Five reviews now! That's even better. Keep 'em coming people. Thank you to Saxifrage, Wintersong, immortalwizardpirateelf-fan, and Lilylynn.
Saxifrage: Yeah, I figured you meant kick instead of kiss. Elizabeth is not one to kiss ass lol. What's a loofa? Not that I don't want one, but I've never heard of it that I can recall lol.
immortalwizardpirateelf-fan: Yeah, Evy would make a great watcher. I believe the next chapter will cover the explanations and everything.
Chapter Four Title: Into the Fire
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With grim, hard sets to their faces and their weapons ready to be used, the three rescuers went into the museum to retrieve what was stolen. The British Museum was a mesmerizing plethora of ancient artifacts and history. It was dark in the museum and the statues and mummies leered out at the three people menacingly. Elizabeth's eyes adjusted quickly to the lack of light and she was able to discern between shadow and object easily. One of those perks of being a slayer was better night vision, albeit not as good as a vampire's. She sharpened her senses mentally and could hear every soft, tense breath taken by the men with her. She could have detected the dropping of a pin, but it was voices, possibly chanting voices, that she was listening for.
They proceeded through the Egyptian Gallery, silent as hunters on the prowl. Elizabeth wasn't quite sure, but she thought she could hear—yes it was. Chanting. Low chanting in a language she couldn't decipher, which was a sign that it was the ones they were looking for. Ardeth and Rick had not heard it until they got closer and then they froze and looked at each other. Elizabeth beckoned them forward, knowing she didn't need to tell them to be silent.
Rick couldn't believe he had agreed to let Elizabeth come along. True, she was doing spectacularly and she was displaying no signs of hesitation or fear as of yet. But what if she got hurt? As they approached the storage room and the chanting got even louder Rick was almost ready to tell his daughter to turn back. Yet he knew she wouldn't leave despite his wishes so he remained silent.
The room was crammed with boxes, crates, sarcophagi, statues, and other objects the adventurers had no idea what they were. Torches lined the wall in iron brackets and set dim glows upon the room. Elizabeth stopped—Rick had forgotten she was in the lead somehow—and pointed to the catwalk high above them. Ardeth Bay seemed to approve and began to climb, Rick waited until Elizabeth began to climb and went up after her.
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Groggy from the drug-induced sleep, Evelyn blearily cracked her eyes open. She was lying on top of a stone slab in the center of a large storage room, her hands and feet bound. Men in red turbans, which were quickly becoming distasteful to her eyes, littered the room and she paled. Where had they taken her? What were they going to do with her? She gasped in horror as she laid eyes upon the giant, piece of rock with a twisted, familiar figure inside, its rotted face contorted in expressions of absolute agony.
"Oh no. They found him," Evelyn whispered, feeling a massive pit drop into her stomach. "Imhotep."
As the men kept chanting the Curator put the Book of the Dead in front of the rock and read in ancient Egyptian: "Rise up! Rise up! Rise up!"
Evelyn wanted to scream for the fool to stop; to not make the same mistake she did. She wanted to scream out that they had no idea what they were dealing with, but she assumed correctly that her pleas would fall on deaf ears. They meant for this to happen. They meant to re-resurrect the mummy, Imhotep. There was nothing she could do—bound, helpless, and isolated from her husband and children—to stop them.
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Standing atop the catwalk, the Medjai, the ex-Legionnaire, and the Slayer searched through the mass of red-turbaned bodies for a familiar form in a black dress. Red was quickly becoming the most despicable color to Elizabeth. It seemed all these men wore was red; red for blood, red for anger. It was disgustingly uniform. Would it kill you lot to mix colors?
"There she is!" Rick whispered, pointing to Evelyn sitting bound on top of a stone slab. He noted with floating relief that she was alive and conscious.
Elizabeth's eyes traveled from her mother to the stone in the center of the room. She recognized that stone. Where had she seen it before? With a start she realized it was the one from her dreams, the one with the twisted, agonized, mummified corpse in the middle. Oh shit, that can't be good.
"Dad? Is that Imhotep?" Elizabeth's voice was tight, but had an underlying tone of trepidation.
Rick looked closer and his heart palpitated. "Yeah, that's him all right."
Feck! That's what my dreams were trying to tell me! That Imhotep would arise soon! God, why didn't I see it? Unfortunately, lacking the talent of dream interpretation (in other words she needed most things spelled out for her) and having never set eyes upon the creature there really was no way she could have seen it coming. That small consolation did nothing to allay her disgust with her self.
