When we got to the Trading Post I pulled Evelyn to a trading tent for some clothes. I talked them into giving us clothes on the cheap and we quickly changed before joining boys and the Camels. We each got on our camels and set out. We traveled for what felt like days out in the desert. I rode in silence, only giving one worded responses if spoken too. My thought were long past us.
"Never did like camels. Filthy buggers. They smell, they bite, they spit. Disgusting." Johnathon said. I turned to say something but stopped when I saw the warden savagely attack a chicken wing with his vile green teeth. as flies buzzed around his head. He sucked at his gums, then spits out some gristle.
"Yeah, disgusting." my brother agreed. I turned to see him watching the warden also before looking ahead of me.
"Well I think they're cute." Evelyn said, scratching her camels head with a large smile. We past deeper and deeper into the desert, seeing the majesty and beauty of it. During the day it seemed like we were riding in a fire but at night it was nice and cool. The moon shone down on us and as the others slept Rick and I kept an eye out to make sure we were going the right way and that we were safe. Jonathan was sound asleep, his head bobbing comically to the rhythm of his camel. On the camel next to him, the Warden snored loudly. Up in front of them, Evelyn slowly started to slide off her saddle. Rick reached over and stopped her, then gently pushed her back up onto her saddle, never waking her. For a long moment, his eyes watched Evelyn, and I smiled.
"What?" he asked me.
"Nothing." I said shaking my head. I noticed him looking behind me and followed his glance to see him looking up at a distant ridge. I quickly looked away and to my lap.
"Are you alright?" Rick asked me.
"Of course." I told him before looking back at our road.
"And you snore!" Johnathon yelled to the warden before the sun rose for the day.
"I do not snore!" the Warden argued back.
"All night you snored!" Johnathon countered.
"I have never snored!" the Warden said. They continued their argument behind us and we ignored them.
"We're almost there." Rick told us.
"Are you sure?" Evelyn asked him. Rick looked down on the ground for confirmation and we followed his look.
"Pretty sure." We saw dozens of skeletons sticking out of the ground, bleached and eaten away. Some of the skeletons looked like they were trying to crawl up out of the desert floor.
"What in bloody hell is this?" Johnathon said, finally stopping their argument.
"Other seekers of Hamunaptra." the Warden told him. I looked across the distance to see the American Expedition ridding out on horses from behind the far end of the dune we were next to with Beni, my brother's friend, leading the way on a camel.
"Good morning, my friend!" Beni called to Rick who just nodded as we all came to a stop a hundred feet apart. Rick, Beni and I turned and stared out across the endless horizon as everyone else looked puzzled.
"Well, what the hell we doin'?" One of the men asked.
"Patience, my good sahib, patience." Beni told him.
"First one to the city, O'Connell! Five hundred! Cash bucks!" Another called to him. I looked at Rick from the corner of my eye. So not only was he betting with our lives but he was also betting with money? Money that he didn't have? I looked back out to the flat nothingness as the sun started to rise, breaking the horizon.
"Get ready." Rick said.
"For what?" Evelyn asked him.
"We're about to be shown the way." he told her as far off to the right a huge shape began to rise with the sun, a volcano.
"HEYA!" The Americans said racing towards the rising volcano.
"SEE YA THERE, O'CONNELL!" One of them called back to us.
"Ah, begging your pardon, but shouldn't we be going?" Johnathon asked Rick.
"After all, you rode us night and day." Evelyn added.
"All to win that bet." I said giving him a look. He didn't say anything to us, just stared into the distance.
"Fools." Beni said. Suddenly, the volcano shifted across the horizon, passing across the sun as it went. It was a mirage. The Americans crashed their horses to a stop and raced the other way, after the volcano. The volcano shifted again, floating across the watery horizon. The Americans crashed to a stop again and chased after the volcano. The volcano shifted again, and the Americans crashed to a stop again. One of them was thrown from his horse. The second angrily ripped his hat off and chucks it to the ground. The third just cursed as they gave up the chase. The volcano came to a stop on the far left of the horizon with the Americans on the far right. Nothing moved. I sighed the shared a look with Beni and Rick. We swatted our camels and raced away. Everybody else hauling-ass after us. The three of us were neck-and-neck when Evelyn came galloping up. Beni took out his camel whip and starts whipping Rick, trying to knock him off his camel. On the third try Rick grabbed the whip and jerked Beni off his camel and Beni slammed to the ground and tumbled. Evelyn, Rick and I raced across the desert. Evelyn started laughing and Rick grinned; he liked this girl. Evelyn beats us both to the stone ramp, racing hard.
"Evelyn! Slow down!" Rick called out to her but she ignored him as she raced up the ramp towards the gate. "SLOW DOWN, EVELYN! SLOW DOWN! THERE'S A REALLY BIG -" Evelyn went ass-over-teacups through the air and crashed landed in a sand dune. She sat up, stunned, sandy hair in her eyes as Rick and I stopped at the edge of the ramp next to her camel. "Never mind." The Americans rode up and looked in wonder at the ruins inside the volcano. Rick gave them a big, shit-eating grin. "You boys owe me five hundred dollars."