Dark
Dark.
Pain.
I hurt. I hurt bad.
What happened? I remember being… in a temple. And
then the floor collapsed.
Ow – ow! Where is he? He was with me when the floor
collapsed.
Ah, there he is. If I can just move closer to
him…shit that hurts…
“Can you hear me? Are you okay?” There’s a
faint groan in reply.
“I hurt.”
“Bad?”
“S’dark.”
“I know.”
“Wha’ happnd?”
“Dunno. Can you move?”
There is a long pause. Too long.
I can’t see his face, but touching his face I can feel that his eyes are
closed. He feels cold under my fingers. Is he dead or just…? Ah, a pulse.
He’s just out cold.
How do we get out of this? The others will be
looking for us….
…
…
…need to stay awake. Ignore the pain. Stay awake.
If we’re both unconscious, we won’t know they’re coming. They will come.
I know they will.
Radios. Where’s my
radio? Shit. Smashed. Must have
landed on it. What about the other one? Ow. Nope, it’s not here. Can’t feel it anywhere nearby. It really hurts to move.
Could try yelling for help.
If the others are anywhere nearby, they’ll hear and come and find us.
“Hello! Anyone?
Help!”
Nothing. No answering shout. Not even an echo. My voice just sounds pathetically
quiet, even though I yelled as loud as I could.
We’re on our own.
…
Stay awake you idiot! Stupid temple! Stupid rain! Stupid,
stupid mess!
Dammit Daniel! You’ve
been working with the military long enough, you know better than to go play in
the temple when you’re told not to. Didn’t assess the risks.
And now we’ve got a right mess here.
Right, now we use soldier training to get us out of
here.
Assess the situation.
It’s dark. That means I’m either blind or we’re a
long way from any light source. Ah, I can just see my hand in front of my face,
so I’m not blind. It’s just very dark.
Injuries – well he’s out cold, so he’s probably
taken a bash to the head. Me? I can’t move my right arm without extreme pain,
and it’s hard to move my legs without pain in my pelvis… in my… shit, have I
lost my… dick? It won’t matter if I have – it’s not like anyone needs me to
keep it in working order. I can’t remember the last time I had sex…
Get a grip man! Worrying about the loss of a
non-existent sex life is the last thing you should be doing – you need to get
out of here, or else you will both die. Come on; pull yourself together,
concentrate on the matter in hand.
…
Tired. Cold… No. Concentrate. We need to get out.
How do we get out of here?
I can see a faint glimmer of light way up there.
That suggests that there might be a way out up there.
So how do I get there? No – how do we get
there? I’m not leaving him behind. He’s my best friend and if I leave him
behind to get what might be non-existent help he might never get out of here
alive, wherever here might be. Whatever needs to be done, we do it together.
No-one gets left behind. That’s the rule.
I wish he were awake. I know all we’d do is snipe
at each other, and have one of those Jack and Daniel bickering sessions that
makes everyone else just roll their eyes. They all think we don’t see it, but
we know that they do it. Then he’d tell me he was fine, and try and hide the
fact that he wasn’t, and I’d do the same, and then we’d both try and take
responsibility for this situation, even though we both know whose fault
it is really… at least there wouldn’t be this awful silence…
…
Right, I’ve got get both of us up
there
somehow, using only one arm. There’s a challenge. At least the ground seems to
be sloping upwards. It feels like mud. Ah. It was raining – perhaps there was a
flash flood that washed away the temple. Okay, so where are we likely to be?
Underground – in a room below the rest of the
building perhaps? Who knows?
Right, let’s get us out of here before any more mud
sweeps through here and buries us alive. How can I drag him with me when I’ve
only got one good arm?
…
Think, dammit, think!
Belts! If I fix our belts together, I can strap him
on my back, and pull us up the slope. We’ll probably lose our pants, but who
cares…
Oh shit shit shit! That really hurts! Why would taking my belt off hurt
my hips like that? What have I done to myself?
Don’t think about that, just get on with the job in
hand. Right, that’s my belt undone, let’s get his.
Damn, his legs are buried in the mud. I’ll have to
dig him out first.
…
Tired. So tired. And cold. Can’t feel my fingers or toes. Still, he’s not half buried
in mud any more.
Right, two belts fastened together. How can I strap
him to me? I know, one of those baby slings like the Eskimos have, across one shoulder, holding him onto
my back. Nope, he’s going to slip off like that.
