Night of the Horny Dire Wolves

Posted on Mon Mar 25th, 2019 @ 3:48am by Major Jacob Asher & Staff Sergeant Rhiannon O'Connor & Staff Sergeant Jeremiah Corvus & Civillian Shae & Civillian Dr. Jessica Andrews & Civillian Ravi Azad PhD & Civillian Selyna Braeden

Mission: The Lost Boys and Girls
Location: P3X842
Timeline: Arrival + 10 Hours, Regression: 5 years

[The Camp]

Ree suited up while the kids got ready ("ready" for them seemed mean forming a defensive perimeter around the food), grabbed her carbine, and went to get Crow. She had to fight to keep the tears back. He'd hurt her feelings so badly!

Jeremy finished a bowl of the stew, a little worried that maybe it was still undercooked, and was waiting for his entree from an MRE to finish heating when the call came through. He was contemplating his own situation and how this was not the professional, specially trained Air Force staff sergeant that he was. He wasn't losing anything, all the knowledge was still there. He had access to all of it, it was just getting harder and harder to understand. Some of it was natural, his dad took him and his brothers shooting since they were children and so that wasn't a problem. He was also raised to respect authority, commitments and to be respectful, so that shouldn't be a problem. He's overcome urges and kept on his path all his life, he wasn't about to let hormonal dumps ruin that either. As much as he could.

Then the call came through and his hunger was nowhere near abated. Pissed, he left his heating entree on the ground as he grabbed his rifle, but then realized everything else was back at his tent. He sprinted across the way (and here the hormonal dumps de-aging him came into play. At 24 he was still fast and fit, but now he was energized as well).

"Hey Jerkface!" she said when she found him. "I mean..." she sighed. "Hey Jeremy. I'm sorry I was such a bitch. And I'm not just saying that because I don't want to get gang banged by a bunch of large canines when they follow Shae's scent back here hoping to get a leg over and find me instead. Apparently, she's foxed out and in heat, and a pack of something unpleasant is coming this way. The Major ordered us to protect the camp. I've already brought the CDC guys into it. I--"
Barking could be heard now, along with loud howl. Whatever they were, they were calling in more of their brethren.

"Crow, please!" Ree said. "I'm... I'm kinda scared. I shouldn't be, but my head--I feel like I did my first time in action, before I knew my training would get me through everything, or it wouldn't, and that was just life. I still know that, I guess, but my faith in that knowledge is shaky. Crow, please help me. I don't wanna die here."

Jeremy came out of the tent, both hands loaded with gear to include several ammo cans - the ammo inside already loaded into magazines and ready to be inserted into the rifles. "PJ up," he said, dipping back in quickly and grabbing another two cans, each contained ten magazines ready to lock and load. He walked up to her and put his hands on her shoulder so she'd have to hear him. "We're both acting like idiots because of what's going on, and saying things we don't mean at all just to be jerkfaces. But we're highly trained, and what our minds don't remember, our bodies do. And, we're younger. Our timing, reactions and reflexes are at their peak, that works in our favor, right? That makes us even better at what we do. You included."

He press checked both his rifle and sidearm. "Besides, somebody's gotta save the old people from themselves, right?" He kept it to himself that they were going to die here one way or another. But, he was damned if he was going to get taken out by wild animals looking to get their rocks off.

"What the hell are they doing?" Jeremy asked. "O'Connor, get them away from the food! It's too open and they'll get run over? For what? There's plenty of game and food here! There's no need for them to get killed over it!" He looked at O'Connor, hoping these were the ones she could communicate. "And we'll use it as bait to draw them into a kill zone and take them out that way."

O'Connor translated for Jeremy, which led to some smirks from the eternal children and a brief discussion. Finally, Isbeil shrugged. "Sgoinneil! Dèan mar a chanas an orac a tha ceangailte ri fèith. Ach ma dh'iarras e ort rudeigin a dhèanamh gòrach, leig seachad e!" She said in her own tongue.

Ree looked confused, until Trestana translated into Irish Gaelic for her, at which point she smirked. "Sea, tá sé ina cheangal ar an muscle go leor den am, ach na matáin sin! Déanann sé mé lag sna glúine uaireanta! Agus ag siúl taobh thiar dó ar mháirseáil? Déithe an asal sin! Mar sin, tarraingteach!"

(Yeah, he's a muscle bound oaf a lot of the time, but those muscles! Makes me weak in the knees sometimes! And walking behind him on march? Gods that ass! So distracting!)

"Okay," Ree said, leaving Jeremy in the dark about the rest of the exchange, while Isbeil, Morgaine, Trestana, and Matina all cracked up laughing and the boys just shook their heads. "They'll let you lead for now. But Isbeil told them that if you asked them to do something stupid they should ignore you, so try not to tell them to do anything dumb."

