Each step I take is heavy as we walk into darkness.

It is nothing like my last decent with O'Connell and my brother; we had flamboes and chatter to ease our way down... now I have nothing.

I let my hands scrape against the wall to stop a stumble, I have no helpful hands, no jocular jibes or taunts.

Dust, cobwebs and sand rise into my nostrils as Imhoteps robes disturb millenia of silence. A putrid smell knocks the breath out of me and catches me off guard- I cough and glare at Beni.

"Watch out little lady, almost there." He chides.

I give him the iciest glare I can muster, keeping my eyes as far ahead as I can.

I hear him splutter and spit into the sand.

"Haseesh di nai."

I ignore his words, not wanting to translate them.

This corridoor hasn't been disturbed, not even by plunderers. My hair sticks to my face with sweat, sweat triggered by the stale heat and anxiety.

I do the best i can to dab my face dry with my dress, hastily pushing the hair out of my face. I'm constantly reminding myself to take as much in as I can...I am experiencing something so historical it has never been explored by scholars.

If they save me, I can record it.

Omitting a few details of course.

I feel sharp stone carved hieroglyphs beneath my finger tips as we decend further. I bet theyre as bright and fresh as the day they were painted. I am in undisturbed territory...

I am in the throes of hell.

Cool air hits me as Imhotep leaves us. I was so lost in my own thoughts that I didn't notice our passage open into a huge atrium.

My life was going to end in my twenties. I hadn't discovered anything, well, nothing that anyone would remember me for. I havn't been able to make my parents proud. That hurts the most.

Live the life you love, and love the life you live.

I'd certainly done that.

And it was going to kill me.

Carvings, statues and dust everywhere.

So this is where I am going to die.

I'd given up a life in England and the chance of marriage and other such expectantcy. I'd spent years trying to give Jon security whilst he tried to give me the same and to what prevail?

--

So we've got a stern walk ahead of us. I don't have doubts as such more like concerns. Me and Ardeth, we got firepower but whats the Brit carrying?

"How much further old chap?"

"As long as it takes."

"Allah scorned..."

Each step my worn boots are takin' seem to blend into the last I don't feel like I'm goin' anywhere but in circles.

I'm going to save her, Goddamn if it's the last thing I do.

"Blighter!"

Jonathans on his ass, fell over some stones. I let Ardeth drag him along, my minds preoccupied. The city is in my sights and I ain't lettin' it go.

--

From an Egyptologist point of view I am exstatic, but from the viewpoint of a member of the human race, (one who is being escorted by a 3000 year old reanimated corpse might I add) I am petrified.

So it is no wonder I scream when I spot the blade beneath his sheer robes. It glints and winks evilly at me, almost a testament to what it is to act.

The lines I rehearsed flee my mind.

I hear a resounding gunshot- "O'Connell!"

My eyes dart around looking for escape. I scan pillars and caskets...walls and doorways...a grand staircase as dark as obsidian itself.

I can't wait anymore.

Perhaps I can flee into a parrallel catacomb, bump into Rick and my brother- leave this mess behind us...

"Mi pharos." He begins in his ancient tongue. "To dash now would prove fruitless for I am everywhere in these ruins."

Grinning dulefully, he reaches into a canopic jar and removes the dust remains of what were once his lovers intestines. Blowing on them the scatter perfectly into a carving...and then it wriggles, cracks and comes to life!

Beni screams and I find myself doing the same.

"Find them and kill them all."

I feel the panic rise into my throat once more, and then all at once I feel knuckles and wrist catch my jaw sending me spiralling downwards into the sand at my feet.

"Sleep now, mi pharos."

I ache feeling blood fill my mouth. I am vaguely aware of Imhoteps voice above me, and then I am raised up by weak arms. I can't find it anymor; I have lost my resolve, my will to fight. My face burns and my head throbs as I accept the darkness that sweeps over me like a plague.