But if I tie
his hands to the belt-loops on my pants…
This looks awful. His wrists are strapped together
like he’s my prisoner, but if I put his arms over my shoulders, and then strap
the belts to my pants, then he won’t slip down and throttle me.
…
Right. That’ll have to
do. How long has this taken? Way too long.
Okay, here goes. Let’s head for home… find a
rhythm, one, two, pull. Ignore the pain. One, two, pull.
One, two, pull. He’s heavy… too heavy. One…two…pull…
he’s counting on you. You can do this… one…two…
…
…
How long was I out for? Damn. Come on, find the
rhythm. One, two… pull.
…
One… two… pull…
…
Is that daylight? Need to shout. I can hear voices…
it’s Teal’c!
“help…help…we’re
here…”
So tired… hurts so bad….
*
Major General George Hammond entered the infirmary,
where SG-1 were currently being cared for. Major
Carter and Teal’c sat to one side, staring at two curtained-off beds. They
looked exhausted, and they were filthy – covered in mud. In fact, they looked
positively bedraggled.
An hour ago, four hours after Major Carter’s
request for search and rescue assistance, SG-1 had finally returned from what
should have been a routine mission, battered, tired and dirty. Doctor Jackson
and Colonel O’Neill had been whisked off to the infirmary, unconscious. Now
“Major,” he frowned in concern at their appearance.
“What happened out there?”
“Sir,” Sam rubbed her hand through her hair. It was
so caked in mud it was dark brown in colour, instead of the usual blonde. She
looked a little bewildered and close to tears. “We were on P3T-698, and Daniel…
found a temple. He thought it was dedicated to Ra. He wanted to investigate it.
The Colonel went with him. We were taking soil samples… It started raining –
torrential rain.” She took a deep breath before continuing. “There was a sudden
flash flood. The river burst its banks… the temple was downstream… they didn’t
stand a chance.”
“What about you two – are you okay?”
“We are well, General
“How did you find Doctor Jackson and Colonel
O’Neill?”
“It took a long time. There was a landslide – tons
of mud swept through the temple. We didn’t think we’d find them alive…” Sam
choked back a sob.
“We were digging in the mud for hours, General
Hammond.” Teal’c’s jaw twitched. “They must have been
swept into a chamber beneath the temple.”
“So… how did you find them?”
“They were near the entrance to the room. They must
have climbed up to the entrance. They were so badly hurt…I don’t know how he
did it… he dragged him up the slope… he was so hurt…” Sam shook her head, tears
welling in her eyes. She scrubbed angrily at her eyes and then stared down at
her hands.
“If they had not been at the top of the mudslide,
we never would have found them – the entrance was so small, and the room
appeared to be completely filled with mud. We had already looked there and did
not believe it possible that anyone could be in there and still live.” Teal’c
raised his chin slightly.
Suddenly the curtains round one of the beds were
flung open, and the occupant of the bed was wheeled off on a trolley at great
speed. Janet opened the curtains round the other bed. Sam and Teal’c stood.
“Where have you taken him?” asked Sam.
“Surgery – he’s got a badly fractured pelvis that
needs pinning and plating. That, several cracked ribs and a
dislocated shoulder. None of which was helped by lugging a dead weight
up a steep slope.” Janet pursed her lips. “And as for that
dead weight – nasty concussion, cracked ribs, broken femur, tibia and fibula.
Fortunately, he doesn’t need surgery. They’ve both got nasty cuts and
abrasions, which need major cleaning due to all that mud, and are suffering the
effects of prolonged exposure to cold. It’s a wonder they’re not worse than
they are… ” She scrubbed her hand across her face. “Now, if you’ll excuse me,
I’ve got to scrub up and assist Dr Warner in the OR.” She nodded at
Sam, Teal’c and Hammond gathered at the bedside.
The man in the bed looked seriously battered. He
was wrapped in a silver blanket, a warm saline drip in his arm. Monitors beeped
and flashed details of his condition. As the three of them stood scrutinising
the bruises on the pale face, he opened his eyes slightly. He winced and
screwed his eyes up against the brightness of the infirmary lights.
“S’not dark,” he
muttered, closing his eyes tightly.
“No…” murmured Sam.
“Not… there any more?”
Eyes still closed. Lids slightly more relaxed.
“No. You’re home now.”
“Home…”
“Yes Sir, you’re home. Daniel carried you out…” But
Sam’s words fell on deaf ears. Jack was already asleep.
*Fin*
Love it? Hate it? Let me know either way!