After recovering from the attack on the barge, the Wild Geese, Soos, Gideon, and the Pines Twins gathered what supplies that they could recover and started traveling once again, the now destroyed barge a burnt out husk at the bottom of the river.

It was an hour of traveling downriver before they arrived at a small port village where it was just starting to become daybreak and the shops in the bazaar were opening. After purchasing a small bit of breakfast, the group had a look around before they came upon a camel salesman. Both Penn and Wendy were busy trying to haggle with the stingy salesman, who refused to go below his asking price.

"I know it's a lot to ask for, but we need twelve camels and this is all the money we have," Penn said firmly to the salesman, who talked back to the redhead in Egyptian Arabic, "I highly doubt that they're worth more than that."

The salesman was about to reply when he felt a pointy piece of metal poke him in the back.

"I'd take the offer," A polite male voice said. Turning his eyes, the salesman was met with a wide smile of Milo, who was standing with a scalpel pressing against the man's back. Scared out of his wits, the salesman decided to do as the ex-soldiers asked before he wound up dead. After giving them the camels, Milo retracted his scalpel and let the Egyptian man go, who then promptly ran away after being given what money Penn had.

"Atta boy, Doctor Murphy. I almost forgot how crazy you could get when the situation calls for it," Wendy said with a chuckle as they took the camels and met the group at the edge of town.

"Alright boys, break time's over. We still have a lot of ground to cover," said Penn as the Wild Geese, the Pine Twins, Soos, and Gideon each grabbed their gear and then grabbed one of the camels.

Mason went up to the gun-slinging redhead. He felt responsible about their situation, as well as the reason that they were now pretty low on funds.

"I hope that these didn't cost too much." said Mason

"Nah, Milo helped us get them for a fair price. Although I was about to suggest adding your sister, that would've saved us some coins, but I knew you wouldn't have liked that," said Wendy as she got on top of her camel.

"As troublesome as she may be, Mabel is still my sister," replied Mason as he got on his camel.

"Alright ladies and gentlemen, we got a lot of time and space to cover. I'm sure as hell you don't want Robbie and his merry band of scavengers to get to Hamunaptra first. Let's go!" ordered Randy as they all went on their way.

Aided by their new method of transportation, the rag tag team managed to cross the desert with only a few minor discomforts. Time went on fast and simple, but as the sun went down the more experienced members of the group couldn't shake a feeling. The feeling of being watched by someone or something.

Gideon snored as they traveled only to be smacked awake by Soos' new fly swatter. At the head of the group, Wendy, Randy and Penn were guiding the way.

"You know we're being followed, right?" asked Penn.

"Yeah, we are. But the question is by who?" added Randy.

"I have a pretty good guess," said Wendy looking through the corner of her eye

The other two did the same thing and spotted four familiar silhouettes that were now being accompanied by a fifth member.

"That's not good," said Penn knowing fully well that Sashi and him were aching for a rematch.

"Why are those guys following us?" asked Randy grabbing his gun in anticipation of a fight.

"Beats me. But they seem to be very focused on Hamunaptra," said Wendy.

"Grave robbers?" asked Penn getting an itchy trigger finger as he narrowed his eyes at the far away figures.

"If they are, then where is their equipment?" asked Randy.

"They must be following us for another reason. Keep your eyes open," said Wendy as she placed a hand on one of her revolvers.

The Wild Geese and their fellow travelers continued on their way through the night only resting for short periods of time. They continued onward until the sun rose anew. They found themselves in front of a large valley plain of sand, but they were not alone. From the opposite side of the valley came none other than Robbie and the scrunches with many workers on horseback.

"I see you found the way across the river," said Wendy getting laughs from her friends.

"And I see you got some transportation as well," said Robbie with bitterness in his tone, Wendy giving him the finger at his comment.

As the group waited around, Kevin decided to speak and remind the competition of their wager.

"Remember our little bet, Corduroy: First one to the city gets five hundred cash bucks," He said with a smirk on his face.

"Hundred of those bucks are yours if you get us to that city first, Valentino," Bradley said to their guide, who merely nodded as they waited for the sun to fully rise over the horizon.

As they did, Wendy watched with keen eyes; watching over the valley as she sat on her camel next to Mason's.

"Get ready for it," She said to the young librarian.

"For what?" He asked in confusion.

"We're about to be shown the way," She replied.

At those words, the sun began to rise up over the valley. To the astonishment and amazement of the two parties, from seemingly out of nowhere, an entire ancient city seemed to appear.

"Well I'll be damned," Kevin said in wonder.

"Will you look at that?" Bradley added.

"Can you believe it?" Oskar replied.

"Hamunaptra," Randy said.

"Here we go again," Sashi added as the city came to fully materialize before them. Suddenly, like a bolt of lightning and as loud as thunder, the two parties yelled at their mounts to run like the wind toward the city.

