Rick examined the statue more closely. The writing was hard to read. "I can't read it." He said to Eve. "Maybe you can." He lifted Eve up onto the big flat rock. "No, it's really hard to read." Eve mumbled with her English accent. Rick smiled as he looked at her. He kissed her cheek softly. Eve turned to face him and they kissed. "Disgusting!! Look Uncle Jon!" Alex pointed at his parents. Jon smiled at Alex. "You'll be doing that, too when you have a girlfriend!" Jon said in the same English accent as Eve. But Alex insisted he'd never do that.

Back at the mansion, Eve put on a silk bathrobe. Her clothes were dirty from the digging they had done that afternoon an she had taken a long bath after they had come home. She looked at the full moon through the open window. She looked more closely at the road leading to the house and saw that there was a car driving there. Rick and Alex had gone to town about half an hour ago, they couldn't be back yet. Eve walked down the stairs when she heard a car door slam. The bell rang and Eve hurried to open it. She wasn't surprised to see Jon standing there. "Hello, Jonathan!" Eve hugged her brother. "Good night, Eve." Jon hugged her back. "Haven't seen you since this morning at the digging grounds!" Jon lived in Rick and Eve's house, since it was so big. Jon poured two glasses of wine. They drank them while talking about the statue they had dug up. An hour later, Eve lay in her bed, staring up at the ceiling. Rick came in, undressed and climbed into bed. He kissed Eve, and they snuggled together. Ten minutes later they were both asleep.

Eve stood by the big gate in front of their house. It was a nice, warm day. A car drove by. Then another, but this one stopped. The right back door opened. Eve saw that a slightly plump girl stepped out. With a nice, elegant dress and a big hat. This girl obviously was from a rich family. "Hello!" The girl said with an American accent. "Good day." Eve smiled at the girl. She looked about twenty. "Can I help you?" "You might!" The girl looked at Eve hopefully. "You wouldn't know any O'Connels, would you?" Eve looked surprised. "Actually, I am an O'Connel." The girls eyes grew wide at these words. She lunged forward and wrapped Eve in a tight hug. "Are you married to an O'Connel or is it your maiden name?" Eve told her she was married. The girl told Eve her name was Louise. Eve invited her into the house.

"I'm home!" Rick called as he stepped walked through the door. It was around two o'clock in the afternoon. He took off his boots and walked to the living room. Here he found Eve talking to a young girl. They both turned to him as he entered. "Is this Rick?" the girl asked hopefully. Eve nodded with a smile and the girl jumped off the couch and almost knocked Rick over as she hugged him very tightly. "Family reunion." Eve said to Rick. Rick looked confused. "Rick, this is Louise. I met her this morning. She's your sister!"

July and Robert were so happy when their second child was born. They had a nice house and a lot of land. Robert had struck oil and they were rich. Their children were going to have a great childhood and would grow up with nice clothes and good education, unlike how July and Robert had grown up. Their children grew up, got homeschooling and lived a happy childhood. Since the age of 7, little Rick had been fascinated by ancient Egypt, artefacts and weapons. He learned how to shoot when he was 10. When he was fifteen his little sister was born. His parents named her Louise. Rick worked at his father's farm and at the local store. He earned enough money to buy a boat ticket to go to his favourite country. Egypt. He said goodbye to his parents and to his then 5 year old sister. He went into tombs and discovered some nice treasures. He escaped death hundreds of times. But one day he was captured. He was to be hanged. He told a beautiful woman about one of his discoveries and she saved him. They lived to tell about many of their great adventures. They married and had a son named Alex.

~*#*~

"Stay here with Alex and Jon." Rick said to Louise. He called to his friend Ahib. "Where's the box at?" Ahib pointed to a hole in the wall. Rick and Eve went inside the hole. They climbed into a dark room. Ahib handed Eve a torch. She walked along the wall and ran her fingers along the paintings. Rick looked at the ceiling and the floor. They were both headed the same direction and met at the pillar. A small stone box rested on it. They shone their torched around the box. It had beautiful paintings on the side. Paintings of people, dancers and animals. They were beautiful, but evil. On the top was an inscription. Eve read it:

" Thou shall not disturb my peace, or I will cast a curse on thee."

