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Hell is for Children

Daniel glanced at his watch. Dawn had occurred at nine a.m. according to the time on his watch. It was now after three, a little past noon local time. How much longer would this damned day drag on? How much longer before they could make an escape through the 'gate?

The sounds of staff weapons being fired drifted up to them. The two boys who had been brutally beaten and abused had not been tied up. They'd taken advantage of that and had tried to escape. Smoke curled into the air above their still bodies.

Casey bit back a sob. They were so young! Her gaze went to the little girls. Those five children were absolutely terrified. She closed her eyes, tried to force the picture of their wide, panic-filled eyes from her mind. Please, she prayed, please let Teal'c bring help!

The escape attempt seemed to liven the group again. None of the Jaffa were wearing their armor at this point. Which Jack took as a very bad sign. That 'gate was totally under their control, he thought glumly.

Two of the Jaffa grabbed the four teenage girls, and stripped them of the simple dresses they wore. Their screams echoed in the air as hands roughly moved over them, squeezed soft flesh, bruised tender bodies. Four Jaffa, laughing and joking, lay down in the short grass. Without regard to their virginity, the girls were shoved onto waiting cocks. More screams filled the air. And more still when Jaffa moved in behind them, shoving erections into virgin asses. The First Prime was laughing and pointing. More Jaffa approached, until each girl was being assaulted by three Jaffa at a time. One of the girls bit the man in front of her, earning her a fisted blow to the side of her head. She seemed to drop unconscious onto the man beneath her.

The little girls were watching, none of them making a sound. The surviving teenage boy had begun to shout at the Jaffa. The First Prime approached him, hit him, then signaled to the three men with him. The young man suffered the same fate as the teenage girls.

Jack bit back the bile that burned in his stomach, closed his eyes. More screams alerted him to the fact that more Jaffa had taken the places of those who were now satisfied. Sixty of the bastards, he thought morosely. This is gonna take awhile.

Casey was shaking, tears streaming down her face. Teal'c will bring help, she continued to tell herself, the four words a mantra that she repeated again and again as the screams continued to break the still of the air around them.

Daniel tried to steel himself against the sounds. He didn't need to see to understand what was happening. If only he'd insisted that they try harder to talk to the leader of the tribe last night, he thought. If the team had been there, maybe they could have helped the villagers fight off the attackers. The P90's would have at least offered them a chance to escape to safety. I should've insisted! I should've argued with Jack, made him see reason.

Sam had glanced down at the village once. Binoculars weren't needed to see what was happening. She tried to bring up all of the survival training she'd received. Remembered all too well the warnings against being shot down and captured in Iraq. Thought of one of the female pilots who had been. By the time the Marines rescued her, she'd already slipped over the edge into insanity. Tapes of what had been done to her had been found, and those who had seen them refused to speak about them. What had happened to that pilot couldn't be any worse than what was happening to the children below.

One of the women was moving again, trying desperately to get to one of the young women. Probably her daughter, Casey thought as she watched. The woman was grabbed by her long hair, jerked away from where the girls were being raped. One of the men shoved his cock into her mouth, began humping her face.

Jack was frowning. Jaffa were mean sons-of-bitches. But rape was only a means of punishment for slaves. Or a way of getting information. Usually employed in front of fathers, husbands, lovers…until the man, or men, broke and told all that they knew. There were no men to break, those who hadn't been taken were dead. This was rape for nothing more than entertainment. Something's very wrong here, he thought.

Sam jerked when Teal'c appeared in front of her. "Geez, Teal'c!" she hissed.

"I apologize for startling you, Major Carter," he said softly.

"No go, huh?" Jack asked already knowing the answer.

"The Stargate is being guarded. However, not heavily so. I believe that we might have a chance to make it through, if we wait until dark. We have the advantage of our night vision goggles," the dark skinned man replied.

Jack nodded. "Okay. That's the plan then."

