FIC: Zymotic (10/12)
Chapter 10
A fly landing on his nose finally brought Jack back around. After a moment of disorientation, his freakishly accurate internal clock told him he had been out for twenty-two minutes exactly.
He groaned and raised his hands to his head when it started to register that he had acquired a massive, pounding headache in those twenty-two minutes. He slowly lifted himself up to a sitting position, and looked around.
Still the same damn forest. He’d almost hoped he’d dreamt the whole thing.
“Hey, Jack.”
Jack started in surprise when he heard Daniel’s voice coming from somewhere behind him. Before he had the chance to turn around, Daniel had appeared at his side and was crouching down to get a better look at his face. “You’re still here?” Jack asked, the words coming out sounding grouchier than he’d intended.
“Where else would I be?” Daniel said, passing Jack his canteen. “How are you feeling?”
“Terrible, but thanks for asking.” Jack took a swig of water, though he was more or less convinced that it was just imaginary. It was probably because of dehydration that he’d collapsed in the first place. Still, if this was his mind’s way of keeping him going through all of this, he wasn’t going to knock it.
“You were out for at least half an hour,” Daniel said. “I was getting worried.”
“Actually, it was twenty-two minutes,” Jack said, waving away Daniel’s proffered arm and rising shakily to his feet on his own.
Daniel’s eyes widened in surprise. “That’s amazing,” he said. “I wonder why a keen sense of time is one of the symptoms of this thing. Maybe it affects a certain area of your brain that…”
“Yeah, while I’m sure the science behind it is absolutely fascinating,” Jack said, “I really think we should get back to the whole escape thing before I pass out again.”
Daniel’s mouth snapped shut and he quickly hopped closer to take Jack’s arm as he swayed dizzily after attempting to take a step forward.
“I’m fine,” Jack said, steeling himself with sheer determination. “I don’t need you to usher me along like a little old lady.”
“Okay.” Daniel stepped back and held his hands in the air.
“Thank you,” Jack muttered. “Alright…” He sighed and squared his shoulders. “One foot in front of the other.”
Daniel silently walked alongside him for a few paces, until Jack stumbled trying to step over a tree root. He moved as if to help him again, but Jack swatted his arm away.
“I can handle this, Daniel,” he said.
“Jack, why don’t you just let me…”
“No.”
“Maybe I could just…”
“Can it, Daniel.”
Daniel made a sound of frustration, but closed his mouth and wisely left Jack alone.
This just made Jack even more positive that he wasn’t dealing with the real Daniel.
He managed to keep himself upright for the next few minutes as they walked along, but it took all of his willpower to keep his legs from becoming two big, quivering globs of jelly. He could only remember a handful of times in his life that he had felt so exhausted, all of which had ended with incredibly narrow escapes from death. He was determined to make it to the gate before his strength gave out entirely, knowing that once he made it back to Earth, his job would be done and trained professionals would instantly take over and nurse him back to health.
Providing, of course, that he was actually heading in the right direction.
“Jack,” Daniel suddenly said, grabbing Jack’s arm to stop him from walking. “Do you hear that?”
Jack tilted his head to listen, though he wasn’t sure exactly what he was supposed to be hearing. Still, if his delusion was hearing something…
And then it registered.
“That sounds like… water,” he said, the sound giving him a rush of excitement and renewed energy as he started walking towards it.
The sound grew louder and louder as the two of them jogged between the trees, until finally they entered a clearing and saw the most beautiful babbling brook that Jack had ever seen.
Not that there was anything special about this particular brook - it was just like any other brook they’d come across on a multitude of planets throughout the galaxy, but Jack’s extreme thirst and exhaustion made it seem like he’d just stumbled across a little piece of paradise. He dropped down on his knees by the water’s edge and started scooping handfuls of the cold, clean liquid up to his face until he had drunk his fill.
It was only then that he looked over at Daniel, who was kneeling a few feet away from him, calmly dipping the canteens into the water and slipping them back inside his robe.
