It was a beautiful, hot, golden dawn as the bedraggled and mismatched group of Ardeth Bay, Rick O'Connell, Jonathan Carnahan, David Daniels, and one depressed looking Pharaoh Hound called Anu made their way across the start of the desert to the largely abandoned airfield Winston Havlock had made a temporary residence.

"Now do you see why you can't bring the dog?" Rick grumbled tiredly as he gestured a sweaty hand forward to Winston's lone biplane. His cream shirt was now several shades of brown, yellow and red thanks to sweat, sand, dirt and blood and he was becoming less and less fond of the odour those same stains gave off in the morning heat.

"How exactly can you bring us never mind the dog?" Jonathan quipped as he frowned and gave the plane a puzzled expression. He looked even more dishevelled than Rick, his blazer was abandoned on the streets of Cairo, his shirt was almost entirely brown from the sewers and his off-white trousers had become a questionable shade of grey.

They had hastened from the streets of Cairo back to the fort to grab more bullets and guns before following Rick out to the airfield, travelling through the remainder night with little pause for rest, knowing that every second counted.

It was at the fort that they had found Anu, sitting outside the door to the Carnahan quarters waiting for a mistress who had sternly ordered him to stay in the fort. Rick had dismissed the dog with a barely a glance. Jonathan had mumbled awkward sentiments to Anu, suggested the dog was safe in the fort, and that he probably wouldn't understand anyway. Ardeth had looked at the dog gravely, remarked that animals were very perceptive and said that he could see the deep loyalty in the canine's eyes. Daniels had been the one to crouch before the hound, uncharacteristically reaching out a hand to scratch its ears before confessing the death of its mistress to it, addressing Anu sorrowfully as if the dog were human. When the dog had proceeded to howl before following them through the fort and out of it, it was Daniels who had insisted on letting the dog come with them. With no time to argue, Rick had simply grumbled that the dog couldn't travel to Hamunaptra the way they were going before leaving the matter at that.

"Dog's comin'," Daniels grumbled. "I left her body on the street to rot I ain't leavin' her dog too." He bristled at his own reminder. At least Burns and Henderson had been buried somewhere but Jess, she was just lying on some filthy street like rubbish. Daniels had promised himself that he would return for her when he got the chance but he didn't know whether he would ever find her remains or even if really wanted to. If he did what condition would they be in? He swallowed hard and dismissed that thought.

"You picked a fine time to stop being an ass and get sentimental," Rick scorned him with a shake of his head before making a beeline towards two figures near the plane who were looking at them inquisitively.

Winston sat on a wooden deckchair beneath a large, red parasol that a servant attended, on his right side was a tea trolley and a gramophone playing a merry, classical tune through the desert air, and on his left side was a table with several beverages resting upon them.

"And this man hates the way his life is," Jonathan complained sardonically, "I mean it certainly does look terrible, oh yes."

"Morning Winston," Rick greeted with a brittle cheer as he stepped up to the man, pausing to fix his faded blue neckerchief as he did.

"Morning Rick," the Englishman answered brightly as he stared up at him curiously, barely batting at an eye at his condition or his odd mixture of companions.

"A word?" Rick quipped as his eyes flickered over to the servant pointedly.

Winston waved the servant off with one hand and the man gave a nod before pacing off. Rick then began a hurried tale of men and a woman murdered by an evil from the desert that now had another woman captive in its grasp with a limited time for her survival.

"And what's your little problem got to do with His Majesty's Royal Air Corps?" Winston queried calmly as he tried to take in the news.

"Not a damn thing," Rick admitted as he rested his hands on his hips and peered out to the desert wearily.

Winston looked intrigued in this, leaning up slightly to ask, "will it be dangerous?"

"You probably won't live through it," Rick answered calmly.

"By Jove, do you really think so?" Winston queried excitedly as a bright spark long thought extinguished filled his eyes.

"Everyone else we've bumped into has died, why not you?" Rick retorted with a shrug.

"What's the challenge then?" Winston asked as he finally stood up, looking over Rick's shoulder at his companions as he at last wondered where they fit into it all.

