Dark Embrace Chapter Three
There was only the raw instinct to escape left; rational thought had been robbed from him. Jack ran though the hallways shooting anything that approached till he made his way to what seemed to be an entrance way. Two quick blasts of the staff weapon into a wall and daylight poured in. Staggering to the outside world he started down the path that led to the village, collapsing to his knees under the warming sun, the last of his blood staining the pathway. He could go no further but he would die in the sunlight.
Ivanyn did not want to answer the questions but Daniel and Sam were relentless. How long since the demon had arrived, had he heard a name of the demon, how could they get to the demon?
It has only been within the last three hundred years that the demon had appeared in what sounded like a Goa'uld cargo vessel. The castle was created with the labor of many villagers. Many were said to have disappeared at night and were found later drained of blood. The Goa'uld were not the ones who had brought them here or had done so and forgotten them for centuries. The only names Ivanyn had heard was past down in legends as Cymazotz.
"Cymazotz? No, the pronunciation has changed it maybe Camazotz." he was momentarily pleased with himself before realizing he was loosing grip on the objective.
"That name is known to me." Teal'c began wincing in pain. His symbiote was distressed. "It is the name of a lesser Goa'uld but one of an evil that even disgusted the other system lord. They banished her."
"What could she have done?" Sam questioned continuing to look outside, waiting for the full dawn.
"Sam, Camazotz was the Mayan bat god." Daniel explained heavily.
"Yes, the Obyri, the Wampry." Ivanyn nodded his vigorously.
"The what?" Sam gasped.
"Camazotz was represented by the vampire bat of Central and South Americas, and the word OBYRI is one of the first words every associated with the legends of the undead, Nosferatu, Vampires."
"Oh god!"
"What is a vampire?" Teal'c demanded, his symbiote agitated to the point of physical pain.
Suddenly all were distracted by the sound of distant explosion. The three were outside. A section of the castle wall exploded out and she could see a figure staggering through the gaping hole. The figure was in OD green BDU's and had silver hair.
Teal'c and Sam were on the run up the pathway.
"Daniel get to the gate and call for help." Sam screamed over her shoulder. It was almost a half a mile before they got to him.
Jack was still on his knees leaning back swaying the only thing keeping him upright was the staff weapon in his hand. He collapsed face first into the dirt just as they both skidded to a stop.
Sam tried to turn him over gently, his eyes burst open, and he pushed her away. His arms tumbled back to his chest eliciting a gasp and then a coughing spasm frothy blood seeped from the corner of his mouth. The multiple neck wounds were still seeping blood matting his torn black t-shirt to his heaving chest ribboned with jagged gashes. The left side of his face was already a purple pulp of shattered bones.
"It's alright sir. Be still" Carter tried to soothe him and calm him, but it wasn't alright. He was sweating and his skin was clammy and gray his lips were tinted blue.
"Daniel!" She keyed in her com unit. "Have the General send a medical team. It's not good."
Teal'c was kneeling next to her pulling out the emergency medical supplies. They had to stop the bleeding from his neck wounds, helpless and clumsy not knowing which wounds to treat first.
In Jack's mind he heard those same words spoken over again, the same voice. Was it going to happen again? He had no energy to fight he could feel what life he had left dripping out of his neck. It was becoming impossible to breathe, the pain of shattered ribs familiar. Was someone sitting on his chest?
"Don't try to talk sir; you've been injured, just lay still."
Again the same words, the same voice, different surroundings. "Goa'uld" he managed to whisper, but was it a statement or an accusation?
To Teal'c and Sam it was an eternity before Janet and a team of medics
came running towards them.
"Oh, g-d." Daniel gasped a hand to his mouth as he looked at the inert figure of his friend. Jack was so pale, so lifeless, even worse than when they had found him in Antarctica. His face and neck were smeared, his chest caked, the rest of him stained with and reeking of the copper scented blood.
Janet assessed the wound, from all signs he was at least Class III on the hemorrhage and blood loss scale. She had to get the bleeding stopped. It wasn't all from the neck wound as much as he was bleeding internally.
