Turns out getting drunk when you have to open a sarcophagus the next morning isn't the brightest decision a man could make. Unfortunately for Seb, that's exactly what was on the agenda for the very hungover group currently making their way through the halls of Hamunaptra. "I say we hide the booze tonight," Watson mumbles, rubbing his temple with his free hand while the other held the flashlight up higher.
"Or use it as fuel if we want a bonfire," Sebastian adds, nodding a little. "Hell, we could pour it on Anderson and see how long it takes him to realize we're about to set him on fire."
"Yeah, but there's that little problem of murder being illegal." Seb makes a sound, but doesn't actually say anything considering he killed as frequently as normal people changed clothes.
"This way, guys," Bari calls from the front, cheeks a dark red against the brown of his skin. He was a handsome lad, sweet, wouldn't last a month in London. The way he was sticking close to Alicia told Seb that they were more like siblings than Kelsey and Alicia were, which was a little sad considering the latter pair actually were siblings. Divorce would do that, though, especially when the kids each picked a different parent to live with. "Do we really get to open the sarcophagus, Miss Mather?"
"The only reason we wouldn't is if someone stole it right out from under our noses," the blonde assures him. Even from the back, Seb could see the way her fingers twitched, like she wanted to reach out to the boy yet forced herself not to. It would be considered indecent, bolder than if she ran topless through the streets of Cairo. He wouldn't put the latter act past her, she'd do anything once if she was drunk enough.
After what felt like hours to Seb's sleep-deprived mind, they finally enter the chamber where they'd left the massive sarcophagus the day before. The dust had settled in the time they'd been aboveground, the dark stone covered in a faint white powder of sandstone. Ally gestures towards it and the men get to work trying to heft it up, the diggers refusing to enter the halls after the raid last night. With grunts of effort and some cursing on Watson's part, they finally manage to get it upright and leaning against one of the walls, letting go only when they were sure it wouldn't just topple over again.
"I've dreamt of this moment since I was a little girl."
"You dream about dead guys," Watson asks, sending her a look of concern. She doesn't pay him any mind, gray eyes taking in everything the front of the sarcophagus had to offer. Whoever carved the damn thing did a pretty good job, the façade of it made to look like a man with arms crossed over his chest, a few lines of hieroglyphics along the stomach that looked as though someone had tried to remove them at some point.
"They chiseled off the sacred spells. Why would they do that, I wonder?"
"I was right," Jim says with a smug half-smile. "This one was naughty enough to be condemned in both lifetimes."
"Bully for you. Let's get this thing open and see what Santa brought me." Holmes digs the key out of his pocket, the seven blades of it popping outward and fitting easily into the lock. He gives three good turns until a faint click echoes through the chamber, Holmes and Seb pulling as hard as they could on the lid. It seemed to be sealed somehow, not wanting to give even as Seb dug his fingers into the slowly widening crease. The lid pops open with no warning, toppling to the ground and setting everyone to screaming when its mummified host leans forward. "I hate it when these things do that!"
"Is he supposed to look like that," Seb asks, staring in disgust at the mummy. It was dark brown, covered in some kind of goo that he didn't really want to consider for too long; little more than a skeleton with some ligament and wrappings to hold it all together, but something didn't seem right with it. It was still…. Fresh.
"No, that's not possible. It's still… Still—"
"Juicy," Holmes and Watson supply in unison.
"Jim, how old would you say he is?"
"Just by looking at him," Jim muses," I'd say less than twelve years. However, since we know that's not actually possible, it'd be closer to three or four thousand years. Either the ancient Egyptians had embalmers of the highest caliber or our friend here is an anomaly that could be worth quite a bit to the right people." With a grimace, Seb tries to find a distraction that doesn't smell like rancid meat.
"Take a look at these," Munir says, kneeling beside the toppled lid. The front of it was buried in the sand, but the inside was made the same smooth stone as the rest. Seb and the others gather around the lid, taking in the lines of deep marks running down the length of it and the rough hieroglyphics etched into it. "What do you suppose these are?" Bari reaches out a hand, thick fingers lining up with the lines perfectly.
"Fingernails," the boy says in a hushed tone. "He was alive when they did this, Abbi." The boy's blue eyes focused on his father, wide and fearful as though he'd just discovered something entirely too awful. He reaches out again, fingers hovering over the ancient words as he read them aloud. "Death is only the beginning."
"What the hell are we getting ourselves into," Seb mutters, rubbing a hand over his jaw. Together, the group looks back to the mummy with some apprehension, dread beginning to coil in Seb's belly like a snake fixing to strike. This wasn't a good place to be in before they found the dead guy, but now it felt like the air in the room was disappearing faster than Seb could suck it in.
"I don't want to be here anymore." Munir shared the sentiment, scrambling to his feet and ushering Bari towards the door.
