gotten mixed up with that woman. She's a problem, you know. I can't have her creating more problems, now, can I?"
"What kind of a problem is she," Gallagher asked. "What could she possibly do to you?"
"She knows too much. I left her alone for the most part, thinking that it was her husband that was the real problem. I tried to warn that old fool, but would he listen? No he didn't. I had to take action." He was moving closer to Gallagher as he spoke and now stood directly in front of him.
"He didn't learn a thing, though," Toran continued as he held out a knife, the blade shone in the light as he twisted it back in forth in front of Gallagher. "Even after his daughter got sick, he hadn't learned."
Gallagher struggled to stand but his legs wouldn't obey. "What could he learn from his sick daughter," he ground out while the sweat popped out on his forehead as he tried to pull his hands out of the chains.
"It was a warning to let him know that he was up against something he should not be messing with," Toran said. "He still didn't learn, so I had to stop his efforts."
"You infected the child?" Gallagher asked shaking his head to clear the cobwebs. Something wasn't right here. "Are you saying that you are the cause of this plague?"
"Now Treya has decided to take up her husband's cause and do you know that she hasn't heeded my warnings either! You would think she would have learned by her eldest daughter's death."
"You son of a bitch!" Gallagher roared straining against the chains to strangle the pathetic bastard. "You killed all those people, didn't you? All those people who are dying, it was your fault!"
"All for the good of the planet," he said. "These people were bent on destroying our lives and someone had to step in. It's a shame that your death will be a lot quicker than those suffering from the plague. I can't have you talking to anyone now, can I?" The blade was placed on Gallagher's throat
"How did you do it," Gallagher asked hoping to keep this guy talking. "Did you create the virus? How?"
"It's not really a virus," Toran said, "not at first. Once it is injected into a person, their bodies start to fight it and it fights back. I was really pleased to see how well it works."
"Why do you want to kill these people?" Gallagher asked trying to understand.
Toran just smiled and dragged the tip of the blade down Gallagher's chest, pressing into the skin when the blade reached his ribcage. "Enough of your questions," Toran announced. "It's my turn. What did the woman tell you?"
"What woman?" Gallagher responded.
The blade sliced through to his stomach, causing him to wince with pain. "Treya, Mr. Gallagher. What did she tell you last night?"
"She asked me for some medicines to save her daughters. I told her I couldn't help her and she left." He groaned when the knife was brought up to his face and sliced his cheek.
"What else did she tell you, Gallagher? Did she tell you where the rebels meet? Tell me everything," Toran said with an evil smile. He took the knife and placed the blade on Gallagher's thigh. "Did you know that even though you can't move your legs you can still feel pain in them? Do you really want to find out if this is true or not?"
"We only talked about her children, that's all," Gallagher said unable to take his eyes off of the blade. "Nothing else," he said again.
Toran said nothing in reply to that, just smiled as he pushed the blade into Gallagher's thigh and pulled it down to the knee. Gallagher cried out and tried to pull away from the blade, but was unable to get far due to his paralyzed legs and the wall he was leaning against.
"Did I lie to you?" Toran asked as he held the bloody blade up for Gallagher to see. "Hurts doesn't it? Shall we try this again?" The knife was brought back down to the wounded leg and Toran pressed the blade on the other side of his thigh.
"What did she tell you?" Toran asked again. "Where are the rebels headquartered?"
"We only talked about her children, I swear," Gallagher said. "She wanted me to save her children." Oh God, did that hurt he thought as Toran sank the knife into his leg. "Look, please. I swear we only talked about her children. Nothing else."
Toran stopped carving into Gallagher's leg and turned to the door when it opened. Gallagher saw the madman who shot him earlier standing there holding what looked like a crowbar and he had a very bad feeling about it.
"Bring it to me," Toran commanded. Taking the item from the madman, Toran turned and held it up for Gallagher to see. The end that was not being held was glowing red. "No," Gallagher said shaking his head slowly as he stared at the crowbar. "No, please…"
"It should stop the bleeding," Toran said as he too turned to stare at the glowing rod. "Of course, if you would rather tell me what it is I want to know….," his words trailed off as he looked expectantly at Gallagher.
"Go to hell," Gallagher spat at Toran. "We only talked about her children."
Toran lowered his hand toward Gallagher's leg and laid the hot crowbar on the cut in his thigh and Gallagher screamed.
Somewhere in the haze of his pain, Gallagher thought he heard his name being called out. "Daniel?" he said.
Toran turned toward the door and ordered Madman to go see what was going on, then turned back to Gallagher. "Perhaps you will be willing to talk after you have had time to think about what else I can come up with to make you talk." He turned and hurried out the door as the sound of gunshots rang out in the hallway.
Gallagher tried to come to his feet, but his legs still refused to budge. He turned his attention to his arms and tugged on the chains trying to release his hands while the sounds of a battle rang out in the hallway. He slumped down and gave into the haze of his pain, knowing his friends had come to get him. Let them take care of this, he thought and tried not to think of the pain in his leg. He looked down despite his efforts not to and saw that there was blood all over the place. His left leg was totally covered with blood and the trail the knife took down his stomach was oozing red. "What a mess," he said to himself.
He looked up when the door opened and was relieved to see Carter standing there. She ran over to him, pulling out her canteen as she knelt in front him. "Jack, oh God, Jack," she said. "What'd they do to you?" She had tears in her eyes, Gallagher noticed and he vaguely wondered why.
He took a drink from the canteen and leaned back against the wall as she assessed his wounds and started first aid. Daniel came over about then, "Toran's dead and the survivors have been taken into custody. How's Jack?" he asked, as he pulled some bandages from the kit.
"Pretty bad, I think," Carter said tying a tourniquet around Jack's thigh. "He has several deep cuts in his leg and on his stomach and it looks like they burned his thigh with something."
"With this?" Daniel asked as he held up the crowbar, which still glowed slightly.
Gallagher pulled back in horror when he saw the crowbar, but relaxed when he realized who it was that was holding it.
"Get rid of it Daniel," Carter ordered. "Jack, it's okay. We're here now. You're going to be okay, can you hear me?"
"Yes ma'am," he whispered. Things were getting pretty hazy, but he needed to know. "Treya?" he said struggling to sit up.
"Sit back Gallagher," Carter said pushing him back to the wall. "Treya is alive, she had been hurt but she is still alive. You'll see her soon, I promise."
"How badly?" Gallagher wanted to know. He needed to know.
"I couldn't tell, but she was walking out the door when I saw her," Daniel said. "Just sit back and take it easy." He turned to Sam and said, "We need to get him back to the Gate fast."
Teal'c's face came into view at that moment and Gallagher gave him a weak smile. "Hey T."
Teal'c came over and used a key to unlock the chains and Gallagher would have fallen on his face if Daniel and Carter hadn't caught him. Teal'c grabbed Gallagher's arm and tried to lift him to a standing position, but Gallagher knew that wasn't going to work. "They knocked me out with a dart before bringing me here. I can't move my legs."
Teal'c remedied that by reaching down and picking Gallagher up to carry him out of there. "Well yeah, there's that," Gallagher said.