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“Sir, we have a problem,” Sam said into her walkie, frantically scanning the area for about the tenth time.
“What kind of problem, Carter?” Came O’Neill’s exasperated yet still worried voice.
“Daniel’s missing,” Sam responded.
There was a beat of silence from the other end, then O’Neills gruff, “Copy, headed to you.”
Carter held Daniel’s notebook. She’d found it discarded on the ground where her teammate had last been standing. Had it not been for that detail, she might’ve assumed Daniel had wandered off, but he’d never leave his notebook and he certainly wouldn’t leave it face down on the ground.
There were several boot prints in the wet grass, but Carter needed Teal’c’s help to determine if they all belonged to Daniel or not.
“Captain Carter,” Teal’c’s voice signaled the arrival of the other members of SG-1.
“Carter, what happened?” Jack asked.
“I don’t know sir, I went around to the far side of the structure to try to get a better weather reading, I couldn’t have been more than 20 feet away. I didn’t hear anything, but when I came back, Daniel was gone and this was on the ground,” Sam said, holding up his journal.
Colonel O’Neill and Teal’c immediately started looking around the area, holding their weapons a bit tighter in case of unfriendlies.
“Teal’c?” O’Neill questioned. Teal’c walked around the space, inspecting the ground.
“The ground is quite soft, there does appear to be several footprints on the ground that are not Daniel Jackson’s,” Teal’c said. “It appears that Daniel Jackson did not walk out of here under his own free will.”
“What do you mean?” Sam asked, a sinking feeling in her stomach.
“Drag marks,” O’Neill joined in, pointing at the ground.
“I didn’t hear anything,” Sam said, frustrated with herself.
“Carter, don’t blame yourself. You said you were on the other side of the structure, plus the winds picking up, it’d be hard to hear anything,” Jack said.
“Can we follow the tracks?” Carter said, choosing not to respond to O’Neill. Nothing he could say would ease the guilt. She and Daniel were supposed to be watching each other’s backs and instead, she’d wandered away and he’d gotten taken.
“Yes, the tracks are quite visible,” Teal’c confirmed.
“Good, we need to hurry, my readings indicated there is a major storm moving towards us. If it starts raining we will lose the tracks,” Sam said. Not to mention she hated the idea of Daniel being out in the storm surrounded by hostiles.
“Let’s go then,” O’Neill said, gesturing forward with his gun. Sam slipped Daniel’s journal into her backpack and glanced up at the darkening clouds as they set off.
*****
Daniel was brought back into consciousness by cold water being thrown in his face. He bolted upright and immediately regretted it as a wave of pain swept through his head.
“Let’s go,” A voice said and rough hands were dragging him to his feet and shoving him forward. He stumbled and almost fell over, a hand grabbed his arm to steady him which was lucky because he realized his hands were bound and he wouldn’t be able to catch himself. “We are tired of carrying you, time to walk.”
He was shoved forward again, this time he was able to get his feet under him and start walking. Daniel looked around at his captors as the fog in his mind lifted. He realized he’d been shot by a zat, or some similar weapon. There were four people around him, all heavily armed and dressed like soldiers. Their scans of the planet hadn’t picked up any signs of life other than the ruins he’d been investigating, but clearly, there were humans living on the planet. They’d entered a forest while Daniel had been unconscious. He could not tell how far away they were from the ruins.
“My name’s Daniel Jackson,” He said, trying to start up a dialogue.
“Shut up and walk,” The man behind him said, shoving his rifle into Daniel’s back.
“I assure you, I’m no threat, just a peaceful explorer. I came through the stargate, I’m simply want to get to know your people,” Daniel said trying his usual pitch even though he was pretty sure it wasn’t going to work on these people.
“Uh huh,” A woman next to him said.
“Please, I assure you I meant no harm, I’m sure we can work-” Daniel cut off when he was shoved hard from behind. He stumbled and his foot caught on a root or a stone and he went down hard. Unable to catch himself, Daniel’s head slammed into the ground. Thankfully it was soft because of the recent rain, but the impact was still jarring.
“Samuel, he won’t be any use to us if you give him a head injury,” a new man spoke and Daniel felt himself being hauled up. His glasses had been lost in the fall and before he could ask them to retrieve them, they were moving forward again.
“Use to you?” Daniel asked, dreading what the answer to that must be.