Rick quipped poignantly, "You know, once this all would have seemed really strange to me." He was referring to the men gathered around the rock-encased mummy chanting and bowing.
The three separated with Elizabeth's mumbled promise to not do anything stupid and to stay behind something sturdy if possible. At different positions from the catwalk they witnessed with mingled horror and morbid fascination as Imhotep came back to life.
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Evelyn struggled vainly while the mummy ceased being stationary and began to flail within its makeshift tomb. It broke through its prison to regard the bowing mortals surrounding it. It nodded. Speaking in the ancient Egyptian tongue, it asked in a guttural voice, "What year is it?"
The Curator, eager to please his undead lord, replied in its language, "My Lord, it is the Year of the Scorpion."
"Truly?"
"Yes."
Imhotep laughed a roaring laugh that reverberated ominously off the walls of the storage room. Then he stopped laughing and whirled around. Evelyn followed his gaze to see Meela walking towards the thing that was once a man. Evelyn squinted at the woman as the whisperings of a long-dead memory sounded in her mind and the scenery was changed once again such as in the catacombs of the temple where they found the Bracelet of Anubis. Instead of the slinky, black gown Meela wore she was nearly nude save for gold paint from head to toe and walking through the palace of the Pharaoh. It was then that frightening revelation assaulted Evelyn. Meela was Anck-Sunamun, tragic lover of Imhotep. The vision receded and Evelyn was looking upon the Meela of modern times once more standing before Imhotep.
"Do not be frightened," the Curator urged.
Without taking her eyes off Imhotep Meela responded in English, "I am not afraid." In Ancient Egyptian she addressed the figure before her, "I am Anck-Sunamun reincarnated."
Imhotep lovingly fingered a strand of her hair. "Yes, but only in body. But soon, I shall raise your soul up from the depths of the underworld."
Not far away from the reunion of the two ancient lovers, Lock-Nah poured acid into the keyhole of the Scorpion King's chest. The Curator joined him and said eagerly, "Lord Imhotep will be most pleased."
Nodding, Lock-Nah opened the chest to find only a small statue.
"Where is it? Where is the Bracelet of Anubis!?" the Curator sputtered anxiously.
Lock-Nah growled, "I think I know."
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Leaning against Rick's car Alex and Jonathan passed the time by talking of what the boy knew of the Lost Oasis of Ahm Shere.
"At the top of the gold pyramid was a huge diamond,."
Jonathan swallowed with an emotion akin to lust. "Huge? How huge?"
Alex looked his uncle in the eye and said, "It was so huge, it could reflect the sunlight and wink at distant travelers, beckoning them to their deaths."
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Elizabeth was sorely tempted to blow the head off the bitch that was talking to the mummy called Imhotep. She felt she would be completely justified in the fact that she had intruded onto her territory, brought a snake into said territory, threw said snake in said territory, and completely wrecked said territory by having her men spray bullets all over the place. And the icing on the cake of misery was that this woman was somehow completely responsible for the kidnapping of her mother. She wasn't sure exactly how, but she felt it was true. Nobody touched Elizabeth Nefertiri O'Connell's own and got away with it. Nobody.
Unfortunately, as a vampire slayer, Elizabeth was forbidden to kill humans. She was sure self-defense or defense of someone else were loopholes just like it was for normal humans, but she wasn't entirely sure. Not only that, but the girl was under strict orders to not act until her father did. So she stayed behind a wooden column with her rifle aimed and ready to fire watching the spectacle below carefully.
Meela looked Imhotep right into his empty eye socket, smiling maliciously. She gestured to Evelyn on the stone slab. "I have a gift for you, my love."
Imhotep saw Evelyn and exclaimed in disgust, "Her!"
"I knew it would please you to watch her die," Meela told him.
Imhotep's misshapen face twisted into a grotesque smile of satisfaction. Meela snapped her fingers and men lifted Evelyn's stone slab up and carried her towards a sarcophagus filled with a crackling fire. Evelyn struggled wildly.
"Oh my God!"
Imhotep's cruel laughter rang throughout the storage room. "The underworld awaits you!"
Evelyn shot him the most purely malignant, defiant glare she could muster. "You wait! I'll put you in your grave again!"
Above, even though Elizabeth was beginning to panic and was near to squeezing the trigger or jumping down to rescue her mother she had to smile at that remark. Let it never be said her mother could not get in a last word. It seemed, though, the Curator would be the one to get in the last remark this time.