Jeremy smiled as he looked at the 'kids'. "Spoken like true noncomms," he said, then, seeing movement in the tree line, he made motions for them to hurry over before he knelt into a shooting crouch. They would be far enough away he could use the scope, but depending on how many there were, he'd have to sightline it. "O'Connor, you on the right, keep the tent free of intrusion because there's some questions I have for the 'good doctor' and want her to be able to answer. Get the kids lined up in flanks, I hope they know how to alternate so arrows are always flying. I want them to wait and pick off those who get by our defense and either come for us or for the food. Also," he said popping two more cans. "They're Stingers, so lots of lights and shrapnel, if they're smart that'll be enough to deter them from their appetites."

"Right," Ree said. "Will do." She got the kids set up like Jeremy wanted. Normally only Morgaine and Sanicios used bows, but Isbeil and Estin did have them and strung them. The archers all then stashed arrows in advantageous locations and got ready. Trestana and Felimid stood ready with their short, long-bladed spears in case any got through, while Matina and Rigard, armed only with daggers, stood ready to retrieve arrows during breaks in the action. Ree herded the CDC doctors into Jeremy's tent, where she was sure the boy's locker room smell would drive off the direst of dire wolves. Then she got into position. "Ready," she said.

[The Altar]

Jake followed Shae into the Stonehenge like altar. Those that hadn't seen Shae in fox form were startled by the sight of a silver fox the size of a Great Dane, but Jake shut that down quick.

"Stand down!" he said. "That's Shae. Her gentlemen callers aren't far behind. Everyone who isn't combat trained in the center, please. Shae, you, too. No arguments! Hawk, Jessica, and I will form a perimeter around you all in the center. Shae, if anything gets past us, it's yours."

Again Chow was glad he had his mask on so the others couldn't see the scowl on his face. Being a non-combatant was really frustrating.

Though Ravi's instincts were to protect, he knew it was best to let those trained in combat to do the combat. But, he'd be damned if he let anything get to the CDC doctors. The least he could do was to protect them. So, he took up position near the tent, vowing to learn how to fire a gun at the soonest opportunity.

Shae hung her head. She didn't much like being the last line of defense if any wolves got through; she was a runner and an archer, she didn't like direct combat! But an order was an order and it wasn't like she had much choice in the matter if the wolves did get through to her because she had no desire to get violated by wild wolves!

Jake felt bad for Shae, but things were what they were. There was going to be a lot of lead flying around very shortly and he didn't want her to get shot. "Hey," he said. "It's not because I don't think you can handle yourself. If you couldn't, you wouldn't be here now. I just don't want you in the line of fire." Jake was pretty sure Shae still felt terrible, but cheering her up would have to come after they got back. Right now, he had work to do. Then he had an idea. "While you're back there, Shae," he said. "The barrel of Jess's gun is a lot longer than the ones on the weapons Hawk and I are using. It's not designed for close in fighting. Keep a special eye on her area of the perimeter and if she starts to get overrun, back her up."

Shae looked over to Jess and the weapon she held, then looked back to Jake and nodded. Then she padded closer to Jess to protect her friend. Her head was still hanging, still mortified that they were faced with this problem because of her, but her ears were standing tall to catch every bark.

The barking was getting louder, any second now, the wolves would follow Shae's trail to the camp.

"Sierra Golf One-Four, Sierra Golf One-Niner," Jake said into his mike. "Crow, you don't have to kill them all, just protect the camp and thin the pack as much as you can. I'm sure you've figured this out already, but some of them will get distracted by the meat. Deal with those you can, finish off any stragglers, but do not, I repeat, do not leave that position unless absolutely necessary. Copy?"

[At the Camp]

There were many responses that went through his head - staring with how Asher wasn't really the boss around here anymore so he could shove his orders, to whining about how he was always getting shunted to the less important assignments when he was actually better than most on the team, to just saying 'screw it' and going off to die on his own terms. He wanted to point out this was a stupid situation brought on by even more stupidity that Asher was encouraging by not bringing military discipline to the team - unless it was to lash out at Jeremy, probably because the old man was just jealous at how much better Jeremy was. But he shoved all that side as he answered. "Roger that," he said, knowing that he would still acknowledge Asher as his CO, no matter what Valenti might want to say. "We got backup over here and the civs are locked down." He set down the 40mm launcher, loaded with several Stingers. "We'll need you over here when this is over, One." he said, looking at O'Connor.

The two of them were falling apart as they were regressing to teen years and that needed to stop.

"Copy that, One-Four," Jake said, pretty much ignoring any attitude he was hearing as irrelevant. "Good luck."

[At the Altar]

Jess prepared her sniper rifle and aimed it at the barking. She began to track the barking with first her ears and eyes. Thanks to Salara, her senses were at their prime. She squeezed the trigger and a shot rang out across the field and picked one off. Jess focused on another one. Several more shots came and finally the dogs realized who was picking them off from three hundred yards when they heard the rifle's shots.

This was not something Selyna was trained for, and so she left it to the experts. Putting one of the standing stones between herself and the barking,she figured she was doing the best thing for the more military people by keeping herself out of the way, out of danger as much as possible, and thereby giving them one less person to worry about. But how the hell was she supposed to think like this?

