Chapter Seven

Part II

Authors Note: I cannot believe that I started posting this over a year ago. It was only supposed to be two chapters, I never imagined it would get this big or take this long to get it finished. I could bore you with the many details of everything that has gone on in real life that caused such delays to this story, but instead of torturing you I think I'll just apologize profusely.

This is a short chapter but I wanted to go ahead and get it up while I work on the next part.

If any of you kind readers that have been following this story are still out there and reading this, I thank you.

FYI: No animals were hurt during the writing of this chapter.

Warning: This chapter has a couple slightly darker aspects than some of the previous ones. If you are easily upset than please read at your own risk.

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The sparkling water gracefully flowed by in the narrow creek that cut through the woods as the first rays of sunlight penetrated the thick canopy of leaves overhead. The peaceful surroundings a stark contrast to the lone figure standing by the waters edge, clutching a loaded Nine Mil in his sweaty, trembling palm.

Unshed tears filled the desperate, haunted eyes. Tears of pain, fear, hatred, despair, remorse, but most of all, guilt. Guilt over everything he had done, guilt over what he was about to do…what he didn't want to do. But in the jumbled mess that was his mind, he could think of nothing else he could do. This had to be done, to stop the pain and the guilt and the confusion, but most of all it had to be done to make things right. To appease the bloodthirsty ghosts that haunted him, this was the only way to make their screams stop echoing inside his head. This was the only way to stop seeing their sightless eyes and featureless faces. This was the only way to make sure he never hurt another innocent person again. This was the only way to end the nightmare.

Slowly the silent figure flicked the safety off and lifted the gun…

SG1-SG1-SG1-SG1

Jack O' Neill slowly pulled his old bones out of his comfortable bed. It had been a long night and the general wasn't as young as he used to be.

He had finally coerced Cameron down to the camp fire last night but despite his and the team's best efforts, Mitchell had remained distant and aloof. The sad thing was that they all knew Cam was actually trying to be good company and have a good time with them, but was simply incapable of it.

Not for the first time the team had all silently cursed the Galaran Memory Device and what it had done to the young colonel who'd been through so much already.

Shaking himself out of such dismal thoughts Jack changed into a comfortable pair of jeans and a t-shirt – so much better than the dang dress blues he had to constantly wear in his job at the Pentagon – and made his way out to the cabins small kitchen where he found Carter sipping a cup of coffee. It looked as though the brilliant scientist hadn't been up all that long herself.

"So what are the rest of the kiddos doing this fine morning?" He asked with a smile as he poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down across from Sam.

"Daniel and Teal'c left just before daylight to pick some of those wild blackberries that you said grew down on the other side of the creek. Cameron was still sleeping when they left."

"Just how long have you been up?" Jack asked, he'd been sure she hadn't beat him by that much.

"Not long," Carter said with a smile, "Daniel left a note on the coffee pot."

"Ah." Jack nodded in understanding, that explained it. Even though 99.9 percent of the time it seemed like Carter literally knew everything, it was nice to know there was a point one percent of the time that she wasn't completely clairvoyant.

Silence between them drew on for a few moments, small talk had always been slightly awkward for them. Neither ever knowing quite what to say. During a mission? Sure, no problem. In the lab? Carter could ramble on about her latest research and Jack could throw in his little quips pretending to be dumber than he was and getting a small smile out of Sam. On base, on a mission, or on another planet, talking was never a problem for the two. But sitting alone together in Jack's cabin in the middle of nowhere, years worth of words unsaid and conversations never had hanging between them…yeah, small talk was awkward.

"So," Jack said, clearing his throat, "how is Mitchell this morning?"

"I don't know, I haven't checked on him for fear I'd wake him. Cam needs all the sleep he can get. Besides, it's only another two hours until his next treatment. The longer he sleeps the less he can worry about it."

"Right as usual Carter." Jack stated matter-of-factly, silently pleased with the smile his words put on the beautiful scientist's face.

They talked for a few minutes, about missions, the team, projects, working at the Pentagon, but as they sat talking about everything and nothing all at the same time, O'Neill couldn't help but notice the gnawing feeling in his gut that was telling him something was wrong. But as to what exactly was wrong, he couldn't figure out.

Finally deciding to check on Mitchell just to put his mind at ease, Jack made his way to the door of the small bedroom that Teal'c and Cameron were sharing and quietly peaked inside. The gnawing feeling in his gut intensified as his eyes fell on the empty bed.

"Carter!" He hollered, "Mitchell's gone!"

"What?" Sam exclaimed, as she jumped up from the table, nearly spilling her coffee in the process, and ignoring her own rule about not having the word in her vocabulary, said, "That's impossible!"