"Come," the older man says. "We should not be here. This man is cursed like all the tales say." He was gone a moment later, only the scuffing of shoes against sand letting on to his presence in the hallways. The others look to Jim and Alicia, Seb taking in the tic in his boss' jaw.
"This is him, isn't it," Seb asks, though it came out more as a statement. "He's the guy that attempted to wake up his dead girlfriend."
"I think so," Alicia confirms, looking uneasy for the first time since arriving. "Maybe we should follow Munir's example and head back up. We can always come back later for a closer look. You know, when the room airs out a little more." Jim hums a response, standing up and brushing some sand off his pants. "Jim?"
"I suppose so," he mumbles. "You and I can come back down here this evening to check some things over. No clumsy oafs to break anything we find." He sends a pointed look in Seb's direction, the sniper raising his hands in a don't shoot gesture. In his defense, it was one time and that skeleton had come out of nowhere. If he didn't want it stomped to pieces, then he shouldn't have stored remains in my fucking closet.
"Walking around a supposedly haunted tomb at night in the middle of nowhere? Sounds like a recipe for murder, but alright." Seb and Watson share a look, shaking their heads. I'm surrounded by adrenaline-addicted idiots. That's all there was to it, he had to be the only sane one here and that wasn't saying much in the long run.
The rest of the morning and afternoon passed smoothly, most of the group in good moods after their discoveries. In fact, the only two people that seemed remotely unhappy were Anderson and Donovan, secluded away in the latter's tent. They ignored the music and chattering outside, though how that was possible Seb had no clue. The songs varied depending on whose turn it was, sometimes rock if Jim was in charge or country for Tom; Bari preferred alternative, something that earned him a fond grin from Alicia. Sometimes you couldn't even hear the music over the sound of loud arguing between Holmes and Jim, everything from whether or not dinosaurs had feathers to the failure that was Tremors (that particular argument had Alicia involved and she'd threatened to shave both men bald if they didn't admit it was amazing).
All in all, it wasn't bad apart from the continuous heat beating down on them. Even the diggers, spooked as they were, joined in when they could, their English better than most people's that Seb has met. One had a great-something or other that had helped out with Lord Carnarvon and Carter's quest to find Tut's tomb. Of course, the poor guy had died soon after, but the digger was proud all the same.
It wasn't until late that evening after most of them had retired to their tents that Ally and Jim ventured back into the ruins. Seb stayed behind, tending to the fire and having a quiet talk with Watson. They were just beginning to discuss the curse laid over Hamunaptra two hours later when Ally and Jim came back out. The blonde was outright grinning when she passed by Henry, Jim sharing the same smugness as they found seats around the fire.
"Check it out," Alicia says, thrusting out her hand.
"Stone carvings," Seb asks, brows raised. They were fairly large he supposed, a pile of them fitting snuggly in the palm of her hand.
"Nope, petrified scarab beetles."
"For God's sake," Holmes mutters, rolling his eyes. "The smallest things are capable of amusing you, aren't they?" She winks, tossing him one of the ancient bugs. Holmes catches it easily, holding it up between his thumb and forefinger to study it despite the sneer curling his lip. "Where'd you find these things."
"With our new friend. They eat any sort of meat they can find, including unfortunate people that have been buried alive."
"Ouch," Seb mumbles, wincing in sympathy. "Poor guy just got all the works, didn't he? Not only did he get mummified and buried alive for trying to bring his dead girlfriend back to life, but they threw a bunch of evil bugs into the mix?" He looks to Jim, careful not to touch one of the beetles. "Remind me not to piss any Egyptian pharaohs off."
"I'll make a note of it," Jim smiles. "Our friend certainly wasn't a popular fellow when they planted him."
"Well, he was having an affair with Seti's girlfriend."
"You're talking about the Hom-Dai," Holmes says, tossing the beetle to Watson. "I've read about it, it's supposed to be awful."
"The worst of all ancient curses," Ally confirms with a nod. "They saved it for the worst of the worst and this guy fit the bill apparently. I've done a lot of research, but this is the only case I've heard of the ritual actually being performed. The Egyptians were terrified of it, even Munir says it's not something to speak about around children."
"And here we are digging around to see what we can find out about him. It's a good thing we're not superstitious."
"Speak for yourself," Tom says, he and Henry coming to sit near the fire. "I'm plenty superstitious for all of us."
"Then I suggest you find a different line of work," Jim advises, baring his teeth in an almost feral grin. "For here there be monsters."
It had to be close to one in the morning when Seb woke to the sounds of light footsteps, recognizing them as Ally's. He waited a moment, hearing the sound of clicking metal and the shuffling of clothes before the footsteps resumed. "That's called stealing, you know," he comments, eyes flicking open. He'd fallen asleep by the fire, a rifle across his lap and still gripped loosely in his hands.
