~ 11 ~

"What is that?" Daniel broke away from Teal'c and Ran up to one of the damaged cabins, half buried in dirt. He hesitantly stepped into the structure and crawled under the generic wooden bench. Teal'c stopped and waited for Daniel, curious about what the archaeologist may have found. Daniel came back, wiping dirt and dust off what looked like a poorly made book.

Teal'c directed his attention to the article, which Daniel gingerly opened. The pages were worn and waterlogged. Only some of the pages at the back had legible writing, though neither he nor Teal'c was unable to decipher it. Daniel flicked through the pages, some showing hand drawn images in charcoal.

"It looks like a journal," Daniel turned the book in his hands, "I don't recognise any of the lettering though." He shook his head. He continued to skim through the pages, where one drawing caught his attention.

"Oh."

Daniel opened the delicate pages widely and held it out far enough for Teal'c to see.

"That's kind of scary," He added and pushed his glasses up on his nose.

Drawn lightly in charcoal across two pages was a still image of a creature crouched on a tree branch. Its body was heavily muscled, with long, fleshy fingers, clawed toes and covered completely in thick fur. Its knees bent back behind its body and it had a long, pointed tale. There was a lot of detail on the creature's furless face. It had big, intense eyes and a very small nose, a long jaw and its lips curled far around its jaw. It was an ugly thing that was for certain!

"I have not encountered a creature like this before," Teal'c admitted, curiously tilting his head.

"No, I haven't either. I don't think I want to. But I think the people that lived here did." Teal'c raised a questioning eyebrow. Daniel turned to the next page.

"There is only one page after that one, and I think it's unfinished," Daniel scanned the page and took note of the enlarged, messy scrawl. Someone had written the last page in a hurry. Suddenly unnerved, Daniel pushed the journal into his vest pocket.

"I'll take a look at it later. We'll see if Sam and Jack are back at the campsite." They resumed their walk back towards the Gate.

"And if they are not?"

"I don't see why they wouldn't be. I mean, they may have got stuck in the rain. That's probably why they didn't get our radio call. They know we would stay at the settlement overnight and come back this morning." Daniel nodded, as if trying to convince himself. Teal'c said nothing.

The trip seemed to take less time coming back. They stopped at the Gate and checked in with Colonel Reynolds, who was acting Base Commander in Jack's absence. Daniel and Teal'c advised him that Jack and Sam had gone fishing yesterday morning, but had been out of contact since. Reynolds offered to send a team through the Gate, in case Jack or Sam had been hurt in the storm; Daniel considered the offer and agreed.

They Gate shut down and twenty minutes later, SG-9 came through.

"Good morning Sir's," Major Andrews nodded as he walked down the steps towards Daniel and Teal'c. Andrews was a good Commanding Officer for his team. He was known for his ability to remain calm in tense situations.

"Howdy," Daniel smiled politely. The rest of the team joined Andrews, Teal'c and Daniel. Without prompting they began the four mile walk to the campsite.

"So you guys got stuck in a storm?" Andrews asked while he looked at the muddy track ahead.

"Indeed. General O'Neill and Colonel Carter chose to go fishing while we returned to an abandoned village. We were unable to contact them to advise them that we were unable to return to the camp." Teal'c filled the good Major in.

"We tried this morning, but we couldn't get a hold of them," Daniel added.

"Huh. Well, we'll see what we find at the camp. Did the General and Colonel say where they were going?" Andrews threw an irritated glare over his shoulder when one of his team made a comment. Andrews wasn't ignorant to the rumours that had been going around for years. He also knew General O'Neill and Colonel Carter very well. He was the one to personally stomp down on any inappropriate comments made about the two officers.

"They just said they were going upstream. We're not sure how far." Daniel explained, oblivious to the unspoken reprimand Andrew's was giving to his team.

They walked for an hour to the campsite, enjoying friendly conversation and Daniel mulling over the journal he had discovered. What they found on arrival was not what they had left there. The tents were literally destroyed, the contents of several backpacks thrown into the mud, including Sam's laptop. The MRI's that had been left behind were absolutely trashed and the dead coals of the fire had been kicked all over the place.

