Debbie418uk2 - I'm glad you liked "Psycho", it's definitely one of my favorites. I'd love to work on a story with you, just let me know if you have an idea.

Godsdaughter - Yeah, I've had a stalker once, and it's beyond creepy. However, 'Sarah' took it to a whole new level, it was fun working with her character.

Sorry about the late post (Debbie418uk2, I'll be reading your newest chapter and replying to it as soon as I post these), but I'm home now, so time to catch up. I think my grandfather's computer has a bad virus. I could sign in repeatedly and it only kept asking for my login info. O.o.

And next week I'm going to Ottawa for a few days, so it might be another late update.

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(Off world, Normal POV)

Raising an eyebrow as his team stood by the active gate, John listened to the briefing on the missing team.

"So the initial Intel states the planet has a very primitive civilization that believe anything they can't explain is...evil?" Rodney's eyebrows went up. "And they're hunted and put on trial? And they're burned at the stake??"

"Sounds like the Salem witch hunts." John muttered with a frown. "Only maybe a tad more...strict in the rules?" Looking to Elizabeth, he tilted his head the tiniest bit. "And there's been no reports from Team Seven?"

She shook her head. "No. They were due to report in four hours ago, and there's no sign of them. I dialed in and used the MALP, but they're not by the gate, and they're not answering the radio."

Nodding, John looked to his team and shrugged. "Guess we're going on a manhunt."

"Oh. Do we really have to? That is to say, do we all really have to? I mean, I don't do well in forests, and the whole burning at the stake doesn't sound appealing, and did I mention I don't do well in forests? All those bugs and the climbing." Rodney was talking really fast, but John ignored him as he lead his team to the gate and through it.

On the other side, the forest was surprisingly...disappointing? I wasn't big or tropical, it looked like an average forest. It also wasn't hot, but not too cool, either.

"Lt. Jonas." John tapped his ear. "Do you read?" His tone was calm, almost bored. "Captain Morgan?"

"They're not here." Rodney abruptly turned around. "Ok, let's head back." Seeing that no one was listening to him, he sighed. "Did I mention this was a really bad idea??"

They walked for a while, before coming upon a small village. People dressed in plain earth tone clothing were walking around, doing their usual business. Strangely, it reminded John and Rodney a lot of early time villages back on earth. One woman was carrying a grain bag, some scaled lizards with feathered wings following behind her.

Ok, so not exactly like earth. John though as he watched her for a moment.

A man was carrying what appeared to be...

"Ok, I can safely say our people have been here." John pointed out to Rodney, gesturing towards the man with the radio in his hands, holding it like he was afraid to catch a disease from it. Crouching down, he activated his radio and spoke out. "You there."

The man jumped and backed off, dropping the radio on the ground before running into the village, speaking in a strange tongue.

"We'd better circle around and see if we can find our people." John suggested, pulling out his binoculars and putting them to his eyes.

There was no response.

Frowning, John looked over his shoulder to find several strange people holding his friends at weapons point. Despite being so primitive, they had sharp implements against the throat of McKay. Ronon looked more than ready to take out the one holding a pitchfork to his throat, but with McKay not being able to fight like the others...

"Put 'em down, guys." John stated quietly, lowering his gun.

The people exchanged a few words before turning towards them. The leader, an elder man with short black hair, frowned.

"What do you do here?"

"We came looking for our...friends. People like us, who came to explore."

"The ones with those evil tools! Witchcraft! And you! You are their allies! You are witches, too!" Turning to the others, the man shouted words in an alien language, and the team was quickly tied up despite their protests. Ronon put up a bit of a fight, but the person holding Rodney tightened their grip, earning a choked plea from him, and Ronon settled down.

Funny enough, there were a lot of similarities between this planet and earth, but for all that, they didn't even have trials. Everything that happened was a blur. It seemed these people had figured out McKay was physically their weakest link, and kept him as a bargaining chip to get to the rest of Team Sheppard. They questioned them, but they didn't tell them anything they couldn't, despite their threats.

In the end, they told John they'd burned their 'fellow witches' and they were next. They'd used McKay to get John out of the temporary holding cell, which was strangely enough, made of metal, and locked it up so the others couldn't get out, even going as far as to toss Rodney inside. John was bound, so there wasn't much he could do, and they dragged him to a large fire pit that he could quickly see had tons of fire wood around it, and people bringing more.

"Whoa! Wait! I'm not your enemy!" Well, that was debatable. John could guarantee no trade negotiations, ever, but if it slowed them down or got them to let him go... "Really. We're just...technologically advanced?"

"Witchcraft! He's trying to cast a spell!"

"No! I'm not! Geez! Don't you people know what technology is?! You've got a steel cage, for god's sake!" John struggled against his bindings. "Just let us go, and we'll leave, ok? We'll go in peace and never come back!" They dragged him up to the stake and tied him securely in place, his back pressing painfully tightly against the wooden pole behind him. "Don't do this! Look, you kill us, and more of my people will come!"

That made them pause, and they looked up at him with a combination of fear, doubt and spite.

"We have many, many more people, just on the other side of that big stone gate!" He cried loudly, trying to at least stall them, and to remember they didn't know what a Stargate was, so calling it that, probably wouldn't help.