Casey bit back the bitterness of disappointment. The children below them would continue to be tortured. Probably killed. While SG-1 hid in the rocks and watched, and waited. The mental battle she was fighting continued to rage in her mind. That part of her that understood was losing the battle to that part which didn't. 

A   A   A   A   A   A

The sun had passed its zenith, and was beginning the downward arc of its journey. It wasn't clear if the teenage girls were alive or not, their bodies had been unceremoniously dragged to one side of the village and left. The surviving woman had been killed, her throat slit when she'd tried to fight one of her abusers. The teenage boy was dead as well, beaten to death when he'd bitten one of the Jaffa. Badly from what they'd been able to see. Jack had silently cheered the young man when the Jaffa standing in front of him began to scream in pain. He'd known the boy would be killed. But he'd taken one of those bastards out of the game, at least.

Once again the Jaffa seemed to be relaxing, resting. Getting ready for the next round, Casey thought furiously. If only they could fire! They could still protect those five little girls if they could just open fire! She began to inch forward. If she could stay low, the short grass would keep her camouflaged, her mind told her, desperate to do more than just sit idly by as children were raped and abused. The P90 fires 900 rounds a minute, she sing-songed in her mind. She had three clips, one hundred and fifty rounds. In less than a minute she could kill them all…

Jack's hand closed on the back of her neck. "Don't move," he hissed. He slowly pulled her back. "Don't make me tie you down," he threatened darkly.

Daniel jerked to look at the two. "Let her go," he said, his voice low, firm.

"She's going to get us killed," Jack replied.

"No, she won't. Let her go."

The older man pulled his hand from her neck.

"Casey, you have to stay still, and quiet," Daniel said softly.

She shook her head. "900 rounds a minute. I can take them all out. I have three clips. There are only sixty of them-"

Daniel took her chin in his hand, forced her to look at him. Didn't like the feverish light he saw in her green eyes. "No, Casey. They'll kill us. There's nothing we can do. Stay down, Angel. Please."

Sam closed her eyes. After nine and a half hours, Casey was beginning to break. She shook her head mentally. After nine and a half hours of what they'd witnessed, continued to witness, she felt pretty damned close to the edge herself!

Jack caught Daniel's eye, nodded toward the blonde who continued to murmur beneath her breath. "Whatever it takes, Danny. This is life and death."

The young man nodded his understanding. If he had to knock her out, in order to protect her, and all of them, then he would do so.

Teal'c listened, his eyes continually scanning the steppes behind them. Casey Jackson had become a friend. A good friend. That she suffered because of the kresh'ta who lingered in the burned out village angered him. O'Neill and Major Carter were warriors, they'd been trained to deal with the mental stresses of such a situation. Daniel Jackson had learned much, had endured torture himself. Was as fine a warrior as any he'd fought beside. The archaeologist's gentle heart was no doubt suffering greatly as well, however. But Casey…the large man mentally shook his head. Her heart was breaking. And could potentially take her mind along with it.

The sun was low on the horizon. There was an hour of sunlight left, at the most. Jack wiped his face. So far, since the gang rape of the teenagers, the group had been fairly quiet. Maybe, just maybe they'd get back through the 'gate, and would be able to bring enough firepower to save those kids. Or at least get them the medical help they needed.

Shrieks of terror filled the air.

"Oh, hell," Jack muttered, watching through his binoculars. The five little girls who had been ignored up until now, had been untied, and were taken to the center of the 'camp' that the Jaffa had made.

"No," Casey whispered, watching as well. She'd spent the past hour, Daniel whispering softly in her ear, struggling to regain control over her own mind. She'd never been so close to losing touch with reality, and it terrified her. She clung to his declarations of love, his promises that they'd do all that they could to help the children, just as soon as they could get back up. Her fingers tightened around his arm like a vise. "No," she whispered again.

