Chapter Eight: Up the Creak

The closer they got to the lake, the louder the sound of rushing water became. While Jack had knew about the rising water levels, having sat through numerous reports by Hawthorn and Dr Howard, the new lead on the dig, he never imagined it would be this bad.

The Colonel cleared the last rise and was now looking down at the lake, which was once calm and still, now the water raged. Clearly the water from the mountains visible in the distance further north had finally reached the lower laying land and the lake had tripled in volume.

"This isn't good," He heard Daniel say as the civilian surveyed the scene. So far the water was being swept off to the east, along the path of a dried up river bed, but it was only a matter of time before it threatened base camp.

"Sierra-Golf-one-niner to base camp, come in please."

"Go ahead, Jack." Hawthorn answered through the radio.

"Hank, start packing it up. The lake is now a surging river, it's only a matter of time before the whole area floods."

"Major Hawthorn," Daniel joined in the conversation. "Make sure what ever specimens Dr Howard has managed to recover are packed up too."

"Copy. Any sign of our guy?"

"Not yet," Jack looked to Carter who was trying to get a fix on Hawkins radio in the hopes he was trying to use it, but if the look on her face was anything to go by, she wasn't having much luck with that. "Don't worry, Hank, we'll bring him home." He closed the channel and started down towards the water, even though the shore was still a number of yards away, the ground was saturated and with each step, water would ooze up, like they were walking on a sponge. "Alright, spread out, we don't have much time and-"

"Dan'el!" The Colonel spun to the right seeing a familiar Unas on higher ground. "Kanay keka! Et-den."

"The hell is he doing here?" The Colonel asked as the Unas in question started running along the elevated ground, weaving between the trees.

"I think he's found Hawkins." Daniel didn't wait for permission and was off after the Unas quicker than Jack could grab his jacket to hold him back.

"For crying out loud!" He ran after the civilian with Carter in tow, both having to scramble up the muddy bank to negotiate their way around the edges of the vastly swollen lake.

"Kanay." Chaka had stopped and now pointed towards the water below them. This part of the lake wasn't so fast as the natural curvature of the land aimed a lot of the rushing water back off into the middle of the lake. It was still dangerous, the water still moved fast, washing away the earth in its wake. About forty yards into the water was an island that was quickly being eroded by the sheer force of the water, it was here Hawkins stood, soaking wet already and covered in mud.

"Remind me to bring him a ball next time we're here..." He was of course joking, after this, he doubted very much if they would return. They had their crusty old bones and all they needed was a live specimen to complete the set, then it was just a case of working out how to use the bugs found to not only make the disease but also the cure.

"Issac!" Daniel scurried down the bank calling out to the stranded man, having to scream to be heard above the din of the water. Hawkins heard the call and waved looking relieved.

"Come on in the waters great!" The Sergeant shouted back.

Jack waved back before rooting through his pack. "Least that's a good sign he's not hurt to bad, lets get a line to him."

"It's to far to throw it..." Daniel was already slipping out of his own pack and jacket, volunteering himself for the swim.

"No way, Daniel. You pull us back. Carter, you're the only one of us who knows how to use that thing. Soon as we're back on the shore, zatt us and make sure neither of us have one of those things in our head." The Colonel slipped out of his vest and jacket, spotting Chaka a good distance away from the shore and reluctant to venture further.

"This water might be moving to fast...they could have all been swept away." Carter offered hopefully but Jack shook his head.

"I don't think so, Carter." he nodded towards Chaka, who could obviously sense the danger in the waters before them. Immediately Carter's eyes filled with dread and she closed them in a moment of silent prayer. She never struck him as the religious type, a woman of science and action, but in situations like this, even the most logical minds called out for the aid of a higher power.

The Colonel stood taking the line from Daniel and securing it around his waist while the civilian anchored the other end to a tree near the edge of the water.

"Alright," He started taking in deep breaths ready for the swim, standing on the edge of a lake that could possibly hold a fate worse than death.

"Swim fast." Said Daniel who was stood beside him, holding the line ready to pull them back.

"Oh you better believe it." The Colonel eased himself into the cold water, walking out as far as he could before he had to start swimming, kicking hard to battle the current. He had always been a strong swimmer and the fact this part of the lake was relatively sheltered by the shore, he was able to make it to the quickly shrinking island in good time. "Issac, you lied! The water sucks!" He said as the Sergeant pulled him onto dry land.