"I'm thinking not before we put you in your grave first."
The men carrying Evelyn on the slab halted right before the flaming coffin and Meela yelled Imhotep's command in English, "Burn her!"
Dad, hurry up! Elizabeth was beginning to rise, afraid he wouldn't reach her in time.
The slab tilted downwards and Evelyn rolled off, but instead of going into the fiery sarcophagus she rolled into the arms of her husband.
Not even stopping to take a breath of relief Elizabeth took that as her cue and nailed a red-turbaned man right in the back of the knee. She promised herself she wouldn't shoot to kill unless one was charging after her parents and they could handle themselves. Ardeth Bay dispensed with the pleasantry of merely wounding and rained bullets down from the Thompson down on the men below catching many in the deluge of death. Everyone began ducking for cover. With Meela behind him, Imhotep stood and let the bullets rip into his body.
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Hearing the gunfire, Jonathan and Alex exchanged frightened looks and practically dove for the car door.
Alex cried frantically to his uncle, "Open it! Open it! Open it!"
"I'm trying!" Jonathan shouted.
As the front door swung open, the two wasted no time in jumping into the car. Jonathan jammed the key into the ignition, but his body was currently running on complete irrational fear mode and his hands shook uncontrollably. He snapped the key by turning it too hard.
Alex gasped, "You broke it! You broke it!"
Jonathan pounded the wheel and yelled back, "Be quiet Alex! If there are going to be any hysterics, they'll come from me."
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Rick cut Evelyn's bonds while simultaneously pumping his shotgun at the priests who swarmed the husband and wife. He struck quite a few in the chests and sent them screaming into the flaming sarcophagus that had almost swallowed his wife. Ardeth Bay and Elizabeth were keeping the outside ring of priests away from Rick and Evelyn from the catwalk above. At least he hoped Elizabeth was part of that, it was hard to tell if it wasn't just the Thompson doing all the work. He prayed his daughter was all right.
He handed Evelyn a revolver and both backed towards the stairs up to the catwalk while shooting at their multitude of attackers. Imhotep saw Rick and roared, "You!"
Oh good, he recognizes me.
Elizabeth and Ardeth Bay were both working their way to Rick and Evelyn, darting from cover to cover and trying to keep the attention focused on themselves and away from the pair below. Elizabeth didn't bother running from cover to cover, she used her slayer prowess as an advantage and leaped from one to the other. Her heart was pounding on her ribs mercilessly. She had never been in this sort of battle before, but a battle was a battle. The primary objective of a slayer in any battle was: don't die. Elizabeth had no rebellious teenage compunction to argue with that objective.
Imhotep raised the black urn brought from Hamunaptra and chanted, "Rise, ye my servants! Collect your bones! Gather your limbs! Shake the earth from your flesh! Your Master is here!"
"Oh shit, that can't be good what he's doing," Elizabeth murmured as she ran towards her parents and watched below.
Indeed it was not good what Imhotep was doing for four soldier-mummies had formed out of the sand from the urn.
She reached her parents and her mother stuttered in shock, "Rick! You let our daughter come in here!?"
"Later, honey." Rick saw the newly formed foes and grumbled, "Not these guys again."
Imhotep gestured towards the four on the catwalk and commanded his soldiers in the ancient language, "Destroy them!"
Rick grabbed onto his wife who gripped her daughter's hand and they ran for their lives again. Ardeth Bay pounded after them. Elizabeth kept running over and over in her mind, We are dead! We are very bloody dead! I can't fight those things if mortal weapons don't kill them!
Outside Jonathan had become what he had predicted: hysteric. He and his nephew stood outside the now useless car.
"What are we going to do?! What are we going to do?!" Jonathan screamed at the boy.
Alex retorted in disbelief, "You're asking me? I'm only eight years old for cripes' sakes!"
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Elizabeth was practically dragging her parents through the museum having taking the lead and kicked into a higher gear subconsciously. If she was going to find those mummy things, she'd much rather do it on her turf, or rather outside without all the red-turbaned buggers with guns and Imhotep around. They busted out the door and Evelyn turned back to move a bench in front of the double-door entrance. Rick came running back after her saying, "Honey, what are you doing? These guys don't use doors."
Proving the man right, the brick wall exploded as the four soldier-mummies came barreling through. The quartet reached the front of the museum and were all shocked to find the car abandoned.
"Where are Jonathan and Alex?" Elizabeth asked anxiously. She was barely out of breath, everyone else seemed exhausted.