Jake opened up on the wolves--damn but they were big bastards--as they came into view. He fired tight, controlled bursts. He'd moved part of the fight up here to try and thin the pack a little and to keep most of it away from the kids, including Jeremy and Ree, but the disadvantage was that they only had the ammo they were carrying. The wolves were big, and the weapon he was using was a people killer, not a massive wild animal with a fuck ton of sharp ass teeth killer, so it was taking more rounds than Jake liked to kill just one of these things. "Reloading!" he shouted as he rammed home another magazine.

Shae was focused so intently on protecting Jessica that she didn't notice that a wolf had managed to slip past the line of fire to get behind Asher. Just as Jake was reloading, the wolf lunged, taking the major down. For a moment, all Shae could see was red, and without any conscious thought she sprang into action, pouncing on the wolf to knock him off of Jake. They snarled and snapped at each other until Shae found an opening and went straight for the wolf's throat. As the wolf's blood rushed over her tongue, Shae felt such a thrill, and she wanted more! As soon as the wolf stopped moving, Shae released the beast and growled, looking out over the pack for another that she could take down. There were a few of the younger wolves who had become distracted by their fallen kin, feasting on their brethren like the savages they were. Shae darted out from the relative safety of the alter to chase those whelps down, sending them running and yelping in pain from a quick flurry of vicious biting attacks.

"Shae!" called Ravi after the fox now chasing the young wolves. He took exactly one step before remembering that she was probably safer without him trying to get her to come back to camp. Forget it, Ravi, he told himself. Just stay put.

Asher was stunned when the wolf slammed into him, but not long after Shae had killed that one, another pounced on him. In the space of less than a second Jake discarded the idea of pulling his Glock and shooting it in the head. The bullet would go through and could hit a friendly. While miraculously keeping the wolf from biting him, Jake managed to yank free his custom made hagibis, with it's full tang grip and blackened steel. He pressed the point against the beast and shoved. The eleven inch blade punctured the wolf and it quickly bled it's life out all over. With a powerful shove, Jake launched the beast at its brethren. He killed another with his knife, then another, then finally managed to get his carbine back in his hand again. He fired one handed, bracing the stock on his arm as he pulled the trigger. He'd be damned if he'd ruin that damned knife by getting blood in its sheath. To paraphrase the old American GI saying about Sykes-Faibairn fighting knives: My toothbrush? Maybe. My wife? Definitely. My custom made Filipino pigsticker? No fucking way!

[At the Camp]

"Fire at will," Jeremy said, hoping that the Lost Children really did know what they were doing with their bows (he worried about the two with spears and vowed that they wouldn't even come close to harm). "Valenti, I want you to keep up on the ammo cans - rifle rounds to the right of the door, sidearms are on the left! We call for one or the other, you get that can out the door pronto, understood?"

Okay, she outranked him, but in this situation he didn't care. She didn't have weapons, he and O'Connor did. So unless she wanted to have her time here be a death sentence, she'd do as she was told by actual military.

"Just shoot straight, Sergeant," Valenti said.

And then there were wolves... really big wolves entering the camp. They'd followed the scent of the strange female into the camp. They wanted to rut and they wanted to rut right now. They wanted to prove to the strange female that they were worthy mates. Many of them ran around in search of the strange female and most quickly realized she wasn't here. Those picked up the trail and headed to follow the scent. Others got distracted by the meat, or perhaps thought to bring it to the female to prove their worthiness. Fresh kill was best, but carrion would do in a pinch... then they noticed Crow, Ree, and the children. Fresh. Meat.

For Jeremy and O'Connor, this could be seen as a pack of insurgents trying to overrun a position. Well, he wasn't sure if O'Connor had a tour in the desert but considering she was an operator like him, he was sure she had. He was also sure that she had a time or two when there would be packs of hajji running at them like this. The difference was they had guns - old era Russian giveaways mostly, or what they scrounged during the long interminable 'war' America and its allies waged since 2002. The point was, they would be overrun and by people with weapons that could reach them. The wolves - or whatever they actually were - had to get to them before they could do damage.

Which put the advantage to the warfighters - and in this he mentally added the kids, because even if they weren't all that great, two thousand years (and Jeremy was having doubts regarding that) of living on this planet probably taught them to be pretty good with their own weapons.

Jeremy felt sorry for the wolves. They were just following their natural instincts and now, for that, they would have to die. Unless they got smart and left. Even then, they knew where they were and might decide to return.

All of this, however, was background thoughts as he used the 40mm to launch its load of three Stingers. He shot toward just behind the front of the pack coming after them. In succession, each went off, throwing up a loud bag, a flash bright enough to nearly blind Jeremy even through his sunglasses. He heard the yelp and saw several drop as the rubber ball 'shrapnel' bit into the pack. Dropping it and raising his rifle in one swoop, already O'Connor's controlled burst staccatos playing through his awareness, he started sighting onto his slice of the pie the pack represented, while also hearing the tenor twang of bowstrings to his left.

