We were all in Evelyn's room as she and Jonathan paced the foyer floor.
"We must stop him from regenerating." Evelyn said.
"Who opened that chest?" I asked the American's.
"Well, there was me and Daniels here and then poor Burns of course, oh yeah, and that Egyptologist fella." Henderson told me.
"What about my buddy, Beni?" Rick asked them.
"Naw, he scrammed outta there," Daniels told us.
"We must find the Egyptologist and bring him back here to the safety of the fort, before the creature can get to him." Evelyn said and I nodded in agreement. Rick looked at all of us coming to a conclusion.
"Okay,... Evelyn, Kat, you wait here, you two come with me." Rick ordered and we all pounced on him.
"The hell with that! I'm not goin' nowhere! We're safe here."
"Yeah, I'm not leavin, this fort for nothin'."
"Who put you in charge? You can't just leave me behind like some old suitcase. I'm the one responsible for this mess and I intend to be the one to clean it up."
"I know more about his creature than any of you do I will not be left behind because you feel like being a hero!" Rick just shook his head at us as we all talked together. He then walked to us and grabbed Evelyn and shoved her into the bedroom slamming the door shut and locking it with the skeleton key. We could hear Evelyn pounding on the door yelling to be released.
"Keep an eye on her. If you leave her door, I'll rip your spleen out. C'mon, Jonathan, Kat." Rick said and I got up and got ready to leave with him.
"Me?" I heard Jonathon ask before following us. We walked to the Egyptologist's room to see Beni ransacking the joint, pulling out drawers and files and throwing them on the floor.
"Well, well, well." Rick said making Beni spin around to see us standing in the door. "Lemme guess, spring cleaning?" Beni turned and ran for an open window but Rick grabbed a chair and flung it into his path making his trip and crash into a wall. We strode over and Rick grabbed him, lifting him up the wall. "Where's your new friend?"
"What friend? You're my only friend." Beni told us. I pulled a knife out of my boot and slid it under Beni's chin and a sweet smile on my face.
"Then you got no excuse for living. What the hell you doin, being buddies with this creep, Beni? What's in it for you?" I asked him.
"It is better to be the right hand of the Devil,... than in his path. As long as I serve him, I am immune." he told us.
"Immune from what?" Rick asked him.
"You shall see." Beni told us.
"What are you looking for? Lie, and I'll slit your throat." I told him, shoving the knife deeper into Beni's skin.
"The book! The black book they found at Hamunaptra! Imhotep wants it back. Said to me it would be worth it's weight in diamonds." Beni told us.
"What does he want the book for?" I asked him.
"Something about bringing his dead girly-friend back to life. He needs the book... And your sisters." Beni said looking at the boys and I. I looked at the boys removing my knife slightly. Beni seized the moment and kneed Rick in the balls, making him double over in pain as Beni leapt out of the window.
"That looked rather painful." Jonathan said to him.
"Ya know, ever since I met you, my luck has been for crap." Rick told him.
"Yes, I know, I do that to people." Jonathan admitted. We then heard a blood curdling scream coming from down in the bazaar. We scrambled to the window and looked out. Down in the bazaar, people were screaming and quickly backing away from the shriveled corpse of the Egyptologist. A partially decayed hand reached down and took the sacred canopic jar out of the corpse's hands. Imhotep turned and revealed he had regenerated much further than the last time we saw him. He looked up at us and grinned before unhinging his jaw. His mouth stretched to an inhuman size and then a huge swarm of flies came out of his mouth and raced straight up at us. The guys slammed the shutters and the flies slammed into the closed window and we heard screaming from the bazaar below us.
"Damn it! That's two down and only two to go." Rick said.
"And then he'll be coming after Evy and Kat." Jonathan said and we turned and raced from the office. We ran back to Evelyn's room and found Henderson as a mummy then started banging on the door as hard as we could. We finally got the door open to see Imhotep kissing Evelyn with a decayed mouth and her screaming and shoving him away. Making Imhotep look at her in sadness.
"Get your hands off my girl, pal." Rick yelled at him. Imhotep's sadness turned to anger as he spun around and faced us. Rick smirked as Imhotep licked his fetid lips. "Nice lips." Imhotep started to move for us but Rick had a plan. "I figured you might be here, so I brought a friend." Rick threw the white car at Imhotep who instinctively caught it before shrieking and dropping it. Imhotep stumbled back towards the window which suddenly blew open and Imhotep exploded into sand and vanished out the window.
Jonathan raced his big convertible through the streets, honking constantly. Evelyn sat between him and Rick while I sat in the back with Daniels.
"You called me your girl?" Evelyn said to Rick.
"What?... Oh yeah, that was just um, you know, figure a speech." Rick told her.
"I think you were jealous" I told him.
