The Adventurer & The Librarian

Chapter 11: Sand and Blood

The trio got to work brushing off the rocks, sand and dust from the sarcophagus.  "Well, who is it?" Jonathan asked excitedly.

Bonnie stared at the hieroglyphics on the dead person's coffin, not even trying to understand what it said.

"He That Shall Not Be Named," William said as he read the inscription.

Bonnie, hating how right she probably was, gave a slightly worried glance to Jonathan before she blew away some sand in a dip to reveal the image of a scarab with wings and a halo.  The pattern surrounding it was that of an eight pointed star.  "This looks like some sort of lock," she said.

"Well, whoever's in here sure wasn't getting out," Jonathan added.

"Yeah, no kidding.  It'd take us a month to crack into this thing without a key."

"A key?" William asked in confusion before his eyes lit up.  "A key!  A key!"  He rushed to his satchel.  "Now that's what he was talking about!"

"Who was talking about what?" Bonnie asked as she watched William search in his bag.

"The man...the man on the barge!  The one with the hook!" William popped back up with the puzzle box, opening it to Bonnie's shock.  "He was looking for a key."

"Hey, that's mine!" Jonathan complained.

"Technically, it's mine, but..." Bonnie said before William placed it over the lock. 

It fit perfectly.

William smiled at Bonnie, who was surprised that the puzzle box he found was the key for opening the sarcophagus.  "I'll be damned," she thought.

The sound of screaming drew their attention and Bonnie took out her gun as she ran toward the opening to the hallway.  When she ran out, Hassad was screaming and grasping his head, then he ran down the hallway until he crashed into a wall and fell on his back.  Her eyes widened in shock at the scene, and she paced down the hallway to where the warden was.  Jonathan and William followed her, and they stood around the man.

"Is he alright?" William asked quietly as Bonnie checked for a pulse.

Bonnie pressed two fingers to his neck and gulped a little when she felt no pulse, then she looked up at William and Jonathan.  "Uh...no.  He's dead."

"What?" both men asked in disbelief.

"Are you sure?" Jonathan asked.

Bonnie nodded, her eyes still wide as she stood up.  This was all too familiar.  "Mmhmm..."

Jonathan looked down at the man while William examined the body.  "Oh my God..." the librarian mouthed.  "What do you think happened to make him act like that?"

With a look of astonishment, Bonnie blew out a deep breath and ran a hand over her head.  "I have no idea.  What's weird is..." she paused, not even wanting to think about what happened to some of the men from her unit the last time she was in Hamunaptra.  A few of them had died with no known cause of death but they'd screamed in agony until their last breath.  One of them she'd been...quite close to.

"What?" William asked quietly.

Bonnie cleared her throat and shook her head.  "Nothing.  Let's, uh...get him outta here."

"Get him out of here?  How are we-"

Without another word, Bonnie bent down and lifted the fat dead man over her shoulder.  William and Jonathan gaped at her, obviously in awe of her raw strength.  She shuffled down the corridor in silence despite the strain of carrying something so heavy.  Eventually they found their way out through a door and Bonnie dropped the corpse to the sand once they were out.  She grabbed his bag and tossed it to Jonathan before going to find a suitable burial place.  Once she found it, she went back to her stuff, grabbed a shovel and began digging in the sand, sweat beading off her brow as she did.