"oops...I. Did it. Again. Fired my rif-fel, shot you in the brain," he sang softly as he scope sighted his own targets, firing his own bursts and watching furry bodies become nothing more than fertilizer. "Oh, wolvie, wolvie, thought I'd be your meal, though we were your prey, I'm not that easy to kill, oops...I shot you again, right through the brain" he noticed one falling down, the top of it's head becoming little more than a pinkish mist. Though, he didn't realize it, his very off-key tone was becoming louder, but, he dropped his now empty magazine and inserted another to the imaginary bass beat of the song.

Damn, Ree thought as she shot wolf after wolf, pausing only to reload. It's a good thing he's pretty to look at, because he can't sing for crap! But...stop calling him, dumb, stupid, and maybe he'll think of you as something other than his...OH NO YOU DON'T! If I can't take a bite out of him, neither can you, hairball!

Jeremy turned, after taking down one that was going after the...damn what were their names? Something that sounded like phlegm being expelled from the throat, the spearbearers. One almost got to him because, somehow they seemed to flank them. There was something nagging at him and...he heard Ravi yelling after Shae and that is when it hit him. "Holy GRAIL!" he shouted, completely forgetting the lyrics. They'd brought lots of ammo with them because, well, last mission. But it was all here, in camp. He tried to remember if Asher and Hawkins kept in full uniform, but if they did they still weren't full up. "Major's only got the ammo he's carrying with him!" Jeremy shouted as he fired again. He only hit the wolf in the shoulder but that caused it to flop around and he got it in the chest with the last round of the burst. He scanned the field. Something was drawing the wolves off from them and he thought he saw why when he saw the light colored flash running toward the pack.

"DARN HER!" Jeremy shouted. "O'Connor, hold it down here and do what you can to draw them off! Valenti, get me four cans from right and two from left!" He dropped his rifle and grabbed the ammo cans he'd already lined up for him and O'Connor. His hands were big, but he could only grab two in each hand due to their size. Quickly, he strapped the other two cans through his side buckles. It was awkward but, as he looked, the alter wasn't that far from camp. And, with hormonal dumps...

"I'm getting ammo to Asher and Hawkins," he told O'Connor, "you and the kids cover me as best you can and," he nodded to the field, "do what you can to take care of Shae. My mic's open, if you see some coming at me, you yell!" He was glad he didn't have his pack on this time as he looked out the field and saw it was clear. Without thinking too much about it, he shot up and out, pumping his legs as hard as he could to make the dash across the open space toward camp. If nothing else, he was showing O'Connor he trusted his life in her hands at this point. Once he got to the altar and dumped the ammo, he'd be able to put guns back in his own hands and shoot more.

And if anybody at the altar shot at him, he'd just shoot right back and show them why you don't mess with PJ noncoms. This was his bread and butter, what he did. And right now, he was the best he was ever going to be - muscle memory from years of training AND the benefits of youth? DARN STRAIGHT he was the best out here on the field! Followed by O'Connor.

Valenti reluctantly grabbed some ammo.

"Are you sure?" Vasquez said. "I know live patients are better, but..."

"Look," Valenti said. "We have a job to do. We need them to let us help, and we need their cooperation, for now, anyway. Just be ready in case they can't handle this." Then she took off after Jeremy. She was careful to struggle to keep up and forced herself to remember to be out of breath when she got to the Altar.

[At the Altar]

"Shae, get your furry ass back in the middle before you get shot!" Jake said. "Right fucking now!"

Jake cursed and began to move towards Shae, shooting any wolf that got near her. This time he did pause just long enough to sheath his knife so he could reload and then continue to cover her back.

"Shae!" he growled. "Now Goddammit!"

Shae turned to face her team leader, but not because he called her name, rather because she was reacting to a perceived threat. The way she bared her fangs and growled at him, it was almost like she didn't recognize him! She stood her ground and snarled, ready to defend herself if he attacked.

"Shae," Jake said, looking her dead in the eyes and not showing the least bit of fear. Animals could smell fear, and Shae looked all animal at the moment. But he calmed down his tone, and some how managed to keep it calm while firing at wolves. As a combat controller, he was used to having to stay calm in the midst of chaos. "It's Asher." Jake moved closer to Shae so she could smell him more clearly in the chaos of scents. "You know I'm not going to hurt you. Come back this direction with me, okay?"

Shae continued to growl at Jake, but she did eventually come to her senses; it took far longer than than Jake was probably comfortable with being out in a combat situation, but she did finally back down and shake her head. Why did her head feel so funny? It felt like someone had stuffed her head full of cotton, she could barely think clearly! But then she noticed their surroundings and she realized that she tasted blood, and she was covered in blood as well; most of it was from the wolves, but she had taken on a few bite punctures that were bleeding. What was she doing out here?! She looked up at Asher, and though her face could not convey the confusion she felt, that's what she felt as she hung her head and whimpered, then followed after Asher as he led her back to safety.

By now the wolves were backing off. Jake reached down and pet Shae. "It's alright. You didn't do anything wrong. In fact, you were amazing."

Jeremy dropped the ammo cans he was holding and then the two he buckled to his sides at Ravi's feet. "Green stripes are rifles, blue are sidearms, make sure they get dispersed as necessary," he told Ravi then turned at the containment suit clad 'doctor'. "What the fornication do you think you're doing here! You were told to stay in the tent!"

