Jonathan drove his bashed-in convertible to a set of semi-abandoned Quonset huts. A single WWI biplane with R.A.F. insignias sat in the sand beside them and a sign read HIS MAJESTY'S ROYAL AIR CORP. We stopped the car and walked up to Winston Havlock, asking him for help.
"So what's your little problem got to do with His Majesty's Royal Air Corp?" Winston asked us.
"Not a god-damned thing." Rick told him and Winston looked intrigued.
"Is it dangerous?" he asked.
"You probably won't live through it." I told him knowing it would interest him.
"By Jove, do you really think so?" he asked us.
"Everybody else we've bumped into has died, why not you?" Jonathan asked him. Winston nodded his head, as though that made perfect since.
"So what's the challenge then?" he asked us.
"To save the damsel in distress, kill the bad guy and steal his treasure, save the world." Rick listed off and a slow grin spread across Winston's face as he stood up and gave a snappy salute.
"Winston Havlock at your service, sir!" We all got ready for the trip and since there was only two seats, one for Winston and one the person we had to decide who sat where. Eventually we decided Rick was to have the seat while the rest of us were to be strapped to the wings.
"Hey, Kat. Can I talk to you for a minute?" Rick asked me and I nodded. I followed him away from the others and stopped, waiting for him to speak. "How do you know him?" Rick asked me.
"Ardeth? I met him a few years ago in Cairo." I told him.
"How?" he asked me.
"I was shopping and we bumped into each other." I told him honestly.
"And now you know everything he knows?" he asked me skeptically.
"It took a while for him to really trust me but after we met the first time we just kept bumping into each other at odd places. Eventually we started meeting up and talking and getting to know each other. That led to me meeting his people and gaining their trust, slowly." I told him. "That's how I know everything he does."
"You like him." Rick said not bothering to ask.
"He's my friend. Of course I like him." I told him.
"That's not what I meant and you know it." he told me and I could feel my cheeks burn slightly. Desert heat, that had to be it.
"He's my friend Rick. And even if I did like him how you mean I do nothing could happen between us. His people are very strict on who their chieftain is with." I told him going back to the other two to prepare the wings of the plane for us.
"What did he want to talk about?" Ardeth asked me.
"He's just being an over protective older brother. It's nothing to worry about." I told him.
"Why was he being over protective?" Ardeth asked me.
"He wanted to know how you and I met." I told him and he gave me a strange look.
"Why did he want to know that?" he asked me.
"Because he thought we were more than friends." I told him.
"It's nearly impossible." he told me and I nodded.
"I told him that." I told him and we quietly worked on getting the plane ready silently.
"Ok. Jonathan will be on the left wing while Ardeth and Kat will be on the right." Rick said before strapping us all in and jumping in the seat behind Winston. As we flew I looked and saw Ardeth grinning as we went making me laugh. rick whistled to us after a while. "How ya doin'?!" he asked us over the wind and I gave him a thumbs up. From the side of the plane I could see a large sand tornado traveling across the desert.
"See that?! I've never seen one so big!" Winston told Rick.
"Never?!" Rick asked him.
"No!" Winston confirmed and instantly we all knew who it was. I looked behind us the best I could and saw the desert come to life and rise up towards us. "Hey Winston! Pedal faster!" Rick ordered him.
"Hang on!" he told us before diving over the side of a cliff, all of us screaming, with the desert sand following us as we went. He did more dives and twists but the sane was getting closer and closer and was about to engulf us when I saw a face in it. Imhotep. I saw Rick grab the Lewis machine gun and fired at it, screaming. The face smiled and opened its mouth wide before engulfing us all in sand. "We're going down!" Winston told us as the biplane spun inside the blowing sand, engines roaring, wind howling. We were all screaming except Winston who was laughing. "Here I come, laddies!" Suddenly the sand disappeared, but the damage was already done. Winston could no longer control the plane and we crashed into the sand which broke the plane apart. Ardeth broke free of his bindings first then helped me before we tried to stand, my head spinning. I saw Rick get out of the seat and fall to the desert floor. When we got our balance I noticed Jonathan's wing was upside down in a dune.
"Excuse me... A little help would be useful... IF IT'S NOT TOO MUCH TROUBLE!" he called to us.
"Yeah, yeah, all right." Rick said going to help him as Ardeth stumbled over to the gunner's compartment and tore the Lewis gun off its mount. He threw the machine gun over one shoulder and a cartridge belt over the other before we staggered away from the seat. "Winston! Hey Winston!" Rick called to the war vet but he didn't answer. Rick went to him and checked for a pulse, nothing. Winston Havlock was dead with a smile on his face. The plane suddenly started to move and the sand around it started to sink.
