Little Miss Bump- XD I'm glad you enjoyed it. –blushes- There you go making me do that again. But thanks and I'm glad you enjoyed it. As always, the next chapter should be up very soon. XD
err... who am i? - Nope, not good at all. Well, they are going to be fun for her to watch, not so much fun for the Tracy's. Yep, Evie and on to the rescue and there is plenty of action on the way. Ha-ha! Okay, I'll go bug the Tracy's some more.
Gilian 101- Sorry! I don't mean to distract you from work! Then again, this story distracts me from school too. : P Totally understandable. Real life comes first. And that is a very good question, though I don't think I will ever figure out the answer to it. Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Dang, you're making me blush too! I'll do my best too. I'm glad you enjoyed that, for there is plenty more on the way. They will, just not as quickly as they would like. Alan's big boo-boo is still a ways off yet, but he will be getting some scraps and such along with the rest of his family. It happens just when you think things can't get any worse.
Pinkranger888- XD I'm glad you enjoyed it and I'm glad you like them. Yep, and that's going to be the first of their troubles and Gordon's and the rest of the Tracy's are going to get plenty of bruises. They would have loved to do that, but when you're surrounded by people with knives that would go after your family if you even say something back, not a good idea. Yep, it does suck and it's only going to get worse. Of course I will. It's okay, real life takes precedence. XD
Chapter Sixteen- The City of the Dead
September 8th, 2024
Evelyn glanced around the area as she stood beside Thunderbird Three, waiting for John, Fermat, and Tin-Tin. None of them wore helmets, seeing as they were in the middle of the Sahara and the nearest town was at least a day away by aircraft. The sun was just rising in the east, throwing the few ruins that were peeking out of the sand into shadow and giving the place the feeling that something was hidden beneath them, and that it was nothing good.
Thunderbirds One and Two were off to her left and between them and the ruins was a multitude of tents that had been slashed to pieces with only one or two still partly standing. Within the ruins were piles of dirt around a large, deep pit and several shovels lie in the sand.
"Any idea where we are?" John asked as he walked up and stood beside her, his blue eyes scanning the landscape around them.
"No idea," she shook her head. "None of the maps I've seen have shown any city, ancient or modern, in this area."
"So what do we do?" asked Tin-Tin as she and Fermat came up on either side of the two siblings.
"Look around and see what we can find anything that can give us a clue as to what happened here," Evelyn explained, glancing over at the two family friends. She then looked to John beside her. "Or find something that can give us a clue as to where they are now, besides the footage from the exterior cameras."
John looked over at Evelyn beside him and nodded, his expression neutral. Without another word, the four of them headed off in separate directions. Evelyn walked towards the ruins, hoping that they might give her a clue as to where exactly they were. As she knelt down beside a small, crumpling wall that was peeking out of the sand around the ruins. Evelyn sucked in a deep breath and blew the sand off of a set of faded carvings in the wall. Her eyebrow's furrowed as she struggled to read the writing for a few moments. "Hamunaptra," she gasped. Before she would read the carvings beneath it, a piercing scream met the air.
"Tin-Tin, what happened?" Evelyn heard John ask through the headsets the four of them wore as she pushed herself away from the wall and began to run in the direction the scream had come from.
"I-It's-I," she began but broke off with a gasp. Evelyn quickened her pace towards the single, fully standing when she saw Fermat enter the tent. Glancing to her right, Evelyn saw John also approaching the tent.
"Three c-c-c-bodies," Fermat stated a few seconds after he entered the tent. Her heart skipping a beat in her chest, Evelyn ran the rest of the way to the tent and arrived a few seconds behind John. As soon as the two siblings entered the tent, it was obvious why Tin-Tin had screamed.
What was left of three bodies were scattered around the tent, half the size they had been in life. They were shriveled up, drained of all organs and liquids and all three held expressions of horror on their faces. As Fermat wrapped an arm around a wide eyed Tin-Tin, John and Evelyn stepped forward and knelt down to examine the nearest corpse.
