AN: Hi all! Thanks for sticking around this long! As promised, here is a new chapter! Enjoy!
"So you're saying that Fallon can have premonitions or visions or some shit?" Kelly asked as she and Adam followed Ardeth through the Museum of Antiquities. Ardeth was trailing after Fallon, who kept ahead of everyone else, having muttered that she was looking for the curator, Terence Bey.
"Yes, as the oracle she may be able to find certain artifacts and where they are hidden," Ardeth explained.
Kelly and Adam shared a look. It was just like what Beni had said as to why Imhotep was interested in having Fallon.
"So...has she had any yet? Visions, I mean," Kelly asked.
"No, I have not, and nor will I have any because I am not meant to. And I am pleased to remind you that I am right here and don't appreciate being talked like I'm not," Fallon interjected before Ardeth could open his mouth.
"Well, do you want to stop stomping around the Museum and join in on the conversation?" Kelly said to her.
"No!" Fallon exclaimed, turning a corner towards Terence Bey's office.
"Well, then you don't get to complain, buttercup!" Kelly said as she and the others followed her.
"She hasn't had any visions yet," Ardeth said to Kelly. "It may be possible that she can't."
"Well...I'm not so sure about that," Adam muttered.
"What do you mean?" Ardeth asked.
They reached Terence Bey's office and Fallon burst in without knocking. He was sitting at his desk, with some parchment texts in front of him and wearing his glasses.
"My dear girl, what in the world are you doing?" He cried.
"Forgive me, sir, but we need help finding the Book of Amun-Ra," Fallon said to him, her voice tense.
Just then Rick, Evy, Jonathon, and Daniels came running in from behind Ardeth, Kelly, and Adam. Fallon huffed and turned to them.
"Let me guess, you have another problem, don't you?" Fallon inquired. Her face changed when she counted the group that had just entered. "Where's Henderson?"
"That's part of the problem," Rick said to her. Her heart sank at the news. He had already gotten to them. It was a miracle he hadn't gotten to Daniels. When Kelly and Adam had entered the library they told her and Ardeth that Dr. Chamberlain had already been killed.
"I have an idea of what might be able to help defeat Imhotep," Evy said.
"Good, so do and Ardeth and I," Fallon said. "Let's hurry, from the looks of everything, we don't have that much time."
They all hurried out of the office, Fallon, Evy, and Ardeth leading the way.
"The Book of Amun-Ra," Fallon and Evy said almost simultaneously. They stopped and stared at each other for a second, and then carried on.
"What have you found out?" Evy asked.
"That it could possibly take his life away," Fallon replied.
"Go to the second floor over the entrance, there is a tablet there that may be able to help," Terence Bey said immediately. They immediately headed for the stairs near the entrance.
"Exactly! That was what I was thinking," Evy said.
"Wait, so if the Black Book is the thing that brought him back to life, then the Golden Book can kill him?" Rick relayed back to them.
"Well, that's the myth," Evy replied. "Have you found anything else?"
"Nothing that can help us right now," Fallon grumbled.
"You can still try to-" Ardeth started.
"No, Mr. Bay, I am going to stop you right there," Fallon interrupted, frustrated heat rising to her cheeks.
"There it is," Evy said as they reached the top of the staircase and rounded the corner. They stopped when they heard something strange. It sounded like...chanting.
Looking out the large round window overlooking Cairo, they saw a large crowd walking towards the Museum. All of their faces were covered in large boils, leaking with puss; and they all continuously kept chanting one word:
"Imhotep."
Their eyes were blank, as though they were in a trance.
"My favorite plague," Jonathon said. "Boils and swords."
"They have become his slaves," Ardeth said.
"Perfect," Kelly growled.
"We need to hurry," Fallon told them.
The tablet was a tall display, covered in Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Terence Bey was already searching one side of tablet, kneeling on the ground and reading the etchings. Evy and Fallon began reading them as well. As they searched and translated the tablet, the mob was getting closer and closer to the Museum.
"So the Golden Book of the Amun-Ra was supposed to be buried underneath the Statue of Anubis," Evy said as she read.
"That's where we found the Black Book," Daniels noted.
"Yes, that means they were mixed up, mixed up where they were buried," Evy thought out loud. "So if the Black Book was found in the Statue of Anubis, then the Gold Book must be inside..."
Pounding was heard at the Museum entrance doors.
"Uh, I'm just going to go get the car started," Jonathon said, running off.
"Hurry, Evy, hurry," Adam moaned, looking out the window again.
"Patience is a virtue," Evy sang, her voice as tense as everyone was feeling.
More pounding on the doors.
"Not right now it isn't," Rick said, his eyes filled with worry.
