Quietly, one after another, the team slipped through the hole Jack and Teal'c had made. They'd done it carefully so the thorns could be pushed back into place once they were through. As the sky got steadily darker, the thunder louder and the lightning more intense, the howlers paid less and less attention to their captives, and showed no signs of noticing that they were no longer in the enclosure. Hopefully by the time they figured it out, SG-1 would be long gone. Daniel couldn't be sure they'd think like humans, assuming the team had somehow gone through the gate if they didn't see a hole in the fence. He didn't think apes were noted for their sense of smell, but these weren't really monkeys, were they? Hopefully the wet would cover their tracks. That always threw dogs on television, but Daniel honestly didn't know if it really worked. Aside from common sense and general knowledge, experience had taught Daniel that a lot of what was in movies and television wasn't real. If TV couldn't get the correct way to hold an M9 on the screen, what were the chances it was accurate about how scent was covered up?
Maybe they'd get lucky. Maybe it wouldn't matter.
With his unerring sense of direction, Teal'c took the lead through the jungle. Though Daniel guessed Teal'c could've taken them straight to the Stargate, the Jaffa headed in the direction of the stones they'd first come to investigate. A moment's thought and Daniel figured out the reason for this. Most of them knew the terrain between here and there somewhat, and all of them knew it between there and the Stargate. It would be foolish to try and make their escape over unfamiliar ground if they didn't have to.
Once under the canopy of the trees, it was hard to tell if it was still only fog or if there was also rain. Water ran in rivulets down the trunks of the trees, and dripped from higher tree leaves to lower ones, and sometimes came down with a heavy splash when it had collected in the fold of a leaf until the leaf couldn't take the weight anymore. Thunder rolled almost continuously now, and it felt like they were walking through thick clouds that were just sitting on the ground. The thickness of the fog not only prevented them from seeing far ahead, it blocked daylight even more than the clouds above or the jungle itself, until it was very nearly black beneath the trees, and almost impossible to see much of anything more than a few feet away.
All four of them kept an eye on the trees, and an ear out for the distinctive howling that would tell them their escape had been discovered and it was time to run. They would not run until they had to. Between treacherous terrain and general human limitations, they needed to save that for when they really needed it. Even though it seemed like a good idea to move faster, it was actually safer to move quietly. As long as the howlers didn't know where they were and that they were heading for home, they had the advantage.
So they moved as quickly as they could without making noise. Not surprisingly, Daniel rapidly fell behind. He could've kept up, but not while making sure to be quiet. But he wasn't far behind, Jack made sure of it, slowing up to ensure they didn't lose sight of him. So long as Daniel was reasonably close, Jack wasn't worried. He had no reason to be.
The colonel himself had taught Daniel not only to shoot, but also how to fight. Daniel would never be as good at it as the rest of the team, but he had far outdistanced all the other "geeks" working for the SGC in physical prowess, and these days he could even hold his own in sparring matches against some of the airmen (the Marines still had him beat though; and of course nobody was a match for Teal'c). To his mind, it was a matter of necessity, he had to be able to support the team under all conditions, not become a liability. Daniel didn't need protecting any more than the rest of SG-1. Not anymore.
But he still was at the back of the line as they went, and he knew that he was slowing them down some. Over open ground, Daniel had become a pretty good runner, but the rough terrain and limited visibility were doing him in, especially coupled with the reduced but still persistent allergies. He also kept forgetting about his injured arm and putting it out to help him balance against tree trunks and the like over the rougher parts, and that never ended well. Jack's left hand had been bitten, so it was easier for him to remember not to use it. But with Daniel, it had been his right arm. It was natural for him to every time try to steady himself with his dominant hand, and of course it got him into trouble every time because it hurt and that slowed him down.
It was potentially this that saved his life as he spotted through the fog and shadows a pair of eyes, glowing like smoldering embers out of the dark. At once he stopped and stared back. It was the reflex of the hunted, both man and beast, to stare back when they were spotted by a predator. A few seconds later Daniel's brain caught up with his instinct, and he realized what he was looking at.
Whatever was in the shadows, it was the thing the howlers had been so worried about. The storm was providing cover for it in the same way that the night did, only better because the thunder and rain covered the sound of its movements. It was not only invisible, it was also inaudible. The howlers weren't hiding from the storm, they were hiding from this, whatever this was. Daniel couldn't really see it, and could only faintly judge its size by how high above the ground its eyes were, and he was sure it was in a hunter's crouch so it made any estimate pretty hazy. He wasn't sure if he was really able to dimly make out a slight outline of a broad, flat head or if that was his imagination.
