Hello, everybody! Welcome to chapter 9! I know many of you have been anticipating this chapter, and so I will hold you in suspense no longer and give you what you all want. To all of my reviewers, your kind words really mean a LOT to me! Even to those of you who have read this and haven't reviewed (which I KNOW there has to be some of you out there!), I still owe you all a big thank you for even giving my story the time of day! EVERYONE that has reviewed and EVERYONE who hasn't is great! Which is why I feel the need to respond to each of you individually this time. So here it goes!
Lilylynn (a.k.a. my mummy mate/my dearest Mrs. O'Connell): You are my #1 fan, and every time I write a new chapter, I always think of you. Sorry if I made you blush, I hope you weren't too embarrassed! Lol! And I'm sure, some day, you will be right next to Rachel. I have no doubt! And then I can say that I knew you when. Glad you liked the last chapter, I hope you like this one too! I know, dumb old Izzy, screwing everything up. But don't worry, Ardeth will eventually answer Evelyn's question. You're right, I wouldn't dare stop after chapter 8! You know me better than that! Thanks for being such an encouragement to me! You're so awesome! Thanks a million!
Cindy: Thanks for both of your reviews! I'm really glad to know that you like this story. Yes, I know, sorry for fooling you, but I just hope you're not mad at me! Lol! I am quite tricky, or so I've been told. Glad you are liking this story, I hope you like this chapter! Thanks again for your kind words!
Lea: Hi, Lea! I LOOOOVE your name! Do you say it like Lay-ah like Princess Leia from Star Wars or like Lee-ah? My character Leah's name is pronounced Lee-ah, at least in my head it is! I love the name Leah. I want two kids after I get married, if I have two girls then their names will be Kaitlynn and Leah! Leah is an awesome name! Wow, I feel special that you picked my story to be the first mummy fic you've ever read! That makes me feel good! You really think I write well?? Well, thanks! Sometimes I'm not so sure, but you and Lilylynn are convinced, so I'll take your word for it (oh, boy, I hope that doesn't sound conceited, cuz I'm totally not!). Anyways, please Please PLEASE enjoy this chapter, and look for more soon!
Marlee: Hey, it's okay that you didn't review earlier. At least you did review! Your begging has worked, because here is chapter 9! And there will be a chapter 10, and a chapter 11, and 12, until I get to the end of the story, so have no fear, I will always update for you! Thanks for reading, and thanks for reviewing!
Empathy Is Me: You are totally awesome! You have been reading and reviewing my story from the beginning, and I really appreciate you sticking with me on this! It's always good to know that I have regular readers! That's all right for not reviewing earlier, that happens to me all the time when I want to review people's stuff and I can't get logged in! It drives me bananas!! And you're quite welcome for the reviews of your story! It's the least I could do since you've reviewed mine. It also helps that your story is HILARIOUS!! I love it!! I've always wanted to write a parody, but I don't have a very good sense of humor so it would never work for me. But you are so good at it! Anyways, thanks again for all of your words of encouragement, and I really hope you like this chapter! Look for more, because this story is nowhere near finished!
Okay, that's it for the reviewers. Wow, that was longer than I thought it would be! For those of you that have actually gotten to this point, just a reminder that I'm still looking for alternate titles for the story! Like I said before, this is just a working title, so if ANYBODY has an idea for a better title, PLEASE PLEASE I'M BEGGING YOU, let me know! And if it's a title that I pick, I'll give you credit for it, too! And if anybody has something that they'd like to see happen, don't hesitate to let me know. Okay, I think that's it for housekeeping issues, so on with the story!
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Chapter 9 I'm Going to Get Shot, Aren't I?
The first thing she felt was cool water on her cheeks. Her first thought was of how thirsty she was, and the first thing she heard was a deep voice shouting horrific comments at somebody in Egyptian. She struggled to open her eyes, and when she finally succeeded, she realized that she was lying on the ground of the desert, covered in blankets. Though the day was boiling hot, she was shivering like a leaf under the layers. Every breath she took felt like it ripped her chest in two as her lungs struggled to provide enough air for her body.
"Do not drink the water!" the awful mummy voice was shouting. "You must not drink any of it, it is all for Samir-hi!"