A red double-decker bus came careening around the corner and pulled up beside them. Jonathan was at the wheel and Alex was inside waving.
"Alex!" Evelyn cried in relief. She promptly ran onto the bus to engulf her son in a crushing embrace.
Rick glowered at Jonathan. "What's wrong with my car?"
Jonathan replied nervously, "We were forced to find an alternative form of transportation."
"A double-decker bus?!"
"Works for me," Elizabeth muttered, jumping on board.
Jonathan pointed his finger at Alex and said accusingly, "It was his idea!"
"Was not!"
"Was too!"
"Was not!"
"Just go!" Evelyn, Elizabeth, and Rick cried at the same time.
Rick and Ardeth Bay stood at the back of the bus as Jonathan pressed on the accelerator. The two warriors watched as the four soldier-mummies leaped on top of Rick's car.
"Oh no! Not my car!" Rick cried, but it was too late. The creatures crushed the roof in.
Rick clenched his fists in fury. "Oh, I hate mummies."
"Are you glad to see me now?" Ardeth quipped.
"Just like old times, huh?" Rick replied before skirting to the top level with his reloaded shotgun.
Rick watched the soldier-mummies leap forward and shriek with rage and bloodlust. As soon as they got in range Rick fired his shotgun. The shells blasted off many ribs of the mummies, but they simply just changed course a bit. Instead of running down the road they jumped into the air and began running horizontally along the sides of the buildings.
"Right," Rick mumbled, remembering the same trick pulled at Hamunaptra.
One came hurtling towards him and he fired at it point-blank in the face. The close proximity caused the creature's entire body to explode. One down, three more mummies to go.
One mummy landed on top of the bus with a crunching sound. Rick pointed his weapon upwards and fired at the ceiling. The creature peeled the metal top away and Rick responded with a shotgun blast to the face. With an ear-splitting shriek the creature landed on him and the gun flew out of Rick's hands and skittered down the aisle. He briefly remembered Elizabeth's words from before, "If there are things in there other than humans—Let's just say you'll like having me around. Oddly enough, she had been right and he wished she was here now.
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Elizabeth stood protectively in front of her mother and brother with her rifle reloaded and ready to fire. She was worried about her father, but she had more faith in his ability to protect himself than she did her mother and brother's. So she remained with them and Ardeth Bay on the lower level. The Slayer and the Medjai watched the soldier-mummies disappear from view, but both knew they were not gone. Aside from the fact that it would be completely daft of her to assume they had just left, Elizabeth could sense their proximity. Every being she had ever encountered whether it be human, vampire, demon, animal, or other (she filed mummies under other) had left an unique and indelible imprint on her sixth sense. It was a dead useful trick.
One of them slammed against the window where the Medjai stood and he was pushed backwards. Elizabeth shot it and Ardeth quickly recovered to fire up the Thompson. The bullets tore the creature in half sending its lower half to the ground. With that threat assumingly averted Ardeth took the time to reload, but the creature wasn't done yet. It swooped in, upper-half all that was left, and swiped the Thompson out of his hands. Ardeth backed up as the creature raised its hand with extremely long, razor-sharp nails to swipe at him again. A bullet ripped into its face and left a gaping hole that temporarily threw it off course.
Elizabeth came to the Medjai's aid, using the butt end of the rifle to hit the mummy across the face. It was thrown to the very rear of the bus, slamming up against the rear window smashing the glass. Yet it still remained on the bus much to Elizabeth's disappointment.
Faster than she could imagine a creature with only an upper half could move it swooped down upon her, knocking the rifle out of her hands and half-struck, half-slashed at her chest. Its claws tore through her jacket and shirt, cutting deep across her breasts. Crimson liquid splattered onto the seat and Elizabeth stumbled back into Ardeth Bay.
"Lizzie!" her mother cried.
Oh son of a bitch. This really hurts! Elizabeth looked down at the five identical slash marks oozing blood and smoldered. The creature came at them again, but Ardeth and Elizabeth were ready for it. She unsheathed her short sword with a quick, practiced motion and swung at the creature. Ardeth seemed surprised that she had a weapon hidden on her, but could not dwell on it as he ducked a swipe from the mummy.
Evelyn held onto Alex tightly while watching in horror and amazement as her daughter battled a creature with a skill Evelyn didn't know she possessed. And since when did she carry a sword around?