"Apparently not!" Jack countered, sharper than he'd intended, "Head down and get Daniel and Teal'c, then start searching. The vehicles," Jack continued as he quickly glanced out the front window, "are still here so that means he's on foot. He can't have gotten far."

Without wasting time on talking, Sam simply nodded her head and was out the door at a run. Jack was right behind her, but turned back at the last second.

The cold feeling of dread that had taken up residence in his stomach intensified as a new thought occurred to him. Quickly making his way to the fireplace in the living room, Jack reached for the large ornate box that sat atop the mantel. With a dry mouth he opened it and lifted the false bottom to reveal the hidden compartment below.

For a moment O'Neill's heart stopped and the world stood still as Jack stared at the empty space where his Nine Mil handgun should have been.

SG1-SG1-SG1-SG1

Teal'c and Daniel had both been enjoying the peaceful morning as they picked the delicious wild blackberries. The idea had been to pick some for everybody to eat for breakfast or lunch, but far more berries had been ending up in mouths rather than buckets.

"It's kind of nice to be able to relax in the woods for a change." Daniel spoke up out of the blue, as the archaeologist was wont to do, "I mean usually if we're picking wild berries it's because we're trapped off-world with bad guys chasing us and have a limited food supply."

"Indeed." Teal'c agreed.

"I mean it's nice to, for once, just be picking wild fruit because we want to and not have to worry about what dangers are lurking around the corner."

No more than the words were out of his mouth there was a loud cracking sound as something moved through the woods just behind them. Daniel only had a moment to regret his statement and curse Murphy's Law before a loud menacing growl made him and Teal'c both freeze as they saw the large bear emerge out of the bushes from the corner of their eyes.

Both stood perfectly still scarcely daring to breathe. Neither had any weapons on them, as neither thought they would need them. They were unarmed in the middle of nowhere with no way to call for help. Sometimes it really sucked being part of SG-1, having both the best and worst luck of any gate-team at the SGC. You couldn't even pick some berries without running into trouble.

The bear watched the two for but a moment until, with an ear shattering roar, it lunged at them.

SG1-SG1-SG1-SG1

Cameron Mitchell stared down the barrel of the gun in his hand, preparing to pull the trigger, when suddenly the peaceful morning air was split by an unholy roar.

Cam's finger froze midway in depressing the trigger as he heard Teal'c and Daniel's voices yelling in the distance just up-stream from him. Without a second thought the colonel lowered the gun and took out running in the direction of the commotion. Instinct took over as he jumped, ducked, and weaved through the tangling brush, low limbs, and tree roots, with a speed that would've surprised even himself had he taken the time to notice.

When he finally reached the area, he stopped short to take a brief look trying to determine the best approach. The scene before Mitchell would have been comical had it not been so life threatening.

Before him was Teal'c and Daniel both hold up in a small tree that was already bending under their combined weight. A fact that wasn't helped by the 800-something pound bear that was attempting to claw its way up after them.

Cam's reverie was broken by the loud snapping sound as the branch supporting most of Teal'c's weight finally gave way under the combined strain, dropping the large Jaffa like a stone.

Teal'c was fast as he quickly regained his footing, but the bear was faster and would be on the warrior in seconds.

Knowing that the small handgun would probably be about as effective as using a BB gun on Godzilla, Cam nonetheless did the only thing he could and opened fire.

As far as distractions went, it worked great, the bear's full attention shifted from Teal'c and Daniel to the thing that was shooting at it. As far as plans went, it really sucked, because now the bear was charging at the thing that was shooting at it.

With no time to react – and little to no self preservation left anyways – Mitchell stood his ground and continued emptying the clip into the massive blur of fur.

The bullets did little to slow the bear down and the impact sent Cam crashing to the forest floor as the gun was knocked out of his hand.

With reactions honed from years of combat training Mitchell grasped a piece of fallen limb and brought it up in front of his face just in time for the bear to sink it's vicious teeth into the hard wood instead of the colonel's soft flesh.

Somewhere in the back of his mind he registered the fact that Daniel and Teal'c were yelling as they scrambled for a way to help him, and Cam heard a loud, "Oh my God!", as Sam appeared out of nowhere and witnessed the terrible scene before her.

Time seemed to stand still as the surreal situation took place.

Everyone knew with a gut wrenching certainty that the bear would end up killing Mitchell before they could stop it. But that wouldn't stop them from trying. As one the other members of SG-1 surged forward, heedless of the danger to themselves, as they rushed to try and save their team leader.

