That next morning it was unbelievably hot so Zahra decided just to stay in the light clothes. Since Imhotep is here she decided to take Rick up on his offer and join his group for the day. And it will help ensure that they need her warning and not open the sarcophagus.

Securing her weapons on her body she grabbed her dagger and kept it close. Zahra wasn't gonna lie. Ardeth had been on her mind majority of the night. He was different but she couldn't decide if it was a good or bad difference. Walking up to the camp further up into the ruins she noticed the pained expressions on all three of their faces.

"hungover?"

Evy looked up quickly lightly startled. "please never let me drink again."

"Cant promise you anything babes."

After the trio had breakfast and their hangovers were practically gone they made their way down into the ruins. Apparently they had plans to open the sarcophagus.

Walking into the chamber area they all stopped slightly nervous at the note left in the sand. Zahra went along with it not really wanting to get caught and subconsciously hid her hand behind her. Why? Because the note was written in the sand in blood. Of course in ancient Egyptian.

Rick looked to Evy to translate for them. "it says 'leave or die'."

Rick stepped forward. "must be those desert guys."

Zahra sighed inwardly not exactly happy that her message didn't get through to them. Yet like she had thought last night while talking to ardeth, these people went give up so easily.

The guys lifted the sarcophagus up so it was leaning against the wall. Evy was nearly bouncing in anticipation.

"I have been dreaming about this since I was a little girl!"

Rick and Zahra looked at her with weird looks. "you dream about dead guys?" they looked at each other and shrugged when Evy didn't answer then.

"oh the sacred spells have been chiseled off. This person must have not only been condemned in this life but the next."

Zahra inspected it further. "sounds like a him problem."

Jonathan who is more anxious about treasure interrupted the girls. "yes yes I'm all tears. Let's see who this chap is shall we?"

Everyone watched in anticipation as Evy used the key and unlocked the sarcophagus. Zahra pulled out her dagger and waited as the boys tried to pry open the lid. Dust shot out, the lid fell to the ground and the mummy jumped out causing everyone to scream.

"I hate when these things do that!" Zahra wanted to know which tombs Evy's been in where the mummies do that. She knew that never happened to her.

When the dust settled everyone got a better look at their friend.

"holy shit." Zahra said in disbelief at what was I front of her.

"is he supposed to look like that?" Rick looked between the mummy and Evy.

"I've never seen a mummy look like that before."

"neither have I. And I've raided quite a few tombs in my life."

Everyone looked at her until they got a closer look. "he must be over three thousand years old and he's still…..still…"

"Juicy." the boys said in unison.

Zahra took the time to inspect the lead to see if the stories were true. Rick noticed her looking and grabbed the other twos attention.

"hey what do you make of this?"

Evy bent down and inspected the marks. "they're marks from…..fingernails."

"he was buried alive." Zahra said before standing. As they were preoccupied she decided to make her way up to camp.

Why had her father sent her here? Why was this dagger so important? Why couldn't he just tell her instead of everything being a mystery? Deciding she needed some time away from this place she grabbed a bag with supplies and decided to take a walk.

As she was walking she saw a Hawke fly above her. Shielding her eyes from the sun she followed the bird until he landed on one of the shadow people on the ridge.

"Ardeth."

Smiling slightly to herself she continued her walk only for the Hawke to fly towards her landing on her shoulder. Curious she rubbed his head and he seemed to enjoy it. She noticed a small tube attached to his leg. Gently without scaring him she grabbed it and unrolled it like a scroll.

"meet me near Hamunaptra at dusk."

She wondered what ardeth wanted to talk about. Especially since he has a chance to get caught. Looming at the position of the sun she concluded it was mid day and decided to start making her way back. Zahra had attempted to get the Hawke to fly back but he refused to leave her shoulder.

Getting back to her camp she retreated into her makeshift tent and got the Hawke something to drink and eat which he seemed to appreciate. Watching the bird relax in the side she sighed.

"wish I knew your name little guy. Little guy is just a mouthful."

"his name is Horus."

Zahra let out a scream in surprise when a hand went over her mouth. Having been in this position before she relaxed knowing exactly who it is. Pulling his hand off her mouth she smiled slightly.