It is quite sad when you begin to miss the good old fashioned vampire, Elizabeth mused grimly. This creature was stronger and quicker than she was, and definitely more so than Ardeth Bay. But the two warriors had the advantage of having a full body while the soldier-mummy was forced to grope around the bars like an ape. It was almost amusing.
The mummy slashed at Ardeth at the chest and the man was pushed down into a seat. Elizabeth swung with her sword but it sidestepped (or sideswung is more like it) the blow and gripped her arm. With a heave it threw her against the windows. The tremendous force behind the throw caused threads of pain to scatter all over Elizabeth's body as she collided with the metal wall and glass windows. The glass shattered and cut into her backside while the rest of her body vibrated from the collision with metal. She grunted in pain. Her vision began to recede into darkness as she dropped back to the floor. Evelyn and Alex screamed her name.
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Things weren't going much better on the upper deck either. The soldier-mummy Rick was battling was currently attempting to crush the life out of him. When he tried to roll over the mummy caught him by the throat and lifted his body to slam him into the ceiling. Then the mummy began to choke the life out of him.
As he struggled to breathe he saw black spots. He was trying to break free, but the creature was far too strong for him. The swerving of the bus was what saved his life. Both Rick and the mummy were thrown off-balance and Rick was released from the death grip. He grabbed his shotgun, but before he could even grasp the trigger the bus swerved again and the shotgun clattered down to the hood of the bus. The mummy caught him by back of the throat and began to squeeze the life out of him again.
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It was the swerving of the bus that shocked Elizabeth out of her half-conscious state into a tenuous consciousness. Her blurry vision caught sight of Ardeth standing over her, protecting her from the mummy. Her mother had reached her and was gripping her shoulders.
"Mum, I'm all right," Elizabeth assured her. She felt like she had just been run over a few times by a double-decker and some of her back ribs were probably broken, but she was alive. Had she not been the Slayer, she wouldn't even be conscious.
Ardeth was pushed back yet again away from the fallen girl. He reeled in surprise to see her stumbling to her feet. By all rights she should have been out cold after being thrown so hard up against the side of the bus. She was a little unsteady on her feet, but she was very awake. And very incensed.
"Ow," she said.
Ugh, this must be what a hangover feels like, Elizabeth thought as the hammer in her head pummeled her brain. She sensed the creature swinging at her just in time to bend over backwards and do a back-handspring. Her body greatly protested that impulsive evading maneuver and she was feeling the objections all over. She hadn't been very tired after the row at the manor or after rescuing her mother, but after that severe blow dealt to her body exhaustion was beginning to gain more ground. Slayer stamina was miraculous, but it did have limits.
She sidestepped another swipe and punched it in the chest. Her punch was given with a bit too much force. Since it was a mummy with not much solidity her fist went all the way through its back. She could hear the intakes of breath from every other human on the lower level and heard her brother's admired shout, "Whoa cool!". Elizabeth was thinking more, Whoa gross!, and quickly pulled her hand free.
"Ewww!" she squealed. After all, she was still a typical female in some ways.
The bus swerved again and she was thrown into Ardeth Bay who tumbled back into the seats. The mummy seemed to actually have some dried up brains and hung on for its dear unlife.
Amidst the battle between the humans and the mummy Evelyn was startled from her shocked state when she heard the clattering sound on the hood. She turned instinctively and saw that it was a shotgun. She reached out the side window and snatched it off the hood. Turning back to where the mummy was just about to attack Elizabeth and Ardeth again she blasted the bloody thing's head off. It should expect nothing less for harming her daughter like that.
She pumped the gun and pushed the barrel up against the mummy's ribcage and fired again sending the thing down the aisle. It didn't get back up. Elizabeth and Ardeth Bay breathed audible sighs of relief. Their relief was broken by Jonathan's yelled, "Uh oh!" That was never a good sign.
Everyone looked ahead and paled when they saw a low hanging bridge that the bus was hurtling towards. Jonathan was going too fast to turn away from that now.
"We're not going to make it!" Alex cried.
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Rick saw the bridge amidst the black dots and managed somehow to wrestle himself free of the creature's death grip. He immediately dropped to the floor and put his hands over his head. The soldier-mummy didn't see the bridge until it was too late.
The top third of the double-decker was torn away from the bottom two-thirds with a grinding metal sound. Rick had his eyes squeezed shut the entire time as he prayed he wouldn't go with the top third. When the grinding sound ceased Rick figured it was safe to look up again. He sighed in relief as he saw that the soldier-mummy was gone along with the roof. He quickly descended the stairs to check on his family.