“Yeah, we saw you reading the words on the wall,” the same man said with a sigh, apparently figuring out that Daniel wouldn’t stop asking questions and it was better to talk with him.
“I can show you how to translate it, this all isn’t necessary,” Daniel said, holding up his bound wrists. He wondered if they’d picked up his notebook. He wrote in shorthand but they might still be able to decipher it without his help. He decided not to mention it for the moment.
“Boss said it is,” The man replied, his tone heavily implying that the conversation was over.
“If you needed me to translate the wall, you wouldn’t be bringing me so far away from it, so you must have something else that needs to be translated. More ruins or perhaps an artifact of some kind,” Daniel said, purposefully ignoring the man’s tone.
“Oi, shut up before I knock you out again,” the same man who shoved him, Samuel as the woman had called him, said.
“Samuel relax,” The fourth member of their party spoke up for the first time. He was leading and his voice clearly indicated he was in charge. He paused for a moment to turn around and study Daniel. “Our job was to grab you and take you back to the boss. You can stop fishing for information, we won’t be giving you any. Now there’s a storm coming and it is in all of our best interests to make it back before it hits so I suggest you keep moving.”
“Okay,” Daniel said, finally dropping it. There was something in this man’s icy tone that set off alarm bells in his head. Where Samuel was all temper and anger that Daniel might’ve been able to take advantage of, the man in charge had a steely calm that told Daniel he wasn’t the type to make foolish mistakes.
They walked for a while. Daniel tried to keep his pace as slow as possible without being noticed. He knew by this point his teammates would’ve noticed he was missing and hopefully begun to track him. Daniel’s gear was missing so his radio was gone, but he figured with the soft ground Teal’c would be able to follow their trail. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get away with walking too slowly. He was pretty sure he’d have a bruise from where he kept being shoved forward by a rifle in his back.
Thunder cracked overhead and the group picked up their pace. Daniel remembered that Sam had been worried about the incoming weather and had theorized that storms on this planet were quite severe.
They exited the cover of the trees and started walking along the edge of a steep hill. Daniel thought about the time they’d been captured by the Goa'ulded Unas and had escaped by rolling down the hill. It wasn’t an ideal solution, especially because this hill looked a lot steeper, but Daniel had the feeling that it would be worse for him if he allowed these people to take him back to their boss. He certainly didn’t think he should translate anything for them and he knew his refusal would just lead to pain on his part.
Thunder cracked again and then the sky opened up. Giant raindrops fell down on them like a sheet. Daniel took advantage of everyone’s momentary distraction and started running towards the edge of the hill. Over the sound of the rain, he heard gunshots go off. He felt one impact his arm but he he was already at the edge so he threw himself over, trying hard to tuck and roll the way he’d been shown.
*****
They’d started jogging when the thunder sounded. Teal’c was able to easily follow the trail they’d left. Sam’s emotions had threatened to overwhelm her when they’d found Daniel’s glasses on the ground, but they’d been undamaged and Teal’c had assured her that he saw Daniel’s bootprints which meant he was walking under his own power.
The glasses were now tucked into her pack next to his journal. Sam was determined to get both items back where they belonged.
“They appear to not be making any attempt to hide their movements,” Teal’c observed as they jogged along.
“Which means they either don’t know that Daniel has friends, or they don’t care,” O’Neill said. It was the possibility of them not caring that frightened Sam. Teal’c had only seen four other bootprints but if they were that confident it probably meant they were heavily armed and on their way to a place that had reinforcements.
“Why do you think they took Daniel?” She asked.
“Carter, I couldn’t begin to guess,” Colonel O’Neill said. “He does seem to get kidnapped a lot, doesn’t he?”
“Indeed, perhaps they took him because he was trespassing on sacred ground,” Teal’c guessed.
“Or because they saw him translating the wall, wouldn’t be the first time he was taken for that,” Sam added, wincing as she thought about the water creature that had kidnapped Daniel and made them all think he was dead.
Thunder sounded again and then the rain started. They were still under the cover of the trees, but the heavy rain would still wipe out the trail quickly. They started outright running now, knowing that their time was running out.
They were nearing the edge of the forest when the unmistakable sound of bullets rang over the rain. They all immediately slowed and readied their weapons. They walked to the treeline and peeked out. There was a small group of people a few yards away staring over the edge of a cliff.
“I do not see Daniel Jackson,” Teal’c said.