The predator was targeting him because of his slowness, and his evident clumsiness. Daniel was sure anything able to hunt the howlers could rip him apart without difficulty, but the point was that the predator wasn't sure. It didn't know if humans were prey or -if they were- how dangerous they might be. Without weapons, Daniel knew his only hope was to try to intimidate it. The stare down was a start. Sometimes when a prey animal stared at a predator, the predator would give up. That is, if the prey didn't flinch. It was that flinch that killed most of the time. The sign of weakness was the predator's cue to move in.
"Jack..." he spoke the name low, soft, avoiding anything that might be mistaken for an alarm call.
Daniel knew he could fool people into thinking he was confident when inside he was shaking in his boots, but he wasn't sure he could fool the predator, which had moved its head a little as he was staring at it, seemingly to see if he would flinch. Its vertical pupils seemed to bore right into him, and he felt the desire to flee, even though he knew it would be useless.
Wordlessly, Jack had turned back at the sound of Daniel's voice. Daniel didn't hear him coming back, but knew Jack would be joining him. The predator's head bobbed a little, suggesting it was less sure of itself than before, indicating that Daniel no longer stood alone.
"Teal'c, come over here and look menacing," Jack said, using his command voice; a crisp and clear tone that brooked no argument from anyone... or anything.
Daniel felt relief flood through him. Jack understood exactly what Daniel did, and he knew what they needed to do. Intimidation came naturally to their Jaffa comrade. His silences spoke volumes to people, they sensed how dangerous he was when provoked without having to see it, even the ones who had no combat experience. Human instinct wasn't buried as deeply as most people thought. And, fortunately for them, the predator's instinct was even closer to the surface. When Teal'c moved forward in that way he had that suggested he was going to kill anything that stood in his way, the predator bolted. The eyes flashed out of view and they could hear it crashing through the brush. Teal'c tracked its progress by turning his head to follow it as it raced away noisily, the hunt forgotten. Maybe Teal'c could've stood up against it, and maybe not, but what mattered was that he had given the predator the impression that he could kill it, and would if it held its ground. When the predator flinched first, the predator had to run. Lions ran in the face of angry buffalo all the time, even though they also ate the immense bovines not infrequently.
Daniel let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.
"Maybe we should keep closer together," Sam suggested, speaking aloud the instinct of all group animals, the rule of safety in numbers, which didn't only mean that the predator might select someone besides you, but if you all stood together you would be seen as a single, much larger, target and the predator might not get any of you.
"Yeah," Jack agreed, "Maybe so."
Now the danger was passed, fear tried to take over. Daniel's body had flooded itself with the chemicals and signals needed to ensure a swift flight or a strong fight in defense of his life. Neither of those being necessary, he started to shake with the unreleased energy that had nowhere to spend itself.
"Easy, Danny," Jack said, putting a hand on his shoulder, "Take it easy."
Daniel took a few shaky breaths, managed to get hold of himself, "I'm okay."
Jack looked at him for a moment, as if trying to see if Daniel was lying.
Then he said, "Okay. Then let's keep moving."
"No argument here," Daniel said, keenly aware of how weak his voice sounded.
Daniel couldn't be sure, but it seemed likely that the fleeing predator had gotten the attention of the howlers in the trees it passed below. Whether it was that or something else which roused them, mere minutes after the stand-off with the predator, the forest came alive with the sound of howlers roaring.
The inhuman sound was less like the announcement of a prisoner escape and more like the rallying cry of a pack before the hunt. It felt like the time had come to run, but Daniel knew it hadn't. Not yet. Though the roars were deafening and echoed through the forest, seeming to come from everywhere, Daniel had been close enough to the howlers for long enough listening to their howling-roaring declarations of territory in the morning and evening to know they weren't. The roaring carried on the wind, but it seemed also to reverberate in the trees themselves, as if it had been designed to be felt in the vibration of branches miles away rather than truly heard at so great a distance.
Jack had paused to look back, listening to the sound. After exchanging a look with Daniel, then with Sam, perhaps to reassure himself they heard the same thing he did, Jack went on, following Teal'c at the same pace as before. Sam and Daniel followed his lead, while Teal'c showed no indication that the howling had made an impression on him (even though Daniel knew it must have).
