Chapter Two

Greer laid still for a moment on the rough ground, breathing heavily, adrenaline racing through his veins in the aftermath of the near-death experience. The others were shouting while he became aware that the man laid out on top of him was clearly Rush, the long feathering strands of his hair soft on Greer's neck and cheek, his thin, but wiry frame pinned to Greer's back. Besides, no one could mistake that accent as it thickened heavily on a vicious string of swear words, some of which Greer couldn't understand, but heartily supported.

Rush rolled off to the side just as the others appeared beside them.

"Are you alright?" Scott yelled as he helped Greer up to a sitting position, still scarily close to the massive corpse of the beast.

Greer nodded, taking in a shuddering breath, then composed himself and reassured Scott.

"It's huge!... Looks like a giant panther!..."Oh My God!"

A jumble of reactions from the other flew past Greer as he turned to look at Rush who was already sitting up and being tended by TJ, her blond head bent over his left arm. Blood dripped from four long, sheer slices into his flesh.

Greer's stomach turned over. That was his fault. He hadn't been looking. He was supposed to be protecting Rush, not the other way around. The scientist had just saved his life and been wounded for it.

He practically crawled over to sit next to Rush. "Thanks Doc," he said, attempting nonchalance, but not knowing if he had succeeded. "How's the arm?" he inquired of TJ.

Her blue eyes were wide with leftover fear and her mouth pursed with concern.

"The cuts aren't too deep. Skin wounds bleed a lot, but that's good. The real worry is infection."

Rush shook his head. "If you're thinking of wasting an antibiotic shot on me, don't. I've had worse."

TJ frowned at him. "We have no idea what kind of bacteria or infectious organism that beast might be carrying. You're getting a shot." She glared right back at Rush.

"Take the shot, Doc," Greer insisted, relief lightening his tone. If Rush was being cantankerous, he was fine. It was when he got soft-voiced that you really had to worry.

A loud, electronic squeak reminded Greer that he'd been speaking to the Colonel when the attack had happened. He stood up and went to retrieve it, wincing at various bruises from hitting the ground with Rush on top of him, but Scott beat him to it.

"Colonel, this is Scott. We were attacked by some kind of animal, looks like a giant panther of some kind. Doctor Rush managed to knock Greer out of the way and we shot it. Drs. Franklin and Park are examining it now."

"Is everyone OK?" Young demanded.

"Rush took a wound to his arm from the panther's claws, but TJ's tending it now. Doesn't look too serious. Everyone else is fine," Scott reported. "Peterson and Williams are watching out now for any more of the beasts."

"Scott!" called Rush, lifting up his unwounded arm, palm out. "Let me talk to him."

Scott looked at Greer, shrugged, and went over to hand the radio to Rush.

"Colonel Young, this is Doctor Rush. Given the size of this animal and its resemblance to some of the large cats of Earth, I'd strongly suspect that we won't run into another, unless it has a mate and offspring. A predator this big tends to be solitary and is likely to control a good-sized territory. We'll be sending its remains through the Gate for analysis. It might be edible, but I think our time will be better spent searching for its prey."

"Edible?" Scott exclaimed, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"I'd rather eat it than have it eat me," Greer observed with some amusement.

"Its prey?" Young asked through the radio.

"A carnivore of this size must need a lot of meat. I would suspect that we'll find a herd animal of some kind, deer or goat-like perhaps," Rush said, then swore fiercely, jerking his arm away from TJ. He gave her a glare that would knock most men back a step but which she simply ignored, reaching out to take hold of his arm again.

"If you'd hold still, Doctor Rush, I can finish disinfecting and bandaging this faster," she scolded him softly.

He sighed and relented, his mouth pursing with pain as she finished applying the antibiotic cream.

"You all right?" Young inquired through the radio.

"I'm fine," Rush responded. "Close the Gate, so we can send the carcass through. We'll report again if we find that meat source. Rush out." He handed the radio back to Scott, not bothering to note Young's response.

- - -

It took a bit of clambering up through trees and rocks and steep slopes, but they discovered a meadow full of what looked like a wooly cross between a sheep and a goat.

Greer lifted his rifle to shoot, only to have Rush shove the barrel down.

"Don't waste the ammunition," he warned.

"How do you expect us to kill them?" Greer demanded.

"By using our brains."

- - -

Using their brains turned out to be a matter of digging holes, laying traps, and then driving the obviously stupid, but surprisingly quick-footed animals into them. Some messy knife work finished the job.

Park excused herself to vomit in the woods. Greer did his best to soothe her through the admittedly bloody process. Bottom line, they needed the food.

Franklin grumbled the entire time about being forced to help drag the animal carcasses through the woods, but Greer sneered at him. He'd bet Franklin would be among the first to eat the hopefully edible meat.

In the end, drawing additional hands from the ship, they managed to deliver 6 large beasts in addition to the panther-thing they'd sent through earlier, as well as several loads of fruit and nuts and a couple of loads of water. Eli's 'sled' turned out to be worth its weight in gold as it went back and forth.

Greer, Rush, Scott and TJ were the last four remaining planet-side as they sent it through for the last time. As they prepared to follow, TJ suddenly stopped and turned towards Rush who had stumbled on the ramp.

"Are you OK?" she asked, steadying him.

"I'm fine," Rush insisted, but he looked even paler than usual to Greer's eyes and he was instantly at the scientist's side.

Even so, he just barely made it in time to catch Rush as his body slumped and he collapsed into Greer's arms.

- - -

TBC