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Elizabeth had staggered over to her uncle with her short sword gripped in her hand, having picked it up where it had fallen from her hand. She engulfed the man in a hug and kissed him on the forehead. She had never been so happy with him.
"Great driving, Uncle Jon," she praised.
"Thanks," he replied breathlessly.
Another mummy, the fourth and final miscreant appeared in the open window. Jonathan screamed and pulled away. Elizabeth's first instinct was to shriek in surprise, which she did. Her second instinct was to chop the thing's head off, which she also did. The headless corpse tumbled to the ground. She heard an impressed whistle from the stairway. Before she could turn to respond she goggled at the corpse lying on the ground. I just had to cut off its head?! Why must I do everything the hard way? Note to self: cutting off heads seems to incapacitate everything.
"Wow, that was pretty good sword work. Speaking of which, where did you get the sword?" Rick asked, with a grin. His grin disappeared when he saw the condition of his firstborn. Her jacket was torn in several places and stained with blood. Her shirt had five slash marks with blood having soaked the front of her shirt and a bit of blood was trickling down her forehead not to mention the various mottled yellowish bruises that assailed her. "Oh my god, are you all right?"
"As all right as anyone can be when they've been slammed into a wall with all the force a mummified-soldier brought back to life can possibly delve up," she replied nonchalantly.
Rick grimaced. Somehow he felt this was his fault.
"Dad! You shoulda seen her! Lizzie was amazing! She and that Medjai man fought that mummy and Lizzie hit it with her gun and sent it flying to the back and then she punched it and her fist went all the way through," Alex rattled off in frenzy of excitement.
Rick cocked an eyebrow at his daughter who suddenly became interested in her fingernails. "Did she now?"
"Yes, she most certainly was magnificent, which leads me to ask where it came from," Evelyn said. Although she really wasn't one to talk with her newfound fighting skills. Only Elizabeth seemed to have known exactly what she was doing whereas Evelyn had just been letting her hands move without her control and was perplexed by it.
"All right! I get it! I'll explain everything! I will! Only I have to sit down now because I'm seeing spots again," Elizabeth stammered. Rick quickly swooped the girl up and deposited her on a seat across from Ardeth Bay who was nursing his own wounds.
"You all right?" Rick asked with concern.
Ardeth gave him a wry smile. "I prefer the company of camels." He nodded towards Rick's daughter. "Your daughter is a most accomplished warrior. She outshines a Medjai even. She suffered a hit that would have downed the hardiest of my men and still stood to fight on. You should be proud, my friend."
Rick was just as baffled as ever, but he was indeed proud. He smiled affectionately at Elizabeth who was currently holding her head between her knees, appearing to pay them no mind.
Rick then remembered who it was they had rescued from the fire that night and set his eyes on his beautiful wife. She smiled that seductive smile of hers and made a come-hither motion, which her husband was only too eager to oblige.
Alex groaned and walked to the other end of the bus, not wanting to be caught in the middle of the happy reunion between husband and wife.
"Get a room," he muttered.
It was great his parents had such deep love for one another, but really it was kind of gross to an eight-year-old boy to see them snog all the time. He instead focused on his sister's awesome fighting skills that he had witnessed earlier. She must teach him how to do some of those tricks. He never knew she had such a hidden talent.
Rick took Evelyn into his arms. She smiled and said, "What would I ever do without you?"
"Are librarians always this much trouble?" he joked before kissing her and releasing all the tension from his previous worries for her safety as his lips met hers.
The passion of the moment was cut short by Alex's muffled cry for help as a dark hand reached around and snatched the boy out of the bus. Elizabeth's head snapped up and she flew down the aisle, ignoring the shoots of pain all throughout her battered body, and out the bus. Her father was right on her heels. They both ran after the car Alex had been stuffed in, but someone was fiddling with the bridge mechanisms and it started to rise up on each side and separate as if a large boat were coming through. Elizabeth cursed her injured and temporarily weakened body that was slowing her down as the car sped farther and farther away taking Alex with it.
The car had already reached the other side before it began to split. Elizabeth leaped across the space between, but her assorted injuries had put a strain on her strong body and she slipped on the other side. She would have gone rolling down the road had she not grabbed onto the edge at the last second. Her father had jumped as well and was hanging on the other side of the edge. Alex, Elizabeth cried in anguish within her mind.
Her father echoed her words out loud. "Alex."