Daniel groaned softly when the First Prime began to strip the little girls. Nearly a dozen Jaffa were standing around the frightened children, stroking cocks to full erection. He glanced at Casey. "Close your eyes." He took the binoculars from her, put them beside his hip, away from her. "Close your eyes," he said again, firmly. "C'mere, Angel."

Casey buried her face against his shoulder. He smelled of sweat and dust, and the warmth of his body was enough to comfort her. Until the screams began. High pitched screams of little girls as they were brutally, forcibly raped.

Daniel held tightly to her as she began to shake. He could feel her fighting, knew that she was doing her best to hold back her sobs, her own screams.

The little girls ranged in age from six to perhaps eight. Three of them didn't survive the first round of rape, their tiny bodies ripped apart without mercy as the men humped and thrust into them. Blood seemed to be everywhere. As suddenly as the screams had started, they ended.

Jack barely managed to keep from vomiting when five little bodies were tossed aside. "Teal'c, these guys aren't normal, are they?" he asked softly.

"No, O'Neill. I believe they have all gone mad. It is possible that they have escaped from imprisonment by a System Lord who defeated the one that they served," Teal'c replied.

"Yeah, that makes sense. If they were tortured, and abused, maybe their own minds are long gone," Jack said.

"Which makes them all the more dangerous," Teal'c pointed out.

"I know. As soon as it's dark enough, we move." Jack reached over and gently rubbed Casey's shoulder. "You gonna be able to make it to the 'gate, Case?"

She nodded, her face still buried against Daniel, her cheeks wet with tears, his shirt now wet as well.

"She'll make it," Daniel said quietly.

More cries filled the air as the Jaffa turned their attention back to the battered and abused teenagers.

Sam sniffed softly, the shrieks of those little girls still echoing in her ears. She felt like she wanted to throw up. She wanted to take a bath and scrub this damned place off her skin. And then she wanted a drink.

A   A   A   A   A   A

The sun was sinking lower, shadows were beginning lengthen across the steppes. "Okay campers, let's get ready to move out," Jack said softly.

A huge bonfire had been started in the middle of the Jaffa camp, using wood from the corral. For a reason that only the gods knew, the First Prime ignored the horses as they ran away from the sounds of the screams that still filled the air.

Teal'c led the way, and the team began to make their way slowly down the hill. Their night vision goggles made the trek much easier, gave them a clear view of the five Jaffa who were guarding the 'gate. Those men were young, and continued to stare toward the village, complaining loudly among themselves.

Jack signaled each of the team members, sending them in an arc around the 'gate. They'd only have a few minutes to get the 'gate dialed and get through it, the sound of gunfire would bring the others at a run. When his team was in place, he signaled again and four P90's and one staff weapon came to life. The guards were down in just a matter of seconds. "Dial, Daniel!" Jack shouted.

As the 'gate opened the sounds of shouting filled the night behind them. SG-1 raced through the event horizon and down the ramp, calling for the iris to be closed. General Hammond hurried into the room. The first thing he noticed was that not one of the team members would look at him. Or each other. Something had happened. "Get checked out people. We'll brief in the morning."

"Uh, sir, if you don't mind, I'd rather get it over with," Jack said, his voice slightly raspy.

"I agree, sir," Sam said, studying the weapon in her hand.

The general turned to Daniel and Casey. "Doctor Jackson?"

"I'd rather just forget the whole damned thing, but I doubt that will happen," Daniel said softly, his gaze locked on the floor.

"All right. Briefing room in an hour." The General turned and left the room.

"Let's go, kids," Jack said softly. He walked stiffly toward the door of the 'gate room. Hoped like hell he could make it to the john before he lost everything on his stomach.

Daniel led Casey from the room, her eyes wide and haunted and focused on the floor. The Marines who had taken up position when the klaxons had first sounded watched in silence. No one needed to say it out loud. SG-1 had just been to hell. Whether or not they had come completely back was yet to be determined.

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