"You told me to bring ammo, Sergeant," Valenti said, chest heaving from exertion. "I brought ammo."

He looked over and saw Shae and Asher, that situation was resolved but, there were still stragglers coming around the tent. Apparently food was just as important as lust when it came down to it. He saw the two spearcarriers were engaging, meaning the wolves were that close. "Never mind, I gotta get back! You stay here!" he said to Valenti before taking off again. Only this time, he stopped several times, aiming then firing.

What he didn't see were several that were still headed this way, but they were around the lab tent. Jeremy drew a bead on one and fired, only to have his shots go wild, puncturing sides of the tent as he was bowled over by a wolf. He managed to toss it off but he was knocked to the ground. Rolling he grabbed his sidearm and went to fire between his knees, but the wolf was quicker than he thought and it grabbed onto his right leg, clamping down and pulling on it. For a moment, Jeremy hesitated, his leg being jerked and whipped. If he missed, he could shoot himself in the foot, or leg, but if he did nothing, he wasn't going to have use of his leg anyway. He took the chance and fired three times. Two shots found their home in the wolf's head, the third went wild.

Unfortunately, what Jeremy failed to consider, was when the brain was traumatized, there was a good chance of muscle tensing, which happened here. The wolf, dead, dropped to it's side, with it's jaws clamped shut around his ankle.

He thought words that would have him grounded for a year if his parents found out, but, scooting forward, he sat into a crouch, his leg extended out with the wolf clamped to it. He did what he could to help pick off those that remained, hoping that nobody else got hurt over this.

"O'Connor," he said, grimacing and trying to shut out the pain. "Sitrep."

"That was about the last of them, Crow," Ree said. "The kids drove off the rest. Here, sit down. Let me look at your leg."

Jeremy didn't realize that he stood, the dead wolf's jaws still wrapped around his booted ankle. He scanned the field, trying to take in everything and make sure that the threat was really and truly gone. "O'Connor," he said, glancing again to see where everyone was at. "I have something important that you need to know." He slowly lowered his rifle as he tried to sit without letting the teeth tear into him any more than they were. He looked at O'Connor, ready to tell her everything that he knew, wanting to make sure that when Asher finally found them, she knew what his plans really were. Except, as he looked at her and then realized he didn't know everything just that there was danger in their midst. If he told her then it put her in danger as well.

So that others may live. It was their motto, the words in which they lived and breathed. He and O'Connor were extremely vulnerable. They had hours left where they still had the coordination and ability to defend themselves, where they had the cognitive ability to care for themselves. By talking to Asher, he was putting the two of them at risk. Asher had what? About twenty hours more than he and O'Connor? In the great scheme of it all, that wasn't much, but it was time enough to do something while the others continued working to reverse the artifact.

He had to get someone on his side, someone who would understand the danger. Someone who could authorize what Jeremy felt needed to be done to help prevent danger coming to them all. Which meant he had to make sure O'Connor was upset with him again. "I have to tell you, O'Connor," he said, shaking his head. His mother and father would be so disappointed in him right now, even though the lies he was about to tell were for the better good. "You know I don't trust that they can save us. I loaded up on antibiotics, I loaded up on too many of them, I think, hours ago, hoping that would prevent the deterioration. Obviously it didn't. Now, we're out of it."

Get mad, get mad! he silently pleaded. If she got mad then perhaps she wouldn't check, wouldn't see that they had any. Then the option would be treatment from Valienti. Then everything else would fall into place. "I know it was a stupid thing to do but I was desperate." So ashamed at his lies, he couldn't even look directly at her.

Though, one thing bothered him. How had the people gotten here? How had they fooled Command? That he didn't know.

"Well, then, moron," Ree said. "At least this leg won't get infected. Hey! Why don't you mainline all of the local anesthetics, too! Then when I kick your ass, you won't feel it! Or maybe you could strip and then let me lovingly apply all of the fentanyl patches we've got! I'll get to see you naked before I die and you'll die in your sleep before me so I won't have to listen to your crap...HEY! Speaking of crap--" Ree eyed Jeremy suspiciously. "If you mainlined all of the antibiotics, shouldn't you be doubled over with stomach cramps? You know, when you're not experiencing diarrhea so bad that you're crapping out stuff you haven't even eaten yet? Crow, this fucking leg is going to get infected and I'm going to have to cut it off, unless a) you actually took all of the antibiotics, in which case I won't have to give you any and the leg at least will be fine, or b) you didn't, in which case I can give you some right now. Let me know one way or the other right now."

Well, Jeremy accomplished his goal, he made her mad. Except, he should have remembered the problems with antibiotics, especially an overdose of them which exacerbated the gastric distress. He sat up and grabbed the wolf's jaw, working to break the death grip and free his foot. He hoped it wasn't hurt as bad as it felt. "O'Connor," he started, readying another lie to tell her but shook his head. He had a choice to make - either he came clean and told her what he suspected and involved her, thereby, he felt, risking her life or he didn't tell her and kept her out of danger. Next he considered having her just ask some of them, not Valenti, but maybe the nurse, if they had spare they could use for him without telling her why.