"Jealous? You kiddin' me? Did you see that guy's face?" Rick asked me.
"Shut up! JUST SHUT-UP! We gotta do somethin'! we gotta do somethin, NOW! Before it's too late!" Daniels shouted as we pulled up to the Museum.
They race into the driveway of the museum of Antiquities. When we got into the museum we all followed Evelyn as she strode through the museum.
"Last month I came across an inscription that mentioned The Book Of The Dead." she told us.
"That book we found at Hamunaptra?" Daniels asked her.
"Yes. I dismissed it, because it talked about bringing people back from the dead. A notion I was unwilling to believe." she told us.
"Believe it, sister. That's what brought our buddy back to life." Rick reminded her.
"And now he's going to use it to bring his girlfriend back" Jonathan said.
"And if he succeeds, the two of them together will bring about the apocalypse." Ardeth finished.
"The plagues we have seen so far, are merely Imhotep flexing his muscles. Only at the moment of Anck-su-namun's resurrection will he be truly invincible." the Curator told us as we reached a display case.
"I'm thinking that if the black Book Of The Dead can bring people back to life -" Evelyn started saying.
"- then perhaps, the golden Book Of The Living can return them to the underworld." I finished.
"Exactly -" Evelyn said, smiling at me.
"So your sayin', if we find the book made outta gold -" Rick started asking.
"- And read the sacred incantations contained inside it." I said.
"You think it'll send this guy back to hell?" Rick asked.
"Yes, And that's when -" I stopped talking when we heard a loud chanting coming from outside. We all rushed over to the upper windows and looked down to see a large crazed mob covered in hideous boils and sores. They were chanting one name repeatedly.
"Imhotep. Imhotep."
"It has begun. The beginning of the end." Ardeth told us.
"Not quite yet it hasn't. C'mon." Evelyn said and we dashed back to the display cases and she and the curator started looking them over. The mob started crashing into the front doors, which we thankfully had locked before we started looking through the cases. "Got it!" she said happily.
"Got what?" Rick asked her as the banging got louder. We heard multiple windows shatter as Evelyn started translating the tablet.
"Since the black Book of The Dead was found inside the statue of Anubis, then according to this, the golden Book of The Living should be inside..." she read smiling.
"What?" Rick asked her.
"What?" Jonathan asked.
"WHAT!?" Daniels screamed/
"The golden Book Of The Living, is inside the statue of Horus." Evelyn read.
"Which would be located not far to the east of the Anubis statue." The Curator said.
"Don't tell me we gotta go back out there?" Rick asked.
"If we want to kill the creature, yes." The Curator told him. Suddenly two hideously boil and sore covered men charged out of a doorway, screaming. Rick and Ardeth grabbed them and chucked them over the railing making them fly through the air and crashing into the lower display cases. The front door then burst open and the crazed mob poured into the museum and we hauled ass across the balcony and down the staircase. We waited quietly for Jonathan in the bushes as he brought the car to us. When he finally did we all climbed in. Evelyn and Rick up front with Jonathan while Ardeth, the Curator, Daniels and I all sat in back. There wasn't a lot of room so I ended up sitting in Ardeth's lap. As if this day wasn't weird enough.
"Imhotep! IMHOTEP!" I turned and saw Beni calling to his master and pointing at us. I looked up and saw Imhotep looking out of the museum from the shattered upper window just as Jonathan peeled out of the parking lot.
"You're gonna get yours, pal!" Rick shouted at Beni. Imhotep unhinged his jaw, his mouth stretching to an inhuman size as he let out one of his horrific, primordial shrieks. His disease-ridden disciples immediately began pouring out of the front doors of the museum and chasing after us. The convertible hauled ass down the narrow bazaar street as crazies started jumping out of stalls and leaping onto the car. We all fought them off, throwing them overboard as more people jumped on. Jonathan swerved the car, making it crash through some stalls, knocking them off, but not before they managed to open the back door and yank Daniels out. I turned and stared as he tumbled across the pavement. The convertible slowly motored down the narrow alleys. Suddenly one of the hideous ghouls crashed through the windshield making everybody scream. Jonathan hit the gas, and lost control. The car slammed into a wall.
"C'mon! C'mon! Let's go! Let's go!" Rick said and we all leapt out of the car. But the angry, festering mob quickly surrounded us. Rick quickly reaches into his gunny-sack, pulled out a stick of dynamite, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a match. He looked around for a way to light it, then reached over and lite it across Ardeth's stubbly face making him yelp. Rick held the lit match near the fuse making the crazed, chanting mob give us a wide berth, staring at us with insane, bloodshot eyes. Then Imhotep steps through, he crowd fully regenerated, he now looked young and handsome and muscular.
"He's gorgeous." Evelyn said and I tossed her a look.