"Everybody DOWN!" The order had them all reacting on instinct, dropping to the ground without a seconds hesitation just as the loud retort of a high powered gun was heard, followed in close succession by a second and third as the bullets slammed into their target, knocking the bear to the side away from Mitchell. The massive creature stumbled a few yards away before falling to the ground as the death rattle could be heard in its chest.

Looking up everyone saw O'Neill standing before them with a large hunting rifle held in his hands.

"Good timing." Daniel said with a relieved sigh, as he and Sam quickly made their way to where Teal'c knelt at Mitchell's side.

"How badly are you injured Colonel Mitchell?" Teal'c asked in a tone that came as close to alarmed as his ever did.

Looking at Mitchell it was no wonder why. The colonel lay in a pool of blood that was slowly soaking into the forest floor. His clothes were also saturated, staining his once gray t-shirt into bright crimson.

"Oh my God." Sam was repeating herself but no one called the brilliant astrophysicist on it as they all took in the bloody sight.

"I'm fine." Cam panted breathlessly, as he slowly tried to push himself up to a sitting position.

"No Cam, stay down!"

"You're not fine!"

"You must remain still Colonel Mitchell!"

Carter, Jackson, and Teal'c all exclaimed simultaneously as they all reached to keep Mitchell still.

"Cam you're in shock, you've lost a lot of blood, you need to stay calm and lay still…" Carter trailed off as the wounded colonel began to laugh. It was the first genuine laugh that the team had heard from the colonel in what seemed like forever – it was one of the most wonderful and welcome sounds any of them had heard in a long time. The laugh quickly turned into a groan but Cameron forced himself to speak despite the pain, "It's not… my blood, Sam. It's…the bear's." His breath hitched as he finished his statement, after a moment he added, "Well, at least…most of it."

Looking at the trail of blood leading away from where Mitchell lay, over to where the enormous creature had dropped, the others realized that Cam was most likely right. Relieved smiles broke out on all of their faces. "Well, that's certainly good to hear." Jackson stated for them all.

"Now will you let me up?" Cameron asked with a hint of fond exasperation. It was strange, but even though he'd just been half-mauled by a bear, Cam was in better spirits than he had been in quite some time.

"Are you sure you are not injured Colonel Mitchell?" Teal'c asked, still wearing a look of concern. The Jaffa found it difficult to believe that Mitchell had come out of the attack completely unscathed. Teal'c couldn't help but feel guilty knowing that the Colonel had been injured largely due to the fact that he was trying to save him after he fell from the tree.

"I'm fine, Big Guy." Cam stated, as he sat up, only to belie his own words as he let out a sharp gasp, wrapping an arm tight around his side.

His back was alternating between throbbing and aching fiercely from where he'd been slammed into the ground and his ribs were bruised, if not cracked or broken, from where the bear had tackled him. But his side…Cam's side is where the fire was.

Teal'c steadied him as Carter gently but firmly pried his arm away and lifted his shirt to reveal some very long, very painful looking claw marks scraping across his left side. It wasn't bleeding at a life threatening pace but Mitchell's side was covered in warm tacky blood and was cause for concern.

Daniel quickly took off his long sleeve over-shirt and helped Sam wrap it tightly around Cam's midsection, tying the sleeves together for pressure on the makeshift bandage.

"We need to get Dr. Lam back up here." Carter stated.

"Definitely." Daniel agreed, "Jack, how quick can you get Lam here?"

When there was no response to the archaeologist's question the four members of SG-1 all looked up realizing for the first time that O'Neill hadn't spoken since he'd ordered them down when he'd shot the bear.

They were all surprised to see the usually happy-go-lucky Air Force Officer standing but a few feet away staring at Mitchell with a stony, unreadable expression that bordered on hostile. The Nine Mil that the colonel had used to shoot the bear clutched tightly in the general's hand.

"Jack?" Daniel asked worried, "What's wrong?"

Silence.

"Jack?" Daniel repeated when no response was forthcoming, "Jack! What's wrong?"

A long uncomfortable silence reigned, in which O'Neill's piercing gaze never left Cameron. When the general finally answered, his words held none of their usual humor, and were instead uttered with a quiet, icy, sharpness that not one of them had heard before, "What's wrong? Why don't you ask Mitchell that question, he's the one that was alone in the middle of the woods with a loaded handgun."

TBC

Thank you for reading! And as any fanfic writer knows, the more reviews you get the more excited you are to get the next chapter up faster. Please let me know what you thought of this one.

And thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far. I don't think I got a reply sent to everyone who did, but I thank you immensely for your kind words!

Out of curiosity, has anyone else seen that new Stargate Blog by ShadowRhymer, SG-B Review? I like it, it kind of got me back in gear on this story. ( www(dot)sgbreview(dot)wordpress(dot)com )