"Rescue the damsel in distress, kill the bad guy and save the world," Rick summed up dryly like it was no big deal.

Winston's eyes went wide. "Oh! Winston Havelock at your service sir!" he announced as he saluted.

Rick gave a half-hearted salute in response before nodding and turning back to the others. "Alright, how are we going to do this?" He glanced back at Winston. "I need to get all of us in the air ASAP Winston."

"Even the dog?" Winston retorted as he looked at the black hound curiously.

"No," Rick answered.

"Yes," Daniels argued firmly with a glower at the Chicago born man.

"Daniels we are not out for walkies here," Rick snapped.

"We'll have to put some of you on the wings," Winston decided as he raised one finger and thumb under his chin with a thoughtful look. "There only is one plane but she's tough she'll hold you."

"I'm sorry on the what?" Jonathan quipped as he paled slightly.

Daniels folded his arms and looked at Rick smugly. "Well that settles it."

"What?" Rick spread his arms outwards as he looked back at his fellow American in disbelief. "How does that settle it?"

"You'll need two of us on either side for balance, not that I relish the idea," Daniels pointed, "which leaves a seat for the dog."

"Daniels are you out of your goddamn mind?!" Rick snapped at him. "The damn dog is not getting the only seat on the plane! I get it, you're sad about Jess but taking her dog on a tour of the desert isn't going to help!"

"Well he has a point," Winston mused, grinning when Rick gave him an exasperated look, "I mean you can't have two on one side and not the other, might lead to the plane flipping."

"Er about this plane travelling," Jonathan interrupted as he raised one finger as if in question and stepped forward.

"No time for your panicking now Jonathan," Rick scorned with a shake of his head. "And none of that means we have to take the dog Daniels," he snapped at the Texan.

"It doesn't mean we don't have to take the dog," Daniels replied stubbornly.

Anu barked as if in agreement with the man and turned a fierce stare on Rick.

Rick pressed his palms on his knees and leaned down slightly to smile cynically at the canine. "If you knew what that mad man had planned for you, you wouldn't be wagging your tail," he said as he pointed briefly at Daniels.

"The dog initially unsettled the creature," Ardeth pointed out, "perhaps it can still have this effect."

"See, the desert freak gets it," Daniels snapped as he gestured to Ardeth with one hand, ignoring the look of displeasure he got in response.

"I can't believe I'm hearing this," Rick grumbled with a roll of his eyes, "you actually want us to fly with a dog and the dog gets the seat."

"Given everything so far it's not so crazy," Jonathan commented, "and can I just say, I really don't mind walking with the dog."

"No, let's just get this show on the way," Rick grumbled as he turned back to Winston.

Twenty minutes later found them all securely strapped to the wings of the plane with Winston in the front seat and Anu, after much struggling and confused whimpering, strapped in the back to sit uselessly behind the plane's machine gun. Rick, though he looked the least nervous, was easily the most as he had been the only one strapped on by Winston and he did not have a lot of faith in the man's abilities to secure a load.

Once they were finally up in the air after a bumpy, laborious take off the screaming and barking began. Rick just cursed to himself whilst Jonathan shut his eyes and squealed. It was hard to time the journey as they all had to shut their eyes at several points thanks to sand in the air and the force of the wind, and everything seemed to past them by in a blur anyway.

Only when the wall of sand appeared did they snap back to reality.

"I want off! I want off!" Jonathan immediately began to panic.

It was a bizarre, almost mesmerising sight, a shifting wall of golden brown sand just to their right, it could have been part of a desert storm but somehow they all knew that wasn't the case. When it moved it was as if part of the desert had come to life.

"Hey Winston, pedal faster!" Rick snapped fiercely.

"Hang on men!" Winston shouted as he turned the plane down in a dive before pulling up sharply as the wall of sand seemed to purposely chase them.

The plane swayed left and right as the men all cursed and yelled and Anu barked frantically. The dog's barks turned into howls as a face appeared in the wall of sand, the giant, unmistakable image of their immortal foe, mouth agape and ready to devour once more.