"you know putting your hand on a woman's mouth is rude."

"stealing a man's friend is also rude."

Zahra rolled her eyes but smiled anyways. "I didn't steal him. He just like me better."

"no doubt because you spoil him."

She couldn't believe they were having this conversation right now but she could see the amusement in Ardeth's face.

"don't tell me how to raise my child."

"your child?"

Zahra smiled happily and Ardeth rather enjoyed that look on her face. It suited her more than the constant angry look. Little did he know Zahra thinks the same thing about him.

"besides Horus what did you need to speak of?"

"any news on the creature?"

Ardeth watched as she sighed in disappointment. "I really did try but they opened his sarcophagus. But apparently a note written in blood in the sand doesn't faze them."

"what do you mean?"

Zahra held up her badly bandaged hand. The cloth on her palm had red stained on it. Realizing she was hurt he took her wrist in his hand and started removing the cloth not hearing a single sound from her.

Once the cloth was removed he saw a decent sized cut on her palm. "how did this happen?"

"I needed some way to keep them away so I cut my hand and wrote a note in the sand. But as I said they didn't care."

Zahra watched as Ardeth got into his sack and pulled out what looks like medicine. He warned that it might burn slightly as he applied the ointment to her hand. She just watched him work gently and carefully. After her wrapped her hand he looked up to see her smiling.

"thank you."

Ardeth just nodded. He didn't understand why she was thanking him. But her smile dropped and it looked like she was deep in thought.

"Ardeth last night you mentioned a mark. What mark were you talking about?"

"the one on your shoulder."

Zahra maneuvered to look at her shoulder. Oh he meant her tattoo. "this old thing? I got it on my sixteenth birthday. My dad picked it out."

"you do not know what that means?"

Zahra shook her head. All her father told her was it was tradition and she wasn't one to argue with her dad. She was just happy she was getting a tattoo.

"it means-"

"no! You must not read from the book!"

Realization hit the both of them and Zahra started pushing Ardeth out of her tent. "go you must get your men here!"

Once she said that a loud roaring sound was heard followed by what sounded like…. Locusts. Ardeth looked at Zahra before racing to his horse. "stay safe. I will be back. Horus!"

Ardeth and Zahra went their separate ways as she run up to Rick and his group. Rick was rushing everyone inside before running in himself. Zahra watched as one of the Americans, Burns she believes fell losing his glasses. Beni had pushed past her causing to hit her head. She shook the dizziness away and made her way to Mr. Burns.

"Mr. Burns its Zahra. I'm going to help you get to safety ok?"

"thank you Zahra thank you."

Zahra linked their arms together and as fast as she could she tried to get them to safety. As they were walking through the tunnel she heard a growl behind her. Releasing mr. Burns she pulled out her gun and whipped around quickly. She tried to focus her eyes to the dark when she heard the growl behind her again.

She turned around only to find Mr. Burns standing there. The he body went stiff bad blood ran cold when the growl was right in her ear. Turning around she was met with a hard smack making her fly back and hit the wall very hard.

Mr. Burns screamed in terror and agony and Zahra shakily stood and shot without hitting Burns. The creature turned making his way over to her. He knocked her gun out of her hand and threw her against the opposite wall. He made his way over to make sure she wasn't going to get in the way when he heard a feminine voice call for mr. Burns.

"oh Mr. Burns. I was starting to get scared." Evy screamed out in fear when Burns turned around revealing he no longer had eyes.

The creature came out of the darkness and roared which caused Evy to scream again and back up against the wall.

"Ank-su-namun?"

"there you are what the hell are you doing?" Rick ran up to her. When she didn't look at him he followed her eyes and jumped back away from the mummy but put himself in between Evy and the creature.

The creature roared loudly before Rick shot him with his shotgun, grabbing g Evy's hand and pulling her to safety. The creature did not follow them instead he went to find the others who opened the box.

Zahra however was still knocked out in the shadows

-
Hey guys! Thanks for reading my story! What do you think the mark is? Will Zahra wake up alone or will the creature get her? Let me know what you think!