DISCLAIMER:  I do not own any of the Indiana Jones characters.  The only characters of mine (Lydia Marques, Alessa Harding, Hedrick Velheim) have just temporarily joined the Joneses on one of their adventures.  No copyright infringement on any of George Lucas's/Steven Spielberg's works is intended.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:  I would like to thank all of the readers who have stayed with me and reviewed  :)  You all are great.

A soldier tries to escape the temple, but he should know better…

Chapter 21

Run.

It was the only thought that the fleeing soldier could grasp as he ducked under the ledge at the temple's entrance, flinging himself out onto the chiseled-in ladder that rested on the main cliff's broad, rocky face. He nearly forgot to reach for the grooves in the granite, and, remembering in mid-air, he slipped his fingers into the sandy ruts. Pulling himself up against the cool wall, he caught his breath. Above, he could hear the other soldier, who was guarding the vehicles, crooning at the top of his lungs a song they had heard on the radio during their trek over the desert.

Panting loudly, the soldier rolled his eyes and grimaced upward as his colleague hit a particularly sour note. The German's journey through the temple had been an impulsive one, but he'd run so fast, his mind encased in such fear, that he had not had time to consider his actions. Now, he barely remembered stumbling up the steps of the golden hallway, or climbing precariously along the edges surrounding the snake pit where another of his own lay in the dark shadows.

The man paled. Had he been so possessed that he hadn't even considered his fatal actions? Now that he gave the matter deep thought, he didn't even recollect crawling down the trap-littered tunnel.

He put a hand to his head, which was covered in a mop of cropped blonde hair that was just beginning to turn gray. If he had gone down the wrong passage…

Another glass-shattering howl of song from the ridge overhead jerked the Nazi to the present, where he knew he was well away from danger. Tidying himself as well as one could while hanging from the side of a cliff, he advanced to the top of the ladder and slid, in a sitting position, down the steep, pebbly slope to where the guard wailed tunelessly into the cloudless blue sky.

When the younger Nazi caught sight of the elder approaching him, he blushed furiously and snapped his gun back in place. He had been using it as a golf club, hitting wads of paper over the edge of the cliff. "Commander Rubrick," he stuttered in German, straightening, ready for a lengthy scolding. His cheeks had blossomed into crimson flowers.

"Never mind, Alberne," Rubrick waved away quickly, marching right past his confused subordinate to the half-circle of vehicles. "Get one of these started," he snapped, squinting and glancing nervously back down into the ravine.

Alberne hesitated. "Where are the others, sir?" he inquired stupidly, the grip on his gun slipping as he relaxed somewhat. He wondered what could make any Nazi brush aside a chance to administer punishment.

"There are no others!" The man barked in return. "They're dead." He gestured violently with a bloodied hand; he had cut it several times while climbing and crawling through the temple. "Now, come on! You may stay if you wish, but give me the keys at least!"

The young, blonde-haired man shouldered his rifle and scuttled over the sand to one of the jeeps. He fumbled with the keys. "But the colonel, sir, how—"

"If we ever get the jeep started," bellowed Rubrick, "I will tell you what happened!" He clasped his hands at the small of his back, bouncing slightly in impatience.

Alberne plopped into the driver's seat of the vehicle and jangled the key into the ignition, and soon the engine was purring comfortingly under his feet. He slipped out of the car and pushed the door in, a tinny thump echoing off the canyon walls.

"There you are, sir," began the soldier, but Rubrick was raising a hand, his back turned as he listened carefully. His eyes traveled up and down the cliffs' faces, down the length of the precipice, and to the abandoned ladder.

"Turn that off!" he shouted urgently, jabbing a quick finger at the jeep. "Quickly!"

"But, sir!" his cohort complained. Exasperated, Alberne dragged himself back to the car and yanked out the key, ready to demand what was going on.

But then he noticed—the ground was trembling, and was most clearly seen on the slope leading up to the ladder, where pebbles and rocks were shifting and jumping as if they were alive. Slowly, the bizarre earthquake strengthened and sand was now leaping into piles, covering the bewildered Nazis in dust, and streaming over the overhang's edge in a grainy waterfall.

Blue smoke erupted from the ground behind them and their single jeep, shooting up grime in a strange-looking geyser of brown and navy. The blast had caused a giant rupture in the earth, which was quickly growing into a widening crack. Sand leaked down into the fissure. The soldiers' vehicle that had, just a few seconds ago, been sitting atop solid ground teetered unsteadily, half of it hanging unsupported into the crack. The back wheels revolved uselessly in the air.

The pair of Nazis shared a glance that clearly expressed their present thoughts. Neither of them knew what was going on, but Alberne was sure it had to be Rubrick's fault.

Narrowing his eyes against the stinging blasts of sand, the boyish-looking soldier stared, rebuking, up into his commander's hard face. "So this is what you were running from," he sneered.

Rubrick only blinked.

The land they had been positioned on had moved far from the main outcropping, leaning away, a mere pillar from what it had once been, and the men were trapped. The jeep wavered and fell, its metal frame groaning as it crashed into the darkest shadows of the gorge far below. Then a final whirlwind swirled around the two Germans, and the earth shook one last time in peculiar fury. Screaming and stumbling, Rubrick and Alberne were lost in a sudden explosion of tons of sand and fiery blue light. Their cries of horror were instantly stifled, and nothing except the cruel, hard desert was aware of it.

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