~ 12 ~

"Jack?" Daniel put a shaky hand to his cheek. "Jack!" He tried again, this time more forcefully. Jack began to stir below him and Daniel sighed in relief. Teal'c glanced warily at their immediate surroundings, as if searching for something.

"Christ Jack! What happened?" Daniel asked hastily. Jack gasped in pain, tensing as the pain obviously took hold of him. A growl of raw agony escaped him and he panted heavily.

"It-" Jack began, trying to dull the throbbing in his head.

"What?" Daniel barely heard him; it could have easily been a cough or another grunt.

"It... took Carter," Jack tried to rise onto his hands and knees, though his left arm dangled on the ground. Daniel wondered what 'it' was, but a thought came to him. Keeping his eyes locked on Jack, Daniel dug through the pocket of his vest for the journal. Quickly skimming through the worn pages, he held the open book out to Jack.

"Is this it? Is this the thing that took Sam?" Jack fell on his backside and gripped his hand on his shoulder. He took a long look at the creature in the book.

"I dunno. Yeah, maybe," Jack groaned as he hunched over, giving Daniel a clear view of the cut on his head. The wound was not new; it was dry in places and not as fleshy at it should be. It was a gash that had been reopened. Daniel wondered what had happened before last night. Whilst he had been absorbed in Jack's condition, he failed to notice Teal'c leave his side and begin to inspect their surroundings. SG-9 was harboured around the General, awaiting any order.

"Daniel Jackson, O'Neill," Teal'c called from up the hill. Daniel was reluctant to allow Jack to walk, but he also didn't trust him to stay put while he went and spoke to Teal'c.

"What is it? Did you find something?" Daniel asked, not moving from Jack.

"Yes," Teal'c simply replied. Daniel glanced at Jack once and climbed the hill to Teal'c.

"Something was dragged this way," Teal'c pointed diagonally up the mountain. A trail of leaf litter and mud disappeared amongst the trees. "If something took Colonel Carter, it dragged her this way. She was unconscious."

"How do you know that?" Jack's grunt came from behind Daniel. Daniel didn't hide his disapproval as Jack hobbled towards he and Teal'c, still holding his left shoulder.

"If she were conscious, the trial would be more obvious; she would have struggled," Teal'c explained.

"Oh believe me: we struggled," Jack said with absolute sincerity, "Can you track it? It was pretty big..."

"I believe I can," Teal'c nodded, still analysing the trail.

"Good," Jack grunted and turned to the nearest member of SG-9. "Dufresne! Get your ass up here!" The young Captain scurried to the wounded General.

"Gimme your rifle." Dufresne did as ordered and relinquished his P-90. Jack knew his personnel very well, and knew which team this was and exactly who was on it.

"Jack, what are you doing?" Daniel asked, but Jack ignored him. He grit his teeth and lifted the weapon to his right shoulder, testing to see if he could hold it straight.

"Jack?" Daniel called loudly again. Jack continued to ignore him.

"Major, take your team back and get SG teams four and five. Tells Reynolds to send the medical team as well. Make sure you proceed with caution. Whatever took Carter is big, strong and you won't hear it coming until it's on top of you." Jack sternly warned SG-9, quickly falling into General-mode. Andrews acknowledged the order and signalled for his team to start heading back. Andrews offered his own pistol to the now unarmed Dufresne.

"Jack, you can't come with us," Daniel argued. Jack knew Daniel was going to be pretty adamant. Sorry buddy. Time to get tough.

"Don't argue with me Daniel," Jack rounded on his friend. Daniel went to speak again, but chose against it. Jack's body surged with anger and adrenaline. Carter had been ripped from his arms and he was damned if he was going to let that thing take her from him. Pushing all the pain aside, Jack stormed up the side of the mountain to Teal'c.

"Let's go," Jack cocked the rifle roughly and gave Teal'c a look that dared him to argue. He didn't, his eyes were alert and Jack knew the Jaffa was as determined to get Carter back as he was.

With a confidence that only came with working with SG-1, Jack confidently followed Teal'c up the trail.

~ SJ ~

Sam was curled in a ball against a tree trunk. The sun was up and she had lost sight of the thing that had taken her just prior to dawn. The sun was beginning to thaw her cold body and she hugged her arm to her chest. She was sure it was broken. Sam was also sure she was in shock and had more bruises over her body than what the river had provided. Her skin was raw and grazed; her uniform damp and torn all over. Her breathing was laboured and she suspected she was quite high up the mountain.

She heard the crunching of leaves and grinding of tiny rocks to her right. She was scared, that was also a certainty. As the heavy steps closed in on her position, she struggle to stand. As her breathing increased, she felt the onset of panic loom.

'Hold it together, Sam!' She thought as she backed into a tree, watching the movement in the undergrowth. It wasn't stalking her this time. It had her, and it knew that very well. Whatever the damn thing was, it weaved through the trees and entered the clearing.

Holy shit, now that's ugly.

It was big too. If it had stretched its' long, bent –backwards, which was creepy – legs, it would have stood at eleven or twelve feet tall. It was covered with mud and charcoal fur. Its arms were long and had four bony, clawed fingers. Strangely, it looked like it had two opposable thumbs on each hand. Its face was free of fur and its eyes were huge.

To reiterate: it was ugly.

Sam shuddered as it stared at her. Now the not so obvious question: intelligent being, or carnivorous animal? It was watching her. Why? Trying to choose which limb to eat first? It leant forwards and planted its hands, if they could be called that, on the ground. Very slowly, it crept forwards. Even on all fours, its head sat level with Sam's. Before she realised, Sam opened her mouth and spoke.

"What do you want with me?"