Fallon took the upper right corner of the tablet to read. She brought her fingers up to some of the hieroglyphs to feel them and better read them. As soon as she touched it, a light flashed in front of her and she immediately saw Hamunaptra, then in a rush she felt like she was flying into the city, into it's underground tunnels and saw the Statue of Horus. Then another light flashed and she was looking at the tablet again. She gasped and stumbled back. Ardeth, in an instant, was right behind her and caught her from tumbling over.
"Are you alright?" He asked.
'What just happened?' Was all Fallon could think.
"Fallon?" Kelly called to her.
The doors to the Museum flew open and townspeople crowded into the Museum.
"I've got it! The Golden Book of Amun-Ra is at Hamunaptra inside the Statue of Horus! Take that, Benbridge Scholars!" Evy exclaimed, smiling proudly.
"Statue..." Fallon managed to say. Her heart sank into her stomach. Ardeth put an arm around Fallon's shoulder.
"Come, we must leave!"
Her legs were weak, and she was almost tripping over her squished feet in her too-tight Mary-Jane heels. This time she was thankful that Ardeth was as close to her as he was so he could catch her if she fell. They ran down a second set of stairs and left through a side door of the Museum into the dark Egyptian night. They ran around the side of the building and piled into Jonathon's yellow car, all of them hardly fitting, just as the hypnotized Egyptians were marching out of the Museum chanting the cursed name of their master.
Beni burst out of the Museum, calling Imhotep's name as Jonathon stepped on the gas and started to drive away.
"You're gonna get yours, Beni! You hear me?! You're gonna get yours!" Rick shouted at him, standing up in the yellow car.
"Oh! Like I've never heard that before!" Beni called after him.
The Cairo townspeople had begun to chase them, and Jonathon was forced to drive faster and faster through the narrow streets of the city. Fallon was beginning to wonder how all nine of them had all managed to fit into Jonathon's car.
But her thoughts were interrupted by the car screaming to a sudden stop. Ahead of them stood another mob of people, boils and everything, blocking their path in the street. Fallon had to look around Ardeth's arm held out in front of her, and she realized that he had only one leg on the car seat, and his body was half over her's, shielding her.
"Go, Jonathon!" Rick yelled, stomping his foot on the gas pedal over Jonathon's. With a yell from Jonathon, the car jolted as it sped towards the mob.
They went zooming into the crowd of people, running them over and off into the stalls and booths and shops that lined the street. Some of them had managed to grab onto the speeding car and start climbing into it. They clawed at everyone, trying to pull them out of the car. A hand came out of nowhere and clutched Fallon's ponytail. As soon as she whelped, Ardeth was immediately standing up in the car, and sent a right hook into the man's face, sending him backwards into a stall. Fallon was almost frozen with fear as everyone around took to fighting off Imhotep's minions. Even Evy was fighting, jabbing her fingers into a man's eye sockets. Fallon's heart sank and heat rose to her cheeks in embarrassment. She felt a hand grab her arm, and she immediately turned began to push the man's shoulders back, trying to free his grasp on her. His hold on her was strong, and she wrenched her fist back and with a swing she landed a punch in his face. It still wasn't enough. She kept landing as many punches into him as she possibly could, until she finally got him to release his hand. One punch that she threw and he was falling off the car.
"O'Connell! O'Connell!"
Fallon turned and saw Daniels, sitting on the backs of the back passenger seats, being pulled back by a hoard of people. She tried reaching for him to try to pull him back into the car, but she couldn't reach him. Thankfully, Adam grabbed hold of Daniels. But as more and more people gathered and climbed onto the car, people grabbed hold of Adam and started to pull him out of the car.
"Adam!" Fallon screamed.
Kelly and Ardeth immediately heard Fallon and started to attack the men who had a hold of Adam, and even some of the men who had hold of Daniels. They were unfortunately too late. Adam and Daniels fell back over the bumper of the car.
"NO!" Fallon cried. She felt her arms get pulled back behind her and the weight of her body start to fall over the car door. All she could muster was a scream as they pulled her over the side of the car into a stall.
"Fallon!" She heard a cry. Was it Kelly or Rick? Or was it Ardeth? All she could hear were the shouts of the townspeople and the screeching of tires and some gunshots in the distance.
She stumbled to get to her feet and she grabbed hold of a long splintered beam from the broken stall she fell into. Her vision still blurry, she swung aimlessly at the moving blurs around her. She felt a hand grab her ankle, and she brought the beam over her head and brought it down on the arm that had hold of her. Her vision cleared up and she noticed that all of the people of Cairo were still heading after the car. She knew it would be ridiculous to follow it in this crowd, especially if Imhotep probably wasn't far behind them. She dropped the beam and searched her surroundings. She saw a sewage hole right beneath her. Though the thought was revolting for a second, she realized it was her best bet while everyone was distracted. She lifted up metal sewage top and slipped beneath the street just as she heard a crash up ahead.