“Me either, dollars to donuts he’s what they are looking for over the edge,” Jack said. “I’m going to fire a few warning shots. They are exposed and we have the cover of the trees. Hopefully, they are smart and choose to make a tactical retreat.”
O’Neill fired a few shots near the ground at their feet. They all jumped into defensive mode, crouching down and pointing their weapons at the trees. A few shots were fired in their direction but they bounced off of the trees they were behind. Jack fired again, Sam could tell he made sure the bullets were closer this time. If they continued to not take the hint he’d be forced to make sure his bullet hit a target next time.
Luckily they seemed to realize they couldn’t win this fight. The group started slowly backing up, waiting until they were out of range before they turned and started running. Sam and the others wasted no time in running out of the forest and over to the spot where the group had been looking over the edge.
Sam’s heart dropped when she saw how steep the hill was. Treading carefully over the slippery ground, she leaned as far over as she dared. Through the rain, she could just make out the still form of their missing teammate at the bottom.
“Sir!”
“I see him, Carter,” O’Neill responded, sounding grim. “Daniel! Daniel!” He yelled, his voice not making it far over the wind and rain.
“Daniel Jackson!” Teal’c yelled, his deeper voice traveled further but still received no response from Daniel.
“We have to get down there,” Carter said, looking around. They all had ropes in their packs, but they would need something to secure them too.
“Teal’c and I can lower you down,” O’Neill said.
“Sir, I don’t think we can risk pulling Daniel back up, we have no idea what his injuries are. It’d be better if we all go down and try to find some shelter down there.”
“Okay. How about this? We lower you down so you can see to Daniel and Teal’c and I will backtrack to the forest and find a place to secure our ropes and climb down. We can also scope the area for a place to hole up until we can transport Daniel back to the Gate.”
“Okay,” Carter agreed, pulling her rope out of her pack. She tied it into a harness and secured it around her waist. Jack and Teal’c braced the other end and started to slowly lower her down. She was able to almost walk down the hill until the last few feet where there was a pretty steep drop off. Once she was down she untied the rope and let her teammates pull it back up in case they needed it.
“Carter, talk to me,” O’Neill said over the radio. Sam moved quickly to Daniel who was lying on his side.
“He’s alive,” Sam said in relief as she felt for a pulse.
“Copy, Teal’c and I are going to find a way down. How’s he lookin’?”
Sam scanned over Daniel. “Daniel?” She asked, brushing his hair out of his face. She received no answer. He had a gash on his forehead but it was to tell how hard it was bleeding in the pouring rain. His clothes were battered and torn but she couldn’t tell the extent of the other injuries. She did find a lot of blood on his upper arm and when she inspected it further she found the reason. “Not good, sir,” She responded. “He has a head injury and a bullet wound to his arm. I can’t tell what other injuries he sustained. But he’s losing blood and soaking wet. We need to get him somewhere safe so I can treat him.”
“Do what you can for now, Teal’c, and I will be there soon.”
“Copy, sir,” Carter said and unhooked her backpack so she could dig out her first aid kit. She shivered as the cold rain soaked through her clothes. If she was cold, she could only imagine how Daniel was. The first thing she did was cut the rope away from his wrists as gently as possible, wincing at the raw skin underneath. Next, she wrapped a pressure bandage around his arm over his clothes. She needed to get a better look at the wound to see if the bullet was still in or not, but right now she wanted to get the bleeding stopped. Plus she didn’t want to start removing layers while the rain was pouring down on them.
She also wrapped a bandage around his head, being careful not to jostle it too much as she worked. When she was tying the bandage off, Daniel showed signs of waking up. His face scrunched up and his body shifted slightly.
“Daniel?” Sam asked, cupping his face to let him know she was there and also hopefully keep him from moving too much as he woke up. Daniel came back to consciousness slowly, as he usually did. Sam hated that she’d seen him wake up from injuries frequently enough to know this. His eyes blinked open once before scrunching closed again, either from the rain or the head wound.
“Sam…” He whispered.
“Hey, it’s okay, I’ve got you.”
“What happened?”
“You decided to throw yourself down a cliff,” Sam said, stroking his cheek gently.
Daniel’s eyes flickered back open and she was glad to see recognition in those blue eyes. “It was more of a hill.”
“A very steep hill,” Sam said. “Careful, you’re injured,” She added when he started to roll onto his back. She supported his head as he moved with a groan.