The sand flew into every orifice, burning nostrils and blinding eyes as the open mouth of the sand mummy seemed to swallow the plane. With a loud roar the sand seemed to collapse around them as the plane spun frantically, trying to fight against the force of the wind and sand. As the sand fell back to the desert the plane escaped but the sputtering noises and the rapid speed it fell at made it clear that they weren't out of danger yet.

"Here I come laddies!" Winston cried out happily, his cheeks flushed with joy as he seemed to know that at long last his death wish was about to be realised and he was finally, finally going to join all his close friends that he had lost in the war.

The plane jerked up slightly, in time to spare it from being completely obliterated on impact, instead it slid slowly into the soft sands, coming to a halt in a flurry of sand and smoke as the nozzle was sucked up by the desert. The passengers struggled hastily to escape, Rick cutting his way free with a knife tugged out from his sleeve and Ardeth yanking his scimitar up to free his straps on its blade. Once free, Ardeth helped Daniels whilst Rick assisted the shouting Jonathan.

"A little help would be useful...if it's not too much trouble!" the Englishman yelled almost hysterically as his eyes blazed with rage.

Once freed, Daniels moved to Anu, freeing the hound and plucking him up from the plane whilst Rick went to Winston. "Not a hair outta place mutt," Daniels assured before dumping Anu on the ground with little grace.

Anu gave a growl of displeasure before shaking himself.

"Winston! Hey Winston!"

The pilot was still, eyes shut and a grin on his face. The plane lurched suddenly and began to sink rapidly into the sand without warning. "Quicksand! Get back!" Ardeth snapped.

The group stumbled back to safety, pausing to watch sombrely as yet another companion went to his grave. Daniels was unnerved at the sight, death seemed to come far too easily in Egypt, in just a handful of days his two closest friends were gone as was a woman who he had not even had time to decipher his feelings for.

Rick saluted the plane and watched in a respectful silence until it was out of sight. Once the sand had settled they turned and started a weary trek back towards a familiar destination.

"There it is," Jonathan remarked with a tired stare as the ruins of the dead city came into sight. His stomach was churning still and he felt like he could throw up. The desert heat certainly wasn't helping with that and the man couldn't help but feel an eagerness to get to the shade of the city even if it was cursed.

"Hell," Daniels commented grimly as he frowned. His head was pounding, his left arm had gone numb and he knew he had more bruises to add to the collection.

When they reached the ruins they paused for a brief moment's respite, Daniels leaning up against a column whilst Jonathan sat on a fallen pedestal and Rick sat at the feet of Anubis, purposely keeping the irony of that from his mind. Ardeth stood on a crumbled column keeping a wary lookout as he offered round a canteen of water to the men.

The camels of Daniels' and the other Americans' former scavenging party still remained as did remnants of their campsite. Daniels thought morbidly that it was almost as if he hadn't left and he wondered if maybe that was the point, that he wasn't meant to have left but instead should have perished from the curse here.

Rick shot Daniels a prying stare as Daniels continued to gaze about the ruins. To Rick, Daniels still looked like a man who wanted to die, he was cursed and alone and the odds were against him but yet he was here and even if it was a suicide mission, Rick still had to admire the man's guts. He wasn't so sure that he would be out here with everything against him. "We'll avenge them," Rick assured the man.

"I don't want vengeance," Daniels grumbled back as he looked over at Rick crossly. "I want them back and if I can't have that then I want to find that poor woman's body and give her a good burial and I want to end her curse." He frowned, upset and surprised at his own admittance. It wasn't like the Texan to be so open about his feelings but losing Jess so soon after Henderson had worn him down and he could not muster the strength to put on an apathetic front.

"My friend raising the dead is a dark and unnatural deed to carry out," Ardeth cautioned him with a stern look, "it is not something a man should tamper with."

"Firstly," Daniels growled back with a hostile glare, "I ain't your friend and secondly, you think I don't know that?! I got a mummy after my guts because of a woman tampering with a book." He scratched at his hair and grumbled, "it don't feel final though, not for Jess or Henderson or Burns."

