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Chapter Six

The patrols opened fire and, much to my dismay, the wooden hole punches turned out to be laser weapons of some sort. Teal'c and Daniel immediately returned fire at the patrols. I fired one clean shot into the leader's shoulder. He didn't flinch. I didn't wait around to see what sort of magical powers he had that rendered him impervious to pain. I gave to order to run for cover.

The woods weren't that far off, but we had to stop a few times along the way to return fire. I gave up on my handgun and turned back to the P-90. Carter was holding on for dear life and, although I could barely hear her wail of terror over the noise of the gun, I knew it was there. By the time we were tearing through the forest, dodging laser blasts, my confidence in my decision was sorely bruised. I'd started to wonder if I could possibly keep Carter safe. It even occurred to me that she might have been safer going with Loh'ran's goons.

Luckily, as we ran deeper into the forest, it became clear that the patrols were not trained for combat outside of their town. They were still pursuing us, but their shots were few and far between and even those seemed random. We stopped in a particularly dense cluster of trees to regroup.

"Are we sure we're going in the right direction?" I hadn't forgotten the miserable march to the town that morning. I didn't want to spend hours running in circles through the woods.

Teal'c nodded. "I have verified our path with the GPS device. We are on target for the Stargate."

"Jack, Sam's awfully quiet. Is she ok?"

I looked down, ashamed to realize that I'd been so wrapped up in running since the firefight had died down that I hadn't even thought to check on her. I could only see the top of her head. She'd ducked down into my jacket.

At the mention of her name, her head slowly peeked out. "Jack?"

"She looks like a turtle!" Daniel started to laugh.

Carter tucked her head back down and I smiled. I had fond memories of Charlie being so young that closing his eyes meant the danger went away. I patted her back through my jacket. "We're going home, Sam. Go back to sleep."

We made it back to the gate relatively quickly, considering the terrain and the fact that it was pitch dark. Carter started to squirm and I figured she was about done with being contained, but there was no way we would survive if we went at a three-year-old's pace. Not to mention the thick blanket of thorns that covered the ground. I'd been stuck in the leg several times by the exceedingly long things and I wasn't about to put Carter through that.

Daniel began dialing home. I had my hand on my GDO, just waiting for the second the gate opened. Teal'c stood with his back to us, prepared for an attack as soon as the open gate gave away our position. Carter began squirming something fierce. I figured she was pretty much stuck where she was, so I didn't pay any attention to her.

Unfortunately, in her attempts to free herself, she realized that the bottom of my jacket was not sealed and, after accidentally kicking me in the ribs, she managed to shimmy her way loose. I didn't even realize what she'd done until I felt the sudden rush of cold air in my newly loose jacket.

"Damn it! Sam!"

She hadn't moved far from where she'd fallen and I assumed she'd either hurt herself or was stunned by the drop. Just as I reached down to grab her, the gate roared to life. Sam's eyes opened wide in terror. I watched as her face crumbled, almost in slow motion, and she began to scream. Her scream was deafening, especially since I was doubled over to lift her. I froze for a second, contemplating how much damage had been done to my hearing.

A second was all she needed to run for it. And damn, she was quick for a three-year-old. I hollered at Daniel to send through the code and hold the gate open for us. I knew there wouldn't be time to redial; the patrols were probably already closing in on us.

Luckily, I was tall enough to make up the distance in only a few strides. I grabbed her arm to pull her with me, but in true tantrum fashion, she dropped to the ground and started to wail again. Honestly, screaming children have always put me on edge, even more so when they choose inopportune times to do so. Seriously, if a kid wants to scream and yell at the grocery store, fine, whatever. But I had no patience for Carter at that moment because people were once again shooting at us and had plenty of light, thank you Stargate, to aim very well. I put myself between her and the patrols and grabbed her arms.

She promptly leaned over and bit me. I guess she'd learned that one young.

She got a taste of her own medicine at that point; I let out a scream that probably woke the dead. I swear, there's something about kid teeth - they're the sharpest damn things in the entire universe. I pulled my hand free just as a blast passed inches over my head.

"Samantha, this is not the time. Get up!" At the time, I didn't even feel bad for yelling at her. She was actively trying to get all four of us killed.

Teal'c was doing his best to cover us, but the patrols were coming at us from all sides. "O'Neill, we must hurry."

"Jack, what are you doing over there?" Daniel's voice sounded annoyed.

I grabbed Carter, ignoring her kicking and screaming and the pain in my hand. The girl had actually drawn blood. "What the hell do you think I'm doing, Daniel?" She was putting up one hell of a fight for a kid; I would have been amazed, except that it was so damn frustrating. "Carter, I do not have time to deal with your water phobia." I came dangerously close to losing my grip on her and I feared she was actually going to get free again. "Damn it, Carter, if you stop it, you can have cake for breakfast. How's that sound?"

Carter's screams only got louder as we got closer to the gate; I didn't think she even heard my attempt at negotiation. She wasn't offering up very many actual words, mostly just terrified screams, but I did finally catch one - drown. She thought she was going to drown. Or that I was going to drown her. Either way, it was unfounded, but I didn't have time to comfort her. I just took one of her hands and told Daniel to take the other. The patrols were closing around us and Carter's screams finally stopped.

I looked down at her, feeling my gut twisting at the sight of her so scared that she couldn't even scream anymore. She was clutching desperately at my hand and I knew she was doing the same to Daniel. I didn't want to destroy the trust that she'd so blindly placed in me. "Close your eyes, baby."

"O'Neill!"

I didn't hear the rest as Daniel and I pulled Carter through the gate. Teal'c was half a second behind us. I heard the iris slide closed behind us and let out a sigh. The resounding silence was a wonderful change from just moments before. Too bad the nightmare was going to continue. I could only thank God that we'd gotten through without any injuries. My eyes slipped down to Carter and I mentally corrected myself. At least, we'd gotten through without any fatal injuries.