“Not thirsty, Daniel?” Jack asked after wiping his mouth on his sleeve.
Daniel shrugged and smiled. “Not as thirsty as you were, obviously.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet,” Jack said. He sat back on the grass and surveyed their peaceful surroundings with curiosity. “So… did you know this place was here?”
“I knew there was a creek of some kind between the colony and the gate, yes,” Daniel answered, seemingly unfazed by the question. “I was hoping we’d find it along the way.”
Jack chuckled, but didn’t say anything. There really was nothing to be said - first the secret inoculation and now the secret source of desperately needed water? There was no way Daniel would have kept those facts from him if he had really come to rescue him.
But no matter. He’d had his first real drink of water since he’d started on this journey, and he could already feel his second wind coming over him. Or was it his third wind? Whatever it was, he hoped it could take him as far as the Stargate.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
They only rested for a couple minutes at the creek before starting on their way again. Jack didn’t want to waste his newfound energy just sitting around. He intended to walk until he dropped… or until they found the gate. Whichever came first.
He kept his eye on Daniel as they hiked, fully expecting him to disappear or morph into someone or something else at any moment, but nothing out of the ordinary happened. Daniel kept his eyes straight ahead and his mouth shut, the expression on his face looking more and more strained and anxious as time dragged on.
Finally, Jack couldn’t take the silence anymore.
“What’s on your mind, Daniel?” he asked, more out of boredom than interest in the answer.
Daniel glanced over at Jack for a moment, but then turned his eyes back to the path ahead. “I’m just a delusion, remember?” he said. “I don’t even have a mind, so how could there be anything on it?”
Jack had to concede the point. “True enough,” he said. “But I’m bored, so… make something up.”
Daniel clenched his jaw and shook his head. “I’m too tired to play this game, Jack,” he said with uncharacteristic resignation. “Let’s just walk, okay?”
Jack gave Daniel a curious sideways glance. “What’s the matter with you?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
“That wasn’t a ‘nothing’ kind of tone…”
“You know, maybe I’m just tired, Jack,” Daniel finally snapped. “Tired of… of busting my ass trying to get you out of that place and off this planet, and getting nothing in return but doubt and suspicion.”
Jack stared at him in surprise. He hadn’t anticipated an outburst like this at all. “Well, what do you expect, Daniel?” he said. “Everything I see and hear could just be my imagination playing tricks on me. That tends to make a guy a little suspicious, wouldn’t you say?”
It seemed as though Daniel wanted to respond, but he restrained himself with a visible effort and kept silent.
Jack shook his head and took the hint. Daniel, whether he was a delusion or not, was pouting. He knew it would make life a hell of a lot easier if he just left him to it.
Exhaustion soon began to kick in again as they emerged from the forest and found that they now had rolling hills to climb. As they started up the first hill, Jack flashed back to his trek across the planet with the sick plants and mute aliens. Fortunately, that didn’t interfere with what he was doing - he already had the pounding headache and silent companion, after all. When he came back to the present, Daniel was still walking along beside him, lost in his own little world. Jack was relieved at that. Daniel obviously hadn’t noticed that anything had happened.
Though part of him was starting to wonder whether his mind was getting too tired to animate Daniel-the-delusion beyond walking beside him now. He hadn’t said a word or made a sound in almost two hours. That just wasn’t like him.
“Are we there yet?” Jack asked at the foot of the second hill.
“Shouldn’t be long now,” Daniel said, so quietly that Jack had to strain to hear him.
Jack looked at Daniel more closely then. He hadn’t noticed before how pale he’d gotten, and how sunken his eyes were beginning to look. “You okay?” he asked.
Daniel didn’t even attempt to answer.
“I’ll take that as a no,” Jack said.
He pretended to shrug it off as nothing, but subtly watched Daniel out of the corner of his eye for the next few minutes. He was more than a little concerned that Daniel seemed to be dragging his feet even more than he was.
