Sam laid down on the warm rock, yawning and stretching out as she let the sun warm her. It felt good. Through half closed eyes, she regarded her teammates as they relaxed. She was happy she had come, even if she still didn't approve of the Colonel's methods in getting her here. Sam realized she was purring again, as she drifted off to sleep.

Chapter 16

Some time later Sam was startled awake by an odd sound, like panting. Something wet landed on her head and she rapidly blinked sleep from her eyes, coming face to face with a rather large set of teeth and an even bigger jaw. Sam felt her tail growing larger and her fur fluffing out on its own accord as she scrambled back, a low growl emanating from deep in her chest. She cast about frantically looking for the rest of her team, but couldn't see them anywhere through the tall grass.

The animal, and Sam could now see that the jaw and teeth belonged to a very large, black, shaggy dog, growled in reply. It seemed to pick up on her fear as its lips pulled back into a snarl, revealing a number of very large, sharp looking teeth. Sam decided to abandon any thoughts of self- defense, turning tail and beating a hasty retreat, narrowly escaping the snapping jaws that seemed to want a piece of her. She was probably just a tasty morsel to the huge beast.

Seeing her flee, the dog barked, and gave chase. Sam headed for the cover of the trees; her only thought was to get away from the massive monster now hot on her heels. Vaguely, she was aware of shouts and movement as her teammates belatedly realized something was wrong.

In fact, they hadn't been aware of much of anything, until the dog had barked. Some instinct sent Jack shooting to his feet, Teal'c a millisecond after that. Daniel was a little slower, not realizing what was going on at first, but with so many years of being on the team, he never questioned his teammates instincts and jumped to his feet as well. They almost missed the blonde streak that came tearing in their direction, but none of them missed the large black, snarling dog that followed. There was no doubt in any of their minds what, or more precisely who, the dog was chasing.

Sam made a direct beeline for the trees; she didn't even seem to notice the men scrambling to their feet. Either that or she was too intent on her escape to care. The dog was catching up fast when Jack made his move, making a spectacular leap intending to tackle the beast from behind, hoping to avoid the teeth and snapping jaw. Unfortunately, Teal'c also had the same idea as he dove from the opposite direction, and the two collided spectacularly, landing hard in a heap on the ground.

Daniel as the only one still standing was the only one who witnessed Sam make it to the trees, and frantically scramble up the first one she came to. She was nearly too slow, as the dog almost caught her tail in its powerful jaws. Angry at losing its prey, the dog barked and growled, leaping against the base of the tree, as if it were trying to climb after her.

Teal'c and Jack quickly gained their feet, Jack clutching his nose, which had impacted painfully against Teal'c's skull. Teal'c was fine of course, while Jack suspected his nose would probably swell spectacularly. He'd worry about that later though. He looked frantically around for the bit of blonde that was Carter, but all he saw was the massive black dog. Daniel was at his side in an instant, pointing up into the tree at a patch of yellow. Carter had made it up the tree and was on one of the branches, maybe about 15 or 20 feet above the ground. How she made it up there so fast they might never know.

Jack shook himself from his reverie. They still needed to deal with the dog before they could worry about getting Carter down. He didn't want to spook the animal, for fear it would attack one of them. Besides, if Carter had been bitten they would need the dog for testing. Jack made his decision; they'd need help in making sure the dog didn't hurt anyone. He quickly told Daniel to go to the kennels where the base's dogs were kept and get someone to come help.

Within ten or fifteen minutes, Daniel had returned with what looked like the entire staff of the kennels, including Captain Brunsfeld. The dog had not left the tree and had continued to bark and snarl up into the branches, although it was circling the base of the tree and not trying to jump it anymore.

One of the officers was carrying a long pole with a loop on it. He quickly used the pole to capture the dog unawares and several of the men moved in, hustling the dog into a large cage Jack hadn't noticed them bring. Soon the dog was bundled off to the veterinary clinic.

Now it was Carter's turn. Jack looked up into the branches of the tree, trying to peer through the leaves to catch a glimpse of her yellow-blonde fur. "Carter?" He called. A pathetic yowl reached his ears.

"There O'Neill." Teal'c pointed out where Carter had taken refuge. She wasn't far from the main trunk of the tree. "Carter, you can come down now, the dog is gone." Jack called to her. He watched as Sam moved to rise, but getting up a tree was a lot easier than getting down as they all quickly learned.

There was a collective gasp from onlookers as one of Sam's feet slipped and they thought for a moment she'd lose her balance, but somehow she remained clinging to the tree. A second yowl sounded from above, this one even more pathetic than the last one. Looked like Sam was well and truly treed.

A/N: Evil aren't I? Bad dragon. Poor wittle Sam. And now, I will leave all of you well and truly hanging. (heheh pun intended) What will happen to our furry little Sam? Well she be rescued? Will she fall? Will she climb down on her own (how boring) What will happen next? And now I run from the rioting villagers. (hides)