“Ow,” he whispered, his eyes falling back shut. “I think…was I shot?”
“Yeah, in your upper arm,” Sam said, glad that his head injury didn't seem to be affecting his memory of the past events.
“Jack and Teal’c?”
“Looking for shelter where we can look after your injuries and warm up until the storm passes,” Sam said. Daniel shivered as if his brain had just caught up to the fact that he was soaked and freezing. Sam shrugged out of her rain jacket and put it over Daniel’s torso.
“Yeah, that sounds good,” Daniel said softly. Even though he was awake and cognisant, Sam knew he was in rough shape.
“Sir,” She said softly into her radio. “Daniel’s awake”
“That is good to hear,” Teal’c responded. “Colonel O’Neill and I found a cave about a half a mile away from your position. We are making our way to you now.”
“Copy,” Sam said in relief. She moved closer to Daniel and gripped one of his cold hands in hers. Daniel squeezed lightly, letting her know he was still conscious even though his eyes were closed. Sam was okay with him conserving his energy. She had a feeling the half-mile walk would take a lot out of him.
*****
Daniel wasn’t sure when he’d gone from walking on his own to being half-carried by Teal’c, but he was glad for his friend’s strength when his foot caught on another root. Teal’c kept him upright and steadied him as pain shot up his battered body. He was pretty sure he had a sprained ankle from the roll down the hill and his entire body felt like one huge bruise. Not to mention the gunshot wound, the pounding head, and the shivers that were wracking his body.
“Almost there,” Sam said from his other side, looking at him in concern. She’d been wearing that expression since he’d woken up. Daniel really wished he could reassure her, but all of his energy was currently going into putting one foot in front of another.
“Are you alright, Daniel Jackson?” Teal’c asked and Daniel realized he’d stopped moving.
“Yeah…” He gasped, knowing his wheezy breathing did little to put his teammates' minds at ease.
“Carter, take point,” Jack said. He moved from the lead to Daniel’s other side. He wrapped Daniel’s arm around his shoulders and grasped his jacket. It was his injured arm so it hurt like crazy to have it in that position, but he did have to admit it felt good to be able to lean practically all of his weight on Jack and Teal’c.
He zoned out a bit as they continued to walk, letting his teammates guide him along. To distract himself from the cold and the pain, he started thinking about the wall he’d been translating. It hadn’t been a language he was familiar with, but it was adjacent to ancient Greek. It’d taken a bit of time, but he’d just started to get the hang of it when he’d been kidnapped. There hadn’t been anything too groundbreaking, just the typical stories of gods and traveling the stars. Daniel had found it interesting the culture seemed to follow Greek mythology. He couldn’t be sure, but he suspected the Goa'uld on this planet had fancied themselves a Greek God.
“Danny boy,” A light tapping on his cheek brought him back to the present. He blinked open eyes he hadn’t realized he’d closed and was surprised to find that he was lying on the hard ground of a cave.
“Oh,” Daniel said, looking around the space. He couldn’t see the entrance meaning the cave had tunnels they were taking advantage of. There was a small fire going but it did little to stave off the shivers.
“Yeah, lost you for a bit there,” Jack said. He was kneeling next to Daniel and his fingers moved from his cheek down to his neck.
“Sorry,” Daniel blinked his eyes tiredly. He wanted to go back to sleep but found he was too uncomfortable to. His shivers increased which only served to jostle every bruise and injury he had. He felt dizzy despite the fact he was lying down and he knew he wasn’t thinking too clearly.
“It’s okay,” Jack said. Something crinkled and Daniel forced his eyes open to see Jack spreading a thermal blanket over him. “Just stay awake for us, Carter’s getting some things that should fix you right up.”
“M’kay,” Daniel said even though he knew nothing in their first aid kit was going to help him much.
“Hey,” Sam said softly, moving over to him and looking at him with that same worried expression.
“Hey,” Daniel responded.
“His pulse is faint but rapid and he’s really cold,” Jack said.
“We need to get him out of these wet clothes, do you have extra in your pack?” Sam asked.
“Yeah,” Jack’s presence left his side and the next thing he knew, there was a freezing breeze on his arm. Daniel looked over to see that Sam had cut away his sleeve to get a better look at the gunshot wound.
“Through and through, that’s good Daniel,” She complimented as if Daniel had done it on purpose.