"Quicksand! Get back, it's quicksand!: Ardeth called to them as we all quickly moved away from the wreckage. We watched as Winston was drug down into it sandy grave. We picked up the items we needed for the coming fight and left for the City of the Dead.
"Okay, now what the hell does this Horus guy look like?" Rick asked as we walked into the city.
"He's a big fellow with pointy ears and a face like a falcon." Jonathan told him.
"Got it." Rick said as he grabbed a torch. We made our way down a long, winding narrow staircase, heading into the bowels of the necropolis. A passageway to hell. Eventually we came to an area that had caved in and Rick, Ardeth and I started to dig it out so we could get by.
"I'd take those bigger stone first." Jonathan told us. "Take them from the top, otherwise the whole thing will cave in on us. Come on, put your backs into it." We stopped digging and and turned to give him a look. "Yes, well, you've got the idea. Chop chop." he told us.
"I'll shop something in a minute if you don't stop giving commands." I told him as we went back to digging.
"I say, look at that." I heard him say softly. "Say! You should come have a look at this." Suddenly he started screaming and we turned to him confused.
"What?" Rick asked him.
"My arm! My arm!" Jonathan told us backing up. Rick tore Jonathan's shirt and we saw something crawling towards his head under his skin.
"Whoa!"
"Do something!" Jonathan told us as the guys pulled him away from the wall.
"Hold him!" rick told Ardeth as he got his butterfly knife out, Jonathan just repeating for us to do something.
"Do something! Do something!" he saw the knife. "Not that! Not that!" he screamed in pain as Rick started to cut him open to get the bug out of him. He flung the small creature away from us onto its back. It scurried around for a moment before turning and rushing back to us. rick just pulled out a gun and shot it. the guys continued digging as I wrapped Jonathan's wounds. One in his shoulder, made by Rick, and once in his hand, made by the scarab.
"From now on, don't touch anything. Not a damn thing. Keep your hands off the furniture, got it?" I told him and he swallowed hard before nodding vigorously.
"We're through." Rick called back to us and we followed them. Rick went first squeezing through a small crevice in the wall, then Ardeth, then myself, then Jonathan. Wen Ardeth made it out he turned and helped me down onto the floor in the dark chamber. I thanked him before looking and trying to see where we were. Rick fired his gun at something and I turned to see one of the ancient mirrors that had been used for light. The bullet hit the disk making it spin around into the shaft of light and the light bounced off the other disk's we hadn't seen to reveal the treasure chamber. the entire room was overflowing, everything sparkling and shinning. This was the wealth of Egypt. We looked at it in awe at how much wealth the people really had as we walked along the walkway that had been left.
"Can you see..." Jonathan asked.
"Yeah." Rick said.
"Can you believe..." he asked.
"Yeah." Rick said.
"Couldn't we just..."
"No." We all said. Suddenly mummies were coming up from the ground. We pulled out guns and aimed them.
"Who the hell are these guys?" Rick asked.
"Priests. Imhotep's priests." Ardeth told him.
"I never killed a priest before." Rick told us.
"While that's always good to hear these priests are trying to kill us and stop us from reaching your girl who Imhotep want's to use in a ritual sacrifice." I reminded him.
"Well, okay then." Rick said and we all stared firing at them, blasting the mummies to pieces. Torsos were ripped from their lower halves but the legs were still coming towards us, unaffected by the loss. "Oh come on, gimme a break here." Suddenly the disemboweled upper torsos started to move, turning over and crawling towards us as we backed away. Then a dusty breeze blew into the chamber and the floor we were standing on started to move as two more mummies slowly dug their way up. Two more mummies started coming from the walls and more from the piles of gold.
"My turn." Ardeth said as he opened fire with the Lewis gun, blasting the shit out of the mummies, but they kept coming. Rick joined his fire as the four of us backed away and hauled ass. The mummies and their pieces followed up into the passage way slowly.
"This whole place is comin, alive!" I said as we raced around a corner to find more mummies. Around another corner, more mummies. Onward they come. Methodical. Relentless. Boxing us in. Rick and Ardeth Ray firing as they go.
"I'm out." Ardeth said throwing the machine gun down as we all raced into a small chamber with the stature of Horus in the middle. I don't think I'd ever been so happy to see a statue in my life.
"There he is!" Jonathan said as we ran to it. "Hello Horus old boy." I looked back at the mummies coming down the passageway and reached into Rick's gunny sack and pulled out a stick of dynamite when Ardeth tapped me on the shoulder.
"Allow me." I gave him the stick and match and went back to the statue before suddenly being pulled down onto the ground right before an explosion went off. I turned to see the cave in. Now there was only one way out, another dark passageway. Rick and Jonathan started digging away at the seams of the secret compartment as Ardeth and I watched the passageway armed. We saw another group of rotting mummies coming towards us and I sighed.
"These guys just don't quit." Rick said as Ardeth and I started firing at them.