"You're going to compliment the looks of the man trying to kill you?" I asked her and she looked from me to Rick and away again. Rick yelped as the match he was holding burnt his fingers. He quickly grabbed another one and used Ardeth's face again to lite it. Ardeth yelped and gave Rick a look to kill and I shook my head at them.
"He has consummated the curse, now all he need do is raise Anck-su-namun from the dead, then it will be the end of us, and the beginning for them." the Curator said as Imhotep moved forward to us and Rick lite the fuse. Imhotep finished his walk to us and stopped, watching the fuse burn down. The tension mounted as the game of chicken continued. The fuse was about to vanish inside the stick of dynamite, blowing it up when Evelyn leaned forwards and blew it out. I gave a sigh of relief but no one relaxed as Imhotep extended his hand to Evelyn.
"Koontash dai na." Imhotep said.
"Take his hand and he will spare the others." Beni translated. Evelyn hesitated and looked around at the huge bloodthirsty crowd surrounding us holding axes, picks and scimitars, waiting to pounce. She then looked at Imhotep, confident, powerful, invincible, then to my brother.
"Any bright ideas?" she asked him.
"Sorry, fresh out." he told her angrily, gritting his teeth. Evelyn looked back to Imhotep and started to reach out and take his hand. Both Rick and Jonathan moved to stop her but Ardeth and I held them back.
"Stop it. There's nothing we can do right now." I told Jonathan.
"Don't do it, Evelyn." Rick begged her.
"I have no choice." Evelyn said, her voice trembling as her hand touched Imhotep's. His hand closed around hers and nothing happened, making him smile.
"Keetah mi pharos, aja nilo, isirlan." Imhtep said to her.
"Come with me my princess. It is time to make you mine, forever." Beni translated wrong.
"All eternity, idiot." Evelyn corrected him before looking to us. "You better think of something, because if he turns me into a mummy, you're the first one I'm coming after."
"Got guts, lady." Rick told her.
"Yes, I know, and I'd like to keep them." she said. Imhotep suddenly noticed something and he reached forward and ripped the key out of Jonathan's upper jacket pocket.
"Hey that's mine - !" Jonathan said, trying to go and get it back.
"Not right now it isn't." I told him staring at Imhotep. If what the curator said was true I could be his sister's reincarnation. What would he do to me if I was?
"Evelyn!" Rick called trying to break free of Ardeth's grip, but the Medji held him tightly.
"Be calm. There is still time. We can stop him yet." Ardeth told him. Suddenly, Imhotep's hand was being held out again towards us, his eyes solely on me. The others looked at me confused as I held Jonathan back from going to his sister.
"No." I told Imhotep plainly.
"Come sister. It is time to go." he told me and Beni translated so the other could also.
"No." I told him and he grew angry at me.
"Pared oos." he said and my eyes widened.
"NOOO!" Evelyn screamed, knowing what he said.
"Kill the men." Beni translated as Imhotep pulled Evelyn away from us. Rick finally broke free of Ardeth's grip and stumbled forwards.
"EVELYN!" he called for her but it was too late. The rapid vultures were already moving in for the kill. Rick quickly bent down and pulled open a cistern cover and shoved Jonathan inside it. He reached for me and I jumped down followed by Ardeth and Rick.
"Well, let's get moving." I said realizing the Curator sacrificed himself so we could kill the creature and save Evelyn. We sloshed our way down the watery catacomb, the mob still pouring in behind us. Up ahead, a light suddenly shined in from another cistern hole and then more infected dropped down, screeching like rats. Rick pushed the three of us ahead of him and lit another match on the wall and lit the nubby fuse on a stick of dynamite and threw it before running like hell behind us. We heard the blast not long after and we walked some more to get out of the cistern. The boys kicked a sewer grate up so we could climb out when we thought it was safe for them.
"We gotta get her back." Rick said.
"I'm with you, old man. No one touches my sister like that and gets away with it." Jonathan told him and they both looked to us.
"You know where he's taking her?" Rick asked us.
"Yes. To Hamunaptra. To perform the ritual." Ardeth told him.
"And what ritual would that be?" Jonathan asked worriedly.
"The ritual to bring the body of Anck-su-namun back to life." Ardeth said.
"And how does one do that?" Jonathan asked.
"By reading the Book Of The Dead." I told him.
"Oh yes, of course." Jonathan nodded, as though he knew this.
"And then killing your sister." I finished.
"Excuse me? he asked me.
"Imhotep is now able to cross the desert with great haste." Ardeth told Rick as Jonathan tapped my shoulder.
"Begging your pardon, but I wasn't quite clear on that last part." Jonathan told me but I ignored him.
"If he arrives before us, it will be too late." I told Rick.
"Did you say 'kill' my sister?" Jonathan asked me as Rick smiled.
"I know how to beat him to it."