“Suppose I was due for some good luck,” Daniel responded and gave a weak smile when Sam laughed.
There was a clatter of wood from the other side of the cave which caused Daniel to jump. “I went into the densest area of the forest to attempt to find some dry wood. There was not much to be found,” Teal’c deep voice rumbled.
“We will take what we can get,” Jack responded grimly. “Okay, Daniel, got you some nice and warm clothes.”
“Yay,” Daniel said, his teeth chattering now.
“Okay, Daniel it might get a bit chillier before it gets warmer, we need to get these wet clothes off of you and I need to bandage your wounds,” Sam warned him. Daniel didn’t think it was possible to feel any colder so he just weakly nodded.
Daniel soon realized how wrong he was. After a few moments, he started to feel as if he were standing naked in the middle of Antarctica. The air on his bare skin felt like piercing needles.
Daniel couldn't remember where he was or why he was being tortured this time. All he knew was he needed the pain to stop.
“Stop! Get away! I won’t tell you anything” He yelled, trying to dislodge the hands that were all over him.
“Daniel!” A voice yelled back but it didn’t really register in his panicked brain. He tried his hardest to get away from his captors, ignoring the pain radiating across his body whenever he moved.
He tried to look around his surroundings but his vision was going hazy. The hands were still holding him down and suddenly he felt stifling hot. He weakly tried to pull away, but a stab of pain went through him and he lost the battle to remain conscious.
*****
Sam allowed herself a brief moment to take a calming breath as she slid the needle out of Daniel’s arm. It did little to calm her nerves and her hand was still shaking as she felt for his pulse. It was soft and quick and his skin was cold and clammy underneath her fingers.
“What was that?” Colonel O’Neill said sounding as shaken up as she felt. He and Teal’c had been forced to hold Daniel down while she administered the sedative.
“Blood loss, shock, hypothermia…” Sam said, trying to force her voice to remain steady. “Take your pick, they can all cause disorientation and anxiety.”
“Will Daniel Jackson be alright?” Teal’c asked.
“I’m not sure,” Sam said honestly. “His bullet wound has stopped bleeding, as has his head wound. I’m worried about this bruising on his side and the potential of internal bleeding, but there isn’t much we can do about that until we get him back to Janet. We need to get him bandaged up and then warmed up.”
“How long do you reckon this storm is going to last?” Jack asked. Sam knew he was concerned about getting Daniel back to the gate. Getting him dry and warm now wouldn’t help too much if he just got soaking wet again. While they had been walking to the cave, they’d had a scheduled call with Hammond, but either the storm or their distance away from the gate was interfering with the signal and they hadn’t been able to connect.
“It appears as if the weather comes in and out quickly around here, so hopefully it will blow over soon, but there is no way of knowing without proper instruments that I don’t have right now, sir,” Sam said as she started rebandaging Daniel’s bullet wound.
“Carter, let me do that,” Jack said with a sigh. “Go change into dry clothes.” It wasn’t until he mentioned it that Sam realized that her shaking wasn’t just due to her stress over Daniel. She’d been soaked in the rain and was wet and cold herself. A shiver ran through her body and she saw in surprise that both O’Neill and Teal’c were in dry clothes. She’d been so focused on Daniel that she hadn’t seen them change.
“Okay, sir,” Sam said, handing over the bandages reluctantly. She knew Jack was certified in first aid but she’d found he usually had a bit of a rougher touch.
However, as Sam went over to the other side of the cave to change, she glanced back at O’Neill and saw that he was re-bandaging Daniel’s head with an almost delicate touch. It sometimes could be easy to forget with all of their bickering, but moments like this reminded Sam of how much Jack and Daniel had been through together and how much they cared for each other.
Sam changed quickly and went back over to help Jack get Daniel settled in dry clothes, close to the fire, and underneath all of the blankets they had. Sam gently settled Daniel’s head on her lap, wanting his head to be off of the cold, hard ground and hoping she’d warmed up enough to provide him with some warmth.
O’Neill threw his pack down next to Daniel and settled down pressed up next to him. Teal’c sat on Daniel’s other side and Sam couldn’t help but smile when she saw that he moved closer to Daniel to help provide warmth as well.