When they reached the top of the hill, Daniel stopped and bent over to catch his breath. Jack eyed him warily, not at all liking what he was seeing. “Daniel…”
“I’m okay, I just… need to stop for a minute,” Daniel said as he sank down onto the grass.
“Fine,” Jack said, sitting down beside him. “We can stop for a minute.”
Daniel looked up at the sky as he took out his canteen and drank from it. “It should be dark soon,” he said.
“Yeah. You gonna make it?”
Daniel gave him a grumpy look. “Of course I’m gonna make it,” he said. “Are you?”
Jack took the canteen Daniel offered him and took a swig. “Absolutely,” he said as he handed it back to him.
“Great. Then let’s get moving again.” Daniel tried to rise to his feet, but swayed and almost fell over again before Jack moved to catch him.
“Whoa,” Jack said, easing him back down onto the ground. “Looks like you need another minute there, buddy.”
Daniel groaned and cradled his head in his hands. “Jack… I don’t think I’m okay after all.”
Jack really grew worried then.
He laid his hand gently on Daniel’s shoulder to offer him some sense of comfort, but Daniel reacted as though he’d been struck. He jerked his head up and looked at Jack with wide, terrified eyes. “Apophis,” he breathed, shrinking away from Jack in fear.
“Daniel, it’s me,” Jack said, though he knew it wouldn’t make any difference what he said or did until the hallucination had played itself out.
“Oh God,” Daniel whispered, looking over Jack’s shoulder at some imaginary object or person. “Sha’re…”
Jack almost broke down completely at the look of hopelessness and fear on Daniel’s face. Thankfully, it was short lived - a moment later, Daniel fell back on the grass and lost consciousness.
“Guess the inoculation didn’t work so well after all,” Jack muttered. He passed a hand over his face and sighed. Suddenly he felt as though he couldn’t move another inch, let alone carry Daniel all the way to the gate by himself.
He lay down on the grass and closed his eyes, defeat settling in and smothering him like a wet blanket.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
To be continued...
A fly landing on his nose finally brought Jack back around. After a moment of disorientation, his freakishly accurate internal clock told him he had been out for twenty-two minutes exactly.
He groaned and raised his hands to his head when it started to register that he had acquired a massive, pounding headache in those twenty-two minutes. He slowly lifted himself up to a sitting position, and looked around.
Still the same damn forest. He’d almost hoped he’d dreamt the whole thing.
“Hey, Jack.”
Jack started in surprise when he heard Daniel’s voice coming from somewhere behind him. Before he had the chance to turn around, Daniel had appeared at his side and was crouching down to get a better look at his face. “You’re still here?” Jack asked, the words coming out sounding grouchier than he’d intended.
“Where else would I be?” Daniel said, passing Jack his canteen. “How are you feeling?”
“Terrible, but thanks for asking.” Jack took a swig of water, though he was more or less convinced that it was just imaginary. It was probably because of dehydration that he’d collapsed in the first place. Still, if this was his mind’s way of keeping him going through all of this, he wasn’t going to knock it.
“You were out for at least half an hour,” Daniel said. “I was getting worried.”
“Actually, it was twenty-two minutes,” Jack said, waving away Daniel’s proffered arm and rising shakily to his feet on his own.
Daniel’s eyes widened in surprise. “That’s amazing,” he said. “I wonder why a keen sense of time is one of the symptoms of this thing. Maybe it affects a certain area of your brain that…”
“Yeah, while I’m sure the science behind it is absolutely fascinating,” Jack said, “I really think we should get back to the whole escape thing before I pass out again.”
Daniel’s mouth snapped shut and he quickly hopped closer to take Jack’s arm as he swayed dizzily after attempting to take a step forward.
“I’m fine,” Jack said, steeling himself with sheer determination. “I don’t need you to usher me along like a little old lady.”
“Okay.” Daniel stepped back and held his hands in the air.
