O'Connell, Evelyn, Rose, Jonathan and the Warden are working next to a narrow crevice, which weaves it's way through the ruins. O'Connell ties a rope around a pillar and throws the rest of the coils into the crevice, about to rappel down. Jonathan bends over to have a look, his ass hits something, he yelps and backs away. It's the decrepit face of Anubis.
"That thing gives me the creeps." Jonathan blurted out. "Be nice. That thing saved my life." O'Connell exclaims. Evelyn and Rose are positioning ancient mirrors along the crevice.
"That "thing" gets me excited."
O'Connell statistically mutter, "The things that get you excited." Rose chokes on her saliva because of laughing to hard at O'Connells comment.
"According to Bembridge Scholars, inside the statue of Anubis was a secret compartment, perhaps containing The Book Of The Living."
"What are those mirrors for?"
"Ancient Egyptian trick. You'll see." O'Connell shrugs, then rappels down into the crevice.
O'Connell waves a torch as Rose, Jonathan, Evelyn and the warden drop down next to him. Evelyn peers into the spooky darkness. "Do you realize, we are standing inside a room that no one has entered in over four thousand years."
"Who cares? I don't see no treasure." The warden whines.
"You're welcome to my share of the spider webs." O'Connell teases. "And it stinks to high heaven in here." Jonathan exclaimed. Evelyn and Rose just rolls their eyes and mutter, "Cretins."
Jonathan sniffs the foul air, then he looks at the warden and realizes where the smell is coming from. He stops sniffing. Evelyn brushes cobwebs away from a metal disk on the wall, then repositions it on it's pedestal, aiming it at a ray of light shining in from the outer mirrors. The ray of light hits the disk and quickly shoots around the room from one disk to another until the whole chamber is lit up. Light rays shoot off down the passageways. It's an embalmer's chamber.
"That is a neat trick." O'Connell states impressed.
"Oh my god, It's a preparation room." Evy exclaims with joy.
"Preparation for what?"
Rose answers,"For entering the afterlife" O'Connell quickly draws his gun. Jonathan gently nudges him, "Mummies, my good son, this is where they made the mummies." Evelyn heads down a narrow passageway. The others follow.
O'Connell, Evelyn and Jonathan crouch as they make their way through a narrow, cobweb infested labyrinth. Rose and the short, squat warden could stand straight up. Then they hear something and freeze. It sounds like somebody is clawing inside the walls. They share looks. Then slowly move forward. Getting darker and darker as they go. The strange sound getting louder and louder. And then it stops. Rose and Evelyn holds their breath. Jonathan licks his lips. O'Connell cocks his pistol. The warden farts. O'Connell, Jonathan, Rose and Evelyn glare at him.
They slowly creep out of the labyrinth and up to the foot of an enormous half-buried statue. The lower half of Anubis. Then they hear the sound again, coming closer now, from the other side of the statue. And closer. O'Connell pulls Evelyn behind him. While Jonathan does the same to Rose. And closer. O'Connell raises his gun. And closer! O'Connell leaps out. Three horrible sweaty faces lunge at him. O'Connell reacts. But doesn't pull the trigger because it's just the Americans, their guns are up, cocked and aimed.
Henderson mutters, "Ya scared the bejeezus out of us, O'Connell."
"Likewise." But nobody lowers their guns. Daniels grins, the tough one. "This here is our statue,...friend."
"Don't see your name on it,...pal." And that's when Beni, five Diggers and the Egyptologist step out of the shadows, all holding guns aimed at O'Connell.
"Ten to one, O'Connell, your odds are no-so-good."
"I've had worse." Jonathan clenches a tiny derringer."Yes, me to." O'Connell gives him a sideways glance. Beni cocks his gun, grinning, he wants it to happen. The tension thickens. Then Evelyn gently takes O'Connell's gun hand and pulls it down.
"Let's be nice, children, if we're going to play together, we must learn to share." Rose snickers as Evelyn pulls O'Connell away. Jonathan and the Warden follow. Beni and the Americans slowly lower their guns, laughing. The Egyptologist excitedly begins translating the hieroglyphs.
O'Connell and Jonathan are using sledge-hammers against the ceiling. Rose is watching everyone work, the reason she isn't helping is because they didn't have enough tools for everyone. Evelyn is gently chipping away with a tiny chisel.
"According to my calculations, we should be right under the statue. We'll come up right between his legs." She blushes and laughs,'Oh my." Rose chuckles lightly to herself at Evy's comment.
"And when those dirty Yanks go to sleep..." He turns to O'Connell,"No offense."
"None taken."
"...We'll sneak up and steal that book right out from under them." Jonathan continues.
"And you're sure you can find the secret compartment?"
"Yes, if their Egyptologist hasn't already found it."
Jonathan looks around."I say, what's our smelly little friend got himself up to?"
"Maybe he found a cute mummy girlfriend." Rose teases.
The Warden crawls into a dark chamber and lights a torch. A mural wall comes alive. Embedded into it are dozens of black amethyst scarabs; glittering images of the sacred beetles. Awestruck, the Warden pulls out a pocket knife and starts prying away at one of the precious bugs.