The race was on with Wendy taking the lead, being followed by Mason and the rest of their party. But from behind was coming none other than Robbie, who was whipping his horse wildly, followed by the rest of his group. The Wild Geese easily kept Kevin and his goons at bay; far behind from the lead. Even though they were not happy with the wager they still wanted the satisfaction of winning.

Against all possibility Robbie seemed to have been able to catch up to Wendy given his slightly faster horse. As he slowly made it to first place, Robbie began to whip Wendy, but she managed to catch it mid-swing. As tempted as she was to shoot Robbie, Wendy settled by punching him off his horse. Robbie rolled down on the ground and by some miracle he wasn't trampled to death.

Wendy was close to reaching the city of the dead when suddenly, out of left field, Mason over took her. Mason then reached Hamunaptra ensuring victory for the Wild Geese and the rest of his group. The group cheered for their victory, while Kevin and his group cursed in anger at their defeat.

"You suck, Robbie! You suck and you know it!" Kevin yelled at the guide, kicking at the sand in anger and frustration.

"Yes, I must agree with him here. This will come out of your payment, Mr. Valentino," said Rippen as he arrived from the back of the group. Robbie merely groaned at that statement.


After getting their gear down from the camels both groups began digging and looking over the supposed haunted city. Most of the Wild Geese, save for Wendy, were keeping watch just in case they were met with the mysterious figures. At the moment, Wendy was helping the Pines Twins and Soos by setting up some special mirrors. Gideon was just snooping around, hoping to find something valuable to put in his satchel, but all he got were a few hits from the rope Wendy was working with. This earned a few laughs from the group.

"So, what are these mirrors supposed to do?" asked Wendy as she walked up to Mason.

"Watch and learn," said Mason

As they were busy cleaning the ancient mirrors, Mason explained to the group that the half-buried statue that they were digging in front of was the statue of Anubis and at the base of it's buried legs was where they would find their objective: The Book of Amon-Ra, AKA The Book of Life.

Just as Mason got through explaining, Star and Marco punctured a hole in the ground that caused a void collapse, opening a hole big enough to climb down. After securing a rope to a pillar, half the Wild Geese, The Pines Twins, and Gideon went down the hole while the rest took watch.

As the group went down into the hole, they entered some kind of chamber that was devoid of anything but sand and debris. Looking around, they found the room very dark with no light sources save for the hole they just made. However, turning around, Mason found just what he was looking for: Another mirror like the one they had polished outside. Going up to the mirror, Mason started adjusting it.

"And then there was... Light," He quoted as the mirror reflected light from outside that then bounced off a different mirror on the opposite wall and so on until the entire room was lit up.

"Hey, that is a neat trick," Marco commented as the group lit some torches just to be safe and made their way deeper into the buried city.

The group continued to look around but Wendy couldn't help but feel something was wrong. The group were walking down the path hoping to find the promised riches that the city hid. They soon found themselves in a strange room filled with cobwebs and strange worn out pedestals.

"What did they do in this place?" asked Wendy

"This is where they prepared the dead for the afterlife," explained Mason

"What?" asked Star

"This is where they prepared the mummies," said Mabel with a slight know-it-all tone.

The group kept going through the spider web-filled corridors when suddenly a strange crawling noise startled them. The Wild Geese grabbed their guns and prepared for the worst as the rest of the group kept the torches ready.

"What was that?" asked Marco

"It kinda sounded like bugs," said Wendy

"I despise bugs," said Gideon as he wiped his forehead with his handkerchief.

The group turned a corner and saw that they were in a room where a large pair of black stone legs stood. They walked slowly up to the legs so that Mason could examine them. The hieroglyphs adorned the base of the statue and Mason was loving it.

"There should be something very interesting here," said Mason.

Suddenly the group heard a strange noise that made a chill run down their spines. The Wild Geese all grabbed their guns and prepared for the worst. Feeling someone approaching them, the group pressed against the base of the statue. Wendy led the way as they moved closer to the corner. After taking in a few deep breaths the group jumped out, ready to shoot anything that moved on the other side.

On the other side, the group found themselves aiming at Robbie and his group. Everyone let out a small yelp, but they still held up their guns.

"You scared the living hell put of us, Corduroy," said Kevin.

"Likewise," replied Wendy.

"Is that my toolkit?" asked Bradley looking at Mason's tools.

"No it isn't," said Mason, pulling the toolkit back.

"Yes, it is," said Bradley as he took one more step.

Wendy aimed her guns at Bradley, prompting Robbie's group to pull out their own guns and aim them at the Wild Geese. The Wild Geese, for their part, didn't move an inch as they were ready to open fire should they need to.

"Oh no, you're right. Mine's in the trunk," said Bradley walking away from the gun in his face.

