City of the Dead

Chapter 8

The desert wind comes and goes, trying its best to take my tent along with it. I reach my hand to one end of my tent to keep it from being swept by the desert.

"Wooo that was close" I commented.

I am just about done setting up my supplies and tent. I have a sleeping hammock on one end of the tent and a decent table to use as my treatment table. My supplies are placed on one end of the table with my bandages, suture material and everything else that I got from that small village we passed through. As I unpacked the rest of my supplies, I took out the book that I had borrowed from Dr. Bey, analyzing the cover and the pages to ensure that they had all dried from that swim in the Nile.

"I just hope he doesn't get mad at me, feels like I ruined a Library book." I said under my breath. I sat on the hammock and started contemplating on whether I should apologize to the guys or just be stubborn and keep to myself. I mean I could just sit on my ass and ride through this trip until we're ready to leave. But then I would have to talk to them on the way back. I place my head over my knees, diving more into my thoughts and trying to come up with a solution to resolve that outburst I had earlier.

"They might be already starting their excavation, no point in talking to them until later tonight. Maybe I'll just make them dinner as a way to apologize."

I left my tent and started walking towards the food supply to see what I could make. I see that we have a plentiful amount of rice and some chicken. It may not be much, but maybe I can make some sauce to add to the chicken. I start making the rice and boil the chicken, when suddenly another gust of wind comes through and I thought the fire that I worked so hard to create would be extinguished, but thankfully it didn't. Time passed by and the sun started to set, with still no sign of the group coming back, I would assume they would be there all night. Everything was prepared as I set up plates and an assembly line of food for the men to grab. I wondered if I should start up the fire again so that the food could warm up, when yet another gust of wind came out of nowhere and almost knocked over the food. I flung my body to catch it before it fell to the ground. I sighed in relief to catch the pot, then I said, "I swear to whoever is listening, if another gust of wind comes through, I will start to riot!"

Of course whoever was listening paid no mind to me as another gust of wind came through, as if the desert was taunting me.

"UUUUGH!!!" I screamed.

I stomped towards my tent, deciding not to fight the universe and just stay inside. I sat on the hammock as I looked over to the book that I received from Dr. Bey. I start to skim through the book again just to pass time when suddenly I hear screaming in the distance. I jump to my feet and walk out of my tent to see where the screaming was coming from. I started running towards the faint screams, the closer I got, the more the screams became louder. It wasn't long after that I came upon the entrance of what looked to be a tomb.

"Oh shit!" I said aloud. I went to grab a torch that was set up at the entrance of the tomb and started making my way to find where the screams were coming from. As I go deeper into the tomb, I start to think, 'Who is at the other end of that scream?' At first my mind went towards the guys, but I also considered Evelyn's group. As my imagination started to spiral, I started to breathe heavily and my adrenaline started to spike as well.

"GUYS!? CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" I yelled, hoping for a response.

"ISAAC! DAVID! BERNARD!"

I can hear the echo of their names running through the labyrinth and bouncing off the walls. It wasn't long after that I could hear a faint echo that didn't belong to me. I start inching closer to that echo and then I hear more of a commotion as I walk deeper into the tomb.