"I prefer to think of it as commandeering," she returns, her and Jim kneeling in front of small table that'd been propped up a few hours ago for drinks. Realizing his curiosity wouldn't let him go back to sleep, he sits up and scoots over to sit between the pair. Jim was working on opening the key, the blades of it popping out with only a faint sound of well-oiled metal. There was a book set on the table, made up of some sort of dark metal with the same marking opposite the hinges that the sarcophagus had.
"I thought the book you guys wanted was made of gold."
"That's the Book of Amun-Ra. This one is what our friends got out of the chest with their canopic jars. I think it's called the Book of the Dead."
"How about we don't read from the book that could potentially kill everyone?"
"Where's the fun in that," she and Jim ask in unison.
"Besides," Jim says, with a shrug of his shoulders," it's only a book. Last I checked, no harm ever came from reading a book." He slides the key in place and turns it, a metallic click echoing just as it had in the chamber earlier that afternoon. The wind whistles harshly as the book is opened, the fire flickering and throwing shadows every which way.
"That happens a lot around here," Seb says, giving the book a suspicious look. His heart was beating a fast rhythm in his chest, almost drowning out the crackling of the flames Something bad was going to happen and it was going to be because these two morons thought it'd be fun to mess with an ancient book. That tears it, he was packing his daughter up and going on a two-month holiday if he survived this trip. "You stole the damn thing, least you could do is read it out loud."
"Amun Ra. Amun Dei. It's speaks of the night and of the day."
"Yeah, I gathered that much, thank you." Jim ignores the jibe and continues to read, the ancient language rolling easily off his tongue. It was beautiful when Jim spoke it, the Irish brogue practically non-existent as he took on another accent, like a snake shedding its skin. Seb could feel the tension building, almost a palpable thing as his grip tightens further around the barrel and stock of the rifle.
"Nooo!" The sudden shout made all of them jump in surprise, looking around for any sign of those black-clad riders coming back to slaughter them all. Instead, they find Henry struggling to get up, feet tangled up in his blanket. "You must not read from the book!" He finally finds his footing, getting a good few feet when his words are cut off by a high-pitched whine.
"What on earth?" Seb stands up, squinting towards the horizon where a dark mass seemed to be growing. "What the hell is that?"
"Locusts," Alicia mumbles, then screams it for the others to hear. "Locusts! Bari, Munir!" The blonde seems to spring into action, sprinting over to the sleeping diggers and shaking them awake as she yelled at them in Arabic. Seb hauls Jim to his feet and then up onto his shoulder, beginning a dead sprint towards the entrance they'd dug out the day before. Alicia falls in step with him, easily keeping up despite being a good foot and a half shorter than him as they ran through the darkened halls.
Seb doesn't stop running until the whine of the bugs is gone entirely, finally allowing himself to set Jim back on his feet and lean against a wall to catch his breath. The halls had been dark before when they only had a minimal amount of sunlight streaming in, but now they were pitch black and Seb was beginning to realize how lucky it was that none of them had slammed into a wall and killed themselves.
"Where- Where are we," he gasps, hands on his knees.
"I'm not sure," Jim replies, bringing a Zippo out of his pocket and using it to light the hall. It wasn't much, but it allowed Seb to see that the branch they were in seemed to stretch forever on both sides. It was like something out of a nightmare, the one where you wanted to get to your parents' room, but the distance grew with each step you took until you could no longer see the door in front of you. "Ally, do you have a flashlight?" Without a word, she digs around in the pocket of her shorts and produces a small one, the metal gleaming under the firelight. She was hunched over as well, breaths wheezing out as she struggled to suck in air.
She's asthmatic, Seb recalls, where's her inhaler?
Kelsey always carried one around just in case, but Seb's never been that considerate and now he was starting to regret it. "Here, use this." Jim produces an inhaler from his pants pocket, handing it over and watching to blonde trigger it a couple of times before speaking again. "It's certainly a good thing we all fell asleep before we changed into our pajamas or else we'd be blind and you'd probably be dead."
"Fuck," she rasps out," you."
"Maybe when we get out of here."
"If the two of you are finished, d'you think we can keep moving," Seb asks dryly. He takes the flashlight from Jim and begins to walk, taking comfort in the warmth the Irishman on his left was giving off. He'd already decided not to mention the bugs again, he just wanted to find a way out of this damn temple and then hightail it back to London where the only odd thing he had to deal with was Jim's mood swings.
"Let's take this left up here and see if we can't get our bearings." Seb follows the suggestion, letting out a shout as the ground beneath their feet trembles the moment they've rounded the corner. He barely had time to regain his balance when a pile of sand started to build up a few feet ahead of him, the top exploding and thousands of shiny black beetles spurting out.
