First 12 Chapters - How I Became A Crazy Cat Lady To Survive A Zombpocalyse

1 edited

Chapter 1

Lady Theodora Carnarvon reached up to wipe her goggles again. The dusty clay roads were rough, and her arms hurt from wrestling the steering wheel for three days and nights. The heat and blowing sand were almost unbearable during the day as was the frigid, dry air at night. For the last two months, she had lived in a world as far from the English countryside in winter as a young royal lady could get. She begged to stay with her grandfather Lord Carnarvon instead of returning to England after Christmas. He agreed and that meant chasing the lost places of Egypt while Dr. Carter and his group catalogued the Valley of the Kings.

A clue in the newly found tomb of Prince Tutankhamen led to the buried city of a pharaoh whose name had been stricken from all Egyptian records. A city where everything was covered in a strange purplish-black dust as fine and silken to the touch as volcanic ash. It looked like the city had been looted then burned before being buried in the sand from above. So great was the volume of sand that it crushed the buildings. Lord Carnarvon theorized a massive sandstorm must have done it, but Sargent Major Lansing was from a family of fishermen and suggested the sand had been mixed with water to damage the buildings as it had. The most startling trait of the city was the black canyon with walls that sparkled like the night sky, even when the sun was directly overhead. It was mysterious and beautiful, but it became terrifying as one by one the members of the expedition became ill, died, and then came back.

Only Theodora, her best friend, and Lord Carnarvon escaped from the lost city of Prince Pharaoh Bakare. Theodora drove them away from the cursed place because Sargeant Major Lansing ordered them to flee in the middle of the night. Curses were something her grandfather insisted were just myths; he was wrong or so it seemed. Bouncing over another rut in the camel road, she wondered if the brave soldier and the desert cats survived killing the rest of the undead as she clutched the large steering wheel.

The engine sputtered so she stopped. Theodora was only eight years old, but she carried a sensible mind and the thirst for adventure and knowledge that ran in the family. She already knew how to shoot, ride a horse, sail a boat and drive, and she recognized when a motor needed petrol. She needed to get out and her Egyptian Desert Cat kittens mewed in protest at being removed from her lap. Going to the rear, she climbed into the canvas covered back.

Her best friend, Penelope Carter looked at her in anguish. "He's getting worse." The younger sister of Egyptologist Howard Carter looked anguished as she added, "And I had to tie Sekhmet in a basket. He keeps trying to attack him and Suzy." Penelope opened the basket and lifted the giant cat out. It purred and rubbed its face on hers.

The kittens crawled through the flap to the front, so Theodora let them sniff the water she poured from a jar into a ladle. After they drank, she did because she knew it was safe. "He has the black dust sickness like the others," Theodora admitted sadly, "He ate some of the Doum Dates from the city." She wiped her eyes on her sleeve, then stood up with a willfulness her generation would come to be known for. "We should be in Cairo by nightfall, we'll go straight to the fort. They have doctors there; medicine -- Penicillin and such. He'll be okay... We need to put more petrol in the truck."

The two small English girls hefted the metal can, so the fuel filled the truck. They were just about to add the second one when they heard laughter. Three rough-looking men walked out of the desert like a mirage. Lord Carnarvon's little dog Suzy snapped and barked viciously at them, peaking out of the canvas flaps.

"What be two wee girls driving the sands?" His English was broken but from their look Theodora recognized they intended to rob them.

Theodora held up her chin proudly, announcing in a mixture of Arabic and English, "I am Lady Theodora Carnarvon. My grandfather's expedition fell upon misfortune, and he is ill. If you take us to the English fort in Cairo, I will see you are paid very well... More than you would earn stealing our truck and selling it."