“Thank you,” Jack muttered. “Alright…” He sighed and squared his shoulders. “One foot in front of the other.”
Daniel silently walked alongside him for a few paces, until Jack stumbled trying to step over a tree root. He moved as if to help him again, but Jack swatted his arm away.
“I can handle this, Daniel,” he said.
“Jack, why don’t you just let me…”
“No.”
“Maybe I could just…”
“Can it, Daniel.”
Daniel made a sound of frustration, but closed his mouth and wisely left Jack alone.
This just made Jack even more positive that he wasn’t dealing with the real Daniel.
He managed to keep himself upright for the next few minutes as they walked along, but it took all of his willpower to keep his legs from becoming two big, quivering globs of jelly. He could only remember a handful of times in his life that he had felt so exhausted, all of which had ended with incredibly narrow escapes from death. He was determined to make it to the gate before his strength gave out entirely, knowing that once he made it back to Earth, his job would be done and trained professionals would instantly take over and nurse him back to health.
Providing, of course, that he was actually heading in the right direction.
“Jack,” Daniel suddenly said, grabbing Jack’s arm to stop him from walking. “Do you hear that?”
Jack tilted his head to listen, though he wasn’t sure exactly what he was supposed to be hearing. Still, if his delusion was hearing something…
And then it registered.
“That sounds like… water,” he said, the sound giving him a rush of excitement and renewed energy as he started walking towards it.
The sound grew louder and louder as the two of them jogged between the trees, until finally they entered a clearing and saw the most beautiful babbling brook that Jack had ever seen.
Not that there was anything special about this particular brook - it was just like any other brook they’d come across on a multitude of planets throughout the galaxy, but Jack’s extreme thirst and exhaustion made it seem like he’d just stumbled across a little piece of paradise. He dropped down on his knees by the water’s edge and started scooping handfuls of the cold, clean liquid up to his face until he had drunk his fill.
It was only then that he looked over at Daniel, who was kneeling a few feet away from him, calmly dipping the canteens into the water and slipping them back inside his robe.
“Not thirsty, Daniel?” Jack asked after wiping his mouth on his sleeve.
Daniel shrugged and smiled. “Not as thirsty as you were, obviously.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet,” Jack said. He sat back on the grass and surveyed their peaceful surroundings with curiosity. “So… did you know this place was here?”
“I knew there was a creek of some kind between the colony and the gate, yes,” Daniel answered, seemingly unfazed by the question. “I was hoping we’d find it along the way.”
Jack chuckled, but didn’t say anything. There really was nothing to be said - first the secret inoculation and now the secret source of desperately needed water? There was no way Daniel would have kept those facts from him if he had really come to rescue him.
But no matter. He’d had his first real drink of water since he’d started on this journey, and he could already feel his second wind coming over him. Or was it his third wind? Whatever it was, he hoped it could take him as far as the Stargate.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
They only rested for a couple minutes at the creek before starting on their way again. Jack didn’t want to waste his newfound energy just sitting around. He intended to walk until he dropped… or until they found the gate. Whichever came first.
He kept his eye on Daniel as they hiked, fully expecting him to disappear or morph into someone or something else at any moment, but nothing out of the ordinary happened. Daniel kept his eyes straight ahead and his mouth shut, the expression on his face looking more and more strained and anxious as time dragged on.
Finally, Jack couldn’t take the silence anymore.
“What’s on your mind, Daniel?” he asked, more out of boredom than interest in the answer.
Daniel glanced over at Jack for a moment, but then turned his eyes back to the path ahead. “I’m just a delusion, remember?” he said. “I don’t even have a mind, so how could there be anything on it?”
Jack had to concede the point. “True enough,” he said. “But I’m bored, so… make something up.”
Daniel clenched his jaw and shook his head. “I’m too tired to play this game, Jack,” he said with uncharacteristic resignation. “Let’s just walk, okay?”