"Scarabs," Alicia yells, the three of them already in the motion of turning. The sprint starts back up as they run down the long hall, the swarm of bugs right on their heels and covering every inch of the golden sand. The next turn they made had them scurrying up a stone ramp, Jim and Seb leaping to the side onto a pedestal seconds before the swarm of insects went past, a few of them falling off the edge of the ramp and into the blackness below.
"Well, that was dramatic." Seb gives him an unamused look, waiting for a comment from Alicia. When it doesn't come, he looks around and notices for the first time that she wasn't with them. Did she fall behind while we were running?
"Alicia," Seb calls, not yet brave enough to leave the safe haven he'd found.
"Ally?
"Alicia!" Jim jumps back onto the ramp with Seb following after him, the men going over to a small grotto they hadn't noticed during the initial chase. "What do you think? Trap door?"
"There's gotta be a switch somewhere." Seb rams the butt of his rifle against the stone as hard as he can, trying to force the door open with no results. "Come on, you can do better than that."
"Would you like to give it a shot?" Whatever reply Jim had was cut off by the sounds of people screaming, then a group of people were running into the cavern the opposite way Seb had just come from, Donovan in the lead.
"Run," she screams, curly hair streaming out behind her," run! They're coming!" The chittering of scarabs bounced off the walls and Seb wastes no time in pushing Jim ahead of him, running back down the ramp behind the others and catching up to Henry and Donovan near the front. He could hear more screaming behind him, throwing a look over his shoulder in time to see one of the diggers fall beneath the wave of bugs. It seemed to only last a second, but the digger was nothing but bones when the scarabs left him behind. Oh, holy hell.
Seb doesn't know when he took the lead or even where he was going, the phrase 'get him out, don't let him down' repeating in his mind as he kept moving, his grip on Jim's shirt sweaty but secure. He runs and runs for what seems like hours, skidding to a stop only when he finds himself right next to Alicia.
"We can play Hide-and-Seek later," he shouts," now let's move!" But she seemed frozen in place, gaze trained on something over his shoulder as the little color she had left drained from her cheeks. "What?" He turns, feeling as though he'd been punched in the stomach as he spots the skeletal form of their dead guy that was most definitely not supposed to be lurking around. "Whoa!"
"Is that," Watson starts, pointing at the creature with wide eyes. For a second, they all just stare at each other in shock, the monster seeming just as dumbfounded as they were. The moment is shattered as the mummy shrieks at them, an ear-piercing sound more suited to TV screen than just a few short feet away. Feeling the frustration welling in his chest, Seb shrieks back, emptying a round of buckshot into the mummy's hips and knocking it to the ground.
"Everybody out," he growls at the others, shoving Alicia and Jim on ahead of him. Alicia, gaining back some of her wits, directs them the rest of the way, all of them barreling out of the temple five minutes later. They come to a stumbling halt just outside, staring down the well-armed group of Medjai with Munir and Bari kneeling fearfully in front of them. The leader pulls the black veil down to reveal his face, taking a step forward with a grim set to his mouth.
"I told you to leave or die," the man says," yet you refused. Now, you may have killed us all, for you have unleashed the creature we have feared for more than three thousand years."
"I took him down if that makes any difference."
"No mortal weapons can kill this creature. He's not of this world."
"Are we talkin' about the same creature? The walking corpse; really big mouth, really bad breath?"
The leader steps aside as two of his men drag another person between them, Tom's entire frame shaking as he stayed hunched over between his guards. Seb grimaces when he sees the extent of the man's injuries, Donovan and Henry cradling the younger man against them as the soldiers step back in their line. Tom let out small whimpers of pain, empty eye sockets not letting him see who it was holding him.
"You bastards," Henry rasps, staring up at the Medjai accusingly. "What did you do to him?"
"We saved him," the leader states in a firm tone. "Before the creature could finish the job. Unless you would like to share a similar fate, I'd suggest all of you leave Egypt as quickly as you can." He says something in Arabic, the men behind him filing into the tomb with their rifles shouldered. "I will go on the hunt tonight and try to find a way to kill him."
"I already told you, I got him," Seb reminds him. "He took a shotgun blast right to the midsection." The man pauses and turns to face Sebastian again, a crease between his brows and sorrow in his voice.
"Know this, this creature is the bringer of death. He will never eat, he will never sleep, and he will never stop."
No one talks until the Medjai were gone, then John whirls on Sherlock with a glare that rivaled some of Jim's. "Sherlock Holmes, you better have a damn good explanation!"
"Just because I'm a sociopath doesn't mean I'm the one that summoned the bringer of death," Sherlock growls, the offense plain on his face. After a beat, where they all turned their gazes to him, he gives a faint grumble. "On second thought, I completely understand why you'd think that, John."
