Chapter 25: Something Stirring

Sam cast Jack a furious gaze that gained a puzzled expression from the Colonel who had made his way to his feet and was watching Sam and Teal'c carefully.

"What? It's a nice DVD player, honest. It plays just as though it were new." O'Neill replied after carefully surveying Carter's glare.

"It's not that, Sir." Sam said, her voice harsh.

"Then what?" O'Neill questioned, forgetting about making jokes for the moment. This was clearly bothering Sam.

"How can you just accept this and go on as if nothing happened? Colonel, you have been marked for death, and I can't believe you're willing to give up!" Sam replied, her voice was frustrated as well as a little surprised.

Jack held up a hand. "Carter, I'm not going to give up, but as of now, there's nothing we can do except hope that the marking has nothing to do with dying. Right now, we have to get this sample back to Fraser." Jack replied, his voice calm and reassuring.

"Yes, Sir." Sam replied quietly.

Teal'c turned his attention quickly to the cave entrance, his face set in determination.

"O'Neill, I believe that there is someone outside." Teal'c replied.

"Who?" Jack asked, without thought.

"I do not know, they are outside." Teal'c said simply.

"Right." Jack whispered, cast a glance back to the cavern tunnels, and then swept his eyes right to rest momentarily on Carter, and he smiled gently. She did not return the smile, her attention was focused fully on the entrance, weapon drawn, face showing her concern, anxiety and various other emotions.

O'Neill walked up next to Teal'c, and locked his eyes on the entrance, waiting for the visitor outside to come inside.

Major Greer pressed himself against the outer wall of the cavern and slid toward the entrance. The cold, hard stone of the cave drove into his back almost as if it were trying to push him away. There was a definite negative vibe in the area. Anyone could pick up on it without a problem. It hung in the air like a thick quilt. Everywhere he turned, it felt as though something was watching him, his neck prickled in warning, and goose bumps rippled up his arms. A heavy feeling rested in the pit of his stomach, a feeling that was clearly one of warning. All of his senses were telling him to take his team and run, to screw rescuing SG-1 and just get out of there, let SG-1 find their own way out.

His senses may have told him one thing, but his personality told him the total opposite. He'd never left a man behind, and he wasn't planning on starting now. He slowly made his way toward the entrance, his heart hammering in his chest, and his nerves telling him of danger. He readied his weapon, and pushed it into the entrance. From within, he heard Teal'c's staff weapon preparing to fire.

"Colonel O'Neill, don't fire." Greer called calmly.

He heard Jack order Teal'c to lower his weapon, and breathed in relief.

"Major Greer?" Jack called.

"Yes Sir. General Hammond sent us to check up on you." Greer said and motioned for his team to come.

He ducked into the cave, and his eyes wandered to the three members of SG-1, weapons hanging at their sides, gripped tightly in their hands in case the voice they'd heard didn't belong to Greer.

The rest of SG-3 followed their leader inside and their eyes also scanned over SG-1. Colonel O'Neill raised a hand in greeting.

"Glad you could drop in." O'Neill said simply.

"Sir, you're scratched." Sergeant Greeley replied. She pointed to the marks on Jack's forehead.

"That's what I thought." O'Neill said casually, then shot a curious glance toward Major Carter, who didn't seem to have noticed his eyes on her.

"What do you mean?" Major Greer asked curiously.

"Three scratches. Apparently I've been marked for death." Jack replied darkly.

"Sir, with all due respect, if that were the case, shouldn't you be dead by now?" Lieutenant Olton questioned, his light eyes suspicious.

"I don't know, but I'm not complaining. We should get back to Earth and give Fraser the sample we collected. She might be able to devise a way to help Jonas from it, and if need be, help me." Jack said, his voice unusually quiet.

O'Neill led the way to the gate, but they were stopped as they emerged from the forest when a group of people nearby saw them come out.

"They have returned. Did you find what you were searching for?" One of the people asked, it was a young man with eager green eyes and windswept brown hair.

"Yes, we got it." Jack replied, his voice sounding a bit tired.

"Then you encountered the walking shadow and escaped unharmed?" Asked another man, younger than the first.

"More or less." Jack said.

"Look, he is not unharmed, he has been marked!" Called a woman who had been flirting with the green-eyed man until he turned his attention to the human coming from the forest.

"He has, and he is not dead? By all rights he should be." The second man replied.

"We really have to get going. We've got a delivery to make." Jack said, attempting to croon his way out of the uncomfortable conversation that had just come up.

"You cannot go, you have survived the mark. Johnston will wish to see you, you are the only one who has ever survived." The woman called as Jack turned and walked away.

"Actually, that's not true. A friend of mine was marked twice in a matter of twenty-four hours and he's fine." Jack said, stopping. He sounded exhausted, and there wasn't a solid reason why he should've been.

"That cannot be! It is impossible!"

"Is not." O'Neill muttered.

"It is."

"It's not impossible. If that were the case, my friend would've died, twice. We really have to be going." Jack replied and began to walk again, his pace was quicker than previously, and the others hurried to keep up.

"Doctor, you have to let me go." Jonas said, his voice was pleading.

"You know that I can't do that, Jonas." Fraser replied, not looking up from the clipboard she was writing on.

"You have to." Jonas pleaded.

"Jonas, I can't. It's no use arguing, my decision stands." Fraser replied.

Jonas sighed furiously, and pounded his fist into his mattress. Fraser made no movement.

"Doctor Fraser to the gate room, doctor Fraser to the gate room, immediately!" Came a surprised voice through the communication system.

Fraser's heart caught in her throat and she looked up in alarm at her name and the mention of the gate room. That could only mean one thing, there was a medical emergency that required her instant attention. An emergency that ultimately had to do with one of the SG teams that were currently off world, which also meant that there was a risk of the injured party being SG-1or SG-3. She tossed her clipboard aside and hurried out.

"Nurse, watch him. Don't let him leave!" Fraser called to the young man that was working around the infirmary.

"Yes, doctor." He said, his voice not loud enough for Fraser to hear, for she was already gone.

Jonas had shot to a sitting position upon hearing the urgent call and now breathed rapidly, his heart beating with anxiety. Had he been too late to warn them about Colonel O'Neill? He made a move to get up, but the man who'd been left in charge was at his side halting him with a hand as soon as he'd made the move.

"I can't allow you to leave and you know it." The nurse said, voice sharp.

At that instant, a terrifying flash rushed through Jonas's mind, a flash that showed him doing whatever it took to get out of the infirmary and up to the gate room. In that flash, he was quite sure he'd heard the young man breathe his last breath before falling silent, Jonas hurrying away without a look back. With this flash came a rush of extreme excitement and joy at committing a murder on an innocent stand by who hadn't been expecting it.

Jonas pushed the flash from his mind, and stared into the bright blue eyes of the young man holding him back, he resisted the urge to carry out the flash that he had been cursed with, and instead fell heavily back onto the bed with a loud, frustrated sigh. Despite his frustrated appearance, Jonas was scared, and not just by the urgent call for doctor Fraser. He felt as though something inside him was stirring, and he had no control over it and it was one of the most disconcerting feelings that Jonas had ever had.