A/N: I cut this chapter off a bit soon, so it's a bit of a cliffie. You can thank writer's block for that…
Chapter Three – Trackers, Wingers and Myrmidons… Oh my!
O'Neill glanced back and watched the gate close behind the rest of his team. "Nice trip?" He inquired of Teal'c.
"The transportation was adequate O'Neill," he replied, "as it always is."
O'Neill stared at him for a moment before clapping him on the back and stepping away. "Good to hear it Teal'c."
"Well…." He said. "This is a cheery little spot in the universe." He watched the mist waft slowly across the ground, driven by a slight breeze. The same breeze played with small, miscellaneous bits of garbage; crumpled bits of paper, grimy cardboard; rolling them through the street. None of the buildings he could see had all of their windows, and he assumed they were abandoned as no one had bothered to board them up. It was as if the only thing left in this city was the fog. He blew out an exasperated sigh, it didn't look like they were going to find anything here, but they had to look anyway. He opened his mouth to give the order to move out when a nightmarish screech ripped open the silence.
Colonel O'Neill's head snapped skyward, followed immediately by his gun. "What in the hell was that?" He shouted to his team, as though one of them might hold the answer. He glanced over his shoulder to see the three of them in an almost identical stance as his own; guns trained on the sky, eyes flicking from one swirl of mist to the next, tense expressions on their faces. The entire team jumped as a series of whistles erupted, followed by the loud, echoing crash of heavily booted feet… feet that obviously belonged to extremely large creatures. Shadows of these enormous creatures began to emerge and take shape in the mists. They slowly lumbered forward until they were close enough that Colonel O'Neill could see their faces, or what he assumed where their faces.
"Alright," he said, "I'm not liking the looks of this. Everybody back to the stargate. Let's not make any more contact with these things than is absolutely necessary."
The rest of the team nodded without taking their eyes, or their guns (or in Teal'c's case, a staff weapon), off of the hulking monsters in front of them. As one they turned, only to find that a line of sickly gray, bony creatures barred the way, creatures that were currently emitting shrill whistles with great excitement. The lumbering giants behind them gave off an answering boom.
Suddenly a very human voice cut through the mayhem. "Hey you! Close your eyes and duck!"
With only a moment of hesitation, SG-1 quickly chose what appeared to be the safer of two options; they followed the shouted instructions and dropped the ground, covering their eyes with their hands.
There was a bright flash that was visible even through their closed eyelids, leaving them momentarily dazed. "C'mon," the same voice said, closer this time. "That'll have them confused and blinded, but it won't last for long." A hand, feminine, but strong, gripped O'Neill's shoulder, pulling him to his feet. He opened his eyes to find a girl, no older than sixteen or seventeen looking at him urgently. "Hurry," she said. "We don't have much time."
O'Neill didn't argue. Whatever those things were, they didn't look friendly, and his number one concern at the moment was getting his team to safety. Without hesitating he yelled, "Let's move it out!" He nodded at the girl still standing next to him, signaling her to lead the way. She returned his nod and after a short series of hand gestures six more children, all appearing to be between the ages of twelve and fifteen, stepped out of the vision-obscuring fog. Their eyes scanned SG-1 quickly before they jogged over to join the girl who appeared to be their leader.
"Nori, Matt, Branen," she said, "you three take the right. Aiden, Trow, Inen, you're on the left. Keep your eyes open. Let's go." The six youths nodded and fell into their designated positions as the still-nameless-girl-in-charge led them away at a brisk jog.
They had only gone about 200 feet when a shrill whistle echoed through the fog. Everyone slowed to a stop and began glancing around. The noise could have come from anywhere. "Tira," the boy named Nori whispered, looking to the girl in charge for direction. Tira cursed to herself. It was his first run topside, she should have sent one of the others back with him to the Home before coming to investigate the circle. Too late now…
"Trackers," she muttered to the man with glasses who looked positively disturbed. "They whistle when they get close."
The whistle came again, louder, more insistent and excited this time. Glancing around her, Tira quickly made up her mind. "Alright, change of plans." She said. "Trackers and Myrmidons aren't exactly world-class climbers, so we head for the rooftops and hope no Ferrets follow us up."
"What about Wingers?" Branen asked.
She turned and gave him a wry smile. "Pray that the fog is thick enough."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," cut in O'Neill. "What the hell is a Winger, and why are we worried about ferrets?"
"I don't have time to explain at the moment, just trust me… follow us and we'll get you out of here, then I promise I'll explain everything to you."
Colonel O'Neill stared at her for a few moments, his gaze hard, before nodding. "Alright. You get us out of here, and I'll save my questions for later. Now can we get a move on?"
Tira gave him a curt nod. "Stay close, and stay low," she said. With a signal to her companions, she stood and moved quickly to an alley about twenty feet to the left of their current position. When she made it to the wall, she reached up and pulled on what appeared to be a fire escape, or something very similar to one. The ladder extended down and was equipped with platforms at every level on the building, as all conventional fire escapes on Earth, though it was circular, and closed in on all sides as opposed to the flat, one-sided fire escape ladders of Earth.
The circular ladder slid with a creak of groaning, rusted metal to the ground. Tira motioned to the group still crouched on the slick black road, they seemed to be trying to hide from the iron gray sky that stretched out above them. At least her team seemed to, and with good reason, she knew. These four strangers didn't seem to know anything about the creatures that hunted them. The Myrmidons, the Wingers, the Ferrets, the Trackers… all were much too familiar to her and her team. It was a strange thought that someone could live everyday of their lives without running from them and fighting with them.
She watched impatiently as the group of ten made their way over to her, all gathering around the ladder in a semi-circle. "Alright," she said. "I'm going up first to check things out. Nobody follows me until I say it's clear. Understand?" she asked, giving Matt a hard look. In reply, he grinned sheepishly and nodded. It appeared they had had a problem with this order before.
Without another word, Tira turned and began to climb the ladder with a deftness and ease that spoke of long practice. When she reached the end of her silent ascent, she slowly stretched upward, until her eyes were even with the top of the roof. She completed a quick scan before easing herself up to crouch on top of the dilapidated building, her movements slow and fluid to avoid attracting the attention of any Wingers she might have missed.
Balancing on the balls of her feet, Tira trained her eyes on the far side of the roof. The mist was thinner here, farther from the ground, and it swirled in skeletal wisps across the cold cement. Visibility was clearer up here….damn. Cocking her head, she turned her eyes and ears to the sodden expanse of the sky above her. There were no signs of the winged-creatures, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. With a sigh and a final, quick scan of her surroundings she leaned over the side of the building and motioned her team and their new companions to climb up, and fast. Here's to hoping they would make it back to the Home safely…
A/N: To all my reviewers out there… (ha ha… I make it sound like I have a lot…. Though I am very grateful for the ones that I do have… hint hint…. )Cari: Your day is Thursday. Worship the greatness that is Thursday. Your Stargate fix happens on Thursday… nudge nudge…wink winkVolim te. Fe'nos tol.
And sadly, for this chapter, she was the only one…..