Rick was used to such 'curses'. He had never believed any of them. Sure, he was attacked by mummies several times, but mummies hardly were curses. Ahib passed him a crowbar and did a quick prayer to protect himself from the curse. Rick took the crowbar and tried to pry open the box. It wouldn't come off, how hard he tried. "I can't get it open!" he panted. He stopped to rest. The cover really was sealed on tight. Whatever was in the box, wasn't supposed to come out. He tried again. The cover came off. Surprised by the sudden release of the cover, Rick almost fell, but regained his balance fairly quickly. Eve moved forward, and put her fingers around the stone cover. She glanced at Rick, and lifted the heavy cover off. Eve gasped..

".So then, Rick swings on rope, flies off and falls right into the cow standing by the shed." Louise said laughing. Alex was roaring with laughter. "Haha, tell me more!!" Alex said trying to catch his breath from laughing. "Well, there was one time, when he-" Louise was interrupted by someone's scream. She and Alex jumped and whirled around. All the men who had been working in the tomb were screaming and running away from where Rick and Eve had entered in the broken wall. Alex started to run to where his parents were, but Louise caught his sleeve. She stared up at what was standing there. The creature was holding Eve by her wrist. Eve, legs dangling beneath her, was trying to kick the very tall creature in the head. She wasn't successful. All of a sudden the creature's head was blown off. Rick was standing in the opening in the wall, shotgun in his hand. The creature fell, and Eve stumbled to the ground. Louise and Jon helped her up, Alex ran to his father. "Dad, that was awesome!" Alex said with a proud smile, Rick looked nervous. "Go outside! Run!!" Rick screamed to Alex as he helped Eve up and they followed the screaming workers to where the exit was. Louise looked over her shoulder and saw at least 15 more of the same creatures climbing out of the dark room, quickly closing the gap between them. Louise yelled to Rick that more 'bastards' were coming. Rick whirled around, running backwards, shooting at them. Several fell down, but even more were coming closer. They got to the exit, but at least 40 workers were trying to get through the small opening to the outside world. "Not enough time.." Rick muttered. "This way!" he hollered at his family, pointing to a tunnel. Rick, holding Alex's hand, dragging him along, Eve, Jon, Louise, Ahib and several other workers ran into the tunnel. Half of the screaming mummy-like creatures were attacking the other workers who had stayed at the exit, the other half were running after the other group. Louise ran as fast as she could. She occasionally glanced over her shoulder, and the creatures were so dangerously close, she tried to run faster, following Rick through the dark tunnels that seemed to go in circles. They ran over an old rope bridge. Under her feet, the bridge felt as if it could break any second, taking Louise into the darkness under her. They ran through an open area. Louise heard a high-pitched scream, coming from one of the workers, heard a sickening crunch, and she knew one of the workers had been caught. Some of the creatures were running through the group. Louise screamed as one of them was running beside her. It looked at her with empty eye sockets. She looked back at it in horror, and felt sick just looking at it. It held her stare for a short moment and kept on running. Running towards the front of the group, running towards Alex, running towards Eve, running towards Rick. Louise screamed and called to Rick. "Look out!! He's coming closer! Rick, Eve!!" she cried to them. Rick looked over his shoulder and stopped, giving Alex's hand to Eve, Eve, Alex and Jon ran on. Rick whirled around and took out his guns. He shot at the monster, causing it to fall. Louise ran past the beast, but it caught her leg, and she fell hard to the ground. It scratched at her leg, and heard the sound of her clothes ripping. She desperately tried to grab on to anything to keep the mummy from getting her, but it pulled her towards him. It started biting and clawing her legs and she felt the searing pain. She heard a loud bang, and the clawing stopped. She knew Rick had shot the creature. Men and mummies were running past them. A lot more men had decided to join their group instead of waiting to be attacked at the exit. Louise jumped up as soon as she had heard the shot. Everything seemed to go in slow motion. The shot rang in her ear, she saw Rick running to help her, she jumped up, grabbed Rick's hand and she started running. She was so busy trying to keep up with Rick she forgot al her fears, forgot the pain. Rick shot every monster he saw. They kept running. Behind them a few more chased them. It had seemed so long since they had gone into the tunnels, but it couldn't be more than a few minutes ago. It was then, that Louise felt a shot of pain in her back and she collapsed, then everything went black.