"But sir—"
"Do you dare to question me?" the angry voice shouted.
Leah turned her head in time to see Imhotep lift his hands up into the air, ready to perform some of his horrible magic on the man who had spoken out of turn. She gasped weakly, appalled at how quickly Imhotep had turned to violence. "No!" she said as loudly as she could, her voice scratchy. "Please, do not hurt him!" When it was obvious that Imhotep had not heard her, she gathered her reserves and sat up, her head spinning, the dizziness almost unbearable as the cold compress fell off her forehead. "Stop!" she shouted, her lungs burning as she struggled to speak. She began to choke, her throat screaming for liquid.
Imhotep's hands fell to his sides, and his head turned to face Leah. "Samir-hi!" he said, dashing the small distance to her pile of bedding, his loincloth bouncing lightly off his slightly burned thighs. He fell to the ground next to her and put his hand to her cheek. "Sam, what is wrong?"
"Water!" she coughed out. "I need… water!"
"Water!" roared Imhotep to his followers. "Water, now!" He placed his hand on Leah's back and began to gently rub her shoulders. When none of his men moved, he turned and glared at them. "Did I not make myself clear? I need water, now! And if no one obeys me, you all will suffer!"
If Leah hadn't been so busy choking, she would have protested to Imhotep's threat. Thankfully, every one of the dozen goons surrounding them moved quickly, and Imhotep had a cupful of water in his hands in less than ten seconds. He lifted the cup gently to Leah's lips, and she drank gratefully, the cool fluid soothing her diaphragm until the coughing ceased and she could breathe again. "Thank you," she uttered as her breath returned.
"Anything for you, Samir," Imhotep said as he stopped rubbing Leah's back.
Leah began to shiver, as her body raged with fever.
Imhotep took her shoulders in his hands and examined her. "Are you all right, my daughter?" he said.
Leah nodded her head, groaning as the world turned around her. "I am fine," she said. I would be even better if you would just let me and the rest of the world alone and go back to your dark, cold grave, you stupid mummy jackass! she thought to herself. Immediately after she thought this, she felt bad as she realized that Imhotep's intentions for the world were not good, but that he really did care for her. Correction: He cares for Samir-hi, not me, she said in her head, but at this point, all she wanted was to lie back on the ground and go to sleep.
"Are you sure? You do not look well."
"Please, can I just lie down?" Leah asked in Egyptian so that Imhotep could understand her.
"Of course, daughter. We are quite close to Rathshad, but we will stop here for the night so that you may rest. We will continue on in the morning, so that we can complete the ritual tomorrow." Imhotep gently helped Leah settle back onto her bedding, pulling a blanket to her chin.
If Leah had had the energy, she would have made one of her smart comments now. But she was too tired and too weak to care, and Imhotep noticed this.
"You worry me, daughter," he said, but Leah didn't hear this as her eyes drifted shut and she fell into a feverish, nightmarish sleep.
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'But Da-ad, I'm too hot, I want to stay here!" Alex whined.
Rick stopped what he was doing and dropped the bundle that he was attempting to tie to his camel. "Alex, there's no buts in this! Don't you want your aunt Leah back?"
"Yes, I do, Dad, but--"
"I said, no buts, Alex. Now get your things together, we're going."
"But—yes, Dad," Alex said solemnly as his father glared at him. Alex shuffled off to gather his things.
Rick mumbled to himself about his son as he continued tying things onto his camel.
"Rick, take it easy on him," Evelyn said, coming up from behind with a bag of her own things to be put on the animal. "He's just a child."
"Just a child who should care more about his aunt Leah," Rick said as he struggled with some of the rope. He finally gave up, throwing the bag to the ground in disgust and forcing Evelyn to jump a few feet to the side to keep from being clobbered by it.
"Rick, what is wrong with you?" asked Evelyn indignantly, her hands on her hips. "Why are you snapping at everyone all of sudden?"
Rick turned angrily to face his wife. "I am snapping because no one seems to care about finding my sister but me!"