... ... ... ...

In the blink of an eye it had all went to hell. The second Hawkins got back to the main shore, Jack was watching helplessly as Daniel was first struck and then thrown into the surging waters while the Goa'uld within Hawkins homed in on Carter. His second done him proud as even before he had taken one step towards her, she had zatted him. It made his next decision easier, more so when she waved him on, screaming at him to go.

Running as fast as his water loaded boots would allow, Jack launched himself back into the lake, diving head first, hands breaking the surface, making him more streamline as he cut through the depths. He kicked hard, the current with him and he was propelled at some speed further down stream. With another kick he broke towards the surface and shook the water from his face, searching the white and green for any sign of Daniel. He was rewarded with a choked out 'Jack' from a barely visible head a little further away and the Colonel started swimming towards him. They bobbed up and down, following the path of the flowing waters as it drove up and over anything in its path, carrying the two members of SG-1 with it.

The water was picking up speed and becoming more violent and both Jack and Daniel had been sucked under more than once, luckily both were to stubborn to give up and had kicked back towards the light and air. It was becoming harder to do so each time, as they fought for breath and a way back to the shore before they were washed miles down stream. The water itself was becoming more hazardous as debris was washed into the flood and Jack narrowly avoided being impaled on a jagged piece of tree as it was carried by the waters.

With one final push the Colonels hand snagged Daniel's jacket and he pulled the spluttering man towards him, holding the civilian above the water as the last time Jackson had went under he had stayed there.

"Got-cha!" He declared as Daniel coughed up half the river. "Not the biggest I've caught," He joked and with his one free hand he grabbed for a low branch from a tree that had almost been ripped free of the banks, luckily the roots went deep and the sturdy fauna halted their ride. "Might have to throw you back come to think about it."

"Yeah," Daniel coughed. "Do it, I'd rather drown than have the ass kicking you promised." The banter lightened the mood somewhat but it didn't change their situation. Thankfully Daniel still had enough of his wits about him to not only throw back a retort, but reach for the branch too, leaving Jack able to pull himself closer to the bank with two hands instead of one.

As fast as the two very wet and now very muddy men could manage, both Jack and Daniel clawed their way towards the shore, out of breath and desperate to get out and away from the water.

"Well, that was refreshing!" Jack declared as he got to one knee and reached back to help Daniel up, but the civilian had backed away, pulling the zatt from the holder and aiming it at the confused Colonel. For a sickening moment, Jack thought that a Goa'uld had found its way into his friend. "Danny, no..." He knew pleading to the host was pointless, there was little Daniel could do to help if he was now a host to a parasite, but he had to try but at the same time he was reaching for his own zatt. And that's when he felt it.

... ... ... ...

"NO!" Daniel screamed just as the Goa'uld parasite snaked its way up the last inch of Jack's back. It had just made a lunge for the neck when Daniel fired. He had hoped to simply shoot the bastard thing, but it moved to fast and even so, the blast of the energy weapon would have still caught his friend. Not wanting to miss and loose Jack, he made the tough call to fire on the Colonel, stunning the two of them, but Jack had called out prior to the blast as the Goa'uld had impaled the soft tissue around Jack's left shoulder.

The energy surged around both Jack and the Goa'uld and as the Colonel fell to the ground, the parasite dangled lifelessly, half in and half out of its intended host. Daniel scurried forward and grabbed the creature, his hands full of mud and the parasite being slick and slimey made it hard to grip. Daniel growled in frustration as no matter how hard he gripped it, every time he pulled his hands would slide from the body leaving it partially buried in Jack's shoulder. He tried again and again, but each time he was only able to move it very little.

"Damnit! COME ON!" He snarled when he realised the Goa'uld was starting to rouse. "No, no no no!" He grabbed it again and pulled, each time with each hand, but it was no good. It seemed to be hooked in place. It was gonna wake and it was gonna take Jack...

Just when he thought it was over, Daniel was pulled back by a rough hand and a familiar snarl echoed in his right ear. Chaka had come from no where and seemed to know what Daniel was trying to do. With his powerful yet dexterous hands, Chaka held Jack down, who by now was coming too, and with the main claw of its left hand, cut into the skin of the Colonel, exposing the head of the parasite. Jack had called out as, obviously Chaka was being far from gentle but then they didn't have time to be. The Unas snarled in response before tearing the now writhing creature from the Colonel's neck. Blood poured from the open wound and Jack was still shouting his displeasure, but as brutal as the Unas surgery had been, it still had to be better than the alternative.