"What on earth..." Daniel was totally bewildered, picking up Sam's laptop from a puddle. She was going to be so pissed.

"Daniel," Teal'c alerted him to the condition of one of the tents. Daniel left the destroyed computer on the ground and walked to Teal'c. Teal'c poked the broken tent – Sam's tent to be precise – with the end of his staff weapon. The canvas was torn and mangled, and four long rips trailed from the top to the base.

Oh... Not good.

Two hours later

"Doctor Jackson! Teal'c!" Andrews stood at the top of a waterfall, beckoning the remaining members of SG-1 to him. Daniel stopped short of falling off the edge.

"What is it?" Daniel's eyes scanned the ground below. Andrew's pointed down the river on the right hand side.

"Over there. It looks like a standard issue shelter, Sir." He indicated to a pile of green tarp, nestled between two trees. Andrew's signalled for his team to start climbing down. Daniel went after them, followed by Andrew and then Teal'c. It was a difficult climb and Daniel wondered if Sam and Jack had come this far. Evidently they had, judging the presence of the tarp.

Daniel made it to the ground, after gaining more than a few bruises and cuts from the hard rocks. SG-9 had harboured around the base of the waterfall, securing the area. Daniel stepped forward and looked at the tarp. From this angle, it looked like it was covering something. Without warning, he took off towards it. As he got closer, he could see rope dangling from the two trees and small tears in the tarp. There was a dark stain on it that made his heart beat that little bit faster. Daniel bent down and hesitantly touched the tarp. It was covering something soft and warm. He pulled it back and nearly fell over with what he found.

"Teal'c!"

Jack was sprawled face down in the mud. The sleeping bag he was half lying in was torn and the stuffing pulled out. Daniel recognised the four straight tears. Jack's BDU shirt was ripped and four long claw marks ran down his back from his shoulder blade to the seam of his pants, smudged with dry blood. There were five bloody dots on the back of his neck and even more blood soaked the dirt beneath his head. Daniel check for a pulse, but didn't feel much relief when he found one.

Heavy boots ran towards him and Teal'c landed at his side. He took one long look at Jack and called for Major Andrews. Jack was out cold and his breathing was shallow.

"Colonel Carter was here last night," Teal'c stated warily.

"How do you know?" Daniel asked, the panic evident in his voice.

"There are two pairs of boots here," Teal'c pointed to the four black boots at the base of the shattered tent. Daniel turned briefly to confirm Teal'c's statement. He was right.

"What the hell happened?" Daniel breathed.

~ SJ ~

Sam woke up shivering. Her skin was like ice and she couldn't even feel her fingers or toes. It was dark. Very dark. Her head was pounding and she was quite sure she had hit it on something hard. She was lying flat on her back, looking up at the starry sky. Her clothes were damp and covered in dirt and twigs.

Sam's body ached all over, like she had just come out of the river again. Her arm in particular. She pulled it in towards her body, but a sharp pain in her forearm stilled her movements. She bit into her bottom lip. Okay, not a good idea.

She quickly tried to remember what had happened. Jack had woken her up. There was something moving outside their tent. He had held her close and they listened to something moving around them. Then she saw it, right next to them. She remembered gut-wrenching fear. Not just hers, but Jack's as well. Then it had lunged at them. It was quick; they barely had time to react. After that, it was all unclear...

Snap!

Oh please no.

Sam lifted her throbbing head to look past her feet. Beyond the trees that surrounded her, it was pitch black. She could see nothing. Ignoring the pain in her left arm, Sam sat up. She could hear heavy breathing. Something was moving in front of her. Her heart beat wildly in her chest and she began to tremble. She was completely unarmed and something was stalking her.

Then, a face appeared out of the darkness, eight feet above the ground. It had wide eyes and a small, slitted nose. It was definitely not human. It stared at her. Sam could not tear her own eyes away. She was terrified. Not because it was there, but because she couldn't see the rest of it. She knew it could move and she would never see it. It opened its wide jaw to reveal short, razor-sharp teeth that glistened in the pale moon light. It was like a gruesome smile.

Sam's heart went into overdrive and the blood drained from her head. She fell back and fainted.

~ SJ ~