Streetlight shown through the hole and she had to breathe through her mouth in order to somewhat stand the smell. She had to force herself not to look down, even though she knew she was standing in sewage water up to her shins. Her best bet right then was to stay where she was. As soon as she knew things cleared up, she would use the ladder to climb back up and find the others. They would probably head back to the Fort where the apartments were to stock up quickly. That is if nothing bad happened.
Fallon gulped and shook violently. Everything had become so quiet and all she could hear was her breathing. Imhotep was mostly after Daniels, Evy, and herself. They were all extremely valuable. If he had gotten to Daniels, then he would be fully regenerated. If he got Evy, then he would have what he needed to fulfill the ritual back at Hamunaptra to resurrect his dead lover. But her...she prayed that he would give up his search for her if he found the group and realized that she wasn't there. Did he need her that badly. She seemed like she was only something that would just be convenient to have. If he wondered where Fallon was, the rest could just say that they lost her. She was dead, maybe. Maybe that would be best for him to know. If she was dead then no one would have the benefit of having the oracle and having the upper hand. She only hoped that that was all he wanted her for, just the Book of Amun-Ra. Though she knew that if she were to take over the world, having someone who could tell the future would be very useful to have.
"God, why me?" Fallon whimpered in the silence.
She heard a crash and some more chanting. Were the coming for her?! Did they find her. She heard the splashing of bodies landing in the sewage a ways off, and legs running through the water. She backed away and tried to focus her eyes in the darkness that surrounded her down there.
"Come on, this way!" She heard a familiar voice cry out. The splashing grew louder as it approached her. She could make out the curvy figure in the darkness to whom the voice belonged to.
"Kelly!" Fallon sighed with relief.
The splashing came to a stop as soon as the figure hit the light coming from the street above them. It was indeed Kelly! Jonathon, Rick, and Ardeth followed suit behind her.
"Fallon!" Kelly gasped as she ran into her friend's arms. "Thank God you're alive!"
"Where's Evy?" Fallon asked.
"Imhotep has her," Rick said, gritting his teeth. It was what Fallon had feared.
"And Dr. Bey?" Fallon continued. There was a silence.
Fallon looked at Ardeth's face, half covered by shadows and they held eye contact for only a few seconds, but it was long enough for Fallon to know. Though Ardeth did not show much grief, she could see it in his dark eyes, and in the sinking of her own hear.
"I'm sorry," she simply said, sniffing. She wanted nothing more than to approach him and console him, but Kelly clutched her shoulder with a shaking hand.
"We told Imhotep you were dead. He believed it, at least we think he did," Rick said to her.
"What about Adam?" Kelly gasped. Fallon's breath caught in her throat.
"Adam! He fell off with Daniels! We need to find him!" Fallon exclaimed.
"Alright, we'll find Adam, go back to the Fort and figure out a plan fast," Rick said. They silently agreed and continued to run through the sewage, looking for another way out onto the streets that wouldn't put them directly back into the path of Imhotep or his minions.
They traveled a couple of blocks away and climbed out through another street sewage hole, checking if the coast was clear of anybody before piling out. They backtracked carefully, but hastily along the street they had driven to escape from Imhotep to see if they could find the spot where Daniels and Adam may have fallen off of the car into. Tons of passed out bodies lay on the ground around them, and they were careful not to wake any of them up, just in case they were still under Imhotep's spell.
"Over here! This is it!" Fallon hissed at the group, pointing at a corner where two buildings met.
"There he is!" Kelly almost screamed, causing Rick and Fallon and Ardeth to shush her violently. She ran over to the corner, where a dried out corpse of Daniels lay with its mouth askew in a silent scream like the others. Laying beside him, face down, was the body of Adam, red staining the back of his shirt surrounding an exit wound. "Oh my God! Is he okay?!"
Fallon had rushed to his side, with Ardeth following suit. Tears started falling down Fallon's cheeks as dread filled her. He wasn't moving. When Ardeth rolled Adam over onto his back, Adam let out a low groan. Fallon and Kelly sighed with relief and wiped their tears away.
"It's just a gunshot wound," Ardeth said, relieving them of their fears. "There is an exit wound, it went clear through, but he's lost a lot of blood."
"Daniels accidentally shot me while he...was in a frenzy," Adam had managed to say. He was slipping in and out of consciousness.
"There's a medical ward back at the Fort," Fallon replied.
"Let's get him there quickly," Ardeth said, lifting Adam up onto his back as if he weighed nothing.
"What about the good American there?" Jonathon asked.
"There's nothing we can do right now," Rick said, sounding as though he was regretting his words as he said them. Fallon knew he wanted to help him, but Adam was their prime concern at that moment, and then they needed to find Evy.
AN: Thank you for reading!
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Next chapter will be coming next Saturday.
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