Rick dragged Louise to the side. Some of the men and mummies ran by, some were being attacked. Rick shot any that did as little as turn their head toward them. He did not know why Louise fell, or why she wasn't conscious. He had heard a loud noise just before se fell. He wondered. Still keeping an eye on the people and creatures running by, he rolled Louise onto her stomach. There was a hole in her white blouse, a circle of blood had already formed. It looked the size of a bullet. How had she gotten shot? He looked around, and shot a mummy who was slowly walking towards them. It's head blew off and it fell to the ground. He could hear the faint echo's of the screams that were up ahead. He suddenly felt a stab of fear for Eve and Alex. He checked Louise's pulse. He sighed, relieved when he felt the pulse in her neck. He quickly looked around where no longer than twenty seconds ago, people and mummy-like monsters had been running. He saw a high platform. He lifted Louise onto the platform and grabbed one of the small canvas blankets that were laying on it. The men had been digging here. He covered her, so that she wasn't visible. He kissed her cheek. "I'll be back soon." He whispered, and he covered her head. He jumped off the platform, took out his Uzi's and ran into the tunnel the last mummy had disappeared in. He heard terrified screams ahead. A chill ran down his spine. Whoever was making those terrible noises must be in pain. He ran around a corner and he bumped into something. He shot it's head off and ran on. The screams were getting louder and louder. He stopped running, his back against the wall, he peered around the corner. What he saw was the most awful sight he had ever seen. On the ground lay bodies, or what was left of the bodies. He heard groans, and noises like someone was eating a chicken. He took a deep breath and jumped from behind the wall, his Uzi's up to shoot the monsters. Nothing but the groaning men on the ground moved.

He ran up ahead. Here, the mummies were all huddles together, clawing something on the ground. Rick let out a yell, and started shooting. 'BANG!' he shot the last standing mummy and ran to the body on the ground. The body itself was all scratched and bloody, hardly recognizable, but Rick saw the face. Eve..

"ALEX! JON!" Rick cried, "ALEX! Ahib? Hello?" He ran through the tunnel. "ALEX?" he cried again. He didn't see any footprints in the sand and saw that the cobwebs had not been run through. He ran back. There was another mummy hunched over a man. Rick shot and the mummy slumped to the ground. He ran to the man. "Ahib.." Rick whispered. The man was dead. Rick quickly looked around. There! In a corner was a small body. Rick let our a cry. He slowly walked to the body. He was laying on his stomach. His face visible to Rick. His eyes were closed. There was an arm around the boy. Jon's arm. Jon lay behind him. Rick felt the boy's pulse. There was none. He looked at Jon. Jon's face looked peaceful. Eyes closed, mouth closed, they looked like they were sleeping. Rick started crying. Silent tears rolled down his face.

Rick picked up Eve and laid her beside Alex. He took a last look at them. Then he turned away.

He jumped on top of the platform. "Please.", he thought, "Let her be alive." Her pulled the canvas back and saw her face. He checked her pulse. No! Rick laid down beside her. He had lost everyone he cared for.

~*#*~

"Rick." Someone said softly. "Rick." He felt someone touch him on the shoulder. He slowly turned and saw. Jon!! He leaped of the platform and gave Jon a hug. He was so relieved, but still sad, that at least one member of his family had survived. "The book." Jon said softly, his eyes full of tears. Rick nodded.

~*#*~

He said the words. He waited. Nothing happened. It had been 3 days. Their bodies were cold. The were in a morgue. Nothing happened. "Alex." Jon pointed at the one next to Eve's. He opened it, and saw Alex. Rick looked at his face. He took a deep breath and repeated the words.

Alex's eyes suddenly opened. Where was he? He felt as if he had been sleeping for a long time. He looked at the face above him. "Dad?" he asked doubtfully. Rick nodded and let out a cry of joy. He hugged his son as if he would never let go. A few minutes later Rick released him. Alex looked at the two bodies beside him and gasped when he saw his mother. He swallowed, took the book from Jon's hands and walked over to her. He said the words out loud and the same thing that happened to him, happened to her. Rick, Jon and Alex all jumped on her at once, they all squeezed her tight.

Eve hugged hugged Louise. They smiled at each other. They walked out together. Alex, Eve and Louise still feeling chilly.

~*#*~

Louise was laying on a blanket, Jon was sitting in a chair, Eve sat on Rick's lap. Alex was in the pool. Rick smiled and looked at his family. He was never going to loose them again.