The body was obviously female, with faded red hair and a large overbite visible from her mouth, which was opened in a silent scream. Where have I seen her before? Evelyn thought as she looked away from the corpse and to the one laying a few feet away. He had obviously been very large and muscular during life and he too looked familiar to Evelyn. Glancing to the final corpse, Evelyn's eyes widened in recognition at the horror filled face of the corpse. "Ness," she muttered.
"What?" John asked, likened up from the corpse of the women and towards his sister.
Evelyn pointed to the third corpse. "That one is Ness," she stated, before looking down at the one she was beside, the identity of her and the other man becoming obvious. "This is Transom and Mullion."
Tin-Tin and Fermat moved away from the entrance to the tent to stand beside her as they looked down at the women. After a few seconds, their eyes widened in recognition at the two people they had encountered four years prior. Looking between the three corpses, Tin-Tin asked, "What happened to them?"
Evelyn began to shake her head as she stood up, only for her eyes to land on a familiar chest setting off to the side of the tent. "He's regenerated," Evelyn stated softly, shaking her head sadly at the thought of what had been the fate of these three people. Though she had not liked them as two of them had tried to kill her family and the one had tricked her, she did not like the way that they had died.
John followed her gaze and saw the box before looking back towards Evelyn. "That's the box you saw in Amarna?"
"Yes," she nodded, looking away from the chest and towards her brother. "The reason they look like this is because Yuja assimilated their organs and fluids. The only thing that can kill him now is the golden book of Amun Ra."
"Amun Ra?" John repeated as he stood from where he had been kneeling beside the corpse. Evelyn opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by the whinnying of a horse coming from outside the tent. Glancing around at each other and frowning in confusion, the group exited the tent only to stop still at what awaited them outside.
A group of twenty men garbed in black stood before them, their horses visible behind them. Only their eyes were visible and those in front held unsheathed sabers towards of the men in the front stepped forward, his dark eyes scanning over each of them. "Are you the ones that have killed are brethren?"
"No," Evelyn replied. The man's eyes snapped to her. "We have come here in search for our family."
"Taymullah!" called one of the men as he stepped forward out of the group. The man before them turned to face him. As he stopped before the man, who was a head taller than him, his dark eyes flickered towards Evelyn and he pulled down his face cover. Evelyn gasped at the familiar face of Kaphiri Alavi. "This is Evelyn Tracy, the one Adrien tricked into reading the excerpt and it is her family that the one called the Hood is after."
"How do you know that?" Evelyn asked. The two men looked towards her, Taymullah lowering his sword.
"I overheard Adrien talking to the Hood about it the night before," Kaphiri explained. John, Fermat, and Tin-Tin looked between the two in confusion. "He freely talked about it within earshot of me, not aware that I could understand every word he was saying."
Evelyn looked at Kaphiri incredulously. "You can speak English?"
"I am the only one in our tribe that can speak it fluently," he replied with a smile that was almost smug. Seeing Evelyn's confused look at the mention of his 'tribe', he motioned to the group of men around him. "We are a few of the last Medjai in the world."
"Evelyn?"
She looked over beside her to see her brother looking between her and Kaphiri in confusion. "How do you know him?"
"You remember me telling you about Kaphiri Alavi?" she inquired.
John looked thoughtful for a moment before he nodded. "But I thought he couldn't speak English?"
"None but my tribe know that I can," he replied with a smile before his expression turned serious. "Now, I believe you said something about your family."
"Yes," John began. "We lost communication with them about two hours ago before losing their signals completely."
"And you are?" Kaphiri asked, looking towards John, Fermat, and Tin-Tin with a curious expression.
"Oh, this is my older brother John," Evelyn answered, putting a hand on her older brother's arm. "And these two are good friends of ours, Fermat Hackenbacker and Tin-Tin Belagant."
Kaphiri nodded towards each of them in turn. "Pleasure to meet you. Though I do wish it was under better circumstances."
"Same here," Tin-Tin replied softly.
"Kaphiri, is this really Hamunaptra?" Evelyn asked, motioning to the landscape around them.
"Yes, it is," Kaphiri replied.