"That's the shock," Rick said calmly. He was trying to be tolerable of his fellow American but a small part of him wished it was Henderson or Burns he was dealing with instead, of the three, Daniels was easily the most stubborn and impatient, and Rick found it difficult to get along with the man. Given they had only a narrow window to go on a suicide mission to save Evelyn, Daniels wasn't exactly Rick's number one choice for a comrade in arms. 'I suppose Jonathan isn't either,' he thought to himself sardonically, 'and at least Daniels can fight even if he is bull headed and close to a break down.'

"Really? Tell me O'Connell," Daniels addressed him with a serious stare, "if we're too late for Miss Carnahan are you going to just walk away and leave her dead in the ground?"

"Hey!" Jonathan protested as he stood up to glower at Daniels in annoyance. Seeing Daniels' heated glare, Jonathan immediately sat back down and added quietly, "that's not a nice image."

"It's a fair question," Daniels said calmly as he pushed off the column and resumed holding Rick's stare.

"Hopefully it's not one I'll have to answer," Rick replied frostily. "On that note, we should go. So," he glanced over at Ardeth, "what does Horus look like?"

"He's falcon headed," Jonathan answered brightly, "but it could take us ages to find him," he lamented, "after all, this is unexplored territory."

"Not quite," Ardeth confessed.

"Of course you know where the gold is," Daniels snapped at him.

"Just follow me," Ardeth murmured as he rolled his chocolate brown eyes at the frowning American.

The heat was close to unbearable when O'Connell and his small group of roughish misfits finally unearthed the entrance they wanted and plunged into the cool depths of Hamunaptra. The relief of escaping the heat of the sun was short lived as the stench of decay and echoing sound of scuttling was enough to make all the men long for the surface almost immediately.

They moved through a narrow tunnel, guided by torches they had seized from the abandoned campsite. There were remnants of broken pottery and faded engravings on the walls but no one even looked twice at them, all thoughts of exploring and plundering this ancient city long gone.

Jonathan made a retching sound as they walked through a narrow tunnel. He then queried mordantly, "did that warden die here because it smells a lot like him!"

They followed the tunnel until it ended in a wide chamber where remnants of a crumbled ceiling and broken pillars had gathered indicating a cave in. "We need to go that way," Ardeth said firmly as he gestured his torch towards the rubble.

"Of course we do," Rick muttered deprecatingly as he glanced about for a safe place to rest his torch. Finding a convenient spot, he sat down the torch, rolled up his sleeves and started lifting the rocks.

Ardeth and Daniels joined him whilst Jonathan hung back with Anu and began shouting out words of instruction and encouragement. "I'd take those bigger stones first. Take them from the top; otherwise the whole thing will collapse on us."

Rick let out a grunt of displeasure as he tugged at a stubborn stone repeatedly.

"Come on. Put your backs into it!" Jonathan shouted out impatiently. When all three men paused momentarily to glower his way he let out a nervous laugh. "Yes, well, you've got it," he said hastily before turning from them. He moved to explore the chamber, holding his torch ahead when something seemed to catch in its light.

In the wall before him Jonathan spied an ovular shaped gem that glittered like an amethyst in the light of the torch. Intrigued, he hastened forward and reached out to it with his free hand. He coiled his hand about it and pulled on it tightly, frowning when it seemed to be stuck. "Chaps, you should come have a look at this," he remarked brightly just as it finally came free and he stumbled back in surprise.

Jonathan held his palm open to inspect his new prize when suddenly it moved. He let out a loud shriek of horror when the thing dove into his skin without warning and began moving up his arm rapidly. "It's in my arm! My arm!" he yelled as he dropped his torch to clutch at his arm, tearing at his sleeve frantically. Anu started barking and running round him frantically as if sharing his alarm.

"What now?" Daniels grumbled as Rick and Ardeth rushed to Jonathan's side.

"It's in my arm!" he shouted again.

Their eyes widened at the sight of the ovular bulge of flesh racing up Jonathan's limb. Rick and Ardeth exchanged a horrified look from either side of the Englishman. Rick queried, "what do we do?"

"Anything!" Jonathan roared as his eyes went wide.

