A/N - Well, it was perfect weather for Halloween last night, and unlike Dave Dixon I did have trick or treat duty, so I had no time to post. Hope you don't mind your conclusion coming a day late. Just promise me, pretty please, that you won't stop reading until you get to the end!

Chapter 3

Sam bolted in the opposite direction of the screech, the rest of her team hot on her heels. They tore through the hallways, unsure of their direction, but unrelentingly pursed by the skittering noise, now coming from both above and below. Another screech sounded, closer this time, and Sam felt her stomach drop when she heard Daniel scream.

She spun around and brought up her P-90, ready to fire at whatever had attacked her friend. But Teal'c was already on it, spewing a barrage of bullets into the ceiling above the place Daniel was now hanging, limp and bleeding, his neck resting at an unnatural angle and his glasses dangling by one ear.

Without warning, a razor ridged tail shot out of the floor and speared Teal'c right through the chest. The Jaffa yelled in fury, and with his final breath, he emptied the last of his clip into the ceiling above him.

Sam stared, shocked and unable to move. No! This couldn't be happening! They couldn't be dead! But as she watched, two creatures, dark and horrible, with elongated heads and knife-like claws, slowly emerged and began to feed on their fallen teammates. Sam sat stunned and horrified, unable to look away and trying to reconcile the scene before her with a reality she knew couldn't possibly include these creatures.

Before she could process the situation any further, though, Jack grabbed her by the arm, and they turned and ran down the walkway. They fled through the maze of passageways for several long minutes, letting bullets fly freely toward the faintest indication of movement. All too soon, Jack's weapon was spent. Within moments, Sam had also exhausted all of her ammo. The two officers cast their guns aside and took off at a dead run toward what they believed was the hatch of the ship.

Jack stopped abruptly. They had somehow found themselves back at the ship's control room, but the skittering noise was now coming from some point ahead of them - and it was moving closer. Sam's stomach clenched as she realized they were cut off from the exit of the ship and completely defenseless.

Without hesitation, Jack pulled Sam inside the control room and hit a button to the right of the entrance. With a whoosh, a metal door sealed them inside. Taking her zat from its holster, he shot at the door's control panel, and it exploded in a burst of sparks. He looked through the window in the door, then pulled Sam toward him into a corner of the room that was out of sight of the entrance.

She began trembling, the implications of what had just happened finally hitting her full force. Jack wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tightly to his chest, one hand on her back, the other in her hair. Sam clung to him, desperate for his warmth, and his touch. She was numb, physically and mentally, and the sensation of his body pressed to hers was the only thing keeping her tethered.

"Sir?" she whispered, though she didn't know what she was asking him.

"It's going to be okay, Sam, I promise," he replied directly in her ear. She knew it was a lie, but whether he was saying it for her benefit or his own, she couldn't be sure. After a moment, he pulled her even closer. "They're coming," he whispered.

Sam could hear the all too familiar skittering sounds just over the thudding of Jack's heart. She held her breath, certain the door to the control room would be wrenched open at any moment. She closed her eyes in preparation for the inevitable screech.

One full minute passed, then another, and still nothing happened. The sounds of the creatures in the hallway began to fade, and Sam felt Jack relax ever so slightly, though he didn't release his hold on her. As her fear began to dissipate somewhat, she became increasingly aware of how intimately her body was pressed to his, how his hand had moved from the back of her head to cup her face, and how his lips were now hovering just above hers.

They stood like that for several seconds, Jack's thumb absently stroking Sam's cheek. Her hands found their way to his abdomen, one moving up to caress the firm chest beneath her palm and ultimately coming to rest on his broad shoulder. He looked in her eyes, and Sam knew the same fear, regret, and love were reflected in her own.

They both understood that they were crossing the invisible line that kept them on the right side of military regulations, but such things seemed trivial now in light of all that had happened. Jack quickly closed the remaining distance between them, and Sam's fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt, as his lips met hers.

The kiss began slowly but rapidly progressed to something much more heated. Jack moaned her name, as his mouth moved to her jawline and down the side of her neck. Sam had just breathed his name in reply when his lips found hers again, the contact much more intense than before. Desire flared white hot in her core.

Without warning, the window in the door to the control room shattered and a loud screech sounded throughout the room, causing the two officers to jump apart. Something threw itself against the door, which buckled under the assault.

Jack looked at Sam. "The chambers. Go!"

They both ran to the other side of the room, and Sam situated herself inside of one of the open compartments. By now, at least three creatures were throwing themselves at the metal door, which was rapidly showing signs of fatigue.

"You think this will protect us?" Sam asked, desperation lacing her voice.

Jack pressed her zat into her hands. "If it doesn't, use this."

"What about you?"

He gave her a look full of meaning, one she had seen before, from the other side of a force field. One she had seen when she had known he would die for her.

"Jack..." she sobbed.

The door broke open, almost wide enough for the creatures to get inside.

"In you go, Major," he commanded. But his voice belied his feelings. He hit a button, and a glass partition rose between them, sealing her inside. She raised her hand to the glass, and he briefly touched his fingers to hers before climbing inside the adjoining chamber.

The moment the partition enclosed Jack, the door to the control room burst open, and three gruesome creatures entered the space, their long, barbed tails swinging behind them. Sam tried to be as still as possible, but it took no time for the the beings to realize that their prey was trapped in the units.

