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She woke to the sound of MP-5 fire and the taste of blood in her mouth. Her eyes flew open, heart pounding, to see the backs of her team as they stood above her, firing into the surrounding forest. Looking through their legs, she saw the furtive shapes of more lizards darting through the ferns.
Without a thought, she sat up, searching frantically for her MP-5. It was lying next to one of Daniel's boots, and she grabbed it quickly.
The Colonel was standing near where her head had been, with Teal'c and Daniel on either side of her. Kneeling, she filled the space between Teal'c and Daniel and opened fire in that direction. As if in a dream, she mowed down ferns and lizards alike, aiming at anything that moved.
"Carter. Sam."
Someone was patting her cheek.
Her tongue hurt as she tried to moisten parched lips.
"C'mon, Carter."
"Shall I make my way back to the Stargate to get help, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked.
"No, hold on; I think she's coming around," the Colonel said.
Sam pried her eyes open.
"That's it, Captain," the Colonel said. He was sitting beside her, legs outstretched. His left knee was visibly swollen.
She blinked up at him. "What happened?" she murmured.
"You tell me. One minute you're doing a favorable impression of GI Jane, the next you were face-first in the dirt," the Colonel said.
"Sorry, sir…" She couldn't even think of a reasonable explanation for passing out, much less an acceptable excuse.
He smiled wryly. "It's been a hell of a mission, Captain." He slipped an arm beneath her shoulders and helped her into a sitting position. He raised a canteen to her lips. "Small sips."
She choked as the water spilled into her mouth, and she tried to take the canteen in her own hands but they were shaking too hard to hold it steady.
"Easy," the Colonel said, pulling it away gently. "Just give yourself a second."
She nodded, trying to dispel the fog that seemed to have her in its grasp. "Lizards?"
"Dead or gone. Makes you wonder what they eat when there aren't people around."
"They're obviously cooperative hunters," Daniel said, and Sam saw that he was sitting on a fallen log beside the trail. He looked sweaty, exhausted, and pale. "Given their large numbers, it might indicate that their normal prey is either extremely big or exceptionally dangerous."
"Or both," Teal'c said ominously.
"Yeah… I wasn't going to mention that," Daniel said.
"So, what you're saying is… there might be some really… big…bad-ass dinos around?" the Colonel asked.
Daniel nodded.
"This just keeps getting better and better," the Colonel said, rubbing his chin. He looked at Sam. "How are the ribs?"
In truth, they still hurt, but they felt… She looked down and realized that her vest and BDU jacket were gone, and her t-shirt had been pulled out of her pants. She could feel bandages under the soft fabric. Someone had wrapped her ribs. "Better, sir," she said, blushing, wondering just how much of her they'd seen in the process. The bite on her arm and the burn on her hand had been wrapped as well - in what appeared to be torn bits of her jacket. How long had she been unconscious?
"Wrapping's not too tight?"
"No, sir," she said. "Thank you."
He handed her the canteen again, and this time she was able to hold it steady. She drank her fill, and then handed it back to him.
"Can you continue to the gate, Captain, or should I send Teal'c back for reinforcements?"
Sam wasn't about to be the reason they stopped in a poorly defensible position on a dangerous planet. "I can make it, sir."
He gave her a look that clearly said 'you'd better not be lying to me, Captain,' but he nodded.
Sam took a deep breath and scrambled to her feet before any of them could help her. She felt a little dizzy, but still a bit more steady than she had before passing out. She found her utility vest and MP-5, but her pack was nowhere to be seen. "Where's my pack?" she asked as Teal'c pulled the Colonel to his feet.
"Back in the temple," the Colonel said.
Sam paled. Oh god. She'd left her pack behind and hadn't even realized it. She'd lost Air Force property. There'd be a million forms to fill out and a possible reprimand right there…
"Don't panic," the Colonel said with a wave of his hand. "I would've had you leave it behind, anyway."
"But…" She gestured helplessly back toward the ship.
"Leave it, Carter," he said. "You should drop yours, too, Daniel. We've got another click or two to go, and I don't want anything slowing us down."
Daniel looked like he was about to protest, then changed his mind. "Thank you, Jack," he said, pulling the straps from his shoulders with a grimace. "I'd swear somebody has been adding rocks to it as we've gone along."
"It's the gravity," Sam said, checking to make sure her MP-5 was in working order. "Our muscles have to work harder than they would on Earth, and that will probably seem to amplify as we get more tired." Or lose more blood, she thought silently, although Daniel's wounds seemed to have finally stopped bleeding.
"Right," the Colonel said. "Let's get this show on the road again."
TBC