But she was a girl and she would ask questions. Then she would refuse to do it unless he told her why. Then, she'd check and see that they had the same amount of antibiotics they had after they gave out the initial dose. Then she would know he was lying and want to know why. He stared at his ankle, there was some glistening blood through the tears in the leather of his boot, but not much.

"Do you think I'm going to need stitches?" he asked, the idea suddenly striking him. If he did, O'Connor could do it, but there was an actual doctor here. Wouldn't that be the same thing? Let the doctor, the higher standard of care, do the work and then show that these weren't real doctors from the CDC. He didn't know what they were, but he believed in his heart and soul they weren't doctors and they weren't here with Command's knowledge or permission. Which left the greater question still unanswered.

How did they get here?

He pulled his leg up, wincing the whole way so he could work at the laces and try to remove the boot. "Do you have some anesthetic or painkiller on you?" he asked, stopping what he was doing because he was chickening out. He took the chance to allow one of the wolves to get at him to prove they weren't doctors and now...now O'Connor was right! His leg could get infected and they might have to amputate it because it wasn't working out the way he thought he could make it work. "Help me to my tent and tell Asher I need to see him. Tell him..." he hung his head. "Tell him what I just told you. That I stole all the antibiotics for my own use."

"Nuh-uh," Ree said. "First I need to know if you actually took the damn antibiotics. I can't give you medications without knowing exactly what you've already taken. If I think the dose of antibiotics you've supposedly taken is good enough to keep your bite from getting infected, I'll go tell the Major. Of course, before I do that, I have to check our supplies to make sure you're not lying to me, because I think you are. You're dumb, but not that dumb. If you cop to lying about the antibiotics, and no, you didn't take them all, I have some in my kit, I'll give you a shot of antibiotics, then go tell the Major that your dumbass needs to speak with him, which he already knows, because you told him that before!"

Ree shook her head.

"Crow," she said. "Major Asher would take you seriously if you'd just act normal and stop spazzing out all of the time. And don't blame the infection or whatever this is. You weren't infected back at the base when you almost ran off and got your dumbass killed, were you? No, you weren't. You were just being a dumbass. The Major doesn't have the time or patience for dumbasses. Now, fess up so I can finish treating you already. Enough of this shit."

Ree sounded confident, but minute by minute she was getting closer to being that nervous but determined kid who walked into the Air Force recruitment office just over six years ago.

[Back at the Altar]

After making sure everyone was okay, and giving Shae a once over, he told Hawk he was heading down to the camp to check on things. "Anyone who needs a break from the Altar, come and join us. The wolves probably mangled our fresh meat, but we've got MREs and the kids have some stored rations near by if I understand it. Otherwise, go ahead and take a break here." He looked at Shae. "Come on, Little Fox. Let's go and get Ree to clean you up."

All Shae wanted to do was go run through the pond again to wash off some of the blood, but she didn't want to attract anymore wild predators to the camp again, so she followed along at Asher's heels. She just hoped there was plenty of drinkable water, because if nothing else she was ravenously thirsty again and she desperately wanted to get the taste of wolf blood out of her mouth.

[Back at Camp]

Jake arrived at Camp just in time to hear Ree chewing Jeremy out. "Crow," he said. "What the fuck did you do now?"

"Dumbass is saying he took all of the antibiotics to try and fight off the infection," Ree said. "First, he didn't, there are some in my kit. Second, if he did, his leg will be fine, but if he did, he'd be alternating between cramping and crapping out stuff yet to be eaten, which he isn't, so he probably didn't, in which case if I don't give him a shot of antibiotics, the leg is going to get infected. You mind sitting on him while I check to see if he's telling the truth or not?"

Then Ree saw Shae. "Holy crap! Shae! Oh, honey, you're a mess!" She looked Shae over, examining her wounds. "Okay, sweetie, just wait here. I'll get to you in a second. If Jeremy tries to run away, bite his other leg."

Shae just groaned as she lay down on the ground beside Jake, closing her eyes and not really paying any attention to what the two men went on to talk about.

"We'll watch him," Jake said. Then he turned to Jeremy and gave him a look that would make the devil itself crap its pants. "Talk. Now. No bullshit. And make it good, because right now you look like a selfish coward, just like you did the other day, as opposed to the brave sonofabitch who saved Yu and just hauled ammo up a hill for a guy he doesn't even like. Now. No bullshit. First, did you take the antibiotics or not? Lie to me about this, and I find out you lied, you're off the team the moment we get through the gate. In your head you're not younger than 19 or so. That's old enough to be held responsible for your actions. Answer that question truthfully, before Ree gets back, and I'll listen to whatever else you have to say."

For two reasons, he looked around as he was hauling himself to his feet. One, he wasn't going to get chewed out while sitting on his ass, whining over a minor injury. Two, he wanted to make sure that they were mobile and kept away from others. It didn't matter what others did, Jeremy wasn't about to endanger anybody he didn't have to endanger. If he could get away with it, he'd leave the Major out of it. But the Major was his CO and Jeremy needed his support to continue. For that, Major Asher needed to know what was going on. For that he'd have to do his best to keep his anger in check over being called a coward. The last charge the Major could level at him was cowardice.