Sam began hyperventilating, as one of the creatures pressed its face up against the glass partition of her chamber. The thing opened its mouth and screeched right in front of her, and she closed her eyes and let out a whimper. When she opened them again, she saw that a second, smaller mouth had emerged from the first. It was a terrifying sight. She grasped her zat harder and closed her eyes again.

Somewhere, in the back of what was left of her rational mind, it occurred to her that she had seen these creatures before. At the same time, though, she knew they didn't exist. How could that be? But the thought was quickly pushed to the side as, slowly, the door to her chamber began to open.

Sam's heart raced as she raised a shaking hand and aimed her zat at the alien. The moment her hand was free, she fired. The creature screeched again but didn't stop moving. She fired, over and over, but the weapon seemingly had no effect.

Waves of terror washed over her, as she felt the alien's claws wrap tightly around her chest and waist. She tried to struggle, to move away, but the chamber that she had hoped would be her salvation was now a death trap. Panic shot through her, and she began to thrash as much as the creature's grip would allow. She closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable.

Then, through a fog of fear, she unexpectedly heard people calling her name.

"Major Carter! Stay still!" Janet, her addled brain registered. She paused. That couldn't be right. How did she get here? What was happening to her? "Sam, please," Janet pleaded again.

Sam stilled completely and slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was the tiny doctor, removing something from her head. Janet backed up and looked at her. "Oh, thank god," she said when she saw Sam staring at her. "Get the rest of these restraints off of her," she told the technician at her side. She turned to look at something to Sam's right. "How's the Colonel?"

"He's coming out of it, mam," someone replied. Sam looked past Janet and gasped when she saw Daniel and Teal'c standing behind her, very much alive with a look of grave concern on both their faces. Beyond him, General Hammond stood at stern attention, with a sheepish Bill Lee at his side.

"What happened?" she murmured. She could see now that she was encased in some type of black metal contraption but clearly inside the SGC, rather than an alien spaceship on a distant planet.

Janet turned back to face her. "You don't remember?" she asked, her brow furrowed. At Sam's confused look, she continued. "You and the Colonel agreed to test the Gamekeeper's virtual reality pods. Dr. Lee wanted to see if they could be adapted for training purposes."

Now freed from her restraints, Sam stepped out of the contraption and turned to face Jack, who was still in the pod, a confused look on his face.

Instantly, it all came back to her. Bill Lee had been studying the pods and had theorized they could be used for training new recruits to the SGC. Sam had been intrigued and instantly agreed to participate in the test. Jack had not been pleased with the idea but insisted that he be the second test subject, citing the fact that he had prior experience with the pods, as well as military training. Dr. Lee had hoped to draw on the experiences of the SG teams to develop the simulations.

Sam closed her eyes. Of course! Last night had been Halloween, and the team had gathered at Jack's house to celebrate...

By now, Jack was free of the chair, and she could tell that he was remembering, too. Dr. Lee rushed forward and began peppering them with questions. "So did they work? Did you share a virtual reality? We attempted to translate your experience on the video monitors, but we couldn't completely tell what was happening."

Sam flushed, recalling what had transpired in the control room. Clearly thinking the same thing, Jack shot her a sideways look and asked, "How much could you see?"

Dr. Lee sighed and shook his head. "Actually, not much of anything. The video interface didn't work out nearly as well as we hoped. That's going to need some fine tuning." He shrugged. "Mostly, we just monitored your vitals."

Janet interrupted. "Yes, and there were many times I was very concerned, Colonel. Your heart rates spiked on several occasions and you were running on so much adrenaline, I was afraid your hearts might stop." Janet pointed to a graph on the monitor. "Most of your reactions were clearly the result of the fight or flight response, but strangely enough here," she pointed to a blue line, "just a few minutes before you exited the virtual reality, you both experienced a spike in dopamine levels." She turned to face the two of them. "Do you remember what happened?"

Sam and Jack looked at each other, and Sam felt her cheeks flush. Fortunately, they were saved by General Hammond. "This was clearly a more dangerous test than we first believed. I think we should give Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter a chance to fully recuperate. We can debrief after they've rested and been cleared by your staff, Dr. Fraiser."

Jack let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, sir." Hammond shot him a suspicious look, knowing Jack typically tried to avoid the infirmary at all costs.

As Janet began leading them toward the medical floor, Dr. Lee rushed up behind them, his excitement palpable. "Colonel, Major, can you just give me a quick opinion? Any thoughts that immediately spring to mind?"

Jack stopped and glared at the scientist. He looked at Sam for a long time and then began walking toward Dr. Lee. Sam held her breath as, for just a moment, she thought Jack might strike him. By the look on Bill Lee's face, he thought the same thing. Instead, Jack just pointed at him with his index finger mere inches from his face.

"Yeah," he replied. "The next time you scientists want test subjects for your little experiments, you can use yourselves." He spun around and began walking toward the infirmary again, his finger still in the air. "And no more horror movies on team night!"

The End

A/N - Hope you enjoyed my little homage to the greatest sci-fi/horror movie of all time. I think most of you picked up on the references to the film, but did you figure out the rest? As always, thanks for reading, and please let me know what you think!