Chapter 5- Addiction

The sarcophagus opened and Daniel realized he was alive Again. 'How many times have I woke up in this damn thing?' The guards reached in, dragged him back to his cell and threw him onto the mattress.

He'd lost count of the time. He rubbed his chin and felt the stubble. Like sandpaper but starting to get long. A week? Maybe. From personal experience he knew it couldn't be much longer than that. He'd grown a beard for a while during is college days and remembered how long it took. But, he was a lot younger then and it took longer then to grow one. Now, it was easy. No, a week but not much longer.

So, what's next? Kinsey had put him through hell and there didn't seem to be an end to the madness.

How many ways could Kinsey think of to kill him? The list was endless.

In the last few days, Daniel had seen so much personal carnage that he kept hoping he wouldn't wake up again. His craving for the sarcophagus was worse than it had been on P3R-636 when Shyla had gotten him addicted in order to keep him with her. He'd been in the box maybe a dozen times total, then. This time, it had been a lot more than that in the first two days and he was worried that the behavioral side effects would become permanent. He would have to figure out a way to escape before that could happen. In many ways, he felt wonderful. He thought he could take on the world. And it scared him.

He'd given it some thought and decided that the only way to get out was to give Kinsey and the goons the impression that he was physically weak. Since Kinsey had never used the sarcophagus himself, he only had a rudimentary knowledge of it's effects. And he was so easy to fool. Every time the box opened, Daniel refused to get out by himself, feigning weakness. The guards would have to pick him up and carry him back to his cell, which led them to believe that he was loosing his strength, even while restoring his life.

And each time Daniel woke up, he craved the box more. The high afterwards was thrilling and he sometimes had a hard time faking his weakness but the guards were not very smart. He thought they maybe had a combined I.Q. of a third grader. How stupid they were! So, he would not give them any help getting him out of the box. He would hang limp between them and made them drag him to and from the torture chamber. Kinsey seemed to be enjoying the idea that he was hurting Daniel this way and Daniel knew that if he could keep up the ruse a little longer, he might be able to make his move and escape.

So, how was he going to get away and keep his sanity?

And where was he, anyway? He only saw Kinsey and the guards. It was early spring time so he had to make sure he had warm clothes when he left. He'd seen where the guards hung their coats in the hallway by the exit. Shoes would be a problem, but maybe he could steal some.

They only gave him enough food and water to keep him alive. It consisted of 4 or 5 cups of water a day and maybe 500 calories of food. So, he knew he was losing weight but he couldn't do anything about it. He also knew he was starting to get weaker so it wasn't much of an act after four or five days. The box kept him alive. But it didn't necessarily keep him healthy. That required food and water, neither of which he had much of.

He was sure Kinsey would send the dogs for him when he found Daniel was gone and he would have to find a way off the property where the dogs couldn't follow him.

There was a problem with his plan though... the addiction. There was only one way he could think of to deal with it. He thought that if he could find a place to hide for a few days, he could ride out the withdrawal and then head home. Once back at the SGC, he would find a way to let them know where he'd been and they could go get Kinsey and give the S.O.B. what he deserved!

Kinsey never tired of torturing him. He had this insatiable need to brutalize and murder him and he laughed about it the whole time. Daniel could easily give in to madness but he also had a need. Not just for the box, either. He wanted to kill Kinsey. He hated this man almost as much as he hated the Goa'uld. Maybe more. And the only thing keeping him going was the thought of revenge. He would have his revenge and Kinsey would find out what it was like to be on the other end of the torture.

And while Daniel felt entitled to his anger, these thoughts scared him, too. He'd never been a violent man. He was always looking for diplomatic solutions to any conflict he came across. His position on SG-1 had helped calm nerves countless times when harm may have been the expected result. To have feelings of superiority, murder and revenge were not easy for him. He'd had no problem killing before. It was part and parcel to his job. But, he knew it was a job and had accepted the facts. This was different. He had every right to hate Kinsey. But to think of ways to get even, to do to Kinsey what had been done to him... that was foreign. Maybe some would say it was a perfectly logical reaction to the circumstances. But Daniel still didn't like it. What kind of person was he becoming from his prolonged use of the sarcophagus? He'd seen what it had done to Shyla's father, Pyrus. He'd realized that her father was probably a good man once, but prolonged use of the sarcophagus had made him a cold, indifferent brute. Lord Yu was another example of what prolonged use could do. That man had been paranoid and had lost touch with reality years ago. Daniel's more lucid moments brought fear of whom he was becoming.

Was this his fate, if he survived? Would he become a mean, arrogant, insane man? Would he take delight in hurting others like they did? The thought of it terrified him.

No, he had to get away and soon, before it was too late.