If I didn't have bad luck, I'd have no luck at all.
Apparently freeing Evy was the only spot of good luck they were going to get at the moment because they'd barely gotten her off the altar when a rhythmic chanting began, ten mummies marching out of a damn broom closet and lining up with their shields ready and their swords raised.
"This just keeps getting better and better," O'Connell remarks, holding out his free arm to make Evy back up with him. AJ and Henderson raise their own weapons, not thrilled at yet another fight, but ready to just get it over with.
"Jonathan," AJ states," if we die because of your idiocy, then I will personally haunt your ass from now till eternity. Do something now!"
"Like what," Jonathan snaps back, holding the book against his narrow chest. "This thing doesn't exactly come with instructions, you know!"
"Finish the inscription that you started," Evy yells at him," then you can control them and we can have a small break!" Jonathan nods and scurries away from the coming battle, going further into the cemetery. "AJ, go make sure he doesn't trip and knock himself out."
"Why do I have to do it," she asks, adjusting her grip on the knife's hilt as her hand grows sweaty. "You're the expert, not me!"
"Be that as it may, you're the only one Imhotep won't kill on sight and that can come in handy. Just stand in front of him and try to keep both of you alive!" AJ turns to face Lawrence, yanking him down by the front of his shirt so she could kiss him.
"You better survive this or I'll find a way to bring you back so I can smother you myself." He gives a nod, the determination burning in his eyes enough to give AJ the confidence she needed to leave him. "Jon, wait for me!" She chases after him, batting away cobwebs and jumping over a few of the crumbling tombstones until she's beside her friend.
"Of all the people to come and help, I've got the one that's even more useless than me when it comes to this thing," he complains, gesturing at the hieroglyphics.
"Thanks, Jon, that really means a lot to me." He rolls his eyes at her sarcasm, holding the book up so they could both get a look at it. Just like with the black book, this one has an inscription etched into the gold on the left of the lock, the characters as confusing as ever. "Okay, um, what does this one say?"
"No, I already read that one and it summoned our friends. It's this one I'm stuck on." He points at the glyph, an anck symbol with two squiggly lines above it and a bird on either side of it. She and Jonathan share a look and then shout in unison.
"Evy!"
"A little busy at the moment," Evy returns, sounding breathless. AJ couldn't make her out, but she recognized the sounds of someone being choked. There's a hoarse scream and then Evy's calling out. "What's it look like?"
"What do you suppose that bird is," Jonathan asks. AJ just gives him a look that suggested he was the dumbest man on the planet, shrugging when he continues to look at her hopefully. "Right, you're useless. I don't know why I keep forgetting that." The second I get my hands on a shoe, I'm smacking him with it. "It's- It's some kind of bird, Evy! A stork!"
"A-Ahmenophus!"
"Oh yeah," AJ nods, she and Jon sharing a faint smile.
"Yeah, the squiggles threw me off," Jonathan admits, coming to a stop. "Hootash im Ahmenophus!" When they look up from the book again, they spot Imhotep a few feet away from them and the soldier mummies with their weapons raised, waiting on an order. Imhotep turns his back on the pair, growling an order at the soldiers. "Fa-Kooshka
Anck-su-namun!"
The soldiers turn and march off obediently, but the happiness of that is short lived when Imhotep turns and starts advancing on the pair. "Oh boy," AJ mutters, moving protectively in front of Jonathan.
"AJ, what do we do now?"
"Uh…. Hope that we're not brutally murdered."
"Short and sweet, I like it." They take two steps backwards with every step Imhotep takes forward, forced to stop when Jon's back hits the wall. "Trapdoors! Evy fell through one when we were being chased by the scarabs, so maybe I can find one now!"
"Get to looking, then!" She can hear him scrambling to find the trapdoor, but Imhotep was getting closer and she doubted that stabbing him in the face would actually help her any.
"New plan, get out of his way!"
"What, why?" Jon doesn't respond, shoving her out of the way right as Imhotep reached out and grasped Jon by the throat, picking him up and pinning him against the wall. For a split second AJ thought Jonathan had finally cracked under the pressure, then she realized he'd cracked long ago. As Imhotep tightened his hold, Jonathan reached into the robe and pocketed the key. "An idiot savant, who knew?"
O'Connell and Lawrence raced over, O'Connell's sword cutting Imhotep's arm off at the bicep as Lawrence helped his wife to her feet; Jonathan fell to the ground hard, the book skittering a few feet away from him. "Let's go, pal," O'Connell taunts as Imhotep turns to face him. "I bet you couldn't fight your way out of a paper bag without your right arm." With a growl, Imhotep grabs a handful of O'Connell's shirt and tosses him away. "Of course he's left handed…."