Ardeth ripped the sleeve at the top of Jonathan's shoulder and Rick snapped, "hold him!" Rick tugged out his butterfly knife and Jonathan's eyes filled with terror.

"Not that!" Jonathan protested. "Not that!"

Rick ignored him as he dug the blade into Jonathan's arm just as the bulge moved. He pressed it down as Jonathan screamed and blood came rushing up. Rick then flicked the blade up, sending the creature out and through the air. It landed on the ground unharmed and immediately starting running towards them as if wanting to finish what it had started. Rick tugged out his pistol quickly and fired it, instantly ending the insect's life.

"No more playing around," Daniels grumbled as he gave them all an annoyed look. He hadn't even moved from the debris to help Jonathan.

"I wasn't! Jonathan protested with a miffed look as he clutched at his wounded limb.

"Right," Rick retorted dryly as he holstered his gun. He then resumed moving the rubble.

"You Americans always have to keep touching things," Ardeth scolded as he ripped off part of his tunic and began to bandage Jonathan's arm with it.

"I'm not American," Jonathan retorted indignantly.

"He's got that right," Daniels chimed up as he and Rick shifted the last of the rubble out of the way. "He's also got the stickiest fingers out of everyone."

Jonathan turned to him with a frown before his eyes brightened slightly and he gave a small grin. "Look Dav...er Daniels, we've got the same war wound!" He shook out his now bandaged left arm before wincing at the pain that shot through him.

Daniels looked at Rick stonily as the Chicago man snickered. "O'Connell if I die today don't let it be with him," Daniels implored.

"I'll try," Rick answered calmly before picking up his torch once more.

They wandered for a further excruciating twenty minutes, manoeuvring down several stairways and round numerous corridors bypassing ancient furnishings, wall carvings and relics not seen for thousands of years. Finally they reached a place not even they had thought to be real. At first there was only darkness before O'Connell noticed his torch glinting off something. He moved towards the object and realised it was a bronze mirror disk. Glancing up he saw a beam of sunlight somehow carried down through a slit in the ceiling and he turned the disk to catch it. Instantly there was light.

"Can you see-" Jonathan stammered in awe.

"Yeah," Rick replied bluntly as he started walking down the creamy, stone staircase before them.

"Holy shit," Daniels gasped.

They were in a giant treasure chamber surrounded by all the wealth of Egypt. Gold seemed to glitter everywhere they looked in all forms- ornaments, statues, coins, jewellery, weapons and even clothes. It sat, untouched for centuries, dust covered with cobwebs hanging off it and yet for all the time it had lingered beneath the earth it was no less majestic or impressive. There were statues four times the height of Ardeth of sitting queens and standing pharaohs. Giant boxes with detailed hieroglyphs and imagery carved all around them sat promising unseen riches within. Coins seemed to spill down the steps, whilst bracelets, rings and necklaces of gold were heaped in the corners, abandoned like they were pebbles swept up from the floor. Golden gods looked at them from every point in the form of statues, masks, figurines and faces carved into breastplates and shields.

"Can you believe-" Jonathan continued.

"Yeah," Rick answered dismissively. He walked on with Ardeth leaving Jonathan and Daniels gawking on the steps.

"Can we just-"

"No!" Rick snapped impatiently.

Jonathan frowned as he looked to Daniels as if seeking support from the American. "Are you seeing this Mr. Daniels?"

"Yeah Jonathan I'm seeing it," Daniels retorted, the awe clear in his voice as he turned his head upwards, scanning every inch of the chamber he could.

"Well what do you think; can we just take one or two things?" Jonathan queried pleadingly.

"I'd say we get rid of our undead friend and then we can fill our pockets," Daniels retorted. He thought with a prickle of sorrow how much his late friends deserved to see this, how Henderson had always had such a faith in this treasure being here and yet had so cruelly been denied the sight of it.

Jonathan grinned. "Ah Mr. Daniels I knew there was something in you I liked."

Their moment of awe was short lived as the earth seemed to explode before Rick and Ardeth as rotting, bandaged hands shot up from it. The ground crumbled with ease to give way to the mummies writhing and scrambling up of it, hissing and shrieking as they did.