"Then do you know where the Book of Amun Ra is?" Taymullah, who had been paying little attention to the conversation and had been conversing with one of the other Medjai turned around quickly at the mention of the book.
Kaphiri looked shocked at her question. "How do you know about that?"
"I did my research on the Book of the Dead after resurrecting Yuja," she explained. "And since the Book of the Dead is obviously real, then I thought that the Book of Amun Ra is also real."
"You are right," Kaphiri sighed. "But the Book of Amun Ra is no longer here."
Evelyn felt her heart sink. If the Book was no longer here, then where was it. "Then where is it?"
"The Book was removed roughly ninety years ago," Kaphiri replied. He glanced over at Taymullah , who was watching them intently even though he could not completely understand what they were saying. "It was Taymullah's great grandfather who was commander at the time it was removed by a man named Rick O'Connell, his wife Evelyn, and their son Alex."
Evelyn's eyes widened. Her mother's grandparents had removed the Book from Hamunaptra. "Then we need to go to London."
"First we need to get the 'birds back to the island," John interjected. "And see if the camera's show what direction they headed off in."
Kaphiri glanced towards the three large machines that were several yards away before heading over to where Taymullah stood. They conversed quietly for a few moments before Taymullah nodded. Kaphiri mumbled a reply before walking back to where he had stood several moments before. "I shall go with you. I may be of assistance in tracking them and I will keep Taymullah informed so he can assist us once we know where to go."
Evelyn sighed and looked over at John. "We need them John. They know this desert better than anyone."
Kaphiri, sensing their dilemma, smiled towards the siblings. "If you are worried about me revealing the base of International Rescue to the world," he began. "The Medjai have protected secrets for centuries, one of them being Hamunaptra. And if I were to tell anyone, they would most likely take me as insane and suffering from sun stroke."
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Roughly thirty miles south of Hamunaptra, the missing members of the Tracy family, along with Kyleigh and Narmer trudged along after Yuja, Saadia, and the Hood who rode a good distance ahead of them on camels. As when they had been sitting hours before, the guards rode in a circle around them to make sure they would not run off. But running off would be suicide, for nothing but desert surrounded them.
Jeff glanced at his sons as they walked around him, all of them covered in sweat and panting from the distance they had been forced to walk. Though the suits did not help, the temperature was already quite warm and then sun had not even been up an hour yet. Jeff moved closer to Scott and gripped his son's arm, the most comforting motion he could do with his hands in handcuffs. "How's the head?" he inquired.
Scott smiled over at his father. "A slight headache, but I've had worse."
They both then looked forward to where Alan, Gordon, and Virgil walked a few feet ahead of them, the eldest of the trio once more asking Gordon how his ribs were. Jeff and Scott smiled fondly as Gordon replied with his usual 'fine' before stumbling. Alan and Virgil caught his arms before he fell forward and pulled him back up. As the trio stopped to make sure he was okay, Jeff and Scott caught up to them.
"Are you alight?" Scott asked, looking over his second youngest brother.
Gordon nodded. "Yeah, just tripped but I'm okay." He glanced around at his family's raised eyebrows and sighed. "Really. I'm fine."
Jeff smiled fondly at the red head and reached forward and rubbed his shoulder. Gordon smiled up at his father and stepped forward to hug him awkwardly. As Gordon leaned against him, Jeff looked up at the rest of his sons with him and smiled.
Behind them, one of the guards on camel shouted in Egyptian as he came up behind Jeff before kicking him hard in the back. Jeff was pushed forward and into Gordon, who was in turn pushed to the ground. Alan helped Gordon up as Scott steadied their father. The four brothers glared at the guard, who only laughed in response and shouted once more, motioning for them to move.
The group did as they were told, though the brothers continued to glare at the guard until he was once more a few feet behind them. The glares then disappeared as they looked at their father in concern as he stretched his back and winced.
"Dad, are you alright?" Virgil inquired as he walked beside his father.
"I'll be alright," Jeff replied as he stopped stretching. "My back has suffered worse hits then that."