"Oh, that looked like it hurt."
"Yeah," Lawrence frowns, pulling Jonathan up," I better go help out with that." Imhotep was already halfway to O'Connell, screwing his arm back in place, when Lawrence dashes off.
"Are you okay, Jon?"
"Ask me later," he grunts, holding up the little box that doubled as a key. "Evy, I've got it!" AJ watches the fight anxiously as Evy rushes to join them, Lawrence and O'Connell getting the absolute hell beat out of them.
"Keep him busy," Evy orders, turning the key in the lock and opening the book. "AJ, you watching the fight isn't going to change any of the outcomes." She bites her lip, knowing that she wouldn't stand a chance against Imhotep's strength and she couldn't help translate anything. She was basically useless in a situation like this and it bothered her more than anything else.
"I have to do something, Evy," AJ states firmly, looking around the room for a weapon better suited to her. That's when she saw them, the two black heels that she thought she'd lost for good. "Say I'm a genius."
"Can I have a reason first?"
"Nope." AJ takes off to the right, dropping to her knees and sliding between one of the soldier's legs before getting to her feet and grabbing the shoes. "I knew these things would come in handy." With both shoes in her grasp and the knife tucked under her arm, she races back to her family.
"Oh, not the shoes again," Jonathan groans, shaking his head. AJ ignores him, waiting for Imhotep to stop moving and then chunking one of the heels at him. His bald head snaps forward when the first shoe collides with his skull, the skin splitting open to reveal the rot inside.
"Nobody gets to hit my husband!" She throws the next shoe, but Imhotep bats this one away. I may not be the best fighter, but I'm too stubborn to back down now. She charges forward as Imhotep throws Lawrence again, bending forward and tackling her ancestor to the ground. "Did you see that?!"
"I saw that!" AJ lets out a shouts as she's sent flying through the air, hitting a pillar and tumbling back to the ground. Everything goes dark for a second, pain spreading everywhere; she couldn't breathe without hurting and she was certain she had a concussion.
"Is that all you got," she yelps, rolling onto her back. She half-expected to find Imhotep above her about the finish the job, but there's only the cracked ceiling. Carefully, she rises to her feet and leans heavily against the pillar, looking for the people she cared about. Jon and Evy were still flipping through the book, O'Connell was getting strangled, and Lawrence…. Lawrence!
"I've found it," Evy shouts triumphantly. AJ didn't care at the moment, she only wanted to find her husband amongst the rubble. She nearly collapses when she moves away from the pillar, the world spinning around her and a few of the obstacles appearing alongside doubles.
"I'm gonna be sick." She clutches at her stomach, dropping to her knees and dry heaving beside one of the fallen statues.
"Kadeesh mal, kadeesh mal! Pared oos, pared oos!" Everyone looks to the stairs as a sudden howling wind picked up, a pale blue, translucent chariot and horses come charging down the stairs, Seti's spirit whipping the horses until they had run completely through Imhotep, disappearing with a blinding flash.
AJ winces and covers her eyes, her hair whipping around her face for a few seconds longer until it suddenly goes still. "What—" She straightens up as well as she can, blinking to get her eyes to adjust again.
"Hey," Lawrence coughs from somewhere close by," did he just get run over or am I seeing things?" She peers over the statue, finding Lawrence on the other side, blood running down the side of his head and soaking into the white cotton of his shirt. "Hiya, honey." AJ makes a sound of annoyance, crawling around the statue and putting Lawrence's head in her lap.
"Sweetie, can you walk?"
"Shall we find out?" AJ is the first one up, not quite steady on her feet, but at least Lawrence seems to have an easier time standing and stumbling over to the rest of the group. Everyone was huddled behind O'Connell, Jonathan clutching the golden book while AJ and Lawrence supported each other.
"I thought you said it was gonna kill him," O'Connell gripes as Imhotep advances on them again. The mummy was furious as he stomped their way, only O'Connell's sword through his belly making him stop with a pained gasp.
"He's mortal," Evy declares victoriously. Imhotep brings up a hand for everyone to see, covered in his own blood from the abdominal wound.
"That's for kidnapping my girlfriend!" Imhotep stumbles back and falls into a detritus bog, the thick black liquid bubbling around him as he returns to his decayed state. He mumbles something in his language, the words deep and echoing as he sank further and further into the bog.
"Death is only the beginning."