"Who the hell are these guys?" Rick demanded as he readied his gun.

"Imhotep's priests," Ardeth answered.

"Alright then," Rick retorted calmly before the gunfire began.

The priests seemed to keep coming no matter how many bullets were fired into them. Even when Ardeth chopped one in half both body parts writhed across the ground towards him. Anu bravely sank his teeth into one's ankle, tugging and pulling at it until the foot came free in his mouth and the mummy collapsed in the process.

"We need something better than this," Rick murmured as he tugged out a stick of dynamite from the small pouch of explosives he'd brought as a precaution. "Daniels I know you've got a light!" he called back to the Texan.

Daniels fumbled to holster one gun and shoot with the other as a mummy came running at him. As he tugged out his matchbox he blew the thing's head off at last but that wasn't enough to stop its mad pursuit. He ran to the left to avoid it, shooting at its knees as he did. It finally went down in a cloud of dust just as his back banged into O'Connell's. "Here," he grunted as he struck the match hastily and handed it back.

Rick let the stick before shouting, "this way fellas, quickly!" They ran through the chamber, pushing and shooting past the priests before reaching the exit. Rick paused and turned back to throw the stick of dynamite before following the others through to the next room. There was a loud bang and Jonathan paused in his running to look back woefully. "What about the gold?" he demanded.

"Not now Jonathan," Rick muttered as he grabbed the Englishman by his shoulder and spun him round in the direction Ardeth and Daniels were running.

They hurried down another dark corridor, led by Ardeth's lone torches as everyone else's had been abandoned in the treasure room. Jonathan let out a yelp when the walls seemed to come alive sending plaster and dust flying into them as mummies forced their way through it. Daniels cursed as one pawed at his head before he shot it in the gut.

"This whole place is coming alive!" Jonathan snapped as he sprinted harder, swiftly overtaking Ardeth and Daniels.

"Ain't they dead?" Daniels queried nervously as he fired his guns until they gave that horrible clicking sound again. "Damn it!" he cursed he fumbled to reload one all while trying to dodge their attackers.

Rick covered Daniels momentarily whilst Jonathan abandoned them all. Ardeth's sword flashed furiously alongside his torch as he seemed to swing out in all directions, desperately trying to stop himself from becoming overwhelmed by mummies.

Once Daniels had reloaded, Rick demanded another match for him and pulled out another stick of dynamite. They hastened out of the tunnel and Rick threw the burning stick backwards. BOOM! The entire room seemed to shake with the impact as part of the ceiling gave way.

"Boy I hope you can find us a way outta here again!" Daniels snapped to O'Connell as they turned a corner and found themselves entering a new chamber.

This one was small, grim and sparsely decorated but there was one item that caught their attention. "Horus!" Jonathan exclaimed as he gawked up at the statue of the falcon headed deity. The statue stood in the centre of the room, its head barely visible in Ardeth's torchlight. There was little else to the room save one exit, a narrow, dark passageway to the left.

Jonathan and Rick scrambled to the base of the statue, falling to their knees and clawing at the soft dirt with their hands.

"Well at least it's not hard ground," Jonathan murmured.

"Dig quicker we've got company!" Daniels snapped as he raised both his guns to the shadows looming up the tunnel through the gloom. He felt his throat tighten and his blood run cold at the three forms shambling towards them. Words failed him as he blinked hard; trying to convince himself that it was an illusion. One bore a tattered, chequered, grey blazer and a misshapen, grey hat, it moved quickly but almost confused as it had sockets where eyes should be. The second seemed to lead the three, moving in the middle at a quicker pace. Daniels made out the outline of a cowboy hat and the shadows that suggested dust covers over the lower legs. The third was the slowest, wearing tattered, brown trousers, a stained, cream shirt and shit, it couldn't be! Daniels swallowed hard as his left hand started to tremble slightly. The third figure was wearing a fedora, his fedora beneath which wiry, golden-brown hair spilled.

"Shoot them already!" Ardeth ordered him frantically.

Daniels shook his head and cursed as he suddenly holstered his guns and stumbled back. "Not them," he choked out as his skin turned a chalky white. "Not them."