A shrill cry from the Goa'uld was brought to an abrupt end as Chaka tore the parasite in two, discarding its body in favour of gathering up Jack and urging Daniel to follow as the Unas led a very unsteady Air Force Colonel from the waters edge. Daniel got up and hurried after the pair, watching the water and the surrounding banks just in case any more appeared.

"Gah, put me down, Fido." Jack demanded when they were far enough away to relax. Daniel looked to Chaka and translated, adding please and thank you were appropriate. The Unas nodded and let go of Jack who staggered a few paces to the right to lean heavily against a tree. He was nursing his left shoulder his dark eyes looking to Daniel for answers since the last thing he no doubt remembered was Daniel zatting him. "Wanna explain what the hell just happened?" Jack asked, somewhat breathlessly.

Daniel nodded and went to help Jack to sit but the Colonel quickly lifted his own zatt to Daniel's chest.

"Sorry, don't trust you."

"Jack, you had a Goa'uld about to invade you, I had to shoot."

"How do I know one didn't get you already?"

"Well, Chaka!" He indicated the young Unas who was now watching the pair with interest, trying to follow the conversation confused by their actions. "He sensed the one in Hawkins, he knew he was a host before he even got to shore, that's why it attacked."

"So because this Unas isn't trying to rip your head off I'm expected to believe you?"

"Well, yeah!"

"Okay, then answer me this. How do I know the Unas isn't a host too!?"

It was a completely legitimate question and one Daniel wasn't sure how to answer. He had seen the proof for himself, Chaka had saved Jack's life by ripping the Goa'uld out of him before it could completely submerge within the Colonel's mind, and unless Jack remembered that there really wasn't much point in arguing.

"Jack, think back to a few minutes ago. What do you remember?"

"You zatting me!"

"After that!"

"Nothing till just now!"

"Then we have a problem." Daniel held up his hands looking to Chaka who done the same, the Unas not entirely understanding the motion but he seemed to find it amusing.

"What, not gonna zatt me?" The Colonel asked and Daniel pulled a face of utter frustration.

"Oh right, because I want to kill you."

"Right forget I asked." Jack pushed off from the tree and waved the zatt in a 'start walking' gesture. Daniel turned and headed in the direction of higher ground, Jack plucking Daniel's zatt from the waist of his pants before pushing him on. Chaka had started walking to though no longer held up his hands and Daniel could feel the tension emanating from the Colonel.

"Jack," Daniel stopped walking after a few minutes and turned to face his friend, making sure to keep his hands exactly where they could be seen. "Look, I know I'm asking a lot here, but you need to believe me. If I was a host, Chaka wouldn't be so calm. If Chaka was a host, he wouldn't be sticking around, because lets fact it, you're not in any condition to pursue him."

"Why would I pursue him? I'd just shoot him!"

"Okay, so you'd shoot him, but why isn't he running?"

"How the hell should I know!"

"Because he doesn't have a reason too! Jack," Daniel put his hands down and sighed, the action enough to make the Colonel angry.

"Daniel," The tone of Jack's voice was very intimidating and it was times like this Daniel really envied those people whose best friends weren't trained killers. The civilian put his hands back up and started walking once again.

... ... ... ...

Well this was a damned fine mess. Once more this planet had thrown them a curve-ball and their little search and rescue had changed into yet another all day hike!

What was it with this place?

Was it cursed?

Alive and taken a huge dislike to him?

What!?

Jack grumbled under his breath and kept up the pace, in his right hand a zatt aimed at Daniel who walked just a few paces ahead, while his pet dog, AKA Chaka, bounded ahead seemingly oblivious to the situation between the two humans and that's how Jack wanted it kept. Chaka hadn't given Jack any reason to hurt him, but there was the doubt in the Colonel's mind that both the Unas and Daniel might be Goa'ulds. It was a scenario he had been in only a few months ago with Daniel at least, and he wasn't in any hurry to replay it, fate it seemed, was not with him on that one. The difference being back then, he had Carter and Teal'c as back up and Daniel was alone and easy to control. Here and now? Well, Daniel had Chaka who was deadly enough in its own right. If Daniel so chose, he could have easily had the Unas over-power the Colonel.