From that point on, they didn't exchange anymore words. All communication was looks and gestures. Hand signals were one thing Daniel didn't have any trouble with when he joined the SGC. Though he lacked formal training on military gestures, he'd seen most of them before, and they were pretty intuitive. It was just another language, albeit a limited and simple -if a very precise- one. It was such a universally easy to understand language that even the Jaffa warriors used very similar gestures, such that Teal'c had easily adapted to the Earth variations, and Jack had understood his gesturing even before then. It was more like they'd been speaking the same language with a different accent than anything. The team needed that clarity now. When Teal'c stopped, sending the signal for the rest of them to stay low, they each echoed the gesture for the one behind, even though they could all see Teal'c. It was habit and training, not thought that dictated the action. Daniel knew its value well. He'd lost count of the times he'd missed the first signal (especially in his first year in the field), but because someone else was repeating it, he'd managed to avoid getting into trouble.
Hearing the howlers roaring behind them, Daniel wasn't sure what Teal'c was listening to. Then he realized Teal'c wasn't listening, he was looking, but trying to avoid appearing to do so. Without moving his head, Daniel looked up and around at the trees. There were howlers above, moving silently from branch to branch, headed for the stones. They didn't appear to have spotted SG-1. Yet.
After the silent hunting party had slipped past, Jack made a gesture to the team, an order they followed with neither hesitation nor question. Forget the stones, they were going to make a beeline for the Stargate, and hope to God they didn't run into anything that prevented them from reaching it before the howlers did. Hopefully the howlers were assuming they were going for the stones, and that would slow their advance towards the Stargate. But Daniel knew that was an awfully big ask, considering the sheer number of monkeys in the tribe.
He wished he'd been able to figure out what the howlers really wanted from him. Their determination to recapture SG-1 seemed to override their fear of the predator and darkness of the storm. That indicated a certain level of desperation. It annoyed him that SG-1 had to leave without solving the mystery. But being locked up in the thorn enclosure and periodically getting beat up by monkeys had lost its appeal on the first day, and he was definitely getting tired of eating fruit as well.
The way home was littered with obstacles. Slippery, muddy inclines and rain-slick boulders, thorny plants and tangled vines, sudden small drops, sharply jutting rocks, all rendered impossible to see until you were in them on account of the jungle-made shadows, the rain and the persistent fog. Within five minutes of leaving the semi-familiar way to the stones, the team was muddied and bloodied, each of them having slipped and fallen against muddy embankments and rough bark or rock or sharp thorns. Technically Teal'c had done so while attempting to help his comparatively clumsy team mates, but the fact remained that he was as dinged and dirty as the rest of them. And of course they'd all been soaked before the escape started thanks to the soup-thick fog.
Daniel knew their progress was slowing to a crawl, as they tried to hurriedly and without noise pick their way through the unknown jungle that suddenly seemed a million times denser now they were in it and not merely looking at it. Daniel was all the more aware of it because he'd pocketed his glasses. They were too fogged up to do him any good now, and losing them wouldn't help him any either. Besides, the rest of the team was practically having to feel their way as well. Daniel, being somewhat used to it, was actually doing a bit better than Jack or Sam now. Even though they were more athletic than he was and had earlier been traveling faster, they weren't used to climbing around with everything blurry or invisible. Even at night without night vision equipment, the moon and stars made it possible to see with surprising clarity. But the fog and shadows made everything indistinct, and guessing distance was impossible. Only Teal'c seemed unaffected, and Daniel knew that was only because they were doing so poorly that he still looked good by comparison. But even Teal'c was being hampered by the conditions. Besides which, the days of inactivity and inadequate food had to be taking their toll on him, even if he wasn't showing it. Daniel knew the Jaffa had a way of doing whatever it took to finish a mission without faltering once, and then collapsing afterward. So just because he looked fine now, it didn't mean he was. Though he was still probably doing better than the rest of them.
Scrambling up a rocky slope and then stopping to catch his breath, Daniel listened to the roars of the howlers. Deep, low vibrations shook the air, and were definitely getting closer, though not with a lot of speed. Daniel guessed the roaring howlers were pausing at every branch to give voice. He wondered how many silent scouts were running ahead of them. It was a fine system of intimidation and distraction, but Daniel didn't feel particularly appreciative of it right now.
Looking back, he saw that Sam had managed to free herself from the mud she'd briefly gotten bogged down in with Teal'c's help. Jack had slipped a bit on the rock he was scaling on account of his injured hand, but he ignored the offer of assistance Daniel made. It was probably just as well, Daniel needed the recovery time. Once everyone was up, Teal'c took over point again, picking the easiest route he could find while the others trailed in his wake, trying not to lose sight of him only a few feet ahead.
And then, suddenly it seemed, the jungle broke apart to reveal thigh-high grass. The clearing in which the Stargate was set. All that stood between them and it was a few hundred yards of open ground. Except they couldn't see the rocks under the grass, but remembered well it wasn't as flat and smooth as it looked. And in fact the rain coming down in sheets made it so they couldn't even see the Stargate from where they were. The fog surrounding them, the rain falling, the heavy clouds blacking out the sky, all made it seem as if they were about to step into an endless void rather than an open field.
