Chapter 16: Out of the Calm and into the Forest...

Jonas was halfway across the field, when he realized that the sickly feeling hadn't come over him yet and he drew the conclusion that it was something other than the Cora plants that made him feel like that.

Coris watched as Jonas came toward her, and wondered what had made him come, when she heard voices coming from inside the tree-line. Cold voices that made her shiver and she backed up slightly.

Jonas, seeing her motion sped up his walk and still no strange feeling came over him. He breathed a sigh of relief and started off toward her at a run.

Coris saw Jonas speed up and relaxed a bit before moving to him.

From the field's edge Teal'c watched the scene unfolding before him and looked on in interest. Why had the child backed up and why had Jonas Quinn begun running? Perhaps the noise that each of them had claimed to hear was indeed there and only audible to them. Still, what made them speed up?

Teal'c turned to Colonel O'Neill and saw the CO's reaction was roughly the same as his only more...human.

Jonas heard the voices before he came upon Coris.

"Jonas! There's someone in there!" She called, frightened.

Jonas nodded, brought a finger to his lips to shush her, and listened to the voices. There was something ghastly familiar about the sounds of the speaking and he closed his eyes to think back to where he'd heard it in the first place. When the realization dawned on him he jumped and drew in a sharp breath. The first time he had heard those voices was the time he had been attacked back at the campsite.

Just as fast as they began, they stopped and the only sound was that of a silent wind, whistling in his ears. Coris drew closer to him and he could see she was terrified.

"There's someone in there!" She called again.

From the field's edge Major Carter went into full alert. She'd heard the child say someone was in the forest and she turned to Colonel O'Neill who was looking at her cautiously and nodded to confirm that he too had heard the child's call.

"Let's go." O'Neill replied after noticing that Jonas seemed to be fine after traveling through the field of Cora, and he led the way towards them.

"Jonas, report." Jack whispered as he came up behind him.
"I heard someone in the forest, but it's gone now." Jonas replied in his normal speaking voice, taking no precautions that he had been previously.

"You heard someone?" Sam asked.

Jonas nodded, "And I knew who it was, sort of. I've heard them before."

"Them?" Jack questioned.

"Yeah, there were two voices in there."

Coris looked back to the forest cautiously and kept a stony gaze on the tree-line as though she were expecting company at any moment.

Jonas could still hear the clicking noise, he saw that Coris too heard it, the only ones who didn't were the rest of SG-1. He was curious as to why he and Coris were the only ones able to hear the sound.

The voices were gone, and Jonas moved in closer, followed by the remainder of the team and Coris. At the tree-line he peered into the brush to see if he could see anything. When he did, he caught a brief glimpse of a flash of green somewhere inside.

"There, there did you see that?" Jonas exclaimed.

"Uh...no?" Jack tried, stating the truth.

"It was a flash, a momentary flash of green and it was gone."

"I saw it." Coris spoke up.

Jonas pushed through the trees and was standing on damp ground. A moist, Earthy smell floated about. The forest was definitely dark, no questions asked that was obvious. Dense forest, damp ground, no light to dry the ground therefore it was dark. Only it wasn't.

The green flashed again, more pronounced this time and Jonas moved toward it. He hadn't taken half of a step when the sickly feeling began to wash over him again. His knees wobbled and suddenly he felt like a weak kitten. His stomach lurched, causing a sick feeling to rise in his throat. He choked it back and pressed on, despite his discomfort.

SG-1 pushed in behind him and saw his discomfort however, they didn't feel it yet. They stopped their pursuit.

"Jonas, are you all right?" Sam called after her team-mate. Jonas waved a hand as though to dismiss it, and kept walking, timid step, after timid step before he could go no further.
The green light flashed again, closer this time and he squinted against its brightness. He felt the presence of Coris close to him and turned to her to see the look of fear and concern on her face.

He lost balance and hit the ground, feeling the sharp pain in his knees as they hit the forest floor. He felt the moisture soak into the knees of his pants as he clutched his churning stomach.

The green light drew nearer. Jonas saw what looked like a portal of sorts form from it, and it continued to move in on him. He cringed against its approach and tried to stand, but he couldn't. His legs didn't want to work.

"Jonas, What is it?" Came Major Carter's voice from nearby. He turned to her and saw she was fine as were Teal'c and Colonel O'Neill.

"You don't feel that?" He forced out past his constricted throat.

They each shook their heads.

"You don't see that?"

"No, are you all right? You look terrible." Jack stated simply coming toward him but, he stopped five feet away as the strange feeling washed over him as well.

"I feel it now." Jack gasped as he hit the ground. The Colonel looked up and saw the green light Jonas had been referring to come towards him.

"And I see it too." He muttered miserably, voicing how he felt.

Jonas didn't answer, he was laying on the ground, sprawled on his back and he couldn't fight anymore. Closing his eyes, he felt a mist fall over him as his skin began to tingle in an electrifying manner and he simply lay there.

Jack began to shiver uncontrollably as an icy feeling took hold of him and he eyed the approaching threat silently, fighting to stay in control of his pain.

"Sir!" Sam yelled as Jack fell limply to his stomach.

"Carter. Stay back, you and Teal'c get out of this forest and stay as far away as you can. I'll find a way to get Jonas and me out of this, somehow." Jack replied as loud as he was able.

The Major hesitated, but with one final urge from Jack, she agreed to leave and did so.

The Colonel pulled himself over the damp ground to where Jonas lay nearly unconscious and shook him with what strength he could muster.

"Jonas, C'mon, get up, we're getting outta here." The Colonel stated.
Coris came and knelt next to them, her blue eyes sparkling nervously.

"He can't hear you Jack. I already tried." She replied, her voice cold.

The green portal type thing drew nearer and Jack felt a mist cover him as his body began tingling.

Darkness exploded around him and he gave into the beckoning call. He gave in to the sick feeling in his stomach, Colonel O'Neill passed out.