Chapter 6: The Morning After

Bright shafts of sunlight, bathed the entire room in a soft yellow glow. Jonas awoke to the feeling of safety. It was as though the events of the previous night had never taken place. He quickly got out of bed and made his way to the locked window.

Without a thought, he undid the lock and slid it open, allowing a gust of fresh morning air to swirl in. His gaze drifted to the ledge of the window, where he saw distinct impressions of scratches and what appeared to be gnawing. Something had been trying to get in, luckily it hadn't succeeded, for Jonas would've been anything, but prepared for it.

He recalled hearing the scratching, and he also recalled ignoring it and dismissing the sounds as something only in dreams. He was glad that he'd locked the window, he didn't want to think of what would have happened if he hadn't bothered to lock up. It was at that moment that all of the secure feelings of safety abandoned him, leaving only a cold, unsettling churning in the pit of his stomach.

Still pondering over the events, he cast his gaze downward, and saw a heap of cloth laying on the ground below his window. He looked closer, and saw a struggled movement nudge the cloth. Upon closer inspection, he realized that the heap was a person, but the person hadn't moved the cloth, it had only been the wind tugging at the heap of material.

Still, he had to find out if the person was still alive. He hurried to unlock the door and rushed down to the front doors, where he worked quickly to undo those locks. It took a good seven minutes to just escape into the yard. From there, he hurried around to his window and rushed to drop down beside the unmoving form.

He gently turned the form over so he could see the face, and when he succeeded, the man opened dull, blue eyes. The sparkle of blue in the man's eyes, was constantly fading as the life was slowlydrained from him.

"Hey! I need some help out here!" Jonas yelled, hoping that anyone would hear him and answer to his calls. When nobody came, he turned his attention back to the slowly fading man.

"What happened?" Jonas asked softly, bringing the man's head to rest on his knees.

"It is watching you . . . waiting . . . evil . . . no escape." The man rasped out.

"What?" Jonas asked.

"Watching." The man broke off into a gurgling sound.

"What's watching? What is it?" Jonas yelled desperately.

"Evil." With that, the man's eyes glazed over completely, and his head fell limp against Jonas's leg.

Jonas gently placed the man back, flat on the ground. As he studied the still face, he recognized the man as the one that had been pulled into the bushes the night before, and now, he lay dead, leaving with only a jumbled warning that Jonas couldn't explain.

It was then that a maid came around the corner. She surveyed the sight before her, screamed, and rushed to the fallen man's side, roughly shoving Jonas out of the way. Jonas tumbled back, and landed ungracefully on his back.

"What did you do to him?" The woman screamed.

Jonas looked at her with wide eyes. "Nothing. I didn't do anything, I was trying to help him. It was no use. He was nearly dead when I found him. If I had been a little earlier, something might have been able to be done, but I didn't get here in time."

The woman cast him a pale look, her face softened, and she managed a weak smile, her brown eyes danced with sadness.

"I am sorry. I should not have blamed you. There was nothing you could have done. He has been marked, see here?" She pointed to a strange, jagged shaped cut on the dead man's cheek. "It is the mark of the taken, all who are taken, die. Nothing can be done for them."

"What do you mean?" Jonas asked slowly, he thought he understood, but he wanted to be certain.

"All who are taken, are branded with this mark. All who receive this mark die. It is the mark of the walking shadow. The shadow has been wreaking havoc on our village for many days now. It has been murdering our people. However, it is only seen after dark." She said.

"Yeah, we met it. It doesn't seem too friendly." Jonas replied.

"You are fortunate to have met up with it and survived, there are not many who do."

"Yeah, I think we've figured that out by now."

"Come, I will call men to come and pick up the body. You may want to remain near here. They will wish to ask you some questions."

"Of course, I'm not going to go anywhere." Jonas assured her.

She smiled and got to her feet. Jonas returned the smile and also got to his feet. He wandered around the yard until the sounds of footsteps were heard approaching.

"Hey, it's a dead guy!" Jack called, slightly surprised.

Jonas turned to the voice, and saw O'Neill, walking in a circle around the dead man.

"What happened to him?" Jack asked.

"Walking shadow." Jonas answered simply.

"Ah, well, that's . . . different. It looks like he took quite a beating, take a look at that cut. Someone whacked him a good one." O'Neill said.

Jonas watched him with a silent question, and was once again drawn away by the sound of approaching footsteps.

This time, two men in brown outfits followed the young maid around the corner, carrying a stretcher between them.

"Who found the body?" One of the men asked.

"That man, right there." The maid replied, pointing toward Jonas. She gave him a reassuring smile, and Jonas nodded in thanks.

"Sir, I am going to ask you a few questions, while Gregor prepares the body for transport. Come over this way, please." The man replied. Jonas followed, and so did Colonel O'Neill.

Jack wanted the details, and he wanted all the information that he could get. He wanted to know exactly what Jonas had seen, and then he wanted to get the meet and greet over with and check back in with General Hammond to report the situation. He just knew that Hammond would jump for joy when he heard what SG-1 had walked into this time.

A/N: Okay so the chapter wasn't as long as I'd planned. Nonetheless, let me in on your thoughts. I'd really appreciate it. Truly, I would, so leave me your thoughts, please!