So why hadn't he? It could be he was telling the truth, but then if there was one thing he had learned over the years fighting the Goa'uld, it was never to let his guard down. All he had to do was get them back to the gate and that would be that. The only problem with that was they had been swept along quite far by the waters and a lot of the land had changed due to the flooding. The woodlands were now boggy marshes and Jack's boots were not equipped to deal with so much mud and wet, not this high especially.

The further they walked, the steeper the incline became and the drier it got, but walking that far through that much mush had sapped Jack's strength and he had to call them to a stop. The Colonel found a sturdy leaning post, another tree, and proceeded to catch his breath, keeping the zatt primed on Daniel who looked remarkably fresh. There was a first.

"You okay, Jack?" The civilian asked, barely out of breath and almost dry, while Jack was still soaked, a lot of that perspiration down his back and under-arms.

"I'm fine, we've been walking a while, figured you could do with a break."

Nicely covered.

"We've barely been walking an hour." The Colonel frowned and checked his watch. He had to be lying because he felt like they'd been at this hours. Sure enough, Daniel was not lying. "Jack, you do realise you were hurt don't you?"

"I do...not." He frowned and tried to straighten up. How was he hurt and where? As far as he knew, nothing hurt. His left arm felt a little weak and cold, with numb fingers, but it didn't hurt.

"Jack, look at your arm." At Daniel's urging he checked the left one out, since his initial assessment had logged an issue with that one. Sure enough there was a streak of red running from under his black t-shirt. The blood had long since dried, which meant he wasn't still bleeding, or at least not bleeding a whole lot.

"Huh," He plucked at the dark fabric, trying to lift it and find the source of the blood. All he saw was more of the stain but no wound. Further up maybe? He craned his head back as far as he could and even lowered his shoulder to try and get a good look but only managed to hurt himself. He bit back the yelp and tried to retain as much pride as he possibly could, rising the zatt once more when he heard Daniel approach. "Stay back."

"Jack for gods sake you need to let me help you!"

"All you need to do, is keep walking."

"Fine. Lets go." Daniel lowered his hands, a familiar stubborn set to his jaw. Just behind him, the Unas watched, grunting out some words that Jack couldn't make out never mind understand. Daniel simply held up a hand to the creature and shook his head. "The gate is still a four hour hike away, longer if we don't get moving now because the water is still coming in and flooding the low-lands."

"How do you-" Daniel thumbed towards Chaka and Jack nodded. "Ah, I see." He cleared his throat and tried to straighten up but his weight proved to much for the strength he had left in him and he ended up slipping down the trunk of the tree to land on his ass. "Just, give me a minute." He gasped and closed his eyes, forgetting for the moment he was meant to be a threatening guard of prisoners. All he wanted to do was sleep.

... ... ... ...

Daniel watched helplessly as Jack slid down the tree to sit, rather heavily at its base, his once steady right hand falling, weakly holding the energy weapon before it dropped from the mans fingers. Jack had been flagging for the last thirty minutes and while the Colonel hadn't noticed, he and Chaka had slowed right down so he could keep up. Daniel had to watch as his friend slowly grew more and more fatigued, his left arm covered in the blood from the wound his neck and the soft tissue around his shoulder. It hadn't been a deep wound, nor had it bled heavily but there was clearly something wrong with the Colonel.

Jack could walk days without stopping, his specialist training all about survival and staying one step ahead of the enemy. While there was no way Daniel could ever be that efficient or deadly, Jack had been good enough to give the civilian plenty of tips and pointers, it was how he knew something was very wrong. After an hour walking, Jack shouldn't have even broken a sweat.

Behind him Chaka paced anxiously sniffing the air as if trying to gauge in his own way what was wrong with the other man. Daniel took a careful step closer to Jack, who's eyes had closed, before kneeling beside him. It was only now Daniel could see the evidence of illness in the Colonel. His complexion was pale, with a flush to his cheeks indicating a fever.

"Jack?" Daniel reached out and gently shook Jack's shoulder seeing two brown eyes slowly open and search out the source of the voice.

"Hey, Danny." Jack's speech seemed slurred and Daniel felt his stomach twist with worry but he smiled at his friend and slowly pushed the fallen zatt aside.

"Hey Jack." He sat beside the Colonel and met the older man's bleary eyes. "I need to take a look at you."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, I think you might have an infection and I'd like to treat it, make sure you get better."

"Well, isn't that what we generally do? Make sure, we get better?" Jack weakly reached out and patted Daniel's shoulder leaving the civilian worried out of his mind.