The Colonel was in tachycardia, the blood loss was at least 2000cc and from all other signs he had a flailed chest, the chest wall no longer rigid due to the broken ribs was sagging and collapsing his lung. .. She intubated him the spot, Sam taking over the duties of the Ambu bag breathing for her C.O. The chest tube would have to wait till they got him back to the SGC; at least she hoped it could.
Captain CJ O'Conner, her best triage nurse, had two units of O-neg going and was already inserting the large bore needle for the Ringers lactate. They had to bring his nearly non existent blood pressure back.
The two specially trained paramedic S.F.'s carried the Colonel to the awaiting Stargate.
Jack coded twice before Janet and CJ had him stable. Six more units of blood were on board and the necessary drugs to bring up his blood pressure and maintain it. The lung was re-inflated, the ribs were pieced back together, and the x-ray of the face showed multiple fractures through the infraorbital and zygomatic arches.
The Colonel could wait a day or two to stabilize before she brought in the plastic surgeon, for consultation as the swelling would have to subside to get a clear idea of the extent of the injury and if surgery was going to be indicated. Didn't he have enough scars?
Daniel brought Janet and C.J. fresh coffee as they both sat back and allowed themselves a few moments to relax.
"What caused all the blood loss?" Daniel asked winced at the details he knew he didn't want to, but had to hear.
"They were as much puncture wounds as they were tears, and right over the jugular vein. Our Colonel was lucky you rescued him when you did. If he had lost anymore blood. . . ." Janet shook her head.
"But we didn't rescue him, he broke out of that castle himself. "
"With that great of a blood loss, and a flailed chest I don't think so Daniel." C.J. added, too tired to keep up the pretense of formality.
"No, he shot his way out; I mean we don't know what happened until he wakes up. Can I . . . ." He gestured out to the ward where Jack had been settled.
"There are chairs waiting for you." Janet smiled knowing that the rest of the Colonel's team would begin their vigil.
"I'll be in to check on him, and you." CJ put a hand on Daniels arm affectionately as he walked past her. She stretched out all five foot four of her body in a tired yawn, scrubbed a hand through her unruly curly blond hair, and let her eyelid close on cornflower colored eyes.
The day stretched into night. Jack slept and his team sat vigil. The few times he stirred it seemed he would break through the veil of darkness and reach up to the light of lucidity. But each time he would moan in anguish, bitterly repeating one word, no, and would fall short of consciousness.
The neck wounds had been severe; deep puncture wounds over the jugular vein and though Janet had stitched his torn neck up as neatly as possible, the fact remained that it looked as if he had been systematically attacked by an animal. They had taken him of the respirator soon after the initial surgery because of the massive trauma to the left side of his face. If it wasn't for the fact he was breathing well on his own Janet had contemplated performing a tracheotomy but how could she put another hole in him?
Teal'c as always had taken up near residence at the side of the bed, waiting in Sphinx concentration for any signs of consciousness from his Tauri friend and would only leave when his need to Kelnoreem became imperative. Daniel had gone off to sleep in on base quarters. Sam had relieved Teal'c for a short time. When she thought no one could see she touched Jack, just a quick touch of his bare arm, to feel the warmth of his flesh, the understated muscular strength.
"I'm here sir." She whispered tracing an old scar on his right upper arm, from the trinium arrow Tonane had shot through the wormhole. Jack's heart rate suddenly increased. "It's okay sir." She tried to reassure but his heart rate continued to speed up from 64 beats to 180 climbing to 200 as he opened his one eye and focused on her.
"No." He gasped and convulsed, the alarm going off on the heart monitor.
Janet was in the room, and pushed Sam away quickly checking out his vitals and injecting another dose of pain killers. Before she had to resort to full Code Blue, the Colonel stabilized, his heart rate faster than normal for him but within a tolerable range. Janet tried to reassure Sam that Jack would be okay, but she looked like she had been slapped. The blonde Major left the infirmary confused and dejected