Howls erupted directly overhead and Daniel flinched involuntarily. The scouts had found them, and were announcing their location. Now it was time to run. After all the climbing and scrambling in the jungle, Daniel wasn't sure how much running he had in him. He also knew it was a coin toss whether the scouts would pursue them, or simply continue sounding off. One way or the other, this escape was going to be over in just a matter of seconds. Seconds that would, Daniel knew from experience, feel like an eternity.
"Carter, go for the DHD. Daniel, you stay with her. Teal'c and I will provide as much cover as we can," Jack said, but of course they all knew there wasn't really any cover to be had.
Sam would be dialing the first address she could think of where there was a scheduled mission, or something like that. Daniel would be acting as her final line of defense, or possibly her support if she had trouble remembering one of the symbols. They were the best with 'gate addresses, whereas Teal'c and Jack were undeniably the strongest fighters of the team. It just made sense to arrange them that way.
"Go," Jack instructed, and Sam and Daniel bolted side by side for where they guessed the DHD had to be out there in the fog; Jack and Teal'c fell in behind them, intentionally staying a few paces back.
Partway there, Sam hit some kind of pothole and went down. Daniel started to slow, to turn back and help her, but she waved him off, and he heard Jack tell him to keep going, so he did. Now wasn't the time to suss out why he was being told to leave Sam and go for the DHD. He just had to assume Jack knew what he was telling Daniel to do, and trust the colonel was right. When it came to matters of strategy and survival, Jack usually was.
Daniel all but crashed into the DHD more than actually finding it in the fog. Clinging to the sides of it to keep his balance, Daniel scrambled in his head for the symbols that had seemed so clear when he and Sam had begun their run. Suddenly his mind was half-blank. He was out of breath, dizzy with it, and fear was trying to take over. He felt himself shaking against the DHD, and he couldn't seem to take in enough air to clear his head. Daniel's heartbeat was loud enough in his ears to drown out the thunder. It felt like an hour passed before he was able to remember the symbols he needed, but he knew that wasn't true because he'd gotten to the third symbol in the sequence before Sam managed to limp over to him.
"You got it?" she asked.
"Yeah," Daniel replied, amazed to hear the dead calm in his voice, "You okay?"
"I'll live," Sam replied coolly, and he knew she was more annoyed by the hindrance the injury represented to both her and the team than anything.
"Go on ahead, I'll finish the sequence," Daniel said, nodding to where the Stargate loomed out of the fog like some sort of leviathan out of myth, looking more like a thing alive than a piece of technology.
Sam nodded wordlessly and set off. Daniel was almost finished dialing anyway and would catch up with her shortly. But as he was finishing the sequence, he heard the roars suddenly get louder. The howlers were no longer in the trees, and they weren't only coming from the direction SG-1 had. The howlers had them surrounded.
"Jack! Teal'c!" Daniel shouted, a moment before the roar of the howlers was drowned out by the sound of the Stargate activating, which also prevented Jack and Teal'c from hearing anything he tried to say after their names; so he could only hope it was enough warning.
It was. Both Jack and Teal'c retreated from their positions, rapidly overtaking Sam. Without waiting to see if she would protest, they each took an arm and hauled her up the steps to the 'gate. Daniel followed them but -halfway between the DHD and the 'gate, he was tackled by a howler.
It hit like a freight train, sending Daniel sprawling. But it had misjudged its leap slightly, as well as the slippery nature of the wet grass. After hitting him, it tumbled past him, rolled in the grass and flailed violently for a moment before it regained its feet. In the meantime, Daniel had reflexively curled up to protect himself. When the howler came screeching at him a second time, he kicked out.
The howler should have been agile enough to evade him. Either it slipped on the grass, or had seen Daniel's passivity up until now and was taken by complete surprise, because the boot connected with a sickening crunch, and the howler wailed as it was knocked back.
Trembling, clumsily trying to get to his feet, Daniel didn't protest when he found Jack had come back for him. He just accepted the hand up. Teal'c and Sam must already have been through, because Daniel didn't see them. Unhurt but terrified both of being left behind or losing Jack to the howlers, Daniel clung to Jack's shoulder, unmindful of the pain in his right arm at his doing so. Jack seemed just as determined to hang onto him, without regard for the injury to his left hand.
Together, the two of them made the painful but brief run up the steps, and plunged through the Stargate, into the swirl of stars and ice and blackness.