Sam woke with a jolt; her eyes flying open, before squinting in the early morning light starting break through the high branches above. Her body ached as she pushed herself upward to sit, and she scanned the surroundings with a vague awareness of where she was. It took her a few moments to gather her thoughts, and she wondered at what had woken her. Her eyes rested on Daniel who sat by the tree trunk he seemed to have grown quite fond of. The fire was softly rustling back to life and she assessed that he'd been a wake for a while.
"Morning" he said softly as she stood and stretched her back before walking over to him, a quick glance in Cameron's direction confirming he was still asleep. She sat down by him, taking the food bar he offered to her.
"Morning" she replied, running a hand through her hair softly, "You been awake long?"
"Not long," replied Daniel, offering her the water flask also "You ok, you woke there with a bit of a jolt"
"Bad dream" replied Sam, mottled visions crowding her thoughts
Daniel looked at her with a raised brow but didn't press her with any questions pertaining to the dream.
"How's your arm?" asked Sam
"Painkillers finally seem to be kicking in, I slept ok considering" said Daniel "Think we'll make it back today?"
"God I hope so" said Sam with a sigh "Looks like the good weather may grace us with its presence, for the time being anyway"
She looked upwards squinting as sunlight peeped through the thick tree branches.
"And hopefully the Prior won't grace us with his" replied Daniel
Sam merely nodded and glanced at her watch, it seemed it was early by both earth and the present planets standard. They sat side by side for a few minutes in silence, waking up to the day ahead. The night had revived both of them somewhat, and Sam eventually stood once more.
"I'm going to gather our bearings, scout out the area, I won't be long" she said, reattaching her weapon to the clip on her front of her vest, she waved in the general direction of her radio, also attached to her vest "Keep in contact"
Daniel nodded and she turned, momentarily crouching by Cameron and checking his vitals. She gave a silent sigh of relief at finding everything to be satisfactory considering, and she left him to his rest. Pausing for a moment at the edge of the clearing they'd set up their base, she gathered her bearings, checking her watches compass and assessing where they'd branched off from their route the previous night.
Tracing back their steps, she scouted out the treeline and headed for it, cautiously, aware their 'friend' could appear at any given moment, any place at any time. The dream had un-nerved her, and she spent the time alone, re-assessing herself and the goal for the day. The dream had been merely mottled visions of the previous days events, mangled into various scenes of differing outcomes.
She'd been back in the cave, Parker's dead body standing upright, it's stance in an unnatural gait and the Prior had lurked in the shadows, speaking chanting silent words. The roof had been falling in around her, somewhere along a tunnel Daniel and Cameron were trapped, and the Prior had approached, staff glowing, causing more destruction. She'd merely been jolted from her dream as rocks had fallen roughly about her, breaking her dream in a violent haze.
Sam shook the images from her mind and forced herself to concentrate at the job at hand. Getting home. Approaching the treeline, she clicked her radio into response a few times as she crouched by a thick tree trunk.
"This is Colonel Carter of SG-1, anyone receiving this message please respond"
The only reply was radio static and Sam disregarded the radio for a moment, instead pulling her small binoculars from a pocket and scoping out the view. In the easterly direction where they'd come from, she could see the rise of the large expansive fields lifting up to the high cliffs in the distance. She breathed a sigh of relief, seeing how far they'd actually come the previous afternoon.
Sweeping her view over the terrain, she picked up no signs of the Prior, but knew it didn't mean he wasn't still around, and she'd take every precaution to avoid his attention. She took the momentary halt, to assess her direction once more, calculating their direction and aim using her compass and view as a guide. Woods weren't the best of areas to manoeuvre through, especially off the beaten trail. Still they were making good progress, and Sam was confident with her findings to assess that they'd be home hopefully early afternoon.
Happy with her assessment of the situation, such as it was, she made another cursory sweep of the terrain before trying radio contact once more on the off chance of any help having come through. Despite knowing the try was futile, she wasn't one to not exhaust every possible avenue. Receiving the familiar static as before, Sam retreated back into the safety of the plantation growing about her and made her way back to Daniel and Cameron's position, finding Cameron sitting up somewhat on her return.
"Was beginning to think you'd gone on without us," said Cameron flashing her a sly smile, as he ate the mediocre breakfast bar Daniel had presented him with.
"Oh come on Mitchell...do you really think I'd leave without Daniel"
Sam flashed him a smile of her own, before giving him a glance over.
"How are you feeling this morning?"
"Better actually, if that's possible. Hey I'm awake at least, right?" said Cameron, shrugging his shoulders, before frowning slightly with the pain
"That's a good thing?" mumbled Daniel, suppressing a smile of his own.
"Well you two seem to be back to your usual jaunty selves, what say we get back underway," said Sam, eager to get back on the trail. Despite their outward appearance, the two were still injured and in much need of medical attention.