They weren’t exactly cuddling per se, but they were as close to it as the three soldiers would allow themselves to be. Sam stroked her hand through Daniel’s still-damp hair. While she was never quite sure how physical affection would be accepted by Jack or Teal’c, she knew she could freely give it to Daniel. He was a pretty touchy-feely person himself and touch often seemed to ground him. Sam hoped even in his state, he still someone felt safe with them there.
Jack was definitely more freely affectionate towards Daniel than anyone else she’d seen him around. Even Teal’c accepted Daniel’s shoulder pats and nudges with a good-natured smile. Sam was very tactile herself and enjoyed the fact that she could share that with her fellow scientist.
Sam slipped her hand down to Daniel’s neck and felt for his pulse, letting out a sigh when she felt it. “His pulse is steadier, so is his breathing. He seems to be stable for the moment.”
“Good,” O’Neill said in relief.
“Perhaps you two should get some rest. I will wake you when the storm stops,” Teal’c said. Sam wanted to argue, but as she leaned her head back against the wall of the cave she was struck by a wave of exhaustion. She put one hand on Daniel’s chest so she could feel his breathing and rested the other one on his hair. Closing her eyes she let sleep take her.
*****
“Janet, I will heal just as well at home, maybe better,” Daniel’s voice reached Sam before she entered the infirmary. She walked into the room to see Janet squaring off with Daniel who was trying his best to look serious while still reclined on the bed.
“And how do you suppose you get home? Need I remind you that you have a sprained ankle? And between your gunshot wound and your bruised ribs, crutches are out of the question,” Janet said in a tone that indicated this wasn’t the first time they’d had this argument.
“I know, I know, I just…need to get out of here,” Daniel said. Janet shot Sam a look as she approached but Daniel didn’t look away from Janet.
“I know it’s not ideal, but on top of all of those things I just mentioned you are also recovering from a concussion and an infection,” Janet said exasperated.
Sam stepped forward and brushed her fingers lightly over the unbandaged side of Daniel’s forehead. He rolled his eyes at her but allowed the touch. Sam knew she could just check his temperature on the monitor, but this way gave her more comfort. “His temperature has gone down,” She noted.
“Yes, he seems to be responding well to the antibiotics, but is still a long way from being fully recovered,” Janet directed the last part at Daniel. Sam moved her hand to Daniel’s shoulder and could practically feel him vibrating. He had been in the infirmary for over a week. The first few days he’d spent sleeping off the concussion and his injuries. He’d also developed a fever and an infection.
His condition had improved greatly over the last 48 hours and Sam could tell he was itching to get out. Janet was understandably reluctant. His condition had been pretty grave by the time they’d gotten him back to command and the first few days were a painful waiting game to see if he’d pull through.
Luckily Daniel was as stubborn as he was strong so he made it through to the other side.
Unfortunately that same stubbornness was now causing him to have a standoff with the woman who’d been constantly by his side for a week and a half.
“Janet…” Sam started hesitantly. She didn’t want to say anything to undermine Janet, but she also wanted Daniel to be comfortable. “Do you think…Could he stay in his room on base? I check in on him to make sure there aren’t any complications,” Sam offered. She’d spent most nights on base recently anyway, wanting to be near to hear news of Daniel.
“I don’t know,” Janet hesitated.
“C’mon, Janet, you know I don’t sleep well here, all of the noises and people around constantly,” Daniel practically whined.
“Fine,” Janet relented. “But I want Sam or myself checking up on you every two hours.”
“Deal,” Daniel said with a grin.
The two women helped get Daniel into a wheelchair and Sam took him to his room with strict instructions to call Janet if anything changed.
Once Daniel was settled into his bed with minimal painful winces, Sam sat in his easy chair and pulled a random book off of his shelf. Daniel watched her get comfortable with a raised eyebrow.
“You aren’t planning on leaving anytime soon, are you?” He asked with a laugh that showed he didn’t really care.
“No…I mean if that’s okay with you. I just…want to be here,” Sam said, unable to fully vocalize how terrified she’d been that they were going to lose him…again.
“It’s okay,” Daniel said, laying back on the pillow with a sigh. “Will you read to me? I haven’t been able to really read because of this,” He said, waving vaguely in the direction of his bandaged head.
“Sure,” Sam said. She turned off the lights except for the one next to her and started reading in a soft voice. It didn’t take long for Daniel to fall fast asleep. Sam curled up and continued to read, finally able to fully relax for the first time since she’d walked around the wall to find Daniel missing and his journal on the ground.