Sam woke up, finding herself face-down in a muddy patch of grass. She groaned softly, and carefully moved her limbs, checking if anything was broken. Nothing was. She was sore and bruised - as well as drenched and very cold. Shivering, she got up, almost falling again when her backpack caught on a branch from a nearby tree. The backpack which she still wore, and which miraculously had not pulled her down when she was in the water. She shook her head at this incongruity, then looked around for any of the others.
She remembered being washed along by the river when the bridge collapsed. She had been pulled along for quite some time, fighting to keep her head above water. She must have been thrown ashore - and quite far downstream, as far as she could tell. The mountains which had been near the bridge, were now invisible in the distance - probably to a large degree due to the heavy rain obscuring everything in the distance.
Looking in the other direction, she spotted another mountain range looming darkly, raising sharply no more than perhaps a mile away. She vaguely remembered seeing them in the distance when they had arrived, and estimated she had been washed at least eight or nine miles downstream.
She shuddered when she saw all the rocks nearby, realizing how easily she could have hit those when she was thrown ashore, and been badly injured.
Then she remembered that Martouf had been beside her when the bridge was washed away, and she felt a cold fear.
"Martouf?" she called, then repeated it, louder, "Martouf! Lantash!"
A loud crash of thunder was the only answer she got, and she desperately looked around for the Tok'ra. The wind and the rain whipped at her face, making it hard to see. It was also getting darker. Not just because of the weather, but also because it was now early evening, and the sun was setting. It was also getting colder, and as if to spite her, the rain suddenly turned to hail for a short time.
She had searched for several minutes, when suddenly she saw a shape lying beside some of the rocks, and she ran to it, her heart beating hard with fear.
Sam recognized him immediately, even if he was lying with his face turned away from her, and was wearing the same uniform as the rest of them. She threw herself down on her knees beside him, at the last moment stopping herself from shaking him, when she saw the dark patch of blood on the back of his head. If he had a concussion - or worse - it would probably be better not to move him too much or suddenly.
"Martouf!"
He was breathing shallowly, now and then gasping and coughing weakly, but he was obviously alive, and Sam felt a flood of relief. Moments later she realized he had probably swallowed water, and that she needed to help him if he was to survive.
He coughed again, and then his breathing seemed to stop. Sam panicked, and started giving him CPR, not even for a moment thinking about what had happened the last time she had done that to someone with a symbiote - and had become host to Jolinar.
He almost immediately took a deep breath, then coughed violently. She turned him over on his side, and he started coughing up copious amounts of water. That continued for what seemed like a very long time to Sam, and she noticed there was some blood mixed in as well, warning her that he had some internal injuries - a broken rib, perhaps. Finally, he lay down on his back, and sighed deeply, his breathing appearing more normal now.
She touched him carefully, trying to determine how badly wounded he was. He had clearly not been as lucky as her. While he, too, had been thrown ashore, he seemed to have hit some of the cliffs, and was bleeding from several wounds. She decided that the head wound probably meant he had a concussion. He had a long gash in his lower right leg, as well as multiple scrapes and bruises here and there - and probably at least one broken rib. She felt gently along his arms and upper body, but could not tell what, if anything, he had broken. She decided that he could probably be moved - had to be moved, if he was to survive. They were both wet to the skin, and he was shivering worse than she was.
"Sa... Samantha?" Lantash whispered in a low, unsteady voice.
"Lantash!" Sam exclaimed, more relieved than she could ever remember feeling. "You're awake!"
"Yes... but I fear... not for long." He was quiet for a moment, gathering strength. "We have a concussion. It's bad... but... I can heal it. But... so... so cold..." His teeth rattled against each other.
"Yeah, me too," Sam said. "We need to find shelter somewhere. Can you walk? Do you have other injuries?"
"Broken arm... two ribs... broken. Leg... wound..." Lantash managed to say, then became unconscious again.