There was a third reason. He was an Air Force Parajumper and he was damned sure not going to goldbrick and bring discredit to that fine, noble tradition. and he would show, if it was only in standing, that he wasn't a coward. "Major," he said, "I didn't take anymore than O'Connor and I gave to everyone earlier. Just so you know, Major, I'm using every last bit of willpower, and a few other tricks," for this he leaned onto his injured foot, letting the pain wash through him and give him focus, "to keep my thoughts clear. I'm regressing fast and I'm losing a lot, or not understanding or comprehending but...I don't know...it's going quickly and I'm trying!" He took a breath and hobbled a couple steps, trying out if he could push on the leg when the time came. He also looked around, making sure they were still alone. "I told O'Connor I took all the antibiotics because I wanted to prove Valenti and the others, they're not doctors but telling O'Connor that puts her in danger. I don't know why they're here, Major," he said, releasing a breath. "but they're Goa'uld."

Shae's head popped up with her ears standing erect; she really hadn't been listening, not that she would understand much about the medicine talk anyway, but Goa'uld was a word she couldn't ignore. With a few whimpers, she wriggled closer to Jake for comfort.

Jake raised an eyebrow and waved O'Connor over. "Let me guess, the antibiotics were where you left them?"

"Yup," Ree said. She looked at Crow. "Dumbass."

"Okay, settle down," Jake said. "He didn't take the antibiotics, so shoot him full of some. Wolves aren't above eating carrion and offal so I can almost guarantee you that bite is going to get infected. Crow, sit down and let Ree fix your foot. That wasn't a suggestion or a request, Crow. Sit. Down. Ree, while you're checking him out, check him for a concussion and an neurological symptoms you can think of. You still good to do that?" Jake sat down next to Crow and began to pet Shae, who was clearly still tense.

"Uh, yeh--ahem--yes, sir," Ree said. She cut away Jeremy's pant leg and cleaned the wound and bandaged it. She hung a bag of saline solution from a small portable stand and then shot some antibiotics into it. "You let that whole damned bag run out, the whole thirty minutes' worth! I'm not kidding! If you--you--"

"Ree," Jake said. "It's okay. Jeremy's going to do it. Check him for the concussion."

Ree performed the tests. "No concussion. That would require a brain, sir, and he clearly doesn't have one." Ree's tone was abrasive, but, completely out of character with her tone, she reached out and gently touched the side of Jeremy's face. "Behave. I have to look at Shae."

"Okay," Jake said to Jeremy before the Sergeant could answer O'Connor. "Let's say I don't think you're delirious, and I'm not saying that I don't, why do you say our CDC friends are snakeheads?"

Ree's eyes widened, but she held it together. She was a fucking PJ, not a weepy, moody, college coed! She could do this! She focused on figuring out where Shae was wounded and treating her.

While Ree tried to figure out which patches of blood on her lovely white coat was wolf blood or her own, Shae nuzzled at Jake's canteen, ignoring the sound and feel of the electric clippers Ree was using to clear fur away from her injuries. Thankfully, there were no severe injuries, but a few sutures were required to make sure everything closed up properly.

Jake noticed Shae nosing around his canteen. He took it out, opened it, and helped her get a drink from it.

Before Shae could drink, Jeremy grabbed it from Asher. "Major, she's still in her fox form," he said, closing the container and cursing himself for not realizing she was there, not among the bodies of the wolves that littered the area. "O'Connor is either going to be a sadist, or she'll have to give anesthesia and a local to suture at least three of those bites. She won't be able to tell us if anything upsets her stomach and there could be a good likelihood she might aspirate into her lungs. That'll, at the very least lead to pneumonia, at worst, drowning. It may seem cruel, but we have to let O'Connor do her work and then slowly let her have water and food back." He held out the canteen to Asher. "I'm in the same boat, here," he said, staring down at the open wounds along his ankle and the top of his foot. Two of those are going to require I let O'Connor work out her frustrations with me by sewing me up. Unless she wants to get the superglue from my pack and use that instead. Either way, antibiotics, painkillers and anesthetic is going to finally do a number on the hunger I've had for the last few hours."

Which reminded him of his entree. Which was probably gone, ravaged by some stupid wolf.

But, he took a breath and...he didn't want to involve others, but no matter how he felt about stupid authority for the sake of authority, he knew Asher was still in charge. More so because he no longer acknowledged that of Valenti. "I don't know how they were able to get here through Command. You told me that Wolf wouldn't let people volunteer, much less be ordered to come here. But here they are. And Valenti, she's no doctor, sir. She..." he sighed, what could he do? If O'Connor wasn't around then he could keep her out of it, but would she remain silent now and not involve herself? All he could do was try. "Valenti told me earlier that she would order me beat to death or shot for not being as cooperative as she liked. She...she meant it, Major, not as a joke. She was serious. She's not here to help us. None of them are. I'm not sure what brought them here, we know that the infection can affect them once the worm is killed, Andrews said as much. Then...after..." he swallowed again, actually morning a bit for his pants. He didn't want to run around for the rest of his time with pants that were split open. It didn't present the proper military appearance.