Beni and the Americans hover around the Egyptologist, who's found the secret compartment inside Anubis. The Egyptologist brushes sand away from the seam. Henderson steps forward and grabs the seam, the Egyptologist quickly stops him."Seti was no fool."
Henderson sees the intense look in the Egyptologist's eyes."Yeah, sure..."
He looks back at the native Diggers."We'll let them open it."
The Egyptologist nods, then yells in Egyptian at the Diggers. The Diggers hesitate, filled with fear. Daniels pulls out his gun, aims it at three of the Diggers. The three Diggers hesitantly step forward with crowbars and stick them into the seams. The other Diggers back away, scared shitless. Beni and the Americans exchange looks, and then they back away as well.
O'Connell, Evy and Jonathan are still digging into the ceiling, while Rose looks at them disturbed by their conversation. "Lemme get this straight, they stuck a sharp, red hot poker up your nose, cut your brain into small pieces, then ripped it all out through your nostrils?"
"OWCH!" Jonathan gasped."That's really got to hurt."
"It's called mummification. You're dead when they do this."
"Still..." Jonathan starts.
"I agree with ol' Johnny boy. That doesn't sound pleasant dead or alive." Rose told Evy honestly. "Yeah, that'd bring you back to life."
"You three are worse than a couple of schoolkids." And that's when a huge chunk of the roof suddenly givens out. O'Connell grabs Evelyn and jerks her clear. Jonathan dives for the far wall. Rose covers her head even though she was lucky because she was sitting off from were it fell. A massive stone casement drops out of the ceiling and crashes to the floor. Dust flies and fills the room.
Having heard the crash, Beni and the Americans have their guns pointed at the floor. The Egyptologist could care less, he looks at the Diggers, gripping their crowbars, and yells "FENI!"
The three Diggers pull hard. The ancient seams start to give, The Egyptologist yells again. The Diggers pull harder. The compartment starts to loosen. Again he yells. The Diggers give one final pull and an intense burst of liquid sprays out of the seam and hits the three diggers. Melting their skin clean off. They scream. Dying horribly. Half skeletal by the time they hit the ground...
The dust is starting to clear. Rose, O'Connell, Evelyn and Jonathan slowly get up and step over to the massive stone casement. "Oh my god,...it looks like, it looks like a sarcophagus."
"Why would they bury somebody in the ceiling?" Rose looks at O'Connell unimpressed.
"They didn't, they buried him at the foot of Anubis. He was either someone of great importance. or he did something very naughty."
Rose smiles while uttering loudly."My vote is the naughty."
The warden drops an amethyst-scarab into his pouch, then greedily-starts prying away at another. It rips off, he drops it into his pouch, only he misses, and this scarab quietly falls to the sandy floor without the Warden noticing. The scarab on the floor begins to transform. The amethyst starts to glow. Something inside starts to wiggle; as if the amethyst were some sort of strange cocoon. Then it splits open and a real live hideous scarab beetle scurries out. It races over to the warden's shoe, quickly burrows into the leather and vanishes inside. The Warden's eyes fly open. He starts to scream, drops his knife and frantically starts clawing away at his pant leg, higher and higher until he rips open his shirt revealing a large, hideous lump, burrowing under his skin. It burrows its way up his fat belly and across his hairy chest. The Warden claws and scratches at it, trying to stop it. The lump burrows up his neck. The Warden starts gagging and coughing. And then the scarab-lump vanishes into his head.
As everyone clears the dirt off the top of the sarcophagus, revealing a single, ominous hieroglyph. Evelyn stares at it Jonathan impatiently strums his fingers across the lid."Well?... Who is it?"
Evelyn stares at the hieroglyph, confused and concerned. "He that shall not be named."
O'Connell dusts off the huge lock,"There's some sort of lock here. You say these thing's are made of granite with a steel interior?"
"Quarried granite with a cobalt lining."
"Whoever's in here, sure wasn't getting out." Rose nods to Jonathans statement, then stops hoping that makes her ever growing headache lessen.
"No kiddin', without a key, it'll take us a month to crack this thing."
"A key! That's it! That's what he was talking about."
"Who was talking about what?" Rose agrees with O'Connell, that's a good question.
Evelyn starts rummaging through the pack on Jonathan's back.
"The man on the barge. The one with the hook, he was looking for a key." Rose peers at her sister, than closes her eyes hoping that will help make the golden hue that is invading the edges of her vision fade.
Evelyn pulls out the box. Jonathan tries to take it back,"Hey that's mine!"
Evelyn slaps his hand and quickly unfolds the box, it's now shaped exactly like the lock's keyhole. Evelyn smiles. And that's when they hear the Warden's screams echoing through the labyrinth. All four of them turn and take-off running.
The Warden is screaming and dancing insanely around the labyrinth, totally freaked from the extreme pain in his head. O'Connell, Evelyn, Rose and Jonathan run up just as the Warden starts ripping his own hair out of his head. O'Connell and Jonathan grab at the Warden's hands, but he's far too crazed, he shoves them aside, runs full bore down the length of the labyrinth and slams his head straight into a rock wall. The Warden drops to the ground. Dead as lead. Eyes wide open. O'Connell, Rose, Evelyn and Jonathan just stand there staring, breathing hard, wide-eyed themselves...