Once everyone was back on opposite sides, they all lowered their weapons as a sign of good faith. Although one could tell that the Wild Geese were more than aware that Robbie was willing to shoot them in the back.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen, this has been a scorching day and we have a lot of work we need to do, so would you mind leaving us be." said Mason, wanting to look more into the statue.

"Shove off, boy! This is our dig site," said Rippen with some sense of superiority.

"We got here first," said Mason, narrowing his eyes in anger at being called "boy".

The Wild Geese and Robbie's scavengers pulled their guns out in a split second. Neither side was willing to give the other the ground. Feeling as though this was just like an old Western novel, the two groups were less than an inch away from shooting each other on the spot.

"This is our statue, fellas," said Kevin with a little smug smirk, running his hand through his styled hair as he pointed his gun at Marco.

"I don't see your name on it, pretty boy. So back off before you lose those looks," said Randy, aiming his pistol directly between Kevin's eyes.

As the arguments went on, Mason and Mabel noticed some pebbles next to them and a small fissure. Mason quietly kicked one of the pebbles into the crack in the sandy floor and heard a small *clack*, as if the rock hit something solid beneath them. He quickly deduced that there was a room right underneath them. Which meant that there was a way to dig from underneath the statue of Anubis and get The Book of Amun-Ra.

"Always with the threats, Randy, you haven't changed. But since there's only seven of you and eighteen of us, the odds are pretty stacked," said Robbie, feeling like he was going to win.

However, the only thing that Robbie got was Wendy putting one of her revolvers in his face.

"You're right, pretty bad odds. For you," Wendy said, leering at the man

"Or did you forget all the times we kicked ass back in the Legion?" asked Star.

At that moment, Mason walked up to the middle ground of the stand-off and decided to play peace keeper.

"Come on guys, no need to behave like little kids," He said, acting as mature as his great uncle, "If we're going to play together we have to learn to share," said Mason as he slowly lowered the guns of the scavengers and then turned to Wendy. "There are other places to dig."

Wendy seemed to understand that Mason had a plan and lowered her guns. The Wild Geese, the Pine Twins, and Gideon left the area, allowing the scavengers to proceed with their dig.


Dipper led the group down through some of the tunnels underneath the mummification room until they found the area that they were looking for. It was a large empty room with a couple of jackal and cat statues scattered around it.

"Alright, this should be the place," said Mason.

"Place for what?" asked Marco

"To get the book before them," answered Mason with a smirk, earning a smile from The Wild Geese.

After a short talk and rearrangement of the statues, Mason, Wendy, Randy, and Marco were beating and breaking parts of the statue's base above them. The work was somewhat slow-going due to the odd angle in which they had to strike the stone ceiling. While all this was happening, Mabel and Star kept watch. Or they supposedly were doing so as neither of them noticed Gideon slipping away in the search of some treasure.

"Are you sure about this? We could always go back up with the rest of the Wild Geese and take care of our 'friends'," Suggested Randy as he swung the hammer at the sandstone ceiling.

"This is an archeological expedition, not the wild west. Besides we aren't robbing them, we're just making a faster way to The Book of Life," said Mason.

"As a consolation prize we could see Robbie's face when he and his friends see that we took the book from under them," said Wendy as she grabbed a pole and moved some of the stones.

"And then we hang him," said Marco as he grabbed a pike and began banging away to try and dislodge more of the rock.

As they were going over the plan, Mabel began to sniff around. And she noticed that the air around them was not as musky with the smell of pomade and calogne as before. In fact, besides the dust, it was very clear.

"Where did our 'friend', the warden, go?" asked Mabel.


In another part of the lost city, not too far from the group, Gideon was crawling through the hallways with an arrow sticking out of his pompadour. He had a very close encounter with one of the city's traps, so he decided to crawl as to avoid being murdered by another trap.

"There must be some treasure hidden in this forsaken city. I refuse to believe I've come this far for nothing. And that sweet Mabel keeping on ignoring my advances is just salt on the wound," said Gideon to himself as he turned another corridor.

Just then, Gideon's eyes caught something. Before him was the carving of an ancient Egyptian with what appeared to be precious metal orbs all over his body. Believing that he had found what he was seeking, Gideon sprung to his feet and rushed to the carving.

"What have we here?" asked Gideon as he passed one finger over the orb. "Blue gold? Yes please!"

Gideon took out a knife and slowly began to dislodge the small orb. He laughed to himself as he stuffed it in his bag. Gideon then thought of one final act of victory as he looked upon the carving. He lifted his arms and mimicked the pose of the carving and screamed as if it were a mocking imitation.


Deep apologies for how long this chapter took. Like I've stated on my profile page, I'm incredibly lazy when it comes to updates for my own stories. However, I wasn't twiddling my fingers in that time. I was actually helping other authors with collaboration stories, such as Batmarcus' story "Class Is In Session" (Which you can find in my Favorites). Hope you enjoyed this chapter and I will see you all later!