"That's not true, Rick, we all--"
"Save it, Evelyn," Rick said as he turned around to gather some more bags from their campsite, Evelyn following. "I know you don't understand how I could care so much about my sister, especially since she has just recently come into our lives. And you don't understand about the vow that I made to protect her." Rick stooped down to pick up a case full of clothing and then turned back around to face Evelyn, who was standing right on his heels. "I told her that I would always be there for her. And I wasn't. I hadn't been since she was seven years old, and when I finally had the opportunity, I allowed her to be kidnapped by our old friend Imhotep. I have to make it up to her. She has to know that she can always trust me. Now come on. We don't have any time to waste."
Evelyn threw her hands up into the air and marched off to help Alex with his things, giving up, at least for now, on talking some sense into her husband. She also wanted to get Leah back, but some how she didn't find it necessary to take her anger and fear out on the people around her.
Finally, the caravan was ready to go. Rick took the lead on his camel, pointing the crew in the opposite direction that they had been traveling earlier in the morning.
Alex caught sight of it first, about ten minutes later. "There, Dad! There it is!"
Rick looked back towards his son, then urged his camel on faster towards the crash site. He smiled to himself as the convoy approached. Pieces of wreckage were strewn over the tan sand of the desert, a piece of wing here, a rubber tire there. But what was making Rick smile was what, or shall we say, who, was standing in the middle of it all, a deployed parachute hanging on his back as he stared disgustedly at what used to be an airplane.
"Izzy," Rick said to himself happily. He stopped his camel and jumped to the ground, walking towards his old friend, his family doing the same.
Izzy didn't see Rick and company approaching him. Instead, he was too busy kicking a large box from the cockpit of his once plane away from him as he muttered to himself, his back to Rick, Evelyn, Alex, Jonathan, and Ardeth.
"Izzy!" Rick shouted when they were just a few yards from his friend. "Izzy! Boy, am I glad to see you!"
Izzy turned and looked up at the sound of his name. His eyes widened in horror as he saw who had called for him. "Ahhh!" he shrieked, and he turned right back around and began to run, his parachute billowing out behind him.
"Izzy!" Rick shouted again, breaking into a jog and tearing after poor Izzy. "Izzy, come back, I just want to talk to you!"
Evelyn grabbed Alex's shoulders, and the two of them plus Jonathan and Ardeth stopped following Rick and looked on from afar.
"No!" Izzy yelled over his shoulder as he ran. "No, I will not talk to you, O'Connell!"
"Izzy, please!" Rick called, closing the gap between the two of them easily. "Izzy," Rick said, dodging a piece of metal in his path. "Izzy, I need your help!"
"Nooooo!" he shouted. "No, no, and no! Just go away!"
"And where would I go?" Rick asked as he got within a few feet of Izzy. "There's nowhere to go when you're in the middle of nowhere!"
"Just—just—ahhhh!" Izzy tumbled head over heels down a small dune.
"Bravo. Bravo, Izzy," Rick said as he stopped at the edge and looked down over the small ten feet drop to where Izzy was laying, sprawled out and tangled in his parachute. "What a tumble! When did you take up gymnastics?"
Izzy struggled to free himself from the material, but all he got was more tangled up. "Grr!" he growled. "Why don't you just shut up and help me?"
"Only if you help me," Rick told Izzy smoothly. "I'll help you if you help me."
Izzy muttered and rolled around in the dirt for a little longer, then gave up. "Fine! I'll help you, just get me out of here!"
"With pleasure," Rick said, and he jumped down the small dune easily, landing right next to Izzy. With one smooth swoop, Rick had Izzy freed from the parachute.
Immediately, Izzy began to crawl away from Rick as fast as he could.
"Where you goin', Izzy?" Rick asked in a singsong voice.
"Away!" Izzy said desperately.
"Away to where?" Rick asked as he easily caught up to Izzy and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "We had a deal, you know."
"Yeah, and the last time we had a deal, I got shot! I got shot in the ass!" Izzy shouted, trying to get away.
Rick gripped Izzy's shirt harder and pulled him to a standing position. "No, you did not get shot in the ass last time! Now, you made me a deal, and I expect you to hold up your end of the bargain. Are you going to help me, or not?"
Izzy was about to answer Rick with a big, fat 'no' when he caught sight of the handgun in Rick's hands. "S-sure," he stuttered. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to like it."
"Nobody asked you to like it," Rick said as he hauled Izzy over to the dune. "Now climb up."