"Then, after the exam, she got upset again and she hit me, sir." Suddenly he was self-conscious of his body but, he dropped his tac vest and pulled up his shirt, showing the blossoming bruise left on his chest. "She did this, sir! The homework you gave us told us that Goa'Uld are stronger then normal, that's what finally got me to thinking about everything. She has to be a Goa'uld. We're in danger here."

He left out that he had further plans, that he left himself open so the wolf would get to him, that he deliberately turned when the wolf barreled into him so his shots punctured the hermetic seal of the lab tent. That he let the wolf get to him so that he'd have wounds. He planned to get O'Connor upset enough with him to leave Valenti to tend to his wounds, proving she wasn't actually a doctor. He left that bit out because...because the Major already called him a coward and a dumbass and, he knew the Major would just look at letting an enemy wound him as a cowardly act to get out of doing more necessary chores or other battle. "I lied about the antibiotics to upset O'Connor and make her want to hate me enough to suffer and because I wanted them to have to deal with my chewed up foot. Then you'd see that they didn't come prepared for sick people at all. Cause they're not doctors, they're Goa'Uld."

"You idiot," Jake said. "Of course we're in danger here. But here is where we are and here is where we stay until we aren't a threat to the Earth or anywhere else. Even if you're right, and they're Goa'ulds, we're still stuck here. All you managed to change is that I have one less fully effective fighter to deal with them." Jake sighed. "Okay. So, she punched you hard. So she's strong. Beyond that, what's your proof that she's a Goa'uld? And is she is a Goa'uld, how did they get CDC uniforms? Or learn how to imitate the CDC? How did they know to come here? I mean, the only things of interest here are us, and they could have captured us, a disease, and a device that seems to be causing it...and a barrier that keeps people with the disease out of the Stargate... And a Goa'uld is arrogant, a God... Salara is fighting the disease off for Jessica, but she can't leave because she's contagious... would a God sacrifice it's life of luxury, risk being trapped here? No, no they wouldn't. But who do they employ that are strong as Hell and nearly immune from disease and infection?"

Shae was beyond annoyed at this point. She was in heat, so her body temperature was up and this was making her so thirsty, and this bakayarou was depriving her of water! Add to that, she felt utterly gross from all the wolf blood in her fur and Ree kept poking her with needles, and while some of those pokes made her wounds numb, she was still getting poked and it was very unpleasant! So why did this boke aho insist on making her situation worse?! Had it not been for the fact that Asher started talking, Shae was sorely tempted to bite Corvus, but instead she just growled low, staring at Corvus with an angry glare as if to say 'I know where you sleep'.

(Altar)

Jessica went back to work on the altar. Time was running out. She poured another cup of coffee. "If only I could crash... wait... The runes, what if they're like a Celtiberian Keyboard. If that's it... I could write a program. The computer was, according to their hypothesis, controlling nanobots that were altering genetic information. Which meant this computer had massive processing capability. She began to push on a rune that read vaguely as 'language of light'.

The obelisks around her began to light up. each of them glowing in a surreal light as a holographic console appeared. "Now we're getting somewhere."

The device started to glow and then, out of nowhere, a pulse of light and energy was released. It spread as far as the eye could see.

"Wow," Valenti was saying. She had an alien device in her hand, a scanner of some sort that fit in the palm of her left hand. "Well, she shut the damn thing off. And the disease is reversing. Let's call that a win!" She activated her mike. "Jaffa! Kree!" Before Jess or Hawk could get to their guns, before Selyna or Ravi could react, Valenti and Chow produced Zat'nik'tel from pouches on their belts and stunned everyone in no time flat. "Sedate everyone. Use the special sedative on the Tok'Ra. Then let's get the device loaded and back to the gate."

[At the Camp]

Back at the camp, after the pulse passed through, the eternal children all began screaming as their bodies began to change, to grow, but all at once and at different rates.

"Interesting," Doctor Djebar said as Jake, Jeremy, Ree, and even Shae looked on in horrow. "Like their bodies are trying to do all of the growing they've been missing out on all this time."

"Yeah," Vasquez said. "Like some kind of rapid onset progeria."

Jake heard the click of the Zat'nik'tel and though he'd never heard one before, he new the sound of a weapon when he heard one. He just wasn't fast enough. None of them were, as Vasquez and Djebar stunned them all, even Shae.

"Sedate them all," Djebar said. "And remember to grab DNA from Asher and the Kitsune."

"Shouldn't we just grab the Kistune?" Vasquez said. "Might be worth something to--"

"Nope," Djebar said. "SG-1 one is off limits. Let's grab some DNA from the kids, to, while we're at it."

"Right," Vasquez said.

After they'd sedated everyone, they loaded up all of their samples and took every SG-1 team member's body cams, then joined Valenti, where they downloaded everything they could from the terminal and took scans of the obelisk and all of the runes on the pillars. Once the device was loaded, they headed off to the stargate.