"Keep digging!" Ardeth said as we started shooting at them. When I ran out of ammo I ran back to Rick and Jonathan and watched them pull out an ornate chest out of the secret compartment. Rick ripped off the lid and moved the cloth hiding the book away.
"The book of Amun-Ra." Jonathan said and I smiled. We could actually do this. We could win.
"Save the girl!" We all turned to Ardeth. "Kill the creature!" He quickly ran into the passageway and started beating the mummies with the empty gun. I ran to the gunny sack and pulled out the last stick of dynamite. I used Rick's face and lit the match before lighting the fuse. Rick, Jonathan and I moved to another part of the room and I waited for Ardeth to come back to us. "What are you waiting for?! Go!" Ardeth ordered and I froze. He wouldn't survive the blast. Rick to the dynamite from me and threw me and Jonathan into a small dug in area and threw the dynamite into another and dove with us. The wall blows and the debris collapsed making the mummies get blown to pieces. I started making me way to the last place I saw Ardeth when Rick grabbed my arm and drug me through the new hole he'd created with the blast.
"Let me go Rick! I have to make sure he's all right!" I told him. We arrived in the chamber Imhotep was performing the sacrifice just as he was about to plunge the knife down. Imhotep spun around and faced us.
"I found it, Evy! I found it" Jonathan said, beaming at his younger sister.
"Shut-up and get me off of here!" she ordered. Rick grabbed an ancient sword and I pulled out mine and we jumped down and ran to her. The Priest mummies who had been chanting stopped and Rick knocked the sacrificial knife out of Imhotep's hand as I started carving the mummies up. "Open the book, Jonathan! Open the book! That's the only way to kill him!" Evelyn called as Rick and I hacked and chopped at the attacking mummies, fighting our way to Evelyn. The skeletal creatures wildly swung blades they'd found trying to stab us.
"I can't open it! It's locked or something!" Rick swung his sword down at Evelyn's shackled hands and broke one of the chains free. "We need the key! What do I do, Evy!? What do I do!?"
"Read the inscription on the cover!" Evelyn and I shouted at him as Rick freed one of her legs. Suddenly more mummies attacked us, forcing us back. I could hear Jonathan translating the cover inscription, but his ancient Egyptian was clearly awful.
"Keetash-something, naraba-something."
"We're all going to die at this rate." I said sarcastically as I killed another mummy.
"Ebarra im hatu Kashka ummmmm - ? Rasheem Aaaaa ANUBIS!" I heard the clangs of the last of Evelyn's chains being broken as I saw a giant statue of Anubis and some soldiers suddenly crash through the wall. The god of Death's, horrible, decrepit stone face stared angrily down at us. "Oh boy."
"Oh my god." I said staring up at it wide eyed.
"This just keeps gettin, better and better." Rick said. I watched as Imhotep left Jonathan and headed for the giant statue. Evelyn jumped from the alter as more of the priests attacked us.
"Kill them." I heard Imhotep command in ancient Egyptian and saw him looking up at the statue. Anubis made his way to us, stomping over mausoleums and through the detritus moat on his way as Rick and I backed away. Evelyn had been attacked by Anck-su-namun's corpse and was running from her.
"Do something, Jonathan! Kill it!" I told him.
"You have got to be joking?" Jonathan said.
"Finish the inscription, idiot!" Evelyn told him.
"Oh. Ummm, Hootash im... Hootash im now what is this last symbol here?" he told us.
"What's it look like!?" Evelyn asked him. The statue of Anubis corned us. It reached down and grabbed us with it's massive talons and we hacked away the best we could at it.
"It's an Anck symbol, with two little squiggly lines above it, and a bird, a stork! on either side." Jonathan told us.
"Ahmenophus!" Evelyn and I called to him.
"Yes,... I see." Jonathan said with a smile in his voice. The talons lifted both Rick and I up and started to crush us.
"Read it!" I called out with what little air I had.
"Hootash im Ahmenophus!" The giant statue of Anubis instantly froze in it's tracks as if petrified. It then started to fall. Rick and I slid free of it's talons and Anubis crashed down on the soldiers and Anck-su-namun's screaming corpse, smashing them to powder and driving them into the ground. Imhotep shrieked in rage and horror, then turned and angrily headed for Jonathan. Jonathan, who was sitting on his ass, quickly backpedaled on his hands and heels. Rick leaped to his feet, his sword in hand and ran for Imhotep. Imhotep grabbed Jonathan, lifted him up, ripped the golden Book Of The Living out of his hand and pinned him to a wall. Rick ran up and swung his sword at Imhotep, slicing Imhotep's right arm off. It dropped to the ground, still clutching The Book Of The Living. Imhotep dropped Jonathan and spun around, facing Rick who grinned at him.
