Sam awoke to cold water dripping on her face. It fell in a steady stream from the ceiling of the cave; the sound of it hitting the floor was the only sound she heard. Once her vision cleared she saw that she was in a different part of the cave but she had no recollection of arriving there. She looked around desperate to see her father, she had to know if he was ok, but he wasn't there. In fact she was completely alone. She was lost and freezing cold. She knew that her fever was getting no better; in fact it seemed to be getting slightly worse. She felt like crying, but that wasn't her way. Carter's didn't cry. The only thing that she wanted was to find her father and go home, but she had to find a way back to camp first.

Slow down, she told her racing mind, one step at a time.

Slowly she tried to get to her feet but she was too weak. Dehydration had finally set in, so she lay on her back and let the icy cave water drip into her mouth. It wasn't much but it made her feel better.

Eventually she crawled to a dry spot and curled up into a little ball. Lying there she realized that the water wasn't the only sound in the cave after all. Somewhere far off she could hear what sounded like growling and then something gnawing. Every small sound made her jump and her heart would begin to race, wondering what was lurking out there in the darkness. In her fever her imagination began to run wild. She imagined the monsters from her childhood nightmares running loose in the cave just beyond her field of vision. She curled up into a tighter ball and tried to shut out the noises. She tried to think of happier things but she was always drawn back to the present by some new horror that her fevered mind created.

Exhaustion kicked in and her eyelids became heavy. Finally she could hold them open no longer. It was then that her fevered delusions took on a whole new frightening twist. Aside from just hearing them, it was almost as if she could see the phantoms lurking in the darkness, closing in on her. She screamed at herself to stay awake, that these things were real, but her body would not obey. Instead she felt herself falling, and not just into a deep sleep. The air around her seemed to rush by her, and the ground seemed to give way underneath her still form. Somewhere far away in the darkness she thought she heard someone call her name, it sounded like Daniel, but her mind had already shut down and she wasn't sure if the voice was real or just another fevered delusion.

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A/N I promise I won't leave you hanging much longer! Don't ya just hate cliffhangers?