"Yeah." Daniel smiled and gently reached up to pull the torn shirt aside. The fabric seemed to be stuck to the skin and as he slowly peeled it back, he was hit by the most god-awful stench and had to cover his mouth and nose so as not to be sick. the wound seemed to have closed, which would explain the lack of blood, but a clear puss, speckled with dark red clots seeped from the broken skin. Daniel had to turn away and swallowed very hard, the urge to just empty his stomach almost to much to resist.

Chaka had caught the scent of the infection and started to pace back and forth anxiously before approaching to sit by Daniel.

"J'ak, denna-itey tak."

"Yes, Jack's very sick..." Daniel took a breath and reached into the pockets of his vest, glad he hadn't left it back with his pack and Sam. He had some antibiotics, pain killers and a few medical dressings locked away in pockets, along with some energy bars and water-purifying tablets. "Chaka, an'tack ke-cendak." Chaka nodded once and was off rooting through their surroundings to gather anything that could be used to help. The Unas knew this land and its dangers. Daniel had underestimated Chaka's methods once before, as it turned out, with Chaka's help they had discovered a whole new set of antibiotics. Right now, Daniel had to do the best he could with what he had, which wasn't a lot. "Jack, you still with me?"

"Uh-huh."

"You need to take these." He handed four pills in total to the Colonel. "Two antibiotics and two Tylenol. You've got a bad infection and a fever..."

"Sure, doc." Jack took each of the pills one at a time before washing them down with water from Daniel's canteen.

"This might hurt a bit." He warned as he took out one of the antiseptic wipes and started to clean the wound. To his surprise, Jack didn't even flinch but the wound wept out more of the clear fluid and Daniel cringed at the sight. It wasn't until more normal looking blood started to flow that Jack seemed to feel the pain, which Daniel had to assume was a good sign. Jack too seemed a little more with it as his high temperature slowly came down to more manageable levels.

"Yeah, that hurt a lot." Jack said around gasps and Daniel shot him a sympathetic look as he held a piece of gauze over the wound. It would hopefully draw out the bad stuff and stop any more getting in.

"I know, sorry."

"It's okay." Jack took another swig from the canteen and sat looking marginally better than he did half an hour ago.

"Do you want the zatt back?" Daniel asked, offering the Colonel the weapon he had let slip from his fingers.

"Na, I think you're probably not a Goa'uld." Jack shrugged in an apologetic way.

"Well, I did try to tell you."

"Oh there it is."

"What?"

"The 'I told you so'."

"Well I did."

"Shut up." Jack meant it but Daniel just chuckled and continued applying the bandage, wrapping it around Jack's chest and over the afflicted shoulder. "What the hell happened anyway? After you shot me?"

"I told you, there was a Goa'uld. It literally impaled your neck just as I fired. It was stuck in there for about a minute while I tried to get it out but I couldn't, to damn slimey."

"But you got it out right!?" There was a desperate tone to Jack's voice and Daniel quickly nodded.

"Chaka did. He had to slice into your shoulder to pull it out, they must have some kind of barb making it harder to extract them."

"Nice." Jack pulled a face, he was less than thrilled at the image. "And me feeling like this, it's just...the wound being infected right?"

"I'm not sure," Daniel said honestly as he sat facing Jack. "Chaka said something odd a minute ago."

"Daniel, everything Chaka says is odd?"

"No, you just don't understand his language."

"like I said, odd." He shrugged then wished he hadn't. "So what was odd?"

"Well, the closest translation I can come up with is 'the bite is still inside'."

"There's some of it still in me!?" Jack was clearly panicked and Daniel quickly shook his head.

"No, not in the literal sense. It didn't leave anything in you, like a mouth or teeth or..."

"Give me the zatt..."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "What I think it means is, something about the bite has caused this." Jack still didn't seem to be following and instead was looking for the zatt. "What we know about the Goa'uld here, they're predatory or they were. Now the ones that left, blended with humans and mated to take on certain aspects of our biological make up to make that-"

"Carter covered this!"

"Right," Daniel sighed. "Well these Goa'uld, the ones that stayed and remained in part, predatory, must have developed a way to bring down prey. I mean, you call them snake-like and a snakes arsenal is its bite and..."

"Venom." Jack finished and Daniel nodded.

"I've asked Chaka to find something to help, he seemed to understand the wound, what it was."

"This day just keeps getting better and better."