Thanks for all of the feedback! It gives me reason to keep writing! It was awesome to come home from work last night to it! After this chapter, it might be a few days before I can post anymore...

Chapter 2

As Carter ran to assist her teammates, she heard the P-90 fire before she saw it. She pulled up short, flicked off the safety of the P-90, aimed, and fired at the heads of the bodies that came into view. Six, seven, eight, and still more came. They surrounded Daniel and Teal'c. Jack was off to the side some sixty yards away where he had more room. The hooded figure immediately went to work on attackers using his knife. None of the things seemed to bother him or Carter. She moved closer to help Daniel and Teal'c. "Sir, their heads! Aim for their heads!" She yelled between bursts of gunfire.

Carter counted at least a hundred, maybe two hundred of these bodies that looked in every right as if they should not be on their feet. They were like zombies, but not the same kind that Earth movies portrayed. They weren't quite like those actors in make-up from Night of the Living Dead either, but that was the first image that popped into Carter's mind.

Jack had circled around to meet up with Carter; they were now back to back, firing at any undead, but dead looking thing that came near them. They finally seemed to be gaining some advantage; picking off these things with rapid-fire shots to the head took them out a lot quicker than trying to take out an army of Jaffa, mainly because they were slower moving and didn't possess any weapons.

With Carter and Jack's help, Daniel and Teal'c were able to create an opening for themselves and had moved towards the others. Daniel didn't hide his disgust when he saw and then smelled Carter.

"Don't ask," Carter said, taking out three more of the things.

"I like it," Jack said, eliciting a small smile from Carter, despite their circumstances. "You should wear it on your next date."

Their attackers now numbered less than a dozen, seeming to have become disinterested in the group. They passed by SG-1 as if they no longer could see them. SG-1 sighed in relief.

The hooded figure came up to them, taking the last in the herd out with a sickening squishy sound.

"Who's your friend, Carter?" Jack asked, nodding towards the hooded figure.

"Not a friend, Sir." Carter looked over at the hooded figure, then at her team. "It's...Ba'al."

Daniel leaned in. "I'm sorry, but I thought you just said that was Ba'al."

Teal'c raised a brow. "This is most unusual."

Although uncomfortable with defending Ba'al to her teammates, she stated, "I know. But he did, well...kind of save my life back there. And he appears to know how to stop these things." She shrugged.

"I don't like it," was all that Jack said. As Ba'al came towards them now, having cleared out the area, Jack asked in a mock-friendly tone, "so how ya doin''?"

Ba'al ignored him and pushed back his hood. "I suggest you refrain from further use of your weapons. The noise draws them out. I assume you have quieter weapons with you?"

Teal'c inclined his head.

Weary of both Ba'al's presence and of the land around him, Jack got straight to the point. "What are you doing here? Where are your groupies?"

"I believe it would be wise to head back to the Stargate, O'Neill, and continue the discussion there." Teal'c stated. Despite Ba'al's suggestion, Teal'c had not lowered his weapon.

"I agree with Teal'c. Let me go through with you and I'll explain everything."

"Sure!" Jack exclaimed, sarcastically. "How about you just tell us what's going on and we'll think about it?"

Daniel spoke up next. "Why do you need our help? Why not just leave the way you came?"

Ba'al held up his hands in a surrender move. "My surveillance here showed that the people of this planet were one of the least advanced we had come across. Although not very intelligent, even by Earth standards, they proved to be loyal and strong bodied."

"And this mattered to you, why?" Daniel drew out the last word.

Ignoring him, Ba'al continued. "After much preparation, we traveled here, only to be met by this new group that we had not seen before. They attacked us, and those of us who did not perish, took the ship and left without me."

The smug look on Teal'c's face at this last part was priceless. "You say they left without you, their leader?"

"My men have become weak and many have betrayed me, believing in the Tau'ri's quest for freedom from the Gods."

"False Gods." Teal corrected.

"Yes, well I know how you feel, Teal'c."

Trying to speed things up, Jack asked. "So, what happened then? Are they like vampires and if you get bitten you turn into one of them?"

"I do not know what these vampires are, but no. You die."

"Good to know." Daniel chimed in. "So, basically, you thought that you could take a weak people and train them to be loyal to serve you?"

"Yes." Ba'al answered.

"Well, how noble of you." Jack said.

"I think the question is, is whatever we're dealing with now a new group of people or the same ones Ba'al was watching?" Daniel said.

They all turned heads to Ba'al.

Ba'al looked at them with without amusement. Jack said, "You're the expert on this planet. What do you think?"

"I think we should head back through your Stargate before we have to deal with more."

"Sir, I hate to say this, but he's right. We're not prepared for this. We don't have enough ammo if there are many more of them out there, and five of us can't kill an army without one of us getting hurt. What would be the point?" Carter reasoned. Again, she grimaced at the fact that she had just agreed with Ba'al.

Jack sighed. He knew they were right. He just didn't want to admit that the right thing to do in this case would be to bring Ba'al through the Stargate with them. The thought had crossed his mind to just shoot him where he stood and be rid of one more threat against Earth. "Okay, folks. Let's head back. We'll reassess the situation from the safety of the SGC."

The sun had dipped lower in the sky, but there were still plenty of daylight hours left to allow them to walk back to the Stargate. As they made their return trip, they walked in silence, each alert for any danger. Even Ba'al seemed to be wary and was silent, walking several paces away with Teal'c keeping his guard on him, should he try anything.