It froze. So did Sam. It blinked and flared its' nostrils. A deep, reverberating rumble emanated from its chest. Then it beared its teeth. Far out, that was a freaky sight. It looked almost smug and Sam felt her blood boil. She had been in life and death situations for years. She was certainly not going to let some big, ugly, deformed gorilla kill her.

'So you want to eat me then?' She thought defiantly, her body tense and ready to fight. Its eyes narrowed and it took another pace forwards. Sam held her ground. Not that she could go backwards, but she did not flinch. The creature became agitated and its grin turned to a snarl. It advanced until its face was within two feet of hers. Inside, Sam was terrified, on the outside, she showed no such fear. This seemed to anger the creature even more.

"Screw this for a joke..." The creature snarled and lifted a hand. Sam death-stared the creature back. "...And screw YOU!" She lifted her good arm and punched the beast in between its big eyes, filling the air around them with a loud crack. It recoiled and Sam whipped around the tree and ran down the mountain.

Her ankle protested to the pace, but she let the slope carry her body down the mountain at incredible speed. All she had to do was not fall over. Behind her, a loud roar echoed through the mountains. It was angry, but she was not going to do down without a fight. Some may have argued that she was running and skipped the 'fight' part pretty quickly. She considered it a strategic advance to the rear.

Behind her, Sam heard the crashing of the creature as it pursued her down the mountains. The footsteps disappeared, but Sam knew better than to stop.

Before Sam knew what was happening, she went shoulder first into the ground and rolled. She collided into a tree and gripped it tightly to stop herself. She quickly stood back up, clutching a rock from the ground and began running again. Her lungs were on fire and her body was screaming for mercy. Her ankle felt close to cracking and her broken arm was tucked into her stomach. For a second, she could hear something moving in the trees above her. Something that didn't care for stealth.

Then the damn thing dropped from the trees, directly in her path as she barrelled down the steep slope. She was going too fast, she was going to run straight into it. It seemed not to care. Sam certainly did. She clenched the wet, muddy rock on her hand and raised it.

She screamed at the beast and slammed the rock into its eye. Not its head, not its neck or chest. She launched it into one those big eyes. Then she crashed into it. That really couldn't be held. Physics applied on this world too. Well, her mass was going at a very high velocity; hence, momentum sent her straight into its chest. The rock seemed to have dazed it and rich, dark blood covered both of them.

She rolled with it down the mountain, taking powerful blows to her back as she landed on rocks and sticks. She was nearly unconscious again when the slope levelled out and they toppled out of the trees to the bank of the river.

~ SJ ~

"Wait!" Jack signalled for everyone to stop. "Do you hear that?" He turned his head to hear more. It sounded like something big barrelling through the tree's up ahead. They were exhausted from running and Jack's wounds were beginning to bleed again. They had stopped only once to dress them, but the blood was starting to escape the gauze and bandages.

A loud scream ripped through the trees and Jack, Daniel and Teal'c began running towards the sound.

'God Carter, please be okay!' Jack thought over and over in his head as he ducked and dodged trees and logs. The noise was moving to the left, down the mountain. He followed it towards the river.

"Dammit Sam!" He cursed as his body ached and stung, but there was no way he was going to stop.

~ SJ ~

Sam groaned and felt sharp rocks dig into her skin and bruised muscle. She lay in shallow water, wetting her back and hair. She felt broken and exhausted. All she could hear was the water. Nothing else. Her eyelids felt heavy and she stopped caring if the creature got her. There was no way she'd escape it.

She was done.

Small rocks shifted beyond her feet and her vision blurred. She could make out a dark shape standing over her body. It was still alive, but she wouldn't be for much longer. She wanted to look the damn thing in the eye before it killed her. She wanted to see it.

Sam focussed her eyes and stared up at the creature. It was covered in blood, especially over its face. It had trouble balancing and panted loudly. Its right eye looked like it had been gouged out and the other blinked rapidly, trying to force blood, sweat and mud from its view. She closed her eyes as it raised a clawed hand, ready to put her out of her misery.

~ SJ ~

Jack raced ahead of his friends and came out at the river. He looked around and found nothing. Damn! He panted furiously and wiped the sweat from his eyelids. Movement downstream caught his attention. Behind a large collection of boulders, lying in the shallow water was a blonde head, covered in blood. Carter. Above the boulders, a grey head appeared and hovered over Sam. NO!

Jack lifted the rifle to his shoulder and ran to her. He rounded the boulders and saw the creature from Daniel's book lift a long, muscular arm. It was going to kill her.

Jack had put three bullets through its head before it hit the ground. It crashed into the water by Sam, its dark blood flowing into the water. Jack dropped the rifle and dashed to her, sliding in the water to her motionless figure.

He sat in the cold water and pulled her upper body into his lap, ignoring the possibility of her having a neck injury that his actions may aggravate.

"Carter!" Jack yelled. "Carter, come on!"

Her eyes opened slightly and relief washed over Jack. She was still alive.

"Carter... Oh God, Sam!" He tried to smile. Recognition crossed her eyes and she swallowed with difficulty. Jack didn't even register Daniel or Teal'c's arrival.

"Sir..." She mumbled. Jack wrapped his arms around her awkwardly and held her close to his chest.

"Carter, I need you to stay with me, okay?" He whispered tenderly. "I need you, alright?" He confessed, his voice hoarse from running and the angst of their situation. Sam tried to speak and Jack pulled her head back a little to see her face.

"Yes Sir..." She breathed heavily, with a shy, tired grin.

~ SJ ~

Yes, more to come. I still owe you guys a kiss, and Sam a new book. Reviews: Always lovely and really, really appreciated.