The leader scowled and walked over. "Lies! He's trying to bewitch you!" Grabbing a lit torch, he set it into the wood, smiling triumphantly as the wood caught and began to burn.

This is so not happening! "I'm serious! My people will come for me! Um, uh... Hey! If I was a witch, though I'm a guy, so wouldn't that make me a warlock? Oh, right, not helping. If I were a witch, I'd have gotten outta here by now!" The fire was beginning to climb the logs and already John could feel the heat on his ankles. Crap, crap, CRAP! "Please. Let me go." He squirmed against the pole, trying to work himself free. "We're not here to hurt you people!! What's wrong with you?!"

The fire was climbing higher at an alarming rate, and soon John's feet began to burn. It began at his soles, the bottoms of his feet getting uncomfortably hot, and worked it's way up to his ankles. He felt the heat radiating around him, and the smoke rose thickly, making it nearly impossible to breathe. John began to cough as he struggled against his bonds.

He could feel the burning in his feet, and was sure to have severe burns.

"Let me go! We didn't do anything to you people!" Ok, so maybe it sounded kind of weird and futile to say all these things, but all John could think was that it was getting unbearably hot. "What about a trial?!" His heart was racing so fast, he thought it would leap out of his chest, and he felt his panic rising.

Coughing more, John closed his eyes as they began to sting, not wanting to submit them to a lot of heat. Trying to take a steadying breath, he found himself inhaling the heat and choking more on that, pain racking through his chest.

Suddenly, John heard a sound he recognized. It was the Asgard beaming technology the Daedalous used.

Daring to crack his eyes open a bit, he coughed violently, struggling to breath and trying to climb as high as he could on the wood, as his legs were burning uncomfortably. Even his hands were beginning to burn and he balled them up, trying to draw his arms higher behind his back. Everything was getting blurry, and it was hot, so hot. He felt the sweat rolling down his face, and covering his body. He could hear sizzling as his legs burned, and felt something hot dripping down them as the material burned away.

People raced around, several of them shooting off blasts John recognized as stunners. Soon, he saw people racing to the fire, despite not being able to make them out, because he could barely see. Blurry images stopped near the fire.

"John!" The voice was feminine. "Oh my god! Get over here! We need water, immediately!" Another second. "John, it's Elizabeth! Hang on!"

He heard something sizzle and the smoke grew stronger. Slamming his eyes shut against it, he choked and coughed, feeling the world slide dangerously around him as he struggled to remain conscious. His chest burned, every breath he took burned. Immediately, there was an amazingly soothing sensation as the heat faded, and the pain began to subside. Still, it hurt so much to breathe.

"John, can you hear me?!"

It hurt too much, he couldn't stand it. His legs burned agonizingly, and he could feel his body trembling as he struggled to remain standing. His hands even hurt like hell, and he still couldn't open his eyes.

"Colonel! Get him the hell out of there, now!"

He kept trying to breathe, despite the pain, but it was getting harder and harder. He could feel himself missing breaths, and he tried to keep himself conscious, but it was all just too much.

Too much. He let his legs give way, knowing at least the wood wouldn't burn him as he slid down the pole. Chips of wood dug into his back, and pain renewed as he ended up putting more weight on his burned legs. Feeling the world slant again, everything faded to black, and he passed out.

"Oh my... John!"

(Atlantis)

"Does anyone know what happened to Jonas and his team?" Elizabeth asked Team Sheppard quietly as Carson checked out the cut on Rodney's throat.

Teyla and Ronon looked clueless and shook their heads, but Rodney looked understandably upset.

"They're dead. The people were gloating about killing a bunch of witches. They... They were gonna kill us, too." He touched his throat as Carson finished and swallowed heavily before looking over to another bed.

There, Sheppard lay. His lower legs were bound with bandages, as were his wrists. Most of his body was covered with the surgical gown, and the blanket over that, but a nurse was changing the bandages. He was out cold, drugged. He had an oxygen mask over his face and was once again hooked up to the heart rate monitor and IV

"How is he?" Teyla asked with a frown.

"Severe burns on his legs. That was the worst of it, externally. He also suffered from burns in his lungs, from inhaling the smoke. We're heading back to Atlantis, where one of the Tok'ra guests has a hand held healing device. He'll be fine, but I want to keep him in a drug induced coma for the time being. Then I don't want him on duty for at least two weeks."

Elizabeth nodded grimly. "I'll give him a month off." Turning to the others, she sighed. "When I lost contact with Jonas' team, I had the Daedalous reroute to see if they could pick up any signs of them. It's a good thing I did. I joined Major Lorne's team through the gate, as the Daedalous arrived."

Teyla nodded, a small, warm smile on her face. "I am pleased we were able to save the Colonel. You made a wise decision."

Shaking her head, Elizabeth sighed loudly and looked at the drugged Colonel. "No, I didn't. The smart decision would have been to never have let Jonas' team make contact with a primitive race, that was known to be flighty and jump to conclusions. By all accounts, our people resemble witches to them in every way, I should have seen this coming."

"You could not have, do not blame yourself." Teyla put in softly, placing her hand on Elizabeth's shoulder.

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This one might have gone a little quickly, it was one of the ones done before I started getting the real hang of it.

Hope you like it

R+R please

Thank you

Tenshi