"What?" asked Izzy in his British accent. "Climb up this moutain?"
"It is not a mountain! And if you don't start climbing, you will get shot in the ass this time!" Rick waved the gun around in the air to reiterate his point.
Izzy started climbing, and Ardeth reached down from the top to give him a hand.
"Hello, old friend," Ardeth said as he pulled Izzy up to the top of the dune. "It is nice to see you. I hope you have been well."
Instead of returning Ardeth's greeting, Izzy just groaned. "Oh, no, not you, too," he said as he stood up and Ardeth knelt to help Rick. "We're not after the same idiot that we fought last time, are we?"
"Yes, as matter of fact, we are," Rick said as he mounted the dune and stood up himself. Rick looked out over the desert, surveying the wreckage.
"And who does he have this time?" Izzy asked, spotting Evelyn, Jonathan, and Alex standing with the camels several feet away. "You're family is all accounted for.
"It's my sister. He has her, and we want her back."
"Ah, well, I believe I can help, as long as--"
"As long as you don't get shot in the ass," Ardeth and Rick said together.
"What is it with this ass thing?" Ardeth asked in careful English. "What is an ass? Do I have an ass?" (A/N: Yes, you have an ass, Ardeth, and a mighty cute one at that! Sorry, readers, I just couldn't resist!)
Izzy and Rick looked at each other, and then Rick, who was now in a much better mood, thanks to the arrival of his old friend Izzy, clapped his arm around Ardeth's shoulders, and gave him a fierce pat on the arm. "We'll explain it to you later," he said, and then went back to surveying the crash site. "Well, Izzy, the damage doesn't look too severe," he said as he noted the nearly whole plane near where Alex, Jonathan, and Evelyn were still standing. "It looks like just minor damage… we need to get to the lost city of Rathshad. How long do you think until you can have her in flying condition? An hour? Two hours?"
"What? Have you gone mad?" Izzy asked. "To fix that plane up, it would take me days! Maybe even weeks!"
"Well, then, old buddy, old pal, your part of the bargain is to do days' worth of work in a few hours."
"But I—it's not—I mean—okay, okay," Izzy said, catching sight of Rick's gun. "Give me two hours."
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Meanwhile, Leah's eyes opened. She rolled over quickly and vomited up what was left in her stomach from the small breakfast she had eaten that morning before they had left Thebes.
"Oh, god," she groaned in English as she lay very still on her left side. "Oh, god, what is wrong with me?"
She squinted her eyes shut as dizziness occupied her brain. When she finally dared to open them, she saw that she was lying on a large blanket in the middle of the desert. The camel that she had ridden earlier that day was standing over her, creating a bit of shade from the sun that was sinking as dusk overcame the light, and in the distance, out of earshot, was Imhotep and his men, sitting around a campfire. Leah blinked her eyes lazily, then kicked off the blankets over her. She was no longer cold; she was now hotter than hell's fires.
As her legs moved quickly, her stomach heaved, and she vomited some more. "God! What is wrong with me?" she asked, near tears. She didn't know it then, but later, she found out that she was suffering from a few cracked ribs and a concussion, brought on by her leap of faith from her window in Thebes, and that thanks to those injuries, she was more susceptible to, and now suffering from, heat stroke, due to the extreme heat and lack of water. "Rick…" she whispered. "Ardeth?" Her heart ached as she thought of Ardeth. I miss you, she thought, hoping that he could some how, wherever he was, read her mind. I miss you, and I hope you're okay.
Suddenly, a shadow fell over her. When she looked up, she saw Imhotep standing over her.
"Samir-hi, my men told me that you are ill," he said as a trio of the Imhotep's ugly followers came up behind him.
Leah, still lying on her side, pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging them tightly, imagining that they were Ardeth, that he had found her and had rescued her. Her eyes closed slowly.
"Samir-hi," Imhotep said, and she felt the mummy's fingers on her pale, clammy skin. However, she was too sick to care any more. The only thoughts on her mind as she drifted off into unconscious were of Rick and Ardeth, swooping into their camp and carrying her off to safety. Please hurry, she thought. I don't know how much longer I have left.
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A/N: I'm not even going to say it! You all know what to do! Thanks a million, everyone, hope you all like this chapter!
