"Is it bad?"

The Jaffa that were supporting Sheppard between them shook their heads in unison, but John's head lolled back limply, plainly telling Melony and the others that he wasn't at one hundred percent, either. In the light of the now roaring fire they could see that Sheppard, was covered in blood – hopefully it wasn't his, since Melony and pretty much everyone else were also drenched with the stuff – but there was no way of knowing without checking him out.

"Doc…"

Cain looked up from where he'd been sitting, his face pale and his eyes still wide from fear.

"Yes?"

Ford rolled his eyes at the response, and pulled one of the blankets Mitchell was using for sleeping over, while Teyla gestured for the Jaffa to lay Sheppard down on it.

"Are you hurt?" Melony asked patiently.

"No. Just a little shaken, I guess…"

"Colonel Sheppard needs to be looked at."

"What?" Cain looked over at Sheppard, who hadn't moved or spoken, and seemed to realize that he was supposed to do something about that. "Oh! Yes, I'll do that…"

He glanced over at the nearest dead cat, and swallowed convulsively.

"I need my bag…"

"Ford?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

Ford moved to the place Cain had been sleeping, and pulled his medical bag out from the pack, bringing it over and handing it to the young doctor. Still looking a bit shell-shocked, Cain carried it over and knelt next to Sheppard.

"He's unconscious."

Ronon gave Mitchell an incredulous look, but she just shook her head. It wasn't Cain's fault he was unnerved. He was a doctor, not a soldier, and he wasn't used to the kind of violence they'd just witnessed. It could be unnerving for anyone.

Yes

She turned to the Jaffa.

"Start getting rid of the bodies," she told them. "Use your zats and disintegrate them."

"I thought Doctor Beckett wanted some of them to study?" Teyla asked.

Melony shook her head.

"We'll try to find one somewhere, but I'm not going to keep this many of them – and I'm certainly not going to lug them around while we go looking for more of them."

"We could leave them somewhere and come back for them," Ford suggested.

"And risk having something eat them? And maybe start this whole thing again – only this time with scavengers, like buzzards or something like that?"

The young man looked chagrined.

"I didn't think of that…"

"I didn't, either," she admitted. "Talon did."

The Jaffa started doing what she told them; pulling the dead cats into a clear area and then hitting them with a zat three times to make them disappear. Eventually, all that was left were a bunch of bloody areas and what wounds had been left behind on those who had been involved in the battle.

Melony felt something cold and wet brush against her hand, and flinched before she realized that it was Kale's nose. Then she smiled at having been caught off guard – and maybe a little wired – and ran her hand along his shoulder.

"Are any of your people hurt, Kale?" she asked, trying to look for gashes and cuts through his thick fur.

The wolf rumbled a response deep in his chest, but until he shook his head she hadn't been exactly certain what it had meant.

"We'll double-check anyways," she decided, looking at his bloody muzzle.

He snorted, but didn't object.

"Ford? You're sure you're not hurt?"

"No, Colonel, I'm fine."

"Good. You take care of the Light Ones, okay? If they're not changing forms, then that means they think there's enough danger to keep themselves in wolf fur for now, but I want to make sure they're not hurt."

He nodded, and Mitchell gestured for a couple of the Jaffa to assist him. None of them had taken any injuries that would require more than what their symbiotes could handle – Melony hadn't, either, for that matter.

Oh sure… Talon fix this, Talon fix that…

She smiled, amused, but before she could respond Ronon looked over at her.

"You think there are more coming?"

"I don't know."

Cain looked up from where he was stripping Sheppard's jacket and shirt off.

"More?"

"There can't be that many more," she said, reassuringly. "How is he?"

This last was asked to hopefully divert his attention from the cats. And it worked. The young doctor looked back to Sheppard.

"He has a bump on his head – which is probably why he's out – and several minor cuts that I've found so far. Nothing too serious, yet, but I've only started looking."

"Good."

"They didn't attack Sheppard," Teyla said. "He merely got in the way of a rush toward one of the Jaffa."

Probably on purpose.

"They're probably attracted to the Jaffa the same way the Wraith are," Cain said, not lifting his gaze from Sheppard.

"What?"

He looked up, now.

"The Jaffa – and yourself – have the extra life force given to you because you carry symbiotes, right?"

"Yes."

"The Wraith sense it and are drawn to it, the cats ate the Wraith and have started showing some of those characteristics, so naturally they're going to be drawn to extra life forces as well."

"Then why would they have killed villagers?" Ronon asked.

"Why wouldn't they? The Wraith would."

"But they'd be more inclined to go for one of us," Melony said.

"Probably," he replied, looking back to what he'd been doing.

There's more to young Doctor Cain than first meets the eye, Talon said, approvingly.

We would have figured it out.

He figured it out, first, though

Yeah.

Since the Jaffa who weren't helping with the Light Ones or disposing of dead cats were already standing watch in the event of another attack, there was no reason for her to worry about them being ambushed without warning. The Light Ones were still watching as well, and they'd known the cats were coming before they'd actually attacked. And their warning was probably all that had kept things from turning into a real bloodbath.

Of course, several of them (Melony, included) looked like they had been bathing in blood, but until morning there wasn't much they could do about it.

The blood might attract other creatures

The fire should keep them away.

"It's still several hours until daylight," Ronon told them. He'd know best, since he'd been on the planet longer than any of them.

She nodded.

"We'll keep the watches the way they were. I'll-"

A movement from the blanket Sheppard was lying on drew her attention – as well as that of the others.

John opened his eyes, winced at the brightness of the fire against the pounding of his head, and tried looking around. Seeing everyone looking down at him, he couldn't help but feel just a little self-conscious. Luckily, he felt way too crappy to really be all that concerned about it. Well… sort of lucky, anyways.

"Did we win?"