"Okay pal, let's see how tough you are without your right arm." Rick said to him and I rolled my eyes. Imhotep grabbed Rick with his left arm and threw him half way across the cemetery. Rick slammed into a gravestone, bounced off and crashed to the ground. "Alright,... so he's left handed." Imhotep then grabbed his arm and connected it once more before heading for Rick, leaving the book behind.
"I got it!" I turned and saw Jonathan holding up the key and ran for him with Evelyn. I took the key from him and opened the book where Evelyn and I looked for the right spell to kill Imhotep.
"Hurry up girls!" Jonathan told us.
"You're not helping." Evelyn sang to him as we looked. "Found it!" she said suddenly. "Kadeesh mal! Kadeesh mal! Pared oos! PARED OOS!" Imhotep pivoted and looked up at us, a look of sheer terror on his face. He then looked over at the bog and we followed his gaze. We could see it started to bubble and shift creating a swirling hole. Suddenly the spirits of the Egyptian gods wafted out of the black bog and swirled around the mummies that we'd left behind. they all collapsed and turned to dust before the spirits attacked Imhotep. The spirits swirled around Imhotep's body, twisting it and turning it before slowly shriveling it. Suddenly a strange blue flashing light accompanied by a blast of wind spit out Imhotep and threw him to the floor. He staggered to his feet and Rick quickly moved towards us. Imhotep started moving in one us.
"I thought you said it was going to kill him." Rick said before stabbing Imhotep in the gut.
"He's mortal." I told him. Imhotep stumbled back into the bog holding where the sword had stabbed him. We watched as Imhotep started to sink into the bog as he turned back into a mummy again. He looked up at us and just before his head went under spoke, grinning as he did.
"Death is only the beginning." Evelyn and I repeated as his mummified face vanished under the black bile. Suddenly the walls started to descend on us.
"C'mon! Time to go!" Rick shouted as we started to run. Jonathan tripped behind me and the golden book fell into the bog. He got up and ran to us as his sister ran back to the bog and looked into it.
"You've lost the book!" we all turned and went back for her. "Jonathan, I can't believe..."
"Come on!" we all shouted at her as we raced past the sinking pillars and ducked unto the descending doorway. We ran through passageways and ended up back in the treasure room where Evelyn stopped again to look in wonder at it. I pushed her forward as we quickly ran through the mounds of treasure. I looked behind me and rolled my eyes to see Jonathan looking around again.
"Couldn't we just..."
"No, Jonathan!" I said pulling him with us again as we ran to the sinking doorway on the far side of the room. The sound of the sinking walls was deafening.
"O'Connell!" I heard Beni shout as we ran. We ran up the staircase and dove through the narrow gap one after the other. "O'Connell, wait!" Rick turned, still on his stomach and reached for Beni through the narrowing gap with his hand.
"Come on! come on!" Rick said trying to grab his hand before his got cut off.
"Wait! Please!" he begged, but it was too late. Beni and Rick yanked their hands back just as the top of the door crashed to the floor.
"Goodbye Beni." Rick said as we all got up and started running again. We finally made it outside but continued running as the temple collapsed around us. A sinking crevice dropped out right behind us, chasing us out through the gates. The whole place rumbled ominously as we went. We made it down the ramp as more ruins crashed down behind us. We made it to safety and turned in time to see a massive cloud of sand and dust billowing out into the air, forcing the city into the ground. I looked down at the ground in sadness. Ardeth had been trapped in there, who knew if he'd been alive after that blast and now he was gone. Suddenly Jonathan screamed making us all scream and jump only to look and see Ardeth on a camel. I grinned at him and forced the tears of joy back.
"Oh! Thank you! Thank you very much!" Jonathan said, his hand over his heart.
"You've earned the respect and gratitude of me and my people." Ardeth told them.
"Yes, well, it was nothing." Jonathan told him, chuckling.
"May Allah smile upon you always." Ardeth said kissing his hand and putting it to his forehead.
"And... yourself." Jonathan said, making the sign of the cross.
"Rick, give me a boost." I told him walking to Ardeth.
"What, why?" he asked me.
"I'm going with him, that's why." I told my brother and he shook his head in confusion. "Just do it." he sighed and walked to me. He gave me a boost onto the camel in front of Ardeth who smiled at me, which I returned. He turned the camel towards home and started to leave.
"Yes, anytime." I heard Jonathan call to us.
"Stay out of trouble. And I better hear from you more often." Rick called and I laughed lightly.
"For a moment I thought you were dead." I told him.
"How could I die and leave you and the tribes?" he asked me and I smiled.
"Let's go home." I said before kissing his cheek and resting my head on his shoulder. I missed the smile that graced his lips as we rode off into the sunset together.
This is not the end. There will be more than just the second movie, which I will be adding to this story. I will also be adding more about Ardeth and Kat in between the two movies.