Jack gave Daniel a curious sideways glance. “What’s the matter with you?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
“That wasn’t a ‘nothing’ kind of tone…”
“You know, maybe I’m just tired, Jack,” Daniel finally snapped. “Tired of… of busting my ass trying to get you out of that place and off this planet, and getting nothing in return but doubt and suspicion.”
Jack stared at him in surprise. He hadn’t anticipated an outburst like this at all. “Well, what do you expect, Daniel?” he said. “Everything I see and hear could just be my imagination playing tricks on me. That tends to make a guy a little suspicious, wouldn’t you say?”
It seemed as though Daniel wanted to respond, but he restrained himself with a visible effort and kept silent.
Jack shook his head and took the hint. Daniel, whether he was a delusion or not, was pouting. He knew it would make life a hell of a lot easier if he just left him to it.
Exhaustion soon began to kick in again as they emerged from the forest and found that they now had rolling hills to climb. As they started up the first hill, Jack flashed back to his trek across the planet with the sick plants and mute aliens. Fortunately, that didn’t interfere with what he was doing - he already had the pounding headache and silent companion, after all. When he came back to the present, Daniel was still walking along beside him, lost in his own little world. Jack was relieved at that. Daniel obviously hadn’t noticed that anything had happened.
Though part of him was starting to wonder whether his mind was getting too tired to animate Daniel-the-delusion beyond walking beside him now. He hadn’t said a word or made a sound in almost two hours. That just wasn’t like him.
“Are we there yet?” Jack asked at the foot of the second hill.
“Shouldn’t be long now,” Daniel said, so quietly that Jack had to strain to hear him.
Jack looked at Daniel more closely then. He hadn’t noticed before how pale he’d gotten, and how sunken his eyes were beginning to look. “You okay?” he asked.
Daniel didn’t even attempt to answer.
“I’ll take that as a no,” Jack said.
He pretended to shrug it off as nothing, but subtly watched Daniel out of the corner of his eye for the next few minutes. He was more than a little concerned that Daniel seemed to be dragging his feet even more than he was.
When they reached the top of the hill, Daniel stopped and bent over to catch his breath. Jack eyed him warily, not at all liking what he was seeing. “Daniel…”
“I’m okay, I just… need to stop for a minute,” Daniel said as he sank down onto the grass.
“Fine,” Jack said, sitting down beside him. “We can stop for a minute.”
Daniel looked up at the sky as he took out his canteen and drank from it. “It should be dark soon,” he said.
“Yeah. You gonna make it?”
Daniel gave him a grumpy look. “Of course I’m gonna make it,” he said. “Are you?”
Jack took the canteen Daniel offered him and took a swig. “Absolutely,” he said as he handed it back to him.
“Great. Then let’s get moving again.” Daniel tried to rise to his feet, but swayed and almost fell over again before Jack moved to catch him.
“Whoa,” Jack said, easing him back down onto the ground. “Looks like you need another minute there, buddy.”
Daniel groaned and cradled his head in his hands. “Jack… I don’t think I’m okay after all.”
Jack really grew worried then.
He laid his hand gently on Daniel’s shoulder to offer him some sense of comfort, but Daniel reacted as though he’d been struck. He jerked his head up and looked at Jack with wide, terrified eyes. “Apophis,” he breathed, shrinking away from Jack in fear.
“Daniel, it’s me,” Jack said, though he knew it wouldn’t make any difference what he said or did until the hallucination had played itself out.
“Oh God,” Daniel whispered, looking over Jack’s shoulder at some imaginary object or person. “Sha’re…”
Jack almost broke down completely at the look of hopelessness and fear on Daniel’s face. Thankfully, it was short lived - a moment later, Daniel fell back on the grass and lost consciousness.
“Guess the inoculation didn’t work so well after all,” Jack muttered. He passed a hand over his face and sighed. Suddenly he felt as though he couldn’t move another inch, let alone carry Daniel all the way to the gate by himself.
He lay down on the grass and closed his eyes, defeat settling in and smothering him like a wet blanket.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
To be continued...