Sam sighed, realizing she would have to carry him. She looked around, seeing nothing that would give any shelter. She pulled off her backpack, and found a thermal blanket, which she wrapped around Martouf/Lantash.
After putting the backpack back on, she made the decision to head for the nearby mountains, hoping there would at least be clefts or rock-outcroppings that would provide some shelter. She managed to lift up Martouf/Lantash, placing him in a fireman's carry, partially supported by her backpack. She reflected that it was a good thing he was slender, and not fat.
The wind was still strong, but the rain was starting to let up a little bit, as Sam set off towards the nearby mountains, carrying an unconscious Martouf and Lantash.
The sun had set completely, and it was getting dark quickly now. The rain was still falling steadily, even if not as hard as it had done before. Sam was starting to get very exhausted, and tiredly walked up the path into the foothills of the mountains. She had found no shelter - bushes and trees had either been ripped up, or the leaves pulled from them by the wind. She also knew they had to find somewhere with hard ground, as all the water would be over-saturating the soil, and increase the risk of landslides.
Sam was close to giving up, when through the dusk she spotted what looked like a small cleft in the rock face rising before her. She hurried towards it, hoping it would provide some shelter for the wind, at least.
Reaching it, she saw it was an opening to a cave, and she felt relief flood her. The opening itself was not large, but easily big enough for them to fit through.
Inside, it was completely dark, but the cave opened up enough that she could stand, and it was wide enough that she could not feel the walls on her sides when she had taken a few steps inside.
She fumbled with her flashlight, and turned it on, then ran the light over the walls. The cave was deep, and while narrow right here, widened out ahead of her. It would provide good shelter for both the wind and the rain.
She stopped for a moment, listening to hear if any wild animals might have hidden there to get away from the storm, but she heard nothing, except for the wind outside.
The cave seemed to be empty, save for some grass and sticks that had blown in from the outside. A little further in it twisted, so she could not see that part from where she stood. Hoping it would be warmer in there, she gently put down Martouf/Lantash on the ground, took out her knife, and continued slowly, very much on guard.
Nothing lurked behind the bend in the cave, but in here it was a little warmer, and the ground was dry. Sam hurried back to pick up Martouf and Lantash, who were still unconscious. That worried her, but she hoped Lantash was healing Martouf, even unconsciously, and would keep himself and his host alive.
She put them down and opened the - thankfully waterproof - compartment in her backpack. She took out her spare thermal blanket and spread it on the soft sand, then found her warm blanket. She quickly - but carefully, to avoid aggravating his wounds - got Martouf/Lantash's wet clothing off, then moved him to lie on the thermal blanket she had placed on the floor, where she wrapped him in the warm blanket, with the other thermal blanket on top.
That done, she suddenly realized she was shivering from the cold, and her legs were buckling from the exhaustion. She sighed, just wanting to crawl under the blanket and snuggle up beside Martouf/Lantash and sleep, but she forced herself to go collect some of that grass and those sticks she had seen before.
She built a small fire, and when she had done that, she remembered that Martouf and Lantash's wounds probably needed cleaning.
She found her small medkit, and checked on first the head wound, then the gash on his lower right leg. She cleaned both, though they really did not look like they needed it. She also noticed they were already well on their way to being healed, and so she only put a light dressing on the leg wound.
Very tired, and still shivering despite the fire she had made, she pulled off her wet clothing and spread it out on the floor beside Martouf's, before crawling under the blanket beside him, and falling asleep, curling up close to him. She was much too tired to even consider the fact they were both naked and lying closely together.
Some time later, Sam awoke briefly, having heard some sort of noise... a rumble, she thought. It was followed by a loud crash. She listened for a few moments, hearing thunder from outside, but it seemed distant. She felt drowsy in the pleasant warmth, and after a couple moments more, she again snuggled up to Martouf/Lantash, happy neither of them were outside, where the weather had obviously become worse again. She soon fell asleep again.